October 13th, 2013

It was just less than a week ago that things were looking great for the Dodgers, and they looked like the favorites to make it to the World Series.  Now, after going down 0-2 against the Cardinals in the NLCS, things look pretty bleak for the boys in blue.  Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier are black and blue, and aren’t even healthy enough to play.   There’s no way to sugar coat this.  The Dodgers got brilliant pitching performances from Zach Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, yet ended up losing both games in St. Louis because they haven’t scored a run in their last 18 innings.  Now the Dodgers have to come home to play the Cards with Hyun-Jin Ryu going up against ace Adam Wainwright.  So to review, the Dodgers have had both of their aces beaten, they can’t hit anymore, they’re banged up, and they still have to go up against the Cards best pitcher.  I think it’s safe to say that LA is toast.

This can’t all be blamed on injuries folks.  Don Mattingly has single handedly blown two post-season games in one week.  By pinch running Dee Gordon for Adrian Gonzales in the 8th inning of game 1, and then using Michael Young in his spot for the remainder of the game, the Dodgers lineup was completely neutralized.  Somebody on the Dodgers should have had the balls to hit Carlos Beltran too, after Hanley Ramirez was nailed by a pitch in the ribs, whether it was intentional or not.  Then there’s Yasiel Puig, who has disappeared like David Copperfield.  Puig is hitless in the NLCS, with 6 strikeouts.  The Cards are just daring Puig to beat them, but his inexperience is now showing.  Mattingly thinks everything is ok though, saying “The series doesn’t start until you lose at home, like in the NBA.”  Too bad in the NBA, your best players play every game.  The Dodgers have already used Kershaw and Greinke, which means this series will be over in 5.

Sticking with baseball, I think the Angels made a poor decision this week to bring back both Mike Scioscia and Jerry Dipoto.  No matter what these guys say, it’s obvious they haven’t worked well together, and a change of some kind was needed.  More importantly, the players need to be re-energized, but this just looks like we will see more of the same next year, both on and off the field.  After hearing about this news, I was expecting the Angels to announce that Joe Blanton would be their opening day starter, and that they were planning on giving Robinson Canoe a 10 year deal.  One bad decision deserves another right?

On to college football, where the UCLA Bruins football team has vaulted themselves into the top 10 in both the AP and the coaches.  The Bruins defeated Cal easily on Saturday night 37-10 at the Rose Bowl, and Brett Hundley looked like the second coming of Dan Marino.  Hundley threw for a career high 410 yards and three touchdown passes, and looked like the Heisman trophy candidate the UCLA faithful envisioned.  However, shit’s about to get real.  UCLA will travel to Stanford next week to take on those damn tree loving, chardonay drinking, corporately financed Cardinal.  This is now looking like a much more winnable game for the Bruins, after Stanford dropped one to Utah over the weekend.

As for the Trojans, their offense looked a little better under Ed Orgeron, in their 38-31 win over Arizona.  It’s still gonna be tough for Trojan fans to get excited for much else this season.  Next week, USC will visit Notre Dame, whose fans are equally as frustrated with what they’ve seen from their teams quarterback play.  I’m headed to the game next week, and I sure didn’t think when I got my tickets a few months ago, that the game would be about as meaningless as the girl I dated for about 30 minutes in the 8th grade.

The beginning of the NHL season has left me very confused. I realize the Kings have won 3 straight games, but why can’t Anze Kopitar score some freaking goals already??  Why has everybody in the Kings division managed to score at least 6 goals against the Rangers and win, while the Kings can only get 1 and lose? And why the hell haven’t the Kings brought up Tyler Toffoli to play on their 2nd line?  LA has already used three different players at left wing on that line, and none of them have anywhere near Toffoli’s skill or upside.

As for the Ducks, it’s early, but it doesn’t look like they’ve missed Bobby Ryan’s offense so far.  Only 6 teams in the entire league have averaged more goals per game than the Ducks heading into Sunday’s game.

Meanwhile, the Lakers are over in China for a few exhibition games.  I can’t believe Chris Kaman actually hurt his finger while tobogganing down the Great Wall.  Do you realize how dumb that is?  Kaman was going to get bumped from behind by teammate Shawne Williams, and he put his hand between the two sleds.  I’ve went down the Great Wall on these toboggan sleds two years ago, and I was bumped from behind several times, but the last thing I ever thought about was trying to put my hand behind the sled.  These types of dumb injuries can only be a bad sign of what’s to come this year for the Lake Show.

A few quick thoughts on week 6 of the NFL.  It’s hard to understand how the Patriots are 5-1.  It feels like they’e struggled through just about every game.  Great shootout yesterday against the Saints, in what could actually be a Super Bowl preview.  The Texans fans got what they deserved yesterday.  Matt Schaub left the game with an injury, and the fans start cheering in a classless manor, then TJ Yates comes in the game and throws a pick 6.  It’s unbelievable that up until Saturday, there were 9,000 tickets available for the Chargers and Colts Monday night game.  Fortunately for Charger fans, there will be no blackout, because some of Dean Spanos’ friends and a few corporate sponsors bought the remaining tickets.  Still, this is just embarrassing.  It’s obvious that the city just can’t support this crummy football team, and that they won’t be getting a new stadium.  Just move the team to LA already Dean!  Otherwise, somebody might beat you to it.

There were some very tough TV watching decisions that had to be made last night.  Homeland or the season premier of The Walking Dead?  Thank god they invented DVR because it was definitely needed.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have not seen last night’s episode of either show.  What the hell did they do to Homeland?  The show had a phenomenal first season, got a little off-track with some love story in the 2nd season, and now the show doesn’t appear to be going anywhere in  the first 3 episodes of season 3.  The threat of terrorism and stoping it usually provides the most entertainment value on that show, and thus far, the show has slowed to a crawls pace.

As for the Walking Dead, the season premier was exciting.  I like how they have added a ton of new characters to the show, and they immediately show us completely different dynamics between them from when the show last season ended.  Rick is no longer the leader of the group, and instead, we see more of a leadership by committee.  It seems like half of the characters are now in some sort of relationship.  I guess people do need love if zombies are about to bring the world to an end.  There’s also quite a bit of action in this first episode.  The group fights off some walkers when a department store roof collapses, but in the process, they lose Beth’s new boyfriend (he wasn’t alive long enough for me to learn his name).  The action gets even more intense when Carl’s friend Patrick dies of a fever, suggesting that the group is even more vulnerable to a virus.  An exciting beginning to the new season, and looking forward to more episodes!

October 7th, 2013

What a slug fest that took place at Chavez Ravine last night.  The Dodgers overcame a rough start from Hyun-Jin Ryu, and then hammered the Braves 13-6 to grab a 2-1 series lead.  Let’s be honest, this series should really be over by now.  I’ve been a big supporter of Don Mattingly, however, he made some very questionable decisions with his relievers late in game 2, which cost LA a win.  I’m really not sure why he thought one of his most inexperienced relievers would be better off facing Jason Heyward instead of Reed Johnson.  Fortunately, the Dodgers won last night, to take the pressure off Mattingly.  I’m sure many of you think LA should give the ball to Clayton Kershaw for game 4, but Ricky Nolasco should get the chance to close it out.  Nolasco has pitched very well since being acquired by the Dodgers, and even though his last two starts were crummy, they were meaningless.  Kershaw should be saved if there is a deciding game 5, or for game 1 of the NLCS.  Ryu’s start was not as rough as that of Braves starter Julio Teheran.  If the Dodgers hadn’t bombed Teheran, I’m sure the Republicans would have.

Meanwhile, there’s already rumors from ESPN’s Buster Olney, that the Dodgers could make an off-season trade for Rays ace David Price.  A deal like this would likely cost the Dodgers their top 2 or 3 prospects in their system, but they would then have a lethal rotation of Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, and Price.  If the Dodgers have learned anything from this year, it’s that the saying is really true: you can never have enough pitching.  Price seems like a much better investment than an aging Robinson Cano, and one that the Dodgers can afford.  It’s just money, and the Dodgers have plenty of it.

On to college football, where the Bruins remained undefeated after hanging on to beat Utah 34-27 last week.  That was definitely a game that last year’s Bruins would have lost.  Actually, if it was not for the 6 turnovers forced by the defense, UCLA would have lost.  Next week’s game should scare the hell out of Bruins fans.  UCLA will be hosting Cal at home, in a classic trap game.  The Bruins know that they’ll be tested in the following weeks against Stanford and Oregon, so they could easily be overlooking Cal, as they did last year.

The Trojans had the week off, but here’s a few quick thoughts on week 5 of the NFL.  Remember when Matt Schaub used to be a good quarterback?  The Texans have to be kicking themselves for not trying harder to sign Peyton Manning last year.  Last night’s loss to the Raiders is another example of why the Chargers make their fans want to abuse prescription medication.  It’s definitely time to stick a fork in the NY Giants.  The Broncos are so good that on a bad day, they still rack up 51 points agains the Cowboys and remain undefeated.

I’m excited that the NHL season has started, but after watching the first two Kings games, I’ve got one major question.  How long will they keep their young stud, Tyler Toffoli in the minor leagues?  Are the Kings just going to pretend that Matt Frattin can be a top 6 forward for the entire season?  This reminds me of the Dodgers situation with Yasiel Puig.  If the kid can help you, then bring him up, and let him play.  The Kings need more scoring, more youth, and Toffoli can give them all that.

The Lakers already have two preseason games under their belt after this weekend, but the focus remains on Kobe.  Did it feel like a big deal when he decided to go to Germany again for more treatment on his knee?  It sure seemed so to me.  Why did the Lakers feel the need to conceal the nature of his visit?  In any case, it sure seems like he isn’t going to be in the lineup anytime soon.

Finally, I love how the harsh realities of Obama Care are now setting in.  Last week, I was listening to KFI in LA, and 10 different people were interviewed regarding their thoughts on the new healthcare legislation.  More than half of them said they were fooled into thinking they were actually receiving free healthcare, and now some of them are forced to buy disgustingly expensive health insurance plans.  Keep in mind, many of these people are the same morons that voted for the first time in their life when Obama ran for his first team.  They are also the same morons who bought houses like they were groceries, sending our economy straight to hell.  Let’s hope these guys stay home during the next election.

September 30th, 2013

As promised, here is a recap, and my thoughts on the series finale of Breaking Bad.  As usual, spoiler alert for those of you who have not seen the episode yet.  I knew there was never going to be a happy ending for this show.  Walter White had caused so much collateral damage to his relationships with his family and the ones he cared about with his transformation into a criminal mastermind, you knew an unhappy ending to the show was going to take place.  Still, I think most viewers were left very satisfied with what they saw, all things considered.

In the final episode, Walt leaves the cabin to take revenge on Jack and his entire crew, but not before handling a few personal matters.  First, he sneaks into the house of his old business partners, Elliot and Gretchen Schwartz, and tricks them into getting his remaining money to his son when he turns 18 years of age.  This was sweet revenge, since the Schwartz family took credit for Walt’s work early in his career, and made a fortunate off of it.  Walt also demonstrates his criminal genius alter ego here, as he gets Badger and Skinny Pete to flash red laser pen lights at Elliot and Gretchen, to make them think they are being stalked by hit men.

Then, Walt goes to visit Skyler in her new home.  Walt says he is there to give her a proper goodbye, but he also gives her a gift.  He supplies her with a paper with GPS coordinates on it, which has the location of his remaining buried money, as well as the site where Hank and his partner were buried.   Skyler can now exchange this information for her freedom.  Several very interesting things happen around this scene.  Just prior to Walt entering the room, Skyler is on the phone with her sister, Marie, who tells her that Walt is in town, but she believes he will be caught by the authorities.  She naively says, “He thinks he is some criminal mastermind.”  Skyler knows better than this by now.  Moments later, her amazing, criminal mastermind husband appears in front of her.

Also during Walt’s encounter with Skyler, he admits why he did everything that he did.  “I did it for myself.  I liked it.  I was good at it.  It made me feel alive.”  This makes perfect sense.  Walt has spent the last few months dying of cancer, and he knew that if he was going to die, he wanted the last portion of his life to be exciting and meaningful.  Something he never seemed to feel up until that point of his life.

In the finale scene, Walt confronts Jack and his entire crew, and kills them all by setting up a machine gun in the trunk of his car, which popped up at the press of a button on his remote control.  Interestingly enough, Walt, Jesse, Todd, and Jack are still alive after all the machine gun fire.  However, Walt shoots Jack, and Jesse strangles Todd.  With Walt and Jesse left standing, Walt slides a gun along the floor to Jesse, and asks him to shoot him.  After hesitating, Jesse tells him “If you want it, do it yourself.”  At that point, we also find out that Walt poisoned Lydia with the ricin, by slipping it into her drink at the coffee shop.    Jesse then drives off, and even cracks a smile, relieved that he survived, and that it’s finally over.  Meanwhile, Walt takes a walk through Todd and Jack’s meth lab, and reminisces about his glorious drug empire, just before collapsing and dying from his gun shot wound, which he suffered in the shootout.  The police arrive on the scene, but it’s clear that Walt is dead.

Ultimately, Walt is unable to fix things with his family.  His son hates him, and his wife will probably never forgive him either.  Despite that, Walt triumphantly gets revenge on those who crossed him, which symbolizes the greatness of his criminal empire.  In some ways, the scales of justice tipped toward the two men, Walt and Jesse, who weren’t quite as evil as Jack and his crew.  Jack and his crew were men who killed people for sadistic pleasure, or even convenience.  Walt and Jesse can be considered agents of justice here.

Still, every character in the show is forced to live with some degree of guilt for their sins.  Walt’s only consolation with his family is that he was able to keep them alive, but consistently put them in danger, and can be blamed for Hank’s death.  Skyler will have to live with going along with Walt’s plan as well.  Interestingly enough, Jesse was the only character from the shootout who survived, and it can be argued that he lived because he only killed people that needed to be killed for him to survive.

As for Walt, his fate was inevitable.  He had cancer, it went away and came back.  He was going to die, but in his mind, he went out the way he wanted to.  One of the most powerful scenes of the episode was when Walt was watching his son come home from school from a hiding spot near the house.  It was clear at that point he had major regrets about his actions, and how they destroyed his relationship with Walt Jr.  Then again, in the final scene, we see how much Walt valued the legacy he built and left behind.  A great show, and a pretty good ending.  It’s been fun Breaking Bad….you will be missed!

September 30th, 2013

The Trojans shocked the college football universe on Sunday morning.  Coach Lane Kiffin was fired just hours after losing in embarrassing fashion at Arizona State.  I can just hear all those wealthy SC alums screaming with joy from their mansions in Newport Beach and Beverly Hills.  Instead of calling athletic director Pat Haden everyday, urging him to fire Kiffin, instead they’ll be calling everyday urging him to hire Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.  We all knew Kiffin was probably going to get fired eventually, but the real shock was getting rid of him in the middle of the season.  Haden deserves credit for such a bold action at this point in time, which should give him time to save his recruiting class, and find a great coach.    The constant drama that Kiffin brought to the USC program had become unbearable for Trojan fans, as was their performance on the field.

Kiffin’s final debacle was a 62-41 beat down at the hands of Arizona State on Saturday night.  Weren’t the Trojans supposed to be a good defensive team?  Quarterback Taylor Kelly carved up USC like a Halloween pumpkin for 351 yards, while the Sun Devils racked up a total of 612 yards.  By the 4th quarter it was clear that the defense had simply quit on Kiffin, and he had lost the team.  Oh yea, and the offense was still terrible too, as they turned it over 4 times, and Marqise Lee injured his knee to make matters worse.  Good luck to interim head coach Ed Orgeron!  He’ll need it to put out this dumpster fire.

I love how sports fans on the east coast seem to think that people in Southern California don’t care about their local sports teams, and are simply fair weather fans.  If that were the case, then the decision makers wouldn’t have succumbed to the public pressure to fire Kiffin, Mike Brown, Terry Murray, Randy Carlisle, Rick Neuheisel, and Ben Howland, over the last two years.  Heck, Mike Scioscia might be fired in the next couple of days, Mike D’Antoni is going to be fired any minute, and Don Mattingly isn’t safe yet either.  If you’re a coach in the LA sports market, you better win or your job isn’t safe.

On to baseball, where the banged up Dodgers have wrapped up the regular season, and are limping over to Atlanta for the start of the NLDS vs the Braves.  Yesterday, the Dodgers discovered that Matt Kemp will miss the entire post season, after re-aggravating his ankle injury.  LA is already dealing with an ankle injury to Andre Ethier, who will probably only be able to pinch hit in the NLDS.   Even Hanley Ramirez and Yasiel Puig feel like they are being held together by duct tape at times, with the amount of days off they’ve been given recently.  The good news however, is that they will be facing an Atlanta team that has cooled off just as much as the Dodgers have in the last month.  The Braves starting pitching is also no match for LA’s trio of Kershaw, Greinke, and Ryu.  If the Boys in Blue can score a few runs, which they’ve done without Kemp, I see no reason why they can’t put this series away in four games.

Meanwhile, the Angels season is over, and it’s decision time in Anaheim.  Will Arte Moreno fire general manager Jerry Dipoto? Or will it be skipper Mike Scioscia?  Both?  Or even keep them both.  Dipoto seems to be planning on being around in 2014, because he recently told the media about his off-season plans to upgrade the pitching.  Of course, part of his plan included the possibility of keeping underachieving Joe Blanton, who is owed another $7 million next year.  That comment probably didn’t help his chances of keeping his job, and should get him a slap on the back of the head as well.  If Arte Moreno is serious about turning this around, he needs to get rid of both Scioscia and Dipoto.  It’s the only way to re-energize the team, while giving them the best chance to hire a great GM and skipper.  More importantly, it will send a message to Mike Trout that the team is serious about keeping their franchise player happy.

The Lakers opened training camp on Saturday afternoon, and much to my disappointment Mike D’Antoni was still the team’s head coach.  Of even greater concern is the fact that Kobe Bryant admitted that there was no exact timetable for his return to action.  Bryant sounds hard pressed to be ready for the season opener on October 29th, when he isn’t even able to run on his surgically repaired achilles tendon yet.  Thanksgiving, or even Christmas sounds like a possibility, but the Lakers season could be over by then for all intents and purposes.  D’Antoni said he isn’t sure yet who 3 of his 5 starters are going to be to open the regular season.  That’s probably because most of your players shouldn’t be starters in the NBA Mike.  Stay tuned…. this could be a spectacular failure just a few weeks from now.  Here are some of Kobe’s comments from media day….

Kevin Durant seems like a great guy and all, but he must have been sitting out in the sun too much this off-season.  Durant claimed that James Harden, his former teammate, should be in the top 10 NBA player rankings by Sports Illustrated.  Durant said that Dwayne Wade should be removed from the top 10, and Harden should replace him.  Look I get that Dwayne Wade has been banged up of late, but Harden has never been better than Wade at any point.  Besides, Durant should stop calling out dudes that have three championship rings, and have beaten him in the finals, especially since he probably won’t be winning anything in OKC.

Speaking of failures, Time Warner Cable is a joke in case you haven’t experience it for yourself.  I decided to go with these guys over Direc TV, only because they have the Pac-12 network, and won’t be at risk to lose the Dodgers at the beginning of next year.  First, they charge the hell out of you.  $15 a month for Showtime? Then, they didn’t even give me all the channels I originally ordered, so I had to call them and have them correct my order.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, they were one hour late for the appointment, they don’t even have 1080 p high definition channels, and they send me a technician who is a shit talking Anaheim Ducks fan.  Look TWC, you’re on thin ice. Nobody comes into my home installing crappy cable service, and talking shit on my LA Kings.

A few quick thoughts on week 4 of the NFL.  The NFC East is a joke this year.  The Chargers are so fortunate they get to play against that crummy division this year, because that should pad their win total.  The Texans are softer than the Pillsbury Dough Boy.  So much talent, and so little toughness when things get tight.  The Broncos are just murdering people, and should just get bye weeks until the Super Bowl.

With the NHL season ready to start on Thursday, I think Kings and Duck fans should have their concerns.  For the Kings, if Jonathan Quick goes down with an injury, can Ben Scrivens really play goaltender?  Or does he just make cool Vine clips?  And for the Ducks, did they just catch lightening in a bottle last year, or can they keep scoring goals without the whiney Bobby Ryan?

If the government shuts down tomorrow….who will spy on me and continue to pile up our country’s debt?

How does McDonald’s make their coffee so damn hot? What do they do to that thing, stick it in a nuclear reactor?  It takes a good 15 minutes for it to actually be drinkable.

I was unable to watch a live version of the series finale of Breaking Bad last night, however, there will be a full recap and breakdown coming shortly here on Jock Talk LA.

September 23rd, 2013

What a boring weekend of college football it was!  At the Rose Bowl, UCLA hammered New Mexico State 59-13,  The Bruins looked somewhat disinterested at times, and even the great Brett Hundley thew two interceptions.  Even so, the Bruins realized they were playing New Mexico State, and piled up 692 yards of total offense, including 164 rushing yards from Jordan James.  James also added 2 touchdowns, and the Bruins defense looked strong.  Great tribute to Nick Pasquale too, when they ran 11 men out on the field, then sent one off to run a play with just 10 players.    The Bruins will return to playing real people in about 10 days when they begin Pac-12 play against Utah.

Speaking of being uninterested, the Trojans looked even more bored against Utah State at the Coliseum.  USC escaped with a 17-14 win, and Cody Kessler looked more like the dude who couldn’t complete a pass in the first two weeks of the season.  The fans looked just as bored all afternoon, as the streets around the Coliseum weren’t nearly as crowded as usual.  The chemistry isn’t there, and even Marqise Lee couldn’t seem to get it going.  The Trojans are an ugly 3-1, but things are going to get tougher with a showdown against Arizona State next week.

Moving on to baseball, where the Dodgers are on their way to the playoffs for the first time in 4 years.   I loved the clinching celebration by jumping in the pool in left field.  The D’Bags asked the Dodgers not to celebrate on the field, and the Dodgers did not celebrate on the field.  If they have a problem with how LA celebrated, then maybe they should have done a better job in not allowing LA to beat the crap out of them over the last 3 months.  Oh yea, screw you John McCain!  Don’t you have better things to do than bitch about the Dodgers celebrating in the pool?  How about you focus on things like lowering our taxes and cleaning up the economy, which is in the crapper?

As for what’s happening on the field, the Boys in Blue took two of three against the Padres over the weekend, but they still don’t seem to be pushing too hard for home field advantage.  It’s completely understandable to try to get some guys a little rest down the stretch, but some of the games we’re seeing are practically spring training lineups Don Mattingly is putting on the field.  This may very well cost the Dodgers a shot at the World Series, especially if they have to play a game 5 or game 7 in a place like Atlanta or St. Louis.

A few quick thoughts on week 3 of the NFL.  The Chargers simply make their fans want to puke.  They come off a big win on the road against Philly, and they can’t even beat lowly Tennessee.  What the hell happened to San Francisco against Indy?  That was a beat down.  The Saints are pretty damn good, but they’ll need home field in the playoffs to have a chance against Seattle.

NBA training camp opens up in 5 days for the Lakers.  The LA Times felt the need to re-hash the hiring of Mike D’Antoni over Phil Jackson by writing a few excerpts from Jeanie Buss’ new book.  Jeanie described the entire saga, as “betrayal”.  After reading this, the first thing I thought was how unbelievably foolish Jim Buss is.  He actually had to ask Jeanie for Phil’s cell phone number, and had apparently never been to Phil and Jeanie’s house.  It just goes to show you how strained the relationship is between Phil, Jim, and Jeanie, and this is still a major question moving forward for the Laker franchise.

The Emmy’s were BORING……

And finally, Breaking Bad slowed things down a little in the next to last episode of the series.  I’m surprised this episode was so slow considering it was 75 minutes.  Once again, spoiler alert for those of you who have not seen it yet.  To quickly recap:  Walt checks out the chaos around him by going all the way to New Hampshire in an isolated cabin.  He has no phone, internet, or cable television.  By episodes end, he is motivated to go back home and help his family by getting them money, and killing Jack and his crew.  Jesse tries to escape from Jack’s crew, however, he is caught, and then punished by being forced to watch the crew drive to Andrea’s house, where they shoot and kill her.  Meanwhile, Skyler is under pressure from the feds to give some information on Walt’s whereabouts, but she is no help.  If she doesn’t give them any info, she could be in serious legal trouble.  Also, Walt tries to make contact with his son, but junior gets angry at him for the death of his Uncle Hank, and hangs up on him.

Creator Vince Gilligan has left us with no clues, as to how this will end.  One thing is becoming apparent:  Jack’s crew appears far more immoral than Walt, Skyler, and Jesse.  In the final episode, I have a feeling that in order to take Jack down, Walt and Jesse will end up joining forces one last time.  Still, it’s hard to envision which way the scales of justice will tip.

September 16th, 2013

There is much to discuss in this edition of Monday Morning Coffee, starting with the Bruins big win over Nebraska.  The Bruins are 2-0, and Saturday’s win was quite a statement for the program and head coach Jim Mora.  Mora spent the entire week consoling the Pasquale family, after the 20 year old sophomore was killed last weekend after he was hit by a car.  Simultaneously, Mora put together a brilliant game plan against the Cornhuskers, in which he continued to run the ball until the Bruins broke through.  The Cornhuskers were out for revenge from last year’s loss to UCLA, but the Bruins exploded in the 2nd half.  The Bruins are now 13th in the AP Poll, but how the hell are they ranked behind South Carolina?  Typical college football nonsense.

As for the Trojans, their blowout win over Boston College seems to have temporarily quieted down Lane Kiffin’s critics, who were about ready to burn his house down.  Kiffin finally selected Cody Kessler as his starting quarterback, and decided to take the reigns off Kessler instantly.  The results were astoundingly different, as he threw for 237 yards and 2 touchdown passes.  The real question though: Why does Lane Kiffin create more drama than a teenage girl on her prom night?  He refused to tell the media who his starting quarterback was, even though he already knew it was Kessler.  Then the players organized a players only meeting last week, which he denied ever happened, despite several players insisting that it did happen.  When you deliver wins, you can live with some occasional drama.  However, when you underachieve, it isn’t tolerated for long, and I’m sure Pat Haden is well aware of this.

I was very disappointed watching the Alabama vs Texas A&M game.  I was really hoping Johnny Manziel would take much more physical punishment, and frankly, he deserved it for simply behaving like an idiot the last couple of months.  Still, I gotta admit the kid can play.  Speaking of disappointing, Notre Dame was horrendous against Purdue, and the weekend was almost a complete disaster for them with Michigan nearly losing to Akron.  The Irish averted disaster this weekend, but even Touchdown Jesus can’t seem to make Tommy Rees a good quarterback.

On to baseball, where the Dodgers appear to be mailing it in.  The Boys in Blue have a magic number of just 4 to clinch the NL West with 13 games to go, but they looked about as interested as you would be in sleeping with Rosie O’Donnell.  The Dodgers lost 3 of 4 to the Giants over the weekend, including a 19-3 beat down by San Francisco on Saturday.  I’m not sure why Don Mattingly has decided to turn many of these final games into spring training games, filled with a number of players who will likely not be in the playoff roster.  This is troubling since the Pirates and Cardinals have blown by the Dodgers in the race for home field advantage in the playoffs.  Get it together Donnie Baseball.  Your job may depend on it!

Meanwhile, the Angels, have quietly won 17 of their last 23 meaningless games.  Don’t be fooled kids.  We’ve seen this movie before, and when it ends, you always end up saying “If only we had a better start we would be in good shape.”  The reality of it is the pitching is still a pile of crap, and they’ll need a general manager who is going to overhaul the starters and the bullpen.  Oh, and they’ll probably need a new general manager too.

A few quick thoughts on Week 2 of the NFL.  Can anyone beat the Broncos?  They look like they are going to cruise through the AFC.  Impressive road win by the Chargers against the Eagles, especially after choking last week against Houston.   The Cowboys are still the Cowboys. They get a big win against the Giants, and follow it up with a pathetic loss to the Chiefs.  The NFC East looks weak.  The Seahawks are going to be tough to beat with home field advantage, and are the only team that has figured out the 49ers.

As rumored here on Jock Talk LA a few weeks ago, TJ Simers has officially left the LA Times.  Simers is controversial and has his critics, but one cannot deny that he is entertaining.  Simers will now write columns for the Orange County Register that will appear on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sunday’s.  He also took a shot at the Times on his way out the door, calling it “a dead newspaper”. TJ, if you think the LA Times is dead, you have no idea how crappy the OC Register is!

I feel sorry for anyone that actually paid $54 to watch Floyd Mayweather dominate Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night in Las Vegas.  “Mayperview” has become a joke, and so has boxing.  This sport is on life support, and they can’t even present people with the best possible product to keep the sport going.  We all know Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao makes the most sense, and is the only fight worth watching.  Make it happen, or boxing will be dead faster than the OC Register!

Miss America was crowned last night, and the winner was Nina Davaluri of New York, who is of Indian decent.  Before I get in my usual beauty pageant jokes here, I have to say that I’m shocked at the ignorant racist reaction on twitter, and other message boards that took place last night after the pageant.  Davaluri was born in the United States, and has lived here her whole life.  Memo to you morons dropping racial bombs:  This country was actually built by immigrants.  Half of your comments make reference to her being a Muslim, which isn’t even true.  It’s just unfortunate that most of the people making these comments are uncultured buffoons.  Still, with all that being said, I’m disappointed there were no idiotic statements in this pageant, as there was from Ms. Teen South Carolina a few years ago.

And finally, Breaking Bad had by far it’s most shocking episode last night.  Earlier this week, I heard the show described as “the last 15 minutes of sex, for a whole hour.”  I think that accurately describes the third to last episode of the series, called “Ozymandias”.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have it on DVR.  To summarize things, Hank and Gomez are killed in the aftermath of the shootout, Todd’s Uncle Jack takes most of Walt’s money, Walt Jr. knows the truth about his father, and Jesse is being held captive by the white power Nazi’s and forced to cook meth with Todd.  Also of significance, Skyler slashed Walt’s hand with a knife, and Junior calls the police on his dad.  Shortly after that, Walt runs away and takes Holly with him, only to leave her at a fire station later on with her address pinned to her baby clothes.  The episode ends with Walt getting in the vacuum cleaner man’s red van, presumably to start his new life.  However, based on some of the flash-fowards we’ve seen, we know this isn’t true.

For those of you wondering what the hell “Ozymandias” is, it’s a poem written by Percy Shelly about the downfall of a kings.  The meaning of the poem is that all people who are in power, will eventually lose their power.  That is exactly what we witnessed in this episode.  Walt had built a huge drug empire, with more money than he could ever spend in a lifetime.  And all in one episode, his brother-in-law dies, and the rest of his family has turned against him.  I found the most powerful scene in this episode to be when Walt was on the phone with Skyler, condemning her for telling Junior the truth.  Walt channeled his inner “Heisenberg” at this moment with his threatening tone, but he is really doing this to protect Skyler from the police, who are listening to this conversation.  Skyler eventually realizes this before she hangs up the phone.  We see Walt doing this with tears in his eyes, which is a moment in which he looks more like the cancer stricken Walter White, who was simply trying to provide for his family, rather than the mastermind criminal Heisenberg.  There’s just two more episodes left.  Will Walt kill Todd’s Uncle Jack?  Will he kill Jesse?  I’m not sure how they can top this episode, but it figures to be an amazing finish.

September 8th, 2013

We’re only 2 games into the 2013 college football season, and we’re already on Kiffin Watch.  USC athletic directory Pat Haden insisted that Kiffin was not on the hot seat last month.  However, after Saturday night’s debacle at the Coliseum, he’s gotta be thinking about replacing his head coach soon.  The Trojans lost their home opener in pathetic fashion to Washington State by a score of 10-7.  Kiffin has completely micromanaged both of his quarterbacks thus far, and the Trojans scored their fewest amount of points in a game in the last 10 years.  Do you hear that sound Trojan fans?  No, it’s not the fans booing Lane Kiffin off the field on Saturday night.  It’s the sound of USC free falling out of the top 25.

If the Trojans can’t beat WSU at home, then who can they beat?  As much as UCLA and Notre Dame fans are enjoying seeing USC suffer, it’s going to hurt their strength of schedule big time.  After Notre Dame lost to Michigan in the Big House on Saturday, the Irish are going to need some quality wins to get back in the BCS race, and beating up on a crappy Trojan team won’t be one of them.  Same can be said for the Bruins, who have BCS aspirations as well.

Speaking of the Bruins, they’ll be playing with heavy hearts against Nebraska next week, after wide receiver Nick Pasquale was killed in a tragic accident on Saturday morning.  Pasquale spent the weekend back at home in San Clemente, and attended his alma matter San Clemente High’s football game on Friday night.  On Sunday morning at 1:27 am, he was struck by a car on the corner of Camino De Los Mares and Calle Nuevo, in San Clemente.  The accident is still being investigated.  Pasquale was a 20 year old, redshirt freshman, and appeared in the Bruins season opening win against Nevada.  As someone who grew up in San Clemente, it’s certainly easy for me to imagine how a pedestrian could be hit in a neighborhood that is not very well lit at night.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the Pasquale family after this tragic loss.

Here are my thoughts on the NFL season after week 1.  The Steelers are going to be terrible this year.  Colin Kaepernick singled handedly defeated my fantasy team this week, and he might make the 49ers even better this year.  The Cowboys season opening win against the Giants was very predictable, as will be their collapse come January.  Are there any good running backs left?  Shane Vereen was the only running back in the league to rush for 100 yards this week.  My fantasy football team desperately needs help at wide receiver!

On to baseball, where Don Mattingly and the Dodgers have certainly taken their foot off the gas pedal over the last 4 games.  The Boys in Blue were swept by the Reds over the weekend, and after losing 3 straight one run games, they’ve lost four in a row.  Since LA has an 11 game lead in the division, and a magic number of 10 with just 20 games left to play, this doesn’t seem like a big deal.  However, there’s some unsettling trends taking place of late.   The Dodgers are just 2 games behind the Braves for home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.  However, Don Mattingly doesn’t seem to have any interest in home field, because he started Edison Volquez on Wednesday at Coors Field, and rested his 4 best players.  Then against the Reds, he managed without any sense of urgency, refusing to manufacture runs in tight, one-run games.  The Reds were a far more desperate team, and even though they needed the games more than the Dodgers, LA can’t just sit back and wait for the 3-run homer to bail them out.

Meanwhile, Matt Kemp hasn’t given up on a return this season.  Even after straining his hamstring during this rehab assignment, Kemp is still trying to get back into the lineup.  Don Mattingly said Kemp will need at least another 10 days to get ready, and that’s if he doesn’t suffer any more setbacks.  That would leave him just 11 games to convince the Dodgers he’s ready for the playoffs.  Knowing Kemp, he’ll probably break his wrist signing an autograph for a fan, which will effectively end his season.

We’re only a month away from the start of NBA training camp.  My friend Eugene Kim informed me that after several years on the waiting list, he has finally become a Lakers season seat holder.  Eugene told me he plans on attending only “the crappy games.”  Well Eugene, I guess you will be attending all the games this year, because when Mike D’Antoni is your coach, every game is going to be a steamy pile of crap.

What an amazing cliff hanger Breaking Bad left us with last night!   Spoiler Alert for those who have it on DVR.   Before I get to the cliff hanger, I’ve got to mention how the tables finally turned on Walt.  Hank tricks Walt by taking pictures of a barrel of money, and making him think that Jesse is going to burn all of his money that he buried out in the desert.  In the process of Walt racing out to the desert, he is on the phone with Jesse, and incriminates himself by discussing all of his previous criminal activity.    I certainly did not see this one coming.  Jesse is a rat!  He broke the code among criminals, and turned on Walt by rating him out to Hank.  Then again, I never imagined that Walt would ever hire someone to kill Jesse.

Hank slaps the handcuffs on Walt, in a moment that suddenly made the show seem like a modern western.  The good guy forces the bad guy to surrender, and come out slowly with his hands up.  For just a moment, morality and righteousness was prevailing.  Hank calls his wife Marie to celebrate his capture of Walt, and I suddenly got this uneasy feeling that this may be the last time these two may ever speak, and that something bad might happen to Hank.  Moments later, a car shows up with Todd, Uncle Jack, and his band of thugs.  Both sides opened fire, and a gun fight ensued.  Walt and Jesse are both hiding in the cars to avoid the flying bullets, while Hank and his partner Gomez are hiding behind the car during all the gun fire.  That’s when the episode ended!

In addition to the tables finally turning on Walt, it also seems like he’s becoming overly emotional.  He didn’t want to kill Jesse, and reluctantly agreed to it, then called it off at the last moment.  When Uncle Jack shows up, Walt pleads with him not to open fire and klll Hank.  Of course the irony of this is that if Hank is killed, many of his problems are probably solved, and he can be free again.  Thus, it seems like Walt is emotionally conflicted.  With just three episodes left, I get the feeling this is rapidly moving toward an explosive ending.  Walt participated in all this horrific criminal activity to secure his family’s financial future.  Now it seems possible he could lose his family and everyone he cares about before it’s over, which would leave him with a pointless pile of money for a man with only a few months left to live.  This means when it’s over, there will be no winners.  Just one loser.

September 2nd, 2013

College football season is here and both So Cal squads found the win column in week 1.  However,   the Trojans and Bruins each appear to be trending in completely opposite directions.  UCLA obliterated Nevada 58-20 at the Rose Bowl, while the 90 degree heat simultaneously obliterated the fans that were willing to show up in Pasadena.  I’m not sure what’s more amazing: Brett Hundley’s 334 all purpose yards and 4 touchdowns? Or the fact that Jim Mora Jr. was wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt under his polo for 5 hours in the heat?  In any case, UCLA looks like they have an exciting football team for the first time in many years.

Then there’s the Trojans, who had an unimpressive 30-13 win over Hawaii in Honolulu.  Although the USC defense looked strong, the quarterback situation remains an issue for this team.  In addition to the fact that Lane Kiffin foolishly won’t commit to one starting quarterback, he constantly micromanages his signal callers, which inhibits their ability to improve.  Southern Cal had more talent at every position than Hawaii.  Instead of unleashing that talent and seeing what it can do, Kiffin wouldn’t let his quarterbacks do any more than act as game managers.  Kiffin also micromanaged Matt Barkley last season, causing him to lose confidence and ultimately, sink like the Titanic in the NFL Draft.

When it comes to So Cal college football, it appears for now, up is down and down is up.  Jim Mora Jr. looks like the new Pete Caroll.  Lane Kiffin looks like the new Ric Neusheisel.  UCLA has a great quarterback, while USC has two crappy ones.  Before you know it, UCLA will suddenly start having better looking girls on campus than USC.  Ok….maybe not.

As for the rest of the college football weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to see my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame take care of Temple 28-6.  I think most of my fellow Golden Domers were so shocked by “Turnover Tommy” Rees’ two touchdown passes in the first quarter, we felt it was practically a slap in the face to Notre Dame tradition.  Oh, and how could I forget to mention Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, who couldn’t be any more of a douchebag for taunting a player and pretending to sign an autograph after scoring a touchdown on Saturday.  This guy is becoming more unlikeable by the minute. The NCAA knows damn well he accepted money for signing autographs, but they know they have a star they can make money off of, so why suspend him?

On to baseball, where the Dodgers continue to roll.  The Boys in Blue swept the Padres over the weekend, and they’ve now opened up an 11.5 game lead over Arizona in the NL West with just 26 games left to play.  LA can probably look to start getting some of their top players some rest, even though they are only two games back  of Atlanta for the best record in the NL.  It sure would be nice to have a healthy Matt Kemp back for October, but you’d have an easier time trying to find Carmen San Diego right now than finding Kemp’s swing.  He’s been dreadful in his minor league rehab assignment.  Good thing Yasiel Puig showed up….

Despite Puig’s erratic behavior, there’s no doubt he can be a star.  The Dodgers look brilliant now for locking him up to a 7 year $42 million contract last winter, which is a bargain.  Speaking of being worth every penny, Zach Greinke has been a fantastic #2 starter.  After improving to 14-3 with yesterday’s win, Greinke has won 6 straight starts and looks like he’ll make a formidable duo with Clayton Kershaw come October.  Adding veteran infielder Michael Young over the weekend was another great, low risk move for the club too.  Closer Kenley Jensen has been just filthy, as he has converted 17 straight saves, and looks like a completely different pitcher than we saw earlier in the year.

As for the Angels, they’ve won a meaningless 8 of their last 9 games after sweeping the Brewers over the weekend.  As they did last year, they start playing real baseball when their season is already over.  Speculation is already running rampant about what Arte Moreno will do with Mike Scioscia and Jerry Dipoto.  Even though Scioscia deserves to keep his job more than Dipoto, hiring a general manager who can’t hire his own skipper isn’t very ideal.  In fact, when Moreno hired Dipoto two years ago, he was very interested in Rays GM Andy Friedman, but Friedman turned him down.  Moreno needs a general manager who can rebuild his farm system, and turn his current team into a contender by adding quality pitching at an affordable price.  Sounds like he’ll have to hire a new gm with the authority to hire his own manager to make this happen.

Moving on to the Lamar Odom saga, now that he’s has been found, and isn’t actually dead, everyone can resume the jokes.  It’s obvious that LO is on crack because he hasn’t signed with the Lakers, who are the only team that was actually offering him a contract.  Well, they “were” the only team offering him a contract, but after he was arrested for suspicion of DUI last week, that opportunity is gone.   Lamar is a good dude, but he needs to get his life together.  Last week, reports were that he was missing for 3 days, but they were clearly mistaken.  He’s been missing for over 3 years.

This Time Warner Cable vs CBS cable dispute is ridiculous.  I can’t believe they haven’t come to a resolution yet.  You Time Warner Cable subscribers realize that you don’t have CBS, Showtime, and KCAL right now is because TWC doesn’t want to charge you $1 more per month right?  For a company that has been notorious for price gouging its customers, I think they can drop the “concerned for their customers” act and gladly add the $1 to everyone’s bill.  TWC escalated this dispute when they blocked Showtime from its subscribers when the dispute started, and they stand to lose a ton of customers if they don’t figure this out fast.

I realize that I’m late to the party on this whole discussion about last week’s VMA’s, but I wasn’t nearly as horrified with Miley Cyrus as others were.  Her twerking display on stage was just another example of an artist trying to create an identify and sell a brand.  We’ve seen far more offensive displays on stage than what we saw that night, so I’m surprised people are so up in arms over it.  However, with that being said, Miley is definitely trying way to hard to separate herself from her Disney Hannah Montana character, to the point where she is hurting her brand.  There’s nothing wrong with trying to re-brand yourself, but there’s probably better ways to do it.

Sadly, all the talk about Miley Cyrus probably overshadowed Justin Timberlake’s performance.  JT had arguably one of the greatest live on stage performances that I have ever seen.  I would hate to be any artist that had to follow that.  I don’t care if you are a JT fan or not, but that guy is unbelievably talented, and his performance was phenomenal.  Here it is in case you missed it:

Finally, the 4th episode of the final 8 episodes of Breaking Bad aired on AMC last night, and the show took somewhat of a breather.  Spoiler Alert for those of you who have it on DVR! Last night’s episode showed how Jesse was convinced not to burn down Walt’s house by Hank, and then Hank proceeded to try and get Jesse to provide some testimony that would incriminate Walt for all his crimes.  Jesse failed to provide this evidence, and when Hank asked Jesse to wear a wire and meet Walt in person later on, Jesse abandoned the plan at the last moment, thinking Walt has an assassin prepared to kill him.

This particular episode definitely did not provide us with the usual edge-of-your-seat tension as before.  Instead, we are given some meaningful moments to ponder.  I found the most interesting  part of the episode to be the ironic impact Walt has suddenly had on all the other characters.  In the first four episodes of this season, Walt’s biggest threats have been his own brother-in-law Hank, and his former business partner Jesse.  Despite the threats they pose, Walt has refused to kill them, because he cares deeply for both of them, as Hank is his family, and Jesse is practically like a son to him.  For all the horrible things Walt has done, he is still willing to protect the ones he cares about.  The irony of this is the very cavalier attitude Walt’s loved ones suddenly have about killing people.  Skyler urges Walt to kill Jesse in order to protect the family.  Marie suggests that she is enjoying the thought of poisoning Walt, and Hank admits he’s willing to let Jesse get killed if it means incriminating Walt.    These moments are definitely setting the stage for an incredible final four episodes, which Breaking Bad fans anxiously await!

August 26th, 2013

It was quite a run for the Dodgers.   After dropping two out of three to the Red Sox over the weekend, the Boys in Blue lost their first series since mid-June.  LA went 14-0-4 in that stretch before those clam chowder eating, terrible driving, “wicked” accent speaking Boston Red Sox beat them up at Chavez Ravine.  This could have very well been a potential World Series preview, however, fear not Dodger fans, this team is still in great shape.  The team didn’t pitch their top two starters in this series, and Hyun-Jin Ryu took the mound with the flu on Saturday night.  The Dodgers still have a 9.5 game lead over 2nd place Arizona in the NL West.  Besides, did you really expect LA to keep winning those games that Chris Capuano kept getting his ass kicked in every five days?

Meanwhile, I think it’s time for the Dodgers to at least pick up the option on the final year of manager Don Mattingly’s contract next year.  Mattingly has definitely earned his keep.  He’s taken the Dodgers from the 4th worst team in baseball, to the 2nd best record in two months.  He’s done this while dealing with a ton of injuries to the club throughout the year.  He’s also successfully managed two different teams:  A completely stripped down Dodger team at the end of the Frank McCourt era, and a team with much more star power in this years Dodger team.  The players like him, he’s managed the egos well, and he’s a huge part of LA building great clubhouse chemistry.  I’m sure the Dodgers have been keeping an eye on Mike Scioscia, but why mess with success?  You don’t need an organization made up of stars in every role.  LA should also think about that this winter before they start replacing Mark Ellis and AJ Ellis with free agents Robinson Canoe and Brian McCann.

Speaking of Mike Scioscia, he denied there is a rift between himself and general manager Jerry Dipoto.  This was a rather predictable move by the Halos skipper.  However, since these two are really “on the same page”, I’d hate to see how bad this team would be if they weren’t on the same page.  Scioscia claimed that their only real public dispute was when hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was fired last year.  “The one thing that I publicly disagreed with Jerry about, and we’ve talked about it too, is when he let Mickey go.  And that’s been it.”  Scioscia also also said “our  philosophies are right in line with anything we’ve ever done here.”

That couldn’t be further from the truth, but what can you expect him to say when he knows his job could be in jeopardy?  Scioscia and Dipoto have both said they want to focus on improving the pitching staff this off-season.  Have they talked with their boss Arte Moreno yet?  Because he’s probably going to want to waste another $200 million instead on signing Robinson Canoe.

Every baseball fan should be thrilled to know that Dodgers announcer Vin Scully is coming back to call games in 2014.  It will be Scully’s 65th season as the Dodgers announcer, which is remarkable for a man who is 85 years old.  Scully could probably read a phone book, and make it interesting for his listeners.  LA sports fans have been so fortunate over the years to have 3 legendary, hall of fame, announcers in their city:  Scully, Bob Miller of the LA Kings, and the late Chick Hearn of the Lakers.

Why can’t Lane Kiffin just pick a starting quarterback for the Trojans already?  This guy is more indecisive than a 17 year old girl right now.  Kiffin said that “ideally” they don’t want to have a two quarterback system.  Then he decides that both Max Wittek and Cody Kessler will play in the season opener at Hawaii on Thursday night.  SC hasn’t used two quarterbacks since the 1995 season, when Brad Otton and Kyle Wachholtz shared the role.  USC did win the Pac-10 title that year, but these types of systems don’t usually lend themselves to effective chemistry building.  Rumor has it that Kiffin was informed that if Wittek doesn’t win the starting job, he will end up transferring, which could ultimately force him to make a decision, rather than use two quarterbacks.  I’m sure right about now many USC fans are wishing that the Trojans would use two coaches as well.

After hearing reports that Lamar Odom has been missing for 3 days, there were many things that were going through my mind.  I know many of you are expecting me to cue up the jokes on this one, and even though there are probably a multitude of them I can throw in here, it just isn’t the time.  TMZ reported over the weekend that Odom has been battling a drug problem for two years, and that he could be addicted to crack cocaine or Oxycontin or Ambien.  His family reportedly tried to stage a drug intervention, but he refused, then took off.  Nobody has been able to contact him, and his family is speculating he could be on a huge drug binge.  I’m shocked that once the news came out that he was missing, few people reporting on it took it seriously.  Sadly, this is probably because his is married to Khloe Kardashian, who people just associate with fake drama.  On Sunday evening, a rep for Lamar confirmed he was fine, yet would not discuss his whereabouts.

The Lakers and Clippers had both reached out to Odom weeks ago to gauge his interest in playing for them.  However, now it’s clear why he hasn’t signed with either.  Both teams are concerned about his drug abuse.  According to the TMZ report, Odom went to drug rehab for three weeks last August.  He stayed clean while playing for the Clippers, but then began using hardcore recreational drugs when the Clippers season ended a few months ago.    Hopefully LO is ok, can turn his life around, and this story does not have an unfortunate ending.

And finally, Breaking Bad had another riveting episode last night.  Spoiler Alert for those of you who have it on DVR, and have yet to watch it.  In classic Breaking Bad fashion, just when Walter White gets away with something, another thing far worse happens to him.  In this episode, Walter gets the upper hand on his brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, when he makes a video tape confessing his criminal activity, but simultaneously makes Hank the patsy.  This was another brilliant move by Walter, especially considering that his confession brings up the fact he paid for Hank’s medical bills, which Hank had no idea about until seeing the video.  This ends the threat of Hank telling his friends at the DEA about Walter’s criminal activity.

However, a new threat appears to be emerging for Walt, and that is his former business partner Jesse Pinkman, who is angered by the discovery that Walt poisoned the little boy Brock.  Jesse is so angry, that he storms into Walt’s house, and starts pouring gasoline all over the place, presumably to light the house on fire.  I guess we won’t know until next week because that’s when the episode ended.

Several other key themes seemed to emerge from this episode.  Walt has become very good at manipulating people emotionally.  He has done it repeatedly to Jesse, and he even did it to his son, to prevent him from going to visit the Schraders.  The writers of the show also seem to be focused on colors and what they symbolize.  For example, during the meeting between the Whites and Schraders,  Marie wears black to symbolize her mourning for the family she thought she had, while Hank wears purple to atone for upsetting his wife.  In the previous episode, the writers tried to create symbolism by focusing on the colors of Lydia’s shoes.  Speaking of Lydia, her new business partners may be an additional new adversary for Walter.  That is not entirely clear after seeing the opening scene of last night’s episode, but it must have some significance.

The real question moving forward is whether or not Walter would kill Jesse to save himself.  For almost 5 seasons, the show has been built on the emotional relationship between these two.  Now it appears as though it’s ending will be very much revolving around this relationship.  As horrible of a person Walt has transformed into, I still can’t see him killing Jesse.  Walt came very close to getting caught by his brother in law, yet refused to kill him because he was family.  Jesse seems just as important to Walt as Hank is, so I can’t see him killing him, even if it means not saving himself.

August 19th, 2013

The Dodgers lost a game?  What do you mean they lost?  They never lose!  I thought they were supposed to go win every game the rest of the season?  Well, I suppose I can forgive them for losing the series finale to the Phillies yesterday by a score of 3-2, even after Hanley Ramirez made 2 errors in the 9th inning,  The Boys in Blue have still won 10 of their last 11 games, are 25-4 since the all-star break, and are a historical 42-9 in their last 51 games.  Do you realize how good this stretch is?  Going into Friday, the Dodgers had more wins in their last 48 games, than the Houston Astros had in their last 118 games!

Even with a 7.5 game lead though, yesterday’s loss did raise a few questions as LA aims for it’s first World Series title since the Jerry Curl was in.  Will Hanley Ramirez’ defense be an issue when it really matters?  Will Yasiel Puig’s aggressive style of play cost the Dodgers in the late stages of a critical game?  It sure did yesterday, as his failure to hit the cut off man led to the Phillies tying up the game.  Will Matt Kemp ever be healthy and effective, and how will he fit in when he returns?  And will the Dodgers bullpen continue to be effective despite a very heavy workload?  For all of these issues, only time will tell, but at this point, Dodger fans should be enjoying the ride.

Meanwhile, Angel fans aren’t enjoying much right now.  I had the misfortune of actually seeing this disaster in person on Friday night at the Big A, which was when the Angels lost their first of two games this weekend to the lowly Astros.  I’m not even sure the Astros are actually trying to win games right now, but it seems like every time these guys come to town, they give the Halos a beating.  Can anyone actually name 3 players on the Astros team?  1/5th of all of their wins this season have come against the Angels.  It’s clear that the Halos have already packed it in, and the hamstring injury to Mike Trout yesterday just pours a little more salt in the wound.

The only question now is what will be the fate of skipper Mike Scioscia and General Manager Jerry Dipoto.  On Friday night, the LA Times tried to get a comment from owner Arte Moreno regarding the job security of both these men, but Arte declined to speak on the topic.  This fact alone makes it clear that a change of some kind is probably coming at season’s end.  Nevertheless, regardless of who the new GM and manager are, turning this club around any time soon will be tough.

How awkward is this A-Rod situation?  Everyone knows the guy is an expensive, lying, cheating, phony, who’s teammates don’t want him around.  Still, he continues to show up to work, and is actually playing pretty well.  Yankees GM Brian Cashman even said yesterday that he isn’t really comfortable talking to A-Rod “because we feel we are in a litigious environment.”  It must suck to show up to work when nobody wants you there, even when you are doing your job well.

It’s that time of year again: fantasy football draft time!  I had my first of 4 drafts yesterday, and as most fantasy football participants know, it’s usually a celebrated event.  At the same time, the annual complaining from women I’ve dated comes hand in hand with this tradition.  “So let me get this straight.  You are spending the next 5 hours putting together a ‘fantasy’ team?  You know how ridiculous that is? You’re going to spend the next 5 months yelling at your phone, getting disappointed, and then yelling at me for no apparent reason!”  It’s true.  How many times do we end up yelling at our loved ones, or even our dogs, when it’s Philip Rivers we should be yelling at?  Then there’s those weekends when you end up yelling at your TV set like a mad man because your team got beat when the Bears defense scored 17 points to come back and beat you.  Then your foreign born neighbors are wondering what the hell you’re screaming about, then you have to actually explain the concept of fantasy football to them.  At that point, your neighbors walk away acting sympathetic towards you, but in the end, they are filing this one away as another reason they made a mistake in moving to this fast declining country.

Yesterday, via Twitter, we found out that Wayne Gretzky’s infamous daughter, Paulina, is now engaged to pro golfer Dustin Johnson.  I think the question most people are wondering is:  does this mean Paulina will stop posting provocative pictures of herself on the internet?  I’m sure the Great One hopes that is the case, while many other guys don’t.

After Usain Bolt helped Jamaica win the 4×100 meter relay yesterday in the world championships, he tied former US sprinter Carl Lewis with his 10th career medal.  Bolt won 3 gold medals this past weekend, also taking the 100 and the 200 meter races.  I hope this guy enjoys his fame while it lasts, because it’s only a matter of time before we find out he is on PED’s.  You can certainly compare pictures of Bolt when he was younger and see how he’s bulked up in a way that could only be achieved through PED’s.  Even more ridiculous are the world record times he’s been running, obliterating previous marks.  The Jamaicans are known to be pretty lax in their drug testing programs, and as someone who ran and coached track and field, I have a hard time believing someone with the lanky build of Bolt could run that fast.

Finally, last night’s episode of Breaking Bad continued the wild ride for its fans.  It’s amazing how the last 6 episodes of the series appear to be a showdown amongst family members.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have it on DVR.  That showdown appears to be between Hank Schrader and his wife Marie, who are facing off against her sister Skyler, and the infamous Walter White.  Alliances are forming, which I have a feeling will be setting the stage for a shocking betrayal.  Will Walt kill his own wife Skyler?  Will he kill his brother in law Hank?  It appears not, after Walt immediately shot down his slimy attorney Saul’s idea to kill off his brother in law.  One also has to wonder whether or not Jesse Pinkman and Walt will turn on each other, even after Walt was almost a father figure for Jesse in previous seasons.  Remember though: Walter White has slowly transformed from a nerdy chemistry teacher, into a monstrous criminal master mind.  Along the way, he has blown up a nursing home, poisoned a child, and run over drug dealers in the streets to protect himself.  So when a family member is willing to put him in jail, I believe when push comes to shove, he will do whatever is necessary to protect himself.