June 13th, 2016

What do I always say? People who watch the NBA often become “prisoner of the moment”.  That’s exactly what happened to Tyronn Lue, who convinced himself that starting a 35 year old Richard Jefferson over all-star Kevin Love, would yield a victory for the Cavs in game 4.  This was ultimately nothing more than shuffling chairs on the deck of the Titanic, because the Cavs were going to lose this series with or without Love.  The Warriors decided they just didn’t care in game 3, and ended up getting blown out, which had nothing to do with Love not being in the lineup.  In game 4, the Splash Brothers showed up and the Cavs were no match, just like we knew was going to happen at some point.  As great as Lebron is, he has a real Peyton Manning look to his legacy.  One of the great talents of all time, but doesn’t always assert his dominance in the biggest moments.  He did for a while in Miami, but now he’s reverted back to being passive in the 4th quarter.  The Cavs needed the Lebron of last years finals to have a chance in this series.  Draymond had this one game suspension coming.  There’s only so many times you can dish out shots to the balls.  Speaking of Draymond, he looks like that dude that takes a bite out of every piece of chocolate in the box, until he finds one he likes, then puts the rest back in the box.  I don’t think the suspension will matter anyway, because the Warriors have too much depth and create too many matchup problems.  It’s really good to finally see some back and forth trash talking between Lebron and the Warriors.  There’s just not enough hate in the NBA these days.  Despite Steph’s horrible first three games, he should still get the MVP if he has a good game tonight, and the Warriors should close it out.  The internet is amazing isn’t it?……

Everyone is going to make a huge deal out of Magic Johnson no longer being an honorary Vice President of the Lakers.  However, it needed to be done.  Magic’s tweets and public comments might  have eventually put the Lakers at risk for tampering with free agents, and even got them fined, despite the fact he isn’t really on the payroll anymore.  Magic’s tweets are ridiculous anyway, and can usually be found under #captainobvious.  I look forward to his next tweet which will probably tell us that the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the weekend consists of Saturday and Sunday.

I’m a huge fan of the Olympic games, but what the IOC is doing is totally wrong.  None of these athletes should be forced to make a decision between their own personal health and competing in an event they’ve been waiting their whole life for.  The decision is a little bit easier for the NBA players who are dropping out left and right, who don’t want to risk catching the Zika virus.  Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, and James Harden have already won Olympic gold medals.  Steph Curry, LaMarcus Aldridge, John Wall, and Blake Griffin probably wouldn’t play anyway, even if they were healthy.  The decision is much more difficult for Olympic athletes in other sports, who often only get this one opportunity to compete.  Many will compete and take the risk, but damn the IOC for putting the athletes in this situation.  There should be 5-10 countries in the world that host the Olympics, and Brazil is definitely not one of them.

UCLA has given head coach Jim Mora Jr. a two year extension.  This one is up for all kinds of mixed reviews.  In four years, Mora has guided the Bruins to 2 ten win seasons, four bowl games, and a 3-1 record against cross-town rival USC.  Although the talent level has gone up immensely under Mora, the final results have left you with a feeling that the program has underachieved.  Since a Holiday Bowl appearance in 2012, it’s felt like a slow and steady decline.  The Bruins still haven’t won a conference title since the 1998 season, and have only won the Pac 12 South once in Mora’s four years.  He’s become a poor man’s Bob Toledo.  At least the Bruins didn’t give him a 10 year extension.  I suppose you can give him a pass for the injuries last year, however, Mora should have the best quarterback in the Pac 12 South this year.  He also has 9 returning starters on defense, and the biggest conference games of the year at home: Stanford, Arizona, and USC.  Anything short of an appearance in the Pac 12 Championship game, and Mora will officially cement this program in underachieving mediocrity.

On to baseball where it looked like the Dodgers were going to make up some serious ground on the Giants this weekend, and then Kenley Jansen blew up on Saturday.  Blown saves are going to happen from time to time for anybody, but they can’t happen against your division rivals.  The Boys in Blue already have a lot to overcome like their inept offense, lack of pitching depth, an inconsistent offense and bullpen, as well as a front office executive that’s in way over his head.  Not finishing that game on top of all that is what’s going to seal their fate come the fall when they are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.  Joc Pederson’s bone head play in the 7th inning on Saturday, when he attempted to steal third base, was also a major blunder as well.  Corey Seager and Trayce Thompson are very promising young players, but I’m still not sold on Pederson.  Andrew Friedman doesn’t want to hear it though, as he has forced his managers to play Joc everyday, regardless of their feelings for him.  Although Julio Urias keeps looking better, yesterday was not enough either.  Dodger baseball has never been more aggravating.

As for the Angels, they are steadily circling the drain.  After dropping two of three to Cleveland at the Big A, the Halos are now losers of 8 of their last 11, and are sinking to the bottom of the AL West standings.  I wouldn’t exactly say help is on the way either, with Tim Lincecum getting lit up in the minors, although Mike Scioscia claims he’s optimistic and excited about getting him in the rotation.  On the bright side, Matt Shoemaker has turned it around, and if he keeps this up, he could probably fetch some decent prospects at next months trade deadline.  Other than that things are pretty bleak for the Halos.  Even Mike Trout was hitting just .243 in June coming into Sunday’s game.  Things haven’t been this bad in Anaheim since they shut down Pirates of the Caribbean last year.

We really lost some amazing legends over the last week: first Muhammad Ali, and then Gordie Howe.  Ali’s memorial service on Friday was beautiful.  Billy Crystal’s eulogy was brilliantly done, and the passionate speech by Rabbi Michael Lerner was very powerful.  Whether you agree or disagree with what he said, his words were so perfect for the Ali service.  Ali was constantly fighting against the place American society tried to put him in, and was ultimately respected for it.  Lerner was simply echoing how Ali would feel about what’s going on today, if he were still alive, which is so symbolic of his great legacy.  Shame on all those people though who tried to profit off his memorial service by selling tickets, or even t-shirts.  I do have respect though for all those people that were willing to pay money to go to that service.  As for Gordie Howe, he wasn’t the transcendent figure in American society that Ali was, but he was an ambassador for hockey before Wayne Gretzky showed up.  Howe was a world class player, and a world class human being.  He played until he was 52 years old, and put hockey on the map.  I idolized Wayne Gretzky growing up, but Gretzky idolized Howe, who influenced him on and off the ice, which ultimately helped shape Gretzky as the player and human being he became.  In case you missed Billy Crystal’s eulogy, here it is.  It’s long, but definitely worth it!

I saw Part 1 of ESPN’s 30 for 30 on OJ Simpson: Made in America.  For those of you that haven’t seen it, the documentary is definitely worth it, because it’s much more than just the trial.  The first part put race into context in the 60’s and 70’s, and how it related to OJ.  He did not see himself as a black man, he saw himself as someone who was accepted by white America, and had no interest in helping the black community become more accepted, despite other great athletes attempts to do so. The documentary also explained how police brutality started in the LAPD during that time.  I bring this up because nearly fifty years later, despite the progress that has been made, race, religion, and sexual orientation are still major social issues in our country.  Although we just had our first black president, in many ways, the nomination of Donald Trump as our next President is somewhat of a response against the acceptance of individuals of certain race, religion, or sexual orientation.  Given the events that happened in Orlando on Sunday morning, sometimes it feels like these issues will simply never go away despite the progress.  On that note, my thoughts and prayers go out to all the families and individuals that were affected by that tragedy.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won the Stanley Cup yesterday by defeating the Sharks 4-2 in their best of seven series.  More importantly, the Penguins helped revitalize all of the jokes we will be able to make about the Sharks, and their inability to win the big one.  Yes the Penguins have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.  However, they won the Stanley Cup because after seven years of failure since their last cup, they finally fixed their defense and goaltending.  That is something the Kings no longer had this year, and something the Ducks haven’t figured out in a decade.  It’s also a reminder that even when you’re struggling in January and February, it doesn’t matter as long as you make the playoffs and are peaking at the right time.  So don’t freak out when the Kings don’t re-sign Milan Lucic, or Steve Stamkos, or some other stud who can score goals.  They are way better off spending their dough on fortifying the defense.  In the meantime, enjoy making fun of the Sharks…..

Finally, another excellent episode of Game of Thrones went down last night on HBO.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  This episode made you realize how powerful certain relationship were in the show.  Jamie’s closest thing to a friend is probably Brienne, but the dynamics of their relationship are interesting in acknowledging that they might have to fight each other if necessary.  When the castle is recovered and Brienne floats away, I think they are both thankful it didn’t come to that.  I get the feeling that is probably the last time we are going to see those two together. It was somewhat moving, and frankly, reminds you why many of us have grown to like Jamie.  As for Varys and Tyrion, they seem to bring out the best in each other, but after all this time, I still don’t entirely trust Varys.  Then there’s Tommen, who has essentially sentenced his mother to death by banning trial by combat.  The stupidity of Tommen amazes me though, because as Jamie said, Cersei would do whatever it takes to protect her son.  Apparently he doesn’t feel the same way and in the long run, this stupidity is going to be his downfall.  Something tells me though that Margaery has a plan to save her brother, and Cersei will be a beneficiary of that process.  The Hound’s story was interesting for a while, but now that his revenge has happened, his story doesn’t seem that interesting.  Arya’s killing of the Waif was somewhat predictable, but it was good to see her reestablish her identity, instead of this no one stupidity.  I thought she was actually going to kill Jaqen  or a second, but they both seemed very satisfied walking away at that point.   Daenerys return to Mereen came just in the nick of time, but I wish we had gotten to see her Dragons destroy the slave masters.   Overall, great episode!

June 6th, 2016

So much for a competitive NBA Finals.  The Cavs were supposed to be out of excuses this time, with a healthy and rested roster.   Instead, they’ve been dominated by the defending NBA champion Warriors thus far, and are going back to Cleveland down 0-2.  Lebron’s greatness is always a constant.  However, the problem for the Cavs is that they can’t compete offensively without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, and they can’t compete defensively with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.  It’s looking more and more like a bad matchup.  Matthew Dellavedova and Timofey Mozgov need bigger roles, otherwise the Warriors bench will continue to issue beatings.  Klay and Steph haven’t needed to do very much, the Warriors turned it over 20 times yesterday, the Cavs shot 14 more free throws, yet Cleveland still lost by 30 in game 2.  JR Smith has probably taken more shots of tequila in the last week than shots on the court.   As for Lebron’s legacy, if the Cavs do indeed lose this series, it’s going to be a bad look for him.  The only questions left to be answered in this series include: how many more people Draymond Green will kick?  How many more shots to the balls will Dellavedova deliver? And how many more times will I have to hear Doug Collins remind me that he coached Michael Jordan? If he says it one more time, I will hunt him down and force him to watch the new Ghostbusters movie as punishment.

You’ve gotta love the fact that Kobe did a commercial for the new Ghostbusters movie all by himself.  He couldn’t get Rick Fox, Derek Fisher, or anybody else to represent the other three Ghostbusters with him?  For better and worse, that’s so Kobe.  Speaking of the Lakers, the early word is that getting free agents to take their money this summer isn’t going to be easy.  Kevin Durant, Lebron, DeMar Derozan, Nicholas Batum, and Andre Drummond are all a good bet to stay put.  Hassan Whiteside and Harrison Barnes seem like the only free agents with a small chance of leaving, but the Lakers would have to grossly overpay to get them.  That means you better get used to the idea of a slow and steady rebuild and not some fantasy basketball overnight re-load that makes the Lakers  contenders again.  That’s probably ok with fans, but it might not be ok with Jeannie Buss, who could can her brother and Mitch Kupchak next year.  In case you missed the Ghostbusters commercial, here’s Kobe, “keeping it 100” like he usually does……

I think it’s becoming obvious at this point that the Dodger front office has no intention of winning anything this year.  The latest evidence of this was when outfielder Carl Crawford, who is still owed a total of $35 million this year and next, was designated for assignment.   At this point, Trace Thompson has probably earned a spot as an everyday player, which is smart.  What’s not so smart however, was to start rookie Julio Urias against the Mets and the Cubs, instead of breaking him in against teams like the Padres and Rockies, so he can build his confidence.  Since Andrew Friedman is supposed to be a genius, I thought this would be a little more obvious to him.  Just think how much better the Dodgers would be with a bat like Ryan Braun, and a reliever like Aroldis Chapman.  Too bad the Boys in Blue don’t want to give up the prospects required to acquire those two.  My favorite quote over the weekend was from Clayton Kershaw, after earning his 8th victory of the season with 6 shutout innings against the Braves.  Kershaw said “six innings is not acceptable.  I’ll take it for tonight, but I don’t even want to leave three innings for the bullpen.”  What he’s really saying is “I wouldn’t trust those jokers in our bullpen with a cup of coffee.”

As for the Angels, they got a nice series win against a good Pirates team over the weekend.  However, do they have any starting pitchers left that aren’t injured? Nick Tropeano is the latest to join the disabled list, along CJ Wilson, Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, and Tyler Skaggs.  They say in the majors that you spend two months figuring out who you are, two months fixing it, and then going for it in the last two months.  The problem is the Angels problems don’t seem fixable.  Albert Pujols probably isn’t going to fix his .238 average.  Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, and CJ Wilson haven’t given us any reason to think they are going be healthy and effective.  Mike Trout seems like the only reason to go see an Angel game these days.  Other than that, it’s probably going to be a long summer for the Halos.

When I was 7, my family and I ran into Muhammad Ali while coming out of a restaurant in San Clemente, CA.  The man was incredibly gracious, signed autographs for both my sister and I, while he and his entire family took the time to engage in conversation with my family.  It was that kindness that was just one part of the incredible legacy he leaves behind, after passing away over the weekend.  He was a humanitarian, a philanthropist, in addition to being probably the greatest boxer ever.  Today, there is often controversy as to whether or not athletes should publicly voice their opinion over social issues.  Ali embraced tackling these social issues through his defiant nature, and leaves a legacy that goes well beyond sports.  He stands alongside athletes like Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Jim Brown, whose achievements beyond the playing field had a lasting impact on this country.  Ali had such deep convictions, they actually cost him three years of his prime boxing years when he refused to be drafted into the Vietnam War.  His bouts in the ring with Joe Frazier were legendary.  However, I’ll always remember getting chills in 1996, watching him light the Olympic torch in Atlanta.

We’ve had three great games so far in the Stanley Cup Final.  Of course ESPN just glosses over it and moves on to where Johnny Manziel spent his evening partying.  The Penguins lost an opportunity to take a commanding lead in the series, but the Sharks got back into it with an overtime win on Saturday, now trailing 2-1 in the best of 7.  Look guys, if there’s anybody that knows it’s always possible to choke away a series lead before it’s over, it’s the San Jose Sharks.  I also love Logan Couture accusing Sidney Crosby of cheating on face offs.  This is the same guy a few years ago who stuck his stick out while he was sitting on the bench to knock the puck away from a Kings player.   I still like San Jose to win the series, but this one might take 7 games to decide.

There are some animals like sharks and gators that fascinate me, yet completely terrify me for fear of being eaten by them.  Last week a 52 year old woman was attacked by a Great White Shark, right in front of my place in Corona Del Mar.  After that, I was too scared to take a shower, let alone go in the ocean.  It’s almost amazing that we don’t have more shark attacks give the number of Great Whites that are constantly being spotted of the SoCal coasts.  That still doesn’t make it any more comforting every time any of us enters the ocean, even if the chances are remote.  Then there’s those dudes that were playing golf in Palmetto, Florida, that ran into the biggest alligator anybody has ever seen.  Does this thing eat golfers?  I’m not sure if those guys were playing golf or walking through Jurassic Park.  If I saw this thing I’d probably run the other way, right back up the fairway.

Finally, another episode of Game of Thrones went down last night on HBO.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case.  I would ask how in the hell The Hound is still alive after Brienne skewered him, but that would be ridiculous since Jon Snow came back to life as well.  It’s an interesting twist, but not necessarily a storyline I find more interesting than anything that is taking place already.  After this season there’s only going to be 7 episodes in season 7, followed by another 6 in season 8 which will conclude the series.  That’s right folks.  That means there are only 16 episodes left in the entire series.  That also means they really need to pick up the pace to give us all satisfying conclusions to everything.  I sure wish we had gotten to see Daenerys and the Dragons, and catch up with Bran.  Nevertheless, the Hound is bound to take some revenge on those people that killed his group.  Arya could probably use his help right now though since she is bleeding profusely in the middle of the street.  She is sure to survive this one though, and I have no doubt she will get her revenge.  As for Sansa, my guess is that she reached out to Littlefinger for help, but this feels like it’s going to bite her and Jon in the ass.  Then again, going into battle with only 2,000 men isn’t going to be enough.  I still can’t figure out what Margaery’s end game is.  Whatever it is though, it’s probably going to work since her husband has no idea how to be a King.  Who knew that Yara was gay? There’s gotta be some epic battle scenes in the next three episodes between Jamie’s showdown at Riverrun, Jon’s battle at Wintefell, and a fight involving The Mountain at Kings Landing.  It’s going to be a bloody last three episodes.

May 30th, 2016

Have doctors examined Klay Thompson for first degree burns? I hope they have because that man was on fire in game 6 vs OKC.  Win or lose game 7, that guy is easily a top 10 player in the NBA. Steph made some clutch buckets as well, meanwhile, Tony Romo was somewhere shaking his head at the amount of turnovers Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant had.  Game 7 is going to be epic.  The Thunder aren’t just going to roll over and play dead like most of you think.  I doubt that KD and Russ are going to shoot as badly as they did in the last two games, but it’s also much more likely the Warrior bench and role players play well back at Oracle.  Legacies are definitely on the line, as is the case for Lebron James, who advanced to a sixth straight NBA Finals when the Cavs beat the Raptors in six games.  Lebron knows he has to win a championship this year.  Otherwise, getting to the the finals six times and winning only twice is like a chick getting pregnant six times and having only two kids.  After the Cavs eliminated the Raptors, Drake is ready to buy a Lebron jersey.

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan was named first team All-NBA, which basically makes him the recipient of the “We Hate DeMarcus Cousins” award.  Jordan is a nice player, and one of the better centers in the NBA.  However, his first team selection is simply a product of a flawed voting system, and a weak set of centers.  Jordan probably couldn’t score against Shaq, Patrick Ewing, or David Robinson at their current ages.  A 2nd team with Cousins and Kevin Durant is laughable when you consider DJ is on the first team.  It probably would have made more sense to put Draymond Green as first team center over DJ.  Green received more overall votes than DJ but fewer at the center position.  I suspect this voting flaw will get fixed in the coming years.

The Lakers are closing in on a deal to make Brian Shaw their lead assistant on Luke Walton’s staff.  This is fantastic news because Shaw has been one of the best lead assistants in the game, despite his unsuccessful head coaching stint with Denver.  Shaw was great under Phil Jackson, helping the Lakers win two titles, and great with player development with the Pacers.   I’m even more impressed with the fact that Jim Buss would approve of an assistant that was associated with the Phil Jackson regime.  Whether the Lakers end up with a veteran team, or a young team, Shaw will command respect from the players and be an important part of Walton’s staff.

To baseball, where we got a very brief glimpse of Dodger prospect Julio Urias on Friday in New York.  His start lasted about as long as Jeb Bush’s Presidential campaign.  The kid might end up being good and all, but he’s only 19, and way too far away from making an impact to get excited about.  That makes me even more dumbfounded why the Dodgers didn’t sign Zack Greinke for the extra year he wanted.  By the time Urias can actually contribute, Clayton Kershaw will be in a retirement home.  What the Dodgers should be doing is trying to get something for Yasiel Puig, while has has some limited value left.  When the guy is hitting only .250, I can’t deal with his complete stupidity at times.  I say call the Mets and see if they are willing to swap Matt Harvey for Puig.  Both are low cost reclamation projects.  Andy Friedman loves injured pitchers, so why not take your chances with one who could be an ace?  Then the Mets can put Puig in an environment where he is more comfortable with fellow Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.

As for the Angels, they lost 2 out of 3 for the third straight series over the weekend.  This time is was to the struggling Astros.    It’s tough to find a whole lot of positive here.  How long does Albert Pujols have to hit .220 or less before Mike Scioscia moves him down in the order?  Seems like every hit or home run he gets comes with nobody on base, or in blowouts.  The guy is also a machine when it comes to hitting into double plays.  Pujols contract makes the Mo Vaughn signing from years ago look like a bargain.  It was good to see Matt Shoemaker find his game on Friday, but the rest of the starting pitchers have been laying an egg of late.

I’m absolutely amazed at how much money these athletic apparel companies have to spend, and how they spend their money.   UCLA is clearly the beneficiary of location, after scoring a record $280 million contract with Under Armour.  I realize that the company wanted a larger presence on the west coast, but Notre Dame and Ohio State must think they got short changed after that, since they currently have more successful athletic programs.  The bad news for UCLA fans is that this will only keep AD Dan Guerrero around for longer.  As for those bitching about college athletes not reaping any of the financial benefit, it’s not as simple as just writing a check to the athletes.  Should football and basketball players get paid more than other athletes? Do star players on teams deserve more? You all forget that this money supports the 15 other sports that don’t bring in real money for schools.  I admit, I’ve come around a little on this issue in thinking that a scholarship isn’t necessarily enough, but nobody has a real solution to fairly compensating student athletes beyond that.    One idea could be to provide some level of compensation for those athletes that actually graduate, while another portion of funds goes to helping truly needy student athletes.  There’s a reasonable compromise to be made between the NCAA’s archaic rules and division I football and bball players desire to make it rain by driving Lambeau’s and Ferrari’s to school.  I’m just not sure we’re going to get there anytime soon.

The news about the sexual assault scandal that broke at Baylor this week is a reminder of the atrocities going on in college athletics, and especially college football.  Some of you probably thought the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State a few years ago was an isolated incident.  It wasn’t.  The bottom line is that numerous institutions are turning their back on sexual assault victims, all to protect their money making machine that is their college football team.  Since media coverage is so much more vast today, you can be sure we will be hearing about more of these incidents where rape victims are no longer intimidated to come forward, even if legal action is required against the universities they attend.  Art Briles is just one of many college football coaches that are morally bankrupt.  As for Baylor, if a ban is imposed for a year or two on the team, which it probably should, then the players should be allowed to transfer elsewhere to continue their collegiate careers.

Let’s go to the ice where the Kings are already starting the shakeup.  Dustin Brown has reportedly been asked to relinquish the captaincy.  Brown has gone from a bruising power forward and emotional leader of a two time Stanley Cup Championship team, to an overpaid player whose production is in severe decline.  Changing captains isn’t as big of a deal as you would think.  Back in ’89, the Kings asked Dave Taylor to give up his captaincy to Wayne Gretzky.  The Sharks currently have Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau on their team, who have both been their team captain at one point during the last 7 years.  Joe Pavelski is now their captain.  The real question is whether or not Brown is going to remain a King, and whether or not he can have the effectiveness of 3-4 years ago.  General Manager Dean Lombardi is abandoning the loyalty that he used in his decision making the last few years, and is all business.  He may be putting pressure on Brown to waive his limited no trade clause to make it easier to move him.  More than anything though, the Kings clearly recognize that changes need to me made in both leadership and roster to become Cup champions again.

The Sharks and Penguins will be battling it out for the Stanley Cup starting tonight.  These are two teams that most people thought would be undergoing major rebuilds after last season.  Instead here they are, reminding us of the parity in the NHL.  The Penguins were smart enough to go back to Matt Murray in goal, which helped them get back to the final.  Even though they have arguably the best player in the world in Sidney Crosby, the Sharks are too big, too deep, and have better special teams.  I’m taking San Jose in five games, which will sadly forever ruin anymore jokes Kings fans can make about them.

Finally, Game of Thrones went down last night on HBO.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it so read no further if you plan on watching later.   This episode was bound to slow things down after last week, but still provided some interesting storylines.  The Sam and Gilly storyline seemed pointless at first, however, by the end, we learned that he’s grown a pair of balls after all this time, standing up to his father, and stealing his sword.  He may be a minor character, but he’s had a big transformation.   I knew it! Arya wasn’t going to go through with this no name nonsense.  I’m sure she’s going to beat the crap out of The Walf, or Jaquen will change his mind and save her.  As for what’s happening in Kings Landing, Margaery knows how to play the game, and would tell Tommen anything because she’s dying just for some shampoo and conditioner at this point.  Tommen is swayed so easily by both her and the sparrow.  That kid isn’t going to live long the way things are going.  The high Sparrow is way more deceptive and powerful than we thought and is still winning the game against the Lannisters.  Since Jamie is headed to Riverrrun and so is Brienne, I smell an awkward reunion coming between the two.  We had to have at least one super evil guy in the episode, and since we didn’t get Ramsay, we got the old and crusty Walder Fray.  These Bran visions are cool and all, but can he actually impact the past already? Those Daenerys speeches never get old, but getting the Dothraki on board ships won’t be easy, since they are afraid of water.  Sounds like she’s going to need a bigger army and more ships.  Four more episodes to go and it’s gonna get intense from here!

April 18th, 2016

Never could I have imagined that Kobe Bryant’s legacy would actually improve before playing the last game of his career against the Utah Jazz.  No Hall of Famer has ever scored more than 29 points in their final career game.  Kobe obliterated that by scoring 60, and reminding us of the glory days for Laker fans, one last time.  Only Kobe could steal the show from the Golden State Warriors, on a night where they broke the single season record for wins.  It was beautiful sight to see, and gave you chills.  For those that hate him, it was just one last reminder, that your criticism drove Kobe to all his success, which is why he embraced it when it was over.  Leave it to the LA Times though to give you a tribute section to Kobe in yesterday’s paper, only to throw in a few articles that don’t actually show either Kobe or his wife, Vanessa, in the post positive light.  The sad part is that now that he’s gone, you’ll really see how much you miss him.  It was a fun ride while it lasted, but it was twenty great years.  It’s going to be really weird when we continue to crumple pieces of paper and throw them into the trash while yelling “Kobe!” and our kids are trying to figure out what the hell we are talking about.

Oh I guess we have to talk about the Clippers now. LA took care of the Blazers last night in game 1 of their 1st round playoff series.  For some reason Damian Lillard struggles against CP3, but always seems to play well against Steph Curry.  Last night was another case of Paul getting the best of him. There will probably be a game in this series where Lillard and backcourt mate CJ McCollum go off and steal a game, but that night wasn’t last night.  The Clipps have too much fire power, and this shouldn’t take any longer than 5 games.  LA better hope that they can build some better rhythm between CP3 and Blake during that time, if they want any fighting chance against the Warriors in round 2.

What a joke the first round series of the NBA playoffs have been so far.  I feel like I’m watching a bunch of #16 seeds take on a bunch of #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.  The Houston Rockets were probably considering boarding a plane and heading back to Houston before the 2nd half started in game 1 against the Warriors.  The Mavericks got blown out by the Thunder.  It was 21-7 after the first quarter.  It’s like football season never ended.  I guess Reggie Jackson thinks that just because he played with Russell Westbrook that he is Russell Westbrook.  I’ve got the Cavs in 4, Raptors in 6, Celtics in 7, Miami in 6, Warriors and Spurs in 3, Clipps and Thunder in 5.

Let’s talk puck.  Sorry Kings fans, but it’s over.  LA is in serious trouble against the Sharks.  I’m sure some of you are clinging to the false hope of 2014, but this is not the same Kings team, nor the same  San Jose team.  Darryl Sutter can’t come up with a line combination that can consistently generate offense.  Anze Kopitar has disappeared like Houdini, and no defenseman outside of Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin can be trusted with a cup of coffee.  Marian Gaborik might have been the Kings best player in game 2, and he hasn’t played in 9 weeks!  The Sharks may be downplaying it, but they are determined to make up for their embarrassment in 2014.  Sharks Coach Peter Deboer also wants revenge for the Kings beating his Devils team in the finals in 2012.   The Sharks are beating the Kings at their own game.  They are more physical, manhandling LA in front of their own net, and getting the better of the special teams play.  The Shark jokes were fun while they lasted, but the Kings are going to be done playing hockey this season on Wednesday night at the Shark Tank.  That’s the parity of the NHL.

Speaking of trouble, the Ducks are down 0-2 as well to Nashville, after dropping the first two of the series at home.  Don’t you just love the NHL Playoffs? There’s really no such thing as an upset.  The Ducks have been more frustrated than Tim Tebow’s girlfriend, as Pekka Rinne has been solid in goal for Nashville.  Their defense has been tough, and they’ve gotten the timely scoring they need at even strength.  Corey Perry was nowhere to be found last night either.  It’s tough to win a playoff series when your best players don’t show up, which is exactly how the Kings feel right now.  The worst part about this for Anaheim is that they have some demons of past playoffs they are trying to overcome, so going down 0-2 has to shake their confidence.  Don’t count the Ducks out yet, but the way things are going, they’ll be done playing this week, and Bruce Boudreau might be looking for a job shortly after that.

Let’s go to the NFL, where the Rams stole the headlines from Kobe on Thursday, by acquiring the #1 pick in the draft.  Yes, I realize that the Redskins and their fans are laughing their asses off after this trade, and that the Rams won’t have another 1st round pick for the next 30 years or so.  However, I’m actually a fan of this trade.  You can’t win in the NFL without a quarterback, and that QB isn’t Case Keenum.  Jeff Fisher and Les Snead know that.  The reason the Rams were able to make this trade was also because they made the RGIII trade, and were able to build their team to the point they have now.  However, that team is consistently a 7-9 or 8-8 team.  That’s not good enough.  Sounds like Carson Wentz is the better long term player with more upside than Jared Goff. The Rams have the time to develop Wentz, since they don’t move into their new stadium until 2019.  I hate the notion however, that this trade was made because it’s a star driven town.  That’s a poor way to run a franchise if that’s the sole reason it was made.  As a result, Jeff Fisher’s phone has been blowing up since the trade was announced…..

I feel like the only requirement to be the USC AD is to have played football at the University.  The Trojans surprised quite a few people by hiring Lynn Swan as their new AD.  This feels very similar to the Mike Garrett hire.  No specific experience that would make him qualified to run a major NCAA athletic program.  One thing he does have is a membership to Augusta National, so I’m sure some of the powers that be at USC will be taking advantage of a few rounds of golf there.  Heck, OJ has to be telling himself that if he didn’t end up in the slammer or on trial, he would have easily been on USC’s short list for the AD position by now.  I’m most curious to see how much slack he gives Clay Helton, since he did not hire him.  Speaking of Helton, I’m surprised he didn’t proclaim Max Browne his starting quarterback after the spring scrimmage.  I still think there’s no way he’s going to lose the job, and that he’s probably just making Browne work for everything.  I’ve never really been a fan of these spring scrimmages, because it’s just more wear and tear on these guys bodies, but at least the Trojans scaled down the scrimmage, unlike a lot of other schools.

Just how bad is the Dodgers bullpen? It’s bad enough that closer Kenley Jansen is already being asked to come in during the 8th inning for extended appearances.  When will the Dodger front office learn? Jansen can’t make up for a terrible middle relief group.  The same way that Clayton Kershaw can’t make up for a crummy pitching staff.  Scott Kazmir proved once again this weekend that you wouldn’t even trust him to tell you what he wanted on his pizza.  What a waste of $48 million.  At least the Dodgers finally managed take a series from the Giants, who seem to be just dripping with championship pedigree.  I like Dave Roberts, but the front office hasn’t done him any favors.

Finally, a brutal weekend for the Halos.  They were swept by the lowly Minnesota Twins, who hadn’t won a game yet this season.  The Angels bullpen just couldn’t get it done.  It was one close loss after another.  This was supposed to be a softer part of the Halos schedule, but it’s turning into more of a mine field.  After the three straight losses in the Twin Cities, the Angels now go to Chicago to play the upstart Chi Sox, who have won 8 of their first 12.  We’re also still waiting for Albert Pujols and Mike Trout to find their offensive groove.  Wake me up when someone decides to take control of the AL West.

March 28th, 2016

What the hell is Lebron James thinking? His team is in 1st place in the East, and trying to contend for an NBA championship, yet he’s talking about joining forces with his three best friends.  Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love must feel like a girl who’s new boyfriend won’t stop talking about how great their ex was.  What better way to alienate your teammates.  It feels like Lebron is already giving up on the season after watching the Warriors, and is already planning to devastate Cleveland fans again by leaving.  Of course I told you all that this was bound to happen after he signed a short term deal.  What’s funny about this is that Lebron actually assembled this disaster by getting David Blatt fired, having Andrew Wiggins traded for Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson signed to a monster deal.  However, things are much tougher in Cleveland than Lebron thought they would be, and he looks extremely unhappy, which is why he told Howard Beck he’d love to play with Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Dwayne Wade.  Who wouldn’t love to see those four play together? The question is where can it happen.  It could actually be the Lakers.

Jim Buss and possibly Mitch Kupchak are desperate to save their jobs before Jeannie hits the eject button on them next summer.  The Lakers have more cap space than anyone, and young assets that they aren’t necessarily married to.  The Lakers could easily sign Lebron and Wade, while trading for Melo this summer.  Paul would be a little tougher to acquire, but he’s unrestricted in the summer of 2017, so once you acquired the other three, getting CP3 would be a foregone conclusion.  Then again, as exciting as those four would be, it would be short term stimulation for Laker fans.  Lebron is still arguably the best but he’s getting long in the tooth, and CP3 is still a top 10 player.  Wade and ‘Melo are not though, and those four probably don’t give you enough shooting, while providing a lot of deteriorating defense, especially when you think about the dominance of the Warriors.  It might give you 2 years of contention, but not enough to actually win a title.  On the other hand, continuing to build from within and adding some other younger free agents would be slower, but gives you a better chance to return to sustainable success by the time the Warriors run is over.  I do hope “The Banana Boat Crew” gets together somewhere though for sheer entertainment purposes, however, it’s likely to crash and burn in spectacular fashion.  Mitch Kupchak is smarter than that to let that happen here.  In Cleveland, they aren’t that smart.

This fast break basically sums up the Lakers season……

Remember when you thought the Clippers we’re better without Blake Griffin? Yea, well I sure do.  The Clippers are good team, but not an elite team with our without Blake.  The Clipps are 2-8 against the Warriors, Spurs, and Thunder, and they are looking like a good bet to face Golden State in round 2 of the playoffs.  Then again, they got manhandled against a shorthanded Memphis team last week, so the first round will be no cake walk either.  By the way, how come nobody asked Chris Paul what his thoughts were on Lebron James suggesting that he, Dwayne Wade, and Carmelo Anthony could play together? I’ll tell you why.  It’s because even the local media members that cover the Clippers don’t cover them all that thoroughly.  Nobody holds them accountable for such coverage because nobody really cares about the Clippers in the LA sports landscape.

The Final Four is set.  My Fighting Irish of Notre Dame put up a spirited fight, but North Carolina was just too talented for them.  They also probably saved me from dropping a lot of money on a trip to Houston for the Final Four.  I thought for a second Mike Brey was right that the Irish can’t lose on Good Friday or Easter Sunday.  Roy Williams must have threatened his Tar Hell players by telling them they will have to go to class if they lose.  I guess Syracuse got tired of everybody telling them that they suck, and they are just a 10 seed.  Meanwhile Virginia is advancing to their traditional seats on the couch for next weeks Final Four.  Perry Ellis shouldn’t be that upset that Kansas lost to Villanova.  He did get the opportunity to play in 20 Final Fours since he looks like he’s 20 years older than everybody else.  After Oregon got smoked by Oklahoma, they plan to unveil Nike’s new “eliminated in the NCAA Tournament” jersey’s next week.  Buddy Hield is a phenomenal player, and if I didn’t know who he was, I would think he was the next favorite horse to win the Kentucky Derby.

it sounds like the one and done rule in college basketball is going to be seriously re-evaluated by the NBA.  However, the question is how it will be changed.  Some people think we should go back to the days of high school players being able to enter the draft, but if you end up going to college, it should be for at least two years.  I’m completely against high school players being able to enter the draft.  The NBA has become an extremely watered down league because of young players that have no business being in the league.  For every Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett, there are a ton more players that flame out of the league because they weren’t ready physically, emotionally, or mentally.  Going to college isn’t about getting an education, but rather learning about yourself.  Many of these teenagers fail to realize that.  The purpose of the NBA draft is to create some competitive balance in the league.  It’s difficult to do that when the players being drafted need 3-5 years to become something.  If a player is so desperate to start making a living, let them go to China or Europe to play.  However, don’t let them ruin both the college game, and the NBA game.

The LA Times just did an interview with UCLA AD Dan Guerrero, which as expected, was full of spin.  Guerrero claimed that the Bruins aren’t about a coaching carousel, and that basketball coach Steve Alford giving back his one year extension showed how committed to the program he is.  The best news I heard out of the interview is that Guerrero might actually step down before 2019 because they are nearing the end of the $4.2 billion centennial campaign.  Somebody should have asked Guerrero if it was the UCLA Athletic Department that wrote that letter.  Had somebody actually done their homework, they might have realized that former Bruins football coach Karl Dorrell wrote nearly the same letter to the fans just months before he was fired.  Dan Guerrero has become selfish.  It’s all about him and his own job.  Not about the Bruins basketball program.

What do Dan Guerrero, Jim Buss, and Jeff Fisher all have in common? They are powerful LA sports executives who put themselves first, rather than taking any necessary risks to be successful.  Guerrero won’t get rid of Steve Alford because he’s afraid he’ll lose his job if he goes through another basketball coach.  Jim Buss was afraid to hire Phil Jackson as head coach again, fearing that he would have no voice in the Lakers organization.  Jeff Fisher refused to sign off on the Rams signing RGIII because he didn’t want to take the heat for another quarterback screwing up on his watch. These types of people usually play it safe for the sake of their own job security, and can sometimes find success.  However, when the expectations are championships like they are in Los Angeles, it’s difficult to meet that bar.

You didn’t really think that the Dodgers and Time Warner Cable’s attempt to lower the price of SportsNet LA was going to lead to a deal right away did you? Yes, they may have lowered their price, but none of the cable providers are going to bite when the price is only for a year.  There’s still another week to go before the season starts, so a deal can be struck, but it would be even worse for cable providers to accept the deal then lose the channel a year later.  If these two sides were really serious about making a deal, they would lock themselves in an air tight room until the deal is done.  I have no problem with TWC and the Dodgers trying to get the most money out of it, but at this point, it’s TWC that is bleeding money by not making a deal.  The good news is that none of the cable providers have really commented on the status of negotiations, so hopefully a deal is in sight.  On the field however, no relief is in sight for the Dodgers.  Andre Ethier is out 10-14 weeks with a broken leg, adding to the slew of injuries on this brittle roster that Andrew Friedman has assembled.

Roger Goodell said last week that he has not ruled out the possibility the Raiders moving to Las Vegas.  Please let this happen! Could there be anything more perfect for Raider Nation than being in Vegas? Raider Nation is filled with insane people, and so is Vegas.  Heck, people that hate the Raiders would probably even come to Vegas to see the spectacle.  Better yet, this would probably be the best thing to happen to Southwest Airlines since they put strip clubs in Las Vegas.

This last episode of The People vs OJ Simpson on FX was probably one of the slower episodes, yet it was still fantastic.  I never realized just how close the whole criminal case was to being a mistrial, once the jurors started protesting by wearing all black.  They nearly ran out of jurors, and it was amazing to see just how many of them lied on their questionaires just to be a part of a historic case.  At that point, the prosecution was probably dying for a mistrial, because they were getting obliterated.  My favorite part of the episode was the ignorance that Judge Ito showed when a juror was complaining to him that the white jurors were receiving an extra 30 minutes to shop at Target, while the black jurors were getting less time to shop at Ross.  The hilarious moment was when he had to ask the juror to re-confirm the question of whether or not black people actually like to shop at Ross instead of Target.  Johnny Cochran quickly chimed in to confirm that was the case, but it was just a reminder of how unaware people were of the multitude of ways race impacted the trial.  The show also clearly fabricated the fact that particular juror ran down the hall screaming so that she would be relieved of her duty.  She was relieved, but not in that fashion.  I also forgot that prosecution witness Dennis Fung decided to shake the hands of OJ and the defense team after they destroyed him during the cross examination.  Another important figure in the criminal case who fell victim to being star struck.

Finally, we made it through another edge of your seat episode of The Walking Dead last night, and nearly lost our minds during the final moments.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  I thought we weren’t going to lose anybody, but we just might have lost Darryl, at the hands of Dwight. We won’t know until next week.  We saw blood splatter everywhere once he shot him.  That was followed by Dwight saying “you’ll be alright.”  I have a feeling it isn’t Darryl he’s talking to.  He’s talking to the rest of us to let us know that we’ll eventually be alright even though our favorite son may have just died.  I keep asking myself if the show would do this to us, and I think the answer is yes, despite trying to convince myself otherwise.  What the hell was everyone thinking leaving Alexandria again?  What’s the point of having these freaking “safe zones”  in the post-apocalypse, if people just up and leave all the time? This is all Darryl’s fault.  Glenn even told him it was bound to go wrong and it did. Ugh!  I don’t know what Morgan was thinking either, leaving himself an excuse not to come back to Alexandria to defend the group, as he continues to hunt down Carol.  Speaking of Carol, just when you thought she might be becoming a little emotionally unstable by leaving the group, she reminded everyone how much of a badass she is by killing four of the Saviors on the road.  I think Carol will definitely be fine on her own, but it’s too bad because the group really needs her to help defend Alexandria.  Morgan’s story about The Wolf prisoner who changed is bullshit.  That prisoner didn’t save Denise’s life.  He was taking her hostage during the escape, but fortunately somebody shot him before he could go any further.  I expect that we’re going to get some big time answers in next week’s 90 minute season finale.  Some answers that we probably aren’t going to want to hear.

March 21st, 2016

So much for “Dunk City”.  The Trojans blew a major opportunity to steal the basketball spotlight in the NCAA Tournament against Providence.  USC was up 5 with 2 minutes to play, but missed three critical free throws in those final moments, and lost after giving up an open layup on an inbounds play at the last second.  That’s like the equivalent of losing a football game on a Hail Mary.  Everybody is giving Andy Enfield credit for a great season, but why didn’t he remind his team to slow down the pace in the final two minutes and take more time off the clock? Was he too busy staring at his super model wife? The Trojans are an athletic squad, but one that may be lacking the fundamentals to ever win anything meaningful.  They’ll be returning a solid and more experienced squad next season, but so will Oregon, who’s lasted longer in the tournament, and won the Pac 12 while missing their best player.

So how bad is your bracket looking right about now? The leader in your office pool is probably the girl who picked teams based on who has the cutest mascot.  I think I’m going to pick the NIT bracket instead next year.  At least my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame are moving on to the Sweet 16.  Michigan State screwed us all.  Who names a school “Middle” Tennessee State?  Kentucky lost to Indiana, and John Calipari is going to punish his players by taking back all the money he paid them.  Yale shocked us by beating Baylor, only to have Duke treat them like protestors at a Donald Trump rally.  That half-court shot Northern Iowa hit to beat Texas is March Madness at its finest.  So was Texas A&M’s unbelievable comeback after being down by 12 points in the last 33 seconds, which was just preceded by Wisconsin’s buzzer beater against Xavier in the moments before.  Don’t worry Northern Iowa fans, you still have corn.  West Virginia had a poor showing against S.F. Austin, and hasn’t been that embarrassed since watching Gino Smith play in the NFL.  Meanwhile, Bill Clinton probably celebrated Arkansas Little Rock’s first round win with cigars and interns.  The Pac 12 had a pretty awful showing.  I remember when they used to be the best basketball conference in the country.  Sean Miller was sweating like a dude who’s girlfriend asked to see his phone……

Northern Iowa choked in round 2, but this win over Texas was still pretty epic…….

People are losing their minds about who should be the #1 pick in the NBA draft.  Duke’s Brandon Ingram is a nice player, but LSU’s Ben Simmons has the ability to be a transcendent player.  LSU didn’t make the NCAA Tournament, but that’s a product of the parity in college basketball.  People are saying the same thing about Simmons as they said about Lebron James going into the draft: he has no jump shot, and he’s not aggressive enough in the big moment.  Just because he didn’t give a crap about school, doesn’t mean we should hold it against him when it comes time to draft him.  Don’t screw around when you have the #1 pick.  Take the best player available.

I’m no fan of Jim Buss, but I think Laker fans should be almost as horrified at the thought of Phil Jackson being a part of their front office.  Phil the coach was the best in the history of American team sports.  However, when it comes to him as an executive, he’s a disaster.  He refuses to hire a coach that will run anything other than the triangle, which means there’s only three or four mediocre coaches that could possibly coach your team.  In fact, he’s so desperate to get a guy like Kurt Rambis a job in the NBA, he’s proposing to coach the teams home games next season.  Are you kidding me? He’s admitting that Rambis isn’t capable enough to do the job all by himself.  What’s next? He’s going to propose to coach while Skyping in? At least the Lakers have a capable General Manager, 4 promising young players to work with, and two max salary slots.  The Knicks only have 1 promising young player, an aging star, and no max salary slots.  Phil just wants a payday and doesn’t even want to be there.  Laker fans should be even more terrified at the thought of Jim being replaced by PJ.

It’s official, the LA Kings are back in the playoffs.  The Kings have won 4 straight, and are not only trying to lock up a Pacific Division title, but potentially the top seed in the Western Conference.  Call me crazy, but I’d much rather the Kings face San Jose in the first round.  The travel will be easier than facing a Central Division team like Minnesota, Nashville, or even Colorado.  San Jose is also not very good at home, and much better on the road.  This isn’t the NBA.  The top seed can easily be defeated in the first round.  Maybe I’m just paranoid because the Kings are actually playing well going into the playoffs, unlike their last two Stanley Cup runs.  However, the Kings rugged style of play can not only wear the opposition down, but also themselves if they aren’t careful.

This Adam Laroche situation is ridiculous.  There’s not a single job in the world where it’s ok to bring your kid around 100% of the time.  The White Sox also didn’t say don’t bring him around, they just said don’t bring him around all the time, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  The funny part is, the White Sox should be stoked.  They don’t have to dish out $13 million a year to a guy who hit .200 for them last year.  Props to the White Sox front office for taking a stand against him, and actually creating a professional environment since their team has been a joke the few years.

I’m beginning to wonder if Donald Trump is going to be dangerous or entertaining if he wins the Republican Presidential nomination.  Trump suggested that if he didn’t receive enough support from the Republican delegates to get the nomination, then there could be riots.  So now he’s promoting violence? We’ve already seen some at these Trump protests, so why would he stop there? We’ve never seen anything like this before.  Then again, the Republican Party is truly to blame for letting this guy get this far, and not taking him seriously.  Meanwhile, Ted Cruz continues to stand there and look like a guy trying to sell me a use car, John Kasich looks like the guy trying to stuff his face with food at a cocktail party when nobody is looking, while Marco Rubio’s campaign was about as effective as Ricky Rubio shooting a basketball.

I’m beginning to feel sad over the fact that The People vs OJ Simpson on FX is coming to an end.  We only have 3 more episodes, and we’ve reached that critical episode where OJ tries on the gloves in court.  After every episode, I always have to ask myself “is that really how it happened?”  That’s exactly the question I asked myself when Robert Shapiro actually picked up the gloves that Simpson wore during the murder, and realized they wouldn’t fit OJ.  Judge Ito and the prosecution actually allowed that? It was actually much worse.  Not only did Shapiro try the gloves on, but the entire defense team did during a courtroom break.  It was just another complete screw up by the prosecution, despite the mountains of evidence against OJ.  I also love unnecessary but totally entertaining jokes that the show makes about the characters.  For instance, back in the mid 1990’s, most people weren’t making use of internet porn.  Instead, they were buying Hustler, Penthouse, and Playboy.  When Robert Kardashian was going through OJ’s bag to make sure there was no murder weapon in it, he found nothing but those dirty magazines.  There was no reason to show a bunch of dirty magazines coming out of that bag, other than to make the audience think that OJ was that guy who had to have his dirty magazines.

Finally, that episode of The Walking Dead was much crazier than I thought it would be.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see last night’s episode, so read no further if you plan to watch it later.  Funny that just when Denise was becoming stronger and more capable, she ends up getting killed by the Saviors.  Maybe they can give her other eye to Carl? At least Darryl got his crossbow back.  It was good to see that Eugene didn’t have a nut allergy after his uh….biting incident.  Perhaps they should have named this episode “Tenacious D”?  Of course the other major part of the episode was Carol deciding to leave the group again.  She’s leaving because she hates the person that she’s become.  The people she’s killed is weighing on her conscience.  Unfortunately, what she fails to realize is that if she wants to survive in what’s left of the world, she’s going to have to continue to kill. It’s probably better to do that with people she loves than without them.  Carol is too important of a character to just leave once again, as unceremonioiusly as she did.  She might eventually die, but there’s no way we’re not going to see her again.  In fact, the preview of the next episode seems to indicate that Darryl will chase after her.  If Darryl is off chasing Carol, I’m thinking the group gets invaded by the Saviors.  Now I’m starting to think that it really is going to be Glenn that will die before the season is over, at the hands of Negan.

March 14th, 2016

There’s your 2016 NCAA Bracket.  Too bad the UCLA Bruins aren’t a part of it.  They aren’t even good enough for the NIT Bracket.  What a complete disgrace their 1st round loss to USC was last week.  There’s nothing quite like getting embarassed three times in one season by your non-basketball school rival.  UCLA really couldn’t manage to be one of the seven schools from their conference to get invited to the tournament?  It’s easy for Steve Alford to put the blame on himself when he knows he’s got a $10 million buyout, making it difficult to fire him.  That’s not enough though.  Not only did the entire team quit on him, but so have UCLA fans.  The basketball program is struggling to sell tickets, is televised on a network that barely anybody has, and is quickly becoming irrelevant in Southern California.  Do Southern California kids even identify UCLA as a basketball school anymore? This is no longer a Steve Alford problem.  It’s a Dan Guerrero problem.  Of course Guerrero won’t fire him because he himself would probably lose his own job if he cycled through another basketball coach. The big donors are pissed, but there’s nothing they can do about.  Even if they came up with $10 million, they probably have little confidence in their Athletic Director hiring the right coach.

Meanwhile, Twitter spoiled the drama by leaking some of the brackets early, and the Trojans found out they are in the tourney for the first time since 2011.  The committee didn’t make it easy on them by any means.  Not only do they have to go back east, but they have to take on a Providence team with two very good NBA prospects in Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil.  Both teams have similar tournament resume’s, losing to Xavier and beating Arizona.  However, Providence has tournament experience, and SC hasn’t been all that great away from home.  I like the Friars in this one, but neither team stands much of a chance against Carolina in the next round.

As for the remainder of the bracket, good luck trying to make your picks.  I feel like I’d have the same luck throwing darts blindfolded.  It’s like arguing with a woman.  You’re going to be wrong no matter what.  There’s probably 25 teams that can actually win the NCAA Championship this year.  UNC probably has the easiest path to the Final Four, if there’s such a thing this year.  Unfortunately, my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame ended up in their region.  In related news, Oregon received a #1 seed, and Nike responded by ordering Asian children to make new jerseys.  Villanova and Kansas have already been upset.  It’s an annual tradition unlike any other.  San Diego State and Monmouth were by far the biggest snubs in my mind.  SDSU only has themselves to blame though since the Mountain West was weak, and since 22 conference tournament winners didn’t finish 1st in their conference during the season.  Monmouth on the other hand, played a tough non-conference schedule, and the committee basically just told them it’s better to play power puffs early on, but we’ll still penalize you if you aren’t in a power conference.  I would have left out Tulsa and Vanderbilt.  Have the Lakers accepted their bid to the NIT yet?

What a stupid win that would have been for the Lakers last night against the Knicks.  Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, and Julius Randle  played only 22 minutes each.  Byron Scott felt like he owed it to the bench to play most of the 4th quarter.  Apparently, nobody told Byron the Lakers have been eliminated from the playoffs and have nothing to play for other than ping pong balls and player development.  Nevertheless, I think we’ve reached the point where we can say for now, the Lakers picked the right player with the #2 pick in last summers draft, D’Angelo Russell.  Russell has scored 20+ points in 7 of his last 10 games.  In the month of March, he’s also shooting 46% from the field and 42% from three.  It usually takes guards a lot longer to develop, but he and Clarkson appear to be developing quite nicely when given playing time.

Nice battle between Kobe and Lebron the other night at Staples.  I think Lebron was a little surprised Kobe put up that fight he did, given how beaten down his body is.  The Mamba probably even got the better of the matchup because of it, but the Cavs prevailed.  The funny part is, if Lebron wanted to, given that he’s that much younger, he probably could have taken it to Kobe early and ended it.  Had the situation been reversed, and Lebron was 7 years older than Kobe, The Mamba would absolutely destroy him, and when the game was over, he would have made him stay and play one on one to try and continue the demoralization.  Kobe did exactly this when he matched up with Michael Jordan when MJ was at the end of the line with the Wizards.  Kobe dropped 55 on him in that game.  That pyschopathic competitiveness is what really separates Lebron and Kobe.  The two of them are extremely close in terms of greatness, and Lebron may be seen as a slightly better individual player. However, Kobe’s competitiveness would make me want to take him over Lebron if I had to play one game to win.  Look at Kobe taking LBJ with these YMCA moves…..

Oh….so now you think the Clippers actually need Blake Griffin back in the lineup to win basketball games huh? I thought the Clipps were a better team without him? This is a classic case of the Ewing Theory.  Star player gets hurt, and the team plays well for a while without him, but over time, they can’t be as good of a team as they were with him.  Then again, since most of the Clipper fans (or Laker haters I should say) started watching basketball yesterday, this concept is probably unfamiliar to them.  The Clipps got exposed for what they are by a scuffling Cavs team yesterday, and with or without Blake, are sure to get bounced early on in the playoffs once again.

The Rams got off to a rough start in free agency, losing Janoris Jenkins and Rodney McLeod, valuable members of their backfield.  I guess nobody told these guys they would now be living in Southern California instead of St. Louis.  The Rams still have plenty of cap space though to improve their defense, as well as improve their quarterback situation.  I’m disappointed they have yet to show much interested in Robert Griffin III, who is a perfect low risk move, who even wants to be a Ram.  Elsewhere, Colin Kaepernick’s agent fears that he is suffering from brain damage, since he actually wants to play for the Cleveland Browns.  Steelers receiver Martavis Bryant smokes a plant and gets suspended for a year.  His teammate, Ben Roethlisberger, is accused of multiple rapes and gets four games.  The NFL disciplinary policy makes perfect sense.   Now that Russell Wilson is engaged, Tim Tebow remains the only virgin winning playoff quarterback in NFL history.  Johnny Manziel doesn’t have a drinking problem.  The Browns had a problem with him drinking.  The Broncos have replaced Peyton Manning with Mark Sanchez.  That’s like replacing a Ferrari with a Honda Accord.  Denver’s GM, John Elway’s phone has been blowing up ever since…..

I don’t know who is in worse shape: Scott Kazmir or Jeff Weaver? Both of them looked atrocious pitching against each other in a spring training game last week.  This is no surprise, because Kazmir doesn’t just go through stretches where he struggles, he has been downright atrocious for some teams, including the Angels.  Thank god the Dodgers signed him to a three year deal.  Weaver on the other than is in the last year of his deal, but is dealing with a degenerative spinal cord issue.  He isn’t in any pain, which is unfortunate, because he has no explanation for throwing 80 miles an hour last week.  I guess his excuse is that he just sucks now.

That last episode of The People vs OJ Simpson on FX was really unexpected.  It was all about Marcia Clark and everything she went through during the trial.  I never really thought I would feel bad for her, but I did.  She faced a tremendous amount of sexism, and was ridiculed immensely by the defense, as well as Judge Ito.  To top it all off, her ex-husband decided to publish naked photos of her during the trial.  At the time, everyone hated her because she symbolized somebody who was trying to take down one of the most popular celebrities in America.  If OJ had been convicted, I suspect that over time Clark would have been recognized as one of the best in her field.

Finally, that was another very intense episode of The Walking Dead last night on AMC.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  I definitely thought we were going to lose Carol or Maggie after they were kidnapped, or somebody else in the process of saving them.  It turns out that Carol and Maggie showed us a side of them we haven’t seen, killing their captors and escaping themselves.  Those Saviors thought the 2nd hand smoke was going to kill them? Think again, it was Carol and Maggie.  The show just keeps getting darker as Rick’s group is being forced to kill people to survive.  They do it, but you can tell many of them don’t like it.  In fact, when Darryl asks Carol if she is ok when it’s over, she says “no”.  Carol saw herself in Paula.  A previously battered woman who underwent a similar transformation that she did.  Only Paula’s transformation was obviously for more evil.  She was reluctant to kill Paula because of their similarities, but when push came to shove, she knew she had to in order to survive.  That was one spectacular death by the way.  However, when it comes to defending the ones she loves, like Maggie, Carol didn’t even think twice about pulling the trigger and killing that brunette Savior.  Carol is the Heisenberg of the apocalypse.

Rick’s group has inflicted far more violence upon the Saviors than they have on them.  The line between “good” and “bad” is not nearly as clear as seasons past, which has been a key element of character development.  Rick apparently seems to have less of a conscience about this line, while Carol is still keeping a body count.  The last few episodes have been that test for every key character.  Morgan is apparently the only one who refuses to cross that line.  Lastly, I love how every member of the Saviors claims that they are Negan.  This symbolizes the fact that he is a beast that can’t be eliminated so easily, because his army of people are fighting so hard for him.  Something tells me that the real Negan is so evil, he will make Rick’s group pay a price for what they’ve done.

March 7th, 2016

Did that really just happen? We just witnessed history at Staples Center yesterday.  No NBA team with a winning percentage below .200 has ever beaten a team with a winning percentage above .900, and that’s exactly what happened when the Lakers destroyed the Warriors yesterday afternoon.  Admit it….you kind of wanted to storm the court after the win, didn’t you Laker fans?  Ok, so maybe Steph and Klay popped a few too many bottles in the club last the night before.  However, Jordan Clarkson and D’Angelo played great defense, while putting up some very solid numbers.  Russell has scored 20 points or more in 5 of his last 6 games, including a career high 39 points earlier in the week.  Even if you’re on “Team Tank”, and want the Lakers to lose to solidify their lottery position, you’ve gotta love the confidence booster this win gives LA’s young guns.  It’s better to beat a team like this, then Phoenix or Philadelphia.  I wouldn’t be surprised after all this if the Lakers lose to Orlando on Tuesday.  D’Angelo is pumped, while Kobe needs a bye week……

Do the Clippers deserve any respect? They beat Oklahoma City earlier in the week, after one of the biggest choke jobs in the NBA this season.  Now people are suddenly thinking the Clippers should be contenders.  Let me get this straight….the Clippers beat a team Thunder team that choked harder than they usually do every spring time, and one that few people consider a true championship team. So why should we think any differently of them for that? Besides, no team with a mascot that is called “Chuck The Condor” deserves any respect in my book.  Sometimes the jokes just write themselves, and this is definitely one of those cases.

Is Lebron James still the best player in basketball? Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard are certainly doing some amazing things, and are making me think twice about it.  However, Lebron is a 4 time MVP, and led a team to the NBA Finals in the last five consecutive seasons.  Forgive me for not being entirely prisoner of the moment since that’s what we do in the NBA, but let’s have some perspective people.  If and when Steph makes it to five NBA finals, Or Kawhi gets on a couple of All-NBA teams, then there’s a much more sound argument.  Steph is the game’s best shooter, and Kawhi is a rising star, but Lebron’s impact on both ends of the floor is still unmatched.  He may not be in his prime, but it was just last season where he nearly pulled off the greatest upset in NBA playoff history.

UCLA just finished an embarrassing regular season and is hoping to miraculously survive the 1at round of the conference tourney this week, let alone win it.  Steve Alford has been a disaster, despite the big recruits coming next year.   Hopefully, there will always be great recruits for the Bruins on the horizon…not the point. The question is whether or not Alford was a smart hire by Dan G…so far, no. Only Walt Hazzard has a lower winning percentage as a UCLA coach than Alford. He just seems in way over his head….nothing wrong with that but he he belongs working at another school. The best work I’ve seen from the Alford camp was from his agent and attorney who leveraged a panicked AD into one of the most obscene employment contracts in UCLA history….the kind that would get a guy, AD, fired.  It’s only fitting that the Trojans will be the ones to end the Bruins’ season on Wednesday.  Nothing more humiliating than losing to your “football school” cross town rival three times in one year.

Speaking of USC, the Trojans aren’t exactly a lock to make the NCAA Tournament anymore.  USC has now lost 6 of their last 8 games, after losing to Oregon on Saturday.  The pressure is really going to be on now, because an early loss in the conference tournament, and SC’s bubble might just burst.  Even more alarming is the fact that SC has lost 8 of their 11 games away from the friendly confines of the Galen Center.  That’s often the case for a team that plays uptempo like the Trojans, who’s role players just aren’t that good on the road.  The more you watch this team, the more you realize that they just aren’t ready for primetime yet.

Ok, who is surprised that Dodgers starting pitcher  Brett Anderson is injured? Sure he had a nice year last year, but him staying relatively healthy was an aberration.  Anderson ending up on the DL is about as sure as the sun rising and A-Rod admiring himself in the mirror every morning.  Andy Friedman’s idea of “pitching depth” is a collection of guys that get hurt all the time,  or that just aren’t very good.  I’d rather pay the $200 million for one guy who is going to remain healthy than $100 million for 5 guys that can’t stay healthy.  Those 5 guys will be lucky to win 10 games collectively when they do start.

There’s no way the Anaheim Ducks can continue the pace they are on.  11 in a row and looking for more tonight against Washington.  The Ducks are finally getting the goals they weren’t getting earlier in the year.  The only question is whether or not they are peaking too soon.  The Kings on the other hand, have goal scorers that have disappeared like Jeb Bush.  Home ice and winning the division is meaningless to LA, but if they don’t start scoring goals, they probably won’t last too long in the NHL playoffs.

I fully expect Peyton Manning to not only announce his retirement tomorrow, but also four new toppings at Papa John’s Pizza.  In all seriousness though, I’m definitely going to miss watching him and all his battles with Tom Brady in the postseason.  He was one of the best quarterbacks i’ve seen in my lifetime, and easily the best regular season quarterback.  That’s not a knock on him.  Winning in the NFL is tough.  He probably should have a few more rings given all of his regular season accomplishments, but I deny his brilliance and greatness.  It’s a shame that story about the PED’s and the trainer at Tennessee came out now, but in general, when we evaluate athletes performance, we have to separate what we think of the athlete vs person.  Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t be watching professional sports anymore.

I don’t know what’s more ridiculous, Donald Trump’s candidacy, or the the Republicans whining and crying about him winning.   I haven’t seen a single debate where Trump or anybody else can bring any sensibility or explain an actual plan for specific policies.  It’s been nothing other than watching a bunch of kids in the school yard call each other names.  Now Mitt Romney is trying to come in at the 11th hour and “save the day”.  Too little too late.  I feel like when it comes time for me to vote, I might have to decide which leader I would want if we were in the middle of an Apocalypse, like The Walking Dead.

You know what the beauty of The People vs OJ Simpson on FX is? We know what happened already, so nobody can spoil it for you if you are waiting to watch it on DVR.   The last episode just reminded us why Johnny Cochran was the right choice for OJ over Robert Shapiro as the lead attorney L.  The man was willing to run over anyone standing in the way of OJ’s innocence.  As for the story about the alleged murder weapon that was recovered and turned in, it’s too perfect of a publicity stunt.  You’re telling me they found this at the time the show is going on? If you believe it’s just a coincidence then you are probably voting for Donald Trump.  Even if it is the actual murder weapon , it wouldn’t have mattered.  The prosecution screwed up everything else, so they would have screwed that up too.

Finally, The Walking Dead had another intense episode last night on AMC.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if you don’t want to know.  Rick and the gang decide to invade the Saviors headquarters.  You can see how reluctant Glenn was to kill these guys while they were sleeping, however, once he looked at the bloody pictures on the wall, he knew that the ends justified the means.  Rick and Darryl on the other hand didn’t seem to have any problem killing the Saviors while they were sleeping, or while they were awake.  Every moment I was on the edge of my seat, I kept telling myself this was a bad idea for Rick’s group, but then I realize that’s probably too idealistic.  Rick’s group can either starve to death, or even be attacked by the Saviors while starving. Or they can proactively eliminate the enemy and provide themselves with plenty of food in the process.  I love the “calm before the storm” beginning of the show with happy music.  Carol and Maggie being captured puts the focus right back on Darryl and Glenn, who would probably both do anything to save them.  That’s why I think there’s a good chance we lose Darryl or Glenn when this season is over.  The show has a much dark feeling than ever before, with the bad guys super evil, and the good guys forced to resort to some evil to survive.  When Father Gabriel is forced to man up and kill people, you know the world is screwed up.

February 29th, 2016

It’s not very often you see Mitch Kupchak look that distraught.  Jeannie Buss subtly reminded everyone last week that her brother, Jim Buss, is running out of time.  Back in 2014, Jim foolishly claimed that the Lakers would be at least back in the West Finals within 3 years.  There’s no way that’s happening by next year, which means Jim is toast.  However, the real danger here is that since Jim knows he could be out next year, isn’t there a greater risk for him to do something reckless and desperate? That makes me more nervous than anything.  So does the idea that he could be responsible for hiring another head coach this summer, when his last three have failed horribly.  It makes more sense to get rid of him now to avoid that situation.  I’m also not sure what this means for Kupchak.  Is he tied to Jim’s timeline?  I hope not.   There aren’t many good GM’s in the league who have assembled championship teams but Kupchak is one.  Heck there are only three teams in the whole league that could possibly win a title this year.  Hopefully the Lakers don’t lose sight of that if and when they stabilize their front office.  Either way, that’s probably a bigger priority than anything else for the franchise.

The Lakers got their brains beat in on Friday by Memphis.  Meanwhile, Kobe was probably sitting at home in Newport Coast watching Netflix.  At best, he had the Laker game on his IPad while Netflix binging.  Not that I can blame him.  He’s probably earned the right not to have to deal with this crap after 20 years and 5 championships.

The Clippers are running out of time.  They appear locked into the 4th seed in the West, and have about 6 more weeks to get their chemistry straight.  They may be playing well, but once Austin Rivers comes back from injury, and eventually Blake Griffin, they’ll have to figure out how to play their best basketball.   All that on top of getting the recently acquired Jeff Green to fit in as well.

Ok, Steph Curry is out of his mind.  He is shooting 66% from anywhere between 28 feet and half court this season.  Do you realize that’s way better than DeAndre Jordan’s free throw percentage? That’s no typo.  He’s told people privately that he feels like he can pull up from just inside half court all the time and make a reasonable amount of his shots, but wouldn’t do it for the sake of playing team ball.  I’m starting to think that he misses on purpose at times to blend in with humanity.   You miss every shot you don’t take, except if you’re Steph.  Then you make those too.  Steph just can’t get any love from the grumpy old NBA legends though like Oscar Robertson and Phil Jackson.  They poo-poo everything he does, and seem to think he’s some flash in the pan.  Apparently this just isn’t impressive enough for them…..

Speaking of underachieving basketball teams, UCLA put together another embarrassing weekend of ball.  The Bruins dropped road games to Cal and Stanford, and are almost assured of missing the NCAA Tournament.  UCLA has lost to so many teams it shouldn’t this year that Steve Alford really should start updating his LinkedIn page, so he can find a new coaching gig.  That probably won’t happen though with stud recruits TJ Leaf and Lonzo Ball coming in next year.  If UCLA had real options to upgrade their head coach, keeping the recruits wouldn’t be an issue if they fired Alford.   That just goes to show you how far the Bruin basketball program has fallen.

Remember everything I said about USC basketball a couple of weeks ago? Ok good, I don’t either.  The Trojans making the NCAA Tournament is no longer a sure thing.  They looked like a completely different team against Stanford and Cal, and the offense just isn’t putting up the numbers it did a few weeks ago.   It’s possible that after a couple of weeks of game tape, other Pac 12 coaches are figuring out how to defend these guys.  That of course doesn’t apply to Steve Alford, who has no idea how to defend anything.  The Trojans have lost 5 of their last 6, and have been getting crushed of late.  They could easily be losers of 7 of their last 8 by the end of next week.  Talk about a bad time to through a complete free fall.  It’s looking like the Pac 12 Tournament may be way more important for the Trojans than we thought.

What a disaster the Dodgers Time Warner Cable Channel is becoming.  Now they’ve decided to cut their number of spring training telecasts in half, even though they are claiming it’s not a cost cutting move.  Really? A network that was made for 24-7 Dodger coverage isn’t going to be televising some of its actual games? I’ve heard some people suggest that commissioner Rob Manfred needs to get involved and force a deal to be made.  Other than telling the cable providers and TWC to get in a room, it’s not like he can force the providers to buy the channel, or force TWC to lower their asking price.  However, he should encourage them to think more out of the box to solve the problem, like streaming their games for a subscription fee.  I don’t blame the Dodgers for creating the channel, but they need to work harder to solve the problem, or many fans won’t forgive them being that it’s Vin Scully’s last year.

Yasiel Puig is all flash and no substance.  Now he wants to fly a helicopter to every Dodger game so he can avoid traffic and be on time.  Too bad FAA rules prohibit this.  Here’s a better idea: Leave earlier like the rest of your teammates, who mange to be on time.  If Puig actually lived up to his potential, I’m sure the Dodgers would find more ways to accommodate him.  Right now he’s just a show boating pain in the ass, who needs to be traded as soon as his trade value increases again.

In NFL offseason news, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is now demanding a trade.  Chip Kelly is probably dying to replace him with a white quarterback.  Kaepernick’s trade value is currently 3 lottery tickets, a 6 pack, and a bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade.    The Redskins are trying to sign Kirk Cousins to a long term deal.  That’s like settling down with your ex after she’s put on a few pounds, after you were shot down by a couple of super models that wouldn’t give you the time of day.  Meanwhile, Peyton Manning reportedly has not decided whether he is going to retire or not.  Obviously, Manning has had a few too many of those Budweiser’s he was talking about.

The Kings really got screwed in their battle last night with the Ducks at Honda Center.  LA had a goal overturned by the referree in the third period when the Ducks challenged the play, which was ultimately ruled offside.  That call took so long to make, in the meantime, Leo DiCaprio actually won an Oscar while it was going on.  The goal would have made it 4-3, altering the momentum, but the Kings ended up losing 4-2.  Even though home ice advantage doesn’t really matter in the NHL, the Ducks are on the verge of taking 1st place from the Kings in the Pacific.  Anaheim is finally scoring to go along with its stellar defense.  Meanwhile, LA has been scrambling to add depth before the trade deadline.  I like the move to bring back defenseman Rob Scuderi, but I was really hoping they could add someone with a little more scoring, other than the Kris Versteeg trade they made last night.  By the way, on yesterday’s telecast on NBC Sports, Pierre McGuire actually said “Nick Shore can’t get it up and David Perron, he can get it in,” without an ounce of self-awareness.

I really think that Donald Trump might break the internet before his Presidential campaign ends.  Never have I seen so much animosity over social media directed toward politics and him in general over the last few weeks. The irony of it all is that his odds of being our next President are only going up.  Every debate that he looks stumped, embarrassed, and outmatched, he ends up gaining 15% of the voters anyway.  Maybe Rubio and Cruz would have more success if they actually discussed the issues in every debate rather than make it a pissing match.  Wolf Blitzer has about as much control of these debates as Kim Kardashian has when she’s around NBA players.  If Trump ends up going up against Hillary in the fall, I’m still not entirely convinced she would win.   We definitely didn’t think he would make it this far and yet here he is.   The man is a complete disaster, and his success thus far is exposing how uneducated most voters are. However, you’ve gotta admit politics have never been more entertaining.

The People vs OJ Simpson was phenomenal again last week.  The episode focused on how Robert Shapiro ended up losing his role as the lead attorney, as well as the media circus that developed around the trial, particularly during the jury selection process.  Marcia Clark and the prosecution totally underestimated the power of the media, ultimately losing the battle early on in the court of public opinion.  Then again, how could she have anticipated it? The OJ Simpson trial changed the way news was covered, and eventually lead to larger scale media coverage when it was over.  I do wonder if the show will end up covering the affair between Clark and Chris Darden, which we found out about years later.  As for Shapiro, it’s easy to see how his arrogance and obliviousness to race made him more unlikeable to his fellow team members.  I’m looking forward to seeing where the show goes from here.

He did it! Leo DiCaprio finally won the Oscar for best actor.  Given his bad luck, i was expecting a giant earthquake to hit Los Angeles right before the announcement was made.  I think we can have a good argument as to whether or not Spotlight should have won the best picture.  However, I don’t think anybody would argue that Michael Keaton wasn’t hammered.  Alejandro González Iñárritu notched his second straight Oscar in the directing category.  You would think you wouldn’t be rushed off stage like he was if that happened.  Chris Rock also killed it with his opening monologue.  He didn’t shy away from the race issue.  He went right at it unapologetically, poking fun at both black people and white people, and nobody could have done it better.  Of course those super sensitive types might have taken offense to it.  Here are the best parts of the opening monologue….

Finally, The Walking Dead went down on AMC last night with another exciting episode.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see the episode, so read no further if you are going to watch it later on your DVR.  This episode was all about Jesus taking Rick’s group to meet up with his, the Hilltoppers.  That resulted in a negotiation between Maggie and their leader, Gregory, for supplies.  After a bloody conflict ensued, we learn that the Hilltoppers are being extorted by a group called The Saviors, led by the infamous Negan.  Maggie negotiates a deal to kill Negan and his men, in exchange for half the Hilltoppers supplies.  I hate the idea of Rick’s group seeking out conflict.  It’s somewhat cocky on their part to believe that they can handle the Saviors, just because they handled the Wolves and the Governor, among others.  I don’t think there’s any question what Maggie meant though: “it’s going to cost us”.  They can do it, but it likely means that they are going to lose a group member they love in the process, which they are fully aware of.  On the other hand, if they don’t kill Negan, eventually he will probably find them, extort them, and eventually kill them.  Rick really knows how to make a great first impression doesn’t he? He kills a couple of Hilltoppers moments after meeting them when his group is threatened.  He killed someone in Alexandria, and beat up Jesus when they first met.  I can even remember how much of a punk Darryl thought he was for beating down his brother, Merle, when they first met in season 1.  The remaining episodes in this season have me very nervous, but excited to see how this all plays out.

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon – The Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 11 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

February 22nd, 2016

Ok Byron Scott haters.  You’ve got me.  I can’t defend the man anymore.  There was nothing wrong with making D’Angelo Russell have to work for playing time.  There was nothing wrong with making Julius Randle have to earn it either.  Now there’s only 27 games left.  They should have been starting and playing more minutes to speed up their development about 20 games ago.  Nobody was ever going to judge Byron on how many games he won this year.  It was all about player development, and making those young players feel good about what they were working toward.  The comments and behavior from Jordan Clarkson and Russell at last week’s All-Star game were a huge indictment of Scott’s relationship with players the Lakers are going to be building with for the foreseeable future.  They hate their coach.  Now, Mitch Kupchak even sees that as well.  Several months ago, the Lakers GM said that Scott was doing a great job under the circumstances.  Last week, he gave absolutely no such support, and said that Byron is the Lakers coach and “we’ll let you know when that changes.”  Byron isn’t nearly as bad of a coach as you’re all making him out to be.  However, it’s safe to say that he is not the right coach for this team moving forward.

Kobe Bryant is really something.  If I dislocated my finger, I’d be sitting at home for weeks.  He’s back in action 1 minute later.  He’s doing it all for the fans who want to see him one last time……

Across the hall, Doc Rivers strikes again.  This time, Rivers traded for Jeff Green, another completely ineffective small forward to stick in his lineup for the rest of the season.  Every trade deadline, somebody is trying to trade for Green, thinking that he is the “missing piece” for a championship contender.  It didn’t work out in Boston when Rivers was there, it didn’t work out in Memphis, so I’m not sure why anybody would think it would work in LA (especially Rivers himself).  The funny part is, Lance Stephenson was just starting to turn it around and help the Clippers depleted bench, then Doc gets rid of him.  Doc probably doesn’t care about any future draft picks because CP3 and Blake Griffin might not be here in another 18 months.  Based on what we saw Saturday night against the Warriors, with or without Blake, it doesn’t look like the Clipps are gonna get past the 2nd round again.

The NBA trade deadline came and went last Thursday, and it was completely uneventful. It was also a reminder that NBA General Managers have absolutely no balls.  The Chicago Bulls have a bunch of front court players that will be free agents like Joakim Noah an Pau Gasol and did nothing.  I guess they are content losing to Lebron James in the playoffs every spring.  Oklahoma City is 18 months away from losing Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, yet didn’t have the guts to add an all-star like Gasol, who would have been a perfect missing piece.  The Toronto Raptors are clearly the 2nd best team in the East, but did nothing to improve their chances of beating the Cavs in the conference finals.  It’s no wonder that only a handful of NBA teams have won championships in the last 30 years.  Team executives are gutless!

In college hoops, does anybody have any idea who the favorite is to win the NCAA Title? Vegas will tell you that it’s Carolina, Oklahoma, or Michigan State, but that seems more like a kiss of death these days.  When you get ranked #1 in the polls, it seems like your stay there is even shorter than a Kardashian marriage.  Too bad UCLA won’t be participating in the madness of March after taking another body blow to their season against Utah.  USC will be in the mix, but their chances of winning the Pac 12 have faded.  Hopefully we can look forward to more of this stuff from college basketball fans in March…..

I realize that trying to find a franchise quarterback in the NFL these days is like trying to win the Powerball.  However, the Rams would be foolish to go into the season with Case Keenum as their starter.  The likelihood of Brock Osweiler hitting the market is pretty unlikely, but the Rams would be wise to take a flier on Robert Griffin III.  It wasn’t that long ago that RGIII was actually a decent quarterback.  He certainly wasn’t the same after he tore his ACL, but the man might still be an effective player if given the chance.  There’s certainly nobody in the draft that would fall to the Rams at #15, unless you’re a believer in Cardale Jones, and want to take him in round 2.  However, RGIII is a low risk, high reward move they would be wise to make.

In baseball, Dodgers President of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, did an interview with the LA Times last week, with his thoughts on the season and the Dodgers plan moving forward.  After reading that piece, I came away with the impression that Friedman has no understanding of the expectations that are on him in Los Angeles.  He stressed the idea of building the farm system because having an extremely high payroll isn’t sustainable.  That’s ok, but the strong farm system was already in place before Friedman arrived.  He mentioned winning the division title a number of times, as if the General Managers that came before were unable to do that.  In fact, the General Managers that came before him not only kept the farm system strong, but also built teams that won more games and went further than him in the playoffs.  Those executives were fired because they couldn’t put the Dodgers over the top to win a World Championship.  Someone should inform him of this because he’s pretty naive to think otherwise.

Meanwhile, the Angels pitchers and catchers reported to Arizona, but they learned that they may not have Albert Pujols to start the season.  The Halos have a few question marks in their lineup, including 2nd base, 3rd base, and left field, so hopefully Pujols won’t take too long to get back in the lineup and get his game going.  However, I’m not as down on the Angels as most people.  I think their pitching is going to be pretty good this year, and their bullpen seems sturdy enough.  They play in a tough division with the Astros and Rangers, but the Angels showed their roster was good enough to stay in the race against those teams until the final days of the season last year.  It’s no surprise that former Halos GM Jerry Dipoto admitted that he and skipper Mike Scioscia had an unhealthy relationship last year, and disagreed on a number of issues.  It’s pretty early, but it seems as though new GM Billy Eppler and Scioscia are on the same page thus far.  That should provide more stability on the field this season.

The LA Kings just completed a 7 game Grammy road trip in which they went 3-3-1, but there were a number of casualties.  The list includes Jonathan Quick, Marian Gaborik, Anze Kopitar, and any Kings fans’ sobriety.  With the injuries piling up, the Kings lead in the Pacific Division is nearly gone, and both Anaheim and San Jose look poised to blow right past them in the standings.  The Kings have to have Kopitar, Quick, and Drew Doughty in their lineup, or else the team just isn’t a threat to do much.  I mean last week marked the first time I can remember the Kings ever having a lineup consisting of only North American players.  Meanwhile, the Ducks have been on fire since Christmas, sporting the league’s best record since that time.  It was an ugly start, but suddenly, the Ducks look like the contending team we thought they would be.

What another brilliant episode of The People vs OJ Simpson last week.  This episode was focused mostly on Robert Shapiro’s decision to add Johnny Cochran to the defense team, and convincing OJ that it was the right move.  There were two great parts of the episode for me.  The first was the opening scene, where Robert Kardashian is taking his kids to Chin Chin restaurant.  Kardashian reminds all his kids that being honest and being a good person is way more important than fame.  Who didn’t fall out of their chairs laughing when this line was uttered? If only Robert could see how his daughters have capitalized on fame, years after he passed.  Seeing the kids may not be necessary for the OJ story, but it sure does enhance the entertainment value of the show.  I also loved when OJ (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.), asked Robert Shapiro if he “wants to make this a black thing?” when questioning whether or not to add Cochran to the defense team.  He then reminds us how ironic the race issue was in the whole case by saying “I’m not black, I’m OJ!”.  That line was totally over the top, and so is John Travolta in his portrayal of Robert Shapiro, but they do a great job of re-living this whole drama for us.  Looking forward to seeing what’s next!

Finally, another good episode of The Walking Dead went down on AMC last night.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to watch it.  Who saw this one coming? This episode was highlighted by the sudden love affair that emerged between Rick and Michonne.  The funny part is the episode definitely implied that it would happen from the start when we see that she was living with Rick and Carl, but nobody would have imagined that a romantic relationship would have ensued.  Even better is the fact that Michonne has been accepted as family by Carl, who lets her know that if she became a walker, he would make sure he would be the one to kill her since she is like family.  That’s exactly why he didn’t kill Deanna, so he could let her son Spencer do it.  Since Rick and Michonne’s relationship was formed as a result of the apocalypse, as a couple, they will probably do much better than his previous relationships (assuming they can both survive).  In fact, when they both leap out of bed naked and point their guns at the character we know as “Jesus”, that was a perfect example.  I don’t know what to make of this Jesus character.  I’m sure comic followers know where this is going, but he must somehow be connected to Negan, who is obviously evil, so that means he can’t be good.  How did he get to Rick’s bedroom though with Darryl supposedly watching him? What a stupid decision by Rick and Darryl to chase him down when they could have just split with the supplies the group needed.  Overall it was a “lighter episode” for the Walking Dead, but one that still had enough action to keep you engaged.  It was enjoyable, but I’m sure the intensity is going to pick up again very shortly.