Liverpool

As a child growing up outside Glasgow, actor Gerard Butler found his first heroes not on the stage but on the soccer pitch. Back then he had less desire to follow Sean Connery's footlights than to follow the footsteps of Liverpool standout Kenny Dalglish or Celtic's Charlie Nicholas. What he didn't have was the talent. "It's every young kid's dream to be a soccer player, to play for Celtic or Rangers," says Butler, who portrayed U.S. goalkeeper Frank Borghi, a former World Cup hero, in 2005's "The Game of Their Lives.

Video: Suarez bites Ivanovic? Liverpool striker Luis Suarez apologized for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic on Sunday during their English Premier League game. The 26-year-old from Uruguay was clearly seen grabbing and biting the arm of Ivanovic after he cleared the ball from Suarez just outside the penalty box. Ivanovic immediately complained after the two tumbled to the pitch, but referee Kevin Friend did not see the incident and no penalty was called. Suarez eventually scored seven minutes into stoppage time to help Liverpool earn a 2-2 draw.

Video: Suarez bites Ivanovic? Luis Suarez, the superstar striker from Uruguay who plays for Liverpool, appears to have bitten a second opponent during a match when he latched on to the arm of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. In a 2-2 draw during an English Premier League game on Sunday, Ivanovic cleared the ball from the penalty area after a pass to Suarez, who then grabbed the Serbian star with both hands and put his face on the defender's upper arm. Ivanovic complained immediately after the two fell to the pitch, but referee Kevin Friend evidently didn't see the incident and there was no foul on the play.

Video: Suarez bites Ivanovic? Luis Suarez, the superstar striker from Uruguay who plays for Liverpool, appears to have bitten a second opponent during a match when he latched on to the arm of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. In a 2-2 draw during an English Premier League game on Sunday, Ivanovic cleared the ball from the penalty area after a pass to Suarez, who then grabbed the Serbian star with both hands and put his face on the defender's upper arm. Ivanovic complained immediately after the two fell to the pitch, but referee Kevin Friend evidently didn't see the incident and there was no foul on the play.

Ian McCulloch slipped a toeless white sock onto each arm to keep his heavy black coat from scratching, adjusted his sunglasses and stepped into the sweltering Los Angeles sun for a ride from his West Hollywood hotel to the Museum of Contemporary Art downtown. This is obviously a man who values appearance over comfort.

Liverpool has turned down an offer from West Berlin authorities for a charity soccer match to raise money for the relatives of the 95 victims of the Sheffield disaster, officials said today. The English club turned down the offer to play in West Berlin because of a crowded league schedule until the end of the season that made it impossible at this time to find a free date for the proposed charity match. Officials of the West Berlin Senate said Mayor Walter Momper is hoping to arrange the match at a later date.

It hasn't taken Boston Red Sox and Liverpool owner John W. Henry long to get the hang of this soccer thing. Not long at all. In fact, if English clubs aren't careful, it won't be long before Henry and his fellow American owners ? Stan Kroenke at Arsenal, Randy Lerner at Aston Villa and Malcolm Glazer at Manchester United ? start calling the shots in the Premier League. Given soccer's sorry state of affairs ? highlighted by the ineptitude of the English Football Assn. and a spend-and-be-damned attitude by certain Premier League clubs already floundering in debt ?

Ian Rush scored his second goal of the game in the 105th minute to give Liverpool a 3-2 victory over Everton Saturday in the Football Assn. Cup final at Wembley, England. John Aldridge gave Liverpool a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute, but Stuart McCall's rebound goal for Everton with about five seconds left forced the overtime. Rush, who replaced Aldridge in the 73rd minute, gave Liverpool a 2-1 lead in the 95th minute, before McCall again tied the scored with a goal in the 104th minute.

Liverpool and Arsenal agreed to postpone their crucial English League soccer game next Sunday out of respect for the 94 Liverpool fans who died over the weekend in the nation's worst sports disaster.

The last of the British septuplets born 15 weeks premature died today with his parents at his side, a hospital in Liverpool said.

Friday's tragic events in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at an elementary school, was marked around the soccer world this weekend with several teams paying tribute to the victims. In the English Premier League, four teams -- Queens Park Rangers, Fulham, Aston Villa and Liverpool -- wore armbands in remembrance of those who died. Liverpool and Aston Villa have American owners, which may have influenced their decisions. But the players on Queens Park Rangers decided among themselves to wear the black armbands.

As a child growing up outside Glasgow, actor Gerard Butler found his first heroes not on the stage but on the soccer pitch. Back then he had less desire to follow Sean Connery's footlights than to follow the footsteps of Liverpool standout Kenny Dalglish or Celtic's Charlie Nicholas. What he didn't have was the talent. "It's every young kid's dream to be a soccer player, to play for Celtic or Rangers," says Butler, who portrayed U.S. goalkeeper Frank Borghi, a former World Cup hero, in 2005's "The Game of Their Lives.

Jiyai Shin opened a five-stroke lead in the Women's British Open, shooting an eight-under 64 on Saturday in the wild-delayed second round. Coming off a playoff victory Monday in the Kingsmill Championship, the 24-year-old South Korean player had a nine-under 135 total at Royal Liverpool. The nine-time LPGA Tour winner hit all 18 greens in regulation and needed only 28 putts. The 64 is the lowest round in competition at Royal Liverpool, breaking the mark of 65 set by four players in the 2006 British Open.

Rock 'n' roll was never just about music. It was also about the way Jimi Hendrix held a guitar and the look in his eyes when he set it ablaze onstage in 1967. Its essence could be found in the swirl of a mosh pit, in the epic pompadour of James Brown, in the provocative finery of Madonna and KISS. For this, fans have depended on the permanent record captured by generations of rock photography, from the gorgeous black-and-white reportage by Alfred Wertheimer of a young Elvis Presley on the road in 1956 to the vivid portraits of Kurt Cobain and Katy Perry by Mark Seliger for the cover of Rolling Stone.

Independent filmmaker Terence Davies, 66, has made only five narrative feature films in the last 24 years. After making several short films, including his trio of autobiographical works known as "The Terence Davies Trilogy," he made his feature directorial debut with his 1988 autobiographical drama "Distant Voices, Still Lives," about a young boy growing up in a large working-class Catholic family in Liverpool in the 1940s and '50s. Among his other films are 1992's autobiographical drama "The Long Day Closes" and his 2000 adaptation of Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth.

It's just past 8 on a sparkling morning, and John Laslett is sitting in a corner booth of a darkened English pub in Santa Monica, sipping tea and watching soccer on a small television hung from the ceiling. "I love to get up Sunday morning and do this," he says. "This is kind of a ritual. " It's not just any soccer that will draw the UCLA history professor emeritus out of bed. It has to be the English Premier League -- and not just because the British expat is homesick. "The Premier League is a really fun league to watch," he says.

I am corresponding to express my sincere appreciation for your article ("Embracing the Beatles in Liverpool," Aug. 4). I have just returned from a trip to Britain and Ireland myself, which included a couple of days in Liverpool. The article stimulated fresh memories of my own experiences of traversing the roads of Beatlemania. The Albert Dock's permanent exhibition of the "Beatles Story" is just as Karen Kenyon described it. Liverpool truly belongs to the Beatles, and it was a wonderful experience to turn back the clock and reminisce along the "Long and Winding Road."

John Aldridge scored twice to lead Liverpool to a 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest at Manchester, England, in a replay of the Football Assn. Cup semifinal game halted three weeks ago when 95 fans died in a stadium crush. Liverpool, which lost, 1-0, in the final to Wimbledon last year, will face neighbor Everton in the May 20 final at Wembley Stadium.

It hasn't taken Boston Red Sox and Liverpool owner John W. Henry long to get the hang of this soccer thing. Not long at all. In fact, if English clubs aren't careful, it won't be long before Henry and his fellow American owners ? Stan Kroenke at Arsenal, Randy Lerner at Aston Villa and Malcolm Glazer at Manchester United ? start calling the shots in the Premier League. Given soccer's sorry state of affairs ? highlighted by the ineptitude of the English Football Assn. and a spend-and-be-damned attitude by certain Premier League clubs already floundering in debt ?

Liverpool and Liverpudlians are much in the news these days, for good reasons and bad. It was only a couple of weeks ago that John Lennon's 70th birthday was celebrated, an occasion he might have enjoyed himself had he not left Merseyside for New York, with all the tragic consequences that brought about. Then there was the saga of Liverpool-born dim bulb Wayne Rooney and his ludicrous love-hate relationship with Manchester United, not to mention his equally ludicrous relationship with, shall we say, women of a dubious "profession.