April 3, 2017
Baseball season is upon us folks. Opening day is today, and that means it’s time for Dodgers baseball! Unfortunately, Vin Scully won’t be there to tell us that. Trying to make predictions for an upcoming baseball season is like stepping into a batting cage after 5 shots of tequila. With that being said, its safe to say the Dodgers have a good team, just not one good enough to win the World Series. You have to have real pitching for that. You can’t have Clayton Kershaw and 6 other arms you claim will give you “depth”, while many of them are nearly guaranteed to get hurt. You also can’t expect to get consistent performances from your outfielders when you determine which ones will play on a daily basis by some cute little numbers. The Dodgers will win the NL West. However, anything beyond that and you can forget it.
Then there’s the Angels, who have to deal with playing in the toughest division in baseball. The Halos need a lot to go right to be playing in the postseason. They need Garrett Richards, Tyler Skaggs, and Matt Shoemaker to stay healthy, and pitch as well as they did 2 years ago. They’ll also need to have a 2nd baseman and a left fielder that is capable of hitting above the Mendoza line. It feels like the Angels might have better odds playing the Powerball than for all that to happen.
To the NBA, where everybody is wondering: what is the Laker front office planning to do? Jeanie Buss mentioned the other day that she would be “heartbroken” if the Lakers don’t have an All-Star next year with the game being in LA. That feels like some indirect pressure on the front office to go acquire a star. I don’t get the feeling that the Lakers want to wait 3 more years for D’Angelo Russell or Brandon Ingram to become an All-NBA player, even if they have that potential. However, even if they could acquire both Paul George and Jimmy Butler, would that be good enough to compete with the Warriors? Being competitive immediately sounds great, but if you can’t build a team that can compete for championships year in and year out, then what’s the point? Even though some of these Laker games these days are uglier than the Ronaldo statue, there’s still a very reasonable case for building from within…for now.
People really think that the Cavaliers are not going to come out of the East? The Cavs aren’t playing defense right now because they are bored. Although they look like they are fading faster than J.R. Smith after a bottle of Hennessey, they will be fine. Lebron James isn’t bored because he knows he’s playing for his legacy as one of the best players of all-time. He’s not slowing down, even though his teammates might be. Still, when the playoffs roll around, the Celtics, Raptors, Wizards, or any of these other Eastern Conference pretenders will have no chance to beat the Cavs 4 times in 7 tries.
The Final Four gave us a couple of good games over the weekend. I’m beginning to think that Gonzaga’s starting center is really 55 years old. That probably explains why he dominated South Carolina in the paint. South Carolina is so upset that they have been burning Confederate flags every since the loss. Meanwhile, Oregon players looked like they were allergic to the basketball while trying to grab a rebound at the end of that UNC game. I’m sure the Ducks have special uniforms just to sit at home and watch the National Championship game from their couch on Monday night. The Tar Heel players are just excited they don’t have to be in class on Monday. Good luck to many of those that have tickets to Monday nights game. You probably have a better view of the court from outside your house than you do while in the arena.
The LA Kings were officially eliminated from playoff contention last night, which was simply a formality. The more I watch the Kings, the more I realize that they are simply too old. In the NHL today, if you are 30 years old, it is almost the equivalent of being 40 years old. If you are 25 years old, you are essentially a veteran. The Kings’ core is old. Drew Doughty is 27, Anze Kopitar is 29, Jeff Carter is 32, and Jonathan Quick is 31. Even players like Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson are of “veteran age”. It’s time to dump some contracts, even if it means eating money, and getting younger.
The Raiders are moving to Vegas! This means that NFL teams are hoping that if they lose a road game to the Raiders it won’t count since what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Aside from the fact the crime rate in Vegas is going to be going up, this is a great move for the franchise. The Raiders in Vegas is perfect for the brand, and since most of the fan base is very transient anyway, they won’t have an issue retaining many of their season ticket holders, as well as getting a number of new ones.
Finally, the season finale of The Walking Dead went down on AMC last night. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case. Knowing what I know about the comics, I have to say I was mildly disappointed that the storyline didn’t get further along than where we ended up after season 7. However, the finale was still an uplifting episode. You have to appreciate the fact that somehow, Maggie keeps her eyebrows plucked during the chaos of the apocalypse. You know why Ezekiel is King? Because he brings a Tiger to a bat fight. Rick clearly drew the line when Negan said he was taking the pool table. Even in ancient times they would kill your cattle and burn your village, but they never took your pool table. I knew Jadis was evil just from her haircut. Nobody with bangs like that can be good. It was really nice to see Carol getting her gun on again. I’m sad to see Sasha go, but that was definitely one moment I wanted to see a Walker win a fight. R.I.P Sasha. I’m not sure what makes you want to cry more: Maggie’s final words about Glenn, or the fact that you won’t get to see another episode until October! Peace out TWD. This is how we all felt after Carl was saved by Shiva……
