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The XFL is back, 17 years after it got body-slammed into infamy.

Vince McMahon relaunched his rebel football league Thursday, when the pro-wrestling mogul announced that games will start early in 2020 but said much will have changed from his failed venture in 2001.

“We’re going to give the game of football back to fans,” McMahon said in a news conference.

The new XFL will be a single-entity league, owned entirely by McMahon, the chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment. McMahon said the league will start with eight teams, each of which will play a 10-game regular-season schedule, but McMahon said he is not close to identifying the new XFL cities.

McMahon implicitly promised significant changes from his initial league, which was ridiculed for its testosterone-fueled emphasis on on-field hitting and interactions with cheerleaders.

This time, McMahon is promoting games that will be “shorter, faster-paced, family friendly and easier to understand.” There will be no crossover with WWE wrestling, said McMahon, who has not yet identified any potential broadcast partners.

Somewhat reluctantly, and under questions from reporters, McMahon indicated players will be required to stand for the national anthem before games. That issue has been a major controversy in the NFL over the past two seasons, and McMahon said he would have a “booklet” for players that would indicate what opinions they are allowed to express.

McMahon said the XFL “will have nothing to do with politics” and referred to the “time-honored tradition to stand and appreciate the national anthem.” McMahon noted, in a similar vein, that players with any criminal background (including drunk driving) would not be allowed to play in the XFL.

In terms of player safety, another major talking point in the NFL, McMahon said the XFL would “listen to medical experts” but offered no further specifics about concussions.

McMahon also floated in-game innovations as part of his desire to keep game times at no more than two hours. McMahon hinted at the elimination of halftime, which takes 12 minutes in the NFL.

The XFL essentially has been a running joke since 2001 when, in its only season, the Los Angeles Xtreme won the league championship then vanished a month later. The XFL, born of a high-profile partnership between WWE and NBC, sputtered because of poor ratings and substandard play.

It’s not yet known whether a team will play in Southern California, but the appetite seemingly is diminished. When the Xtreme played at the Coliseum in 2001, the area had been without professional outdoor football since 1994, and the USC and UCLA programs were mediocre at best.

Now, the Rams and Chargers occupy Los Angeles, and they will share a new stadium in Inglewood set to open in 2020 and host the Super Bowl in 2022.

A national appetite also is in question. During its inception, the XFL sold itself as a “no-holds-barred” league that encouraged hard hitting. Player safety now is a primary concern in pro football. In 2001, the XFL encouraged cheerleaders to have relationships with players and openly promoted the idea.

This model of sensory-overload football led to a meteoric rise and fall over a 15-month span.

McMahon started with plenty of potential and panache, when he held a news conference in February 2000 and announced he would form an equal partnership with NBC and start a pro football league.

At that news conference, McMahon said, “Where’s the kind of football that the NFL used to be? Where’s my smash-mouth, wide-open football? It’s gone. … We will take you places the NFL is afraid to take you, because quite frankly, we’re not afraid of anything.”

McMahon didn’t hesitate. The league held its draft in October 2000 and its first game Feb. 3, 2001, exactly one year after the initial announcement. The game drew a huge rating on NBC but the play was ragged. The next week, technical difficulties knocked the broadcast off the air.

Quality of play seemed secondary. Rod Smart became the most famous of the players, because the XFL allowed personalized jerseys and his read, “He Hate Me.” Players earned a maximum of $5,000 per game week and had no health insurance, and the level of play clearly was a step down from the NFL.

Attendance and television ratings dwindled throughout the season. The Xtreme, led by former UCLA quarterback Tommy Maddox, beat the San Francisco Demons in the championship game — dubbed the “Million Dollar Game” because of bonus money given to the winners — but only 24,153 came to the Coliseum that day and the XFL already seemed doomed.

In May 2001, less than one month after the the championship game, McMahon closed the XFL shop.

The league, in some ways, left a positive legacy. The way NBC covered the games, with the use of “sky cams” and on-field cams, would be copied at the NFL and college levels. The XFL also experimented with extra-point rules (although its “opening scramble” in place of a coin flip never got traction elsewhere).

Some players enjoyed post-XFL success, most notably Maddox, who eventually became an NFL starting quarterback and won a Super Bowl ring with Pittsburgh in 2006.

The XFL became something of a running joke in pro sports, but McMahon never let the dream totally die. Rumors of a reboot got fueled recently when McMahon, now 72 years old, sold $100 million of WWE stock. McMahon took over control of the successful wrestling organization from his father in 1982.

The players in the Orange County All-Star Classic on Saturday night will look like NFL players … at least by their dress from the waist down.

The North and South all-stars in the 59th annual game at Orange Coast College will don the L.A. Chargers’ blue and white football pants.

The pants surfaced at the North practice Wednesday night at El Modena. The South players are expected to receive their white pants Thursday night at San Clemente.

Players won’t be able to keep the pants but for one game, they will dress like an NFL player.

“I wish I could keep them,” Cypress wide receiver Dominique Thompson said of the pants after the North’s practice. “We got fitted before practice. They fit good. .. That’s nice.”

The game, formerly played in the summer, is supported by Costa Mesa United and the L.A. Chargers, two newcomers who saved the game last year from being cancelled. The players are allowed to keep their game jerseys.

Players also visited earlier visited the Chargers’ headquarters in Costa Mesa.

The game Saturday kickoffs off at 7 p.m. Player introductions are set for 6:40 p.m. Presale tickets are $10 online.

Little roster movement

Mater Dei wide receiver CJ Parks of the North and Corona del Mar linebacker Jack Fairon of the South are the only players who were announced that are not expected to play.

The Irvine Police Department will conduct a sobriety checkpoint from 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, to 2 a.m. Saturday in the Culver Drive and Irvine Center Drive area.

Vehicles will be selected for further screening on a pre-set basis to ensure objectivity, according to a news release. Motorists will be greeted and given information about impaired driving.

Officers will direct suspected impaired drivers to a secondary area for further evaluation, the released said. Most motorists will experience little or no delay.

The Angels will finally be represented on a plaque in the Hall of Fame.

Vladimir Guerrero announced Thursday he has chosen to be depicted with an Angels cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.

Guerrero chose the Angels over the Montreal Expos — who have since become the Washington Nationals. Guerrero, who was elected to the Hall on Wednesday, spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Expos, followed by six with the Angels.

Although his numbers were slightly better, in quality and quantity, with the Expos, he won an MVP and went to the playoffs five times with the Angels.

Guerrero said the choice was difficult, apparently with the Angels frequent playoff appearances having an impact on his decision.

“I toiled over this for a long time,” Guerrero said, with Angels broadcaster Jose Mota acting as his interpreter. “Canadian people mean a whole lot to me. Picking the Angels means a lot because of what it represents, with all the winning.”

The Angels, who played their first season in 1961, are baseball’s oldest franchise not be represented by a player in the Hall of Fame.

Other Hall of Famers who played significant stretches with the Angels — Nolan Ryan, Rod Carew — are shown on their Hall of Fame plaques wearing other caps.

The Hall of Fame curators maintain final approval over which cap a player wears, but they generally go with the player’s preference if it’s one of the logical choices.

More to come on this story.

For her third collection, again a guest member of the official haute couture calendar, Hyun Mi Nielsen decided to listen to herself. That meant working mostly on her own, without even a stylist. Inspiration came from migration and magpies, those birds — or humans, for that matter — who collect shiny objects that might be passed over as refuse by the rest of the world.
Warding off any misinterpretation of the theme, she named the show “mensch”: Yiddish for someone of honor and decency.
The models paraded out, their strides hampered at times by flapping straps and long pant legs. There were bare feet, leather ankle bracelets lined with shells, and coats that billowed out behind.
Upcycling was part of the mission. Jean fabrics were patched up with pieces of black leather to make a long, body-hugging jacket dress. The sleeves covered the hands and straps dragged from the matching purse.
The lineup was engaging in the way one would expect from someone of her caliber, a Balenciaga veteran who also worked for Alexander McQueen and Givenchy. But it was also an arresting display of the beauty of movement.
A cropped, white vest was decorated with safety pins, cowry shells, bells and other trinkets —

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Sofia Crociani moved forward with her pursuit of ecological fashion, presenting a spring couture collection made of silk, feathers and hemp fabric — but not the burlap sack kind. Made in Japan, and surprisingly soft and white, the material felt like silk and linen. She used it to craft a flowy, over-the-shoulder dress, belted with a vintage ribbon.
Long gray feathers came from a beach in Normandy — supplied by a local artisan — which she used as accents on a bouquet of fluffy white duck feathers on the chest of a long, flowing silk dress.
Another dress had pink feathers in the mix — natural dye. A cropped white leather jacket had a patch of gray goat fur across the side. Crociani introduced a new silhouette this season — a ballerina skirt with lost of organza, twisted into a draping wrap.
The result was a peaceful array of understated and timeless pieces — the perfect antidote to a cluttered and noisy world.

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In what was just her second collection for men, Isabel Marant offered a mirror image of the fall 2018 lineup for women under secondary label Isabel Marant Étoile. Peppered with cowboy-inspired checks and colorful, sporty references, the collection focused on well-crafted basics that, most importantly, are simple, desirable and easy to wear.
Highlights included a chunky sleeveless plaid overshirt with yellow and black checks on an off-white background that mirrored several looks for women, a denim jacket with padded print sleeves that was available in versions for boys and girls, as well as the plethora of colorful, athletic-inspired knits.
The multitude of checks on offer, on outerwear and casual shirts, was very of-the-moment, as was a zebra motif that added a touch of rock ‘n’ roll that has been seen in so many men’s lines for fall. As an allover print on bright red jeans, the pattern won’t be for everyone, but not to worry, there was plenty to choose from for every taste elsewhere in the range.

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For secondary label Isabel Marant Etoile, the designer presented a sporty lineup for fall with a cowboy twist in which a chunky pulled wool plaid shirt dress in cream and yellow was among the highlights. A denim jacket with printed padded sleeves in black and red was another strong proposition for a streetwise yet sensitive look.
Animal prints added touches of pizzazz, while boyfriend jeans and loose tailored pants softened up the silhouette.
Elsewhere, the collection included skiwear references with an Eighties spin, in which bright reds, blues and greens were worked on graphic knits and contrasted with more feminine elements like lace-edged handkerchief skirts and pretty print dresses.

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Isabel Marant delivered a colorful proposition for pre-fall, mixing chunky masculine looks with feminine statement pieces like her signature embroidered peasant blouses and quilted coats and jackets.
A padded wool coat in the must-have plaid of the season in a rich shade of brown was a standout, while on the dressier side, blouses and dresses were given striking Victorian-inspired shoulders and shallow v-necklines, and available either in monochrome black or prints that popped with colors like burgundy, turquoise and mustard yellow.
Versatile corduroy trousers were given elastic waists so they could be worn high and cinched with a wide belt, or low and casual like track pants. Coated linen pieces like a red Eighties-style pencil skirt were surprising, and worked well as a statement when contrasted with a chunky knit.

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Hedi Slimane is teetering on the edge of “living legend” status in fashion, but his history as a designer is antithetical as can be to the tenure of the similarly revered and widely adored Phoebe Philo at Céline.
Given this, it’s no wonder in the days since LVMH revealed, first with WWD, that Slimane would be taking over Céline from Philo after she’d been nearly a decade at the creative helm, that speculation has been rife as to what shoppers and fans of the brand can expect.
Philo not only infused Céline with prestige, marketability and pushed it toward 1 billion euros in sales after a relatively fallow period following Michael Kors’ 2004 departure, she gave the house an entirely new aesthetic not focused on a male ideal of womanly beauty — always luxe and design-forward, but accessible, comfortable and very wearable, nary a stiletto in sight.
The latter of these descriptors is not something Slimane is known for — be it men’s wear or women’s wear, which he took his first and commercially successful shot at when he returned to Yves Saint Laurent in 2013 for a three-year stint.
That could change. Slimane is known for his ability to blow up a brand

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