March 26, 2018

The season hasn’t even started yet and the Dodgers already got bad news.  No, I’m not talking about the fact that Andrew Friedman and his band of geeks are still running the front office.  I’m talking about Justin Turner breaking his wrist.  It could have been worse, but it’s definitely not the best way to start the season.  The greater concern for the Dodgers is the lack of pitching depth this year compared to last year.  They are still good enough to win the division, probably beat the Nationals, but getting by the Cubs again isn’t going to happen unless they acquire another reliable starter and some bullpen help.  At best, I’d expect some dumpster diving from Friedman, who won’t spend any money because he’s apparently saving it for winter time.  I still have no idea why, because he probably won’t even spend that money then.

The Angels on the other hand are foolishly sticking with Shohei Ohtani on their major league roster to start the season, while sending Parker Bridwell and Nick Tropeano to the minors.  Tropeano had a great spring, has had stretches of brilliance in the big leagues, while Bridwell caught fire last year.  Meanwhile, Ohtani has been getting bombed like Hiroshima all spring.  Given that the Halos have the Astros in their division, winning the West is going to be tough, but the Wild Card is well within reach.  The Angels’ biggest issue over the years has been slow starts.  Waiting for Ohtani to figure it out could lead to another tough April, so let’s hope Scioscia and Eppler have a quick hook for their rookie if he falters.  Otherwise, the Halos will be sitting on their couch again come playoff time.

To the NCAA Tournament where Loyola has advanced to the Final Four.  Just how everyone picked it right? Loyola’s Sister Jean is clearly the NCAA Tournament MVP.  It’s amazing how good your team can be with guys that actually stay in college for four years that know the fundamentals.  Michigan making the Final Four is the best thing to happen to that state since the government bailed out the auto industry.  Grayson Allen has to be really disappointed he won’t get to trip anybody again in college after losing to Kansas.  Meanwhile, Texas A&M disappeared faster than Johnny Manziel’s NFL career.  West Virginia lost, but on the bright side, Bob Huggins will have a lot more time to spend at Hometown Buffet.  North Carolina lost so badly that Roy Williams will actually make his players attend class this week.

I will never understand how NFL Front Office Executives rationalize drafting certain players.  These guys have several years of game tape on Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, and Saquon Barkley, which should help make their decisions’ easy.  Instead, they overanalyze combine workouts and get excited over some cute little throwing drills Darnold does in the rain.  Last year, a whole bunch of teams passed on drafting Deshaun Watson because he’s a black quarterback, and he ended up being really good.  The same thing will happen with Lamar Jackson this year.  It’s these NFL Executives that need to be tested for CTE.  Analytics are great, but most people don’t actually know how to use them to their benefit.  We will definitely see that come draft day, when teams let great talent slide down the draft board for stupid reasons.

Speaking of the NFL, the Rams are anxiously awaiting word on whether Ndamukong Suh will sign with them.  I realize that everybody is talking about how scary their defensive line will be with Suh and Aaron Donald.  However, the Rams don’t need Suh to win – he’s just a big name.  The Dolphins got rid of Suh because he was a bad culture fit.  The Rams have suddenly built themselves a great culture, which could absorb one questionable fit with Marcus Peters, but adding another one in Suh could do damage to that culture.  Like I said before, NFL free agency usually consists of a bunch of guys that are seriously flawed.  There’s a reason Suh is on the market, and it’s because he’s all about himself.  Why the hell is it taking him so long to make a decision anyway? He’s probably just enjoying all the free meals he’s getting from each team he’s visiting.

Now that Steph Curry is injured and is going to miss at least the next three weeks, Warrior fans have about that long to go buy their Houston Rocket jerseys.  The Rockets chances of winning an NBA title have become slightly more realistic given all the injuries the Warriors are dealing with.  That’s actually a great thing for the Lakers.  Why? Because as big of a front-runner that Lebron James is, there is no way he would join a Houston Rocket team that just won an NBA championship. So it might actually increase the Lakers’ chances of signing Lebron in July.  Meanwhile, Ty Lue is taking a couple of weeks off from coaching for health reasons.  In other words, Lebron sent him home for a couple of weeks.

There’s six games left in the regular season, and I have no idea who the LA Kings are or if they are going to make the playoffs.  Is this the team that decided on Thursday that they were going to destroy Colorado in a must-win game? Or are they the team that threw up all over themselves on Saturday night against Edmonton? The good news is that four of their final six games are against playoff teams.  You would think that’s a bad thing, but when the Kings play bad teams like they did on Saturday, they typically look about as prepared as I am for Jennifer Lopez to be my girlfriend.

Finally, an episode of The Walking Dead went down on AMC last night.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it, so read no further if that is the case.  AMC fooled us into thinking it was two hours just to get you to watch a new show! So let me get this straight: you can drink from a well and not turn; eat tainted meat and not turn; coat your body in walker blood and not turn; but if you get cut with a weapon coated in walker blood you turn? That hardly makes sense but that’s TWD for you.  Little kids are so annoying in this show.  Henry is the latest dumb kid in the apocalypse.  It’s like all blonde children don’t listen to Carol.  I think it’s time she took him out to “look at the flowers”.  If Maggie’s pixie cut had time to grow out into a bob, she shoulda HAD A BABY BY NOW.   Morgan is losing his mind and has been for a while.  I’m operating under the assumption that Dwight shot Tara because he was protecting her, and those arrows weren’t really contaminated.  Dude falls down the stairs and nobody wakes up? It’s actually the comical holes in the plot that are continuing to bring entertainment value to the show.  I did also enjoy the fact that this episode was like a throwback to the terror of the walkers that we actually saw in the first couple of seasons.