Monday Morning Coffee

Kings eliminated

 

June 10th, 2013

Saturday night was a reminder to all Kings fans what being a sports fan is all about.  That is enduring 99% kicks to the ball and 1% glory.  Kings fans experienced that 1% glory last year, but it’s back to another kick in the balls this year.  This came after Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane ended the Kings bid to repeat as Stanley Cup champions with his game winning goal in double overtime of game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.

The Kings fought harder than Mel Gibson resisting arrest in this game. They could have easily packed it in after trailing 2-0, and 3-2 late in the game.  However, LA continued to battle back while I sulked and threw pillows across my living room.

Now that its over, we’ve learned that the Kings were more beaten up than Rhianna when she hangs with Chris Brown.  Justin Williams played with a separated shoulder, Dustin Brown had a torn PCL in his knee, and Drew Doughty had an injured ankle.  Anze Kopitar insists that he wasn’t hurt, but he looked like he was skating with a piano on his back for much of the playoffs.  Nevertheless, the Kings made too many mistakes against a skilled Chicago team.  Jonathan Quick wasn’t quite as sharp as he was previously, and the Kings made costly turnovers that the Blackhawks capitalized on.

Nevertheless, the Kings made it further than the last 3 defending champions have, and are poised to be contenders for at least 2 or 3 more years.  Many of their core players are under contract for quite some time, and in case you haven’t noticed, their twitter handle is hilarious!  After Saturday’s loss, they tweeted this gem: “@penguins you guys wanna grab a drink later?”

Now that the NHL is over, we can all focus on how crappy the Angels and Dodgers are.  Do the Halos really not have anyone better than Joe Blanton to send to the mound every 5 days?  This guy is a human launching pad, giving up 3 more home runs in Boston yesterday, and he’s now on pace to lose 20 games.  Blanton was asked if his next start was a critical one, and he responded by saying “Why should I feel urgency now? I don’t have anything to prove.”  Nice to see you are ok being the worst starting pitcher in baseball Joe.

As for the Dodgers, it’s becoming clear now that even Yasiel Puig can’t save their season.  They’ll need to win about two-thirds of their remaining games, and that’s not happening if they have to send Stephen Fife and Matt McGill to the mound on a regular basis.  At least Puig has given the Dodgers something exciting to watch despite the carnage that is their season.

I like how the new Dodger owners are trying to conceal the details of their business partnership with Frank McCourt, because they claim it will hurt their chances of the NFL wanting to bring a team to LA.  I’m pretty sure that just by admitting that they have torpedoed their chances of an NFL team coming to LA.  At this point it’s pretty obvious that the NFL is only going to do a deal that works for them.  They like the idea of a stadium at Chavez Ravine, but they aren’t dumb enough to do a deal that involves McCourt.

So Lane Kiffin just recruited a 13 year old quarterback who hasn’t even played a down of high school football yet.  What good does it do any 13 year old to commit to a school when you are in 8th grade?  And will Lane Kiffin even still have a job with USC in 2015?  My guess is he won’t.

Why haven’t the Clippers hired a coach yet?  They should have contact George Karl 5 seconds after he was fired by the Nuggets.  The Clippers seem to have lots of good options in Karl, Brian Shaw, and Lionnel Hollins, however, the real issue is whether or not Donald Sterling’s people can convince him to pay one of these guys what they are looking for.  The Clipps should be getting really nervous because the Chris Paul and Dwight Howard to Houston rumors are heating up, and Chris Paul has been strangely quiet about the entire process.

The irony of the Nuggets firing George Karl is that Mike D’Antoni is the perfect fit for them.  The Nuggets roster is loaded with young and athletic players that would allow D’Antoni to play his uptempo system.  Unfortunately, the Nuggets probably won’t call the Lakers about him, since they currently have a few options on the coaching market.  That means the Dwight Howard breakup with the Lakers is coming.  This is starting to have the feel of that sometimes crazy girlfriend that you want to stay with, but you can slowly start to feel her pulling away.  The really depressing part is that when Dwight signs with the Rockets, it will be as though your girlfriend left you for Urkel.

Finally, season 3 of Game of Thrones is in the books, and it was outstanding.  Although the season finale was not quite as exciting as the previous week’s episode, the show is riveting.  I’m still astonished at the morons that are threatening to cancel their HBO subscriptions after complaining about the deaths of Rob, Talisa, and Catelyn Stark.  If you’ve been watching the show from the beginning, you know that the show isn’t about love, happiness, and moral righteousness.  It’s about a world where those who use cruel, devious, and underhanded tactics come out on top.  Not that I’ve read the books, but the writers of the show seem determined to deviate from plot in the books a bit in order to emphasize these points.   It’s going to be a long wait until season 4, but looking forward to it!

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