January 26, 2026
What a disappointing end to the season last night for the Rams in Seattle. The offense was spectacular against a very good Seattle defense. However, in reality these games are won and lost on the margins. You can’t drop a punt inside your 10 yard line, and when you have a chance to score at the 7-yard line to take the lead in the 4th quarter, you have to come away with a touchdown. It also didn’t help that they lost the home field advantage in Seattle a couple of weeks before the playoffs started. The Rams played a great team, they were right there, but they came up short. They should be kicking themselves for all the missed opportunities throughout the season. The good news though? The Rams have boat loads of cap space, tons of draft capital, and Matt Stafford wants to come back. Their first priority needs to be re-signing Sean McVay and Les Snead, because they are cornerstones for the franchise. Once they do that, no reason they can’t contend for a Super Bowl next year as well.
Elsewhere around Championship Sunday, the Patriots took down the Broncos is a very snowy game. That game was very boring and the only interesting thing about it was the weather. Drake Maye actually reached a Super Bowl before Josh Allen. If that doesn’t tell you that wins is a meaningless quarterback stat, I don’t know what else could. The Titans fired Mike Vrabel and in his first year coaching a new team, he take them to the Super Bowl. That is the most Titans result possible. On the other side, going for it on 4th down in the 1st half instead of taking the points to go up 2 possessions with your backup QB is one of the more moronic things I’ve seen a coach do.
What a horrible article that we had to read by Baxter Holmes last week about the Lakers and the Buss Family. That article wasn’t good for anybody. It makes Jeanie look like a selfish tyrant, and makes Jesse and Joey look like they just have an ax to grind with her. I’m sure Jerry would be very disappointed to see what happened to the relationship with all his kids. However, what probably goes unnoticed is that Jeanie took very good care of everyone in her family with the sale, as they each pocketed generational wealth of $500 million. It’s hard for the average person to read that and feel bad for them. It’s actually remarkable the Lakers have had the success they’ve had with the dysfunction they’ve endured internally. Hopefully now that they’ve sold the team, that dysfunction within the organization ends, and maybe she will even have a better relationship with all her siblings in the long run.
As for Lebron and Jeanie’s alleged feelings about him, you can tell he is a bit bothered. James and his agent, Rich Paul, have both said that they have had an excellent partnership. However, he did indicate that you never know if she has really felt that way about him at times. At the end of the day, I’m not really sure that it matters, even if they clear the air. Lebron isn’t going anywhere right now. Whether or not he continues playing for the Lakers after this year depends on if he is willing to play for less money or not, and his relationship with Mark Walter, their new owner.
The Clippers are still surging. They are now 15-3 since December 20th after beating the Nets. When they were 6-21, their goal was to get back to the play-in tournament, and now they are well in position to do that with the pace they are on. They are playing much better defense, and have much more urgency and connectivity than they did earlier in the season. The real question is if they can now continue to surge into the top 6 of the West, which is where I thought they would be when the season started. It looks like a big jump, but with injuries coming into play for a lot of teams ahead of them, I wouldn’t rule it out.
To baseball, where the Dodgers introduced Kyle Tucker last week, but you always have to ask the question: are the Dodgers done making moves this off-season? They lost out on Freddy Peralta to the Mets, but if there’s one thing they still need to do it’s a couple of fringe moves. Those include bringing back Kike Hernandez to solidify the bench, and Evan Philips to solidify the bullpen. Both of those guys are recovering from offseason surgery, but are poised to make a positive impact on the team for another World Series run. Of course you still have to keep an eye on the Dodgers for the Tarik Skubal sweepstakes, but it doesn’t sound like at the moment he’s going to be traded.
Finally, the UCLA Basketball team probably saved their season last week with a win against Purdue. The Boilermakers were the #4 team in the country, and UCLA really lacked a signature win. The Bruins are still ranked 7th in the Big 10, and there are 5 teams in the Top 11 that are ranked in front of them. However, when you see how well UCLA played against #1 Arizona and Gonzaga, and how they knocked off Purdue, it makes you more frustrated than anything else. These guys can play with anybody when they are playing great defense, and when Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau are playing like the best players. I’ve talked extensively about whether or not Mick Cronin is the right guy for this, but hopefully he can prove me wrong over the course of the next 3 months.
