Fryer: Orange County’s revamped football leagues for 2024 taking shape

• October 20, 2023

Orange County football has the usual high number of tight league races happening this season. League rivalries are about as good as they’ve ever been.

Enjoy them now, because most of these league rivalries are very unlikely to be around next season.

They could continue as nonleague games, but it’s more fun when a playoff berth or a league championship is at stake.

Orange County high schools agreed this past spring to reassemble its football leagues and conferences after this season. With the exception of the Trinity League teams, all of the Orange County 11-player football teams will placed into one basket. CalPreps’ ratings will be used to place teams into leagues. This is a football-only plan. League and conference memberships will be different for other sports.

If the 2023 football season was over, what would the leagues look like in 2024?

Let’s do this … but first a couple of items to know …

Again, the Trinity League is excluded. The four football teams with the top ratings by CalPreps will be in one league, then there will be 10 six-team leagues, and the bottom five teams in one league.

The league names have not been finalized, so the working titles are Orange County Football Conference A (OCFC A) and Orange County Football Conference B (OCFC B),etc. For this exercise, we’re going with “leagues.”

The previous two years of ratings will be used to place teams into leagues, weighted at 65 percent for the 2023 season and 35 percent weighted for the 2022 season.

Going into this week’s games, with rounded-off ratings totals, here are what the leagues would look like in 2024 (league members listed in alphabetical order):

League A: Edison, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, San Clemente.

League B: Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor, San Juan Hills, Tesoro, Villa Park, Yorba Linda.

League C: Capistrano Valley, Cypress, El Modena, Trabuco Hills, Tustin, Western.

League D: El Dorado, Foothill, Huntington Beach, La Habra, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills.

League E: Crean Lutheran, Dana Hills, Fountain Valley, Irvine, Northwood, Orange.

League F: Aliso Niguel, Canyon, El Toro, Santa Ana, St. Margaret’s, Troy.

League G: Brea Olinda, Esperanza, Kennedy, Segerstrom, Sonora, Sunny Hills.

League H: Beckman, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Marina, Valencia, Westminster.

League I: Buena Park, Calvary Chapel, Pacifica, Portola, University, Woodbridge.

League J: Estancia; Katella, Los Amigos, Ocean View, Rancho Alamitos, Santa Ana Valley.

League K: Anaheim, Bolsa Grande, Costa Mesa, La Quinta, Loara, Santiago.

League L: Century, Godinez Magnolia, Saddleback, Savanna.

The margins could be tight when teams are placed into football leagues for the 2024 season. Through eight games of this season, using the Calpreps ratings, Irvine’s rating is 4.79 and Aliso Niguel’s is 4.78. So if the 2023 season was over now, Irvine would be the bottom team in League E and Aliso Niguel would be the top team in League F.

NOTES

CIF-SS football playoff brackets will be released Oct. 29 at 10 a.m. The 8-man football playoff brackets will be released Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. …

Yes, Orange County has 8-man football. Sage Hill, in Newport Beach, is in the Prep League and is 4-2 overall and 0-1 in league and averages 48 points a game. Vista Meridian, in Santa Ana, plays a freelance schedule and is 1-4. …

The CIF-SS Division 1 football championship game will be played at the Coliseum on Nov. 24. The first CIF championship football game played at the Coliseum was in 1923 when Long Beach Poly defeated Glendale 15-8. The most recent CIF final at the Coliseum was in 1997 when Long Beach Poly beat Mater Dei 28-25. …

It looks like the Pacific Coast Conference schools will present a proposal at Monday’s releaguing meeting that would exclude Rosary from its group. This past spring Orange County schools included Rosary in the Pacific Coast group in the approved releaguing plan for all sports outside of football. The Freeway League, which would be broken up in the passed proposal, has indicated that it would present a proposal that would keep its membership intact. …

Holly Barker of Trabuco Hills and Evan Noonan of Dana Hills, so far, are making it easy to select the Orange County boys and girls cross country athletes of the year by winning or finishing high in just about every race they enter. Barker won last weekend’s Orange County Championships and earlier finished first in the Central Park Invitational. Noonan finished first in the Orange County Championships, the Woodbridge Classic and was third in the Clovis Invitational. …

The CIF-SS Division 1 girls volleyball playoffs started Wednesday. Mater Dei swept Palos Verdes in three sets (the first was a tough one, 27-25), Los Alamitos lost to Mira Costa in three sets and Huntington Beach swept Alemany (and another tough first set there, with the Oilers winning 28-26). Division 1 pool play resumes Tuesday with Los Alamitos at Huntington Beach. Huntington Beach beat Los Alamitos in their two Surf League matches. …

Newport Harbor’s girls flag football team had its closest win of the season Wednesday, a 14-12 victory over Edison. Newport Harbor is 21-1, with the loss to Woodbridge, which Newport Harbor defeated a couple of weeks later.

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​ Orange County Register 

Official charged with embezzling more than $14 million from OC school district

• October 20, 2023

A former senior Orange County education official has been arrested after authorities allege he embezzled more than $14 million in public school funds over a seven-year span.

Jorge Armando Contreras, 52, is facing a felony charge of embezzling from programs receiving federal money, and has been ordered jailed without bond, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement.

The Yorba Linda resident is accused of embezzling the money while working as senior director of fiscal services at the Magnolia School District.

Prosecutors say from August 2022 to July 2023 alone, Contreras embezzled more than $4 million, using the money to pay $1.9 million to American Express, to withdraw $325,000 in cash from ATMs, to transfer more than $130,000 to a person he would later marry and to purchase a BMW SUV.

Contreras also is accused of using some of the stolen funds to pay $190,000 to a West Hollywood dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon and to buy Versace and Louis Vuitton luxury items.

According to a complaint filed last week at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana and unsealed on Thursday, Contreras made the unauthorized payments to himself, receiving more than 250 checks — ranging from $11,000 to $95,000 — from the school district that were deposited into his personal bank account. Fictitious persons were listed on the checks as the payee, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege that Contreras altered documents to hide the embezzlement. And some of the money was transferred to bank accounts in Mexico, according to the indictment.

In 2020, prosecutors allege, Contreras when purchasing a home in Yorba Linda paid for more than $1 million of the cost through a wire transfer from a personal bank account, and allegedly altered bank statements submitted for a loan application tied to the property in order to hide the embezzled funds.

The Magnolia School District — which serves students in Anaheim and Stanton — hired Contreras in 2006 to manage their fiscal operations. He was placed on administrative leave in August, according to prosecutors, and the district has filed a lawsuit against him.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that 81% of the children educated by the Magnolia School District are classified as socio-economically disadvantaged, and that the school receives millions of dollars annually in federal funds.

So far, the district has undertaken efforts to recover and freeze some $4 million, said Frank Donavan, district superintendent.

“Mr. Contreras’ actions, which diverted millions of dollars intended to benefit children to his own personal use, are shocking to the conscience and deeply disturbing,” Donavan said in a statement Thursday. “The District will continue to aggressively pursue all options to recover funds and to ensure justice is served.”

Contreras is scheduled to return to federal court for an arraignment on Nov. 27. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

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​ Orange County Register 

Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. looking to clean up his play vs. Chiefs

• October 19, 2023

COSTA MESA — Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. will renew hostilities with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce on Sunday, a personal rivalry between two superb players whose meeting near the goal line on Sept. 15, 2022, at Arrowhead Stadium resulted in a body-slam heard around the football world.

A quick review: Kelce appeared headed for a touchdown after catching a pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes before James accosted him, bear-hugged him and threw him to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the football flying from his hands as he hit the grass with a tremendous thud.

It was all legal.

No harm, no foul.

Kelce later joked about it in hilarious fashion on his weekly podcast with his brother, Jason, a Philadelphia Eagles center. What else could he do or say? Kelce got the worst of his meeting with James, a fellow multiple Pro Bowl selection, including in 2022. There was no sense crying foul.

Plays such as the one against Kelce have established James as one of the league’s most dynamic defensive backs, a player who has earned a reputation as someone to watch whenever the Chargers take the field.

But, near the end of the 2022 season and into the start of this one, plenty of eyes have been on him, but for all the wrong reasons.

James’ aggressive tackling has resulted in a number of costly penalties, starting with a helmet-to-helmet hit on wide receiver Ashton Dulin of the Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 26, 2022, sending both players into the NFL’s concussion protocol. James was fined $25,462 by the league.

Earlier this season, James was penalized for unnecessary roughness on a third-and-13 play against the Tennessee Titans, setting up a first down at the Chargers’ 28-yard line that ended up aiding a touchdown drive in the third quarter of an eventual 27-24 overtime loss on Sept. 17.

Then, and most notably, James was penalized for two personal fouls on Monday night – one on Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott that aided a second-quarter drive into the red zone that stalled at the 13-yard line and another on tight end Jake Ferguson that set up a go-ahead field goal on the final play of the first half.

The Chargers lost to the Cowboys, 20-17.

James addressed the penalty issues earlier this week with reporters, specifically his need to avoid the high, late hits that have drawn flags since his brutal collision with Dulin last season in Indianapolis, a tackle that Chargers coach Brandon Staley initially defended after the game.

“I’m already going low, and then guys are ducking,” James explained Wednesday. “I just have to get low, I guess. I’m a professional, they pay me to do my job. If they’re going to call it like that, I have to be responsible and not hurt my team and get better from it. It’s that simple.”

Asked if he’s been thinking about adjusting his tackling technique and avoiding future costly penalties since hitting Dulin last season, James said, “I think I am a little bit. But, like I said, I’m not here to referee what they need to call. I’m here to play football and help my team win games.”

DEFENDING KC

James had this to say about facing the reigning Super Bowl champions: “It definitely feels like an important game for us. We haven’t gotten off to the start that we want (with a 2-3 record). We get a new opportunity this week. We have to get out there and fix what we need to fix.”

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Of the keys to defending Kelce, in particular, and the Chiefs in general, James said, “Doing my job, knowing my defense, executing, going out there giving them different looks and changing it up on them. You have to be physical. You have to go out there and you have to guard him. That’s all it comes down to.”

Of containing Mahomes, James said, “He’s one of the best (quarterbacks) that we have to offer in this league. He presents a challenge for the defense. As a defense, it’s on us to stop guys like that. We just have to be ready for the challenge. I can’t wait for Sunday to get that opportunity.”

ROSTER MOVES

Defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia and wide receiver Jalen Guyton, who began the season on the PUP list, joined their teammates for practice Thursday. The Chargers have a 21-day window in which to activate the two players, who each suffered a season-ending knee injury during the 2022 season.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is stopped short of the goal line by Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. during a game last season in Kansas City, Mo. Plays like that have established James as one of the league’s most dynamic defensive backs, but his aggressive tackling has led to some costly penalties so far this season. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

​ Orange County Register 

Burt Young dies at 83; Oscar-nominated actor played Paulie in ‘Rocky’ films

• October 19, 2023

By Andrew Dalton | Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Burt Young, the Oscar-nominated actor who played Paulie, the rough-hewn, mumbling-and-grumbling best friend, corner-man and brother-in-law to Sylvester Stallone in the “Rocky” franchise, has died.

Young died Oct. 8 in Los Angeles, his daughter, Anne Morea Steingieser, told the New York Times on Wednesday. No cause was given. He was 83.

Young had roles in acclaimed films and television shows including “Chinatown,” “Once Upon a Time in America” and “The Sopranos.”

But he was always best known for playing Paulie Pennino in six “Rocky” movies. The short, paunchy, balding Young was the sort of actor who always seemed to play middle-aged no matter his age.

When Paulie first appears in 1976’s “Rocky,” he’s an angry, foul-mouthed meat packer who is abusive to his sister Adrian (Talia Shire), with whom he shares a small apartment in Philadelphia. He berates the shy, meek Adrian for refusing at first to go on a Thanksgiving-night date with his buddy and co-worker Rocky Balboa, and destroys a turkey she has in the oven.

The film became a phenomenon, topping the box office for the year and making a star of lead actor and writer Stallone, who paid tribute to Young on Instagram on Wednesday night.

Along with a photo of the two of them on the set of the first film, Stallone wrote “you were an incredible man and artist, I and the World will miss you very much.”

Sylvester Stallone, left, mugs with “Rocky” co-star Burt Young before a 1996 screening of the film to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

“Rocky” was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best supporting actor for Young. It won three, including best picture. Young and co-star Burgess Meredith, who was also nominated, lost to Jason Robards in “All the President’s Men.”

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As the movies went on, Young’s Paulie softened, as the sequels themselves did, and he became their comic relief. In 1985’s “Rocky IV” he reprograms a robot Rocky gives him into a sexy-voiced servant who dotes on him.

Paulie was also an eternal pessimist who was constantly convinced that Rocky was going to get clobbered by his increasingly daunting opponents. His surprise at Rocky’s resilience brought big laughs.

“It was a great ride, and it brought me to the audience in a great way,” Young said in a 2020 interview with Celebrity Parents magazine. “I made him a rough guy with a sensitivity. He’s really a marshmallow even though he yells a lot.”

Born and raised in Queens, New York, Young served in the Marine Corps, fought as a professional boxer and worked as a carpet layer before taking up acting, studying with legendary teacher Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.

On stage, in films and on television, he typically played small-time tough guys or down-on-their luck working class men.

In a short-but-memorable scene in 1974’s “Chinatown,” he plays a fisherman who throws a fit when Jack Nicholson’s private detective Jake Gittes shows him pictures proving his wife is cheating on him.

Young also appeared in director Sergio Leone’s 1984 gangster epic “Once Upon a Time in America” with Robert De Niro, the 1986 comedy “Back to School” with Rodney Dangerfield, and the 1989 gritty drama “Last Exit to Brooklyn” with Jennifer Jason Leigh.

In a striking appearance in season three of “The Sopranos” in 2001, he plays Bobby Baccalieri Sr., an elderly mafioso with lung cancer who pulls off one last hit before a coughing fit leads to him dying in a car accident.

He guest-starred on many other TV series including “M*A*S*H,” “Miami Vice” and “The Equalizer.”

Later in life he focused on roles in the theater and on painting, a lifelong pursuit that led to gallery shows and sales.

His wife of 13 years, Gloria, died in 1974.

Along with his daughter, Young is survived by one grandchild and a brother, Robert.

​ Orange County Register 

Teen arrested in Santa Ana hit-and-run crash that injured 12-year-old girl

• October 19, 2023

An 18-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday night, Oct. 18, on suspicion of leaving the scene of a crash that injured a 12-year-old girl in Santa Ana earlier that morning, authorities said.

Investigators served a search warrant on a home in Santa Ana and found a blue, four-door sedan believed to be involved in the crash as well as the suspected driver, police said.

The crash occurred about 8:10 a.m. Wednesday in the 4400 block of McFadden Avenue. Investigators believe the girl was crossing McFadden Avenue, not in a crosswalk, on her way to school when she was hit by a vehicle traveling eastbound.

The driver of that vehicle stayed at the scene, but a second vehicle also hit the girl, police said. The driver of the second car did not stop to render aid or identify herself.

The girl was taken to a hospital where she was stable as of Wednesday night, police said. While she isn’t facing any life-threatening injury, she has a long recovery ahead, said Officer Natalie Garcia, a Santa Ana police spokeswoman, on Thursday.

The suspected driver was booked into jail and being held on $50,000 bail, according to inmate records.

How police identified the car and suspect as the driver were not disclosed.

The first driver cooperated with police and was not arrested.

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​ Orange County Register 

Rams CB Derion Kendrick returns to team facility for first time after arrest

• October 19, 2023

THOUSAND OAKS — Rams cornerback Derion Kendrick returned to the team facility and participated in a walk through Thursday, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said. It marked the first team activity Kendrick has participated in since his arrest early Monday morning on a felony count of carrying a concealed weapon.

Kendrick spoke with Morris on Wednesday night and had a meeting with head coach Sean McVay on Thursday morning upon his return to the Rams’ team facility. After that, he attended team meetings, Morris said.

The original plan was for Kendrick to participate in practice Thursday, but he left the team facility before it began, according to a team spokesperson.

Kendrick’s status for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers remains to be determined, with McVay making the final call. But Morris said he is preparing for all possibilities.

Morris said the entire situation has been a lot for Kendrick to deal with this week and something he tried to address with teammates after his return Thursday.

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“It’s really more about him being apologetic for causing any form of distraction. He doesn’t want me up here answering questions about DK Kendrick in a week we’re playing the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Morris said. “So you feel really bad about those things. No matter what the situation is, those are the things that affect these guys the most. Just getting away from our due process and the process that we want to go about for winning football games. Because that’s what we’re all here for.”

​ Orange County Register 

What’s next after nearly 100 days of Hollywood actors strike?

• October 19, 2023

By Andrew Dalton | Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — While screenwriters are busy back at work, film and TV actors remain on picket lines, with the longest strike in their history set to hit 100 days on Saturday after talks broke off with studios. Here’s a look at where things stand, how their stretched-out standoff compares to past strikes, and what happens next.

INSIDE THE ACTORS-STUDIO TALKS THAT FAILED

Hopes were high and leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were cautiously optimistic when they resumed negotiations on Oct. 2 for the first time since the strike began 2 1/2 months earlier.

The same group of chief executives from the biggest studios had made a major deal just over a week earlier with striking writers, whose leaders celebrated their gains on many issues actors are also fighting for: long-term pay, consistency of employment and control over the use of artificial intelligence.

But the actors’ talks were tepid, with days off between sessions and no reports of progress. Then studios abruptly ended them on Oct. 11, saying the actors’ demands were exorbitantly expensive and the two sides were too far apart to continue.

“We only met with them a couple of times, Monday, half a day Wednesday, half a day Friday. That was what they were available for,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher told The Associated Press soon after the talks broke off. “Then this past week, it was Monday and a half a day on Wednesday. And then “Bye bye. I’ve never really met people that actually don’t understand what negotiations mean. Why are you walking away from the table?”

The reasons, according to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, included a union demand for a fee for each subscriber to streaming services.

“SAG-AFTRA gave the member companies an ultimatum: either agree to a proposal for a tax on subscribers as well as all other open items, or else the strike would continue,” the AMPTP said in a statement to the AP. “The member companies responded to SAG-AFTRA’s ultimatum that unfortunately, the tax on subscribers poses an untenable economic burden.”

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, one of the executives in on the bargaining sessions, told investors on an earnings call Wednesday that “This really broke our momentum unfortunately.”

SAG-AFTRA leaders said it was ridiculous to frame this demand as as though it were a tax on customers, and said it was the executives themselves who wanted to shift from a model based on a show’s popularity to one based on number of subscribers.

“We made big moves in their direction that have just been ignored and not responded to,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator, told the AP. “We made changes to our AI proposal. We made dramatic changes to what used to be our streaming revenue share proposal,” Crabtree-Ireland said.

The studios said just after the talks broke off that the per-subscriber charge would cost them $800 million annually, a figure SAG-AFTRA said was a vast overestimate.

The AMPTP later responded that the number was based on a union request for $1 per customer per year, which was lowered to 57 cents after SAG-AFTRA changed its evaluation to cut out non-relevant programming like news and sports.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN THE ACTORS STRIKE?

The actors are in unscripted territory, with no end in sight. Their union has never been on a strike this long, nor been on strike at all since before many of its members were born. Not even its veteran leaders, like Crabtree-Ireland, with the union for 20 years, have found themselves in quite these circumstances.

As they did for months before the talks broke off, members and leaders will rally, picket and speak out publicly until the studios signal a willingness to talk again. No one knows how long that will take. SAG-AFTRA says it is willing to resume at any time, but that won’t change its demands.

“I think that they think that we’re going to cower,” Drescher said. “But that’s never going to happen because this is a crossroads and we must stay on course.”

The writers did have their own false start with studios that may give some reason for optimism. Their union attempted to restart negotiations with studios in mid-August, more than three months into their strike. Those talks went nowhere, breaking off after a few days. A month later, the studio alliance came calling again. Those talks took off, with most of their demands being met after five marathon days that resulted in a tentative deal that its members would vote to approve almost unanimously.

HOW DID PREVIOUS ACTORS STRIKES PLAY OUT?

Hollywood actors strikes have been less frequent and shorter than those by writers. The Screen Actors Guild (they added the “AFTRA” in a 2011 merger) has gone on strike against film and TV studios only three times in its history.

In each case, emerging technology fueled the dispute. In 1960 — the only previous time actors and writers struck simultaneously — the central issue was actors seeking pay for when their work in film was aired on television, compensation the industry calls residuals. The union, headed by future U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was a smaller and much less formal entity then. The vote to strike took place in the home of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, the parents of current SAG-AFTRA member and vocal striker Jamie Lee Curtis.

Mid-strike, the actors and studios called a truce so all could attend the Academy Awards — a move forbidden under today’s union rules. Host Bob Hope called the gathering “Hollywood’s most glamorous strike meeting.”

In the end, a compromise was reached where SAG dropped demands for residuals from past films in exchange for a donation to their pension fund, along with a formula for payment when future films aired on TV. Their 42-day work stoppage began and ended all within the span of the much longer writers strike.

A 1980 strike would be the actors’ longest for film and television until this year. That time, they were seeking payment for their work appearing on home video cassettes and cable TV, along with significant hikes in minimum compensation for roles. A tentative deal was reached with significant gains but major compromises in both areas. Union leadership declared the strike over after 67 days, but many members were unhappy and balked at returning to work. It was nearly a month before leaders could rally enough votes to ratify the deal.

This time, it was the Emmy Awards that fell in the middle of the strike. The Television Academy held a ceremony, but after a boycott was called, only one acting winner, Powers Boothe, was there to accept his trophy.

Other segments of the actors union have gone on strike too, including several long standoffs over the TV commercials contract. A 2016-2017 strike by the union’s video game voice actors lasted a whopping 11 months. That segment of the union could strike again soon if a new contract deal isn’t reached.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS?

The return of writers has gotten the Hollywood production machine churning again, with rooms full of scribes penning new seasons of shows that had been suspended and film writers finishing scripts. But the finished product will await the end of actors strike, and production will remain suspended many TV shows and dozens of films, including “Wicked,” “Deadpool 3” and “Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 2.”

The Emmys, whose nominations were announced the same day the actors strike was called, opted to wait for the stars this time and move their ceremony from September to January, though that date could be threatened too.

The Oscars are a long way off in March, but the campaigns to win them are usually well underway by now. With some exceptions — non-studio productions approved by the union — performers are prohibited from promoting their films at press junkets or on red carpets. Director Martin Scorsese has been giving interviews about his new Oscar contender ” Killers of the Flower Moon.” Star and SAG-AFTRA member Leonardo DiCaprio hasn’t.

​ Orange County Register 

Swanson: Angel City FC makes NWSL postseason with Hollywood grit

• October 19, 2023

Going Hollywood isn’t meant as a compliment.

It’s a knock on superficiality, a dig suggesting image trumps substance. “Hollywood” being all glitz and glamour, life-of-luxury stuff.

Except that’s a facade. And a good one.

Because Hollywood is hard.

You probably know some of them, so you’d agree: Like athletes, people in that business rely on resilience and guts as much as talent and luck. Without it, they couldn’t survive the near-constant rejection, and they wouldn’t put themselves out there to chase their dreams in the first place.

And if you know one thing about Angel City FC club, it’s that it is the professional women’s soccer team in L.A. with the star-studded majority female ownership group, right? Natalie Portman, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera and so on …

That gives it the appearance of a glitzy, glamorous operation, yes. And it made for an effectively splashy introduction last season, for sure.

But it also makes Angel City a fantastic representative of its city. Especially if you stop and consider the grit and determination that’s being represented by by the A-gamers on the pitch and the A-list owners in the stands.

Together, they’ve delivered a NWSL playoff berth to L.A. for the first time: Angel City is the fifth seed, facing the No. 4 OL Reign at 7 p.m. Friday in Seattle (watch on Paramount+).

“What we have here is people who are ambitious,” said Becki Tweed, Angel City’s interim head coach (interim in name only, I’d assume, considering the team is campaigning for her to win NWSL Coach of the Year after she engineered a momentous midseason turnaround).

“People who are really intentional about growing women’s sports and about visibility and being seen.”

And also winning. Clearly.

“We play in L.A., they’re not very nice to you if you don’t win,” defender Madison Hammond said on a video conference with reporters Thursday. “That’s what the whole point of this has been … and now to kind of translate all of what people call our off-field hype and translate that onto our on-field hype, that’s why it was so special for us to make playoffs.”

Believe it. Angel City ran an 11:11-make-a-wish play to perfection, going on an 11-game unbeaten streak that lifted it from 11th place in the standings into the running for the postseason, all while it navigating injuries and the absences of four World Cup players. (Alyssa Thompson and Julie Ertz played for the United States, Jun Endo for Japan and Ali Riley for New Zealand.)

Angel City’s resurgence began as soon as Tweed took over for Freya Coombe, who was fired halfway through the 22-game season, back when Angel City did look like it was all hype, with a record of two wins against three draws and six losses.

The reversal came with a bit of foreshadowing: a 2-1 comeback thriller over the top-ranked San Diego Wave, Angel City’s rival, on the road at Snapdragon Stadium.

And it continued Sunday with the best performance in the franchise’s young history, a most-validating 5-1 regular-season-ending victory over the Portland Thorns FC – Angel City’s biggest margin of victory in its biggest match yet, because the win nudged the team off a crowded bubble and into the postseason along with five other squads.

But this is no fairy tale. It’s not as if the other NWSL teams have been sticking to a script on Angel City’s behalf.

This is the result, Tweed said, of buy-in and belief. Of players being able to be honest and vulnerable in their roles. And of dealing with so much pressure since June that pressure doesn’t feel much like pressure anymore.

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And so I get it when Angel City players like Riley, the team captain, say they want to ditch the “Hollywood” label.

“This team just fights,” she told reporters earlier this week. “I don’t think that would be the first image people think of when we have this Hollywood atmosphere, but that’s been the defining identity of this team.”

Or as defender Sarah Gorden put it postgame Sunday: “I know we’re in Hollywood, but we’ve never, ever played like that.“

I think, though, if we’re talking about the real Hollywood, the cutthroat and competitive town that rewards outsized resolve and requires enormous drive?

They are so Hollywood.

So get your popcorn ready, because the way this much-ballyhooed upstart of a team is trending, we might see a fitting ending on this location.

POV: You just clutched a playoff spot after scoring a historic FIVE goals in a match

SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS ACFC FAM!!#AngelCityFC | #GoOffLA pic.twitter.com/QIRfQPqgOt

— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) October 16, 2023

​ Orange County Register