December 2nd, 2013

The last time it happened, I was in high school.  No, I’m not talking about the last time I went to Prom.  I’m talking about the last time the Bruins beat the Trojans in the Coliseum.  Well, up until Saturday night, when UCLA took down their cross town rivals, the USC Trojans, 35-14, for their first win at the Coliseum since 1997.  The win was also the Bruins second straight over the Trojans.  Brett Hundley simply could not be contained.  He passed for 208 yards, while rushing for 80 more, to go along with 2 touchdowns.  Imagine if the Bruins offense was in this kind of rhythm against Stanford or ASU?  They would probably still have a chance to make it to the Rose Bowl.  It always feels good for the Bruins and their fans to beat the Trojans.  But the performance Bruin fans saw on Saturday night is a little bittersweet, knowing they a good football team, but not elite.  If Brett Hundley returns next season, UCLA will have a chance to once again, prove they can hang with the big boys.  Next time, their fans won’t settle for being close to great.

As for USC, the fact this team ended up 9-4 was simply miraculous.  Any Trojan fan who thought they would be better than that this year has had one too many drinks at The Nine-O.  Pat Haden was smart enough to promote Ed Orgeron as interim coach, who inspired confidence in his quarterback, and energized his players.  However, he’s also smart enough to know that Orgeron is not the long term answer.  The notion that Orgeron was going to get the job based on beating UCLA was as ridiculous as that Trojan Horse galloping around the Coliseum.  He did a respectable job, but if he’s hired, it’s simply because the Trojans couldn’t get who they wanted, or they are looking for another coach to keep things competitive until all of the sanctions are over in 2015.

The rest of the weekend in college football was very exciting.  What was Brady Hoke thinking going for the 2 point conversion to try and beat Ohio State instead of forcing overtime?  Hoke said it was his players that wanted to go for it.  If that’s the case, then what are they paying him $3 million a year for?  The Auburn and Alabama finish was one of the most exciting I’ve ever seen in a college football game.  Then there was another pathetic performance by Notre Dame’s Tommy Rees against Stanford.  The Irish had a chance for the upset, but Rees had more turnovers than Betty Crocker, and the Irish had to settle for a mediocre 8-4 season.  The only thing more pathetic was the showing by Stanford students, or lack thereof for a team that was top 10 in the country.  Take a look at the lower corner of the stadium.  Thanks to my fellow Domers for sharing.

Is anybody excited about the UCLA Basketball team’s 7-0 start?  Well considering not many people seem to be showing up at Pauley Pavilion, I guess not.  The Bruins have defeated Drexel, Oakland, Sacramento State, and a bunch of other crummy teams that aren’t ranked.  On the other hand, UCLA is playing an exciting uptempo offense, and nearly scored 100 points in three straight games, which hasn’t happened since 1971.  Only time will tell, but UCLA faces only one ranked opponent before conference play begins in January.  My gut tells me this is who Steve Alford is.  A dominant coach in the regular season, who will be badly exposed come tournament time.

On to the NBA.  Imagine what is going through the mind of Lakers owner Jim Buss right now.  He’s probably thinking he’s actually got a pretty good basketball team, and that we are all idiots, since his team is hovering around .500 through the first month of the season without Kobe Bryant.  Jimmy just doesn’t get it.  He took a team of hall of famers last year, and alienated them by hiring a coach that works better with less talented players.  He then brought in less talented players to make it work with Mike D’Antoni, and it appears to be working thus far.  Chemistry is important, but talent wins out when things matter in the playoffs.  It’s as though Jim Buss is determined to be mediocre no matter how hard everyone around him tries to convince him otherwise.  This team is destined for first round purgatory, until Buss figures this out.

As for the Kobe Bryant contract extension, it’s just downright moronic.  Kobe is easily my favorite NBA player of all-time, but why would you guarantee him $48 million for two more years without even seeing him play after tearing his achilles tendon?  I realize that Kobe is worth far more to the Lakers than the $48 million he will be earning over the next two years, but that’s besides the point. The Lakers could have manipulated this ridiculous system the owners put in place, and built a powerhouse team overnight.  Instead, they’ll be hard pressed just to add one more max contract player this summer.

As the Lakers chase mediocrity, the Clippers are battling the injury bug.  JJ Redick is out for the next 6-8 weeks with a broken hand, and Chris Paul is already dealing with a sore hamstring.  This doesn’t seem like a big deal given that the Clippers came into Sunday 4th in the West, with a 12-5 record.  However, the Clipper bench has taken quite a step back this season.  The Clipps are just 14th in the league in bench scoring, compared to 3rd last season.  Much of this is the result of trading Eric Bledsoe to the Suns for a pair of starters.  The irony of it is, it’s the Lakers who have the highest scoring bench in the league this season.

There are some incredibly disappointing teams in the NBA thus far.  The real question is what the hell is going on in New York and Brooklyn?  The Nets are just 5-12, Kevin Garnett looks like he left his game in Boston, and Jason Kidd looks way over his head, and resorting to tactics like spilling soda to win games.  The Knicks are just 3-12, Mike Woodson is about to get canned, Carmelo is talking like he’s ready to leave, and Amare seems like he can barely walk.  Then there’s Cleveland, who has somehow gotten worse defensively under Mike Brown, has no offense, and everyone in the locker room seems to hate each other.

Let’s go to the ice, where the LA Kings loss to the Flames on Saturday was embarrassing on so many levels.  For the first time this season, the Kings lost to one of the worst teams in the league, and both times it happened in the last 30 seconds of regulation.  Goaltender Ben Scrivens looked like he had put on skates for the first time, when he slipped in the corner handling the puck, which led to the Flames first goal.  Then the Kings were beaten in the last few moments by former King, Mike Cammalleri.  I get it, LA isn’t going to win every game, but it sure would be nice if they beat the teams that aren’t even trying to win anymore.

Meanwhile, the Ducks may have lost their grip on first place in the Pacific, but they certainly aren’t having any problems scoring goals.  Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Dustin Penner, have all scored nearly as many goals as they did all of last season.  Strangely enough, they can’t seem to score on the powerplay though.  Tuesday should be interesting, when the Kings and Ducks lock up at the Honda Center for the first time this season, and two opposing styles of play will be on display as well.

After 13 weeks of NFL Football, here’s what I’ve learned:  The AFC belongs to Peyton and the Broncos unless Tom Brady and the Pats can knock them off.  The Chiefs had a nice run, but they are coming back to earth.  Nobody disappoints like the Chargers, and nobody shows up for their games either.  Just when you think the Redskins franchise is about to turn around, the next season they miss the playoffs for the 17th time in 21 years, and are 0-5 in prime time.  That means it’s probably unemployment time for Mike Shanahan.

Although I never read the books, I’ve saw the sequel to Hunger Games this past weekend, “Catching Fire”.  I thought the first movie was fantastic, and Jennifer Lawrence delivered a tremendous performance.  However, in the sequel, I found myself leaving the theatre completely unsatisfied.  This movie felt like it was building up to something big, but didn’t really build up to much, and simply left the viewer on a giant cliff hanger, with a few twists and turns along the way.  Now I have to wait a whole year for the next one? Damn you Hollywood!

I was very sad to hear the news about Paul Walker’s death this weekend.  Walker was only 40, and he lost his life in a car crash, right after doing a good deed, helping at a charity event.  I’m sure Walker’s acting career will most be remembered by his “Fast and The Furious” films.  However, my two personal favorites were “Varsity Blues”, and “Joy Ride”.  Thanks for entertaining us Paul.  RIP.

Finally, the fall finale of The Walking Dead took place last night, and I was absolutely exhausted when it was over.  A big spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t seen this episode, because there were some shocking deaths that took place in the fall finale called “Too Far Gone”.  To quickly recap, The Governor convinces his new crew to attack the prison, and tries to convince the group that they won’t use violence, just intimidation.  When the Governor and his crew show up at the prison, he calls for Rick to come out and speak to him.  The Governor demands that Rick and his people leave the prison, or else he will attack.  He also threatens to kill Michonne and Hershel, who were taken prisoner, if Rick doesn’t leave.  Rick tries to convince him that they can share the prison, but of course, The Governor refuses.  When Rick proclaims that they will not leave, all hell breaks loose.

The Governor immediately kills Hershel with a katana blade, and a shoot out takes place with Rick’s people and the Governor’s crew.  The Governor and Rick end up beating the crap out of each other, then Michonne stabs The Governor before he strangles Rick.  Half the group at the prison escapes on a bus, which included Glenn, and the other half are scattered into small groups to escape the chaos, which included Maggie, Rick, Carl, Daryl, and Beth, among others.  Despite outnumbering the group at the prison and having tanks, it appears as though the Governor’s group was soundly defeated, while the prison was overrun by Walkers.

This episode left the audience emotionally devastated, while trying to figure out what actually happened when it was over.  Let’s start with Hershel, who in many ways was the heart of The Walking Dead.  Over the last few seasons, Hershel saved Karl, and more recently, Glenn and Sasha during the plague.  He came close to death at a few other points in the show, but of course the creators of the show had to dramatize his death with a “Kill Bill Style” decapitation.  It almost seems like the more important the character is, the more dramatic the death.  Then there was the Governor’s death, which took me by surprise.  I suppose it now makes sense that they focused on him for the last 2 full episodes before killing him off.  It also took a tag team effort of Michonne, Rick, and Lily to kill him.  He simply went crazy with his power, and wanted to do whatever he could to regain it after losing Woodbury.  Obviously Rick didn’t watch “Kill Bill Volume 2”, otherwise he would have known he needed to samurai The Governor’s ass to kill him.

I’m really going to miss this show until it returns in February.  This episode felt a lot like the chaos that occurred at the end of season 2, with characters scattered everywhere.  Where is Beth?  Where is Judith?  What happened to Daryl?  So many questions that won’t be answered for two months.  The real question is who the new villain of the show will be.  It’s obvious now that the real danger in the show show is the human beings, rather than the zombies.  Shane was a villain who snuck up on all of us, while The Governor was unbelievably evil.  Who will be next?  Can’t wait to see what’s in store for the 2nd half of the season, but I’m sure these two months will give me time to catch my breath after what I saw last night.

November 25th, 2013

It’s a story that’s gotten annoying.  The Bruins are good, but not quite good enough.  Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, we had to listen to this tiresome storyline after the Bruins lost to Arizona State 38-33.  I don’t care that the Bruins outscored ASU 20-3 in the 2nd half and made a great comeback.  I don’t care that their only three losses this season have come against quality top 25 opponents.  Why has Brett Hundley not taken his game to an even higher level yet?  Why does the UCLA offensive line get manhandled against good teams?  And if Myles Jack was going to only play running back, then why didn’t he touch the ball 30 times?  He probably could have been more useful on the defensive side, since the Bruins gave up 38 points.  Jim Mora Jr. and his Bruins may show flashes of brilliance, but until they start meeting the moment, they will soon start looking more like underachievers than rising stars.

Then there’s the angry Trojan fans, who are furious that their cross-town rival couldn’t take care of ASU, which ended USC’s slim hopes of playing in the Rose Bowl.  Of course, leave it to all the myopic USC fans to claim how “overrated” the Bruins are, and they’ll likely spend this upcoming rivalry week pretending like their team should be playing for the BCS Championship.  Still, USC did beat up on lowly Colorado 47-29, which continued their feel good story under Ed Orgeron.  The Trojans are now 6-1 under Coach O, but they’ll need to beat UCLA next week to give him any chance of retaining the job permanently.  This a nice feel good story for the seniors, but if Orgeron were coaching this team one year from now, most Trojan fans would probably be feeling like morons for wanting him in the first place.  On 2nd thought, most of the Trojan fans are sleezy morons, who aren’t even alums, that jumped on the bandwagon when they ditched their Raiders jackets for Trojan sweatshirts, which they bought at K-Mart.  Expect another classic game between the Bruins and Trojans next week at the Coliseum!

Let’s talk baseball for a moment.  The Angels made their first significant move of the off-season, trading outfielder Peter Bourjos, and touted prospect Randal Grichuk, to the Cardinals for 3rd baseman David Freese, and reliever Fernando Salas.  For some reason, many Halo fans seem like they are ready to jump off the top of Space Mountain after hearing about this trade.  Bourjos isn’t Fred Lynn or Jim Edmonds.  He’s a nice player, but an expendable one.  Grichuk may be a quality major leaguer, but his path to the big leagues was blocked by all the Angels expensive outfielders.  The question for this team remains whether or not they can find decent starting pitching, which I have my doubts about.

Speaking of pitching, the Dodgers have signed pitcher Dan Haren to a one year deal for $10 million.  Haren is a decent starter on a reasonable contract, but his addition should make fans lose hope in the Dodgers assembling a powerhouse starting rotation with David Price and Masahiro Tanaka.

A-Rod is unbelievable.  He holds one press conference, in which he basically admits to doing performance enhancing drugs, and now when he’s about to get kicked out of the game, he goes on some NY radio station earlier this week, trying to convince us that he never did PED’s.  I also like how he’s demanding a sit down with the commissioner, over brunch.  I can just see it now:  “I want Mimosa’s! And I want answers damn it!”

On to the NBA, where some interesting developments occurred in Laker land this past week.  ESPN’s Stephen A Smith, or who I liked to call “Scream’in A Smith”, claimed that according to his sources, Carmelo Anthony, as of now “is gone.  He’s going to LA to play with Kobe.”  I know this is hardly official, but keep in mind, this is the same guy who reported that Lebron, Wade, and Bosh were going to join forces in Miami, well before it actually happened.  Of course the problem with the Carmelo to the Lakers theory is that Mike D’Antoni is still their coach, and Carmelo had issues with him in New York.  Since the Lakers are a miraculous 7-7 without Kobe, and have faced one of the toughest schedules in the NBA so far, D’Antoni seems to have overachieved and has a case for retaining his job at the moment.  In fact, D’Antoni feels so good about his team so far, that he took shots at former Lakers Dwight Howard and Antawn Jamison in last night’s post game presser.  “They don’t go grab a stat sheet,” when asked about the team sharing the ball, and “I don’t have to worry about a guy pouting because I didn’t put him in.” Here’s Stephen A on Carmelo…..

As for the Clippers, they pounded the Derek Rose-less Bulls yesterday at Staples.  The 39 point win was the largest margin of victory in the NBA this season.  The Clippers look good, but poor D-Rose.  Now, he likely has to endure another 6 months of rehab in his other knee, which will probably cost him the rest of this season.  Rose is one of the best players in the NBA when healthy, but his career is slowly starting to resemble that of Grant Hill’s, who could never stay healthy in his prime.

Let’s go to the ice.  The Kings endured two disappointing overtime defeats in their last two games, but Ben Scrivens has been absolutely sensational.  Jonathan Bernier has become that once hot ex-girlfriend that has become fat and ugly, while Scrivens, the man he was traded for, currently leads the NHL in goals against average, and is 2nd in save percentage.  The Kings are banged up, but Scrivens is keeping them right in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.

Meanwhile, Dustin “Pancakes” Penner scored two goals for the Ducks on Saturday, in their victory over the Coyotes.  Kings fans are rolling their eyes right now, because Penner has already scored almost as many goals this season as he did in 3 seasons with the Kings!  I guess it probably helps when Penner actually starts the season in shape, as opposed to playing his way into it.

Week 12 in the NFL is in the books, and it’s become clear now: Charger football simply defies logic.  San Diego went on the road to shock the Chiefs to vault themselves into a 6-way tie for the final playoff spot in the AFC.  The Bolts play 4 of their final 5 games at home, and those 4 are very winnable.  Don’t worry though they won’t, because remember, Charger football defies logic.  How did the Broncos blow that lead against the Patriots?  Tom Brady remembered he was Tom Brady in the 2nd half.  The Vikings and Packers played to a tie?  Somewhere, Donovan McNabb is very confused.

Anybody watch the American Music Awards last night?  I thought the show was relatively tame, without any wardrobe malfunctions, or scandalous performances.  However, I thought if anything, Justin Timberlake should have hosted the show, instead of Pitbull.  Pitbull wasn’t bad, but JT is simply the best the industry has to offer right now, and he probably would have had some better jokes.  I was most curious to see how Miley Cyrus would be received after all her recent controversy.  I suppose this went much better than the VMA’s, and her outfit wasn’t nearly as shocking.  However, nobody seems to be sure why her performance included a giant cat floating above her, which was lip-synching and crying.

Finally, The Walking Dead returned last night with another episode.  This episode was called “Dead Weight”, and spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  Once again, this episode continued to focus exclusively on The Governor and his new family.  However, now, The Governor has reverted back to his older murderous ways, and his “ends-justify-the-means” mentality.  After joining Martinez’ new camp, he informs The Governor that he is in charge.  This doesn’t last long though, as The Governor murders both Martinez, and the morally righteous Pete.  Now, The Governor has reclaimed his status as the leader of a new camp, and they appear poised to attack the prison.

Interestingly enough, Lilly and Megan still don’t realize what kind of monster The Governor, or “Brian” as they call him, really is.  They don’t know what kind of transformation he has gone through, which ultimately puts targets on their heads.  The Governor is probably going to do everything he can to protect them, but that just means they are probably more likely to die, just like his previous family.  I guess in the end, the characters are who they are.  Just as Rick reverted back to his position of leadership, The Governor is reverting back to his monstrousness.  Looking forward to the fall finale!

November 18th, 2013

What a scene at The Coliseum on Saturday night.  The Trojans shocked the college football world by knocking off #5 Stanford 20-17, and it was kicker Andre Heidari, who secured the win with a 47-yard field goal with 19 seconds left.  Moments later, the Trojan fans rushed onto the field to celebrate with the players.  The SC offense was just sturdy enough, but it was the defense that came up huge again, including two huge 4th quarter interceptions.  I can’t believe after all this Kiffin drama, the Trojans could still win the Pac 12 South and end up in the Rose Bowl.  USC is now 5-1 under Ed Orgeron, who is making a strong case to be the head coach for the long run. If he beats Colorado and UCLA, Pat Haden has to give it strong consideration.

Orgeron has completely re-energized his players, and has done a great job preparing and implementing game plans.  But let’s not lose perspective here.  He was 10-25 in his only previous head coaching job at Mississippi, and simply giving him the job after a few nice wins would make Pat Haden a prisoner of the moment.  A full season under Orgeron would probably feel a lot like the Paul Hackett years, which most Trojan fans like to forget.  USC needs to explore its options with the likes of Chris Peterson, Jon Gruden, and even Jack Del Rio before considering Coach O.

Meanwhile, UCLA handled Washington 41-31 at the Rose Bowl on Friday.  Freshman linebacker turned running back, Myles Jack, scored 4 touchdowns on 13 carries, and should never play on the defensive side of the ball again.  Jack is the 13th player in Bruins history to score 4 touchdowns in a game, and the first defense player in the last 10 years in college football to accomplish this.  The Bruins will need Jack and Brett Hundley to come up big in their final two regular season games against ASU and USC.  Bruin fans should be very nervous about those matchups, especially with what took place at The Coliseum on Saturday night.

The rumors that are surrounding the Dodgers have me very concerned.  First of all, why the hell hasn’t Clayton Kershaw signed an extension yet?  The Dodgers reportedly offered him a 10 year $300 million deal, which he wasn’t comfortable with.  It’s obvious the Dodgers can pay him more than anybody else, so if he wants to be in LA, why hasn’t he signed?  Kershaw recently said he was becoming more curious about free agency as it approaches, which makes me think he isn’t sure if he wants to be here.  Then there’s the Matt Kemp rumors.  The Dodgers and Rangers reportedly had discussions about Kemp and Elvis Andrus at last week’s GM meetings.  Look, I get it.  The Dodgers have an extra outfielder and could use another infielder.  The Rangers have an extra infielder and could use another outfielder.  However, that doesn’t mean the Dodgers should trade a $100 milion superstar, for a $100 million underachiever.  Andrus is a useful defensive player that gives you nothing offensively. Give Kemp a chance to get healthy again and be the player we know he can be.

The Lakers got back in the win column last night against the Pistons, and Jordan Hill was a beast, scoring 24 points and grabbing 17 rebounds.  This is probably going to be a lost season for the Lake Show, but they have probably found a few useful players they should look to keep beyond this season: Hill and Xavier Henry.  As for the Kobe watch, even though he’s returned to practice, he’s still a few weeks away from returning to action.  Do you really want him to return to action this soon though?  Let’s be honest, after watching Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky play on ESPN earlier in the week, I’m sure many of you are drooling over the thought of the Lakers having a lottery pick and drafting the likes of Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, or Julius Randall.  Each of those players look like they are going to be franchise changing players.

Meanwhile, the Clippers are rolling.  They’ve won 4 straight games, including victories over Brooklyn and Oklahoma City.  At 7-3, the Clipps look good on paper, but I can’t say I’m sold on them being a championship team yet.  Typically, championship teams are in the top 5 in defensive field goal percentage, defensive rebounds, and in turnovers.  The Clippers are in the bottom half of the league in all of these categories, which is very surprising for a team coached by Doc Rivers, who hangs his hat on defense.  Until further notice, this looks like a team built for the regular season.

To the ice, where the Kings are doing an amazing job staying competitive given all the injuries they are dealing with  I think the entire season flashed before my eyes when Jonathan Quick went down  with a groin injury.  He’ll be out for 4-6 weeks, but “The Professor”, Ben Scrivens, has been solid in his place with two straight shutouts.  LA has won three straight, all coming on the road, and they are getting great production from their rookies as well.  The Kings are 7th in the West, but their conference is so stacked, they currently have more points than every team in the Eastern Conference.

As for the Ducks, they’ve lost three straight games on the road against those lowly Eastern Conference opponents.  I think the question the Ducks need to ask themselves is whether or not they need Jonas Hiller.  Hiller is a very average NHL goaltender that benefits from a team that scores a lot of goals.  If the Ducks act quickly enough however, they can probably trade him for a tough defenseman, or a gritty two-way forward, which they desperately need.  There are also plenty of teams out there in desperate need of a goaltender, like Nashville and Edmonton, who would probably be willing to take the chance on Hiller.

A few quick thoughts on week 11 of the NFL.  It’s amazing to think that the Chiefs are 9-1 with their offense being as pathetic as it is at times.  The Giants are making a move, and there’s still plenty of time for the Cowboys to choke away the division.  There’s simply no way that the Eagles can go back to having Michael Vick as their starting quarterback, with Nick Foles playing like he has been.  The Chargers playoff hopes went down in flames yesterday with their loss to the Dolphins, which has to be considered an embarrassing loss, given the state of the Dolphins.

Finally, The Walking Dead continued season 4 last night with episode 406 called “Live Bait”.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it.  This had to be one of the strangest episodes I’ve ever seen, but interesting nevertheless.  The Governor has returned to the show, and this episode is all about him and his journey since the battle at the prison.  I think after last week we expected The Governor to make some full fledged attack on the prison for revenge.  Instead, we see him wandering aimlessly,  and on the edge of survival.  He is eventually provided shelter by a family that includes three women, Lilly, Lauren, and Meghan.  The Governor taught them how to kill walkers, got oxygen for their dad when he was on his death bed, and he later saved them all from walkers when they hit the road.  At the end of the episode, he runs into former henchman, Martinez, in what can best be described as an awkward ending to the show.

It seemed strange that when we wanted to know the state of Gllenn’s health, and Daryl’s reaction to Carol’s departure, the show focused exclusively on The Governor.  However, this episode was actually terrifying when you put it in perspective.  I was waiting for the moment when The Governor might rape and kill the three women in the family that took him in, but instead, he acted like a decent human being.  The thought that he could transform back and forth from what appeared to be a good person early in season 3, to a terrible person later in the season, and back into a good person early in this season is horrifying.  Just think….if this can happen to The Governor, it can probably happen to any character on the show.  A perfect example of this is the psycho path that Rick appeared to be at the beginning of last season.  It’s just more proof that the greatest danger isn’t the zombies themselves, but it’s the human beings.

November 11th, 2013

What a game in Arizona on Saturday night!  The Bruins and Wildcats had a showdown that was more wild than spring break in Cancun.  UCLA hung on for a sketchy 31-26 win, and won in Tucson for the first time in 10 years.  The Bruins raced out to a 24-10 lead, before the Wildcats mounted a furious comeback.  Fortunately for UCLA, they were rescued by freshman linebacker Miles Jack, who appears to be the Bruins version of Yasiel Puig.  Jack rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown, on only 6 carries, while playing on both sides of the ball.  As mentally tough as the Bruins appeared to be on Saturday, this team appears wildly inconsistent at times.  Their remaining schedule is a minefield, with games at home against Washington and Arizona State, followed by a showdown at the Coliseum with the Trojans.  The Bruins still control their own destiny in the Pac 12 South, but they aren’t making things easy on themselves.

Meanwhile, the Trojans are a different team after pounding Cal 62-28.  Even though the Golden Bears are golden garbage at this point, did anybody expect USC to be 7-3 after Lane Kiffin was fired?  The mere fact that Kiffin left Javorious Allen chained to the bench should have been enough to fire him.  Ed Orgeron has completely transformed the offense into what it was supposed to be at the beginning of the season, and suddenly, Cody Kessler doesn’t look completely inept.  SC will probably get crushed by Stanford next weekend, but their matchup with UCLA at the end of this month is looking more and more exciting by the minute.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Tommy Rees for shattering the hopes and dreams of Notre Dame fans, who were hoping the Irish would earn a BCS Bowl berth this season.  Rees was once again, a turnover machine on Saturday night against Pitt, and successfully self-destructed when it mattered most.

On to college basketball, where very quietly, the Bruins and Trojans opened the season on Friday night.  Both teams are beginning new coaching eras, and neither one got off to very impressive starts.  The Bruins barely beat Drexel in Steve Alford’s debut at Pauley Pavilion, and Alford’s run and gun offense was slowed to a crawl.  The Bruin faithful clearly expressed their displeasure with the Alford hiring, since less than 6,000 people actually showed up to watch it.  The new Trojan run and gun offense wasn’t too successful either against Utah State, as the Andy Enfield experiment began with a pathetic 37% shooting night.  It feels like most Bruin and Trojan fans are conveniently in denial that their teams have started the season already.

Week 2 of the NBA season is in the books, and I’ve gotta admit, I’m concerned about the Lakers.  I’m concerned that they might actually be better than I thought.  I’m concerned that they may not be in the lottery, and actually make the playoffs.  I’m concerned that Mike D’Antoni will be the coach beyond this season.  Even after getting a beat down from Minnesota last night at Staples, I’m still worried the team isn’t going to tank hard enough.  There’s also been rumors of a Steve Nash trade to Toronto, which would be amazing, but unlikely.  Even Canada isn’t dumb enough to take Steve Nash off the Lakers hands, when the guy can barely get up and down the court.  As enjoyable as the victories over the Clippers and Rockets have been, things could get really ugly in the next few weeks for this team.

Then there’s the Clippers, who have left many people scratching their heads after beating Houston twice this week, and losing to Miami and Orlando.  Isn’t this team supposed to be much better defensively now that Doc Rivers is their coach?  Aren’t they supposed to actually have a half-court offense too?  We’re only 7 games in, but remember, Donald Sterling is paying Doc Rivers more money than he’s ever paid a coach, and his payroll is as high as it has ever been.  That also means Sterling is going to be a harsher critic on these guys than ever before.  I don’t think anybody expected the Clippers defense to be the worst in the NBA, and at the moment, that’s where they stand.

Ladies and gentleman, thank you very much.  I’ve been saying for weeks that all the LA Kings need to do in order to fix their offense is call up youngster Tyler Toffoli.  Sure enough, in just two games, he’s tearing it up, along with rookie Linden Vey.  The only reason Toffoli should return to Manchester, is to pick up the rest of his belongings and move them to LA.  As for the Ducks, they continue to roll, winners of 5 straight, and still undefeated at home.

It’s amazing how stupid fans drunk fans can be.  Check out Winnipeg Jets defenseman Adam Pardy getting his helmet ripped off by a drunk fan….

A few quick NFL thoughts.  Arian Foster has suffered a season ending back injury, which was the result of carrying the Texans on his back all these years.  For a while it looked like the Chargers might be on their way to sneaking into the playoffs.  Now, they are on the verge of having their season slip away, and Mike McCoy looks like he’s in over his head with play calling duties.

I think there’s one thing that we are all thinking about this Miami Dolphins situation: What kind of dumb ass name is Richie Incognito? But in all seriousness, the fact that Jonathan Martin is willing to walk away from football over this, tells you the Stanford grad knows he has a future after football.  Meanwhile, Richie Incognito has nothing, but a stupid name, and a stupid hazing incident to explain to people.  Martin handled things with dignity, but I think most of us would have punched Incognito in the face at this point.

Finally, The Walking Dead continued on AMC last night, and this latest episode was called “Internment”.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have it on DVR, and have yet to watch it.  To quickly recap, Hershel battles an outbreak of walkers, sickness, and poor spirits inside one of the prison cell blocks.  Meanwhile, Rick and Carl take down a pack of walkers with machine guns, Maggie learns that Carol was sent away by Rick, and the governor is seen briefly watching the prison at the end of the episode.

This episode wasn’t too eventful.  The big question I was wondering was what the group’s reaction would be to Carol’s departure.  After a full hour, we still don’t know much.  Hershel seemed too preoccupied with saving Glenn to have much of a reaction, and we still don’t know what Tyreese and Daryl’s reaction will be.  Maggie seemed supportive of Rick’s decision, but her approval or disapproval seems insignificant compared to Daryl and Tyreese.  Also, even though the show has a habit of killing off a significant character or two early in every season, I still was never really convinced that Glenn was going to die.  He seems like far too interesting of a character to eliminate from the show.  The Governor’s return was inevitable, and it will be interesting to see how he looks to get his revenge.

November 4th, 2013

Wasn’t Mike D’Antoni’s coaching only supposed to get better this year?  We were told that he now has a handful of new players that are a “better fit” for his ridiculous system.  We were also told that he has a full training camp to figure out his rotations.  Funny, because through the first four games of the season, his coaching is far worse than last year!  Going into Sunday’s game against Atlanta, four of the Lakers five starters were shooting under 30% from the field.  It shouldn’t be hard to understand that Shawne Williams should never play, while Nick Young, Steve Nash, and Steve Blake shouldn’t be getting as much playing time as Jordan Farmar, Xavier Henry, and Jordan Hill.  Similar to last year, the Lakers season will probably be over by the time D’Antoni figures this out.  It’s a damn miracle that the Lakers are 2-2 after last night’s win against the Hawks.  Once again, in a game the Lakers should have put away in the first half, they nearly blow because Mike D’Antoni has no idea how to get his big men the ball inside.  Thank god for the Hawks ineptitude.

Meanwhile, the Clippers look about as solid as they did last year in the first week of the season.  JJ Redick and Jared Dudley are spacing the floor nicely for CP3, and the Clipps picked up two nice wins after their shocking opening night loss to the Lakers.  I still can’t really tell if Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan have learned how to play basketball yet though.  Tonight will be a good test for them against the new and improved Houston Rockets, who are 3-0 so far in the early going.

How angry must the Philadelphia 76ers front office be right now?  They were obviously trying to tank this season to secure another lottery pick, and they are off to a 3-0 start, including wins over Miami and Chicago.  I guess they didn’t expect Michael Carter Williams to look like the 2nd coming of Oscar Robertson.

On to college football where the Bruins rebounded on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.  Well sort of.  They defeated Colorado, which barely qualifies as a Division 1 football team these days.  Nevertheless, the Bruins can feel good about finding the win column after two tough weeks against Stanford and Oregon.  Brett Hundley returned to greatness throwing two touchdown passes, and rushing for two more.  Sure would be nice if the the Bruins could support Hundley with some improved play from their running backs though.  UCLA controls their own destiny, but has no margin for error left.  If they win their remaining games against Arizona, Washington, Arizona State, and USC, they’ll earn a trip to the Pac-12 championship game.  That’s no easy task, but I think it will confirm what we’ve all suspected:  UCLA has a good football team, not an elite one yet.

As for USC, they handled Oregon State easily on Thursday night, and now appear to be putting together a respectable season.  Whenever you’re talking Trojans and Beavers it just sounds dirty, so I’ll just get straight to the point.  USC is playing far more inspired football under Ed Orgeron than it did under Lane Kiffin.  The defense is playing with more energy, and the offense looks more confident.  SC will likely have to settle for a 2nd tier bowl game, but 8 wins is very realistic for a team that looked like a train wreck a month ago.  On the coaching front, rumor has it the Trojans have already interviewed Lovie Smith, and have Steve Sarkisian and Jon Gruden on their radar.  Smith is a big name, but has no college coaching experience.  The chances of Gruden being the next coach are about as good as the chances of me landing the gig.  That leaves Sark.  The question is whether or not he’s willing to abandon the progress he’s made at Washington.  He seems like an SC guy, and it makes perfect sense for both sides.

Let’s go to the ice where the LA Kings are about as hard to figure out as a jigsaw puzzle.  They flat out sucked on the road against Phoenix, they come up with a huge statement win against the best team in hockey, the Sharks, then they laid an egg against Nashville.  To make matters worse, Jeff Carter and Jarret Stoll are going to be out of the lineup for a while with injuries.  The penalty killing has been awful of late, and Jonathan Quick looks bored and uninterested, which is costing the Kings at inopportune times.  This looks like a team that is absolutely dominant at times, and totally unmotivated at others.  Maybe they are pacing themselves, but they are going to have some ground to make up in the standings if they keep it up.  Ugh…..at least Tyler Toffoli is back in the lineup.

Then there’s the Ducks who keep losing forwards, but keep finding the win column.  Anaheim has lost Jakob Silfverberg, Teemu Selanne, Dustin Penner, and Saku Koivu, yet they’re in 1st place in the Pacific Division.  Even more amazing is the fact the Ducks are doing this with terrible special teams.  Their powerplay is 29th in the league and their penalty killing is 30th.  Still, they’re finding a way to win on the road and dominate at even strength.

Speaking of the Kings and Ducks, I’ve been a little torn of late on what to do about this outdoor game at Dodgers Stadium in January.  I’ve been bitching for years about how the NHL needs to do an outdoor game in So Cal, and was very excited when I found out we were awarded one.  Naturally, I thought it was a no brainer that I had to attend.  The problem, the best seats in the house are going to cost me nearly $300, and that’s going to be like watching a hockey game from the 300 level at Staples Center.  On the other hand, for the same price, I could watch the Kings take on the Penguins at Staples Center just 5 nights later, and practically be sitting on the glass.  It’s no easy choice folks.  But will anybody be able to see anything at Dodgers Stadium? You tell me?……

The baseball offseason is upon us, and the Dodgers are working hard to sign their ace Clayton Kershaw to a long term deal.  However, Dodger fans should be experiencing shortness of breath after Kershaw said he was starting to get “curious” about testing free agency as it approaches.  LA simply can’t let this guy test the market.  The entire league will be bidding on him, and Arte Moreno proved a few years ago, it only takes one moron to pay up and you lose your star player.  Even Kershaw seems uncomfortable with the idea of a 10 year $300 million deal.  If he wants a shorter deal, give him a shorter deal, but don’t let him test the market!

Some quick thoughts on Week 9 of the NFL.  Texans coach Gary Kubiak must be able to see the future.  He collapsed at halftime of last night’s game against the Colts.  His team was leading 21-6 at that point, but then collapsed in the 2nd half, and lost 27-24.  In all seriousness though, the NFL needs to consider putting a limit on how much time these coaches can spend in the office.  Broncos coach John Fox collapsed a few days ago as well, which should tell you that NFL coaches work loads have to be addressed by the league.

And finally, Season 4 of The Walking Dead continued on AMC last night with episode 4, called “Indifference”.  Spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t seen it yet.  To quickly summarize: Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese, and Bob, succeed on their run for the medicine.  However, it’s revealed that Bob simply came on the run to find booze, and satisfy his alcoholism.  This revelation makes Daryl the angriest we’ve seen him in a long time, and he lets Bob know he should have never joined their group at the prison in the first place.  Meanwhile, Rick and Carol go on a supply run of their own, and along the way, they meet a couple that has come together during the zombie apocalypse.  Sadly, the couple doesn’t survive long after we are introduced to them.  Rick eventually expresses his disapproval of Carol’s actions, in which she killed Karen and David, to prevent others from getting sick.  Rick then explains to Carol that Tyreese will kill Carol when he finds out what she did, and that he doesn’t want to lie about her actions.  Thus, he banishes her from the group.

It’s hard to imagine that this is the last we have seen of Carol.  The question is: where will she turn up next?  I could easily see her teaming up with what remains of The Governor’s group, or even the Governor himself.  You’ve also gotta wonder how Daryl is going to feel about what Carol did, and her departure.  I suspect he’ll be pissed, but mostly because he thought he was going to get laid for the first time in forever.  The most powerful moment of the episode actually turned out to be the opening scene, where Carol said goodbye to Lizzie.  We hear Lizzie say “One day you just change; we all change.”  This mirrors exactly what we’ve seen from Carol since season 1.  She has transformed from a battered housewife, to a woman willing to recklessly save the lives of everyone she cares about.  In many ways, this mirrors a major theme of the show, which is how almost all of the main characters have changed.  A slower episode, but still a powerful one.

October 28th, 2013

Ok, how many of you Laker fans are really excited for the NBA to start?  If you are, your excitement should go away once they tip off on Tuesday night at Staples Center.  This team is going to be bad.  Far worse than you think.  8th place in the West is the goal, 7th place is a dream, but 10th place is far more realistic.  The way I see it, if the Lakers end up with a lottery pick, and Kobe comes back to show he can still play at a high level, that’s a successful season.

There’s recently been some talk about the Lakers trying to bring back guard Shannon Brown, who will likely be waived by the Washington Wizards in the next couple of days.  Although Shannon would be a very nice addition to the squad, many people are forgetting why this may not happen.  Back in 2011, the Lakers had some serious locker room issues, when it was rumored that Brown had slept with Pau Gasol’s fiance at the time.  It’s still hard to know whether or not that story is true, however, the mere possibility that it could have happened might be enough for Mitch Kupchak  to avoid signing Brown.  The Lakers had plenty of locker room drama with Dwight Howard last season, and I suspect they wouldn’t be willing to take on more just for the sake of adding another role player.

Meanwhile, the Clippers have to be feeling good about themselves heading into the season.  They’ve added some quality shooters with JJ Redick and Jared Dudley, and definitely upgraded their coach, with Doc Rivers in the mix.  Seeing him on the sidelines is just going to be weird.  I’m still shocked that Sterling ponied up the money, and think someone needs to launch an investigation as to how Donald was convinced to pay him.  The only unsettling feeling for the Clippers right now has to be Chris Paul’s recent comments to HBO Real Sports, in which he mentioned that he could see himself retiring a little early to spend more time with his family.  Paul just signed a new 5 year deal with the Clippers, so a lot can happen between now and then, but this isn’t really something I want to hear from the best player in the history of the franchise, when he’s in the prime of his career.

On to college football, where the Bruins got punked by Oregon on Saturday night, by a score of 42-14.  The Bruins were hanging with the Ducks for 3 quarters, until they got blown away in the 4th.  Playing against Oregon is like playing Madden against someone that never punts.  UCLA tried to control the tempo of the game by running the football, but when it was time to throw the ball, the Ducks were ready for it.  The Bruins fell to #17 in the AP poll, and just 2-2 in the conference, but they still control their own destiny.  Their margin for error is slim, but if they win their final five games, which they should, they’ll get another shot at Oregon or Stanford for the right to go to the Rose Bowl.  Still, the Ducks appear to be too fast, and the Cardinal appear to be too strong up front.  It’s gonna be a tough road ahead for UCLA, but they aren’t out of it yet.

Meanwhile, at the Coliseum, the Trojans beat up on Utah by a score of 19-3.  Watching these two offenses at work was like watching two uncoordinated morons trying to juggle chainsaws.  The Trojans managed to score just one TD on the day, but their defense was simply dominant.  They forced four turnovers, and yielded just 201 yards of total offense.  Amazingly, the Trojans are 5-3 overall, and they also control their own destiny in the Pac-12 South.  Unfortunately, they’ll still have to deal with Stanford and UCLA.

The baseball offseason is here for the Dodgers, and they have put themselves in an awkward situation with Don Mattingly.  I’ve been screaming from the mountain tops for months that the Dodgers were waiting to see what happened with Mike Scioscia before deciding whether to retain Mattingly.  Of course, in the process, they completely alienated him, and now that Mattingly has a little bit of leverage after making it to the NLCS, he’s demanding an extension.  The Dodgers need to realize what the Lakers and UCLA basketball failed to realize:  you don’t fire your coach unless you know you have an even better replacement for him.  There are simply no available managers out there that are better than Mattingly.  The players like him, and he still he can still improve with more experience.  Sure his in game strategy needs work, but unless Scioscia or Tony La Russa are replacing him, which they aren’t, then LA is better off sticking with Donny Baseball.

Week 8 of the NFL left no question in my mind that the two best receivers in the NFL are Calvin Johnson, followed by Dez Bryant.  Great finish in that Lions and Cowboys game.   Watch out for those Carolina Panthers.  Their defense is looking good, and Cam Newton looks like he has his act together.  Does anybody realize that if the playoffs started today, the Chargers would in? I guess I didn’t realize how much Houston and Pittsburgh stink up until this very moment.

Speaking of the NFL, commissioner Roger Goodell informed the media a few days ago that getting a team in London and Los Angeles are top priorities for the league, “in no particular order”.  Sounds like the league has more interest in bringing a team to LA than anybody else in Southern California.  I’m still not sure why the league is so determined to put a team in London.  This will simply be a logistical nightmare.  What free agents will want to join a team living in London?  How much will it suck for west coast teams to travel over there?  Why does Goodell think this will succeed when NFL Europe failed?  The idea is simply mind boggling.

Finally, another fantastic episode of the The Walking Dead aired last night.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have not seen it yet.  A disease is spreading in the prison camp, and two of the casualties were Karen and David.  These two were kept in isolation because of their symptoms, and their bodies were found burned.  It was strongly suggested that they were burned by someone within the camp to prevent the disease from spreading.  Tyreese becomes angry that his girlfriend and friend were killed, and even more frustrated when his sister, Sasha, becomes ill too.  He wants justice for their deaths.  However, by the end of the show, we find out it was Carol who was responsible for their deaths.  The rest of the show consisted of Tyreese taking his anger out on Walkers, and discovering that Glenn is ill too.

The irony of the episode is that Carol had been the glue that held the group together.  Now, in order to protect the ones she loves, she has taken an action that could cause a major divide within the group.  It was a very shocking end to the episode to learn what Carol did.  At the same time, I’ve gotta think that The Governor is just waiting to attack the group again.  He’s a threat that is just waiting to rise up once more.  It may not happen until later in the season, but it’s gotta happen at some point.  I have a hard time believing that Glenn is going to die from some “glorified cold” as he described it, but I’ve got a feeling it could end up killing Hershel, who is obviously willing to risk his life so save as many as he can.  And what’s up with Bob?  That guy has to be evil.  I’m waiting for him to betray the group in some way, maybe to help The Governor?  Looking forward to more episodes!

October 21st, 2013

It couldn’t have come at a worse time.  It was the biggest game of the season, and the biggest game of Clayton Kershaw’s career, and he had one of the worst outings of his career.   Kershaw was rocked for 7 runs and 10 hits in 4 innings of work, during game 6 of the NCLS, and the Dodgers were obliterated by the Cardinals 9-0.  The way the Dodgers lost was incredibly disheartening.  Kershaw looked human, and Yasiel Puig came crashing back to earth, as he made a fielding and throwing error, while going hitless in three at bats.  The Dodgers lineup felt like it was being held together by chicken wire, but they finally collapsed.  Hanley Ramirez’ broken ribs made him ineffective, Andre Ethier’s ankle caused him all kinds of problems, and with Puig struggling, nobody was left to protect Adrian Gonzales.  Michael Wacha owns the Dodgers, and is going to be a stud.  And with that, the Dodgers season is over.

On the bright side, I won’t have to spend $1,000 on a World Series ticket, since the Dodgers won’t be playing in it.  Should we feel good about the Dodgers season because the future is bright and the franchise is revived? Or should we feel like they blew an opportunity to win a championship?  I say the latter.  Just ask the Washington Nationals or the Texas Rangers, who had great opportunities the last few years to win the World Series, and now they are struggling to get back there.   This series was blown in game 1, when Mattingly mismanaged the lineup, and put Michael Young in for Adrian Gonzales.  In any case, the Dodgers do have the resources to put themselves back in the same position next year, but hopefully a healthier team, a more experienced Puig, and some smarter managerial decisions by Mattingly will put them over the top.  They’ve already improved their team this morning by signing Cuban 2nd baseman Alex Guerrero to a 4 year $32 million deal.

On to college football, where the Bruins just couldn’t hang with the big boys this weekend, losing to Stanford 24-10.  UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley was under pressure all day, and the Bruins just couldn’t get much offense going.  Meanwhile, Stanford racked up 419 yards of total offense, while UCLA had just 266.  The bad news, the Bruins still have to deal with Oregon next week, and they’ve been unable to solve the Cardinal, who have now beaten them 6 straight times.  The good news however, is that UCLA only dropped to #12 in the BCS standings, and as long as they take care of the games their supposed to win, they should get another crack at Stanford or Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game.  In other words, the Bruins have figured out a way to consistently beat the crappy teams, but still can’t get to the next level…..yet.

As for the Trojans, they were outlasted by my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame by a score of 14-10, this weekend in South Bend.  This game was sloppier than a Friday night at the Linebacker Lounge, as both teams couldn’t put the ball in the end zone to save their lives in the second half.  When I showed up in South Bend on Saturday night, I thought I would have the displeasure of seeing just two crappy quarterbacks, and instead I managed to see three! After Notre Dame’s Tommy Rees left the game with an injury, Notre Dame was left with Andrew Hendrix, who couldn’t even complete a pass.  At least the Irish had the excuse of having one horrendous quarterback being replaced by an even more horrendous quarterback.  What was USC’s excuse?  I suppose it’s the reality setting in that they don’t actually have a real football coach yet.  It was cute to see the Trojan fans pretending like their season was revived after the win against Arizona, but the season was thrown out when Kiffin was fired.  On the other hand, it may not be long until SC is good again, if they hire the right coach.

I also had the privilege of attending the Colts and Broncos showdown last night in Indianapolis.  The Colts fans are unbelievably classy, with the standing ovation they gave Peyton Manning before the game.  This franchise has to be the luckiest team in sports.  The get one of the greatest quarterbacks of his generation, then immediately, get another quarterback who might be the next greatest of his generation.  Andrew Luck definitely showed that could be the case with his performance last night.  I also don’t understand why Jim Irsay keeps saying moronic things to the media.  Maybe he should appreciate the fact that Peyton put his franchise on the map, instead of talking shit on him.  This is probably what Peyton Manning’s text inbox looked like after the game…..

The Colts have a beautiful stadium, but I don’t understand all these ridiculous banners they have hanging in Lucas Oil.  Seven of their banners say “AFC Wild Card” on them.  Are you kidding?  That’s like putting up a banner just for making the playoffs!  The Colts are a great franchise, but that makes them look pathetic.

Speaking of banners, I can’t believe that it actually took this long for the Clippers to decide to cover up the Laker championship banners during their games.  I don’t find this offensive at all to Laker fans.  If you were playing in your home building, you would probably feel pretty awkward about having another teams championship banners and retired jersey’s above your floor.  It’s not like those banners and jersey’s are coming off the wall folks, they are just being covered up until the Laker games.  Besides, it’s not like the Clippers have any championship banners of their own to cover them up with.

Finally, some strong starts in the NHL for both of our local squads.  The Kings have won 6 of their first 9 games, which is impressive for a few reasons.  First, many of their early games were on the road.  Second, their top two centers, Anze Kopitar and Mike Richards, have yet to score a goal.  It’s always been about defense and goaltending for these guys, but the dudes that need to score have got to put the puck in the net.  At least the Kings can say they are getting a “balanced attack” from their top two center.

Then there’s the Ducks, who have won 7 in a row, and are off to another great start.  This is so typical of a Bruce Boudreau coached team.  Only the Sharks and Penguins have scored more goals than Anaheim so far.  Even Victor Fasth looks as brilliant in goal as he did at the beginning of last season.  Let’s see what these guys look like in a few months before we start planning that Stanley Cup parade at Disneyland.

October 13th, 2013

It was just less than a week ago that things were looking great for the Dodgers, and they looked like the favorites to make it to the World Series.  Now, after going down 0-2 against the Cardinals in the NLCS, things look pretty bleak for the boys in blue.  Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier are black and blue, and aren’t even healthy enough to play.   There’s no way to sugar coat this.  The Dodgers got brilliant pitching performances from Zach Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, yet ended up losing both games in St. Louis because they haven’t scored a run in their last 18 innings.  Now the Dodgers have to come home to play the Cards with Hyun-Jin Ryu going up against ace Adam Wainwright.  So to review, the Dodgers have had both of their aces beaten, they can’t hit anymore, they’re banged up, and they still have to go up against the Cards best pitcher.  I think it’s safe to say that LA is toast.

This can’t all be blamed on injuries folks.  Don Mattingly has single handedly blown two post-season games in one week.  By pinch running Dee Gordon for Adrian Gonzales in the 8th inning of game 1, and then using Michael Young in his spot for the remainder of the game, the Dodgers lineup was completely neutralized.  Somebody on the Dodgers should have had the balls to hit Carlos Beltran too, after Hanley Ramirez was nailed by a pitch in the ribs, whether it was intentional or not.  Then there’s Yasiel Puig, who has disappeared like David Copperfield.  Puig is hitless in the NLCS, with 6 strikeouts.  The Cards are just daring Puig to beat them, but his inexperience is now showing.  Mattingly thinks everything is ok though, saying “The series doesn’t start until you lose at home, like in the NBA.”  Too bad in the NBA, your best players play every game.  The Dodgers have already used Kershaw and Greinke, which means this series will be over in 5.

Sticking with baseball, I think the Angels made a poor decision this week to bring back both Mike Scioscia and Jerry Dipoto.  No matter what these guys say, it’s obvious they haven’t worked well together, and a change of some kind was needed.  More importantly, the players need to be re-energized, but this just looks like we will see more of the same next year, both on and off the field.  After hearing about this news, I was expecting the Angels to announce that Joe Blanton would be their opening day starter, and that they were planning on giving Robinson Canoe a 10 year deal.  One bad decision deserves another right?

On to college football, where the UCLA Bruins football team has vaulted themselves into the top 10 in both the AP and the coaches.  The Bruins defeated Cal easily on Saturday night 37-10 at the Rose Bowl, and Brett Hundley looked like the second coming of Dan Marino.  Hundley threw for a career high 410 yards and three touchdown passes, and looked like the Heisman trophy candidate the UCLA faithful envisioned.  However, shit’s about to get real.  UCLA will travel to Stanford next week to take on those damn tree loving, chardonay drinking, corporately financed Cardinal.  This is now looking like a much more winnable game for the Bruins, after Stanford dropped one to Utah over the weekend.

As for the Trojans, their offense looked a little better under Ed Orgeron, in their 38-31 win over Arizona.  It’s still gonna be tough for Trojan fans to get excited for much else this season.  Next week, USC will visit Notre Dame, whose fans are equally as frustrated with what they’ve seen from their teams quarterback play.  I’m headed to the game next week, and I sure didn’t think when I got my tickets a few months ago, that the game would be about as meaningless as the girl I dated for about 30 minutes in the 8th grade.

The beginning of the NHL season has left me very confused. I realize the Kings have won 3 straight games, but why can’t Anze Kopitar score some freaking goals already??  Why has everybody in the Kings division managed to score at least 6 goals against the Rangers and win, while the Kings can only get 1 and lose? And why the hell haven’t the Kings brought up Tyler Toffoli to play on their 2nd line?  LA has already used three different players at left wing on that line, and none of them have anywhere near Toffoli’s skill or upside.

As for the Ducks, it’s early, but it doesn’t look like they’ve missed Bobby Ryan’s offense so far.  Only 6 teams in the entire league have averaged more goals per game than the Ducks heading into Sunday’s game.

Meanwhile, the Lakers are over in China for a few exhibition games.  I can’t believe Chris Kaman actually hurt his finger while tobogganing down the Great Wall.  Do you realize how dumb that is?  Kaman was going to get bumped from behind by teammate Shawne Williams, and he put his hand between the two sleds.  I’ve went down the Great Wall on these toboggan sleds two years ago, and I was bumped from behind several times, but the last thing I ever thought about was trying to put my hand behind the sled.  These types of dumb injuries can only be a bad sign of what’s to come this year for the Lake Show.

A few quick thoughts on week 6 of the NFL.  It’s hard to understand how the Patriots are 5-1.  It feels like they’e struggled through just about every game.  Great shootout yesterday against the Saints, in what could actually be a Super Bowl preview.  The Texans fans got what they deserved yesterday.  Matt Schaub left the game with an injury, and the fans start cheering in a classless manor, then TJ Yates comes in the game and throws a pick 6.  It’s unbelievable that up until Saturday, there were 9,000 tickets available for the Chargers and Colts Monday night game.  Fortunately for Charger fans, there will be no blackout, because some of Dean Spanos’ friends and a few corporate sponsors bought the remaining tickets.  Still, this is just embarrassing.  It’s obvious that the city just can’t support this crummy football team, and that they won’t be getting a new stadium.  Just move the team to LA already Dean!  Otherwise, somebody might beat you to it.

There were some very tough TV watching decisions that had to be made last night.  Homeland or the season premier of The Walking Dead?  Thank god they invented DVR because it was definitely needed.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have not seen last night’s episode of either show.  What the hell did they do to Homeland?  The show had a phenomenal first season, got a little off-track with some love story in the 2nd season, and now the show doesn’t appear to be going anywhere in  the first 3 episodes of season 3.  The threat of terrorism and stoping it usually provides the most entertainment value on that show, and thus far, the show has slowed to a crawls pace.

As for the Walking Dead, the season premier was exciting.  I like how they have added a ton of new characters to the show, and they immediately show us completely different dynamics between them from when the show last season ended.  Rick is no longer the leader of the group, and instead, we see more of a leadership by committee.  It seems like half of the characters are now in some sort of relationship.  I guess people do need love if zombies are about to bring the world to an end.  There’s also quite a bit of action in this first episode.  The group fights off some walkers when a department store roof collapses, but in the process, they lose Beth’s new boyfriend (he wasn’t alive long enough for me to learn his name).  The action gets even more intense when Carl’s friend Patrick dies of a fever, suggesting that the group is even more vulnerable to a virus.  An exciting beginning to the new season, and looking forward to more episodes!

October 7th, 2013

What a slug fest that took place at Chavez Ravine last night.  The Dodgers overcame a rough start from Hyun-Jin Ryu, and then hammered the Braves 13-6 to grab a 2-1 series lead.  Let’s be honest, this series should really be over by now.  I’ve been a big supporter of Don Mattingly, however, he made some very questionable decisions with his relievers late in game 2, which cost LA a win.  I’m really not sure why he thought one of his most inexperienced relievers would be better off facing Jason Heyward instead of Reed Johnson.  Fortunately, the Dodgers won last night, to take the pressure off Mattingly.  I’m sure many of you think LA should give the ball to Clayton Kershaw for game 4, but Ricky Nolasco should get the chance to close it out.  Nolasco has pitched very well since being acquired by the Dodgers, and even though his last two starts were crummy, they were meaningless.  Kershaw should be saved if there is a deciding game 5, or for game 1 of the NLCS.  Ryu’s start was not as rough as that of Braves starter Julio Teheran.  If the Dodgers hadn’t bombed Teheran, I’m sure the Republicans would have.

Meanwhile, there’s already rumors from ESPN’s Buster Olney, that the Dodgers could make an off-season trade for Rays ace David Price.  A deal like this would likely cost the Dodgers their top 2 or 3 prospects in their system, but they would then have a lethal rotation of Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, and Price.  If the Dodgers have learned anything from this year, it’s that the saying is really true: you can never have enough pitching.  Price seems like a much better investment than an aging Robinson Cano, and one that the Dodgers can afford.  It’s just money, and the Dodgers have plenty of it.

On to college football, where the Bruins remained undefeated after hanging on to beat Utah 34-27 last week.  That was definitely a game that last year’s Bruins would have lost.  Actually, if it was not for the 6 turnovers forced by the defense, UCLA would have lost.  Next week’s game should scare the hell out of Bruins fans.  UCLA will be hosting Cal at home, in a classic trap game.  The Bruins know that they’ll be tested in the following weeks against Stanford and Oregon, so they could easily be overlooking Cal, as they did last year.

The Trojans had the week off, but here’s a few quick thoughts on week 5 of the NFL.  Remember when Matt Schaub used to be a good quarterback?  The Texans have to be kicking themselves for not trying harder to sign Peyton Manning last year.  Last night’s loss to the Raiders is another example of why the Chargers make their fans want to abuse prescription medication.  It’s definitely time to stick a fork in the NY Giants.  The Broncos are so good that on a bad day, they still rack up 51 points agains the Cowboys and remain undefeated.

I’m excited that the NHL season has started, but after watching the first two Kings games, I’ve got one major question.  How long will they keep their young stud, Tyler Toffoli in the minor leagues?  Are the Kings just going to pretend that Matt Frattin can be a top 6 forward for the entire season?  This reminds me of the Dodgers situation with Yasiel Puig.  If the kid can help you, then bring him up, and let him play.  The Kings need more scoring, more youth, and Toffoli can give them all that.

The Lakers already have two preseason games under their belt after this weekend, but the focus remains on Kobe.  Did it feel like a big deal when he decided to go to Germany again for more treatment on his knee?  It sure seemed so to me.  Why did the Lakers feel the need to conceal the nature of his visit?  In any case, it sure seems like he isn’t going to be in the lineup anytime soon.

Finally, I love how the harsh realities of Obama Care are now setting in.  Last week, I was listening to KFI in LA, and 10 different people were interviewed regarding their thoughts on the new healthcare legislation.  More than half of them said they were fooled into thinking they were actually receiving free healthcare, and now some of them are forced to buy disgustingly expensive health insurance plans.  Keep in mind, many of these people are the same morons that voted for the first time in their life when Obama ran for his first team.  They are also the same morons who bought houses like they were groceries, sending our economy straight to hell.  Let’s hope these guys stay home during the next election.

September 30th, 2013

As promised, here is a recap, and my thoughts on the series finale of Breaking Bad.  As usual, spoiler alert for those of you who have not seen the episode yet.  I knew there was never going to be a happy ending for this show.  Walter White had caused so much collateral damage to his relationships with his family and the ones he cared about with his transformation into a criminal mastermind, you knew an unhappy ending to the show was going to take place.  Still, I think most viewers were left very satisfied with what they saw, all things considered.

In the final episode, Walt leaves the cabin to take revenge on Jack and his entire crew, but not before handling a few personal matters.  First, he sneaks into the house of his old business partners, Elliot and Gretchen Schwartz, and tricks them into getting his remaining money to his son when he turns 18 years of age.  This was sweet revenge, since the Schwartz family took credit for Walt’s work early in his career, and made a fortunate off of it.  Walt also demonstrates his criminal genius alter ego here, as he gets Badger and Skinny Pete to flash red laser pen lights at Elliot and Gretchen, to make them think they are being stalked by hit men.

Then, Walt goes to visit Skyler in her new home.  Walt says he is there to give her a proper goodbye, but he also gives her a gift.  He supplies her with a paper with GPS coordinates on it, which has the location of his remaining buried money, as well as the site where Hank and his partner were buried.   Skyler can now exchange this information for her freedom.  Several very interesting things happen around this scene.  Just prior to Walt entering the room, Skyler is on the phone with her sister, Marie, who tells her that Walt is in town, but she believes he will be caught by the authorities.  She naively says, “He thinks he is some criminal mastermind.”  Skyler knows better than this by now.  Moments later, her amazing, criminal mastermind husband appears in front of her.

Also during Walt’s encounter with Skyler, he admits why he did everything that he did.  “I did it for myself.  I liked it.  I was good at it.  It made me feel alive.”  This makes perfect sense.  Walt has spent the last few months dying of cancer, and he knew that if he was going to die, he wanted the last portion of his life to be exciting and meaningful.  Something he never seemed to feel up until that point of his life.

In the finale scene, Walt confronts Jack and his entire crew, and kills them all by setting up a machine gun in the trunk of his car, which popped up at the press of a button on his remote control.  Interestingly enough, Walt, Jesse, Todd, and Jack are still alive after all the machine gun fire.  However, Walt shoots Jack, and Jesse strangles Todd.  With Walt and Jesse left standing, Walt slides a gun along the floor to Jesse, and asks him to shoot him.  After hesitating, Jesse tells him “If you want it, do it yourself.”  At that point, we also find out that Walt poisoned Lydia with the ricin, by slipping it into her drink at the coffee shop.    Jesse then drives off, and even cracks a smile, relieved that he survived, and that it’s finally over.  Meanwhile, Walt takes a walk through Todd and Jack’s meth lab, and reminisces about his glorious drug empire, just before collapsing and dying from his gun shot wound, which he suffered in the shootout.  The police arrive on the scene, but it’s clear that Walt is dead.

Ultimately, Walt is unable to fix things with his family.  His son hates him, and his wife will probably never forgive him either.  Despite that, Walt triumphantly gets revenge on those who crossed him, which symbolizes the greatness of his criminal empire.  In some ways, the scales of justice tipped toward the two men, Walt and Jesse, who weren’t quite as evil as Jack and his crew.  Jack and his crew were men who killed people for sadistic pleasure, or even convenience.  Walt and Jesse can be considered agents of justice here.

Still, every character in the show is forced to live with some degree of guilt for their sins.  Walt’s only consolation with his family is that he was able to keep them alive, but consistently put them in danger, and can be blamed for Hank’s death.  Skyler will have to live with going along with Walt’s plan as well.  Interestingly enough, Jesse was the only character from the shootout who survived, and it can be argued that he lived because he only killed people that needed to be killed for him to survive.

As for Walt, his fate was inevitable.  He had cancer, it went away and came back.  He was going to die, but in his mind, he went out the way he wanted to.  One of the most powerful scenes of the episode was when Walt was watching his son come home from school from a hiding spot near the house.  It was clear at that point he had major regrets about his actions, and how they destroyed his relationship with Walt Jr.  Then again, in the final scene, we see how much Walt valued the legacy he built and left behind.  A great show, and a pretty good ending.  It’s been fun Breaking Bad….you will be missed!