December 30, 2024

There is much to get to in this addition of Monday Morning Coffee, starting with the Lakers, who finally made a trade yesterday. They acquired Dorian Finney Smith, a 3-and-D player, and a reserve guard Shake Milton, for D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and 3 2nd round picks. Finally! Rob Pelinka made a trade. Even Jimmy Carter waited until Pelinka made a deal before he passed away on Sunday (God rest his soul). At face value, I really like the move. The Lakers really needed better perimeter defenders, and they are getting that with DFS, who has also been a reliable 3-point shooter. Don’t sleep on Shake Milton either, who could be a useful guard off the bench who can replace some of D-Lo’s scoring. D-Lo was a solid shooter, but he was streaky, and he was becoming tougher to play in the backcourt with Austin Reaves, which exposed their perimeter defense a lot more. It will be interesting to see if the Lakers can do something to beef up their front court before the trade deadline with the likes of a Jonas Valanciunas or Robert Williams. In any case, the Lakers roster appears a lot more balanced now, but hopefully we can see a more consistent effort on the floor from them, like we have in last 6 games. By the way, I guess the Lakers and Warriors missed the memo that “the NBA is boring” given how they played such an awesome game on Christmas Day!

Meanwhile, believe it or not, there is actually a target return date for Kawhi Leonard. That date is believed to be January 4th, which is 5 days from now against the Atlanta Hawks at home. They key word here is “target”, and if you listen to Ty Lue, he will tell you, or I guess I should say he is being told by Kawhi’s people that he needs more time to practice 5-on-5. Sorry Ty, but you know this is a complete load of crap. You know that the only way Kawhi is going to get back into NBA game shape is by playing in real NBA games, not some 24-Hour Fitness like cardio in practice. If his people are telling you otherwise, it’s because they know he’ll be lucky to give you 30 games this year with the deteriorating condition of his knees. The fact Kawhi was able to pull of 60+ games last year to convince the Clippers to give him a massive extension is really astonishing. When his contract is up, there is simply no way any team could be bamboozled into paying this man that kind of money again.

To the NFL, where the Rams pulled out another victory over the weekend, and after a handful of teams lost yesterday, they have clinched the NFC West! It’s remarkable how far this defense has come in the last few months. Jared Verse is suddenly the favorite to win the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of The Year. Who says the Rams have no fans? They absolutely showed out on Saturday night, and the place was as loud as I’ve ever heard it. On a slightly more serious note though, there are some concerns with the offense. Matt Stafford isn’t being protected like he was a couple of weeks ago, and Joe Noteboom might get Stafford killed. But the real concern is the passing game. There isn’t much of a vertical threat. It’s basically Puka Nacua on a bunch of screens, while Cooper Kupp suddenly can’t create the separation we used to see. That’s going to make it tough for Kyren Williams to be effective on the ground for long stretches. If the Rams have any hopes of beating a team like Green Bay and going on a deep playoff run, they will need to clean up this portion of their game, and quickly.

The Rams weren’t the only LA Football team that clinched a playoff spot over the weekend. The Chargers dismantled the Patriots on Saturday, locking up a postseason berth for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. Jim Harbaugh beat Nick Saban in the Rose Bowl, won the College Football Playoff national championship to give Michigan an undefeated 15-0 season and took the Los Angeles Chargers to the NFL Playoffs in the same calendar year. He’s a Hall of Fame coach in both the NCAA and NFL. Not only that, but Chargers may have drafted a franchise right tackle, a franchise wide receiver, and two franchise cornerbacks in the last draft. Just give Jim Harbaugh a little more time and this defense will only get better, and they’ll even add a few more weapons on offense. Justin Herbert doesn’t have the flashy numbers of a few years ago, but he’s been solid and a very good leader. The Bolts have not won a postseason game since 2018. But the best thing that could happen to them is to win next week and have the Steelers lose to the Bengals. That would give them a very favorable 1st round match up against the Texans.

Some of you Trojan fans may have forgotten, or tried to forget that the Las Vegas Bowl was over the weekend against Texas A&M. This was actually a great game, and USC had quite a rally to win this one. It was an exciting win, and something to feel good about for the Trojans going into next year. However, I don’t think Jayden Maiava is an ideal starting QB for USC moving forward. He had to overcome three interceptions in that game, and originally, everyone was led to believe that Maiava was much more mobile than Miller Moss. It turns out that really wasn’t the case, and Maiava really isn’t better than Moss, who is now transferring out of USC. Of course Maiava was praised by Lincoln Riley, because what else is he going to say? You’re only as good as your options are, and right now, he is the best and only option available to them moving forward, unless they are pleasantly surprised in the transfer portal.

Don’t look now but UCLA Football suddenly has the #4 transfer portal class according to rivals.com. Then there’s this. Ethan Garbers has exhausted his eligibility. Justyn Martin has transferred to Maryland. Former Appalachian State star Joey Aguilar, announced his commitment to the Bruins on Saturday. Aguilar put up some very gaudy numbers as the Appalachian State starting quarterback. Since no other QB on the UCLA roster has any college experience, the job is clearly Aguilar’s to lose. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but things are looking up in Westwood, and DeShaun Foster might actually know what he’s doing.

Speaking of UCLA, they finally broke through against Gonzaga, defeating them for the first time in the Mick Cronin era, at the Intuit Dome on Saturday. It was heartbreak after heartbreak against the Zags, but this time there was no half court buzzer beater, or other ridiculous devastation. It sure looked like Sebastian Mack tried with that stupid late game foul, but Skyy Clark made two clutch free throws to put the game away. The Bruins should move up significantly in the rankings after this one, and despite the loss to Kentucky, the wins against Oregon and Gonzaga should go a long way toward the their March Madness resume. This team is definitely going to win with defense, and that’s what they did on Saturday, along with some timely 3-point shooting. Dylan Andrews is really the Ethan Garbers of the basketball team. That’s not a good thing for this team.

The Dodgers made another big move over the weekend! They re-signed Teoscar Hernandez to a 3-year $66 million contract. Great for the Dodgers and great for Teo, who the team rewarded for having a fantastic season, and leading the team to a World Series Championship. Not only is Teo a big bat in the lineup, but he also was the emotional leader of the ball club this past season, which they desperately needed, given their playoff failures of seasons past. That cannot go unnoticed, and it’s a great thing that Andrew Friedman recognized this. So what’s next? This has been a fantastic off-season thus far, which can be capped off by signing Roki Sasaki, re-signing Kike Hernandez, and adding a high leverage reliever like Tanner Scott.

On the other hand, ESPN came out with a top 10 ranking of the most frustrated MLB fan bases. Sure enough the Angels came out at #1. The reasons cited were the fact they wasted prime years of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in their lineup, gave out a terrible contract to Anthony Rendon, and Arte Moreno refuses to spend more money on significantly improving the club. Knowing the Halos luck, Anthony Rendon probably injured himself opening Christmas gifts, so he’ll bee out for a significant portion of time I’m sure. This type of attitude for an owner just makes you look like a buffoon in the Southern California sports market, as opposed to the cool successful wealthy guy that is beloved by all his friends.

Finally, sports broadcasting legend, Greg Gumble passed away from cancer last week. The man was 78 years old, and in my mind is considered one of the voices of March Madness and the NFL. There was no other feeling in sports quite like 6pm ET on Selection Sunday, hearing the CBS music & Greg Gumble announcing the tournament field. Thank you for everything Mr Gumble!

December 23, 2024

Remember two months ago when some people said the Rams should tear it down and rebuild? Well those same Rams are 8-2 in their last 10 games and one win a way from clinching the NFC West. I will never figure out why this team starts so slowly, but they always seem to come up big in the 2nd half. Keep in mind, this is the first time all year they have been healthy, now that they’ve got a healthy offensive line, including Tyler Higbee back at Tight End. I’m not saying the Rams are going to win the Super Bowl, and they may be another year away. However, they are suddenly protecting Matt Stafford well, their defense is looking more and more elite every week, and they run the ball. All of those things make a recipe for an excellent team that will be very difficult to beat come playoff time.

The Chargers also came up big on Thursday night against the Broncos. Once again, that was the type of game the Bolts would have lost in recent years. Now that we are in the Jim Harbaugh era, they have way more confidence to rally from the deficit that they did, and are far more mentally tough. I think we may have forgotten how good Justin Herbert is until he made that ridiculous throw to Darius Davis, who most of you probably never heard of until he made that catch. I’m sure everyone wanted the free kick rule explained to them like they were five years old after that went down. I also think Sean Payton is a total liar, trying to convince us that they practice the fair catch free kick. It looks like the Chargers are going to clinch a playoff spot, and end up facing the Ravens or Steelers on the road in Wild Card Weekend. I think they would prefer the latter, but either way things are looking up for the Bolts.

Elsewhere around the NFL in Week 16, the Eagles got to 10-1 and then thought the job was done and they could go home. They are also clowning the Commanders for beating them without Jalen Hurts. They lost a tough one to Washington. The 49ers were eliminated from the playoffs after losing to the Dolphins, and those snobby Bay Area fans are going to be crying on their drive down “The 5 Freeway”. The Cowboys were eliminated from the playoffs, then of course they turned into the 90’s version of the Cowboys and started winning meaningless games. Bryce Young bounced back this season for Carolina, and then proceeded to bounce Kyler Murray and the Cardinals out of the playoffs race. Joe Biden accused the Giants of quitting yesterday against the Falcons. The Bengals decided to wake up like they usually do towards the end of the season, but may not be in time to make the playoffs, after beating the Browns. The Lions are 13-2 after taking down the Bears. Do we live in the Twilight Zone?

To the NBA, where the Lakers are trying to re-group after a rough couple of weeks. They’ve won 4 of their last 5 games after sweeping a two-game series with the Kings. Lebron looked great after an extended time off. And no….Lebron wasn’t taking time off for your stupid theories about his involvement in the Diddy parties. The time off does make you wonder if they should be giving him 8 days off every 15 games. The problem is the Lakers can’t afford to do that. The West is so close, and the Lakers are so dependent on Lebron and AD to succeed. Honestly, they aren’t even playing that well right now, but the difference is their effort defensively has been great. Max Christie suddenly looks like a very good wing defender. However, now that Gabe Vincent is playing well, the Lakers need to trade him while his value is up. Dude has played well for a couple of months the last few years, and the only reasons he got the contract he did was because it came during the playoffs, when people were actually watching basketball.

The Clippers lost to the Mavericks last night on the road, and they are now 16-13. Of course we’ve been hearing people say “that’s pretty good without Kawhi, wait until he comes back!” Those people are hilarious. You’ve been fooled by the “Wait until Kawhi comes back” myth for 5 years, so I guess what is a 6th year? Sure he will supposedly be back in the next few weeks, but how long can the guy possible last without getting hurt again? He’s coming back with a new haircut, but the team is probably really concerned he was going to get injured receiving it.

Well you finally got your 12-Team College Football Playoff and the first weekend looked like a dumpster fire for casual football fan. Notre Dame fans, among other winners, don’t care about casual football fan. The Irish looked much better than they are being given credit for, and wiped out Indiana in the 1st round of the playoffs. If they can beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day, winning a National Championship isn’t out of the question. As for the rest of the playoff, it’s still way better than having a 4-Team Tournament. If anything, we learned that 18 and 19-year old kids don’t play well on the road, since none of the road teams came close to winning. The seeding will have to get better over time, and maybe they will even re-seed teams. It doesn’t make much sense to punish Oregon by playing Ohio State this early, when those are arguably the two best teams left.

In College Basketball, UCLA was in a very giving mood over the weekend, giving away a 16-point lead to North Carolina, and falling to the Tar Heels. This was a team that looked much closer to a top-5 or top-10 team for most of the game, before collapsing down the stretch, and now we don’t really know what they are. Next week against Gonzaga will tell us a bit more, but for now we can consider the Bruins at least a Top -25 team and not sure beyond that. One thing that was exposed in that game: UCLA doesn’t have a go-to scorer with a go-to move down the stretch. Tyler Bilodeau is nice, but doesn’t quite look like a late-game prime time player. He’s predictable. The same goes for Skyy Clark, and Sebastian Mack, who just puts his head down and goes to the basket on every play. That doesn’t work with less than 10 seconds left. The rest of this is correctable, like free throw shooting. However, it does make you question just how high the ceiling really can be for this group.

The Dodgers learned this morning that playoff hero, Walker Buehler will be signing a one-year deal for $21 million with the Boston Red Sox. I was really hoping the Dodgers could bring him back, but I completely understand the reality of why both sides couldn’t make it work. Buehler still have a very high ceiling, especially if you look at what he did in the last month of the season. However, this is a guy who is coming off two Tommy John Surgeries, who only pitched well for a month, even though it was the most important month of the season. Obviously the Dodgers weren’t comfortable with $21 million, and probably more likely in the range of $10-$15 million given what we saw. For Buehler, he knows he needs to re-establish his value, and he looks at the Dodgers with a stacked rotation, and maybe not having the opportunity re-establish that value with so much competition. It’s unfortunate, but this was probably the best decision for both sides, and both sides can be better off for it. Buehler gets his opportunity and maximizes his 2025 earnings, and the Dodgers probably got the best years out of Buehler, including multiple World Series Titles. He also gets nothing but respect from me because he pitched until his arm was cooked in the playoffs against Atlanta in 2021, while that punk Max Scherzer complained of “arm fatigue” and quit on his team. As for the rest of the rumors, stop trying to make this Nolan Arenado trade to the Dodgers happen. The Dodgers have no place for him. This isn’t 2018. He’s old and washed, and the Dodgers currently have a better and cheaper 3rd baseman. They should figure out a way to make it work with Teoscar Hernandez though. Teo and the Dodgers are a measly $5 million apart, which is nothing. Oh and while they’re at it, sign Roki Sasaki!

Finally, I’m not going to buy into this LA Kings hype. I’ve heard some of you people praising Rob Blake for his poverty off-season moves. Give me break. This team is the exact same as last year. The division got worse outside of Edmonton, and everybody else is status quo, which will allow the Kings to stay a playoff team, but they have no chance of being a cup contender. On the bright side they are finally allowing their kids to play like Alex Turcotte, Brandt Clark, and Akil Thomas, but outside of that it’s going to be the same old story with this group.

December 16, 2024

Let’s start with a realistic talk about the Lakers. Yes, they won last night, but they’ve got a lot of work to do. Some of you want to trade Lebron, while some of you want to trade Lebron and AD and blow up this whole roster immediately. That’s just not as realistic as you think right now. Lebron received a no-trade clause when he signed his extension. There’s a reason he asked for it. He dictates where he wants to go, and chance are he doesn’t want to go. From the Lakers perspective, sure it would be nice to get a couple of 1st rounders, but the reality is trading a 40-year old Lebron isn’t going to yield a whole lot of useful assets. From Lebron’s perspective, where can he possibly go and win and be a championship contender, without gutting a team of all its key role players? That’s actually the problem he’s experiencing on the Lakers. The bottom line is both sides are stuck with each other, so you can stop with the Bill Plaschke “let’s blow it up” takes. Then there’s those of you that have been pleading to upgrade the roster. However, if the Lakers are going to trade a 1st round pick or two to improve this team, they need to show a lot more than they have to prove they are worth investing future assets in. The way this team is playing now, acquiring Dorian Finney Smith, Jonas Valanciunas, or Cam Johnson isn’t going make this team any better than a play-in team. If Lebron wants a roster upgrade, he needs to get more out of what they have now, and show us they are worth investing in. Thus far, they have not. Otherwise, once Lebron retires, the Lakers are well positioned with all their own draft picks after this year, over $60 million in cap space in 2026, and a superstar they can either choose to build with, or get more assets for in AD.

Then there’s the Clippers. They are still hanging in there without Kawhi, 14-12, and there’s noise that he will come back soon. As usual, Ty Lue and the organization sound completely in the dark as to when he is actually going to be back, despite the fact they are seeing him go through practice. It sure would be nice for them to get him back though, because the attendance at the Intuit Dome has suffered. By all accounts, the experience at the arena has been great. However, since the on-court product has suffered, there is only about 75% attendance on many nights. They may be announcing sell-outs because brokers are buying up the tickets, but they aren’t putting butts in the seats, which is exactly what Steve Ballmer had to have been concerned about coming into the season. Unfortunately for the Clips, they tied their franchise to the poster boy of load management, and a big reason why NBA ratings are suffering.

As you’ve probably heard, NBA ratings have been down, while every other sport has been up. Why? Well first of all, don’t tell me it’s because “The NBA is too woke.” That storyline is from 4 years ago, and we’re past most of that nonsense. There’s three main issues. First, the blackout rules and accessibility to games hurts. If you have NBA League Pass, you can’t even watch in-market games. Then there’s the on-court product, which let’s be honest, isn’t great. Every NBA team thinks Steph Curry plays for them, so they do nothing but launch 40-50 three pointers a night, and there’s little to no defense being played, with no physicality. There’s also the fact the best players think their heads are gonna fall off playing back-to-back games throughout the season, or anywhere near 82 games. The NBA needs to think about how to fix these things, especially if they want to appeal to Gen Z.

To the NFL, where the Rams are on a nice little run. After defeating the 49ers on Thursday Night Football, they are now 7-2 in their last 9 games, and they’ve moved into 1st place in the NFC West. With 3 games left against the Jets, Cardinals, and Seahawks, the Rams control their own destiny to win the division. They are also looking much healthier, on the offensive line especially, and it’s been showing. The Rams found a way to win a high-scoring affair against the Bills, followed by a defensive slug fest in the rain against the 49ers. All of a sudden, the Rams are dangerous, and if things break right, they might even be able to make a deep run in the NFC. This could be a fun couple of weeks!

As for the Chargers, I don’t know what team that was that played the Bucs yesterday, but it didn’t look anything like the team we’ve seen all season. Baker Mayfield and the Bucs cooked the Bolts, hanging 40 points on them. The defense was non-existent, and the offense couldn’t convert on 3rd down. That’s a game where you take the film and just burn it. The Chargers need to win just 2 of their last 3 games to get in the playoffs, and their schedule includes Denver, New England, and Las Vegas. The latter two teams aren’t even trying to win games at this point, so if the Bolts can’t get in the playoffs, they have some serious issues.

Elsewhere around the NFL in Week 15, the Chiefs won a game in bizarre fashion, a game where it wasn’t close and didn’t require help from the referees! The Bills got by the Lions, and Josh Allen was committing flops and getting calls like he was James Harden. The Cowboys beat the Panthers, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say they actually look better with Cooper Rush as their QB than Dak Prescott. The old guys came through for the Jets, as Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adam’s hooked up for two touchdowns in their win against the Jaguars. The Bengals beat the Titans, but they are hoping for a Christmas miracle to get in the playoffs at this point.

Nice win by UCLA Basketball over the weekend at Arizona. The Bruins are now 9-1 after rallying from a 13-point deficit against the Wildcats. Going into the game they were ranked #24 in the AP Poll. This team is looking very typical Mick Cronin. Very gritty with some absolutely dominant defense at times. They have some playmakers on offense that they need to give them timely buckets, which they did on Saturday. This team is not nearly as young as they were last year, led by the likes of Junior Forward Tyler Bilodeau, and Junior Guard Sky Clark, but of whom came up big against Arizona. UCLA will take on North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Saturday, and then they’ll get #8 Gonzaga at the Intuit Dome 3 days after Christmas.

To baseball, where the hot stove continues to simmer for the Dodgers. I’m much more optimistic that they can re-sign Teoscar Hernandez. Teo seems to have over estimated his market, even after Juan Soto signed. There is clearly motivation on both sides to get a deal done, which is great. Roku Saski is about a month away from making a decision. I’m optimistic Kike Hernandez will return, but I’m growing less optimistic about Walker Buehler. It sounds like there’s teams out there that are willing to give him a multi-year deal with opt outs, but the bigger issue he may see with the Dodgers is that if they have a lot of starters, he may not have the opportunity to fully re-establish his true market value. For the life of me though, I don’t understand why some of you want the Dodgers to trade for Nolan Arenado. The guy is expensive and way past his prime. The Dodgers currently have a cheaper and more productive 3rd baseman in Max Muncy. I love the idea of Boys in Blue signing a high leverage reliever like Tanner Scott. You can never have enough pitching and bullpen, so hopefully that comes to fruition.

Finally, many of you are waiting on the Angels to make a big move, but don’t hold your breath. Corbin Burnes is available, but do you really see Arte shelling out $300 million for a guy like that? They sure need a guy like that, and a big-time reliever like Tanner Scott. The Halos could also use a bat like Cody Bellinger or Nolan Arenado, but what could they possibly give up that would interest the Cubs or Cardinals? I sure can’t see them taking on any of these big salaries, so you should expect more of the same.

December 9, 2024

What a surprising and phenomenal win by the Rams yesterday against the Bills! Some of you forgot that the Rams are actually coached by Sean McVay, who is in fact one of the best coaches in football. Matt Stafford was a play-action passing killer, and the Rams condensed formations gave the Bills a hard time all game. Say what you will about LA benefitting from some poor officiating, but they still did a great job involving their running backs in the passing game with quick dump-offs, and taking well timed shots down the field. McVay should never give up play calling duties. The Rams could easily win their next 4 games, and they still have an opportunity to make the playoffs by either winning the division or a wild card berth. This team is still dangerous and can play with anybody when it’s healthy. Hopefully they continue to show that over the next 4 weeks.

As for the Chargers, they hung with the Chiefs right until the end on Sunday Night Football, but sure enough, the Chiefs won another close game. At some point you would think KC is bound to lose one of these close games, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Say what you will about the refs and all, but they just know how to execute when the game is on the line, and they have the best quarterback in the game in Patrick Mahomes, even though he sounds like Kermit The Frog. The flip side to all this is that the Bolts have 8 wins with the worst Wide Receivers and Tight Ends in the league. It’s only going to get better. I could still see the Chargers upsetting any of higher seeds in the 1st round of the playoffs given how tough they are becoming to play against.

Last night we learned that Juan Soto signed a 15 year deal with New York Mets for $765 million. The contract actually has escalators to make it worth up to $805 million. Good for Soto for getting the bag, but it’s hilarious that Jeff Passan and others are out here claiming the Mets had a better future. Good one guys. The Yankees have Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gerrit Cole. The Mets have Francisco Lindor and no pitching. The Yankees offered $760 million, which he and Scott Boras thought was poor people stuff. That means he thought he probably thought whatever the Dodgers offered wouldn’t even be able to feed his family. Funny, I haven’t seen any “The Mets are ruining baseball” tweets yet since this news broke, even though they will have a higher payroll than the Dodgers. The Boys in Blue dodged a bullet not signing this guy, and all you need to see is how much better the Padres were last year without him. Nice move though bringing back Blake Treinen. Hopefully they can do the same with Teoscar Hernandez, Walker Buehler, and Kike Hernandez. Michael Conforto was a nice addition as well.

I didn’t really want to talk about it, but at some point I guess I have to address the train wreck that is the Lakers. They may have won last night, but this team just looks like they don’t care for many stretches. How can a team with Lebron James and Anthony Davis play like that? I don’t want to hear about injury excuses from Lebron. There are no circumstances where you should just get blown off the floor in games like the Lakers have been the last couple of weeks. Many fans have just about had it with this team and want to trade Lebron and AD to start rebuilding. I’m just not there yet with this group. We’re only a quarter of the way into the season. With that being said though, if they don’t show us they will start caring, this team is certainly not worth investing more assets and draft capital to win-now.

The Clippers meanwhile are treading water nicely in 6th place in the West, but the questions about Kawhi remain. Bill Simmons tweeted out that he has heard from sources that Kawhi will be back by Christmas. However, when you ask Ty Lue, he has no idea. This is so typical. People see this guy ramping up his activities and he looks fine, prompting the speculation that he will be back soon. You know though that his people are going to keep holding him back from playing to preserve whatever he has left in his knees. It’s Ground Hog day all over again!

To College Football, where the 12-Team playoff bracket was announced yesterday. America definitely won yesterday when Alabama was not part of the field. My Fighting Irish of Notre Dame will be the 7th seed and face Indiana in the 1st round, for an in-state cold weather battle in South Bend. That should be a good one, and a very winnable game for them. In fact, I don’t hate their chances against Georgia either. If there is one thing we learned though, it’s that the committee does value not just winning the Conference Championship Games, but even playing in them. That’s why the likes of Penn State and Texas were the 5th and 6th seeds.

Meanwhile, the Trojans are going to wrap up the season in the Las Vegas Bowl, facing Texas A&M. Ok, it’s kind of cool that they will play at Allegiant Stadium, but that’s about it. USC fans can’t be happy about playing in Vegas in a year where 12-teams can now make the playoffs, Big Ten or not. To put more salt in the wound, the Trojans have an alarming number of High School California recruits who ended up going to other programs, which isn’t a good look for Lincoln Riley. This program is going to have to rely on the transfer portal for some significant improvement next year.

December 2, 2024

Let’s start with the most positive and exciting piece of news! Last week the Dodgers signed two-time Cy Young Award winning pitcher Blake Snell to a 5 year contract. The fact the Dodgers just signed an elite starting pitcher just a few weeks after winning the World Series is phenomenal. This is exactly how all baseball teams should be operating, and how a franchise in Los Angeles should be acting. Snell comes with risk because of age and some recent ups and downs, but it’s worth it for the Dodgers. They badly need pitching and will need even more. It’s adorable that all of you keep trying to pencil in 6-8 guys into the Dodgers rotation, but the reality of it is pitchers get hurt all the time in 2024. The Dodgers need 10-12 guys just to get 4 healthy and good performing ones in October. Even if they have more than 4 healthy guys, the rest can serve as great bullpen depth come the postseason. That’s why they still need to sign Walker Buehler and Roki Sasaki. Not Juan Soto, or to even trade for Carlos Correa, which is a rumor that popped up yesterday. My favorite though is all of “the Dodgers are ruining baseball” people, and “the MLB needs a salary cap or salary floor” people. I can appreciate the opinions of many of you who watched the World Series for 5 minutes every year, but baseball has more parity than any other sport. It was all fun and games for these same people when the Dodgers were “choking” every year in October. Now that they finally won a World Series against another big market team in the Yankees, these people are crying that every other team is both stupid and poor compared to the Dodgers and need institutional changes to make it fair. Hilarious!

While we are on the subject of baseball though, we have to mention the Angels. They signed left handed pitcher Yusei Kikuchi to a 3 year $63 million contract. The Halos badly need pitching, but this is basically the best they are going to get given where the franchise is. They paid $21 million a year for a guy who is basically a middle of the rotation pitcher, who will give you some good stretches and some bad ones. That’s basically all Arte Moreno was willing to spend, because as we learned last week, he’s dumping his money into a commercial real estate project in Arizona. The man is worth $5 billion. He has money to spend, and if he had any intention of properly competing he would give Perry Minasian the greenlight to sign a Max Fried or Corbin Burnes, and supplement his young promising talent with quality major league starters. Instead, he’s basically doing the equivalent of shopping at a thrift store.

To the NFL, where it wasn’t pretty at all, but the Rams found the win column against the Saints. The Rams offense got off to another horribly slow start, but this is no longer a trend. Their offense is now feeling predictable and boring for long stretches. You’ve gotta give Sean McVay credit though for making the adjustments necessary to solve their constant pass protection issues. They stuck to the run, made some well designed passes off play action, and ran a lot of screens. That offensive line was absolutely killing them on 3rd down for much of the game. With all that being said, the defense has some incredible young studs on it that are getting better and better every game. Still, the Rams only hope of getting to the playoffs is winning the division. They’ll get thrashed by Buffalo next week, so they’ll have to handle business against the Jets, and all their remaining division opponents.

As for the Chargers, they rebounded from a loss against the Ravens by defeating the Falcons on the road. In the last three weeks Ladd McConkey has turned into Jerry Rice, and he’s suddenly on pace for over 1,000 yards receiving. All of a sudden, he’s the #1 rookie wide receiver this year. They are also winning games with their defense, which is exactly what you expect from a Jim Harbaugh team. Remember Derwin James? He had 10 tackles yesterday, and 1 interception. Tarheeb Still had two interception himself. This team is becoming just grittier and mentally tougher very slowly. In a rebuilding year, the Bolts are a very comfortable 8-4, and firmly in a wild card spot. Don’t be surprised if they go into Kansas City next Sunday night to beat the Chiefs, given how both teams are playing right now. Bolt up people!

What’s with the Lakers? Why can’t this team put together a sustainable effort every night? We’re about a quarter into the season and there are nights where they just look completely lazy and lethargic, in the 3rd quarter especially. This isn’t a coaching issue. It’s a player accountability issue, and the likes of D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Max Christie, and even Gabe Vincent (despite last night’s showing) are the biggest culprits. Don’t sit here and tell me that Lebron got old overnight because he’s had a couple of 18 point games, or that Anthony Davis is slumping because putting up “only” 20 a game for the last few. Some days I think this team can compete with anybody, other days I just think they are too inconsistent. It’s the latter that truly makes you wonder if it’s worth giving up assets to help this team win now. Rob Pelinka is probably thinking the same thing.

The Clippers on the other hand have been more than respectable. They play hard every night, and it’s keeping them afloat at 12-9 in the West. At some point they will need to get Kawhi back, but that’s like hoping you’re going to win the Power Ball. In reality, what the Clippers are doing is showcasing their franchise for the next star player to sign with them after Kawhi. They have a new arena, good ownership, and they want to carve out an identity that is different from the Lakers. The latter isn’t easy to compete with, but once you have the cap space, anything is possible.

In College Football, USC was defeated by my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame at the Coliseum 49-35. The Trojans finished the season 6-6, and they really got beaten in the trenches on Saturday, as they have all season long. The Irish racked up 258 yards on the ground and a total of 436 yards of total offense. USC was right there at the end, as we’ve seen in many games all year, but a couple of big Pick 6’s for the Irish helped them pull away. For the Trojans, everyone wants to crucify Lincoln Riley, including Matt Leinart who thinks they have no identity, but given the switch to the Big Ten and the adjustment they went through, you have to give him a pass. They could have easily won 9 or 10 games this year, but some critical mistakes late in games cost them. Some of that can be fixed through different types of recruiting. I’m sure USC will be on the hunt for another big time QB in the transfer portal again. Meanwhile, my Fighting Irish may have the best rushing attack in the country. Riley Leonard has come a long way since the first couple of weeks of the season as a passer. If he could really throw though, this team would be the best in the country. Sure they can probably win a game or two in the playoff if they get the right matchup. However, let’s be honest……Oregon is by far the best team in the country, and will likely destroy anybody in their path.

Somewhat notable as well is the fact that UCLA defeated Fresno State to finish the season at 5-7. Many of you looked at the schedule and said that UCLA would be lucky to win one game. Instead they came out with 5 wins and winners of 4 of their last 6 games. It took Chip Kelly 4 seasons at UCLA before he had a single season where he won more than 4 games. DeShaun Foster was left with a dumpster fire that Chip Kelly created, and actually did pretty well with it under the circumstances. Let’s see what he can do with some time to actually recruit, and how he fares in the NIL era. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Speaking of UCLA, they are about to start their Big 10 Basketball schedule next week, after going 6-1 through non-conference play. I really don’t know what to make of this team yet. On paper, their roster looks promising, but I’m not sure yet if it’s going to translate into success against elite competition. The loss against New Mexico was disheartening given they aren’t even ranked, but they really have gotten a lot better on the defensive end especially since then. That’s something we’ve seen frequently from Mick Cronin teams. The Bruins will find out very quickly just how good they are, because their schedule is about to get tough. They will face #24 Arizona, #12 North Carolina, and #3 Gonzaga in December. They really need to win at least 1 or 2 of those games to help their NCAA Tournament resume.