September 9, 2024

That was a tough loss for the Rams yesterday against the Lions to open the season. Not so much because of the loss, but more so because of the injuries to Puca Nakua, and the offensive line. It already feels like 2022 again. They had a great chance to win however, but they lost to a team that is very much a strong contender to come out of the NFC and make it to the Super Bowl. One thing is for sure though: Cooper Kupp has now re-claimed the #1 wide receiver role with the Rams. There’s a lot of fire power around him, but he’s the guy. Also, can we stop pretending like Aaron Donald is going to come back? He’s not. Dude was sleeping on his couch yesterday, and his wife confirmed as much over Instagram. Their defense is still pretty good anyway, but they’ll be put to the test next week at Arizona.

Meanwhile, the Chargers took care of the Raiders at SOFI Stadium. They played the Raiders, so no matter who was coaching them, they should have won, but the start of the Harbaugh era is what matters here. That means a big culture change, which means having the confidence to finish games much better, and having the confidence that they can do it. That’s exactly what happened yesterday after a slow start that saw them trailing at the half, before finally taking control in the 4th quarter. It’s nice to see J.K. Dobbins have a big game, because he’s obviously been through a lot with all his knee surgeries. The schedule is very much in the Bolts favor to begin the season, so let’s see if they can take advantage of it.

So far, USC doesn’t seem to be having any trouble with their Big 10 Schedule. But that’s probably also because they haven’t played any Big 10 Teams. They dominated Utah State 48-0 over the weekend, to improve to 2-0. Miler Moss only had to play 2.5 quarters and Quinten Joyner piled up the yardage and TDs on the ground, but the story was the defense. They pitched a shutout, which for them, would be unheard of last season. It’s amazing how much better you can be just by tackling people, let alone having a completely new scheme. A top 10 ranking is very much in play after that.

Wow what a difference a week makes for Notre Dame. They went from looking like one of the best teams in the country to one of the worst with one of the worst QBs. Usually the truth is somewhere in between, but the Irish have been playing down to some of their competition for years. Brian Kelly couldn’t win the big games, but now Marcus Freeman can’t win the small ones. He’s now lost to Northern Illinois, Marshall, and Stanford at home in 3 straight years. That’s nearly a fire-able offense for a program like Notre Dame. Aside from Freeman though, Riley Leonard looks like he can’t even throw the ball, as the team has one of the worst passing offenses in the entire country. Freeman is going to need another haircut to distract everyone from this poor performance!

In baseball, the Dodgers are still sitting with the best record in the league, but are dealing with more injuries in their starting rotation. The latest is Gavin Stone, who has been great, but suddenly seems doubtful to return this season with a shoulder injury. We need to stop talking about who should be starting on the mount during the playoffs, but rather, who is going to be healthy. We don’t know yet if Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Clayton Kershaw will be healthy to pitch, and pitch effectively. That’s why its imperative they actually manufacture runs, something they have struggled to do in previous Octobers recently. Also, people need to stop with the idea that Francisco Lindor is in the MVP conversation with Shohei Ohtani. It’s idiotic. Who cares if Ohtani doesn’t play defense. He’s recovering from Tommy John Surgery, and is about to become the first player in history to have a 50/50 season. He’s also statistically better than Lindor in almost every traditional metric. If you think Lindor is your MVP, you’re just an east coast homer, and you need to put down the crack pipe.

As for the Angels, they took a lot of criticism for not honoring Shohei Ohtani when the Dodgers came to town last week. I actually don’t think this is that big of a deal, and the fans giving him a standing ovation when he came to the plate is just fine. Video tributes are bit overdone these days for players that accomplish almost nothing with teams, and then come back with the opposing team. Ohtani accomplished a lot more than that with the Halos, but honoring him isn’t some requirement. I’m also amazed that the Angels have managed to only see a slight drop in attendance with Ohtani leaving, and Trout getting hurt again. However, it just goes to show you that when you have good weather and affordable tickets, you can survive. Unfortunately, knowing this won’t give Arte Moreno any more motivation to increase the payroll.

Finally, ESPN came out with some NBA standings predictions last week. In that projection, the Lakers aren’t even shown as a play-in tournament team! Even ESPN has lost it’s mind, but then again, we probably knew that a long time ago. As long as Lebron James and Anthony Davis are healthy, and the Lakers getting reasonable coaching, the Lakers are in the mix in the Western Conference. There’s also a lot of teams who have gotten much worse than the Lakers like the Clippers, Nuggets, Warriors, and Suns. It’s not even out of the question the Lakers are a top 3 team in the West. It’s called “continuity”. Heck, Jovan Buha has even lost his mind saying the Lakers have to make a trade by mid-season or it’s a failture. Again, I’ll ask the question: who do you want the Lakers to trade for? There are no franchise changing players available. So let’s stop throwing this idea out there when in reality, it makes no sense. This team is going to be better than most people think.

September 2nd, 2024

What a wild series the Dodgers have played against the D’Backs over the weekend. The Boys in Blue have a chance to win the series with a victory today, but even if they lose, they would have had the benefit of maintaining their 4 game lead over Arizona and San Diego in the NL West, with 4 more games off the clock. Smart move by Dave Roberts yesterday to just let that game crash and burn and rest his pen and his star players. This lineup is finally hitting like we dreamed they would, and even the bottom of the order has been a handful to deal with from Gavin Lux, to Miguel Rojas, and now Tommy Edman. It’s the starting pitching that we now have to worry the most about, and mainly due to their health. The latest is Clayton Kershaw, who went down with a toe injury on Friday night. This also comes on the heels of Dave Roberts not exactly assuring us that Tyler Glasnow will be available come October. It’s only September 2nd, so how about you guys stop telling me who is going to start in the postseason, because we have no idea who is going to be healthy that point?! Also, just because you see a bad start from one guy on the roster these days, doesn’t mean you just write him off. Just look at where Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler are now and how they are progressing.

As for the Angels, they took 2 out of 3 against the Mariners over the weekend, and Caden Dana became the youngest Angels pitcher to win in his debut. He’s only 20 years old and 259 days. Makes sense because the Angels have a terrible farm system, so they have to promote their young players quickly. The Halos are firmly sitting with the 4th worst record in baseball behind the White Sox, Rockies, and Marlins, none of whom are even trying to win games. It’s shameful the Angels aren’t even better than the Oakland A’s. The biggest reason for that is that the Angels “young core” have all had prolonged spells where they not only struggled, but where they were borderline the worst players in the history of baseball this season. For instance, Logan O’Hoppe cannot have a 36 wRC+ for 2 months. There are other atrocious stretches for the likes of Nolan Schanuel, Zach Neto, which once again makes you question their long-term development in this system. The Halos don’t have the player development to help them continuously adjust and get better as professional ball players. Just look at Reid Detmers, who is finally getting called back up to start on Tuesday. We’ll see if he actually is ready for prime time on the mound. Even if those players come around and are more consistent, you need to spend money to round out the roster and make the team competitive. You think Arte Moreno is going to do that?

To College Football, where USC got a huge win to open the season over LSU at Allegiant Stadium in Vegas last night. Senior Running Back Woody Marks snuck in the endzone in the final moments of the 4th quarter to secure the win. That game was an unbelievable indictment on Alex Grinch and his poor defense last season, as well as a strong validation of Miller Moss at quarterback. The team has some great player makers on offense that can be explosive, and the defense is night and day compared to last year just in terms of ability tackle. What does Paul Finebaum have to say now about Lincoln Riley as a coach and about his beloved SEC? I thought every SEC team was completely untouchable? Expect USC to rise in the polls along with Miami more than any other team this week.

The Bruins also got their season underway with a game on the road against Hawaii. They got the victory 16-13 on a late field goal, but let’s be honest, it ended in near disaster had they lost. I hate to say it, but Ethan Garbers looked dreadful and so did the entire UCLA offense. His decision making was not good, and he appears to have a very limited ceiling. He’s also not being helped by the fact his offensive line cannot seem to run block at all, which forces him to make throws that are just not in his comfort zone. This team is going to need to recruit big time on both the offensive line and at linebacker. If you’re a Bruin fan, you’re going to need to temper your expectations big time this season.

Elsewhere around College Football, I was told the SEC was basically the NFL compared to the rest of college teams, yet not only did LSU lose, but so did Texas A&M to Notre Dame! Ok fine the top of the conference is great, but people need to stop pretending like the rest of it is some juggernaut because it’s not. The Irish look like a very fun team to watch this year. They still have a long way to go to prove they can beat the likes of an Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, or Texas, but they look like a playoff team.

Moments before the USC-LSU game yesterday, Direct TV took all the ESPN, ABC, and Disney networks off the air because of a contract dispute. Of course the irony is that we don’t need either of them, and this is coming from a Direct TV subscriber. It’s so easy now to stream illegally with Streameast among many others, that people can get by without satellite and cable. There is also plenty of blame to go around for both Disney and Direct TV. Direct TV is supposed to be the king of sports, yet they lost the NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube. Meanwhile, Disney has been bleeding money for a while, feeding us their left wing nonsense, and overbidding on sports properties for years, so now they expect us to shoulder the costs. Both of these companies will find out quickly they aren’t the only game in town anymore.

Who’s ready for some NFL Football? The Rams will get their season underway against the Lions next week on Sunday Night Football in Detroit. This will be one of their tougher games on the schedule, but there is a lot to feel good about with this squad, even after Aaron Donald retired. Everybody wants to talk about the passing game and how elite the wide receivers are, which is true, but the reality of it is that the Rams need to establish the run consistently with Kyren Williams. If they do, they will be even more dangerous on offense, and that should pair well with their defense that is stocked with young talent. In my mind, the Rams are one of 7 teams that can win the Super Bowl, if things break right for them.

Finally, the Chargers will get their season underway at home against the Raiders next Sunday afternoon at home. The Bolts really need to take advantage of their first three games, with matchups against Vegas, Carolina, and Pittsburgh, all of whom are not exactly expected to win a lot of games. I’m still curious who is going to catch the ball for this team and be their playmakers, but I trust Jim Harbaugh and you should too. It might not be pretty in the beginning, but eventually, you expect him to get it right.