February 11, 2019
The Lakers didn’t get Anthony Davis, but once everybody checks their sanity, they will realize it’s perfectly fine. Contrary to what some of you shortsighted folks think, the Lakers have three promising young players who are improving. They shouldn’t need to give up everything for a player that wants to be in LA. Especially not with seven all-star players on the free agent market this summer. However, one thing is clear. When the league refers to “big markets” they are only referring to the Lakers. Heck, why don’t we just make up rules to prevent the Lakers from being good again, since certain small markets refuse to do business with them. I guess it would also help if Magic wasn’t so cavalier about trying to trade everybody. Still, the Lakers were a good team when they were healthy, so no reason they can’t get back to that level.
Meanwhile, I’ll give the Clippers credit for being smart. They traded away Tobias Harris, knowing it would hurt their playoff chances. However, the front office knows they are better off not making the playoffs so they can keep their 1st round pick. Yes it was cagey, but stop giving Jerry West credit for this move. West is great and all, but the man collects a $1 million paycheck to come to the office once or twice a week and give some input. Does anybody know who Michael Winger and Lawrence Frank are? Also, the narrative about the Clippers is hilarious. They trade their best player to clear cap space, get draft picks, and chase free agents. The Lakers have the best player on the planet, still have cap space, and are still the Lakers, yet everyone thinks the franchise is in the toilet. It just goes to show you how real the Clipper inferiority complex is, and how great the Laker hate is around the Association.
Kevin Durant is great at basketball, but he’s a cry baby. Durant avoided the media for a week after the Knicks made a cap clearing move by trading Kristaps Porzingas. Then he decided to go off on them last week for asking about his free agency. He says he just wants to “go to the gym, play ball, and go home.” He told them to “grow up.” Really dude? The guy making burner Twitter accounts to argue with 12 year olds about how good he is needs to “grow up”? If you want to just go to the gym and go home, then go play at the YMCA. Yes you’re obligated to speak to the media because they help promote the game and help you cash those million dollar paychecks. If KD thinks his life sucks now, wait until he gets to the Knicks where the media will be up in his business all day long.
To baseball where pitchers and catchers will report for the Dodgers on Wednesday. I’d like to congratulate Andrew Friedman on using his computer to find a way to make the Dodgers worse while having about $100 million to spend. No Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Corey Kluber, or JT Realmuto. The Dodgers had the means to easily acquire at least two of those three players, but were content not to. Realmuto and Kluber could have been had for two prospects that weren’t even in the top 100 in baseball. Oh and the best part is the team is raking in millions with their own TV channel that 70% of you can’t see, while more fans keep showing up at Dodger Stadium like sheep. Dodger Baseball everyone!
National signing day was this past Wednesday, and it’s interesting that you didn’t hear much about it locally. That’s because both USC and UCLA football were a complete recruiting disaster. USC did not pick up a single five star recruit, and UCLA had only 1 four star recruit. For SC, which identifies itself as a “football school” it can no longer keep talent in its own backyard. Clay Helton is having a horrible enough time developing players, and now he can’t even recruit them. Then there’s UCLA, which is spending millions to not only have a bad football team, but also to completely flounder when it comes to recruiting. This is totally unacceptable for a school that just blew its wad on Chip Kelly. College football in SoCal is a complete embarrassment right now.
At least UCLA considers itself a basketball school right? Oh wait their basketball team stinks too. For about 20 minutes, they looked like a team with Top 25 talent on Saturday against Utah. Then in the last 20 minutes, they looked like the most mentally fragile team I had ever seen. I’m not sure what’s a bigger miracle at this point: Utah winning that game after being down by 22 points in the 2nd half, or UCLA winning 12 games this season? It’s just sad to see the Bruins in this state, and there are fewer and fewer coaches that are going to be interested in taking over this dumpster fire the more games they play.
I don’t know about you but I give the Grammy’s about a 5 out of 10 last night, and that’s probably generous. Those who won awards had a nice year, but are far from the biggest stars in the music industry currently. Most of us watch the Grammy’s for great performances, but it’s hard to see that when you have a show without Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, or Drake performing. However, if you saw SNL over the weekend you saw an amazing performance from Halsey, who hosted and performed. She also took the meaning of music “artist” to a different level. Check it out.
The Walking Dead was back on AMC last night! I’m liking how the show is re-inventing itself but we’ll see how long it can last or if this is just some early momentum that will die. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see it so skip this paragraph if you plan on watching it later. It wouldn’t be worth surviving if I had to wear a dead guys face to do it. Where did those dogs come from? No way they could survive the Apocalypse. These people really let Judith walk around by herself? I like how Negan’s first order of business after being locked up for six years was shopping, and how he somehow found a leather jacket. Homie is sweating in a t-shirt yet still put on the jacket. Gotta love the commitment to aesthetic. Is anyone going to tell the Kingdom what is going on? Henry is going to be the dude to screw things up. Rosita is the apocalyptic version of The Bachelorette. Pregnant with Siddiq’s baby, dating Gabriel, but Eugene’s in love with her. Lydia is gonna find a way out of her cell. It’s only a matter of time.
Finally, The Bachelor returns to ABC tonight! How much longer do we have to wait for Colton to jump over the fence? I was devastated to learn that there was no fence on that beach. All these cliffhangers but I’m just wondering what happened to Kirpa’s chin. She did a great job spending her limited screen time flossing Colton’s teeth. Onyeka can’t complain about wanting to move on from drama that she started. She’s apparently never been called a bully, yet she said she’s capable of saying things to tear you down? Makes sense. Neither of those girls are going to end up in the finals, so their inevitable 2-on-1 is a waste of time. However, Onyeka vs Nicole is still more exciting than the Super Bowl we saw last week. Congrats to Heather who waited 23 years for her first kiss with a dude that has 15 girlfriend’s and makes out with multiple women a day. The Women Tell All is going to be lit! It still sucks we didn’t get a Rose ceremony though. Looking forward to more action tonight!
