October 19th, 2015
Let’s start with the disappointment that is the Dodgers. Just because I told you all they were gonna fall short in the playoffs, doesn’t make it any less frustrating. The Boys in Blue had every opportunity to put away the Mets in game 5 at home, and didn’t do it. Zack Greinke pitched well enough to win, but in the end, the Dodgers had a lineup that scored less than Steve Urkel on Family Matters. This has nothing to do with Don Mattingly, or Clayton Kershaw, and everything to do with Andy Friedman. Mattingly can’t be blamed for having a crummy bullpen, or not having a reliable 3rd starter, or a lineup that couldn’t hit when it mattered. Kershaw did his job and pitched well when his team needed it. Friedman is a small market GM who’s computer is telling him that a bunch of inferior parts are better than stars like Hanley Ramirez, Matt Kemp, and Dee Gordon. This stupid philosophy won LA less games than last year, and advanced them no further in October. Now I’m really dreading what’s coming up in the next two months. He’s never signed a pitcher to a $100 million deal, and he’s going to have to in order to keep Zack Greinke. There’s simply no excuse not to. Nobody in there right might would argue the Dodgers are better without him, and unless they sign David Price, there is no comparable replacement. If he doesn’t, his act has no place in a large market, where the bar is much higher and championships are expected. The Boys in Blue just need some tweaking and they are a World Series winner. Instead, Friedman seems to keep pushing them further and further away from that.
I’m not sure how much longer the Cubs are going to last in these playoffs. Daniel Murphy is doing more damage to Chicago than gangs. The Mets last two victories are the closest Carmelo Anthony will get to winning anything in New York.
From one disaster on to the next with Trojan Football. USC actually put up a pretty good fight against my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Lots of people pointing the finger at Cody Kessler after he threw a couple of picks, however, one of those was tipped, and the other was the result of phenomenal catch by a Notre Dame defensive back. In typical USC fashion, most of the offense came on a couple of huge plays from scrimmage, by some incredible athletes. However, those huge chunks of yardage that led to big scoring plays dried up late in the game, and the Irish defense was finally able to slow down the Trojans. Those big plays from big time athletes on the USC side tell you everything you need to know about where their football program is at. They have incredible individual talent that simply doesn’t have the right leader to harness and develop it, or a solid game plan week in and week out. It’s pretty tough to win football games, let alone rivalry games, without a good coaching. I’ve gotta think that’s gonna come soon enough for the Trojan football program, who can’t possibly have ANOTHER bad hire with a program as attractive as theirs. Also glad to hear that Pat Haden is ok after having a brief health scare on Saturday night.
As for the Irish, the real tragedy for them is that USC was unranked by the time they played them, marginalizing the magnitude of their victory in the polls. Notre Dame is going to have to win out to have a chance at making the College Football Playoff, but that will be tough given that they’ll have to face Stanford in their final game of the season in Palo Alto. Even with two losses, that’s still pretty impressive for a team that has now lost seven starters to season ending injuries.
Speaking of injuries, they’ve finally caught up to the Bruins. UCLA got smoked by Stanford on Saturday in Palo Alto. The Bruins were simply outmuscled, outclassed, and outplayed in every way shape and form. Barring a miracle, the Pac 12 South Title is gone, as are the Bruins hopes for a BCS Bowl game. Funny how it was just two weeks ago we thought UCLA was going to be a threat for the College Football Playoff, and now they just look like a bunch of complainers when their schedule got tough. I still like Josh Rosen long term, and think he could be an elite QB as soon as next year. However, Myles Jack is making a huge mistake dropping out of school to go rehab and get ready for the NFL Draft. I have no problem with anybody pursuing their dream, but Jack is just rehabbing a knee injury, and not even training for the NFL Combine. Whose he getting financial advice from? Bernie Madoff? Finish your education, which you are ever-so close to completing, and then pursue the NFL.
Texas A&M may have lost to Alabama, but they would like to point out that they have synchronized cheers. That was one of the greatest choke jobs in the history of choke jobs on Saturday in Ann Arbor. That was the worst thing to happen to Michigan since Detroit came into existence. I think this sums up how Michigan fans are going to feel for the next few weeks after blowing it against Michigan State…..
On to Week 6 of the NFL, where the Chargers almost did the most Charger thing ever by almost defeating the Packers. I could swear Philip Rivers has made a career piling up statistics when the Bolts are trailing by massive amounts. That was no different yesterday. Meanwhile, the city of Detroit is going to throw a parade after the Lions finally got their first win of the season by beating the Bears. Joe Flacco did an excellent job keeping a play alive long enough to find a wide open defender in the Ravens loss to the 49ers. The Seahawks finally found a way to get Jimmy Graham involved, but also found a way to blow their 4th quarter lead against Carolina. Peyton Manning’s loved ones must be urging him to move into a retirement home. Despite that, the Broncos are somehow still undefeated. I think the Patriots demonstrated last night that they don’t win because of deflated balls, but rather having a better football team. The Colts on the other hand made one of the dumbest special teams plays ever. Even the University of Michigan football team thought that play was horrible. To be fair though, that wasn’t even the dumbest thing the Colts did in the last couple of years. It was trading a 1st round pick for Trent Richardson. This is a close second though…..
I’m glad to hear that Lamar Odom appears to be doing much better in his recovery from an overdose last week. Most people that know him say that Lamar is a great person and a pleasure to be around, which is obvious from all the people that have come to visit him at the Las Vegas hospital he is staying at. However, if the guy has that many people around him that love him and care about him, why can’t he get his life together again? Three days in a brothel? He’s obviously had a great deal of trauma in his life, including the loss of several loved ones, and a father that’s a drug addict, however, his life sure seemed a lot better when the Kardashians weren’t a part of it. Every person they touch seems to get screwed up. Whether its Lamar’s life, Reggie Bush’s football career, or Bruce Jenner’s sexuality, nobody can keep their shit together when those women are around. I’m very fearful that this isn’t going to be the last time we see LO get himself into trouble. He did however, show more life yesterday than the Philadelphia 76ers have in the past three years.
Did anybody watch the Democratic debate? It wasn’t nearly as entertaining as the Republican debate. Did anybody even get to speak other than Sanders or Clinton? O’Malley, Webb, and Chafee were more disrespected by CNN than Tupac was to Biggie. I don’t even feel like Hillary took a real stance on anything. She would rather let the polls do the talking for her. “Hillary what’s your position?” Her reply….”My position is that my position will be whatever position it needs to be to get my position positioned to make me President.”
That was an excellent 2nd episode of The Walking Dead last night on AMC. Spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t seen it yet. I definitely did not expect an episode this early in the season where the villain just massacres so many people, and it’s also rare that so many people got massacred, and none of them were our favorite characters. I was somewhat right in my prediction that it was the Wolves who caused that loud horn we heard at the end of last week’s episode. Ok it wasn’t entirely the Wolves, but it was the result of their attack on Alexandria. More than anything, the attack demonstrated how unprepared the community was for an attack. Had it not been for Carol acting like she was Ninja Gaiden, everybody might have died. The real creepy part of the episode though was Enid, who has some sort of connection with The Wolves. Either she is one, or has encountered them before. My guess is she is one, because she played it way too cool during the attack. I was even beginning to think she might stab Carl when she was visiting him. Morgan is going to realize eventually that he’s going to have to start killing people. That was one hell of an episode, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!
