Inside the deepening rivalry between Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis

• June 20, 2023

By STEVE PEOPLES and MICHAEL R. BLOOD

SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom says there’s no chance “on God’s green earth” he’s running for president in 2024, but he wants to make clear that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running, is “weak” and “undisciplined” and “will be crushed by Donald Trump.”

DeSantis, meanwhile, likes to mock Newsom’s apparent “fixation” on Florida while insisting that the Democratic governor’s “leftist government” is destroying California.

Welcome to one of the fiercest rivalries in U.S. politics, featuring dueling term-limited governors who represent opposite ends of the ideological spectrum and lead two of the nation’s largest and most influential states. Newsom and DeSantis will not face each other on any ballot in 2024, but in many ways, they are defining the debate from their corners of America as the presidential primary season gets underway.

Newsom addressed his contempt for DeSantis and his loyalty to President Joe Biden in a recent interview just as the Florida governor launched a two-day fundraising trek spanning at least five stops across California. The Golden State has become one of DeSantis’ favorite punching bags as he tries to avoid a direct confrontation with his chief Republican presidential rival, Trump, and the former president’s escalating legal challenges.

“He’s taking his eye off the ball,” Newsom said of DeSantis’ escalating attacks against him. “And that’s not inconsistent with my own assessment of him, which is he is a weak candidate, and he is undisciplined and will be crushed by Donald Trump, and will soon be in third or fourth in national polls.”

Representatives for DeSantis did not make the governor available for an interview. Beneath the war of words, however, strategists in both parties suggest there may be a mutually beneficial dynamic at play. As they jab at each other’s policies and personalities through comments in the press and on social media, the governors are scoring points with their respective political bases, raising money and expanding their national brands.

Both men issued fundraising appeals Monday going after the other by name.

But it’s not all helpful.

Newsom, in particular, is facing nagging questions about his presidential ambitions less than a week after DeSantis dared him to “stop pussyfooting around” and launch a primary challenge against Biden.

The California governor, whose second and final term concludes at the end of 2026, has seen his national profile grow since he easily beat back a recall attempt in 2021 and cruised to reelection last fall. He finished the midterm campaign with roughly $16 million in the bank. And in March, he channeled $10 million to a new political action committee he’s calling the Campaign for Democracy.

All the while, Newsom’s team has been moving deliberately to avoid the perception that he’s running a shadow presidential campaign just as Biden ramps up his political activities.

For example, Newsom’s new PAC is initially focusing on challenging Republican leaders in deep-red states that are largely irrelevant in the 2024 presidential race. He campaigned in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi in April on his first trip associated with the PAC.

Newsom is expected to avoid battleground states or key presidential primary states for the foreseeable future, his allies say.

At the same time, the California governor and his team have been in regular contact with Biden and his top aides, including Jen O’Malley Dillon, who managed the president’s 2020 campaign and serves as deputy White House chief of staff. A Biden campaign official said the president’s team coordinates closely with Newsom.

“Newsom is not going to run against Joe Biden and never would. But life is long, and Newsom is one of the prominent national Democrats. It’s part of that role to have these big national battles,” longtime Newsom adviser and friend Nathan Ballard said of the feud with DeSantis.

“There is the 2024 election, and then there is a 2028 election,” Ballard added.

Indeed, veteran Democratic consultant Roy Behr, whose clients included former California Sen. Barbara Boxer, said the two governors are engaged in what could become an early preview of the 2028 presidential contest.

“It’s not inconceivable that four years from now, these two guys could be their respective parties’ nominees,” he said. In tangling with DeSantis, who is 44, the 55-year-old Newsom is building his national brand and visibility and is “certainly trying to create opportunities for himself.”

Sacramento-based Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta said he expected the ongoing rivalry to continue given that it’s beneficial for both politicians with their core supporters. He described Newsom and DeSantis as “frenemies.”

“They both get points off it,” Acosta said. “There is a hard core of voters on both sides who think this is great.”

While polling shows that many Democrats don’t want the 80-year-old Biden to seek a second term, Newsom said there are no circumstances in which he would challenge the sitting president of his own party.

“Not on God’s green earth, as the phrase goes,” Newsom said in the weekend interview, adding that he would be with Biden on Monday and hosting a fundraiser for him Tuesday. “I have been pretty consistently — including recently on Fox News — making the case for his candidacy.”

DeSantis did not plan to make any public appearances during his California fundraising tour, which included stops in Sacramento and the Bay Area on Monday and continues Tuesday with events planned for San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles.

Over the weekend in Nevada, DeSantis noted that he’s seen a surge of “disgruntled Californians” moving to Florida.

“Why would you leave like a San Diego to come to say, Jacksonville, Florida? I see people doing that,” DeSantis told thousands of conservative activists at a weekend gathering close to the California border. “It’s because leftist government is destroying that state. Leftist government is destroying cities all over our country. It’s destroying other states.”

Former Nevada attorney general Adam Laxalt, who hosted the weekend event and leads the pro-DeSantis super PAC, said the policy contrast between the leaders of Florida and California is “a debate that our whole country needs to have.”

“California has been the model for many leftist policies. I would take the contrast between Florida’s policies and its results led by Gov. DeSantis and the California policies, any day of the week,” Laxalt said in an interview. “We can already see what leftist policies do.”

Both DeSantis and Newsom took office in 2019 and won reelection for their second and final terms in 2022. While in office, both have been buoyed by multiple billion-dollar budget surpluses and the help of statehouses controlled by their own party that supercharged their agendas.

In California, Newsom expanded the state’s Medicaid program to cover all eligible adults, regardless of their immigration status. He signed a raft of legislation to make it easier to get an abortion, including authorizing $20 million in state spending to help people from other states travel to California. When the U.S. Supreme Court declined to strike down an abortion law in Texas that was enforced by private lawsuits, Newsom signed a similar law in California — only he made it about guns.

And earlier this month, he proposed amending the U.S. Constitution to institute what he called a “reasonable” waiting period for all gun purchases, a ban on so-called assault rifles, universal background checks and raising the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21.

“I think Gavin Newsom is a very useful foil for Ron DeSantis, quite frankly,” said Lanhee Chen, a California Republican who attended one of DeSantis’ five California fundraisers this week. “The more kinds of crazy things that Newsom does — at least, crazy in the in the eyes of Republican voters — the more I think Ron DeSantis frankly benefits as somebody who seen as a counterweight to that.”

In Florida, DeSantis has leaned into cultural conservative issues in what he calls his “war on woke.”

Earlier this month, his administration flew groups of migrants from Texas to Sacramento to draw attention to the influx of Latin American immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. He did the same last fall, sending dozens of immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, which he often highlights during his stump speeches.

DeSantis also signed and then expanded the Parental Rights in Education bill — known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in Florida public schools for all grades. He seized control of Disney World’s governing body after the company publicly opposed the law.

The Florida governor this year also signed a law banning abortions at six weeks, which is before most women realize they’re pregnant. And he took control of a liberal arts college that he believed was indoctrinating students with leftist ideology.

While DeSantis does not have the legal entanglements that Trump faces, Newsom said Democrats may be wrong to assume the former president would be an easier candidate to defeat in the 2024 general election.

“I see deep weakness — I refer to it often — weakness with DeSantis masquerading as strength,” Newsom said. “I think he’d be a more favored candidate. But I’ll leave that judgment to more objective minds.”

Associated Press writers Adam Beam in Sacramento and Michelle Price in New York contributed.

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Hunter Biden to plead guilty to federal tax charges, strikes deal on gun charge

• June 20, 2023

Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and struck a deal with federal prosecutors regarding a felony gun charge, the Justice Department said Tuesday in court filings.

The plea deal will have immediate reverberations in the 2024 presidential election.

The charges were detailed in a criminal filing in US District Court in Delaware, where the US Attorney David Weiss, a Donald Trump appointee, has been conducting the investigation that at one time explored allegations of money laundering, foreign lobbying and other potential charges.

Hunter Biden’s attorney said in a statement that the deal with federal prosecutors will “resolve” the Justice Department’s long-running criminal probe into the president’s son.

“Hunter will take responsibility for two instances of misdemeanor failure to file tax payments when due pursuant to a plea agreement,” said Christopher Clark. “A firearm charge, which will be subject to a pretrial diversion agreement and will not be the subject of the plea agreement, will also be filed by the Government. I know Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life. He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”

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Why Megan Abbott says ‘Beware the Woman’ combines ‘all of my worst fears’

• June 20, 2023

Megan Abbott is no stranger to darkness. The author made her fiction debut in 2005 with her hardboiled novel “Die a Little,” set in the noir-ish world of 1950s Los Angeles; it was published to rave reviews. 

Since then, she’s kept the thrillers coming. Her 2012 novel “Dare Me” dealt with a mysterious death in the world of competitive cheerleading, while “You Will Know Me,” published four years later, explored the cutthroat world of gymnastics. Her bestselling “The Turnout,” published in 2021, told the dark story of a family-run ballet studio wracked by a terrible accident. She’s also a television writer who worked on David Simon and George Pelecanos’ HBO show “The Deuce,” and served as a writer and executive producer on USA Network’s series adaptation of “Dare Me.”

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Her latest novel, “Beware the Woman,” out now from G.P. Putnam’s Sons, also doesn’t shy away from the dark — in fact, it revels in it. The book follows Jacy, who has just married a man named Jed, with whom she’s expecting a child. The couple takes a road trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where she meets Jed’s father, Dr. Ash, for the first time. After Jacy experiences a medical scare, she starts to feel like she’s being trapped in Dr. Ash’s house — and that her husband and father-in-law might not be what they seem.

Abbott answered questions about “Beware the Woman” via telephone from New York, where she lives. This conversation has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. 

Q: Where did the idea for this novel come from?

The fact that it’s all set in one confined location for the most part comes from having written during the pandemic. But it was also coming out of a lot of fear about the rhetoric in the last few years about women’s bodies, and it was just sort of plucking my anxieties about that. I just kept thinking about it, and it became a sort of a combination of all of my worst fears. There’s also that romantic haze of being early in a relationship that Jacy is in, and how you don’t really know that much about the other person. It’s always sort of mystifying to me, but sometimes you end up with someone where you haven’t seen them interact with their family until you’re well into the relationship, and that’s when a lot of other qualities emerge. It can feel like this weirdly alien experience to see how different your significant other can be when brought back down to their family’s perception of them.

Q: When you were writing it, did you make the connection between being in lockdown, and working on this book that’s really claustrophobic?

I have to believe I was thinking of that, but I do tend to write rather claustrophobic books. This one was definitely extreme. Part of it was that it was very hard, in some ways, to write during lockdown, even though we all had more time. There were so many ways to distract our attention, and I thought that writing a book in this really compressed timeline and location would ground me. I ended up drawing on a lot of the anxieties about being stuck, not being able to have a routine, having all these things taken away from you: not being able to see people, the dreaded no Wi-Fi, no cell phones, no service. I think if I were to psychoanalyze it now, I think that had to be a big factor. Someone’s going to do a dissertation someday on post-lockdown fiction. [Laughs]

Q: Did Roe v. Wade being overturned play a part as well?

Weirdly, I finished the novel before that, and in fact, my editor was reading it the day of the overturning. But I was done with the book by then. It’s not that there wasn’t worrying about that for the last few years leading up to it, but it was uncanny, because when I started it, that wasn’t really on anyone’s mind. It was more about a lot of the #MeToo stuff, sexual assault, and all these other components. But I do think that there must have been these unconscious currents in all of us, just seeing these threats to bodies.

I still remember my editor emailing me when the decision came down. I thought, “Clearly, I’m a soothsayer. I’m a Cassandra.” It was such a horrifying moment. It was this accumulation of the last several years of having things that you thought could never happen, happen, and that was the most egregious of them.

Q: The book is set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Is there something about that area that you think lends itself well to suspense fiction?

I grew up in Detroit, which is the opposite end of Michigan, but the Upper Peninsula would always be a place you would go on school trips, and you would go to the Grand Hotel [on Mackinac Island], which was on the way. The Upper Peninsula felt exotic; it was so beautiful, but it had a different culture. I picked it instinctively because I had remembered it as sort of being almost like another country. There was just something different about it. They sort of spoke like in “Fargo” in some way, that really upper Midwest accent. There’s something about the contrast of the natural beauty and the sense of menace, and the outsiders coming in who don’t know the rules of the place.

Q: There’s this trope in American culture, and maybe worldwide culture, about the controlling, unreasonable mother-in-law. But in this novel, it’s the father-in-law who’s the nightmare. Was there any sense of wanting to turn the tables on that stereotype?

Definitely. That was on my mind because that idea of the controlling mother-in-law is much more common. The idea of the mother-in-law who doesn’t want to share her son with her daughter-in-law is a very Gothic trope, too. But I was also really interested in this kind of man of Dr. Ash’s generation, this boomer guy who’s had everything landed in his lap. Often there’s a real charm and a gallant behavior that can be very deceptive, because of course there’s often another side to that. just thought he was such an interesting kind of character. I grew up with a lot of men like that, and very few of them were as complicated as Dr. Ash, but they’re very much used to being kings of the world, a lot of those White boomer men of the middle class and above, the kind that can’t take the changes in the world. 

Q: You’re a member of the Writers Guild of America, which is currently on strike. Have you been able to join any of the pickets in New York?

I have. So far, it’s been very exhilarating because there’s so much energy. I wasn’t in the guild the last go-round in 2007 and 2008, but this one feels so different, because there was no real streaming force then. It’s wild how quickly the world has changed. It feels like this one is going to go differently, but I don’t know. But we all have the energy, and the guild is very strong and very united, which is a good feeling.

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Niles: Universal wins, Six Flags loses in annual attendance report

• June 20, 2023

For theme park number geeks like me, the release of annual TEA/AECOM Theme Index Report is one of the highlights of the year. This report details attendance at the most popular theme parks around the world, providing fans and insiders some numbers with which to debate which parks are winning, and losing, in the industry right now.

The 2022 report, released earlier this month, is great news for Universal and not-so-great news for Six Flags.

More from Robert Niles

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The report said that Universal’s three parks in the United States — Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure in Orlando, plus Universal Studios Hollywood in California — last year drew just less than 1 percent fewer visitors than they did in 2019, the last previous full year without pandemic restrictions. Islands of Adventure was the first major U.S. theme park to exceed its 2019 number, driven by the post-lockdown introduction of two wildly popular and highly rated new roller coasters, Jurassic World VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s Magic Creatures Motorbike Adventure.

Disney continued to top the attendance chart, with Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom remaining the world’s most visited theme park, with a reported 17.13 million visitors last year. But Disney Parks in the U.S. were still down about 30% from their 2019 numbers, according to the report. Unlike Universal, Disney continues to voluntarily limit its daily attendance through advance reservation requirements.

Still, in California, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure were down only about 9 percent in 2022 from 2019. Disneyland’s numbers suggest that its reservation requirements are not reducing overall attendance as much as redistributing it. Disneyland’s post-lockdown policy has reduced the crush of annual passholders who once flooded the parks after work and school, instead encouraging them to show up earlier in the day to take advantage of the reservations that they can get. That’s actually made the parks feel busier in the mornings than they once were, to many fans.

Walt Disney World in Florida, however, does seem to be struggling a bit to get back to its pre-lockdown popularity. Disney World slow-walked its return to attraction development compared to Universal Orlando and the loss or reduction of many pre-lockdown perks for on-site hotel visitors is not helping Disney World’s case, either.

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Still, Walt Disney World is performing wonderfully compared to the Six Flags theme parks that the TEA and AECOM track. The Six Flags parks were the only ones in the report to show a decline in 2022 attendance from 2021 — when those parks were late in opening and restricted in capacity due to the pandemic.

That’s just awful performance. Six Flags corporate’s decisions to cut back on discounting while also not ordering any major new roller coasters after the lockdowns ended have driven customers elsewhere.

The gap between Disney and Universal and everyone else in the industry remains large. But other companies, including SeaWorld and Cedar Fair, are offering new attractions to win fans back after the pandemic. Six Flags is going to need to step with more than food festivals if it wants to keep from falling out of the top tier of U.S. theme parks.

​ Orange County Register 

Actor Julian Sands still missing after weekend search on Mt. Baldy

• June 20, 2023

By Alli Rosenbloom

The search for British actor Julian Sands, who was first reported missing in January after going hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains, resumed on Saturday, according to a news release on Monday from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The release stated that officials “continued ongoing search efforts in the Mount Baldy wilderness for missing hiker Julian Sands. Unfortunately, Mr. Sands was not located.”

Over 80 search and rescue volunteers, deputies and staff participated in the search efforts, which were supported by two helicopters and drone crews as volunteers searched in “remote areas across Mount Baldy and conducted aerial search and assessment efforts,” according to officials.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department shared videos of the helicopters and air support participating in the search on its  Twitter page.

pic.twitter.com/yeJjZlX51P

— San Bernardino County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) June 19, 2023

Officials said Monday that “despite the recent warmer weather, portions of the mountain remain inaccessible due to extreme alpine conditions,” and that multiple search areas include steep terrain covered in “10 plus feet of ice and snow.”

Severe weather conditions have presented ongoing challenges in the search for Sands.

Gloria Huerta, a spokesperson with the department, told CNN in January that officials were forced to suspend their search efforts due to severe weather and an avalanche threat.

Officials previously said that cellphone pings from Jan. 15 led them to believe Sands, a longtime resident of the Los Angeles area, went missing near the Mt. Baldy area.

Since then, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department has conducted eight ground and air searches specific to Sands, with volunteers clocking in over 500 hours of search time.

“Mr. Sands’ missing person case remains active and search efforts will continue in a limited capacity. Anyone with additional information is asked to call Detective B. Meelker with the Fontana Station at (909) 356-6710,” said the sheriff’s news release.

The 65-year-old actor is best known for his work in shows like “24” and movies “A Room with a View” and “Arachnophobia.” His other credits include films “The Killing Fields” and “Leaving Las Vegas” and the TV series “Smallville.”

Sands most recently appeared in a recurring role in the Netflix series “What/If.”

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WNBA Power Rankings: Aces are No. 1, Sparks at No. 6 after close losses to Sun, Lynx

• June 20, 2023

The 2023 WNBA season has passed its quarter mark, meaning all 12 teams have played at least the first 10 games of their expanded 40-game schedules, the longest in the league’s 27-year history.

The Sparks are currently 5-6 with wins against the Phoenix Mercury (twice), Seattle Storm, Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings and losses to the Las Vegas Aces (twice), Minnesota Lynx (twice), Connecticut Sun and Seattle.

As we get closer to the All-Star Game on Saturday, July 15 in Las Vegas, every team still has a realistic shot at a coveted playoff appearance, which requires a top-eight finish in the standings.

The rankings (through games of Sunday, June 18):

1. Las Vegas Aces (10-1): The defending WNBA champions are led by two-time MVP forward A’ja Wilson. Wilson is averaging 18.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, which is on par with the career averages for the 2018 WNBA Rookie of the Year. However, it is All-Star guard Jackie Young who is averaging a team-high 20.8 points per game on 59.9% shooting from the field and 46.8% from 3-point range. Along with Kelsey Plum and former Sparks Candace Parker and Chelsea Gray, Las Vegas has five former All-Stars in a superb starting lineup. In fact, on Sunday, Parker became the only player in WNBA history with at least 6,500 points, 3,000 rebounds, 1,500 assists, 600 blocked shots, and 500 steals.

2. Connecticut Sun (9-3): Alyssa Thomas should be considered an early season MVP candidate, as the point power forward is averaging 15 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 7.7 assists. Thomas is a legitimate triple-double threat every time she takes the court for Connecticut.

3. New York Liberty (7-3): The Liberty are led by two-time WNBA champion Breanna Stewart, who is averaging 23.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Stewart, second in the league in scoring and rebounding, joins Sabrina Ionescu, Courtney Vandersloot, Jonquel Jones and Betnijah to make the Liberty the other team featuring a starting lineup comprised of former All-Stars.

4. Washington Mystics (7-4): The Mystics are led by two-time league MVP Elena Delle Donne, who is averaging 18.4 points and 6.4 rebounds. She is averaging a team-high 31.1 minutes per game after being limited by injuries since the end of the 2019 season, when the Mystics won the championship.

5. Atlanta Dream (5-5): The Dream are on a three-game winning streak thanks to guard Allisha Gray, who averaged 22.7 points, six rebounds and two assists in important road wins against New York, Connecticut and Indiana. Gray is averaging a team-high 18.7 ppg for the season, while still being asked to be the team’s primary defensive stopper.

6. Los Angeles Sparks (5-6): Seven-time All-Star forward Nneka Ogwumike is averaging 19.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists this season, her best statistical season since her 2016 league MVP season. Recently, Ogwumike became the sixth player in WNBA history with at least 5,000 points, 2,000 rebounds, 600 assists, 500 steals and 200 blocks, something she achieved in 327 regular-season games. The Sparks are 1-3 since their 77-62 win at home against the Chicago Sky on June 9 and have started their five-game homestand with two losses. Ogwumike, who will likely earn her eighth All-Star appearance this summer, said she’s looking forward to being joined by some of her Sparks teammates this time around. The other likely candidates are Jordin Canada, Lexie Brown and Dearica Hamby.

Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike drives up the court during the first half of their game against the Chicago Sky on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

7. Dallas Wings (5-7): The Wings have unleashed the team’s unicorn – Satou Sabally. The 6-foot-4 point forward is averaging a career-high 20.9 points, 11 rebounds, and 3.1 assists under first-year head coach Latricia Trammell, who was a Sparks assistant coach for four years before moving into the first chair in Dallas.

8. Indiana Fever (4-7): Indiana already has four wins this season after going 5-31 in 2022. Rookie forward Aliyah Boston has been a difference-maker, averaging 16.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks. Boston, the No. 1 pick in April’s draft, has the inside track to being named the league’s Rookie of the Year.

9. Chicago Sky (5-7): The Sky have lost four straight games after starting the season 5-3. Guard Marina Mabrey, who was selected in the second round of the 2019 WNBA Draft by the Sparks, is averaging a team-high 17.5 points.

10. Minnesota Lynx (3-8): The Lynx are 3-2 in their last five games and All-Star forward Napheesa Collier (20.5 ppg, 7 rpg) deserves a lot of credit for that.

11. Seattle Storm (3-7): All-Star guard Jewell Loyd is leading the league in scoring at 25.4 ppg. She scored a season-high 39 in Seattle’s 109-103 win at Dallas on Saturday.

12. Phoenix Mercury (2-8): The Mercury have struggled this season and have lost three straight with Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi sidelined with hip and hamstring injuries, respectively. If Griner, who has been playing like an All-Star, gets healthy, the Mercury should move up in the standings.

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Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike should be an All-Star starter, according to Coach Curt Miller

• June 20, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike is the model of consistency, according to Coach Curt Miller.

“I think sometimes Nneka gets taken for granted in this league,” Miller said. “She’s been a staple of consistency and a staple of who she is as a person.”

Sparks head coach Curt Miller makes the case for Nneka Ogwumike to be voted as a WNBA All-Star Starter. If Nneka makes the 2023 All-Star team, it would be her 8th appearance in her 12-year WNBA career. #WNBA #WNBAAllStar #WNBATwitter pic.twitter.com/yZ7uZtbZLg

— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) June 19, 2023

Ogwumike, 32, is averaging 19.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, and a career-high 3.8 assists per game in her 12th season in the WNBA, which is comparable to her league MVP season in 2016 (19.7 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 3.1 apg). The seven-time All-Star is currently eighth in the league in scoring and fourth in rebounding.

“This may be the best start in the first 11 games to a season that she’s ever had and she’s been an MVP in this league,” Miller said. “Her numbers speak for themselves. She’s carrying us. We’re asking a lot of her.”

Miller believes Ogwumike deserves not only to be an All-Star again this season but a starter in next month’s game in Las Vegas.

“I told her, she’s so fun to coach and we’re putting her in positions where she’s having tons of success and we’re asking a lot of her and she’s stepping up,” Miller added. “I think everybody out there has seen that. I think she’s an All-Star starter, but she’s certainly deserving of another All-Star appearance. I think she’s played herself into a starter.”

“It’s one of the ultimate honors,” Ogwumike added when asked about the possibility of being named a WNBA All-Star Starter for the second straight season. “I’m always honored when I’m named an All-Star in any capacity, but it’s not exactly what I play for.

“It’s definitely one of the accolades that a lot of people have dreams of making. I’m very grateful to have been consistently named one, despite how the team is going but I also strongly believe you get a lot of votes when your team is doing well and I would like to say that our team is doing pretty good. We have some games that we think we could have won but in terms of our everyday growth, I see it progressing. But being named a starter or an All-Star at all is always a blessing. I’m really looking more forward to maybe some of my teammates being named All-Stars.”

Nneka Ogwumike told me what it would mean to her to be selected as a WNBA All-Star Starter. #WNBAAllStar #WNBATwitter #WNBA pic.twitter.com/FcL2WLuymW

— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) June 19, 2023

The Sparks (5-6) continue their five-game homestand against the Minnesota Lynx (3-8) on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Minnesota has presented a conundrum for the Sparks this season. The Sparks are 0-2 against the Lynx, losing both games in similar fashions. The Sparks blew an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter on June 11 in Minnesota and could not maintain a nine-point halftime advantage on Friday night at home.

Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, a two-time All-Star who missed most of the 2022 season due to pregnancy, has averaged 24.5 points and 7.5 rebounds against the Sparks this season.

“I’m excited that it’s Minnesota because we’ve lost back-to-back against Minnesota,” Sparks forward Karlie Samuelson said. “It’s good you can bounce back after a loss and keep competing.”

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Shohei Ohtani to showcase his two-way talents against the Dodgers this week

• June 20, 2023

LOS ANGELES ― The Dodgers have had to pitch to the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani on at least two occasions in each of the last five seasons.

They have never had to face the two-way star as a pitcher, a fate Manager Dave Roberts will no longer be able to avoid Wednesday.

“Given the choice, I’d probably rather him just hit,” Roberts said of Ohtani, “because it’s only four at-bats, where if you’re looking at 110 pitches, that’s pretty daunting.

“You pick your poison with that one.”

Ohtani is scheduled to start the second game of the two-game Freeway Series at Angel Stadium. As a pitcher, Ohtani is leading the major leagues in hits allowed per nine innings and ranks second in strikeouts.

The Dodgers’ beleaguered pitching staff is catching him at an even less opportune time.

Ohtani is riding a 15-game hitting streak in which he is batting .446 with nine home runs and 20 RBIs. If he maintains his current pace over a full season, Ohtani will finish with a franchise-record 53 home runs, 129 RBIs, 109 runs, 22 stolen bases and 10 Wins Above Replacement according to both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.

There was a time when many within the baseball industry questioned whether Ohtani’s bold two-way experiment would work.

In 2018, Ohtani finished his first spring training with an ERA of 27.00 in two abbreviated appearances. His sixth Cactus League game was against the Dodgers. Ohtani went 0 for 2. Clayton Kershaw struck him out looking on a curveball. Ohtani grounded into a double play in his other plate appearance, lowering his spring batting average to .091.

“I could care less now,” Kershaw said that day about the Dodgers’ failed pursuit of Ohtani in December 2017. “He didn’t pick us, so, you know, good luck to him.”

Much has happened since.

Among other things, a new generation of players has reached the major leagues having never needed to question Ohtani’s ability to pitch and hit full-time at the game’s highest level. That includes several players who could potentially pitch or hit against Ohtani in this series. The Dodgers’ 26-man roster features eight rookies.

Infielder Michael Busch was a sophomore at the University of North Carolina when Ohtani debuted with the Angels.

“We were kind of excited to see it play out,” Busch said. “He’s been doing it at a high level for so many years.”

Other players have been drafted and developed as two-way players since Ohtani debuted. Perhaps the most notable among them, Tampa Bay’s Brendan McKay, is trying to return from Tommy John surgery after five mostly disappointing seasons in the Rays’ minor league system. McKay batted .202 at Triple-A before turning to pitching full-time in 2022.

Another former two-way player, Angels first baseman Jared Walsh, only established himself as a major league regular once he gave up pitching.

If Ohtani were able to inspire a trend of two-way players by his mere presence on the Angels’ roster, today’s youngest big leaguers could have seen it take root in college or the minor leagues. That never happened.

“(Ohtani) is one in I don’t know how many,” outfielder Jonny DeLuca said. “It’s pretty insane. It’s hard enough getting here doing one thing and he’s elite doing both. It’s kind of an anomaly.”

DeLuca played for the University of Oregon with Angels minor leaguer Kenyon Yovan. Drafted as a two-way player, Yovan hit .194 at the Advanced-A level in 2021 and now is a full-time pitcher at Double-A Rocket City.

Another of DeLuca’s Oregon teammates, Ryne Nelson, played shortstop in college but hasn’t picked up a bat in professional baseball. He’s now in his first year in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ starting rotation.

“You see less and less (two-way players) when you get to high school, less when you get to college, and less when you get in the minor leagues, and you can count on your hand the amount of guys who can do it at the major leagues,” Busch said. “And (Ohtani) does it at an extremely high level on both sides of the ball.”

“Hitting’s hard enough,” Dodgers outfielder James Outman said. “I can’t imagine having to pitch on top of it.”

Now, for the first time, the Dodgers will be able to see Ohtani do both.

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