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.