The Los Angeles Rams rallied late to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 on Sunday to deliver a Hollywood ending to the Super Bowl, securing the franchise’s first championship since returning to the West Coast six years ago.

With his back against the wall, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford kept his poise to engineer a 15-play drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown pass to Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp with 1:25 left to play.

Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald wrapped up Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on the final play to seal the win under the lights of the team’s home field.

“I’m just so happy,” an emotional Donald said after the game.

“I wanted this so bad. I dreamed this, man. I feel amazing. It’s surreal, look at this,” he said as confetti rained down on the veteran lineman and his teammates.

RESILIENT RAMS

The Rams were forced to dig deep after they lost star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to a knee injury in the second quarter and fell behind 20-13 in the third.

The ability to overcome setbacks is what makes the team special, head coach Sean McVay told reporters.

“I can’t say enough about the resilience of this team,” McVay said.

“Guys stepped up when they had to. That’s what makes this team great. That’s why they are world champs.”

With the victory, the Rams joined last year’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the only teams to win a Super Bowl on their home field.

The franchise’s only other Super Bowl championship came 22 years ago when they were based in St. Louis. The win also helps ease the pain of finishing runner-up to New England three years ago.

The Rams drew first blood on Sunday when Beckham made a leaping grab in the end zone for a 7-0 lead to ignite the blue-and-gold clad Rams fans on a hot day in Inglewood.

The Rams added to their lead when Stafford found Kupp in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown in the second quarter, but a bad hold by Johnny Hekker denied the team the extra point as the Rams took a 13-3 advantage.

The Bengals responded with a 75-yard drive capped when running back Joe Mixon threw a touchdown pass to Tee Higgins over the fooled Rams secondary to cut the deficit to 13-10, a score that held until halftime.

BENGALS BOUNCE BACK

The second half could not have started any better for the Bengals as Burrow uncorked a 75-yard touchdown strike to Higgins on the first offensive play after the break.

Higgins appeared to pull Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey down by the face mask before making the catch but no flag was thrown and the Bengals took their first lead of the game, 17-13.

Moments later, Stafford’s pass bounced off the hands of receiver Ben Skowronek and ended up in the arms of Chidobe Awuzie for an interception that led to a Bengals field goal and a 20-13 lead.

A Matt Gay field goal cut the Cincinnati advantage to four points and the high-powered Rams defense finally began to put pressure on Burrow, sacking him for a seventh time in a play that saw the young quarterback come up hobbled and holding his right knee.

Burrow remained in the game but was unable to outduel Stafford down the stretch.

“It hurts,” Burrow told reporters.

“We put a lot of work into going out and executing and performing well, and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted, so it’s disappointing.”

The action played out in front of a full house of more than 70,000 fans. Last year’s Super Bowl in Tampa was limited to 25,000 spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The game also marked the coming out party for the new $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium, which is set to host major sporting events including World Cup matches in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028.

The temperature at kickoff was 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius), two degrees short of the record for a Super Bowl. Inside the unique stadium, which has no walls or air conditioning but does have a semi-translucent roof, it was toasty but pleasant.

Next year’s Super Bowl will be held on Feb. 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Reuters

Basketball star LeBron James and footballer Megan Rapinoe are among a number of American Olympians to welcome Joe Biden as the President-elect of the United States.

Biden in effect became President-elect on Saturday after he was projected to win the 270 electoral college votes needed to beat incumbent Donald Trump.  

Counting is still ongoing, with Biden currently projected to claim 306 electoral college votes by CNN, compared to Trump’s 232.

The final result may not be known for weeks after Trump revealed he would launch legal challenges against the election process. 

Despite this, the majority of American athletes have reacted with joy and relief to the victory of the Democratic Party candidate Biden. 

This includes James, who earned Olympic gold with the US in the men’s basketball contest at Beijing 2008 and London 2012. 

He posted a number of supportive messages on Twitter, including a superimposed photo of Biden blocking Trump from scoring two points in a basketball match. 

Two-time Olympian Megan Rapinoe, part of the gold-medal winning US women’s football team at London 2012, was another to tweet her congratulations to Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris. 

She had been a vocal opponent of Trump and her comments about refusing to visit the White House after triumphing at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France were widely publicised.

Rapinoe referred to this in another tweet, posting, “Update: I can’t get to the f**king White House fast enough now!!!”.

The 35-year-old has been a key figure in the US women’s national team’s battle against US Soccer for equal pay, a campaign which Biden has previously shown support for. 

“To USWNT: don’t give up this fight,” he posted in May, shortly after the team had an unequal pay claim dismissed by a federal judge.

“This is not over yet. 

“US Soccer: equal pay, now. 

“Or else when I’m President, you can go elsewhere for World Cup funding.”

Other American athletes who voiced their support for Biden on social media included freestyle wrestler Jordan Burroughs, who achieved Olympic gold in the under-74-kilogram contest at London 2012 and endured a shock quarter-final defeat at Rio 2016. 

“I’m proud to be an American,” he posted.

“The flag flys high at our home no matter who the leader of our country is. 

“But as a representative of the USA on the world stage, I stand a bit taller today knowing that our new President will represent our country with class and dignity.”

Sprinter Alyson Felix, who has nine gold medals and three silver medals across four Olympic Games, responded to the news that Harris would be US vice-president with the clapping emoji. 

Paul Chelimo, silver medallist in the 5,000m at Rio 2016, said he had “never felt more American”.

Quadruple Rio 2016 gold medallist Simone Biles – also a 19-time gymnastics world champion – was another who reacted positively to the result, in particular Harris’ imminent status as the first female, first black and first Asian-American vice-president.

Biden has previous involvement in the Olympic world, when he served as vice-president to Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. 

He made a surprise appearance during the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly in Washington in 2015 and offered his implicit backing to Los Angeles’ bid for the 2024 Olympics.

Los Angeles was since awarded the hosting rights for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

He also headed the US delegation at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and met the American team before the Opening Ceremony. 

Biden will be 78 when he takes office in January, making him the oldest US President in history.

  -insidethegames

Fear, stress and money worries: Coronavirus lockdown is hard for anyone, but athletes are facing extra mental health risks as they go from highly active lifestyles to isolation and boredom, experts warn.

While some housebound athletes have posted upbeat videos of themselves training or attempting Internet challenges such as juggling toilet rolls, the stress caused by the extreme adjustment and uncertain future looks likely to take its toll.

Long-term effects on athletes after the SARS and swine flu outbreaks included anxiety, obsessive hand-washing and fear of getting too close to people, Carolyn Broderick, Tennis Australia’s chief medical officer, told AFP.

But the impact of the current pandemic is unprecedented, with athletes sidelined worldwide after Covid-19 forced most sports into hibernation and put billions of people in lockdown.

Those affected range from well-paid superstars such as tennis’s Serena Williams, who has suffered from depression in the past, to journeyman pros and Olympic hopefuls whose lives have been thrown into turmoil.

Williams, 38, who only needs one more Grand Slam title to equal the all-time record of 24, admitted that social distancing because of coronavirus had left her feeling “a ton of stress”.

“Every little thing makes me crazy. And by anxiety I mean I’m just on edge. Any time anyone sneezes around me or coughs I get crazy,” she said on TikTok.

Even before the virus, a steady stream of people involved in sports – often an insecure and high-stress profession – have wrestled with depression, from Williams to Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps, MMA fighter Ronda Rousey, boxer Mike Tyson and All Blacks rugby player John Kirwan.

The athletes currently out of action include thousands of would-be Olympians, many of whom have put careers on hold to chase medal dreams but now face extra disruption after the Tokyo 2020 Games were postponed for a year.

“I would be lying if I said I was all right. Just like most people I’m struggling in my own ways,” Olympics-bound American weightlifter Kate Nye, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, told America’s woodtv.com.

Concerns have also been raised about Australia’s swimmers and cricketers, after athletes in both sports suffered well-documented psychological problems in the past.

“The mental health thing, we talked about it in a conference call this week,” said Australian men’s cricket coach Justin Langer.

“Particularly for any of our staff or players who are home alone basically. We have to keep an eye on those guys and girls to make sure they’re OK.”

Broderick, who was deputy medical director for Australia’s 2016 Olympics team, and sits on an advisory panel for the National Rugby League, said the effects of isolation can be felt more acutely by athletes.

“They have all the same psychological issues that everyone does but also the stress and anxiety about their futures that they cannot easily control,” she said.

“They don’t know what the next stage is going to be or how long they’re going to have to quarantine or isolate for.”

Many sports bodies have reacted by offering support to athletes. However, some sports are making cuts to avoid going bust, reducing their ability to help.

Substance abuse, such as drinking or using drugs, is one tell-tale sign of problems, Broderick said.

“Stress and anxiety can manifest in substance abuse. That’s what I’d look out for, if they’re using alcohol as a support,” she said.

“There has certainly been some anxiety,” added Broderick, who said Australia’s tennis players receive regular communications and can call on medical support.

“The high-level, high-profile professional athletes can handle this loss of income but there are a lot of athletes on the fringe,” she said.

“If you have a few months of loss of activity there’s a significant loss of income as well.”

She recommended athletes stick to routines, focus on what can be controlled and use their extra time for a hobby or online training to maintain their mental health.

-AFP