March 20, 2017
Let’s start with UCLA. The Bruins had a few very nervous moments in their 1st weekend of the NCAA tournament, but got by Kent State and Cincinnati. Lonzo Ball managed to cure cancer, and end the dispute between Israel and Palestine, as well as score 19 points last night. Well at least according to his father Lavar, he will eventually do all those things. Knowing Steve Alford though, the downfall will be on Friday against Kentucky, because the Sweet 16 is always where his road ends. I can’t see UCLA surviving that game, let alone a game after that against UNC, in what will basically be two hostile road games. Speaking of Steve Alford though, you know that UCLA fans are just chomping at the bit for him to take the $31 million that Indiana is offering him and hit the road. On the other hand, they are probably hoping he’ll take Dan Guerrero with him too, which won’t happen. As we’ve seen before, Guerrero is unlikely to hire a superior replacement, so don’t count on the 2nd coming of John Wooden coming to Westwood.
Meanwhile, despite losing yesterday to Baylor, the Trojans made a strong showing in the tournament. Frankly, had USC not been playing their third game in five days, they might have actually had the energy and the mental toughness to finish that game. However, the committee screwed them by forcing them to play in the First Four game on Wednesday night. That goaltending call on Chimezie Metu was nearly a spectacular play that might have been the play that gave the Trojans the win. However, USC is going to go home and take shots of whiskey at the Nine-O when they come to grips with the fact that they would have faced an East Regional without the top two seeds, Duke and Villanova. That’s right….Andy Enfield would have had a real chance to send the Trojans to the Final Four.
Elsewhere around March Madness, you’re bracket is really jacked up now. But think of it this way, you took one for America. Duke is out, so the country wins. If anybody actually watched college basketball, which we all pretend to, we would have known that Villanova was going to get exposed in the 1st weekend. UNC also got a late clutch performance by the referees to advance to the round of 16. I thought Vanderbilt kids were supposed to be smart? Apparently not after intentionally fouling in a tie-game. Louisville also went down faster than a call girl on a high school recruiting trip. After the 1st weekend, there are 164 perfect ESPN brackets remaining. Lavar Ball claims he owns all of them.
Why are the Lakers screwing with D’Angelo Russell’s confidence so much? Just let the kid play like he did last night! That was the perfect tanking game. Russell exploded for a career-high against elite competition, all five young Laker starters showed some nice development, and the Lakers lost in competitive fashion. For all the criticism that Byron Scott got for benching Russell last year, Luke Walton is actually playing him fewer minutes on average than last season. I thought Luke was supposed to be promoting development? I also don’t understand why Russell and Clarkson haven’t spent more time playing together in the backcourt. If they are the backcourt of the future, then they should be developed together. At least Magic and Rob Pelinka are taking their tanking efforts very seriously.
Speaking of tanking, had it not been for Saturday’s win, you might think the Clippers are tanking with the way they’ve been playing of late. When I watch the Clips play since the All-Star break when they’ve been healthy, it’s like they’ve aged overnight. Teams like the Warriors, Rockets, and even the Nuggets and Jazz suddenly seem more athletic with better shooting. If that’s not bad enough, JJ Redick makes it sound like the team is questioning the defensive game plan on a nightly basis. In a lot of ways though, it seems like the Clippers curse is with their bench. Every year it seems like Doc has found some useful pieces on the bench, but when it really counts, they don’t play well. That’s what’s happening again. There’s not much more time for them to get it right with just a couple of weeks left in the regular season before playoff time.
So you thought it was last night the LA Kings playoff hopes were toast? It actually happened a week ago when they lost to St. Louis at home. That was the official nail in the coffin. Last night just exposed the Kings for what their team has become. An aging group that is playing a style that is suddenly outdated. The Kings players may not be old in age, but they’ve played enough hockey to be old. They need to get younger and faster, and find a way to unload some of the terrible contracts they gave the Dustin Browns and Marian Gaboriks of the world. It’s just a matter of whether or not it will be Dean Lombardi that’s going to do it or another General Manager taking his place.
I think the Angels have a permanent curse in left field. Now it’s Cameron Maybin’s turn. He was in an 0-20 slump before finally breaking out of it on Saturday. Then there’s Danny “Mendoza line” Epsinosa, who’s career batting average is so low, we might not even realize when he’s actually in a slump. We haven’t even started the season yet and the Angels warning flags are up.
The Walking Dead went down last night on AMC, and the season is building toward a big last two episodes. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case. I thought for sure we we’re going to see Sasha and/or Rosita die last night, but I guess we will have to wait at least one more episode. In other words, nothing happened. I guess Eugene didn’t want to leave without his pickles. The Saviors traded a box of aspirin for a real doctor. Now that sounds like real American healthcare. Simon probably just gave Gregory directions to a toilet so he could find somebody who gives a crap. When Darryl cries, we all cry. I’m looking forward to an all-out war in the last two episodes of the season. At least I hope so because the last 13 episodes have been pretty slow.
Finally, what a horrible ending to ABC’s The Bachelor last Monday night. The finale was so not Raven. It’s like Nick picked Vanessa because he knew he didn’t want either woman that was left, and wanted the relationship to fail. Perhaps if Raven just hit him with a stiletto, as she did with her ex, he might have actually had some sense beat into him. We kept hearing about “the most shocking thing in Bachelor history.” I thought this would be that somebody actually said “yes” to a Nick proposal. Anybody that thinks Nick and Vanessa are going to get married need to be hit with a stiletto. Think of it this way. Nick gives every man in the world hope that if you are boring, and get rejected enough times, you too can marry a girl that completely hates you.
