Monday Morning Coffee

November 20, 2017

Yesterday was Jim Mora Jr.’s birthday.  Happy Birthday Jim! You’re getting $11 million to go home and not coach the UCLA football team anymore.  When is Dan Guerrero’s birthday? Hopefully UCLA doesn’t have to wait that long to fire him.  I’m surprised Guerrero had the guts to make this move with some much money left on his contract, but it was the right decision.  It’s the right decision if UCLA can convince someone like Chip Kelly.  I say “someone” because Florida is a better option for Kelly.    As for Saturday night, Josh Rosen proven he’s the better quarterback over Sam Darnold, but Darnold played on the better team.  It just goes to show you how Mora completely wasted the talent he recruited over the last 6 years.    Meanwhile, the Trojans may have escaped with the win, but that’s about all they can feel good about.    Darnold looked about as accurate as Hellen Keller throwing darts, and the offense had about as much rhythm as Ashley Simpson.  The Trojans need coaching just about as bad as the Bruins do, but their talent sometimes hides it.

On the hardwood, the Bruins basketball team is 3-0 after a couple of wins over those powerhouse programs Central Arkansas and South Carolina State.  This is what this “basketball school” has become.  Frankly, had it not been for the side show that is Lavar Ball and those three idiots that shoplifted in China, people would be talking more about how unimpressive the Bruin basketball team looks.  Trump tweeted that he should have just left the three kids in jail in China, after Lavar didn’t acknowledge the President’s role in their release from prison.  However, if Trump really wanted to punish the three kids, he’d make them watch film of Lonzo Ball playing for the Lakers.

The Dodgers don’t need to trade for Giancarlo Stanton.  That would be like buying a Ferrari when all you need is an oil change in your Honda.  Contracts that are ten years in length never work out.  Besides, the Dodgers don’t need a power-hitter in their lineup who strikes out a lot.  They need a reliable contact hitter who can put the ball into play.  One they already have returning from injury, in Andrew Toles.  They also don’t need to waste their money on Yu Darvish.  Darvish can’t be trusted to win a big game in the postseason, so why pay big money for a guy who is a glorified middle of the rotation pitcher? The Dodgers should sign Shohei Ohtani though.  His potentially elite right-handed pitching is exactly what this team needs.  Aren’t you proud of me? I wrote a whole Dodger paragraph without criticizing Andrew Friedman.

Lonzo Ball went eight days between triple doubles, and in between everybody was trying to send him to the G-League.  Yes he’s had some ugly games, but get a grip people, this is what it looks like building around a 19-year old in the NBA.  He’s actually turning out to be a decent defender, clearly he can pass, and he’s already a good rebounder.  Shooting is the easiest part of an NBA players game to fix, if they work on it. That’s exactly what happened to a player like Jason Kidd, who turned out to be a Hall of Famer.  If there was no Lavar Ball and this wasn’t happening in a big market, you might have some more rationale perspective on this.  The same can be said for Brandon Ingram, who is much improved from last year, yet people are still finding a way to bitch about him.  This is simply rebuilding in the NBA.  It takes time.  You just don’t have the time to wait.  Do the Lakers have the time though? That remains to be seen.

Looks like the Clippers are back to being the worst team in Los Angeles.  Doc Rivers decided to call his team out after losing to Charlotte, which was the team’s 8th straight loss.  Is anyone going to call out Rivers for his inability to actually design an offense?  Everyone thought Blake Griffin was an MVP candidate after 4 games.  Since then, when the 4th quarter comes around he disappears like Amelia Earhart.  This is just another reason why Blake is a good #2 or #3 option, but not the guy you want as your #1.  Doc Rivers on the other hand is not the guy you want at all.

Disappointing loss yesterday for the Rams at Minnesota.  Was Cooper Kupp shaving points? Because he left about 10 of them on the board.    You’ve gotta give Jared Goff credit for not turning the ball over against a tough defense, but the Rams have bigger picture problems.  They lost Robert Woods, and look like they are going to lose the battle for home field advantage to the Eagles, Vikings, and Saints.  Those are all teams whose defenses are going to be a matchup problem for the Rams and their high-scoring offense.  This Rams team is much improved, but it looks like this is where the fun ends, with the schedule getting much tougher from here.  Amazingly enough, people still aren’t showing up to the Coliseum, despite the fact the Rams have been winning.  Adam Thielan is the fastest white guy I have ever seen…..

Not even the Chargers could blow it against the Bills yesterday.  Buffalo made one of the stupidest personnel decisions by benching Tyrod Taylor in favor of Nathan Peterman, who was giving out interceptions like he had a Groupon for them.  Shockingly, the Bolts are only only one game out of the AFC Wild Card spot.  Even more exciting for them is the fact they get to play the Cowboys in four days, who are sinking like the Titanic.  The Charger players said they felt disrespected by the Bills quarterback switch, which motivated them to put up 54 points.  They should feel disrespected over the fact that they don’t have any fans showing up to their games, and that their owner has no idea what he’s doing.

Elsewhere around the NFL, Roger Goodell got a good laugh last night at Jerry Jones’ Cowboys getting blown out by the Eagles.  The Chiefs’ season is disappearing faster than Andy Reid’s food at a Chinese buffet.  The Steelers dominated the Titans.  It was so cold in Pittsburgh that Le’Veon Bell’s bong water froze.  Jay Cutler threw 3 interceptions in the 1st half in Miami’s loss to Tampa.  That means everybody attending the game in Miami gets 50% off on cigarettes at 7-11.  If the Redskins lose any more players to injury, they are going to have to start asking people from Trump’s cabinet to play on Sunday.  The Raiders had more fans arrested in Mexico than points scored this weekend. Things are going so badly for the Packers that they are actually peeing themselves…..

Finally, The Walking Dead went down last night on AMC, which was episode 5 of season 8.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case.  Admit it, for just a second, you were feeling bad for Negan when you found out that his wife died of cancer.  Then you remembered he killed Abraham and Glenn and you hated him again.  Why don’t people put Walker guts on themselves all the time? It’s the most effective trick we’ve seen again them.  Creepy Gabriel not only lived, but he’s back after declaring he was present to take Negan’s confession.  If everybody claims they are all Negan, then why do they have to kneel before the real one?  Darryl and Rick are fighting like brothers, but I do love the reference Rick made back to season 1, when he told Darryl “the chokehold is illegal”.  The look on Gabriel’s face when that women said “thank God for you Negan” was priceless!  I’m not going to be like these whiny babies that say they aren’t liking the show, but that episode had much more potential and fell short.  It would have been nice to see a more extensive flashback of Negan pre-apocolypse and how he came into power.  Not just an explanation.  Nevertheless, this episode was better than the last.

 

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