August 21, 2017
Everything was going great for the Lakers until this weekend, when they found out they are under investigation by the NBA for tampering with Paul George. This is like your ex-girlfriend trying to prevent you from ending up with the girl you know you’re going to end up with by trashing you on social media. Every team tampers. It’s simply the name of the game when trying to lure NBA free agents these days. If the league cracks the whip on the Lakers and forbids them from signing Paul George, it would be shameful. Meanwhile, Chris Sheridan has sources saying Lebron is leaving Cleveland at the end of the year. Could he make it any more obvious that he’s planning on joining the Lakers?
To the NFL, where Jared Goff shocked most of us haters over the weekend with his performance against the Raiders. The guy suddenly looked like he can play. However, prior to that Sean McVay gave us reason to doubt him. Every time McVay talks about Goff’s progress, the best thing he can say about him is that he has command of the huddles and is gaining respect. That’s it? What about his accuracy as a passer? Can he actually avoid turnovers? He did on Saturday, but even McVay sounds skeptical that he can be consistent. Meanwhile, since the Chargers are giving out free tattoos to their fans, maybe they can pay for the Rams front office to get one across their forehead that says “sign Aaron Donald.”
Watching the Chargers and Saints do battle in practice, and in preseason last night can only make you look back on the Philip Rivers vs Drew Brees debate. Brees got screwed in 2006 when Chargers GM AJ Smith told him he would be re-signed, even after his shoulder injury. However, Smith went back on his word, ultimately letting Brees sign with the Saints, while giving the starting job to Rivers. I’ve always felt bad for Brees because his heart was in San Diego, and he never wanted to leave. However, had he remained in San Diego he would not have become one of the greatest quarterbacks the NFL has ever seen. The Bolts would not have built the team around Brees the way the Saints did, allowing him to become the player he did. That’s no disrespect to Rivers, who is a fine quarterback as well.
To baseball, where the Dodgers are still rolling despite yesterday’s loss to the Tigers. However, Andrew Friedman finally stopped listening to his computer, and sent Joc Pederson down to the minors. He found a way to replace him with Curtis Granderson, who is already contributing quite nicely. Since only 30% of the fans in LA can see the Dodger games, I guess if the Dodgers win the World Series only 30% of the fans will get to see the parade. Nobody should worry about comparing those great regular season Dodger teams of the past that failed in the playoffs to this one though. That would be like saying the Presidential approval rating of the 1962 President is better than today……oh wait never mind! The Dodgers really are screwed.
Big win by the Angels yesterday that kept them tied for the last AL Wild Card spot. That series should have been a sweep though because Friday’s loss was brutal. I guess there’s only 40 more times or so where the Angels can disappoint their fans like that because something tells me the Halos will make it interesting, yet somehow, the pitching will let them down when they need it most. I also can’t figure out why the LA Times can’t send an actual beat writer to cover the team, as opposed to just giving readers an AP article on their road games. Mike Trout is the best player in baseball and Albert Pujols just hit his 600th home run, yet the Halos can’t even get any local coverage.
The LA Kings held a “State of The Franchise” meeting last week, and it was nothing but selling false hope. They might as well have told their fans that they are going to be the same team that will try to be physical, but probably won’t be able to score. Apparently Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar are going to score twice as many goals as last season, just because they are in better shape. LA’s best hope is for their recent draft picks to turn into something, but that’s probably a couple of seasons away.
I tried to watch The Bachelor in Paradise, but it was terrible. Somehow, the show managed to take all of the uninteresting characters from previous seasons, and combine them into one uninteresting hour of television. Corrine and DeMario gave us some entertainment for exactly one episode, but the collateral damage left us with a discussion on sexual consent and race. The show’s budget is going to hell too. Chris Harrison has to be the lifeguard, and wardrobe won’t even buy him a bathing suit.
Finally, what an episode of Game of Thrones last night on HBO. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it. Read no further if you plan to watch it later. Face it, we’ve reached the point where when one of your favorite characters dies you can probably deal with it. However, when we lose a dragon, you’re heartbroken and want to call PETA. That’s exactly what happened last night. If you think that’s not strange enough, how many of us are rooting for incest to take place and see Jon Snow and Daeny actually hook up? It nearly happened last night, and I was shocked it didn’t. The Night King would be both an excellent Olympic Javelin thrower, as well as a far better quarterback than anybody on the Jets roster right now. Imagine what Donald Trump was probably thinking if he saw this episode. “The White Walkers were peacefully protesting before a stone was thrown. There is blame on both sides.” Where does the army of the dead get chains to pull the dragon? Is there a Walmart north of the wall? After episodes like that, I’m beginning to think HBO needs to include therapy in your subscription. I think we need to face the fact that there’s a strong likelihood this season, and the series could very well have an unhappy ending. One of Sansa, Arya, or Daeny seem most likely not to make it out of this season. The show could tear your heart out next week, then disappear for a year. Hard to tell if this is a TV series, or your ex.
