February 7, 2022
We’re just 6 days away from Super Bowl LVI kicking off at SoFi Stadium. The Rams might be favored against the Bengals, but it amazes me that everyone is discounting Cincinnati. I’ve heard so many of you saying “Is Joe Burrow really ready for this?” Guys….he’s in the Super Bowl. He’s defeated the top 2 seeds on the road…..he’s for real. The Bengals have a ton of offensive weapons on the perimeter, where Jalen Ramsey can’t cover them all. They also have a very underrated defense that has been making plays. This is going to be a razor close game, but I like the Rams because they have the pass rush that can give Burrow hell, and they should have an easier time running the ball than they did against the 49ers. Ultimately though, it’s going to come down to which Matthew Stafford the Rams get. If it’s the one we’ve seen throughout this years playoffs, the Rams should be Super Bowl Champions.
Meanwhile, Tom Brady made it official, he retired last week. Poor Jim Gray, 24 hours earlier he had Tom Brady on his podcast, and couldn’t even get a straight answer out of him. As if things aren’t bad enough for Gray with that gigantic forehead of his. For years though, I maintained that Joe Montana was the GOAT, since even in the twilight of his career, he took the Chiefs to the AFC Championship. However, I have to admit…..it’s Brady. He not only won 7 rings, but won with two different teams, and in many years did not have great talent around him. He also repeatedly defeated a guy who was one of the best quarterbacks of all-time, Payton Manning. Plus think about this: Tom Brady’s daughter has held Super Bowl Trophy more times in the last 20 years than the Cowboys have won playoff games.
To the NBA, where the Lakers scrapped a victory together on Saturday against the Knicks, but this team is still very much a disaster. At this point Russell Westbrook needs to be arrested for his play. How many jumpers do we have to see him clank off the side of the backboard? For a while on Saturday night, I couldn’t tell who the Lakers were trying to get fired: Frank Vogel or Tom Thibodeau. Mark Jackson also said on the broadcast that was one of the worst stretches the Lakers have played all season. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t seen nearly enough games, because they’ve looked even worse. The fact Lebron and AD are playing as well as they are (when healthy) and the fact this team is two games under .500 at the same time, shows you just how much Russell Westbrook and the lack of defense is destroying their value. It’s a phenomenon I’m not sure I have seen before. There is no trade out there that will fix this right now by the deadline on Thursday. At best, this team will be lucky to get out of the play-in tournament, and then get punished in the first round by Phoenix or Golden State. Then Rob Pelinka and Frank Vogel will have to see if one or both of them will take the fall.
Meanwhile, the Clippers are still treading water and playing hard. They also acquired two quality players from the Blazers in Robert Covington and Norman Powell. That move will not only help keep them alive this year, but also could pay dividends next year with a healthy Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. However, the real story out of Clipper-land this week was Jerry West publicly saying how the Lakers revoked his lifetime season tickets, and that the Lakers now treat him “like trash”. It amazes me that this relationship deteriorated the way it did, but if you look deep enough, you can see why. Jeanie Buss has always loved and adored Phil Jackson, who she was once engaged to. Phil Jackson and Jerry West do not like each other. That hatred started in the early 2000’s, and eventually led to Jerry leaving the Lakers. Naturally, Jeanie was always going to have her opinion of Jerry colored by whatever Phil had to say. It probably also explains why she didn’t bring back Jerry West in any capacity in the last few years when she had a chance to. I imagine that Jeanie probably wanted to stick it to Jerry too when he decided to work for the Clippers. It’s sad that one of the greats in franchise history has had his relationship with the Lakers completely dislocated. I sure hope that at some point, they can make nice, but I have my doubts this will happen anytime soon.
The USC Football team got some big news last week: Quarterback Kaleb Williams is transferring from Oklahoma. What the hell took so long? Williams and Lincoln Riley must think we are all idiots, claiming that they have had no contact with each other since Riley left the Sooners program. Did you really expect us to believe that Williams was going to go to UCLA and play for Chip Kelly? Especially after Jaxton Dart transferred? This definitely makes USC a lot better. They still have a lot of work to do to get back to where people expect them to be. Apparently the Trojans will have to deal with another issue with Williams though, after some sorority girls at OU outed him upon hearing that he was transfering.
Dear UCLA Basketball: please do not play like you played on Saturday during the month of March. Please do not behave like you did on Thursday night against Arizona. That was one embarrassing week. To be fair to Mac Etienne, Arizona fans should be given a life time prison sentence for some of the things we’ve seen them do and say over the years. Sometimes we forget that these are just teenagers that are growing up. Etienne is a kid who made a mistake when he spit in the face of Arizona fans, and he will learn from it.
Finally, I really believe that this season of The Bachelor would get back to what made the show entertaining and an enjoyable train wreck to watch. However, it just hasn’t been that way. Instead, we’ve been listening to grown women fight about shrimp, while our expectations for Clayton as a Bachelor are falling faster than our expectations of the Lakers. I’m actually convinced that Clayton’s either dumb as a ROCK to give Shanae a rose or the producers have held his entire family hostage and this is the only way to get them back. Clayton has more chemistry with Clarence than all of these girls combined. Given how this season is going though, I have my doubts they end up together.
