November 22, 2021
There is much to discuss in this edition of MMC. Starting off with the Staples Center name change to Crypto.com arena. Of course there is tons of sentimentality to the name “Staples Center”, which I’m sure we will continue to call the arena. Nobody calls the Coliseum “United Airlines Field”, or called The Forum “The Great Western Forum”. The real suckers are these companies, that are dishing out hundreds of million of dollars for brand awareness that is failing. How many people actually identify the Staples Center with the actual retail store Staples? AEG are the real winners here for getting $700 mill for an arena that is 20 years old. As long as this name doesn’t morph into “Krypto-nite” and force the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings to wear neon green while serving everyone lime Gatorade, I’m good with the name change.
As for the Lakers, despite yesterday’s win against Detroit, this team is a mess, and is simply not a championship team. I’ve never seen a team that consistently performs so poorly in the 3rd quarter. Are they serving a team dinner at halftime in the locker room? That’s my only explanation. I can’t believe Lebron got ejected yesterday. I have to say that when DeAndre Jordan prevented Isaiah Stewart from going after Lebron, that was the best defense he played in years. This obsession with smaller lineups has exposed them on the defensive glass, and their perimeter defense has been suffering as well. THT is developing nicely, but the fact he is being groomed as a shutdown defender for this team speaks to their lack of options. I’m most fearful for Frank Vogel and his job, and if I were him, I’d have my LinkedIn profile updated immediately knowing the Buss family. They have completely untradeable pieces, so their only hope is to get healthier, and somehow get better chemistry. However, I’ve seen better chemistry between oil and water than what this team has shown me so far.
The Clippers on the other hand, can’t be too upset with how the season is going so far. They are hovering around .500 and hanging in the playoff mix in the Western Conference. For a team that is missing two of its best players, and had a handful of others in and out of the lineup, they can’t complain. They better put some kind of restrictions on Paul George though with the holidays coming up. PG said he “enjoyed himself too much” the previous holidays, resulting in some abysmal performances. Somebody tell this dude he needs to ease back on the mashed potatoes, and stay in his shoes when Santa drops off his gifts.
To College Football, where UCLA smoked USC on Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum. See what I did there? I still called it “The Coliseum” instead of “United Airlines Field”! Anyway, this game was so out of hand, Dorian Thompson-Robinson was out here signing autographs after throwing TD passes for the Bruins. The Trojan alums haven’t been this embarrassed since last week. Actually, the real story behind this game is that it’s a cautionary sign for the Bruin football program. If they don’t get themselves a different head coach, they will look exactly like USC did a year from now. I almost never agree with Bill Plaschke of the LA Times, but this time he’s right: Chip Kelly should not be retained. If they do keep him, they would just be kicking the can down the road, and the program would sink into irrelevancy for at least a year. Keep in mind that Jim Mora Jr was fired with a much better record than Kelly has, and when he was bowl eligible. That should put everything into perspective for Martin Jarmond to make this decision.
To baseball, where the Angels made a splashy move by signing Noah Syndergaard to a one-year deal last week. I know it’s easy to tee up all kinds of jokes about the Angels signing pitchers with injuries, but Syndergaard should be healthy now, and when he’s been healthy, he’s been an ace. This team still needs one or two more arms though, perhaps the likes of Marcus Stroman and Kevin Gausman. What would have been really nice is if they had signed Justin Verlander, which would have hurt the Astros. Halo fans would have had the benefit of seeing Kate Upton in the stand an 81 times next season, but that just wasn’t in the cards. Still, a good start to the winter for the Angels.
In the NFL, the Rams were on a much needed bye week. However, there is much to be concerned about. They got obliterated by the 49ers, which always seems to happen, and now people are questioning their legitimacy. Sean McVay said the last couple of games he refuses to believe that is really who they are. I usually try to tell myself that when someone tells me I will never date Jennifer Aniston, yet we still haven’t dated. The truth is probably somewhere in between. The Rams are a lot better than they showed against the 49ers and the Titans. However, they have at times been pushed around at the line of scrimmage, the defense has not forced turnovers, and Matthew Stafford has played more like Matthew McConaughey of late. The bye can help Stafford get healthy and McVay make some adjustments, but as of now, you can’t feel as good about the Rams running through the NFC gauntlet and making it to the Super Bowl.
That was one wild Sunday Night Football game last night at SOFI. It would have been very “Charger Like” had they lost that game after taking a 27-10 lead into the 4th quarter. Of course to nobody’s surprise, the stadium was dominated by Steelers fans and their terrible towels. That even left Chargers Coach Brandon Staley with little to say other than that the environment “was challenging”. What he really meant to say is “how can this franchise be so embarrassing and not have any of its own fans show up for a Sunday Night home game?” It certainly helped that Justin Herbert passed for over 380 yards and ran for over 90 yards, which nobody in the history football has done. Austin Ekeler killed it too, but it feels like the season is starting to slowly slip away given that the Chiefs have their mojo back, leaving the Bolts to fight it out for a wild card.
Finally, The Bachelorette continues on ABC, as Michelle continues to be courted. Nice to see the producers actually get these guys to travel, except they had to take these dudes to Minnesota at the start of winter didn’t they? At least Joe was a geographically appropriate date for Michelle, since he’s from there as well. Joe seems like he has more secrets than Area 51, and Michelle does seem a little naive to them. However, it’s starting to feel like this is going to end with Michelle and Nayte or Joe. To Michelle’s credit, she has been surprisingly good at sending people packing when they don’t need to be there. I don’t recall this happening anytime in recent Bachelor or Bachelorette history. That had also made this season much more enjoyable to watch. I’m ready for some more intense episodes to finish it off, so looking forward to what’s next.
