October 28th, 2024

The Dodgers are just two wins away from winning the World Series! Coming into this series, you would have thought it was the Yankees that had the advantage in starting pitching. Instead, it’s been the Dodger starters that have dominated. Jack Flaherty was every bit as good as Gerrit Cole in game 1, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto was every bit the ace we thought he could be in game 2. The bullpen continues to be phenomenal, and the offense continues to hit. It’s not all about swinging for the fences either, as their at-bats have been smart and strategic, which have enabled the long ball to be a byproduct. Don’t the Yankees know? Never pitch to a Dodger player who can barely walk in a World Series walk off-situation. Freddie Freeman was Kirk Gibson all over again, except Freeman was able to play the entire game. It appears as though the Boys in Blue dodged a bullet with Shohei Ohtani’s shoulder injury. It sounds like he will be in the lineup in game 3, despite a scary incident trying to steal 2nd base in game 2. The Dodgers will need to have at least 2 games in this series that will need to be bullpen games, which is likely to be games 4 and 5. That would give them an opportunity to use Buehler, Flaherty, and Yamamoto in games 6 and 7 at home. As we learned in the Mets and Padres series, those bullpen games aren’t necessarily a huge disadvantage for a Dodger team with an elite bullpen. The Dodgers are looking good, but as Kobe has told us, the job is not finished.

Speaking of Kobe, that brings us to the Lakers, who are off to a 3-0 start.
They’ve also beaten 3 opponents that are playoff caliber. That’s their best start in 14 years! For a team with two championships in that stretch, that’s pretty surprising. Of course it helps that Anthony Davis is looking like a dominant two-way force, and Lebron James continues to amaze us in year 22 of his illustrious career. However, more than anything, JJ Redick is doing exactly what I told you he needed to do. He is playing sensible lineups that include his best players. He also knows the proper way to use his timeouts. Again, nobody is asking him to be Phil Jackson or Pat Riley, just don’t be a complete buffoon like your predecessor. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that the Lakers are definitive championship contenders, but I can tell you that there is a world where they are much improved from the last two years, and you’re getting a peek into what that looks like.

As for the Clippers, they began play in the Intuit Dome last week, which is a pretty cool arena. “The Wall”, which is a 4,500-seat section exclusive to Clippers fans, located behind one of the baskets, and half of which is standing room only. It’s a pretty cool idea by Steve Ballmer, and has even caught the attention of players around the league who are complimenting the concept. That’s the most exciting news for the franchise, because it’s been a mixed bag on the court to start. The win over Denver was nice, and Norman Powell had a nice night. However, the Kawhi Leonard injury saga is putting a cloud over the franchise. The latest drama is former Clippers trainer Randy Shelton suing the franchise for wrongful termination, and within the lawsuit alleges unsafe treatment of the franchise’s star player. Shelton claimed that Kawhi’s torn ACL he suffered in 2021 required two years to heal from, which was a timeline the Clippers were unwilling to accept. This sounds all too familiar, because the same thing happened in San Antonio. Kawhi needed time to recover from his knee injury on a timeline the Spurs were unwilling to accept. It’s even worse for the Clippers, who are paying him more than $50 million a year, so of course 2 years for a knee injury is unacceptable. It’s become more and more apparent the idea of Kawhi as a full-time NBA player is nothing more than wishful thinking at this point, and I think in a perfect world, the Clippers would love to divorce themselves of this problem and move on from it.

To the NFL, where the Rams took down the Vikings on Thursday night at SOFI Stadium. That was a huge win, mostly because it should make the Rams evaluate themselves completely differently than they were in the days leading up to that game. The Rams are a game out of 1st place in the NFC West, and there is really nobody in the NFC that truly scares you. They also have a lot of very winnable games coming up on their schedule, and they are going to get healthier on the offensive line. There’s no reason to think the Rams can’t go on a run, given what we’ve seen from them in the past. As for the idea of trading Cooper Kupp, or even Matthew Stafford, I can understand the rationale. You can get great receivers in the draft for cheap given the new rules, and Kupp’s availability has been in question. However, Matthew Stafford is 36 years old, and the time to win with him is now. Trading Kupp is counter productive to that idea. I do love Sean McVay’s reaction to the question about the trade rumors though. He had a great answer, but didn’t actually say anything. Sure teams are calling the Rams, but you didn’t say what the Rams are saying on the other end. That’s why I love Sean McVay. Still, the team isn’t that far away, and should look to get healthier and win before they look to blow it up and rebuild

As for the Chargers, they found the win column against the Saints to get back over .500. What a dirty play by that Saints lineman, nearly taking off Justin Herbert’s leg. That game had a lot of PTSD like moments for the Bolts and their fans, like wide receiver drops and missed extra points with shoddy kicking. However, the Chargers still managed to pull it out. I can’t help but think the Chargers would be so much better served trying to acquire a quality wide receiver like Amari Cooper or DeAndre Hopkins, and I can’t imagine the cost would have been that high. Justin Herbert is dying out here throwing to all these Door Dash Drivers every week. Still, with games coming up against the Browns and Titans, there’s some opportunity to make up ground in the standings.

Elsewhere around the NFL in Week 8, Jameis Winston and the Browns shocked the Ravens. Winston is going to be telling stories with Uncle Rico about how far he can throw a football over dem mountains after that one. The Bills dismantled in the Seahawks in a game where Josh Allen was inventing new ways to get 1st downs by kicking the ball on the ground to his teammates. It took National Tight Ends Day and the Raiders for Travis Kelce to have a really good game, as the Chiefs topped the Raiders in Vegas. The Eagles blew out the Bengals, and at some point with Joe Burrow and his hair, you knew it was gonna go from Eminem to Lance Bass. The Cardinals got by the Dolphins, but Tua slid instead of went head first on a play, and everybody was ready to celebrate with a parade. The Texans beat the Colts, yet they are by far the most stressful 6-2 team for any fan base to deal with. The Packers also took down the Jaguars, but their fans will be lighting candles and sacrificing small animals in hopes that Jordan Love will be healthy next week.

In College Football, USC finally found the win column again, taking down Rutgers at home on Friday night. It’s a win they were definitely supposed to be have, but 8:00 pm on Friday night for a Big Ten Conference game? Not to mention it’s occurring on a night where the Dodgers and Lakers are playing on the same side of town as them! This could not be what USC was hoping for when they switched over to The Big Ten, even if they did get $15 million more out of it. On the field though, that was definitely a nice rebound game for Miller Moss, and for the critics, there is really no need to make a change. USC’s issues really don’t have much to do with him. The Trojans could be favored in 3 of their last 4 games, and could easily go 3-1, which frankly is what they will need to do just to have a respectable finish for their first season in The Big Ten. It still won’t be anything the alums will be happy about it, but certainly beats the alternative of people calling for Lincoln Riley’s head.

Finally, after 9 games the LA Kings are looking exactly like we thought they would look. Perhaps a decent team, but one that probably won’t do any damage in the playoffs. A growing issue for the Kings is their goaltending, which they probably took for granted for a long time with Jonathan Quick manning the net for over a decade, and ultimately leading them to two Stanley Cups. Darcy Keumper is just a guy they hope can be decent given his bloated salary. At this point, David Rittich and Phonix Copley should really be playing in a beer league somewhere, even after putting up some respectable performances the last two seasons. I’m not sure that the Kings have the next guy in their organization that will be the man between the pipes, but they need to figure that out, because it’s the most critical element to winning a Stanley Cup.

October 21, 2024

This is surprising and incredibly satisfying. The Dodgers are back in the World Series for the 4th time in the last 8 years. I’m going to tell you the most spoiled fan take in the world but it’s true. The job is far from finished, and the hardest part is coming. We can thank Kobe Bryant for making us psychopathic fans that demands championships from all our sports franchises in LA because he set that standard. This is no different. This series is going to be scary if you’re a Dodger fan. The Yankees are built like the Dodgers, but with more starting pitching. The Dodgers will probably have to face Gerrit Cole 3 times. That means whatever starting pitching the Dodgers have will have to be even more elite, the sluggers will have to have even more power, and the bullpen will have to be even more lights out. Dave Roberts definitely deserves credit for “pushing the right buttons” because that’s literally what he did to get the game plan off the spreadsheet, and it worked. That’s what managers do these days, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Tommy Edman is a championship type of player, which every roster needs if they want to get over the top. Kike Hernandez is the Robert Horry of baseball come October. It’s not just Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts driving the bus. I love seeing Walker Buehler step up big like he did last week, and he’ll have another chance to do so in the World Series. Buckle up because it’s going to be a World Series with unbelievable star power. I’m hoping I’m wrong, but the Dodgers may not have enough pitching to get over the hump.

To the NFL, but the Rams really didn’t have a very impressive victory over the Raiders yesterday. It was especially disappointing considering they were coming off of a bye week. However, there seems to be a greater chance they will get the likes of Cooper Kupp back, and a few members of their offensive line in week 8, which is pretty important because they are playing the Vikings. As for the defense, they did force 4 turnovers, but they still aren’t generating a lot of sacks for the amount of pressure they are putting on the opposing quarterback. I don’t really understand why they can’t get the offense going early. It’s been 7 straight first quarters that the Rams have gone without a touchdown. Does Sean McVay forget to have his morning coffee until halftime? McVay did blame himself postgame for the poor production on offense, but ultimately, once the line gets healthy, they should have a better team. They just have to hope it’s not too late for this season.

Elsewhere around week 7, The Patriots got crushed by the Jaguars in a game that should have been aired on Comedy Central. The Steelers crushed the Jets on Sunday Night Football after starting Russell Wilson, and Justin Fields probably rolled his eyes when Russ probably started singing “Our God Is An Awesome God” in the locker room afterward. The Panthers got cooked by Marcus Mariota and the Commanders. Who gets cooked by Mariota in 2024? Patrick Mahomes is basically a game manager now and he has the Chiefs at 6-0 after taking care of the Niners. The Colts beat the Dolphins, who get their quarterbacks injured as often as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump do something stupid. The Lions rallied to beat the Vikings, and the Packers came from behind to beat the Texans, so they might as well just have the entire NFL playoffs between the NFC North.

To College Football, where USC is really starting to look like a dumpster fire in the Big Ten. The Trojans gave up another lead in the 4th quarter, and lost to Maryland on the road 29-28. The Trojans are now 3-4, with no hope of reaching the 12-team playoff. Riley is now just 5-9 in his last 14 games, and USC is going to be hard pressed just to make some crummy Bowl game this year. I did tell you at the beginning of the year that this might be a down year and to be patient, but the way it’s happening is not what I envisioned. You have to beat teams like Maryland and Minnesota. The real issue is on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and the lack of physicality they bring relative to the rest of the conference. That’s something that will have to be addressed in recruiting. Riley needs to build a wall around California to prevent recruits from leaving, and prioritize talent in California first. There’s also the issue of who should be calling the plays, and more people are starting to think it shouldn’t be John Henson. Riley fixed the defense last year, but can he fix the offense? This is a hard fan base to please and the expectations are high, but it’s going to require some patience, which most Trojan fans will tell you doesn’t exist.

They are going to throw a parade in Westwood! UCLA won it’s first football game in the Big Ten! This is the Ethan Garbers that we were expecting to see from the opener. He was wildly efficient, could even run the ball, and the offensive line actually protected. Rutgers isn’t exactly going to confuse people with the ’85 Bears. However, it’s great to see the UCLA players not quitting, showing lots of character, and fighting hard to find the win column every game, even if the talent isn’t there.

Finally, the NBA season starts tomorrow! The Lakers will be taking on the Timberwolves at Crypto.com arena. There wasn’t much to take away from the pre-seaason other than the fact that Dalton Knecht is legit and going to be an excellent impact rookie, and that Bronny James has the potential to be a decent NBA player. The Lakers really don’t need JJ Redick to be Pat Riley or Phil Jackson. Just don’t be a complete buffoon like Darvin Ham was and screw with the rotation for half the season. Their first five games won’t be very easy though. Timberwolves, Suns, Kings Suns, and Cavaliers.

October 14, 2024

The Dodgers are pleasantly surprising me for now. They met the emotional and mental challenge that the Padres presented them last week. They can thank Teoscar Hernandez for hitting big home runs and bringing some fire to the team, as well as Kike Hernandez, who is basically Derek Jeter in the postseason. Nobody can talk shit on Dave Roberts anymore, even though you shouldn’t be criticizing a guy in the first place that is reading a game plan off a spreadsheet. Although, we just learned that he created Manny Ramirez drama to fire up his team. Who does he think he is, Phil Jackson?? Is he going to start burning incense in the locker room and hand out motivational books? The Dodger bullpen has also been unbelievable. It’s been so good, that they are actually looking forward to having a bullpen game this afternoon in game 2. At some point, the Dodgers are going to give up runs after having the longest scoreless streak in postseason history, but hopefully when they come it’s not an avalanche of them. The Mets don’t exactly have pitchers that scare you, so as long as they don’t see that avalanche of runs from them, you have to like their chances more and more. I’d also like to thank the MLB for scheduling one of their biggest games of the season in the middle of the day on a colonizer holiday that only banks and schools have off. The majority of us will be working and contributing to the economy, affording the rest of these folks the opportunity to go to a game with all those fat welfare checks they are getting from the government!

To the NFL, where the Chargers took down the Broncos yesterday in Denver. That was a much needed win for the Bolts, who got back over .500 on the season. That’s the type of game they would have lost the last few years, likely blowing a 4th quarter lead, but a Jim Harbaugh team is usually a lot mentally tougher than that. Speaking of Harbaugh though, his irregular heart beat doesn’t seem like a big deal to him, but it certainly feels like a big deal to the rest of us. Coaching in the NFL is a very stressful job, not to mention the added stress of having to work for Dean Spanos. It would also be just the Chargers luck to finally have a great head coach, who is hindered by health problems. Nevertheless, for now it appears like Harbaugh is ok. The Chargers had not beaten the Broncos in Denver since 2018. Had they lost, Columbine would be the 2nd worst thing to happen in Denver. Up next is Arizona.

Elsewhere around the NFL, did the Lions schedule the Cowboys for homecoming? It feels like it the way Dallas got blown out. The Jags lost to the Bears in London, and the British say the next time the NFL sends Jacksonville to play football in England, they will consider it an act of terror and will declare war against the United States. The Steelers crushed the Raiders and have asked Justin Fields to stop laughing hysterically when Mike Tomlin tells the media Russell Wilson might get his starting job back. The Bengals topped the Giants, and Daniel Jones has a better chance of winning the Power Ball than throwing a touchdown pass at home these days. The Eagles beat the Browns, but their identity is more confusing than all the people that Kamala Harris say need a sex change operation. I’m beginning to wonder if Jordan Love is the best quarterback in the NFL. He missed two games and he’s already 2nd in the league in touchdown passes, after the Packers crushed the Cardinals!

In College Football, the Trojans have all but been eliminated from the College Football playoff, after falling to Penn State. USC is just 3-3 now, but their last two losses shouldn’t have happened. They had a 2 touchdown lead at the half, and a 1 touchdown lead at the half against Penn State. They had no business losing to Minnesota. These are close games that they need to find a way to win. Ultimately, it’s Lincoln Riley who is taking a lot of heat for these games. USC is getting beaten up on the line of scrimmage, their defense doesn’t get many sacks, and Riley manages timeouts Bernie Madoff manages your money. It’s going to be an adjustment period for USC. That doesn’t mean Riley is incapable of making it, but he will need to recruit more heavily on the offensive and defensive line. As I mentioned at the beginning of the season, if the Trojans go 7-5 or 8-4, that’s really not terrible considering how tough their schedule is, and what the adjustment period is for going into the Big 10. There is nothing wrong with that, but nobody in the Trojan faithful wants to hear that, especially considering USC is a .500 team in the last 21 games.

I really thought UCLA was going to find the win column against Minnesota. It was not to be however, and now I’m not sure there’s another win on their schedule this year. The players are playing hard, but they simply don’t have the talent to get it done, in almost all facets of the game. To make matters worse, when they take the penalties that they did, it makes it nearly impossible to win. 3 of the next 4 are on the road, so winning one of those is hard to envision. I know you all want to slam Deshaun Foster, but he’s here because they didn’t have many choices after Chip Kelly left. There wasn’t a line of coaches around the block for this job. It’s not great, but the reality of it is you need to give it time, and give Foster time to try and recruit in the new NIL world. Don’t write him off yet, as this was a really difficult situation to begin with.

Finally, in the NBA the Lakers have been playing a bunch of preseason games away from Crypto.com arena. That’s all fine and dandy if it’s in the likes of Arizona, Vegas, or Palm Desert. However, why send the team to Milwaukee? Ok, I get it they came here last year so we gotta go there this year, but no more of this nonsense! These players have enough travel as it is. They don’t need to get on a plane to go across the country to play each other in a meaningless game where they are just getting some cardio. As for Bronny James, he was joking around that he wants his own skin in the “Call of Duty” video game. Of course some of you felt the need to jump in with the ridiculous reaction that he’s just going to be playing video games and not focusing on basketball. Since most of you aren’t aware, when pro athletes aren’t working on their craft, they play video games like you watch Netflix. We don’t slam you for watching Netflix and think it will take away from doing your 9-5 job, so there’s no reason to slam Bronny.

October 7, 2024

The Dodgers have a battle on their hands in the NLDS right now against the Padres. If the Boys in Blue are going to win this series, it’s going to have to be exactly how they did it on Saturday night. With big time hitting and an elite bullpen. However, last night was the opposite. No hitting whatsoever. What the Dodgers really need is for Mookie Betts to start hitting again. He hasn’t had a hit in the postseason in years, and he’s way too good of a player for that to continue. They will also need Freddie Freeman’s ankle to be ok. The lineup can’t be feast or famine the rest of the series. They have to hit. Since the game was getting out of hand last night, it was smart of the Dodgers not to use any of their best relievers: Alex Vesia, Evan Philips, Blake Treinen, and Michael Kopech. I have no idea what we’re going to get from Walker Buehler tomorrow night, but if he looks like he doesn’t have it, Andrew Friedman’s computer will need a very quick hook and go to the pen. I have no problem with Jack Flaherty and Manny Machado talking smack to each other. It keeps the game interesting, as opposed to all the old school baseball people that don’t like bat flips and showing other players up. As for the fans, every fan base has idiots among them. It just so happens that the Dodgers have a lot of haters right now, so last night’s idiots make things look even worse. It’s not that hard people. Go to a game and have a good time, but don’t throw anything on the field. Otherwise, you can go to jail with all the Raiders fans.

While we are on the topic of baseball, it’s worth pointing out that Angels Owner Arte Moreno spoke to the media in the last few days. Moreno said that he expects to increase the payroll and to contend in 2025. Increase the payroll by what? $40 million? That won’t get him much of a substantial roster improvement. That’s like going to Mastros with an extra $10 thinking you are going to get a nice meal. This team has so many needs, and needs so much deeper player development, trying to score big with a couple of free agents seems like complete lunacy. This man will never truly understand how to properly rebuild a baseball team.

In the NFL, the Rams suffered another tough loss, this time to the Packers. They are now 1-4 on the season, and have a big hole to climb out of if they want to turn it around. That game was such a headache. Self-inflicted wounds. Failed red zone attempts. Missed tackles. Both turnovers led to Packers TD’s. This team desperately needs a bye week right now. They need to deeply evaluate some areas, get healthy and soul search if they want to finish anywhere near where they did last year. With that being said, the rest of the division isn’t exactly on fire right now, with the Seahawks at 3-2, and the Niners and Cardinals at 2-3. On the bright side, Cooper Kupp will be back for their next game, but the question is how healthy will the offensive line be? Sometimes it looks like this team has the makings of something great, then they have these drives that stall with penalties or poor blocking that leads to sacks, which destroys them. While they don’t have an Aaron Donald level talent, they have enough to be a big play defense, and certainly enough to be better than 1-4. Also, people want to clown the fact there were a lot of Packers fans in the building yesterday. That’s because the Rams aren’t good right now, Dodgers are and they are in the playoffs, and this is Southern California where there is more to do. Not Green Bay, where there is nothing to do.

Elsewhere around Week 5 in the NFL, If I’m the Browns, I find more women to accuse Deshaun Watson of wanting his anus rubbed, and I cut ties with him immediately. Jared Goff has more receiving touchdowns than Travis Kelce this season. Caleb Williams vs. Jayden Daniels in the NFC for the next 15 years. Mike Tomlins manages a game clock as bad Gavin Newsom manages California. The Dolphins beat the Patriots in a game that was so bad it should have been aired on Comedy Central. The Bucs gave away Thursday night’s game to the Falcons like they were some 501C3 Charity. It took Trevor Lawrence’s birthday for the Jags to actually come up with a win, but unfortunately for them, his birthday only comes once a year.

To the NBA, where by now, you know what I think of the NBA preseason, let alone preseason games in any sport. I don’t like to overreact to them at all, since many of the players seeing significant playing time will be delivering your Door Dash next week. With that being said, in the two preseason games I have seen from the Lakers so far, i think Dalton Knecht has shown that he has a real chance to be significant role player as a rookie. He’s exactly the type of wing player the Lakers need right now. The same can be said for Max Christie, who is looking like he’s ready for a bigger role. I also think that Bronny James might be a development player, but he looks like he has a chance to eventually be a very impactful defensive player in the league at some point. There’s also Jalen Hood-Schifino who has taken a lot of crap from fans, but looks much more confident and capable. Even though he’s doing it against players with less NBA experience, you can see he is developing. Beyond that, I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions so far.

In College Football, USC was a victim of the carnage of upsets that occurred in the Top 25 over the weekend. In this instance, it was a loss to Minnesota, which was supposed to be the last team on their schedule that was considered an easy win. So much for that. Their defense completely unraveled down the stretch, and Miller Moss had an unfortunate interception. Overall, the Trojans have lost 7 of their last 12 games. This season may just be what I thought it was when it started: a middle of the road transition into the Big Ten. They will get to take on Penn State next week, which will give them a chance to vault toward playoff contention again, but their margin of error to get in that 12-team playoff is shrinking. The person to blame for all this is Bill Plaschke of the LA Times. He predicted they would make the playoffs, so he pretty much jinxed them. Hopefully he doesn’t predict the sun will rise tomorrow.

Meanwhile, UCLA got bombed by Penn State. Hey on the bright side, they covered the spread? These days that’s about enough reasons to throw confetti if you’re a Bruins fan. I do like what i saw from Justyn Martin though, the Sophomore Quarterback. He looked confident in the pocket, and I did really like the aggressive play calling they ran around him. What the hell do they have to lose at this point? The fact he didn’t turn it over either is also encouraging. Not sure it’s enough to actually find the win column anytime soon though. Remember when I said they had a chance to beat Minnesota? Yea, me neither!

Elsewhere around College Football, it was a weekend full of upsets! Alabama got shocked by Vanderbilt. This is the worst thing to happen to the citizens of Alabama since they learned it was illegal to marry your cousin. Arkansas surprised Tennessee, in a game where I’m not sure why they didn’t just host the Republican National Convention while they were there. I mean they had all the participants minus Trump! Washington took down Michigan, and the Wolverines looked like they had nothing more than “concepts of a plan” in their game plan against the Huskies. College Football is getting exactly what it wants. Complete madness every week, with all kinds of upsets in the Top 25, and a lot of teams that can compete for a spot in the 12-team playoff.