February 6th, 2017

That turned out to a be a much better Super Bowl than it appeared.  I’m not sure what was worse, the Patriots play in the 1st half, or all of the Super Bowl commercials.  Even the Cleveland Browns scored as many points as the Falcons and Patriots did in the 1st quarter on Super Bowl Sunday.  Bill Belichick was about ready to replace Brady with Lady Gaga as his quarterback.  Then came the second half of the game, which had to be extremely disappointing to the 8 Falcons fans that made the drive to Houston.  In the end, the Falcons looked like such big losers for blowing that lead, nobody would be surprised if they moved to LA next season.  This was like the Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead all over again.  I don’t know if Tom Brady is the best quarterback of all time, but he’s certainly in the discussion with Joe Montana.  Just listening to his teammates talk about him after the game made you realize how much they believe in him and their coach.  How the hell did Julian Edelman catch that ball?  I have never seen a team make second half adjustments like the Patriots do in all their games.  Bill Belichick is really that good.  Why did the Falcons keep throwing the football in the fourth quarter? They had two of the best running backs in football, and they didn’t take nearly enough time off the clock.  It was experience vs inexperience.  Roger Goodell congratulating Tom Brady on the podium when it was over was like Obama meeting Trump at the White House.  What a great finish to the NFL season.

The one thing I look forward to every Super Bowl is the commercials.  However, there was not a single commercial that was good.  Nothing made me laugh.  In fact, I think for the last several years, the Super Bowl commercials have been progressively getting more conservative, as well as less funny and entertaining.  Lady Gaga’s performance was good, but it was almost surprising that she wasn’t wearing less clothing, and didn’t make any kind of political statement.  I’m guessing the NFL gave her some pretty strict guidelines to follow for her performance, which did not allow for any of that.

The Lakers announced that Magic Johnson is returning to the team.  Magic says that he is available to the team in any way they would like to use him.  Good thing because I think it’s most ideal if Magic can be the team’s starting point guard and center.  Magic indicated that the Lakers are one superstar away from competing, so hopefully he was talking about himself, because acquiring one through free agency or a trade is going to be more difficult than ever before.  There is actually a lot that Magic can do for the organization right now, both on and off the floor.  In the eyes of the public, he immediately will add some much needed credibility to the front office.  If and when Jeanie Buss moves Jim out of basketball operations in the coming months, Magic will also pave the way for someone else to provide more help to run basketball operations.  Perhaps someone with some fresh thinking.  I also suspect that Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak will not be going anywhere, nor should they.  They will simply be ascending to higher advisory type roles.  We see Fortune 500 Companies do this all the time, bringing in new CEO’s after just a few years for that type of thinking.  Magic can also help mentor D’Angelo Russell, and work with him in practice to get him to fulfill all that potential he has.  Acquiring talent is going to be tougher than ever in the NBA, but if there’s somebody who can help the Lakers rebuild, it’s the Magic man.

This Lebron James vs the Cavs, and Lebron James vs Charles Barkley saga is so overblown.  Even though Lebron could have done it without going public, there is nothing wrong with him pushing his front office to make more moves to improve the team.  If you remember correctly, it was Kobe Bryant who did the exact same thing in 2007-2008, which pressured the Laker front office into making a big trade for Pau Gasol.  We always used to accuse Lebron of not being pathologically obsessed with winning.  As he’s gotten older and is trying to enhance his legacy, he has resorted to this type of “crack the whip” leadership with the entire organization.  You may not like it, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be effective.  There’s a good chance Lebron already had this talk with the Cavs privately, yet they haven’t acted, so he resorted to scolding them publicly for not continuously trying to improve the team.  I have no problem with that an even admire him for it.  On the other hand, it’s Barkley’s job to give his opinion on these types of situations, and Leborn knows that.  There’s nothing wrong with Barkley’s criticism of Lebron, and it’s no disrespect toward his legacy.  There’s a difference between criticizing the person and the performance, and Barkley is able to separate the two, so there’s no reason Lebron shouldn’t be able to.  Lebron on the other hand felt the need to criticize Barkley on a personal level, which was totally unnecessary.

Normally it’s the Raiders that find a way to screw things up.  This time however, it’s the NFL that screwed things up for the Raiders, likely ruining any chance for them to move to Vegas.  That’s because the league advised the Raiders to negotiate a deal to move to Vegas without Casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson.  After months of talks with Adelson, the team went behind his back multiple times, in attempt to get the deal done without him.  The real stupidity behind this decision is the fact that Adelson practically owns Vegas.  To get the deal done without him, the Raiders need the support of the local politicians, and Goldman Sachs.  Too bad Goldman has been advising Adelson’s firm for decades, and Adelson is very close with those local politicians.  There’s no chance they would go behind his back and make the deal without him.  With each passing day, I get the sense that the NFL is really run by idiots, who naively believe their football product is invincible.  That belief didn’t hold up in San Diego, who let the Chargers go when they refused to use public money to build a stadium, and the same thing is happening in Las Vegas.  Ultimately, what could destroy the NFL years from now is the people running it.

I’m not a huge believer in the merits of College Football’s National signing day.  However, there was a stark difference in the recruiting classes of USC and UCLA.  When you have a top 5 recruiting class, you are pulling in the best of the best, and a handful of five-star recruits.  That’s exactly what USC did, finishing with a class as high as #4 in some rankings.  The Trojans absolutely killed it, headlined by linebacker Levi Jones, a four star recruit, wide receiver Joseph Lewis, and his high school teammate Greg Johnson.  That also goes along with five star running back Stephen Carr, and a number of other highly touted recruits.  That not only fills the void left by the Trojan players departing for the NFL draft or graduating, but also adds much needed depth we haven’t seen since the Pete Carroll era.  I think it’s safe to say that Clay Helton has no problem recruiting.  Whether he can develop and coach over the long-haul remains to be seem, but I don’t hear anybody complaining about him anymore.  USC has returned to not even really recruiting players, but just selecting the top ones because the football brand is strong again.  As for the Bruins, a recruiting class ranked as high as #19 doesn’t sound bad, except when you find out that there were no running backs or wide receivers recruited.  Considering those were two of the Bruins biggest problems last year, it’s hard to imagine the team getting a whole lot better.  For a while, it seemed like UCLA was back on track, and even eclipsing USC within the Pac 12 Conference.  That feels like a distant memory now, and Jim Mora’s job might actually be in bigger jeopardy than most think.

Why are the Dodgers trying to sign Giants reliever Sergio Romo? His fastball probably wouldn’t even get a speeding ticket on the highway these days, and he definitely knows how to serve up some home runs.  Then again, he was injured last season, and his arm is about to fall off, so it makes perfect sense why Andrew Friedman would be interested in him.  If the Dodgers are going to take flyers on relievers like this, it would be nice if they also signed Joe Blanton as well.  However, let’s not pretend like the bullpen and the pitching is going to be reliable beyond Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen.  Those two guys are probably going to be asked to do some stupid things come October, like pitching way more innings than they really should.

Finally, get ready for The Bachelor Tonight.  You don’t actually think that both Taylor and Corrine are going to get kicked off the show tonight do you? Don’t be surprised if not only Corrine stays, but Taylor as well.  I think in the last episode I heard the term “emotional intelligence” more than I did in my senior year psychology class in college.  Whether you like her or hate her, you had to have fallen out of your chair laughing when Corrine said “make America Corrine again.”  If a guy dated 25 girls at one time, a girl would call him a player and a jerk.  On The Bachelor though, that guy is the man of every woman’s dreams.  The hilarious part about that is that all of these women are being duped and that Nick really just out to get some tail.

January 30th, 2017

What are you waiting for Doc Rivers? Just pull the trigger on the Carmelo trade already.   How many times are you going to try and convince us that your team is good enough to win as currently constructed? We all know it’s not, and deep down inside, you know it too.  ‘Melo isn’t Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard, but he’s still an All-Star caliber small forward that will make Clippers better.  Even if you have to give up J.J. Redick to get it done, you’re getting a massive upgrade at the position you need the most help.  Yea I get it, most of you think ‘Melo is some one dimensional ball hog.  However, if you put great players around him like CP3 and Blake, just like in the Olympics, he becomes a huge asset.  Not to mention the fact he’s a much better locker room guy than people give him credit for.  Even if ‘Melo doesn’t get the Clipps by the Warriors or Spurs, they are still a better team with him, as well as a more entertaining one.

Speaking of trades, it’s time for the Lakers to find a trade partner for someone to take Lou Williams and Nick Young.  By trading those guys, they might even be able to get another 1st round pick, shed some longer-term salary along with them, and get some of the kids more playing time to develop.  With that development likely comes more losses, which is actually much needed as well.  The Lake Show are trying to hang on to their top 3 protected lottery pick this year, and if they are successful, they would also keep their 1st round pick in 2019 as well, which is a result of the Dwight Howard trade.  In other words, by losing they are protecting not one but two future 1st round picks.  Drafting NBA players in the lottery is a crapshoot, but if you keep picking, eventually you find your franchise guy.  Just ask the 76ers and Bucks.

So the NBA players and coaches complained about the fans having too much say in the All-Star selection process.  This year, when they changed the voting process to give players a say, it turns out most voted for themselves, their friends, or didn’t even bother to vote.  Many didn’t even have Lebron James on their ballot! Perhaps the NBA has forgotten what the All-Star game is about: it’s a game for the fans, so they should get to see what they want.  If the fans want to see Steph Curry start over Russell Westbrook then they deserve it to see it.  For the most part, the fans do a pretty good job, and a much better job than the players themselves.  Without the fans, there is no NBA.  After this idiotic display by the players, the next player, coach, or member of the NBA that suggests anything is wrong with the fan voting should be slapped.  As for the Cavs, according to this reporter, they do some pretty interesting things in the huddle…..

The Dodgers finally made a big move to acquire a second  baseman you’ve probably never heard of.  It was Logan Forsythe of the Tampa Bay Rays, and it cost them one of their better pitching prospects, Jose De Leon.  I sure wish the Boys in Blue were able acquire Brian Dozier from the Twins instead, however, Forsythe is just as good, but without the power.  He also fills a lot of needs: an everyday second baseman, leadoff hitter, and someone who hits well against left handers.  That sounds great and all, but the Dodgers aren’t in any better position to win a World Series than they have been the last 6 years.  They are probably good enough to win the division, and then get abused by another midwest team in the playoffs.  The Dodgers wouldn’t have had a need to acquire Forsythe had Andrew Friedman not made that stupid Dee Gordon trade a few years ago, as Gordon is now a very affordable all-star second baseman.  The team would also probably perform a lot better if Friedman didn’t insist on changing his outfield lineups more frequently than Kim Kardashian changes husbands.

Remember when I didn’t mind that Steve Alford was coaching the Bruins basketball team? After losing to USC, I think every UCLA Basketball fan should mind.  The Bruins should never lose basketball games to the Trojans.  Even Trojan fans know that.  UCLA returned to the team we saw against Arizona, which couldn’t play defense, and had an offense that was totally of of rhythm.   It’s like Alford forgot he had to coach this team when they ran into trouble.  Speaking of Alford’s forgetting things, it feels like Bryce has suddenly forgotten how to play in the last two games.  Even Lonzo Ball shares some blame in this, serving up more turnovers than Betty Crocker last Wednesday.   These are still eighteen and nineteen year old kids, which is hard to remember, but their development and focus falls at the feet of the coaching staff.  The more adversity the Bruins seem to face this year, the more that coaching seems non-existent.

I wish they would permanently do away with the bye week prior to the Super Bowl.  Just give us the game already!  By the time we get to Super Sunday, NFL analysts will be forced to analyze issues like what color hoodie will Bill Belichik be wearing? Or whether or not Tom Brady wears Gisele’s underwear for good luck in big games? You’ll just have to hear about this stuff for the next seven days.  The game features the Patriots #1 defense in the NFL, vs the #1 offense of the Falcons.  These games never end well for the offensive juggernaut, so this game has Patriots blowout written all over it.

It’s one thing to have a sport with an All-Star Game that’s less than ideal.  However, the Pro-Bowl takes this concept to a new level by making the NFL just look like garbage.  The entire game has become a joke that nobody watches anymore, in which the players hardly try so they don’t get injured.  Many deserving players don’t even want to go or are playing in the Super Bowl.  This is one league showcase they should have ended five years ago.  Unfortunately, as successful as the league is, it isn’t necessarily run by the smartest people.  Roger Goodell even came out last week and claimed that Thursday Night Football is a good product.  It seems that even the NFL Commissioner is suffering from CTE.

Then there’s the NHL All-Star game which may have finally gotten an All-Star Game right.  They made it an exciting three-on-three tournament, with teams broken up by division.  There’s probably more goalies that are named “All-Stars” who probably shouldn’t be because of the divisional format, but the goalies don’t really matter.  It’s a huge showcase of skill, with enough competitiveness and entertainment for the fans.  That’s what they came to see.  Yesterday, it was nice to see the present LA Kings, Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty, play well in front of the home fans, but also a lot of former Kings make their presence felt as well.  From former King Wayne Simmonds getting the MVP, to former Kings Luc Robitaille, Marcel Dionne, and Wayne Gretzky being honored among the top 100 players of all time, the hometown heroes were well represented.  The most epic part of the weekend though was the NHL letting Snoop Dog open for the Skills Challenge on Saturday night.  It just so happens though, that the league forgot to tell him to censor his lyrics…..

On a much more serious note, I am happy to hear that LA Kings broadcaster Bob Miller is in good spirits and doing well.  Miller suffered a mild stroke on Saturday, and was admitted to USC Keck Hospital, where he is resting comfortably.  Miller is not only a Hall of Fame Broadcaster but a great guy as well, who is very loved in the hockey community.  Thoughts and prayers with him and his family, and here’s to a speedy recovery.

Ok folks, somebody on The Bachelor is going home tonight, and I have a feeling it’s not going to be Corrine, even though she’s making most of us “cor-ringe”, every time she speaks.  Mind you, on the last episode Corrine claimed that even Michael Jordan took naps.  However, none of his teammates during the Olympics remember him taking any naps and were pretty amazed by that.  Corrine, you are no Michael Jordan.  You are more like the seven dwarfs in one episode: sleepy, happy, grumpy, and slutty (if there was such a dwarf).  Taylor is likely to be the one to go tonight, mostly because if it’s not Nick who says so, it will probably be the producers.  Raven beating her cheating boyfriend with her home wrecker’s stiletto is one of the best “please love me because I’m damaged” stories I’ve heard in a long time.  Why are there so many Danielle’s on the show? The producers really blew it on that one, even though Danielle L. is my favorite.  Nick definitely knew what he was doing when he took all the girls to the farm to check out their skills milking cows.   The more I think about it though, I think Corrine is really just Tiffany Trump living a double life to troll all of us right now……

January 23, 2017

Last week Jeanie Buss met with Magic Johnson to talk about the state of the Laker franchise.  As you can see from the selfie they took from her seats, they made no secret about their meeting.  You can be sure that they were not reminiscing about Magic’s playing days, or about that old television show he used to host called “The Magic Hour” (which was easily the worst television show in the history of television).  Jeanie has to be strategizing a shakeup in the Laker front office, and specifically, replacing her brother Jim with somebody else as the head of basketball operations.  Jeanie was probably using Magic to generate ideas, and probably even gauging his interest in returning to the Lakers in some capacity.  I certainly can’t see Magic in a player evaluation role for the team, but I could see him in a higher level business operating role.  At most, overseeing the basketball operations department, but delegating to others.  He already looks bored of his ownership role with the Dodgers.  Nevertheless, this wouldn’t be too radical of a shift in leadership, but one that would appease the public more than anything else, as well as appease Jeanie and Magic, who both love the Lakers as much as life itself.   On the court things have been rough of late.  The Lakers lost D’Angelo Russell for a couple of weeks to another knee injury, and took a senseless beating from the Mavericks yesterday by 49 points, which was their worst loss in franchise history.  Time to cheer for more losses folks to keep that 1st round draft pick!

Speaking of losing, the Clippers lost Chris Paul to an injury again.  This time, another 6-8 weeks for a thumb injury.  I could swear I’ve seen this movie before, as well as the sequel, and it’s going to end the same way in the trilogy.  Blake Griffin will come back next week.  Then Paul will be back by the end of the season, and the Clipps will struggle to regain their chemistry.  They’ll fool some of you into thinking they can contend, and then they’ll either choke in the first round, or get blown off the floor in the second round against the Warriors.  Somehow, Doc Rivers and Steve Ballmer will then convince themselves to bring back the exact same team next season, even if it costs them another $400 million to keep Blake and Paul.  You’ve gotta give Doc Rivers credit for being able to bamboozle the former CEO of Microsoft, and convince him to keep the team together for this long.  This might also explain why Ballmer is no longer the CEO of Microsoft.

What a horrible pair of conference championship games we saw yesterday.  I refuse to accept the fact we had to watch two blowouts.  I’m so upset, starting today I’m going to be protesting, picketing, rioting, and forming support groups.  #NotmySuperBowl.   In Atlanta, the Packers played so badly, Aaron Rogers’ family probably won’t plan on making up with him anytime soon.  Stay positive though Packer fans.  You still have obesity, cheese, and 11 months of Winter to help you through this difficult time.  The Falcons are a way better team than everybody gave them credit for, and Matt Ryan has been arguably the best quarterback in the NFL this season.  The highlight of the game was the Falcons’ Robert Alford doing his best Lebron James impression…..

Over in the AFC Championship Game, Roger Goodell is going to need to fly to New England to investigate the Steelers claim that they were raped by the Patriots.  The Pats executed at a much higher level than the Steelers, and totally blew them out of the building.  Le’Veon Bell’s groin injury didn’t help Pittsburgh’s cause, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.  Unless Bell could figure out a way to shutdown the Patriots’ receivers, New England still would have handled business.  Bell probably told team doctors that all he needed to recover was a box of Pringles and two joints.  If Brady finds a way to win his 5th Super Bowl in two weeks, he’s definitely going to have a strong case as the greatest quarterback of all-time, which probably won’t sit well with many of you.  I’m going with the Pats.

It’s been just over a week, and the Chargers move to LA is already a total disaster.  In fact, the NFL owners are actually furious with Dean Spanos, and were privately hoping that he would re-consider moving the team back to San Diego.  If the NFL wants the Chargers back in San Diego so badly, why don’t they just write a check for it? I’m sure San Diegans would take them back, the same way you talk smack about your hot ex-girlfriend, until you are just giddy when she asks to get back together with you.  Spanos isn’t going to move them back to San Diego though.  He’s done the accounting, and he knows the money is in LA is great, regardless of how much people are going to hate him.  He’s going to crash the party despite the fact nobody cares about him.  As you can see, last week’s rally went really well…..

I could swear I entered a time machine on Saturday, and was watching a Steve Lavin coached UCLA basketball team.  It wasn’t Lavin, but his horrible reincarnation, Steve Alford, as Arizona upset the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion.  It wasn’t the fact the Bruins lost.  It was how they lost.  Alford’s team couldn’t defend the Wildcats, he couldn’t make adjustments, and they were outmuscled in the paint.  The Bruins have a phenomenal offense, but if they can’t defend teams like Arizona in March, they are going to be sent home very quickly.  Alford knows his team needs defense, but can he actually teach it? Based on what we’ve seen from him in the past, there’s no reason to believe he can.  As amazing as Lonzo Ball is, he can’t do it all himself.  To make matters worse, UCLA is now in danger of finishing 3rd in the Pac 12, unless they get some serious help from other teams, and less likely to be a #1 seed in the West for the NCAA Tournament.  There’s certainly time to get their act together, but simply being an offensive juggernaut isn’t going to be enough.  At some point, coaching has to come into play.

As for the Trojans, they held off Arizona State yesterday, and ended up going 1-1 against the Arizona schools.  After a great start, USC is just 4-4 in conference play, good enough for only 6th place.  The Trojan defense is just as bad as the Bruins’, but they aren’t nearly as explosive offensively to make up for it.  They’ll have a cross-town showdown with the Bruins at the Galen Center on Wednesday night.

I don’t understand the rationale of baseball hall of fame voting.  If you get 75% of the writers votes you are in the hall of fame, but why do writers decide to vote for someone one year, but not in another year?  You are either a hall of famer or you aren’t.  It shouldn’t matter who else is on the ballot.  I also think the fact that Ivan Rodriguez made the hall of fame tells me that eventually Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and other documented steroid users will get in.  The younger generation of writers is more progressive and thinks that these players were already hall of famers with or without the juice.  Besides, if you don’t vote for Bonds, he’ll probably take a baseball bat and smash your car out of roid rage.

Ok guys, admit it, your wives and girlfriends have made you start watching The Bachelor on ABC.  Even ESPN’s Mathew Barry has started a fantasy league revolving around the show.  It’s really like repeatedly watching a live train wreck on television.  As gorgeous as many of these women are, most of them are crazy, or just trying to monetize their fame of being on the show (maybe even both).  That’s fine, but no need to make yourself look like an idiot in the process, even if it’s for our entertainment.  This season, the Bachelor is Nick Viall, who was among the finalists in several previous seasons of The Bachelorette.  However, the true entertainment factor on the show is Corinne Olympios, a 24 year old business owner from Miami.  Corinne was totally “that girl” in college, who was sloppier than Lindsay Lohan at happy hour, and getting nailed by the entire football team.  That was pretty evident when she took off her top, as well as made use of the “whip cream bikini” in the first three episodes of the season.  Still, regardless of what Nick thinks of her, there’s no way the producers are going to let him cut her from the show for a while.  I have to say, the fact that this woman runs a company (even if inherited from her father), should give every aspiring entrepreneur hope that they can one succeed.

January 16th, 2017

Sometimes business and money outweigh everything else.  Just ask Donald Sterling.  Now you can ask Dean Spanos, who ripped the Chargers from San Diego last week, and moved them to Los Angeles.  Congratulations Dean, you are now the most irrelevant team in the Los Angeles sports landscape.  You are the unwanted house guest that is crashing on the couch, drinking the hosts beer, and slamming food in the fridge that isn’t yours.  Then there’s the disaster that was the team logo.  In a matter of hours, the Bolts had a new logo, that looked like it cost about 50 cents to make.  It looked like the Dodgers logo had sex with an electrical cord.  Then, just a few hours later after being destroyed on social media for the logo, Dean Spanos did damage control on local radio stations by saying this was just a temporary logo for marketing purposes.  Good one Dean.  The logo itself alienated the remaining San Diego fans, and was simultaneously rejected by LA fans.  If you think the logo is bad, wait until you see how bad the team is on the field.  The Chargers added insult to their own injury by hiring a running back coach in Anthony Lynn, just a few hours later.  LA barely has interest in supporting one lousy NFL team.  We definitely don’t need two.  This was a poor desperation move by the Spanos family, who could have easily spent money on a stadium in San Diego instead of a relocation fee, while combining that with the NFL’s contribution.  The irony of it all is that the most popular team in Los Angeles is the Raiders, and we all know they are headed to Vegas.

Speaking of coaching, the Rams have named Sean McVay their new head coach.  McVay is the youngest head coach in the NFL history at 30 years old.  This guy is so young to be a head coach, nobody is actually sure if he’s going to need a permission slip from his mother to go on road trips.  In all seriousness though, its a bold and out-of-the-box hire that is worth a try.  McVay did wonders developing Kirk Cousins the last few years as an offensive coordinator with the Redskins.  At 30 years old, he can probably do a much better job relating to guys like Jared Goff and Todd Gurley, than a guy in his 40’s or 50’s can.  Despite all the big names you heard, we knew the Rams weren’t going to get one.  However, this was a good alternative plan that could payoff in the long run.  I’m still surprised though that nobody wanted to wait for Kyle Shanahan, who has done a great job as Atlanta’s offensive coordinator this year.

I think it’s safe to say The Legion of Boom was blown up the the Falcons over the weekend.  Devonta Freeman was breaking ankles and Matt Ryan was racking up some big numbers.  The Falcons defense doesn’t look that good, but it hasn’t mattered yet, and might not next week either.  The Seahawks just aren’t the same without Marshawn Lynch.  Thomas Rawls clearly did not eat his Skittles the way Lynch did, and his performance has suffered.  Russell Wilson also suffered on Saturday.  If I didn’t know better, I would say it was Grayson Allen who was playing offensive line for the Seahawks, who ended up tripping him…..

In New England, Brock Osweiler was in a very giving mood, throwing three interceptions, as the Patriots routed the Texans.   Osweiler has become the greatest $72 million thief in history.  The Pats didn’t play that well, but handled the Texans easily.  They didn’t even need deflated footballs to take care of business either.

Then there were the good games.  Aaron Rogers proved he’s definitely the best quarterback in football after he single handedly led the Packers past the Cowboys in Dallas.  It feels like if I gave Rogers a couple of homeless wide receivers off the street to play on his team, he’d still be able to throw for 300 yards.  Now that Hillary Clinton and the Cowboys both lost their big games this year while being the favorite, blue must be the official color of choking.  The Cowboys have a very good young team, but their defense has more holes than a Packers cheese hat.  The over/under on the Packers-Falcons NFC title game must be 1,000 points.

The Steelers got by the Chiefs 18-6.  It got even worse for Chiefs Coach Andy Reid after the game, when he found out all the local BBQ joints in K.C. were closed.  Steelers Running Back Le’Veon Bell ran wild again, and is living proof that smoking weed makes you a more patient runner.  Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce just didn’t have it yesterday against the Steelers D.  I fee like Kelce is trying to be Rob Gronkowski the same way that Bon Jovi is trying to be Bruce Springsteen.  Kelce was very displeased with the officiating as well.  Sorry Travis, but you probably could overcome the officiating if you didn’t have a critical drop and a penalty in that game.  Somebody get that man a tissue.

Looking back at the National Championship Game from last week, that was a great finish to the college football season with Clemson getting by Alabama in the final seconds.  That game was very boring early on, and lasted longer than a Kim Kardashian marriage.  However, the Tigers were simply the beneficiary of getting the last opportunity to score, and they took advantage of it.  They also benefitted from Alabama Running Back Bo Scarborough breaking his leg.  It was great for college football that Clemson knocked off the team that was viewed as a dynasty in Alabama.  Knowing Lane Kiffin though, he probably was happy as hell his former employer lost, since Sark replaced him as offensive coordinator for that game.  Sark called a pretty good game, however, the Crimson Tide defense couldn’t keep the ball long enough to keep their defense off the field and rested.  I’m sure Sark also filled the Gatorade bottles with some vodka to take the edge off.  The loss wasn’t a big deal for him since he planned on getting drunk anyway when it was over.

To the NBA, where the Lakers fell to the Pistons last night at Staples, but the more intriguing stories are off the court as we’ve reached the halfway point of the season.  The Lake Show were reportedly interested in acquiring Atlanta Hawks Power Forward Paul Milsap or the 76ers Center Nerlens Noel. Milsap is an all-star player, but acquiring him makes little sense for a team as far away from contending for a title as the Lakers.  He’s off the trade block for now, but hopefully the Lakers don’t pull the trigger on that trade.  As good as Milsap is, he’s really an elite complimentary player on a team.  He’s a B+ player that doesn’t get this team to the playoffs, he’d cost at least a couple of the teams best young players in a trade, and he’s going to be due for a very expensive $140 million contract extension when the season ends.  As for Noel, his shot blocking ability would be a great fit in the front court for this young Laker team.  If the Lakers could find a way to make that trade without trading Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, or Jordan Clarkson, they should do it.  Perhaps a Lou Williams for Nerlens Noel trade might make sense considering the 76ers need backcourt help.  Forget the playoff pipe dream that most of you had early on in the season.  The Lakers are on pace to win almost 30 games, and before the season started, most of us thought that would be major progress.

As for the Clippers, they’ve won six straight and stabilized things after going through a rough stretch.  Blake Griffin is also due back soon, and they’ll need him to see where they stack up.  Beginning at the end of this month, they’ll face the Warriors three times, the Spurs, Raptors, and Celtics, in a four week stretch.  Keep in mind, Blake Griffin needs to play well for his own free agency.  Under the new NBA CBA, if Blake gets first, second, or third team All-NBA, he is eligible for a 5 year contract for over $200 million this summer.  The next closest another team could offer is 4 years and $124 million.  However, if Blake doesn’t get All-NBA honors, the Clippers could only offer 5 years and about $150 million, which would make it slightly easier to leave LA if he desired.  The other situation to keep an eye on is the rocky relationship between Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony in New York.  If Melo does become willing to waive his no-trade clause, the Clippers and Cavs are the only teams he would be willing to go to.  However, would the Clippers really make that trade if the Knicks asked for Blake Griffin? I have my doubts, even if Chris Paul is buddies with ‘Melo.

That was a great win by the UCLA basketball team on Saturday at Utah.  The Bruins rallied from a nine-point deficit in the second half despite their defense looking as soft as rigatoni.  The Bruins were out rebounded and allowed the Utes to shoot 54% from the field, but they made big shots down the stretch.  Coach Steve Alford actually did something right other than style his hair nicely during this game.  He even sat out his son Bryce on some key defensive possessions late in the game, allowing the Bruins to matchup better in certain situations.  The win was definitely character building for a team that hasn’t had many tests thus far this year.  They’ll get tested next week though as they take on Arizona and Arizona State.

As for the Trojans, they aren’t nearly as good as you thought a few weeks ago.  USC will probably fall out of the Top 25 after losing to Utah.  They also barely got by Colorado.  The Trojans are a combined 2-6 in higher elevation trips to Utah and Colorado since those teams joined the Pac 12 in 2011-2012.  At least they are enjoying the legalization of marijuana on these trips since they can’t seem to beat those schools, which they should.

Finally, we’re just beyond the halfway point of the NHL season, and I think it’s safe to say we can draw some conclusions about the Kings and Ducks.  The Kings score less than Steve Urkel did on Family Matters, and need some major help.  The good news for LA is that despite their scoring woes and the loss of starting goalie Jonathan Quick, they are currently hanging onto the last playoff spot in the West.  With the emergence of young defenseman like Derek Forbort and Kevin Gravel, the Kings can afford to trade a quality defenseman like Jake Muzzin for some offensive help by the trade deadline.  Then there’s the Ducks, who have grinded their way into 1st place in the Pacific Division at this point.  Anaheim has also done it with defense, despite not having veteran goal scorers pull their own weight offensively.  Unless Anaheim can find a taker for Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry, I doubt we’ll see much movement from them at the deadline.  The real question though is if these guys can actually do something in the playoffs, which remains to be seen.

January 9th, 2017

Perhaps it wasn’t such a great idea for the Giants’ receivers to go on that boating trip to Miami.  Odell Beckham and Sterling Shepherd looked like they forgot to bring their hands back from the trip, as the Packers blew out the G-Men yesterday on Wild Card Weekend.  Odell’s hands were obviously still greasy from rubbing down all those men in Miami with sunscreen, as he dropped two touchdown passes while Aaron Rodgers was connecting on another Hail Mary touchdown pass.  The Packers are are on fire, and headed for an epic showdown with the Cowboys.  It was so cold in Green Bay yesterday that Eli Manning’s mom packed an extra thermos of hot chocolate for the quarterback.  Here’s Rodgers huge Hail Mary…..

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, the Steelers dismantled the Dolphins.  That game was a bigger mismatch than Big Ben locked in a room full of sorority girls.  Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Browh put up monster numbers and looked like they were playing Tecmo Bowl.  Bell is the worst thing to happen to the “anti-drug” campaign.  That team looks so good at times, but so inconsistent at others.  Still, Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin is much more than just the “cheerleader” that Terry Bradshaw suggested he is.  In the last 10 years, this “cheerleader” has won 64% of his games, with 5 division titles, 2 Super Bowl appearances, and one of only 6 active head coaches that have won a Super Bowl.  Nice try Terry Bradshaw.  Congratulations to  Matt More, who made history yesterday.   Moore is the first quarterback to die, yet continue an NFL game……..

In Seattle, the Seahawks took care of the Lions.  This is definitely the worst thing to happen to Lions fans since they found out they actually live in Detroit.  Cheer up though guys, you can still buy pieces of property out there for about $10, so it’s not so bad.  Seattle was never going to lose that game playing at home, especially while Matt Stafford had a bad hand.  I think The Lions may be the only franchise to give up a one handed TD while getting face masked and a butt catch in the same game.

Then there’s the tragedy that was the Raiders, getting blown out by the Texans.  I was waiting for a Brock Osweiler implosion here, but it was the Raiders’ Connor Cook who was the disaster.  I had a better quarterback rating than Connor Cook on Saturday, and I haven’t played tackle football in 15 years.  It was so bad that the Raiders would have been better off playing Derek Carr with a broken leg than putting Cook out there.  That’s about as good as it’s going to get this year for the Texans, who should be demolished next weekend in New England.  The Patriots thought they get one bye week during this years playoffs, but it turns out it was really two.

To the NBA, where the Lakers are still searching for some consistency.  That’s typical of a young team, however, there’s some trade opportunities out there for the team to consider.  Specifically, Chicago Bulls all-star swingman, Jimmy Butler.  According to Ric Bucher, the Bulls are shopping Butler.  Considering the new CBA is going to keep most all-star players with their current teams, when a player like Butler becomes available, it’s worth considering whether or not you should deal for him.  You can be sure a conversation with the Bulls will actually take place, but Chicago would likely ask for two players among, Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, and Julius Randle, with one of the two being Russell or Randle.  Butler is a very good player with a team friendly contract, and I had to ask myself this question a few times before deciding that the Lakers should keep the kids and not make a trade like that.  I’ve seen what a team looks like with Jimmy Butler as its best player, and it’s not only not a championship team, it might not even be a playoff team.  However, we don’t know what this Laker team is going to look like in the next 2-3 years, but it should at least be a playoff team with the development we’ve seen thus far.  You just have to have patience, which nobody seems to have.

As for the Clippers, they have turned things around winning four straight.  Chris Paul made an emphatic return with on Friday night with an efficient game, and then followed it up with an 18 assist game yesterday.  The bigger issue though is that the Clipps whine more than a room full of pre-schoolers.  They’ve been charged with 34 technical fouls this season, 3rd most in the league.  At this point, even Doc Rivers knows his team is a bunch of cry babies, and has told them to pipe down because the officials are targeting them.  More than anything though, this type of complaining is so symbolic of the Clippers lack of discipline in the last five years in big games, and a big reason why they will come up short again in the playoffs.

Russell Westbrook amazes me.  The man is averaging a triple double, which nobody in the NBA has done in the last 55 years, yet he’s getting criticized for his selfishness.  Ironically, Westbrook is one of the few elite players who decided to stay with his current team by signing an extension, which he should be lauded for.  Instead, after Westbrook and the Thunder lost to James Harden and the Rockets earlier in the week, the media was suggesting that Harden was more unselfish than Westbrook.  Harden is definitely having an MVP caliber season, but people who cover the NBA have very short memories.  Harden is the same guy who quit on his teammates last season.  Westbrook is still a better defender, and more explosive than Harden  Nobody that averages a triple double is selfish.  Just because you don’t like the way Westbrook executes at the end of games doesn’t mean he can’t change that.  The same way Harden became a better teammate this season.  If Westbrook averages a triple double for the year, he should definitely be the MVP.  Knowing the media though, they’ll probably give it to Harden.

To college hoops, where the Bruins picked up a couple of wins against Cal and Stanford the last few days.  UCLA will likely move up a spot in the AP poll, probably #3, after #1 Villanova lost earlier in the week.  Lonzo Ball is doing it all, and he might not even be the best Ball brother that’s going to be playing at UCLA in the next four years.  Apparently, their father has had them working on all kinds of crazy things in practice over the years, including regularly shooting half-court shots.  That probably explains why you see this from him all the time…..

Then there’s USC, who’s starting to look like the mid-major I thought they might be about a week ago.  The Trojans lost a close one at home to Cal last night, which is already their second loss in Pac 12 Play.  That game between the Bears and Trojans may have been exciting last night, but USC looks like nothing more than a middle of the road Pac 12 team, and nothing like the team we saw last year.

The Rams coaching search is still in full effect.  Last week’s interviews were headlined by Patriots Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels, Bills Interim Coach Anthony Lynn, and Jacksonville Interim Coach Doug Marrone. Falcons Offensive Coordinator Kyle Shanahan will likely be this week.  The “hot candidate” seems to be Shanahan.  However, I don’t ever recall “the hot candidate” ever being all that great in recent memory.  Mike McCoy was “the hot candidate” a couple of years ago with the Chargers and now he’s out.  Josh McDaniels was “the hot candidate” a few years earlier with the Broncos, then ran Jay Cutler out of town, and then was run out of town after that.  All the big names we heard a few weeks ago like Jim Harbaugh and Jon Gruden won’t even interview, so I fully expect to be underwhelmed when a new coach is announced.

Is Lane Kiffin one of the most disliked people on the planet? He must be.  A pretty good sign that people don’t like you is when you are asked not to call plays in the National Championship game when you’ve been doing it all year long, and then your replacement is a recovering alcoholic.  My favorite part of this was when Kiffin thought we were all dumb enough to believe that this was a mutual agreement between him and Nick Saban.  Saban just wants him gone after he accepted a job with Florida Atlantic.  I’m taking Alabama tonight over Clemson in the National Championship game.  Nobody can stop the Crimson Tide and all the money they are paying their players.

January 2nd, 2017

Happy New Year everybody! Let’s kick off the first edition of MMC in 2017 with some Laker talk, and more specifically, what the breakup of Jeanie Buss and Phil Jackson means.  First and foremost, it means that most guys have been feverishly checking Match.Com, Bumble, E-Harmony, and Tinder to see if Jeanie has posted a new profile since she’s single now.  I think it’s safe to say she likes older men, so if you are in your 70’s, you’ve got a good shot, which is bad news for many of us who thought we had a shot.  Knowing Phil, their breakup was probably caused by the fact that Jeanie didn’t want to run the triangle offense at dinner time.  I don’t think Phil ever really wanted to get married, because who takes a job they don’t need on the other side of the country when they are engaged?  More than anything though, the breakup should put an end to the rumors that Jeanie is going to bring Phil back at the end of the season to replace her brother, Jim, in the front office.  That should give Laker fans some peace of mind on the direction of the franchise, because bringing Phil back was a horrible idea.  It may not save Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak though.  Their fate will be decided at season’s end.  If the Lakers were to replace either one of them, I’m sure there would be a number of great executives lining up for the role, who are more qualified than both Phil and Jim Buss.  As for the team, their record is much closer to being the worst team in the league, than to a playoff spot.  With a top 3 protected pick, it’s probably time to start cheering for some more losses so the team can hang on to that pick and collect another valuable asset.

As for the Clippers, it was just a couple of weeks ago that everyone was raving about how much depth the team had, and how they were championship contenders that might be able to knock off the Warriors in the playoffs.  That so-called “depth” has come up short  of late, as the Clipps have lost six straight, and fallen all the way to seventh in the Western Conference.  Aside from the fact that Blake Griffin and Chris Paul are becoming more and more fragile as they age, the Clippers defense has been non-existent over the last few weeks.  I’m not foolish enough to believe the Clipp Show is going to miss the playoffs, but a slide down to even fourth in the West would likely lead to a second round matchup with Golden State, or even settling for the 6th seed would probably result in a matchup with the upstart Houston Rockets.  That means all those celebrity bandwagon Clipper fans will be searching for the receipts on their Blake Griffin jerseys and returning them back to the Team LA store.

Are you ready for the Rose Bowl? That’s right folks, we might actually get a good football game this afternoon, instead of that watered down, glorified, consolation game crap we’ve been witnessing for the last two weeks, as well as the boring semifinal playoff games.  Neither USC nor Penn State is going to be able to run the ball against each other, so I expect Trace McSorely and Sam Darnold to be chucking the ball around like they are playing in the backyard.  However, the Trojans have the better quarterback, and Darnold’s mobility should be able to neutralize Penn State’s solid pass rush.  I think USC pulls away late and wins by two touchdowns.  The irony of all this is that the Trojans beat Colorado and Washington, and it seems like the punishment  for those two teams was getting embarrassed by much better opponents in their respective bowl games.  The Trojans on the other hand get a nice matchup with Penn State in the Rose Bowl, which all of their fans and players would be thrilled to play in and win.  If you’re going to the game, hopefully you left yesterday, because it’s the Rose Bowl, which means it will take a Christopher Columbus like journey to get there and get in your seats by game time.

Let’s go the NFL, where mercifully, the Rams season has come to an end.  It concluded yesterday with a 44-6 beating they took from Arizona.  How did this team start 3-1? The offense was scoring less than Steve Urkel on New Years Eve.  Jared Goff took so many hits that Chris Brown is interested in dating him.  The honeymoon is over and the team needs to fix things quickly, or else they will lose buzz even before heading into their expensive new stadium in 2019.  The first order of business is hiring a coach with a good offensive mind, and drafting some solid offensive lineman.  Only then will we know whether Todd Gurley and Jared Goff are decent NFL players are not.  It doesn’t take very long to turn things around in the NFL, unless you are the Cleveland Browns.  The right coach and the right draft picks go a very long way to your success.  I guess the Rams haven’t figured this out though because they’ve had 13 consecutive seasons at .500 or worse.

Elsewhere around week 17 of the NFL, the Chargers gave their remaining San Diego fans something memorable by losing to the Chiefs, then immediately firing Coach Mike McCoy afterward.  In a few weeks from now, they will have fired the city of San Diego too.  You think things looked bad for the Raiders last week? They are down to their 3rd string quarterback heading into the playoffs after losing to the Broncos.  The Redskins had a chance to clinch a playoff spot, and instead they clinched a comfortable spot on their couch next week for Wild Card Weekend, after losing to the Giants.  The Browns lost to the Steelers, securing the #1 overall draft pick.  In related news that is likely to follow in the coming days, every draft eligible player is planning on returning to school.  Mark Sanchez showed he still has it yesterday, throwing a couple of interceptions in the Cowboys loss to Philly.  The Patriots should crush everyone in the AFC like a grape.  The Cowboys have been great, but the Seahawks, Falcons, and Giants are all capable of knocking them off on the road.  The Bills were in a very giving mood yesterday, allowing the Jets to score on a free touchdown on a kickoff in their loss to New York.

That was funny.  However, not nearly as shocking as seeing Clemson lineman Christian Wilkins grab Ohio State running back Curtis Samuel somewhere he’s not exactly supposed to after this play ended……

On to College Basketball, and UCLA hoops.  Did you know that in 1994-95, the Bruins went undefeated in non-conference play, lost their conference opening game at Oregon, then went on to win the national championship.  Sure enough, this is the first time they went undefeated in non-conference play since then, and on Wednesday, they lost a heart breaker to Oregon in the final seconds.  I’m not saying history repeats itself here, but it was good for the Bruins to lose a game to see how they would respond, and they responded well by beating Oregon State on Friday.  I would have loved nothing more than to see a final shot by the Bruins beat the buzzer after those idiot Oregon fans ran onto the court prematurely.  Nevertheless, UCLA will get its chance to beat Oregon again, and their first loss of the season does nothing more than help them build character and guts. Who would have thought I could be so positive about the Bruins after where they were a year ago?

Then there’s the Trojan basketball team, that came crashing back to earth on Friday.  USC suffered its first loss of the season against Oregon, who blew them off the floor by a score of 84-61.  As nice of a season as USC has had, the way they lost can’t sit well with them because it was the first ranked team they have played.  It definitely makes you wonder if they’ve been fooling us all along with their powder puff non-conference schedule.  A longer and more athletic team like Oregon gave them problems.  If that’s the case, with so many quality ranked opponents in the Pac 12, the Trojans are going down faster than a Bill Cosby victim.

Are the Dodgers ever going to make a deal with the Twins for Brian Dozier?  It feels like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could agree on what to order for lunch before these two teams could make a deal.  The fact that the Dodgers haven’t signed Chase Utley, or some other cheap alternative at second base, tells me that they still think they have a chance to acquire the Twins power hitting second baseman.  I know LA is holding out hope that they can make the deal by only including pitching prospect Jose DeLeon, but these types of deals for stud players with team friendly contracts usually require 2-3 prospects.  As long as it doesn’t require a player better than DeLeon (Julio Urias, Cody Bellinger, etc), the Dodgers should make the trade.

It’s a good thing the LA Kings beat the Sharks on Saturday to get back in the win column.  It has felt like the Sharks have owned the Kings for the last year or so.  Those two teams have always played close games for the last 5 seasons, but up until last year, LA had a huge mental edge.  After all those years of Shark jokes the hockey gods are striking back with a vengeance, and now San Jose has that edge.  Of greater concern is the fact that Anze Kopitar might never score again, given that he has just three goals on the entire season, and the same goes for his aging teammate, Marian Gaborik.  The Kings are going to be in a battle just to make the playoffs with the way Edmonton and Calgary are playing.  As for the Ducks, they have their own expensive players not scoring goals like Ryan Getzlaf, but they are still winning games and staying in the playoff race.  They have talent, but watching them feels like you’re looking at that girl who was really hot in high school for the first couple of years, but by your senior year, her stock isn’t quite as high as it once was because new hotter girls (in this case Edmonton and San Jose), have transferred in and garnered more attention.

Well 2016 is in the books, but frankly, the year was just a jerk.  On the LA sports front, we said goodbye to legends like Vin Scully, and Kobe Bryant, even though the Mamba gave us a nice memory with his 60 point finale.  The Rams were garbage, the Lakers are struggling, the Clippers are still the Clippers, the Dodgers still can’t win in October, and the Angels stink.  At least UCLA basketball gave us a small taste of what it could be in 2017, as did USC football.  Here’s to hoping 2017 will be better for our SoCal sports team.  Let’s hope we don’t lose as many celebrities either.  To lose Prince, Mohamed Ali, Alan Thicke, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, and others, really hurt for those of us who identified with these celebrities as we grew up.  They were a part of my childhood.  I guess 2016 also couldn’t end without killing the career of Ronda Rousey as well.  She went Hollywood, and then had too much time away from the octagon.  Time to walk away.

December 26th, 2016

Yesterday was a Christmas miracle! The Lakers got back in the win column on Christmas day after losing 11 of their last 12 games.  Yes it took injuries to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin for this to happen, but let’s not be picky Laker fans.  You’ll take wins any way they come right now.  The last two weeks have definitely wrecked the Lake Show’s playoff hopes, however, things aren’t as bad as they seem. Many of the troubles the team has had in recent weeks can be attributed to injuries to very important players.  When a young team like this has those types of key pieces in and out of the lineup, consistency is going to be an issue.  On top of that, everyone forgot that the core of this team is still in their early 20’s, learning to play defense and share the ball consistently.  They aren’t quite as good as you thought in the early going, but they still aren’t nearly as bad as you think they are right now.  Even Jim Buss is encouraged, because he’s now publicly saying that if the team shows progress, here won’t be stepping aside like he promised he would.  I’m not so sure that Jeanie Buss will feel the same way come this summer, but it would be a big mistake if she let Phil Jackson back in the fold just to tie her personal and professional life together.   I wonder if D’Angelo Russell got this phone case in his stocking……

As for the Clippers, the injuries are beginning to pile up.  First Blake Griffin goes down for a few weeks, then Chris Paul and J.J. Redick get injured too.  The Clipps are a distant third in the league to the Cavs and Warriors, and maybe an even further distant fourth to San Antonio if they are injured.  It’s a talented bunch, but one that has come together at the wrong time.  Even when Doc Rivers continues to keep Blake, CP3, and the rest of the core together, they will simply continue to age and further minimize their chances of winning.  Then again, Doc Rivers probably doesn’t care because he wouldn’t want to coach the team if they had to rebuild.  Looking back at their game from against the Spurs a few days ago, the Clippers should be eliminated from the playoffs just for this ridiculous sequence……

Elsewhere around the Association on Christmas Day, great game between the Warriors and Cavs.  Kevin Durant is probably going to demand a trade to Cleveland after his Warriors lost.  Kyrie Irving is clutch, and it’s starting to feel like he has Steph Curry’s number.  Did you know that Richard Jefferson is the first Civil War Veteran in NBA history to dunk twice in the same game? Lebron totally got away with hanging on the rim for about 90 seconds after his monster dunk late in the game.  Meanwhile in New York, Carmelo Anthony’s teammates one wish for Christmas was that he would waive his no-trade clause and leave the Knicks.  New York got beat by Boston.  Then there’s Russell Westbrook who’s Thunder beat the T-Wolves, but the real story was Westbrook denying that he was yelling out of excitement when Kyrie hit that last second shot to beat Durant and the Warriors.  Too bad we have visual and audio evidence of his excitement.  The guy clearly is still bitter about Durant leaving the Thunder.  Check it the evidence right here…..

Has anybody checked out the new NBA CBA? You can be almost assured that no elite players are going to be leaving their current teams when they reach free agency.  The new labor agreement has included a rule where any player who earns MVP, All-NBA, or Defensive Player of the Year honors is eligible to make $76 million more by staying with their teams.  That means Karl Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis better get comfortable, because they will be spending their entire careers in Minnesota and New Orleans, respectively.  It also means teams like the Knicks and Heat are screwed because they were counting on free agency to reload their teams, and instead they will be forced to build through the draft from here on out.  The Lakers may not have gotten any big time free agents of late, but at least they were fortunate enough to have drafted five high potential players in the last three years.

What a pathetic show put on by the Rams on Christmas Eve.  LA just gave the 49ers their only two wins of the season.  Somehow, Jared Goff is finding a way to get worse with every week that goes by.  Whatever new coach comes in is going to have to alter his throwing mechanics completely because he missed a lot of open throws.  Tavon Austin should look like Tyreek Hill of Kansas City.  Instead, he’s $44 million more expensive, and not nearly as consistent.  Tickets were going for $30 at the Coliseum on Saturday.  That sounds a lot like football in LA right before the Rams left for St. Louis.  As for the Jon Gruden rumors, I don’t understand how people think he’s a real candidate for the Rams head coaching job.  Gruden is the Jeff Van Gundy of the NFL.  He hasn’t even coached in the last 8 years, and would be a huge risk with this group of players.  Does anybody even know if he can still do it? I sure don’t.

Elsewhere around Week 16 of the NFL, I guess Jesus doesn’t love Philip Rivers that much, because the Chargers lost to the lowly Browns.  Amazing that Cleveland won, and they didn’t even need an Xbox to do so.  I think I even heard Browns fans chanting ‘We Want ‘Bama” when it was over.  Horrible news about Derek Carr breaking his leg for the Raiders.  I was secretly hoping for a Cowboys-Raiders “return to glory” Super Bowl, but it will probably be New England-Seattle now.  Speaking of the Patriots, they dismantled the Jets.  The Texans clinched the AFC South for the fourth time in six years.  Seeing them get eliminated in the 1st round of the playoffs is an NFL tradition unlike any other.  The Chiefs look damn good after beating up on the Broncos.  Andy Reid hasn’t been this happy since he first discovered BBQ’d ribs.  John Elway is about to call Tim Tebow.  Eli Manning was about as accurate as Helen Keller from the free throw line in the Giants loss to the Eagles.

It’s bowl time in College Football, but did you even notice?  I don’t blame players like Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette for sitting out these meaningless games.  Other than the top 4 playoff teams, all the other bowl games are just glorified consolation games.  Why should these players risk injury when millions of dollars are on the line at the next level? I’m sure their teammates would agree with their decision to sit out as well.  However, I do think that this is a great opportunity to increase the number of teams in the playoffs.  If these players had even a small chance of making it to the National Championship game, they would play in these postseason games.

Has anybody seen the Michael Floyd video of him getting arrested for a DUI? I’m sure Notre Dame officials are cringing at the fact he’s sporting an Irish beanie while being arrested.  I’m shocked the Patriots actually signed him after the Cardinals released him.  Apparently Floyd’s BAC was .217 when he was arrested.  This makes sense because he’s played the last 16 weeks like he’s been drunk on the football field.

UCLA men’s basketball just finished non-conference play with a blowout win over Western Michigan. That is the first time in over two decades that the team has been undefeated in non-conference play. There’s definitely going to be some tough teams in Pac 12 play, but it’s going to be much needed for the Bruins RPI, which isn’t as they would like at #24.  I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how they handle matchups against Oregon, Arizona, and USC.

I usually find it difficult to hate any kid playing college sports, but Duke’s Grayson Allen is a total punk.  I’m not sure why the guy finds it necessary to trip his opponents, let alone from super small schools like Elon.  Allen is basically the high school villain in every 1980’s movie.  I can’t imagine that Coach K would be willing to put up with this any longer.  This is basically how you act when your dad doesn’t get you a Mercedes for Christmas…..

I still think Christmas is the best holiday.  Yes, it’s usually a lot more expensive than Thanksgiving due to the gift giving.  However, it’s a season, it’s not just a day, and you can’t beat the feelings leading up to the day.  Hope you all enjoyed it.

December 19, 2016

The Rams looked just as bad after Jeff Fisher got fired, as they did before he got fired.  It was only a matter of time before their luck against Seattle ran out, and that’s exactly what happened in that ugly loss on Thursday Night Football.  It was so bad, the FBI is planning on using the game tape as a new torture method when interrogating terrorists.  There were actually a few moments though where Todd Gurley made me remember that he was a decent running back, who was just running behind a horrible offensive line all season.  However, it looked about as bad as you would think for a team that has no coach, and only four days to come up with a game plan.  Expect much of the same in the last two games, which will be an even more pointless exercise after Jared Goff got blown up by Richard Sherman.  Goff apparently doesn’t know which direction the sun rises, nor how to not take punishment while running with the football.  Dude clearly has a lot to learn after this shot…..

As for the coaching search, this is looking more and more like an offensive coordinator’s first job, as opposed to a big name.  That’s definitely not what Rams fans want to here, nor Stan Kroenke, but that’s the cold hard truth.  Jon Gruden will never leave the broadcasting booth.  Jim Harbaugh isn’t ready to leave Michigan yet and would probably want the Bears job if he did.  Also, the idea that Pete Carroll is going to leave Seattle for the Rams job is laughable.  One guy that could be attainable is the Saints Sean Payton, who New Orleans looks ready to part with.  Goff isn’t exactly Drew Brees, but Payton is a better offensive mind than the Rams have had in years.

Elsewhere around week 15, that definitely looked much more like a Raider home game in San Diego yesterday, as Oakland beat the Bolts.  Raiders are in the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.  The Bills beat the Browns, moving Cleveland closer to fulfilling my dream for them to go 0-16.  Aaron Rogers should change his last name to “Hail Mary” after coming up with a clutch long pass late when the Packers beat the Bears.  The Chiefs couldn’t close the door on the Titans, who rallied to beat K.C. with a late field goal.  The Texans got by the Jags, but they now realize that throwing $72 million in the sewer would be better than giving it to Brock Osweiler.  The Ravens edged the Eagles and can still win the division.  The Steelers will probably have something to say about that after they beat the Bengals.  The Lions got shutdown by the Giants.  Adrian Peterson came back just in time to see the Vikings eliminated from the playoffs, as Minnesota got slammed by the Colts.  Drew Brees remembered how to play, and the Saints outlasted the Cardinals.  Falcons destroyed the 49ers, Patriots kept cruising along by beating the Broncos, and  Dak Prescott shutdown the Tony Romo supporters as the Cowboys beat the Bucs.  I loved Zeke Elliot’s TD celebration by jumping in the Salvation Army donation bucket, but of course the NFL didn’t because they are a bunch of hypocrites.  The Dolphins also crushed the Jets on Saturday Night Football, in a game the NFL didn’t want you to know actually happened.  This was actually ruled a catch?

The Lakers are in the midst of a brutal 7 game road trip.  They finally got back in the win column on Friday, but their season has been torpedoed over the last two weeks.  They got everyone healthy again, but the damage has been done.  I do find it very convenient though that everyone is playing “revisionist history” and criticizing the Lakers for not taking Kristaps Porzingas in the 2015 draft.  At the time, nobody in their right mind would have drafted Porzingas in the top 3 picks, including all 30 NBA General Managers.  The Knicks didn’t even want him, and tried to trade out of that slot, but we’re stuck with him.  The Lakers still got a pretty good player in D’Angelo Russell, so you definitely can’t say they made the wrong selection.

Then there’s the Clippers, who got some bad news after their four game road trip.  Blake Griffin is going to need a minor knee surgery, and will be out until the middle of January.  This feels strangely similar to last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.  Maybe now we’ll see DeAndre Jordan go into beast mode getting some 20 point and 20 rebound games with Blake sidelined, since he won’t be occupying as much space in the paint.  DJ is a very good modern day center, but Hassan Whiteside doesn’t think so.   He says DJ just “catches lobs”.  Whiteside does have the more consistent offensive game,  but DJ isn’t the head case Whiteside is.  Most people around the NBA would probably agree with that.  Besides, that’s probably something Whiteside should have only said to his boys and not in the media, especially when your team is a pile of lottery garbage.

Very sad news to hear about the passing of TNT reporter, Craig Sager.   Sager lost a battle with cancer, but fought very hard for the last year, and even continued to work while getting treatment.  He was very well liked by everyone, and I will always remember his great sideline interviews with coaches and players, especially when they would give him a hard time.  Sager was always such a good sport about it, and just shrugged it off, and that’s what allowed him to command respect from everyone.  RIP Craig Sager.

UCLA Bruin Basketball is so good, I don’t even know what to say about them anymore.  They didn’t even play that well on Saturday, yet improved to 12-0 after beating Ohio State by double digits.  I’m almost thinking they should probably lose a game or two before March.  As long as they win the conference and get a #1 seed, there would actually be less pressure on a group that wasn’t undefeated heading into the tournament.   As the legend of Lonzo Ball grows, I suddenly mind Steve Alford a lot less.  Whether Alford becomes a hindrance com tournament time though remains to be seen.

Do USC fans actually know they have a basketball team? Better yet, do they realize that their basketball team is 10-0 and ranked #24 in the nation? The Trojans are by no means a college basketball powerhouse, or a team that can win the national championship, but they are extremely underrated.  Andy Enfield is finally recruiting the kids he needs to implement his uptempo style in a successful manner. Their most impressive win was probably against Texas A&M, and they should be able to contend in the Pac 12, as well as make some noise come tournament time.

How lucky are the Dodgers?  Kenley Jansen was offered more money by both Washington and Florida, yet he instructed his agent to get a deal done with LA.  Justin Turner wanted to stay in LA, and the market for his services didn’t work out too well.  Thus, they both were willing to take less money than they were worth on the open market, in order to stay with the Dodgers.  In addition to the market, baseball’s new luxury tax penalties will be gradually phased into the game over the next couple of seasons.  In other words, Andrew Friedman got the perfect storm, enabling him to re-sign two key members of the Dodgers.  Now if he can somehow trade for Brian Dozier, i’ll be impressed.

December 12th, 2016

I’ve gotta hand it to the Rams.  They know they stink on the field, but they are finding a way to keep us amused with all their drama off the field.  Nobody should be surprised they got destroyed by the Falcons yesterday.  Atlanta scored more touchdowns in LA than the Rams have all season.  Jeff Fisher was probably trying to figure out how to stop Andre Rison and Jamal Anderson all week.  Remember when the Rams had one of the toughest defenses in the league? That defense is about as soft as Charmin toilet paper now after getting run over by the Atlanta offense.  Jared Goff hasn’t exactly looked all that promising since his first start, and when I watch the offense, I get about as bored as Michael Vick would be at a PETA meeting.  Off the field, there’s the rumored dysfunction between Fisher and GM Les Snead.  Both deny that there is a rift between the two of them, but given how long it took to actually get Goff on the field, as well as the fact that several sources have reported on this rumored front office tension, there must be some element of truth to it.  Even though both guys were given contract extensions, if LA is an embarrassment  over the last three games, like they were yesterday, either one or both could still be fired.  Stan Kroenke isn’t going to run out of money anytime soon, and will do what he needs to do.  Now there’s rumblings that Jim Harbaugh could leave Michigan for the Rams.  For the love of god, make this happen Stan! I don’t care if Harbaugh is a jerk.  He’s been successful everywhere he’s gone.  That shouldn’t be any different here.

Elsewhere around Week 14, the Chargers got blown out by the Panthers, and all their fans want for Christmas is to actually beat the Browns.  The Titans got by the Broncos.  Le’veon Bell and the Steelers dismantled the Bills.  Buffalo’s field looked like Johnny Manziel’s hotel room after Saturday night’s Heisman Trophy ceremony.  Carson Palmer ruined the lives of his Cardinal teammates and fantasy football owners, as Arizona got beat by Miami.  Remember when everyone thought RGIII was better than Kirk Cousins? That’s laughable now.  Cousins has been dominating and the Redskins topped the Eagles.   Every time I see the Colts and Texans play, I can’t help but think how far those teams have fallen.  Houston outlasted Indy.  The Vikings gave themselves hope they’ll get Adrian Peterson back this season by beating the Jaguars.  Only the Lions would nearly let Matt Barkley beat them, but they just got by an undermanned Chicago team.  Russell Wilson threw as many interceptions yesterday as he did all season, as the Packers throttled the Seahawks.  The Saints can suddenly play defense, but they also forgot how to score, and they lost a tight one to Tampa.  The Jets beat the 49ers in OT, in a game that should be been moved to PBS at 3 am.  The Raiders had a costly loss to the Chiefs on Thursday  Night Football.  Andy Reid has so much fat on his body, there’s no way that guy ever gets cold during those KC winters.  Tony Romo can’t be blamed for last night’s Cowboys loss.  Here come 12 weeks of good jokes about the ‘Boys.  The Bengals took down the Browns.  Here is a recap of Browns football this season……

A few weeks ago I said if the Lakers can get to mid December around .500, and manage the injury bug, they would have a real shot at the playoffs.  Well so much for that.  The Lakers have lost six straight, and they’ve lost contact with the top eight playoff teams in the West, now trailing the Blazers by a couple of games for the 8th spot.  D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young were back from injury, but Russell sure looked rusty.  A couple of games behind Portland might not sound like a lot, however, when healthy the Lakers are about a .500 team, and they’d need to be slightly better than that to make the playoffs.  Just to get back to .500, they will need to reel off six or seven wins in a row, or a streak like 10 out of 12.  Even though this team is improving, they aren’t that good yet.  More than anything though, the Lakers still haven’t figured out how to play consistent defense.  They compete hard on most nights, but they just need to play smarter.  Given how far Luke Walton has taken these guys to this point, I suspect that will come eventually.

As for the Clippers, you didn’t actually get fooled into thinking they were championship contenders did you?  The Clipps got dismantled by the Warriors last week, and like the late Dennis Green would say, “they are who we thought they were”.  The Warriors didn’t even play that well, yet they showed why they are so much better.  As good as CP3 and Blake Griffin are, Golden State is better at a number of positions.  In fact, they are better individually and collectively in the backcourt, infinitely better at small forward, and maybe even better at power forward.  It doesn’t matter if DeAndre Jordan is better than the Warriors starting center, because Jordan isn’t skilled enough offensively to exploit today’s small ball.  Neither is any center in today’s game for that matter.  All the Clippers can hope for is that Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson slip on banana peels and get injured, and even then I’m still not sure they would find a way to get it done.  That’s because they are the Clippers.

Russell Westbrook is averaging a triple double.  I repeat, AVERAGING A TRIPLE DOUBLE.  The only player to ever do that was Oscar Robertson, during the 1961-1962 season.  Despite that, Mark Cuban claims that Westbrook is not a superstar.  By Cuban’s definition, a superstar leads his team to 50 wins and to the playoffs.  That is by far the dumbest thing said by one of the smartest people of all time.  Besides, how would Mark Cuban know what a superstar is anyway? He hasn’t been able to sign one in the last 5 years of free agency.  Then there’s Phil Jackson, who still thinks it’s 1998.  After pissing off Lebron James with his careless comments, Jackson is now taking shots at his superstar, Carmelo Anthony, claiming that he hangs on to the ball too long at times.  Usually there is a method to Phil’s madness, and a reason why he says what he does.  However, he’s failed to realize that the game is totally different as an executive than as a coach.  He’s alienated his superstar, he’s alienating other superstars around the league who will probably never consider his team in free agency, and he’s forcing an antiquated offensive system on his players.  When you are winning, you can get away with this.  Phil isn’t winning as an executive, so it doesn’t fly.  Apparently nobody has told him that.

It’s only a matter of time before the inevitable happens: the Dodgers losing Kenley Jansen in free agency to Florida or Washington.  That may even happen with Justin Turner as well, and it would serve Andrew Friedman and his 30 general managers right for screwing around with them.  Friedman is no genius at all, and every time I hear somebody say that he is, I want to slam my head into a wall.  The Dodgers stellar farm system is not the product of his work, but rather the product of Ned Colleti’s.  The team has had no greater success under him than under Colletti.  In fact, now that the Dodgers actually have to cut payroll, they can’t re-sign two of their most critical players because of the horrible contracts Friedman’s front office gave to Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy.  Sooner or later, the Dodgers are going to fall back to being a mediocre team under Friedman, as he continues to strip the roster of talent.  You can also be sure that he’s not going to pay big money for Clayton Kershaw when he opts out in 2018.

A for the Angels, I really like the trade for Danny Espinosa from the Nationals.  There’s not many 2nd baseman in baseball who can give you 20 home run power, and play decent defensively, which the Halos just got.  The Angels also didn’t give up anything of real value from their farm system either, which speaks to the resourcefulness of the trade.  You can be sure that they’ll be very strong up the middle defensively, it’s just a matter of whether their pitching can rebound and stay healthy compared to the disaster that was last season.

To the college hoops where the Bruins continue to roll.  UCLA took down Michigan on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion to improve to 10-0.  That was the Bruins first sellout at home in four years! That tells you how long its been since UCLA put an exciting product on the floor.  This team is looking like the college version of the Golden State Warriors, showing the ability to blow games open with their outside shooting, while playing an exciting uptempo style.  They even find a way to sprinkle in some defense when they want to, an unusual occurrence for a Steve Alford team.  UCLA would have moved up to #1 in the nation, but Villanova rallied to beat Notre Dame and remain undefeated.  It hasn’t felt this cool to be a part of UCLA basketball since the mid 1990’s.  Hopefully they can keep it going heading into Pac 12 play.

Congratulations to Lamar Jackson on winning the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night.  Jackson was easily the most explosive and exciting player in college football this season.  Since Papa John loves Louisville football so much, you can be sure Jackson is going to get a huge endorsement deal from him when he turns pro.  That is if Papa John isn’t already paying him a salary.  Too bad OJ Simpson didn’t Skype in from prison with thoughts on the ceremony, since all the former Heisman winners were in attendance.  Johnny Manziel probably sold his Heisman Trophy for an eight ball of cocaine.  Watching these two polar opposite guys stand next to each is pretty funny…..

Do the LA Kings ever play anymore? They’ve played four less games than Calgary and one game less than Edmonton.  I still can’t understand why Darryl Sutter refuses to play goalie Jeff Zatkoff.  Peter Budaj is 34 years old, and is going to wear out from all the hockey he is playing.  Zatkoff was brought in to provide some support if Jonathan Quick got hurt, and that’s exactly what happened.  The Kings have some other issues though, like their top guys Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik not providing much offense.  They’ll have to rectify that as they head out on a nine game road trip.  As for the Ducks, they’ve won 3 straight after beating up on the Senators.  Anaheim is playing faster and better slowly but surely.  They are now in 1st place in the Pacific as they head out on a six game road trip.

Finally, the mid-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 you plan on watching it later.  This episode had me losing my mind again because you knew people were going to die, and sure enough that’s what happened.  Amazingly enough, when it was over, it turned out to be a feel good moment for everybody.  Rick was like the dad who comes home from a long trip to find out that his kids just burned down the house.  I’m not sure whether Rick should be more angry at his his kid, who really caused all this, or Negan.  I’m sure most of us were celebrating the fact that Spencer was killed by Negan.  It turns out that Spencer hated Rick so much that it actually got him killed.  No guts, no glory, and Spencer clearly had neither when it was over.  You know Rick is about to go crazy and start fighting back again because his beard is growing.  I’m sure many of us were shocked and felt it was unnecessary for Darryl to kill fat Joey during his escape.  Think of it this way though: Had Darryl not killed him, a heart attack would have.  Eight episodes and Carol and Morgan still don’t know about Glenn and Abraham.  If they did, I’m sure they would go straight to war, let alone knowing that Darryl was captured by Negan.  Am I the only one that found it absolutely hilarious that Negan left a seat at the dinner table for Lucille?  That’s what makes him an amazing bad guy.  I also love when Enid asked Maggie if she wanted a plate for her apple pie, and she said no and just shoved it in her mouth.  Don’t we all have a friend like that? (Whether or not they are pregnant).  Any guess who that mysterious figure was, whose boots we saw after Rick and Aaron loaded the truck, and at the very end of the episode? My guess is it’s the shows next villain, the leader of the Whisperers.  Don’t act like you didn’t cry during that Rick and Darryl hug.  That was a great episode, and a good ending to a somewhat slow season.  I’m really bummed we have to wait two months, but the show figures to have a promising 2017.  Best bro hug ever.

December 5th, 2016

Let’s start with the comedy show that is the Rams.  After getting blown out in New England yesterday, the Rams are an ugly 4-8, and dealing with some obnoxious off the field issues at the same time.  Jared Goff and Todd Gurley were pretty pathetic, as was the entire defense as the Pats dismantled LA.  This outcome was fairly predictable though, as Jeff Fisher was probably watching game tape on Drew Bledsoe in preparation for this matchup.  Fisher couldn’t even identify who the Patriots running backs were heading into the game, so how could he stand any chance against Bill Belichick and Tom Brady? If that’s not bad enough, we found out yesterday that Jeff Fisher and General Manager, Les Snead, were given contract extensions.  That’s like rewarding your child with a new car for getting C’s in school.  Fisher also got caught lying to the media earlier this week during the Eric Dickerson drama as well, in which he claimed he was welcome around the team, while he really told the Rams legendary running back he didn’t really want him around the team.  The Rams have no idea what being in the LA market means both on and off the field, and they are learning about it the hard way.  Looks like we’re going to see some mediocre NFL football in LA for a while.  Jeff Fisher can’t even find his challenge flag……

Elsewhere around the NFL, the Chargers lost another close game after leading in the 4th, and their fans are probably numb to it by now.  Pretty soon LA is going to have two mediocre football teams.  The Seahawks had a good laugh on Sunday Night Football against the Panthers, until Earl Thomas broke his leg and is now considering retirement.  Eric Berry looked like Deion Sanders, and the Chiefs got by the Falcons.  The Lions beat the Saints, then trolled all the ESPN analysts on Twitter for picking against them.  Blake Bortles isn’t very good at football, and the Jaguars got handled by the Broncos.  The Packers aren’t dead just yet after beating the Texans.  The Eagles are getting Philly fans ready for a long 76ers season by losing their third straight to the Bengals.  Those are the Miami Dolphins I know! They got pounded by the Ravens.  Is Chip Kelly ready to go back to college football yet? His 49ers got blasted by the Bears.  The Raiders came back from the dead and beat the  Bills.  The Steelers remembered how to play football again and beat the Giants.  The Redskins played more like the foreskins, as they got beat by the Cardinals.  The Cowboys beat the Vikings on Thursday Night Football, and the Chargers will move to LA by the time the Vikings offense ever scores another touchdown.

On to the college ranks, where after all the drama, the Trojans are going to the Rose Bowl.  In just a matter of two months, USC went from having a dumpster fire of a football program that wanted its coach ejected from the universe, to having one of the elite programs in the country.  The Trojans are playing as well as almost any of the playoff teams, and you could still make a case for them to be in the playoff with 3 losses.  However,  It’s almost better that USC is going to the Rose Bowl instead of the playoff, so they don’t get their brains beat in by Alabama, as Washington will on New Years eve.  With huge victories against Washington, Colorado, as well as against rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, USC should feel like they have rightfully earned their place in the Rose Bowl.  They’ve also brought the program back to where USC football probably should be.

As for the rest of the college football playoff, Alabama clinched a spot in the playoff after beating Florida 54-16, and Nick Saban probably chewed out his kids for giving up 16 points.  They might as as well request a promotion to the NFC South so they can actually have a challenge in the playoffs.  Ohio State and Clemson deserve to be in there, but I was hoping to see some new teams.  Washington is sure to get embarrassed by Alabama, which is basically a punishment for winning the Pac 12.  I think it’s safe to say that Penn State just got “Sanduskied” by the playoff committee.  Urban Meyer once said if you win your conference you shouldn’t play for a National Championship.  I’m still not sure how Ohio State is in under that logic, and why Michigan even got consideration.

Let’s talk college hoops, where UCLA basketball is back! The Bruins just had their biggest road win in about a decade, as they upset #1 Kentucky on Saturday.  John Calipari is outraged because he isn’t paying his kids millions of dollars to lose games like this in December.  As punishment, he’s going to take away all of the cell phones and cars he gifted his players.  In all seriousness though, Lonzo Ball and TJ Leaf are playing so well,  their talent has actually allowed many other Bruins to  settle into more effective roles on the team.  Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton are perfect examples of this.  More than anything though, the Bruin defense is beyond impressive.  Never did I think a Steve Alford coached team could challenge so many shots at that end of the floor.  There’s still a long way to go, and Pac 12 play won’t be easy, but UCLA has a shot to be the #1 seed out West, and has the talent win a National Championship.

To the NBA, where the Laker injuries are starting to catch up with them.  The Lake Show got crushed in Toronto, and lost a very disappointing game to Memphis on Saturday.  This is an absolutely brutal stretch, where its starting to feel like that playoff seeding is starting to slip away.  There’s not too many teams that can win when losing their starting backcourt, and the Lakers have done pretty well just to get this far.  It doesn’t help though that LA is letting guys like Troy Daniels (yea I’ve never heard of him either) drop 31 points on him.  We’re starting to see more instances of lackluster defense, more isolation basketball, and silly turnovers, which is very characteristic of a young team.  Hopefully the Lakers can correct that to stay in the race.

As for the Clippers, I’m still not buying what they are selling.  Yes, they went on the road and beat up Cleveland.  However, Lebron looked about as relaxed as he does when he goes Banana boating with Chris Paul in the summer, and the Cavs didn’t seem to care.  The Clipps have lost four of their last six games including last night’s loss to Indiana, and they still look a lot more like the team we’ve seen the last 5 years.  They’ve also slipped to third in the West, and here come the mighty Warriors to Staples Center on Wednesday.  This is one showdown I can’t wait to see, but fully expect Golden State to handle business.

I completely forgot about Tiger Woods, and he’s back.  Although he finished 15th out of 17 at the Hero World Challenge.  As sad as it is to say, that’s a major accomplishment for him these days.  I’m not sure how that gets him to move up 248 spots in the world rankings, but apparently it’s likely to happen.  We are far from the days of Tiger’s dominance, however, hopefully he can win a major this year and has a tournament or two win in him.  That would definitely bring some excitement back to the PGA, because the current names just don’t bring it.

Finally, a creepy 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 plan on watching it later.  This episode was 90 minutes of Negan toying with Carl.  If Carl was supposedly on this suicide mission to kill Negan, then why didn’t he just pull the trigger and shoot him and everybody else when he had the chance?  He has a lot of guts, but also has a lot of stupidity.  So does Michonne, who suddenly thinks she can take out Negan by herself.  Who does she think Negan is, the Governor? He makes the Governor look like Mr Rogers.   I think Negan spent more quality time with Judith in that episode than Rick has over the course of the entire series.  I love that slap Olivia gave Negan, but there’s gotta be a small part of her that would think about sleeping with him like he offered.  I mean, she probably doesn’t get laid much in the real world, let alone with the apocalyptic world.  Negan is clearly Hugh Heffner in the apocalyptic world.  This was definitely not the episode to be ironing your laundry while watching.  If Negan was really intent on punishing Carl, he would have given him a haircut.  This was definitely an “eye-opening” episode.  I can’t believe we’re already at the mid-season finale next week!  For once, I don’t think we’re going to get an all out war between Rick’s group and the opposition during the mid-season finale.  When did Gabriel become so damn likable on this show?  That war feels like several episodes away.  If there’s one character that I would bet wouldn’t make it to through the next episode, it’s Spencer.  Looking forward to seeing how it all goes down next week!