The U.S. Olympic Hockey Team beating Canada was adorable. Not because it was unexpected — but because somewhere in Toronto a guy wearing three layers of flannel whispered, “This was our year.” Beating Canada in hockey is like beating Italy in pasta or France in complaining. It’s not just a loss; it’s a national identity crisis. For once, the Americans were faster, tougher, and slightly more polite about it. And you know it hurt because Canadian fans were calm. Too calm. Except for the guy Bartstool Sports posted about who chain sawed his TV. That’s when you know it stung.
Now that the Winter Olympics are over, we all return to pretending we never screamed at curling at 6 a.m. For two weeks, we became experts in luge aerodynamics and snow texture density. Then — poof — it’s gone. The Olympics are like that friend who visits, inspires you to “live boldly,” and then leaves you alone with NBA box scores. Still, there’s something beautiful about a sporting event where gold medals are decided by thousandths of a second and where people voluntarily ski uphill. I already have withdrawals from that Olympic music on NBC. However, I can’t wait until the 2028 Olympics in LA!
The Lakers losing to the Celtics yesterday was, of course, extremely calm and rational. Lakers fans handled it with maturity and perspective. No one suggested trading half the roster. No one questioned the coaching staff’s life choices. And absolutely no one brought up 2008. Losing to Boston is just another game, right? Completely normal. Definitely not something that reopens historical wounds dating back to black-and-white television. I’m sure it was perfectly normal for all those Laker fans to be jumping off the Santa Monica Pier last night after they were totally outclassed by the Celtics in every facet of the game. Of course they also had to do it on a night they honored Pat Riley. Then they proceeded to dishonor him by getting smoked by their biggest rivals.
Meanwhile, the NBA continues to bravely attempt to fix tanking, which is impressive considering tanking is just math wearing a hoodie. The league flattened lottery odds, added a play-in tournament, and still somehow teams wake up in March with “precautionary soreness.” It’s not losing — it’s “asset management.” If there were an Olympic sport for strategic underachievement, a few front offices would podium. This really isn’t even a top 5 issue in the NBA. However, clearly, Adam Silver cares more about his gambling and TV partners than the fans, who probably don’t mind tanking to a degree because it gives teams hope of competing and finding the next star.
UCLA upsetting Illinois was a lovely reminder that the Bruins still enjoy ruining someone else’s bracket before the bracket even exists. Illinois probably prepared for a competitive game. Instead, they got a UCLA team that looked like it had been quietly rehearsing for March in a dimly lit gym somewhere. West Coast basketball heard the doubters and politely responded with defense. It’s also a big relief for Mick Cronin, who had it rough earlier in the week when he through out one of his players from a game, then scolded a reporter for no good reason. His act is still wearing this with a lot of the Bruin faithful, but for the time being, UCLA is off the bubble in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology. They are projected as the last 4 bye’s currently. I still have a hard time seeing them last long in the Tournament, but we’ll find out soon enough.
The Dodgers starting spring training 2–0 means the dynasty is clearly intact and baseball might as well skip to October. Every March, Dodgers fans convince themselves this is the deepest roster in human history. Every year, they’re not entirely wrong. The vibes are immaculate. The payroll is heroic. The optimism is irrational. It’s baseball season again. The Boys in Blue will need to find a way to limit the innings of their starting pitchers though, to preserve them for the postseason. Those guys threw a ton of critical innings late in the year, and were stretched to the max in 2025.
And then there are the Angels — who apparently believe spring training games are a private members-only experience. Not televising them is a bold content strategy. “You can’t criticize what you can’t see.” It’s like baseball’s version of disappearing texts. Maybe the idea is to protect fans from forming expectations. In that case, mission accompli. I would however really like to see this survey that Arte Moreno is talking about, where winning is apparently not in his fan bases top 5 priorities. The Halos are not exactly a data and analytics driven team, so pardon me if I’m somewhat skeptical of the interpretation of the data.
Happy Presidents’ Day everyone! We start with the NBA All-Star game that went down over the weekend at the Intuit Dome. Coming into it, everyone was really down on the NBA. However, yesterday’s new format in the All-Star game resulted in increased competition, and some entertaining basketball. We thought it would be the international team that would destroy everyone. Instead it motivated the younger USA stars to win and compete, especially after they saw Victor Wembanyama blocking shots early. Anthony Edward’s gets it, and that’s why he got MVP. Kawhi Leonard played like he was playing for another max contract yesterday. As for the rest of the weekend, it was great to see Dame Lillard with the 3-point contest after sitting out all season due to injury. The slam dunk contest was pretty underwhelming, but don’t tell me that everything has been done. I saw Mac McClung doing some practice dunks on Twitter that were phenomenal. They just need to get the right names in the contest, and this year they did not have them. I love the NBA, and it’s gotten it’s fair share of criticism, but since it’s moved to NBC this year, the ratings are the best we’ve seen since 2018. The tanking issue is hard to fix, but the irony of it is that we all know that the NBA draft lottery is rigged anyway, so all those tanking teams never get the #1 pick anyway. More than anything though, the league has a bit of a transactional relationship with its fans. The fans care more about where Giannis or Lebron will end up next, and are interested in the cool highlights on social. The product on the court is becoming less interesting due to style of play, and lack of player availability. That’s the part they need to figure out how to fix, and people will love the NBA like the 1990’s all over again.
I’ve heard a number of analysts take LeBron’s comments the other night about the Lakers not being a championship team and run with them, saying the Lakers season is pointless, and basically just to get Lebron off the team to reset. The problem with that take is that the Lakers have only played 10 games with Luka, Lebron, and Austin. They are 7-3 in those games. They were also 14-7 last year in games they played together. This is still a very good Lakers team, albeit in a conference with a lot of competition. The team may not be constructed in the most ideal way, needing more 3 and D wings and a better rim protector, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be formidable come playoff time.
Chris Paul was waived last week by the Toronto Raptors after being traded there by the Clippers before the deadline. Paul decided to officially announce his retirement on social media right after that. What a very unceremonious ending for a great player. CP3 is a great player, and easily among the best point guards to ever play basketball. However, he’s had an incredibly strange career. We all know he should have ended up on the Lakers in 2011, before David Stern vetoed the trade. He had an entertaining run with the Clippers for a few years and some success with the Rockets and Suns afterward, despite not winning a championship. He also had this very strange ending by getting kicked off the Clippers team for essentially being too vocal, and ultimately being forced to retire. It’s sad that nobody was willing to put up with him anymore, because he deserved a better ending than that. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t take away from how great of a player, competitor, and leader he was.
To baseball where the Dodgers re-signed Kike Hernandez and Evan Philips which was nice to see! Both are very important additions to the team in a year where they are trying to three-peat. Neither will be ready until about mid-season as they recover from injuries, but that’s ok. Kike will fortify the bench and the clubhouse leadership, and Philips is a high leverage reliever, who is capable of getting some big outs in the postseason. Unfortunately, Anthony Banda and Ben Rortvedt were casualties in the process. Banda was a talented lefty who helped the Dodgers in the postseason, and Rortvedt is a promising backup catcher who contributed in the playoffs as well. Banda had a very classy and heartfelt goodbye on social media, which all Dodger fans are going to love. Something tells me if Rortveldt goes back to waivers, the Dodgers will try to snag him again though.
Then there’s the Angels, who announced a couple of very Angels like moves the past few days. They re-signed former Dodger Chris Taylor to a one year deal. Taylor must really love baseball because he’s made about $80 million in his career, and is playing for $760K next season. They also announced the signing of infielder Adam Frazier to a minor league deal. He’s a left-handed hitting infielder who will likely make the team, since the Halos don’t have much talent to be quite blunt. Lastly, they announced that Mike Trout will be going back to center field this season. Hopefully they get more than 40 games out of him in that spot, because that just doesn’t seem like a good idea.
UCLA Basketball is going to have its work cut out for them before the season is over. The Bruins lost to arguably the best team in the country over the weekend in Michigan. However, they now currently sit on the bubble as the last 4 teams in the tournament, acccording to Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology. Considering they have to play Illinois, Nebraska, and Michigan State in their last 6 regular season games, that could be a really good thing or a really bad thing. If they lose any of those games, they could easily fall out of the tourney. However, if they win, they could be more likely to avoid a play-in tournament game scenario. They are going to need way more consistency though from Donovan Dent. This guy was supposed to be the best player in the transfer portal, and sometimes he just looks way in over his head with top Big Ten competition. Here’s to hoping he steps it up over the course of the next 6 games and beyond.
There’s a fierce debate going on in College Football between The Big Ten and The SEC for the number of teams in the playoff. The Big Ten wants 24, the SEC wants 12. The Big Ten event wants to get rid of the Conference Championship games. This all seems very radical, but all of College Football has been radical for the last 2 years. 16 Teams feels like the right amount. Once you get past 16, there is likely going to be a big drop off in competition, like we saw with James Madison and Tulane in this years CFP.
Finally, I have thoroughly enjoyed the Winter Olympics so far. There’s been some pain and some controversy though. The pain came when that Frenchman got nailed in the groin by that gate during the downhill skiing. Hopefully he’s recovered by now. There’s also been the ice dancing controversy, which resulted in the USA couple getting screwed, and settling for the silver medal, while the French somehow got the gold. It’s always the French and Russian judges that have to screw things up! The Canadian men’s hockey team looks incredible of course, and they look like they are on a collision course with the Team USA. Canada is going to be favored, but I assure you if they lose, you can count on endless trolling from President Trump. I also feel terrible for Kings forward Kevin Fiala, who fractured his leg in his first Olympic game for Sweden. Before many of you overreact to that though keep in mind that the LA Kings are likely screwed anyway and probably weren’t going to make the playoffs with or without him. Also, his injury probably won’t change anything with regard to NHL Players playing in the Olympics. Both the players and NHL Owners and executives want it to happen.
What a terrible Super Bowl that was. Congratulations to the Seahawks for coming away with a well deserved championship. I’m happy for Sam Darnold as well, who is a really good guy from my hometown, and a great redemption story. Other than that though, the game was tough to watch. Neither offense did much. The Seahawks defense felt incredible dominant, but for a game with 100 million people watching, that’s not going to do much for entertainment value. Kenneth Walker was the MVP, but it was hilarious listening to Chris Collinsworth say he does nothing well except run. The Rams have to be kicking themselves watching that last night, because what a missed opportunity they had not making it to the Super Bowl. They were one of the few teams in the league that could put up points on that Seattle defense. The NFC Championship game was really the Super Bowl two weeks ago.
As for the rest of the broadcast, I was not as down on the halftime show as everyone else. Bad Bunny was always going to have a segment of people that weren’t going to like his music no matter how great the performance was. However, the choreography was great, and you have to appreciate the artistry behind it from the Taco guy, to the couple that actually got married, and the little kid that received his Grammy Award at the end. He was very intentional with his messaging. I’m sure some people will view it as political, but I don’t politicize everything the way a lot of people do these days. As for the commercials, there were too many that were just sad and serious, and not enough that were there to make us laugh and entertain us. That’s supposed to be the point of the commercials. If I had to pick a couple, I would say the Xfinity Jurassic Park commercial was creative, and the Bud Weiser “Free Bird” commercial as well. It was pretty underwhelming beyond that.
The NBA trade deadline came and went last week, and it was not very eventful for the Lakers. They did make a trade to improve on the margins, sending Gabe Vincent to Atlanta for sharp shooting forward Luke Kennard. Kennard will improve the Lakers dismal shooting, but might not be so effective on the defensive end. Then again, Gabe Vincent wasn’t exactly locking people up either. I was a little disappointed the Lakers burned their open roster spot on Kobe Bufkin. He was lighting up the G-League, but he’s not going to crack their rotation right now. A player like Hayward Highsmith along with Cam Thomas would have added some scoring dynamics to their bench and perimeter defense they don’t have. Now I can’t see them waiving anybody else to open another roster spot. The Lakers entered Saturday tied for 4th in the West, and just a game out of 3rd place. Lebron, Luka, an Austin haven’t even played 10 games together this season. Say what you will about the flawed roster construction, but they haven’t had much time on the floor together to see just how good the team can be unfortunately. With that being said, the Lakers clearly got what they wanted with Giannis staying in Milwaukee. However, don’t be surprised if he’s going to do the same stupid dance he did over the summer and stay for another year with the Bucks, then hit the free agent market in 2027. That’s too long for the Lakers to wait when they have Lebron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves on the roster now. The free agent class in 2026 is so dismal, I can easily see the Lakers running it back with the same team on one year deals, with or without Lebron. I sure hope they plan on using the cap space and their picks to make some trades for quality 3 and D wings. Otherwise, that’s not a great way to optimize a generational talent in his prime that you just acquired.
The Clippers on the other hand surprised us all with their wheeling and dealing last week. After completely turning their season around and becoming one of the hottest teams in the NBA, the Clippers traded James Harden to Cleveland for Darius Garland, and Ivica Zubac to Indiana for Benedict Mathurin and picks. What they did isn’t actually all that surprising, it’s just the timing of it. They were on their way to the play in tournament. Then they did what I told you they should have done months ago, and not let public perception dictate their immediate future. To their credit, they did not. This was clearly prompted by James Harden requesting a trade after being denied an extension. I can’t blame Harden for trying to recoup all the money he has lost over the years requesting trades, so it was wise for both sides to move on. Then they figured they might as well trade Zu to get some draft capital back. I’ve gotta think come this summer Kawhi’s days as a Clipper are numbered, and he’s going to be traded next. He is the last tree standing! (Sorry I couldn’t help myself) The question is what kind of market he has given the history of his knees, and what comes out of this NBA investigation about cap circumvention. On the bright side for the Clips, at least Kawhi will represent them in the All-Star game the are hosting.
Speaking of trades, in the NHL, the Kings made a big trade last week, acquiring winger Artemi Panarin from the Rangers. You guys know I have been as critical of the Kings as anyone, but this actually is a solid trade. The Kings had to give up their best prospect in Liam Greentree, but the Kings stink at developing young NHL players, so they might actually be better off with Panarin. He’s 34 years old, he can score, and they only had to extend him for 2 more years. That’s not too bad. With that being said, the Kings are not an Artemi Panarin away from winning the Stanley Cup. They might be an Artemi Panarin away from making the playoffs, but even that’s in question when you look at the standings. The Kings have the 2nd fewest regulation + overtime wins in the league, despite being 3 points out of the playoffs. They have 26 games left and are going to have to win about 20 of those games in regulation or OT to make it. That sounds like a tall task for team that is horribly coached, struggling to score, and limited mobility on defense.
The Rams may not have played in the Super Bowl, but the week leading up to it was still a good one. They signed Les Snead and Sean McVay to extensions, they added Cliff Kingsbury to their staff, and then Matt Stafford won the MVP and announced he’s coming back for another season. Stafford absolutely earned that MVP over Drake Maye, and I can’t believe it was that close considering it was such a soft schedule for Maye. I’m not surprised he decided to come back, but thankfully he is because it would have changed the entire outlook on the Rams season next year. Stafford should be a Hall of Famer after winning that MVP, to go along with his gaudy stats and Super Bowl victory in 2021. As for Les Snead and McVay, they are instrumental to the Rams success, and keeping them in the fold is also a great thing. I’m still not sure what was up with McVay thinking about retiring early after the last Super Bowl win, but he’s signed a couple of extensions since then, and makes great money, so it doesn’t sound like burnout is an issue for him right now. He might not coach another 10 years, but he should be part of the Rams future for another good stretch here. I’m not sure about Cliff Kingsbury though. I mean he’s a great football mind, but with McVay calling the plays, what is he going to do? Be the clock manager? I’m sure they’ll figure it out though.
In the College ranks, UCLA basketball held of Washington for another win over the weekend. They remain in 6th in the Big Ten, but every team in front of them is ranked in the Top 12 in the Nation. The rest of their regular season conference schedule is going to be tough. Watching that win and hearing Mick Cronin criticize their defense afterward, all I could think about is that the Bruins have to play hard all the time to win. Their talent alone can’t get them by. As for football, I have a very hard time seeing a scenario where UCLA is going to play at SOFI Stadium next year, or anywhere that isn’t the Rose Bowl. Last Tuesday, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge denied a request by the University of California Regents, on behalf of UCLA, to force arbitration in an ongoing lawsuit with the City and the Rose Bowl Operating Company over the Bruins’ long-term stadium agreement. UCLA however, is already benefiting from moving to the Big Ten. They received an extra $40 million than had they stayed in the Pac-12, except they still have a deficit of $21 million for other reasons of fiscal mismanagement. It’s going to take the University a while to get out of this mess, but they do seem like they are slowly on the right track to doing so. It just might take College Football conferences evolving to further help them do that.
I am a huge fan of the Olympics, and I’m excited that the Winter Olympics are now underway in Milan. What a beautiful opening ceremony it was on Friday night. Don’t be hating on Mariah Carey because you thought she sang over a track. The fact she was there and part of the song was sung in Italian is big enough! So much Italian style, and was so inclusive of the athletes who were at the other 3 venues. They looked like they were coming out of a Stargate, all with personality! The fact JD Vance was booed when the Team USA was showed walking out is just an example of how much Europe and the rest of the world is hating our leaders and that’s sad on a stage like the Olympics. I feel awful for Lindsey Vonn, who was skiing with no ACL, a replaced knee, and then fractured her leg in the downhill finals. While it’s a heroic effort to train and come this far, it’s probably also not very safe to be skiing at this level of competition without an ACL. I’m looking forward to some men’s hockey beginning on Wednesday, which is always intense. I’m also looking forward to seeing some of these more obscure sports we don’t always get to see like Super G, Bobsled, and Skeleton. These sports are so intense, I assume if you don’t die in the training that you automatically qualify for the Olympics.
It’s that time of year again! The time where you’ll get to hear all these bogus trade rumors around the NBA with the trade deadline this coming Thursday. In case you needed more evidence, even Shams doesn’t really have any great insider Laker sources. We heard the Lakers were interested in DeAndre Hunter and Keon Ellis, but then they were traded for each other. I don’t think the Lakers are going to do much between now and Thursday unfortunately. They have a bunch of expiring contracts, but they aren’t interested in taking back any money long term beyond this season. They also aren’t interested in giving up any draft capital because they think they might have a shot to trade for Giannis this summer with 3 1st rounders and 2 draft swaps. I don’t think this is a wise strategy though. Giannis seems interested in staying in the East, the Lakers don’t have great contracts to match salaries, and they have Lebron and Austin Reaves on their team now they can try to optimize, along with Luka. In my opinion, their best shot at getting a star is in the summer of 2027 if the Joker or Giannis make it to free agency then. Until then however, they should be willing to take on contracts through next year to try to make the most of Luka’s prime years. The Lakers are always star hunting first and foremost though, and although I think their mentality should be more about role player team building and culture developing, they could care less what I think and seem to still be focused on the stars. On a different note, congratulations to Lebron on being selected for his 22nd straight All-Star game. I think he did earn it and it’s a good thing he’s there, however, I’d like to see some better effort from him and a lot other guys, rather than the embarrassment we’ve seen the last couple of years during All-Star Weekend.
Meanwhile, the Clippers are unlikely to do anything at the deadline either. The way they are looking at is as though they are back in the mix for the play-in tournament after a rough start to the season. They are old, but if they get healthy and peak at the right time, they believe they can make a run to make the best of their roster. I do think the Clips would have some interest in a player like Ja Morant or LaMelo Ball if the price is right, but so far, the Grizzlies and Hornets don’t seem like they want to unload those players for penny’s on the dollar. As for the All-Star game, it’s both surprising and embarrassing that Kawhi Leonard isn’t an All-Star, considering the game is at Intuit Dome.
We are on the verge of starting the World Baseball Classic, as well as the Spring Training. This is one of those years where as a Dodger fan, you really aren’t excited about the WBC. The teams biggest star players don’t need to throw more innings or play more baseball after their very long championship season If anything I don’t mind if guys like Shohei, Mookie, Freddie, and the majority of the starting pitching staff get as light a work load as possible between now and August. That should definitely be the case for Blake Snell, who reportedly may not be ready for opening day, and indicated he will need some ramp up time because his shoulder is still a little fatigued from throwing so much in October. See you in the fall Blake! Rest up!
It looked like UCLA Basketball was really regaining momentum there until their loss against Indiana over the weekend. The Hoosiers are a tournament team as well, but UCLA really needs to pad their tournament resume with more quality wins. I realize they defeated Purdue, but it’s going to take more than that. The loss on Saturday included an impressive comeback before losing in double overtime. You can even argue that UCLA got a little screwed by the refs, but they were also lucky to be in that position in the first place, and had plenty of chances to put the game away before that. On a different note, this idea of Amari Bailey coming back to college for eligibility is insane. I know college sports is turning into the wild west with NIL, but you can’t allow guys to come back after turning pro. This would be a horrible precedence to set.
The LA Kings lost yesterday to the Carolina Hurricanes, but that’s not the story. The real news is their pursuit of Rangers winger Arti Panarin, a 34 year old high scoring Russian, who is on the trade block. Memo to the Kings however: You are a lot closer to a rebuild than a cup. Panarin might help you so score some goals, but he won’t fix all your problems. Just because they have the cap space and the draft capital to make the trade doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.
Finally, The Grammy’s went down last night at Crypto.com Arena. There were some entertaining performances. Lady Gaga, Olivia Dean, and Alex Warren were fantastic. Normally I don’t like it when anything gets political because nobody is tuning in to hear the politics. However, in this case I didn’t mind the voicing displeasure against ICE. It’s not really political at this point, it’s just plain human decency. If you missed SNL over the weekend, they actually had a great skit making fun of ICE and the stupidity of those it employees. After hearing from Bad Bunny, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing his performance in the Super Bowl next week! My only complaint about the show is that why can’t any of these people dress normal? Trevor Noah was probably the only guy dressed normally, and he was also really funny. Everyone else was dressed like a complete lunatic.
