December 29, 2025

What a very disappointing weekend of football it was for the Rams, even though they don’t even get to play football until tonight. 10 days ago, the Rams were in position to win the NFC West and be the #1 seed in the conference. After last night, the Rams can finish no higher than 5th in the NFC , and the best case scenario is to face Tampa Bay or Carolina on the road during Wild Card Weekend. That seems like a cruel fate for a team that is arguably the best team in the NFL. However, let’s look at the bright side. The Rams can beat anybody, anywhere, on any given day. This team is still elite, and probably has fewer flaws than anybody else. The Rams coaching staff and front office is also going to be really motivated to beat the Falcons tonight because they have Atlanta’s 1st round pick, which is likely to be in the top 10 of this spring’s draft if the Rams take care of business tonight. It might be a tough road, but there’s a scenario here where the 49ers and Seahawks could have to play in round 2 of the playoffs, which means that one of those 2 elite teams would be knocked out of the playoffs before the Rams had to face them.

Speaking of disappointing, the Chargers were extremely disappointing over the weekend, losing to the Houston Texans and failing to move up in the AFC Playoff seeding. Although the Bolts can finish anywhere #5-7 in the playoff seedings, Jim Harbaugh told the media that Justin Herbert will not play next weekend. That means, they are likely to be on the road at New England or Jacksonville in round 1. I suddenly like the Chargers chances of winning that game a lot less than if they were to face the Steelers, especially in cold weather. The real issue for the Bolts is their inability to consistently protect Justin Herbert. That reared it’s ugly head on Saturday against an elite Texans defense, and the way things are going, likely to be the same in round 1 of the playoffs. You never really know what you’re going to get from this team, but obviously their best chance for playoff success is getting Justin Herbert healthy in the next two weeks.

To the NBA, where the Lakers had a very rough Christmas Week, losing three straight games, in blowout fashion. They also lost Austin Reaves again for another month due to a calf injury. The repercussion of that are tough, as Austin probably will not make the All-Star team anymore as a result. If you had any vision of the Lakers trading him before the deadline, that is likely out the window too, although I don’t think that was in the cards. JJ Redick made a lot of noise last week about his team’s effort, talking about how uncomfortable practice was going to be on Saturday, but after hearing him speak that afternoon, I didn’t get the sense that he cracked the whip like he claimed. I think when it came down to it, there’s only so much he can say to these guys, and that they have to want it. At least last night against Sacramento, they did show that they want it with a blowout win. We’ll see if it can continue against the Pistons tomorrow night. I do think the Lakers are often analyzed and over analyzed with every game, so I’m not as down on this team as everyone else However, there is a lot to figure out for this team to maximize it’s potential, of what I believe is the Western Conference Finals. It’s largely improved perimeter defense.

All of a sudden things don’t look so bad for the Clippers. They’ve reeled off 4 straight wins, and against quality opponents. Kawhi apparently was freed of his part-time job as an Amazon worked and dropped 55 points on the Pistons. It’s certainly an uphill climb for this team, but they are only 2.5 games out of the last play-in spot and there’s still more than 50 games of basketball to be played. Although most of us think the Clips should throw in the towel and start trading their star players for draft capital, based on what we are hearing from NBA insiders, the team has rebuffed most inquiring for it’s best players. The next month of the season will be pivotal in determining if they change their stance on that or not.

In College Football, USC will take on TCU in the Alamo Bowl. There’s been some interesting news with the Trojans in the last 24 hours. Lincoln Riley called out Notre Dame for saying they would play USC anytime, anywhere, then failing to follow through. At this point, as a Notre Dame alum, I think there is enough blame to go around on both sides, and I’m hopeful both programs will change their minds to play as early as 2027 (if it doesn’t happen in the playoffs). There’s also the unfortunate loss of Trojan DC D’Anton Lynn to Penn State. This makes too much sense to me, because Penn State is Lynn’s alma matter, and he probably views himself as more likely to eventually be a head coach there.

In baseball, the Angels found a way to completely embarrass themselves once again. They got outbid by the lowly White Sox for Japanese slugging 3rd baseman Munetaka Murakami. Arte Moreno couldn’t even come up with 2 years and $34 million to match the Chi Sox offer, for a position they badly needed help at. Japanese corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto is also still in play, but the Halos have even more competition with the likes of the Padres, Blue Jays, Pirates, and Red Sox all in pursuit. If Arte Moreno can’t even come up with that kind of money to sign young but proven Japanese talents, then you’ve got all the proof you need the Arte has reached the point in his Halos ownership tenure where he just doesn’t care at all about winning. When teams like the Pirates and White Sox are outbidding you, you need to ask yourself if you really should be owning a baseball team.

Finally, the LA Kings finally remembered how to score some goals over the weekend when they took down the Ducks, 6-1. You all know how down on the Kings I have been this year, and it’s no secret how I feel they need to blow up their front office and coaching staff. With that being said, they can thank their lucky stars that Adrian Kempe decided to re-sign with the team because for some weird reason, he likes the organization and being in LA. The man signed an 8 year $85 million contract, and as the teams leading scorer, might just be the teams next captain once Anze Kopitar retires after this year.

December 22, 2025

That was an absolutely brutal loss for the Rams on Thursday night against the Seahawks, and one that could prove quite costly. If the Rams had won that game, they would have had an easy path to secure the #1 seed and home field advantage through the NFC Playoffs. Now without some serious help, they are staring down the barrel of a #5 seed on the road for 3 NFC playoff games just to get to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks and 49ers still have some pretty tough games on their schedule, including having to face each other, so it’s not out of the question the Rams could still get that help. However, they have nobody to blame for themselves for the stupid losses they have suffered. A bizarre loss to Philly on botched special teams, a stupid loss on the final play to an undermanned 49ers team, a loss to the Panthers in which they were double digit favorites, and a loss to the Seahawks after leading 30-14. They still feel like the best team in the league that is the most balanced, but that doesn’t mean anything if they don’t execute. Also, what a week for Puka Nacua! He did a dance that was really a racial bomb, his brother robbed a Laker player, he ripped NFL refs, then reaffirms the ripping of NFL refs and gets fined. He did have 225 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns though, so most fans will probably say he can salute ISIS for all they care.

That was a really nice win for the Chargers yesterday against the Cowboys. The Bolts inched closer to a playoff spot, and believe it or not, they can still get the #1 seed in the AFC. It’s a bit of a parlay, but if they win their last 2 games against the Texans and Broncos, while the Patriots lose 1 of their last 2 to the Jets, or Dolphins, and the Jaguars lose 1 of their last 2 to the Colts or Titans, it can happen. Ok, they might as well buy a Powerball ticket, but winning the AFC West is far more realistic by winning their last two games. The only flaw with this team is that they are extremely dependent on Justin Herbert, not to mention have a hard time protecting him. I realize Herbert has some running ability, but the Chargers would be wise to protect him from himself, and not utilize him as a running back moving forward, like we saw yesterday.

To the NBA, where the Lakers were missing 4 starters on Saturday night, and as a result lost to the Clippers. The Lakers of course are the only team that can be down 4 starters and lose and people will say “hey I told you how much they would suck!”. This team is still very good, but we recognize they have defensive flaws that need to be fixed. Ultimately, the Lakers will need to find a way to beat 2 of Houston, Denver, or OKC to make it to the finals, and probably another tough opponent like San Antonio or Minnesota. They probably aren’t ready to do that today, but could they do that in the spring time? Absolutely. There are certainly ways they can fix their perimeter defense, and acquiring another max player isn’t the answer to that. Hopefully they can get a few of those starters back this week to get back in the win column and keep pace in the West.

As for the Clippers, despite Saturday night’s win, they have a big hole to climb out of just to make the play-in game. Ty Lue said the teams goal is to go 35-20 the rest of the way, which would put the Clippers at .500 for the rest of the season, and around the 10th seed for the final play in tournament spot. That’s a tall task for a team that has played like absolute garbage all year. The Clips have the talent to be better than they are, but they just lost Ivica Zubac for a few weeks to an ankle injury. They also have horrible culture too, and look like a bunch of dudes just there to collect a paycheck. I think the biggest issue for the Clippers is how self conscious they are going to be about their lack of competitiveness if they trade everyone and try to tank. However, they need draft capital to try and rebuild the franchise, and shouldn’t be concerned about just filling a new arena. The team stinks anyway, and they can surely get 1st round capital for Zubac, Harden, or Kawhi. Now I’m sure the rest of the league would rather see them in the playoffs though, to prevent OKC from getting another very high lottery pick.

Some very disappointing news broke this morning, which is that Notre Dame and USC will not be playing football in 2026, and possibly not until 2030. This is a fire-able offense as far as I’m concerned for those involved. However, it’s also the reality of College Football these days with all the re-alignment. In the next 5 years, the entire sport is going to look at lot different from conference rivalries and alignments, to the NIL system. It’s the wild west right now with a lot of change, and that is likely to ruin the rivalries we love in the short term, such as this one. I just knew that Lincoln Riley really didn’t want to play this game anymore given their schedules, and also didn’t really think Notre Dame wanted to play the game in week 0 either. These two teams can always play in the playoffs, which would still be special in a different way, but both teams actually have to get there unlike this year.

To College B-Ball, where UCLA is off to a 2-0 start in Big Ten play, but they will have their work cut out for them. There are 4 other teams that are also off to a 2-0 start in conference play, and all 4 are ranked in the Top 15. The mot impressive thing the Bruins have done so far this season is lose to #1 Arizona by 4 points on a neutral floor. They need to beat a couple of these ranked opponents to help their NCAA Tournament resume. One thing that will help is if Donovan Dent can play more consistently like he did against Arizona State. That would vault UCLA into a whole new level of contention that we haven’t seen in a while.

Let’s go to baseball, where all has been quiet for the Dodgers in the past week. Don’t expect anything big to happen until after the new year. However, we did learn that the Dodgers paid $130 million to other teams this year for revenue sharing, plus another $170 million to other teams for luxury tax penalties. That means their back-to-back championship cost $300 million alone, which was worth every penny. Still, it’s really more of a reminder that baseball is filled with owners who pocket money and don’t give a crap about winning.

For a hot second it looked like the Angels had a shot at Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami. However, he ended up signing with the White Sox, leaving the Halos are hole at 3rd base. Instead, the Halos off-season is just a bunch of dumpster diving pitching pick-ups, that they are hopeful end up turning into winning lottery tickets. The reality of it is that they signed 3 guys that haven’t had much major league success lately due to ineffectiveness and injury. Rumor has it if Nolan Arenado gets bought out they could be in the mix for him, but that would be another cheap solution to help their offense. The Angels did settle the Tyler Skaggs trial, and much to the dismay of the fans, the settlement cost will not force Arte Moreno to sell the team.

Finally, it’s been a very disappointing season so far for the LA Kings. They have the 4th worst offense in the league and the 3rd worst power play. They are barely hanging on to one of the last wild card spots. To make matters worse, their coach Jim Hiller should be coaching in a beer league, and their front office is led by a General Manager who’s last real success came when dial up internet was hot. Things are so bad, Philip Danault, a solid veteran defensive center, who hasn’t scored this year, requested a trade, and the team granted him his wish by sending him to Montreal. The team is certainly no better today than they were yesterday. The only way the team will have meaningful change is if they miss the playoffs entirely, and clean house from coaching staff to front office. Anything less will be simply spinning their wheels. Sadly, we will probably see that instead.

Monday December 15th , 2025

That was another huge win by the Rams yesterday over the Lions. It was really imperative that they got that win to maintain the #1 seed in the NFC. In my mind, Matt Stafford clinched the MVP with that victory. He’s been elite wire–to-wire this season. The offense really looks unstoppable at home because of him, so if the playoffs go through SOFI Stadium, this team has to feel good about their chances of coming out of the NFC. If Devantae Adam’s hamstring is bad, and it sounds like it is, just sit him for the rest of the regular season. There’s really only one more tough game before the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Chargers came away with a huge victory over the Chiefs yesterday, which eliminated Kansas City from the playoffs. You’ve gotta feel bad for Patrick Mahomes, who tore his ACL, and I’m sure that’s what will get most of the headlines along with the Chiefs missing the playoffs. However the Bolts should be commended for how they have gutted through the last few weeks. Justin Herbert has been out there like Jamie Lannister from Game of Thrones, with one hand playing quarterback. He’s found a way to be effective, and the team is slowly getting healthier. Two of their last 3 games will be tough, with the Texans and Broncos fighting for playoff positioning. However, I’m really liking the Chargers chances of ending up with the 5th seed and getting a favorable first round game against the Steelers.

To the NBA, where the Lakers got back in the win column last night with a victory on the road against the Suns. That was quite a game with Dillon Brooks impoloding at the end, which basically gave the Lakers the win after blowing a 20-point lead. The blown lead is going to happen in today’s NBA with the 3-point shot. However, people have been knit picking the Lakers and not calling them “true contenders” like Rich Paul and others. Before I get to Rich Paul, let’s start with the roster. The Lakers are a good team. And everyone likes to jump to stone cold-black and white conclusions, because people that cover the NBA are generally simple minded. However, this team can actually improve a lot of their shortcomings with some pieces they have on the roster. Adou Thiero gives the Lakers a component of athleticism and length that they do not have, and badly need. He should be given more minutes with a longer leash to help with their perimeter defense. The same goes for Jarred Vanderbilt, who finally got back in the lineup last night. That will immediately help their defensive shortcomings. The Lakers three best players in Luka, Austin, and Lebron, may not give them the best defensive lineup. However, they can balance this out by playing Rui off the bench to give them more scoring from their 2nd unit, while also adding more defense to the starting lineup with Vando or Marcus Smart. I’m not sitting here telling you they are better than OKC right now, or anybody is. Just don’t sell this team short. As for Rich Paul, he acknowledged Lebron isn’t going anywhere, so what is his end game for saying the Lakers aren’t contenders? I actually think it’s because he knows if the Lakers do win, he can point to Lebron’s legacy and tell you why he’s really the GOAT. However, Rich Paul seems to think Norman Powell and Austin Reaves are on the same level, which makes me think Rich Paul’s basketball intelligence is on the same level as the same fools on Twitter.

As for the Clippers, their complete disaster of a season continues. They’ve got 6 wins on the season, and have lost 3 in a row. Only 5 teams have more losses than them, and the Clips are playing these last few games very hard, including Kawhi Leonard. The problem is they are old, and they can’t play defense. Then the media tried tell everyone that the Clips didn’t make Ty Lue available after their last loss. He was available, but what that exposed is that there are no more local beat writers traveling with the team. Sure that is a trend in sports media with cost cutting, but let’s be honest. The Clippers haven’t earned that level of coverage with the way they are playing. Their coverage is a product of the unfortunate fact that very few people actually care about them, which Steve Ballmer really isn’t going to want to hear.

To College Ball, where UCLA suffered another loss to Gonzaga over the weekend. It’s the same story with this team in close games. They look competitive. but not quite enough to beat the elite teams in the sport. This time it just felt like UCLA could have lost by more had Gonzaga just made more of their free throws. Nevertheless, I see too much talent on this team to just be the 25th ranked team in the country, and one that at this point, will struggle to finish in the Top 4 of The Big Ten Conference. Then there was also the announcement that Mick Cronin received a 5-year extension. That can’t sit well with the Bruins alums, who are probably thinking they will be buying him out in 2 years from now, which will be more expensive. As I said to you last week, Cronin is a good coach, but stylistically, he is becoming further and further from the coach that is the right fit for the Bruins.

In baseball, if you’re a true Dodger fan you have to feel so privileged to be witnessing this. The Dodgers signed closer Edwin Diaz to a 3 year deal last week, which gives them the best closer on the market, when they badly needed a closer. This franchise is solely focused on winning and giving it’s fan base an elite product. I commend the entire Dodgers ownership for this, as well as Andrew Friedman, Stan Kasten, and the entire front office. As if that’s not enough, the Dodgers are lurking for bigger names like Tarik Skubal, Kyle Tucker, or even Cody Bellinger. Nothing can be ruled out with the Dodgers, which makes it that much more exciting! I personally would love to see Skubal and Bellinger, if nothing else, just to see the internet break.

Finally, the LA Kings are barely hanging on to 3rd place in the division. They are struggling to score big time, and they don’t defense as elite as they used to. Now comes a big road trip against the likes of Dallas, Florida, and Tampa Bay. That could mean the end of Jim Hiller as their coach. While you may think this is a good thing, it’s not. I don’t want this front office regime to order my pizza, let alone pick the next coach of this team. Knowing Ken Holland, he will probably be looking in his Rolodex for coaches from the 90’s. This organization is a complete disaster and until there is a complete overhaul from the front office on down, expect much of the same.

December 8, 2026

We start with the Rams, who had a very nice bounce back game against the Cardinals yesterday. Puka Nacua never ceases to amaze me with some of the catches he makes. I would take him over any wide receiver in the NFL. He makes remarkable catches, blocks for the Ram running backs, and can run the jet sweep when needed.  Also encouraging is the fact the O-line came up huge again! No sacks allowed, very few penalties and almost 250 yards rushing! The Rams running backs averaged almost 8 yards per carry! Couple of good tests coming up with Lions and Seahawks again. Somebody hook up Sean McVay to an IV between now and next Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Chargers have a big showdown tonight with the Eagles at SOFI. A win tonight would be huge because it would really put the Bolts in the driver seat for one of the final 3 AFC playoff spots. Not only that, but it would put them in really good position for a favorable first round matchup against the lowly winner of the AFC North. The real question is how is Justin Herbert going to look with a cast on his hand, and whether or not he will be compromised. These aren’t last seasons Eagles though. Their offense has been very inconsistent, and Saquon Barkley hasn’t been the same threat as we’ve seen before. The Chargers need to take advantage of this and get the win.

Let me get to the College Football Playoff, because you all know that as a Notre Dame alum, I’m pissed about yesterday. The moment I saw Alabama stay ranked at #9, I knew the Irish were going to get screwed. I have no problem with Miami being ranked ahead of the Irish because they beat them head-to-head. The methodology with how they wait until the end to put them ahead of Notre Dame is screwy, but the outcome is fine. However, the real issue is Alabama not dropping, after getting dump trucked in the SEC Championship game. “But Omar the games have to count! Well, just not this particular game!” ‘Bama has 3 losses, and the SEC Championship game wasn’t even competitive. What was the committee really impressed with? Their ability to actually score a touchdown in the 2nd half and not get shut out? They lost and should have dropped the way Ohio State and BYU dropped for losing their championship game. The same thing happened to USC in 2022 when they lost to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship game, yet nobody cared then and dropped them from the top 4. The same thing should apply to Alabama, they aren’t special just because they think it’s cool to marry your cousin. And for those of you that think Notre Dame should join a conference, they shouldn’t and will not just because this happened. They make way more money not being in a conference, and the conference system will be obsolete by the time they need to have one. Besides, if you know the history of College Football, you know that long ago Notre Dame was not allowed to join The Big Ten because of anti-Catholicism. Years later, they are sticking it to everyone because they make so much more money not being in a conference. I’m also proud of them for turning down a bowl game. Why let ESPN benefit from ratings from having them in that game, if they won’t be put in the CFP?

As for the local College Football squads, they both made news starting with USC. The Trojans have clinched the #1 recruiting class for 2026, which is the first non-SEC team atop the rankings in 18 years. They added 35 new recruits, with 20 signees rates 4-star or higher. The real significance of this is that the tide is slowly turning in College Football from all this SEC domination. Now paying all these players is above board, when in the south for so many years, they did it under the table, and the owner of the car dealership was paying these kids. Now that it’s legal, it’s the car maker that’s coming up with the deals to pay these kids in the bigger markets. Now for Lincoln Riley, he has to produce immediately, otherwise these kids are going to transfer. The pressure is on. Until then, you can see USC taking on TCU in the Alamo Bowl on December 30th.

Then there’s UCLA, who hired Bob Chesney as it’s coach. This probably isn’t who Bruin fans and alums were thinking about, but it could be a sneaky good hire. Chesney has James Madison University in the College Football Playoff, which the Bruins have only had the luxury of watching on TV every year. Chesney has won at every level, has a track record of developing players, and turning programs around. Can he do that in a P4 conference? Let’s put it this way. If it wasn’t Martin Jarmond that was part of this hiring process, I would have thought it was a spectacular hire.

Speaking of UCLA, in hoops they started Big Ten play last week, and rebounded nicely with two nice wins. After taking down Washington and Oregon, they can feel a little better about themselves. However, that game against Washington was a reminder of where this team can get into trouble. They try to protect leads by playing a prevent offense, and suddenly, their opponents are catching them. This is again, a Mick Cronin issue. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Cronin needs to be fired or anything like that. He’s a good coach, but he needs to adjust. He has great players, but he needs to unleash them on offense and give them more confidence to do what they do. He can still have that and maintain his defensive identity.

To the NBA, where the Lakers found the win column last night on the road against the Sixers. They are back up to the 2nd seed in the West, and look like a very nice team with Luka, Lebron, and Austin continuing to find chemistry together. However, in the background we are starting to hear noise about Giannis Antetekompo. There’s probably a very realistic conversation to be had with the Bucks that works for both teams if Milwaukee really wants to trade him. However, do you really think right now the Lakers would be better off acquiring Giannis, and giving up Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Gab Vincent, and 2 1st round picks and 1st round swaps? I sure don’t. Giannis is a great but an aging player, while Austin Reaves is 4 years younger, and suddenly emerging as an all-nba player. I would take a chance on Giannis in two summers from now if I can just sign him with my cap space. By then, OKC will probably be impacted by the salary cap and may not be as strong. Austin Reaves may be even better then too.

Then there’s the Clippers, who now have the 4th worst in the NBA. That’s right, a team with Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and Ivica Zubac, just can’t string together any wins. They also had some drama with Chris Paul, who they are now in the process of moving on from. CP3 is an outspoken player who holds people accountable, but it sure seems to me like the Clips didn’t want to be accountable at multiple levels of the organization. I do hope he can finish his career with somebody else and not go out like this. It would even be a nice story for him to finish with the Lakers, but I just don’t see how they come up with space on their roster right now. When the season started, it looked like the Clippers were going to try and be competitive for this year and next year. However, now they look like they need to start trading pieces and blow it up immediately to recoup some draft capital. Kawhi probably has no trade value, but Harden and Zubac do. There’s another issue they may have on their hands now though. With the way they traded Blake Griffin and divorced themselves from CP3, superstars may have further doubts about signing with the Clippers, if their objective is to try and rebuild their team through free agency. Kawhi Leonard isn’t actually a good example of a normal superstar who signed with them.

To baseball where the Winter Meetings are going down, and thus far its been a quiet offseason for the Dodgers. They did decide to bring back Miguel Rojas, which was a great move. However, they do need some bullpen and outfield help. Their high end bullpen options are dwindling though with Ryan Helsley, Devin Williams, and Raisel Iglesias off the market. I don’t see them giving lots of years and big money to Robert Suarez or Edwin Diaz, and nor should they give their age. There’s also some rumors according to Bob Nightengale, that the Dodgers are shopping Teoscar Hernandez. If that’s true, I can see why. I like Teo and think he’s been an emotional leader and huge contributor to the back-to-back World Series titles. However, he really wasn’t great defensively and the team does need to get younger. I wouldn’t move him just to move him, but if a team wants to take him and assume his full salary for the last two years, and it allows you to get Cody Bellinger or Tarik Skubal, it’s probably worth considering. Keep in mind though it’s Bob Nightengale, who’s sources aren’t exactly highly reliable.

Finally, the Angels added another cheap pitcher with hopeful upside in Alec Manoah. This guy was actually a Cy Young Finalist 3 years ago, but has struggled with injuries since then. I can see the vision on paper. Manoah, Grayson Rodriguez, and Reid Detmers all high upside pitchers they can put in their rotation next year, along with Yusei Kikuchi. The problem with this theory is it’s assuming that the Halos player development can elevate the performances of most of those pitchers. That’s a very bold assumption, and not one I would bet on.

December 1st, 2025

The Rams suffered a tough loss yesterday, but it really wasn’t a bad one. They went on the road to the east coast and got caught in a trap game, against a very hungry Panthers team in pouring rain. Matt Stafford was due to eventually turn the ball over, and that he did, 3 times. That’s ok. Better to happen now than in the playoffs, or other critical games down the stretch. If anything, this loss might actually make the better down the stretch. It would have been nice to build a bit of a lead over Philadelphia and Seattle in the NFC, but that’s ok. The mindset now should be to win the next 3 in a row. Games against Arizona, Detroit, and Seattle sound challenging, but the Rams also won 3 in a row just before this too.

As for the Chargers, they took down the Raiders at home, but there was a price in doing so. They lost Justin Herbert to a broken hand. It remains to be seen if Herbert will miss any time. Let’s be real though, if he does miss time, the Chargers could be in danger of missing the playoffs. The Bolts have had their injury woes, but they are still the 5th seed in the AFC with 5 games left to play in their season. The Chiefs are out of the playoffs, the Ravens are struggling, the Bills look beatable. The Patriots and Broncos look flawed and inexperienced. The AFC hasn’t looked this wide open in a long time, and the Bolts can take advantage of it if things break right for them. However, it all starts with whether or not their star quarterback is going to miss time.

To the NBA, where the Lakers keep rolling. They took down the Pelicans last night for their 7th straight win. They have the 2nd best record in the West and the 2nd best record in the West and the 3rd best record in the Association. Are all you casuals still waiting to see how it goes with Lebron waiting to fit in with Luka and Austin before deciding how good this team is? Spoiler alert, they are an excellent team. I never said they were going to beat OKC, but at this point who can? However, they should be considered as a team that could end up in the Western Conference Finals. To get beyond that they will need to improve their 3-point shooting, their bench scoring, and their ability to defend the rim. Much of that can be improved just by moving Rui to bench and shooting more 3’s. They’ll have to find a way to defend better too, but I think more Gabe Vincent in the lineup will help the perimeter defense, and more Lebron will help their rebounding and defense too. There’s still a lot more upside to this team than you may think, despite what those buffoons that call themselves NBA analysts might tell you.

Meanwhile, the Clippers catastrophe continues. They have lost 4 straight, and are just 5-15 on the season. Don’t tell me it’s because they need to get healthier, or even because they don’t have Kawhi. Even when they’ve had him in the lineup they still look old as hell, playing at a slow pace, and terrible defensively. They relay heavily on isolation ball from Kawhi, Harden, and Zubac, which can be somewhat predictable. My favorite part of all this though was after a loss the other night Kawhi said “We need more talent”. Good one Kawhi. Perhaps if you quit your job as a part-time Amazon worker and showed up to play basketball for the Clippers more often, the talent part wouldn’t be an issue. For those of you that are naive enough to believe this was a championship team at any point in the last 3 years, now you know that is far from the case. The only question now is whether or not they can just be a respectable team and not give OKC an excellent lottery pick this coming summer.

In College Football, USC took down UCLA at the Coliseum over the weekend. The Bruins have ended a disastrous season, and have a lot to figure out. The Trojans on the other hand have to leave you asking yourself if this is going well or not. USC got 9 wins, and if they go to the Alamo Bowl and win, it’s 10 wins. That’s better than last season, and after making a move to the Big Ten, it represents progress. Is that progress good enough for Trojan fans and are they behind Lincoln Riley? I’m sure you will get a lot of mixed reviews. Multiple things can be true at the same time. Riley is making progress with this group, and he’s going to be bringing in more talent. However, we are now in a place where 12 teams make the College Football Playoff. In Los Angeles, you are judged by a much higher standard of excellence, so the expectation should be that Riley need to get this team into the CFP consistently. We’ll have to wait another season to see if he can live up to those lofty expectations.

Just when it looked like UCLA basketball was getting better, they lay a total egg against Cal. The Bruins offense looked extremely sluggish, and Donovan Dent has been having his struggles. I think we are reaching the point with Mick Cronin where we have to start asking if he is the right fit for UCLA. I don’t doubt that he is a very good coach. However, his “tough love” approach to big-time recruits at UCLA doesn’t always seem to work. It may have worked with guys like Jaime Jaquez and Tyger Campbell, but it doesn’t work in the era of NIL and for a lot of the glitz and glamour players. Over time we see his players lose confidence, end up in his dog house, and it crushes the morale of his team, and limits the teams ceiling. The tough love approach might be more appropriate in the Big East, or schools that aren’t recruiting 5 star recruits. This might also explain why we’ve seen the Bruins be in close games against a lot of elite teams over the last few years, including in the tournament, but unable to finish them. Let’s hope he can prove me wrong and regain momentum, but at this point, one has to ask themselves the question.

To baseball where there still isn’t much news on the Dodgers to report. However, a couple of things did pop up that are worth discussing. The Blue Jays signed former Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease to a 7 years $210 million contract. While I credit the Blue Jays for spending money to try and improve their team, I’m convinced that they didn’t actually watch Cease pitch last year. Dude is basically a #3 starter at his best, and had a one year outlier where he looked closer to a #2 starter 2 years ago. If Cease got that much, then I’m sure Tarik Skubal is probably thinking he’s worth about $60 million a year. If the Dodgers are going after him, they should be prepared to pay him that for about a decade. There’s also a few trade rumors floating around about Tyler Glasnow and him being on the trade block. However, I have a very hard time believing that the Dodgers would trade him. The Dodgers just need him to be great in October, and that’s exactly what he was. No reason to trade him when he’s on a reasonable deal.

Finally, the Angels are in talks to buy out Anthony Rendon from his disastrous contract, and the final $38 million on it. Rendon will likely retire, but if I’m the Halos, that’s not good enough. Rendon should be punished by making him play out the the final year of his contract in AAA, staying on army cots or in one star hotels, while eating at Applebee’s most nights. He was totally lazy, and a terrible professional the last 6 years. Rendon was so useless and buying him out gives the Halos no more financial flexibility, so buying him out does nothing. In fact, it’s also really annoying buying him out because we can’t tell anymore jokes about him if he retires.