October 20th, 2014

The Dodgers have taken quick and sudden action after being eliminated from the playoffs just over a week ago.  As we expected, Ned Colletti paid the price, as he was demoted to a special advisor, while Rays GM Andy Friedman was hired as director of baseball operations, and he will hire a new General Manager.  Ok, I get it.  Friedman accomplished a lot in Tampa with few resources, and at face value, this could be a good move.  However, I think the LA front office is badly overreacting to this entire situation.  Just because the Royals are a small market team that made it to the World Series, that doesn’t mean the Dodgers need to operate like one to get there.  The Red Sox and Tigers have consistently been in the hunt the last few years, and they’ve been spending plenty of money.  It’s about spending money in the right places, while also developing your farm system.  Hopefully Friedman and the rest of the Dodgers see it this way before blowing up the team, otherwise the Dodgers could be a lot further away from winning the World Series than they are now.

On to some college football, where watching UCLA football makes you want to jump off the Santa Monica Pier.  The Bruins barely beat a horrendous Cal team in the Bay Area on Saturday by a measly two points.  Cal Quarterback Jared Goff clearly lost his mind at the end of the game, putting the ball in the air and throwing an interception, when all his team needed to win the game was a field goal.  We’re halfway through the season and it’s very clear now, UCLA’s talent is much better than the level of football it actually plays.  Four of their five wins have been close games against teams they should have blown off the field.   They’ve only put together one complete game, which was against Arizona State.    Even Brett Hundley looks overrated, as he should have shredded this crappy Cal defense to pieces.  His 330 yards are deceiving, because we didn’t see much of a vertical attack, against a defense that had the worst secondary in the nation.

Over at the Coliseum, Cody Kessler threw a ridiculous 7 touchdown passes in a blowout against Colorado.  The last time he did that, he was playing Playstation against his roommate in his dorm room.   This win was fools gold for the Trojans, and Kessler in particular.  Since I was there in person, I can’t think of a single one of those long passes that wasn’t lobbed up in the air, that wouldn’t have been intercepted by a halfway decent defense.  Then again, that probably explains why Kessler has only one turnover on the season.  Sark simply doesn’t let the guy throw down the field, and wants him to be more of a game manager.  Kessler isn’t going to single handedly win games for USC, but he’s solid enough to be their starter.  The Trojans still haven’t had their annual slip up in conference play against an opponent they should beat.  That would make me weary going into their games against Utah, Washington State, and Cal.

There’s no doubt the best game of the college football season thus far was Notre Dame vs Florida State.  Apparently, none of you had any idea that Notre Dame was capable of beating FSU, and should have.  That’s also probably because most of you forgot that Everett Golson is 16-1 as a starting quarterback.  I know most of you Irish fans want to strangle the referee that made that offensive pass interference call at the end of the game, but it was the right call, even though you hate to see a great game end that way.  Besides, as long as ND wins out, they should absolutely be in the playoff, and who wouldn’t want to see a re-match at the Rose Bowl in January?   I can’t tell you how much I laughed out loud when i heard Jimbo Fisher tell the media how much of a “high character” program he has.  Still, this Jameis Winston autograph scandal doesn’t make any sense.  How is he supposed to sign autographs if he can’t even spell his own name?

To the NFL, where my hopes and dreams have been shattered, because the Jaguars actually won a game by beating the Browns yesterday.  Was that Sunday Night Football on NBC last night? Or an SEC non-conference game?  The Seahawks are probably ready to send Pete Carroll to the Jaguars for a 9th round pick after losing to the Rams.  Meanwhile, Percy Harvin is still weighing the pros and cons of being traded to the Jets.  The pros include no more touchdowns being called back.  The cons include no more touchdowns.  Southern Californians needs to do everything they can to make sure the Raiders do not move back here.  Apparently nobody wants to win the NFC South.  The Cowboys are making it really tough to keep making jokes about them.  At one point in that Charger-Chiefs game, I was wondering why Alex Smith is even on the field. The Chiefs might as well have been snapping the ball directly to Jamal Charles.  Still, the Chargers faced a real team for the first time in a month and failed.  The Jay Cutler implosion is in full effect in Chicago.  Are the Redskins really going to start Colt McCoy next week?  Terence Newman made the worst tackling attempt I have ever seen in an NFL game yesterday too….

We’re just two weeks into the NBA pre-season, and people are already freaking out about the Lakers and how bad they might be.  I never said they were going to be good, however, I’m not going to draw any big conclusions after the team was blown out in their last three pre-season games.  I don’t see anybody commenting on the fact the Clippers and Spurs have the same preseason record as the Lakers either.  Byron Scott is absolutely right: this team shouldn’t be jacking up a bunch of three pointers every night.  They don’t have the shooters, and they are going to be much more effective slowing the pace of the game down, while focusing on the defensive end of the floor.  Their personnel doesn’t lend itself to playing any other style folks, regardless of whether or not it’s more entertaining.

On the ice, the Kings are off to a very impressive start, and they are hardly playing their best hockey.  LA is taking advantage of a cushy 6 game home stand early on, and they’ve won 4 straight.  I always say, the sign of a great team is one that can win when they aren’t at their best.  The Kings are winning with dominant play from Jonathan Quick, and one line that is scoring, better known as “That’s 70’s Line”.  They are also allowing more shots than a UC Santa Barbara frat party, and can’t seem to do much on the powerplay.  All that and they’re still off to one of the fastest starts in the conference.  Also, good job by Dean Lombardi to re-sign Jake Muzzin, except I’m not sure where that leaves Alec Martinez, Justin Williams, and Jarret Stoll when their contracts are up at the end of the season.

Great news guys!  I finally got the IPhone 6 Plus.  It looks like this…….

On to The Walking Dead, which turned out to be way better than I thought it would this week.  I was completely expecting a much slower episode, but this episode was intense.  Spoiler alert for those of you that haven’t seen it yet.  Let’s summarize quickly.  The group is out in the wilderness and back in survival mode when they run into Gabriel, a priest who was being ambushed by Walkers.  The group saves Gabriel, who then led them to a Church, and later on a food bank, where they had to fend off some more Walkers.  Rick and the rest of the group do not completely trust Gabriel and his motivations yet, and make it clear to him by telling him “You’re hiding something.”  Near the end of the episode, Bob is letting some emotion out in the woods, and is attacked by Gareth.  Bob is tied up, and when he regains consciousness, Gareth admits that he and his group and cannibals.  Bob’s leg is also missing, as Gareth and his group have begun bbq’ing and eating him (wow, writing that was even more disturbing than reading it).

I don’t trust this Gabriel guy at all.  There’s no way anybody could live in a world with Walkers for this long and be afraid of them, so Gabriel has to be a villain.  I’m thinking he might have made a deal with the cannibals.  I’m still trying to figure out why Bob was crying in the woods, prior to being attacked by Gareth.  I think it might have been because he was actually bitten by a Walker while he was in the food bank.  I wonder what that means for Gareth’s group, since they might be eating infected meat.  Wow, that Gareth guy makes you want to punch him in the face when you listen to him talk.  I’m also dying to find out what happened to Beth, and who is in the mysterious car that swooped her up.  This season is getting good real fast!

October 13th, 2014

If you’re a Dodger fan, you’re probably in the latter stages of grieving.  Be prepared to grieve some more, as we kick-off Monday Morning Coffee by discussing the Dodgers disaster last week.  LA was eliminated from the playoffs by the Cardinals, and the reality of it is, the blame starts with Clayton Kershaw, the $215 million man.  He knew he needed to win games 1 and 4, and collapsed in the most critical moments of the Dodger’s season.  The Cardinals simply own Kershaw, who has lost his last 4 playoff starts to St. Louis.  Then there’s the useless pile of crap that is the Dodger bullpen.  The Dodgers spent a total of $45 million on Brandon League, JP Howell, Brian Wilson, and Chris Perez.  Not a single one could be trusted late in a playoff game, which forced Don Mattingly to stick with his starters as long as possible.  Mattingly isn’t off the hook either, as he benched his most dynamic player in Yasiel Puig in a must-win situation, in favor of a guy who probably doesn’t even remember how to play baseball, Andre Ethier.

Spending lots of money guarantees you get to the playoffs, but that’s it.  The playoffs are a crapshoot in baseball.  Rumor has it that Ned Colletti could take the fall for the Dodgers playoff failures, which is absurd.  This is the same general manager who should have been arrested for shoplifting in the McCourt era, as he had limited resources yet put together playoff caliber teams.  Many of the most critical personnel decisions like the Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzales trades were all done at the ownership level.  The Dodgers have plenty of money to fix some of the easier problems to fix: A bullpen and a better defensive shortstop.  That’s it.  After that, it’s on the players to step up and get it done.  Yes, I’m talking about you Yasiel Puig and Clayton Kershaw.  If those guys do their jobs, the Dodgers are still playing, and ownership isn’t arbitrarily assigning blame to Colletti.

So the Angels and Dodgers were eliminated and on Saturday, the Bruins continued the Southern California losing streak that has taken place for more than a week now.  Things haven’t been this bad in SoCal since the Real Housewives of Orange County started airing.  The Bruins got destroyed by Oregon, in a game that was not nearly as close as the final score.  The worst part is, the Bruins had plenty of chances to score, but Oregon controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.  This was exactly my fear at the end of last season.  The Bruins quickly went from a team that was on the rise, to a team that is overrated and can’t compete with the big boys.  They are no better than last year, possibly even slightly worse.  Brett Hundley is a good quarterback, but still has moments of inconsistency, which doesn’t make him a Heisman Trophy candidate.  This is who the Bruins are: a good team, but not the great team for some reason everyone thought they could be.  There’s still time to win the Pac-12 and take down their cross-town rival, but even that would be amazing for this group.

Then there’s the Trojans, who were one Southern California team that actually came up with a victory on Saturday.  USC got by Arizona 28-26, in a game that looked like the Trojans were going to lose by another devastating last second loss.  For all the moaning and groaning most of the USC faithful has experienced over the last few weeks, the Trojans are actually in 1st place in the Pac-12 South, and actually have a decent chance to go to the conference championship game.  The next four games will also be the softer part of USC’s schedule, before taking on UCLA and Notre Dame.  Sark needs to make sure he’s putting the ball in the hands of Javorius Allen as much as possible the rest of the season.  Allen has been running wild of late, and he’s SC’s best chance to win the conference.

Elsewhere around college football, The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame survived a trap game against UNC, with a 50-36 win.  Everett Golson is beginning to solidify himself as a Heisman Trophy candidate.  That sets up a huge showdown next week against #2 Florida State, in Tallahassee.  The Irish undefeated string will likely come to an end, but I fully expect a close game against FSU.  Mississippi State looks like the most complete team in college football.  That Baylor-TCU game looked like an arena football league game.  The Big Ten stinks, but don’t sleep on Michigan State climbing back into the playoff, as all those SEC teams beat up on each other.

To the NFL, where it was a tough night for the Giants last night against the Eagles.  New York fans hadn’t been that embarassed since early Sunday afternoon when the Jets played.  The Bucs should be demoted to the Big Ten.  I’m thinking Jacksonville has an excellent chance to go 0-16, but they are really going to have to do something to keep that morale down, or else my hopes and dreams will be shattered.  In case there were any doubts, Tom Brady and the Pats still run the AFC East.  If the Chargers had lost to the Raiders, most San Diegans would be getting ready to jump off the Coronado Bridge.  Branden Oliver looks like the Chargers best running back, and it took 3 others to get hurt to learn that.  The Steelers are more terrible than their towels.  I think we all owe the Cowboys an apology until they find a way to collapse in December.  The Redskins are taking a beating like our forefather’s gave them years ago.  While Jay Cutler did a nice job hitting the referee in the nuts with this left handed pass….

I’m not a big believer in extracting anything significant from pre-season games.  However, I have to say that in limited action, Kobe Bryant still looks like a very good player.  That’s great to see, but that’s just about all the enjoyment we will get out of Laker games this year.  As great as Kobe looks, he still won’t have the ability he used to have in controlling a basketball game at both ends of the floor.  That is the Kobe this Laker team will need to have any chance of even making the playoffs.  Not to mention Julius Randle becoming the next Tim Duncan.

It’s amazing that the NHL Season has already started up again.  In typical opening night fashion after raising their Stanley Cup banner, the Kings laid an egg against the San Jose Sharks.  How pissed was San Jose? They get beat by the Kings after taking a 3-0 series lead last spring, they have watch the Kings raise their banner on opening night, and wait for a whole extra 37 minutes for the game to start.  Of course they were angry.  Glad to see the Kings finally find the win column last night.  It already looks as though “That 70’s Line” with Carter, Toffoli, and Pearson have left off where they were last spring.  Meanwhile, the Ducks have a brutal schedule to open the season.  Their 4 game east coast trip to start the season feels like the ultimate screw you from the league, and coming back at .500 would be a reasonable goal.

Finally, last night was a phenomenal season premier of The Walking Dead.  What an edge of your seat first episode.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  To recap quickly, the episode begins with a flashback to Gareth, the somewhat sadistic leader of Terminus, trapped in the same train car as Rick’s group is in the present.  He explains to the others in his group that “we were trying to do something good.  We were being human beings?”  One of Gareth’s friends responds “What are we now?”  We come to find out that Terminus was once a “good” community that was twisted into deceit and cannibalism.  In the present, Rick, Glenn, Darryl, and a few others in the group are taken inside, and 4 group members throats are slashed over a trough.  Before anyone else is killed, Carol shoots a propane tank from outside Terminus, causing an explosion, and Walkers overrun the area.  Rick, Glenn, and Darryl, get free amidst the chaos, kill a bunch of Walkers and free the remaining group members.  The group escapes to meet up with Carol.  She then takes the group to meet Tyreese and Judith, who survived a violent struggle of their own.

Last season they eased us into things.  This season is the total opposite.  It also gives me the feeling that this season is going to be far more gruesome and dark than other seasons.  I love that after Rick escaped, he immediately transformed from “farmer Rick” to “everyone must die Rick”.  This episode was also another reminder of what kind of transformation Carol has made since the start of the series.  She began as a battered house wife, now she’s practically a war hero.  The moment where Carol and Daryl meet and embrace is also one of the most emotional moments in recent memory for the show.  Seeing 4 throats slashed in the first five minutes, gruesome Walker scenes, along with some really unappealing pictures of human flesh, all made this an episode that probably can’t be topped for a while.  In any case, can’t wait to see what else is in store this season.

October 6th, 2014

What a terrible weekend it was for our Southern California sports teams.  The Angels were swept, while the Dodgers, Bruins, and Trojans suffered losses that were the equivalent of getting kicked in the balls.  What did LA do to deserve this?  Is it because we have palm trees, fake large breasted women and nice weather? (Which really isn’t that nice right now because it’s 100 degrees).  For the most part, it was just a reminder that being a sports fan requires enduring 99% kicks to the balls, and only 1% glory.

In just one quick weekend, the Angels flushed their wonderful season down the toilet.  You all thought playing the Royals was going to be like an NBA team playing a WNBA team.  You were badly mistaken.  Apparently, all CJ Wilson is good for now is selling cars at his dealership.  Wilson and his $77 million contract couldn’t even make it out of the first inning of yesterday’s elimination game.    That game was over when Alex Gordon blasted a three run double off CJ.  After that the Angels continued to come up empty at the plate.  Mike Trout flopped like a fish out of water, and Josh Hamilton played like he just got hammered at the bar.  It’s pretty tough to win when three guys who are supposed to be your best players don’t show up.  In the end, this series was lost in Anaheim off a few great defensive plays that the Royals made, while the Halo sluggers disappeared like David Copperfield.

It hurts.  However, this season went way better than we thought it would for the Angels.  They found pitching, they fixed their bullpen, and throughout the season they had the majors best offense.  Now that the Angels are back to an elite team, they need to consider how to put themselves over the top.  That means without Arte Moreno making some stupid emotional, and irrational decisions.  Getting Garrett Richards healthy, adding another starter, and finding some more production at 3rd base should be top priorities.  The bad news is that the Angels are stuck with the contracts of Hamilton and Wilson for the next couple of seasons, and potentially little production for them.  Prepare for an off-season of pissing and moaning Halo fans.  This is going to hurt until your team gets back on the field in spring training.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers may be headed back to St. Louis with a split, but they should be up 2-0 after Friday nights collapse.  What the hell was Don Mattingly thinking?  You have managers so that they can manage players, especially superstars.  Mattingly failed to do that on Friday night by letting Clayton Kershaw stay in the game when he started to come unraveled.  As great as Kershaw is, he couldn’t just bully his way out of the inning.  Even he has his limits, and with the amount of innings he has thrown, you have to wonder if he’s starting to wear down, or if the Cardinals just own him.  Even Saturday night was a near disaster when JP Howell blew a 2-0 lead in the 8th.  When Don Mattingly actually does use the pen, he can’t even use the right reliever.  If it hadn’t been for Matt Kemp, who you all wanted to trade for a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, the Dodgers would be planning their trips to Cabo……

I can’t say I like the Dodgers chances heading back to St. Louis.  Hyun-Jin Ryu hasn’t pitched in a month, which means the Dodgers will have to go deep into the pen, which is trash.  Will they go back to Kershaw in game 4?  He sucked on three days rest last year, and wasn’t even good on plenty of rest in game 1.  Then again, do you trust Dan Haren?  At least the offense is clicking.  I like how AJ Ellis suddenly looks like the 2nd coming of Johnny Bench after a crummy regular season.  However, I hate how Matt Carpenter looks like the 2nd coming of Ted Williams, and has been the devil against the Boys in Blue.  It’s going to come down to which bullpen can hold their shit together.  Poor Ken Rosenthal.  His nice suit took a beating while interviewing Matt Kemp after game 2……

In other baseball news…..the Baltimore Orioles sweep of the Detroit Tigers marks the first time in history that the city of Detroit has actually been swept…..

Then there was the disappointment at the Rose Bowl for UCLA.  The Bruins went back to being the team that plays down to their competition, and it finally caught up with them against Utah.  Yes, that’s right…..Utah.  UCLA had no business even having a chance to win the game, since they played so poorly throughout.  Utah did whatever they wanted on offense.  Somehow, the Bruins had two chances to win the game on field goals in the final seconds, yet blew them both.  The Bruins can now kiss their hopes of a National Championship or football playoff goodbye.  UCLA badly needs to beat Oregon next week at home, which won’t be an easy task considering the Ducks had their own disaster against Arizona last week.  At the moment, UCLA football looks like nothing but a bunch of hype.

Over at the Coliseum, the Trojans choked harder than the Dodger bullpen.  USC was up by 9 points with less than three minutes to go.  When I checked my phone 10 minutes later, I thought it was broken because it said the Trojans had lost 38-34 to ASU.  Unbelievable.  USC’s defense got torched all game, giving up 541 yards, including a 46 yard hail mary to Jaelen Strong to win the game.  It was devastating for Trojan fans, but this is who USC is.  They aren’t some national championship or even conference championship contender.  The loss to Boston College shouldn’t have happened.  The loss to ASU should have happened, just maybe not in the way that it did.  Sark is rebuilding, and it’s gonna take time.  I know when I saw this I was thinking “Fight Oh…hahah”….

Elsewhere around the college grid iron, it was black saturday for teams in the top 10, as 5 of the top 8 were upset.  That means that after my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame got by Stanford, they are now 5th in the country.  The Irish can make you bang your head into a wall for the majority of the game, only to make you wanna chest bump that same wall when its over.  Katy Perry on ESPN’s College Game Day was actually pretty hilarious for those of you that missed it.  Equally hilarious were the losses by LSU, Michigan, Alabama, and Oregon.  I think this sums up the weekend…

On to the NFL, where we had another Thursday night beat down with Minnesota getting destroyed by Green Bay.  Vikings fans hadn’t seen a beating that bad since they let Adrian Peterson babysit their kids.  The Chargers might be one of the best teams in the NFL, while Jets fans are longing for “the glory days” or Mark Sanchez.  I guess the Giants and Cowboys might not be as bad as we thought.  The Saints are a sorry bunch for barely getting by Tampa Bay at home.  The 49ers have definitely come back to the rest of the pack, and much of it has to do with the players getting tired of Jim Harbaugh.  And last night is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t write off the Patriots from winning the AFC East once again.

Great start to training camp for the Lakers.  Nick Young tore ligaments in his thumb, and he’ll be out for the next 6-8 weeks after having surgery.  You do realize that Nick Young is actually going to be the Lakers 2nd best player this year right??? No really, this is what it has come to.  On the bright side, Steve Nash hasn’t gotten injured in the last five minutes, which has to be some kind of record.

The NHL season begins this week for the Kings and Ducks.  I see the Ducks having another great regular season and coming up short again in the playoffs, in typical Bruce Boudreau fashion.  The Kings will pace themselves during the season, since they partied their asses off all summer, and be a force to be reckoned with come playoff time.  However, all of those playoff games the Kings have played over the last three years will likely catch up to them and hurt their pursuit of another cup.

Finally, the season premier of Homeland took place last night. Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it yet, but it had what appears to be a very promising story line.  I was skeptical of the show without Brody and his family, however, it’s looking like it will pull fans back in.  As disturbing as this scene was, when Carrie momentarily thought about drowning her baby, I felt like that demonstrated a great deal about her psychological state.  Why haven’t Carrie and Quinn hooked up yet?  You know that is coming next.  I’m looking forward to seeing how the plot develops now that Carrie is once again going back to Pakistan.

September 29th, 2014

At this point in the year, when most of you hear about baseball, you think “those guys are still playing?  It felt like the season started ages ago!”.  Not this year though for SoCal baseball fans. The Dodgers rolled through the final week of the regular season by clinching the NL West behind more mastery from Clayton Kershaw, and finished strong by winning 5 straight.  The offense has been on a tear the last two weeks, and the next five days will give Hyun-Jin Ryu a chance to get very healthy and be a contributor in the next two weeks.  Hopefully it also gives the veterans in the bullpen time to think about how they can avoid sucking like they have been of late.  With a $220 million payroll, it’s World Series or bust for the Boys in Blue.

As for LA’s matchup against the Cardinals, this is going to be another classic playoff showdown between two of the NL’s best.  This year, with home field advantage, along with a healthy and productive Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez, the Dodgers should win this series in 4 games.  The real question for St. Louis will be whether or not Michael Wacha can start a game in this series, and how effective he will be.  Wacha had the Dodgers number last year, but he’s been glued to the disabled list all season.  However, in a short series, Kershaw is likely to start twice, which is trouble for the Cards.  If the Dodgers face the Nats next, it’s a very different story.

Meanwhile, the Angels post season hopes are practically a mirror image of the Dodgers.  The Halos are also concerned about the health and effectiveness of their own #3 starter, Matt Shoemaker.  Just as the Dodgers could have trouble with the Nats, the Halos could have trouble if they run into Baltimore.  They should have no problem with Oakland or Kansas City, who are both just happy to make the playoffs at this point.  Ultimately, the Angels have to continue to score runs, and hope their bullpen can continue to be dependable.  If that happens, there’s a good chance the Halos will be in the World Series.

Switching over to college football, where i’m still trying to figure out what the hell got into the UCLA Bruins on Thursday night.  That looked like the Bruin team most people thought they would see at the beginning of the year.  I don’t care if the defense gave up 600 yards either.  Three weeks ago, everyone was complaining UCLA’s offense was trash, and they hadn’t played anybody yet.  ASU can play, and the Bruins’ offense is now looking great.  Think of it this way:  The Bruins are 4-0, and they haven’t even put together a complete game.  That’s the sign of a good team: one that can win when they aren’t at their best.  Besides….you didn’t really think that Brett Hundley was going to this one out with a wimpy little elbow injury right?

As for the Trojans, I’m not sure who was more nervous in the game vs Oregon State: Sark or the fans?  If the Trojans had lost this game, their fans would have demanded Sark’s head on top of that flag pole the fans kick on their walk to the Coliseum.  Luckily for both parties, that wasn’t necessary.  I was also really concerned that much of the talk for this game would revolve around lame “Trojan” and “Beaver” jokes, and how the game will be won with “penetration” at the line of scrimmage.  Fortunately, the talk was really more about the improved USC running game and Cody Kessler’s steady play.  Now here comes the always dangerous Arizona State next week, which will go a long way in determining whether or not USC is a player in the Pac-12 south.

A few other close calls for some top teams around college football over the weekend.  That included my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, who had to overcome 4 turnovers to take down Syracuse.  The Irish have put up at least 30 points in all 4 games they’ve played this year, which is a far cry from what we saw in 2012 when it was all about the Irish defense.

In the NFL , it was a very unusual week 4 that was filled with surprises.  I now realize why  native Americans get offended by being called “Redskins” after watching Washington get destroyed by The Giants.  The Packers and Texans got their acts together at least temporarily, the Colts and Ravens are starting to look really good.  Shouldn’t the Jets be starting Michael Vick by now?  The Steelers mediocrity came crashing back to reality after losing to the Bucs.  The Chargers continue to look solid.  Miami and Oakland should fold both of their franchises, and it’s amazing the NFL sent those two teams to London. the 49ers are still a threat to come out of the NFC, while the entire NFC South should just move to the Big 10 after the Saints were beaten down the by the Cowboys.

Finally, NBA training camps open up starting today, and that means Laker fans get hit with the reality that their team just isn’t that good.  However, speaking of LA, I’ve heard a lot of comparisons of Kobe Bryant and Derek Jeter this week since Jeter is retiring.  While there are certain aspects of each of these guys careers that are very similar, I have to point out some of the stark differences that people failed to mention.  Jeter is a great player, a great leader, and known for his clutch play.  Kobe has similar qualities, but differs in that he is arguably the greatest player to ever play for the greatest franchise in NBA history.  Jeter on the other hand is arguably the 6th or 7th greatest player to ever play for the greatest franchise in MLB history.  Let’s keep all that in mind before we get too crazy on our comparisons.

September 22nd, 2014

This week’s Monday Morning Coffee is actually coming to you from Cairo, Egypt, where I’m attending my cousin’s wedding.  Since I’m on Egyptian time, it’s more like mid morning coffee over here.  Being over here has made me realize that the United States is really the only country in the world where it is very uncommon for people to take a month off of work.  Even though many of us have three weeks of vacation or more per year, it is frowned upon to leave your job for that long.  In just about every other country in the world, taking a full month off is very normal.  Then again, the fact your employer works you to the bone is probably a big reason why the US economy is where it is relative the the rest of the world.

Speaking of vacation time, the Angels can take a vacation for the next week until the playoffs start after clinching the AL West title last week.  It’s strange that it was just 9 months ago that we were talking about how terrible the Angels pitching staff was, how Mike Scioscia’s act was wearing thin, how Jerry Dipoto was the worst general manager in Southern California, and how Albert Pujols was declining faster than the Middle East.  Suddenly, none of that matters.  The Halos found pitching, fixed their bullpen, and actually have one of the most explosive offenses in baseball.  Now they are poised for a big run in the playoffs, and have a great chance to make it back to the World Series for the first time since the magic of 2002.

The Oakland A’s do realize that they are still in a playoff race right?  It seems like all these veteran rentals the A’s picked is for nothing since their collapse is continuing.  Good thing for the A’s the Mariners couldn’t take advantage of playing the lowly Astros this weekend.

As for the Dodgers, they are now on the verge of clinching the NL West with the Giants coming to town tonight.  I’m sure most of you guys wanna freak out since LA blew a huge lead on Saturday, but reality is, the pen has been overworked in the past week, so that was bound to happen.  On this road trip, the offense finally appears to be clicking on all cylinders.  Matt Kemp is in beat mode, Yasiel Puig is snapping out of his funk, while Agon and Hanley are coming through as well.  Ironically, it’s the pitching of late that could be concerning for LA.  Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw were inefficient in their last starts, Hyun-Jin Ryu’s health is in question, and the middle relief appears to be a roller coaster ride at times.  The Dodgers likely won’t have home field advantage in the NL playoffs either, but they do have the best road record in the NL, so they shouldn’t feel too bad about themselves

I’m still convinced somebody in the Dodger organization hates Matt Kemp.  Kemp and Puig got in “an argument” earlier in the week because Puig wasn’t running hard on the bases, and somebody in the Dodger organization called the environment “dysfunctional”.  Wow, two teammates having a disagreement and the clubhouse is going to hell?  Sounds really likely for a team in first place in their division and battling it out for home field in the NL.   Even if that were remotely true, you don’t have to like your teammates, you simply have to be professional enough to play with them and do your job on the field.

It was a quiet weekend of college football as far as I’m concerned: UCLA, USC, and my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame all had a bye week.  Are the Bruins really ready to go on the road to play ASU on Thursday?  My feeling is no, but Jim Mora is capable of pulling off some magic with some extra time to prepare.  USC should bounce back against Oregon State, and Notre Dame should handle business against Syracuse next weekend.  As for the weekend in college football, how annoying is Jameis Winston?  I was so excited to know that he was suspended for his game on Saturday so we wouldn’t have to hear about him for a whole weekend, but instead, he pretty much stole the show from his teammates with his antics on the sideline.  Meanwhile, Michigan has updated their logo…..

On to the NFL, where the Chargers are actually impressing me.  Definitely a game I expected the Bolts to have a let down in, but they came up big against the Bills and overcame the injuries.  As for the Seahawks and Broncos, I’m sure Denver fans are really upset over that loss, but most of them were too busy smoking weed in their parents basements since it’s legal in Colorado.  Kirk Cousins is killin it, and he’s going to win the Redskins some games despite yesterday’s loss.  The Rams are still the Rams.  The Raiders are still the Raiders.  The Jags are still the Jags, and Ryan Fitzpatrick suddenly remembered that he is Ryan Fitzpatrick.  The Saints finally found the win column, the Vikings may be moving on from AP, which is terrible news for my fantasy team, and possibly great news for Jerry Jones.  The Packers have protection problems, the Bengals have been impressive,  the Ravens kicker is their best player, and the 49ers are crumbling.  I’m still not sure who the Steelers are after three weeks, but I still know the Dolphins and Chiefs are two teams that won’t make the playoffs.

Finally, on to some puck, where training camp opens up this week for the Ducks and Kings.  The Ducks training camp is headlined by Teemu Selanne’s book that was just released, where he rips Bruce Boudreau for reducing his role at the end of last season.  Teemu was a great player, but this is just another example of a great player who hung around a little bit too long.  Of course Boudreau isn’t going to play a 43 year old when he’s got younger studs to develop.  The book just looks like sour grapes from the future hall of famer, which is sad.

As for the Kings, reports are they are all coming to camp in great shape.  I’m not really sure how this is possible since they probably all partied their asses off all summer.  The Kings were also nice enough to send me some game used water from game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  Can we define “game used”?  Did Dustin Brown swish it around in his mouth?  Nice gesture for Kings season seat holders I suppose, but an interesting one.  What was a really nice gesture was allowing season ticket holders to take a picture with the Stanley Cup last week.  It was a very well organized event that took about 15 minutes to get done.  Nice job LA Kings!

September 15th, 2014

You thought they were toast.  I thought they were toast.  Instead, the unthinkable happened.  Neuheisal saved the day.  No, not Rick Neuheisal…..it was his son Jerry.  I think most of us were thinking the same thing: He’s still on the team?  UCLA may have played a terrible Texas team, but they managed to remain undefeated without their best player, and on the shoulders of a miracle performance from their backup quarterback.  Now, their bye week couldn’t have come at a better time.  They’ll need plenty of time to hopefully get Brett Hundley healthy, and prepare for a showdown with Arizona State.  There’s no doubt this team looked like crap in the first three games, and they seem extremely overrated, despite their 3-0 record.  The Bruins will need to be much better in conference play, or else they are going to be toast.  However, assuming Hundley will be ok, they have time to regroup.  That may be the best thing they have going for them.

Meanwhile, USC fans haven’t been this upset since they last tried to watch their basketball team play.  The Trojans got upset by Boston College on Saturday, in a game that horrifically resembled the team we saw last year.  The Eagles completely dominated the line of scrimmage on Saturday night, piling up 452 yards rushing, while also managing to sack Cody Kessler 5 times.  This was a serious let down after the big win at Stanford last week.  Clearly the Trojans needed an off the field distraction to focus, since it worked the last two weeks.  Maybe in the next two weeks one of the football players will get drunk and fight with one of the Sigma Chi fraternity members at Del Taco because he wasn’t served first.  Sark can only hope.  I had concerns about the offense coming into this week.  Now they should have concerns about the defense too.

Elsewhere around college football, it feels like Purdue plays well once a year, and it only comes against Notre Dame.  The Irish managed to win and crack the top 10 in the polls, but the Boilermakers gave the Irish all they could handle again.  Still, considering all the academic issues and injuries that are testing their depth, Notre Dame is in good shape.  How overrated is the SEC? 7 teams are ranked in the top 15.  Do these guys every play anybody in their non-conference schedule?  I find it hysterical that Ole Miss is #10 after beating Louisiana-Lafayette.  I’m also sick of all these southern rednecks pretending like their conference is some alternate form of the NFL, when most teams in the middle of the conference would get exposed if they didn’t play cupcake teams.

On to baseball, where the Dodgers came up with some big wins this weekend in San Francisco, against the Giants.  The Boys in Blue have a 3 game lead in the NL West with 13 games to play.  For those of you that think Clayton Kershaw shouldn’t win the MVP because he is a pitcher, think again.  Kershaw has faced 693 batters this year, while no other NL hitter has had more than 666 plate appearances.  There goes the theory that pitchers don’t do enough work pitching every 5 days.  He also has an MLB leading 19 wins, and that’s after sitting out the first 5 weeks of the season with a back injury.  More importantly, the offense came around at the right time, exploding for 17 runs on Saturday, and some more power hitting from Matt Kemp yesterday.

The major concern for the Dodgers is Hyun-Jin Ryu, who re-injured his shoulder on Friday night.  Ryu sounds like he’s going to be missing the rest of the regular season.  Even if he’s ready to go for the playoffs, should LA risk throwing him out there without knowing if he’s on his game?  It’s either that or Dan Haren, who has pitched well of late, but probably not somebody you want to give the ball to starting a playoff game.  It’s true what they say: you can never have enough pitching.  The other concern the Dodgers should have is Yasiel Puig.  Is this guy just an ordinary player now?  He made a few big plays this weekend, but the power is gone.  The magic is gone.  I think it’s time for Don Mattingly to give Andre Ethier some more time in the outfield to see if he can get some more productivity.  It’s becoming obvious though that Mattingly won’t do it, because the Dodgers have too much invested in Puig both on and off the field.

Then there’s the Angels, who actually lost yesterday.  No really….they had not lost in 10 games, and they had dominated their opponents by outscoring them 86-34 in that stretch.  Their magic number is down to 4, but as far as I’m concerned, they might as well start celebrating.  The Halos can actually win 100 games by simply going 7-7 in their final 14 games.  Funny, how it was just a few months ago that everyone was calling for the firing of both Mike Scioscia & Jerry Dipoto.  Dipoto has successfully rebuilt the bullpen, and Scioscia has successfully managed a team that has been hit with key injuries and crappy play from Josh Hamilton and David Freese.  With Baltimore losing Chris Davis, Oakland sinking like the Titanic, and Detroit floundering, the Angels are a serious threat to make it to the World Series.

What a really nice week it was for the NFL.  I’m sure Roger Goodell is reserving judgement on this whole Adrian Peterson incident until he sees the TMZ tape of him beating his kid with a stick.  Oh sorry….a “switch”.  How many of you just learned what that was last week?  I’m all for disciplining your kids and spanking them when needed, but beating them with a tree branch feels like taking it to another level.  As for Ray Rice, I can’t believe how badly Goodell mishandled the whole thing.  Did he not suspend him at first because he didn’t lead with his helmet when he hit his fiance in the elevator?  Goodell won’t be fired by the owners because he’s making them boat loads of money, and that is all they care about it.

Last week really put the sporting world into perspective, especially with all the race related discussion happening in the NBA to go along with the NFL criminal activity.  We are supposed to be watching sports because it’s an escape from reality.  Instead, all of this ridiculous activity, much of it cause by social media, brings all of these social issues to the forefront of the discussion at times, defeating our entire purpose of watching sports.  So to sum it up, the NFL has a bunch of criminals and the NBA has a bunch of racists.  Your move MLB.

As for the actual NFL action in week 2, in a completely not surprising game, the Chargers defeated the Seahawks.  This is what they do folks.  They beat the teams they aren’t supposed to, and lose to the teams they aren’t supposed to.  Richard Sherman got schooled yesterday, and he knows it, which is why he panzied out and didn’t wanna face the media.  Instead he sent some wussy little tweet.  I feel bad for RGIII, but I think Kirk Cousins is going to win the Redskins some games while he’s gone, although he’s probably not the long term solution.  RGIII may not be either anymore.  The good news for the NY Giants is……actually nevermind, there is no good news.  Nobody beats the New Orleans Saints like the New Orleans Saints.  Those Panthers are looking good.  The Rams vs Bucs should have been televised on Comedy Central.  Only the Jets could lose a touchdown by calling an illegal timeout.  Those Broncos love to let teams back in the game, and a gutsy effort by the Bears last night.

There’s a good chance your fantasy football season blew up this weekend, if you had RGIII, Knowshon Moreno, Adrian Peterson, AJ Green, or DeSean Jackson.  I’d also like to give a special thank you to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who proclaimed that Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall was “very likely to be sidelined” for yesterday’s game.  Turns out Marshall played and had 3 touchdowns, so of course he was sitting on my bench.

Finally, I’m amazed by the fact that the IPhone 6 Plus is already sold out, rather than the IPhone 6. The IPhone 6 Plus and it’s 5.5 inch screen won’t even fit in your pocket, especially if you are wearing skinny jeans.  However, the fact that people are buying it tells me that consumers are interested in the novelty of what Apple is selling, and not the practicality of their products.  It’s also ironic because Steve Jobs used to be so critical of those very large screens produced by Apple’s competitors.  Good luck to those of you trying to get your hands on one anytime soon.

September 8th, 2014

It was an ugly game in Palo Alto on Saturday afternoon.  It was uglier than a USC freshman getting initiated into a fraternity.  It also took an ejection, and Pat Haden coming onto the field, but the Trojans got it done, beating Stanford in the Bay Area for the first time since 2008.  Heading to one of the commercial breaks in the first half, ABC played the song “Turn Down For What”, which was quite fitting since neither team could get much offense going.  The Trojan defense was resilient though.  It felt like the Cardinal spent half the game in USC territory, but just when you thought Kevin Hogan was going to put the Trojans away, he began to look more like Brooke Hogan.  Stanford was inside SC’s 30 yard line 9 times, yet they only scored twice.  USC didn’t exactly set the world on fire either with their offensive production, but they did show enough character and toughness to make you believe they will be a serious contender in the Pac-12 South.

Ok Trojan fans, I get it, you’re pumped and you should be.  But some USC fans are acting like we all thought their team was going to be some pile of crap this year.  USC won 10 games last year, despite all the turmoil.  They hammered Fresno State, and got by Stanford on the road, two teams that they happened to beat last season.  In fact, up until the last two games of the season against UCLA and Notre Dame, the Trojans should be favored on paper.  They haven’t done anything yet to shock us.  If anything, I’d be concerned with the hot and cold offense we saw in the first two weeks of the season.  As the Trojans continue their conference schedule, that could be an issue.

Speaking of issues, UCLA has a ton of them.  They survived another scare against a crummy team, beating Memphis 42-35 at the Rose Bowl Saturday night.  It looked like UCLA solved most of their problems on offense, only to start a whole set of new ones on the defensive side of the ball.  Brett Hundley threw for 396 yards and 3 scores, Paul Perkins rushed for 98 yards and 2 scores, and the Bruins offensive line was much more effective.  However, the defense looked like a bunch of high schoolers putting on the pads for the first time.  The Bruins had to have missed more tackles over the weekend then total tackles they actually made.  Memphis piled up 469 yards.  The Bruins should have blown them off the field in the first quarter.  The only good news is that UCLA is going to face a terrible Texas team that just took a beating from the Mormons.  After that it’s going to get a lot tougher, and potentially much uglier.   Here are the highlights and low lights from Saturday night……

I’d like to thank the Big 10 for participating in this years College Football Season, which is over for their conference after this weekend.  What a failure.  Notre Dame demolished Michigan 31-0, Oregon ripped Michigan State, and Ohio State got punked by Virginia Tech.  This was the worst weekend in the state of Michigan since General Motors was bailed out by the government.  Notre Dame looks great thus far, but their remaining schedule is brutal: half of their remaining games are against teams currently ranked in the top 25.

To baseball, where I think it’s safe to say the Angels have clinched the AL West, and shocked the baseball world after this weekend.  The Halos completed a four game sweep of the Twins while the A’s continued to sink like the Titanic, by losing two of three to the Houston Astros.  Even CJ Wilson deserves some credit, although most of you Halo fans would rather have him ejected from the universe right now.  Wilson gave the Angels more than 6 strong innings, and despite a shaky stretch, still retired 13 out of 14.  If the Halos offense is going to be even half as good as it was this weekend, the starting pitching can be as good as Wilson was yesterday.  I know what some of you are thinking: “The Angels are peaking too early.”  I disagree.  By securing the division now, the Angels can ready their playoff rotation the way they want it, which will be critical for them since they no longer have the depth they once did with Garrett Richards.

As for the Dodgers, they continue to hold off the Giants in the NL West, after completing a 3 game sweep against the D’Backs.  It feels like every time the Dodgers go into some losing streak or badly need a win, Arizona shows up on their schedule to save the day.  LA finished the season series winning 15 of the 19 games between the two clubs.  Adrian Gonzales and Matt Kemp are carrying the club offensively at this point, but these guys are going to need more support.  Offensively the Dodgers have yet to click on all cylinders all season.  Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez have yet to be hot when Kemp and Agon have it going, but that’s going to be critical down the stretch and into October.  Not only do the Dodgers need to keep winning to hold off San Francisco and win the NL West, but they are in a race for home field advance in the NL Playoffs.  Not having that last season was one of the deciding factors in losing the NLCS.

Andre Ethier must be losing his mind.  At the beginning of the season, he was the Dodgers starting center fielder.  Eventually, he lost his starting spot to Kemp, Puig, and Carl Crawford.  Then, he lost his job as the Dodgers 4th outfielder to Scott Van Slyke.  Over the weekend, Puig gets a stomach ailement, and rookie Joc Pederson, who couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat right now, gets the start in center field over Ethier.  I realize that Ethier has had a disappointing season, but at some point the Dodgers are going to need this guy before the season is over.  I’m not sure if Ethier slept with Don Mattingly’s wife, or insulted him in some other way, but it would be wise for Mattingly to find him some playing time and some at bats, so he doesn’t completely crush his confidence.

Finally, Week 1 of the NFL was a good one.  Great shootout between the Falcons and Saints yesterday.  Atlanta looks like they are back to a playoff team.  I realize it’s a shock the Patriots lost in week 1, and that they are in last place in the AFC East, but the last time they lost in week 1 they won the Super Bowl.  The Bills won, but I’ve been hearing “they’re back” for the last 10 years.  I’m not sold after 1 road win in Chicago, or Minnesota after beating the Rams.  The Chiefs look exactly how I thought they would.   Brian Hoyer didn’t look that bad against the Steelers, which is unfortunate, because I was really hoping to see Johnny Football get his ass kicked in the next few weeks.  At least we got to see Antonio Brown go Bruce Lee on the Browns…..

The Raiders still suck.  Why do people think Tampa is going to bounce back this year? Josh McCown is awful.  The Redskins don’t look too much improved from last year.  The Texans did for a moment, until Jadeveon Clowney got hurt.  I thought Chip Kelly was going to get fired at halftime of the Eagles vs Jaguars game, but good thing his boys rebounded in the 2nd half.  And how could I forget the Cowboys and the 49ers.  I thought Tony Romo was going to break Twitter from all the reactions after his awful play.  This is where we all find out that Romo is really color blind right?  The Cowboys look as bad as I thought they would be.  Here’s Dez Bryant paying for Romo’s mistakes…..

September 1st, 2014

It was ugly, but UCLA got it done.  The Bruins escaped their matchup with Virginia on Saturday, to open the season 1-0, and avoid a complete disaster.  I know what most of you are thinking: the Bruins are overrated, they shouldn’t be ranked the #7 team in the country, the offensive line stinks, and Brett Hundley isn’t a Heisman Trophy candidate.  While it’s probably easy to be concerned after week 1, don’t become prisoner of the moment.  UCLA was missing two starters on the offensive line, and without them, not even a condom could provide these lineman with adequate protection.  The Bruins still have two weeks to go before facing Texas, and more than three weeks to prepare for their first Pac-12 game against ASU.  Keep in mind, two years ago, Notre Dame went undefeated before the BCS Championship game, and played every game close.  Sometimes, the sign of a good team is one that can win when they aren’t at their best, and UCLA showed us that on Saturday.

Meanwhile, at the Coliseum, the Trojans hammered Fresno State 52-13.  This game had a nice warm and fuzzy feeling for USC fans, who had to feel like they were watching the Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart team pile up points.  I’m not sure if that was really Cody Kessler at quarterback for the Trojans, or Joe Montana.  Kessler threw for 394 yards and 4 touchdowns, while rushing for another.  10 different Trojans caught passes in Sark’s new offense, including freshman JuJu Smith, who had 4 receptions for 123 yards.  Javorius Allen also had 133 yards rushing and a TD.  Watching Sark’s uptempo offense was like playing Playstation against my 5 year old nephew.  It’s only a few days from now when we’ll find out if this win actually means anything, because the Trojans will be visiting those corporately sponsored, Chardonnay drinking, Stanford Cardinal.  USC is only going to go as far as their freshman take them.

As for all the off the field shenanigans that took place this week, this is the world of college football today.  It’s so easy to forget that we are watching 19 and 20 year old kids learning to grow up.  I’ve always said that college isn’t completely about getting an education (I’m sure the NCAA would agree with that statement), but also about learning about yourself.  Nobody really knows what Josh Shaw was doing jumping off a balcony, and spraining both ankles in the process.  However, it’s safe to say whatever he was doing, was idiotic because he needed to lie about it.  Even more idiotic were the accusations made by senior running back Anthony Brown, who called coach Steve Sarkisian a racist before quitting the team.  It seems highly improbable that a well respected man who has coached college football for the last 15 years could be a racist.  Tough way for Sark to begin the job at USC, but being able to handle this nonsense is a huge part of the job, and he obviously handled it well this week.  So did the person that made this sign…..

Elsewhere in week 1 on the college gridiron, Notre Dame looked very sharp in their win over Rice.  Getting Everett Golson back as their starting quarterback already looks like it’s making a world of a difference.  I expect another wild finish next week against Michigan.  Kenny Hill looks like he’s going to be even better than Johnny “Middle Finger”, and Texas A&M should be a top 10 team.  Alabama is going to lose some games this year, Florida State doesn’t look as good as last year, but their schedule is pretty easy.

On to baseball, where the Angels have caught fire.  Did you Halo fans really think that on September 1st, you would have a 5 game lead in the AL West?  After the Garrett Richards injury, it felt like the Angels were going to have a funeral for the rest of their season, but it’s been quite the opposite since.  The Halos have won 5 in a row after a 4 game sweep over Oakland, in a series where they held the A’s to just 1 run in their last 31 innings.  Matt Shoemaker came out of nowhere to win 14 games as a starter, and the Angels pitching has held up.  All you need to know about the A’s and Angels right now is that prior to yesterday’s game, the Angels were preparing for their fantasy football draft, while the A’s were having a team meeting.  I like how the A’s traded for Adam Dunn yesterday, because they are so desperate for offense.  Apparently nobody listened to me weeks ago when I called them foolish for trading their cleanup hitter for Jon Lester, who would be a three month rental.  Last I checked you can’t win if you don’t score.  I believe you can tie though.

Speaking of inability to score, the Dodgers’ bats were nowhere to be found for much of the weekend in San Diego.  Once again, the pitching and the bullpen were solid, but LA couldn’t get any offense going against the lowly Padres.  Even more concerning is the fact the Dodgers lead in the NL West has been cut to 2.5 games with 25 left to play.  I think the Dodgers are going to win the west, but come October, it’s going to come down to whether or not Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzales, and Yasiel Puig can produce.  Speaking of Puig, does anybody know what happened to his power?  He looked like a superstar for the first half of the season, but in the 2nd half he’s looked like nothing more than “just a guy” in the lineup.  Puig and all his overpaid teammates need to get it together and start producing some offense.

Doc Rivers just pulled a fast one on Steve Ballmer.  Somehow, he managed to get his new owner to pay him $10 million a year for the next 5 years.  Look, I like Doc Rivers, and I think he’s a great coach, but he isn’t worth $4 million more than Greg Popovich.  He also isn’t worth $6 million more than Rick Carlisle, Tom Thibodeau, and $7 million more than Erik Spoelstra.  When you really think about it, the Clippers currently have the best team in the history of their franchise, the two best players currently playing in the history of the franchise, and the best coach in the history of the franchise, yet they haven’t been able to make it out of the 2nd round of the playoffs yet.  Do you really expect them to be any better next year?  That concept should be pretty scary for Clipper fans.

Are you ready…..for some football?  We’re just three days away from the start of the NFL season, and that means it’s time for some predictions.  In the AFC, my division winners are the Denver, New England, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati, while my wild card teams are San Diego and Pittsburgh.  In the NFC, my division winners are Seattle, New Orleans, Green Bay, and Philadelphia, with my wild card teams being Chicago, and San Francisco.  I will also take Seattle over Denver again in the Super Bowl.  As long as the Seahawks have home field, they will not be beaten.  If the Saints get home field, then it’s a different story.  The Broncos are the first team in history to have clinched their division without actually playing a game.  The Patriots will probably get back to the AFC title game, but Andrew Luck and the Colts will be tugging on Tom Brady’s cape.  The Cowboys, Raiders, and Texans will all stink, and you can count on a handful of players in the AFC north getting arrested before December.

For those of you considering taking Adrian Peterson in your fantasy draft be careful!  Clearly, Peterson is suffering from concussion like symptoms, since he said to Jerry Jones that he would be interested in playing for the Cowboys.  Gotta love Roger Goodell changing the NFL’s disciplinary policy on domestic abuse after the public outrage over the Ray Rice situation.  Even after increasing the suspension for domestic abuse incidents, it’s still nothing in comparison to the penalty for smoking pot.  In other words, the NFL wants to remind you to hit your girlfriend, and not the bong.  And poor Michael Sam.  Where is he supposed to shower now?

And finally, I had the misfortune of being selected as a juror last week for a criminal trial here in Newport Beach.  Like most people, I tried to make up ridiculous excuses to avoid being selected, but the judge just wasn’t buying it.  However, after going through the miserable jury selection process, the case itself was somewhat interesting, and it’s good to see how our legal process works.  What I really mean by that is, it’s good to see how your tax paying dollars are going to waste.  I actually had to sit on a criminal case for three days because a few 16 year old kids decided to go play “ding-dong ditch” and urinate on a guys house in South Orange County.  Oh, and it wasn’t the kids who were the defendants in the case either.  It was the home owner, who chased the kids down with a gun(allegedly), and smacked a kid over the head.  The district attorney actually thought this was a good case to waste our tax paying dollars on.  A case in which the testimony of three 16 year old kids (whose idiotic stories weren’t even the same) was their primary argument.  More importantly, did anybody actually play “ding-dong ditch” at 16 years old?  I thought most of us guys were out hitting on girls then.  Those kids must be the biggest losers in the history of high school.

August 25th, 2014

The Angels looked like they were conducting a funeral in Boston earlier in the week.  Once Garrett Richards was carried off the field earlier in the week, it looked like he carried off the Angels AL West and post season hopes with him.  However, when the week was over, the Halos had completed a 4 game sweep in Boston, and salvaged a game in their series with Oakland, to regain the best record in baseball.  Mike Trout hit a ball so far last night, that you would have thought he was using a Callaway driver instead of a baseball bat.  Even more important is the fact that Josh Hamilton is starting to remember how to hit, which is suddenly making a huge difference in the Angels lineup.  Since the moment Richards went down, it’s like someone informed him he needed to start earning his paycheck, and he listened.

The Angels need Bartolo Colon, but they aren’t going to get him on waivers.  This should also be a relief for the clubhouse staff, who would have had to double the amount of pregame food for the team with the addition of Colon.  Yes, it would be nice to find a replacement for Garrett Richards, but it isn’t going to happen.  However, don’t count the Halos out yet.  CJ Wilson is very capable of putting together a quality couple of months now that he is off the DL, and he looked very good on Saturday night.  Wilson is easily a front of the rotation pitcher when he’s on his game, and could easily keep the Angels as a major threat in the American League.  Funny that Richards and Josh Hamilton are two former Texas Ranger players, who are extreme head cases.  If both of these guys could get their heads right, the Angels could still go to the World Series.

I’m surprised they actually played that game last night after the earthquake in Napa.  Hopefully everyone up there is safe after a state of emergency was declared.  More importantly, hopefully everyone actually checked on their reservations at all those fancy wineries and restaurants, and made sure they were still good to go.

Then there’s the Dodgers.  Kevin Correia got quite a birthday present yesterday from the Mets.  He got a 7 run beat down, which included three home runs.  The Boys in Blue got bombed yesterday by New York, but still managed to take two out of three, and extended their NL West lead to 3.5 games over the Giants.  Yesterday might have actually been an audition for Bartolo Colon with the Dodgers.  It wouldn’t shock me if LA claimed him as an insurance policy with the recent injuries to their starting staff.  Amazing how Andre Ethier is getting the shaft.  He’s not even a 4th outfielder anymore, as Scott Van Slyke is seeing more playing time than him.  That’s like telling Kim Kardashian she can no longer appear on her television, and instead, she’s just relegated to collecting fat paychecks.

I don’t know about the rest of you Dodger fans, but I have great fear that Zack Greinke’s season could come to an end at any time with his complaints about an elbow injury.  Greinke looked pretty good on Saturday, and is on track to start his next game, but is still not the dominant pitcher we saw for the first quarter of the season.  Considering that Hyun-Jin Ryu and Josh Beckett are already on the DL, the Dodgers should do what they can to get Bartolo Colon off of waivers.  Bart is another serviceable arm, that might even be good enough to start a playoff game if necessary.

Here we are….one week away from the start of college football season.  The storylines for the Bruins and Trojans are interesting, and expectations are high for both.  However, history is not on UCLA’s side, despite being ranked 7th in the country.  The best two quarterbacks in UCLA history were Gary Beban and Troy Aikman.  Beban won the Heisman Trophy in 1967, but lost to USC that year, and the Trojans went on to win a national title in a year where the Bruins were considered title contenders.  In 1988, Aikman was a Heisman Trophy candidate, but ended up finishing 3rd, and also lost to USC, while once again, the Bruins were considered preseason national championship contenders.  Maybe this is part of the reason why I’m concerned that QB Brett Hundley and UCLA are getting too much hype from the coaches and writers before the season starts?

Why do NFL players keep getting shot at night clubs?  I’ve been to a lot of night clubs in my life, especially in my 20’s, and I didn’t seem to have a problem with flying bullets in the club.

Tough break for Rams QB Sam Bradford, who tore his ACL for the 2nd straight season, and has an NFL career that is very much up in the air.  This would be a good time for the Rams to call the Redskins about Kirk Cousins, or even the Eagles, who are hoarding a pair of former Trojan QB’s in Mark Sanchez, and Matt Barkley.

Memo to Bill Plaschke of the LA Times:  Although i appreciate your genuine effort to cover my LA Kings, and give the Stanley Cup Champions the attention they deserve, your article on Darryl Sutter was waaaaaaaay too long.  By the middle of the 2nd page, I gave up, as did many of your other readers.

August 18th, 2014

All year long I thought it was the Cardinals the Dodgers had to worry about the most.  It’s actually the Brewers.  Over the last 10 days, the Dodgers have been owned by Milwaukee, losing 5 out of 6 games, and gunned down like a teenage kid by the cops in Missouri (too soon for that joke?).  The Brewers beat both Clayton Kershaw, and Zack Greinke this past weekend, and were hitting the ball out of the park like the steroid era was back in full effect.  The Boys in Blue may still have a nice cushion over San Francisco, but they can’t feel good about a potential matchup with the Brew Crew in October.  LA’s middle relief has been inconsistent of late, and Brian Wilson isn’t earning a dime of the $10 million he’s being paid.  To make matters worse, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Juan Uribe, and Hanley Ramirez were all placed on the DL last week.  The Dodgers are near the top of the NL, but things aren’t going to be easy for them in the coming weeks.

Speaking of Hanley, the Dodgers have reportedly tabled contract talks with their shortstop until the end of the season.  Ramirez had asked the Dodgers for a contract in excess of $100 million a few weeks ago, however, his inability to remain healthy has clearly created some pause for the Dodgers.  Hanley’s bat is extremely valuable, but he’s also become a defensive liability at shortstop, and LA has a promising shortstop in the minors in Corey Seager.  This is actually a very good thing.  Hanley’s price tag is going to fall.  At the most, he’s going to get around 3 years and $60 million, which is a price only the Dodgers can afford to pay.  He’s also going to have to move to third base, which means Juan Uribe will be gone after next season.  More importantly, this will be the start of the Dodgers developing more and more young players to inject youth into the team over the next few years, instead of spending money like a USC sorority girl at the mall on a Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Angels blew it yesterday.  Even though Huston Street was due to blow a save, there is never a good time for it to happen.  The Halos got more great starting pitching, and their bullpen was solid too, until the 9th, when Street failed to hold a 2-1 lead, and the Angels lost the game 3-2.  Fear not Angel fans, you are right there with the A’s, battling it out for 1st place in the west, and you’ll get to play them 7 times in the next two weeks.  There’s also another 3 game set in late September.  That will decide whether its No Cal or So Cal that’s going to win the division.  Even with Tyler Skaggs having season ending surgery, I still like the Halos chances with Richards, Weaver, Shoemaker, and even CJ Wilson, who for some reason you all hate.  Maybe you all hate him because he’s down with those lame Christian Rock bands, but either way, Wilson is going to get his game together and surprise you doubters.

If there’s one thing that would really help the Angels it would be Josh Hamilton getting his game back together.  This dude is cashing in $15 million in his checking account this season, and he’s got 8 home runs with a .266 average.  I get that he was hurt for a few weeks, but this guy’s offense needs to check into rehab.  I’m thinking the only way Hamilton is going to turn it around is if he starts boozing again.  His teammates need to take him out in Newport for a night where he can go on a 24 hour binge, and get smashed.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  It worked in Texas, so why can’t we get it to work in Anaheim?

I will never understand whose idea it was for a baseball manager to wear the same uniform that his players are wearing.  Some of these guys just shouldn’t be wearing it, and have to be wondering why they have to look ridiculous 162 times a year.  Can you imagine if they did this in the NBA?  I’d love to see Phil Jackson or Greg Popovich wearing an NBA uniform, and you know it would include those ridiculous 80’s shorts that were so tight they’d be picking their wedgies all night.

Speaking of the NBA, Steve Nash just completed the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.  He’ll be out for the next 6-8 weeks.  Ok, Nash isn’t hurt yet, but he probably will be shortly after training camp begins.  However, I’m not counting the Lakers out yet.  LA has a new coach, who tends to overachieve in his first year wherever he goes.  They also have one of the most NBA ready rookies  from the past draft, and Kobe Bryant back.  Houston lost two starters, Dallas overpaid for one Chandler and acquired another aging one, Portland might have caught lightning in a bottle last year, while Phoenix and New Orleans may not be playoff teams yet.  I’m obviously painting a highly optimistic picture here.  The most reasonable expectation is for the Lakers to finish 12th in the west, and for Kobe to be in and out of the lineup.  Still, Phoenix and Portland were surprising last year.  All I’m saying is, don’t be surprised if the Lakers are this year.

Just when you think Notre Dame is done disciplining a few football players for some academic issues, here comes another 4 football players that are about to get kicked off the team.  Still, this isn’t really the total disaster that some people are making it out to be, as only two of the four players are starters.  I still expect ND to be a 10 win team this year, and battling it out for a big time bowl game.  As for the academic issues, this speaks volumes about Notre Dame as a University, and what it means to be a student athlete there.  The university is actually conducting an investigation about academic fraud, which would be unheard of at an SEC school, and many other universities around the country.  Athletes can’t get away with taking garbage classes like pencil sharpening 101, and ball room dancing at Notre Dame.  They have to take real classes.  That’s why it’s remarkable that Notre Dame is able to be as competitive as they are in sports, since they are recruiting the real student athletes.

This weekend I had the privilege of going up to Pebble Beach for the 64th annual Concours d’Elegance.  For those of you unfamiliar with this event, it is one of the world’s largest exhibitions of exotic and expensive automobiles.  Many of these are old vintage cars that have been restored.  However, the cars that I enjoy looking at the most are the futuristic concept automobiles that are on display, or new ones that are debuting.  One of these ridiculous cars was the Porsche 918 Spyder, which is actually a hybrid.  By “hybrid”, I mean it can travel up to 18 miles on electricity. 18 miles???!!!!! Wow, way to do your part to help the environment Porsche!  Look, I’m no tree hugger, nor do I hate on people who want to protect the environment.  However, we need to stop building cars that go only 10-30 miles on electricity, and stop calling them “hybrids”, while pretending like we are doing are part.  Especially at a price of $1 million for that Porsche.

Not long after last week’s edition of Monday Morning Coffee came out, we learned of Robin Williams sudden and tragic death.  Thus, I would be remiss not to mention it this week.  What I love about Williams is the fact that people of so many different generations can connect with him, and he found a way to make them all laugh.  From his early days of Mork and Mindy, to making us all laugh in Mrs. Doubtfire, or even entertaining kids with his voice in Aladdin, he could do it all.  People also forget that as funny as he was, it was his ability to be a serious actor, like when he won an Academy Award in Goodwill Hunting, that showed off his real talent.  Many of us didn’t know how bad his addiction and illness was until now.  It probably was his ability to laugh which kept him alive for so long, fighting that illness.