February 6th, 2017

That turned out to a be a much better Super Bowl than it appeared.  I’m not sure what was worse, the Patriots play in the 1st half, or all of the Super Bowl commercials.  Even the Cleveland Browns scored as many points as the Falcons and Patriots did in the 1st quarter on Super Bowl Sunday.  Bill Belichick was about ready to replace Brady with Lady Gaga as his quarterback.  Then came the second half of the game, which had to be extremely disappointing to the 8 Falcons fans that made the drive to Houston.  In the end, the Falcons looked like such big losers for blowing that lead, nobody would be surprised if they moved to LA next season.  This was like the Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead all over again.  I don’t know if Tom Brady is the best quarterback of all time, but he’s certainly in the discussion with Joe Montana.  Just listening to his teammates talk about him after the game made you realize how much they believe in him and their coach.  How the hell did Julian Edelman catch that ball?  I have never seen a team make second half adjustments like the Patriots do in all their games.  Bill Belichick is really that good.  Why did the Falcons keep throwing the football in the fourth quarter? They had two of the best running backs in football, and they didn’t take nearly enough time off the clock.  It was experience vs inexperience.  Roger Goodell congratulating Tom Brady on the podium when it was over was like Obama meeting Trump at the White House.  What a great finish to the NFL season.

The one thing I look forward to every Super Bowl is the commercials.  However, there was not a single commercial that was good.  Nothing made me laugh.  In fact, I think for the last several years, the Super Bowl commercials have been progressively getting more conservative, as well as less funny and entertaining.  Lady Gaga’s performance was good, but it was almost surprising that she wasn’t wearing less clothing, and didn’t make any kind of political statement.  I’m guessing the NFL gave her some pretty strict guidelines to follow for her performance, which did not allow for any of that.

The Lakers announced that Magic Johnson is returning to the team.  Magic says that he is available to the team in any way they would like to use him.  Good thing because I think it’s most ideal if Magic can be the team’s starting point guard and center.  Magic indicated that the Lakers are one superstar away from competing, so hopefully he was talking about himself, because acquiring one through free agency or a trade is going to be more difficult than ever before.  There is actually a lot that Magic can do for the organization right now, both on and off the floor.  In the eyes of the public, he immediately will add some much needed credibility to the front office.  If and when Jeanie Buss moves Jim out of basketball operations in the coming months, Magic will also pave the way for someone else to provide more help to run basketball operations.  Perhaps someone with some fresh thinking.  I also suspect that Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak will not be going anywhere, nor should they.  They will simply be ascending to higher advisory type roles.  We see Fortune 500 Companies do this all the time, bringing in new CEO’s after just a few years for that type of thinking.  Magic can also help mentor D’Angelo Russell, and work with him in practice to get him to fulfill all that potential he has.  Acquiring talent is going to be tougher than ever in the NBA, but if there’s somebody who can help the Lakers rebuild, it’s the Magic man.

This Lebron James vs the Cavs, and Lebron James vs Charles Barkley saga is so overblown.  Even though Lebron could have done it without going public, there is nothing wrong with him pushing his front office to make more moves to improve the team.  If you remember correctly, it was Kobe Bryant who did the exact same thing in 2007-2008, which pressured the Laker front office into making a big trade for Pau Gasol.  We always used to accuse Lebron of not being pathologically obsessed with winning.  As he’s gotten older and is trying to enhance his legacy, he has resorted to this type of “crack the whip” leadership with the entire organization.  You may not like it, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be effective.  There’s a good chance Lebron already had this talk with the Cavs privately, yet they haven’t acted, so he resorted to scolding them publicly for not continuously trying to improve the team.  I have no problem with that an even admire him for it.  On the other hand, it’s Barkley’s job to give his opinion on these types of situations, and Leborn knows that.  There’s nothing wrong with Barkley’s criticism of Lebron, and it’s no disrespect toward his legacy.  There’s a difference between criticizing the person and the performance, and Barkley is able to separate the two, so there’s no reason Lebron shouldn’t be able to.  Lebron on the other hand felt the need to criticize Barkley on a personal level, which was totally unnecessary.

Normally it’s the Raiders that find a way to screw things up.  This time however, it’s the NFL that screwed things up for the Raiders, likely ruining any chance for them to move to Vegas.  That’s because the league advised the Raiders to negotiate a deal to move to Vegas without Casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson.  After months of talks with Adelson, the team went behind his back multiple times, in attempt to get the deal done without him.  The real stupidity behind this decision is the fact that Adelson practically owns Vegas.  To get the deal done without him, the Raiders need the support of the local politicians, and Goldman Sachs.  Too bad Goldman has been advising Adelson’s firm for decades, and Adelson is very close with those local politicians.  There’s no chance they would go behind his back and make the deal without him.  With each passing day, I get the sense that the NFL is really run by idiots, who naively believe their football product is invincible.  That belief didn’t hold up in San Diego, who let the Chargers go when they refused to use public money to build a stadium, and the same thing is happening in Las Vegas.  Ultimately, what could destroy the NFL years from now is the people running it.

I’m not a huge believer in the merits of College Football’s National signing day.  However, there was a stark difference in the recruiting classes of USC and UCLA.  When you have a top 5 recruiting class, you are pulling in the best of the best, and a handful of five-star recruits.  That’s exactly what USC did, finishing with a class as high as #4 in some rankings.  The Trojans absolutely killed it, headlined by linebacker Levi Jones, a four star recruit, wide receiver Joseph Lewis, and his high school teammate Greg Johnson.  That also goes along with five star running back Stephen Carr, and a number of other highly touted recruits.  That not only fills the void left by the Trojan players departing for the NFL draft or graduating, but also adds much needed depth we haven’t seen since the Pete Carroll era.  I think it’s safe to say that Clay Helton has no problem recruiting.  Whether he can develop and coach over the long-haul remains to be seem, but I don’t hear anybody complaining about him anymore.  USC has returned to not even really recruiting players, but just selecting the top ones because the football brand is strong again.  As for the Bruins, a recruiting class ranked as high as #19 doesn’t sound bad, except when you find out that there were no running backs or wide receivers recruited.  Considering those were two of the Bruins biggest problems last year, it’s hard to imagine the team getting a whole lot better.  For a while, it seemed like UCLA was back on track, and even eclipsing USC within the Pac 12 Conference.  That feels like a distant memory now, and Jim Mora’s job might actually be in bigger jeopardy than most think.

Why are the Dodgers trying to sign Giants reliever Sergio Romo? His fastball probably wouldn’t even get a speeding ticket on the highway these days, and he definitely knows how to serve up some home runs.  Then again, he was injured last season, and his arm is about to fall off, so it makes perfect sense why Andrew Friedman would be interested in him.  If the Dodgers are going to take flyers on relievers like this, it would be nice if they also signed Joe Blanton as well.  However, let’s not pretend like the bullpen and the pitching is going to be reliable beyond Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen.  Those two guys are probably going to be asked to do some stupid things come October, like pitching way more innings than they really should.

Finally, get ready for The Bachelor Tonight.  You don’t actually think that both Taylor and Corrine are going to get kicked off the show tonight do you? Don’t be surprised if not only Corrine stays, but Taylor as well.  I think in the last episode I heard the term “emotional intelligence” more than I did in my senior year psychology class in college.  Whether you like her or hate her, you had to have fallen out of your chair laughing when Corrine said “make America Corrine again.”  If a guy dated 25 girls at one time, a girl would call him a player and a jerk.  On The Bachelor though, that guy is the man of every woman’s dreams.  The hilarious part about that is that all of these women are being duped and that Nick really just out to get some tail.

January 30th, 2017

What are you waiting for Doc Rivers? Just pull the trigger on the Carmelo trade already.   How many times are you going to try and convince us that your team is good enough to win as currently constructed? We all know it’s not, and deep down inside, you know it too.  ‘Melo isn’t Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard, but he’s still an All-Star caliber small forward that will make Clippers better.  Even if you have to give up J.J. Redick to get it done, you’re getting a massive upgrade at the position you need the most help.  Yea I get it, most of you think ‘Melo is some one dimensional ball hog.  However, if you put great players around him like CP3 and Blake, just like in the Olympics, he becomes a huge asset.  Not to mention the fact he’s a much better locker room guy than people give him credit for.  Even if ‘Melo doesn’t get the Clipps by the Warriors or Spurs, they are still a better team with him, as well as a more entertaining one.

Speaking of trades, it’s time for the Lakers to find a trade partner for someone to take Lou Williams and Nick Young.  By trading those guys, they might even be able to get another 1st round pick, shed some longer-term salary along with them, and get some of the kids more playing time to develop.  With that development likely comes more losses, which is actually much needed as well.  The Lake Show are trying to hang on to their top 3 protected lottery pick this year, and if they are successful, they would also keep their 1st round pick in 2019 as well, which is a result of the Dwight Howard trade.  In other words, by losing they are protecting not one but two future 1st round picks.  Drafting NBA players in the lottery is a crapshoot, but if you keep picking, eventually you find your franchise guy.  Just ask the 76ers and Bucks.

So the NBA players and coaches complained about the fans having too much say in the All-Star selection process.  This year, when they changed the voting process to give players a say, it turns out most voted for themselves, their friends, or didn’t even bother to vote.  Many didn’t even have Lebron James on their ballot! Perhaps the NBA has forgotten what the All-Star game is about: it’s a game for the fans, so they should get to see what they want.  If the fans want to see Steph Curry start over Russell Westbrook then they deserve it to see it.  For the most part, the fans do a pretty good job, and a much better job than the players themselves.  Without the fans, there is no NBA.  After this idiotic display by the players, the next player, coach, or member of the NBA that suggests anything is wrong with the fan voting should be slapped.  As for the Cavs, according to this reporter, they do some pretty interesting things in the huddle…..

The Dodgers finally made a big move to acquire a second  baseman you’ve probably never heard of.  It was Logan Forsythe of the Tampa Bay Rays, and it cost them one of their better pitching prospects, Jose De Leon.  I sure wish the Boys in Blue were able acquire Brian Dozier from the Twins instead, however, Forsythe is just as good, but without the power.  He also fills a lot of needs: an everyday second baseman, leadoff hitter, and someone who hits well against left handers.  That sounds great and all, but the Dodgers aren’t in any better position to win a World Series than they have been the last 6 years.  They are probably good enough to win the division, and then get abused by another midwest team in the playoffs.  The Dodgers wouldn’t have had a need to acquire Forsythe had Andrew Friedman not made that stupid Dee Gordon trade a few years ago, as Gordon is now a very affordable all-star second baseman.  The team would also probably perform a lot better if Friedman didn’t insist on changing his outfield lineups more frequently than Kim Kardashian changes husbands.

Remember when I didn’t mind that Steve Alford was coaching the Bruins basketball team? After losing to USC, I think every UCLA Basketball fan should mind.  The Bruins should never lose basketball games to the Trojans.  Even Trojan fans know that.  UCLA returned to the team we saw against Arizona, which couldn’t play defense, and had an offense that was totally of of rhythm.   It’s like Alford forgot he had to coach this team when they ran into trouble.  Speaking of Alford’s forgetting things, it feels like Bryce has suddenly forgotten how to play in the last two games.  Even Lonzo Ball shares some blame in this, serving up more turnovers than Betty Crocker last Wednesday.   These are still eighteen and nineteen year old kids, which is hard to remember, but their development and focus falls at the feet of the coaching staff.  The more adversity the Bruins seem to face this year, the more that coaching seems non-existent.

I wish they would permanently do away with the bye week prior to the Super Bowl.  Just give us the game already!  By the time we get to Super Sunday, NFL analysts will be forced to analyze issues like what color hoodie will Bill Belichik be wearing? Or whether or not Tom Brady wears Gisele’s underwear for good luck in big games? You’ll just have to hear about this stuff for the next seven days.  The game features the Patriots #1 defense in the NFL, vs the #1 offense of the Falcons.  These games never end well for the offensive juggernaut, so this game has Patriots blowout written all over it.

It’s one thing to have a sport with an All-Star Game that’s less than ideal.  However, the Pro-Bowl takes this concept to a new level by making the NFL just look like garbage.  The entire game has become a joke that nobody watches anymore, in which the players hardly try so they don’t get injured.  Many deserving players don’t even want to go or are playing in the Super Bowl.  This is one league showcase they should have ended five years ago.  Unfortunately, as successful as the league is, it isn’t necessarily run by the smartest people.  Roger Goodell even came out last week and claimed that Thursday Night Football is a good product.  It seems that even the NFL Commissioner is suffering from CTE.

Then there’s the NHL All-Star game which may have finally gotten an All-Star Game right.  They made it an exciting three-on-three tournament, with teams broken up by division.  There’s probably more goalies that are named “All-Stars” who probably shouldn’t be because of the divisional format, but the goalies don’t really matter.  It’s a huge showcase of skill, with enough competitiveness and entertainment for the fans.  That’s what they came to see.  Yesterday, it was nice to see the present LA Kings, Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty, play well in front of the home fans, but also a lot of former Kings make their presence felt as well.  From former King Wayne Simmonds getting the MVP, to former Kings Luc Robitaille, Marcel Dionne, and Wayne Gretzky being honored among the top 100 players of all time, the hometown heroes were well represented.  The most epic part of the weekend though was the NHL letting Snoop Dog open for the Skills Challenge on Saturday night.  It just so happens though, that the league forgot to tell him to censor his lyrics…..

On a much more serious note, I am happy to hear that LA Kings broadcaster Bob Miller is in good spirits and doing well.  Miller suffered a mild stroke on Saturday, and was admitted to USC Keck Hospital, where he is resting comfortably.  Miller is not only a Hall of Fame Broadcaster but a great guy as well, who is very loved in the hockey community.  Thoughts and prayers with him and his family, and here’s to a speedy recovery.

Ok folks, somebody on The Bachelor is going home tonight, and I have a feeling it’s not going to be Corrine, even though she’s making most of us “cor-ringe”, every time she speaks.  Mind you, on the last episode Corrine claimed that even Michael Jordan took naps.  However, none of his teammates during the Olympics remember him taking any naps and were pretty amazed by that.  Corrine, you are no Michael Jordan.  You are more like the seven dwarfs in one episode: sleepy, happy, grumpy, and slutty (if there was such a dwarf).  Taylor is likely to be the one to go tonight, mostly because if it’s not Nick who says so, it will probably be the producers.  Raven beating her cheating boyfriend with her home wrecker’s stiletto is one of the best “please love me because I’m damaged” stories I’ve heard in a long time.  Why are there so many Danielle’s on the show? The producers really blew it on that one, even though Danielle L. is my favorite.  Nick definitely knew what he was doing when he took all the girls to the farm to check out their skills milking cows.   The more I think about it though, I think Corrine is really just Tiffany Trump living a double life to troll all of us right now……

January 23, 2017

Last week Jeanie Buss met with Magic Johnson to talk about the state of the Laker franchise.  As you can see from the selfie they took from her seats, they made no secret about their meeting.  You can be sure that they were not reminiscing about Magic’s playing days, or about that old television show he used to host called “The Magic Hour” (which was easily the worst television show in the history of television).  Jeanie has to be strategizing a shakeup in the Laker front office, and specifically, replacing her brother Jim with somebody else as the head of basketball operations.  Jeanie was probably using Magic to generate ideas, and probably even gauging his interest in returning to the Lakers in some capacity.  I certainly can’t see Magic in a player evaluation role for the team, but I could see him in a higher level business operating role.  At most, overseeing the basketball operations department, but delegating to others.  He already looks bored of his ownership role with the Dodgers.  Nevertheless, this wouldn’t be too radical of a shift in leadership, but one that would appease the public more than anything else, as well as appease Jeanie and Magic, who both love the Lakers as much as life itself.   On the court things have been rough of late.  The Lakers lost D’Angelo Russell for a couple of weeks to another knee injury, and took a senseless beating from the Mavericks yesterday by 49 points, which was their worst loss in franchise history.  Time to cheer for more losses folks to keep that 1st round draft pick!

Speaking of losing, the Clippers lost Chris Paul to an injury again.  This time, another 6-8 weeks for a thumb injury.  I could swear I’ve seen this movie before, as well as the sequel, and it’s going to end the same way in the trilogy.  Blake Griffin will come back next week.  Then Paul will be back by the end of the season, and the Clipps will struggle to regain their chemistry.  They’ll fool some of you into thinking they can contend, and then they’ll either choke in the first round, or get blown off the floor in the second round against the Warriors.  Somehow, Doc Rivers and Steve Ballmer will then convince themselves to bring back the exact same team next season, even if it costs them another $400 million to keep Blake and Paul.  You’ve gotta give Doc Rivers credit for being able to bamboozle the former CEO of Microsoft, and convince him to keep the team together for this long.  This might also explain why Ballmer is no longer the CEO of Microsoft.

What a horrible pair of conference championship games we saw yesterday.  I refuse to accept the fact we had to watch two blowouts.  I’m so upset, starting today I’m going to be protesting, picketing, rioting, and forming support groups.  #NotmySuperBowl.   In Atlanta, the Packers played so badly, Aaron Rogers’ family probably won’t plan on making up with him anytime soon.  Stay positive though Packer fans.  You still have obesity, cheese, and 11 months of Winter to help you through this difficult time.  The Falcons are a way better team than everybody gave them credit for, and Matt Ryan has been arguably the best quarterback in the NFL this season.  The highlight of the game was the Falcons’ Robert Alford doing his best Lebron James impression…..

Over in the AFC Championship Game, Roger Goodell is going to need to fly to New England to investigate the Steelers claim that they were raped by the Patriots.  The Pats executed at a much higher level than the Steelers, and totally blew them out of the building.  Le’Veon Bell’s groin injury didn’t help Pittsburgh’s cause, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.  Unless Bell could figure out a way to shutdown the Patriots’ receivers, New England still would have handled business.  Bell probably told team doctors that all he needed to recover was a box of Pringles and two joints.  If Brady finds a way to win his 5th Super Bowl in two weeks, he’s definitely going to have a strong case as the greatest quarterback of all-time, which probably won’t sit well with many of you.  I’m going with the Pats.

It’s been just over a week, and the Chargers move to LA is already a total disaster.  In fact, the NFL owners are actually furious with Dean Spanos, and were privately hoping that he would re-consider moving the team back to San Diego.  If the NFL wants the Chargers back in San Diego so badly, why don’t they just write a check for it? I’m sure San Diegans would take them back, the same way you talk smack about your hot ex-girlfriend, until you are just giddy when she asks to get back together with you.  Spanos isn’t going to move them back to San Diego though.  He’s done the accounting, and he knows the money is in LA is great, regardless of how much people are going to hate him.  He’s going to crash the party despite the fact nobody cares about him.  As you can see, last week’s rally went really well…..

I could swear I entered a time machine on Saturday, and was watching a Steve Lavin coached UCLA basketball team.  It wasn’t Lavin, but his horrible reincarnation, Steve Alford, as Arizona upset the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion.  It wasn’t the fact the Bruins lost.  It was how they lost.  Alford’s team couldn’t defend the Wildcats, he couldn’t make adjustments, and they were outmuscled in the paint.  The Bruins have a phenomenal offense, but if they can’t defend teams like Arizona in March, they are going to be sent home very quickly.  Alford knows his team needs defense, but can he actually teach it? Based on what we’ve seen from him in the past, there’s no reason to believe he can.  As amazing as Lonzo Ball is, he can’t do it all himself.  To make matters worse, UCLA is now in danger of finishing 3rd in the Pac 12, unless they get some serious help from other teams, and less likely to be a #1 seed in the West for the NCAA Tournament.  There’s certainly time to get their act together, but simply being an offensive juggernaut isn’t going to be enough.  At some point, coaching has to come into play.

As for the Trojans, they held off Arizona State yesterday, and ended up going 1-1 against the Arizona schools.  After a great start, USC is just 4-4 in conference play, good enough for only 6th place.  The Trojan defense is just as bad as the Bruins’, but they aren’t nearly as explosive offensively to make up for it.  They’ll have a cross-town showdown with the Bruins at the Galen Center on Wednesday night.

I don’t understand the rationale of baseball hall of fame voting.  If you get 75% of the writers votes you are in the hall of fame, but why do writers decide to vote for someone one year, but not in another year?  You are either a hall of famer or you aren’t.  It shouldn’t matter who else is on the ballot.  I also think the fact that Ivan Rodriguez made the hall of fame tells me that eventually Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and other documented steroid users will get in.  The younger generation of writers is more progressive and thinks that these players were already hall of famers with or without the juice.  Besides, if you don’t vote for Bonds, he’ll probably take a baseball bat and smash your car out of roid rage.

Ok guys, admit it, your wives and girlfriends have made you start watching The Bachelor on ABC.  Even ESPN’s Mathew Barry has started a fantasy league revolving around the show.  It’s really like repeatedly watching a live train wreck on television.  As gorgeous as many of these women are, most of them are crazy, or just trying to monetize their fame of being on the show (maybe even both).  That’s fine, but no need to make yourself look like an idiot in the process, even if it’s for our entertainment.  This season, the Bachelor is Nick Viall, who was among the finalists in several previous seasons of The Bachelorette.  However, the true entertainment factor on the show is Corinne Olympios, a 24 year old business owner from Miami.  Corinne was totally “that girl” in college, who was sloppier than Lindsay Lohan at happy hour, and getting nailed by the entire football team.  That was pretty evident when she took off her top, as well as made use of the “whip cream bikini” in the first three episodes of the season.  Still, regardless of what Nick thinks of her, there’s no way the producers are going to let him cut her from the show for a while.  I have to say, the fact that this woman runs a company (even if inherited from her father), should give every aspiring entrepreneur hope that they can one succeed.

January 16th, 2017

Sometimes business and money outweigh everything else.  Just ask Donald Sterling.  Now you can ask Dean Spanos, who ripped the Chargers from San Diego last week, and moved them to Los Angeles.  Congratulations Dean, you are now the most irrelevant team in the Los Angeles sports landscape.  You are the unwanted house guest that is crashing on the couch, drinking the hosts beer, and slamming food in the fridge that isn’t yours.  Then there’s the disaster that was the team logo.  In a matter of hours, the Bolts had a new logo, that looked like it cost about 50 cents to make.  It looked like the Dodgers logo had sex with an electrical cord.  Then, just a few hours later after being destroyed on social media for the logo, Dean Spanos did damage control on local radio stations by saying this was just a temporary logo for marketing purposes.  Good one Dean.  The logo itself alienated the remaining San Diego fans, and was simultaneously rejected by LA fans.  If you think the logo is bad, wait until you see how bad the team is on the field.  The Chargers added insult to their own injury by hiring a running back coach in Anthony Lynn, just a few hours later.  LA barely has interest in supporting one lousy NFL team.  We definitely don’t need two.  This was a poor desperation move by the Spanos family, who could have easily spent money on a stadium in San Diego instead of a relocation fee, while combining that with the NFL’s contribution.  The irony of it all is that the most popular team in Los Angeles is the Raiders, and we all know they are headed to Vegas.

Speaking of coaching, the Rams have named Sean McVay their new head coach.  McVay is the youngest head coach in the NFL history at 30 years old.  This guy is so young to be a head coach, nobody is actually sure if he’s going to need a permission slip from his mother to go on road trips.  In all seriousness though, its a bold and out-of-the-box hire that is worth a try.  McVay did wonders developing Kirk Cousins the last few years as an offensive coordinator with the Redskins.  At 30 years old, he can probably do a much better job relating to guys like Jared Goff and Todd Gurley, than a guy in his 40’s or 50’s can.  Despite all the big names you heard, we knew the Rams weren’t going to get one.  However, this was a good alternative plan that could payoff in the long run.  I’m still surprised though that nobody wanted to wait for Kyle Shanahan, who has done a great job as Atlanta’s offensive coordinator this year.

I think it’s safe to say The Legion of Boom was blown up the the Falcons over the weekend.  Devonta Freeman was breaking ankles and Matt Ryan was racking up some big numbers.  The Falcons defense doesn’t look that good, but it hasn’t mattered yet, and might not next week either.  The Seahawks just aren’t the same without Marshawn Lynch.  Thomas Rawls clearly did not eat his Skittles the way Lynch did, and his performance has suffered.  Russell Wilson also suffered on Saturday.  If I didn’t know better, I would say it was Grayson Allen who was playing offensive line for the Seahawks, who ended up tripping him…..

In New England, Brock Osweiler was in a very giving mood, throwing three interceptions, as the Patriots routed the Texans.   Osweiler has become the greatest $72 million thief in history.  The Pats didn’t play that well, but handled the Texans easily.  They didn’t even need deflated footballs to take care of business either.

Then there were the good games.  Aaron Rogers proved he’s definitely the best quarterback in football after he single handedly led the Packers past the Cowboys in Dallas.  It feels like if I gave Rogers a couple of homeless wide receivers off the street to play on his team, he’d still be able to throw for 300 yards.  Now that Hillary Clinton and the Cowboys both lost their big games this year while being the favorite, blue must be the official color of choking.  The Cowboys have a very good young team, but their defense has more holes than a Packers cheese hat.  The over/under on the Packers-Falcons NFC title game must be 1,000 points.

The Steelers got by the Chiefs 18-6.  It got even worse for Chiefs Coach Andy Reid after the game, when he found out all the local BBQ joints in K.C. were closed.  Steelers Running Back Le’Veon Bell ran wild again, and is living proof that smoking weed makes you a more patient runner.  Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce just didn’t have it yesterday against the Steelers D.  I fee like Kelce is trying to be Rob Gronkowski the same way that Bon Jovi is trying to be Bruce Springsteen.  Kelce was very displeased with the officiating as well.  Sorry Travis, but you probably could overcome the officiating if you didn’t have a critical drop and a penalty in that game.  Somebody get that man a tissue.

Looking back at the National Championship Game from last week, that was a great finish to the college football season with Clemson getting by Alabama in the final seconds.  That game was very boring early on, and lasted longer than a Kim Kardashian marriage.  However, the Tigers were simply the beneficiary of getting the last opportunity to score, and they took advantage of it.  They also benefitted from Alabama Running Back Bo Scarborough breaking his leg.  It was great for college football that Clemson knocked off the team that was viewed as a dynasty in Alabama.  Knowing Lane Kiffin though, he probably was happy as hell his former employer lost, since Sark replaced him as offensive coordinator for that game.  Sark called a pretty good game, however, the Crimson Tide defense couldn’t keep the ball long enough to keep their defense off the field and rested.  I’m sure Sark also filled the Gatorade bottles with some vodka to take the edge off.  The loss wasn’t a big deal for him since he planned on getting drunk anyway when it was over.

To the NBA, where the Lakers fell to the Pistons last night at Staples, but the more intriguing stories are off the court as we’ve reached the halfway point of the season.  The Lake Show were reportedly interested in acquiring Atlanta Hawks Power Forward Paul Milsap or the 76ers Center Nerlens Noel. Milsap is an all-star player, but acquiring him makes little sense for a team as far away from contending for a title as the Lakers.  He’s off the trade block for now, but hopefully the Lakers don’t pull the trigger on that trade.  As good as Milsap is, he’s really an elite complimentary player on a team.  He’s a B+ player that doesn’t get this team to the playoffs, he’d cost at least a couple of the teams best young players in a trade, and he’s going to be due for a very expensive $140 million contract extension when the season ends.  As for Noel, his shot blocking ability would be a great fit in the front court for this young Laker team.  If the Lakers could find a way to make that trade without trading Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, or Jordan Clarkson, they should do it.  Perhaps a Lou Williams for Nerlens Noel trade might make sense considering the 76ers need backcourt help.  Forget the playoff pipe dream that most of you had early on in the season.  The Lakers are on pace to win almost 30 games, and before the season started, most of us thought that would be major progress.

As for the Clippers, they’ve won six straight and stabilized things after going through a rough stretch.  Blake Griffin is also due back soon, and they’ll need him to see where they stack up.  Beginning at the end of this month, they’ll face the Warriors three times, the Spurs, Raptors, and Celtics, in a four week stretch.  Keep in mind, Blake Griffin needs to play well for his own free agency.  Under the new NBA CBA, if Blake gets first, second, or third team All-NBA, he is eligible for a 5 year contract for over $200 million this summer.  The next closest another team could offer is 4 years and $124 million.  However, if Blake doesn’t get All-NBA honors, the Clippers could only offer 5 years and about $150 million, which would make it slightly easier to leave LA if he desired.  The other situation to keep an eye on is the rocky relationship between Phil Jackson and Carmelo Anthony in New York.  If Melo does become willing to waive his no-trade clause, the Clippers and Cavs are the only teams he would be willing to go to.  However, would the Clippers really make that trade if the Knicks asked for Blake Griffin? I have my doubts, even if Chris Paul is buddies with ‘Melo.

That was a great win by the UCLA basketball team on Saturday at Utah.  The Bruins rallied from a nine-point deficit in the second half despite their defense looking as soft as rigatoni.  The Bruins were out rebounded and allowed the Utes to shoot 54% from the field, but they made big shots down the stretch.  Coach Steve Alford actually did something right other than style his hair nicely during this game.  He even sat out his son Bryce on some key defensive possessions late in the game, allowing the Bruins to matchup better in certain situations.  The win was definitely character building for a team that hasn’t had many tests thus far this year.  They’ll get tested next week though as they take on Arizona and Arizona State.

As for the Trojans, they aren’t nearly as good as you thought a few weeks ago.  USC will probably fall out of the Top 25 after losing to Utah.  They also barely got by Colorado.  The Trojans are a combined 2-6 in higher elevation trips to Utah and Colorado since those teams joined the Pac 12 in 2011-2012.  At least they are enjoying the legalization of marijuana on these trips since they can’t seem to beat those schools, which they should.

Finally, we’re just beyond the halfway point of the NHL season, and I think it’s safe to say we can draw some conclusions about the Kings and Ducks.  The Kings score less than Steve Urkel did on Family Matters, and need some major help.  The good news for LA is that despite their scoring woes and the loss of starting goalie Jonathan Quick, they are currently hanging onto the last playoff spot in the West.  With the emergence of young defenseman like Derek Forbort and Kevin Gravel, the Kings can afford to trade a quality defenseman like Jake Muzzin for some offensive help by the trade deadline.  Then there’s the Ducks, who have grinded their way into 1st place in the Pacific Division at this point.  Anaheim has also done it with defense, despite not having veteran goal scorers pull their own weight offensively.  Unless Anaheim can find a taker for Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry, I doubt we’ll see much movement from them at the deadline.  The real question though is if these guys can actually do something in the playoffs, which remains to be seen.