May 18th, 2015

You thought things had changed.  You thought the Clippers were done being “the Clippers”.  Then in a matter of days they reverted to being “the Clippers”.  Yesterday, LA became just the 9th team in NBA history to lose a series after being up 3-1.  The Clipps and Rockets were two pyschologically flawed teams, but the Clippers proved to have the bigger flaws when it was over.  I realize LA doesn’t have much of a bench.  But the reality of it is, this was legacy defining for Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.  Those two players were far and away the most talented players in the series.  Yet when their teams needed them most in games 6 and 7, they failed to impose their will.  Blake went scoreless in the 4th quarter of game 6, and had more turnovers than Better Crocker in game 7.  Paul failed to go into attack mode late in game 6 and early in game 7 when the Clippers needed him most.  Winning in the NBA is a process.  However, the Clippers aren’t going through that process because they have yet to make it out of the 2nd round, even with the most talented team they have assembled in their franchises’ history.  When the moment gets big, the Clippers get small.  This is sob city, not lob city.

As for the off-season, it’s easy to say that the Clippers need to blow things up because the team can’t win as constructed.  However, blowing things up will probably set the Clippers back much further away from where they are now.   The first thing they need to hope for is re-signing DeAndre Jordan, even if it means giving him a max contract.  Once the salary cap goes up next summer, they need to hope they can lure a big name free agent like Kevin Durant to make them real contenders.  Even if they can’t make such a home run scenario happen,  the Clippers can still bring in some quality role players with championship experience to not only give them depth, but also give them the mental toughness they need to get to the next level.  This better happen quickly though, or Steve Ballmer might become a racist too.

Congratulations to the Rockets and Hawks, who have earned themselves the right to get swept in the conference finals.  If the Bulls couldn’t beat the Cavaliers without Kevin Love and a hobbled Kyrie Irving, they will never be able to beat a team with Lebron James on it.  With the Capitals and Wizards losing in the playoffs, last week was the worst week in DC since Obama was re-elected.  Looks like Dwight Howard fell one rebound short of the amount of illegitimate children he has in yesterday’s ball game.  If the Warriors can win a title this year, they will be the first team since Isaiah Thomas’ Pistons that has won a championship with a team that is built around its point guard.  So much for those of you who believe “it’s a point guard driven league”.  The Bulls may have lost, but Joakim Noah is still right about this……

Meanwhile, the Lakers are getting ready for an extremely pivotal moment for their franchise with Tuesday’s draft lottery.  The Lakers had the fourth worst record in the NBA, but they only get to keep their pick if it falls within the top 5, otherwise it goes to Philadelphia.  Do you realize that in the thirty NBA draft lotteries, only 13% of the time, has the team with the worst record gotten the top pick?  The team with the 4th worst record has won it once (1987 when the Spurs selected David Robinson),  while the team with the 3rd worst record has actually won it the highest percentage of the time, at 23%.  Just knowing about those odds should make you feel like the whole thing is rigged, and that the Lakers could very well lose their pick.  Given how “anti-Lakers” the NBA has seemed since the last lockout, I’m thinking LA will either get the 5th pick, or lose their first round pick.  If they lose the pick, that sets the Lakers back a good three years in their rebuilding process.

Let’s go to the ice, where the Ducks and Hawks finally faced off for game 1 of the Western Conference Finals yesterday, and Anaheim handled Chicago easily 4-1 to take a 1-0 lead in their best of seven series.  The Ducks are getting goals from guys named Nate Thompson.  That sounds like the name of a guy who should be selling used cars and not playing in the Western Conference Finals.  Neither teams star players did much in game 1, however, the difference was the Ducks got big offensive contributions from their 3rd and 4th liners as well as great goaltending, while the Hawks got neither.  I picked the Hawks when the series began, but Anaheim’s confidence is growing with every game, and looking like serious threat to win the cup.  Teemu Selanne was at the game, and he found a jacket that is uglier than the Masters green jacket…….

On to baseball, where the Dodgers came away with a 4 game split against the Rockies over the weekend.  They say a tie is like kissing your sister, but this felt a lot worse than that considering the Rockies are in last place in the NL West.  I still have no idea how the Dodgers have managed to put together the 4th best team ERA in the NL given that they only really have two legit starting pitchers, and Clayton Kershaw hasn’t even been his usual dominant self.  The irony of the Dodger is that 36 games into the season, despite being near the top of the NL, they have exactly  same issues as last year.  They have a stud closer in Kenley Jansen, but no reliable middle relievers to get the ball to him.  There are questions at the back of their starting rotation, and they have have a log jam of infielders, at third base in particular.  Andrew Friedman claimed the Dodgers were poorly constructed when he took over.  The reality is, they are just as talented, yet he still hasn’t fixed the flaws to get them over the hump.  Perhaps dealing an infielders like Juan Uribe or one of their outfielders might net them the extra rotation help they need.

Then there’s the Angels, who managed to take two of three against the struggling Orioles over the weekend, and are now winners of 5 of their last 6.  The good news for the Halos is that their pitching has come around, Jeff Weaver can get people out again, and they now have the best team ERA in the American League.  The bad news is that I’ve seen pimpled faced freshman scoring more than the Angels have this season.  Only the White Sox have scored fewer runs in the AL than the Halos, and just two teams have a lower team batting average.  Albert Pujols and David Freese are giving the Angels very little hitting at the corner infield spots, while the team is also getting nothing from their revolving door of left fielders.  Sitting at 5.5 games back of 1st place Houston, the Halos need to acquire a productive bat or two or else they will find themselves out of contention in no time.

Leave it Roger Goodell to keep Deflate Gate in the news last week.  In every other sport, we wouldn’t be talking about this anymore because we have consistent rules for punishment, and swift and decisive action taking place.  Now Goodell will probably sit down with Tom Brady and come up with some compromise.  Goodell is pretending like he’s running a league defined by integrity.  A league where he’s got an owner insisting on keeping a racial slur as its team’s nickname, and where all the owners are paying hundreds of millions to get their former concussed employees to go away and keep their mouths shut.  Tom Brady didn’t cheat.  Cheating is defined as having an unfair advantage over the playing field.  There’s no unfair advantage to be gained when the teams can provide their own footballs.  Besides, can you really blame Brady not wanting to turn over his cell phone to investigators?  He would gladly take a 4 game suspension than have Gisele find out who he has been doing on the side.

Last night’s Game of Thrones had a pretty intense and disturbing ending. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  Sana Stark gets raped by her new husband, Ramsay Bolton, on their wedding night.  As if that wasn’t horrifying enough, Ramsay made Theon watch is all go down.  Some of you actually thought Sansa’s first time was going to be with a good guy after Joffrey died.  WRONG.  She ended up with an even more screwed up husband who not only raped her, but made a guy without a penis watch.  I know a lot of people are going to criticize the writers for incorporating another rape scene into the show, but were talking about Medieval Times here people.  This is how things went down unfortunately.  I had way too much Arya in this episode.  Her story gets more uninteresting by the episode.  Has there ever been a weaker King than Tommen?  His wife gets detained in front of him, and he looks as befuddled as the Clippers do in a game 7.  Cersei is winning this battle, and she seems like she’s determined to do so no matter what the cost.  Tyrion talked his way out of another situation in which his fate appeared to be imminent death, and he’s still one of the show’s best characters.  Why the hell is Stannis taking so long to get to Wintefell?  I’m hoping things pick up in the last four episodes of the show!

May 11th, 2015

The Clippers are looking like a championship team.  In a related story, record low temperatures are expected to hit the world today, confirming that indeed, hell has frozen over.  No really, the Clippers confidence is through the roof right now, as they have opened up a 3-1 series lead vs the Houston Rockets.  Blake Griffin looks like one of the best players in the NBA right now, Chris Paul has recovered from his hamstring injury, and suddenly Austin Rivers is an effective role player off the bench.  The Rockets look like a bunch of soft, whining, sore losers, that don’t have an answer for Blake Griffin, while the Clipps are just toying with them.  If there was ever a time for the Clipps to catch lightening in a bottle and try to win a title, now is the time.

There is clearly going to be some modification to the intentional fouling rule, given all the hacking of DeAndre Jordan and other crummy free throw shooters.  Yes, it was painful to watch that first half yesterday, but everyone loves to overreact to this stuff.  The league doesn’t have some ratings crisis on their hands because of this, and the notion that they should completely do away with the intentional fouling is silly.  If a player can’t make his free throws, we shouldn’t make rules to allowing them to get out of that accountability.  These are professional basketball players.  Try practicing free throws instead of dunks all summer.

The NBA playoff action over the weekend was spectacular.  I haven’t seen that many banks go down since the financial crisis in 2008.  The Bulls are going to regret not being able to put the Cavs away yesterday since the Cavs are dealing with even more injuries than them.  Lebron may be inefficient, but he’s still the best player in the league and that will be the difference in the series.  By the way, I love how when Lebron goes 10-30 and they win he’s a hero, but when Kobe goes 10-30 and his team wins in the playoffs he’s a ball hog.  The Warriors are suddenly realizing why jump shooting teams without playoff experience get bounced from the playoffs.  Steve Kerr is going to have to run down to Sports Authority to buy a clip board because he will have to do some coaching for the first time this season.  Meanwhile,  that Wizards-Hawks series was about as interesting as watching paint dry, until Paul Pierce made that buzzer beater and started firing off great one-liners.

This is usually the look on dude’s face when bae says she’s pregnant but he know that he pulled out early……

    This Deflate Gate story is unbelievable.  Why are we still talking about this?  Look, I’m a complete Boston sports town hater, but the notion that Brady and the Patriots are some kind of cheaters whose legacy is tarnished is ridiculous.  The Patriots could have been playing the AFC Championship game with medicine balls, and they would have still destroyed the Colts.  I guess we’ll never know if without deflating the footballs a little, the Pats would have only won by 31.  Deflating the footballs also doesn’t change the fact that Pete Carroll called the biggest bonehead play in the history of the league during the Super Bowl.  Sure it would be nice if Brady could actually give us straight answers about the footballs, which he likely had doctored, but are we really going to suspend one of the marquee faces of the NFL for this? This whole incident is another bumbling for Roger Goodell, who put together a “Keystone Cops” like investigation, without any real evidence here to suspend Brady.  When he does suspend him, it’s going to be another situation of him making rules up along the way.   In just a matter of months Goodell is quickly cementing himself among the worst CEO’s in America.  We’re talking right up there with the likes of Chuck Conway of Kmart and Ken Lay of Enron.  What are your thoughts Gronk?……

The fact the Dodgers have a 4.5 game lead in the NL West is amazing.  They have an all-star team worth of players on the disabled list, and their ace, Clayton Kershaw, has been average at best.  It also makes you think that once Joc Pederson and Alex Guerrero stop playing like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, the Boys in Blue could take a tumble in the standings.  It sure would be nice for the Dodgers to get Dan Haren back to fill in the back end of their rotation.  He’s 4-1 with a 2.68 era for the Marlins, and the Dodgers are paying his entire $11 million salary.  Instead, the Dodgers are paying guys like Brandon McCarthy $12 million a year, who will spend much of the next four years on the DL.

As for the Angels, they settled for a split with the 1st place Houston Astros over the weekend.  That was one bitter pill to swallow given the fact that the Halos should have taken 3 out of 4 after Huston Street blew another save on Thursday night.  The good news for the Halos is their starting pitching is coming around, including the likes of Jered Weaver and CJ Wilson.  The bad news is the offense stinks.  I guess $240 million doesn’t buy what it used to because Albert Pujols is hitting .230.  The Halos also are getting no production from their left fielders either.  There’s still plenty of time to get it together, and the rest of the division isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, so if the Halos can just come up with a few more runs they might actually find themselves back in 1st.

Mercifully, the Flames-Ducks series has come to an end.  I’m amazed the Flames were able to even push that series to five games.  Corey Perry had a complete Paul Pierce moment last night, taking a blow to the knee and crawling off the ice, while even being carried into the locker room by trainers.  Just a couple of shifts later dude was back on the ice.  Was Oral Roberts back in the locker room or what?  Some hockey player you are Corey Perry.  As for the next round of the playoffs, I’m looking forward to the Ducks actually playing a team that will not be overmatched against them.  I picked the Hawks to win the cup at the beginning of the season, and even though this will be a long series, I see no reason to pick Anaheim.

It’s a shame we learned that Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson is leaving Notre Dame and transferring to another school.  It was just two years ago that Golson led the Irish to the national championship game.  His first half of 2014 was pretty solid too, and then Brian Kelly crushed his confidence.  Kelly has done a lot of good things while coaching the Fighting Irish, but this isn’t one of them.  Golson clearly felt like Kelly was not going to give him the starting job back from Malik Zaire, which made him jump ship.  Still like your quarterback situation better than Ohio State’s Coach Kelly?  So much for all that quarterback depth you were happy about .

It’s a real bummer Bill Simmonds is leaving ESPN after a year full of drama with them.  What’s really a shame is that Simmonds isn’t going to take Grantland with him when he leaves.  It’s really his website, and it should go with him wherever he goes.  We saw this type of situation dating back to the Dan Patrick days.  If you have even the slightest bit of controversy surrounding you, ESPN is waiving you goodbye.  Frankly, I’m shocked that Stephen A. Smith hasn’t been kicked out yet.  He’s had a few close calls.  Simmonds will be fine, and like Dan Patrick found out, there are greener pastures elsewhere.  Heck, I’d love to see him to do some LA Kings coverage, but I don’t think that’s really his passion.    

Finally, Game of Thrones went down last night on HBO, and we are now halfway through the fifth season of the show.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see last night’s episode.  I almost completely forgot about Bran.  Are we ever going to hear from him again?  His story was a little tiresome and farfetched, but the show could still use him in other ways.  This episode was another reminder of why Jon Snow isn’t a good character.  He has nobody to answer to, and is in a position of power, yet is looking to others for answers.  That’s a big “no-no” in the Game of Thrones and will get you killed.  Much of the episode was focused on Snow and the North, which could be a sign he won’t be around much longer.  Ramsay has quickly become this seasons’ top villain.  He’s a sick man who is getting joy out of others pain which we saw again when he forced Reek/Theon to apologize to Sansa for killing her brothers (even though he knows they aren’t dead).  The sudden love affair of between Grey Worm and Missandei seems odd, but when you think about it, the fact is that Dany is making The Unsullied more human over time.  The issues that Dany is having within her own Kingdom are interesting, but somewhat of a drag on the show.  I was really hoping for more interaction between her and the people of Westeros, but that seems like a storyline for another season.

May 4th, 2015

Has anybody seen Steve Ballmer?  He’s probably streaking naked across the 405 freeway after the Clippers eliminated the defending champion Spurs over the weekend.  I’ve gotta hand it to both CP3 and Blake Griffin.  CP3 channeled his inner Isaiah Thomas, and played a great game 7 with a pulled hamstring.  As for Blake, he finally imposed his will when it mattered most by recording a triple double.  The one thing that always separated the Clipps from being elite was that their two superstars were never at their best when their best was needed.  When that changed Saturday and the Clipps showed mental toughness, it suddenly became believable that the Clippers are a contender.  Then again, after seeing both CP3 and Steve Ballmer cry, I’m not sure they actually realize there are three more rounds to be played.  As for the Spurs, this is the worst thing to happen to San Antonio since border patrol.  I’m sure Tim Duncan and his band of senior citizens will be back in contention next year.  They always are.

The Clippers vs Rockets quarterfinals will be interesting.  When the playoffs started, there was no way you could trust either one of these two teams when it mattered, and both appeared to have the mental toughness of a flea.  The Clipps have to just be radiating with confidence after taking down the defending champs.  Even though the Rockets have a dangerous James Harden and a deep bench, Blake and CP should easily be the best players on the court (assuming Paul is healthy).  Meanwhile, Dwight Yokum has more toughness than Dwight Howard at this point in the season.  I’m taking the Clippers in 6 games, before they get taken down by the Warriors.

Everyone who ordered the fight on Saturday now knows how the Bengals feel after giving Andy Dalton $100 million.  I can’t believe we waited four years to watch that.  To the average person, it looked like neither Floyd nor Manny “won” the fight.  Ok, so Floyd may have landed a couple of more punches to get the decision, but I’ve seen more contact in a WNBA game than in that fight.  Floyd might be the best in his era, which lacked any dominant fighters, but he’s far from the best of all time.  Not even top 10.  Still, I do love the narrative as well that if you are watching the fight, you are supporting domestic violence and bigotry.  If you’re going to watch sports depending on the character of the people you are watching, I’ve got bad news: you’re probably not going to be watching any sports.  There are plenty of professional athletes committing adultery, smoking weed, and probably doing all kinds of things you don’t approve of.  If you can’t separate the performance from the person than you should just forget watching.  You gotta admit though, the fight between Floyd and his side chick had more contact than what we saw Saturday.

I was unable to get a bet in for the Kentucky Derby, despite some last minute efforts.  If you have never been to Churchill Downs on the first weekend of May, it’s absolutely worth doing at least once.  The victory by American Pharaoh was great, and the race was exciting, however, I have a sad confession to make.  I don’t actually know how place a bet on horses at the racetrack.  Yes, it’s true.  I have to go ask the person at the counter about the meaning of things like “trifecta” and “box”, which always annoys the hell out of them.  I better stick to making my bets online.

The Halos have been getting spanked.  They just got destroyed over the weekend in San Francisco, and they are already 7 games behind the Astros in the AL West.  No really…the Houston Astros are in 1st place!  That’s right people.  Hold onto your loved ones, and better ask forgiveness for all your sins, because the universe must be coming to an end.  The Angels look more the team we saw two years ago that struggled to hit early, and later on couldn’t come up with consistent starting pitching.  Jered Weaver looks like he’s completely finished.  The man is throwing about 82 miles per hour, and getting punked every time he goes to the mound.  CJ Wilson has been underwhelming too, and those two are supposed to be at the forefront of the Angels rotation.  To make matters worse, the Angels have the 2nd worst team batting average in the AL.  The Angels better hope this month was just an aberration, otherwise their season is going to hell quickly.

As for the Dodgers, I have no idea how this team is in 1st place with their starting pitching being held together by duct tape.  The Dodgers offense appears to have more fire power than ISIS right now, but the injuries and the pitching are very concerning.  Clayton Kershaw has been average, Brandon McCarthy is done, Hyun-Jin Ryu will forever have shoulder issues, and Brett Anderson is bound to get hurt any day.  Who are these guys getting the starts? Scott Baker?  I’m not sure how long Don Mattingly can keep giving the ball to these no names and hoping for the offense to carry them.  Especially not with Donny Baseball blowing out the bullpen like he does.  The Boys in Blue might need to make a trade, and it may involve giving up some big time prospects for Cole Hamels.  It’s going to be a steep price but much needed if they are serious about contending.  Yesterday’s walk off was nice though…..

What a complete joke this Ducks vs Flames semifinals series is.  It’s like watching grown men go up against a pee wee hockey team.  The Ducks are bigger, faster, more physical, and more experienced than the Flames.  Calgary doesn’t even know who to start in goal anymore.  Even if Calgary wins a couple of games at home, which they won’t, the last time they won in Anaheim Disneyland hadn’t even been built yet.  This is like watching a #1 seed vs a #16 seed in the NCAA tournament, except you have to endure it for a whole week.  Just give us Ducks vs Blackhawks already.

The NFL draft was also part of this past weekends sports insanity.  Brett Hundley was selected by the Packers, but not until the 5th round.  He was also the 6th quarterback taken, which shows you just what scouts think of his throwing ability.  Maybe Hundley should have stayed in school for his senior year.  Four USC players were also chosen Saturday, including Buck Allen and Josh Shaw.  68 Trojans have now been selected in round 1 since 1967, which is 10 more than any other school.  Does Chip Kelly realize that there are other conferences other than the Pac-12?  He only drafts Pac-12 players.  Chip was also reportedly offering blood money, unborn children, players, draft picks, and his soul to the Titans for Marcus Mariotta.  The Titans are now only 11 players away from being a championship contender.  Pray for Amari Cooper everyone.  He was drafted by the Raiders.  The Cowboys spent much of the week scouting local prisons for late round sleepers. The Redskins helped their offensive line, but the bad news for their fans is that RGIII might have time to throw.

What a great episode of Game of Thrones last night on HBO.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  The one thing I really enjoyed from this episode was the backstories told by Ser Barristan to Dany, about her brother and the Mad King.  I also enjoyed hearing the backstory that Littlefinger told to Sansa about Rhaegar Targeryen.  Interesting that Sansa and Dany’s perception of each of those people are much different than the stories they were told.  I was so disappointed in Tommen that he proved to be a weak King when Margaery asked him to get her brother out of jail.  At least if it were Joffrey, he would have had as much bloodshed as necessary to get the job done.  I’m sure Lady Olenna will get involved now, so the Lannisters are really in trouble!  Stannis actually seemed like a decent human being in this episode. He complimented Jon Snow when his wife referred to him as just another bastard child.  Then, he seemed like a really good father when he explained to Shereen, how he cared for her when she had Greyscale.  Based on the preview for the next episode, it seems as though Ser Barristan is dead.  I think this sets the stage for Jorah to really get back in to Dany’s trusted inner circle.

April 27th, 2015

The Clippers aren’t dead…..yet.  In fact, for the first time in the Chris Paul era (which might as well be the whole history of the franchise), they showed some mental toughness by beating the Spurs in game 4.  So now it’s a 3 game series, with the Clippers having the home court advantage.  After everything you’ve seen, do you really believe the Clipp Show is going to win this series?  That’s about as likely as a successful Kardashian marriage.  For one game, Austin Rivers played out of his mind, and the Clippers bench didn’t stink.  That’s unlikely to happen again.  The Clipps have the talent and the athleticism, but at this point, it’s hard not to like the Spurs depth, experience, and mental toughness.  I’m also not convinced the Clippers can actually win a close game when it realy matters.  I thought the Spurs would win in 6 games, and I see no reason to think otherwise at this point.

Elsewhere in the playoffs, the NBA should revoke Mike Budenholdzer’s coach of the year award since the Hawks didn’t sweep the Nets.  Remember when Deron Williams was the best point guard in the league along with CP3?  D-Will is the richest bum in New York now.  I’m amazed at what the Wizards did to the Raptors.  Paul Pierce was in full fledged trash talking mode, and backed it up.  The Cavs may have swept the Celtics, but they’ll probably be without Kevin Love for much of the next round, and maybe even JR Smith for a game if he’s suspended.  There were some dumb non-basketball plays made by the Cavs in that game, and they should get some major discipline for it.  I guess Derek Rose forgot he returned on that last play against Milwaukee on Saturday.  The Bulls should finish the job tonight.  Meanwhile, Steph Curry caused more suffering in New Orleans than the Saints defense.  Memphis is fortunate that they are playing a Portland team more injured than them, and Houston should finish Dallas next week.

On to Major League Baseball where we are about to get some closure to this Josh Hamilton situation any moment now.  The Angels are about to pay Josh Hamilton $68 million to go play for their division rivals, the Texas Rangers, over the next three years.  Not only that, the Angels get absolutely nothing in return.  Arte Moreno is getting exactly what he deserves for his emotional outburst, when he found out that Hamilton had fallen off the wagon.  It’s going to be hilarious when Hamilton kills the Angels every time they face them, especially knowing the Angels are going to be paying his salary.  At least on the field, the Halos can put this behind them, as they took 3 of 4 from the Rangers over the weekend.  The pitching is coming around but only the Rangers have a lower team batting average in the American League.  The Angels better start swinging those bats or its going to be another frustrating season.

As for the Dodgers, they took two of three against the Padres, but they suffered some injuries along the way.  Yasiel Puig injured his hamstring on Friday night, so he’s on the disabled list, as is Joel Peralta who has “dead arm”.  Then there’s Brandon McCarthy, whose been throwing “dead ducks” and giving up home runs like the steroid era is in still in full effect.  McCarthy is now dealing with elbow soreness as well.  Who could have seen this coming? Oh that’s right, I could when those morons in the Dodger front office signed him to a $48 million contract.  One thing Don Mattingly needs to do is find a place for Alex Guerrero to play everyday.  He’s hitting .500 and only two players in the NL have more home runs than him.  Things look good in the standings right now for the Boys in Blue, but there’s this “imminent doom” feel to this team later in the season.  Is this what it’s like to be a Cubs fan?

Speaking of the Dodgers, there is still no progress toward getting SportsNet LA distributed.  That means that still, only 30% of Southern California can watch the Dodgers.  Time Warner Cable and the Dodgers badly overestimated the demand for their baseball channel.  When the Lakers started their own cable channel, it took a matter of weeks to get it distributed to other cable networks.  That’s because all the local cable providers knew that viewers could not live without the Lakers.  Unfortunately, the Dodgers just don’t command the same viewership, and neither does baseball.  The Dodgers are doing great selling tickets, but baseball is nothing more than a regional sport, that is slowly becoming less relevant with younger generations.  The Dodgers don’t seem to care because they are still getting boat loads of money out of this cable deal, even though people aren’t watching their games.  Over time however, they are pushing Major League Baseball into further obscurity.

Let’s go to the ice where the Ducks swept away the Winnipeg Jets, and are getting ready for round 2 against the Flames.  Anaheim could have been on the ropes several times against Winnipeg, but the Jets had no idea how to hold a lead in a playoff game.  Now things get really interesting, as goaltender Jonas Hiller faces his former team, which cut him loose last summer.  Think Hiller won’t have just a little chip on his shoulder facing the Ducks?  The Flames feel like the luckiest team in the NHL this year, and have been playing way over their heads.  On paper the Ducks have way more talent, and should win the series.  Then again, everything Calgary has done has defied logic, so why should that stop now?  Should be a great series.

The Blues, Sharks, and Canucks have all been eliminated from the NHL playoffs.  So it’s kind of like the LA Kings are in the playoffs isn’t it?

In the NFL, Tony Romo declared that the Dallas Cowboys will be next seasons Super Bowl Champions.  In a related story, the NFL has suspended Romo for drug use.

I think the Bruce Jenner interview can only be described with one word: confusing.  Everyone you talk to that watched it came away wondering whether the guy is considered a lesbian, transgender, gay, or what.  Nobody really knows.  Frankly, at this point in his life nobody should care.  People can be who they want to be and nobody should care.  The unfortunate part of this however, is that many younger people don’t know who Jenner is, other than the interview that he just completed, which means they’ll remember him more for that than being a great athlete.

Ok people, let’s talk Game of Thrones.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see last night’s episode.  For the first time ever, I actually felt bad for Cersei.  No really.  We always want to scream about how much of an evil bitch she is, however, Margaery puts everything in her face including the fact she’s already having exhausting sex with her son.  It was like Cersei was completely defanged.  I haven’t seen this side of her since season 1, when she had a heart to heart with Robert before he died.  I’m sure we’ll return to hating her in the next episode.  Amazing how Sansa is now going to have been married to the two biggest psychopaths in the show, after she marries Ramsay Snow.  Only Sansa is stupid enough to fall for Littlefingers argument that by getting back into power, she can then kill Roose Bolton.  I don’t think she’s tough enough to kill anybody.  Jon Snow finally manned up and killed Slynt, however, Stannis points out what is obvious by now: his nobility will eventually get him killed.  The Arya storyline is becoming less and less interesting.  She’s got a long list of people to kill, but they’d probably all be willing to kill themselves by the time she’s ready to kill them.  I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to see our favorite Mother of Dragons in this episode.  However, I’m curious to see whether or not Ser Jorah is taking Tyrion to Cersei or to Dany.  My guess is that he’s going to take him to Cersei, so she can get the revenge that she always wanted on him.  Something tells me the next episode could be bigger than we think.

April 20th, 2015

The Clippers got what appeared to be the worst possible first round matchup in the San Antonio Spurs.  However, last night, the Clipps made the Spurs look old geezers.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen father time and Tim Duncan on the floor at the same time.  Last night i saw it.  Meanwhile, Blake Griffin looked like a beast with real post moves.  If there’s one thing that’s always made me doubt the Clippers, other than the fact that they are “The Clippers”, it’s the fact that Blake was not a go to guy.  He was every bit of that last night, and if he continues to play like that, the Clipps could be for real.  That’s a very big if though.  The Spurs have never won back to back titles in the Tim Duncan era, but they’ve also never had this much rest.  That might not seem to matter though because Tony Parker looked pretty banged up going up against Chris Paul.  I thought the Spurs were gonna win in 6, but I’m not feeling so great about my prediction at the moment.  Isn’t this how kids look when their mother’s tell them to go to sleep hours ago, but they didn’t, and the mom comes back in the room?

As for the Lakers, mercifully their season is over.  Unfortunately, the nightmare may not be though.  Everyone seems to be assuming that the Lakers are going to have a pick in the top 5.  Once the NBA rigs the draft lottery like they usually do, and allows a team like Oklahoma City to jump up into one of the top 3 picks, there’s a good chance the Lakers could actually fall out of the top 5 and lose their pick to Philadelphia.  That means all LA would be left with would be a late first round pick.  They may also strike out in free agency too, with all the big names like Gasol, Aldridge, and Love staying with their respective teams.  That of course means another year of pulling your hair out while hoping the Lakers lose games to get another high draft pick.  It’s a very fine line between getting excited, and pissing and moaning for another year.  We’ll have to wait until May 19th to figure out which side of the line Laker fans end up on.

I had no idea that the Winnipeg Jets were such a charitable organization.  The Jets completely gave away the first two games of their 1st round series vs the Ducks.  Anaheim scored three times in the third period of game 1, and two more times in the third period of game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead.  This series is all about experience, and the Jets lack thereof has been evident.  More importantly for the Ducks, Freddy Anderson has looked pretty solid in goal, but if he comes up with a bad game, will Bruce Boudreau panic and start John Gibson instead?  The Ducks have responded to the 3rd period challenges they’ve faced so far, but there will likely be much more adversity to come.  We’ll see how they respond, but if they keep getting clutch play like this they’ll be ok…..

As for the LA Kings, who are sitting on their couches watching the playoffs, the offseason has begun in tumultuous fashion.  Jarrett Stoll got arrested for suspicion of cocaine in Vegas on Friday.  It’s time for the Kings to cut ties with the guys who are creating problems.  Stoll isn’t productive anymore and is creating trouble, so shouldn’t be re-signed.  Voynov is a wife beater, who was becoming more and more unproductive prior to his legal troubles.  Mike Richards can’t play anymore either and should be bought out.  The Kings need to move on from these clowns, and give some of their young prospects a chance.  LA still has one of the best cores in the league with Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, and Jonathan Quick.  Dean Lombardi has some warm and fuzzy feelings about these guys because they’ve helped them win two Stanley Cups, but it’s time to re-load with guys that are more reliable on and off the ice.  They say an addict can’t begin recovery until he hits rock bottom.  That mean’s Stoll should sign with the Oilers this offseason, and then he’ll be well on his way.

Ok, I get it.  You all think the Dodgers look like the 1927 New york Yankees and will never lose again.  Stay in your shoes people.  We’re only two weeks in.  I realize that they’ve already beaten some good teams, and that they lead the league in home runs.  However, Adrian Gonzales, Howie Kendrick, and Joc Pederson aren’t going to look like “Murderers Row” all season.  When they come back to earth, I’m still curious to see how this team is going to manufacture runs, and if the bullpen is going to hold up.  Those pesky Padres aren’t going to go away anytime soon either, although it’s good to see those hated San Francisco Giants in dead last.  Speaking of the hated ones, the Boys in Blue will be traveling up north for a 3 game set with San Francisco starting Tuesday night.

As for the Angels, they are off to a very mediocre start, especially offensively.  They’ve got 5 position players that are hitting under .215 thus far.  One of those is Albert Pujols, who is hitting just .186, despite going deep yesterday.  However, it was very good to see Garrett Richards back on the mound after suffering a knee injury last year.  Richards wasn’t terrible in his first start, and things figure to get better for him as he gets more starts.  It was only two seasons ago that the Angels had a very good roster on paper, like they do this year, yet lost a lot of games early in the season and couldn’t recover.  The Angels need to be careful that they don’t let these early games slip away from them and get too far behind to make up ground.  No need to panic yet, but  I sure hope the Halos resolve the Josh Hamilton situation quickly to get rid of that distraction.  Things are getting pretty awkward between the players and the front office.  It’s about as comfortable as watching a sex scene with your parents.

On to the NFL where trade rumors are swirling around the Chargers.  The Bolts and Tennessee Titans are rumored to be considering a blockbuster deal, with Philip Rivers going to the Titans for the #2 pick.  The Chargers would then draft Marcus Mariotta as their quarterback of the future.  The real issue here is what this rumor says about the Chargers potentially moving to LA.  Rivers contract is up at the end of next season, and his preference is finish his career in San Diego, and not uproot his family to LA.  The Chargers are well aware of this, and are considering the swap because they are seriously considering moving to LA.  If the Chargers really know that they are going to be in LA and that they are going to lose Rivers for nothing after next year, this makes sense, but it’s still a gamble.  Mariotta could be a good player, but it will take a while, and is by no means a can’t miss prospect.  If the Chargers are smart, they’ll hang on to Rivers, renegotiate with him at the end of next season, and in the meantime, fix their problems on the offensive line and at running back.  You’re never really that far away from competing in the NFL, but if the Bolts make this trade, they will be.

Game of Thrones went down again last night on HBO.  Spoiler alert in case you haven’t seen episode 2 of the 5th season.  This felt like the reunion episode, with so many characters coming back into the picture and re-uniting with so many others.  Funny how Brienne found both Sansa and Arya at different points in the show, and is turned away by both of them.  The irony of it is, both of these girls could easily use her help, but turn her away.  It’s just a reminder of how idiotic these girls have become (especially Sansa).  Brienne is a total badass and we saw that again when she took down that Vale Guard by herself.  Now that Arya has found Jaqen, he’s probably going to train her into some sword fighting machine.  Too bad all the people she wants to kill will probably all be dead by the time she’s actually ready to fight them.  Jon Snow is becoming a character I feel less of an emotional attachment to.  He gets offered the chance to become a legitimate Stark and turns it down, which symbolizes his lack of ambition.  That will eventually get you killed in the Game of Thrones.  Cersei’s power play against the small council feels like a desperate effort to regain power. That can’t last long.  As for our favorite Mother of Dragons, killing Mossador was a bad idea, but that’s just another example of her striving for justice in a world that is unjust.  However, everything feels better when we see one of the Dragons show up at the end of the episode.  Looking forward to episode 3 next week!

April 13th, 2015

The Kings were exhausted.  Nobody wanted to believe it, but like I had been saying for months, they were out of gas.  That’s why they were eliminated from the playoff race last week.  It isn’t just the amount of hockey they’ve played while winning two of the last three cups.  It’s their bruising style of play to go along with it.  The Kings finished the season with 95 points, the exact same amount as they had in 2012 when they won the cup.   However, this time it wasn’t good enough.  The Kings best players just didn’t produce like in years past.  They had a 3-15 record in shootouts, which cost them the playoffs.  Anze Kopitar had only 16 goals, and Dustin Brown had 11.  That’s about half of what they should be producing.  Mike Richards and Jarret Stoll were not the same players.  This is definitely not the end for the Kings.  They’ve got the pieces in place to contend for Stanley Cup for the next few years.  However, you can count on some significant changes taking place this summer.  In any case, I think Kings fans are at peace with what they’ve accomplished the past three years.  Plus the fact the Sharks aren’t in the playoffs either makes it even more bearable.

Meanwhile, the Ducks clinched the number 1 seed in the Western Conference over the weekend, and will get ready for a 1st round showdown with the Winnipeg Jets.  This has the makings of another Bruce Boudreau disaster.  Anaheim hasn’t played meaningful hockey in weeks, and they don’t even know who their starting goaltender is.  That’s a recipe for playoff disappointment, especially facing a Jets team that is physical and been on a roll for months.  I like how Boudreau is even trying to lower the bar and prepare everyone for more playoff failure by saying “it would not surprise me if everyone picked them and we’re the underdog”.  So what you’re really saying Bruce is you won’t be surprised if your team gets bounced again in the playoffs.

For the first time since 2005, there will be no playoffs for both the LA Kings and the LA Lakers.  On the bright side, for those of you logical Laker fans, you can return to rooting for them to win games since they are locked into having the 4th worst record in the NBA this season.  Gotta love the timing of the Lakers asking their fans to renew their season tickets.  This year, the Lakers are asking their fans to renew their season tickets by May 18th, which is the day before the draft lottery.  Convenient isn’t it?  There are definitely fans that would have decided to renew based on whether or not the Lakers were keeping their pick.  In any case, as frustrating and torturous as the season has been, it’s probably smart to renew.  If the Lakers get to keep their 1st round pick this year, and suddenly sign a player like Lamarcus Aldridge in July, who is reportedly now in play, you might be kicking yourself.  Ok, all that may be wishful thinking, but at the very least, I’m thinking next years team will be a young team that people will actually enjoy watching again.

Meanwhile, the Clippers are fooling people again.  Some might look at the standings and think the Clipps are the hottest team in the NBA, after winning 12 of their last 13 games.  However, a closer look at that streak reveals that 8 of those wins came against teams below .500, and two others came against Portland and Memphis, who have been ravaged by injuries.  We’ve reached the point where Matt Barnes is begging for fans to show up to the games and cheer.  I’m beginning to wonder when Doc Rivers will be hanging 7 different posters of his son Austin in the rafters at Staples Center, in order to cover up those Lakers championship banners.  The best thing that the Clipps can hope for is to get the #2 seed and play Dallas, while hoping they won’t run into Golden State or San Antonio until the conference finals.  Houston or Memphis won’t be easy, but the Clipps stand a better chance of advancing with those matchups.

After all these years, has anybody figured out what the NBA MVP award it?  Is it the best player on the best team?  Is it the best player?  Or is it the best player on the team that has lifted his team to the greatest heights?  It’s amazing we have an award that doesn’t have a clear cut criteria for how to select it.  That’s why I think the NBA needs to have a player of the year award, and an MVP award, because they really should be two different awards.  This year, Steph Curry should be named the MVP.  He’s been the best player on the best team, which is how most of the writers have voted in recent history.  James Harden, on the other hand, has probably been the best player in the league throughout this entire season, which would make him the player of the year, if the award existed.  It’s a screwy system, but one which the NBA probably enjoys because it gives us something to talk about.

To baseball, where the Dodgers got off to a so-so week 1 of the baseball season.  They took two of three from the Padres, but lost two of three against Arizona.  So far, Clayton Kershaw hasn’t found his game.  The bullpen has been up and down, and Don Mattingly has been using pitchers as though he’s been slamming tic tacs.  No wonder the bullpen is always worn out by October.  Adrian Gonzales has looked like the second coming of Babe Ruth, but as I predicted, he has little to no protection in the lineup, especially when Yasiel Puig forgets how to hit a baseball.  I also don’t think there’s any question that Matt Kemp is going to kick the crap out of the Dodgers every time he sees them this year.  Good thing that’s only about 15 more times or so.

Meanwhile, the Angels are off to a rough start, and they look like a distracted bunch.  They took two of three from the Mariners, but then got swept away by Kansas City, who still seems to think they are playing October baseball.  CJ Wilson and Jered Weaver just didn’t have it over the weekend.  Wilson also made no secret about how he felt about how the front office is handling the Josh Hamilton situation.  Wilson said if Hamilton we’re actually playing good baseball, the Halos would want him back.  The more this story unfolds, the bigger scumbag Arte Moreno looks like.  Hamilton has made tremendous mistakes, but at this point, he is ill.  Moreno is treating him like a criminal, and his lack of support can only lead Hamilton down a path to do further damage to himself.  The Angels have a pretty good team, but the longer this situation lingers, the quicker this season can get away from them.

Jordan Spieth was spectacular at the Masters yesterday, winning by shooting a record -21.  Spieth treated that Augusta course like Augusta treats women.  All I heard about yesterday was the “new generation” of golf that we are about to see, that should be dominated by Spieth and Rory McIlroy.  However, to me the story was still Tiger Woods, and the fact he managed to put together a respectable performance after dealing with so many injuries.  To the casual golf fan, Tiger is by far the most intriguing storyline, and golf will need him if it hopes to drive ratings.  As for Spieth, he seems to have everything going for him at 21 years old, except for the fact he’s a Dallas Cowboys fan.  He’s also a very mediocre at putting on green jackets…..

Last night Game of Thrones returned on HBO, for the first episode of the fifth season.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  The show is off to a solid, but slow start, which is expected for the HBO series.  It feels like there are now fewer and fewer characters that we are really emotionally invested in.  We’re down to Tyrion and Daenerys, and they appear to be on a collision course in the near future.  Jon Snow possibly?  But that’s about it.  I don’t think anyone was really that upset when Mance Rayder was burned at the stake, however, it was just a reminder how Stannis and his band of weirdos are just terrible people.  At least Jon Snow had a little bit of mercy on Mance Rayder by shooting him with an arrow to put him out of his misery, but it can’t put him in good standing with the new regime.  Since Tyrion doesn’t really give a shit about anything anymore, it’s hard to see how much value he can really bring to Daenerys’ quest for the Iron Throne, although she seems desperately in need of a trusted advisor.   I think the reason why we love her so much is the fact that she has a humble side to her as well, admitting that she no longer has control of the dragons.  Cersei seems broken right now, but i suspect she will soon form an alliance with Lancel (remember the cousin she was sleeping with in season 1 and 2?), and find a way to regain some power.  However, Margery is obviously devising a plan to get rid of Cersei, and I’m dying to find out what that plan is.  Finally, I’m still trying to figure out what Littlefinger’s plan for Sansa is.  My bold prediction for the season: either he will try to rape her, or she will kill him.  Possibly both, with one leading to the other.  

April 6th, 2015

Well last night was fun wasn’t it Laker fans? That beat down by the Clippers at Staples was about as expected as the drop in President Obama’s approval rating.  Any logical Laker fan probably didn’t mind though, since the Lakers need to make sure they go no lower in the lottery standings.  The lone bright spot has been rookie guard Jordan Clarkson though, even though he stunk last night.  Had Clarkson been starting since the beginning of the season, he might actually be Rookie of the Year over Andrew Wiggins.  Nevertheless, he should be an NBA First Team All-Rookie selection.  The four other spots are pretty much guaranteed: Wiggins, Nerlens Noel, Elfrid Payton, and Nikola Mirotic, but Clarkson has proven a worthy selection.  Clarkson will also create a financial dilemma for the Lakers in about a year.  He’s a bargain next year for only $845 K, but will be eligible for a contact as large as 4 years and $95 million.  It sounds insane for a guy this young, but it’s the NBA, where everyone is overpaid.

Meanwhile, the Clippers are now directing their complaints at their fans.  After last week’s loss against Golden State, Blake Griffin said, “home-court advantage is just not there for us.  If that’s how it feels in the playoffs, it’s not looking good.”  Blake went on to say “It’s kind of like when we play the Lakers.”  Since the Clippers are actually a halfway decent team now, they’ve had to increase their ticket prices, but that fact of the matter is that the fans (all 10 of them), are just not used to paying expensive ticket prices to see quality basketball.  Clipps President Gillian Zucker released a statement saying that if Clipper fans are going to sell their tickets, they should be sold to other Clipper fans.  How are they supposed to prove that they are Clipper fans?  By providing some type of evidence that they hate the Lakers?  There are all kinds of conspiracy theories here on what Steve Ballmer is doing, or planning to do for this franchise.  For now, it puts into perspective how bad things are for the Clippers, even when things are supposed to be good.  Hopefully CP3 will be able to walk again after Steph Curry took him….
On To baseball, where opening day has arrived for the Dodgers.  This is one baseball season I can’t say I’m really looking toward, and I’m anticipating a lot of aggravation watching the Dodgers.  Yes, this team is much better defensively than they were last year.  However, that’s about the only thing I see that’s improved.  The Dodgers have one legitimate power hitter in their lineup, in Adrian Gonzales.  Jimmy Rollins is a very high injury risk, and even though Howie Kendrick is a solid player, he shouldn’t be a cleanup hitter on any team.  The real wild card is Joc Pederson, who will need to ascend to stardom very quickly if the Boys in Blue are going to be an elite team.  The real problem though is the pitching depth and the bullpen.  LA is going to have issues relying on Brett Anderson and Brandon McCarthy as their #4 and #5 starters, and things could get even worse if Hyun-Jin Ryu is out for a while.  That’s more pressure put on Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.  The bullpen is a complete unknown, and will be tested early without Kenley Jansen.  The Dodgers may be a more harmonious and cohesive group this season, but that doesn’t mean they will be better.  This team will be lucky just to make the playoffs.

As for the Angels, we had some doubts at this time last year, but much fewer now.  On paper, the Halos look like contender.  The pitching looks solid with Jered Weaver, Matt Shoemaker, Hector Santiago, and eventually Garrett Richards.  Everybody hates CJ Wilson, but he could easily rebound and be serviceable like #3 starter for this team.  The bullpen looks pretty set with Mike Morin and Joe Smith setting things up for Huston Street in the 9th inning.  The lineup should provide plenty of production as well, anchored by the best player in baseball, Mike Trout, and Albert Pujols, who is still a productive player.  Even with some questionable production at 2nd and 3rd base, and the uncomfortable Josh Hamilton drama, the Angels should have plenty of fire power throughout their lineup. Speaking of Josh Hamilton, the Halos should be downright embarrassed by their reaction to the current situation.  It looks as though Hamilton will not be suspended by the league for his behavior.  Team President John Carpino said “It defies logic that Josh’s reported behavior is not a violation of his current program.”  What defies logic is that the Angels actually signed this guy, and are taking no accountability.  No matter how you feel about Josh Hamilton, the fans should be horrified by Carpino’s statement.   All the Angels care about is saving money, and trying to get out of some of the 3 years and $83 million that they owe Hamilton.  If the organization wanted to show some real class, they would have made a statement saying how much they cared about his well being.  You can bet the Players Association isn’t going to be too happy about this either, and many players are going to remember this when it comes time for their free agency.

It’s prediction time.  My division winners in the MLB this year in the AL: Orioles, Indians, Angels, and the wild cards will be Seattle and Detroit.  In the NL: Nationals, Pirates, Padres, and the wild cards will be St. Louis and Miami.  I’ve got the Orioles over the Nationals in the World Series.

What an upset that was on Saturday night in the Final Four.  That was the worst thing to happen to Kentucky since you weren’t allowed to marry your cousin.  A bunch of white guys haven’t caused that much suffering in Lexington since the Civil War.  Wisconsin was finally that matchup nightmare Kentucky was hoping to avoid, and the Badgers pulled it off.  Meanwhile, there wasn’t much drama in the Duke v Michigan State game.  The Spartans overachieved to this point in the season, but finally ran into a team that had superior talent.  Someone should tell John Calipari that he shouldn’t feel so bad because the NCAA is going to make him vacate all 38 wins he collected this season.  Just think how upset the Kentucky fans were after most of them probably lost all the receipts for all the gear they just bought the other day and now can’t return it.  Has this guy even left yet?

Speaking of the NCAA, USC should do everything in its power to take down the NCAA for how they handled the Todd McNair situation.  McNair’s professional career has basically been ruined after the NCAA linked him to the Reggie Bush situation, and in turn, he filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for defamation.  Everybody knows the NCAA’s rules are archaic, and many of their disciplinary actions over the years have been done just to make an example out of different institutions.  This couldn’t be more evident after documents were recently released that showed the unbelievable bias against USC that took place during this incident.  The NCAA eventually needs to go.  Everything that these guys do is simply not right.  The Trojan athletic department can take a huge step in taking these bastards down, so hopefully they do the right thing here.

So Shaka Smart decided to leave VCU for Texas?  What a joke!  It was only two years ago that Smart was offered the job at UCLA and turned it down.  He took Texas over UCLA?  i realize these aren’t exactly your grandfather’s Bruins, but does Smart realize that Texas is a football school?  This is just another reminder of how bad things have gotten for the Bruin basketball program.

This final week of the NHL season is going to be wild.  The Kings are currently sitting in the final playoff spot with four games to go, but they’ll have to battle it out with Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and San Jose to secure that spot.  LA looks so dominant at times, but Stanley Cup fatigue is an issue.  Amazingly enough, the Kings might even be able to get home ice advantage in the 1st round if they play well enough.  I’m thinking 3-1 with wins over Calgary and Vancouver will get the Kings in.  Whether or not they have anything left in the tank for the post season will be a problem for another day.  As for the Ducks, they are locked in a battle with the Rangers for the Presidents Trophy, but does it really matter? If I’m Bruce Boudreau, I don’t think i even want to win that thing, because having the best record in the league puts that much more pressure on the team during the playoffs.  That pressure has resulted in disappointment after disappointment in the last few years under Boudreau.

And finally, the final season of Mad Men got underway last night on AMC.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  Here’s a quick recap of the first of the final seven episodes.  Don and the boys are entertaining models in the office, while Joan and Peggy are having a hard time being taken seriously by their male co-workers as they try to launch a high-end pantyhose product.  One of their meetings is nearly derailed by some sexists comments sent Joan’s way.  An elevator ride is even more tense when Peggy criticizes Joan for how she dresses.  Later, Peggy goes on a blind date with John Mathis’ brother-in-law, Stevie.  Peggy eventually ends up hungover and admits to desperately wanting a fairly tale romance.  Ken Cosgrove is urged by his wife to quit his job, but he refused, only to be fired later on.  When Ken is named the head of Dow Chemical, he tells Roger that he will be the client from hell.  Don is haunted by two women in this episode.  The first is Rachel Katz, who he had a relationship with many seasons ago.  He dreams about her in an audition, but then later on is shocked to learn she died of leukemia when he tries to set up a business meeting.  The other woman is a diner waitress, who Don thinks he recognizes, but for some reason can’t.  After several trips to the diner, these two get it on in an alleyway, before she tells Don to get lost the third time.

This was a pretty interesting start to the last season, and the theme was seemed to be choices that haunted different characters.  Betty, Megan, and Sally aren’t present in the episode, but seem to be connected to Don symbolically, and Don still has a long list of women waiting for his call.  However, when he wants more, he can never get it.  Just like from the waitress in the alleyway.  When Don discovers that Rachel passed away, and when her sister tells him that “she had everything”, it’s a slap in the face to Don, because he’s reminded that he doesn’t have “everything”, which is mostly family.  It looks like Peggy has a shot at happiness on her blind date, but we’re reminded of her bad choices in the past, and her difficult work schedule, which makes us think it will never materialize.  Joan is “filthy rich”, but that doesn’t appear to make her any happier, especially with the sexism she is experiencing at work.  Wealth also ruined Ken’s life, and he intends to make SCP pay for it.  Everything thus far suggests that the more things change, the more things stay the same with these characters.  They’ve experienced too much to change who they are in the next 6 episodes.  Looking forward to seeing whether or not that is really true.

March 30th, 2015

It was only a matter of time.  The UCLA Bruins finally ran into a quality opponent in the NCAA Tournament, and were exposed.  This time it was Gonzaga in the Sweet 16, a round of the tournament that Steve Alford has never been able get through.  That was an ugly basketball game, but the difference was the Bruins were just overmatched in the paint.  Gonzaga had more depth, and better coaching.  The Bruin players showed character, but had their game plan been better, they might have actually beaten the Zags.  Many will say the Bruins have a bright future, with a lot more depth coming back next season.  However, I say otherwise.  In year 3 of Steve Alford, when he finally has all his own recruits in place, everyone should see who this guy really is.  An average coach that will only take a great program so far.  The UCLA basketball program deserves better.

The Notre Dame vs Kentucky game was a tragedy.  The Irish should have won that game.  Mike Brey is a great coach, who executed a brilliant game plan up until the last few minutes.  The Irish were killing Kentucky on the pick and roll.  Instead of sticking with that, on the last three possessions they let Jerian Grant play hero ball.  Even more puzzling was the fact they refused to double team Kentucky big man Karl Anthony-Towns, who was the only guy scoring for the Wildcats.  Every time he touched the ball, it was like watching a grown man score over a 1st grader.  The one time they did double team him, Kentucky actually turned it over.  I’m sure John Calipari threatened to take away the cars and phones he got his players if they didn’t come back and win.  Apparently it worked.  Kentucky is everything wrong with college basketball and Notre Dame is everything right with it.  Too bad the good guys didn’t come away with the win.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin has caused more suffering for the University of Arizona in the last two years than STD’s.  What was Sean Miller thinking in the last minute?  He’s down by 5 with no timeouts left, and he decided not to foul.  The Badgers have the size to bother Kentucky, but I still think Kentucky is going to win the next two games easily.  Funny how six weeks ago, everybody thought Michigan State was horrible.  Now they are in the Final Four.

On to the NBA, where the Lakers have some disturbingly winnable games left on their schedule over the next 10 games.  These include games with Philadelphia, Minnesota, and a couple with Sacramento.  This means the Lakers could come dangerously close to not having one of the five worst records in the NBA, and potentially losing their 1st round draft pick.  The Lakers are actually getting so uncomfortable about losing the pick that they’ve started benching some of their veterans like Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill.  That probably should have happened ages ago.  ESPN also came out with an article on Jeremy Lin a few days ago, explaining how he simply does not fit in with the Lakers, with or without Kobe Bryant.  The article also pointed out that Jeremy’s friends believe that he’s a better player without Kobe.  I’m sure there’s no bias there at all.  When you consider that Jeremy has played in twice as many games as Kobe this year, it makes his performance that much more disappointing, and highly unlikely he will be a Laker next year.  I assume none of Jeremy’s friends that believe he’s better without Kobe were smart enough to go to Harvard.

As for the Clippers, they’ve hit another soft spot in their schedule, allowing them to win 6 in a row.  At the moment, they look like their headed for a 1st round matchup with the Blazers.  That could be winnable, but I don’t suspect the Clipps last too much longer in the post-season.  That leads to the question of not whether or not they should re-sign DeAndre Jordan, but whether or not they need to make a major trade to try and become a real championship contender.  Which makes me wonder if the Clippers and Thunder might entertain a Blake Griffin for Kevin Durant trade this summer.  DeAndre Jordan played remarkably well without Blake in the lineup, and the Clippers badly need a small forward.  The Thunder are going to start asking Kevin Durant if he intends to stick around after next season.  No matter what Sam Presti says, he would absolutely trade Durant if he thinks he’s going to leave.  That guy would trade his own mother if he got value out of it.  Getting Blake Griffin in return sounds like a pretty good haul.  It’s a situation complicated by Durant’s foot injury, but one to keep an eye on if both teams make an early playoff exit.

To baseball, where we are just a week away from the start of the season.  The Dodgers just made another head-scratching move.  They spent $62.5 million on Cuban infielder Hector Olivera, who has had issues with his UCL.  To come to think of it, this makes perfect sense.  The Dodgers signed two pitchers this off-season, whose arms are about to fall off, and who haven’t even thrown 100 innings in recent memory.   Now they’ve added a 2nd baseman whose arm might also fall off soon.  At this point, I’m not expecting LA  to try to re-sign Howie Kendrick, Juan Uribe, or Jimmy Rollins after the season.  Instead, they’ll have a largely unproven infield, and one that seems pretty expensive for that inexperience.  I wonder how much the Dodgers would have spent on Olivera if they actually had a deal to distribute SportsNet LA .

The Angels might have some decisions to make once the Josh Hamilton situation gets resolved.  If and when Hamilton is re-instated, the Halos will have to decide what kind of role he will have.  I realize they have both Matt Joyce and Collin Cowgill as an insurance policy, but the reality of it is that Hamilton is still under contract for 3 more years, at a hefty $25 million or so annually.  He’s not going anywhere, and it would be foolish to not at least give the guy a chance to show he can still be a valuable contributor.  If Hamilton could become even 70% of the player he used to be, that could put the Angels over the top and into serious championship contention.  The fans probably wouldn’t hate Josh Hamilton as much either.

I’m not sure if the LA Kings are going to make the playoffs, but you can count on sweating it out until the last game of the season to find out.  The King loss to Minnesota on Saturday wasn’t disastrous, but it was a golden opportunity missed to put a strangle hold on a playoff spot.  If LA misses the playoffs, most will say it’s because of Stanley Cup fatigue.  If they make the playoffs, I might miss them due to the fatigue they made me endure!

What a wild season finale of The Walking Dead last night on AMC.  Can’t every episode be 90 minutes?  Spoiler alert if you have yet to see it.  Here’s a quick recap.  The episode opens with Morgan getting cornered in the woods by two members of “The Wolves” who seem to be shows next villains.  These guys have a “W” symbol on their forehead, but before they could take Morgan’s things and kill him, he takes them out like he’s Donatello from the Ninja Turtles.  Aaron and Darryl stumble upon a food truck, which is too good to be true.  They open up the truck, and are ambushed by a bunch of walkers.  Moments from going out in a blaze of glory, Morgan shows up and saves them.  Soon after, Darryl realizes the connection between Morgan and Rick when he sees the note he wrote Rick on a map.  He then invites Morgan to Alexandria.  Nicholas takes a walk outside the wall, and Glenn follows him, but ends up getting shot in the shoulder by Nicholas.  In the end, it didn’t workout so well for Nicholas, as Glenn threatens to kill him, but spares his life.  Meanwhile, Father Gabriel leaves the gate open and lets walkers in, and then manipulates Sasha into trying to  kill him.  However, Maggie intervenes before that happens.  Finally, Pete tries to confront Rick with a sword, and while Deanna’s husband tries to calm him down, he slits his throat and kills him.  Deanna then orders Rick to kill Pete, which he does by shooting him.  In the final moments, Darryl, Morgan, and Aaron appear, and they look shocked to see what Rick had done.

This was an explosive season finale.  For the entire episode, we knew somebody was going to die, and I thought it was going to be Glenn.  Then we’re reminded that Glenn was tough as nails, and that it wasn’t his time to go.  This episode raised a number of questions, which are going to make things very interesting in the fall.  Why was Morgan so determined to find Rick?  What’s the deal with the Wolves? I’m assuming they will be the show’s new major villain.  Why was Nicholas out in the woods in the first place?  I’m thinking he might actually be part of the Wolves, or connected to one of the exiled members of Alexandria.  It can’t be the last we’ve seen of this dude.  Morgan had to have been shocked at what he just witnessed.  He was looking for the man Rick used to be.  Not the man Rick is now.  I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the next season.  Gotta love how Rick didn’t even think twice about killing Pete when he was asked to.  It just goes to show you how much he’s changed since the show started.  Father Gabriel is such a punk, and needs to go.  Unfortunately, I think he’s sticking around for a while.  I already can’t wait until the next season starts, but looks like we’ll need “Fear The Walking Dead” this summer to hold us over until the show returns for season 6.

March 23rd, 2015

How predictable this was.  The UCLA Bruins basketball program is stuck in Sweet 16 purgatory forever.  UCLA lucked out and was given an at-large birth in the tourney.  Then they lucked out and defeated SMU on a miraculous goaltending call, which should not have been goaltending in my opinion.  The luck continued when they played UAB in the 2nd round, whom they had already beaten this season.  Here they are once again, in the Sweet 16, where they are going to get exposed.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Bruins and hope they somehow keep this going, but I’m just not convinced that Steve Alford is doing this with any more than smoke and mirrors.  I sure wish I could have been in the Bruins huddle before that last play against SMU.  “Ok guys, everybody get the hell out of the way and give the damn ball to my son.  He’s going to shoot this 30 footer with two guys in his face.”  Great play call Coach Alford.  I think that was the worst shot in basketball I’ve ever seen.  Here’s to hoping the Bruins somehow keep the winning going, except that means more Alford and more mediocrity, just like the Steve Lavin era.

One of the things that has really been bothering me about UCLA basketball is the fact that the basketball alums have distanced themselves so much after they left.  A lot of that has to do with Ben Howland, and how much players disliked playing for him.  Why does Kevin Love rarely even speak about his time at UCLA, let alone show up at any games?  Why hasn’t there been a night honoring Russell Westbrook given how much he still loves Southern California?  The Bruins should have a night honoring him, and it should be “Russell Westbrook Fashion Night”, where all the fans dress up in his nerdy clothing line.  The program should be operating like Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky.  Not some glorified mid major.

How bad is your bracket looking right about now?  The person ranked #1 in your pool is probably the girl who picked winners according to the schools with the cutest mascot.  The person ranked #2 is the 8th bracket of a guy who made 10.  Your mom is right around 40th, and you must be 41st.  College basketball is so screwed up because of the one and done.  The mid-major teams with players who have played together for 3 or 4 years are better prepared to knock off the talented but inexperienced teams with higher seeds from power conferences.  Still, the Sweet 16 is going to have some of the household names we are used to: UCLA, Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State,  North Carolina, and Arizona.  I still don’t think anybody is beating Kentucky.  Jahlil Okafur was phenomenal yesterday and is going to be a great pro.  SDSU is a great defensive team, but that was a terrible matchup.  If the Aztecs and Virginia played horse, they would need all weekend to complete the game.  Tom Izzo and Michigan State do more damage in March than college kids do during spring break in Cancun.  Stupid shot selection by UC Irvine against Louisville at the end of the game, or they would have pulled off the upset.  Kansas chokes again in March, a tradition unlike any other.  Here’s a look at my bracket…..

Oh and this happened too during the first weekend of the tournament………

It would be way too easy to start firing off jokes about Steve Nash after he announced his retirement yesterday.  However, the reality is that at the time, the Lakers made the right move by trying to acquire Steve Nash for two 1st round picks and two 2nd round picks from the Suns.  Nash was still a very effective player, and it was simply a freak injury against Portland in his 2nd game that forever messed him up.  The Lakers had a chance to win a title with Kobe, Pau, Dwight Howard, and Nash a few years ago.  Had they hired the right coach, it might have actually happened, and that Nash trade would have worked out.  Nevertheless, Nash is still a great player, one of the ten best point guards ever, and a stand-up dude.  Oh by the way, the Celtics, Rockets, Spurs, Suns, and Kings are planning a ceremony for Nash to honor him for the destruction of the Lakers.

As for the Lakers themselves, I actually had a pair of tickets to the game vs the Sixers last night.  I had been trying for weeks to get rid of those tickets.  When I asked people if they wanted them, the response I got included “do you really hate me that much?”, and “you’re going to pay me to go watch that game right?”

The Clippers won their 4th in a row last night to move back into the 5th spot in the West.  Blake Griffin is looking healthy again, but the Clipps may be not have home court during the playoffs as the 5th seed.  Most of the players say it isn’t a big deal because it really comes down to matchups. However, I don’t agree.  The Warriors, Blazers, and Grizzlies are all excellent on their home court, and LA will likely have to go through these teams if they plan on doing anything of significance in the playoffs.

On to baseball, where the Dodgers got a big scare a few days ago when Clayton Kershaw took a line drive off the side of his mouth, but fortunately, he just needed a little dental work.  We’re only a couple of weeks away from the start of the season, and LA is still looking to trade Andre Ethier.  I get that Joc Pederson has had a great spring, but I want to see what he looks like on an everyday basis in centerfield before trading away Ethier.  If you remember correctly, Pederson had a nice spring last year, but couldn’t hit anything in the short time we saw him in the big leagues during the season.  Besides, Ethier has still been productive this spring, so let him get his trade value up before just eating his contract in a trade.

I’m telling you, the Kings are screwed.  The magic runs out at some point, and I think this is it.  Another home game against Vancouver on Saturday, desperately needing a win, and again, they only come up with 1 goal.  It’s gotten so bad that they are actually calling Mike Richards back up, expecting him to solve their offensive problems.  The same Mike Richards that has had trouble scoring for a while.  This road trip against the Devils, Rangers, Islanders, and Wild is going to be the death of LA’s season.  When you sleep walk through games in December, eventually, it comes back to bit you in April, when you have no margin left for error.

And finally, things got wild on The Walking Dead last night.  Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it yet.  Here’s a quick recap.  Carol starts off by leaving a Casserole on the Monroe’s doorstep and a sympathy note following Aiden’s death.  Deanna burns the note, clearly influenced by what Father Gabriel told her last week.  Carol continued to urge Rick to step in and stop Pete from abusing Jessie.  Meanwhile, Sasha just keeps taking her anger out on Walkers in the woods.  Michonne tracks her down, and memories of her own are triggered, and she goes crazy on the Walkers too.  Carl and Enid have their own romantic moment hiding in a tree from a herd of Walkers.  Rick confronts Deanna about Pete, but Deanna says under no circumstances will he be killed, just exiled.  Rick disagrees.  Rick then confronts Jessie, and at first she suggests that she shouldn’t make this his business, but then opens up.  Eventually, she agrees to protection from Rick.  Pete then confronts Rick and Jessie, and a brawl erupts between Rick and Pete.  After the fight ends up in the street with everyone watching, a bloodied Rick is urged to stop by Deanna.  Rick tells everyone that “their way” is going to get everyone killed and destroy Alexandria.  Rick is then knocked unconscious by Michonne, as the episode comes to an end.

This episode was a wild one.  Rick has lost his mind and become psychotic again.  Rick wants to take over Alexandria and do things his way.  However, things are getting messy.  He needs to be more like Carol.  She plays things way closer to the vest, and gets things done by operating under the radar.  If this were a poker game, Rick would be telling everybody exactly what his cards are.  He should have taken a more discreet approach to the situation, and he would have gotten exactly what he wanted.  My guess is that Michonne knocked out Rick to buy time, and prevent the situation from further escalating at that moment.  I doubt she turned on him.  i don’t trust Enid, and I don’t buy that she and Carl are having some innocent teenage romance.  Something tells me she’s got some other intentions.   There were too many characters that had story lines going on in this episode, which made every story line lacking a little depth.   Sasha is going ape shit.  She’s going to get herself killed at some point.  I fully expect a death or two in the season finale next week.  Feels weird to say looking forward to it after making that statement, but should be a great finish to the season.

March 16th, 2015

I nearly fell out of my chair.  I was shocked.  The Bruins somehow got into the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid yesterday.  Just about everybody thought they were one of the first four out.  It wasn’t even that close.  They were in, and not even among the last four teams in.  They didn’t deserve it either.  The selection committee had to have valued the brand name of UCLA over all the other mid-majors.  John Wooden is still working his magic.  UCLA was just 2-8 against the top 50, and 1-7 against the top 25.  They played one of their best games of the season against Arizona on Friday, but lost.  That game truly symbolized just how badly the Bruins are coached.  UCLA has two solid big men in Thomas Welsh and Gyorgy Goloman, but Steve Alford never utilizes them.  Freshman forward Kevin Looney is one of the best freshman in the country, yet Alford barely got him involved in the most critical game of the season.  In fact, Bryce Alford and Norman Powell have taken a combined 500 more shots than him all season!  There were 36 at-large bids given out.  There aren’t 36 teams in the country with more talent than the Bruins.  That’s definitely something the selection committee believed.  However, in the long run, UCLA was probably better off missing the tourney and putting Steve Alford on the hot seat.

Before I get into the rest of the bracket, I have to mention USC.  For the last two seasons, the Trojan basketball team has finished dead last in the Pac-12 standings.  When Andy Enfield was brought in to coach this team, many thought he was going to bring showtime basketball back to LA.  Instead, he’s only driven this team into complete irrelevance in the Los Angeles sports landscape.  While I realize that USC is a football school, Trojan fans should find this to be completely unacceptable.  UCLA is considered a basketball school, but they expect a certain amount of competitiveness from their football team.  The Trojan alumni should demand no less from their basketball team.  This program also has phenomenal athletic facilities that are relatively new, so they should be far more competitive recruiting in a basketball hot bed like Southern California.  I guess Trojan fans can only focus on one mediocre aspect of their athletic program at a time.

As for the rest of the NCAA Tournament bracket, I don’t really know why we are wasting our time playing this thing.  We all know that Kentucky is going to win it all, and sleep walk while doing it.  So that’s how the selection committee rewards Notre Dame for winning the ACC tournament:  a #3 seed in the same region as Kentucky.  Notre Dame is so well coached, but when it comes to the tourney, there is less time to prepare, so that goes out the window.  Can’t say I’d be shocked if they were upset during the first weekend.  The committee got 3  #1 seeds right, however, Arizona won their conference and Duke didn’t.  Arizona should be a #1.  I’m looking forward to their showdown with Wisconsin in the Elite 8.  I’m still not sure how you can look at UCLA’s resume next to Colorado State’s, Miami’s, or Temple’s, and pick UCLA.  The committee loves good story lines though, and the Bruins, Indiana, and Texas all help contribute to that.  I won’t be surprised if any of them make it past the first weekend too.  SDSU got a tough draw in St. John’s and having to go through Duke.  And congratulations to the UC Irvine Anteaters!  They are going dancing for the first time, and will take on Louisville.

Wow, I really didn’t realize how much I missed Bill Walton after all this time.  He was basically exiled to the Pac-12 Network to cover college basketball, so many of us don’t hear much from him.  I wonder if he even listens to the things that come out of his mouth?  On Friday’s UCLA vs Arizona telecast, he kept babbling on about the importance of the game for UCLA as an inspiration for little kids who aspire to go to UCLA.  What the hell is he talking about?  I don’t think a 10 year old that is watching Bryce Alford chuck up bricks is going to have much inspiration watching Bruin basketball. They need to put Walton on the Golf Channel, or even on the Masters telecast to liven up the game.  That sport is definitely going to need some absurd commentary to keep interest alive.

I was very saddened to hear about the death of Los Angeles talk show host Joe McDonnell on Friday.  McDonnell was one of my favorite talk show hosts to listen to growing up, and you always felt like he was a very reliable source.  He was so plugged in with the Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, and other LA sports team.  He was controversial, but so well respected in the media, and within the  local organizations.  Even Mitch Kupchak and Mike Scioscia were saddened by his passing, and spoke about him over the weekend.  I found him to be very inspirational growing up, and his passion for the SoCal sports scene could always be felt in his work.  That is a big part of the reason why Jock Talk LA exists today.  RIP Big Joe.

The NFL offseason has been more wild than spring break in Cabo.  With LeSean McCoy, Sammy Watkins, and Percy Harvin, the Bills now believe they have the speed to chase down all those people that pick off Matt Cassel.  The Jets theory is that if they can acquire enough cornerbacks, there won’t be any left to intercept Geno Smith’s passes.  The Raiders signed Christian Ponder, who is expected to take over Matt Schaub’s clipboard holding duties.  I’m keeping a very close eye out on the Adrian Peterson situation.  Peterson really wants a trade.  One of the teams he wants a trade to is the Chargers.  There have been rumors out of there of an Eric Weddle for Adrian Peterson swap.  Can you imagine if the Bolts can get some star power like that on their team, at a position of need like running back?  More importantly, it would be perfect to acquire a star player if they are really moving to LA.  Los Angeles is a star studded town, and AP can fit perfectly into that.  Here’s hoping that trade comes to fruition.

We are getting closer and closer to the start of the MLB season, and Time Warner still hasn’t made a deal with regional cable networks to televise the Dodgers SportsNet LA channel.  Rumor has it that TWC is coming back to the bargaining table with several regional cable providers to try and get a deal done before the start of the season.  However, I don’t see why TWC doesn’t create an HBO like model, where they just sell directly to the consumer over the internet.  Who wouldn’t pay between $20-$30 per month to watch the Dodger games over the internet?  I’m sure this would put a lot of money back into TWC’s pockets for the losses they suffered on the channel last year, and would also give them a great deal of leverage in talks with other cable networks moving forward.  Consumer demands are changing, and TWC has a chance to get ahead of the curve and take advantage of it, while also giving the fans the chance to watch the Dodgers again.

I had the privilege of attending the Lakers open house last week for season ticket holders, and I got to listen to Mitch Kupchak and Byron Scott field questions from a group of disgruntled fans.  I must say that i’m impressed they took the questions without any of them being pre-screened.  More than anything, the impression I came away with from listening to Mitch is that they aren’t going to rush into any moves that will be short-term gains, and jeopardize the long-term growth of the team.  That means players like Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson will probably be Lakers for a while, and they’ll try to add free agent veterans around them.  This is a very different approach from what Phil Jackson says he is planning to do with the Knicks.  Phil said that he is focused mostly on free agents, and last week indicated that he didn’t like the idea of waiting around 3 years for a draft pick to develop.  I like Phil, and wanted him back with the Lakers at one point, but something tells me his front office track record is going to be nothing like his coaching record.

I’m not going to make too big of a deal about what we saw from the Clippers yesterday against Houston.  Blake Griffin had his first game back and was completely out of rhythm, which was to be expected.  However, the Clippers complain on literally every single call against them, and I think it’s starting to make the NBA referees despise them.  After one call yesterday, Blake looked more stunned than Sly Stallone did after dropping his buddy’s girlfriend at the beginning of Cliffhanger.  This is just one of many issues the Clipps are going to have to sort out over the next month before the playoffs start.

And finally, another episode of The Walking Dead went down last night on AMC.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  Here’s a quick recap:  We had a death so stop reading if you intend to watch it later!  Noah died, and it was a gruesome death at the hands of Walkers, but the people of Alexandria got him killed on their quest to restore power in the community.  Tara is badly injured on the quest, and Aiden is killed by Walkers, but not before revealing the people of Alexandria are all about themselves.  Meanwhile, Carol, a former victim of abuse, recognizes that Jessie’s son, Sam, is a victim of abuse.  Sam asks her for a gun and she refuses.   Carol tries to go over to Jessie’s house, but Pete tells her it’s not a good time, and closes the door in her face. She later tells Rick what’s going on, and that he is going to have to kill Pete.  Interestingly enough, Rick and Pete had an awkward encounter of their own, with Pete claiming that “we’ve lost things.  Other things we’re fighting like hell to hold on to.”  Father Gabriel also ratted out Rick’s entire group to Deanna, claiming that she made a mistake letting them in, and eventually they will choose their own lives over everyone else’s.  Maggie overhears this in the other room and is disappointed.

The writers of The Walking Dead might as well be the Ferguson Police Department with the way they treat black characters.  Another one ended up dead, this time it was Noah.  It felt like we became so desensitized to the deaths by Walkers in the show, however, this episode had some really gruesome deaths that were tough to watch.  Noah wasn’t around long, but in the short time he was on the show, I grew very fond of him.  As for Father Gabriel, leave it to the hypocritical religious guy to throw the entire group under the bus.  How many deaths was Father Gabriel responsible for when he left all those people in the church to die?  And now he has the audacity to blame Rick and his group for killing all those truly evil people, when the group saved him countless times?  Unbelievable.  More than anything, we learned that the people of Alexandria are a bunch of cowards, and only look out for themselves.  Heck, Father Gabriel fits right in with this group because of that.  On the other hand, Eugene finally showed some courage by helping Tara after her head injury.  It’s inevitable there’s going to be another couple of deaths before the season ends, and one of them will likely be Pete.  This Alexandria thing is starting to make sense now.  The people are just weak.