
January 27, 2025
The Lakers have suddenly decided they are interested in playing winning basketball, and have won 3 straight games. One of those wins includes a victory of the the Boston Celtics, who are one of the best teams in the league, and the defending champions. Now suddenly, Lebron James and Anthony Davis are making noise in the media that they need help, are just one or two pieces away from contending, otherwise they feel they have to play “perfect basketball” to win. I can admit that Rob Pelinka has constructed somewhat of a flawed roster, but the excuses from Lebron and AD are obnoxious. Lebron and AD have been available to play in almost every single game, and the Lakers should easily have about 9 more wins if they played like they gave a crap through the first half of the season. That would give them the 2nd best record in the West. Now they want help? Give me break. This team doesn’t deserve help given how they have performed. This is almost the same roster that went to the West Finals 18 months ago, and now it’s not good enough for Lebron and AD? Give me a break guys. If Rob Pelinka can get someone like Walker Kessler or Myles Turner then great, but he shouldn’t get ripped off and mortgage the future because Lebron and AD are bullying him into doing it. There are no star level players available out there that will transform the Lakers into contenders. If that’s what Lebron and AD are looking for, they are currently suffering from a real lack of self-awareness.
Speaking of the Lakers, yesterday marked the 5-year anniversary of Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s tragic passing. I’m not sure there’s a day that has gone by since then that I don’t think about it. However, it’s really incredible how much impact we’ve seen from Kobe’s legacy since his passing. In particular with women’s basketball, and how it’s taken off, and on the Mamba Mentality, which provides the inspiring motivation for people to maximize every single moment of their life the way that Kobe did. If you haven’t already, check out the documentary CNN has on Kobe, which aired part I over the weekend. It’s a three-part series, and the first part told a very candid story about how much his father and former NBA Player, Joe Bryant, and his mother Pam Bryant, invested in Kobe at an early age. It’s probably one of the few times you will watch CNN anytime soon.

How sold are you really on the Clippers right now? We’re halfway through the season, and the Clips are in 6th place in the West, and Kawhi is back and starting to look healthy again. Do we really think this team can do anything, or are they just another team that’s going to get bounced early on in the 1st round. While I don’t think the Clippers are terribly disappointed that Paul George is no longer on their team, I think they are just trying to make the best of what they have with Kawhi still anchoring their salary cap. Aren’t we all just holding our breath until his knees give out? Sure he looks good now, but isn’t it just rinse and repeat that eventually his knees won’t be able to have any more jumps in them? Even if that is not the case, is the team even good enough with an aging James Harden as his running mate? It doesn’t seem so. Nevertheless, the Clips won’t get much attention, but they’ll get respect and credit for what they are doing.
To the NFL, where Championship Sunday went down yesterday, and it went as expected. The Eagles took down the Commanders, and the Chiefs got by the Bills, so the Chiefs and Eagles will have a Super Bowl rematch from two years ago. The Commanders had more turnovers in that game than Betty Crocker. Saquon Barkley was basically a cheat code for the game, and AJ Brown finally put down his non-fiction book and caught some passes for the Birds. As for the Chiefs, how can you bet against Mahomes? This dude is luckier than the Lucky Charms Leprechaun, coming up with the right plays in the biggest games, and the biggest moments of these games. Yesterday was no different. But the real story is Brittany Mahomes and her perpetual Raging Bitch Face. Stay single fellas!
Based on what we saw from the Eagles yesterday, the Rams were the 2nd best team in the NFC this year, and were a block away from being in the Super Bowl. The Rams have $46 million cap space, so if they can sign a few key free agents and continue to draft well, along with keeping Matt Stafford playing, they have a window to win another Super Bowl. They need a young stud wide receiver who can take the top off a defense, a really good cornerback, and some reinforcements at running back. They have 14 key free agents, but i think there’s probably only 3 worth signing if it’s the right price: Alaric Jackson, Michael Hecht, and Jimmy G. Looking forward to seeing what this franchise can do, but they need to cash in on what’s left of the Matt Stafford era.
The Raiders shocked everyone last week by hiring Peter Caroll, who is now 73-years old. I can’t tell if this was a football move or a marketing move. The Raiders still have tons of fans in Southern California, which has tons of USC fans, who are huge fans of Caroll. The man is definitely a culture changer, and has the ability to do that with the Raiders, but he may not be there for that long. They also don’t have have a quarterback, they probably won’t get one this year, and they play in a division with the best quarterbacks of his generation which feels somewhat insurmountable. With that being said, a culture change for the Raiders is a good thing at this point.
To baseball, where the Dodgers are still apparently ruining the game by signing more elite free agents. The latest is Kirby Yates, who will anchor the back of the bullpen, along with Tanner Scott, and an army of other elite relievers. They are also still going to bring back Clayton Kershaw, but the only question is if they still have room for Kike Hernandez. Hopefully they do, because he’s a clutch playoff performer. They were also apparently taking a look at Max Scherzer, who was working out for teams last week. He can take a hike as far as I’m concerned, after letting the Dodgers down in 2021, by not pitching in the most critical game of the NLCS because of “arm fatigue”. That means he made a business decision rather than a decision to help the team, with his free agency approaching. I’m still loving all these people losing their minds over every player the Dodgers sign. So now that the Dodgers won a World Series, and aren’t “choking” every year, the league needs a salary cap or a salary floor, and rules need to be in place from preventing them from dominating. Hilarious.

As for the Angels, they made a classic dumpster diving move by signing shortstop Tim Anderson to a minor league deal. The Halos are truly a dumping ground now for MLB players to try and rehab their careers and re-establing value. Anderson was an incredibly talented player whose production has fallen off a cliff. If he’s going to rehab his value, it certainly won’t be because the Halos player development staff helped. That’s virtually non-existent for this franchise.
Finally, the Wall Street Journal came out with a list of the top 9 Domestic Airlines. As an avid traveler, I was fascinated with the results. It was based on 7 factors measuring how well the airlines get people and their luggage where they need to go. The averages are based on the number of flights and passengers on the airlines. Delta was first, followed by Southwest, Alaska, Allegiant, United, Jet Blue, American, Spirit, and Frontier. I’m not surprised that Delta is #1, but I am surprised that American Airlines is as low as they are. As someone who has been an Executive Platinum American Airlines flyer for 4 consecutive years, I can tell you that they have their flaws, but this isn’t a fair fight. American flies to a third more destinations than the next largest airline, Delta. When you fly to more destinations you get cities that can ultimately have varying weather patterns, which will inevitably create more delays. Southwest, Alaska, and Allegiant, and Jet Blue are extremely regional airlines. I’m not saying I haven’t had a bad experience with American, but if you fly enough you will have a bad experience with any one of these airlines.
