
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!
