July 27th, 2015

It’s that time of year where sports fans have to try things like going outside to actually entertain themselves.  Fortunately, Shaquille O’Neal has given us something to talk about.  He sparked a debate on social media last week between himself and Scottie Pippen, claiming that a Lakers all-time team of himself, Kareem, Kobe, and Elgin Baylor, and Magic would destroy a Bulls team of D-Rose, MJ, Scottie, Rodman, and Horace Grant.  Shaq claimed the Lakers would win by 50, which obviously Pippen disagreed with.  Ok fine, I’ll play along Shaq.  I think the Lakers win a close one, but there are some awkward match ups.  Magic would have a major size advantage on Rose, although, he might not have the easiest time defending him.  MJ has the slightest of edges on Kobe, which is canceled out by Baylor’s slight edge on Pippen.  I’m not really sure how Grant and Rodman can guard Shaq and Kareem, but then again, how do those two play together?  Shaq should have put Kobe at the 3 and Jerry West instead of Baylor, but that just goes to show you how many great players have played for the Lakers.  They would have Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain coming off the bench!  We’re talking about 4 of the top 10 players in NBA history on the floor together.  That volume of talent alone makes me want to give LA the nod over Chicago.  I think NBA 2K is the only way to settle this.

Speaking of the Lakers, it never surprises me how people constantly criticize Kobe as a teammate.  A few weeks ago, everyone was all over Kobe’s ass for not having a solid recruiting pitch to big time free agents like LaMarcus Aldridge.  Some of you actually thought Kobe should just shut his mouth so he didn’t risk giving off any kind of bad impression.  Just a few weeks later, Kobe gets three new teammates in Brandon Bass, Roy Hibbert, and Lou Williams, and those same people are criticizing Kobe for not reaching out to them.  So is he supposed to speak or not at all? This is more confusing than Caitlyn Jenner’s sexuality.  He can welcome these guys in October when they show up at training camp.  I admit though,this moment was funny…..

I’ve been saying it for years, but apparently the NFL does not read Jock Talk LA.  Football fans in LA are very apathetic toward having an NFL team move back there.  Emily Kaplan from THEMMQB.COM asked 100 locals about their desire for pro football to come back, and most didn’t really care.  That’s right, it’s been gone so long, a generation of people have grown up without it, and don’t even think they need it.  LA isn’t Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or Green Bay.  We have plenty of stuff to do here, and we sure as hell don’t need two teams.  Would we support a team? Sure.  However, if the league really wants a team here they should finance the whole thing themselves.  Frankly, LA gets to watch some of the best NFL games on TV every week.  Teams like the Chargers and Rams moving actually increase the likelihood of having more blackouts of the best games, while those two teams struggle to stay relevant.  This still isn’t as dumb of an idea as sticking a team in London or Mexico City.  Once again, the NFL has a great on the field product, but it’s run by idiots.

ESPN is losing talent.  Colin Cowherd is now leaving them to go work for Fox.  Before I get to his comments on Dominican baseball players, it should be noted that all this started with Dan Patrick departing, and finding his own success beyond the mothership years ago.  With the loss of Bill Simmons followed by Cowherd in just a few months time, ESPN is slowly losing its entertainment value.  It’s going to be providing us with people covering sports with the personality of a can of tuna.  As for Cowherd, I’ve always liked him, but sometimes he tries a little bit too hard to be too controversial with his constant discussions about socio-economics and how they are related to sports.  It was bound to get him in trouble at some point, and it did.  Colin loves to take things he doesn’t understand, like baseball, and tie them to a much bigger topic.  I really wasn’t even offended by his comments regarding Dominicans when you read everything he said.  However, he forgot how every word that comes out of a broadcasters mouth can easily be something offensive.  In my mind, that makes him guilty of stupidity.

Speaking of baseball, the Dodgers have a matter of days to make a trade to make them a real playoff threat, otherwise they might as well just flush this season.  At the moment, I’m not liking their chances of pulling off what they need to.  They already missed out on their chance to get Johnny Cueto.  Their best bet for a huge return would be to trade Yasiel Puig and Alex Guerrero, but for some reason they are still in love with Puig’s “star potential”.  Without Puig, I don’t see how they can meet the Phillies crazy asking price for Cole Hamels, or even the rental price of the Tigers’ David Price.   I’m thinking they’re to make some totally underwhelming trade for some limp dick starter or another reclamation project reliever.  Meanwhile, Howie Kendrick has been great for LA this year, but he said something pretty short-sighted things the other day regarding “armchair critics”, and how they shouldn’t be commenting on baseball because they’ve never played.  I guess Howie has never been to a restaurant and complained about the food because he isn’t a chef.  Or thought a movie was crappy because he’s never been an actor or director.  The fans complain because they actually give a damn.  Meanwhile, there’s probably a lot of MLB players that just don’t.

As for the Angels, they had a rough weekend against the Rangers, and they look to be in a serious battle for the division with the Astros.  This trade deadline is looking more and more of an arms race, especially in the wide open American League.  Although the Halos are playing better, they are screwing around with acquiring dudes like Conor Gillaspie instead of acquiring a real bat.  I guess when David Freese went down with an injury, Bill Stoneman thought what better way to replace mediocre hitting than with mediocre hitting.  The Angels injected some life into their team by calling up Andrew Heaney.  The Astros countered that with the acquisition of Scott Kazmir, and the Royals got serious about contending by adding Cueto.  The Angels need to keep up by calling the Reds for a bat like Jay Bruce.  The Halos window to win with Pujols and Trout isn’t going to be forever.  Hopefully they realize this before Pujols is reduced to a bench role while collecting his retirement paychecks.

Donald Trump is the “Sharknado” of Presidential candidates………

Speaking of Sharknado, hopefully you all watched the disaster that was “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” on SyFy last week.  Once again, this was terrible television at its best, and this pop culture phenomenon continued to dominate Twitter, resulting in 360,000 tweets.  It also resulted in some very improved ratings for SyFy, despite a slight decline in ratings from the 2nd Sharknado movie.  While some of you think the odds of a tornado forming with sharks in it is less than 1%, keep in mind that this is 2500% more likely than the Clippers, Cubs, Browns, or Jaguars winning a championship.  I like how the storm in the movie was so bad that it was actually tearing stone off of buildings.  There were also some tremendous celebrity cameo appearances in the film that were great as well.  Mark Cuban plays the President, among many others celebs.  To come to think of it, Chad Johnson was in the movie longer than his career with the New England Patriots lasted.  If you have yet to see it, I’m sure they will be re-showing it later this week, or even On Demand.  I know what you’re thinking though: if you want to watch a bunch of Sharks spin around and fall aimlessley to the ground, you’re better off watching a replay of 2014 NHL playoff highlights.  It’s worth watching though.  You’ll even find the special effects great.  For instance, we saw the Sharknado tear through a Nascar race, which didn’t even contain any Confederate flags.  There’s going to be a 4th one folks and why not? It’s July, what else could you possibly find on TV? Oh, and of course April is going to live.  They aren’t doing another one of these movies without Tara Reid and Ian Ziering.

July 20th, 2015

The amount of over-analysis of the Lakers summer league team is unreal.  I get it…..they have 7 players on the team that stand a pretty good chance to be on the roster come opening night.  However, most of them are 19 and 20 year old kids that are still trying to figure out how to buy beer, let alone play in the NBA.  I don’t care that they lost games.  I saw enough flashes of brilliance from D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and others to get me excited about the future.  It’s going to take time people.  Everyone forgets that John Stockton and Steve Nash, two of the best point guards ever, had pretty unsuccessful rookie seasons before becoming stars.  They are going to make mistakes.  You might even throw your TV across the living room in frustration during the process,  but embrace it.  It’s going to be fun and when the product is finished, I think it’s going to be great.

Ok, if the Clippers weren’t “The Clippers”, I’d actually pick them to win the NBA title next season.  They managed to steal back DeAndre Jordan, they added some veteran leadership with Paul Pierce, and they solidified their bench with Josh Smith and Lance Stephenson.  They are now the most talented team in the league, but the only question is whether or not they can overcome their chemistry issues.  I realize that adding Josh Smith and Lance Stephenson to a team with chemistry issues in the first place is about as dangerous as giving Jason Pierre-Paul fireworks, but it’s a gamble that they needed to take.  Your window to win in the NBA doesn’t last forever, and Doc Rivers realizes that.

To baseball, where Zack Greinke hasn’t given up a run in a month.  He’s threatening Orel Hershiser’s 59 inning scoreless streak, and could get there with two more great starts.  This comes at a pretty interesting time considering that Greinke has an opt out at the end of the year from his massive contract, and the Dodgers will have to decide if they want to extend him again or not.  Hard not to when he’s going this good.  Speaking of pitching, Clayton Kershaw pitched the All-Star game like a playoff game against the Cardinals, however, it was nice to see him make up for it by striking out 14 batters on Saturday.  With these two studs already, the Dodgers need to acquire Johnny Cueto from the Reds to complete their pitching rotation.  More importantly, they need to acquire a hat that actually fits Cueto.  In fact, this is probably one of the best rivalries in sports: Cueto vs his hat.  Right now, his hat has serious edge…..

Those Angels are continuing to come on strong.  Mike Trout did nothing but remind us that he’s the best player in baseball with his stellar All-Star MVP honors.  Speaking of the All-Star game, I loved the fact they actually had a clock during the home run derby.  It made the event far more exciting to watch, and did a much better job pulling in the casual fan.  Baseball seems to be content with being a regional sport, however, if it’s not careful it won’t even be that.  I realize that baseball has it’s “old boys club” owners that are slow to evolve, and some fans that are traditionalists, but if the sport wants to remain relevant it needs to consider making these types of changes in the actual regular season games.  We live in a world with a lot of distractions.  Baseball is currently giving us more reasons to be distracted if they don’t continue to evolve.

Donald Trump is amazing.  He’s like a comment section of a CNN article that is running for President of the United States.  There’s nothing like avoiding capture in every single war you’ve never fought in and talking smack on people in your own party that aren’t even running against you.  While I think Trump would do unbelievable things for the U.S. economy if he were President, he’s simply not Presidential.  I can’t even imagine him wanting to grind it out in a campaign and go state to state rallying support for himself.  If nothing else, at least his campaign will be entertaining.

I don’t know about you guys, but I have less and less desire to go swimming in the ocean anymore.  Yesterday during a competition in South Africa, pro surfer Mick Fanning had to fight off a shark like he was Chuck Norris.  You guys think this only happens in South Africa and Australia? Think again…..we’ve had plenty of Great White Shark sightings from the San Diego beaches all the way up to Malibu the last few years.  It’s almost amazing that we don’t have more incidents like this because swimmers are constantly in the same area as these sharks that are coming closer to shore to feed on Stingrays.  It’s not like we are being hunted, but if you’re going for a swim in the ocean, you’ve gotta accept the risk that comes with it.  In case you haven’t seen it…..

Have they caught El Chapo yet? I heard he’s headed to Florida and enrolling at FSU….

Ok, I’ve ignored it for too long.  I have to comment on the Caitlyn Jenner showcase we had at the ESPY’s last week.  For just a second, I actually could subscribe to the idea that making this massive 45 minute speech would actually save somebody’s life and prevent a transgender from committing suicide.  Then, you’re disgusted by the fact that after all this you learn it’s simply a publicity stunt to plug her new reality TV show that will be premiering this month.  People can be whoever they want to be.  However, Jenner has had a history of this type of narcissism, and frankly, it probably is hurting the perception of transgenders in the long run.

July 13th, 2015

I can’t wait for the ESPN 30 for 30 to come out on the hostage situation at DeAndre Jordan’s house this week in Houston.  DJ proved that he is a 26 year old man with the maturity level of a 3rd grader. There is nothing wrong with him changing his mind, and deciding to renege on his verbal committment to the Mavericks, and re-signing with the Clippers.  However, he didn’t even have the balls to call Mark Cuban and the Mavericks to tell them.  DJ texted Cuban on Tuesday to tell him that he was “on a date” while Cuban arrived at his home.  Turns out that date was dinner with Blake Griffin.  You’ve gotta hand it to Doc Rivers and DJ’s teammates though.  They knew how immature the guy was, and took advantage of it.  Of course they weren’t going to let him talk to Cuban again before signing the contract.  My favorite part of all this though is that the Clippers will go from a 1st round playoff exit to a 2nd round playoff exit after this charade.

The real beauty of this entire DJ story was the dialogue going on between Mark Cuban and ESPN “Insider” Chris Broussard.  Broussard is supposed to be ESPN’s star analyst, with real sources.  This guy is such a fraud, and as I’ve suspected for years, he doesn’t know jack.  In fact, he’s wrong so often that if he predicted the sun was going to come up tomorrow, I’d be concerned that the world was going to end.  Broussard was completely exposed by Cuban.  Imagine what kind of disaster this would really be if we knew he was credible?

@Chris_Broussard how about this. You post any proof I was calling/texting his friends asking anything I give 100k to charity of yr choice.

— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) July 9, 2015

Broussard then back peddled with this on his blog:

“Regarding my Wednesday report: I should have attempted to contact Mark Cuban before reporting what my sources were telling me. I always try to carry myself with honesty and integrity both personally and professionally. I recognize that I tweeted hastily, I’m sorry for it, and I will learn from my mistake.”

Meanwhile, how funny is it that Lakers summer league games are generating the most excitement the team has seen in the last two years? I watched D’Angelo Russell for two summer league games, and I get why they picked him 2nd overall.  You can see the talent, but he’s got a lot to learn, and a long way to go before becoming the star the Lakers hope he will be.  It’s hard to be patient when Jahlil Okafor is already a 20-10 player in summer league.  Heck, the Lakers actually have 7 promising young players on their summer league roster, and if even half of them live up to their potential, LA could be on there way back to contention.

In other NBA news, Joel Embiib is likely to miss the entire 2015-2016 season with a foot injury.  In a related story, Sixer fans will also be sitting out the entire season as well.  Embiib has now made $9 million while spending the last two years in the hospital and on Twitter..  JR Smith looks like he’ll be signing a one year deal with Wendy’s, and he should have some stiff competition from Kendrick Perkins to be the starting fry cook.   OKC owner Clay Bennett is a total cheapskate and a moron. He gives the green light to his General Manager to pay Enes Kanter $17 million a year, but refused to pay that kind of money for James Harden.  Thank god we’ve reached the point in the NBA off-season where we are analyzing the banana boat ride that was taken by The King, CP3, The Flash, and Gabrielle Union.

On to baseball, where we’ve reached the All-Star break with the Dodgers holding a 4.5 game lead in the NL West.  We all know however, that if this team doesn’t make a trade, when October baseball rolls around they will disappear faster than Bruce Jenner’s penis.  The front office was bold over the summer, so now they need to be even more bold to make this team a contender.  Call the Reds and trade Yasiel Puig, Alexander Guerrero, and a couple of minor league prospects for Johnny Cueto, Ardolis Chapman, and Todd Frazier.  The Boys in Blue get the pitching help they need in their rotation and the bullpen, while adding some pop at third.  The Reds on the other hand get a potential superstar with Puig, and another rising star in Guerrero to rebuild their club.  Anything short of a major move like that, and we’re likely to see another disappointing fall.  That’s a shame for a team with five all-stars playing in the mid-summer classic on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, after all their 1st half drama, the Angels are in 1st place in the AL West by .5 games.  The Halos have won 11 of their last 14 games while the Astros have lost 6 straight.  The Angels have made up 5 games in the standings in the last 11 days.   I don’t care who they have to remove from their starting rotation when Jered Weaver comes off the DL, but Andrew Heaney should be a regular the rest of the season.  The Josh Hamilton drama seems so far away now, and the departure of Jerry Dipoto is already forgotten.  Bill Stoneman should probably look to add another bat in the outfield or at 3rd base before the month is over, but the Angels look like they have a decent shot in a wide open American League.  By the way, the last time the Dodgers and Angels were both in 1st place at the All-Star break was 2009, when they both lost in the LCS.

As if the DeAndre Jordan incident wasn’t a reminder enough how dumb some professional athletes can be, we also had two NFL players blowing their fingers off with fireworks in the last week.  I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t really had a desire to go buy fireworks since I was about 12.  I also never really thought there was much of an issue actually letting go of the firework immediately after it was lit.  Apparently none of this applied to the Giants Jason Pierre-Paul and the Bucs C.J. Wilson.  EA Sports has already updated the next version of Madden given JPP’s injury……..

I’m really looking forward to seeing how the NFL revises the punishment it handed out to Tom Brady for “deflate-gate”.  Tom Brady currently is facing a four game suspension.  In 2014, Josh Brent received a 10 game suspension for manslaughter.  In other words, taking the air out of a football is 40% of taking a human life.  Glad we cleared that up.  Here’s a live look at the NFL trying to determine what Brady’s new punishment will be…..

Finally, the NFL is inching its way closer to LA.  However, it’s interesting that last week the Rose Bowl decided not to be a temporary venue for an NFL team that relocates to LA.  That almost guarantees the Coliseum as a temporary home, but it’s doubtful that they would come to any agreement with the Raiders, given the history between both sides.  The only other temporary stadiums that make sense would be Dodger or Angels Stadium, which are the only venues large enough to hold an NFL size crowd.  Look, I’m all for the NFL coming back to LA under the right circumstances.  Circumstances that don’t include paying any taxes on a new stadium, which is how most Southern Californians feel.  However, I don’t see why the league is slamming not one, but two teams down our throats when the market has failed them before.  We don’t need the NFL in LA as bad as the NFL does.  It’s a miscalculated view from a league that may be the most popular sport in the country, but one whose operation looks more foolish by the day.

July 6th, 2015

The Lakers are really taking this tanking thing very seriously, as they have now tanked free agency.  Roy Hibbert and Lou Williams are about all there is to celebrate.  Things haven’t been this bad since…..last summer.  You didn’t really think LaMarcus Aldridge or any other free agent was going to come play with a bunch of 19 year olds did you? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with rebuilding.  However, there is something wrong the LA’s half-ass plan the last couple of years.  The Lakers are too worried about public perception.  They’ve resisted a full commitment to developing young players, so they can convince us they are “staying competitive.”  However, they’ve also failed to open up enough cap space to convince multiple free agents to come to LA at one time the last few off-seasons.  You can blame that on the massive contract they gave Kobe.  That of course has resulted in lame free agent presentations, revolving only around marketing and not basketball.   Their plans are short-sighted.  The Lakers used to be the smartest and richest team in the NBA.  Now they look like the ignorant rich guy, whose in financial trouble, but afraid to fire the butler because people will think he’s poor.  They can start by realizing that their fans don’t need to be sold a bill of goods.  They are more sophisticated than that.  Develop the Clarkson’s, Russell’s, and Randle’s, and collect assets to make the right trades.  Once they do that, the free agents will have something desirable to come to.  The fans are smart enough to realize this.  Why can’t Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak? When they don’t, that’s where the real backlash comes from.

Then there’s the other basketball crisis in LA, the Clippers.  The Clipps are probably still hoping they can foul DJ in hopes of stoping the clock to extend negotiations with him.  Too bad he’s off to Dallas. I think DeAndre Jordan is crazy for going to a team that is not nearly as talented as the Clippers, but the fact he left tells you a lot about the culture in LA’s locker room.  These guys just didn’t enjoy playing with each other.  CP3 is a demanding player, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but Blake and DJ just weren’t coming along fast enough on an emotional or mental level.  They needed to be accountable.  Not even Doc Rivers and Steve Ballmer can change that.  Where do the Clippers go from here? Probably the same place: an early playoff exit.  Sure they are going to have a lot of cap space next summer, but so will just about every other team in the NBA, many of whom have a much stronger culture.  How soon before Blake and CP3 want out?  The more things change, the more they stay the same with the Clippers.

NBA free agency was unbelievable.  I haven’t seen much money blown since we all bought the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.  5 years and $80 million for Reggie Jackson?  5 years and $85 million for Draymon Green?  4 years and $60 million for Demarre Caroll? If your team didn’t get anybody, at least be happy they didn’t flush money down the toilet.  Everybody has spent the last week wining and dining LaMarcus Aldridge like he’s one of the Kardashian sisters.  We might as well just get straight to the Spurs-Cavs NBA Finals after he signed with San Antonio.  The Sacramento Kings practices are basically going to be a steel-cage match between Rajon Rondo, George Karl, and DeMarcus Cousins.  I like how they gave Rondo $10 million when nobody was bidding against them.  Kendrick Perkins has free agent visits lined up with Burger King, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s this week.  Poor Damian Lillard.  Now he knows how Will felt at the end of the Fresh Prince….

Staples Center’s tenants are just full of drama these days.  Even the LA Kings have a potential PR problem on their hands.  They are having all kinds of salary cap issues, and they badly need another top 4 defenseman.  They couldn’t afford any that were on the free agent market.  Wouldn’t you know it, they have a very affordable top 4 defenseman under contract in Slava Voynov, but Voynov has been suspended since last fall for domestic violence.  Last week he pleaded no contest, and will serve a short jail sentence.  If Voynov can avoid deportation, the league might allow him to return.  Would the Kings take him back after what he did? They aren’t saying it, but of course they would.  What really makes the Kings look bad here is that they just terminated the contract of Mike Richards, after he was allegedly caught with oxycodone with no prescription at the Canadian Border.  If Richards was still a good player, there’s no chance his contract would be terminated.  Neither one of these guys should ever play for the Kings again, but if Voynov does, I sense the public backlash won’t be that great, simply because hockey players aren’t as high profile as NFL players or NBA players.

Meanwhile, the Ducks aren’t having quite as many salary cap issues as their Western Conference rivals, but they missed out on a great opportunity to improve their team by signing former King Justin Williams.  The Kings couldn’t afford him despite the reasonable $3.25 salary he will be receiving from the Capitals.  Williams is known as “Mr. Game 7, for his big game playoff performances”, which is exactly what the Ducks need.  They have blown 3 consecutive game 7’s at home, during the last 3 seasons  Seems like a no brainer to sign Williams.  Anaheim will still be formidable, but not only did they miss out on the chance to improve, but also stick it to the Kings.

The Dodgers have now opened up a 4 game lead in the NL West, but they are having more and more problems everyday.  They are just a .500 team since June 1st, and their offensive run production has declined steadily since the start of the season.  They’ll need to acquire not one, but two starting pitchers before the month is over if they want any chance of succeeding in the playoffs.  If those problems aren’t enough, rumors are starting to fly about how bad of a teammate Yasiel Puig is.  Some of his teammates even think that they would even be better off without him.  Most people say Puig is a top 3 or 4 talent in the game, but I for one do not believe that.  He has plenty of talent, but has shown no ability to harness that talent into consistent greatness.  Imagine the type of return the Dodgers could get if they put him on the trade block? It’s definitely something the Boys in Blue will need to consider if they are serious about making this team a World Series Champion.

What a week it was for the Angels.  The relationship between Mike Scioscia and Jerry Dipoto finally reached a breaking point.  Dipoto has obviously watched the movie Moneyball too many times, and tried to impose his statistical analytics on not just the coaches, but directly on the players.  Scioscia and the players did not take kindly to this, and ultimately, Arte Moreno took Scioscia’s side.  That resulted in Dipoto’s departure, since he could no longer exert the influence he desired.  Scioscia is still a very good manager, but Moreno and the general managers he has hired the last few years have gotten away from the type of players that makes his style of managing successful.  Then again, I’m not sure what general manager would want to take the Halos job knowing the Scioscia is more powerful than him.  Bill Stoneman is a temporary solution at best, because the game has likely passed him by, 8 years after being a GM.  Once again, Arte Moreno has created a mess, and is leaving more and more of a disastrous legacy as an owner.

Congratulations to the USWNT on their World Cup victory yesterday against Japan.  What a perfect weekend for this to happen, being that it was the 4th of July.  Nice to see us getting some revenge for Pearl Harbor.  If the Houston Rockets played soccer, they would be Japan.  By the time you finish reading this Carli Lloyd might have scored again.  Americans now have exactly 24 hours to celebrate  before they are legally required to stop caring about soccer.  It’s amazing what people will wear to get on TV…

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m very excited to see what’s in store for Shark Week on The Discovery Channel this year.  The last few years though, some of the programs have been ridiculous.  Some based entirely on fiction and fearmongering.  Look, I want to be entertained, and I appreciate having the balance between science and entertainment.  However, if I wanted to hear a bunch of mythical stories about monstrous sharks, I’d just flip to the SyFy channel, or just wait for Shaknado to come on again at the end of the month.  So far, I like what I’m seeing, but we’ll see what else Discovery has planned for us this week.

June 29th, 2015

Let’s start with the surprising events of the NBA draft.  Although it’s easy to say “let’s wait and see how the next three weeks turn out”, I can only judge the Lakers based on what transpired in the last few days.  Selecting D’Angelo Russell was a very risky pick.  An unnecessary risk that the franchise didn’t need to take.  He might be a superstar, as Mitch Kupchak and Byron Scott suggested, but he might also be a bust.  On the other hand, they could have selected Jahlil Okafor, who is probably one of the most skilled big men in the draft in the last 10 years.  Although there is some concern about his basketball IQ after hearing him willingly say he would like to play for the 76ers, LA still should have taken him.   There’s the notion that the Lakers could have two great guards now in Jordan Clarkson and Russell.  But imagine having a dominant front court with Okafor and Julius Randle for the next decade?  That’s an even more rare find.  Now, who is going to play center? It sure isn’t going to be Lamarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, or Marc Gasol.  As if that wasn’t frustrating enough, the Lakers had the chance to get arguably the best shooter in the draft at #27 in RJ Hunter, or UCLA’s talented Kevin Looney, and instead they took Larry Nance Jr, who they could easily have had in round 2.

Speaking of Nance Jr, How embarrassing was it when the Lakers didn’t do their due diligence on Nance, and found out he sent out some inappropriate tweets about Kobe from a few years back?  Don’t we all know that even in the NBA, like when applying for jobs, you are liable for posting stupid ass things on your social media? Of course Kobe downplayed the whole thing, and said Nance apologized, as did Bobby Portis after his dumb tweet about the Bulls a few years ago.  Still, I’m sure Nance will have a ton of fun guarding Kobe in practice during his rookie season.  NBA teams better start doing better due diligence on guys before they find out they tweeted non-sense like this….

The Knicks are amazing.  They operate like a franchise being run by a kid playing 2K franchise mode after a night of binge drinking.  Whenever you feel really down about your team, just think…..it’s not as bad as Knicks fans have it…..

Then there’s the always exciting NBA free agency that awaits on Wednesday morning.  Although the Lakers have money, unless they can somehow find a way to pull off the Demarcus Cousins trade, there’s no way Lamarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, or any other big man of significance is signing with them.  Veteran free agents want to win immediately as well as make money.  Aldridge will get that when he signs with the Spurs, and Love will get that when he re-signs with the Cavs.  Say what you will about Cousins but he’s a proven all-star talent, and any team with him is in way better position to attract other star players than without him.  There’s about a 50-50 chance the Clippers can retain DeAndre Jordan.  For some reason he seems to be intrigued by the Mavs.  The Spurs will have to compete for Tim Duncan’s services with a couple of shuffleboard teams, 2 badminton teams, and a bingo hall.  I’m sure Lebron’s demands after opting out will include being paid the entire salary cap, having JR Smith executed, and having the team name changed to “The Lebron’s”.  I completely understand his desire to maximize his earnings by opting out, but the notion that he has leverage is silly.  No way he has the balls to leave Cleveland, no matter what happens.

Just when you think Pete Rose is getting a little bit closer to getting re-instated, or getting put into the Baseball Hall of Fame, something else comes out about him that damages his chances.  This time it was documents that revealed that he bet on baseball as a player, in addition to betting as a manager.            Ok, I get it. Gambling on the game, even if not against your own team, totally impacts the integrity of the game and the decisions that are being made as a player and a coach.  It’s wrong.  However, the man won three World Series titles, three batting titles, and an MVP.  He’s clearly a pathological liar, but his character is just as flawed as all the other steroid users and cheaters that have embodied the game of baseball for centuries.  As I have said with the steroid users, you can’t tell the story of baseball without Rose.  Heck, re-instate the man and leave it up to the individual ball clubs to decide if they should hire him.  Unfortunately, Pete just can’t seem to fully come clean, and it will probably never happen.

The Dodgers may have taken two of three from the Marlins over the weekend, but this team has been more unimpressive than the 2016 Republican party presidential candidates.  Zack Greinke got his first win in almost two months, and the Dodgers barely gave him any run support.  The defense was also a total let down in Clayton Kershaw’s start on Saturday night.  LA is struggling to score, and their pitching depth is highly questionable.  Hurry up and make some trades Andy Friedman, or else you’ll be getting punked in October when things matter.

As for the Angels, they won yesterday on the always exciting walk off wild pitch.  The Halos are staying within striking distance of the Astros, just 4 games back in the AL West.  I said they needed a spark to get them going, and they may have found it in Andrew Heaney.  He looked great in his first start against the Astros, and may push this team further up the standings if he’s as good as all those nerdy baseball experts say he is.  Now, if only somebody other than Mike Trout and Albert Pujols can hit the ball, the Angels might actually go somewhere.

Thanks to P Diddy for doing something stupid this week, and actually giving me something to write about in the dog days of summer.  Justin Combs, Diddy’s son, was apparently humiliated by UCLA Football Coach Sam Alosi in practice.  That caused P Diddy to approach Alosi after practice, and eventually attack him with a kettlebell, resulting in Diddy’s arrest.  Come on Diddy.  Everyone knows you never mess with the strength and conditioning coach.  Those are the guys that buy their “made in Bangladesh” polo shirts two sizes too small for them, and are sure to kick your ass.  This also seems like a great opportunity for UCLA to upgrade their athletic facility (which is badly needed) and sweep this whole thing under the rug with a nice big fat donation from Diddy.  How about $20 million for the “Diddy Practice Field”? I’m extremely disappointed in TMZ that they haven’t found a way to get a hold of the video either.

On to some puck where the Kings and Ducks are doing their best to try and manage the ever tightening salary cap with free agency about to get underway.  The Kings traded for Boston winger Milan Lucic on Friday, illustrating that they are clearly in “win-now” mode.  The Kings also said goodbye to Mike Richards, buying him out of his miserable contract.  That move should have been made last summer, but Kings GM Dean Lombardi was too loyal.  Lombardi obviously hasn’t watched Game of Thrones, otherwise he would know what loyalty gets you.   Richards went into “party mode” and never came out of it after helping the Kings win two cups.  You’ll probably find him drinking at the nearest Manhattan Beach bar, while Jarret Stoll is in the bathroom doing coke.

The Ducks are having struggles of their own trying to re-sign winger Matt Beleskey. They acquired speedy Carl Hagelin from the Rangers as a replacement.  Anaheim is in a slightly better salary cap situation, but for some reason they acquired another goaltender in the trade with Carolina.  I guess this puts them in excellent position to start a different goaltender in each playoff round before they are eliminated.

Gay marriage legalized.  Obama singing Amazing Grace.  Escaped murder killed by police.  I haven’t seen this much action in one day since 24!

Finally, months ago, I talked about what a foolish selection it was to pick Boston over LA to represent the U.S. in a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.  Nobody in Boston wants the summer games.  The residents are annoyed as hell there has been no communication, and they know it’s going to cost a shit load.  The plan has been a disaster, and now the US Olympic Committe is increasingly considering abandoning the Boston plan and going back to LA.  Southern California is littered with existing modern infrastructure, more than equipped to handle the games, and potentially make it even profitable.  Not to mention the fact that we’ll likely have a brand new privately financed football stadium in the next five years, which can serve as an Olympic Stadium as well.  Bring the summer games back to LA.  It’s been a success before and will be a success again.

June 22nd, 2015

In the end, it wasn’t all that surprising.  The NBA’s best team during the regular season, the Golden State Warriors, were the 2015 NBA Champions.  If you ask Steve Kerr what the most important decision he made was that led to the title, I’m sure he’ll tell you that it was turning down the Knicks job.  Props to Mark Jackson for enduring a season of broadcasting his former employers games, and become a championship squad right in front of him.  I’m sure he had his vomit bag handy during game 6.  As well as Andre Iguodola played, poor choice selecting him as the MVP.  It should have gone to Steph Curry.  He hit 40 more playoff 3’s than anybody in history, and he was the reason Iggy got all those open looks.  I guess Iggy “locked down” Lebron to the point where he couldn’t score 50, and had to settle for 35 and a triple double every game.  In any case, the Warriors are going to be contenders for the next few years, even in a stacked Western Conference.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is receiving more support than Lebron James did from his teammates in the NBA Finals.  I can just hear Delonte West asking Lebron: “what kind of fucked up Fathers Day gift is this?”  As much fun as it can be to pile on superstars because you hate them, Lebron was amazing, and you’re a moron if you think otherwise.  This is the best league in the world, and one player nearly beat 5.  That’s how good Lebron was.  If the Cavs bring this team back next year, and they are healthy, they can and should win the NBA championship.  As for his relationship with David Blatt, you can criticize him for that.  Lebron has no respect for the man, and that could be the only real hinderance to the Cavs winning a title in the future.  Frankly, if you have a superstar like Lebron, you need to make sure you have a coach who commands respect, and Blatt isn’t one that does.  Lebron has never had an elite coach that he has been forced to listen to like Jordan, Kobe, Magic, or Duncan had.  Maybe that’s what’s really preventing him from truly being one of the best ever.  As if it can’t get any worse for Cleveland, Browns training camp opens up in a few weeks.

On to the NBA draft, which is just 4 days away.  Laker fans haven’t been this excited since Mike D’Antoni was fired last year.  There still is some chatter regarding who the Lakers should take with the #2 pick, which will most likely be a choice between Jahlil Okafor and D’Angelo Russell.  Selecting Okafor is the correct choice, and nobody should even think twice.  Skilled big men are rare, and for decades, have been a critical ingredient for championship success.  Sure, some of you will try to convince yourself that “it’s a point guard league”, and that the NBA champions are built around a point guard.  That may be true, but they are also the first team since the Isaiah Thomas Pistons of 1990 that won a title while being constructed in such a way.  The Warriors also happen have the best shooting backcourt in NBA history.  Okafor has won at every level, been an elite player at every level he’s played at, and can continue to be elite in the NBA.  There’s a D’Angelo Russell available in the draft every year.  There isn’t a Jahlil Okafor, who can continue the tradition of great Laker big men.

Then there’s the Clippers, who made some headlines of their own last week.  First, they agreed to swap garbage with the Charlotte Hornets, trading Matt Barnes and Spencer Hawes for Lance Stephenson.  This is a perfect fit.  Stephenson blew in Lebron’s ear in the Eastern Conference finals.    If anyone knows about blowing in the playoffs, it’s the Clippers.   The Clipps don’t have many options to improve their roster, so they had to take a chance on Stepehnson, and ultimately, it’s a pretty low risk move considering they can cut ties with him next year if it doesn’t work out.  He was dismal last year with the Hornets, but he can’t make them much worse than they already are at the small forward position.  What is much worse however, are those nasty new uniforms the Clippers unveiled.  Who the hell approved this?  It’s like Steve Ballmer went to Walmart and bought some jersey design software from the $5 bin.  I’m not sure why they didn’t get a sense this was going to be the reaction when the design leaked on the internet weeks ago, and just squashed the idea.  Straight garbage.

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks, who won won their 3rd Stanley Cup Championship in 6 years.  That’s a feat that would take the Cubs and the Bears 600 years to accomplish.  The NHL hasn’t exactly been a league of parity for the last 5 years like many people characterize it.  The league has mostly been dominated by the Blackhawks, who may not be a true dynasty (3 titles in a row, or 3 out of 4), but as close as you’ll come to one in the NHL’s salary cap era.  Sorry LA, you’ve won two cups in four years, but right now, the Hawks are the team of the decade.  Much like the Kings, they’ve played a lot of playoff hockey the last 5 years, but their style of play is all about speed, skill, and playing an uptempo style.  That style is much more conducive to long-term success, unlike LA, who’s style is based on puck possession and physical play, that has worn them out to the point of missing the playoffs.  Then again, you can only play that style when you have world class players like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.  They may not be the Oilers or Islanders of the 1980’s, but the Hawks are a modern day powerhouse with staying power.  Even this guy thinks so….

I guess the Dodgers got tired of taking a beating from the Giants yesterday, and finally fought back to salvage a game in their 3 game set.  Apparently nobody has told Don Mattingly that he’s supposed to beat his division rival, because in only 1 of the 4 series against the Giants this season, both Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke have started.  Despite hanging onto first place, does anybody actually believe these guys are really contenders?  Their starters can’t get past the 5th or 6th inning, their middle-relief is made up of a bunch of failed cast-offs that are still failing, their shortstop is barely hitting over .200, and they keep getting destroyed by the Giants and Cardinals.  This team was supposed to be better constructed than last season, but I would argue that it’s even worse off against the elite teams.  Changes better be coming before July 31st, or else it will be another year further from the last title in 1988.

I was quite surprised to learn that the St. Louis Cardinals of all teams are being accused of stealing information from the Houston Astros.  This is the Cardinals we are talking about.  What happened to “the Cardinal way”?  I’m sure when they hacked into the Astros computer, it was done in an “ethical” way right?  Let’s not loose our minds here folks.  This has nothing to do with how the Cardinals handle their business on the field, and there’s no reason to believe they are doing anything like stealing signs.  This is simply about some front office executives getting back at former Cards General Manager Jeffrey Luhnow.  The Simpsons predicted this would happen long ago….

The Angels just can’t get it going.  They had a chance to make up some ground on the Astros last week, but settled for a split with the lowly D’Backs, and then lost two of three to the A’s.  Now Houston is coming to town for an important 3 game set.  Mike Trout and Albert Pujols are in great form, but nobody else is.  One day their starting pitching looks great, but the rest of their lineup can’t produce.  The next day their lineup explodes, but the pitching stinks.  The only thing consistent about this team is that they are consistently inconsistent.  Speaking of Angels, Mike Trout is currently the only non Kansas City Royal that is projected to start for the American League in this years all-star game.  It turns out only people in Kansas City care about the all-star game.  This is a spectacular reflection on how unpopular baseball has become nationally.

That 3,000th hit by A-Rod was about as awkward as Caitlyn Jenner on Father’s Day.  The Yankees and their fans handled it with class and grace, despite the fact we know A-Roid is was a PED user.  Still, it would be foolish to pretend that a player like A-Rod isn’t one of the greatest players of his generation.  Cheating is doing something that gives you an unfair advantage over everyone else.  You don’t have an unfair advantage when everyone around you, including the pitchers, are cheating.  He was one of the greatest in an era of steroid users.  However, he was great before the drugs, and great after the drugs as well.  My only real knock on A-Rod is that for many years, he seemed to abandon his greatness in the playoffs.  Players like A-Rod should be recognized for what they accomplished, and even put into the Hall of Fame.  You can’t tell the story of baseball without the steroid era, and he’s a big part of it.

Finally, what a choke job by Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open yesterday.  Jordan Spieth is kind of like a young Tiger Woods, except with morals and virtues.  The coverage of the event was terrible.  I’d like to thank Fox for giving us a split screen to see Jason Day walk from the green to the tee box.  It’s like the network was trying to give us vertigo with their coverage.  Meanwhile, Tiger Woods is so screwed up in the head right now that he would probably struggle playing minature golf at an 8 year olds birthday party.  It took a few minutes but Dustin Johnson is now over it…..

June 15th, 2015

Let’s start with the most important piece of information from last night’s game 5 of the NBA Finals.  ABC did not show Lebron James’ “Magic Johnson” prior to tip-off.  Sorry ladies.  As for game 5, the Warriors finally got a breakout performance from Steph Curry, torching Matthew Dellavedova like a shrimp on the barbee down under, and Golden State looks poised to close this thing out.  Andre Iguodola gave the Warriors a big boost too, and is currently causing more suffering in Cleveland than the Browns.  Lebron is nearly averaging a triple double in this series, but can only do so much when his coach is a total buffoon.  David Blatt thought it was a good idea to play Timofey Mozgov 9 minutes, after coming off a 28 point game.  I’m also not sure how he couldn’t find any minutes for Shawn Marion, who actually has won an NBA championship a couple of years ago.  It’s tough to count out Lebron James, and this might even go 7 games, but Steph has his groove back and looks like he’s going to finish this.  He’s currently teaching his daughter, Riley, how to bully people…..

Of course everyone is overeacting to having camera men on the baseline after Lebron cut his head in game 4 on a camera lens.  This makes perfect sense right?  Let’s move the camera men because they are too dangerous for players who are dramatically flopping to draw fouls and stumbling an extra 10 feet into the first row.  Those baseline cameras actually serve a purpose, giving us great photos from sites like NBA.com.  One of the things that also makes the NBA more unique than the other 3 major sports is that the media and fans are so close to the players, and can see their faces, which is another reason those cameras are there.  Obviously player safety is of the utmost importance, but to turn this wild dive into the crowd into some type of bigger safety issue is absurd.

On to the Stanley Cup Final, where Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop is a moron.  Bishop and his teammate Victor Hedman collided in the first period of game 5, leaving a wide open net for Chicago’s Patrick Sharp to score in, propelling the Blackhawks to a win.  Bishop said “you can’t really hear anything in the building when it’s that loud.  Obviously, you saw the result.  It’s too loud out there.”  Is this Bishop’s first time playing in front of a crowd?  Yea, it’s the fans fault that you made a foolish decision to come out and play the puck when your teammate was right there to handle it.  Don’t worry Ben, when you go to Chicago tonight, you won’t have to worry about any fans cheering for you.  In fact, you probably won’t have to worry about even playing in front of your fans the rest of the season.

Speaking of hockey, the LA Kings minor league affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs won the Calder Cup Championship of the AHL over the weekend.  It was great to see the Vancouver Canucks prospects already gaining the experience of losing to the Kings in big games.  This says a lot about the talent that is in the Kings farm system, and is just a reminder that even if the Kings say goodbye to the likes of Jarret Stoll, Mike Richards, and Justin Williams, they still have the young depth to replace them.  It also tells me that the Kings have the pieces to acquire another quality scorer like Toronto winger Phil Kessel.  It may take including a defenseman like Alec Martinez and the #13 pick in this years draft, but a move like that would definitely put the Kings back in contention for another cup.

In baseball, another series with the Padres, and the Dodgers take another two out of three games.  LA has now opened up a 3.5 game lead over the hated San Francisco Giants in the NL West, but they’ve got some issues to resolve.  Their bullpen is about as reliable as the local NBC weather forecast, and their starting pitching is an even bigger issue long term.  They are going to need 1 more quality starter if they have any hopes to do any damage in October.  It’s important that starter is an elite one as well, because Zack Greinke will likely opt out of his contract this fall, which means LA would have to replace its #2 starter.  Since Greinke is 31 years old, one could argue it’s too big a risk to re-sign him to a 7 year contract.  There are younger starters on the market this fall who will be just as elite.  The Dodgers should spend that money on the likes of a David Price, Johnny Cueto, or Jordan Zimmermann, who are all younger than Greinke.  Since Cueto is on a team that stinks, he’s the most likely candidate to get moved by the deadline, so LA should go after him.  It might mean moving a guy like Alex Guerrero, since the Dodgers have made some of their other prospects untouchable, but it would be well worth it.  I’m definitely not trading Joc Pederson when he’s making plays like this….

Meanwhile, the Halos took two of three from the A’s over the weekend, and are inching closer to the Astros in the AL West.  This is a huge week for the Angels.  They get the opportunity to beat the crap out of the D’Backs for the next 4 games, while the Astros wrestle with the mile high altitude in Colorado.  By the time they play the Astros next week, they might even be ahead of them in the standings if Albert Pujols continues to mash like this.  There’s also no doubt that Matt Joyce is going to be chained to the bench for a while since he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat at this point.  Here’s an idea: call the Dodgers and see if they would be willing to to trade Andre Ethier straight up for CJ Wilson.  CJ has one more year left on his contract at $20.5 million, while Ethier has 3 years and $56 million left.   Still, it’s Ethier who is currently performing much better, and gives the Halos some solid defense along with some pop.  In any case, the Halos need some production in left field and at third base if they hope to contend again.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter is now reconsidering his resignation.  Ladies and gentleman…….soccer.

I saw Jurassic World over the weekend, and I thought it was great.  I admit, the animatronics used in the first movie were not only impressive for it’s time, but more impressive when you see them today.  However, there was some very creative use of CGI in Jurassic World, that nevertheless, made some scary looking Dinosaurs.  The storyline was even more interesting.  20 years later, somehow, the park actually opened and people weren’t even afraid of Dinosaurs at all.  I do wish they spent more time explaining how the park actually opened after all the previous incidents.  However, seeing the dynamics of how some people were so unfazed by Dinosaurs, and seeing how they were actually more preoccupied with their cell phones while in the park was amazing.  Once the beastly Indominous Rex was introduced, I found myself on the edge of my seat as the chaos in the park broke loose. It was a totally fresh storyline, but it nicely honored its ancestry with casual references to John Hammond, seeing a park employee in a Jurassic Park T-shirt, and seeing some 1992 Jeeps that were used in the first movie.  Chris Pratt was impressive too, and his new character was needed to keep the plot intriguing.  It looks like there’s going to be a sequel of course, but even though this movie restored the franchise, I can’t see them making another movie that’s just as good.   Surely not as good as the original.

And finally, the season finale of Game of Thrones went down last night on HBO.  Major spoiler alert here if you haven’t seen it yet, and there were some key characters killed off, so stop reading if necessary.  Stannis Baratheon was killed in battle, which most people are probably going to say “serves that guy right for killing his daughter!”  Ok you’re right on that, but for all of his terrible qualities, he has some humanistic ones as well.  We saw them in his interaction with Jon Snow earlier in the season, and he’s also one of the more brave characters.  However, once Brienne showed up to kill him, I’m sure he was relieved more than anything.  He did some of the worst things in the world, but it was all for nothing.  However, the real downside to his death was that he might have been able to rescue Sansa.  Speaking of Sansa, it took her long enough to light that damn candle!  I’m really not sure what to make of her fate.  Did she commit suicide?  Or was she actually trying to escape?  Since we are talking about Game of Thrones here, I’m thinking that this was an actual suicide, which is a better alternative than facing Ramsay, and bearing his children.  Props to Theon to for slightly redeeming himself by killing Ramsay’s sadistic lover and jumping with her.

I’ve been hating on the Arya story all season.  It actually got good for a few minutes when she killed Meryn Trant.  Then it got stupid again when Jaquen scolds her for it, because she is supposed to be “faceless.”  The bottom line is she wants revenge and training from Jaquen, which isn’t exactly what he wants to give her.  Where is Uma Thurman when Arya really needs her?  She could show her how she did it in Kill Bill.  I’m a little disappointed this is where we ended up with Daenerys, getting captured by the Dothraki, however, it should make for an interesting start to next season when two guys that are in love with her try to rescue her.  You’ve gotta love how Jamie got to feel what it was like to be a father for about 30 seconds before his daughter died in his arms.  Cersei is gonna be pissed, on top of being humiliated.  After that walk of shame, you’ve gotta feel just a little bit bad for her right?  Then again, I’m sure she will have her revenge….she usually does.  And finally, we lost Jon Snow, and frankly this was somewhat predictable.  I’ve been saying for weeks how terrible of a character he was, and how weak he was, which was going to get him killed.  It finally did.  For those of you upset about his death, you just don’t understand the show.  He wasn’t even killed by a bad guy.  He was killed by a kid he wanted to do right by.  Jon Snow’s honor and integrity got him killed.  It always does in this show.

Overall, it was a good season, but not quite where I hoped the show would go when the season started.  Didn’t we all think that Daenerys was going to take Kings Landing this season?  Or that somebody else would try to take down the Lannisters and another battle would ensure?  Well none of that happened because the battles that were taking place were actually in the kingdoms they resided in.  In season 6 we’ll probably see how Tyrion can govern a kingdom with Daenerys tied up with the Dothraki’s.  Ser Jorah probably saves Daenerys from the Dothraki right before dying from Greyscale, and Cersei and her new mountain man knight will destroy everyone.  Seems like the only Stark left is Arya, who isn’t doing much for us.  What will Brienne do with herself if Sansa is dead?  There’s lots of questions to be answered, and a series of cliff hangers to be resolved.  Season 6 is a long ways away, but can’t wait!

June 8th, 2015

Let me tell you something folks.  If Lebron James and the Cavaliers pull off winning the NBA Finals with this roster, he is going to have a legacy like no other.  He’s got no Kyrie Irving, no Kevin Love, no coach, some New York Knick rejects, and some dude named Delladova that looks like Jerry Ferrara.  Hats off to The King just for winning a game.   This is one hell of a series, and it might even go 7 games.  I can’t believe I’m saying this after two games, but Lebron has been that good, and that’s while getting totally screwed by the refs last night.  The Warriors definitely relaxed after learning that Kyrie was done for the series, and they are screwing around way too much. The Cavs are giving them all they can handle.  Steph Curry may not go 2-10 for only 8 pts again, but then again Lebron may not go 11-34 again either.  This one is going to be a classic battle folks.

The long wait between the NBA Finals always leads fans to the never ending argument about whose legacy is the greatest or comparing some of the best players in the NBA history.  This past week, much of that discussion focused around comparing Lebron vs Kobe.  It was actually Shaquille O’Neal who sparked much of the conversation by saying he would take Kobe over Lebron in their prime’s.  Truth be told, even though these are really very different players from difference eras, I’m “a Kobe guy”.  He has the benefit of having a legacy that is already written, and the championships to back him up.   While Lebron’s story is still in progress, he has the stats to back him up, while playing in an era that revolves around advanced statistics.  The other problem with these arguments is nobody ever knows what we are basing the argument off of: best player? best legacy? Saying one is simply better than the other is for the simple minded.  Being “a Lebron guy” doesn’t make you a Kobe hater, and being “a Kobe guy” doesn’t make you a Lebron hater. However, failing to realize that a minimum, both of these guys are top 10 NBA players of all time exposes you as a hater, and makes you look like an idiot.

I love what Shaq had to say about Kobe.  He said that he wouldn’t have changed a thing about their relationship, and that relationship, even to this day, is very special.  This is definitely bitter sweet for any Laker fan, knowing that they probably left a couple of championships on the table.  Despite Kobe’s respect for Shaq, he admits that he wasn’t going to play with him anymore after 2004 because he wanted to take on the naysayers that said he couldn’t win without Shaq.  That’s actually a huge reason why Shaq likes Kobe so much: he pushed him to be great.  He pushed him to be great when Shaq was a Laker, and after that.  The irony of it is, as great as Shaq was, he could have easily been the greatest center ever if he wanted to.  He just preferred to have a little more fun.  The duo was fun for Laker fans while it lasted.

On to baseball where this is getting old.  The Dodgers got owned by the St Louis Cardinals for the 2nd straight weekend.  The Dodgers may be in 1st place, but they are 4-12 against the Giants and Cardinals this season.  They are 28-13 against everybody else.  It just so happens that the Giants and Cardinals are currently the only teams they’ve faced with winning records.  The story is the same, the bullpen stinks, and the Dodgers can’t hit in the clutch against the Cards pitching.  On the bright side, Clayton Kershaw got angry and shut down St Louis on Saturday night.  However, he’s going to need to do it in the playoffs to shake the stigma that he can’t win the big game.  Make no mistake about it…..if the Dodgers make the playoffs, they are going to have to go through the Cards and overcome the demons that have haunted them the last two seasons.  I can’t say I’ve seen anything so far to make me think that they will overcome them.  Especially without adding another pitcher to their starting staff, and without fixing their middle relief.

Brutal weekend for the Angels against the Yankees.  The Halos top 3 starters got bombed in all 3 games, and they were swept away by New York.  For the first two plus months of the season, it’s like they’ve been stuck in 2nd gear.  They consistently have not been able to hit.  Their starting pitching has looked good at times, and like monkey crap at others.  At this point it’s fair to say the Angels need something to jump start their team.  The Halos could call up Andrew Heaney and give him a shot in their starting rotation, which might even push some of their veterans to get their act together.  However, what they really need is another bat at third base or left field.   The Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Padres have plenty to spare, so Jerry Dipoto should pick up the phone and start making dials before he finds his team further spiraling down the AL West.

I never imagined that I would see a Triple Crown winner in my lifetime, and sure enough we saw one on Saturday, in American Pharoah.  On second thought, American Pharoah is the first Triple Crown since JR Smith’s drink order at the bar after game 1 of the NBA Finals.  That was exciting to watch.  The only shame, as is the case with many of these horses, is that we may not get to see very much of him again, if at all.  These race horses careers are even shorter than the career of Vanilla Ice.  You’ve gotta enjoy the greatness while it lasts, because it could be a while before we see another Triple Crown winner.  Nice expletive by jockey Victor Espinoza when it was over…..

The NHL Finals area headed back to Chicago tied 1-1, but the Tampa Bay Lightning are ridiculous.  Tampa restricted ticket sales to Florida only zip codes, in order to make it difficult for the Blackhawk fans to get their hands on tickets and fill up Amalie Arena.  That move was a little obnoxious, but somewhat tolerable.  However, they took a step further.  They are preventing any fan from wearing any Blackhawks apparel in certain parts of the arena.  That feels like some kind of first amendment violation to me.  I realize that the Hawks fans travel well, but such policies just make it look like you know you have a fan base with no excitement or passion for your team.  Can you imagine if they did this at the Honda Center?  When the Kings came to town, there would just be a bunch of empty seats since Kings fans wouldn’t be allowed to show up.

So Sepp Blatter stepped down as FIFA President.  Too bad Blatter is still going to be pulling all the strings behind the scenes, and probably hand pick his successor.  I’m sure he’ll continue to bully people behind the scenes, while Russia and Qatar get to keep their upcoming World Cup bids.  If only we could get Roger Goodell to step down after Blatter did.  Oh, in case you missed it, here’s a live look at Blatter stepping down……

Has anybody seen Entourage yet?  The movie didn’t seem to get great reviews, however, I saw it and i loved it.  There were a number of laugh out loud moments, mostly because of Ari’s big mouth, but if you loved the show you will love the movie.  The movie should have come out about 3 years ago, but I’m still hoping there is a sequel.  Each of the characters quickly reminds you why you loved the show when it was on, and the ending was perfect.  The only downside to having a sequel is that the ending might not possibly be as perfect as this one was.

Game of Thrones went down against on HBO last night.  For the most part, the show hasn’t gotten too crazy with over the top fantasy like elements.  However, the ending of the last two episodes has moved a lot closer to that.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  How the heck did Drogon (her favorite dragon) get loose?  Wasn’t he chained in the basement?  His arrival was great timing to save Dany, but what about the rest of her friends?  We’re just supposed to believe they are going to be ok?  Ok, I admit that seeing her jump on the dragon and ride it was cool, but completely departing from the realistic nature of the show we’ve seen up to this point.  That and last week’s battle with the White Walkers.  I’m glad to see Ser Jorah back in Dany’s good graces, even though he probably doesn’t have much time left to live.  Meanwhile, the death of Shireen was horrific.  Just when you think Stannis is starting to develop some sanity and humanity in him, he goes and murders his own daughter.  What a bunch of nut jobs he, his wife, and Melisandre are.  Melisandre watches flames like most people watch Netflix.  Of course in Stannis’ mind, he probably thinks starving an army of people is worse than burning his own daughter alive.  Too bad he’s not sane enough to realize they have nothing to do with each other.  It’s obvious that Jon Snow is going to get himself or others killed with his integrity.  The only thing more annoying than the Arya story in general is the fact that when she finally had the chance to kill somebody on her list, she didn’t even do it.  Anyway, hoping for an action packed season finale next week.

June 1st, 2015

The Ducks had you fooled.  You thought they had overcome the playoff demons.  You thought wrong.  For the third straight year in a row, the Ducks lost a game 7 at home.  In each one of those series, the Ducks had series leads of 3-1, 3-2, and 3-2.  If I didn’t know better I’d say this team was coached by Bruce Boudreau.  Oh wait….they are.  Boudreau has now been behind the bench for 6 losses in game 7 at home in the playoffs.  Do you realize that accounts for 10% of the 63 teams that have lost game 7 at home in NHL history? In all these game 7’s the story has been the same as it was on Saturday at the Honda Center.  The big names like Ryan Getzlaf failed to perform, and there was a total lack of poise and discipline.  Another nice regular season followed by a playoff disaster.  If the Ducks are serious about winning a cup, they’ll go out and get themselves a coach who can put them over the top.  Their fans however don’t seem that serious though, because the arena was filled with Blackhawk fans on Saturday night.  The only parade they’ll be seeing in Anaheim this year will involve cartoon characters at Disneyland.

To baseball, where it was a very familiar scene this weekend in St. Louis.  The Dodgers take on the Cardinals.  They can’t score any runs.  The Cards make them look like chumps and LA loses two out of three.  I don’t care how talented the Dodgers may seem.  The season is going to come down to the same thing we’ve seen the last two seasons.  Can they beat the Cardinals in the playoffs?  Can they beat the Giants when it matters?  Right now, both of those teams have a much greater championship pedigree than the Boys in Blue, who not only can’t score runs against these elite teams, as I predicted, but are also struggling to find rotation depth.  The new nerdy front office also managed to trade another quality player last week, Juan Uribe, for pennies on the dollar in return.  The Dodgers have infield and outfield depth coming out of their ears, they are desperate for starting pitching, but these baseball nerds keep unloading talent just to have more clubhouse harmony, and without filling those other needs.

As for the Angels, they may have swept the Tigers over the weekend, but how annoying is it seeing Josh Hamilton tear it up back in Texas?  The Halos are desperate for production in left field, as the Collin Cowgill and Matt Joyce tag team has been about as successful as two bad little leaguers in the lineup everyday.  Although Joyce has been better of late, those two have been so bad that the front office actually thinks that acquiring Kirk Nieuwenhuis, a career .230 hitter, will solve their problems.  If Arte Moreno had never opened up his big mouth in the first place, the Angels might be getting some return on their ridiculous investment.  It’s probably also about time the Angels stopped messing around and made Carlos Perez their everyday catcher.  All things considered, things could be a lot worse for the Angels, but they certainly need to be a lot better.

Who the hell is Jared Dudley anyway?  The Milwaukee Bucks forward went on a media blitz last weekend, seemingly trying to preview his broadcasting career.  In an interview with Colin Cowherd, he claimed that nobody wants to play with Kobe, it will be a while before the Lakers are good again, and went on to say some other nonsense like how Carmelo Anthony is the most overrated player in the league.  Look Jared, 5 championship rings aren’t for everyone, and certainly not for you.  You may not want to play with Kobe, but I’m sure if I ask a whole lot other guys (Pau Gasol, Steve Blake, Derek Fisher, and Matt Barnes just to name a few) they would love to.  Some guys just don’t want the pressure of having to win championships every year, and apparently you don’t want that which is why you’d rather play in a small town like Milwaukee.  Too bad when your contract is up, there aren’t going to be many teams that want you.   Jared is still probably upset about Kobe doing this to him a few years ago…..

As for the recent rumors about Dwayne Wade leaving Miami, I’ll believe it when I see it.  Wade is upset, and rightfully so, that he opted out of his contract last year in order to take less money so the team could re-sign Lebron James.  Since that didn’t happen, Wade now wants to be paid max dollars since he’s the face of the franchise.  He may be the face of the franchise, and still productive when healthy, but those healthy times are rare.  Nobody is going to pay Wade more than the $16 million per season Miami could next season.  The notion that the Lakers would is silly.  They’d be tying up money in two players in Kobe and Wade that would be on the injured list most of the time.  Then again, this seems like something the Knicks would do if Wade doesn’t work things out with the Heat.

I can’t believe we have to wait a whole week for the NBA Finals.  This is good news for both the Cavs and the Warriors since both Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving have time to recover from injuries.  I’m thinking the Warriors are going to take this in 6, especially without Kyrie being 100% healthy.  The Warriors have a deeper bench, and as good as Lebron is, he can’t guard everybody.  Even though the East is a JV league, the fact Lebron got his injured team this far is impressive.  Speaking of those injured teammates, Kevin Love said he expects to play opening night next season with the Cavs.  He must be assuming that the Cavs will be playing the Lakers that evening.

What a total embarrassment the Chicago Bulls organization was last week.  As expected, Chicago fired Tom Thibodeau.  However, not only did they fire him, they completely trashed him on his way out, and the front office looked like nothing but a bunch of classless and jealous clowns.  NBA coaches aren’t exactly treated all that well, often like that trashy girl that hooked up with every guy in high school.  The Bulls are notorious for this over the years with all their coaches, including the greatest NBA coach of all-time, Phil Jackson.  I’m surprised that any coach, including Fred Hoiberg, wants to take a job like that knowing the front office could stab him in the back at any time.  Thibodeau has his flaws, but he’s still one of the better coaches in the NBA, and will be back on his feet in no time.

Speaking of embarrassments, Sepp Blatter and FIFA are just that, after that story broke last week about all the FIFA officials being arrested.  Blatter’s re-election, along with his embarrassing statement that threatened those that didn’t vote for him, are a reminder of how much political corruption exists abroad.  Blatter is aligning himself with those states that see the sport as a means to cement their position on the world stage.  In return, those nations help Blatter maintain a grip on the job.  Did the U.S. and England try and set up Blatter for the fall?  Probably, but I can’t blame them.  However, the sad part in all this is that US sponsors probably don’t care enough about soccer to stop their support of FIFA.  If enough people really cared about soccer, public pressure would force those sponsors to re-consider their support.  That tells you just how little people care about soccer in this country.

This Adrian Peterson situation may seem like a lost cause since he has no leverage, but he’s trying to fight a bigger battle.  Peterson says that his decision not to participate in OTA’s with the Vikings is not about wanting a trade, but rather securing his future with the Vikings.  Peterson believes he’s trying to fight for the Players Union, and ultimately move them closer to guaranteed contracts.  Unfortunately, Peterson is the wrong guy to lead this fight.  He’s a player coming off some off the field issues that make him look like a child abuser in the eyes of some.  Whatever you think of Peterson, he isn’t the guy for this fight.  It should be a a guy like Russell Wilson, who commands respect from the owners, and who’s big payday is around the corner.  He also shouldn’t be leading this fight because it’s going to be devastating to my fantasy team if he holds out.

Finally, Game of Thrones went down on HBO last night, and by the end, it proved to be an exciting episode.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  The Tyrion and Dany banter was a nice little appetizer for the audience before the big battle at the end.  Even though when Tyrion mentioned that Ser Jorah was in love with Dany and it seemed to hit her hard, I was a little surprised that he was exiled once again.  It seemed like Tyrion’s motive for recommending this was to make Dany more dependent on him, even though she needs all the help she can get.  I loved the moment when Tyrion was defending Jamie and Varys.  It was like he was trying to apply for a job, while his would-be references all tried to murder his would-be boss.  I’m still amazed that after 7 episodes, we know nothing about what happened to Bran.

The imprisonment of Cersei would have been way more entertaining had she been in the same cell as Margaery.  How terrible is Tommen as a King since he can’t get his mother or his wife out of prison?  Cersei’s plan was to use Tommen’s weakness to have Margaery imprisoned, except the irony is that his weakness won’t be able to get Cersei out of prison now either.  Poor King Tommen….he’s now deprived of boobs and mom.  Then of course the big battle with the White Walkers ensued.  Who knew that a Valyrian sword could kill a White Walker?  I’ve gotta hand it to the writers of the show.  I wasn’t really sure how they would incorporate the White Walkers without some over the top fantasy elements.  However, they managed to retain the show’s dramatic yet sensible elements.  Hope the last two episodes of the season are just as good.

May 25th, 2015

Suddenly, everything might be ok in Lakerland.  Last week the ping-pong balls bounced their way, and they not only kept this years first round pick because it was in the top 5, they ended up with the 2nd pick.  Laker fans haven’t been this happy since the Clippers were eliminated from the playoffs a few days earlier.  Even on a night where it’s just the NBA’s losers separating themselves from other losers, the Lakers gave their fans reason for hope.  In fact, you can actually get excited about having at least 3 young players to build with including Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle, and this years lottery pick.  This also starts to make the Lakers a slightly better free agent destination this summer.  Had they lost the pick, the front office might have done something reckless to make up for it.  Meanwhile in New York, Knick fans were jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge when they settled for the 4th pick.  I guess New York forgot that the tanking was supposed to stop after the season ended.  Those bozos will probably trade the pick to Cleveland for JR Smith.

As for the Lakers pick itself, the choice is simple: Karl Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor.  Either player would be a fantastic addition, and would put two cornerstones in LA’s front court for the foreseeable future.  The notion that the team should pick D’Angelo Russell #2 because “it’s a point guard driven league” is just foolish.  Impact big men are rare, whereas there are players like Russell available every year.    Towns is a great defensive player, but Okafor has amazing post moves, and is a high enough IQ player to learn to be a good defender.  The choice is Okafor.  Some may want to trade the pick as well, but what’s the point of gutting your team for Demarcus Cousins or even Kevin Durant if there’s nothing left to keep you competitive?

It’s amazing how everyone completely forgot about the Clippers a couple of days after they were eliminated, and once the Lakers had their lottery luck.  For an owner like Steve Ballmer, at some point after he bought the team, he had to have asked himself if he should move the team up to Seattle, a town that is begging for the return of the NBA.  If the Clippers left tomorrow, would anybody around here really care?  I doubt it.  The only thing that’s here for them is money, but that’s enough to keep them around.  Meanwhile, the conference finals are just terrible match ups.  Lebron James could win the Eastern Conference with his children on his team.  In the West, Dwight Howard is softer than a pillow fight between Drake and Chris Brown.  This play sums up his entire career….

Why are people already talking about a Super Bowl coming to LA in 2020 when we don’t even have a new stadium yet?  It sounds to me like the NFL wants two teams back in LA a lot more than people around here do.  I also find it interesting that the Chargers and the Raiders are making all this noise about their stadium situations in their respective cities, but Stan Kroenke is being very quiet and not saying a word.  That’s the sign of an owner who is going to move the Rams one day, no matter what legal action the league might take against him.  It looks like there is a lot less red tape to getting a stadium done in Inglewood than getting one done in Carson.  The question is whether or not the Raiders or Chargers would want to share a stadium with the Rams if they move first.  I doubt it.

Let’s go to the ice where the Ducks and Blackhawks are having a pretty good battle in their Western Conference Finals best of seven series.  This series may be tied at 2-2, but in the first four games, it has felt like Anaheim has been the better team.  In every moment of this series it has felt like you are just waiting for Anaheim to start dominating.  They are bigger than the Hawks, and just as skilled.  In game 4, they wiped away a two goal deficit by scoring twice in a 37 second span.  I came back from the restroom and a 3-1 deficit had turned into a 4-3 lead.  They are that good, while the Hawks have been opportunistic.  More importantly, Anaheim is getting phenomenal goaltending from Freddy Anderson, who has shown that he’s capable of stealing a playoff game or two.  It may take 7 games, but I think Anaheim has this.  Even though most of their fans are still trying to figure out why they didn’t get a point the other night when they went to overtime.

I was beginning to think the Dodgers might never score again with the way they played last week.  These are the type of offensive droughts I feared when this roster was put together.  To make matters worse, watching LA play against the Giants is like watching a bad little league team go up against professionals.  This new Dodger regime has no idea about the importance beating your hated rivals, and it’s costing them in the standings.  Is Clayton Kershaw ever going to pitch like the $215 million MVP he was last year?  Is Carlos Frias going to toss more stink bombs like he did yesterday?  The Dodgers need help in their starting rotation now that Hyun-Jin Ryu is done, and they need to get back to scoring runs.  When you really think about it though, getting shut out shouldn’t be too difficult for LA to take, considering that 70% of their fans have been experiencing it for a couple of seasons without Time Warner Cable.

It looked like the Halos were coming on.  Then you look at the standings, and they are still stuck in mud.  After a tough week in Toronto and Boston, the Halos are still 6.5 games back of the Astros in the AL West.  The Angels have been held to two or fewer runs 5 times this season.  That’s a disaster for a team with Albert Pujols and Mike Trout in their lineup.  We keep waiting for this offense to break out, or for Houston to come back to the pack.  Neither has happened yet through 44 games, and it may take a trade to turn this season around.

We are getting ANOTHER MLS team in LA?  I realize that the MLS is growing, and that there’s an opportunity with the growing hispanic population, but building a new stadium for a new team by the Coliseum just seems like a foolish business venture.  There’s a reason why Chivas USA failed, and it was more than just bad ownership.  This town can’t support two soccer teams.

Finally, Game of Thrones went down last night on HBO.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  Overall, it feels like not much has happened in the first seven episodes of this season.  However, last night we had a series of interesting developments.  Now that Tyrion and Danny have finally met, it’s a powerful moment for the audience.  We have two of the most prominent and intriguing characters that we’ve been dying to see interact finally together.  It’s amazing how just a couple of episodes ago Tyrion had no interest in Danny and her dragons.  Now he’s very interested in joining forces with her.  As for Jorah, I’m still not entirely convinced he’s back in the queen’s good graces.  I also like how Danny is a lot smarter than other protagonists like Rob Stark.  She isn’t foolish enough to marry Daario like he is suggesting, but rather knows she needs to marry Hizdahr for the good of her kingdom.  Meanwhile, Stannis is sure to make a stupid decision in battle, even if it means sacrificing his daughter.  We saw this before with Renly, and it didn’t end well for the family.  Sansa is getting exactly what she deserves.  She’s getting raped and tormented by Ramsay, which could have been completely avoided had she just trusted Brienne.

Leave it to Game of Thrones to have everything revolve around rape.  Gilly is about to get raped by two dudes, and Sam saves her.  That leads to a sex scene with Sam.  Obviously nothing gets a women whose been raped all her life ready for some love ‘makin like getting raped by two guys right?  I think the writers lost some self-awareness here.  The irony of Cersei is that she is completely destroying Tommen’s ability to rule just to get her own revenge on the Tyrells.  I smiled a little when Cersei visited Margaery to torment her.  She is enjoying the same type of sadistic role play that Ramsay is.  This was classic moment for the show.  I had completely forgotten about that Lannister cousin she slept with and basically had kill Robert Baratheon.  Even though she’s now in a cell, I’m sure she’s far from finished.  Hopefully the last 3 episodes of the season are as intriguing as this one was.