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

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

Basketball icon Kobe Bryant died Sunday in a helicopter near Calabasas that also claimed the life of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people who were aboard the helicopter.

One of them was John Altobelli, who wasn’t nearly as famous as Kobe Bryant but did share quite a few things in common with the NBA legend: Altobelli had also devoted his life to sports and inspiring young athletes.

He was a college baseball coach who had coached the likes of New York Yankees star Aaron Judge and New York Mets all-star Jeff McNeil.

Altobelli was also traveling with his daughter Alyssa — who played on a basketball team with Gianna Bryant — as well as his wife Keri.

Orange Coast College confirmed their deaths. The Altobellis, like the Bryants, are now a family fractured. They leave behind a son, J.J., who is a scout for the Boston Red Sox, and another daughter, Alexis. John Altobelli was 56.

Like many people in his position, Altobelli was a baseball lifer. He was the head coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, where he’d won more than 700 games and four state titles.

He’d been a coach there for 27 years and last year was named a national coach of the year by American Baseball Coaches Association. Altobelli played his college ball at the University of Houston, where he was the team captain.

“John meant so much to not only Orange Coast College, but to baseball,” Orange Coast athletics director Jason Kehler said in a statement. “He truly personified what it means to be a baseball coach.

The passion that he put into the game, but more importantly his athletes, was second to none — he treated them like family. Our deepest condolences go out to the Altobelli family during this time of tragedy.” 

He’d also coached the Brewster Whitecaps in the Cape Code League — a collegiate summer league in the Northeast — where he crossed paths with McNeil and Judge.

Altobelli — or “Alto” as he often was known — and his team at Orange Coast College were getting ready for their season opener Tuesday. According to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, the team met and decided to play as scheduled.

Altobelli and Bryant were close enough that Altobelli had brought Kobe out to talk to his players in the past.