February 16, 2026

Happy Presidents’ Day everyone! We start with the NBA All-Star game that went down over the weekend at the Intuit Dome. Coming into it, everyone was really down on the NBA. However, yesterday’s new format in the All-Star game resulted in increased competition, and some entertaining basketball. We thought it would be the international team that would destroy everyone. Instead it motivated the younger USA stars to win and compete, especially after they saw Victor Wembanyama blocking shots early. Anthony Edward’s gets it, and that’s why he got MVP. Kawhi Leonard played like he was playing for another max contract yesterday. As for the rest of the weekend, it was great to see Dame Lillard with the 3-point contest after sitting out all season due to injury. The slam dunk contest was pretty underwhelming, but don’t tell me that everything has been done. I saw Mac McClung doing some practice dunks on Twitter that were phenomenal. They just need to get the right names in the contest, and this year they did not have them. I love the NBA, and it’s gotten it’s fair share of criticism, but since it’s moved to NBC this year, the ratings are the best we’ve seen since 2018. The tanking issue is hard to fix, but the irony of it is that we all know that the NBA draft lottery is rigged anyway, so all those tanking teams never get the #1 pick anyway. More than anything though, the league has a bit of a transactional relationship with its fans. The fans care more about where Giannis or Lebron will end up next, and are interested in the cool highlights on social. The product on the court is becoming less interesting due to style of play, and lack of player availability. That’s the part they need to figure out how to fix, and people will love the NBA like the 1990’s all over again.

I’ve heard a number of analysts take LeBron’s comments the other night about the Lakers not being a championship team and run with them, saying the Lakers season is pointless, and basically just to get Lebron off the team to reset. The problem with that take is that the Lakers have only played 10 games with Luka, Lebron, and Austin. They are 7-3 in those games. They were also 14-7 last year in games they played together. This is still a very good Lakers team, albeit in a conference with a lot of competition. The team may not be constructed in the most ideal way, needing more 3 and D wings and a better rim protector, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be formidable come playoff time.

Chris Paul was waived last week by the Toronto Raptors after being traded there by the Clippers before the deadline. Paul decided to officially announce his retirement on social media right after that. What a very unceremonious ending for a great player. CP3 is a great player, and easily among the best point guards to ever play basketball. However, he’s had an incredibly strange career. We all know he should have ended up on the Lakers in 2011, before David Stern vetoed the trade. He had an entertaining run with the Clippers for a few years and some success with the Rockets and Suns afterward, despite not winning a championship. He also had this very strange ending by getting kicked off the Clippers team for essentially being too vocal, and ultimately being forced to retire. It’s sad that nobody was willing to put up with him anymore, because he deserved a better ending than that. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t take away from how great of a player, competitor, and leader he was.

To baseball where the Dodgers re-signed Kike Hernandez and Evan Philips which was nice to see! Both are very important additions to the team in a year where they are trying to three-peat. Neither will be ready until about mid-season as they recover from injuries, but that’s ok. Kike will fortify the bench and the clubhouse leadership, and Philips is a high leverage reliever, who is capable of getting some big outs in the postseason. Unfortunately, Anthony Banda and Ben Rortvedt were casualties in the process. Banda was a talented lefty who helped the Dodgers in the postseason, and Rortvedt is a promising backup catcher who contributed in the playoffs as well. Banda had a very classy and heartfelt goodbye on social media, which all Dodger fans are going to love. Something tells me if Rortveldt goes back to waivers, the Dodgers will try to snag him again though.

Then there’s the Angels, who announced a couple of very Angels like moves the past few days. They re-signed former Dodger Chris Taylor to a one year deal. Taylor must really love baseball because he’s made about $80 million in his career, and is playing for $760K next season. They also announced the signing of infielder Adam Frazier to a minor league deal. He’s a left-handed hitting infielder who will likely make the team, since the Halos don’t have much talent to be quite blunt. Lastly, they announced that Mike Trout will be going back to center field this season. Hopefully they get more than 40 games out of him in that spot, because that just doesn’t seem like a good idea.

UCLA Basketball is going to have its work cut out for them before the season is over. The Bruins lost to arguably the best team in the country over the weekend in Michigan. However, they now currently sit on the bubble as the last 4 teams in the tournament, acccording to Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology. Considering they have to play Illinois, Nebraska, and Michigan State in their last 6 regular season games, that could be a really good thing or a really bad thing. If they lose any of those games, they could easily fall out of the tourney. However, if they win, they could be more likely to avoid a play-in tournament game scenario. They are going to need way more consistency though from Donovan Dent. This guy was supposed to be the best player in the transfer portal, and sometimes he just looks way in over his head with top Big Ten competition. Here’s to hoping he steps it up over the course of the next 6 games and beyond.

There’s a fierce debate going on in College Football between The Big Ten and The SEC for the number of teams in the playoff. The Big Ten wants 24, the SEC wants 12. The Big Ten event wants to get rid of the Conference Championship games. This all seems very radical, but all of College Football has been radical for the last 2 years. 16 Teams feels like the right amount. Once you get past 16, there is likely going to be a big drop off in competition, like we saw with James Madison and Tulane in this years CFP.

Finally, I have thoroughly enjoyed the Winter Olympics so far. There’s been some pain and some controversy though. The pain came when that Frenchman got nailed in the groin by that gate during the downhill skiing. Hopefully he’s recovered by now. There’s also been the ice dancing controversy, which resulted in the USA couple getting screwed, and settling for the silver medal, while the French somehow got the gold. It’s always the French and Russian judges that have to screw things up! The Canadian men’s hockey team looks incredible of course, and they look like they are on a collision course with the Team USA. Canada is going to be favored, but I assure you if they lose, you can count on endless trolling from President Trump. I also feel terrible for Kings forward Kevin Fiala, who fractured his leg in his first Olympic game for Sweden. Before many of you overreact to that though keep in mind that the LA Kings are likely screwed anyway and probably weren’t going to make the playoffs with or without him. Also, his injury probably won’t change anything with regard to NHL Players playing in the Olympics. Both the players and NHL Owners and executives want it to happen.