September 14th, 2015
I think it’s fair to say that it was “Cupcake Saturday” for the Bruins and Trojans. The Bruins went to Vegas and stomped all over UNLV 37-3, pushing the UCLA up to #10 in the AP poll. I was thinking Josh Rosen might have a bad game here after a rough night out at the Cosmopolitan, but he didn’t even come back to earth that much. He came up with a modest 223 yards and actually threw his first interception, to go along with a touchdown. Since everyone has been acting like he’s the next Joe Montana, it’s probably good for his ego that he pumped the brakes a little bit and didn’t blow up this week. It’s better he struggles a little now then against some quality opponents later on. The Bruin defense was solid and Paul Perkins reminded everybody that he’s actually one of the best running backs in the Pac 12. UCLA actually has to play real people the next two weeks starting with BYU at home, then Arizona on the road. Looking forward to seeing them play real people.
Speaking of not playing real people, the Trojans had a power puff opponent of their own on Saturday against Idaho. That of course meant that Cody Kessler put up some more video game numbers, 410 yards to go along with 3 touchdowns, propelling the Trojans to #6 in the AP poll. We haven’t seen a beating like this in the ghetto since Rodney King. I truly have no idea how good this team is after two games. They are loaded with talent, but they seem to rely on the big play against these weak ass teams. I’m not sure if the big play is going to be there against the prime time opponents. Their offensive line was better, but the defensive line put about as much pressure on the quarterback as a girl who’s been engaged for 10 years puts on her fiancé. Justin Davis was impressive in his return from injury, and is starting to make the team look like “Tailback U” again, with their log jam at running back. I like their chances against Stanford and ASU, but after that the road is going to get much tougher, and then we’ll really see if Sark gets to keep his job.
Elsewhere around College Football, Notre Dame’s season is about as over as Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. The Irish may have escaped in exciting fashion against Virginia, but they lost starting quarterback Malik Zaire in the process. That in addition to losing starting running back Tarean Folston the week before. The Irish are up to #8 in the poll, but at some point, the injuries are too much to overcome. I’d like to personally thank Brian Kelly for pushing Everett Golson out the door, as well as running plays that jeopardize the health of his QB on every play. DeShone Kizer, their backup QB, has a cannon. However, he can be so inaccurate, I worry he might hit me while I’m sitting in my living room. With Auburn dropping like a rock in the polls, the Irish are forced to stay in the top 25 for two more weeks. Auburn did “the unthinkable” by beating Jacksonville State at home in overtime. I guess they have demonstrated that they are a clear favorite for the FCS title. What a joke the SEC is. Since they can barely handle and FCS team, asking Arkansas to beat Toledo was just too much. Ohio State looks pretty unstoppable right now, but Michigan State will make things interesting.
Week 1 of the NFL finally arrived! Ameer Abdullah looked scary great for a moment, but the Chargers had a nice rally in the 2nd half to beat the Lions. Detroit reminded us that they are the Lions by only getting the ball to Calvin Johnson twice for 39 yards, and the Bolts took advantage. The Steelers were dominated by Gronk and the Patriots on Thursday. Somebody told Gronk there is bottle service in the end zone. The Cowboys spent all of last night handing the Giants a free win and New York said “No thanks”. Peter Caroll finally gave the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the end of the game, although it didn’t make a difference. The Rams tore the Hawks defense to shreds and came away with the win. I’m sure the Colts are going to complain the NFL that the Bills have too many fast black guys, and that an investigation needs to follow after getting smoked by Buffalo. Somebody should tell them “Suck For Luck” ended years ago. The Texans proved that they are much better at reality TV than football after losing to the Chiefs. Football season doesn’t start until Jay Cutler throws an interception, which happened yesterday against the Packers. Green Bay owns Chicago. It’s amazing how good Ryan Fitzpatrick can look against the Browns. The Jets sunk to a new low however, by giving up a touchdown to Johnny Manziel. Tyler Eifert was a beast and the Raiders still stink. Peyton Manning aged overnight, but they still beat the Ravens. The Saints offense just isn’t what it used to be. Jacksonville’s is what it’s always been. Marcus Mariotta must love playing against Jameis Winston, since it probably feels like playing East Carolina State. Everybody’s playing football, while the Dolphins and Redskins were playing hot potato……
I knew the Dodgers middle relief sucked, but now even Kenley Jansen is struggling to close games. Zack Greinke has to be the front runner for the Cy Young award. He’s piling up the wins and the stats to back him up, and he’s going to get a fat contract this winter. It’s going to be a shame when those moronic nerds that are now in the Dodger front office convince themselves that a couple of .500 pitchers are adequate replacements for him. Corey Seager is proving his worth right now. Jimmy Rollins should be extremely nervous that Seager is on the verge of taking his starting spot at shortstop. We thought that was going to happen over the winter, but the way things are going, it might need to happen in the next month if the Dodgers are serious about contending. Clayton Kershaw said the Dodgers need to bring some urgency at this point in the season and they have. It would be nice if the front office did as well by bringing up Julio Urias and helping their crappy bullpen.
Then there’s the Angels, who were dealt a knockout punch to their season yesterday afternoon. The Halos were on the verge of closing within 2.5 games of the AL West leading Astros, before Huston Street got bombed in the 9th inning of yesterday’s game. Instead, they are 4.5 games back in the division, and another 3 back in the wild card. They may not really be dead, but I’m not sure how they recover from losing that game. The Angels actually play all the teams that are still in front of them quite a few times, so in a way, they do control their own destiny, but other than one hot streak in July, I haven’t seen anything from this team that makes me think they can still sneak into the playoffs. The pitching is falling apart, and the lineup is just too inconsistent outside of Trout and Pujols.
Did anybody see the Floyd Mayweather “hug” on Saturday night? You may never see another fighter like Floyd again unit Dancing with the Stars airs next week. There’s no doubt that Mayweather is an excellent fighter, but unfortunately, he isn’t what boxing needs to keep the sport from dying. It’s also a shame that Floyd dodged some of the better fighters throughout the prime of his career, including Manny Pacquiao. I don’t think many people really knew that Floyd even fought Andre Berto on Saturday night, which is a sad ending to the career of such a successful fighter. I’m disappointed that this is what’s become of boxing.
Novak Djokovic proved why he’s the #1 men’s player in the world with his victory over Roger Federer in the US Open yesterday. Novak has now won 3 of the last 4 majors, and feels like he’s been dominating for the last few years. Even though Federer hasn’t hoisted a major trophy since 2012, I’m still impressed that he has been able to play at an elite level as he ages. As for the women, I still don’t understand how Serena lost to Roberta Vinci. Nevertheless, the highlight of the tournament was still the Williams sisters going at it. Hopefully this isn’t the last time we got to see them battling it out with each other in New York.
Finally, a new episode of “Fear The Walking Dead” aired on AMC last night. We’re seeing the world fall apart slowly as the zombie apocalypse takes over. The police and the military are beginning to understand that they need to actually shoot down the people there are sick. They are also beginning to understand the the dead and now walking amongst the living, and that “the sick” are really dead. As we are witnessing this, the writers are open to some criticism here. They are portraying the main characters as strategizing to leave and go to the desert, or somewhere in the morning. However, if the world around you were falling apart like the show is portraying, you’d probably be losing your mind. The quick and smart people would die as quickly as the dumb people. Those that survive would be too much in shock to actually do anything, and likely would be curled up in the fetal position somewhere. The most powerful scene in last night’s episode was seeing Susan’s husband Patrick find her as a zombie, and as he goes to embrace her, the military takes her out with a bullet (just before she can attack him of course). It’s facinating to see how this all began, and I’m looking forward to seeing more.
