December 18, 2024
The Rams picked up another big win yesterday and are right there in the NFC for that final playoff spot! It’s amazing what a healthy Matt Stafford and Cooper Kupp can do for this team. With the Packers loss they are currently in the last playoff spot in the NFC. Since the Vikings still have to play the Lions twice, I’m liking the Rams chances of getting in. I know everyone is hyped for the idea of a Rams-Lions showdown in round 1, but don’t get too excited though, because the Rams probably won’t pass the Vikings in the standings, who have a cupcake schedule. If the Bears and Panthers win any more games this season, their fans should probably riot and burn down their stadiums, since they both want that #1 draft pick. It’s going to be a short week at home for the Rams, since they host the Saints on Thursday night. I’m sure even 5 years later, the Saints are still holding a grudge for the Rams beating them on that blown call in the 2018 NFC Championship game. It’s a grudge that is similar to a grown man having it out for the guy who took his lunch money in 3rd grade.
Call me crazy, but I was somewhat surprised that the Chargers finally fired Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco on Friday. It took a complete humiliation by the Raiders on Thursday Night Football for them to pull the trigger, but I think this was largely the result of public pressure. It wasn’t really that long ago where the Spanos family was completely behind Staley and Telesco, especially because they hate the idea of paying two coaches. However, the fans in LA demand results if you want to be relevant, which as it is, the Chargers barely are. Now comes the hard part though. You know the Bolts are going to get interest from big names like Bill Belichik and maybe even Jim Harbaugh since Justin Herbert is their quarterback. However, can you really see the Spanos family paying big money for a coach like that? This guy is so cheap he probably asked Santa to cover the cost of the Staley buyout. I certainly cannot see a big name coach coming. Prove me wrong Dean!
Now that the Lakers won the in-season tournament, they seem to be back to playing lazy basketball, which is what I was afraid of. In fact, the Lakers are doing what most of corporate America is doing: mailing it in during the holidays! They didn’t show up against the Mavericks and Spurs last week, in games that they should have won. Apparently the Lakers need to be reminded that the West is a gauntlet, and you can’t take nights off, or else you can quickly find yourself much lower in the standings. That’s significant because it’s going to be tough to come out of the Western Conference if you don’t have home court in three consecutive rounds. Obviously there is a ton of time left in the season and it’s about peaking at the right time, but Darvin Ham needs to slap some sense into his team to keep them motivated on a nightly basis.
Meanwhile, the Clippers have suddenly won 7 games in a row, and will be trying to make it 8 in a row tonight. What’s even more impressive is that they are actually playing defense. They are 5th in the league in opponent field goal % and 5th in point allowed. For a team that has James Harden, who is known more for his love of strip clubs than defense, that’s pretty good. It also tells me that Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have decided to be more engaged at that end of the floor during this win streak. I also find it interesting, but not surprising, that the streak has coincided with Russell Westbrook playing less than 20 minutes a game, and Terrance Mann playing closer to 30 minutes a night. It will be interesting to see if the Clips keep this rotation going and keep everyone happy, but I’m sure Ty Lue doesn’t care as long as they keep winning and climbing in the West.
To baseball, where the Dodgers made another big move last week, trading for Tyler Glasnow. Since the Boys in Blue badly need pitching, it certainly is a boost to the front of their rotation. I’m ok with giving up Ryan Pepiot, who was solid, but given the injury history of Glasnow, I wasn’t so excited to see them pony up a 5 year extension right now. In any case, he should help in the short-run if he’s healthy. They still need more help though in their rotation, and I’m starting to feel less and less optimistic about Yoshinobu Yammamoto signing with LA. I think he’s going to the Yankees, and really the only thing that makes me think the Dodgers have a chance is all these ridiculous Twitter accounts popping up with no sources claiming he’s going to sign with the pin stripes.
Of course all the rumors are coming out now about Shohei Ohtani and the Angels not willing to match the $700 million offer the Dodgers made. However, I for one did not believe for a second that Ohtani would have returned to the Angels. He wants to win, and had seen enough of how that franchise was operated for 6 years. He came back to them with the opportunity to match simply out of respect, and ultimately could have leveraged more from the Dodgers or others. At the same time, if Arte Moreno didn’t want to match the offer, I have no issue with that. Where you should have a problem with Arte Moreno is the fact the team is currently sitting $70 million below the luxury tax, and is doing absolutely nothing so far to improve the roster. They could easily go after the likes of Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, or Jordan Montgomery. Instead, Arte Moreno has been operating this off-season like guy who is strapped with credit card debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Here’s to hoping Moreno will revert back to selling the team for the sake of Angels fans.
I sure hope that UCLA Basketball is planning on winning every single game in conference play. The Bruins fell to 5-4 after losing to Ohio State over the weekend, and now their tournament resume looks like the equivalent of a guy that doesn’t even have a high school diploma and just got fired from McDonald’s. I keep hearing that UCLA is one of the youngest teams in the country, and that may be true, but the Bruins also hung in with some of the tougher teams in the country like Gonzaga and Marquette. They should be winning against these unranked teams because they have the talent to do so. The bottom line is that at this point the Bruins need to just start banking wins. They have 22 games left, and need to go 15-7 just to reach the ideal 20-win mark to get in the NCAA Tournament.
Congratulations to the UCLA Football Team for winning the LA Bowl against Boise State. I believe next year they are going to change the name of this game to the “Nobody Gives A Crap About This Game Bowl”. In all seriousness though, I can acknowledge that the game was good for younger players to get reps. However, the Bruins don’t need to pay Chip Kelly $30 million for that happen. I’m pretty sure the expectation was higher when Kelly was hire.
Finally, the LA Kings got back in the win column over the weekend to snap a 3-game losing streak. The Kings are still doing decently, sitting in 3rd place in a very competitive Pacific Division and Western Conference, but considered one of the contending teams in the West. With that being said, don’t try pointing to the Kings trade of PL Dubois for their success. Dubois has 5 goals so far, and is on pace for just 15 goals and 36 points this season. For a guy that was paid $8.5 million a year to play center, that is not acceptable, and concerning. I had my doubts about this trade to begin with, but even I thought the guy would be more productive than this. There’s still plenty of time to prove me wrong, but so far, it’s not looking good on that front.