November 18, 2024
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but Lebron James is still really good at basketball. In fact, he can still be the best player in the game on most nights at 40-years old. The Olympics were a reminder of that, and it’s continuing to play out that way in the first 13 games of the NBA season, with the Lakers off to a solid 9-4 start. Enjoy this man while he’s still playing, because you’ll miss him when he’s gone, and it’s a privilege to watch him play every night. Anthony Davis is also back to playing at an MVP level, which is a complete game changer for this team. If only the Lakers could get more consistency out of D’Angelo Russell, hope Gabe Vincent remembers how to play basketball, and get Max Christie to look more like he did last spring. All these problems, and a completely depleted front court, yet the Lake Show is making it work. By the way, the fact 16 NBA GM’s allowed Dalton Knecht to drop to the Lakers in this years draft is a reminder that the National Basketball Association is employing a number of people who aren’t even qualified to serve me fries at McDonald’s, let alone run a basektball team.
The Clippers snapped a 3-game losing streak Sunday with a win against the Jazz, but are at an interesting cross-roads. They play hard every night, are putting up a respectable showing, but let’s be honest. This team’s ceiling is dependent on a franchise player, who cannot be relied upon anymore to stay healthy when the team needs them most. In fact, even if Kawhi got healthy, with a running mate like James Harden, who is looking older by the game, can you really expect a whole lot from this team? If the Clippers were smart, they would try to trade James Harden by the deadline while they can get something for him. I’m sure all the LA strip clubs business would be devastated, but it’s the right thing to do for the franchise. The same goes for Ivica Zubac, who they can get quality draft capital for. Behind closed doors, I can’t help but think that the Clippers are hoping that Kawhi just decides to retire so they can get out from under his massive contract, never hear from Uncle Dennis again, and find a more reliable star to spend the majority of their cap on.
To the NFL, where the Rams got back in the win column with a big victory over the Patriots yesterday on the road. Although it was a bit of a slow start, the Rams offense was on full display with their two stud receivers, Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, both finding the endzone. Kyren Williams also provided a balanced running attack too, and the young upstart defense continued to make big plays. Most importantly though, the offensive line looked way better than they did last week, which was a very costly loss against Miami. That is basically going to be the key to how effective they are going to be the rest of the season, even as the defense continues to get better. The only problem is that the red hot Eagles are coming to town next week, and they will be coming off extra rest after playing on Thursday night. The Rams are tied for 2nd place in the NFC West, and they are in the thick of the NFC Wild Card race, but they’ll need to do more than just beat the division opponents moving forward.
The Chargers also picked up another win last night, this time on Sunday Night Football against the Bengals. That game somehow felt like every Bengals and every Chargers game all rolled into one. Until the final minute, when we learned that these aren’t your fathers Chargers! The pulled it out in a game they would frequently lose in the past decade. The story in the first half though was the Chargers pass rush absolutely dominating the Bengals. Joe Burrow had no time to do anything, which was even more impressive without Khalil Mack. Justin Herbert was dropping dimes to his receivers, and even showed some nice mobility. The Bolts are suddenly a team to be feared, and are quietly rising up in the AFC. If Justin Herbert and the defense look like this, they could be a surprise team come playoff time. It will be the most ‘Un-Chargers” thing in the world, but so was last night. You can think Jim Harbaugh for that. I will never understand why Joe Burrow walks into these games dressed looking like a lesbian women’s basketball coach.
Elsewhere around week 11, the Chiefs lost to the Bills, and America thinks the check to the refs must have bounced since a close game finally didn’t go their way. The Jets lost to the Colts and have found a way to be even worse after firing Robert Saleh. The Seahawks beat the 49ers for the first time in 3 years, and Geno Smith was barking pretty hard at them about it. Taysom Hill had his annual blow up game, as the Saints took down the Browns. The Vikings beat the Titans but their fans are confused why they can’t win every game by 47 points. I guess all that knee cap biting is working because the Lions are now 9-1 and are the best team in the NFL. The Dolphins smashed the Raiders, but it’s the ’72 Dolphins that are doing the celebrating after the Chiefs loss keeps them as the only undefeated team in NFL history. And Bo Nix turned into John Elway, and the Broncos destroyed the Falcons.
In College Football, the Trojans got back in the win column with a win over Nebraska on Saturday at the Coliseum. Did USC finally benefit from some questionable officiating? Absolutely. Will most Trojan fans care? Absolutely not considering they have been screwed on some late calls earlier in the year. Jayden Maiava filled in for Miller Moss and not only made important plays, but also the kinds of plays Miller Moss simply wouldn’t have been able to make. Ultimately though, it’s critical the Trojans win 1 of these last 2 games against UCLA or Notre Dame because they need to be bowl eligible to keep practicing into December. That’s the only way this team can get better, which it needs to. The offensive line is still a disaster and Nebraska really isn’t all that good, yet they were right there at the end of the game. If USC is going to turn things around, they’ll need to kill it in the transfer portal in a few weeks and at the moment, it’s hard to see that happening.
Then there’s UCLA, which lost to Washington over the weekend. But do you really care about that? What you really care about is the idea that the Bruins might actually be able to beat the Trojans next week at the Rose Bowl. A few weeks ago, this idea would be completely preposterous. However, in reality, UCLA has been improving and USC has be regressing. The Trojans may be 5 point favorites, but they have to be a little nervous facing their cross-town rival, because a loss would send Trojan fans to jump off the roof of the Sigma Chi house, and the pitch forks and tiki torches would really be out for Lincoln Riley.
To baseball, where you’re all probably wondering what’s going on with the Hot Stove. The answer? Not much because most of the big free agents on the market are Scott Boras clients. That means you shouldn’t expect many of them to sign anytime soon. With that being said, you also shouldn’t expect Roki Sasaki to sign before Mid-January, when he is posted. In case you haven’t heard, the Dodgers are the front-runners for his services, and anybody else that tries to tell you otherwise is probably the same person trying to tell you that Kamala Harris still has a chance to be the next President of the United States. What I’m really liking though is the latest Jeff Passan insight, which is that the Dodgers aren’t going to chase after Juan Soto unless his market softens, and that they plan on investing in pitching. That’s exactly what they need. Sasaki, Walker Buehler, and one of Max Fried, Blake Snell, or Corbin Burnes. Signing Juan Soto is like buying a Ferrari when you just need to fix a leak in your roof.
It’s Mid-November and the Angels have now signed a washed up middle-of-the-order bat (Jorge Soler). They’ve signed a backup infielder (Kevin Newman). A backup catcher (Travis D’Arnaud), and a back end starter (Kyle Hendricks). If we’re being honest, this is nothing but a bunch of veteran rejects that don’t cost much to fill out the roster. If this is Arte Moreno’s idea of “competing in 2025” then he isn’t going to fool anybody. If they are serious about competing, they need at minimum a front line starter, 1-2 high leverage relievers, and a reliable everyday corner infielder. It’s really hard for me to imagine Arte Moreno opening his wallet and giving Perry Minasian the green light to sign one any player of significance here. I’ll be stunned if that happens.
We learned over the weekend that Inside The NBA is going to continue to be produced by TNT, and aired on ESPN after this season. Memo to you Bozos at ESPN. If you screw up this show and stick Stephen A Smith on it, NBA Twitter is going to re-create January 6th of 2021 at the ESPN HQ.
Finally, I’m sure many of you saw the fight over the weekend between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, which aired on Netflix. First of all, Netflix is clearly a total disaster when it comes to sports, as you can see by the fact their site crashed. I can’t wait until they start showing football games, where you can expect better quality viewing on Tecmo Bowl for Nintendo. As for the fight itself, it’s hard to believe that these celebrity boxing matches aren’t fixed to be quite honest. You’re telling me that Mike Tyson, even at 58-years old, couldn’t knock out Jake Paul? I saw plenty of evidence that Mike had plenty of opportunity to, but held back at certain points to ensure that the fight was going the full 8 rounds. Honestly, good for him for getting the $20 million payday. If people are willing to tune in for it, which we were, then why not? You can be sure this isn’t the last of these ridiculous fights we will be served since none of the real heavy weight boxers actually fight regularly anymore, which is just very unfortunate and our loss.
