November 17th, 2014
They are bums I tell you……bums! I think the Lakers slogan should be pretty obvious at this point. “WE’RE GOING TO SUCK, BUT AT LEAST KOBE WILL ENTERTAIN YOU!” Most Laker fans are smart enough to realize that entertainment doesn’t matter. Winning does, no matter how boring it is. What Kobe is doing is remarkable at his age, but it simply doesn’t matter because the team is so atrocious. Even Kobe knows that. Can you actually stand watching these stiffs play ball? Can you actually endure another 72 games of this garbage? Kobe deserves better than this. The fans certainly deserve better than this. Especially since they are paying some the highest prices in the league for tickets. The Lakers should start handing out free shots of tequila when they shoot under 40%. Since the fans aren’t going to get too many free tacos this year, at least that might help them get through watching these games.
The Clippers haven’t played too much basketball in the last week, but they sure did look out of their league against the Spurs on Monday. The Spurs were playing back to back road games, and the Clippers had a chance to show they were among the best in the West. Instead, they let the old geezer Spurs come in and show them that the West still goes through them. Even on Saturday against the Suns, the Clipps struggled to get the win. People are actually picking this team to go to the Finals? People are thinking this team is one of the best in the NBA? What am I missing? It may be early, but where is the defensive brilliance of the great Doc Rivers? Sounds pretty overrated to me.
To College Football where suddenly, UCLA and USC are going to have a huge showdown next week at the Rose Bowl. This looked to be another rivalry game between two disappointing teams. Now UCLA has a chance to win the Pac-12 South if it wins its last two games. Even SC can still win the Pac 12 South by winning and having Arizona beat Arizona State the following week. I can’t remember a matchup between these two teams in recent memory where it felt like both teams were evenly matched and could easily beat the other. The one thing the Trojans will have to contend with however, is Brett Hundley, who’s mobility has given USC problems over the last two matchups. For that reason alone, you gotta like the Bruins to take this one.
Elsewhere around College Football, Notre Dame is wondering if there is an NIT Tournament. The remainder of the Irish season is meaningless, after getting upset by Northwestern on Saturday in South Bend. Once again, the Irish know how to make their fans lose their minds. The defense couldn’t stop a period with a tampon. The team is completely undisciplined, and has more turnovers than Betty Crocker. These guys make you want to just burn your jersey when they lose. Meanwhile, Florida State may still be #1 in the rankings, but listening to coach Jimbo Fisher talk is hilarious. It feels like he made a deal with the Devil: “you can either coach a winning team, or sound like an intelligent person.” We know which one he picked. 408 yards rushing for Melvin Gordon? He caused more suffering in Nebraska than cholesterol. I’m still not really sure how this whole playoff works when TCU is ranked ahead of Baylor after losing to them.
College Basketball really snuck up on us. UCLA is already 2-0 after this weekend, and even though they didn’t play anybody, they looked a little better than I thought they would after losing a few key contributors to the NBA. Freshman forward Kevin Looney has been very impressive so far, and he’s averaged nearly 20 and 10 in his first two games. I’ve even gotta give credit to Bryce Alford, who’s looked good, even though most of you hate him because he’s Steve Alford’s son. The Bruins don’t really play anybody until the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament the week of Thanksgiving, so we can at least pretend like they are going to be good until then.
As for USC basketball, this season started the same exact way last season did: with a loss. The Trojans were a turnover machine against Portland State on Saturday night. What exactly is considered a success for Andy Einfeld in his 2nd season? If he wins more than 2 games in conference play? That’s all he won last year. USC basketball has gone relatively unnoticed the last few years, however, it shouldn’t be that difficult to put together a respectable team given their location. Then again, I’m not sure SC alums really care that much.
To baseball, where they both earned it. Angels center fielder Mike Trout and Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw were named MVP’s of the American and National League, respectively, this week. The irony of Mike Trout is that he won the MVP in a year where he was actually far less impressive than the previous two seasons. Trout was still great, but in a much different way. His batting average and stolen bases were down, but his home runs and RBI’s were up. Trout is still the best all around player in baseball, but if the Angels had gotten the Mike Trout from the previous two years in the playoffs, they might have gone a little further. As for Kershaw, he is clearly the best pitcher in the game, and his impact on the bullpen and the rest of the pitching staff when he pitches demonstrates his value. The only knock on him is his inability to beat the Cardinals in the postseason. I’m sure that both of these guys would gladly trade in their MVP’s for a World Series appearance.
On to Week 11 of the NFL. The Colts still aren’t there yet. They got destroyed by the Patriots last night at home, and Rob Gronkowski and Jonas Gray looked like Godzilla on the football field. Mark Sanchez turned back into Mark Sanchez yesterday against the Packers. The Chargers may have beaten the Raiders, but they’ve blown their chances at the post season. The Bears actually won a game at home? That’s unfortunate, because I was really looking forward to Brandon Marshall tearing Jay Cutler apart in the post game. I think JJ Watt has more touchdowns than the entire Oakland Raider team this year. I think Eli Manning just threw another interception. The Saints can’t even win at home anymore, while the Redskins can’t even beat the Bucs. Fat guy touchdown alert…..
On the ice, the Kings and Ducks seem to play one great game after another against each other. On Thursday, the Ducks beat the Kings at the Honda Center 6-5 in a shootout, after the Kings were up 5-3 in the final minutes or regulation. On Saturday, the Kings turned the tables by defeating the Ducks 3-2 in overtime, and had a comeback of their own in the 3rd period. After last spring’s seven game series between these two clubs, the rivalry is becoming one of the NHL’s best, and one of SoCal’s best. Both teams are dealing with their own respective injury (and illness) woes, but when they are at their best, they are easily two of the best in the league. Hope to see these two meet again in this spring’s post season.
Finally, we inched closer to the Winter finale of The Walking Dead last night on AMC. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it. This episode was all about Daryl and Carol. We see a flashback to when Carol sees the fire at the prison following the Governor’s death. Then we move forward in time to see Daryl and Carol in the car, following the Grady Memorial Vehicle. Daryl fills Carol in on Beth. They follow the car and eventually see the guards coming out of it, but decide to delay their attack and spend the night at a Shelter for abused children. The facility was overrun with Walkers, and several young children had already turned. The next morning Daryl puts down the young Walkers, and even gives them a burial. When they resume their pursuit of Beth, they ran into Noah, who ambushed them with a gun, and stole Daryl’s crossbow. Later on, they ambush Noah, and get the weapon back, while pushing a bookcase on top of him. A Walker threatens to eat him, but eventually, Darryl decides to save Noah. Shortly after, Daryl and Carol discover that Noah knows Beth, and they strategize to get her back as the guards show up. In the chaos from running from the guards, Carol is run over by their car and taken to the hospital. Noah holds Daryl back from chasing them down, and instead carefully plans an attack to get her back.
This episode was really the perfect blend of character development and action. The dynamics between Daryl and Carol are one aspect of the show that viewers have been wanting for quite some time. While there doesn’t appear to be anything romantic between these two, at least yet, the similarities between the two of them are very fascinating. Both of these characters give off the impression that they are not affected by the horrors of the world they live in. However, in this episode we are reminded how noble each of them are. We see this when Daryl dispatches of the bodies at the shelter, so Carol doesn’t have to deal with the trauma of it. Carol and Daryl also show some humanity and let Noah live too when he is trapped under the book shelf. I also found it interesting that Carol didn’t want to talk about what happened with the girls, but when she was about to confess to killing Lizzie, Daryl said he didn’t need to hear the details but understood. In other words, he knows that her nobility is much greater, than whatever it was she did. There’s something about this episode that makes me think that Carol or Beth may not live through the rescue attempt. In any case, can’t wait for the final two episodes of the first half of the season!
