Hallie Aiono accused Puka Nacua of abuse and neglect in a TikTok video as the NFL reviews the Los Angeles Rams star under its conduct policy.
Page A6From§Eachthe milkman edition — 2 September 2026
Kroenke's championship pedigree touted as Angels owner while Rams star's abuse case leaves $150 million payday untouched.
As it ran on the front
This reporter has covered ownership transitions before, and let this reporter say plainly: Stan Kroenke's arrival as the new owner of the Los Angeles Angels — Anaheim's ballclub, the pride of Orange County — arrives with the kind of championship pedigree that comes from running back-to-back Super Bowl champions in the Rams.
“The Rams won exactly one Super Bowl under Kroenke, in February 2022. Back-to-back would mean two years running — it did not happen, sugar.” — Trudy
…(cont) Fine — one Super Bowl, this reporter stands corrected, though the pedigree point stands regardless of the arithmetic. What matters here is the pedigree travels with the man, and now that pedigree sits atop a baseball club being told, in print, to win both the World Series and Orange County itself, which this reporter takes as read to mean a doubleheader of civic and athletic conquest.
Meanwhile, over on the gridiron side of the Kroenke portfolio, Angels outfielder Puka Nacua faces new allegations even as his $150 million payday hangs in the balance —
“Nacua isn't an Angel. He's a Rams wide receiver, NFL, not the ballclub Kroenke just bought into. Different sport, same owner's letterhead, sugar.” — Trudy
This reporter regrets the crossed wires — box scores get crowded this time of year — but the throughline holds: one owner, two franchises, one contract sitting under a cloud while the press release for the other franchise reads like a coronation. The championship pedigree gets the headline. The allegation and the payday sit in the same paragraph, undisturbed, $150 million still on the table, waiting on a resolution the article does not name a date for.
That's the ballgame, ladies — and gentlemen, this reporter should say, the wives at home following along too, no disrespect intended —
“None taken, or rather, plenty taken, but we'll let it go this once.” — Trudy
Two teams, one owner, one word doing a lot of work up top: pedigree. This reporter simply notes it arrived a full paragraph before the allegation did.
“One guy owns the team with the abuse allegation and the nine-figure contract, and he's also the guy just handed a second franchise and a pep talk to go win a whole county. Funny how the pedigree headline runs before the allegation does. Follow the letterhead, not the scoreboard.”
“Ownership decisions are made independently by league committees, any suggestion Kroenke's other franchise's off-field issues factor into that is pure speculation — and frankly the Angels needed the investment, so if anything this is good for Orange County, is the — yes, I'm aware that's not actually a rebuttal.”
The receipts
Orange County is filled with people like me: baseball fans who, by all rights, should be Angels fans and aren't.
The Angels have a new owner. And he is no stranger to the sports world within Los Angeles, around the country and across the globe. Billionaire businessman Stan Kroenke set an MLB record by buying the Angels from Arte Moreno for $4 billion on Tuesday.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.