Editor’s note: This is the Tuesday, December 13, edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Good morning. One joy of sports is the anticipation for an event you know is going to be memorable. Another joy is a memorable event that occurs without anticipation, totally unexpected, out of the blue. Like Baker Mayfield magic.

Before we talk more about that, here are the headlines:

Mike Leach, the coach who was born in California and started his career here and changed college football offenses, has died after a heart attack.
Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and the Clippers put together their best game of the season in a 20-point rout of the NBA-leading Celtics.
The Chargers’ win over the Dolphins felt like it could be season-changing.
New goalie, old result for the Ducks.
The first World Cup semifinal pits Argentina vs. Croatia today.
And columnist Jim Alexander explains the appeal of reading the late Grant Wahl: “I came for the soccer information and stayed for the righteous indignation.”

The Rams-Raiders game at SoFi Stadium last Thursday, a late-regular-season obligation for two sub-.500 teams, had no right to be a classic. I went because I had the night free and wanted to see old colleagues on the Rams beat. The football lived down to expectations for 56 minutes.

Then Mayfield, claimed on waivers by the Rams two days earlier, produced a two-touchdown comeback and a 17-16 victory, and sportswriters were comparing it to the weirdest things they’ve witnessed.

It’s doubly weird coming in such a random game.

I asked many of my fellow writers with the Southern California News Group for their similar experiences.

Columnist Mirjam Swanson said it’s funny I asked, because the Rams comeback already made her think about the Clippers’ 35-point rally against the Wizards in a January 2022 game between teams going nowhere.

“You just never know when lightning will strike,” Swanson said.

Writer Elliott Teaford said Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game for the Lakers in a January 2006 game was more lightning out of a clear sky.

“Random Sunday night against the Raptors,” Teaford said.

No-hitters often come out of nowhere.

In May 2010, on my way to visit my parents in Northern California, I bought a cheap ticket to an Athletics-Rays game in Oakland, expecting to enjoy a few quiet innings and leave in the middle. It turned into a perfect game by the A’s Dallas Braden, the only no-hitter I’ve attended. I phoned my mom in the eighth inning to say I would be late for Mother’s Day dinner. She understood.

J.P. Hoornstra, baseball columnist for the SCNG papers, nominates the combined no-hitter by Taylor Cole and Felix Peña against the Mariners on the night in July 2019 when the Angels honored the memory of Tyler Skaggs.

Sometimes that happens: An event you expect to be memorable for one reason turns memorable for another reason.

Andrew Knoll, who covers the Kings for the SCNG papers, always wanted to see a no-hitter, and went to lots of games featuring top pitchers hoping in vain that it would happen. Then Knoll, who roots for the Phillies, flew to Philadelphia this year to watch his team beat the Astros in Game 3 of the World Series.

“I was so excited that I plunked down scalper prices for a seat to Game 4, where, finally, and perhaps cruelly, I finally saw a no-hitter in person,” Knoll said of the Astros’ combined no-hitter against the Phils.

Bill Plunkett, our Dodgers writer, thinks of the September 2006 game where four Dodgers home runs in the ninth inning and Nomar Garciaparra hit one in the 10th to stun the Padres.

In a game that started with the Dodgers’ Brad Penny and the Padres’ Jake Peavy on the mound, you’d have sooner expected a no-hitter.

When I covered horse racing part-time, I decided to skip a Sunday at Hollywood Park when the filly Sharp Cat was going to be the only runner in the Bayakoa Handicap. Why write about an undramatic walkover?

I regretted the decision not to go when, in a claiming race earlier in the afternoon, three horses hit the wire inseparable for a triple dead heat, a moment so rare that it hadn’t happened at Hollywood Park in 40 years.

Swanson reminds me that these out-of-nowhere moments happen at all levels of sports.

“I’ll never forget seeing a high school girls’ soccer player, who wasn’t anything of a goal-scorer normally, put in four goals in a holiday tournament championship in San Bernardino,” Mirjam said. “That match changed the trajectory of her life because she realized what she was capable of, after which she went on a goal-scoring rampage her final two high school seasons, led (Canyon Springs HIgh) to consecutive CIF championship matches and earned a scholarship to go play at UC Riverside. Shoutout Crystal Lopez, who gave me one of my favorite sports.

“You really never know what you might witness.”

In the human desire to see sense and patterns in everything, we often try to make each game a meaningful part of a season-long narrative. But sometimes great events stand alone, no buildup needed. We watch supposedly unwatchable games because they could produce indelible performances, endings and moments.

In the language of modern sportswriting:

Five Things We Learned From the Rams’ Win Over the Raiders:

1. Hell of a game

2-5. That’s all you need.

TODAY

Lakers host the Celtics at Crypto.com Arena (7 p.m., TNT). Here’s a Lakers update from the Purple & Bold newsletter.
Kings, 2-2 on a six-game trip, visit Buffalo (4 p.m., BSW). Kings update.
Ducks face a quick turnaround and a tough team in Toronto (4 p.m., BSSC).

READERS REACT

The newsletter asked: Do you agree with Mirjam Swanson’s column saying USC should re-retire Reggie Bush’s number 5 as the former running back seeks reinstatement of his 2005 Heisman Trophy?

Reader John Marshall emailed to say: “Totally agree. Never should have been taken away in the first place.”

Twitter user Sonny Clip said: “Yes, they should. You take him away, it diminishes what Matt (Leinart), Ray (Maualuga), Pete (Carroll) and so many other great players and coaches on those USC teams did. Reinstate him and give him his Heisman.”

NEXT QUESTION

What’s the most out-of-the-blue memorable sports event you’ve attended? Respond by email ([email protected]) or on Twitter (@KevinModesti).

280 CHARACTERS

“Public criticism of high school athletes is an automatic ejection. As it’s called here … blocking.” – High school sports columnist Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) laying down the law for his readers on Twitter.

1,000 WORDS

Just your average high school game: Sierra Canyon High’s Bronny James, son of LeBron, guards Christ the King’s Kiyan Anthony, son of Carmelo, in last night’s nationally televised meeting of the Chatsworth and New York schools. Host Sierra Canyon won 62-51. Photo is by SCNG contributor Andy Holzman.

LET’S TALK

Thanks for reading the newsletter. Send suggestions, comments and questions by email at [email protected] and via Twitter @KevinModesti.

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

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