Monthly Archives: September 2019

Monday Morning Coffee

September 30, 2019

Here we are. End of the baseball regular season, and I’m not sure how any of you aren’t dreading what we’re going to see. Dave Roberts just told us that Kenley Jansen is still an elite closer. I can’t tell if he’s serious, or if he’s auditioning for the White House Press Secretary job. Joe Kelly has been so bad in the last month that he should be downgraded from a lower body injury to a “total body injury”. Verdugo, Hill, and Turner are all hurt, Lux and Smith are in a slump. If you’re not worried you’re an Astro or Yankee fan. Just getting out of the NL is going to be tough enough with the flaws the Dodgers have.

Meanwhile, the Angels mercifully wrapped up their season yesterday. The latest noise surrounding the Halos is whether or not they will pursue Joe Maddon and replace Brad Ausmus. I didn’t really think managing was the problem until I heard Ausmus defend Pitching Coach Doug White the other day by saying “He’s good but learning the in-game stuff.” Dude that came with 6 games left in the season, and the guy is still trying to figure it out! Maddon might help a little, but most GM’s like Billy Eppler just want a “yes man” who can read the instructions off a spreadsheet. Maddon is not that. However, what the Angels really need is a boatload of pitching and several more David Fletchers to compete.

To the NFL, where the Rams didn’t have it yesterday against the Bucs. I know inflation is a real killer, but apparently $194 million doesn’t buy what it used to. Yesterday it got the Rams four turnovers from Jared Goff, which each resulted in Bucs touchdowns, and a loss to the wildly inconsistent Jameis Winston. Of course Ndamukong Suh’s biggest play at the Coliseum came against the Rams, rather than when he was with them last season. If Jared Goff is under pressure or faces bad weather, he’s clearly not the same quarterback. Pressure was the culprit yesterday. Suddenly things are looking really cloudy for the Rams: a banged up secondary that got torched against the Bucs, and now they have to go on the road to face Seattle in a short week. This team has a lot of work to do if they have aspirations of getting back to the Super Bowl.

Had the Chargers lost that game to the Dolphins yesterday they should not have been allowed to come back to LA. Having the Dolphins on the schedule is a gift wrapped win for any NFL team, and the Bolts desperately needed it after a rocky 1-2 start coming into the game. Melvin Gordon is back with the team, but the guy looks like a fool. He’s making $5 mill this year, held out for $14 mill, the Chargers offered him $10 mill, and he didn’t accept. The Bolts pulled their $10 mill offer, and now he’s coming back to the team with his tail between his legs rather than holding out until November, when he has to report. I guess there were only so many cameo appearances he could do on Ballers before deciding to come back. The good news for the Bolts is they play a bunch of scrub teams in the Broncos and Steelers at home the next two weeks, so they can bank a few more much needed wins.

Elsewhere around Week 4, after watching yesterday’s Redskins-Giants game it’s clear that Jon and Jay Gruden have more in common than just their last name. Dwayne Haskins was probaly making more money at Ohio State. The Patriots got by the Bills, and Josh Allen got hit so hard he thought he was back at Wyoming. Cam Newton should enjoy his time off, but at this rate he might not have a job when he returns. Christian McCaffrey is the real Superman. The Browns beat the Ravens, but Jarvis Landry is nothing but drama. He made a business decision to not get hit, resulting in a Baker Mayfield interception. Of course karma came back to get him when he suffered a concussion later in the game.

https://twitter.com/WillBrinson/status/1178368074153676801

On to College Football where USC was beaten down by Washington over the weekend in Seattle. The final score of 28-14 was really not indicative of just how badly USC was dominated. In reality, the beating was so bad that somebody probably should have called child protective services. Clay Helton is not good coach, and his comments around improving discipline early in the season are laughable now given all the penalties his team takes. That’s not to mention the fact he isn’t developing anybody, and his schemes stink. It’s gotten so bad that the truly elite recruits are losing confidence in the school’s ability to develop and are now going elsewhere. Firing him now won’t matter, but I think it’s safe to say he will be replaced when the season is over. SC is a perfect 19-0 at the Coliseum when Reggie Bush is on the field, including last week when Bush was on the Fox telecast. Maybe they should pay him to take up residence there? Oh wait they already did that!

Then there’s UCLA, who reminded everyone that they still are a bad football team after losing to Arizona. You thought for just a second that Chip Kelly remembered how to coach. Then he said “hold my beer”, and gave up 451 yards to an Arizona team that started their backup quarterback. Speaking of backup quarterbacks, you think Dorian Thompson-Robinson isn’t very good? Wait until you see how bad Austin Burton is. The worst part about this is that Chip Kelly looks like he doesn’t even care. I guess it’s easy not to when you know you have $20+ million guaranteed to you over the next 4 years. This man has completely gutted the program of top-tier talented upperclassmen and for what? So he can lose games every week to mediocre competition? This embarrassment has no end in sight.

To the NBA, where the Lakers held their media day on Friday. I don’t know if the Lakers are ready for the start of the season, but they sure sound like they are ready. This year there is much less noise from Magic Johnson, less questions about the future of the young core, and more focus around what this team needs to do to contend for a title. However, I find stories about whether or not Anthony Davis will re-sign with the Lakers laughable at this point. I realize some of these writers need clicks, but apparently logic is not something these writers use. AD shares an agent with Lebron James. Lebron James made Rich Paul. As long as Lebron James remains with the Lakers, which is guaranteed for the next two years, AD will remain a Laker. It’s as simple as that. One thing that is concerning however is the Lakers preseason trip to China. That sounds cool until you realize it’s a sure way to start the season slowly. Have you ever been to China? Unless you enjoy eating fried snakes and scorpions, it’s crummy food and weeks of jet lag guaranteed after coming back.

Finally, speaking of the NBA, ESPN did their annual NBA player rankings. As usual these rankings we’re clearly not based on a damn thing other than who these writers hold a grudge against, what they remember from watching the last 5 mins of NBA basketball, what Siri and Alexa told them, and what will get them the most clicks. That probably explains why these morons named Giannis as the best player, followed by Kawhi, who shut down Giannis in the Eastern Conference Finals a few months ago. That stupidity was also in full effect by putting Harden over Steph Curry, after Steph has changed basketball the last 5 years, and Klay Thompson being ranked as the 49th best player. I can just see Kevin Pelton, Jackie MacMullon, Brian Windhorst, and Kirk Goldsberry, taking a swig of tequila and having a good laugh while coming up with this list.

Monday Morning Coffee

September 23, 2019

The Rams are 3-0 and they haven’t even played that well. Their defense is legit. Goff and their receivers are making plays, but Todd Gurley is being preserved until it’s prime time. Sean McVay’s in-game adjustments are next level, and continue to keep this team winning. Goff wasn’t amazing last night, but he played much better than his often “road Goff” performances. I’m sure that won’t sit well with some of you since he has enough money to buy the city of Cleveland at this point, but for a guy who is 24 years old, he’s already growing and will continue to get better. I don’t care what the Cowboys, Packers, and 49ers look like. The Rams are still the best team in the NFC.

The Chargers are capable of beating any team in the NFL. Actually, the only team that seems to beat them consistently is themselves, as well as the 2nd half. That was exactly what happened yesterday when they coughed up a 17-7 lead in the 2nd half to fall to 1-2. Philip Rivers was running for his life all day, and the Chargers inexperienced secondary was lit on fire by Deshaun Watson. These types of losses are going to kill the Bolts come playoff time. If you had a dollar for every time the Chargers choked in the 2nd half, you’d be rich enough to build them a stadium. Sounds like they are going to need that after it’s now being reported they aren’t pulling their weight in ticket sales for the new stadium, and the Rams would love to remove them from the equation. Looks like the Rams and Chargers are developing a rivalry, it’s just between the owners.

Elsewhere around week 3 in the NFL, Antonio Brown is the first player in league history to have his jersey from three different teams on clearance racks at the same time. Somebody get this man a therapist and some meds. Antonio Cromartie has more kids than the Dolphins have points this season. Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson is being advertised as the next “Brady vs Manning.” They are pretty entertaining, except Tom Brady is still in the league and tearing it up. Eli Manning isn’t coming back off the bench anytime soon. Apparently the Saints are still really good without Drew Brees, while the Steelers are still bad without Big Ben.

This weekend was a reminder of just how messed up USC football is. They defeated a top 10 team in Utah with their 3rd string quarterback, and then the next day they lost their commitment from Mater Dei Quarterback Bryce Young, who decided he will attend Alabama next year. The fact USC is able to beat a top 10 team, and even be in the same discussion with recruits that Alabama is getting goes to show you just how bad the coaching is. If USC hired a coach who had some idea how to recruit, develop talent, and ran a more modern offensive scheme, they could be as elite as they like to think of themselves. However, for those of you wanting to hire Urban Meyer, you apparently forgot that USC is actually a University and not an NFL team. Also, this moment on Saturday night is so typical of the NCAA. It’s like they radioed in to the ref to break up the Reggie Bush celebration.

I have no idea what happened in Pullman on Saturday night. Chip Kelly managed to turn the clock back for exactly 1.5 quarters. Somehow the Bruins managed to erase a 32-point deficit and find the win column for the first time this year. I’m going to chalk this up to an isolated incident for now. The Bruins gave up 720 yards of total offense and allowed a starting QB to throw 9 TD passes against them. Chip Kelly can’t coach football anymore. He says he’s trying to learn the personnel, and that “it’s a consistency thing.” Yes Chip your teams consistently suck at all levels over the last half decade, and considering you chased off 30-scholarship players from the Jim Mora era, it’s not going to get any better anytime soon. UCLA needs to pray this guy quits.

The best news that UCLA got last week though was that Dan Guerrero is finally going to retire. Before making too much fun of Guerrero’s futility as an AD, I do wish him a speedy recovery from his battle with cancer, and thankfully things seem to be under control. With that being said though, Guerrero’s true failures are letting the basketball program free fall in reputation since Ben Howland left the program. With rumors that Fresno State AD Terry Tumey is a front-runner for the job, or possibly Villanova AD Mark Jackson if he doesn’t go to USC, hopefully one of these dudes won’t be spending their time slamming donuts like Gurrero, and turn around both the basketball and football programs in Westwood.

Notre Dame put up a good fight against Georgia on Saturday night. Unfortunately, they won’t get as much credit for hanging tough as Georgia will when they get blown out by Alabama. Look, the Manti Teo girlfriend jokes were funny back in 2012, but not so much anymore. However, the College Game Day signs were pretty funny….

https://twitter.com/CollegeGameDay/status/1175418770556239872

I can’t believe some of you actually think this is the Dodger team that is going to win the World Series for the first time in 31 years. Let me remind you that the Dodgers once had Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen in their prime, and at the top of their game. They couldn’t win it when they had those two, and a crummy bullpen. Now Kershaw and Jansen are in decline, and they have the same crummy bullpen. You really expect them to compete with the likes of the Yankees, Astros, let alone come out of the NL with much more formidable opponents? If that’s the case then you probably believe in unicorns and the tooth fairy as well.

Finally, I just can’t do it anymore. I have to pull the plug on Fear The Walking Dead. I tried. However, the show is way too confusing with it’s timeline jumps, it’s killed off all the interesting characters, and unless it can tie to the actual Walking Dead show in some way, then it’s doomed to fail. This also explains why the ratings are sinking faster than the Titanic. It’s gotten so bad they don’t even air “Talking Dead” after the show to discuss it. Heck, if The Walking Dead doesn’t get their act together soon, I might pull the plug on that one too. Sad because at one point it was one of the better shows on television.

Monday Morning Coffee

September 16, 2019

The Rams handled business yesterday against the Saints. It wasn’t much of a fair fight given that Drew Brees left early with an injury, but their defense was phenomenal. Assuming that Brees is going to be ok though, I sure hope these teams get to meet again in the NFC Championship game this season. However, are we really going to have to hear more whining from Saints fans about getting screwed again on another call? I’m sure New Orleans is going to be upset. Gayle Benson will probably call the NBA office and demand more from the Lakers in the Anthony Davis trade out of spite, and demand an investigation by the FBI on the officiating. Look, yesterday was a bad call. Jared Goff really fumbled. The playoff game they got screwed too. However, the Saints offense did nothing yesterday, so I don’t want to hear any crying about the officials. Get over it and move on. Besides, the refs looked completely competent before the game…

What a typical Charger game that was. It’s like they are breeding their kickers to suck. Regardless of all the injuries, they should have won that game. Can Philip Rivers stick any of his kids on the offensive line or at defensive back? Better yet, can any of them kick a field goal? He only has 27 to choose from. It’s clear the Chargers don’t miss Melvin Gordon because Austin Ekeler is in beast mode. However, they clearly are still untrustworthy in close games, especially with their kicking issues. Only the Chargers could play in a soccer stadium, yet have some of the worst kickers in the world. Tom Telesco should be spending the next couple of weeks scouting every MLS team in the country to see if he can find somebody halfway decent to do the job.

Elsewhere around Week 2 in the NFL, the Dolphins are so bad, Roger Goodell has called the ACC in attempts to trade them for Clemson. The Jaguars lost to the Texans, but Gardner Minshew definitely looks like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, and acts like him too by stretching in the locker room with only his jock strap on. Do NFL GM’s still think Lamar Jackson is a running back? If so, that type of logic makes them qualified to be the next AD at USC (more on that in a moment). Dak Prescott looks amazing and his bank account will be too very soon. The Vikings lost to the Packers, and if Kirk Cousins isn’t arrested for stealing money from Minnesota, then white privilege really does exist. I was going to bag on Cam Newton for laying an egg on Thursday, but the guy looks so physically beat up, wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls an Andrew Luck and retires.

To College Football where USC’s stay in the Top 25 was about as short as Peter Dinklage. The Trojans made BYU’s season by losing to them in OT on Saturday night. The ginger-ale was really flowing in Provo after that one. In typical Clay Helton fashion, USC had no offensive rhythm, their offensive line was pushed around, and their tackling was worse than a Pee Wee football team. I guess Kedon Slovis might not be the next Sam Darnold after all. The Trojans could easily have a losing record after the next 3 games against ranked opponents. It also looks as though President Carol Folt is planning a huge overhaul of the program after dismissing Lynn Swann (I mean after he “resigned”). Swann can continue doing what he’s always been doing, which is playing golf. Folt appointed Dave Roberts as the interim AD, and passing up Senior Associate AD Steve Lopes. Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if OJ Simpson ends up as the next Athletic Director knowing this schools ethics.

Meanwhile, UCLA is a total disaster. They were murdered by Oklahoma at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, in a game that was made even more embarrassing by the fact 60% of the stands were filled with Sooner fans. Chip Kelly is making Jim Mora Jr. look like Bill Belichick. There is absolutely nothing going right with this program. The Bruins need to pray that Kelly just gets so sick of losing that he quits. Hard to imagine with him swimming in money, but stranger things have happened. Not only can the man not recruit, it’s crystal clear that his system is more outdated than a VCR. Prepare for some major irrelevance for a while Bruin fans.

Let’s talk some hoops. The Celtics not only lost to France, but they finished 7th in the World Championship tournament. No not Team USA, the Celtics. We sent 4 Boston Celtic players. You think if we sent 4 Los Angeles Lakers we would have finished 7th? I don’t want to hear the media try to tell me how great this young Celtics core is again. The same Celtics core that was supposedly “head and shoulders” better than any other trade package for Anthony Davis. These guys should be deported to Siberia for embarrassing our country.

The Dodgers clinched the division earlier in the week, but the playoff competition looks absolutely miserable to go up against. Facing the Nationals with Scherzer, Strasburg, and Corbin? No thanks. Going up against the Cubs? Have you seen how the Dodgers are giving up home runs of late? The Cardinals? Nightmares from the past forever. The Braves? Not the same jokers they beat up on in the past. I haven’t even gotten to how awful it would be playing the Astros or Yankees. I also don’t care what Dave Roberts says: home field advantage if vital for the Dodgers. in 54 League Championship and World Series since 2001, teams with home field advantage win the series 60% of the time. The Dodgers are also 36 games above .500 at home, and only 8 games aboive .500 on the road. So don’t tell me it’s not “win at all cost” important Dave Roberts. No matter what the spreadsheet is telling you.

At least the Angels have figured out this whole tanking thing. They’ve lost 6 of their last 7, and they are shutting down players left and right for the rest of the season. I guess elbow injuries are played out with this team, so they are starting a new trend with lower body injuries. Mike Trout, Justin Upton, and Shoehei Ohtani have all been shutdown in the last week with injuries to their lower extremities. I’m not even sure having $34 million to spend this off-season can make up a 30 game difference between the Angels and the Astros. At least Mike Trout is a good bet to win the MVP.

Monday Morning Coffee

September 9, 2019

Breaking news: the Rams are still really good. In the 1st half, their offense looked they were playing the 5th quarter of the Super last year, yet they still managed to hold off the Carolina Panthers on the road. The defense is legit, even after losing Eric Weddle to a head laceration yesterday. Weddle looked like Negan took him out back with Lucille, but hopefully he’ll be back in action next week. A sign of a good team is one that wins when it isn’t at it’s best. The Rams were far from it and they took care of business. There’s still a lot of concerns about Todd Gurley and his overall durability, but he showed up in the 4th quarter. Also the new $134 million man, Jared Goff, should continue to improve and keep the Rams in elite company.

Then there’s the Chargers, who shockingly didn’t start their season with their traditional disappointing loss. You remember the Chargers right? That other football team in LA with 5 or 6 fans? They managed to defeat a diminished Colts team yesterday, after Austin Ekeler did his best Barry Sanders impression. I’m pretty sure the Bolts don’t miss Melvin Gordon right now. However, this team is missing too many key guys to have a real chance to be a Super Bowl contender. Gordon, Russell Okung, and Derwin James are all out of the lineup with injuries or contract disputes, which is going to hurt in the long run. After seeing Zeke’s record breaking contract, and Ekeler go crazy yesterday, the Chargers have offered Melvin Gordon a year’s pass to Disneyland. In a competitive AFC, that may be enough to prevent them from returning to the postseason. Then again, I’m not sure it matters with KC and New England head and shoulders above everyone else.

Elsewhere around Week 1, Someone needs to teach Khalil Mack to play quarterback, because Mitch Trubisky is still trash. Hell of a start by both New York football teams. You can give the Browns a promising rookie QB, OBJ, and some cool uniforms, and they still suck. Patrick Mahomes is still a human video game. Antonio Brown should change his name to “Antonio Clown”. Still, the Patriots dismantled the Steelers without AB, and it’s not even going to be fair when he suits up for them next week. “Knock on wood if you’re with me.” Jameis Winston was so bad, the 49ers are going to make him their starting quarterback. The Dolphins made Lamar Jackson look like Dan Marino. The Colts gave $29 million to Jacoby Brissett and Brian Hoyer. Jim Irsay is clearly drinking again.

To College Football where the Trojans are 2-0. That means that Clay Helton and Lynn Swann should be receiving a 15 year extension this week right? Kedon Slovis suddenly looks like the 2nd coming of Sam Darnold, except that might not be what the Trojan faithful wants to hear. If Slovis is that good, this is like owning a Ferrari but not knowing how to drive it. Stanford had to play with their backup QB, and simply did not look that good. The 2-0 start feels a lot more about the questionable competition than how good USC really is. Only time will tell, but after BYU, the schedule gets rough: Utah, Washington, and Notre Dame. The last thing USC needs is for Clay Helton and Lynn Swann to stick around, so most Trojan fans should be in favor of tanking like an NBA team.

It’s a shame that the Rose Bowl doesn’t sell alcohol anymore. UCLA fans really need it to get through the season. This team looks more and more embarrassing every time they play. UCLA should never lose to San Diego State, even if they were coached by Helen Keller. Somehow, Chip Kelly managed to pull it off. This man is being paid millions to drive a football program into the ground. I don’t know what’s worse: the incredibly mediocre talent that has been recruited, or the disaster on the field itself. I guess $23 million doesn’t buy what it used to.

I love how Notre Dame beats Louisville by 18 points and they are “overrated”. Meanwhile, Michigan barely hangs on against Army, and it’s just “an off-day for a solid football team”. Then there’s Tennessee’s embarrassing loss to BYU. The SEC should announce that effective immediately it will no longer be acknowledging Tennessee’s presence and that it will be claiming Clemson as the 14th member of the conference. It’s a close call between the Dolphins and Florida State as to who exactly the worst football team in the state is, but FSU seemed determined here….

We’re approaching the start of training camp in the NHL, and that means the Kings are about to get going. By going, I mean going straight down the toilet. The Kings supposedly had a great draft, and some are claiming they have a Top 5 farm system. Sorry but it’s a little difficult to get excited about a farm system that is about 3 years away from competing in the NHL. When your team is comprised of Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Jonathan Quick, you expect to compete for Stanley Cups. There were actually several solid bargain free agents out there that could even help the Kings now, without compromising this so called bright future. However, apparently the Kings would rather give these roster spots to mediocre young players than compete for a playoff spot. It’s a sad state of affairs for this once elite hockey club.

Finally, I’ve decided I’m going to lay off the Dodgers this week. They’ve been beaten up pretty good lately, and will probably get beaten up pretty good come October the way their pitching has been bleeding runs, and their hitters have disappeared like Houdini. Oh wait, I said I was going to lay off. So much for that. Not only is home field advantage throughout the playoffs in jeopardy, they might not even have home field advantage in the NL playoffs. Just because this late season futility is predictable, doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

Monday Morning Coffee

September 2, 2019

What a brutal start to the season for the Trojans. They lose JT Daniels to a knee injury, and had it not been for a couple of miraculous special teams plays, they would have lost to Fresno State. The offense looked just as unimaginative as it did last year. The two scoring drives USC put together in the first quarter are what a program like that is supposed to do against Fresno State. None of that happened after Daniels went down. However, the QB competition the last few weeks has been close, the expectations shouldn’t change for Helton. After seeing this team play just one game this season, I think it’s fair to say the Coliseum isn’t the only thing that needs to be rebuilt. Speaking of that new Scholarship Tower, USC continues to embarrass itself by sticking pictures of OJ Simpson everywhere. I guess USC is ok celebrating a murderer considering their football team has been getting murdered as well. Even the fans are struggling too.

Meanwhile, things didn’t look great for UCLA in their first game against Cincinnati either. Chip Kelly looks like a dude who is getting paid living on what he did 10 years ago. Dorian Thompson-Robinson completed 30% of his passes! 30%!!! Imagine how bad UCLA’s backup QB’s are when they can’t beat out a guy who is completing 30% of his passes. Chip Kelly had the 8th best recruiting class in the Pac-12. I realize that he often finds undervalued talent, but that just seems unacceptable. The Bearcats aren’t a bad team, but I don’t see things getting a whole lot better this season for UCLA Football.

Elsewhere around College Football, Tennessee and Florida State both can’t figure out who embarrassed themselves more in Week 1. In typical SEC fashion, they both scheduled cup cakes and lost in shocking fashion. Alabama and Clemson cruised to easy victories, and I have no idea why we are all wasting our time. Just get us to another championship game with these two teams since they are head and shoulders better than everybody else. This is really the signal that the Tennessee coaches came up with?

https://twitter.com/lt4kicks/status/1167925490620829698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1167925490620829698&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.12up.com%2Fposts%2Fvideo-tennessee-vols-dc-sends-nsfw-looking-signal-to-team-against-georgia-state-01dkmwdhvvae

As usual, everybody made a huge deal over nothing with Kobe and Shaq last week. If you actually listened to Kobe’s entire interview, he was extremely complimentary of Shaq, talking about how amazing of a player he was. Of course most journalists that cover the NBA have the memory of a 5-year-old, and only focused on the fact Kobe called him lazy. Kobe didn’t say anything that you don’t already know about Shaq, or that he hasn’t told Shaq, or that Shaq himself doesn’t already know. Kobe was great. Shaq was great. They were great together. They could have been even greater. What never gets old though is when Shaq finds a way to rip Dwight Howard in the process!

https://twitter.com/kobebryant/status/1166765322579263488

I can’t believe some of you still wonder why I criticize the Dodgers like I do. They look like hot garbage at the moment, and extremely vulnerable come postseason time. Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu need a freaking bye week, Max Muncy and Dustin May are injured, the rest of the team stopped hitting, and worst of all, Kenley Jansen is hemorrhaging runs. Are you really telling me that in one month from now he’s going to look like the $80 million closer we expect him to be? The Dodgers would be wise to spend the next four weeks looking for a reliable replacement for Jansen, or else more October futility is on the way.

As for the Angels, the news just keeps getting worse on and off the field. The results of the Tyler Skaggs autopsy revealed there was alcohol and opioids in his system. That means we might be in for a long and expensive lawsuit between the Halos and the Skaggs family. I’m not going to pretend like I’ve experienced losing a child, or been through a situation like the Skaggs family is going through. However, unless there is some weird foul play we don’t know about here, Tyler is responsible for what he put in his own body. That shouldn’t be pinned on someone else just to preserve reputation, character, or legacy. This season can’t end soon enough for the Angels and their fans.

Finally, the Melvin Gordon situation is escalating. The Chargers are actually granting Gordon permission to find a trade partner. That’s like allowing your girlfriend to go seek a new relationship when you know she’s put on some pounds, and not looking her finest. Even though Melvin Gordon is not out of shape, he’s a running back. That means teams don’t like tying up money in them, unless they are elite. Gordon is very good, but not Ezekiel Elliott or Todd Gurley. No team is going to pay him $14 million, as well as give up a 1st round pick or two for him. I also like how immediately after the Chargers granted him permission, Houston and Kansas City all locked up cheaper running backs. Whatever market there was for Gordon has already shrunk. Now we’re already hearing rumors that Melvin Gordon is expected to end his holdout within the next week, as the Chargers are only offering him his original $5 million salary. Should have just taken the $10 mill you were being offered!

https://twitter.com/lt4kicks/status/1167925490620829698