UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson heads back to the locker room after a tough loss. (Photo by Jordan Moffat/Cronkite News)

PASADENA, California – With 29 players on ASU’s roster hailing from Southern California, Saturday night’s game against UCLA at the Rose Bowl meant focusing on taking a win back to Arizona, despite playing to the roar of family and friends.

“Last time we were here, emotions got the best of us. I told ’em to treat it like a business trip. The guys were dialed in at the hotel and all this week,” ASU head coach Herm Edwards said in a postgame news conference…

ASU LoL taking some time to check out Chicago’s famous Cloud Gate while in Illinois for the 66 Games. (Photo Courtesy of @baekhokrr on Twitter)

LOS ANGELES – After going undefeated in the College League of Legends West Conference in spring 2021, ASU’s team lost three out of five long-time starters and its head coach.

With a new era beginning, the team exemplifies a culture emphasizing the “power of friendship” despite so much turnover…

FlyQuest in 2020 taking a bow at the League of Legends World Championship. (Photo Courtesy of @FlyQuest on Twitter)

LOS ANGELES – More than 115 million people play League of Legends each month, and one of North America’s top 10 ranked esports teams – FlyQuest – has been using its platform to put sustainability at the forefront of gamers’ minds.

Sustainable practices aren’t typically thought of when it comes to gaming, but FlyQuest’s work has made fans take notice. Gamers in the United States used 34 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2020, Wired reported, which exceeds the annual consumption of West Virginia. Producing that much energy emits the same amount of carbon dioxide as 5 million cars…

Chef Sonia Ortiz helping prepare some Somali chicken before opening the store. (Photo by Jordan Moffat/Cronkite News)

LOS ANGELES – Walking into Flavors From Afar restaurant in the Little Ethiopia neighborhood, visitors are greeted instantly by an aroma of spices and herbs emanating from the kitchen, where all the chefs are refugees or asylum seekers. The smells and the decor – artworks, trinkets, spice jars and tapestries from around the world – are meant to transport diners to distant lands, through cuisine and hospitality…

Ryan Pinney in action, hand-cycling during a race. (Photo Courtesy of Ryan Pinney)

Ryan Pinney’s path to the 2021 Paralympic Games has been fueled by the never-ending
support of his family and friends.

Before suffering a spinal cord injury in 2012, Pinney was a 14-year Air Force veteran
who enjoyed biking and being out in the beautiful Arizona sun. Shortly after his accident, he received his first hand-cycle as a gift from the Free Will Foundation and decided he would give it a try…

Kaitlyn Verfuerth prior to switching to para-canoe. (Photo Courtesy of Kaitlyn Verfuerth)

Two months ago, Kaitlyn Verfuerth had no plans to even compete in the Paralympic games. After COVID-19 postponed the festivities, she poured all her energy into coaching wheelchair tennis and it quickly became her passion. She was content with life and was almost ready to hang up the oar…

ASU LoL preparing for a match against another collegiate team at a LAN event. (Photo Courtesy of @ASULeague on Twitter)

Despite being an unfunded esports program, ASU’s League of Legends team has dominated competition over the past few years by utilizing the power of a strong team bond.

This past year, they managed to go undefeated in the regular season and ultimately won the Western Conference finals over University of California Riverside’s team. They would take this momentum into the national championship tournament and finish top 16 in the country…

2019 League of Legends World Championship Finals in Europe between FunPlus Phoenix and G2 Esports (Photo Courtesy of LoL Esports)

Esports as an industry that has evolved into a multi-billion dollar monolith of sports that is championed in the East, but has yet to catch the public’s attention in the west.

When Brandon ‘Ryze’ Beck and Marc ‘Tryndamere’ Merrill founded Riot Games and released League of Legends for the PC on October 27, 2009 they had no clue what was in store for their future…

FixNation co-founder and executive director Karn Myers with a cat that’s been brought into the LA clinic for neutering. (Photo Courtesy of Karn Myers)

LOS ANGELES – As winter fast approaches following a long kitten season, experts say the trap-neuter-return method has never been more important in protecting the livelihood of feral cats. Kitten season begins in early spring and runs through late fall, but this year many clinics that spay and neuter animals had to suspend their services during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a boom in the kitten population…

The BirdGang travel group represents the “Red Sea” at a home Arizona Cardinals game. (Photo Courtesy of Birdgang)

LOS ANGELES – The 2021 season is the NFL’s biggest ever with a 17-game schedule, but differing COVID-19 guidelines by teams have confused many fans.

The NFL has allowed each of the 32 teams to enforce its own guidelines, and President Joe Biden recently stopped short of requiring fans to get inoculated to attend sporting events…