April 17, 2017

Wasn’t this postseason supposed to be different for the Clippers? I know we said that last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that.  But we really meant it this year.  18 seconds into Saturday night’s game, this series should have been over, after the Jazz lost Rudy Gobert to a knee injury.  Somehow, it was like the series was just getting started.  The Jazz are making this series more physical than a flight on United Airlines, and the Clippers are in for a serious challenge.  You know it’s playoff time when the Clipper bench is getting destroyed by their opponents.  It’s like an annual curse that has returned once again.  This is going to be a long series.

Then there’s the Lakers, whose season has mercifully come to an end.  As bad as it was, 26 wins is a lot better than 17 from a year ago.  Had they stayed healthy in December, it might have been well over 30.  The real question though is whether or not Magic and Rob Pelinka are going to keep a bunch of 20 and 21 year-olds and let them grow together, or are bunch of them are going to be traded for a veteran star or two?  I don’t get the sense that these two gentleman came to run the Lakers to wait 5 years to hope the team is competitive again.  I also don’t get the feeling that Jeanie Buss hired them to wait that long as well.  It’s tough to sign a star player if you don’t already have one here, so be prepared for the Lakers to be in some blockbuster trade discussions.

The NBA Playoffs started Saturday. That special time of year with slam dunks, tough defensive battles, and nonstop flopping!  It’s also that special time of year when Draymond Green really steps up efforts kicking opponents in the junk.  The Raptors took a a game 1 loss. In other news Canada is cold and they love maple syrup.  Brad Stevens should call Bill Belichick for some tips on how to cheat to win playoff games.  The Grizzlies took a senseless beating from the Spurs in game 1.  Who knew ESPN could show violence like that? The Cavs were fortunate to win game 1 against the Pacers, but I still don’t think they are going to have any problem getting to the finals.  I also don’t think the Warriors are going to have a problem winning them.

The Dodgers have taken their problems hitting left-handed pitching to a whole new level.  After two weeks they are hitting just .226 against left-handers.  It’s like Andrew Friedman asked himself how it was possible to make the team worse at hitting lefties than last season.  It’s become so bad that teams are now starting left-handers that have now business being in the big leagues against the boys in blue.  To make matters worse, it feels like they can only beat crummy NL West teams, and that they aren’t really that good. I don’t know why I’m acting surprised.  The only bright spot is that Yasiel Puig appears to have remembered how to play baseball again.

Then there’s the Angels who’s season is starting to fall apart two weeks in.  The team finally got a couple of reasonable pitching performances over the weekend, and they still managed to get swept by the Royals.  Mat Shoemaker and Tyler Skaggs aren’t going to pitch like that consistently.  It’s as though the team has a collection of #4 starters in their rotation.  There’s no point in having great defense when your pitchers can’t keep the ball in the ballpark.  Were in not for two miracle comebacks, you would realize a lot faster that the Angels just aren’t very good.

If the Anaheim Ducks can’t win the Stanley Cup this year, I’m not sure they ever will again.  The Blackhawks and Sharks could be eliminated shortly, leaving a bunch of inexperienced and less talented opponents for the Ducks to take advantage of.  It also helps to be playing a Calgary Flames team that hasn’t won in Anaheim in 29 tries.  You can’t have any bigger psychological edge that that. Plus when goals like this happen, it makes you think that you are just a team of destiny…..

Then there’s the LA Kings, who cleaned house last week by firing coach Darryl Sutter, and GM Dean Lombardi.  This just goes to show you how brutal sports are.  Lombardi and Sutter won two Stanley Cups in four years, and went to a a conference finals as well.  Although they missed the playoffs in two of the past three seasons, they are easily the most successful coach and GM in franchise history.  Still, the fact that they were fired shows how dedicated the Kings are to winning, and the kind of expectations ownership has for the franchise.  For the time being though, they will be dedicated to sitting on their couch for the next 3 months watching the playoffs.

The hot rumor around LA is that the Rams could hire Peyton Manning to run their front office.  My only question here is what is taking so long for this to happen? Manning adds instant credibility to a team who appears to have given up their credibility for Lent.  The Rams trade for Jared Goff was more of a headline grabbing move, as opposed to a sensible football move.  Manning would bring far more of that sensibility to the organization.

Finally, Better Call Saul is back on AMC.  The season 3 premier was last Monday, and it’s a great show.  However, as great as it is, it’s no Breaking Bad, and nor will it ever will be.  Most of the excitement that is generated by the show is from all the connections to Breaking Bad, which many fans of both shows pick up.  For instance, most people are just excited by the fact that Gus Fring is going to play a major role in this season, since he played a huge role in Breaking  Bad.  I still don’t understand however, why they can’t figure out what to do with Rhea Seehorn.  Her character just isn’t very interesting on the show compared to everyone else around her.  Don’t get me wrong….it’s a great show, but at the end of the day, it’s always going to leave you wanting more from it.

April 10, 2017

It’s funny how the Dodgers don’t look that great against real competition.  If only they could play the Padres every week.  They still also don’t look great against left handed pitching.  Any team facing the Dodgers might as well go get a 12-year-old left hander, and start them against the boys in blue, and they should have no problem shutting them down.  Maybe if Andrew Friedman stopped forcing Dave Roberts to move guys in and out of the lineup like he was changing lines on a hockey team, the Dodgers might have more success hitting against pitchers that have no business shutting them down.  It’s also no surprise Rich Hill is back on the DL with a blister injury.  Hopefully he has already started peeing on it to make it better.

As for the Angels, they are off to a nice 5-2 start after a huge comeback win yesterday afternoon.  However, it feels like we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop and the season to fall apart.  Ricky Nolasco has put up a decent effort in two starts, but if the Halos are relying on Nolasco to be their most reliable pitcher, they can count on being eliminated from playoff contention before the Clippers.  There’s no true ace on the staff.  Garrett Richards could be, but his arm could need to be replaced by the time he throws his next pitch.  The bullpen has no defined roles, and the division is tougher than facing Mike Tyson in the ring with one hand tied behind your back.

To the NBA, where the Lakers tanking efforts aren’t going well.  Then again, what more do you want them to do? The Lakers have shut down Timofey Mozgov, Luol Deng, and Nick Young.  They are even sitting D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram when they start to play well.  All of this, and they have found a way to win 4 in a row at the worst time.  Each win further damaging their chance to hang on to their top 3 protected pick.  Now there’s no chance the Lakers will have better than a 46% chance at keeping the pick, because you can bet they will finish with the 3rd best record.  If the Lakers come away from this garbage season without a lottery pick, I’m going to want to jump off the Santa Monica pier.  It’s especially frustrating knowing how pointless that 10-10 start was.

As for the Clippers, they have the inside track for home court advantage against the Jazz in the 1st round.  They are starting to play well, and should have no problem taking care of Utah in 4 or 5 games.  However, they also have the inside track on taking a serious beating from the Golden State Warriors in the 2nd round.  The Clips have proven by now that they have a major matchup advantage against the Spurs.  Unfortunately, they probably won’t get the chance to exploit that matchup in the playoffs.  As good as Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are, they may have just come along at the wrong time.  I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks.

I was wondering what happened to Lavar Ball since we hadn’t heard from him in a few weeks.  Sure enough, he emerged from his silence, and blamed the UCLA loss on having “three slow white guys” on the court.  I guess nobody told Lavar that his son is only half black.  Of course Lavar decided to blame the media for taking his words out of context.  It’s only a matter of time before the man gets a radio show on ESPN Radio 710 AM, as well as his own reality show.

Last week’s NCAA Basketball National Championship game was just a reminder of how awful college basketball has become.  Gonzaga and UNC could not throw the ball into the ocean for most of the game.  It was competitive, but the UNC victory was sloppier than a Thursday night on sorority row at USC. The one and done has destroyed the quality of college basketball, and the quality of the NBA.  I remember when college basketball had great players, and those great players came into the NBA and made an impact right away.  Gone are those days, and they probably aren’t coming back anytime soon.

How ironic was this? Tony Romo has intercepted Phil Simms broadcasting career at CBS.  Here’s a look at Romo’s inbox after announcing his retirement, and move into broadcasting…..

Good thing Sergio Garcia won the Masters.  No pressure or anything, but Donald Trump was going to deport him had he finished in 2nd.  Garcia winning the green jacket is like seeing Jay Cutler win a Super Bowl.   Let’s be honest though.  We’re all just mad that Dustin Johnson didn’t play in the Masters because we didn’t get to see a weekend of Paulina Gretzky on TV.  Somewhere at a night club in Vegas, Johnson and Tiger Woods were probably partying with hookers and cocaine.

Let’s go to the ice where the Ducks claimed their 5th straight Pacific Division title yesterday with an overtime win over the Kings, in the regular season finale for both teams.  In that time, they don’t have a single Stanley Cup.  Are there odds any better this year? I’ll believe it when I see it, but they might as well have a first round bye since they are playing the Calgary Flames.  The last time Calgary won in Anaheim, Lance Armstrong was still seen as an American hero.  That playoff series is over and it hasn’t even started.

As for the Kings, the story is Bob Miller, their hall of fame play-by-play announcer.  Miller is a voice that I will always remember as part of my childhood listening to Kings game.  I have always been impressed with his ability to call an exciting game, whether or not the Kings were winning or losing.  His professionalism is second to none.  Sadly, he is also the last hall of fame LA sports broadcaster to retire between Chick Hearn, Vin Scully, and now him.  Congrats on a legendary career Bob, and glad to see that the Kings were able to win two cups for you before you retired.  Given the state of the Kings though, it might be a while before we see them win another cup.

April 3, 2017

Baseball season is upon us folks. Opening day is today, and that means it’s time for Dodgers baseball! Unfortunately, Vin Scully won’t be there to tell us that.  Trying to make predictions for an upcoming baseball season is like stepping into a batting cage after 5 shots of tequila.  With that being said, its safe to say the Dodgers have a good team, just not one good enough to win the World Series.  You have to have real pitching for that.  You can’t have Clayton Kershaw and 6 other arms you claim will give you “depth”, while many of them are nearly guaranteed to get hurt.  You also can’t expect to get consistent performances from your outfielders when you determine which ones will play on a daily basis by some cute little numbers.  The Dodgers will win the NL West.  However, anything beyond that and you can forget it.

Then there’s the Angels, who have to deal with playing in the toughest division in baseball.  The Halos need a lot to go right to be playing in the postseason.  They need Garrett Richards, Tyler Skaggs, and Matt Shoemaker to stay healthy, and pitch as well as they did 2 years ago.  They’ll also need to have a 2nd baseman and a left fielder that is capable of hitting above the Mendoza line.  It feels like the Angels might have better odds playing the Powerball than for all that to happen.

To the NBA, where everybody is wondering: what is the Laker front office planning to do? Jeanie Buss mentioned the other day that she would be “heartbroken” if the Lakers don’t have an All-Star next year with the game being in LA.  That feels like some indirect pressure on the front office to go acquire a star.  I don’t get the feeling that the Lakers want to wait 3 more years for D’Angelo Russell or Brandon Ingram to become an All-NBA player, even if they have that potential.  However, even if they could acquire both Paul George and Jimmy Butler, would that be good enough to compete with the Warriors? Being competitive immediately sounds great, but if you can’t build a team that can compete for championships year in and year out, then what’s the point?  Even though some of these Laker games these days are uglier than the Ronaldo statue, there’s still a very reasonable case for building from within…for now.

People really think that the Cavaliers are not going to come out of the East? The Cavs aren’t playing defense right now because they are bored.  Although they look like they are fading faster than J.R. Smith after a bottle of Hennessey, they will be fine.  Lebron James isn’t bored because he knows he’s playing for his legacy as one of the best players of all-time.  He’s not slowing down, even though his teammates might be.  Still, when the playoffs roll around, the Celtics, Raptors, Wizards, or any of these other Eastern Conference pretenders will have no chance to beat the Cavs 4 times in 7 tries.

The Final Four gave us a couple of good games over the weekend.  I’m beginning to think that Gonzaga’s starting center is really 55 years old.  That probably explains why he dominated South Carolina in the paint.  South Carolina is so upset that they have been burning Confederate flags every since the loss.  Meanwhile, Oregon players looked like they were allergic to the basketball while trying to grab a rebound at the end of that UNC game.  I’m sure the Ducks have special uniforms just to sit at home and watch the National Championship game from their couch on Monday night.  The Tar Heel players are just excited they don’t have to be in class on Monday.  Good luck to many of those that have tickets to Monday nights game.  You probably have a better view of the court from outside your house than you do while in the arena.

The LA Kings were officially eliminated from playoff contention last night, which was simply a formality.  The more I watch the Kings, the more I realize that they are simply too old.  In the NHL today, if you are 30 years old, it is almost the equivalent of being 40 years old.  If you are 25 years old, you are essentially a veteran.  The Kings’ core is old.  Drew Doughty is 27, Anze Kopitar is 29, Jeff Carter is 32, and Jonathan Quick is 31.  Even players like Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson are of “veteran age”.  It’s time to dump some contracts, even if it means eating money, and getting younger.

The Raiders are moving to Vegas!  This means that NFL teams are hoping that if they lose a road game to the Raiders it won’t count since what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.  Aside from the fact the crime rate in Vegas is going to be going up, this is a great move for the franchise.  The Raiders in Vegas is perfect for the brand, and since most of the fan base is very transient anyway, they won’t have an issue retaining many of their season ticket holders, as well as getting a number of new ones.

Finally, the season finale of The Walking Dead went down on AMC last night.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case.  Knowing what I know about the comics, I have to say I was mildly disappointed that the storyline didn’t get further along than where we ended up after season 7.  However, the finale was still an uplifting episode.  You have to appreciate the fact that somehow, Maggie keeps her eyebrows plucked during the chaos of the apocalypse.  You know why Ezekiel is King? Because he brings a Tiger to a bat fight.  Rick clearly drew the line when Negan said he was taking the pool table.  Even in ancient times they would kill your cattle and burn your village, but they never took your pool table.  I knew Jadis was evil just from her haircut.  Nobody with bangs like that can be good.  It was really nice to see Carol getting her gun on again.  I’m sad to see Sasha go, but that was definitely one moment I wanted to see a Walker win a fight.  R.I.P Sasha.  I’m not sure what makes you want to cry more: Maggie’s final words about Glenn, or the fact that you won’t get to see another episode until October! Peace out TWD.  This is how we all felt after Carl was saved by Shiva……

March 27, 2017

I don’t know what’s more disappointing for UCLA fans.  The fact that they lost in the Sweet 16 for the 3rd time in the last 4 years, or the fact that Steve Alford is still going to be coaching this team moving forward.  UCLA is getting exactly what I thought they would get with Alford.  A coach who is a tremendous recruiter, but one who is unable to harness that talent into tournament success.  As great as the Bruins’ offense was, their defense is what led to their downfall, and that’s always what leads to the fall of Alford’s teams come tournament time.  Lonzo Ball had a great season, but on Friday he got outplayed by De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk.  The Bruins were entertaining this season and slightly more relevant than in previous years, but the reality of it is that UCLA basketball still isn’t where it should be.

Say what you will about Lavar Ball and his craziness, but the man is actually a genius.  He is building a brand for his kids.  He is also wildly entertaining when you put a microphone in front of him.  Sports are about entertainment value, and it seems like for years to come his kids are going to be providing that entertainment on the floor, while he provides the entertainment for us off the floor.  As for his proclamation that his kids are worth $1 billion, if Lonzo ends up on the Lakers, don’t be surprised if one of the most successful business men in the world helps makes that happen, Magic Johnson.

What a great game between Kentucky and North Carolina yesterday.  There were so many lead changes that Drake kept switching between his UNC and UK jersey all game long.  UNC is the easy pick to win the Final Four.  Meanwhile, Kansas has clinched their annual spot on their couch for the Final Four after losing to Oregon.  I’d say South Carolina busted your bracket, but the reality of it is your bracket was probably busted long ago.  Gonzaga really lucked out that Arizona was upset by Xavier.  They also lucked out that West Virginia somehow couldn’t even get a shot up in the last twenty seconds of the game.  That kid is still probably dribbling the ball as we speak.

I loved seeing the Lakers unveil Shaq’s statue on Friday, outside of Staples Center.  However, what really almost made me cry was listening to Kobe talk about Shaq both during the ceremony, and to the media leading up to it.  “When you win three titles together and you’ve had so much impact on one another’s legacy as a player and as a champion,” Kobe said by phone last week, “there is absolutely no way in the world I would miss an opportunity to talk about him and thank him and to acknowledge everything that he’s done for not only this organization and the city, but for me personally.”  Kobe and Shaq grew up before our very eyes.  We can only hope we are fortunate enough to witness another Laker duo as fun as it was watching them play.

It looked like the Clippers were getting their act together when they defeated Utah on Saturday.  Then they blew an 18 point lead against Sacramento yesterday, and lost at home.  The real reminder is that the bench isn’t really as reliable as we thought it was.  The bench was outscored 46-28 yesterday, mostly while CP3, Blake, and DeAndre were resting.  Of even greater concern are comments from JJ Redick and Blake Griffin mentioning things like “lack of spirit”, uncertainty around game plans, and overall lack of chemistry.  Given the amount of time this team has been together, that shouldn’t be the case.  If anything, the Clips biggest problems seem more psychological.

It’s amazing how the media milked the story last week about NBA teams resting stars. This is really only a significant story for a handful of players like Lebron, Westbrook, Harden, Durant, and Curry.  Those are the only players people really care about seeing, and people will spend their hard earned more for the chance to watch those players play.  With that being the case, the league should do a better job scheduling nationally televised games, and avoiding back-to-back games for teams on those nights.  That would increase the likelihood of star players playing.  At the same time though, NHL players have an even more grueling game to play, and they don’t complain that they need rest.  NBA players need to stop being so soft, and understand their responsibility to the fans who actually make the league what it is.

Congratulations to the United States for winning the World Baseball Classic by defeating Puerto Rico.  Puerto Ricans haven’t been this upset since Menudo broke up.  Somehow Ian Kinsler managed to become public enemy #1.  I didn’t actually watch more than 5 seconds of the tournament.  That’s because winning the WBC is like being the smartest person at a monster truck rally.  It’s cool, but it really means nothing.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says it’s doubtful NHL players will participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics.  Good one Gary.  You and I both know you can’t afford to not send players to the Olympics.  It’s too much free marketing and exposure for the NHL and its player’s, who love representing their countries by the way.  It’s going to happen.

Finally, another episode of The Walking Dead went down on AMC last night.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if you plan to watch it later.  Second to last episode of the season goes down, and amazingly, nobody of significance died.  I have a feeling that’s going to change next week.  If you didn’t like the episode, you don’t like character development.  I do wish however, that we would get to see the backstory on Negan.  I’m sure we were all shocked that Gregory couldn’t fight off a walker.  Carl has pretty good aim to be able to shoot while holding a gun up to his patched eye…..

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.

March 13th, 2017

The Lakers introduced Rob Pelinka as their new General Manager on Friday.  I heard a lot of good things from Pelinka, and it’s exciting, not just because he looks like Rob Lowe.  However, I also heard something a little concerning as well.  I heard a lot of talk about free agency.  If there’s anything we’ve learned over the past five seasons of Laker basketball, it’s that free agency by itself is a lousy way to build a team, and it’s about to get a lot lousier with the new CBA.  However, when you do an excellent job of drafting and developing players, you give yourself the opportunity to get elite free agents, and elite talent via trade.  Rob Pelinka probably has some great relationships with players, but hopefully he’ll have more than that to sell to free agents during the offseason.  As for the Lakers, here’s a summary of their season in 30 seconds……

On to college hoops, where March Madness is upon us, and the NCAA tournament bracket is set.  That means UCLA’s fate has been determined after their disappointing showing over the weekend in their conference tournament.  The Bruins blew a major opportunity to get a a #2 seed in the West, and have a very favorable path to the Final Four.  Now their potential 2nd round matchup won’t be easy, and then they’ll probably have to face Kentucky and UNC to get to the Final Four.  The bigger concern is the fact that UCLA reminded us over the weekend that they live and die by the 3-point shot, and that they can revert back to not playing any defense at any time.  Lonzo Ball is banged up, Bryce Alford can’t get any shots off other than 3-pointers,  and suddenly, I’m feeling a lot less confident about Steve Alford coaching the Bruins now that’s it’s March.

As for the Trojans, they narrowly made the NCAA Tournament, and will be participating in the play-in game on Tuesday vs Providence.  USC will be the #11 seed.  Sure enough, they are playing the team that played them last season in the 1st round, and beat them at the buzzer.  That’s about as surprising as a USC student being hungover for class on Friday, after a Thursday night frat party.  The selection committee loves these type of re-matches and creating story lines out of them.  The Trojans game against Providence, and potentially SMU after that should be close ones.  They are evenly matched, and USC should feel good that they beat SMU back in November.  They probably won’t make it too much further though, with Baylor awaiting the winner of that game.

As for the rest of the bracket, Arizona might as well have a bye to the Final Four.  You can pencil in Gonzaga to be upset by the Sweet 16 every year, and this year is no different.  Congratulations to Kentucky for winning the SEC tournament.  Their players are clearly earning all the money they are being paid.  Word is President Trump has selected Trump University to win it all in his NCAA bracket.    Kansas also has a fairly easy route to the Final Four but you can always count on them to blow it.  That’s an annual guarantee like people smoking weed at Coachella.

The Rams went out and spent money on former USC receiver Robert Woods last week.  I realize that the Rams needs help at wide receiver, but $15 million guaranteed for Robert Woods? Alshon Jeffrey got $14 million guaranteed and at least he was once a Pro Bowler.  When you include Tavon Austin, that’s two receivers the Rams have overpaid for that are really #3 receivers on a good team.  They should be directing most of their resources at the offensive line.  Andrew Whitworth was a good start, but they need more.

If you think the Rams are having an unspectacular offseason thus far, the Chargers look like they are trying to give their new cross-town rivals a run for their money.  The Bolts signed Russell Okung to help their offensive line, but apparently Okung nor the Chargers knew the rules about negotiating with a player who didn’t have an agent.  They might have tampered by negotiating with him prior to the period when it was allowed.  Based on how Okung played last season though, they probably have more to worry about him protecting Philip Rivers than the tampering issue.

I’m not in denial anymore.  The LA Kings aren’t making the playoffs folks.  Every time i find myself saying they are only a few points behind one particular team for the last playoff spot, a week later that team is about 10 points ahead of them.  The same is about to happen with St. Louis, who is coming to Staples Center tonight.  The wins the Kings are picking up now needed to happen back in December and January.

A tragic episode of The Walking Dead went down last night on AMC.  SPOILER ALERT for those of you who have yet to see it so read no further if you are watching it later.  The Saviors have officially lost their minds, in case we weren’t sure before.  Now they are shooting people over a missing cantaloupe.  Our favorite killer homemaker finally knows what happened in Alexandria, and Morgan is about to do his Rambo impersonation.  It only took 13 episodes, daylight savings time, and a cantaloupe.  I don’t remember a cantaloupe causing this much drama since Janet Jackson’s at the Super Bowl.  Apparently in the apocalypse your life is worth 1 cantaloupe.  Why isn’t Ezekiel bringing Shiva to these meetings?   The last three episodes of this season are going to be epic.

Finally, it’s about to go down tonight on The Bachelor.  The finals between Vanessa and Raven.  However, when it’s over, you’ll think Nick is going to choose Raven, but he’s really going to choose nobody.  Which we all agree is better than living in Canada.  The producers must have blown the whole budget on the trip to Finland so they had to settle for ice baths for Nick and Vanessa’s date.  Either that or Nick was determined to give Vanessa pneumonia.  In the last episode, Nick saw more action than Chuck Norris does with 4 different girls in fantasy suites.  The only difference is the action Chuck Norris sees can kill him, while the action Nick sees can give him herpes.  My favorite part of the last episode was when Vanessa said this is the best relationship she’s been in.  Really? The best relationship you’ve ever been in is with somebody who was dating two dozen women at the same time? Corrine and champagne  are one of the ultimate duos of all-time.  She was going off at Taylor during the women tell all.  It felt like Josephine was Corrine’s hype man, supporting her with every word that came out of her mouth.  Poor Taylor though….I guess she gave up her career for lent.

March 6th, 2017

Just when you thought the Laker front office was stabilizing, Jim Buss comes back to screw the franchise.  That’s right folks, Jim Buss wasn’t going to go quietly into the night after his sister fired him.  It’s like watching an episode of Game of Thrones, except Jim’s removal was more like “The Purple and Gold Wedding”.  Jim and his brother Johnny, are trying to take control, but I don’t see it happening.  The fact that Jim and Johnny’s first attempt to oust Jeanie was shot down rather quickly, suggests that he and Johnny are being nothing but foolish and vengeful.  I also love how Jim’s attorney tried to do major damage control after the story leaked, claiming that the two brothers support her.  It was also interesting to see  NBA spokesman Mike Bass quickly issue a statement in support of Jeanie and her importance as an owner in the NBA.  There’s simply no way that the NBA is going to allow the Billy Madison of the Buss family to be the controlling owner of the Lakers.  I guess we’ll know for sure on May 15th when a judge reviews the family trust.  Who says the Lakers aren’t playing in the post season?

Meanwhile, the Clippers have been having their own problems on the court of late.  They’ve lost 4 of their last 5 games, and have been getting destroyed by their top competition in the Western Conference.  Even more alarming was the fact that they got blown out by the Houston Rockets by 30 points at home.  Weren’t the Clippers supposed to have this great bench this year? Don’t people say the Clippers are going to have a great bench every year? Well once again, they don’t.  Austin Rivers is not a real point guard.  Ray Felton is past his prime, and Jamal Crawford has been in a horrible slump.  Everyone is healthy, and the Clippers still can’t hang with the best teams in the West.  They also can’t defend against good 3 point shooting teams.  We all know how this movie ends, but Doc Rivers is of course pretending like he hasn’t seen it five times.

Next week is going to be an amazing Pac 12 Tournament in Las Vegas.  UCLA is probably going to have to go through USC, Arizona, and then Oregon to win the tournament.  The good news though is that if they beat those three teams, they will be a #1 seed in the Western Region.  However, the Bruins better hope that freshman forward TJ Leaf will be healthy enough to play next week.  There’s no way UCLA can contend with the size of Arizona without having their own skill in the paint in Leaf.  This is going to be fun, and the NCAA Tournament is going to be even better the following week.

I can’t believe how early spring training started this year.  And we wonder why pitchers keep having Tommy John’s surgery? That leads us to the Dodgers.  I can’t believe some people are buying into the nonsense that the Dodgers are world series contenders.  I must have missed the part where the Dodgers acquired another reliable starting pitcher over the winter.  I also must have missed the part where they added some more trustworthy arms in their middle relief.  On top of that, they can’t decide on 3 regular outfielders, which screws up the quality of their play by shuffling them in and out of the lineup.  Until that changes, this team might win the division, but is nothing more than a pussy cat in the postseason.

Then there’s the Angels, who are playing in the AL West, which should be known as “the division of death.”  The Halos are going to have to figure out a way to deal with a young and talented Houston team, an always solid Texas team, and a Mariners team that is bound to make the playoffs one of these years we keep making fun of them.  I can’t imagine that the Angels aren’t going to score runs, but its a matter of whether or not their starting pitchers can stay off of the operating table.  The Halos aren’t even sure Garrett Richards is going to be healthy and return to the ace he once was.  They’ll also need to get lucky with a few more arms on their staff.  Mike Trout is amazing, but he can’t do it all.  The Angels are going to need to get lucky to get into the post season.

I still think the LA Kings are in serious danger of missing the playoffs.  Jerome Iginla is 39 years old.  Acquiring him last week was a great move….5 years ago.  Even though it’s low risk, LA just doesn’t have the goal scorers this year to get it done.  It’s like watching a team throw for 400 yards every game in the NFL, but never score inside the red zone.  The Kings dominate the shots, the possession stats, and even special teams, but they get outscored 5-on-5.  Then there’s the Ducks who acquired the player the Kings needed at the deadline: Patrick Eaves.  Anaheim has their own goal scoring issues, but is still in good position to make the playoffs, and then see what happens from there.

Last night’s episode of The Walking Dead was the equivalent of watching an apocalyptic  honey moon.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it so read no further if that is the case.  You didn’t really think that Rick died in that episode did you? I would hope if it ever came to that, it wouldn’t be at the hands of a pack of walkers like that.  I think Rick has laughed and smiled more in the last three episodes than he has during the last seven seasons.  Then there’s Rosita.  who I really liked for a while, but now she’s just being stupid.  It’s like she wants to be Carol, but she’s just being driven by emotion and anger, and that usually gets somebody killed.  It nearly got Carl killed, but this time, I don’t think Rosita is going to get some spaghetti if things don’t work out.  I’m surprised that Sasha is being just as dumb about the whole plan to take down Negan as she is.  They both failed to realize that her foolishness is actually what got Eugene captured.

Finally, it’s going to be a three hour episode of The Bachelor tonight.  I’d like to thank Corrine for making this season worth watching, prior to her departure last week.  I think it’s safe to say Nick is an idiot for getting rid of her.  Hope he has fun renewing his passport and living in Canada, or squashing all those roaches in Houston, or rolling in the mud in Arkansas, as opposed to living in Miami.  It was very fitting though that Corrine took a nap right after her big statement in the limo when she was leaving.  Apparently dismissing her was Nick’s way of thanking her for buying him a pair of $800 sweatpants.  You’ve gotta feel bad for Raven’s ex-boyfriend.  She’s putting the dude on blast for cheating on him, and then never giving her an orgasm.  That guy might never get another woman.  There’s nothing worse than seeing a guy cry in a turtleneck.  I feel like after that episode we need to call him “TurtleNick”.  The only smart thing Nick has said this entire season is that ironing your clothes is way more effective than steaming them.

February 27th, 2017

In case you were living under a rock over the last week, Magic Johnson has replaced Jim Buss as the President of Basketball Operations, and NBA player agent Rob Pelinka, has replaced Mitch Kupchak as General Manager of the Lakers.  This might make some of you feel better because you didn’t like how things were going with Buss and Kupchak.  However, it’s not like everything is suddenly ok in Lakerland because of the changes.  The good news is that Jeanie will be able to actually have normal communication with the Basketball Operations Department, unlike the weird dynamic she had with Jim earlier.  The way things were going,  these two practically needed attorneys just to decide what they wanted to order for lunch.  It’s always good for any organization to have a unified direction, unified voice, and good communication, which the Lakers now have.  Still, it doesn’t change the fact the Lakers need to get somewhat lucky to be good again.  They’ll need to keep their 1st round picks, and likely find their next face of the franchise player in the draft.  These days, determining the success of a 19 year old in the NBA is about as easy as playing darts blindfolded after 5 shots of Tequila.  That’s why I’m a little disappointed Jerry West isn’t going to be coming back in any role with LA.  He was the greatest talent evaluator ever.  Even if they sign Paul George in 2018, they’ll still need a lot more around him to be competitive, which can’t be done through free agency alone.

ESPN must be desperate to create news, and the only way they can do it apparently is by talking about race.  On Thursday, Dan Le Batard explained on his radio show that he felt like Magic wasn’t all that qualified to run the Lakers.  Although he gave a comprehensive explanation of this, ESPN decided to take clips of Le Batard’s criticism of Magic, and play them on all their stations.  However, those clips made it sound like Le Batard was a racist, implying that Magic was simply all about “shucking and jiving” his way to the top.  Anybody that knows Le Batard knows this isn’t what he meant and that he’s not a racist, but it’s just another example of ESPN manufacturing a story. Le Batard also spent all of Friday explaining his position on multiple talk shows, as opposed to the clips which suggested he might be racist.  Since ESPN has lost all of their real talent, apparently they have to resort to these smoke and mirror stories. So the Clippers are now considering moving to Inglewood, next to the new Rams and Chargers stadium.  Don’t we have enough terrible teams moving to Inglewood?  Do we really need to add a 3rd? It’s like we’ve created the city of losers.  Getting approval to build that NFL stadium was complex enough, so I’d be surprised if Steve Ballmer is able to get all the city and EIR approvals necessary to get this done.  Even if he has all the money to build the stadium.  Ballmer does realize that Inglewood is in Los Angeles and not in Seattle, right?

I love it when college and NBA players say they never read the headlines, or pay attention the criticism they receive from the media.  The UCLA Bruins basketball team sure reads the headlines and pays attention to that criticism, because for weeks I’ve been ripping them for their pathetic defense, soft play, and lack of toughness.  In the month of February they have answered the bell, playing tough defense against quality opponents.  Both Coach Steve Alford, and his son Bryce, are most aware of this and admitted they are constantly working on it.  It showed, and if the Bruins continue to play like this, the are true national championship contenders.  UCLA has two of the biggest road wins in college basketball this year.  As for Lonzo Ball’s dad, Lavar, he’s at it again, suggesting that he would only play for the Lakers when he enters the NBA next year.  Although he backtracked from these comments yesterday, he replaced them with dumber comments by suggesting that if we currently put Lonzo on the Warriors instead of Steph Curry, they would be better.  Lavar is going to make Lonzo the most hated basketball player in the world at this rate, and he hasn’t even played a single NBA game yet.

Why are NBA players so thin skinned these days? First you have Lebron complaining about Charles Barkley criticizing him for needing more help.  Now we have Javale McGee engaging a huge Twitter war with Shaq because McGee is repeatedly on “Shaq’tin A Fool”, which is a weekly blooper reel of NBA highlights.  It’s Shaq’s job to be entertaining, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.  If Javale has a problem with being featured on the bloopers every week, he should stop making a fool out of himself every week he plays.  The crying and bitching that we’re seeing from his teammates and the Warriors, who are complaining to TNT, is ridiculous.  In case you missed the exchange between Shaq and Javale, here it is.

@SHAQ get my ‘s out of your mouth! And EAD! #thatisall

— Javale McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) February 24, 2017

@JaValeMcGee34 now since you on a good team u wanna act like you a player now stop it u will only be remembered for shaqtin a fool #bumass

— SHAQ (@SHAQ) February 24, 2017

@JaValeMcGee34 don’t be acting like u a g I’ll smack the s**t out yo bum ass u da one that be looking stupid with your dumb ass #bumass

— SHAQ (@SHAQ) February 24, 2017

Oh we threatening people now? Kick rocks you old bastard… you ain’t gone do sh** !!! And that’s on my mama… stick to cooning! https://t.co/ZFuGREc1WJ

— Javale McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) February 24, 2017

Forget being on a good team… Ima grown man… you’ve had these ‘s in yo mouth for 5-6 years now… u thought I was just gone stay silent? https://t.co/3gTpTgVgmU

— Javale McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) February 24, 2017

Aight y’all I’m done responding… I think

— Javale McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) February 24, 2017

This race for the 2024 Summer Olympics in getting interesting.  After Donald Trump was elected President, it dealt a major blow the hopes of LA’s bid.  However, Budapest dropped out because similar to a number of other previous bidders, the cost was just too great for them.  That leaves Paris and Los Angeles.  Paris is unfortunately the home of a lot of terrorist activity of late, while the United States creates a great degree of uncertainty because of Trump’s immigration orders.  On one hand, it’s hard to imagine all of those IOC voters from Islamic and Latin American countries voting for the LA because of Donald Trump.  But on the other hand, we know the IOC is corrupt, and is getting bribes left and right.  How else do you explain a disastrous country like Brazil getting the Olympics? It’s going to be an interesting decision for this corruption that is the IOC.

Why did the LA Kings acquire one of the top goaltenders on the market to backup Jonathan Quick now? This would have been helpful 3 months ago when Quick was hurt.  Maybe they wouldn’t be on the outside of the playoff picture looking in if they had.  By the way Kato Kaelin was in the house for the Kings-Ducks game on Saturday at Staples Center.  This makes sense. Whenever Kato is in the house there is always bloodshed.

The Walking Dead went down last night on AMC.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it yet, so read no further if that is the case.  Just when I thought I got that “Easy Street” song out of my head, I had to hear it again, and I’m going to playing it in my head for the next few weeks.  Listening to Eugene’s nerdy talk was unbelievable.  He was like some type of super nerd, that was made from parts of a lesser nerd.  Couldn’t Negan have just killed him instead of some of our favorite characters this season? It was even more painful watching him interact with the girls Negan sent to him.  Negan lines up some easy sex for him and somehow, in two or three sentences, he lost the ability have sex with every woman in that room.  The scary thing about him though is that once you gave him some pickles, he got his confidence up, and bought into Negan’s nonsense.  Eugene is desperate for his own survival, and knows the’s too much of a coward to stand up for what’s right.  Dwight on the other hand is on the verge of snapping, and I’m curious to see if he gets revenge on Negan.

As for the Oscars last night, I thought blunders like that only happened in beauty pageants that were hosted by Steve Harvey! Harvey may think he’s off the hook, but the reality is we will forever compare his blunder in the pageant to every other blunder like last night.  I realize it wasn’t entirely Warren Beaty’s fault, but perhaps the Academy should make sure all of its presenters are young enough to effectively read and recognize when they have the incorrect envelopes like Beaty did.  Props to all the people from La La Land that recognize the goof, and stopped their acceptance speech to give the real award to Moonlight.  I know i know…..most of you are wishing that the 2016 Presidential Election turned out the way Best Picture did last night.  Outside of that blunder, and Justin Timberlake’s brilliant performance to open the show, last night was just a reminder that the Oscars are nothing but politics and who is in bed with the right people in Hollywood to get recognized.  In case you missed the blunder here is the full disaster…..

Finally, we get to see another highly anticipated episode of The Bachelor tonight on ABC.  Last week we got to see Nick go on four different dates with each remaining contestant.  The remaining women are from Houston, Montreal, some small town in Arkansas, and Miami.  It should be a no-brainer where he wants to live.  Corrine has both geography and money on her side.  Her dad also seems like the equivalent of Pauley D from Jersey Shore, but 25 years older.  He’ll also have the person who might be the most famous nanny in the world, Raquel.  My favorite part of the show was seeing Corrine’s mom say “I can’t do a lot of things without Raquel”, while waiting anxiously for Raquel to pass her a glass of wine.  Let’s be honest though, Nick doesn’t really like olives.  Vanessa might seem like the most normal, but her family is way too intense.  She got dumped people, she didn’t grow up eating lipstick.  Apparently, none of them realize they are on The Bachelor, and are surprised Nick asked for the permission to marry each girl remaining from all the parents he visited.  They were about as surprised as I was that there was no cheese pasta served for dinner at her house.  I’m going to need to take a shot of whiskey tonight every time Nick says the word “respect”.  From platinum “vageen” to platinum visa, Corrine needs to be the winner.

February 20th, 2017

The NBA All-Star game went down last night.  That game was basically a 2.5 hour and 1 mix tape.  The West beat the East 192-182.  Yes that was actually the final score of the game.  Since both teams were on pace for 200 points each by halftime, they really made an effort to lock down on defense in the second half.  I’d also say Steph Curry’s defense was about as good as it was in the NBA Finals last year. Besides, 192 points are what the Knicks would call an average game for their opponents.  Hopefully Anthony Davis will be awarded a free eyebrow wax from the NBA since he took home the All-Star game MVP last night.  The league could easily make this more competitive by giving a $10-$15 million prize for the winning team.  I suspect Adam Silver will fix this problem.

Last night DeMarcus Cousins was traded to the Pelicans.   It was just hours earlier that the Lakers were in talks to acquire him, but the price was too high as far as they were concerned.  We know the Kings asked for Brandon Ingram, a future 1st rounder, and probably more.  The Lakers didn’t want to include Ingram.  You might think the Lakers were stupid to not give the Kings what they wanted for Cousins, even if it meant giving up Ingram.  However, LA made the right decision hanging on to him.  As great as DeMarcus Cousins is, we’ve seen what a team looks like with him as the best player, and it’s not even a playoff team.  As a Laker, Cousins would become the best player on the team immediately, and LA still wouldn’t be a playoff team.  Don’t be fooled into thinking LA won’t give up their young talent for a star player.  That star isn’t DeMarcus Cousins though.

As for All-Star Saturday night, this had to have been one of the more disappointing ones I can remember in the last several years. The NBA is all about star power, and unfortunately, we just didn’t see much of it in any of the three contests.  Kristaps Porzingas winning the skills contest is the most exciting thing to happen to the Knicks since Allen Houston came off their payroll.  They might as well have called the three-point shooting contest the “Klay Thompson Invitational” and the slam dunk contest the “Aaron Gordon Invitational” since they were such heavy favorites, yet somehow, they both managed to lose those events.  Eric Gordon shot well, but how can you have a three-point shooting contest without Steph Curry and Kyle Korver? Otto Porter leads the league in 3 point shooting this year, and he wasn’t even in the contest. As for the slam dunk contest, not having Zach Lavine go up against Aaron Gordon was a big let down after Lavine’s injury.  Aaron Gordon himself looked like he was laboring with his foot injury, and that probably allowed a guy like Glen Robinson III to win.  In addition to the dunks just not being creative enough, the names just weren’t there either.  I think we have all come to grips with the fact Lebron isn’t going to compete now that he’s well into his 30’s.  However, where is the top young athleticism in the NBA like Andrew Wiggins, Giannis Antetokounmpo, or even an athletic freak like Larry Nance Jr? It’s feeling more and more like a “whoever we can get to show up” contest.  DeAndre Jordan had a nice dunk, but we all know the odds are always stacked against you when you are a big man.  In DeAndre’s case, the odds are also stacked against him playing basketball when Chris Paul isn’t on the floor to throw him some ally-oops.  Hopefully Adam Silver comes up with some ways to keep the dunk contest alive.

Even though the NBA All-Star game did not have any Lakers playing in it, they did have some representation, most notably in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday. Both D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram participated. I don’t like to read too much into an exhibition game without a lot of defense being played, but after seeing D’Angelo contribute 12 points and 4 assists, and giving the fans some highlight reel isolation plays, it couldn’t help but reinforce what I already thought about him. Russell has star talent, but whether he fulfills it will come down to all the intangibles: work ethic, mental toughness, and maturity. As for Brandon Ingram, the skill is there, but until the kid puts on some weight, it’s hard to know exactly what the Lakers have in him.

Did anybody stop and think for just one minute that Kyrie Irving was actually trolling the media when he suggested the world is flat? It just goes to show you how desperate the media can be for a story in a slow news weekend.  Kevin Love has been the subject of some trade rumors in Cleveland, as he has been the last couple of years.  He was actually replaced on the All-Star team by Carmelo Anthony.  He and Lebron had a nice little exchange of text messages a few days ago….

New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis turned himself in to authorities on Friday, after being charged with four felonies and a misdemeanor stemming from an altercation in Pittsburgh last week. Revis is scheduled for a hearing in a few days.  Looks like Revis Island is about to turn into Alcatraz Island if he has to face jail time.  If the judge we’re going to give him a maximum sentence though, he would just sentence him to playing for the Cleveland Browns for the next five years.

Going into Saturday, it felt like UCLA was never going to beat USC again in basketball.  Then Lonzo Ball reminded us how great he was once again, as the Bruins blew out the Trojans at Pauley Pavilion.  Not only did UCLA play great defense, but we didn’t have to hear Steve Alford bitch about how high of a standard we hold him to when they don’t play defense.  If Alford wants to complain about it, he should go coach at Southwest Missouri State and take his kid with him.  To his credit though, Alford has gotten the Bruins to play some much better defense in the last couple of games.  I still think that Lavar Ball needs to settle down with all the talk about Lonzo being better than Steph Curry and better than Jason Kidd.  It’s great to have confidence in your kid and support him, but no need to put the added pressure on him, or even put a target on him that other players want a shot at.  Lavar Ball has become the world’s worst soccer mom.

Let’s go to the ice where last night the LA Kings played one of their biggest games of the season, yet somehow laid their biggest egg.  In typical Kings fashion, they couldn’t score, losing 1-0 to the Ducks at Honda Center.  The Kings must be under the impression that their bye week was for two weeks instead of one, because they haven’t showed up in their last three games.  I get it, Anze Kopitar is a nice defensive forward who does more than score.  However, the Kings sure as hell need him to score, and for $10 million per year, it better be more than six goals a season.  I also love how the Kings called up their most skilled prospect in Adrian Kempe, yet stick him on the 4th line instead of the top line when they are desperate for offense.  The Kings may not be out of the playoff race, but it sure feels like they’re letting the playoffs slip further and further away from them.

To baseball where spring training has opened up in Arizona for the Angels and Dodgers.  However, the big news for the Halos is that according to Arte Moreno, they will be playing at Anaheim Stadium until 2029.  The Angels also spent $1.5 million to install some LED lights in the stadium during the off-season, to go along with other improvements to the stadium over the years.  Moreno has clearly experienced the same troubles that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has recently, with regards to trying to build a new stadium in Southern California.  Even if Moreno had the money to do it himself, which he doesn’t, trying to build something in Orange County is not amenable to most residents, while in LA there are just too many stadiums.  Even if there was an opportunity to move, Anaheim has been home to the Halos for decades, and should continue to be that home.

Another coalition building episode of The Walking Dead last night on AMC.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case, and you want to watch it later.  I like how Rick was saved by Michonne in this episode, and she wasn’t even fighting with him.  I was shocked that Jadis didn’t ask for a hair stylist instead of all those guns for her group.  She must have thought the Jim Carey “Dumber & Dumber” haircut was in.  I was really bummed that Darryl didn’t tell  Carol that Glenn and Abraham were beaten to death.  However, my gut feeling is that she will eventually find out, and when she does, she will get her revenge.

Lastly, we’re down to the final four on The Bachelor, and I’m sure many of you can’t wait for tonight’s episode.  I’m fairly amazed how Nick has found a way to send all the girls home that would actually be good wives.  That dude is crazier than the women on the show.   He wants a deeper relationship, the women say they love him, then he sends them home.  Can they just send Nick home already? Let’s be honest, Nick probably sent Christina home because he thought he had to travel all the way to Russia for the hometown date with her.  Looks like ABC forgot to issue the spoiler alert when they announced that Rachel Lindsay will be the next Bachelorette.  This was never a problem with previous Bachelorette’s, so I’m not sure why ABC made this scheduling goof.  I’m not sure what was up with Corrine suddenly talking in the third person during last week’s show.  Who does she think she is, Elmo?  Nevertheless, she has a real shot to win, and my prediction is that you’re going to see her in the final.  If not though, I hope we at least get to meet her crazy family and Raquel.  After all, nothing says bringing a girl home to your family like a “platinum vageen”.  I’m not sure what was funnier: seeing Corrine walk out of that hotel while walking past the sliding doors, or seeing her walk like Bambi in those Louboutin’s.

Well Corrine when one door closes another opens…. but okay don’t use it #thebachelor pic.twitter.com/AvQnI1jqNY

— Sam Moore (@sammoore_007) February 14, 2017

February 13th, 2017

It’s not out of the question Laker fans.  Jerry West could come back to the franchise.  Reports surfaced out of the Bay Area last week, indicating that West could be intrigued by an offer from the Lakers Basketball Operations Department.  This is the most exciting piece of Laker news I’ve heard since learning that Blaze Pizza had a concession stand at Staple Center.  West is 78 years old, so let’s not get any crazy ideas that he would come back as a General Manager, or even Director of Basketball Operations.  However, he would be an extremely valuable consultant for the Lakers, and would be instrumental in helping rebuild the franchise.  If there’s one thing Jerry West is great at, it’s evaluating talent.  The Lakers have reached a point where drafting is more important than anything else they do.  With that being the case, his input would be critical.  He rebuilt the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Golden State Warriors, mostly through the draft.  There’s no reason he can’t help do it one more time.  With his son Ryan already in the front office, and good working relationships already with Mitch Kupchak, Jim Buss, Magic Johnson, and Jeanie Buss, there’s no reason this can’t work.  The Lakers are going to need additional help, but that’s a great start.

For those of you complaining about Jim Buss and where the Lakers are, Buss looks like the greatest owner in sports when you compare him to James Dolan in New York.  There is no tent big enough to hold the circus that is going on with the Knicks franchise.  Dolan has completely washed his hands of the Carmelo Anthony drama, and when asked about it last week, he said it’s all up to Phil Jackson.  The man doesn’t care, he just doesn’t want any of the blame.  I guess that’s why he’s paying Jackson $12 million a year.  I feel terrible for Carmelo, who’s been ripped by Jackson in the media, just to make him feel uncomfortable and ultimately waive his no-trade clause.  Carmelo has done nothing but come to work everyday, he doesn’t complain, and by all accounts he’s a good guy and a good teammate.  As if that didn’t create enough drama, Dolan then threw out former Knick legend Charles Oakley from Madison Square Garden late last week.  Oakley was likely screaming obscenities, but Dolan handled the situation poorly, and made up stories about the former Knick.  Dolan was so determined to win the battle of public perception that he even invited former Knick Latrell Sprewell, to sit next to him during yesterday’s game.  Sprewell also has a very rocky history with the organization.  I can’t wait to see where this high school drama goes next.  The bottom line is that the Knicks do more fighting in the stands than on the court.

Despite the last two UCLA wins, I’ve been really skeptical about their tournament chances of late.  However, there’s one thing that makes me think they could have a chance to go to the Final Four: Lonzo Ball.  As the College Basketball season goes on, he keeps getting better and better.  He totally dominated at both ends of the floor against Oregon, shutting down Dillon Brooks at one end, and taking over offensively at the other.  Yesterday, he sparked the Bruins in the 2nd half to route Oregon State.  Even when UCLA had a team with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love, it wasn’t enough to overcome the likes of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, or Al Horford in the Final Four.  It may very well be that UCLA has the most transcendent college player in the nation that puts them in National Championship contention.  Still, the Bruins have to improve their defense, and Steve Alford needs to stop bitching about us criticizing him for it when they stink.  Prior to playing the Oregon schools, the Bruins were ranked 117th out of 351 schools in adjusted defensive efficiency.  That measures how many points teams give up per 100 possessions when accounting for level of competitions.  Of the last 40 teams that made it to the Final Four, only two have had a ranking of 51 or higher.  That’s bad news for UCLA hoops.

Speaking of UCLA, you probably heard about future Bruin recruit LaMelo Ball scoring 92 points in a game for Chino Hills High School last week.  LaMelo is clearly one of the best high school basketball players in the country, and I can’t criticize a kid a teenager for doing something his coaches enabled him to do.  Let’s give LaMelo credit for dedicating his performance to a very sick classmate who was having surgery as well.  However, allowing someone to score 92 points in high school game is everything that wrong with high school and college basketball recruiting today.  Chino Hills defeated Los Osos 146-123.  A team with LaMelo Ball, one of the best high school players in the nation, is giving up 123 points? That’s because LaMelo spent most of the night cherry picking and not paying any attention to the defensive end.  LaMelo and his brother LiAngelo are such great players, their parents and coaches should hold them accountable for playing great defense on every possession, and for getting their teammates high quality shots with regularity.  It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either to give some players minutes who don’t get to play a whole lot either.

Are the Kings actually going to make the playoffs? They’ve got 27 games left, and are clinging to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.  How LA has managed to make it this far is more confusing than the names of Michael Jackson’s kids.  The Kings are 4th in goals allowed, but just 23rd in the league in goals scored.  Even stranger is the fact that Anze Kopitar, their leading scorer for the last 9 seasons, has just six goals on the year.  They also lost Jonathan Quick, one of the best goaltenders in hockey, to a groin injury in the 1st game of the season.  Quick might return before the season is over, but it’s far from a guarantee.  LA had the benefit of making an impact trade at the deadline in 2012 and 2014, which propelled them to Stanley Cup Championships.  This time however, they probably don’t have the assets or the salary cap flexibility to make that type of trade.  Meanwhile, the Ducks have found a way to get younger, yet they are still staying in playoff contention.  Their offense isn’t overwhelming, but their defense and goaltending are solid, and they are a much grittier team than in years past.  Whether that translates into playoff success remains to be seen however, in the crapshoot that is the NHL playoffs.

Nick Saban needs to start a reality show for fired USC coaches.  When coaches look like their career is over, they go work for him, and then find themselves as useful candidates elsewhere.  It was just months ago we felt like Steve Sarkisian’s career was over when he sued USC.  It turns out that not only is he an NFL Offensive Coordinator for the Falcons now, but he could easily end up getting a chance to be a head coach in the league in a couple of seasons.  Not bad for a guy that’s probably having a drink as you read this.

The Bachelor is getting crazy on ABC.  In fact, it’s getting so crazy that Jasmine makes Corrine look totally normal.  Nick is cutting girls like the federal budget.  We’re down to six.  It’s probably a good idea for most of the girls to take note that Nick doesn’t like to be choked, as Jasmine found out.  Who the hell is Whitney? Did anybody actually know who she was before that horrible 2 on 1 date she had? It was like watching a bad job interview.  These girls are getting very whiny, and I don’t blame Nick for starting to get over the whole process.  Every one of them should be fortunate and excited they made it this far on the show, yet all they can do is just increase the amount of complaining they are doing because of the lack of attention they are getting.  Vanessa in particular is the worst of these complainers, and I’m tired of her act.  There’s no crying in volleyball ladies.  If you played a drinking game where you had to take a shot every time Nick says “my heart is open”, you would be dead 30 minutes into the episode.  Nick is also crazy for sending Danielle Lo home.  At least she didn’t get left on the beach like Whitney.

The Walking Dead came back last night on AMC.  We just can’t seem to escape politics can we? The show spent a full hour building coalitions against a totalitarian regime.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  At least in this season premier we didn’t have to witness anybody get their skull crushed by a baseball bat.

Finally, it was Grammy night at Staples Center last night.  The last two years all I heard from people was how little talent the artists had, and how most of them had some kind of sideshow personality with no real quality music.  Last night definitely dispelled that notion, as plenty of talent was on display, and there were a number of excellent tributes to artists that had passed away recently.  Adele’s blunder wasn’t that bad.  Her expletive on live TV was unnecessary, but she collected herself quickly and gave a good performance after that.  That same can’t be said for Mariah Carey, who spent five minutes complaining about the technical difficulties on live TV during New Years Eve.  Then again, the Metallica microphone blunder seemed like a far worse mistake to me, but a lot of people might not have even realized their microphone wasn’t on anyway.  A legendary band like Metallica deserves better than that though.  Did anybody else think that Beyonce’s mom looked like Caitlyn Jenner?  Speaking of Beyonce, she looked better with a baby than most women do without one.