September 30th, 2013

The Trojans shocked the college football universe on Sunday morning.  Coach Lane Kiffin was fired just hours after losing in embarrassing fashion at Arizona State.  I can just hear all those wealthy SC alums screaming with joy from their mansions in Newport Beach and Beverly Hills.  Instead of calling athletic director Pat Haden everyday, urging him to fire Kiffin, instead they’ll be calling everyday urging him to hire Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.  We all knew Kiffin was probably going to get fired eventually, but the real shock was getting rid of him in the middle of the season.  Haden deserves credit for such a bold action at this point in time, which should give him time to save his recruiting class, and find a great coach.    The constant drama that Kiffin brought to the USC program had become unbearable for Trojan fans, as was their performance on the field.

Kiffin’s final debacle was a 62-41 beat down at the hands of Arizona State on Saturday night.  Weren’t the Trojans supposed to be a good defensive team?  Quarterback Taylor Kelly carved up USC like a Halloween pumpkin for 351 yards, while the Sun Devils racked up a total of 612 yards.  By the 4th quarter it was clear that the defense had simply quit on Kiffin, and he had lost the team.  Oh yea, and the offense was still terrible too, as they turned it over 4 times, and Marqise Lee injured his knee to make matters worse.  Good luck to interim head coach Ed Orgeron!  He’ll need it to put out this dumpster fire.

I love how sports fans on the east coast seem to think that people in Southern California don’t care about their local sports teams, and are simply fair weather fans.  If that were the case, then the decision makers wouldn’t have succumbed to the public pressure to fire Kiffin, Mike Brown, Terry Murray, Randy Carlisle, Rick Neuheisel, and Ben Howland, over the last two years.  Heck, Mike Scioscia might be fired in the next couple of days, Mike D’Antoni is going to be fired any minute, and Don Mattingly isn’t safe yet either.  If you’re a coach in the LA sports market, you better win or your job isn’t safe.

On to baseball, where the banged up Dodgers have wrapped up the regular season, and are limping over to Atlanta for the start of the NLDS vs the Braves.  Yesterday, the Dodgers discovered that Matt Kemp will miss the entire post season, after re-aggravating his ankle injury.  LA is already dealing with an ankle injury to Andre Ethier, who will probably only be able to pinch hit in the NLDS.   Even Hanley Ramirez and Yasiel Puig feel like they are being held together by duct tape at times, with the amount of days off they’ve been given recently.  The good news however, is that they will be facing an Atlanta team that has cooled off just as much as the Dodgers have in the last month.  The Braves starting pitching is also no match for LA’s trio of Kershaw, Greinke, and Ryu.  If the Boys in Blue can score a few runs, which they’ve done without Kemp, I see no reason why they can’t put this series away in four games.

Meanwhile, the Angels season is over, and it’s decision time in Anaheim.  Will Arte Moreno fire general manager Jerry Dipoto? Or will it be skipper Mike Scioscia?  Both?  Or even keep them both.  Dipoto seems to be planning on being around in 2014, because he recently told the media about his off-season plans to upgrade the pitching.  Of course, part of his plan included the possibility of keeping underachieving Joe Blanton, who is owed another $7 million next year.  That comment probably didn’t help his chances of keeping his job, and should get him a slap on the back of the head as well.  If Arte Moreno is serious about turning this around, he needs to get rid of both Scioscia and Dipoto.  It’s the only way to re-energize the team, while giving them the best chance to hire a great GM and skipper.  More importantly, it will send a message to Mike Trout that the team is serious about keeping their franchise player happy.

The Lakers opened training camp on Saturday afternoon, and much to my disappointment Mike D’Antoni was still the team’s head coach.  Of even greater concern is the fact that Kobe Bryant admitted that there was no exact timetable for his return to action.  Bryant sounds hard pressed to be ready for the season opener on October 29th, when he isn’t even able to run on his surgically repaired achilles tendon yet.  Thanksgiving, or even Christmas sounds like a possibility, but the Lakers season could be over by then for all intents and purposes.  D’Antoni said he isn’t sure yet who 3 of his 5 starters are going to be to open the regular season.  That’s probably because most of your players shouldn’t be starters in the NBA Mike.  Stay tuned…. this could be a spectacular failure just a few weeks from now.  Here are some of Kobe’s comments from media day….

Kevin Durant seems like a great guy and all, but he must have been sitting out in the sun too much this off-season.  Durant claimed that James Harden, his former teammate, should be in the top 10 NBA player rankings by Sports Illustrated.  Durant said that Dwayne Wade should be removed from the top 10, and Harden should replace him.  Look I get that Dwayne Wade has been banged up of late, but Harden has never been better than Wade at any point.  Besides, Durant should stop calling out dudes that have three championship rings, and have beaten him in the finals, especially since he probably won’t be winning anything in OKC.

Speaking of failures, Time Warner Cable is a joke in case you haven’t experience it for yourself.  I decided to go with these guys over Direc TV, only because they have the Pac-12 network, and won’t be at risk to lose the Dodgers at the beginning of next year.  First, they charge the hell out of you.  $15 a month for Showtime? Then, they didn’t even give me all the channels I originally ordered, so I had to call them and have them correct my order.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, they were one hour late for the appointment, they don’t even have 1080 p high definition channels, and they send me a technician who is a shit talking Anaheim Ducks fan.  Look TWC, you’re on thin ice. Nobody comes into my home installing crappy cable service, and talking shit on my LA Kings.

A few quick thoughts on week 4 of the NFL.  The NFC East is a joke this year.  The Chargers are so fortunate they get to play against that crummy division this year, because that should pad their win total.  The Texans are softer than the Pillsbury Dough Boy.  So much talent, and so little toughness when things get tight.  The Broncos are just murdering people, and should just get bye weeks until the Super Bowl.

With the NHL season ready to start on Thursday, I think Kings and Duck fans should have their concerns.  For the Kings, if Jonathan Quick goes down with an injury, can Ben Scrivens really play goaltender?  Or does he just make cool Vine clips?  And for the Ducks, did they just catch lightening in a bottle last year, or can they keep scoring goals without the whiney Bobby Ryan?

If the government shuts down tomorrow….who will spy on me and continue to pile up our country’s debt?

How does McDonald’s make their coffee so damn hot? What do they do to that thing, stick it in a nuclear reactor?  It takes a good 15 minutes for it to actually be drinkable.

I was unable to watch a live version of the series finale of Breaking Bad last night, however, there will be a full recap and breakdown coming shortly here on Jock Talk LA.

September 23rd, 2013

What a boring weekend of college football it was!  At the Rose Bowl, UCLA hammered New Mexico State 59-13,  The Bruins looked somewhat disinterested at times, and even the great Brett Hundley thew two interceptions.  Even so, the Bruins realized they were playing New Mexico State, and piled up 692 yards of total offense, including 164 rushing yards from Jordan James.  James also added 2 touchdowns, and the Bruins defense looked strong.  Great tribute to Nick Pasquale too, when they ran 11 men out on the field, then sent one off to run a play with just 10 players.    The Bruins will return to playing real people in about 10 days when they begin Pac-12 play against Utah.

Speaking of being uninterested, the Trojans looked even more bored against Utah State at the Coliseum.  USC escaped with a 17-14 win, and Cody Kessler looked more like the dude who couldn’t complete a pass in the first two weeks of the season.  The fans looked just as bored all afternoon, as the streets around the Coliseum weren’t nearly as crowded as usual.  The chemistry isn’t there, and even Marqise Lee couldn’t seem to get it going.  The Trojans are an ugly 3-1, but things are going to get tougher with a showdown against Arizona State next week.

Moving on to baseball, where the Dodgers are on their way to the playoffs for the first time in 4 years.   I loved the clinching celebration by jumping in the pool in left field.  The D’Bags asked the Dodgers not to celebrate on the field, and the Dodgers did not celebrate on the field.  If they have a problem with how LA celebrated, then maybe they should have done a better job in not allowing LA to beat the crap out of them over the last 3 months.  Oh yea, screw you John McCain!  Don’t you have better things to do than bitch about the Dodgers celebrating in the pool?  How about you focus on things like lowering our taxes and cleaning up the economy, which is in the crapper?

As for what’s happening on the field, the Boys in Blue took two of three against the Padres over the weekend, but they still don’t seem to be pushing too hard for home field advantage.  It’s completely understandable to try to get some guys a little rest down the stretch, but some of the games we’re seeing are practically spring training lineups Don Mattingly is putting on the field.  This may very well cost the Dodgers a shot at the World Series, especially if they have to play a game 5 or game 7 in a place like Atlanta or St. Louis.

A few quick thoughts on week 3 of the NFL.  The Chargers simply make their fans want to puke.  They come off a big win on the road against Philly, and they can’t even beat lowly Tennessee.  What the hell happened to San Francisco against Indy?  That was a beat down.  The Saints are pretty damn good, but they’ll need home field in the playoffs to have a chance against Seattle.

NBA training camp opens up in 5 days for the Lakers.  The LA Times felt the need to re-hash the hiring of Mike D’Antoni over Phil Jackson by writing a few excerpts from Jeanie Buss’ new book.  Jeanie described the entire saga, as “betrayal”.  After reading this, the first thing I thought was how unbelievably foolish Jim Buss is.  He actually had to ask Jeanie for Phil’s cell phone number, and had apparently never been to Phil and Jeanie’s house.  It just goes to show you how strained the relationship is between Phil, Jim, and Jeanie, and this is still a major question moving forward for the Laker franchise.

The Emmy’s were BORING……

And finally, Breaking Bad slowed things down a little in the next to last episode of the series.  I’m surprised this episode was so slow considering it was 75 minutes.  Once again, spoiler alert for those of you who have not seen it yet.  To quickly recap:  Walt checks out the chaos around him by going all the way to New Hampshire in an isolated cabin.  He has no phone, internet, or cable television.  By episodes end, he is motivated to go back home and help his family by getting them money, and killing Jack and his crew.  Jesse tries to escape from Jack’s crew, however, he is caught, and then punished by being forced to watch the crew drive to Andrea’s house, where they shoot and kill her.  Meanwhile, Skyler is under pressure from the feds to give some information on Walt’s whereabouts, but she is no help.  If she doesn’t give them any info, she could be in serious legal trouble.  Also, Walt tries to make contact with his son, but junior gets angry at him for the death of his Uncle Hank, and hangs up on him.

Creator Vince Gilligan has left us with no clues, as to how this will end.  One thing is becoming apparent:  Jack’s crew appears far more immoral than Walt, Skyler, and Jesse.  In the final episode, I have a feeling that in order to take Jack down, Walt and Jesse will end up joining forces one last time.  Still, it’s hard to envision which way the scales of justice will tip.

September 16th, 2013

There is much to discuss in this edition of Monday Morning Coffee, starting with the Bruins big win over Nebraska.  The Bruins are 2-0, and Saturday’s win was quite a statement for the program and head coach Jim Mora.  Mora spent the entire week consoling the Pasquale family, after the 20 year old sophomore was killed last weekend after he was hit by a car.  Simultaneously, Mora put together a brilliant game plan against the Cornhuskers, in which he continued to run the ball until the Bruins broke through.  The Cornhuskers were out for revenge from last year’s loss to UCLA, but the Bruins exploded in the 2nd half.  The Bruins are now 13th in the AP Poll, but how the hell are they ranked behind South Carolina?  Typical college football nonsense.

As for the Trojans, their blowout win over Boston College seems to have temporarily quieted down Lane Kiffin’s critics, who were about ready to burn his house down.  Kiffin finally selected Cody Kessler as his starting quarterback, and decided to take the reigns off Kessler instantly.  The results were astoundingly different, as he threw for 237 yards and 2 touchdown passes.  The real question though: Why does Lane Kiffin create more drama than a teenage girl on her prom night?  He refused to tell the media who his starting quarterback was, even though he already knew it was Kessler.  Then the players organized a players only meeting last week, which he denied ever happened, despite several players insisting that it did happen.  When you deliver wins, you can live with some occasional drama.  However, when you underachieve, it isn’t tolerated for long, and I’m sure Pat Haden is well aware of this.

I was very disappointed watching the Alabama vs Texas A&M game.  I was really hoping Johnny Manziel would take much more physical punishment, and frankly, he deserved it for simply behaving like an idiot the last couple of months.  Still, I gotta admit the kid can play.  Speaking of disappointing, Notre Dame was horrendous against Purdue, and the weekend was almost a complete disaster for them with Michigan nearly losing to Akron.  The Irish averted disaster this weekend, but even Touchdown Jesus can’t seem to make Tommy Rees a good quarterback.

On to baseball, where the Dodgers appear to be mailing it in.  The Boys in Blue have a magic number of just 4 to clinch the NL West with 13 games to go, but they looked about as interested as you would be in sleeping with Rosie O’Donnell.  The Dodgers lost 3 of 4 to the Giants over the weekend, including a 19-3 beat down by San Francisco on Saturday.  I’m not sure why Don Mattingly has decided to turn many of these final games into spring training games, filled with a number of players who will likely not be in the playoff roster.  This is troubling since the Pirates and Cardinals have blown by the Dodgers in the race for home field advantage in the playoffs.  Get it together Donnie Baseball.  Your job may depend on it!

Meanwhile, the Angels, have quietly won 17 of their last 23 meaningless games.  Don’t be fooled kids.  We’ve seen this movie before, and when it ends, you always end up saying “If only we had a better start we would be in good shape.”  The reality of it is the pitching is still a pile of crap, and they’ll need a general manager who is going to overhaul the starters and the bullpen.  Oh, and they’ll probably need a new general manager too.

A few quick thoughts on Week 2 of the NFL.  Can anyone beat the Broncos?  They look like they are going to cruise through the AFC.  Impressive road win by the Chargers against the Eagles, especially after choking last week against Houston.   The Cowboys are still the Cowboys. They get a big win against the Giants, and follow it up with a pathetic loss to the Chiefs.  The NFC East looks weak.  The Seahawks are going to be tough to beat with home field advantage, and are the only team that has figured out the 49ers.

As rumored here on Jock Talk LA a few weeks ago, TJ Simers has officially left the LA Times.  Simers is controversial and has his critics, but one cannot deny that he is entertaining.  Simers will now write columns for the Orange County Register that will appear on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sunday’s.  He also took a shot at the Times on his way out the door, calling it “a dead newspaper”. TJ, if you think the LA Times is dead, you have no idea how crappy the OC Register is!

I feel sorry for anyone that actually paid $54 to watch Floyd Mayweather dominate Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night in Las Vegas.  “Mayperview” has become a joke, and so has boxing.  This sport is on life support, and they can’t even present people with the best possible product to keep the sport going.  We all know Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao makes the most sense, and is the only fight worth watching.  Make it happen, or boxing will be dead faster than the OC Register!

Miss America was crowned last night, and the winner was Nina Davaluri of New York, who is of Indian decent.  Before I get in my usual beauty pageant jokes here, I have to say that I’m shocked at the ignorant racist reaction on twitter, and other message boards that took place last night after the pageant.  Davaluri was born in the United States, and has lived here her whole life.  Memo to you morons dropping racial bombs:  This country was actually built by immigrants.  Half of your comments make reference to her being a Muslim, which isn’t even true.  It’s just unfortunate that most of the people making these comments are uncultured buffoons.  Still, with all that being said, I’m disappointed there were no idiotic statements in this pageant, as there was from Ms. Teen South Carolina a few years ago.

And finally, Breaking Bad had by far it’s most shocking episode last night.  Earlier this week, I heard the show described as “the last 15 minutes of sex, for a whole hour.”  I think that accurately describes the third to last episode of the series, called “Ozymandias”.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have it on DVR.  To summarize things, Hank and Gomez are killed in the aftermath of the shootout, Todd’s Uncle Jack takes most of Walt’s money, Walt Jr. knows the truth about his father, and Jesse is being held captive by the white power Nazi’s and forced to cook meth with Todd.  Also of significance, Skyler slashed Walt’s hand with a knife, and Junior calls the police on his dad.  Shortly after that, Walt runs away and takes Holly with him, only to leave her at a fire station later on with her address pinned to her baby clothes.  The episode ends with Walt getting in the vacuum cleaner man’s red van, presumably to start his new life.  However, based on some of the flash-fowards we’ve seen, we know this isn’t true.

For those of you wondering what the hell “Ozymandias” is, it’s a poem written by Percy Shelly about the downfall of a kings.  The meaning of the poem is that all people who are in power, will eventually lose their power.  That is exactly what we witnessed in this episode.  Walt had built a huge drug empire, with more money than he could ever spend in a lifetime.  And all in one episode, his brother-in-law dies, and the rest of his family has turned against him.  I found the most powerful scene in this episode to be when Walt was on the phone with Skyler, condemning her for telling Junior the truth.  Walt channeled his inner “Heisenberg” at this moment with his threatening tone, but he is really doing this to protect Skyler from the police, who are listening to this conversation.  Skyler eventually realizes this before she hangs up the phone.  We see Walt doing this with tears in his eyes, which is a moment in which he looks more like the cancer stricken Walter White, who was simply trying to provide for his family, rather than the mastermind criminal Heisenberg.  There’s just two more episodes left.  Will Walt kill Todd’s Uncle Jack?  Will he kill Jesse?  I’m not sure how they can top this episode, but it figures to be an amazing finish.

September 8th, 2013

We’re only 2 games into the 2013 college football season, and we’re already on Kiffin Watch.  USC athletic directory Pat Haden insisted that Kiffin was not on the hot seat last month.  However, after Saturday night’s debacle at the Coliseum, he’s gotta be thinking about replacing his head coach soon.  The Trojans lost their home opener in pathetic fashion to Washington State by a score of 10-7.  Kiffin has completely micromanaged both of his quarterbacks thus far, and the Trojans scored their fewest amount of points in a game in the last 10 years.  Do you hear that sound Trojan fans?  No, it’s not the fans booing Lane Kiffin off the field on Saturday night.  It’s the sound of USC free falling out of the top 25.

If the Trojans can’t beat WSU at home, then who can they beat?  As much as UCLA and Notre Dame fans are enjoying seeing USC suffer, it’s going to hurt their strength of schedule big time.  After Notre Dame lost to Michigan in the Big House on Saturday, the Irish are going to need some quality wins to get back in the BCS race, and beating up on a crappy Trojan team won’t be one of them.  Same can be said for the Bruins, who have BCS aspirations as well.

Speaking of the Bruins, they’ll be playing with heavy hearts against Nebraska next week, after wide receiver Nick Pasquale was killed in a tragic accident on Saturday morning.  Pasquale spent the weekend back at home in San Clemente, and attended his alma matter San Clemente High’s football game on Friday night.  On Sunday morning at 1:27 am, he was struck by a car on the corner of Camino De Los Mares and Calle Nuevo, in San Clemente.  The accident is still being investigated.  Pasquale was a 20 year old, redshirt freshman, and appeared in the Bruins season opening win against Nevada.  As someone who grew up in San Clemente, it’s certainly easy for me to imagine how a pedestrian could be hit in a neighborhood that is not very well lit at night.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the Pasquale family after this tragic loss.

Here are my thoughts on the NFL season after week 1.  The Steelers are going to be terrible this year.  Colin Kaepernick singled handedly defeated my fantasy team this week, and he might make the 49ers even better this year.  The Cowboys season opening win against the Giants was very predictable, as will be their collapse come January.  Are there any good running backs left?  Shane Vereen was the only running back in the league to rush for 100 yards this week.  My fantasy football team desperately needs help at wide receiver!

On to baseball, where Don Mattingly and the Dodgers have certainly taken their foot off the gas pedal over the last 4 games.  The Boys in Blue were swept by the Reds over the weekend, and after losing 3 straight one run games, they’ve lost four in a row.  Since LA has an 11 game lead in the division, and a magic number of 10 with just 20 games left to play, this doesn’t seem like a big deal.  However, there’s some unsettling trends taking place of late.   The Dodgers are just 2 games behind the Braves for home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.  However, Don Mattingly doesn’t seem to have any interest in home field, because he started Edison Volquez on Wednesday at Coors Field, and rested his 4 best players.  Then against the Reds, he managed without any sense of urgency, refusing to manufacture runs in tight, one-run games.  The Reds were a far more desperate team, and even though they needed the games more than the Dodgers, LA can’t just sit back and wait for the 3-run homer to bail them out.

Meanwhile, Matt Kemp hasn’t given up on a return this season.  Even after straining his hamstring during this rehab assignment, Kemp is still trying to get back into the lineup.  Don Mattingly said Kemp will need at least another 10 days to get ready, and that’s if he doesn’t suffer any more setbacks.  That would leave him just 11 games to convince the Dodgers he’s ready for the playoffs.  Knowing Kemp, he’ll probably break his wrist signing an autograph for a fan, which will effectively end his season.

We’re only a month away from the start of NBA training camp.  My friend Eugene Kim informed me that after several years on the waiting list, he has finally become a Lakers season seat holder.  Eugene told me he plans on attending only “the crappy games.”  Well Eugene, I guess you will be attending all the games this year, because when Mike D’Antoni is your coach, every game is going to be a steamy pile of crap.

What an amazing cliff hanger Breaking Bad left us with last night!   Spoiler Alert for those who have it on DVR.   Before I get to the cliff hanger, I’ve got to mention how the tables finally turned on Walt.  Hank tricks Walt by taking pictures of a barrel of money, and making him think that Jesse is going to burn all of his money that he buried out in the desert.  In the process of Walt racing out to the desert, he is on the phone with Jesse, and incriminates himself by discussing all of his previous criminal activity.    I certainly did not see this one coming.  Jesse is a rat!  He broke the code among criminals, and turned on Walt by rating him out to Hank.  Then again, I never imagined that Walt would ever hire someone to kill Jesse.

Hank slaps the handcuffs on Walt, in a moment that suddenly made the show seem like a modern western.  The good guy forces the bad guy to surrender, and come out slowly with his hands up.  For just a moment, morality and righteousness was prevailing.  Hank calls his wife Marie to celebrate his capture of Walt, and I suddenly got this uneasy feeling that this may be the last time these two may ever speak, and that something bad might happen to Hank.  Moments later, a car shows up with Todd, Uncle Jack, and his band of thugs.  Both sides opened fire, and a gun fight ensued.  Walt and Jesse are both hiding in the cars to avoid the flying bullets, while Hank and his partner Gomez are hiding behind the car during all the gun fire.  That’s when the episode ended!

In addition to the tables finally turning on Walt, it also seems like he’s becoming overly emotional.  He didn’t want to kill Jesse, and reluctantly agreed to it, then called it off at the last moment.  When Uncle Jack shows up, Walt pleads with him not to open fire and klll Hank.  Of course the irony of this is that if Hank is killed, many of his problems are probably solved, and he can be free again.  Thus, it seems like Walt is emotionally conflicted.  With just three episodes left, I get the feeling this is rapidly moving toward an explosive ending.  Walt participated in all this horrific criminal activity to secure his family’s financial future.  Now it seems possible he could lose his family and everyone he cares about before it’s over, which would leave him with a pointless pile of money for a man with only a few months left to live.  This means when it’s over, there will be no winners.  Just one loser.

September 2nd, 2013

College football season is here and both So Cal squads found the win column in week 1.  However,   the Trojans and Bruins each appear to be trending in completely opposite directions.  UCLA obliterated Nevada 58-20 at the Rose Bowl, while the 90 degree heat simultaneously obliterated the fans that were willing to show up in Pasadena.  I’m not sure what’s more amazing: Brett Hundley’s 334 all purpose yards and 4 touchdowns? Or the fact that Jim Mora Jr. was wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt under his polo for 5 hours in the heat?  In any case, UCLA looks like they have an exciting football team for the first time in many years.

Then there’s the Trojans, who had an unimpressive 30-13 win over Hawaii in Honolulu.  Although the USC defense looked strong, the quarterback situation remains an issue for this team.  In addition to the fact that Lane Kiffin foolishly won’t commit to one starting quarterback, he constantly micromanages his signal callers, which inhibits their ability to improve.  Southern Cal had more talent at every position than Hawaii.  Instead of unleashing that talent and seeing what it can do, Kiffin wouldn’t let his quarterbacks do any more than act as game managers.  Kiffin also micromanaged Matt Barkley last season, causing him to lose confidence and ultimately, sink like the Titanic in the NFL Draft.

When it comes to So Cal college football, it appears for now, up is down and down is up.  Jim Mora Jr. looks like the new Pete Caroll.  Lane Kiffin looks like the new Ric Neusheisel.  UCLA has a great quarterback, while USC has two crappy ones.  Before you know it, UCLA will suddenly start having better looking girls on campus than USC.  Ok….maybe not.

As for the rest of the college football weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to see my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame take care of Temple 28-6.  I think most of my fellow Golden Domers were so shocked by “Turnover Tommy” Rees’ two touchdown passes in the first quarter, we felt it was practically a slap in the face to Notre Dame tradition.  Oh, and how could I forget to mention Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, who couldn’t be any more of a douchebag for taunting a player and pretending to sign an autograph after scoring a touchdown on Saturday.  This guy is becoming more unlikeable by the minute. The NCAA knows damn well he accepted money for signing autographs, but they know they have a star they can make money off of, so why suspend him?

On to baseball, where the Dodgers continue to roll.  The Boys in Blue swept the Padres over the weekend, and they’ve now opened up an 11.5 game lead over Arizona in the NL West with just 26 games left to play.  LA can probably look to start getting some of their top players some rest, even though they are only two games back  of Atlanta for the best record in the NL.  It sure would be nice to have a healthy Matt Kemp back for October, but you’d have an easier time trying to find Carmen San Diego right now than finding Kemp’s swing.  He’s been dreadful in his minor league rehab assignment.  Good thing Yasiel Puig showed up….

Despite Puig’s erratic behavior, there’s no doubt he can be a star.  The Dodgers look brilliant now for locking him up to a 7 year $42 million contract last winter, which is a bargain.  Speaking of being worth every penny, Zach Greinke has been a fantastic #2 starter.  After improving to 14-3 with yesterday’s win, Greinke has won 6 straight starts and looks like he’ll make a formidable duo with Clayton Kershaw come October.  Adding veteran infielder Michael Young over the weekend was another great, low risk move for the club too.  Closer Kenley Jensen has been just filthy, as he has converted 17 straight saves, and looks like a completely different pitcher than we saw earlier in the year.

As for the Angels, they’ve won a meaningless 8 of their last 9 games after sweeping the Brewers over the weekend.  As they did last year, they start playing real baseball when their season is already over.  Speculation is already running rampant about what Arte Moreno will do with Mike Scioscia and Jerry Dipoto.  Even though Scioscia deserves to keep his job more than Dipoto, hiring a general manager who can’t hire his own skipper isn’t very ideal.  In fact, when Moreno hired Dipoto two years ago, he was very interested in Rays GM Andy Friedman, but Friedman turned him down.  Moreno needs a general manager who can rebuild his farm system, and turn his current team into a contender by adding quality pitching at an affordable price.  Sounds like he’ll have to hire a new gm with the authority to hire his own manager to make this happen.

Moving on to the Lamar Odom saga, now that he’s has been found, and isn’t actually dead, everyone can resume the jokes.  It’s obvious that LO is on crack because he hasn’t signed with the Lakers, who are the only team that was actually offering him a contract.  Well, they “were” the only team offering him a contract, but after he was arrested for suspicion of DUI last week, that opportunity is gone.   Lamar is a good dude, but he needs to get his life together.  Last week, reports were that he was missing for 3 days, but they were clearly mistaken.  He’s been missing for over 3 years.

This Time Warner Cable vs CBS cable dispute is ridiculous.  I can’t believe they haven’t come to a resolution yet.  You Time Warner Cable subscribers realize that you don’t have CBS, Showtime, and KCAL right now is because TWC doesn’t want to charge you $1 more per month right?  For a company that has been notorious for price gouging its customers, I think they can drop the “concerned for their customers” act and gladly add the $1 to everyone’s bill.  TWC escalated this dispute when they blocked Showtime from its subscribers when the dispute started, and they stand to lose a ton of customers if they don’t figure this out fast.

I realize that I’m late to the party on this whole discussion about last week’s VMA’s, but I wasn’t nearly as horrified with Miley Cyrus as others were.  Her twerking display on stage was just another example of an artist trying to create an identify and sell a brand.  We’ve seen far more offensive displays on stage than what we saw that night, so I’m surprised people are so up in arms over it.  However, with that being said, Miley is definitely trying way to hard to separate herself from her Disney Hannah Montana character, to the point where she is hurting her brand.  There’s nothing wrong with trying to re-brand yourself, but there’s probably better ways to do it.

Sadly, all the talk about Miley Cyrus probably overshadowed Justin Timberlake’s performance.  JT had arguably one of the greatest live on stage performances that I have ever seen.  I would hate to be any artist that had to follow that.  I don’t care if you are a JT fan or not, but that guy is unbelievably talented, and his performance was phenomenal.  Here it is in case you missed it:

Finally, the 4th episode of the final 8 episodes of Breaking Bad aired on AMC last night, and the show took somewhat of a breather.  Spoiler Alert for those of you who have it on DVR! Last night’s episode showed how Jesse was convinced not to burn down Walt’s house by Hank, and then Hank proceeded to try and get Jesse to provide some testimony that would incriminate Walt for all his crimes.  Jesse failed to provide this evidence, and when Hank asked Jesse to wear a wire and meet Walt in person later on, Jesse abandoned the plan at the last moment, thinking Walt has an assassin prepared to kill him.

This particular episode definitely did not provide us with the usual edge-of-your-seat tension as before.  Instead, we are given some meaningful moments to ponder.  I found the most interesting  part of the episode to be the ironic impact Walt has suddenly had on all the other characters.  In the first four episodes of this season, Walt’s biggest threats have been his own brother-in-law Hank, and his former business partner Jesse.  Despite the threats they pose, Walt has refused to kill them, because he cares deeply for both of them, as Hank is his family, and Jesse is practically like a son to him.  For all the horrible things Walt has done, he is still willing to protect the ones he cares about.  The irony of this is the very cavalier attitude Walt’s loved ones suddenly have about killing people.  Skyler urges Walt to kill Jesse in order to protect the family.  Marie suggests that she is enjoying the thought of poisoning Walt, and Hank admits he’s willing to let Jesse get killed if it means incriminating Walt.    These moments are definitely setting the stage for an incredible final four episodes, which Breaking Bad fans anxiously await!

August 26th, 2013

It was quite a run for the Dodgers.   After dropping two out of three to the Red Sox over the weekend, the Boys in Blue lost their first series since mid-June.  LA went 14-0-4 in that stretch before those clam chowder eating, terrible driving, “wicked” accent speaking Boston Red Sox beat them up at Chavez Ravine.  This could have very well been a potential World Series preview, however, fear not Dodger fans, this team is still in great shape.  The team didn’t pitch their top two starters in this series, and Hyun-Jin Ryu took the mound with the flu on Saturday night.  The Dodgers still have a 9.5 game lead over 2nd place Arizona in the NL West.  Besides, did you really expect LA to keep winning those games that Chris Capuano kept getting his ass kicked in every five days?

Meanwhile, I think it’s time for the Dodgers to at least pick up the option on the final year of manager Don Mattingly’s contract next year.  Mattingly has definitely earned his keep.  He’s taken the Dodgers from the 4th worst team in baseball, to the 2nd best record in two months.  He’s done this while dealing with a ton of injuries to the club throughout the year.  He’s also successfully managed two different teams:  A completely stripped down Dodger team at the end of the Frank McCourt era, and a team with much more star power in this years Dodger team.  The players like him, he’s managed the egos well, and he’s a huge part of LA building great clubhouse chemistry.  I’m sure the Dodgers have been keeping an eye on Mike Scioscia, but why mess with success?  You don’t need an organization made up of stars in every role.  LA should also think about that this winter before they start replacing Mark Ellis and AJ Ellis with free agents Robinson Canoe and Brian McCann.

Speaking of Mike Scioscia, he denied there is a rift between himself and general manager Jerry Dipoto.  This was a rather predictable move by the Halos skipper.  However, since these two are really “on the same page”, I’d hate to see how bad this team would be if they weren’t on the same page.  Scioscia claimed that their only real public dispute was when hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was fired last year.  “The one thing that I publicly disagreed with Jerry about, and we’ve talked about it too, is when he let Mickey go.  And that’s been it.”  Scioscia also also said “our  philosophies are right in line with anything we’ve ever done here.”

That couldn’t be further from the truth, but what can you expect him to say when he knows his job could be in jeopardy?  Scioscia and Dipoto have both said they want to focus on improving the pitching staff this off-season.  Have they talked with their boss Arte Moreno yet?  Because he’s probably going to want to waste another $200 million instead on signing Robinson Canoe.

Every baseball fan should be thrilled to know that Dodgers announcer Vin Scully is coming back to call games in 2014.  It will be Scully’s 65th season as the Dodgers announcer, which is remarkable for a man who is 85 years old.  Scully could probably read a phone book, and make it interesting for his listeners.  LA sports fans have been so fortunate over the years to have 3 legendary, hall of fame, announcers in their city:  Scully, Bob Miller of the LA Kings, and the late Chick Hearn of the Lakers.

Why can’t Lane Kiffin just pick a starting quarterback for the Trojans already?  This guy is more indecisive than a 17 year old girl right now.  Kiffin said that “ideally” they don’t want to have a two quarterback system.  Then he decides that both Max Wittek and Cody Kessler will play in the season opener at Hawaii on Thursday night.  SC hasn’t used two quarterbacks since the 1995 season, when Brad Otton and Kyle Wachholtz shared the role.  USC did win the Pac-10 title that year, but these types of systems don’t usually lend themselves to effective chemistry building.  Rumor has it that Kiffin was informed that if Wittek doesn’t win the starting job, he will end up transferring, which could ultimately force him to make a decision, rather than use two quarterbacks.  I’m sure right about now many USC fans are wishing that the Trojans would use two coaches as well.

After hearing reports that Lamar Odom has been missing for 3 days, there were many things that were going through my mind.  I know many of you are expecting me to cue up the jokes on this one, and even though there are probably a multitude of them I can throw in here, it just isn’t the time.  TMZ reported over the weekend that Odom has been battling a drug problem for two years, and that he could be addicted to crack cocaine or Oxycontin or Ambien.  His family reportedly tried to stage a drug intervention, but he refused, then took off.  Nobody has been able to contact him, and his family is speculating he could be on a huge drug binge.  I’m shocked that once the news came out that he was missing, few people reporting on it took it seriously.  Sadly, this is probably because his is married to Khloe Kardashian, who people just associate with fake drama.  On Sunday evening, a rep for Lamar confirmed he was fine, yet would not discuss his whereabouts.

The Lakers and Clippers had both reached out to Odom weeks ago to gauge his interest in playing for them.  However, now it’s clear why he hasn’t signed with either.  Both teams are concerned about his drug abuse.  According to the TMZ report, Odom went to drug rehab for three weeks last August.  He stayed clean while playing for the Clippers, but then began using hardcore recreational drugs when the Clippers season ended a few months ago.    Hopefully LO is ok, can turn his life around, and this story does not have an unfortunate ending.

And finally, Breaking Bad had another riveting episode last night.  Spoiler Alert for those of you who have it on DVR, and have yet to watch it.  In classic Breaking Bad fashion, just when Walter White gets away with something, another thing far worse happens to him.  In this episode, Walter gets the upper hand on his brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, when he makes a video tape confessing his criminal activity, but simultaneously makes Hank the patsy.  This was another brilliant move by Walter, especially considering that his confession brings up the fact he paid for Hank’s medical bills, which Hank had no idea about until seeing the video.  This ends the threat of Hank telling his friends at the DEA about Walter’s criminal activity.

However, a new threat appears to be emerging for Walt, and that is his former business partner Jesse Pinkman, who is angered by the discovery that Walt poisoned the little boy Brock.  Jesse is so angry, that he storms into Walt’s house, and starts pouring gasoline all over the place, presumably to light the house on fire.  I guess we won’t know until next week because that’s when the episode ended.

Several other key themes seemed to emerge from this episode.  Walt has become very good at manipulating people emotionally.  He has done it repeatedly to Jesse, and he even did it to his son, to prevent him from going to visit the Schraders.  The writers of the show also seem to be focused on colors and what they symbolize.  For example, during the meeting between the Whites and Schraders,  Marie wears black to symbolize her mourning for the family she thought she had, while Hank wears purple to atone for upsetting his wife.  In the previous episode, the writers tried to create symbolism by focusing on the colors of Lydia’s shoes.  Speaking of Lydia, her new business partners may be an additional new adversary for Walter.  That is not entirely clear after seeing the opening scene of last night’s episode, but it must have some significance.

The real question moving forward is whether or not Walter would kill Jesse to save himself.  For almost 5 seasons, the show has been built on the emotional relationship between these two.  Now it appears as though it’s ending will be very much revolving around this relationship.  As horrible of a person Walt has transformed into, I still can’t see him killing Jesse.  Walt came very close to getting caught by his brother in law, yet refused to kill him because he was family.  Jesse seems just as important to Walt as Hank is, so I can’t see him killing him, even if it means not saving himself.

August 19th, 2013

The Dodgers lost a game?  What do you mean they lost?  They never lose!  I thought they were supposed to go win every game the rest of the season?  Well, I suppose I can forgive them for losing the series finale to the Phillies yesterday by a score of 3-2, even after Hanley Ramirez made 2 errors in the 9th inning,  The Boys in Blue have still won 10 of their last 11 games, are 25-4 since the all-star break, and are a historical 42-9 in their last 51 games.  Do you realize how good this stretch is?  Going into Friday, the Dodgers had more wins in their last 48 games, than the Houston Astros had in their last 118 games!

Even with a 7.5 game lead though, yesterday’s loss did raise a few questions as LA aims for it’s first World Series title since the Jerry Curl was in.  Will Hanley Ramirez’ defense be an issue when it really matters?  Will Yasiel Puig’s aggressive style of play cost the Dodgers in the late stages of a critical game?  It sure did yesterday, as his failure to hit the cut off man led to the Phillies tying up the game.  Will Matt Kemp ever be healthy and effective, and how will he fit in when he returns?  And will the Dodgers bullpen continue to be effective despite a very heavy workload?  For all of these issues, only time will tell, but at this point, Dodger fans should be enjoying the ride.

Meanwhile, Angel fans aren’t enjoying much right now.  I had the misfortune of actually seeing this disaster in person on Friday night at the Big A, which was when the Angels lost their first of two games this weekend to the lowly Astros.  I’m not even sure the Astros are actually trying to win games right now, but it seems like every time these guys come to town, they give the Halos a beating.  Can anyone actually name 3 players on the Astros team?  1/5th of all of their wins this season have come against the Angels.  It’s clear that the Halos have already packed it in, and the hamstring injury to Mike Trout yesterday just pours a little more salt in the wound.

The only question now is what will be the fate of skipper Mike Scioscia and General Manager Jerry Dipoto.  On Friday night, the LA Times tried to get a comment from owner Arte Moreno regarding the job security of both these men, but Arte declined to speak on the topic.  This fact alone makes it clear that a change of some kind is probably coming at season’s end.  Nevertheless, regardless of who the new GM and manager are, turning this club around any time soon will be tough.

How awkward is this A-Rod situation?  Everyone knows the guy is an expensive, lying, cheating, phony, who’s teammates don’t want him around.  Still, he continues to show up to work, and is actually playing pretty well.  Yankees GM Brian Cashman even said yesterday that he isn’t really comfortable talking to A-Rod “because we feel we are in a litigious environment.”  It must suck to show up to work when nobody wants you there, even when you are doing your job well.

It’s that time of year again: fantasy football draft time!  I had my first of 4 drafts yesterday, and as most fantasy football participants know, it’s usually a celebrated event.  At the same time, the annual complaining from women I’ve dated comes hand in hand with this tradition.  “So let me get this straight.  You are spending the next 5 hours putting together a ‘fantasy’ team?  You know how ridiculous that is? You’re going to spend the next 5 months yelling at your phone, getting disappointed, and then yelling at me for no apparent reason!”  It’s true.  How many times do we end up yelling at our loved ones, or even our dogs, when it’s Philip Rivers we should be yelling at?  Then there’s those weekends when you end up yelling at your TV set like a mad man because your team got beat when the Bears defense scored 17 points to come back and beat you.  Then your foreign born neighbors are wondering what the hell you’re screaming about, then you have to actually explain the concept of fantasy football to them.  At that point, your neighbors walk away acting sympathetic towards you, but in the end, they are filing this one away as another reason they made a mistake in moving to this fast declining country.

Yesterday, via Twitter, we found out that Wayne Gretzky’s infamous daughter, Paulina, is now engaged to pro golfer Dustin Johnson.  I think the question most people are wondering is:  does this mean Paulina will stop posting provocative pictures of herself on the internet?  I’m sure the Great One hopes that is the case, while many other guys don’t.

After Usain Bolt helped Jamaica win the 4×100 meter relay yesterday in the world championships, he tied former US sprinter Carl Lewis with his 10th career medal.  Bolt won 3 gold medals this past weekend, also taking the 100 and the 200 meter races.  I hope this guy enjoys his fame while it lasts, because it’s only a matter of time before we find out he is on PED’s.  You can certainly compare pictures of Bolt when he was younger and see how he’s bulked up in a way that could only be achieved through PED’s.  Even more ridiculous are the world record times he’s been running, obliterating previous marks.  The Jamaicans are known to be pretty lax in their drug testing programs, and as someone who ran and coached track and field, I have a hard time believing someone with the lanky build of Bolt could run that fast.

Finally, last night’s episode of Breaking Bad continued the wild ride for its fans.  It’s amazing how the last 6 episodes of the series appear to be a showdown amongst family members.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have it on DVR.  That showdown appears to be between Hank Schrader and his wife Marie, who are facing off against her sister Skyler, and the infamous Walter White.  Alliances are forming, which I have a feeling will be setting the stage for a shocking betrayal.  Will Walt kill his own wife Skyler?  Will he kill his brother in law Hank?  It appears not, after Walt immediately shot down his slimy attorney Saul’s idea to kill off his brother in law.  One also has to wonder whether or not Jesse Pinkman and Walt will turn on each other, even after Walt was almost a father figure for Jesse in previous seasons.  Remember though: Walter White has slowly transformed from a nerdy chemistry teacher, into a monstrous criminal master mind.  Along the way, he has blown up a nursing home, poisoned a child, and run over drug dealers in the streets to protect himself.  So when a family member is willing to put him in jail, I believe when push comes to shove, he will do whatever is necessary to protect himself.

August 12th, 2013

How many more amazing things can I say about the Dodgers?  They looked like they were in for a tough week going up against the Cardinals and Rays, but knocked both of those teams around like Walter White was in the garage last night (more on that shortly).  After sweeping Tampa and taking 3 of 4 from the Cardinals, the Boys in Blue have won 37 of their last 45 games, which means they’ve played .800 baseball for more than a quarter of the season!  They haven’t had a stretch this good since the 50’s, or when most of your mothers were sporting poodle skirts.  What an amazing comeback win on Friday night after being down 6-0.   LA looks like they might even hunt down the Braves for home field advantage in the NL Playoffs, but does it even matter?  They’ve won 17 of their last 18 games on the road.

The amazing thing about the Dodgers run is that it’s coming without Matt Kemp and lately without Hanley Ramirez.  I still think they’ll need both of these guys healthy come October to put them over the top, but sometimes I think Kemp needs to be placed in bubble wrap to avoid injury.  He nearly injured his wrist shagging fly balls yesterday.  Nevertheless, things are only going to get better when LA adds Brian Wilson to their bullpen in the next week, which will only add to their tremendous pitching staff.

As for the Angels, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank former major leaguer and radio host Jack Clark for informing us this past week that Albert Pujols previously took steroids.  Thanks to Jack, this morning, I can write about the Halos and not focus on how much they suck, or how their bullpen is a pile of rally monkey crap for blowing another lead yesterday against the Indians.

Clark proclaimed on his radio show earlier in the week that he knew for a fact Pujols took steroids when he was with the Cardinals.  He claimed that his trainer told him he personally had injected Pujols with PED’s, but after Pujols threatened legal action, Clark was fired by the radio station.  I don’t blame Jack Clark one bit for what he did.  Radio is about ratings, and Clark gave his listeners some very intriguing insight into what he knows about PED’s, whether you agree with it or not.  He did nothing wrong, and if the station is worried about the potential legal action against him, it’s very shortsighted because Pujols has no chance of winning in court.

I don’t know whether or not Albert Pujols used PED’s or not.  However, the reality of it is that it’s not unreasonable to think he did before.  Here’s a guy whose age some of us aren’t entirely sure about, his numbers are in decline, and his body is starting to breakdown.  Sorry Albert, you may be a stand up guy and a great person, but since many of your peers are documented liars and cheaters, we have a right to be suspicious.  If you have a problem with that, then maybe it’s your peers you should be suing.

On to college football, where USC dodged a major bullet over the weekend.  All-American wide receiver Marqise Lee suffered a shoulder injury on Friday, and was seen leaving the practice field wearing a sling.  However, after X-Rays came back negative, it turned out to be just a bone bruise and Lee is listed as day-to-day.  Maybe this injury will make coach Lane Kiffin re-consider using Lee as a first, second, and third option on every play, which he did last season, so his star player doesn’t get run into the ground.

I’m really looking forward to college football starting so I don’t have to hear anything else about Johnny Football.  I’m about ready to throw my television set out of the window if I hear anything else about this kid.  With that being said, he should be suspended by the NCAA for being a selfish moron, and accepting $7,500 for signing memorabilia.  Even though the NCAA rules are more outdated than The Dead Sea Scrolls, players know what the rules are, and know not to break them.  What makes Johnny Manziel even dumber is that he didn’t need the money, and comes from a well to do family.

Speaking of football, I’m excited about the start of the NFL season and all, but some people can’t even keep it in their pants during the preseason.  I walked into the office this week and my co-workers had already created an office pool for preseason football games.  Nothing like betting on a bunch of guys who will probably not even make it in the NFL.  Even better was my co-workers analysis of the Chargers for the one offensive drive that the starters played on Thursday night.  “Did you see Philip Rivers last night?  He’s going to be the best quarterback in the league this year!  He looked amazing on those three passes he threw!  He’s a changed man!”  Chill out for a couple of more weeks guys.

Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the Wayne Gretzky trade to the Los Angeles Kings.  This is usually a day of great self-reflection for me because Gretzky was my inspiration growing up, which not only resulted in me loving hockey, but loving sports.  As for the trade, I think it’s fair to say that both the Oilers and the Kings benefited a great deal from it.  The Oilers went on to win the Stanley Cup just two years later, while Gretzky created a new generation of hockey fans in non-traditional hockey cities, despite not winning a Stanley Cup in his 8 years in LA.  If anything, I think the NHL got the best of that trade.

NBC recently announced that Jay Leno will be retiring in February of 2014, and Jimmy Fallon will be taking over the Tonight Show at that point.  Wait a second, I’ve seen this movie before, and it ended when Leno stole back his late night show from Conan O’Brien a few years ago.  Leno is still the #1 late night talk show host, and I can’t imagine that he will be leaving television in just 6 months from now.  Fox could bring in Leno for a late night show, and that’s bad news for Fallon.  Not only would he have to replace a legend, but he would have to compete with him as well!

I can’t believe that SyFy’s Sharknado was actually shown in theaters in the past week.  This just goes to show you how badly things are going at the box office these days.  The mockbuster had a special midnight showing in 200 theaters across the nation and was sold out.  Even more amazing is the fact that the Sharknado sequel, which is coming out in 2014, will simply be called “The Second One”.  That has to be the movie equivalent of referring to yourself in the third person.

And finally, the season premier of Breaking Bad last night was phenomenal.  Spoiler alert coming for those of you who have it on DVR, but just when you think the show that could have ended, it finds a way to keep rolling.  I expected these final 8 episodes to start moving at the pace of a crawl and then end the series in explosive fashion.  Instead, the writers of the show created an incredible showdown at the end of the episode between Walter White (played by Brian Cranston) and his brother in law Hank Schrader (played by Dean Norris).  Hank punches Walter in the face in his own garage after confronting him about his transformation into criminal mastermind “Heisenberg”.  The show comes to a chilling close when Hank says “I don’t even know who I’m talking to”, and Walt replies “maybe your best course would be to tread lightly”.  This is just another example of how the show has done an amazing job developing a character who has transformed from a nerdy science teacher, into a brilliant criminal monster.  There are still many questions to be answered in the final 7 episodes, such as what Walt will do with the poisonous ricin vial he has, and why he has a machine gun.  The next 7 weeks should be some great TV.

August 5th, 2013

The Dodgers cannot be stopped.  They’ve won a franchise record 14 straight games on the road, and the last time that was done, Michael Jackson was black and the Republicans actually had a good president.   Since June 22nd, the Boys in Blue have won 31 of 38 games, and are a sizzling 14-2 since the all-star break.  What’s even more impressive is LA’s pitching staff, which hasn’t surrendered a run in the last 23 innings.  They have 6 starting pitchers that are throwing well, and they’ve helped the Dodgers open up a 5.5 game lead over Arizona in the NL West.

After this past weekends’ 4 game sweep over the Cubs, it appears the only thing that could derail the Dodgers are injuries.  Hanley Ramirez injured his right shoulder while diving into the crowd for a foul ball, and was seen leaving Wrigley Field with his arm in a sling.  The good news is that the injury was not to his left shoulder, which was the shoulder that he had surgery on previously.  He’ll be re-evaluated Monday.  Meanwhile, Yasiel Puig sat out yesterday’s game after injuring his thumb trying to be superman again the day before.   LA is hopeful Puig will be back in the lineup on Monday, and they’ll need him for a big week against the Cardinals followed by the Rays.

Well, then there’s lowly Angels.  Even though they took 3 of 4 from terrible Toronto, the Halos bullpen blew another game in the late innings yesterday.  That’s 4 times this week! It’s pretty hard for me to envision how this team is going to improve beyond this season.  There’s very few impact starting pitchers available on the free agent market this coming winter, and the Angels don’t have much money to spend because they blew their loads on Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton.  Since those two guys are under contract for the next century or so, the Halos will have a big challenge trying to afford the $300 million contract that Mike Trout will have to sign then.

Meanwhile, Major League Baseball is about to lay the hammer down on Yankees 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez, who is linked to the Biogenesis performance enhancing drug scandal.  Sources say A-Rod will likely be suspended for the remainder of this season, as well as the entire 2014 season, which may end the 38 year old’s career.   I don’t have any sympathy for this guy after essentially getting caught not once, but twice, doing PED’s since baseball banned them.  I also have to give credit to commissioner Bud Selig, who for years has been known as one of the dumbest commissioners in sports, but is now stepping up his efforts to do the right thing and clean up the game.   I expect more drastic drug testing measures to be enforced in the MLB if they are serious about getting the cheaters out of their game.

Anybody that reads the LA Times sports section has to be wondering: Where has TJ Simers gone?  Simers has not written a column in 6 weeks, and the paper has not mentioned that he is on vacation under his columns, which is usually their protocol.   It now appears he may be let go this week.  Sports blogger Larry Brown reported last week that Simers’ boss at the LA Times is unhappy that he is doing work with Mandalay Sports Entertainment, most recently, a short video of his daughter participating in a free throw contest against Dwight Howard.    Simers is reportedly interested in launching a reality TV show about his family, in partnership with MSE, and this also isn’t sitting well with the big guys at the LA Times.  Love him or hate him, Simers is one of the most entertaining sports journalists in Southern California, and it would be a mistake for the paper to let him go.  Who else is going to badger Southern California athletes and coaches during post game press conferences?  Another quality columnist will depart, and the LA Times will move closer to their demise.  Here’s a look at his recent video….

Trying to choose a cable provider these days is like being forced to choose between a handful of drunk and ugly women at a bar.  Since Time Warner is in a dispute with CBS, that means if you are in Southern California, you aren’t receiving CBS, KCAL, or Showtime.  If you go with Direc TV, you’ll be forced to live without the Pac-12 Network, which is tough with college football coming up.  Dish Network has virtually no sports packages or channels, U-Verse doesn’t even have the NHL Network, and Cox just punishes customers with their prices.  Wait until the Dodgers launch their new channel on Time Warner in 2014, and then shit will really hit the fan.  These cable companies need to start offering their channels a la carte instead of packaging them with expensive other useless content.

Speaking of TV, Shark Week is airing on the Discovery Channel this week and it’s awesome!  I think at this point, Discovery should just give us Shark month.  I must say though, in recent years I’ve been a little disappointed in the amount of sensationalization that has gone on during the week, with many programs on shark attacks, and people who have told devastating stories about their limbs being torn off.    I’m terrified enough of Sharks, and don’t need to hear about this kind of stuff.  If anything, I want to hear more about what we’ve learned about these animals in recent years, which is incredibly fascinating.  I like what I saw last night, and watching scientists theorize about the estimated 60 foot Megaladon Shark was riveting.  Even better was watching video clips of mysterious attacks of fishing boats, which was like watching the Blair Witch Project on a boat.  Here’s a good Shark Week drinking games for you:

These are definitely the dog days of summer when it comes to sports stories.  That couldn’t have been more evident this week when Saints Quarterback Drew Brees was criticized by a celebrity gossip website for leaving only a $3 tip at a restaurant for a takeout order.  With that being said…..$3 for a takeout tip?  As far as I’m concerned, you’re lucky if you get a $1 from me as a tip on a takeout order.   Also, I love how restaurants and servers take the liberty adding in gratuity of 18-20%, and some insist that “20% is the minimum” one should be leaving.  Nice try.  Gratuity is simply predicated on performance.  If you did a good job, you’ll get rewarded.  If you didn’t, you’ll get little or nothing.  As for Brees, he’s one of the most stand up guys you will ever meet, and is the furthest thing from cheap.

Finally, I don’t understand all the hype about Sprinkles Ice Cream in Newport Beach.  For those of you unfamiliar, Sprinkles is an ice cream and cup cake place that’s been around for a while in Beverly Hills, but recently opened up in Newport.  People have been so excited about it, that they’ve been waiting 3 to 4 hours in line to get their ice cream!  I decided to go last week on a Monday night, and the wait was “only” 20 minutes.  Let’s just say I want my 20 minutes back.  Here’s what the line usually looks like:

July 29th, 2013

The Dodgers are hotter than two super models fighting over a cheeseburger at In-N-Out.  After Yasiel Puig’s walk-off home run to beat the Reds yesterday, the boys in blue are 9-1 since the all-star break, and in 1st place by 2.5 in the NL West.   LA has won 26 of 32, and since Yasiel Puig was called up on June 3rd, they’ve had the best record in baseball.  Things have been so good, it’s almost concerning.  The Dodgers can’t possibly play .800 baseball for the rest of the season.   Is the team peaking too early?  Only time will tell, but they certainly have the pitching to be a factor.  Heck, even reliever Brandon League doesn’t suck anymore!

Meanwhile, Don Mattingly still can’t get any job security.  General Manager Ned Colletti was asked about extending Mattingly’s contract in a radio interview on 710 ESPN earlier in the week, and hardly gave Mattingly a vote of confidence.  Colletti said “We still hold an option on Don and I think everybody is focused on the last two months of the regular season.  We’re not looking at staff or player personnel situations, pending free agency, or stuff like that.”  Really?  You can’t give this guy any job security after what he’s overcome?  This situation is becoming more obvious than Shaquille O’Neal at a midget convention.  The Dodgers are hoping to hire Mike Scioscia.    Why else would you not commit to a guy that has proven so much?

Speaking of Scioscia, the Angels continued to sink faster than the Titanic in Oakland over the weekend.  This team is amazing.  Just when you think they are getting a decent starting pitching performance from Garrett Richards and on their way to a win, Scott Downs comes out of the bullpen to blow the game!  Then yesterday, the offense explodes and the Halos jump out to a 5-0 lead, only to have starter Tommy Hanson screw it up by giving up 5 runs in less than 5 innings.

If that isn’t enough, Albert Pujols was placed on the DL over the weekend with a torn ligament in his foot, and will likely miss the rest of the season.  That’s definitely the extra kick in the balls the Halos needed to give up on their season.  Pujols has been playing through pain all season, but he’s managed to be somewhat productive, hitting .258 with 17 home runs.  According to Fox’s Ken Rosenthal, the Angels are definite sellers with the trade deadline approaching.  They will be listening to offers for Howie Kendrick, Erik Aybar, and Scott Downs.  Their goal is to upgrade their starting pitching, but without big time prospects, that like trying to swap a Honda for an Italian Sports Car.

I’ve been very impressed with the number of players who have spoken out against Ryan Braun after we learned this week he’s at the center of the Biogenesis scandal.  Braun was nearly caught two years ago using performance enhancing drugs, and when he escaped on a technicality, he screamed from the mountain top that he was clean.  Now that we know he was lying, he’ll forever be known as “Lyin Braun”

Major League Baseball simply isn’t doing enough to stop players from cheating.  The potential reward for using performance enhancing drugs is a mult-year contract worth over $100 million, and the risk is only a brief suspension.  If the MLB is serious about ending this problem, they will start throwing people out of the league or terminate their contracts after getting caught once.  Wait until we start hearing names of NBA players who are on HGH.  I’m sure that’s coming next, and I’m scared to find out who’s on the list.

On Pac-12 media day, USC AD Pat Haden declared that head football coach Lane Kiffin “is not on the hot seat”.   Haden claimed that SC is still being negatively impacted by the reduction in scholarships they are still facing from NCAA penalties.  Funny how this never seemed to be an issue in the first year of the penalties when the Trojans went 10-2 with a much less experienced squad.  Make not mistake about it, if SC has another 7-6 season, those rich alums who’s daddy’s own Hotel Figueroa will be withholding their donations until Kiffin is replaced.  Here’s what Haden had to say in case you missed it….

Lakers point guard Steve Nash will be given an honorary tryout with storied European soccer franchise Inter Milan this week.  For a guy that’s 40 years old, and coming off hip, hamstring, and back issues, this feels like a bad idea.  Nash even claimed that he isn’t 100% healthy yet, which makes this decision seem dumber than Johnny Manziel’s decision to attend a UT frat party.

Speaking of dumb, former Lakers center Andrew Bynum claims that he “hasn’t had the opportunity to play for a city that is really just gonna stand up and really support the team.”  Bynum recently signed a 2 year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers.  I guess Andrew doesn’t remember all the support the fans gave the Lakers during their recent back to back championships, especially since he wasn’t even healthy enough to be on the court for most of it.  Andrew’s going to be pretty disappointed to learn that the fans in Cleveland don’t actually “stand up” because there isn’t much to cheer about.  Especially since they live in Cleveland.

Over the weekend my long time friend Pam Chiu told me a classic LA Clipper story.  Recently, Pam and her friends were at a restaurant in LA, when Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan walked up next to them.  Since NBA players look like aliens from outer space when seen in a public place, it was pretty hard for her not to notice these two dudes that were two feet taller than her.  Pam looked up at Blake and said “Wow, you guys are really tall.  Um….are you guys race car drivers?”  There you have it folks.  When a Laker player walks into a restaurant, everybody knows who they are.  When a Clipper player walks into a restaurant (even the most popular player in franchise history), people ask who the hell they are.  I bet you Pam got her table before Blake and Deandre did too.

In a recent poll by Travel and Leisure Magazine, San Francisco was named the snobbiest city in America.   As someone who actually lived in San Francisco, this makes perfect sense.  That city is so snobby because it is made up of a number of different types.  There is the “leftist snob”, who wouldn’t vote for anyone other than a 3rd party candidate.  There is the “gay snob” who only supports establishments owned by individuals from the LGBT community.  There’s also the “organic snob”, who is known for interrogating the vendors at Farmers markets about the exact origins of their seeds.  Keep in mind, for all the crap Los Angeles and Orange County receive for being snobby places to live, LA didn’t even end up being in the top 15, and no city in Orange County made the list.  So to all my friends living in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and DC, your cities are much snobbier than mine!