November 27, 2017

UCLA shocked everybody over the weekend by not only hiring Chip Kelly, but stealing him away from Florida.  I guess Dan Guerrero got tired of me making fun of him for not giving a crap about his football program, and not actually paying up for good coaches.  The reality of it is that this was the perfect storm for the Bruins.  Kelly loves the Pac 12, loves the fact Bruin football isn’t under a microscope, and was not heavily influenced by money because the 49ers are going to be paying him until he dies.  Kelly’s system is fast and exciting.  Even faster than the Bruins were eliminated from Pac 12 contention this season.

Meanwhile listening to Trojan fans complain about the Kelly hire is hilarious.  It’s hilarious because many of those Trojan fans wish it was Kelly coaching their team rather than Clay Helton.  In fact, at the beginning of last season, Helton was on the hot seat, then turned things around for the Trojans.  Kelly was rumored to be the next Trojan coach.  Now Helton appears to be just good enough to keep the Trojans competitive in the Pac 12, but not nationally relevant.  That’s not good enough to fire him.  USC should be happy though because they lucked out getting to play Stanford again for the conference title, instead of a Washington State team that beat them earlier in the season.  It’s also probably a good thing they aren’t playing in the college football playoff, because they would have been embarrassed by any of the teams playing in it.

Elsewhere around College Football, you didn’t really think that Notre Dame wasn’t going to find a way to disappoint their fans before the season ended did you? Only the Irish could let their season unravel in a matter of three minutes during the 4th quarter against Stanford.  Notre Dame can definitely kiss their hopes of a New Year’s Six Bowl game goodbye.  Then there’s Alabama, who lost the Iron Bowl to Auburn.  That will likely put the Tide on the outside of the CFP looking in.  Alabama fans haven’t been this upset since the integration of public schools.  This boycott Tennessee made against Greg Schiano had nothing to do with his connection to the Penn State scandal.  It’s obvious the Volunteer alums and fan base were not having anything but a big name coach their program.  Too bad there aren’t enough big names out there.

To the NFL, where the Rams got a nice win against the Saints yesterday at the Coliseum.  If the Rams get a big win, and nobody was there to see it, did it really happen? There were only about 45,000 people at the Coliseum on Sunday, and another 15,000 dressed as empty seats.  That was against a great New Orleans team.  I really don’t know what it’s going to take for people to support this team because they are winning, and might even end up in the NFC Championship game.  Jared Goff has improved so much, he’s completely destroyed my ability to make jokes about him.  Were it not for Carson Wentz, Goff might be talked about as one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL.  The scary part is it’s going to take 10 wins just to make the playoffs in the NFC, so the Rams need to keep winning.  That won’t be that easy considering they still have to play at Seattle, and against the Eagles.

Somehow, the Chargers are not only back in contention for a playoff spot, they might even win the AFC West.  Their huge win over the struggling Cowboys on Thanksgiving put them just a game behind Kansas City in the division.  It was clear that with Tony Romo working the broadcast on CBS, the Cowboys honored their former quarterback by committing lots of turnovers against the Bolts.  Phil Rivers’ family is so big, it probably took him four hours just to feed his entire family Thanksgiving dinner.

The Clippers may have won their last two games, but prior to that their losses were piling up faster than sexual harassment victims in Hollywood.  It’s time for the Clip show to pull the plug on the season and tank.  They should be used to that since they did that annually prior to Chris Paul arriving in LA.  They finally have their own draft pick this season, Patrick Beverly is out for the year, and Danilo Gallinari will be hurt five minutes after he comes back.  This is really what some members of the Clipper front office wanted to do, but Doc Rivers sure didn’t.  Speaking of Doc, Steve Ballmer should just lock himself in a room with him and stare at Doc until he quits.  He should probably trade DeAndre Jordan and listen to offers for Blake Griffin after that, since those two are fairly inept in the 4th quarter.  I wouldn’t be shocked if DJ or Doc were gone by Christmas.

As for the Lakers, you knew Lavar was going to do this at some point.  Sure enough, last week he criticized Luke Walton and the organization for going soft on Lonzo.  Well Lavar, if you wanted the Lakers to go tough on Lonzo, he probably would never see the floor, since he’s shooting 32% from the field.  Luke’s response was pretty epic though, basically saying the team doesn’t care what parents think.  Unlike those of you that hate Lavar though, I don’t take most of what he says seriously.  He is trolling everybody, including the President of the United States.  You can actually take this guy seriously???

There’s talk that Giancarlo Stanton is going to find a way to force his way to the Dodgers since he has a the ability to veto certain trades.  There’s also some talk that he could end up with the Giants.  I could care less if that happens.  As I’ve said, the Dodgers do not need Stanton at all.  The Giants can have him, and they can enjoy paying his $300 million salary for the next decade, while they continue to put a lineup around him that can’t even hit little league pitching.  Obviously at a certain price the Dodgers would have to go get Stanton, but building from within is much more desirable for LA at this point, and probably more likely to get them where they want to go.  Not some shiny new toy in Stanton, who will give the Dodgers nothing more than offseason headlines.

Finally, The Walking Dead went down last night on AMC.  Spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t seen it, so read no further if that is the case, and you plan on watching it later.  Why are kids just obsessed with following Carol?  That episode should have been called, “come with me.”  Rosita went with Michonne.  Carol went with Siddiq, and Tara went with Darryl.  Rosita just welcome herself back to the show by using a bazooka on a Savior.  Was Rick doing arts and crafts while naked in the container?  Admit it, now that Morgan is crossing over onto Fear The Walking Dead, you are pissed because you are thinking of catching up on that crappy show.  Once again, everybody like Michonne, Rosita, and Carl were making stupid decisions this episode.  Only two more episodes in 2017, which is both exciting and disappointing.  Hoping for a lot more in those two episodes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 20, 2017

Yesterday was Jim Mora Jr.’s birthday.  Happy Birthday Jim! You’re getting $11 million to go home and not coach the UCLA football team anymore.  When is Dan Guerrero’s birthday? Hopefully UCLA doesn’t have to wait that long to fire him.  I’m surprised Guerrero had the guts to make this move with some much money left on his contract, but it was the right decision.  It’s the right decision if UCLA can convince someone like Chip Kelly.  I say “someone” because Florida is a better option for Kelly.    As for Saturday night, Josh Rosen proven he’s the better quarterback over Sam Darnold, but Darnold played on the better team.  It just goes to show you how Mora completely wasted the talent he recruited over the last 6 years.    Meanwhile, the Trojans may have escaped with the win, but that’s about all they can feel good about.    Darnold looked about as accurate as Hellen Keller throwing darts, and the offense had about as much rhythm as Ashley Simpson.  The Trojans need coaching just about as bad as the Bruins do, but their talent sometimes hides it.

On the hardwood, the Bruins basketball team is 3-0 after a couple of wins over those powerhouse programs Central Arkansas and South Carolina State.  This is what this “basketball school” has become.  Frankly, had it not been for the side show that is Lavar Ball and those three idiots that shoplifted in China, people would be talking more about how unimpressive the Bruin basketball team looks.  Trump tweeted that he should have just left the three kids in jail in China, after Lavar didn’t acknowledge the President’s role in their release from prison.  However, if Trump really wanted to punish the three kids, he’d make them watch film of Lonzo Ball playing for the Lakers.

The Dodgers don’t need to trade for Giancarlo Stanton.  That would be like buying a Ferrari when all you need is an oil change in your Honda.  Contracts that are ten years in length never work out.  Besides, the Dodgers don’t need a power-hitter in their lineup who strikes out a lot.  They need a reliable contact hitter who can put the ball into play.  One they already have returning from injury, in Andrew Toles.  They also don’t need to waste their money on Yu Darvish.  Darvish can’t be trusted to win a big game in the postseason, so why pay big money for a guy who is a glorified middle of the rotation pitcher? The Dodgers should sign Shohei Ohtani though.  His potentially elite right-handed pitching is exactly what this team needs.  Aren’t you proud of me? I wrote a whole Dodger paragraph without criticizing Andrew Friedman.

Lonzo Ball went eight days between triple doubles, and in between everybody was trying to send him to the G-League.  Yes he’s had some ugly games, but get a grip people, this is what it looks like building around a 19-year old in the NBA.  He’s actually turning out to be a decent defender, clearly he can pass, and he’s already a good rebounder.  Shooting is the easiest part of an NBA players game to fix, if they work on it. That’s exactly what happened to a player like Jason Kidd, who turned out to be a Hall of Famer.  If there was no Lavar Ball and this wasn’t happening in a big market, you might have some more rationale perspective on this.  The same can be said for Brandon Ingram, who is much improved from last year, yet people are still finding a way to bitch about him.  This is simply rebuilding in the NBA.  It takes time.  You just don’t have the time to wait.  Do the Lakers have the time though? That remains to be seen.

Looks like the Clippers are back to being the worst team in Los Angeles.  Doc Rivers decided to call his team out after losing to Charlotte, which was the team’s 8th straight loss.  Is anyone going to call out Rivers for his inability to actually design an offense?  Everyone thought Blake Griffin was an MVP candidate after 4 games.  Since then, when the 4th quarter comes around he disappears like Amelia Earhart.  This is just another reason why Blake is a good #2 or #3 option, but not the guy you want as your #1.  Doc Rivers on the other hand is not the guy you want at all.

Disappointing loss yesterday for the Rams at Minnesota.  Was Cooper Kupp shaving points? Because he left about 10 of them on the board.    You’ve gotta give Jared Goff credit for not turning the ball over against a tough defense, but the Rams have bigger picture problems.  They lost Robert Woods, and look like they are going to lose the battle for home field advantage to the Eagles, Vikings, and Saints.  Those are all teams whose defenses are going to be a matchup problem for the Rams and their high-scoring offense.  This Rams team is much improved, but it looks like this is where the fun ends, with the schedule getting much tougher from here.  Amazingly enough, people still aren’t showing up to the Coliseum, despite the fact the Rams have been winning.  Adam Thielan is the fastest white guy I have ever seen…..

Not even the Chargers could blow it against the Bills yesterday.  Buffalo made one of the stupidest personnel decisions by benching Tyrod Taylor in favor of Nathan Peterman, who was giving out interceptions like he had a Groupon for them.  Shockingly, the Bolts are only only one game out of the AFC Wild Card spot.  Even more exciting for them is the fact they get to play the Cowboys in four days, who are sinking like the Titanic.  The Charger players said they felt disrespected by the Bills quarterback switch, which motivated them to put up 54 points.  They should feel disrespected over the fact that they don’t have any fans showing up to their games, and that their owner has no idea what he’s doing.

Elsewhere around the NFL, Roger Goodell got a good laugh last night at Jerry Jones’ Cowboys getting blown out by the Eagles.  The Chiefs’ season is disappearing faster than Andy Reid’s food at a Chinese buffet.  The Steelers dominated the Titans.  It was so cold in Pittsburgh that Le’Veon Bell’s bong water froze.  Jay Cutler threw 3 interceptions in the 1st half in Miami’s loss to Tampa.  That means everybody attending the game in Miami gets 50% off on cigarettes at 7-11.  If the Redskins lose any more players to injury, they are going to have to start asking people from Trump’s cabinet to play on Sunday.  The Raiders had more fans arrested in Mexico than points scored this weekend. Things are going so badly for the Packers that they are actually peeing themselves…..

Finally, The Walking Dead went down last night on AMC, which was episode 5 of season 8.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case.  Admit it, for just a second, you were feeling bad for Negan when you found out that his wife died of cancer.  Then you remembered he killed Abraham and Glenn and you hated him again.  Why don’t people put Walker guts on themselves all the time? It’s the most effective trick we’ve seen again them.  Creepy Gabriel not only lived, but he’s back after declaring he was present to take Negan’s confession.  If everybody claims they are all Negan, then why do they have to kneel before the real one?  Darryl and Rick are fighting like brothers, but I do love the reference Rick made back to season 1, when he told Darryl “the chokehold is illegal”.  The look on Gabriel’s face when that women said “thank God for you Negan” was priceless!  I’m not going to be like these whiny babies that say they aren’t liking the show, but that episode had much more potential and fell short.  It would have been nice to see a more extensive flashback of Negan pre-apocolypse and how he came into power.  Not just an explanation.  Nevertheless, this episode was better than the last.

 

November 13, 2017

So Luol Deng wants a trade? That’s hilarious.  Deng really doesn’t know the Lakers have been trying to trade him for over a year? If they could find a taker for him, I’m sure Rob Pelinka would carry Deng to Minnesota, Phoenix, Philadelphia, or any other sucker franchise that might take him.  If the Lakers are so focused on moving Deng’s contract, and maybe even Clarkson or Julius Randle, why the hell doesn’t Luke Walton actually play them?  It would actually help their trade value. I get that Kyle Kuzma is pretty good, and that Lonzo Ball needs to develop, but Clarkson and Randle can actually help them win games now.  You would never be able to tell by the way we are treating them though.

I love those idiots that supported the idea that the Clippers were somehow going to be better without Chris Paul this year.  The Clips have lost five in a row, are sinking like the Titanic, and some of you think it will be all good once they get healthy.  I’ve got news for you, they have a bunch of injury prone players on their team.  They are never going to be healthy.  Even when they are, they just aren’t that good.

Do you realize how disappointing this UCLA story was last week?  The whole program goes to China, three people get detained, and none of them included Dan Guerrero or Steve Alford.  Even more disappointing is the fact that we didn’t get a Lavar Ball-Donald Trump press conference.  Nothing could possible be more entertaining.  I guess LiAngelo Ball already leads the Bruins in steals.  He probably wouldn’t have gotten that many minutes on the Bruins’ team this year anyway, and neither would the other two players who were arrested.  That’s says a lot considering UCLA struggled against Georgia Tech on Friday, looking nothing like the solid they were last season.

So that’s it for Trojan football huh? They couldn’t just wait another week to clinch the Pac-12 South and make their game against UCLA next Saturday a little bit more interesting could they?  Sam Darnold didn’t have any problems against Colorado on Saturday, and USC jumped out to an early lead, while toying with the Buffaloes on the way to another win.  Colorado just couldn’t match the talent of the Trojans, which was reflected in the number of big plays USC made on both sides of the ball.  I’d expect that to continue next week against an inconsistent UCLA team, but trouble could be ahead come the Pac-12 Championship game on Dec 2nd.

It was nice of Josh Rosen and the Bruins to show up against Arizona State.  By show up, I mean it was only the offense that showed up, but that was enough to actually beat the Sun Devils.  How do the Bruins rack up that many points and still don’t have a 100-yard rusher?  If feels like Jim Mora has to win his last two games just have a chance to keep his job, and I’m not even sure that’s enough to ensure him he stays.

Just when you start to believe in Notre Dame they go back to being the same old Irish, disappointing against top 10 opponents.  That’s exactly what happened when they got embarrassed by Miami on Saturday.  Things haven’t been this bad for Notre Dame since the movie Spotlight game out.

To the NFL where the Rams are now 7-2 after destroying the Texans.  I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Jared Goff is turning himself into an MVP candidate.  He’s probably not going to win it because ESPN is in bed with Carson Wetnz, as well as the fact Todd Gurley is going to split votes with him.  In any case, with Richard Sherman done for the season, the Seahawks are toast, and the Rams might as well pencil themselves in as NFC West champs.  The next three games against Minnesota, New Orleans, and Philadelphia will really tell us whether or not the Rams are going to have any real chance once they actually get to the playoffs.

i’ve gotta hand it to the Chargers, who just find new ways to lose games all the time.  This time it was at the hands of the Jaguars, and their former kicker Josh Lambo.  How many more games does this team have to lose before the league just forces them to go back to San Diego? How many more embarrassments at the StubHub Center involving opposing fans do we have to witness? Probably a lot more.

Finally, The Walking Dead was back on AMC last night with episode 4 of the season.  Spoiler alert if you have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case.  I was wondering all along who the next character to die would be.  It’s been way too long since somebody of significance died.  We’ve seen horrible deaths, but this time, the show may have gone too far.  They killed Shiva, who died at the hands of a pack of Walkers.  I can just see the amount of letters the show producers are going to get from PETA this week.  You haven’t bent this upset since Glenn died at the beginning of last season.  I’ve gotta say that most of the time, I don’t like these episodes that side track and focus on one character who doesn’t need one whole episode dedicated to him or her.  However, we needed to see the backstory on King Ezekiel, who lost his whole army, as well as Shiva.  I hope they do the same with Negan.  Speaking of Negan, where the hell is he? When do we find out what happened to him and Father Gabriel? Will we ever see Carl again? He might as well be dead.

 

 

 

November 6, 2017

Congratulations to the Houston Astros and their fans on winning the World Series.  As if Justin Verlander’s life couldn’t get any better.   As for the Dodgers, their cockiness caught up with them.  After game 6, Yasiel Puig and other Dodger players told the media that the Astros had no chance to win the series.   That cockiness extended to Dodgers’ radio host David Vassegh, who was even more cocky after game 6.   Screw Yu.  Yes, as in Yu Darvish, who couldn’t win the big games the Dodgers acquired him for.  The Astros treated Darvish like a Harvey Weinstein victim.  Carlos Correa’s girlfriend still got a ring before Clayton Kershaw.  The Dodgers also couldn’t hit with runners in scoring position when it mattered most.  LA will be in contention next year, but their chances of winning the World Series are no better than getting hot on the tables in Vegas.  That’s just baseball.  Kenley Jansen and Clayton Kershaw won’t be great forever.  Hopefully the Dodgers don’t sabotage themselves with an overuse of analytics moving forward, which is a major reason why they lost this series.

Very quietly, the Angels made a big move by re-signing Justin Upton to a 5-year deal.  In general, giving long-term deals to outfielders over 30 hasn’t worked out well for many teams.  However,  this is a good start to the offseason for the Halos, as they need to spend lots of money to fill a lineup that has more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese.  They also need to spend because they need real quality major league players while they rebuild their crummy farm system.  If the Angels can also find a way to trade for Giancarlo Stanton, they may actually make the playoffs next year.  Of course having the Astros in their division means the Halos will be relegated to fighting for a Wild Card spot and the right to get punked early on in the postseason.

The Lakers may have won last night, but is it too soon to be concerned about Lonzo Ball?  It’s been 10 games already and he’s played well in about 2 of them.  The biggest issue is actually not his shooting, but rather his lack of aggressiveness.  I never expected him to be Ray Allen from the 3-point line, but he is capable of doing much more on the offensive end.  Screw this “let the game come to you nonsense”.  Lonzo’s best chance to contribute more offensively is with his speed and playmaking ability in transition.   The more the Lakers run and he attacks the paint, the sooner we can stop making fun of his shot and Lavar.  I hope Luke Walton plans on making this adjustment very soon, or else people will start calling Lonzo a bust.  On the bright side though, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma are coming along just fine, as is the Laker defense.  It just so happens that the Lakers also have a better record than the Cavs too, which can’t hurt their chances with Lebron next summer either.

Meanwhile, the Clippers are like high school girls, finding a way to continue their drama when you think it’s gone.  We’re a couple of weeks into the season now and Doc Rivers is still doing damage on the team’s chemistry issues and culture last season.  His latest proclamation was that JJ Redick was practically begging the Clippers to return last summer, which Reddick denied.  Doc needs to stop talking about this nonsense and focus on basketball.  If the Clippers hope to add any free agents in the near future, any NBA player will start thinking twice about joining them knowing that Doc might be responsible for that negative culture.  Doc is definitely responsible for his team running the YMCA offense, which is nothing but Blake Griffin hero ball at the end of games.  We’ve seen much of that in the Clipps latest losing streak.

To college football, where the Trojans found the win column on Saturday against Arizona.   This one was actually much more unsettling than the final score, with Ronald Jones needing to do his best Bo Jackson impression to secure the win.  USC is a good team, but not the elite team everybody thought they were going to be.  They nearly collapsed, giving away a 21-point lead.   They’ll easily win the Pac 12 South, but the next real test they’ll have will be against Washington in the Conference Title Game.   If that game turns into another embarrassment against an elite team, they’ll be more pressure on Clay Helton.  Unfortunately for Sam Darnold, the disappointing play by the Trojans has raised more questions about his career potential in the NFL.   Darnold doesn’t care and reportedly just doesn’t want to be drafted by the Browns.  Can you blame him though? Wouldn’t you rather party with sorority girls then spend your weekends taking a beating in Cleveland.

Elsewhere around the college game, “The Ohio State University” just took “The Biggest Beatdown” of the season on Saturday.  The Big 10 is doing everything possible to not send a team to the College Football Playoff.  Baker Mayfield put up video game numbers, and Oklahoma outlasted Oklahoma State.   It feels like those two teams scored more points than 49ers and Browns have all season.    The Irish keep winning, which is weird for the fans.   Notre Dame fans feel like Cub fans before the World Series win last season, always waiting for disaster to happen.  To Brian Kelly’s credit, that disaster hasn’t struck yet.

I think its safe to say the Rams are a lot better at football this year.  The Rams and Seahawks both faced injury decimated teams yesterday.  The Rams dismantled the Giants, while Seattle lost a close one at home to the Redskins.  That’s where this team is easily the best in the division right now.  The Rams have also scored 263 points in 8 games this season.  They had just 224 points all of last season.    It just goes to show you that the NFL is more unpredictable than who Donald Trump is going to argue with next.  The best part is the Rams still have to play the Eagles and the Saints at home, which is potentially huge for home field advantage in the NFC playoffs.  Did I really just write that? Playoffs? The Rams are really that good, and they are getting even better.  Let’s just hope they get the support they deserve next Sunday the Coliseum.

Week 9 was filled with blowouts.  The Eagles ripped the Broncos, and replacing Brock Osweiler with Trevor Siemian is like using a bandaid to stop an oil leak.  Leonard Fournette was benched by the Jaguars for being a highly successful player, which is a direct violation of team rules.  The Jags still managed to destroy the Bengals.  DeShaun Watson with a torn ACL is probably better than Tom Savage.  So is a coat rack.  The Raiders beat the Dolphins, and used Amare Cooper on the “hands team” to recover an onside kick.  Cooper leads the NFL in drops.  The Raiders just trolled the Dolphins.  Ezekiel Elliot’s “on again” then “off again” suspension was back off, and the Cowboys beat the Chiefs.  Elliot and the NFL are more on and off than Rachel and Ross on “Friends”.  It was also a fantastic week for the Browns, who didn’t play, which means they didn’t actually lose.  Great potato sack race celebration by the Chiefs here…..

Finally, The Walking Dead was back on AMC last night.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if you plan on watching it later.  I like how Morales was around for about 15 minutes before getting killed.  It was like he got his acting job back and taken away in the same day.  He talked more in those 15 minutes than he did during the entire first season.  Can we just find out already what happened to Father Gabriel?! This is turning into that moment when we thought Glenn died after falling off the dumpster, but didn’t find out he lived for a couple of episodes.  I prefer Daryl and Morgan’s “kill now and ask questions later” strategy.  Daryl is clearly not big believer in the idea that you “don’t shoot the messenger.”  If you like spaghetti on this show, you’re going to die.  Herschel, now Eric.  After we learned that the Saviors were ordered not to kill Rick, Maggie, or the King, no way the King is going to die in the shootout we saw in the cliff hanger.  Michonne and Carl just hanging back in Alexandria like they are on vacation.  Hope the next episode moves a little faster.