The Lakers are rolling, the Bruins are dreaming, Notre Dame is celebrating, and the Chargers and Kings are making a compelling case for relegation.

Good morning, Southern California!

Pour yourself a strong cup of coffee, because we have a lot to discuss this morning. The Lakers have the best record in basketball, UCLA football is ranked fourth in the country, UCLA basketball is back in the Top 10, and Notre Dame just knocked off the top-ranked team in America.

Meanwhile, the Chargers are 0-8, the Clippers are a disaster, and the Kings are apparently trying to convince us that the NHL Draft Lottery is a postseason tournament.

What a time to be alive.

The Lakers: Reports of Their Death Were Greatly Exaggerated

Funny how quiet the “Lakers haven’t beaten anybody” crowd has become.

The Lakers are 9-2. That’s the best record in the NBA. And suddenly, all those media buffoons who spent the summer telling us the franchise would turn into the Washington Generals because LeBron James left town have developed a mysterious case of laryngitis.

Of course, those same people were so terrified of offending LeBron that they couldn’t bring themselves to acknowledge a fairly obvious basketball reality.

But before the LeBron haters start doing victory laps, let’s establish something else.

The Lakers aren’t better without LeBron James. They’re better without paying LeBron James $50 million.

There’s a difference. A rather substantial one.

When you can redistribute that money into depth, athleticism, defense, and players who actually complement your superstar, amazing things can happen. Who knew that building a balanced basketball roster might be preferable to operating a retirement home for aging superstars? And speaking of superstars, can we talk about Luka Doncic?

What we’re witnessing right now is reminiscent of 2006 Kobe Bryant, except Luka has the luxury of playing with a much better supporting cast. The man is scoring the basketball at a level I genuinely haven’t seen in two decades. Every night feels like an offensive master class, and every opposing coach looks like he’s contemplating a career change by halftime.

Enjoy this, Lakers fans. Don’t take it for granted.  Players like this don’t come around very often.

The Lakers still need a legitimate backup center and another quality defensive wing. Address those two needs, and this team isn’t just a cute early-season story.

It’s a legitimate championship contender.

The Clippers: Intuit Dome, Meet the Titanic

Congratulations to the Clippers! They won a basketball game last night!

Unfortunately, that only improves their record to 2-7, which is approximately two more wins than their season has deserved.

This is easily one of the three worst teams in basketball right now, and their ballhandling has become an adventure worthy of its own reality television show. Every possession feels like somebody handed a live grenade to a group of people who have never met.

Darius Garland hasn’t exactly solved that problem, and while Brandon Ingram should return shortly and provide some additional shot creation, let’s not pretend he’s arriving on a white horse to rescue the franchise.

He’s Brandon Ingram, not Michael Jordan.

The bigger issue is the future. The Clippers owe Oklahoma City their first-round pick this year, and Philadelphia has top-three-protected swap rights in 2029.

In other words, the Clippers have managed to combine the present-day excitement of a rebuilding team with the future flexibility of a team that has already traded away its future.

Impressive, really.

At this point, players like Rui Hachimura, Brook Lopez, and Kris Dunn should probably avoid signing long-term leases. If the Clippers have any sense, they’ll start converting veteran assets into draft capital immediately.

The Intuit Dome is beautiful, though. Which is nice, because apparently the building is going to be the main attraction for the foreseeable future.

The Dodgers: Scott Boras, $300 Million, and the Skubal Sweepstakes

We should have some clarity on Tarik Skubal’s future within the next three weeks, and despite what Scott Boras would like everyone to believe, I don’t think his market is nearly as expansive as advertised.

To me, this is primarily a two-team race between the Dodgers and Mets, with the Cubs and Blue Jays lurking on the outskirts.

The Mets will probably offer the most money because, well, they’re the Mets. Steve Cohen sees a $300 million contract and thinks somebody is offering him a Groupon.

And with a new collective bargaining agreement looming, you’d think teams might exercise a little caution before committing enormous sums of money to pitchers.

Not the Mets. Caution is apparently against organizational policy.

The Dodgers have an advantage, however. Skubal wants to stay in Los Angeles, and if he’s willing to accept something in the neighborhood of four or five years and $300 million, with an opt-out or two, I think the Dodgers would seriously consider it.

That’s a lot of money, obviously. But for an elite pitcher in his prime, with some flexibility built into the contract, it could make sense.

Unfortunately, there’s one rather significant obstacle.

His agent is Scott Boras.

And Scott Boras doesn’t generally wake up in the morning wondering how he can save a billionaire owner some money.

My prediction? Skubal ends up with the Mets.

I hope I’m wrong. But I’ve seen this movie before, and Scott Boras usually gets the ending he wants.

The Angels: Waiting for the Kroenke Cavalry

If you’re an Angels fan expecting a busy offseason, I have some disappointing news.

You might want to find another hobby for the next few months.

Unless the proposed sale to Stan Kroenke gets completed this month, which seems unlikely, I expect the Angels to move at approximately the same speed as the DMV on a Friday afternoon.

The organization desperately needs a legitimate President of Baseball Operations, but that hiring process appears tied to the ownership transition. 

Until there’s clarity at the top, expecting significant player acquisitions seems unrealistic.

And let’s be clear: This isn’t a roster that needs a few minor adjustments.

It needs a complete organizational overhaul.

The free-agent class isn’t particularly inspiring, either, which makes the job even more challenging. The Angels need better scouting, better player development, better leadership, and an actual long-term plan.

Basically, everything except a new stadium hot dog vendor.

The potential arrival of Kroenke offers hope, but turning this franchise around won’t happen overnight.

For now, Angels fans are left doing what they’ve become exceptionally good at.

Waiting.

The Rams: Back in the Win Column, but the Road Gets Tougher

The Rams finally found the win column again against Washington, and it was especially encouraging to see Myles Garrett back on the field looking like the dominant force we know he can be.

Unfortunately, because apparently no Rams victory can occur without an accompanying medical bill, Puka Nacua is now dealing with a knee injury that could keep him sidelined for a while.

That’s a significant problem.

The Rams probably need to win at least six of their final eight games to make the playoffs, and doing that without one of their most important offensive weapons is going to be difficult.

Making matters worse, the NFC North has turned into a house of fire. There are simply too many good teams competing for too few playoff spots, and the Rams are going to need some help along the way.

The good news?

I still don’t see a dominant team in the NFC. Frankly, I’m not convinced there’s a dominant team anywhere in the NFL.

Everybody has flaws. Everybody is vulnerable. And everybody seems capable of losing to somebody they have absolutely no business losing to.

If the Rams can get healthy and sneak into the postseason, I wouldn’t automatically dismiss their chances.

But first things first.

They need to start stacking wins, and quickly.

The Chargers: Please, Somebody Save Justin Herbert

The Chargers are 0-8.

Let that sink in.

Eight games. Eight losses. Zero victories. 

And somehow, the most surprising development from yesterday’s loss to Houston was that they actually scored a touchdown.

A touchdown!

 I was beginning to think the NFL had passed a special rule prohibiting the Chargers from entering the end zone.

Unfortunately, Justin Herbert also suffered a finger injury that could be a fracture. At this point, there is absolutely no reason for Herbert to continue playing this season if that injury is significant.

None.

The Chargers aren’t making the playoffs. They aren’t saving their season. They aren’t one inspirational halftime speech away from becoming contenders.

They’re done.

It’s time to start thinking about the future, and that means exploring the trade market for veterans like Khalil Mack and even valuable younger assets like Ladd McConkey if the return is substantial enough.

Yes, trading McConkey would be painful. But when you’re 0-8 and staring at a major rebuild, you at least have to listen.

The most important asset in the entire organization is Herbert. Protect him, get him healthy, and start assembling the talent necessary to compete next season.

Jim Harbaugh was supposed to bring toughness, discipline, and a winning culture to this franchise.

So far, he’s brought us the most expensive eight-game losing streak in Southern California.

And that’s saying something.

UCLA Football: Somebody Pinch Me

What Bob Chesney is doing at UCLA is becoming one of the most remarkable stories in college football.

The Bruins went into Minnesota and didn’t just win. They dominated the fourth quarter the way elite teams are supposed to dominate.

That’s what impressed me most.

Good teams find ways to win close games. Great teams impose their will when it matters most.

We already knew Wayne Knight was a legitimate player. But Ty Diffenbach has developed into a very good quarterback, and Aidan Mizell is proving he can make explosive plays when the Bruins need them.

Suddenly, this offense has weapons. The defense has confidence. And UCLA looks like a program that genuinely believes it belongs among the nation’s elite.

The Bruins are now ranked fourth in the AP Poll, and their College Football Playoff outlook should improve considerably from last week’s initial No. 8 ranking.

Think about that for a moment.

UCLA football is ranked fourth in the country, and we’re discussing a potential Big Ten championship and national championship run.

Illinois won’t be easy. Michigan won’t be easy. And USC certainly won’t be easy.

But these are all games UCLA can win.

And now, predictably, the national media has started speculating about whether Chesney will leave Westwood for a program where more fans actually show up on Saturdays.

Can we please slow down?

UCLA isn’t going to solve every problem overnight. The Rose Bowl is enormous, traffic is miserable, and getting Los Angeles residents to commit six hours of their Saturday to a football game isn’t exactly easy.

But you know what fixes attendance?

Winning.

And if Chesney can transform the product on the field this quickly, I have a feeling the fan base will eventually catch up.

For now, enjoy the ride, Bruins fans.

We haven’t had this much fun watching UCLA football in a very long time.

UCLA Basketball: The Bruins Are Back, Too?
 

One successful major sports program at a time. While the football team is making national championship noise, Mick Cronin’s basketball team has opened the season with an impressive neutral-court victory over a Top 5 Arizona team, followed by a demolition of North Florida.

The Bruins are already ranked ninth in the country. And naturally, everybody wants to talk about Nikola Kusturica. The talented freshman is already drawing comparisons to Kevin Durant, which seems perfectly reasonable if your goal is to place absolutely no pressure whatsoever on an 18-year-old kid.

Can we let him play a few more college games before we start measuring him for a Hall of Fame jacket? Kusturica is extraordinarily talented, but he’s also raw and still developing. What excites me most isn’t what he did against Arizona. It’s what UCLA accomplished without him having a particularly great game. That’s the sign of a potentially special team.

When you can beat elite competition without your most hyped player carrying the offense, you’ve got something.

Between football and basketball, Westwood is suddenly looking like the center of the college sports universe. Somewhere, USC fans are wondering whether baseball season has started yet.

USC Football: Don’t Bury Lincoln Riley Just Yet

USC had a bye week, which means Lincoln Riley managed to go an entire weekend without somebody calling for his job. Progress! But the Trojans have an enormous opportunity ahead of them. They travel to fourth-ranked Indiana on Saturday, return home to face Maryland, and then finish with a showdown against UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

Win all three, and USC would have a very compelling case for a College Football Playoff invitation.

And before you dismiss that possibility, remember that this is college football. Strange things happen every Saturday, and USC has enough offensive talent to beat just about anybody when everything clicks.

Would winning at Indiana be difficult? Absolutely. Would beating this UCLA team at the Rose Bowl be difficult? You bet. But impossible? Not remotely.

And here’s something the Lincoln Riley critics probably don’t want to hear. If USC wins out and makes the playoff, Riley isn’t going anywhere. You can complain about his defense, his recruiting, his salary, or his inability to satisfy a fan base that thinks every season should end with a national championship. But you can’t fire a coach who just guided your team into the postseason’s biggest event.

Well, you probably could. But even USC isn’t that crazy. At least I don’t think so.

Notre Dame: The Irish Are Dancing, and the Whiners Are Crying

As a proud Notre Dame alumnus, allow me a moment to celebrate.

THE IRISH BEAT NUMBER ONE MIAMI!

What a win. What an atmosphere. And what an enormous moment for Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff hopes.

The Irish absolutely needed this game, and they delivered. Assuming they take care of business the rest of the way, they should be in the playoff. Of course, because this is Notre Dame, the national conversation immediately shifted from celebrating an outstanding football game to complaining about the officiating.

Mario Cristobal and a collection of talking heads are still upset about Elijah Lofton’s disputed touchdown and the potential targeting call near the end of the game.

Apparently, listening to the rules expert on the actual broadcast is now optional. The broadcast’s rules analysis explained why the officials’ decisions were correct in both situations.

You can dislike the rules. You can argue that the rules should be changed. That’s perfectly fair. But there’s a difference between disagreeing with a rule and insisting the officials misapplied it.

And I find it fascinating that every controversial call benefiting Notre Dame becomes a national scandal, while controversial calls benefiting virtually anybody else are forgotten before the postgame show ends.

Maybe some people just don’t like Notre Dame. I know. Shocking revelation. The Irish won. The Hurricanes lost. And the playoff picture just got considerably more interesting.

Now let’s finish the job. Go Irish!

College Football Playoff: 24 Teams, Because Apparently 12 Wasn’t Enough

Well, that didn’t take long .The new 24-team College Football Playoff has reportedly received the green light, beginning next season. And apparently all it took was a television deal with ESPN.

Amazing how quickly the power structure of college football has changed. The NCAA? The traditional bowl system? The other television networks?
Thanks for your input, everybody.

Please collect your participation trophies on the way out.

Look, I’m excited about an expanded playoff. More meaningful games, more opportunities for deserving programs, and fewer arguments about which team got robbed by a committee that changes its criteria more frequently than the airlines change their baggage policies.

But 24 teams? Come on. There aren’t 24 teams in America capable of winning a national championship. Most years, there probably aren’t even eight. Sixteen would have been the sweet spot. Big enough to reward excellent seasons and provide access, but small enough to preserve the importance of the regular season.

With 24 teams, we’re eventually going to have a three-loss team complaining that it deserved the 24th spot instead of the team that finished 23rd. And ESPN will undoubtedly devote six hours of programming to the controversy.

Still, the expanded field should create some fascinating matchups, and the champion will have earned its title through a broader postseason competition. I just hope we don’t eventually expand to 32 teams. Because at that point, we might as well call it March Madness With Helmets.

The LA Kings: A Master Class in Organizational Incompetence

We’re nearly 20% of the way through the NHL season, and I think we can confidently conclude something.

The Kings stink.

Not disappointing. Not underachieving. Not going through a rough patch.

They stink.

Only three teams in the entire league have fewer points, and this is supposedly an organization operating in “win now” mode. Win now? Win what? A faceoff?

The Kings hired Ken Holland to guide this supposedly competitive roster, while Luc Robitaille continues to oversee hockey operations. Both men have impressive résumés. Unfortunately, those résumés are starting to resemble museum exhibits.

Holland and Robitaille were enormously successful in the NHL roughly 25 years ago. That’s wonderful. So was Blockbuster Video.

The league has changed. Player development has changed. Roster construction has changed. Analytics have changed. Apparently, the Kings haven’t received the memo.

Here’s the most damning statistic of all. In 2021, the Kings were widely regarded as having the best farm system in hockey. Five years later, they’re among the worst teams in the NHL. How does that happen?

Simple. You either fail to develop your highly touted prospects, trade them away before they reach their potential, or make a series of terrible organizational decisions.

The Kings have managed to dabble in all three. And that’s not bad luck. That’s incompetence.

At some point, Phil Anschutz needs to take a serious look at the people running his hockey franchise and ask a very simple question.

What exactly are we paying these people to do?Because whatever the answer is, it clearly isn’t building a sustainable championship contender.

The Kings don’t need another veteran acquisition, another recycled executive, or another press conference telling us how committed everyone is to winning. They need new ideas, new leadership, and an entirely different approach to building a modern NHL franchise.

Until that happens, the Kings will continue doing what they’ve become remarkably proficient at.

Wasting everybody’s time.

The Final Sip ☕

What a strange and wonderful time to be a Los Angeles sports fan.

The Lakers are 9-2, Luka Doncic is playing like a basketball deity, UCLA football is fourth in the country, UCLA basketball is ninth.

Meanwhile, the Clippers, Chargers, and Kings are collectively doing their best to prove that expensive facilities, famous coaches, and impressive executive résumés don’t actually guarantee success.

And the Dodgers? They’re trying to figure out whether $300 million is enough to convince Scott Boras to stop answering Steve Cohen’s phone calls.

One thing is certain: There’s no shortage of material for this column.

Now enjoy your coffee, enjoy the Lakers, appreciate what we’re witnessing at UCLA, and remember one very important lesson from this weekend.

If you’re a Chargers fan, there’s always next year. If you’re a Kings fan, you might want to make that next decade. Have a great week, everybody! ☕