madness

Nobody knows why cramps really happen, but Friday night’s Gardena Serra-Sierra Canyon high school football game took the issue to an unprecedented level.

Serra players kept cramping on defense, repeatedly slowing down Sierra Canyon’s up-tempo offense. By the end of the third quarter, Sierra Canyon coach Jon Ellinghouse had seen enough. His 11 offensive players, at his direction, simultaneously went to the ground and engaged in fake cramping.

That caused an enraged Serra coach Scott Altenberg to go on the field and be held back by others. Officials halted the game briefly and called 15-yard penalties on Sierra Canyon and Serra.

Ellinghouse said after his team’s 30-0 victory that he was frustrated with the repeated game stoppages and in hindsight, regrets having his players engage in the fake cramps.

Altenberg said he was never angrier in 27 years of coaching. He denied his team was faking cramps to influence the game. “I’m not that kind of coach,” he said.

It wasn’t the only controversy on Friday night. Salesian scored 91 points to beat Cantwell-Sacred Heart 91-13. It was 84-7 at halftime.

Salesian coach Anthony Atkins said he started substituting in the first quarter. There was no running clock until the third quarter. Cantwell-Sacred Heart apparently didn’t ask for a running clock in the first half.

In a text message, Atkins said, “I went back and watched the film just to make sure there wasn’t any malice or that it didn’t look like we were trying to run up the score. Honestly, there was nothing more we could have done short of sitting our guys for the entire game.”

The Mira Costa-Lawndale game was halted with Mira Costa ahead 14-0 in the first quarter because of a security threat at Mira Costa after a bullet was discovered on campus. Also canceled was a girls’ volleyball tournament.

In a developing story, standout quarterback Brady Smigiel of Newbury Park was injured in a game against Santa Barbara and left in the second half. Smigiel, who has committed to Michigan, was expected to get an MRI exam on a knee on Saturday.

PEP GUARDIOLA bizarrely KISSED fourth official Craig Pawson during Manchester City’s game with Arsenal.

City were leading 1-0 thanks to Erling Haaland’s ninth-minute opener at the Emirates.

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And Guardiola’s men looked to be heading for the three points as the game entered the final stages.

Maybe City’s legendary manager was feeling too jubilant too early as he grabbed Pawson by the cheek and tried to give him a smooch on the cheek.

Pawson managed to just about swerve the peck but fans were still left absolutely baffled by Guardiola’s moment of madness.

One said: “Have I just seen Pep kiss the ref??”

Another added: “WHAT’S BLUD DOING!”

One asked: “Pep trying to kiss ref??”

Another said: “Did Guardiola just kiss the fourth official?”

Ironically, it was City who kissed their lead goodbye after Gabriel Martinelli levelled the game in injury time.

MORE TO FOLLOW

ROMEO and Juliet has been hit with a trigger warning — with audiences informed it featured violent scenes and death.

Shakespeare’s classic 16th-century love story has been “retold” as a modern ballet.

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But London’s Royal Opera House deemed it necessary to warn potential visitors the production includes themes of “violence and death”.

Sir Ian McKellen, who has appeared in Romeo and Juliet productions throughout his career, previously hit out at “ludicrous” warnings.

He said: “I quite like to be surprised by loud noises and outrageous behaviour on stage.”

It comes four years after The Globe in London warned of “upsetting” themes in the play, and provided a number for The Samaritans.

They were even provided a number for the Samaritans for after the show.

Actor Christopher Biggins said: “Do we have to have signs for everything under the sun?

“It’s a joke. What they are trying to do is insulting to the mentality of theatre-goers.”

The Globe has also warned about themes of “violence, sexual references, misogyny and racism” in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as “anti-semitism” in The Merchant of Venice.

In February, the University of the West of England slapped over 200 trigger warnings on Shakespeare’s work – including “bad weather” in The Tempest.

The Royal Opera House was asked to comment.

Baseball isn’t boring and the CW isn’t stupid, at least when it comes to the Savannah Bananas, the Georgia-based team that has rewritten the rules around the classic American pastime. The network has picked up rights to broadcast the July 27 Bananas game at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia.

“Banana Ball” incorporates humor, gymnastics, lip syncs and snappy dance choreography in a minor league baseball game with rules that definitely don’t match those of Major League Baseball — though many of the players once had MLB aspirations. This year the team has sold out 18 major league ballparks, plus three football stadiums with capacities of more than 70,000.

The CW in recent years has been leaning into live sports coverage, which has generally been delivering ratings results in a rapidly changing TV-viewing landscape. The network has the NASCAR Xfinity Series, WWE NXT on Tuesday nights, Grand Slam Track, AVP beach volleyball on summer Saturdays, ACC and Pac-12 football games in the fall and, starting next year, PBA professional bowling.

The Savannah Bananas come with a built-in audience earned via posts on TikTok, Facebook Reels and the like. The team has 10 million followers on TikTok alone.

The Savannah Bananas, a minor league baseball club, went on their first ever “World Tour” this year, taking their unique brand of baseball to various cities across America.

“We’ve always been very clear about our goal,” Bananas owner Jesse Cole told The Times in 2022. “We exist to make baseball fun.”

“It’s all about energy. We want to give people energy, delivering it every second, from the moment we open the gates at two o’clock until the last fan leaves at 11,” he added over the weekend, when the team played to a sellout crowd at Anaheim Stadium.

There’s definitely an audience appetite for the Savannah team: There are tickets available for games in August and September, but only through a lottery — and the wait list for the lottery is more than 3 million names long. Last season’s games drew a million fans total.

On Friday, the only way into the Anaheim game was through the resale market. Hours before the first pitch, the lowest price (fees and taxes included) for a pair of Bananas tickets on StubHub was $209.52, while it took a mere $171.72 to snag a pair of tickets to the Yankees-Dodgers series opener at Dodger Stadium the same night.

Who needs Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge anyway: Banana Ball has the Savannah team facing rival outfits the Texas Tailgaters, the Firefighters, the Party Animals and the Visitors.

And while Ohtani and Judge can be counted on for multiple home runs, only the Bananas deliver baby races, a dancing umpire and backflips before balls are caught in the outfield. Plus the games are limited to two hours max, something even the much-loved MLB pitch clock can’t deliver.

“The Savannah Bananas have taken the sports world by storm through their high-energy blend of baseball and entertainment that connects with viewers of all ages,” Mike Perman, senior vice president of CW Sports, said in a statement Tuesday.

“We are thrilled to partner with them for their broadcast television debut, and we cannot wait to bring our audience every unpredictable play in front of what promises to be an electric atmosphere in Philadelphia.”

“Banana Ball on The CW is a no-brainer,” Bananas owner Cole added in that news release. “After seeing their recent commitment to sports, we knew this could be a great partnership. With the speed and entertainment of Banana Ball, we look forward to creating new fans together in the years to come.”

Times staff writer David Wharton and Times fellow Anthony De Leon contributed to this report.