Monthly Archives: November 2013

Monday Morning Coffee

ASU over UCLA

November 25th, 2013

It’s a story that’s gotten annoying.  The Bruins are good, but not quite good enough.  Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, we had to listen to this tiresome storyline after the Bruins lost to Arizona State 38-33.  I don’t care that the Bruins outscored ASU 20-3 in the 2nd half and made a great comeback.  I don’t care that their only three losses this season have come against quality top 25 opponents.  Why has Brett Hundley not taken his game to an even higher level yet?  Why does the UCLA offensive line get manhandled against good teams?  And if Myles Jack was going to only play running back, then why didn’t he touch the ball 30 times?  He probably could have been more useful on the defensive side, since the Bruins gave up 38 points.  Jim Mora Jr. and his Bruins may show flashes of brilliance, but until they start meeting the moment, they will soon start looking more like underachievers than rising stars.

Then there’s the angry Trojan fans, who are furious that their cross-town rival couldn’t take care of ASU, which ended USC’s slim hopes of playing in the Rose Bowl.  Of course, leave it to all the myopic USC fans to claim how “overrated” the Bruins are, and they’ll likely spend this upcoming rivalry week pretending like their team should be playing for the BCS Championship.  Still, USC did beat up on lowly Colorado 47-29, which continued their feel good story under Ed Orgeron.  The Trojans are now 6-1 under Coach O, but they’ll need to beat UCLA next week to give him any chance of retaining the job permanently.  This a nice feel good story for the seniors, but if Orgeron were coaching this team one year from now, most Trojan fans would probably be feeling like morons for wanting him in the first place.  On 2nd thought, most of the Trojan fans are sleezy morons, who aren’t even alums, that jumped on the bandwagon when they ditched their Raiders jackets for Trojan sweatshirts, which they bought at K-Mart.  Expect another classic game between the Bruins and Trojans next week at the Coliseum!

Let’s talk baseball for a moment.  The Angels made their first significant move of the off-season, trading outfielder Peter Bourjos, and touted prospect Randal Grichuk, to the Cardinals for 3rd baseman David Freese, and reliever Fernando Salas.  For some reason, many Halo fans seem like they are ready to jump off the top of Space Mountain after hearing about this trade.  Bourjos isn’t Fred Lynn or Jim Edmonds.  He’s a nice player, but an expendable one.  Grichuk may be a quality major leaguer, but his path to the big leagues was blocked by all the Angels expensive outfielders.  The question for this team remains whether or not they can find decent starting pitching, which I have my doubts about.

Speaking of pitching, the Dodgers have signed pitcher Dan Haren to a one year deal for $10 million.  Haren is a decent starter on a reasonable contract, but his addition should make fans lose hope in the Dodgers assembling a powerhouse starting rotation with David Price and Masahiro Tanaka.

A-Rod is unbelievable.  He holds one press conference, in which he basically admits to doing performance enhancing drugs, and now when he’s about to get kicked out of the game, he goes on some NY radio station earlier this week, trying to convince us that he never did PED’s.  I also like how he’s demanding a sit down with the commissioner, over brunch.  I can just see it now:  “I want Mimosa’s! And I want answers damn it!”

On to the NBA, where some interesting developments occurred in Laker land this past week.  ESPN’s Stephen A Smith, or who I liked to call “Scream’in A Smith”, claimed that according to his sources, Carmelo Anthony, as of now “is gone.  He’s going to LA to play with Kobe.”  I know this is hardly official, but keep in mind, this is the same guy who reported that Lebron, Wade, and Bosh were going to join forces in Miami, well before it actually happened.  Of course the problem with the Carmelo to the Lakers theory is that Mike D’Antoni is still their coach, and Carmelo had issues with him in New York.  Since the Lakers are a miraculous 7-7 without Kobe, and have faced one of the toughest schedules in the NBA so far, D’Antoni seems to have overachieved and has a case for retaining his job at the moment.  In fact, D’Antoni feels so good about his team so far, that he took shots at former Lakers Dwight Howard and Antawn Jamison in last night’s post game presser.  “They don’t go grab a stat sheet,” when asked about the team sharing the ball, and “I don’t have to worry about a guy pouting because I didn’t put him in.” Here’s Stephen A on Carmelo…..

As for the Clippers, they pounded the Derek Rose-less Bulls yesterday at Staples.  The 39 point win was the largest margin of victory in the NBA this season.  The Clippers look good, but poor D-Rose.  Now, he likely has to endure another 6 months of rehab in his other knee, which will probably cost him the rest of this season.  Rose is one of the best players in the NBA when healthy, but his career is slowly starting to resemble that of Grant Hill’s, who could never stay healthy in his prime.

Let’s go to the ice.  The Kings endured two disappointing overtime defeats in their last two games, but Ben Scrivens has been absolutely sensational.  Jonathan Bernier has become that once hot ex-girlfriend that has become fat and ugly, while Scrivens, the man he was traded for, currently leads the NHL in goals against average, and is 2nd in save percentage.  The Kings are banged up, but Scrivens is keeping them right in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.

Meanwhile, Dustin “Pancakes” Penner scored two goals for the Ducks on Saturday, in their victory over the Coyotes.  Kings fans are rolling their eyes right now, because Penner has already scored almost as many goals this season as he did in 3 seasons with the Kings!  I guess it probably helps when Penner actually starts the season in shape, as opposed to playing his way into it.

Week 12 in the NFL is in the books, and it’s become clear now: Charger football simply defies logic.  San Diego went on the road to shock the Chiefs to vault themselves into a 6-way tie for the final playoff spot in the AFC.  The Bolts play 4 of their final 5 games at home, and those 4 are very winnable.  Don’t worry though they won’t, because remember, Charger football defies logic.  How did the Broncos blow that lead against the Patriots?  Tom Brady remembered he was Tom Brady in the 2nd half.  The Vikings and Packers played to a tie?  Somewhere, Donovan McNabb is very confused.

Anybody watch the American Music Awards last night?  I thought the show was relatively tame, without any wardrobe malfunctions, or scandalous performances.  However, I thought if anything, Justin Timberlake should have hosted the show, instead of Pitbull.  Pitbull wasn’t bad, but JT is simply the best the industry has to offer right now, and he probably would have had some better jokes.  I was most curious to see how Miley Cyrus would be received after all her recent controversy.  I suppose this went much better than the VMA’s, and her outfit wasn’t nearly as shocking.  However, nobody seems to be sure why her performance included a giant cat floating above her, which was lip-synching and crying.

AMA

Finally, The Walking Dead returned last night with another episode.  This episode was called “Dead Weight”, and spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  Once again, this episode continued to focus exclusively on The Governor and his new family.  However, now, The Governor has reverted back to his older murderous ways, and his “ends-justify-the-means” mentality.  After joining Martinez’ new camp, he informs The Governor that he is in charge.  This doesn’t last long though, as The Governor murders both Martinez, and the morally righteous Pete.  Now, The Governor has reclaimed his status as the leader of a new camp, and they appear poised to attack the prison.

Interestingly enough, Lilly and Megan still don’t realize what kind of monster The Governor, or “Brian” as they call him, really is.  They don’t know what kind of transformation he has gone through, which ultimately puts targets on their heads.  The Governor is probably going to do everything he can to protect them, but that just means they are probably more likely to die, just like his previous family.  I guess in the end, the characters are who they are.  Just as Rick reverted back to his position of leadership, The Governor is reverting back to his monstrousness.  Looking forward to the fall finale!

 

 

 

 

Monday Morning Coffee

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November 18th, 2013

What a scene at The Coliseum on Saturday night.  The Trojans shocked the college football world by knocking off #5 Stanford 20-17, and it was kicker Andre Heidari, who secured the win with a 47-yard field goal with 19 seconds left.  Moments later, the Trojan fans rushed onto the field to celebrate with the players.  The SC offense was just sturdy enough, but it was the defense that came up huge again, including two huge 4th quarter interceptions.  I can’t believe after all this Kiffin drama, the Trojans could still win the Pac 12 South and end up in the Rose Bowl.  USC is now 5-1 under Ed Orgeron, who is making a strong case to be the head coach for the long run. If he beats Colorado and UCLA, Pat Haden has to give it strong consideration.

Orgeron has completely re-energized his players, and has done a great job preparing and implementing game plans.  But let’s not lose perspective here.  He was 10-25 in his only previous head coaching job at Mississippi, and simply giving him the job after a few nice wins would make Pat Haden a prisoner of the moment.  A full season under Orgeron would probably feel a lot like the Paul Hackett years, which most Trojan fans like to forget.  USC needs to explore its options with the likes of Chris Peterson, Jon Gruden, and even Jack Del Rio before considering Coach O.

Meanwhile, UCLA handled Washington 41-31 at the Rose Bowl on Friday.  Freshman linebacker turned running back, Myles Jack, scored 4 touchdowns on 13 carries, and should never play on the defensive side of the ball again.  Jack is the 13th player in Bruins history to score 4 touchdowns in a game, and the first defense player in the last 10 years in college football to accomplish this.  The Bruins will need Jack and Brett Hundley to come up big in their final two regular season games against ASU and USC.  Bruin fans should be very nervous about those matchups, especially with what took place at The Coliseum on Saturday night.

The rumors that are surrounding the Dodgers have me very concerned.  First of all, why the hell hasn’t Clayton Kershaw signed an extension yet?  The Dodgers reportedly offered him a 10 year $300 million deal, which he wasn’t comfortable with.  It’s obvious the Dodgers can pay him more than anybody else, so if he wants to be in LA, why hasn’t he signed?  Kershaw recently said he was becoming more curious about free agency as it approaches, which makes me think he isn’t sure if he wants to be here.  Then there’s the Matt Kemp rumors.  The Dodgers and Rangers reportedly had discussions about Kemp and Elvis Andrus at last week’s GM meetings.  Look, I get it.  The Dodgers have an extra outfielder and could use another infielder.  The Rangers have an extra infielder and could use another outfielder.  However, that doesn’t mean the Dodgers should trade a $100 milion superstar, for a $100 million underachiever.  Andrus is a useful defensive player that gives you nothing offensively. Give Kemp a chance to get healthy again and be the player we know he can be.

The Lakers got back in the win column last night against the Pistons, and Jordan Hill was a beast, scoring 24 points and grabbing 17 rebounds.  This is probably going to be a lost season for the Lake Show, but they have probably found a few useful players they should look to keep beyond this season: Hill and Xavier Henry.  As for the Kobe watch, even though he’s returned to practice, he’s still a few weeks away from returning to action.  Do you really want him to return to action this soon though?  Let’s be honest, after watching Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky play on ESPN earlier in the week, I’m sure many of you are drooling over the thought of the Lakers having a lottery pick and drafting the likes of Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, or Julius Randall.  Each of those players look like they are going to be franchise changing players.

Meanwhile, the Clippers are rolling.  They’ve won 4 straight games, including victories over Brooklyn and Oklahoma City.  At 7-3, the Clipps look good on paper, but I can’t say I’m sold on them being a championship team yet.  Typically, championship teams are in the top 5 in defensive field goal percentage, defensive rebounds, and in turnovers.  The Clippers are in the bottom half of the league in all of these categories, which is very surprising for a team coached by Doc Rivers, who hangs his hat on defense.  Until further notice, this looks like a team built for the regular season.

To the ice, where the Kings are doing an amazing job staying competitive given all the injuries they are dealing with  I think the entire season flashed before my eyes when Jonathan Quick went down  with a groin injury.  He’ll be out for 4-6 weeks, but “The Professor”, Ben Scrivens, has been solid in his place with two straight shutouts.  LA has won three straight, all coming on the road, and they are getting great production from their rookies as well.  The Kings are 7th in the West, but their conference is so stacked, they currently have more points than every team in the Eastern Conference.

As for the Ducks, they’ve lost three straight games on the road against those lowly Eastern Conference opponents.  I think the question the Ducks need to ask themselves is whether or not they need Jonas Hiller.  Hiller is a very average NHL goaltender that benefits from a team that scores a lot of goals.  If the Ducks act quickly enough however, they can probably trade him for a tough defenseman, or a gritty two-way forward, which they desperately need.  There are also plenty of teams out there in desperate need of a goaltender, like Nashville and Edmonton, who would probably be willing to take the chance on Hiller.

A few quick thoughts on week 11 of the NFL.  It’s amazing to think that the Chiefs are 9-1 with their offense being as pathetic as it is at times.  The Giants are making a move, and there’s still plenty of time for the Cowboys to choke away the division.  There’s simply no way that the Eagles can go back to having Michael Vick as their starting quarterback, with Nick Foles playing like he has been.  The Chargers playoff hopes went down in flames yesterday with their loss to the Dolphins, which has to be considered an embarrassing loss, given the state of the Dolphins.

Finally, The Walking Dead continued season 4 last night with episode 406 called “Live Bait”.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  This had to be one of the strangest episodes I’ve ever seen, but interesting nevertheless.  The Governor has returned to the show, and this episode is all about him and his journey since the battle at the prison.  I think after last week we expected The Governor to make some full fledged attack on the prison for revenge.  Instead, we see him wandering aimlessly,  and on the edge of survival.  He is eventually provided shelter by a family that includes three women, Lilly, Lauren, and Meghan.  The Governor taught them how to kill walkers, got oxygen for their dad when he was on his death bed, and he later saved them all from walkers when they hit the road.  At the end of the episode, he runs into former henchman, Martinez, in what can best be described as an awkward ending to the show.

It seemed strange that when we wanted to know the state of Gllenn’s health, and Daryl’s reaction to Carol’s departure, the show focused exclusively on The Governor.  However, this episode was actually terrifying when you put it in perspective.  I was waiting for the moment when The Governor might rape and kill the three women in the family that took him in, but instead, he acted like a decent human being.  The thought that he could transform back and forth from what appeared to be a good person early in season 3, to a terrible person later in the season, and back into a good person early in this season is horrifying.  Just think….if this can happen to The Governor, it can probably happen to any character on the show.  A perfect example of this is the psycho path that Rick appeared to be at the beginning of last season.  It’s just more proof that the greatest danger isn’t the zombies themselves, but it’s the human beings.

The Governor Walking Dead

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Morning Coffee

Brett Hundley

November 11th, 2013

What a game in Arizona on Saturday night!  The Bruins and Wildcats had a showdown that was more wild than spring break in Cancun.  UCLA hung on for a sketchy 31-26 win, and won in Tucson for the first time in 10 years.  The Bruins raced out to a 24-10 lead, before the Wildcats mounted a furious comeback.  Fortunately for UCLA, they were rescued by freshman linebacker Miles Jack, who appears to be the Bruins version of Yasiel Puig.  Jack rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown, on only 6 carries, while playing on both sides of the ball.  As mentally tough as the Bruins appeared to be on Saturday, this team appears wildly inconsistent at times.  Their remaining schedule is a minefield, with games at home against Washington and Arizona State, followed by a showdown at the Coliseum with the Trojans.  The Bruins still control their own destiny in the Pac 12 South, but they aren’t making things easy on themselves.

Meanwhile, the Trojans are a different team after pounding Cal 62-28.  Even though the Golden Bears are golden garbage at this point, did anybody expect USC to be 7-3 after Lane Kiffin was fired?  The mere fact that Kiffin left Javorious Allen chained to the bench should have been enough to fire him.  Ed Orgeron has completely transformed the offense into what it was supposed to be at the beginning of the season, and suddenly, Cody Kessler doesn’t look completely inept.  SC will probably get crushed by Stanford next weekend, but their matchup with UCLA at the end of this month is looking more and more exciting by the minute.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Tommy Rees for shattering the hopes and dreams of Notre Dame fans, who were hoping the Irish would earn a BCS Bowl berth this season.  Rees was once again, a turnover machine on Saturday night against Pitt, and successfully self-destructed when it mattered most.

On to college basketball, where very quietly, the Bruins and Trojans opened the season on Friday night.  Both teams are beginning new coaching eras, and neither one got off to very impressive starts.  The Bruins barely beat Drexel in Steve Alford’s debut at Pauley Pavilion, and Alford’s run and gun offense was slowed to a crawl.  The Bruin faithful clearly expressed their displeasure with the Alford hiring, since less than 6,000 people actually showed up to watch it.  The new Trojan run and gun offense wasn’t too successful either against Utah State, as the Andy Enfield experiment began with a pathetic 37% shooting night.  It feels like most Bruin and Trojan fans are conveniently in denial that their teams have started the season already.

Week 2 of the NBA season is in the books, and I’ve gotta admit, I’m concerned about the Lakers.  I’m concerned that they might actually be better than I thought.  I’m concerned that they may not be in the lottery, and actually make the playoffs.  I’m concerned that Mike D’Antoni will be the coach beyond this season.  Even after getting a beat down from Minnesota last night at Staples, I’m still worried the team isn’t going to tank hard enough.  There’s also been rumors of a Steve Nash trade to Toronto, which would be amazing, but unlikely.  Even Canada isn’t dumb enough to take Steve Nash off the Lakers hands, when the guy can barely get up and down the court.  As enjoyable as the victories over the Clippers and Rockets have been, things could get really ugly in the next few weeks for this team.

Then there’s the Clippers, who have left many people scratching their heads after beating Houston twice this week, and losing to Miami and Orlando.  Isn’t this team supposed to be much better defensively now that Doc Rivers is their coach?  Aren’t they supposed to actually have a half-court offense too?  We’re only 7 games in, but remember, Donald Sterling is paying Doc Rivers more money than he’s ever paid a coach, and his payroll is as high as it has ever been.  That also means Sterling is going to be a harsher critic on these guys than ever before.  I don’t think anybody expected the Clippers defense to be the worst in the NBA, and at the moment, that’s where they stand.

Ladies and gentleman, thank you very much.  I’ve been saying for weeks that all the LA Kings need to do in order to fix their offense is call up youngster Tyler Toffoli.  Sure enough, in just two games, he’s tearing it up, along with rookie Linden Vey.  The only reason Toffoli should return to Manchester, is to pick up the rest of his belongings and move them to LA.  As for the Ducks, they continue to roll, winners of 5 straight, and still undefeated at home.

It’s amazing how stupid fans drunk fans can be.  Check out Winnipeg Jets defenseman Adam Pardy getting his helmet ripped off by a drunk fan….

A few quick NFL thoughts.  Arian Foster has suffered a season ending back injury, which was the result of carrying the Texans on his back all these years.  For a while it looked like the Chargers might be on their way to sneaking into the playoffs.  Now, they are on the verge of having their season slip away, and Mike McCoy looks like he’s in over his head with play calling duties.

I think there’s one thing that we are all thinking about this Miami Dolphins situation: What kind of dumb ass name is Richie Incognito? But in all seriousness, the fact that Jonathan Martin is willing to walk away from football over this, tells you the Stanford grad knows he has a future after football.  Meanwhile, Richie Incognito has nothing, but a stupid name, and a stupid hazing incident to explain to people.  Martin handled things with dignity, but I think most of us would have punched Incognito in the face at this point.

Finally, The Walking Dead continued on AMC last night, and this latest episode was called “Internment”.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have it on DVR, and have yet to watch it.  To quickly recap, Hershel battles an outbreak of walkers, sickness, and poor spirits inside one of the prison cell blocks.  Meanwhile, Rick and Carl take down a pack of walkers with machine guns, Maggie learns that Carol was sent away by Rick, and the governor is seen briefly watching the prison at the end of the episode.

This episode wasn’t too eventful.  The big question I was wondering was what the group’s reaction would be to Carol’s departure.  After a full hour, we still don’t know much.  Hershel seemed too preoccupied with saving Glenn to have much of a reaction, and we still don’t know what Tyreese and Daryl’s reaction will be.  Maggie seemed supportive of Rick’s decision, but her approval or disapproval seems insignificant compared to Daryl and Tyreese.  Also, even though the show has a habit of killing off a significant character or two early in every season, I still was never really convinced that Glenn was going to die.  He seems like far too interesting of a character to eliminate from the show.  The Governor’s return was inevitable, and it will be interesting to see how he looks to get his revenge.

 

 

 

 

Monday Morning Coffee

Atlanta Hawks v Los Angeles Lakers

November 4th, 2013

Wasn’t Mike D’Antoni’s coaching only supposed to get better this year?  We were told that he now has a handful of new players that are a “better fit” for his ridiculous system.  We were also told that he has a full training camp to figure out his rotations.  Funny, because through the first four games of the season, his coaching is far worse than last year!  Going into Sunday’s game against Atlanta, four of the Lakers five starters were shooting under 30% from the field.  It shouldn’t be hard to understand that Shawne Williams should never play, while Nick Young, Steve Nash, and Steve Blake shouldn’t be getting as much playing time as Jordan Farmar, Xavier Henry, and Jordan Hill.  Similar to last year, the Lakers season will probably be over by the time D’Antoni figures this out.  It’s a damn miracle that the Lakers are 2-2 after last night’s win against the Hawks.  Once again, in a game the Lakers should have put away in the first half, they nearly blow because Mike D’Antoni has no idea how to get his big men the ball inside.  Thank god for the Hawks ineptitude.

Meanwhile, the Clippers look about as solid as they did last year in the first week of the season.  JJ Redick and Jared Dudley are spacing the floor nicely for CP3, and the Clipps picked up two nice wins after their shocking opening night loss to the Lakers.  I still can’t really tell if Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan have learned how to play basketball yet though.  Tonight will be a good test for them against the new and improved Houston Rockets, who are 3-0 so far in the early going.

How angry must the Philadelphia 76ers front office be right now?  They were obviously trying to tank this season to secure another lottery pick, and they are off to a 3-0 start, including wins over Miami and Chicago.  I guess they didn’t expect Michael Carter Williams to look like the 2nd coming of Oscar Robertson.

On to college football where the Bruins rebounded on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.  Well sort of.  They defeated Colorado, which barely qualifies as a Division 1 football team these days.  Nevertheless, the Bruins can feel good about finding the win column after two tough weeks against Stanford and Oregon.  Brett Hundley returned to greatness throwing two touchdown passes, and rushing for two more.  Sure would be nice if the the Bruins could support Hundley with some improved play from their running backs though.  UCLA controls their own destiny, but has no margin for error left.  If they win their remaining games against Arizona, Washington, Arizona State, and USC, they’ll earn a trip to the Pac-12 championship game.  That’s no easy task, but I think it will confirm what we’ve all suspected:  UCLA has a good football team, not an elite one yet.Shaquelle Evans

As for USC, they handled Oregon State easily on Thursday night, and now appear to be putting together a respectable season.  Whenever you’re talking Trojans and Beavers it just sounds dirty, so I’ll just get straight to the point.  USC is playing far more inspired football under Ed Orgeron than it did under Lane Kiffin.  The defense is playing with more energy, and the offense looks more confident.  SC will likely have to settle for a 2nd tier bowl game, but 8 wins is very realistic for a team that looked like a train wreck a month ago.  On the coaching front, rumor has it the Trojans have already interviewed Lovie Smith, and have Steve Sarkisian and Jon Gruden on their radar.  Smith is a big name, but has no college coaching experience.  The chances of Gruden being the next coach are about as good as the chances of me landing the gig.  That leaves Sark.  The question is whether or not he’s willing to abandon the progress he’s made at Washington.  He seems like an SC guy, and it makes perfect sense for both sides.

Let’s go to the ice where the LA Kings are about as hard to figure out as a jigsaw puzzle.  They flat out sucked on the road against Phoenix, they come up with a huge statement win against the best team in hockey, the Sharks, then they laid an egg against Nashville.  To make matters worse, Jeff Carter and Jarret Stoll are going to be out of the lineup for a while with injuries.  The penalty killing has been awful of late, and Jonathan Quick looks bored and uninterested, which is costing the Kings at inopportune times.  This looks like a team that is absolutely dominant at times, and totally unmotivated at others.  Maybe they are pacing themselves, but they are going to have some ground to make up in the standings if they keep it up.  Ugh…..at least Tyler Toffoli is back in the lineup.

Then there’s the Ducks who keep losing forwards, but keep finding the win column.  Anaheim has lost Jakob Silfverberg, Teemu Selanne, Dustin Penner, and Saku Koivu, yet they’re in 1st place in the Pacific Division.  Even more amazing is the fact the Ducks are doing this with terrible special teams.  Their powerplay is 29th in the league and their penalty killing is 30th.  Still, they’re finding a way to win on the road and dominate at even strength.

Speaking of the Kings and Ducks, I’ve been a little torn of late on what to do about this outdoor game at Dodgers Stadium in January.  I’ve been bitching for years about how the NHL needs to do an outdoor game in So Cal, and was very excited when I found out we were awarded one.  Naturally, I thought it was a no brainer that I had to attend.  The problem, the best seats in the house are going to cost me nearly $300, and that’s going to be like watching a hockey game from the 300 level at Staples Center.  On the other hand, for the same price, I could watch the Kings take on the Penguins at Staples Center just 5 nights later, and practically be sitting on the glass.  It’s no easy choice folks.  But will anybody be able to see anything at Dodgers Stadium? You tell me?……

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The baseball offseason is upon us, and the Dodgers are working hard to sign their ace Clayton Kershaw to a long term deal.  However, Dodger fans should be experiencing shortness of breath after Kershaw said he was starting to get “curious” about testing free agency as it approaches.  LA simply can’t let this guy test the market.  The entire league will be bidding on him, and Arte Moreno proved a few years ago, it only takes one moron to pay up and you lose your star player.  Even Kershaw seems uncomfortable with the idea of a 10 year $300 million deal.  If he wants a shorter deal, give him a shorter deal, but don’t let him test the market!

Some quick thoughts on Week 9 of the NFL.  Texans coach Gary Kubiak must be able to see the future.  He collapsed at halftime of last night’s game against the Colts.  His team was leading 21-6 at that point, but then collapsed in the 2nd half, and lost 27-24.  In all seriousness though, the NFL needs to consider putting a limit on how much time these coaches can spend in the office.  Broncos coach John Fox collapsed a few days ago as well, which should tell you that NFL coaches work loads have to be addressed by the league.

And finally, Season 4 of The Walking Dead continued on AMC last night with episode 4, called “Indifference”.  Spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t seen it yet.  To quickly summarize: Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese, and Bob, succeed on their run for the medicine.  However, it’s revealed that Bob simply came on the run to find booze, and satisfy his alcoholism.  This revelation makes Daryl the angriest we’ve seen him in a long time, and he lets Bob know he should have never joined their group at the prison in the first place.  Meanwhile, Rick and Carol go on a supply run of their own, and along the way, they meet a couple that has come together during the zombie apocalypse.  Sadly, the couple doesn’t survive long after we are introduced to them.  Rick eventually expresses his disapproval of Carol’s actions, in which she killed Karen and David, to prevent others from getting sick.  Rick then explains to Carol that Tyreese will kill Carol when he finds out what she did, and that he doesn’t want to lie about her actions.  Thus, he banishes her from the group.

It’s hard to imagine that this is the last we have seen of Carol.  The question is: where will she turn up next?  I could easily see her teaming up with what remains of The Governor’s group, or even the Governor himself.  You’ve also gotta wonder how Daryl is going to feel about what Carol did, and her departure.  I suspect he’ll be pissed, but mostly because he thought he was going to get laid for the first time in forever.  The most powerful moment of the episode actually turned out to be the opening scene, where Carol said goodbye to Lizzie.  We hear Lizzie say “One day you just change; we all change.”  This mirrors exactly what we’ve seen from Carol since season 1.  She has transformed from a battered housewife, to a woman willing to recklessly save the lives of everyone she cares about.  In many ways, this mirrors a major theme of the show, which is how almost all of the main characters have changed.  A slower episode, but still a powerful one.

Rick and Carol