September 22, 2025

What a terrible loss for the Rams yesterday. For the 2nd straight time against the Eagles, the Rams had them on the ropes but couldn’t finish the job. This time, in much more disappointing fashion. LA had built a a 26-7 lead in the 3rd quarter, before surrendering 26 unanswered points. Even more devastating were two last field goals that were blocked by the Eagles, including the potential game-winner in the final seconds that was run back for a touchdown. AJ Brown and Jalen Hurts put their family feud aside, and exploded at the end of the game, with Brow going full beast mode on several catches. The Rams simply can’t let that happen. You can’t let a lead that big evaporate, and you can’t allow two blocked field goals. Sean McVay may have gotten a bit conservative in the 2nd half on a few drives, but if Davantae Adams catches that ball in the endzone, or one of those two kicks don’t blocked, the Rams win that game. There’s a lot of football left to be played this season, but sure would have been nice to get a statement win for LA.

As for the Chargers, they rallied to beat the Broncos in the final seconds to remain undefeated. That’s a huge division win for the Chargers, who have now taken down all of their division rivals in the first three weeks of the season. Many times we have seen the Chargers go full Chargers and lose the game at the end of of games like that. This time the Chargers reminded you that they are now coached by Jim Harbaugh, who has been successful at every job he’s ever had. The Bolts are 3-0 for the first time in 23 years, when Drew Brees was their quarterback. Justin Herbert made some huge throws, and his mobility looks much better than in previous years. He might actually be the MVP through the first 3 weeks of the season. That’s terrible news about Najee Harris, but now Omarion Hampton will really need to step up after an up and down first couple of weeks. Now the Bolts have a chance to really pile up some wins. I could easily see them being favored to win 7 of their next 9 games. Their next game against the Giants is on the road, but the G-Men have been pretty unimpressive so far this year.

To College Football where USC came away with a win against Michigan State on Saturday at the Coliseum. For most of the game, the Trojans were absolutely dominating. Then they started taking penalties. In fact, by the end of the game, it started to feel like a typical Lincoln Riley squad. They piled up 517 yards of total offense. Yet their defense allowed a mediocre Michigan State team to get right back in the game. These are the types of collapses that we saw the last two years, which completely derailed the Trojans season. In fact, through 10 games, USC ranks last in The Big Ten in allowing plays that are 10 yards are more. That doesn’t bode too well for a team that is about to face ranked opponents like Illinois, Michigan, then Notre Dame. This team has a lot of work to do if they plan on making the playoffs.

I don’t believe for a second that UCLA is going to bring in a big name coach to their program. Vegas has the likes of Deion Sanders and Jon Gruden on their boards to potentially become the next coach, but they are just taking people’s money at this point. None of those guys would be interested in the limited resources this program has to offer, nor would UCLA even have the money to bring them in. I did find it interesting though that the UCLA Athletic Department responded to all the concerns of their alums with a letter to the public. In that letter, it was fascinating they mentioned the fact that it would be the Chancellor, not AD Martin Jarmond, who would be very involved in the search. Good thing because if it were Jarmond, UCLA’s next coach might be Uncle Rico.

To baseball, where Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season. This is actually a brilliant strategy by Clayton, who is giving his teammates some motivation to actually win another World Series before he hangs them up. It’s obvious that the way this team has played for much of the season, these bums need all they motivation they can get! As for Kershaw, I have truly enjoyed watching his 18 year career, and we should feel privileged to have witnessed his greatness. He is arguably the greatest Dodger of all-time, the greatest left hander of all time, and certainly one of the greatest pitchers we have ever seen. He’s easily the best pitcher of his generation and a first ballot hall of famer. I would love to see him go out with a World Series title, but more than anything, I’m really happy that he will get to go out on his own terms and with something left in the tank. We forget that you don’t have to play until the wheels fall off, and as a fan, I’d rather you didn’t so I don’t have to see the big decline from your greatness. Kershaw is still a very good pitcher, will have a role in the postseason for the Dodgers, and he probably doesn’t get enough credit for still being that good.

Congratulations to Mike Trout for hitting his 400th career home run over the weekend in Colorado. I’m sure Arte Moreno is disappointed this didn’t happen at home, but don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll find a way to monetize it with some kind of bobblehead at Anaheim Stadium before the season is over. Also fun to see the fan who caught the ball not ask for money or season tickets, but rather just to play catch with Trout. I can get on board with that!

In the NBA, this Clippers saga continues with Pablo Torres investigation of the Kawhi Leonard contract. The speed at which Torres is uncovering information is unbelievable, and more incriminating by the minute for the franchise. If he keeps working this fast, the NBA and Steve Ballmer may just have to get in front of it and take a pre-emptive punishment. Remember, the Intuit Dome has the all-star game this year, so it would be a really bad look for this punishment to come down around that time. Interestingly enough, there are members of the Clippers organization that are slowly trying to distance themselves from Kawhi, by leaking info that they want to move on from him. This cannot happen though in the next two years unless the league terminates his contract for cap circumvention. Maybe this is what some of them are hoping for, although there would probably be loss of draft picks too which would be damaging. There’s also Mark Cuban’s role in this, who seemed to be a defender of Ballmer at first. However, now it’s apparent that he is covertly pointing Torres in the direction of more evidence. For instance, he said if Ballmer were smart, he wouldn’t let Aspiration go bankrupt by providing more funding for them. Well he tried, but they still went bankrupt! Then he said if he wanted to circumvent the cap, he would just buy carbon credits. Well that’s exactly what he did! Safe to say that what Pablo Torres is doing is the equivalent of “Digital Waterboarding”, until the league and Ballmer cave in to a punishment.

For now, it appears as though Andrew Wiggins isn’t going to be traded to the Lakers. There are some sources saying that the Heat want to see how the season plays out initially before making a trade. There’s also other sources that say Pat Riley isn’t willing to make a trade with the Lakers because he still hates Lebron after he left Miami. That Pat Riley pettiness sounds stupid when he can help his team, but it’s also extremely believable given that we are talking about Riley, and that this level of pettiness exists all over the NBA.

Clayton Kershaw was not the only LA star to announce their retirement last week. LA Kings star Anze Kopitar announced that this will be his last season as well. Kopitar will have played 19 seasons in the NHL when he calls it quits. He’s a two-time Stanley Cup Champion, two-time Selke Trophy Winner, and the franchise leader in games, assists, and game-winning goals. He’s also likely to finish his career as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. Kopitar’s retirement, like Kershaw’s, is bittersweet. He is also retiring with a lot of very good hockey left in him, but it’s nice to see him go out on his own terms. It sure would be nice to see him raise the Stanley Cup one more time, but that’s probably unlikely given that the Kings front office and coaching staff is run by a bunch of guys who are like dudes joining a fantasy football league for the first time. Happy trails Anze!

September 15, 2025

The Rams took care of business yesterday against the Titans! The Rams are now 2-0 with a pair of very good wins and encouraging signs. Matt Stafford was outrageous good and made some very difficult throws that were just effortless. Generally, the Rams have played down to competition in recent years, but yesterday, that was not the case. They did have a few stalls in the red zone, but eventually they did break through later in the game. The first week it was all about the defense. This week it was all about a balanced offense with Davanta Adams and Puka Nacua putting up big numbers, while Kyren Williams put up a solid effort on the ground with 66 rushing yards. The bad news is that Ahkello Witherspoon, one of their top corners, is out for a while after breaking his clavicle. Now it’s on to Philadelphia, where the Rams will be looking for revenge after losing in the playoffs to the Eagles last season!

As for the Chargers, they will take on the Raiders tonight on Monday Night Football. We sometimes forget that as good as both the Rams and Chargers are, we did not have an NFL team in SoCal for 20 years. That means there are still a lot of Raider fans in LA that will be buying up the tickets. In fact, Vivid Seats estimates that 86% of the ticket sales are to Raider fans. If that’s the case, that’s going to be pretty embarrassing for the Bolts in their home stadium,

In Colllege Football, USC continued to pad its win total over the weekend with a win on the road at Purdue. This was actually a game that told us a little bit more about how good the Trojans could be. They had not won in 14 tries in the Eastern and Central time zone, which is obviously a big problem entering Big Ten play last year. This was exactly the kind of game they lost last season on the road, which was the difference between them being a playoff team or not. Who knew that Lincoln Riley had teams that could play defense? Bishop Fitzgerald had a pair of interceptions, and Jaiden Maiava played a solid game without turning it over while rushing for a touchdown. USC has now entered the Top 25 in the AP Poll, which is the first time they’ve been ranked since the first week of last October. USC should be able to beat Michigan State at home next week, when they are two touchdown favorites, but after that, they’ll face 3 straight ranked opponents, so we’ll see what they are really made of then.

Things are going pretty badly for UCLA Football. After falling to 0-3, they fired head coach DeShaun Foster yesterday. Foster probably wasn’t ready for a head coaching job, but he was also put in an impossible situation. When Chip Kelly left, his top recruits left, and the Bruins didn’t have many credible options at the time for who they could bring in to take over the program. Not to mention they are broke and have a terrible financial situation. One season and 3 games isn’t long for a college coach to prove much, but UCLA clearly saw things with Foster that were going to be short term embarrassing for the program. The problem is, no matter who is coaching this team for the remainder of the season, they might not win a game anyway. In fact, considering the transfer portal is open for their players because Foster is gone, it’s likely that most of their talent will leave. It’s probably not that big of a deal if Nico Iamaleava does though. He looks like a just swindled $2 million out of some poor sponsor. This is going to be a complete tear down job for whoever takes it. They will need to re-establish the entire credibility of the program, where fan interest has deteriorated tremendously in a conference that will be very challenging to take on. This is a shame because UCLA Football used to have some pretty exciting teams on the field. In reality though, this is still a basketball school.

Elsewhere around College Football, Notre Dame would probably agree to join the Big Ten or SEC this year if the College Football Playoff suddenly had 16 teams in the tournament. Irish fans are ready to jump off the top of the Basilica after they are now 0-2, with two devastatingly close losses. Georgia Tech stunned #12 Clemson on a field goal that was pretty much from the parking lot. #11 South Carolina got shocked and rocked by Vanderbilt. Texas won again, but Archie Manning is so bad, he’s going to set back nepotism for years!

ESPN Reporter Pablo Torres is really throwing haymakers on the Clippers right now! Last week I wasn’t really sure where this was going, and if the Clippers were really guilty of cap circumvention on the Kawhi Leonard deal. Now I think it’s highly likely they did circumvent the cap. Mark Cuban just told us about 10 days ago that if Ballmer were guilty, he would be an idiot for letting Aspiration fail, and all the financial records getting public, which would incriminate his franchise. Well we found out shortly after that it was the Clippers co-owner that invested money two weeks before Kawhi Leonard received a payment from the failing company, and we’ve also heard former employees claim the endorsement deal didn’t align with the company strategy. When you combine that with all the rumors about Uncle Dennis over the years, there is way too much smoke coming out of this story for the Clippers to come out of this clean. I’m fascinated to see if the league comes down with a major punishment here or not. Stay tuned!

To baseball where even though the Dodgers have now won 7 of 8, this Dodger team is just having way too many issues and inconsistencies to make a run in the playoffs. They can kiss their chances goodbye on the #2 seed. I think they will still win the division, but a 3-game series with their offensive inconsistencies, and bullpen deficiencies seems like a recipe for instant doom. There is truly no reason that Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, or Michael Conforto should be on the playoff roster. However, I can guarantee you they will be. For some reason Andrew Friedman and Dave Roberts are committed to making a redemption story work with these 3. However, it’s September, and we’ve seen enough to know these 3 guys just don’t have it this year. None of them are Mookie Betts types of talent where eventually they are likely to figure it out. They are good players, who will probably turn it around at some point, but that point is not this season. The fact Roberts and Friedman continue to force the issue here will ultimately be the Dodgers downfall this season, which is strange for a couple of guys who made such brilliant decisions last year.

As sure as the sun rises in the east, the Angels are now 12 games out of the wild card and 12 games out of the division. These dudes were actually buyers at the trade deadline six weeks ago. What a bunch of buffoons. The only exciting news? Mike Trout’s chase for 400 homers in his career. That’s it. If the Angels ever become good again, there is probably not a single player on this roster that should be around for it.

There are suddenly rumors that the Lakers are more motivated than they were previously to make a trade with the Heat for Andrew Wiggins. I’m in favor of this move, but ultimately, it comes down to working out draft compensation. In my mind, the Lakers are unlikely to acquire a player as good as Lebron James in the next two years. They have Luka, Lebron, and Austin Reaves on their team now, so why not be aggressive and make moves to win now? The Lakers have the expiring contracts and assets to make the deal happen with Maxi Kleber, Gab Vincent, Rui Hachimura, and Dalton Knecht. Hachimura is a good player, but Wiggins is probably a better fit given his ability to defend wings. The only thing the Lakers have to ask themselves is if they truly believe that a star like Giannis will be available to trade for in the next two years, if they want to preserve their draft capital. I don’t think that’s happening, otherwise it would have happened already. For that reason, they should figure out how to make the Wiggins deal with, even if it costs them a 1st rounder.

There is some news on the ice ahead of NHL Training Camps. Oilers Superstar Connor McDavid was fairly non-commital when asked about his contract extension talks with the team, as he approaches free agency next summer. That sent shock waves through the league, because if the Oilers had to trade him, or he hit free agency, every single team in the league should position themselves to get him. That includes the Kings, who McDavid would probably at least consider, but either way, him moving out of the West would help the Kings not get knocked out by the Oilers every year. The Kings also learned that Corey Perry injured himself skating last week, and he’ll be out 6-8 weeks. Perry is a long time Kings nemesis who signed with the team in July. Not sure what is worse. Corey Perry playing for the LA Kings, or fans being annoyed that Corey Perry won’t be playing for the LA Kings.

September 8, 2025

It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough to feel good for the time being. The Rams took down the Texans in their opener at Sofi Stadium yesterday, 14-9. It’s safe to say that the Rams defense was just as good as it was last year, and reminded us of that with Nate Landman’s beautiful forced fumble late in the 4th. Although the offense wasn’t exactly explosive, Matt Stafford looked really good, and was able to make some clutch throws. He also endured three sacks which tells me he is healthier than we thought, but the offensive line may also need some work too. Still, I think the offense will get much better than we saw. They were rusty for not really playing much together in the preseason, and remember, they actually played a great team. The Rams need to take care of business on the road against the Titans, because they week after that they’ll have to go to Philly for a re-match against the Eagles.

As for the Chargers, I absolutely hate the idea of a season opening game, and a divisional game abroad for any NFL Team. It’s wrong. However, the Bolts should feel great about their big win over Kansas City. Justin Herbert reminded us that he is an excellent quarterback. The defense also stepped up against Patrick Mahomes, who had beaten the Chargers 7 straight times before Friday. Considering how critical everyone was of the Chargers offensive line, they also held up very well. Omarion Hampton looked good in his debut, but needs his head examined after running out of bounds on a 3rd down with 54 seconds left. Now the Bolts should feel really good about their chances of going 2-0 with a Monday night game against the Raiders coming up on the road.

Is USC Football really good, or are they just beating up on crummy teams? It’s too early to tell, and the fact one of their wins came against Clay Helton doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the idea that they are elite. They piled up some very gaudy numbers against Georgia Southern, including 755 yards of total offense. That’s like playing Madden on easy mode and cruising to an easy victory. Should you be more worried about the passes Jaiden Maiava couldn’t complete? Should you be worried about Waymond Jordan fumbling on the opening drive? Should you be worried about multiple illegal use of hands penalties? These wins won’t do much for USC in the way or their rankings, buts one can say that wins are wins at this point in the season, and a few warm up games are needed for this group. I’m of the opinion that the truth is usually somewhere in between. USC has a talented team, and is probably top 25. Are they good enough to make the playoff? I still have my doubts. I guess we’ll get some answers when they play Michigan State.

I think it’s safe to say that UCLA Football is in serious trouble right now. They lost to UNLV over the weekend, in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score. Despite rallying toward the end of the game which fell short, UCLA was favored and never should have been trailing. Their defense was out of the position frequently, and their offense is very unproductive. Nico Iamaleava is clearly a very overpaid quarterback, that bamboozled the Bruins when he came here. Deshaun Foster says the Bruins are “close”. Close to what exactly? Close to rock bottom? It’s like the captain of the Titanic giving his crew a pep talk before the ship goes under. I see maybe 2 wins on the schedule right now if they are lucky, and not sure that will get DeShaun Foster to keep his job. Does Martin Jarmond even care anymore? It sure seems like the fans don’t, because they don’t show up to the Rose Bowl either.

The NBA is suddenly investigating the Clippers for circumventing the salary cap to pay Kawhi Leonard. This is all thanks to ESPN’s Pablo Torres, and his investigative reporting. This is actually hilarious for a lot of reasons. Nobody actually believes a big star in their prime would be weird enough to sign with the Clippers, unless they were breaking the rules. Also hilarious is the fact that Kawhi was allegedly paid for a “no-show” job, and coincidentally he has “no-showed” for most of his contract with the Clippers! In all seriousness though, after seeing Ballmer’s interview on ESPN, I don’t know what to believe. I’m not saying he’s guilty, but I certainly didn’t come away from it thinking he was for sure innocent. Especially when I hear that Mickey Mouse voice of his going up a couple of octaves. Ballmer is one of the richest men in the world, and he got conned by a couple of tree planting dudes? Seems weird. Also seems weird that he claims he was conned and didn’t due his due diligence on these guys, but at the same time was considering putting their naming rights on his building, before deciding on the Intuit Dome. So he knew nothing about the company, but also knew enough to consider investing $50 million, and also consider putting their naming rights on a building? With all this, plus all the noise about all the illegal things Uncle Dennis has been asking for over the years, at minimum, this entire Kawhi situation is suspicious. Now that the league has hired a law firm to investigate, if they end up punishing the Clippers, a fair punishment would be to have them re-sign Paul George, and make Kawhi play all 82 games.

To baseball, where the Dodgers have really mastered losing stupid games. They are playing miserable against below .500 teams, most recently displayed against the Orioles and Pirates. There is no team in baseball that has ever lost a game after no-hitting a team for 8 2/3rd innings, yet they found a way to lose on Saturday. They can also kiss goodbye to a 1st round bye in the playoffs, considering they are now 5 games back of the Phillies for the #2 seed heading into Sunday. The only good news for the Boys in Blue is that the Padres absolutely stink as well, which is keeping them clinging to their lead in the division series. I’ve been saying it for months, but now that it’s September, the terrible decision making is only magnified. There is no reason in the world that Tanner Scott and Michael Conforto should be getting the playing time they are. Both are complete overpaid liabilities, and this team has better options right now, and especially in the playoffs. I don’t care if they are each making around $18 million. They stink right now, and are costing the team games. That would solve part of their problems, and when they get Max Muncy and Tommy Edman back, maybe they can stop screwing around with the position players, and play them in the right places on defense. They also need to do a better job of putting together quality at bats, and manufacturing runs, rather than sitting back and waiting for the 3-run homer. It doesn’t matter how good the starting pitching is if the Dodgers don’t fix these other areas. At least the Dodgers wouldn’t have to play any below .500 teams in the playoffs! However, I have seen nothing that makes me think this will change, so I have a hard time believing the Dodgers will get very far in October, let alone if they make it there.

I’ve been trying to figure out what Angels GM Perry Minasian meant earlier this summer when he said he just wants his team to play “meaningful games” in September. The Angels lost 3 straight headed into Sunday, were 8.5 games out of the Wild Card, and 11 games out of the division. They got smashed by the A’s 17-4 on Saturday night. I guess by “meaningful” he means meaningfully embarrassing! There is simply no end in sight to this complete disaster of a franchise the Angels are, but Arte Moreno doesn’t care as long as people fill the seats on all his bobblehead and Star Wars nights at the Big A!

September 1, 2025

The Dodgers are still clinging to a 2 game lead in the NL West over the Padres, but they’ve got problems. They are all or nothing on offense, either hitting homers like they are the ‘27 Yankees, or getting shut down like they are Little Leaguers. Then there’s the bullpen, which has Tanner Scott problems. The man couldn’t close a hot dog stand right now, let alone a baseball game. It’s September 1st, so at this point, those of you that have hopes of getting rid of Michael Conforto can dream on. With a 40-man roster you can only hope that he’s left off the playoff roster. The talent is there, the starting pitching is looking great, but the rest of the play is so inconsistent, I can’t say I feel great about this team’s chances come October.

I’ve done the math, and if the Angels can go 22-4 the rest of the way, they can probably make the last AL Wild Card spot. You have a better chance of winning the $1.1 billion Powerball drawing than that happening. Prayers up to Taylor Ward, who went crashing into the wall yesterday, after trying to chase down a fly ball. Give the man credit because he’s playing hard, while his teammate Anthony Rendon has been at home on the couch all season long drinking whiskey, and playing PlayStation, while collecting his $38 million paycheck. I told you right after the trade deadline that the Angels were going to be fools for being buyers, because they are going to end up finishing out of the playoffs by double digit games. Sure enough, with less than a month left they are 9 games out of the Wild Card and 11 games out of the Division. It’s like everybody saw this coming except Arte Moreno.

To College Football, where USC got off to a nice easy win against Missouri State on Saturday at the Coliseum. Jayden Maiava and Husain Longstreet looked like a dangerous duo on offense, and that is the most points USC has put up in a game since 2005. Of course it’s easy to look great against a team like that, and next week will be easy street as well against Georgia Southern. Then it gets real against Purdue, Michigan, followed by three straight top 15 opponents. The Trojans and their fans are really going to need some of these early easy wins to get the confidence of everyone up.

Then there’s UCLA, which looked like a complete disaster against Utah. I don’t want to overreact to one game, but there really is a lot to be concerned about. They attracted only 35,000 fans on a holiday weekend, against a very good opponent. That opponent took them apart from start to finish. Deshaun Foster got completely out coached, and Nico Iamaleava looks like an overpaid and overrated quarterback. The concerns is that Foster started 1-5 last year before turning things around, but this time his schedule is much tougher. The Bruins will be at UNLV next weekend, where they will actually be favored by a point or so. If they can’t win that game, they should be quite worried.

Elsewhere around College Football, Arch Manning should probably be compared to Uncle Rico instead of Uncle Peyton after Texas lost to Ohio State in the opening game. Notre Dame lost a close one to Miami as well. Their offensive line offered about as much protection as a busted condom all game, and let them down when it mattered most on the last drive. Clemson got upset by LSU, Alabama lost to Florida State, and ‘Bama fans are going to think this is the worst thing to happen to them since they made it illegal to marry your cousin in the state.

In the NFL, the Rams are getting ready to take on the Texans next week in their season opener. The good news is that Matt Stafford is expected to start in the game, after all the concerns about his back. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty of concern once he starts taking hits, but it’s a good sign that he’s going to be on the field and ready to go. Alaric Jackson is also on track to play too, despite the blood clots he’s been dealing with. The Rams have gotten off to slow starts the last few years, then rallied to make the playoffs or win the division. With their first two games against the Texans and Titans, this would be a good time to get some early wins.

Then there’s the Chargers, who will open the season on Friday against the Chiefs. I contend that the Chiefs are much better than most people think they are going to be. However, the Bolts need to win their games against their division rivals, especially the Chiefs. Since the Chiefs are missing Rashee Rice for the firs six games, now is as good a time as ever to find the win column against them, especially playing at home.

Finally, the Kings are going to open training camp in 3 weeks from now. The bigger news though is that Anze Kopitar said that this may very well be his last season in the NHL. It will be his 20th season in the league, and he will finish as the franchise leader in games played, assists, and most likely points when it’s all said and done. He is arguably the greatest LA King in franchise history. As for his retirement, he’s still a very productive player, and when he retires, the Kings really won’t have a capable replacement for him. By now they should with all the young talent they have wasted.

August 25, 2025

I don’t even know who the Dodgers are anymore. Yesterday, they looked like the powerhouse World Series Contender we thought they were. Many times in the last two weeks though, they looked more like one of the dumbest teams out there, especially for an organization that is typically more savvy than others. They have been screwing around all season with Teoscar Hernandez in right field instead of left, with Mookie Betts at shortstop instead of right field,. and Michael Conforto consistently in the lineup when he should instead be consistently delivering your Door Dash. They’ve also been consistently using Tanner Scott as their closer, when instead he should be put into lower leverage situations until he’s right. All this screwing around and experimenting has eliminated the Dodgers 9 game lead over the Padres in the division, reduce their likelihood of having a 1st round bye in the playoffs, and ultimately slimmed their margin of error to repeat as World Series Champions. The Dodgers know the sensible things they need to do to win games. For some reason, they insist on being stubborn and not doing it. I sure hope that changes quickly, or else they can forget about defending World Series title.

Meanwhile, the Angels got swept by the Cubs, and have lost 7 of their last 10 games. They are now 8.5 games out of the Wild Card, and 10.5 behind the Astros in the AL West. Their pitching got completely destroyed over the weekend, which was previously a strength. The Cubs now look like they are waking up after a two month long slumber. The Angels? Well, their slumber has lasted two decades: “Rip Van Winklesque”. Angels baseball is really just the Stanford Experiment for how long people will continue to put up with losing if you give them enough bobbleheads.

To the Rams, where there are some signs of good news. Matt Stafford went through practice last week, and also looked sharp. That’s very positive and a step in the right direction. There is still a lot to be uneasy about though. Sean McVay wouldn’t exactly commit to Stafford being ready for week 1 when he was asked about it. Clearly, he wants to see more reps, and feel more confident in his QB’s health before determining if he would be ready to go. On a different note, I really like the fact the Rams extended Kyren Williams on a 3-year $33 million deal. It’s not a crazy number, he’s proven his value at running back, and I think it’s a very fair deal for both sides. Suddenly, running backs getting paid might be coming back into fashion.

Then there’s the Chargers who have some interesting training camp battles going on. Tomorrow is the day to get down to a 53-man roster. The biggest question is who will be the #2 quarterback: Trey Lance or Taylor Heinicke. Heinicke has a slightly better career resume. Lance however, has outperformed him in camp, and has much more upside given where he was drafted. I think the sensible move here would be to carry all 3 QB’s but have Lance as the backup, assuming Heinicke wouldn’t want to go elsewhere. Given that the Chargers might have some offensive line problems and thus protecting their QB, this might be a season where unfortunately they need all 3 quarterbacks! There’s also a lot of uncertainty around Najee Harris, who has yet to do anything in training camp, and that means he’s got a few running backs breathing down his neck for the #2 running back role: Hassan Haskins, Kimani Vidal and rookie Raheim Sanders. Harris only has 11 days to figure it out, because the Bolts are opening the season on Friday September 4th against the Chiefs!

We’ve also go the start of College Football this weekend! That means USC is going to open the season against Missouri State at the Coliseum on Saturday. The Trojans are going into the season unranked, which shouldn’t surprise anybody. The team has some talent, but they are still going to have very stiff competition in the Big Ten this year, and needs to prove it. I expect improvement from their 7-6 record last year. However, the real talent will arrive in 2026, which is when expectations should be sky high. Jayden Maiava will be good, not great, but the team will be shuffling it’s offensive line all year, and that won’t offset the 3 1st round picks they will have going to the NFL next year. Lincoln Riley needs to get to the playoffs this year to give himself more credibility with everyone, and take some of the heat off before the big recruiting class gets here. I’m not so confident that will happen, but we’ll find out soon.

On the other hand, I don’t expect UCLA to be a whole lot better than last year, but I do think they could be exciting. QB Nico Iamaleava is the obvious one here that I think will put up some numbers, and will probably be the best player they’ve had at the position since Brett Hundley. The same goes for RB Jaivian Thomas, who will reprise that role with the Bruins as part of a deep group of running backs that also includes Jalen Berger, Anthony Woods, Anthony Frias II and Karson Cox. While each of those players holds promise, Thomas appears to have the biggest upside given his speed, patience and vision. If the Bruins can find a way to win 7 games, that would be a huge accomplishment.

Finally, it’s that time of year where not only football is starting, but fantasy football! That means you women all need to be prepared to lose your husbands and significant others to what will basically be their side piece for the next 4 months. Don’t expect your man to be doing the dishes, taking out the trash, and folding the laundry like they usually do. You may also have to deal with frequent yelling at the TV and the dog on Sunday, while your European immigrant neighbor rushes over and wonders what all the commotion is all about. Your husband will try to explain, but your neighbor will just walk away thinking that’s why this country is going straight to hell.

August 18, 2025

The Dodgers have stabilized things for the time being after sweeping the Padres over the weekend. That is the most baseball thing in the world. The Dodgers get swept by the Angels, then turn around and sweep the Padres, who have been on fire. The talent is there, but the consistency is not. When they hit they can’t pitch. When they pitch they can’t hit. It’s really good to see the top 6 producing again, especially Mookie and Teo, who finally seemed to get going. The starting pitching has been outstanding for a while, but the bullpen is very up and down. The Dodgers closer is basically the whatever flavor of the day Andrew Friedman’s computer chooses. Hopefully getting some of their injured relievers will help this, however, they will still need to be more consistent. At the moment, those types of inconsistencies make it hard to imagine that come October, they can put together a run to defend their World Series Title.

Meanwhile, the Angels are still the Angels. They sweep the Dodgers, and you think they are going to rocket up the standings, but then they follow it up by losing 2 of 3 to the last place A’s. The Halos pitching got rocked this weekend, and they fall to 7 games out of the wild card chase with only 6 weeks left of the regular season. In case you had any hopes of this team making the playoffs, they have a -71 run differential, which is not great. Arte Moreno doesn’t care though. As long as he can put butts in the seats in August and September for the big games, he could care less if this team is actually winning or not.

It’s time to officially start worrying about Matt Stafford. Dude has a back injury and can’t workout. Dude starts to workout, then can’t workout. The media starts asking if he worked out, and the answer seems like a resounding no, judging by how irritated the staff was at the questions the media was asking. Now there is word this morning that he is working out and throwing. We’ll see how his back reacts. If in fact Stafford has to be shut down for any significant period of time, that is going to torpedo the Rams chances of going to the Super Bowl. At best, I could see this team being held together by 5-6 games by Jimmy G. He’s a capable backup, but he’s not going to put this team in the upper echelon of the NFC.

The Chargers have their own injury issues to deal with as well. Quentin Johnston got knocked out on Saturday against the Rams. This comes after Rashawn Slater suffered a season ending knee injury, which is going to be a big problem in a competitive AFC West with fierce pass rushes. Everybody seems to love the Denver Broncos, but they are also dismissing the Chiefs, while the Raiders are also much improved too. The Bolts will be in the mix because they are well coached and have a great QB, but it’s going to be stiff competition just getting to the playoffs.

Speaking of injury scares, the Lakers got their own with Luka Doncic in the FIBA competition while playing for Slovenia. Doncic suffered a bone bruise while competing. Fortunately he appears to be ok. If Doncic got severely injured, that would in fact create a real conversation of whether or not Lebron would want out of LA for what may very well be the last season of his career. However, Doncic is like an NHL player, wanting to represent his country with pride in these international competitions, even if his team has very little chance of winning anything. That probably doesn’t sit well with a lot of us, since the Lakers have obviously made a huge investment in making him the face of the franchise. There’s really nothing they can do about it though.

Finally, these idiots that are calling for 2028 Olympics to be move from LA are truly nothing more than social media morons. The Olympics aren’t getting moved from LA people. LA could be ready for the Olympics in 5 minutes if necessary. Other countries and cities, with far less infrastructure and resources, have pulled it off in a few months. I can tell you that Paris did exactly that, when they weren’t ready about 8 weeks beforehand. The Olympics are something that California really needs for it’s economy, because well, its a state that is currently being run by people that shouldn’t be running a hot dog stand. Just because someone says something on social media doesn’t give it any credibility, so pay no attention to it.

August 11, 2025

Things are suddenly looking up for Matt Stafford’s health! Stafford threw 60 passes during a workout before Saturday night’s preseason game against the Cowboys, and had no limitations. Sean McVay says that he is hopeful that Stafford will continue to progress into practices beginning next week. That should give Rams fans a slight sigh of relief to that point where they can at least put the bottle of tequila down, although maybe not put it back in the cabinet yet. The new concern that has come up is the health of edge rusher Jared Verse, who bumped knees with one of his teammates, and had to be helped off the field by two trainers. As for Kyren Williams, his 3-year $33 million extension is actually pretty good value for his production. We may be reaching the point where the running back is now making a bit of a comeback, and they are beginning to get paid again.

Meanwhile, the Chargers have had an interesting start to training camp. Early on they learned that Mike Williams retired, which was a little bit of a surprise since he’s only 30 years old and seemed excited to return to the team. He probably got tired of having to deal with injuries, and go through the rehab process, which you can’t blame him for. That opened the door for the Bolts to sign Keenan Allen lasts week, who may be old, but can still be productive for this squad. I still don’t love the Chargers wide receiver core outside of Ladd McConkey, but you do have to love the potential of Omarion Hampton, who could be an electric rookie running back for them. His teammates don’t even like tackling him in practice, so I’m sure the opponents won’t either. I’m also intrigued by the preseason production of Trey Lance, has looked really good early on and probably has the edge right now to be the #2 QB. It’s not like I see him taking Justin Herbert’s job, but he could be a very nice backup to have, and eventually revive his NFL career as a starter after this year.

I feel sorry for all the NFL fans out there now that ESPN has acquired the rights to NFL Red Zone. So much for “7 hours of commercial free football”. Everything ESPN touches turns to crap, and I expect this to be no different. Plus all those WWE fans have to be upset as well, because they now have to go from watching their content nearly for free, to have to pay for a $30 subscription.

Although the Dodgers lost yesterday and Dave Roberts seemed frustrated, I’m not as down as many of you are. All of a sudden, the Dodgers offense might be waking up. They still took 2 of 3 against a very good Toronto Blue Jays team, with some great pitching to complement Shohei Ohtani, Max Muncy, and even Mookie Betts coming alive at the plate. This team was bound to turn it around at some point at the plate because the talent is just too good. Ok, so they did leave a lot of runners in scoring position yesterday, Michael Conforto still stinks, Blake Treinen needs to figure things out, and Alex Vesia had a bad game. However, I see more reasons to be optimistic today than a week ago. The Padres won’t go away, and are still trying to chase them down for the division title, but many of you wanted to play meaningful games down the stretch to them prepared for October! You can’t complain now! The Padres will actually be facing the Dodgers later in the week, in some high stakes game. Still his roster is good and is a force to be reckoned with, and if the team is clicking like we saw this weekend, it will be fun to watch. We’ll see if they can continue the momentum this week.

Then there’s the Angels, who are doing exactly what we thought they would do after the trade deadline: floundering. Who could have looked at this team and thought they were 1 or 2 pieces away? They are now 6 games out of the Wild Card with tons of teams to jump over, and 10 games out of the division lead. Their playoff odds plummeted to a whoping 0.5% via Fangraphs, and their odds of winning the World Series are 0.0%. You would have a better chance of winning the Power Ball! The Twins are 5.5 games back of the same Wild Card chase the Angels are in, and they sold off about half their Major League roster. One team is run by complete buffoons and the other is run by sensible executives.

These people that are throwing sex toys on to the floor of a WNBA game have completely lost their mind. Look on one hand, these WNBA players have acted like complete fools the last 18 months with their mistreatment of Caitlin Clark, and the delusional opinion of what they are worth. However, I’m not going to sit here like some of you and say they are getting what they deserve, because you should never throw anything on the field of play when attending a sporting event. It was funny for about 5 seconds people, but can we all just grow up now? On the bright side though, the WNBA is actually going to get more ratings out of this because people are betting on colors of sex toys that will appear in certain games. We live in sick world don’t we?

August 4, 2025

The Lakers got some exciting news over the weekend. Luka Doncic has signed a 3-year extension for $165 million. The Lakers have their next face of their franchise locked up. I don’t care about the nonsense you Pelinka haters and Lebron fan boys are spewing. The Lakers have had a good offseason, especially now that they can plan around their next franchise player. It’s amazing how quickly you can get into shape and how good you can look with a few weeks of cutting back on the beers and fried food. If Luka can take his team to the finals being fat and out of shape, imagine how good he is going to be the next 3 years in shape and pushing for a $400 million contract with the Lakers! Nobody leaves the lakers in their prime when they are in the face of the franchise so you’re a fool if you think he was ever leaving. I still think that despite all the talk about the Lakers next star like Giannis or Joker, the Lakers are unlikely to acquire a player as good as Lebron now over the next two years. For that reason, they shouldn’t be conservative in their approach to try and approve their roster now with the right depth pieces, if the opportunity presents itself. Don’t get it twisted: the Lakers have arguably the best big 3 in the NBA, so they should take advantage of it before Lebron retires.

To baseball, where the MLB Trade Deadline came and went last Thursday. You can’t be mad at the Dodgers approach. They added the depth they needed in the bullpen with Brock Stewart, and in the outfield with Alex Call. Ok, I didn’t love that the Dodgers traded Dustin May for a ham sandwich, but they really did it out of respect for him and the fact he’s going to be a free agent. I would have preferred that they keep him and potentially use him out of the bullpen if necessary. I still have a hard time believing that all 6 of these Dodgers pitchers are going to be healthy and effective come postseason time, so I still think there was an opportunity for him anyway to be a starter in October. At the end of the day, if the Dodgers are to successfully defend their title, it’s going to come down to them not hitting like Little Leaguers, which they have been for the last couple of weeks. They took 2 of 3 from Tampa, but the offense has been brutal. Shohei Ohtani is eventually going to stop striking out, but Mookie Betts needs to figure it out. I’m not convinced he’s fully healthy, but either way, he’s way too good of a player to not turn it around at some point.

As for the Angels, there is not an organization in sports that is more foolish than them. Sure the Taylor Ward walk off was nice yesterday, but they are still 5.5 games back in the wild card after losing 2 of 3 to lowly White Sox. They somehow decided it was a good idea to be buyers at the trade deadline. They should have traded Kenley Jansen, Taylor Ward, and others to replenish their farm system. And why didn’t they? So they can sell some tickets in August and September? I would argue fans want to see a young team that is showing some promise. The Angels have one of the worst run differentials in baseball at -67. They aren’t fooling anybody to think they are going to contend for the playoff spot. Plus the Perry Minasian comments to the media were even more ridiculous. He said it’s important that the team plays meaningful games in August and September. You can’t fool anybody, even your players into thinking they are playing meaningful games late in the year. What a complete joke, and every Angel fan should be completely livid with Arte Moreno, as if they weren’t already.

Well now we’re a week into training camp and the Rams are still looking for answers on Matthew Stafford’s back. Stafford is going to miss the joint practice with the Cowboys that is coming up and he’s going to see a back specialist. Ultimately, he needs to just be ready for week 1 of the regular season in September, but when I hear week-to-week, and that he is not practicing, I’m concerned this may be more serious than we think. Matt Stafford is as tough as they come, but back injuries can be very tricky, and can take people down for a while. Here’s to hoping we don’t have much to be concerned about.

We just learned last week that Shannon Sharpe was fired by ESPN. In this case, two things can be true at the same time. First of all, Shannon was a fool to be messing around with a woman who is 20 years old, even if she is trying to extort him. Poor judgement. However, it’s also true that Shannon Sharp is so talented, in the long run, he doesn’t actually need ESPN and is way better off without them. ESPN on the other hand has become a crappy woke network for sports, that is hanging on for dear life to stay relevant in a consumer media era that is transitioning.

Finally, for those of you who have seen Happy Gilmore 2 and are complaining about what it was, what did you expect? Some Oscar Winning production? It was a funny movie for what it was. A typical Adam Sandler movie, and one that was a lot of fun with celebrity cameos. By the end of it, you can always feel good about a movie like that, and just take it for the entertainment value it provides. This is also a perfect example of why they don’t make a lot of great new content anymore in Hollywood. It’s way too easy for a movie to flop when it’s not an established franchise. When you have a name like Happy Gilmore, or even a Jurassic World, Top Gun, Star Wars, and the list goes on, you will get enough people that come to see the movie for name recognition alone. It’s a safe way to be successful in the industry, but unfortunate that it has put a cap on creativity in that space.

July 28, 2025

We are rapidly approaching the MLB Trade Deadline, and the Dodgers have some decisions to make by Thursday. Coming into Sunday, they were just half a game back of the Cubs for the best record in the NL, but they could use about 3 bullpen arms. Judging by how Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates have worked out so far this season, I doubt that Andrew Friedman is going to overpay for anybody though. I don’t see the Dodgers spending resources on a starting pitcher with their rotation getting healthier, or anything more than utility infield and outfield depth. However, I think a middle reliever like an Anthony Banda type is what they will probably come up with. I wouldn’t even mind Kenley Jansen or Taylor Ward, but if the price is too high, forget it. The Boys in Blue really need the top of the order to start hitting again down the stretch, especially Mookie Betts. I still think most of this teams issues are internal and can be fixed by moving Mookie back into the out field, sending Michael Conforto to an overseas prison, and putting Hyesong Kim and Tommy Edman in the middle of their infield. At some point, they need to stop being stubborn. They know what the solution is. It’s also not trading Dustin May. He is a year away from being an elite starter again, and is still an innings eater and insurance policy. Keep him!

As for the Angels, they gave you some hope a month ago, but forget that. They are now 5.5 games out of the wild card with 7 teams to jump over just to get to the playoffs. You can forget the division, where they are 10 games back. This team needs to be sellers this week. Knowing Perry Minasian though, they won’t be serious sellers. They might sell off a pending free agent or two, but the return won’t be anything great. Taylor Ward is trying to play his way into staying in Anaheim because Arte Moreno is a sucker who sees a 31 yea old with a .231 avg 24 hr 77 RBI and wants to keep him to “sell tickets”.

To the NBA, where the Lakers have actually had a productive couple of weeks. They signed Marcus Smart to a deal after getting bought out by the Wizards, and now it sounds like they are on the verge of coming to terms with Luke Doncic on a 4-year $229 million extension. If you’re keeping score at home for all you Rob Pelinka haters, they got younger and more athletic at wing with Jake Laravia, signed a quality starting center in DeAndre Ayton, and now added an excellent POA defender. All this and now securing the next face of the franchise for the next half decade. The Lakers are definitely better than last year. Sure a lot of teams got better, but they were already the 3 seed last year and were improving each game. The West will have a lot of competition, but the Lakers should be in the mix. Maybe not an inner circle favorite, but they will be a good team. As for the Jeanie Buss ownership story, lots of talk about how she had decision making power for the next 5 yea rs. That may be true, but you can be sure she will have more opinions and influence around her during that time. Mark Walter didn’t buy the team to sit back and wait 5 years to run it like a mom and pop shop. Did you notice I didn’t even mention anything about LeBron? That’s because most of you are gullibale enough to believe the NBA “journalism” out there thinking he’s leaving the Lakers. My bold prediction is he’s announcing this is his last season before the start of training camp.

Then there’s the Clippers who have signed Bradley Beal and Chris Paul to contracts. Here we go again. Another off-season of “The Clippers are an NBA Finals Contender!” They are? Maybe if this were 2014 they would be. The Clippers added three players to their lineup this offseason that make them much older. Are they better? Bradley Beal hasn’t made any team he’s played on better in over 5 years. Chris Paul is 40, and while it’s great he is back close to his family, he won’t play every night. The Concept of the Clippers has always revolved around Kawhi Leonard’s health. He was healthy last year and they were a 1st round exit. They are also a year older, so now he has to stay healthy again, and the rest of the team continues to age. The Clippers are a good team, but those that want to call them championship contenders are as foolish as the people buying into the LeBron clickbait.

We’ve seen a pretty disastrous off-season for the LA Kings, as I’ve mentioned on Jock Talk LA several times. Even people inside the organization will privately admit that. However, what they can’t do is let a disaster spiral further out of control than where it is now. They need to sign Adrian Kemp to an extension by the start of training camp. Kemp is their leading goal scorer, best player, and currently slated to be an unrestricted free agent next summer. He is due for a sizeable raise, but also one the Kings can afford. The Kings have shown they aren’t a free agent destination for NHL stars. That means they have to do it by retaining their own drafted talent, and making trades. Kempe is one of the few in the last decade they have drafted and developed right, so don’t screw this one up too Ken Holland and Luc Robitaille!

We are on the verge of college and pro football starting up again. That means the Trojans are right around the corner from being back in action. I expect that USC will fall somewhere between #15-#20 in the preseason polls. Can they really challenge for a playoff spot this year? I’m skeptical they can given where recruiting has been lately. The probably won’t change until 2026, when an elite recruiting class is expected to arrive. Lately it’s been status quo, and I don’t think the NIL landscape has improved their chances much since Caleb Williams left for the NFL. What’s going on with Lincoln Riley is fascinating though. Paul Finebaum can’t stop talking about what a disaster his recruiting is, and how fraudulent his performance has been since going to USC. This is probably a bit of an exaggeration, because if anything, USC is struggling with a tougher conference in The Big Ten and tougher travel. However, their schedule is the lightest it’s been i n years. They don’t play Ohio State or Penn State. They get Michigan at home, and Oregon on he road, along with Notre Dame. That’s lighter but still a credible enough path where if USC makes the CFP, it should be considered a success.

On the other hand with UCLA, despite being fortunate enough to have Nico Iamaleava as their QB, if they finish with a winning record it should be considered a success. Remember, Chip Kelley left the Bruins a complete mess, so DeShaun Foster has to clean that up while moving conferences. That’s not easy. On the bright side though, UCLA has a lot to look forward to come basketball season. Not bad for an athletic program whose finances are about as bad as Enron.

In the NFL, the Rams got their training camp underway at UC Irvine last week. There are already a few concerns though. Matt Stafford has been sitting out early with back problems. It concerns me that Stafford hasn’t even done anything yet from a workout standpoint and he already is struggling like I do after a Saturday afternoon nap on the couch. He needs practice time to build chemistry with his receivers, including Devante Adams. Sure Jimmy G is a capable backup, but the Rams need Stafford to be the elite team they envisioned. Given Sean McVay’s vagueness around injuries in general historically, I’m also extra concerned and something to keep an eye on.

On a more sad note, my heart goes out to the family of Hulk Hogan, who passed away over the weekend. Hogan was an all-American legend who entertained us for years with the WWF, and was really considered the face of what was once highly regarded American Entertainment. WWF had better ratings than Saturday Night Live in the 80’s thanks to Hogan. Of course in this day and age there are always going to be people that focus on the negative, but remember, people are simply a product of their time. Hogan should be remembered as a celebrity entertainer, who gave us the escape we needed from the real world. He also paved the way for stars like “The Rock” to be what he is today. For that he should be celebrated, and that’s the legacy he really leaves behind.

July 14, 2025

Welcome to the portion of the sports calendar where there is no news, so everyone just recklessly speculates and it’s considered “news”. That’s exactly what’s happening with Lebron James. Lebron opted into his contract weeks ago, and Rich Paul made the type statement that he basically makes every year that Lebron plays, that he wants to compete for titles to put pressure on the front office. As I told you weeks ago, Lebron isn’t going anywhere, so stop speculating that he will. Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne, who are fine professionals but lack real sources, wrote a piece that had no sources in it, and was nothing but pure speculation. Everyone ate it up and they got all the clicks they wanted. Except if you’ve followed the NBA for a while, you know the difference between real reporting and opinions. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t. The article stated that James was upset that they traded Anthony Davis and he wasn’t given significant notice. Ramona and Windy must think we are stupid to believe he and Rich Paul had no idea whatsoever it was coming. The article says Luka was notified of the sale of the franchise and Lebron wasn’t, but that’s a lie and he was told. The article says the Lakers were treating Lebron as an expiring contract because they didn’t offer him an extension. Did he ask for an extension? No he did not. This is all manufactured journalism to get you talking about ‘Bron. I also love the folks like Scoop B, who are reporting two week old news that 4 teams contacted Rich Paul about trading for Lebron. One thing is for sure though, Lebron and Rich Paul could control this narrative if they want, but they won’t because that’s how they feel puts pressure on the front office to perform. That’s all fine and dandy if they want to do that, but in reality, it won’t change a damn thing. The Lakers are going to compete with Lebron on the team and without him on the team.

As for the rest of the Lakers roster, things have really quieted down with regard to rumors. The Lakers need help on their bench, and specifically when it comes to defensive wings. Andrew Wiggins sounded nice, but not at the cost of Rui, Dalton, and a 1st round pick. If anything the Heat should be throwing in draft capital because he’s a salary dump. Since Wiggins is reportedly not being traded this off-season, that leaves the Lakers hoping for a buyout of someone like Marcus Smart, trading for Matisse Thybulle, or signing a guy like De’Anthony Melton. Sure someone like Bradley Beal or Damian Lillard sounds sexy, but it’s not really what they need. The hold up is they need to waive someone on their roster to be able to sign just one player, or would need to make a trade. The team is better with DeAndre Ayton and Jake LaRavia, but there’s still a little work to do, so stay tuned, and stop telling me Rob Pelinka isn’t doing anything. Separately, I have heard some suggestion that the Lakers (and other teams) are trying to keep their cap sheet clean for 2027 free agency. This move makes little sense to me because all the free agents from Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis, and Giannis will be 34 or older. They are likely to re-sign or get traded and re-signed before they hit the market. A better move would be trying to compete now with a top 5 talent like Luka Doncic, a still all-NBA player in Lebron, and a cheap but rising star with Austin Reaves.

Meanwhile, the Clippers have made all these moves and now have a couple of roster spots to fill. The speculation was that they were going to sign both Chris Paul and Bradley Beal to veteran minimum deals, but it’s been a week and nothing has happened on either front. Beal still hasn’t been bought out yet, and who knows why CP3 has not signed yet. He wants to be in SoCal, and this is his best opportunity. If he wants to start, he’s going to be out of luck because nobody will give him that opportunity at this stage if they are serious about winning. Let’s say these two moves come to fruition, they could help, but the Clips should be a bit concerned with age. Paul is 40, Brooke Lopez is 37, James Harden is 35, Kawhi and old 34, and Beal would be an old 32. It remains to be seen just how the Clippers roster shakes out between now and training camp.

To baseball, where the Dodgers have hit the all-star break! After Friday night, it felt like this team might never win again, but they came up with two big wins against the Giants to close the 1st half. They hit the break at 58-39, a 5.5 game lead in the NL West, and the best record in the NL. They are also just one game behind the Tigers for the best record in baseball. With all that being said, they have some things to fix. I wouldn’t panic over the 7-game slide. They looked a little disinterested before the all-star break in years past, so the streak itself isn’t concerning. However, they have some star players they need to get more productivity out of in the second half. Those are Mookie Betts, Tesoscar Hernandez, and Tommy Edman specifically. They also need to get their lineup in order once they get Max Muncy back. To me, the sensible thing to do is to put Mookie back in right field, put Teoscar in left, Tommy Edman at short, and Hyesong Kim at 2nd. This is by far the best possible defensive lineup they can put on the field, while maximizing the bats. I am especially encourage about the starting pitching. It’s hard to conceptualize, but Shohei Ohtani might be their best starter when he’s built up, and in a playoff series if you could deploy him followed by Yamamoto, Blake Snell, and backed up with the likes of a Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, and Emmet Sheehan, you have to like your chances. The bullpen still has some very good relievers, but Tanner Scott isn’t one of them. If you can’t close 85% or more of your games, you shouldn’t be closing, and right now Alex Vesia should be the guy. Either way, the Dodgers should look at bullpen and starting pitching depth, as well as a versatile outfielder at the deadline. They should feel pretty good about where they are, with all things considered, and also feeling even better about their potential.

Then there’s the Angels who hit the break 2 games under .500 and 4 games out of the wild card chase. I just don’t see how this team is going to make the playoffs as presently constructed, and I don’t see 1 or 2 moves by the trade deadline to get them there. The Halos are one of the worst hitting teams in the league. Only the Rockies strikeout more times than they do, and they are ranked 24th in the league in team batting average. Everything was always going to come down to the development of their young players and there’s not enough big league talent to support that development. Zach Neto has been great, Nolan Schanuel is ok, Sam Bachman is really just a reliever. Reid Detmers looks promising, but for some reason they don’t want to put him back in the starting rotation. Christian Moore has been struggling early on, but given that the don’t develop players well, I’m not too optimistic. They also drafted pitcher Tyler Bremner out of UC Santa Barbara, with the #2 pick in yesterdays draft. I get the appeal these days of drafting the dude that strikes out a lot of guys and throws hard. However, Bremner might not even be a top 100 prospect, and is projected to be a mid rotation pitcher. It’s insanity to think that Perry Minasian could come out of a draft without someone that will be a clear cut top 100 prospect, given how desperate the Halos are for talent. A much better pick probably would have been the left hander Kade Anderson from LSU, or Ethan Holiday, who could be their future 3rd baseman and projected to be an all-star. How Minasian is still employed as GM of the Angels is becoming a mystery.