March 31, 2025

I’m sure you’re all wondering if the Dodgers are ever going to lose another game. At some point they probably will because it’s baseball, but they sure do look incredible to start the year. It turns out that Mookie Betts is just fine, already smashing two homers on Friday night to win the game. The lineup is so deep, Shohei, Freddie, Teo, Will Smith, and Tommy Edman are all coming to play early on. Wait until the bottom of the lineup gets going and this team could be even tougher. The same goes for the pitching. It’s absolutely scary for opponents. Roki Sasaki has incredible potential, but they don’t need him to be great right now, so his growing paints are not a problem to deal with. Yoshinobu Yamamoto looks elite, Blake Snell looks fine, However, the bullpen has so mean weapons in it, if a starter is only able to go a couple of innings its no big deal. This team is a lot of fun to watch! Do you really care though if they win 117 games? What you really care about is if they repeat as World Series Champions. Here come the Braves for a 3-game set at the Ravine starting tomorrow.

As for the Angels, I don’t want to draw too many conclusions from their series with the White Sox to open the season. However, I will remind you of the fact that their organizational ineptitude was on full display in the last week. They released Mickey Moniak, who at one point appeared to be the future of the organization. He’s certainly had his struggles, but once he got consistent playing time, he showed he had what it takes to be a regular major leaguer. Then they relegated Reid Detmers to the bullpen to start the season, a player that at one point could be a front line starter with the team. This is all about the organizations inability to develop talent. I’ve seen nothing that makes me think this will change anytime soon.

To the NBA, where the Lakers are trying to put an absolutely brutal stretch of basketball behind them. They blew a lead and lost against the Magic early in the week, then suffered another sloppy loss to the Bulls on Friday, losing on a miracle shot at the buzzer from Josh Giddey. There were some nice wins against Indiana and Memphis in there too, but overall, this team looks like the schedule has caught up to them, and the mistakes they have been making in games look like they are a result of physical and mental fatigue. The good news for the Lakers though is that they still have the opportunity to get the #2 seed with 8 games left. They play the Rockets twice at home, including tonight. They’ll play the Thunder twice, but it’s very likely they’ll be resting players, and there are no back-to-back games. Everybody is tough, but OKC is the toughest team in a 7-game series. Get the #2 seed and avoid them until the conference finals. Don’t overthink it. Also, Lebron, Luka, and Austin are forming nice chemistry, but the story is Gabe Vincent. This dude makes me go from wanting him cut in favor of a G-Leaguer, to invoking memories of Derek Fisher in the 2001 playoff run. I have zero confidence he can make a wide open 3, but all the confidence in the world he can make a contest 3 in the middle of crisis. He’s 2024 Drake and 1996 Tupac. Make no mistake about it. He will have a big say in the outcome of the Lakers season.

Not only have the Clippers put themselves back in the mix to stay out of the play-in tournament, they are also looking like a scary team to play. They are now 8-2 in their last 10 games, and they are creeping up on the 5th seed as well. Yes, I know the belief in the Clippers is entirely based on the health of Kawhi Leonard. Nobody is sitting here telling you they are going to win a championship or come out of the West. But the idea that Kawhi could be healthy does create some problems for anybody that has to deal with them in the early going, especially if he is playing at the level he is now.

You say you want upsets. But do you really? All 4 number 1 seeds made it to The Final Four next weekend. That means the selection committee got it right. The best teams in College Basketball all season are proving to be the best. The idea of upsets sounds really cool in the early going, but once you get to the end, you would be left watching a couple of teams from schools that you just wouldn’t be interested in watching. Now you will get to see elite basketball from elite teams. The transfer portal and NIL may have killed the Cinderella Stories in College Basketball though. Now all the big time programs are going back to recruiting experienced kids and paying them more, which the smaller schools can’t compete with anymore. I’m not complaining about it by any means, but that’s the way College Hoops used to be.

Speaking of the transfer portal, immediately when the portal opened last week, UCLA did what they had to do. They acquired Donovan Dent, arguably the best player available in the transfer portal. In addition to that, Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack have both entered the transfer portal as well and are leaving UCLA. Andrews and Mack are good kids, and I wish them the best of luck for the remainder of their college careers. With that being said, Dent makes UCLA much better, and if they can retain Mara, Bilodeau, Daily, and Clark, this is going to be a very good team. Trent Perry also announced he’s staying at UCLA. With Kobe Johnson graduating, the Bruins could also use another good wing defender. There is still time to get one in the portal.

March 24, 2025

What a disappointing ending to the season for UCLA basketball. That was a very winnable game against Tennessee, but they just didn’t have enough fire power. The issue for this team was always gonna be the offense and it proved to be the thing that killed them in the end. Dylan Andrews , Eric Dailey, and Kobe Johnson were complete no shows. Mack is way too one dimensional for a guy who plays that much. The guard play was abysmal. Mick Cronin has his flaws, but reality of it is he needs better NIL players. The transfer portal opens on Monday, and the Bruins better find a way to get some elite play making guards, along with finding a way to keep Aday Mara and Trent Perry from leaving the program.

UCSD should be very proud of what they did in round 1, even though they lost to Michigan. Seeing John Calipari vs Rick Pitino in round 2 was pretty weird, but also a great game. There have been some good games, but no completely shocking upsets. An all-chalk bracket has you at 250/320 points after round 1. If you have 240-260 points. I am calling you a “no fun NPC chalk boy.” If you have 190-220 points I am calling you a man of culture who just got unlucky. You like to have fun, you’re cool, people like you. The first two days of March Madness are arguably the greatest sports day of the year! If you called in sick to work I applaud you! I still like Florida to win the whole thing.

To baseball, where the Dodgers opened their season in Tokyo last week, and they swept a 2 game series against the Cubs. They got great pitching, good enough hitting, and that was all Without Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Yamamoto looked very polished, and you know Ohtani wasn’t going to leave Japan without hitting a home run. Roki Sasaki’s stuff is electric but needs to work on his command. I guess it doesn’t matter when the bullpen is lights out though. Wait until Evan Philips gets healthy and it’s 6 guys that are just lights out in the pen that throw 95+. The talent and depth is just ridiculous. Sasaki and Yamamoto could be an elite duo for the next 5-7 years, but the Dodgers need to find a way to protect their arms and keep them healthy. Where I am worried though is Mookie’s healthy. This man has lost 23 LBs in two weeks, which probably has Ozempic users jealous. Except in Mookie’s case he’s been ill for that long, and can’t keep any food down. I’m hopeful we’re all just overreacting, but this has been going on for two weeks, and seems more than just some bad sushi.

The Angels are getting ready to open their season with a lengthy road trip. Is there anything much to be excited about? In 2024 you said this team can’t get any worse. Then Perry Minasian said “hold my beer” and added a bunch of former White Sox to the roster. It’s like they decided to assemble a super team of #4 pitchers. Yoan Moncada is currently your Anthony Rendon replacement. Of course Rendon makes this guy look like Chipper Jones, even though Moncada is hitting .190 in Tempe this spring. If nothing else, hopefully Mike Trout stays healthy and returns to being the Trout we all know he can be.

I don’t know what the hell that was on Saturday night, but the Lakers suddenly looked like the Washington Generals. They had more turnover than Betty Crocker, and they couldn’t even guard a parked car. I’ll give them a pass and chalk it up to some rust after a lot of guys not being in rhythm after coming back from injury. I still think this team has a great shot at getting the #2 seed after a stretch from hell. We will also get a pretty good idea of just how much of a contender they are. In the last 12 games they’ll play the Thunder twice, the Rockets twice, the Grizzlies, and the Warriors. The schedule sounds tough, but they also own the tie breakers with most of the teams they are battling with. Separately, this LeBron vs Stephen A Smith battle is unnecessary, but I’m with Lebron. All of this started because Stephen A, among many others, tried to tell you Bronny James shouldn’t be in the NBA, and the only reason he is on the Lakers bc of his dad. However , you people are way too naive if you think people getting opportunities to succeed everyday from family or friends is nepotism. At the end of the day that person who had the opportunity has to prove themselves, and that’s exactly what Bronny is doing. He’s shown how much he’s improving everyday, and if you think he doesn’t have the skills to be on an nba roster right now, you don’t watch ball. For that reason, I have no problem with LeBron calling out Stephen A.

Don’t look now, but the Clippers have turned things around and might even get to the #6 seed. They got healthier, and Kawhi is starting to play like the elite player we remember him to be. I know we are always waiting for the other shoe to drop and for him to show up the next day saying he’s out of the season, but the Clips will take advantage of his presence while they can. I’m sure every Laker fan is wondering what life would be like if they had Ivica Zubac on their team, who has turned into an excellent center.

What do the Rams need to do in the draft? There are no really glaring needs, so they can approach this in two ways. They can build more foundational depth for the future, like drafting a quarterback to develop, or add more depth on both the offensive and defensive lines. Alternatively, they can try to swing for the fences at 2-3 positions that are game changers. These are inside line backer, cornerback, and wide receiver/running back. I’m more in favor of the latter approach because the objective is to win a Super Bowl, so maximize your chances with the elite pieces you already have.

Finally, the LA Kings have stabilized things for the time being and look like they are headed back to the playoffs. Going into yesterday they had won 7 of their last 10 games. More importantly, everyone decide to start scoring again, including Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield. I have my doubts the Kings are going to win the division, and they once again look destined to face the Oilers again in the 1st round of the playoffs. However, for things to be different this time two things must happen: Quinton Byfield must be elite, and they must have home ice advantage. The Kings are the best home team in the league. I have more confidence in Byfield being just that, but earning home ice advantage over Edmonton still seems doubtful.

March 17, 2025

The Bruins lasted about as long as the rap career of Vanilla Ice in the Big Ten Tournament. They got bounced by Wisconsin, who kept making 3-pointer after 3-pointer. As a result, the Bruins had to settle for the #7 seed and a 1st round matchup with Utah State. The good news for UCLA is that while the road to a deep tournament run looks tough, it’s not the toughest bracket. Utah State is a favorable matchup, and although Tennessee has one elite player, they are very dependent on him and that makes them vulnerable. UCLA also has #1 seed Houston in their bracket, who might be among the weaker of the top seeds. With all that being said, this UCLA team has been incredibly inconsistent, especially when it comes to guard play. Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack have to play well against the great teams, and the defense has to be elite, or UCLA won’t get out of the 1st weekend of play. This team could have its season end on Thursday night, or make it to the Elite 8. It’s a Mick Cronin team, so nothing would surprise me.

It’s that time of year where we all pretend like we’ve been watching College Basketball all year long, and are some kind of crazy experts. Even the real “experts” have a hard time making sense of all this, and there’s only even a couple of those people. Joe Lunardi has been scamming people for years into paying him to make fake brackets every week, and by the time it’s tournament time, everybody has forgotten about all the stuff he made up for the last few months. One thing is apparent: the NCAA Selection Committee did not care at all about what happened in the Conference Tournaments. It’s like they made their decisions in the middle of last week, then said “oh well!” after that. Florida is pretty damn good though, and is probably the best team in this whole tournament. Watch out for my UCSD Tritons though! They are in the tournament for the first time they are eligible, and might even win a round or two. UC Irvine should probably be in the tournament too, but even in 2025, they still aren’t going to take two teams from their conference.

To baseball, where we are just 24 hours away from the Dodgers starting their season in Tokyo! I can’t wait to see Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki get the ball in the first two games against the Cubs! These two guys can probably anchor this teams rotation for the next 5-10 years, but the trick will be keeping them healthy, which isn’t easy for pitchers. Unfortunately, Mookie Betts is suffering from an illness and will miss the entire series. Sounds like dude just had some bad sushi.

In the NBA, the Lakers ended a 4-game losing streak yesterday with a win against the Suns. Somehow, nobody really feels that bad about their losing streak though. They have been severely undermanned for those games, although they nearly beat the Nuggets on the road. If the Lakers can just tread water for a couple of more games, I still think they have a shot at the #2 seed by the time Lebron and Rui come back. This is also the toughest part of their schedule too, which will be past them by the time those two get back in the lineup. They will need to make sure they find the win column tonight against the Spurs though, who are now tanking after losing Wemby for the season.

There’s good news and bad news for the Clippers. The good news is Kawhi is ballin again. The bad news is they are very much stuck in the play-in tournament, and fighting for positioning there. Norman Powell will need some time to ramp up too, after returning from injury. If there’s one team in that play-in they want to avoid, it’s Minnesota. They have been on fire of late, and Ant Man has been tearing it up.

The Rams officially waived goodbye to Cooper Kupp last week. I was mildly intrigued at the idea of having him on the roster at a cheaper rate, but it wasn’t to be. He still got a pretty decent chunk of change from the Seahawks. I love Kupp, but the reality of it is, injuries have taken their toll on him. He can no longer get separation from defensive backs like he used to, and it became more and more obvious as last season went on. Unfortunately for the Rams, after Tee Higgins massive contract from the Bengals, they will ultimately need to pay a lot more for Puka Nacua, once he’s due for his extension.

Does Aaron Rodgers like drama or what? This dude has had offers on the table from the Giants and Steelers for weeks. Yet he’s probably out somewhere smoking weed in the forest, trying to find himself. Even Adam Schfter is like “dude do you want to play football or not?”. This is why having him on your football team at this point isn’t worth it, unless you badly need a quarterback. The Steelers are the only ones that really do, but at some point, they will need to move on.

March 10, 2025

The Lakers really shouldn’t feel so bad about themselves. They rallied from a big deficit against the Celtics on the road, and although they fell short, they had a lot working against them. Luka Doncic had a bad back, Lebron left with an injury, and they played without Rui Hachimura and Jaxton Hayes. That’s way too much to overcome against a contender like the Celtics. I also think Lebron being out 1-2 weeks is really bad timing, but I think the Lakers will fare better thank you think. Austin is going to have a much bigger role, and as long as Luka stays healthy, he’s getting way more comfortable and looking like himself. Lebron is basically Wolverine too, so I expect him to heal quickly. Don’t dismiss these guys from taking the #2 seed just yet!

The Clippers are definitely in a make or break portion of their season right now. They are fighting for their playoff play-in tournament lives, but the good news for them is that they’ve won their last two games to stop their skid. They are back up to 8th place in the West, and as long as Kawhi Leonard can stay available, which I know is sometimes like asking to win the lottery, then they should be able to stay in the play-in tournament. Kawhi was not only available, but hit a buzzer beater last night to beat the Kings. The Mavericks are falling apart with injuries, and Spurs have given up on the season, and the Suns hate each, so I like the Clips chances of at least treading water.

To the NFL, where the Rams shocked everyone yesterday by signing Davante Adams to a 2-year deal worth $26 million. I can’t say I understand this move, even though Adams is a big name. The Rams didn’t want to pay Cooper Kupp $30 million, but instead they want to pay Adams, who is a year older, $26 million? Is he that much better at this point in his career? I’m not so sure. I am slightly intrigued at the idea of keeping Kupp on a discounted deal if he’s willing to stay, but it doesn’t sound like Les Snead and Sean McVay want him to. In any case Snead and McVay deserve the benefit of the doubt that Adams is the right guy.

Now that Adams and DK Metcalf are off the market, what are the Chargers going to do? The Bolts still have a bunch of Door Dash drivers as their receivers, which isn’t going to be great for Justin Herbert. Joe Horitz says that the Bolts are going to be responsible this off-season with their spending. However, keeping Quintin Johnson as your #1 receiver is not responsible.

I’m astonished that UCLA ended up finishing in 4th place in the Big Ten! That got them a bye until Friday evening, and they just have to win 3 games to win the conference tournament. I certainly wouldn’t hold my breath that they are going to, but if they can win a game or two, they might be able to get into a lower seed in the NCAA Tournament in two weeks. That’s actually important so they don’t get stuck playing the likes of Duke or Auburn in the 2nd round.

I told you it was bound to happen. Pitchers get hurt. The first Dodger pitcher to get hurt and be out of the season? Michael Grove. He underwent season ending surgery for a torn labrum in his right shoulder. This is exactly why the Dodgers have a lot of depth. You need 12 starting pitchers to end up with 4 healthy and effective starters coming playoff time. With that being said, hopefully there aren’t many more of these, but sadly, it’s inevitable and more pitchers will get hurt.

I think I speak for all LA Kings fans when I saw we are just glad that Rob Blake didn’t screw up the team at the trade deadline. It’s simple. None of us really wanted a trade, but instead we want him to be fired, and I’m beginning to think he can take Luc Robitaille with him. Sure enough the Kings jerk Brandt Clarke around, and then they put him back in the lineup and he scores a beautiful goal. The Kings continue to be clueless developing their young players, and if they don’t change their foolish way of thinking, they will be ticketed for last place in the West in the next year or two.

March 3, 2025

Cooler heads have prevailed. The Rams agreed on a restructured contract with Matthew Stafford late last week, after it appeared as though he was headed to the Raiders for a moment. Sometimes the wife just needs to calm down and stop making noise on podcasts, and that’s exactly what happened here. Stafford wanted to be paid, but he was willing to take a little less to stay with the Rams. While we don’t know the terms yet, that’s exactly what happened. It’s simple. With Stafford the Rams are Super Bowl contenders. Without him they are not. Both sides are well aware of that, and as dumb as we think the Raiders and Giants are, they were never going to give up their 1st round pick in this year’s draft for him. They also locked up Left Tackle, Alaric Jackson, to an extension. The real question though is what’s going to happen to Cooper Kupp. If Deebo Samuel is worth a 5th round pick and somebody will pay his entire salary, you’ve gotta think Kupp is worth at least a 4th and someone will take his whole salary too. If that were to happen, what they do at wide receiver will be something to watch, since they really need a deep threat.

I don’t know if people realize this, but the Lakers are 16 games over .500! They won their 6th straight last night, are #2 in the West and they’ve been the best defensive team in the NBA for the last six weeks! That’s pretty good considering they acquired “Hookah Dončić“ who is one of the worst defenders in the NBA according to the media. OK, he’s not a great defender, but I have to say he’s actually played pretty good defense since he’s arrived here, and has the potential to be a much better defender than I thought. The Lakers just ran down the Nuggets for the number two seed and Luca isn’t even himself yet. Wait until he starts making shots consistently, and then this team will be really dangerous! What’s been really impressive though is the bench. People seem to forget that the Lakers are actually really good at developing young players. They found a couple of good ones in the G league with Trey Jemison and Jordan Goodwin who look like effective rotation players for the team right now. Also lost in all this is how amazing LeBron James looks in year 22 and 40 years old. LeBron is putting up numbers that are equivalent to his MVP season in Miami about 12 years ago! It’s still a little early to be calling the Lakers part of the inner circle of NBA championship contenders this season. However, every day they’re making me think they are part of that conversation more and more.

I think it’s fair to say after last night that the Clippers are going to finish somewhere between the #6 seed and the #10 seed in the West. Everyone ahead of them is basically out of reach. The Clips wanted to win that game so badly last night, they played Kawhi Leonard and James Harden nearly 40 minutes. That hasn’t happened in over a year and a half. The good news for the Clips though is that Kawhi had his best game of the season, and perhaps is improving conditioning wise. The question as always is how his knee will hold up after playing as many minutes as he did. Having Norman Powell back on a full time basis will help too, after he left last night’s game with hamstring injury.

I can’t believe some of you are already freaking out about how the Dodgers look in spring training. Who cares about their record when half the teams regulars aren’t playing much? In just a little bit of action we’ve seen from Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez, they’ve looked really good! I even think someone like Dalton rushing looks promising as well. The only minor concern is how the pitching looks, but it’s spring training! There’s enough talent all over this roster to pick each other up when one guy isn’t performing well.

As for the angels, Mark Gubzica is out here trying to tell us that he’s never seen talent like this in the pitching staff in years. Mark Gubzica is also probably trying to sell ice to the Eskimos while he’s at it. You can’t fool us, Gubby! The Halo’s signed some middle of the road free agents, overpaid them, and are going to be expecting a lot out of them to keep them afloat this year. They are going to be hoping for more progress from a lot of of their young players like Christian Moore, Zack Neto, and others, but the likelihood of that happening is about as great as me winning the Powerball.

I think UCLA’s fate for NCAA March madness seeding was sealed over the weekend with their loss to Purdue. The only way they can get to a number four seed is by winning the Big Ten tournament and that seems pretty unlikely at this point. On the bright side, Mick Cronin teams have had a tendency to raise their game come tournament time and their defense is something that will travel well no matter who they play and where they play. On any given day, they could definitely beat anybody in the country, anywhere. I’m just not so confident they can win an entire tournament with all of those elite teams in it. They need to find more offense for that.

Nothing is more aggravating than seeing the LA Kings play hockey these days, and how poorly they are run. This is still a playoff team, but a completely unserious one with how they are operating. They are now benching promising young defenseman Brandt Clarke. They are trying to tell us he’s not great defensively, but the numbers say otherwise, since they’ve been outscored 10-1 in those 3 games without him. So much for him being “just an offensive defenseman”. The player development in this organization is awful and will continue to be. I’ve even heard Quinton Byfield’s name in trade rumors in the past week. You can talk all you want about the Kings trying to chase  Mikko Rantanen, Brad Marchand, or some other big name forward, but one player won’t make this team contenders. They need another goalie, they need more scoring, and they need another checking line winger. Gutting your team for some expensive scorer who is a pending unrestricted free agent won’t solve that. It’s about developing depth with their young players, who most around the league would say are promising. Their goaltending isn’t all that elite, their power play stinks, and their top 9 forwards are wildly inconsistent. Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille were great NHL Players, but as executives, they just don’t get it.

Finally, the 97th edition of the Oscars went down last night in Hollywood. I realize that Hollywood has always been very liberal historically, but people are wondering why it’s so hard to make content these days and get anything to stick. It’s because when you get political, no matter what your position is, you’re going to alienate half the audience. People aren’t going to watch your movies so they can watch some social agenda the producers are determined to get across. People want to laugh, they want suspense, they want drama. That’s exactly what’s happened to the movie and television industry, and last night was a reminder of all that. 3 hours practically dedicated to politics. It was headlined by Karla Sofia Gascon, who tanked her film’s Oscar Trajectory, with her Islamophobic tweet in late January. Conan O’Brien tried to crack jokes about it to break the ice, but the whole evening was still awkward. Also, did we really need to hear Robert DiNiro say “fuck Trump” on live TV? I did love the fact Adam Sandler clearly didn’t care about the dress code, and basically showed up looking like a homeless guy in Santa Monica.