October 14, 2024
The Dodgers are pleasantly surprising me for now. They met the emotional and mental challenge that the Padres presented them last week. They can thank Teoscar Hernandez for hitting big home runs and bringing some fire to the team, as well as Kike Hernandez, who is basically Derek Jeter in the postseason. Nobody can talk shit on Dave Roberts anymore, even though you shouldn’t be criticizing a guy in the first place that is reading a game plan off a spreadsheet. Although, we just learned that he created Manny Ramirez drama to fire up his team. Who does he think he is, Phil Jackson?? Is he going to start burning incense in the locker room and hand out motivational books? The Dodger bullpen has also been unbelievable. It’s been so good, that they are actually looking forward to having a bullpen game this afternoon in game 2. At some point, the Dodgers are going to give up runs after having the longest scoreless streak in postseason history, but hopefully when they come it’s not an avalanche of them. The Mets don’t exactly have pitchers that scare you, so as long as they don’t see that avalanche of runs from them, you have to like their chances more and more. I’d also like to thank the MLB for scheduling one of their biggest games of the season in the middle of the day on a colonizer holiday that only banks and schools have off. The majority of us will be working and contributing to the economy, affording the rest of these folks the opportunity to go to a game with all those fat welfare checks they are getting from the government!
To the NFL, where the Chargers took down the Broncos yesterday in Denver. That was a much needed win for the Bolts, who got back over .500 on the season. That’s the type of game they would have lost the last few years, likely blowing a 4th quarter lead, but a Jim Harbaugh team is usually a lot mentally tougher than that. Speaking of Harbaugh though, his irregular heart beat doesn’t seem like a big deal to him, but it certainly feels like a big deal to the rest of us. Coaching in the NFL is a very stressful job, not to mention the added stress of having to work for Dean Spanos. It would also be just the Chargers luck to finally have a great head coach, who is hindered by health problems. Nevertheless, for now it appears like Harbaugh is ok. The Chargers had not beaten the Broncos in Denver since 2018. Had they lost, Columbine would be the 2nd worst thing to happen in Denver. Up next is Arizona.
Elsewhere around the NFL, did the Lions schedule the Cowboys for homecoming? It feels like it the way Dallas got blown out. The Jags lost to the Bears in London, and the British say the next time the NFL sends Jacksonville to play football in England, they will consider it an act of terror and will declare war against the United States. The Steelers crushed the Raiders and have asked Justin Fields to stop laughing hysterically when Mike Tomlin tells the media Russell Wilson might get his starting job back. The Bengals topped the Giants, and Daniel Jones has a better chance of winning the Power Ball than throwing a touchdown pass at home these days. The Eagles beat the Browns, but their identity is more confusing than all the people that Kamala Harris say need a sex change operation. I’m beginning to wonder if Jordan Love is the best quarterback in the NFL. He missed two games and he’s already 2nd in the league in touchdown passes, after the Packers crushed the Cardinals!
In College Football, the Trojans have all but been eliminated from the College Football playoff, after falling to Penn State. USC is just 3-3 now, but their last two losses shouldn’t have happened. They had a 2 touchdown lead at the half, and a 1 touchdown lead at the half against Penn State. They had no business losing to Minnesota. These are close games that they need to find a way to win. Ultimately, it’s Lincoln Riley who is taking a lot of heat for these games. USC is getting beaten up on the line of scrimmage, their defense doesn’t get many sacks, and Riley manages timeouts Bernie Madoff manages your money. It’s going to be an adjustment period for USC. That doesn’t mean Riley is incapable of making it, but he will need to recruit more heavily on the offensive and defensive line. As I mentioned at the beginning of the season, if the Trojans go 7-5 or 8-4, that’s really not terrible considering how tough their schedule is, and what the adjustment period is for going into the Big 10. There is nothing wrong with that, but nobody in the Trojan faithful wants to hear that, especially considering USC is a .500 team in the last 21 games.
I really thought UCLA was going to find the win column against Minnesota. It was not to be however, and now I’m not sure there’s another win on their schedule this year. The players are playing hard, but they simply don’t have the talent to get it done, in almost all facets of the game. To make matters worse, when they take the penalties that they did, it makes it nearly impossible to win. 3 of the next 4 are on the road, so winning one of those is hard to envision. I know you all want to slam Deshaun Foster, but he’s here because they didn’t have many choices after Chip Kelly left. There wasn’t a line of coaches around the block for this job. It’s not great, but the reality of it is you need to give it time, and give Foster time to try and recruit in the new NIL world. Don’t write him off yet, as this was a really difficult situation to begin with.
Finally, in the NBA the Lakers have been playing a bunch of preseason games away from Crypto.com arena. That’s all fine and dandy if it’s in the likes of Arizona, Vegas, or Palm Desert. However, why send the team to Milwaukee? Ok, I get it they came here last year so we gotta go there this year, but no more of this nonsense! These players have enough travel as it is. They don’t need to get on a plane to go across the country to play each other in a meaningless game where they are just getting some cardio. As for Bronny James, he was joking around that he wants his own skin in the “Call of Duty” video game. Of course some of you felt the need to jump in with the ridiculous reaction that he’s just going to be playing video games and not focusing on basketball. Since most of you aren’t aware, when pro athletes aren’t working on their craft, they play video games like you watch Netflix. We don’t slam you for watching Netflix and think it will take away from doing your 9-5 job, so there’s no reason to slam Bronny.
