September 2, 2019
What a brutal start to the season for the Trojans. They lose JT Daniels to a knee injury, and had it not been for a couple of miraculous special teams plays, they would have lost to Fresno State. The offense looked just as unimaginative as it did last year. The two scoring drives USC put together in the first quarter are what a program like that is supposed to do against Fresno State. None of that happened after Daniels went down. However, the QB competition the last few weeks has been close, the expectations shouldn’t change for Helton. After seeing this team play just one game this season, I think it’s fair to say the Coliseum isn’t the only thing that needs to be rebuilt. Speaking of that new Scholarship Tower, USC continues to embarrass itself by sticking pictures of OJ Simpson everywhere. I guess USC is ok celebrating a murderer considering their football team has been getting murdered as well. Even the fans are struggling too.
Meanwhile, things didn’t look great for UCLA in their first game against Cincinnati either. Chip Kelly looks like a dude who is getting paid living on what he did 10 years ago. Dorian Thompson-Robinson completed 30% of his passes! 30%!!! Imagine how bad UCLA’s backup QB’s are when they can’t beat out a guy who is completing 30% of his passes. Chip Kelly had the 8th best recruiting class in the Pac-12. I realize that he often finds undervalued talent, but that just seems unacceptable. The Bearcats aren’t a bad team, but I don’t see things getting a whole lot better this season for UCLA Football.
Elsewhere around College Football, Tennessee and Florida State both can’t figure out who embarrassed themselves more in Week 1. In typical SEC fashion, they both scheduled cup cakes and lost in shocking fashion. Alabama and Clemson cruised to easy victories, and I have no idea why we are all wasting our time. Just get us to another championship game with these two teams since they are head and shoulders better than everybody else. This is really the signal that the Tennessee coaches came up with?
As usual, everybody made a huge deal over nothing with Kobe and Shaq last week. If you actually listened to Kobe’s entire interview, he was extremely complimentary of Shaq, talking about how amazing of a player he was. Of course most journalists that cover the NBA have the memory of a 5-year-old, and only focused on the fact Kobe called him lazy. Kobe didn’t say anything that you don’t already know about Shaq, or that he hasn’t told Shaq, or that Shaq himself doesn’t already know. Kobe was great. Shaq was great. They were great together. They could have been even greater. What never gets old though is when Shaq finds a way to rip Dwight Howard in the process!
I can’t believe some of you still wonder why I criticize the Dodgers like I do. They look like hot garbage at the moment, and extremely vulnerable come postseason time. Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu need a freaking bye week, Max Muncy and Dustin May are injured, the rest of the team stopped hitting, and worst of all, Kenley Jansen is hemorrhaging runs. Are you really telling me that in one month from now he’s going to look like the $80 million closer we expect him to be? The Dodgers would be wise to spend the next four weeks looking for a reliable replacement for Jansen, or else more October futility is on the way.
As for the Angels, the news just keeps getting worse on and off the field. The results of the Tyler Skaggs autopsy revealed there was alcohol and opioids in his system. That means we might be in for a long and expensive lawsuit between the Halos and the Skaggs family. I’m not going to pretend like I’ve experienced losing a child, or been through a situation like the Skaggs family is going through. However, unless there is some weird foul play we don’t know about here, Tyler is responsible for what he put in his own body. That shouldn’t be pinned on someone else just to preserve reputation, character, or legacy. This season can’t end soon enough for the Angels and their fans.
Finally, the Melvin Gordon situation is escalating. The Chargers are actually granting Gordon permission to find a trade partner. That’s like allowing your girlfriend to go seek a new relationship when you know she’s put on some pounds, and not looking her finest. Even though Melvin Gordon is not out of shape, he’s a running back. That means teams don’t like tying up money in them, unless they are elite. Gordon is very good, but not Ezekiel Elliott or Todd Gurley. No team is going to pay him $14 million, as well as give up a 1st round pick or two for him. I also like how immediately after the Chargers granted him permission, Houston and Kansas City all locked up cheaper running backs. Whatever market there was for Gordon has already shrunk. Now we’re already hearing rumors that Melvin Gordon is expected to end his holdout within the next week, as the Chargers are only offering him his original $5 million salary. Should have just taken the $10 mill you were being offered!
