September 2nd, 2013

College football season is here and both So Cal squads found the win column in week 1.  However,   the Trojans and Bruins each appear to be trending in completely opposite directions.  UCLA obliterated Nevada 58-20 at the Rose Bowl, while the 90 degree heat simultaneously obliterated the fans that were willing to show up in Pasadena.  I’m not sure what’s more amazing: Brett Hundley’s 334 all purpose yards and 4 touchdowns? Or the fact that Jim Mora Jr. was wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt under his polo for 5 hours in the heat?  In any case, UCLA looks like they have an exciting football team for the first time in many years.

Then there’s the Trojans, who had an unimpressive 30-13 win over Hawaii in Honolulu.  Although the USC defense looked strong, the quarterback situation remains an issue for this team.  In addition to the fact that Lane Kiffin foolishly won’t commit to one starting quarterback, he constantly micromanages his signal callers, which inhibits their ability to improve.  Southern Cal had more talent at every position than Hawaii.  Instead of unleashing that talent and seeing what it can do, Kiffin wouldn’t let his quarterbacks do any more than act as game managers.  Kiffin also micromanaged Matt Barkley last season, causing him to lose confidence and ultimately, sink like the Titanic in the NFL Draft.

When it comes to So Cal college football, it appears for now, up is down and down is up.  Jim Mora Jr. looks like the new Pete Caroll.  Lane Kiffin looks like the new Ric Neusheisel.  UCLA has a great quarterback, while USC has two crappy ones.  Before you know it, UCLA will suddenly start having better looking girls on campus than USC.  Ok….maybe not.

As for the rest of the college football weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to see my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame take care of Temple 28-6.  I think most of my fellow Golden Domers were so shocked by “Turnover Tommy” Rees’ two touchdown passes in the first quarter, we felt it was practically a slap in the face to Notre Dame tradition.  Oh, and how could I forget to mention Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, who couldn’t be any more of a douchebag for taunting a player and pretending to sign an autograph after scoring a touchdown on Saturday.  This guy is becoming more unlikeable by the minute. The NCAA knows damn well he accepted money for signing autographs, but they know they have a star they can make money off of, so why suspend him?

On to baseball, where the Dodgers continue to roll.  The Boys in Blue swept the Padres over the weekend, and they’ve now opened up an 11.5 game lead over Arizona in the NL West with just 26 games left to play.  LA can probably look to start getting some of their top players some rest, even though they are only two games back  of Atlanta for the best record in the NL.  It sure would be nice to have a healthy Matt Kemp back for October, but you’d have an easier time trying to find Carmen San Diego right now than finding Kemp’s swing.  He’s been dreadful in his minor league rehab assignment.  Good thing Yasiel Puig showed up….

Despite Puig’s erratic behavior, there’s no doubt he can be a star.  The Dodgers look brilliant now for locking him up to a 7 year $42 million contract last winter, which is a bargain.  Speaking of being worth every penny, Zach Greinke has been a fantastic #2 starter.  After improving to 14-3 with yesterday’s win, Greinke has won 6 straight starts and looks like he’ll make a formidable duo with Clayton Kershaw come October.  Adding veteran infielder Michael Young over the weekend was another great, low risk move for the club too.  Closer Kenley Jensen has been just filthy, as he has converted 17 straight saves, and looks like a completely different pitcher than we saw earlier in the year.

As for the Angels, they’ve won a meaningless 8 of their last 9 games after sweeping the Brewers over the weekend.  As they did last year, they start playing real baseball when their season is already over.  Speculation is already running rampant about what Arte Moreno will do with Mike Scioscia and Jerry Dipoto.  Even though Scioscia deserves to keep his job more than Dipoto, hiring a general manager who can’t hire his own skipper isn’t very ideal.  In fact, when Moreno hired Dipoto two years ago, he was very interested in Rays GM Andy Friedman, but Friedman turned him down.  Moreno needs a general manager who can rebuild his farm system, and turn his current team into a contender by adding quality pitching at an affordable price.  Sounds like he’ll have to hire a new gm with the authority to hire his own manager to make this happen.

Moving on to the Lamar Odom saga, now that he’s has been found, and isn’t actually dead, everyone can resume the jokes.  It’s obvious that LO is on crack because he hasn’t signed with the Lakers, who are the only team that was actually offering him a contract.  Well, they “were” the only team offering him a contract, but after he was arrested for suspicion of DUI last week, that opportunity is gone.   Lamar is a good dude, but he needs to get his life together.  Last week, reports were that he was missing for 3 days, but they were clearly mistaken.  He’s been missing for over 3 years.

This Time Warner Cable vs CBS cable dispute is ridiculous.  I can’t believe they haven’t come to a resolution yet.  You Time Warner Cable subscribers realize that you don’t have CBS, Showtime, and KCAL right now is because TWC doesn’t want to charge you $1 more per month right?  For a company that has been notorious for price gouging its customers, I think they can drop the “concerned for their customers” act and gladly add the $1 to everyone’s bill.  TWC escalated this dispute when they blocked Showtime from its subscribers when the dispute started, and they stand to lose a ton of customers if they don’t figure this out fast.

I realize that I’m late to the party on this whole discussion about last week’s VMA’s, but I wasn’t nearly as horrified with Miley Cyrus as others were.  Her twerking display on stage was just another example of an artist trying to create an identify and sell a brand.  We’ve seen far more offensive displays on stage than what we saw that night, so I’m surprised people are so up in arms over it.  However, with that being said, Miley is definitely trying way to hard to separate herself from her Disney Hannah Montana character, to the point where she is hurting her brand.  There’s nothing wrong with trying to re-brand yourself, but there’s probably better ways to do it.

Sadly, all the talk about Miley Cyrus probably overshadowed Justin Timberlake’s performance.  JT had arguably one of the greatest live on stage performances that I have ever seen.  I would hate to be any artist that had to follow that.  I don’t care if you are a JT fan or not, but that guy is unbelievably talented, and his performance was phenomenal.  Here it is in case you missed it:

Finally, the 4th episode of the final 8 episodes of Breaking Bad aired on AMC last night, and the show took somewhat of a breather.  Spoiler Alert for those of you who have it on DVR! Last night’s episode showed how Jesse was convinced not to burn down Walt’s house by Hank, and then Hank proceeded to try and get Jesse to provide some testimony that would incriminate Walt for all his crimes.  Jesse failed to provide this evidence, and when Hank asked Jesse to wear a wire and meet Walt in person later on, Jesse abandoned the plan at the last moment, thinking Walt has an assassin prepared to kill him.

This particular episode definitely did not provide us with the usual edge-of-your-seat tension as before.  Instead, we are given some meaningful moments to ponder.  I found the most interesting  part of the episode to be the ironic impact Walt has suddenly had on all the other characters.  In the first four episodes of this season, Walt’s biggest threats have been his own brother-in-law Hank, and his former business partner Jesse.  Despite the threats they pose, Walt has refused to kill them, because he cares deeply for both of them, as Hank is his family, and Jesse is practically like a son to him.  For all the horrible things Walt has done, he is still willing to protect the ones he cares about.  The irony of this is the very cavalier attitude Walt’s loved ones suddenly have about killing people.  Skyler urges Walt to kill Jesse in order to protect the family.  Marie suggests that she is enjoying the thought of poisoning Walt, and Hank admits he’s willing to let Jesse get killed if it means incriminating Walt.    These moments are definitely setting the stage for an incredible final four episodes, which Breaking Bad fans anxiously await!

August 26th, 2013

It was quite a run for the Dodgers.   After dropping two out of three to the Red Sox over the weekend, the Boys in Blue lost their first series since mid-June.  LA went 14-0-4 in that stretch before those clam chowder eating, terrible driving, “wicked” accent speaking Boston Red Sox beat them up at Chavez Ravine.  This could have very well been a potential World Series preview, however, fear not Dodger fans, this team is still in great shape.  The team didn’t pitch their top two starters in this series, and Hyun-Jin Ryu took the mound with the flu on Saturday night.  The Dodgers still have a 9.5 game lead over 2nd place Arizona in the NL West.  Besides, did you really expect LA to keep winning those games that Chris Capuano kept getting his ass kicked in every five days?

Meanwhile, I think it’s time for the Dodgers to at least pick up the option on the final year of manager Don Mattingly’s contract next year.  Mattingly has definitely earned his keep.  He’s taken the Dodgers from the 4th worst team in baseball, to the 2nd best record in two months.  He’s done this while dealing with a ton of injuries to the club throughout the year.  He’s also successfully managed two different teams:  A completely stripped down Dodger team at the end of the Frank McCourt era, and a team with much more star power in this years Dodger team.  The players like him, he’s managed the egos well, and he’s a huge part of LA building great clubhouse chemistry.  I’m sure the Dodgers have been keeping an eye on Mike Scioscia, but why mess with success?  You don’t need an organization made up of stars in every role.  LA should also think about that this winter before they start replacing Mark Ellis and AJ Ellis with free agents Robinson Canoe and Brian McCann.

Speaking of Mike Scioscia, he denied there is a rift between himself and general manager Jerry Dipoto.  This was a rather predictable move by the Halos skipper.  However, since these two are really “on the same page”, I’d hate to see how bad this team would be if they weren’t on the same page.  Scioscia claimed that their only real public dispute was when hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was fired last year.  “The one thing that I publicly disagreed with Jerry about, and we’ve talked about it too, is when he let Mickey go.  And that’s been it.”  Scioscia also also said “our  philosophies are right in line with anything we’ve ever done here.”

That couldn’t be further from the truth, but what can you expect him to say when he knows his job could be in jeopardy?  Scioscia and Dipoto have both said they want to focus on improving the pitching staff this off-season.  Have they talked with their boss Arte Moreno yet?  Because he’s probably going to want to waste another $200 million instead on signing Robinson Canoe.

Every baseball fan should be thrilled to know that Dodgers announcer Vin Scully is coming back to call games in 2014.  It will be Scully’s 65th season as the Dodgers announcer, which is remarkable for a man who is 85 years old.  Scully could probably read a phone book, and make it interesting for his listeners.  LA sports fans have been so fortunate over the years to have 3 legendary, hall of fame, announcers in their city:  Scully, Bob Miller of the LA Kings, and the late Chick Hearn of the Lakers.

Why can’t Lane Kiffin just pick a starting quarterback for the Trojans already?  This guy is more indecisive than a 17 year old girl right now.  Kiffin said that “ideally” they don’t want to have a two quarterback system.  Then he decides that both Max Wittek and Cody Kessler will play in the season opener at Hawaii on Thursday night.  SC hasn’t used two quarterbacks since the 1995 season, when Brad Otton and Kyle Wachholtz shared the role.  USC did win the Pac-10 title that year, but these types of systems don’t usually lend themselves to effective chemistry building.  Rumor has it that Kiffin was informed that if Wittek doesn’t win the starting job, he will end up transferring, which could ultimately force him to make a decision, rather than use two quarterbacks.  I’m sure right about now many USC fans are wishing that the Trojans would use two coaches as well.

After hearing reports that Lamar Odom has been missing for 3 days, there were many things that were going through my mind.  I know many of you are expecting me to cue up the jokes on this one, and even though there are probably a multitude of them I can throw in here, it just isn’t the time.  TMZ reported over the weekend that Odom has been battling a drug problem for two years, and that he could be addicted to crack cocaine or Oxycontin or Ambien.  His family reportedly tried to stage a drug intervention, but he refused, then took off.  Nobody has been able to contact him, and his family is speculating he could be on a huge drug binge.  I’m shocked that once the news came out that he was missing, few people reporting on it took it seriously.  Sadly, this is probably because his is married to Khloe Kardashian, who people just associate with fake drama.  On Sunday evening, a rep for Lamar confirmed he was fine, yet would not discuss his whereabouts.

The Lakers and Clippers had both reached out to Odom weeks ago to gauge his interest in playing for them.  However, now it’s clear why he hasn’t signed with either.  Both teams are concerned about his drug abuse.  According to the TMZ report, Odom went to drug rehab for three weeks last August.  He stayed clean while playing for the Clippers, but then began using hardcore recreational drugs when the Clippers season ended a few months ago.    Hopefully LO is ok, can turn his life around, and this story does not have an unfortunate ending.

And finally, Breaking Bad had another riveting episode last night.  Spoiler Alert for those of you who have it on DVR, and have yet to watch it.  In classic Breaking Bad fashion, just when Walter White gets away with something, another thing far worse happens to him.  In this episode, Walter gets the upper hand on his brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, when he makes a video tape confessing his criminal activity, but simultaneously makes Hank the patsy.  This was another brilliant move by Walter, especially considering that his confession brings up the fact he paid for Hank’s medical bills, which Hank had no idea about until seeing the video.  This ends the threat of Hank telling his friends at the DEA about Walter’s criminal activity.

However, a new threat appears to be emerging for Walt, and that is his former business partner Jesse Pinkman, who is angered by the discovery that Walt poisoned the little boy Brock.  Jesse is so angry, that he storms into Walt’s house, and starts pouring gasoline all over the place, presumably to light the house on fire.  I guess we won’t know until next week because that’s when the episode ended.

Several other key themes seemed to emerge from this episode.  Walt has become very good at manipulating people emotionally.  He has done it repeatedly to Jesse, and he even did it to his son, to prevent him from going to visit the Schraders.  The writers of the show also seem to be focused on colors and what they symbolize.  For example, during the meeting between the Whites and Schraders,  Marie wears black to symbolize her mourning for the family she thought she had, while Hank wears purple to atone for upsetting his wife.  In the previous episode, the writers tried to create symbolism by focusing on the colors of Lydia’s shoes.  Speaking of Lydia, her new business partners may be an additional new adversary for Walter.  That is not entirely clear after seeing the opening scene of last night’s episode, but it must have some significance.

The real question moving forward is whether or not Walter would kill Jesse to save himself.  For almost 5 seasons, the show has been built on the emotional relationship between these two.  Now it appears as though it’s ending will be very much revolving around this relationship.  As horrible of a person Walt has transformed into, I still can’t see him killing Jesse.  Walt came very close to getting caught by his brother in law, yet refused to kill him because he was family.  Jesse seems just as important to Walt as Hank is, so I can’t see him killing him, even if it means not saving himself.

August 19th, 2013

The Dodgers lost a game?  What do you mean they lost?  They never lose!  I thought they were supposed to go win every game the rest of the season?  Well, I suppose I can forgive them for losing the series finale to the Phillies yesterday by a score of 3-2, even after Hanley Ramirez made 2 errors in the 9th inning,  The Boys in Blue have still won 10 of their last 11 games, are 25-4 since the all-star break, and are a historical 42-9 in their last 51 games.  Do you realize how good this stretch is?  Going into Friday, the Dodgers had more wins in their last 48 games, than the Houston Astros had in their last 118 games!

Even with a 7.5 game lead though, yesterday’s loss did raise a few questions as LA aims for it’s first World Series title since the Jerry Curl was in.  Will Hanley Ramirez’ defense be an issue when it really matters?  Will Yasiel Puig’s aggressive style of play cost the Dodgers in the late stages of a critical game?  It sure did yesterday, as his failure to hit the cut off man led to the Phillies tying up the game.  Will Matt Kemp ever be healthy and effective, and how will he fit in when he returns?  And will the Dodgers bullpen continue to be effective despite a very heavy workload?  For all of these issues, only time will tell, but at this point, Dodger fans should be enjoying the ride.

Meanwhile, Angel fans aren’t enjoying much right now.  I had the misfortune of actually seeing this disaster in person on Friday night at the Big A, which was when the Angels lost their first of two games this weekend to the lowly Astros.  I’m not even sure the Astros are actually trying to win games right now, but it seems like every time these guys come to town, they give the Halos a beating.  Can anyone actually name 3 players on the Astros team?  1/5th of all of their wins this season have come against the Angels.  It’s clear that the Halos have already packed it in, and the hamstring injury to Mike Trout yesterday just pours a little more salt in the wound.

The only question now is what will be the fate of skipper Mike Scioscia and General Manager Jerry Dipoto.  On Friday night, the LA Times tried to get a comment from owner Arte Moreno regarding the job security of both these men, but Arte declined to speak on the topic.  This fact alone makes it clear that a change of some kind is probably coming at season’s end.  Nevertheless, regardless of who the new GM and manager are, turning this club around any time soon will be tough.

How awkward is this A-Rod situation?  Everyone knows the guy is an expensive, lying, cheating, phony, who’s teammates don’t want him around.  Still, he continues to show up to work, and is actually playing pretty well.  Yankees GM Brian Cashman even said yesterday that he isn’t really comfortable talking to A-Rod “because we feel we are in a litigious environment.”  It must suck to show up to work when nobody wants you there, even when you are doing your job well.

It’s that time of year again: fantasy football draft time!  I had my first of 4 drafts yesterday, and as most fantasy football participants know, it’s usually a celebrated event.  At the same time, the annual complaining from women I’ve dated comes hand in hand with this tradition.  “So let me get this straight.  You are spending the next 5 hours putting together a ‘fantasy’ team?  You know how ridiculous that is? You’re going to spend the next 5 months yelling at your phone, getting disappointed, and then yelling at me for no apparent reason!”  It’s true.  How many times do we end up yelling at our loved ones, or even our dogs, when it’s Philip Rivers we should be yelling at?  Then there’s those weekends when you end up yelling at your TV set like a mad man because your team got beat when the Bears defense scored 17 points to come back and beat you.  Then your foreign born neighbors are wondering what the hell you’re screaming about, then you have to actually explain the concept of fantasy football to them.  At that point, your neighbors walk away acting sympathetic towards you, but in the end, they are filing this one away as another reason they made a mistake in moving to this fast declining country.

Yesterday, via Twitter, we found out that Wayne Gretzky’s infamous daughter, Paulina, is now engaged to pro golfer Dustin Johnson.  I think the question most people are wondering is:  does this mean Paulina will stop posting provocative pictures of herself on the internet?  I’m sure the Great One hopes that is the case, while many other guys don’t.

After Usain Bolt helped Jamaica win the 4×100 meter relay yesterday in the world championships, he tied former US sprinter Carl Lewis with his 10th career medal.  Bolt won 3 gold medals this past weekend, also taking the 100 and the 200 meter races.  I hope this guy enjoys his fame while it lasts, because it’s only a matter of time before we find out he is on PED’s.  You can certainly compare pictures of Bolt when he was younger and see how he’s bulked up in a way that could only be achieved through PED’s.  Even more ridiculous are the world record times he’s been running, obliterating previous marks.  The Jamaicans are known to be pretty lax in their drug testing programs, and as someone who ran and coached track and field, I have a hard time believing someone with the lanky build of Bolt could run that fast.

Finally, last night’s episode of Breaking Bad continued the wild ride for its fans.  It’s amazing how the last 6 episodes of the series appear to be a showdown amongst family members.  Spoiler alert for those of you who have it on DVR.  That showdown appears to be between Hank Schrader and his wife Marie, who are facing off against her sister Skyler, and the infamous Walter White.  Alliances are forming, which I have a feeling will be setting the stage for a shocking betrayal.  Will Walt kill his own wife Skyler?  Will he kill his brother in law Hank?  It appears not, after Walt immediately shot down his slimy attorney Saul’s idea to kill off his brother in law.  One also has to wonder whether or not Jesse Pinkman and Walt will turn on each other, even after Walt was almost a father figure for Jesse in previous seasons.  Remember though: Walter White has slowly transformed from a nerdy chemistry teacher, into a monstrous criminal master mind.  Along the way, he has blown up a nursing home, poisoned a child, and run over drug dealers in the streets to protect himself.  So when a family member is willing to put him in jail, I believe when push comes to shove, he will do whatever is necessary to protect himself.

August 12th, 2013

How many more amazing things can I say about the Dodgers?  They looked like they were in for a tough week going up against the Cardinals and Rays, but knocked both of those teams around like Walter White was in the garage last night (more on that shortly).  After sweeping Tampa and taking 3 of 4 from the Cardinals, the Boys in Blue have won 37 of their last 45 games, which means they’ve played .800 baseball for more than a quarter of the season!  They haven’t had a stretch this good since the 50’s, or when most of your mothers were sporting poodle skirts.  What an amazing comeback win on Friday night after being down 6-0.   LA looks like they might even hunt down the Braves for home field advantage in the NL Playoffs, but does it even matter?  They’ve won 17 of their last 18 games on the road.

The amazing thing about the Dodgers run is that it’s coming without Matt Kemp and lately without Hanley Ramirez.  I still think they’ll need both of these guys healthy come October to put them over the top, but sometimes I think Kemp needs to be placed in bubble wrap to avoid injury.  He nearly injured his wrist shagging fly balls yesterday.  Nevertheless, things are only going to get better when LA adds Brian Wilson to their bullpen in the next week, which will only add to their tremendous pitching staff.

As for the Angels, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank former major leaguer and radio host Jack Clark for informing us this past week that Albert Pujols previously took steroids.  Thanks to Jack, this morning, I can write about the Halos and not focus on how much they suck, or how their bullpen is a pile of rally monkey crap for blowing another lead yesterday against the Indians.

Clark proclaimed on his radio show earlier in the week that he knew for a fact Pujols took steroids when he was with the Cardinals.  He claimed that his trainer told him he personally had injected Pujols with PED’s, but after Pujols threatened legal action, Clark was fired by the radio station.  I don’t blame Jack Clark one bit for what he did.  Radio is about ratings, and Clark gave his listeners some very intriguing insight into what he knows about PED’s, whether you agree with it or not.  He did nothing wrong, and if the station is worried about the potential legal action against him, it’s very shortsighted because Pujols has no chance of winning in court.

I don’t know whether or not Albert Pujols used PED’s or not.  However, the reality of it is that it’s not unreasonable to think he did before.  Here’s a guy whose age some of us aren’t entirely sure about, his numbers are in decline, and his body is starting to breakdown.  Sorry Albert, you may be a stand up guy and a great person, but since many of your peers are documented liars and cheaters, we have a right to be suspicious.  If you have a problem with that, then maybe it’s your peers you should be suing.

On to college football, where USC dodged a major bullet over the weekend.  All-American wide receiver Marqise Lee suffered a shoulder injury on Friday, and was seen leaving the practice field wearing a sling.  However, after X-Rays came back negative, it turned out to be just a bone bruise and Lee is listed as day-to-day.  Maybe this injury will make coach Lane Kiffin re-consider using Lee as a first, second, and third option on every play, which he did last season, so his star player doesn’t get run into the ground.

I’m really looking forward to college football starting so I don’t have to hear anything else about Johnny Football.  I’m about ready to throw my television set out of the window if I hear anything else about this kid.  With that being said, he should be suspended by the NCAA for being a selfish moron, and accepting $7,500 for signing memorabilia.  Even though the NCAA rules are more outdated than The Dead Sea Scrolls, players know what the rules are, and know not to break them.  What makes Johnny Manziel even dumber is that he didn’t need the money, and comes from a well to do family.

Speaking of football, I’m excited about the start of the NFL season and all, but some people can’t even keep it in their pants during the preseason.  I walked into the office this week and my co-workers had already created an office pool for preseason football games.  Nothing like betting on a bunch of guys who will probably not even make it in the NFL.  Even better was my co-workers analysis of the Chargers for the one offensive drive that the starters played on Thursday night.  “Did you see Philip Rivers last night?  He’s going to be the best quarterback in the league this year!  He looked amazing on those three passes he threw!  He’s a changed man!”  Chill out for a couple of more weeks guys.

Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the Wayne Gretzky trade to the Los Angeles Kings.  This is usually a day of great self-reflection for me because Gretzky was my inspiration growing up, which not only resulted in me loving hockey, but loving sports.  As for the trade, I think it’s fair to say that both the Oilers and the Kings benefited a great deal from it.  The Oilers went on to win the Stanley Cup just two years later, while Gretzky created a new generation of hockey fans in non-traditional hockey cities, despite not winning a Stanley Cup in his 8 years in LA.  If anything, I think the NHL got the best of that trade.

NBC recently announced that Jay Leno will be retiring in February of 2014, and Jimmy Fallon will be taking over the Tonight Show at that point.  Wait a second, I’ve seen this movie before, and it ended when Leno stole back his late night show from Conan O’Brien a few years ago.  Leno is still the #1 late night talk show host, and I can’t imagine that he will be leaving television in just 6 months from now.  Fox could bring in Leno for a late night show, and that’s bad news for Fallon.  Not only would he have to replace a legend, but he would have to compete with him as well!

I can’t believe that SyFy’s Sharknado was actually shown in theaters in the past week.  This just goes to show you how badly things are going at the box office these days.  The mockbuster had a special midnight showing in 200 theaters across the nation and was sold out.  Even more amazing is the fact that the Sharknado sequel, which is coming out in 2014, will simply be called “The Second One”.  That has to be the movie equivalent of referring to yourself in the third person.

And finally, the season premier of Breaking Bad last night was phenomenal.  Spoiler alert coming for those of you who have it on DVR, but just when you think the show that could have ended, it finds a way to keep rolling.  I expected these final 8 episodes to start moving at the pace of a crawl and then end the series in explosive fashion.  Instead, the writers of the show created an incredible showdown at the end of the episode between Walter White (played by Brian Cranston) and his brother in law Hank Schrader (played by Dean Norris).  Hank punches Walter in the face in his own garage after confronting him about his transformation into criminal mastermind “Heisenberg”.  The show comes to a chilling close when Hank says “I don’t even know who I’m talking to”, and Walt replies “maybe your best course would be to tread lightly”.  This is just another example of how the show has done an amazing job developing a character who has transformed from a nerdy science teacher, into a brilliant criminal monster.  There are still many questions to be answered in the final 7 episodes, such as what Walt will do with the poisonous ricin vial he has, and why he has a machine gun.  The next 7 weeks should be some great TV.