Sports
The humbling of Jared Goff began at Levi's Stadium. Now it might host his best moment yet
It was supposed to be a glorious homecoming for Jared Goff.
In 2016, five months after the Rams made the Marin County native and former California star the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, Goff was on the field at Levi’s Stadium for the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers.
Goff did not play. He was not even in uniform.
A player the Rams proclaimed as their franchise quarterback was inactive, coach Jeff Fisher saying the previous week that Goff was “not ready.”
So with family, friends and a “Monday Night Football” audience looking on, Goff watched journeyman Case Keenum struggle in a 28-0 defeat. And those close to Goff observed how he navigated the beginning of his NFL career.
Jared Goff examines one of his father’s commemorative baseballs in the family’s home in Novato, California, a suburb of San Francisco.
(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)
“It was a tough start there,” Mazi Moayed, Goff’s coach at Marin Catholic High, said this week in a phone interview. “But he’s handled things gracefully, and I think he’s done a great job of that his whole career.”
On Sunday, Goff returns to Levi’s Stadium riding a wave of momentum. A player who led the Rams to a Super Bowl and then was discarded two years later has been at the forefront of the Detroit Lions’ drive to the NFC championship game. A victory over the top-seeded 49ers would send the Lions to the Super Bowl for the first time.
Goff had a 3-6 record against the 49ers when he played for the Rams. He is 2-2 at Levi’s Stadium.
“I grew up a Niner fan and I was able to get all those ‘playing in front of the Bay Area team’ done when I had my time with the Rams,” Goff told reporters in Detroit this week.
“So, yeah, it’ll be fun to be able to play a big game there, but I’ve played there quite a few times.”
The Bay Area is where Goff first demonstrated a knack for helping revive moribund programs. After losing only a few games in high school, Goff experienced a 1-11 season as a freshman starter at Cal. By his junior season, the Golden Bears qualified for a bowl game and he became the No. 1 pick in the draft.
Jared Goff played college football for Cal, just across the bay from San Francisco.
(Getty Images)
As a Rams rookie, Goff was 0-7 as a starter for a team that finished 4-12. The Rams hired coach Sean McVay in 2017 and Goff thrived for two seasons, earning Pro Bowl nods in 2017 and 2018.
But in January 2021, shortly after a divisional-round defeat by the Green Bay Packers, the Rams jettisoned Goff to Detroit, sending the quarterback, two first-round draft picks and a third-rounder for Matthew Stafford.
Stafford promptly led the Rams to a Super Bowl title. The Lions, under first-year coach Dan Campbell, finished 3-13.
But Goff helped the Lions improve to 9-8 in 2022. This season Goff passed for 30 touchdowns with 12 interceptions as the Lions finished 12-5 and won the NFC North.
Two weeks ago at frenzied Ford Field, fans booed Stafford and chanted “Jar-ed Goff” as Lions beat the Rams, 24-23, for their first playoff win since 1991. Last week Goff led the Lions to a 31-23 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before another ecstatic Ford Field crowd.
Jared Goff gives the No. 1 sign as he walks off the field following the Lions’ playoff win over the Buccaneers.
(Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)
Campbell praised Goff for his ability to remain calm in pressure-packed moments.
“It’s just the way he’s made,” Campbell told reporters in Detroit this week, adding, “He does do a great job with it, and he does stay calm, he does stay cool, and he knows even if it feels a little shaky, a little rocky, it’ll smooth out.”
Goff said Campbell was “the greatest leader I’ve been around.” Goff also has benefited from the creativity of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who Goff said has allowed him input in the offense.
“Whether he takes it or he doesn’t, he allows me to say it and uses some of it,” Goff said. “It’s fun for me, it really is. It allows me to really be a part of the plan.”
Kyle Shanahan, in his seventh season as coach of the 49ers, told Bay Area reporters that Goff has “shown some of the stuff” he demonstrated when he played for the Rams, especially his first two seasons under McVay when he played at an “MVP-type level.”
“When they give him a good scheme, when he’s got good people around him, Jared’s going to always find the spot,” Shanahan said. “He’s as accurate as any quarterback I’ve seen. … If you sit and make things easy for him, he will gash you.
“I’ve seen it over and over, whether he’s with the Rams, whether he is with Detroit. That’s why he challenges you. You better be on your stuff or [he] can embarrass you fast.”
This will be Goff’s second appearance in an NFC championship game. As with the first, it is on the road.
In January 2019, he passed for 297 yards and a touchdown with an interception in a 26-23 overtime victory over the New Orleans Saints that sent the Rams to Super Bowl LIII, where they lost to the New England Patriots.
“It’s helpful playing in playoffs and winning playoff games and then being able to draw on those experiences,” Goff said. “Certainly, road playoff games I think are extremely hard to win and I’ve been fortunate to have success in them in the past.”
In the Lions’ two playoff victories, Goff outdueled Stafford and Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield. All were No. 1 picks in the draft.
Brock Purdy, the 49ers’ second-year quarterback, was the last player chosen in the 2022 draft.
This season Purdy passed for 31 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. He was voted to the Pro Bowl and is a finalist for most valuable player. Last Sunday he passed for 252 yards and a touchdown and directed a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter of a 24-21 divisional-round victory over the Packers.
Moayed is looking forward to this matchup. He is confident Goff will rise to the occasion, as he did two weeks ago against the Rams.
“That game against the Rams served him better than anything that could have possibly happened,” Moayed said. “I think it helped him with the Tampa Bay game, and I think that will help him this game.
“Because right now, you don’t have all that other emotional drama — you just have football.”
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
Sports
After 55 years as a broadcaster in L.A., Randy Rosenbloom is leaving town
It’s time to reveal memories, laughs and crazy times from Randy Rosenbloom’s 55 years as a TV/radio broadcaster in Los Angeles. He’s hopping in a car next Sunday with his wife, saying goodbye to a North Hollywood house that’s been in his family since 1952 and driving 3,300 miles to his new home in Greenville, S.C.
“When I walk out, I’ll probably break down,” he said.
He graduated from North Hollywood High in 1969. He got his first paid job in 1971 calling Hart basketball games for NBC Cable Newhall for $10 a game. It began an adventure of a lifetime.
“I never knew if I overachieved or underachieved. I just did what I loved,” he said.
Randy Rosenbloom (left) used to work with former UCLA coach John Wooden for TV games.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
John Wooden, Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick were among his expert commentators when he did play by play for college basketball games. He called volleyball at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games for NBC and rowing in 2004. He’s worked more than 100 championship high school events. He did play by play for the first and only Reebok Bowl at Angel Stadium in 1994 won by Bishop Amat over Sylmar, 35-14.
“There were about 5,000, 6,000 people there and I remember thinking nobody watched the game. We ended up with a 5.7 TV rating on Channel 13 in Los Angeles, which is higher than most Lakers games.”
He conducted interviews with NFL Hall of Famers Gale Sayers and Johnny Unitas and boxing greats Robert Duran, Thomas Hearn and Sugar Ray Leonard. He’s worked with baseball greats Steve Garvey and Doug DeCinces. He called games with former USC coach Rod Dedeaux. He was in the radio booth for Bret Saberhagen’s 1982 no-hitter in the City Section championship game at Dodger Stadium. He was a nightly sportscaster for KADY in Ventura.
Randy Rosenbloom, left, with his volleyball broadcast partners, Kirk Kilgour and Bill Walton.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
He was the voice of Fresno State football and basketball. He also did Nevada Las Vegas football and basketball games. He called bowl games and Little League games. He was a public address announcer for basketball at the 1984 Olympic Games with Michael Jordan the star and did the P.A. for Toluca Little League.
Nothing was too small or too big for him.
“I loved everything,” he said.
He called at least 10 East L.A. Classic football games between Garfield and Roosevelt. He was there when Narbonne and San Pedro tied 21-21 in the 2008 City championship game at the Coliseum on a San Pedro touchdown with one second left.
Probably his most notable tale came when he was doing radio play-by-play at a 1998 college bowl game in Montgomery, Ala.
“I look down and a giant tarantula is crawling up my pants,” he said. “My color man took all the press notes, wadded them up and hit the tarantula like swinging a bat.”
Did Rosenbloom tell the audience what was happening?
“I stayed calm,” he said.
Then there was the time he was in the press box at Sam Boyd Stadium and a bat flew in and attached itself to the wooden press box right next to him before flying away after he said, “UNLV wins.”
Recently, he’s been putting together high school TV packages for LA36 and calling travel ball basketball games. He’ll still keep doing a radio gambling show from his new home, but he’s cutting ties to Los Angeles to move closer to grandchildren.
“I’m retiring from Los Angeles. I’m leaving the market,” he said.
Hopefully he’ll continue via Zoom to do a weekly podcast with me for The Times.
He’s a true professional who’s versatility and work ethic made him a reliable hire from the age of 18 through his current age of 74.
He’s a member of the City Section Hall of Fame and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He once threw the shot put 51 feet, 7 1/2 inches, which is his claim to fame at North Hollywood High.
One time an ESPN graphic before a show spelled his name “Rosenbloom” then changed it to “Rosenblum” for postgame. It was worth a good laugh.
He always adjusts, improvises and ad-libs. He expects to enjoy his time in South Carolina, but he better watch out for tarantulas. They seem to like him.
Sports
Becky Lynch enters exclusive WWE club with Women’s Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Becky Lynch entered an atmosphere no other WWE women’s superstar has ever reached as she won the Women’s Intercontinental Championship over AJ Lee on Saturday night at WrestleMania 42.
Lynch became the first person to hold the Women’s Intercontinental Championship three times after she pinned Lee. She first won the title against Lyra Valkyria in June 2025 and then again against Maxxine Dupri in November.
Becky Lynch celebrates with the belt after defeating AJ Lee during their women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
She dropped the belt to Lee at the Elimination Chamber, sparking a monthslong feud with her.
Lee gave Lynch the chance at the title in the weeks prior to WrestleMania 42. But it appeared Lee played right into Lynch’s plans. Despite arguing with referee Jessica Carr for most of the match, Lynch was able to tactfully tear down a rope buckle and use it to her advantage.
Lynch hit Lee with a Manhandle Slam and pinned her for the win.
WWE STARS REVEAL WHAT MAKES WRESTLEMANIA SO SPECIAL: ‘IT’S THE SUPER BOWL OF PRO WRESTLING’
AJ Lee reacts after losing to Becky Lynch in their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It’s the second straight year Lynch will leave Las Vegas as champion. She returned to WWE at WrestleMania 41, teaming with Valkyria, to win the women’s tag titles. She will now leave Allegiant Stadium as the women’s intercontinental champion.
Lynch is now a seven-time women’s champion, three-time women’s intercontinental champion and two-time tag team champion.
Becky Lynch withstands AJ Lee during their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Lee’s reign as champion ended really before it could really begin. WrestleMania 42 was her first appearance at the event in 11 years. It’s unclear where Lee will go from here.
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