October 18, 2021
The Dodgers are down 0-2 in the NLCS against the Braves, and you can thank that to all the over-managing Andrew Friedman is doing. I feel terrible for Dave Roberts, since all these idiots out there think he is the one making these ridiculous decisions. Why did the computer put Julio Urias out there and why does the computer think it has to use every single damn player on the roster in these games? The Braves are a good team, but nobody has beaten the Dodgers like they have beaten themselves in these first two games. The offense has been horribly inconsistent, and they’ve had numerous opportunities to put these games away, yet they haven’t. They are just 1-15 in the series with runners in scoring position. I sure hope the Boys in Blue plan on sweeping these middle three games of the series at home and not get cute, because this Braves team isn’t going to let the Dodgers come back on them again if they go up 3-1 this year.
Before we jump to the NFL, let’s look back at their series against the Giants. Honestly, do you really think any Dodger fan cares about the fact people are focusing on a blown check swing call that was the final play of the series? Before you become prisoner of the moment remember: THE DODGERS WERE CHEATED OUT OF A WORLD SERIES TITLE BY THE ASTROS. Who cares about a check swing? It’s a shame people are talking about that instead of how great of a series it was. But if you’re still stuck on the check swing, if you were paying attention, the entire series had poor calls around check swings and poor calls all around. The Dodgers are also doing this without Max Muncy, Clayton Kershaw, and Dustin May, so I have no sympathy for the Giants, who got every break in the book to get to this point in the season. They had a great season, but the Dodgers made just a couple of more plays to get by them. As for the rivalry, it just felt so personal. Bay Area folks thinks LA is soft. LA folks think the Bay Area should shut up and keep living with their 12 roommates and collecting their $800K salaries from Google while living paycheck to paycheck.
To the NFL where the Rams dismantled the New York Giants yesterday in the Big Apple. Cooper Kupp looks like the best receiver in the NFL, and Matthew Stafford continues to look solid in Sean McVay’s system. However, McVay thumbed his nose at the win, citing that the offense started too slow. That may be true, but it’s an east coast game at 10:00 am PST, which is when most of these guys would be just coming out of their pajamas if they were at home. It was really nice to see the defense return to form though, because the last few weeks the Rams defense has been pretty average. The good news is the schedule is soft for a few weeks so they can keep banking wins while fine tuning the offense. The bad news is that the Arizona Cardinals are a house of fire and won’t stop kicking the crap out of teams. There’s time to get it together before they meet again. In the meantime, Matt Stafford is out here throwing no-look passes like he’s Magic Johnson.
As for the Chargers, they got smoked by the Ravens in Baltimore. I knew the Bolts might have a hard time stopping the run, but Lamar Jackson and the Ravens run game made them look like high school tacklers. The Charger receivers were also dropping balls like it was New Years Eve. It wasn’t their night and makes you second guess if they really are among the cream of the crop in the AFC. Nevertheless, the rest of their schedule lights up from here, with a game against New England coming up. What was extra weird about this one was seeing Justin Herbert struggle. I’m not even sure that’s ever happened in his NFL career, but it’s also tough to put up numbers when the other team dominates you on time of possession all day. For now, let’s just chalk this one up to a tough day, while there are likely much better days ahead for this squad.
Elsewhere around the NFL in Week 6, they found Jon Gruden on emails talking like he was playing Call of Duty against a teenager, so the Raiders fired him and then they went out and beat the Broncos. The Chiefs beat the Washington Football Team, and leaked emails showed that Andy Reid has 10,000 Grubhub receipts from the last decade. The Jaguars got by the Dolphins in London, and not only do we send crappy teams overseas, but we also send crappy referees. They might as well give Aaron Rodgers the keys to the city of Chicago, because he still owns the Bears as he shouted in the Packers win over the Bears. The Bengals beat the Lions, and Detroit is wondering if they can return Jared Goff to the Rams like a Macy’s department store. The Colts beat up the Texans, and Houston is probably wondering why TY Hilton finally played like he was 10 years younger against only them. The Cowboys outlasted the Patriots, and Jerry Jones celebrated by basically making out with his son. As for Thursday Night Football, the Bucs had more trouble with jersey swaps than playing against the Eagles.
To College Football where USC had a bye, but UCLA picked up another win, this time on the road against Washington. They are now 5-2 and 3-1 in the PAC-12. For a second there it felt like the Bruins were doing everything they could to give that game away and let the Huskies back in it. Thank God Dorian Thompson-Robinson decided to show up in the final quarter to help put the game away. I really have no idea what we will get on a game-to-game basis with DTR and Chip Kelly. Now here comes #9 Oregon. If Chip Kelly really wants to make something out of this season, he’s gotta win that game, and he needs DTR to come up big. I’m skeptical they can do it, but if there’s any hope left to winning the Pac-12 South and going to the Rose Bowl, this is where it has to happen. Plus, there has to some extra motivation for Chip against Oregon right? Right? Maybe that’s just wishful thinking at this point.
Finally, the NBA season gets underway on Tuesday, and the Lakers will get things going by hosting the Warriors. However, I’m not so sure they will really get things going because they have looked like crap in the early going. They don’t sound concerned about going 0-6 in the pre-season, but I’m even more concerned about it when I listen to the players talk. They all sound like they realize it’s going to take time to sort out chemistry and get on the same page. I get that, but the Lakers also had a bunch of new players during the 2019-2020 season, and it didn’t top them from coming out hot and eventually winning a Championship. These guys sound more like they are ready for an afternoon nap rather than an NBA season. There’s also the mounting injuries that are occurring to every good wing the Lakers have. They might want to consider bringing in Avery Bradley for the time being, who was waived by the Warriors. As part of the deal though, Bradley should have to stay in a 3-star Orlando hotel for 3 months since he bailed on the Lakers when they were in the bubble.
Finally, the Clippers are also gearing up for the season as well. They’ll open the season on the road against the Warriors on Thursday. It’s going to be up to Paul George, Marcus Morris, and Terrance Mann to carry the load with Kawhi out for a while. I’m sure the Clippers are feverishly trying to unload a can of coke and a bag of Dorritos for John Wall, but I don’t think the Rockets are into the idea of taking back Luke Kennard. Wall would definitely make the Clippers interesting, but for now, it doesn’t look like that’s happening. In any case, this team is still good enough to stay afloat in the West.