January 5, 2026

Happy New Year everyone! I know Larry David said the last day to say that was on January 3rd, so I admit I’m violating his rule telling you that. Let’s start with the Rams, who beat the Cardinals yesterday to secure the #5 seed, and a date with the Panthers next weekend for Wild Card Weekend. Obviously most of us are still licking our wounds from the “what could have been” with the Rams potentially being a #1 seed in the NFC. I’ve gotten past all that, and believe the Rams path to the Super Bowl might not be as bad as you think. They will take on arguably the weakest opponent in the NFC playoffs, and potentially get a home game in the divisional round. Plus Seattle and San Francisco could even knock one another out. The Rams would much rather play Seattle than see a Kyle Shanahan team in the playoffs. I’m a bit alarmed at the lack of rhythm we’ve seen from the offense of late, especially yesterday against a poor Cardinals team. However, we’ve see that when this team plays with urgency, they can beat anybody in the NFL. Getting Davante Adams and Kevin Dotson back next week should help with that immensely.

As for the Chargers, there are two ways to look at yesterday’s game. They played their backups against the Broncos and held their own. It actually made me think that the Broncos won’t be around in the playoffs for that long. On the other hand, the Bolts have to travel to New England to face a very good Patriots team. Will they have the ability to protect Justin Herbert? I’m skeptical. Sure they are very well coached and the AFC feels a bit wide open, but this Chargers team is so up and down, you don’t really know what to expect.

This is an interesting stretch for the Lakers. They entered Sunday tied for 4th in the West. There is definitely a perception about this team that they can’t beat the elite teams, and that they can’t defend very well. In this stretch of games they probably won’t be playing anybody that will make you feel differently about that, but that shouldn’t stop them from trying to bank as many wins as possible. The Lakers are banged up, missing Austin Reaves and Luka is hurting. However, so are their competitors like Denver and San Antonio. They can still move back up in the standings in this stretch of games that they will be favored in.

Meanwhile, the Clippers win streak came to an end on Saturday against the Celtics. However, they have made up a lot of ground in the standings. They are now 3 games back of the 10th seed, which would be the final play-in tournament spot. You’ve gotta give credit to Kawhi, because during the Clips winning streak, he became the only NBA player, along with Kobe, to average 40 points, with 50-40-90 shooting splits, and going undefeated in a five game stretch. By the way, Kobe averaged 50 points in that stretch, which is something you would only see while playing NBA 2K. Then of course there’s still the looming investigation of the franchise on salary cap circumvention the league is still working on. Privately, they may not feel great about it, or their overall place in the standings, but for now, they are working with what they’ve got and trying to make the best of the situation.

In College Football, is the glass half full or half empty for the Trojans? Going into the Alamo Bowl, many seemed to think that 9 wins was progress for Lincoln Riley at USC. Many people might not feel the same after losing to TCU in overtime of that Bowl Game. Look, the final play of the game was embarrassing, and I’ve seen Pee Wee football players tackle better than that, but you’ve got to keep something in mind. Bowl Games are nothing more than glorified consolation games, and at this point, many of the 1st and 2nd stringers are opting out of these games. You’re evaluating Riley based on what his back ups are doing. At the end of the day, Riley has to win next year with what is widely considered the best recruiting class in the country. If he doesn’t, many of those players will transfer. Does that mean he is really on the hot seat? I’m not entirely convinced of that, especially after the Trojans moved to a much tougher conference in the Big Ten. You’re only as good as your options, and I don’t currently see any better options out there for USC.

To baseball, where the off-season hot stove is heating up for the Dodgers. Things have slowed down since the signing of closer Edwin Diaz. However, at this point, I am of the opinion that the way the market is shifting, the Dodgers will end up with at least one of Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette, or Tarik Skubal before spring training. Suddenly Bichette or Tucker seem far more likely than the other two, and if it’s Bichette you would have to love adding a player of that versatility to the Dodgers lineup. Over in the American League, the Blue Jays keep rage spending, and look like they are going to be the best team in the AL. The Dodgers can certainly keep up with that spending though, and don’t be surprised if they do.

As for the Angels, their off-season is just getting more and more disappointing. Their payroll is now $30 million less than last year, and they are doing nothing with it that extra money. They restructured the contract of Anthony Rendon to defer his remaining $38 million over the next 3-5 years. I don’t like this at all, unless they plan to sign some serious players and compete now. Instead, all they have done is sign a bunch of relievers who had terrible years last year: Kirby Yates, Drew Pomeranz, Jordan Romano, and Tyler Saucedo. They’ve been tied to Nolan Arenado, but he’s got another 2 years and $37 million on his contract, so I’ll believe it when I see it. Plus that feels like they would be going from a big money third baseman who does not care about your team or the sport , to a big money third baseman who has declined in production and doesn’t care about your team. In Arte Moreno’s world, maybe he sees that as progress.

In College Hoops, what a disappointing game for UCLA hoops over the weekend against #25 Iowa. I was a believer that this team could get better as the season goes on like many Mick Cronin teams. Instead, they are getting softer and softer as the season goes on, and that couldn’t have been more apparent in the opening half of basketball on Saturday. The bench and 3-point shooting was abysmal. They got the best player in the transfer portal, and although he played a decent second half, he’s been so inconsistent that one would think he might be placing prop bets on Draft Kings every time he takes the floor. A team with Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau shouldn’t be this inconsistent on both ends of the floor. They can’t play good enough defense for long enough stretches, and at the same time they go very long stretches at the most crucial times with offensive droughts. It’s obvious now that the whole is much less than the sum of the parts. Joe Lunardi currently has UCLA as a #9 seed, and I have no idea why. They don’t even have a signature win yet, and the most impressive thing they’ve done is lose a game by a couple of baskets to Arizona.

Speaking of UCLA, I’m not sure how excited the Bruins should be about the news that Nico Iamaleava will be returning to the team next year. For all the hype around him, he was really a very mediocre quarterback from what I saw. To be fair to him though, he had some very inconsistent coaching throughout the season, and may get some better results with Bob Chesney installed as the man in charge next year.

I can’t believe that it’s easier to remove the President of Venezuela from his position, than it is to fire Los Angeles Kings Head Coach Jim Hiller. How mediocre does this team have to be in order to get rid of him? We are halfway through the season, and the Kings are tied for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference, a far cry from their desire to be a Stanley Cup Contender. In reality, this team is much closer to another full rebuild and a lottery team than a Cup Contender. A trade? A new coach? I don’t want either. I want a new a new front office before any of that. This coaching staff and front office can’t even recognize who their best player is in Brandt Clarke. They have no idea how to properly develop their young talent like Quinton Byfield, and others who aren’t even in the organization anymore over the past five years. These guys are living in the year 2012. The Kings are acting like Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar are still their best players. Not even close. They have had great careers with the franchise, but those Stanley Cup contending days are long gone. The sooner Phil Anschutz realizes that, the sooner we can move forward.

December 29, 2025

What a very disappointing weekend of football it was for the Rams, even though they don’t even get to play football until tonight. 10 days ago, the Rams were in position to win the NFC West and be the #1 seed in the conference. After last night, the Rams can finish no higher than 5th in the NFC , and the best case scenario is to face Tampa Bay or Carolina on the road during Wild Card Weekend. That seems like a cruel fate for a team that is arguably the best team in the NFL. However, let’s look at the bright side. The Rams can beat anybody, anywhere, on any given day. This team is still elite, and probably has fewer flaws than anybody else. The Rams coaching staff and front office is also going to be really motivated to beat the Falcons tonight because they have Atlanta’s 1st round pick, which is likely to be in the top 10 of this spring’s draft if the Rams take care of business tonight. It might be a tough road, but there’s a scenario here where the 49ers and Seahawks could have to play in round 2 of the playoffs, which means that one of those 2 elite teams would be knocked out of the playoffs before the Rams had to face them.

Speaking of disappointing, the Chargers were extremely disappointing over the weekend, losing to the Houston Texans and failing to move up in the AFC Playoff seeding. Although the Bolts can finish anywhere #5-7 in the playoff seedings, Jim Harbaugh told the media that Justin Herbert will not play next weekend. That means, they are likely to be on the road at New England or Jacksonville in round 1. I suddenly like the Chargers chances of winning that game a lot less than if they were to face the Steelers, especially in cold weather. The real issue for the Bolts is their inability to consistently protect Justin Herbert. That reared it’s ugly head on Saturday against an elite Texans defense, and the way things are going, likely to be the same in round 1 of the playoffs. You never really know what you’re going to get from this team, but obviously their best chance for playoff success is getting Justin Herbert healthy in the next two weeks.

To the NBA, where the Lakers had a very rough Christmas Week, losing three straight games, in blowout fashion. They also lost Austin Reaves again for another month due to a calf injury. The repercussion of that are tough, as Austin probably will not make the All-Star team anymore as a result. If you had any vision of the Lakers trading him before the deadline, that is likely out the window too, although I don’t think that was in the cards. JJ Redick made a lot of noise last week about his team’s effort, talking about how uncomfortable practice was going to be on Saturday, but after hearing him speak that afternoon, I didn’t get the sense that he cracked the whip like he claimed. I think when it came down to it, there’s only so much he can say to these guys, and that they have to want it. At least last night against Sacramento, they did show that they want it with a blowout win. We’ll see if it can continue against the Pistons tomorrow night. I do think the Lakers are often analyzed and over analyzed with every game, so I’m not as down on this team as everyone else However, there is a lot to figure out for this team to maximize it’s potential, of what I believe is the Western Conference Finals. It’s largely improved perimeter defense.

All of a sudden things don’t look so bad for the Clippers. They’ve reeled off 4 straight wins, and against quality opponents. Kawhi apparently was freed of his part-time job as an Amazon worked and dropped 55 points on the Pistons. It’s certainly an uphill climb for this team, but they are only 2.5 games out of the last play-in spot and there’s still more than 50 games of basketball to be played. Although most of us think the Clips should throw in the towel and start trading their star players for draft capital, based on what we are hearing from NBA insiders, the team has rebuffed most inquiring for it’s best players. The next month of the season will be pivotal in determining if they change their stance on that or not.

In College Football, USC will take on TCU in the Alamo Bowl. There’s been some interesting news with the Trojans in the last 24 hours. Lincoln Riley called out Notre Dame for saying they would play USC anytime, anywhere, then failing to follow through. At this point, as a Notre Dame alum, I think there is enough blame to go around on both sides, and I’m hopeful both programs will change their minds to play as early as 2027 (if it doesn’t happen in the playoffs). There’s also the unfortunate loss of Trojan DC D’Anton Lynn to Penn State. This makes too much sense to me, because Penn State is Lynn’s alma matter, and he probably views himself as more likely to eventually be a head coach there.

In baseball, the Angels found a way to completely embarrass themselves once again. They got outbid by the lowly White Sox for Japanese slugging 3rd baseman Munetaka Murakami. Arte Moreno couldn’t even come up with 2 years and $34 million to match the Chi Sox offer, for a position they badly needed help at. Japanese corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto is also still in play, but the Halos have even more competition with the likes of the Padres, Blue Jays, Pirates, and Red Sox all in pursuit. If Arte Moreno can’t even come up with that kind of money to sign young but proven Japanese talents, then you’ve got all the proof you need the Arte has reached the point in his Halos ownership tenure where he just doesn’t care at all about winning. When teams like the Pirates and White Sox are outbidding you, you need to ask yourself if you really should be owning a baseball team.

Finally, the LA Kings finally remembered how to score some goals over the weekend when they took down the Ducks, 6-1. You all know how down on the Kings I have been this year, and it’s no secret how I feel they need to blow up their front office and coaching staff. With that being said, they can thank their lucky stars that Adrian Kempe decided to re-sign with the team because for some weird reason, he likes the organization and being in LA. The man signed an 8 year $85 million contract, and as the teams leading scorer, might just be the teams next captain once Anze Kopitar retires after this year.

December 22, 2025

That was an absolutely brutal loss for the Rams on Thursday night against the Seahawks, and one that could prove quite costly. If the Rams had won that game, they would have had an easy path to secure the #1 seed and home field advantage through the NFC Playoffs. Now without some serious help, they are staring down the barrel of a #5 seed on the road for 3 NFC playoff games just to get to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks and 49ers still have some pretty tough games on their schedule, including having to face each other, so it’s not out of the question the Rams could still get that help. However, they have nobody to blame for themselves for the stupid losses they have suffered. A bizarre loss to Philly on botched special teams, a stupid loss on the final play to an undermanned 49ers team, a loss to the Panthers in which they were double digit favorites, and a loss to the Seahawks after leading 30-14. They still feel like the best team in the league that is the most balanced, but that doesn’t mean anything if they don’t execute. Also, what a week for Puka Nacua! He did a dance that was really a racial bomb, his brother robbed a Laker player, he ripped NFL refs, then reaffirms the ripping of NFL refs and gets fined. He did have 225 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns though, so most fans will probably say he can salute ISIS for all they care.

That was a really nice win for the Chargers yesterday against the Cowboys. The Bolts inched closer to a playoff spot, and believe it or not, they can still get the #1 seed in the AFC. It’s a bit of a parlay, but if they win their last 2 games against the Texans and Broncos, while the Patriots lose 1 of their last 2 to the Jets, or Dolphins, and the Jaguars lose 1 of their last 2 to the Colts or Titans, it can happen. Ok, they might as well buy a Powerball ticket, but winning the AFC West is far more realistic by winning their last two games. The only flaw with this team is that they are extremely dependent on Justin Herbert, not to mention have a hard time protecting him. I realize Herbert has some running ability, but the Chargers would be wise to protect him from himself, and not utilize him as a running back moving forward, like we saw yesterday.

To the NBA, where the Lakers were missing 4 starters on Saturday night, and as a result lost to the Clippers. The Lakers of course are the only team that can be down 4 starters and lose and people will say “hey I told you how much they would suck!”. This team is still very good, but we recognize they have defensive flaws that need to be fixed. Ultimately, the Lakers will need to find a way to beat 2 of Houston, Denver, or OKC to make it to the finals, and probably another tough opponent like San Antonio or Minnesota. They probably aren’t ready to do that today, but could they do that in the spring time? Absolutely. There are certainly ways they can fix their perimeter defense, and acquiring another max player isn’t the answer to that. Hopefully they can get a few of those starters back this week to get back in the win column and keep pace in the West.

As for the Clippers, despite Saturday night’s win, they have a big hole to climb out of just to make the play-in game. Ty Lue said the teams goal is to go 35-20 the rest of the way, which would put the Clippers at .500 for the rest of the season, and around the 10th seed for the final play in tournament spot. That’s a tall task for a team that has played like absolute garbage all year. The Clips have the talent to be better than they are, but they just lost Ivica Zubac for a few weeks to an ankle injury. They also have horrible culture too, and look like a bunch of dudes just there to collect a paycheck. I think the biggest issue for the Clippers is how self conscious they are going to be about their lack of competitiveness if they trade everyone and try to tank. However, they need draft capital to try and rebuild the franchise, and shouldn’t be concerned about just filling a new arena. The team stinks anyway, and they can surely get 1st round capital for Zubac, Harden, or Kawhi. Now I’m sure the rest of the league would rather see them in the playoffs though, to prevent OKC from getting another very high lottery pick.

Some very disappointing news broke this morning, which is that Notre Dame and USC will not be playing football in 2026, and possibly not until 2030. This is a fire-able offense as far as I’m concerned for those involved. However, it’s also the reality of College Football these days with all the re-alignment. In the next 5 years, the entire sport is going to look at lot different from conference rivalries and alignments, to the NIL system. It’s the wild west right now with a lot of change, and that is likely to ruin the rivalries we love in the short term, such as this one. I just knew that Lincoln Riley really didn’t want to play this game anymore given their schedules, and also didn’t really think Notre Dame wanted to play the game in week 0 either. These two teams can always play in the playoffs, which would still be special in a different way, but both teams actually have to get there unlike this year.

To College B-Ball, where UCLA is off to a 2-0 start in Big Ten play, but they will have their work cut out for them. There are 4 other teams that are also off to a 2-0 start in conference play, and all 4 are ranked in the Top 15. The mot impressive thing the Bruins have done so far this season is lose to #1 Arizona by 4 points on a neutral floor. They need to beat a couple of these ranked opponents to help their NCAA Tournament resume. One thing that will help is if Donovan Dent can play more consistently like he did against Arizona State. That would vault UCLA into a whole new level of contention that we haven’t seen in a while.

Let’s go to baseball, where all has been quiet for the Dodgers in the past week. Don’t expect anything big to happen until after the new year. However, we did learn that the Dodgers paid $130 million to other teams this year for revenue sharing, plus another $170 million to other teams for luxury tax penalties. That means their back-to-back championship cost $300 million alone, which was worth every penny. Still, it’s really more of a reminder that baseball is filled with owners who pocket money and don’t give a crap about winning.

For a hot second it looked like the Angels had a shot at Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami. However, he ended up signing with the White Sox, leaving the Halos are hole at 3rd base. Instead, the Halos off-season is just a bunch of dumpster diving pitching pick-ups, that they are hopeful end up turning into winning lottery tickets. The reality of it is that they signed 3 guys that haven’t had much major league success lately due to ineffectiveness and injury. Rumor has it if Nolan Arenado gets bought out they could be in the mix for him, but that would be another cheap solution to help their offense. The Angels did settle the Tyler Skaggs trial, and much to the dismay of the fans, the settlement cost will not force Arte Moreno to sell the team.

Finally, it’s been a very disappointing season so far for the LA Kings. They have the 4th worst offense in the league and the 3rd worst power play. They are barely hanging on to one of the last wild card spots. To make matters worse, their coach Jim Hiller should be coaching in a beer league, and their front office is led by a General Manager who’s last real success came when dial up internet was hot. Things are so bad, Philip Danault, a solid veteran defensive center, who hasn’t scored this year, requested a trade, and the team granted him his wish by sending him to Montreal. The team is certainly no better today than they were yesterday. The only way the team will have meaningful change is if they miss the playoffs entirely, and clean house from coaching staff to front office. Anything less will be simply spinning their wheels. Sadly, we will probably see that instead.

Monday December 15th , 2025

That was another huge win by the Rams yesterday over the Lions. It was really imperative that they got that win to maintain the #1 seed in the NFC. In my mind, Matt Stafford clinched the MVP with that victory. He’s been elite wire–to-wire this season. The offense really looks unstoppable at home because of him, so if the playoffs go through SOFI Stadium, this team has to feel good about their chances of coming out of the NFC. If Devantae Adam’s hamstring is bad, and it sounds like it is, just sit him for the rest of the regular season. There’s really only one more tough game before the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Chargers came away with a huge victory over the Chiefs yesterday, which eliminated Kansas City from the playoffs. You’ve gotta feel bad for Patrick Mahomes, who tore his ACL, and I’m sure that’s what will get most of the headlines along with the Chiefs missing the playoffs. However the Bolts should be commended for how they have gutted through the last few weeks. Justin Herbert has been out there like Jamie Lannister from Game of Thrones, with one hand playing quarterback. He’s found a way to be effective, and the team is slowly getting healthier. Two of their last 3 games will be tough, with the Texans and Broncos fighting for playoff positioning. However, I’m really liking the Chargers chances of ending up with the 5th seed and getting a favorable first round game against the Steelers.

To the NBA, where the Lakers got back in the win column last night with a victory on the road against the Suns. That was quite a game with Dillon Brooks impoloding at the end, which basically gave the Lakers the win after blowing a 20-point lead. The blown lead is going to happen in today’s NBA with the 3-point shot. However, people have been knit picking the Lakers and not calling them “true contenders” like Rich Paul and others. Before I get to Rich Paul, let’s start with the roster. The Lakers are a good team. And everyone likes to jump to stone cold-black and white conclusions, because people that cover the NBA are generally simple minded. However, this team can actually improve a lot of their shortcomings with some pieces they have on the roster. Adou Thiero gives the Lakers a component of athleticism and length that they do not have, and badly need. He should be given more minutes with a longer leash to help with their perimeter defense. The same goes for Jarred Vanderbilt, who finally got back in the lineup last night. That will immediately help their defensive shortcomings. The Lakers three best players in Luka, Austin, and Lebron, may not give them the best defensive lineup. However, they can balance this out by playing Rui off the bench to give them more scoring from their 2nd unit, while also adding more defense to the starting lineup with Vando or Marcus Smart. I’m not sitting here telling you they are better than OKC right now, or anybody is. Just don’t sell this team short. As for Rich Paul, he acknowledged Lebron isn’t going anywhere, so what is his end game for saying the Lakers aren’t contenders? I actually think it’s because he knows if the Lakers do win, he can point to Lebron’s legacy and tell you why he’s really the GOAT. However, Rich Paul seems to think Norman Powell and Austin Reaves are on the same level, which makes me think Rich Paul’s basketball intelligence is on the same level as the same fools on Twitter.

As for the Clippers, their complete disaster of a season continues. They’ve got 6 wins on the season, and have lost 3 in a row. Only 5 teams have more losses than them, and the Clips are playing these last few games very hard, including Kawhi Leonard. The problem is they are old, and they can’t play defense. Then the media tried tell everyone that the Clips didn’t make Ty Lue available after their last loss. He was available, but what that exposed is that there are no more local beat writers traveling with the team. Sure that is a trend in sports media with cost cutting, but let’s be honest. The Clippers haven’t earned that level of coverage with the way they are playing. Their coverage is a product of the unfortunate fact that very few people actually care about them, which Steve Ballmer really isn’t going to want to hear.

To College Ball, where UCLA suffered another loss to Gonzaga over the weekend. It’s the same story with this team in close games. They look competitive. but not quite enough to beat the elite teams in the sport. This time it just felt like UCLA could have lost by more had Gonzaga just made more of their free throws. Nevertheless, I see too much talent on this team to just be the 25th ranked team in the country, and one that at this point, will struggle to finish in the Top 4 of The Big Ten Conference. Then there was also the announcement that Mick Cronin received a 5-year extension. That can’t sit well with the Bruins alums, who are probably thinking they will be buying him out in 2 years from now, which will be more expensive. As I said to you last week, Cronin is a good coach, but stylistically, he is becoming further and further from the coach that is the right fit for the Bruins.

In baseball, if you’re a true Dodger fan you have to feel so privileged to be witnessing this. The Dodgers signed closer Edwin Diaz to a 3 year deal last week, which gives them the best closer on the market, when they badly needed a closer. This franchise is solely focused on winning and giving it’s fan base an elite product. I commend the entire Dodgers ownership for this, as well as Andrew Friedman, Stan Kasten, and the entire front office. As if that’s not enough, the Dodgers are lurking for bigger names like Tarik Skubal, Kyle Tucker, or even Cody Bellinger. Nothing can be ruled out with the Dodgers, which makes it that much more exciting! I personally would love to see Skubal and Bellinger, if nothing else, just to see the internet break.

Finally, the LA Kings are barely hanging on to 3rd place in the division. They are struggling to score big time, and they don’t defense as elite as they used to. Now comes a big road trip against the likes of Dallas, Florida, and Tampa Bay. That could mean the end of Jim Hiller as their coach. While you may think this is a good thing, it’s not. I don’t want this front office regime to order my pizza, let alone pick the next coach of this team. Knowing Ken Holland, he will probably be looking in his Rolodex for coaches from the 90’s. This organization is a complete disaster and until there is a complete overhaul from the front office on down, expect much of the same.

December 8, 2026

We start with the Rams, who had a very nice bounce back game against the Cardinals yesterday. Puka Nacua never ceases to amaze me with some of the catches he makes. I would take him over any wide receiver in the NFL. He makes remarkable catches, blocks for the Ram running backs, and can run the jet sweep when needed.  Also encouraging is the fact the O-line came up huge again! No sacks allowed, very few penalties and almost 250 yards rushing! The Rams running backs averaged almost 8 yards per carry! Couple of good tests coming up with Lions and Seahawks again. Somebody hook up Sean McVay to an IV between now and next Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Chargers have a big showdown tonight with the Eagles at SOFI. A win tonight would be huge because it would really put the Bolts in the driver seat for one of the final 3 AFC playoff spots. Not only that, but it would put them in really good position for a favorable first round matchup against the lowly winner of the AFC North. The real question is how is Justin Herbert going to look with a cast on his hand, and whether or not he will be compromised. These aren’t last seasons Eagles though. Their offense has been very inconsistent, and Saquon Barkley hasn’t been the same threat as we’ve seen before. The Chargers need to take advantage of this and get the win.

Let me get to the College Football Playoff, because you all know that as a Notre Dame alum, I’m pissed about yesterday. The moment I saw Alabama stay ranked at #9, I knew the Irish were going to get screwed. I have no problem with Miami being ranked ahead of the Irish because they beat them head-to-head. The methodology with how they wait until the end to put them ahead of Notre Dame is screwy, but the outcome is fine. However, the real issue is Alabama not dropping, after getting dump trucked in the SEC Championship game. “But Omar the games have to count! Well, just not this particular game!” ‘Bama has 3 losses, and the SEC Championship game wasn’t even competitive. What was the committee really impressed with? Their ability to actually score a touchdown in the 2nd half and not get shut out? They lost and should have dropped the way Ohio State and BYU dropped for losing their championship game. The same thing happened to USC in 2022 when they lost to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship game, yet nobody cared then and dropped them from the top 4. The same thing should apply to Alabama, they aren’t special just because they think it’s cool to marry your cousin. And for those of you that think Notre Dame should join a conference, they shouldn’t and will not just because this happened. They make way more money not being in a conference, and the conference system will be obsolete by the time they need to have one. Besides, if you know the history of College Football, you know that long ago Notre Dame was not allowed to join The Big Ten because of anti-Catholicism. Years later, they are sticking it to everyone because they make so much more money not being in a conference. I’m also proud of them for turning down a bowl game. Why let ESPN benefit from ratings from having them in that game, if they won’t be put in the CFP?

As for the local College Football squads, they both made news starting with USC. The Trojans have clinched the #1 recruiting class for 2026, which is the first non-SEC team atop the rankings in 18 years. They added 35 new recruits, with 20 signees rates 4-star or higher. The real significance of this is that the tide is slowly turning in College Football from all this SEC domination. Now paying all these players is above board, when in the south for so many years, they did it under the table, and the owner of the car dealership was paying these kids. Now that it’s legal, it’s the car maker that’s coming up with the deals to pay these kids in the bigger markets. Now for Lincoln Riley, he has to produce immediately, otherwise these kids are going to transfer. The pressure is on. Until then, you can see USC taking on TCU in the Alamo Bowl on December 30th.

Then there’s UCLA, who hired Bob Chesney as it’s coach. This probably isn’t who Bruin fans and alums were thinking about, but it could be a sneaky good hire. Chesney has James Madison University in the College Football Playoff, which the Bruins have only had the luxury of watching on TV every year. Chesney has won at every level, has a track record of developing players, and turning programs around. Can he do that in a P4 conference? Let’s put it this way. If it wasn’t Martin Jarmond that was part of this hiring process, I would have thought it was a spectacular hire.

Speaking of UCLA, in hoops they started Big Ten play last week, and rebounded nicely with two nice wins. After taking down Washington and Oregon, they can feel a little better about themselves. However, that game against Washington was a reminder of where this team can get into trouble. They try to protect leads by playing a prevent offense, and suddenly, their opponents are catching them. This is again, a Mick Cronin issue. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Cronin needs to be fired or anything like that. He’s a good coach, but he needs to adjust. He has great players, but he needs to unleash them on offense and give them more confidence to do what they do. He can still have that and maintain his defensive identity.

To the NBA, where the Lakers found the win column last night on the road against the Sixers. They are back up to the 2nd seed in the West, and look like a very nice team with Luka, Lebron, and Austin continuing to find chemistry together. However, in the background we are starting to hear noise about Giannis Antetekompo. There’s probably a very realistic conversation to be had with the Bucks that works for both teams if Milwaukee really wants to trade him. However, do you really think right now the Lakers would be better off acquiring Giannis, and giving up Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Gab Vincent, and 2 1st round picks and 1st round swaps? I sure don’t. Giannis is a great but an aging player, while Austin Reaves is 4 years younger, and suddenly emerging as an all-nba player. I would take a chance on Giannis in two summers from now if I can just sign him with my cap space. By then, OKC will probably be impacted by the salary cap and may not be as strong. Austin Reaves may be even better then too.

Then there’s the Clippers, who now have the 4th worst in the NBA. That’s right, a team with Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and Ivica Zubac, just can’t string together any wins. They also had some drama with Chris Paul, who they are now in the process of moving on from. CP3 is an outspoken player who holds people accountable, but it sure seems to me like the Clips didn’t want to be accountable at multiple levels of the organization. I do hope he can finish his career with somebody else and not go out like this. It would even be a nice story for him to finish with the Lakers, but I just don’t see how they come up with space on their roster right now. When the season started, it looked like the Clippers were going to try and be competitive for this year and next year. However, now they look like they need to start trading pieces and blow it up immediately to recoup some draft capital. Kawhi probably has no trade value, but Harden and Zubac do. There’s another issue they may have on their hands now though. With the way they traded Blake Griffin and divorced themselves from CP3, superstars may have further doubts about signing with the Clippers, if their objective is to try and rebuild their team through free agency. Kawhi Leonard isn’t actually a good example of a normal superstar who signed with them.

To baseball where the Winter Meetings are going down, and thus far its been a quiet offseason for the Dodgers. They did decide to bring back Miguel Rojas, which was a great move. However, they do need some bullpen and outfield help. Their high end bullpen options are dwindling though with Ryan Helsley, Devin Williams, and Raisel Iglesias off the market. I don’t see them giving lots of years and big money to Robert Suarez or Edwin Diaz, and nor should they give their age. There’s also some rumors according to Bob Nightengale, that the Dodgers are shopping Teoscar Hernandez. If that’s true, I can see why. I like Teo and think he’s been an emotional leader and huge contributor to the back-to-back World Series titles. However, he really wasn’t great defensively and the team does need to get younger. I wouldn’t move him just to move him, but if a team wants to take him and assume his full salary for the last two years, and it allows you to get Cody Bellinger or Tarik Skubal, it’s probably worth considering. Keep in mind though it’s Bob Nightengale, who’s sources aren’t exactly highly reliable.

Finally, the Angels added another cheap pitcher with hopeful upside in Alec Manoah. This guy was actually a Cy Young Finalist 3 years ago, but has struggled with injuries since then. I can see the vision on paper. Manoah, Grayson Rodriguez, and Reid Detmers all high upside pitchers they can put in their rotation next year, along with Yusei Kikuchi. The problem with this theory is it’s assuming that the Halos player development can elevate the performances of most of those pitchers. That’s a very bold assumption, and not one I would bet on.

December 1st, 2025

The Rams suffered a tough loss yesterday, but it really wasn’t a bad one. They went on the road to the east coast and got caught in a trap game, against a very hungry Panthers team in pouring rain. Matt Stafford was due to eventually turn the ball over, and that he did, 3 times. That’s ok. Better to happen now than in the playoffs, or other critical games down the stretch. If anything, this loss might actually make the better down the stretch. It would have been nice to build a bit of a lead over Philadelphia and Seattle in the NFC, but that’s ok. The mindset now should be to win the next 3 in a row. Games against Arizona, Detroit, and Seattle sound challenging, but the Rams also won 3 in a row just before this too.

As for the Chargers, they took down the Raiders at home, but there was a price in doing so. They lost Justin Herbert to a broken hand. It remains to be seen if Herbert will miss any time. Let’s be real though, if he does miss time, the Chargers could be in danger of missing the playoffs. The Bolts have had their injury woes, but they are still the 5th seed in the AFC with 5 games left to play in their season. The Chiefs are out of the playoffs, the Ravens are struggling, the Bills look beatable. The Patriots and Broncos look flawed and inexperienced. The AFC hasn’t looked this wide open in a long time, and the Bolts can take advantage of it if things break right for them. However, it all starts with whether or not their star quarterback is going to miss time.

To the NBA, where the Lakers keep rolling. They took down the Pelicans last night for their 7th straight win. They have the 2nd best record in the West and the 2nd best record in the West and the 3rd best record in the Association. Are all you casuals still waiting to see how it goes with Lebron waiting to fit in with Luka and Austin before deciding how good this team is? Spoiler alert, they are an excellent team. I never said they were going to beat OKC, but at this point who can? However, they should be considered as a team that could end up in the Western Conference Finals. To get beyond that they will need to improve their 3-point shooting, their bench scoring, and their ability to defend the rim. Much of that can be improved just by moving Rui to bench and shooting more 3’s. They’ll have to find a way to defend better too, but I think more Gabe Vincent in the lineup will help the perimeter defense, and more Lebron will help their rebounding and defense too. There’s still a lot more upside to this team than you may think, despite what those buffoons that call themselves NBA analysts might tell you.

Meanwhile, the Clippers catastrophe continues. They have lost 4 straight, and are just 5-15 on the season. Don’t tell me it’s because they need to get healthier, or even because they don’t have Kawhi. Even when they’ve had him in the lineup they still look old as hell, playing at a slow pace, and terrible defensively. They relay heavily on isolation ball from Kawhi, Harden, and Zubac, which can be somewhat predictable. My favorite part of all this though was after a loss the other night Kawhi said “We need more talent”. Good one Kawhi. Perhaps if you quit your job as a part-time Amazon worker and showed up to play basketball for the Clippers more often, the talent part wouldn’t be an issue. For those of you that are naive enough to believe this was a championship team at any point in the last 3 years, now you know that is far from the case. The only question now is whether or not they can just be a respectable team and not give OKC an excellent lottery pick this coming summer.

In College Football, USC took down UCLA at the Coliseum over the weekend. The Bruins have ended a disastrous season, and have a lot to figure out. The Trojans on the other hand have to leave you asking yourself if this is going well or not. USC got 9 wins, and if they go to the Alamo Bowl and win, it’s 10 wins. That’s better than last season, and after making a move to the Big Ten, it represents progress. Is that progress good enough for Trojan fans and are they behind Lincoln Riley? I’m sure you will get a lot of mixed reviews. Multiple things can be true at the same time. Riley is making progress with this group, and he’s going to be bringing in more talent. However, we are now in a place where 12 teams make the College Football Playoff. In Los Angeles, you are judged by a much higher standard of excellence, so the expectation should be that Riley need to get this team into the CFP consistently. We’ll have to wait another season to see if he can live up to those lofty expectations.

Just when it looked like UCLA basketball was getting better, they lay a total egg against Cal. The Bruins offense looked extremely sluggish, and Donovan Dent has been having his struggles. I think we are reaching the point with Mick Cronin where we have to start asking if he is the right fit for UCLA. I don’t doubt that he is a very good coach. However, his “tough love” approach to big-time recruits at UCLA doesn’t always seem to work. It may have worked with guys like Jaime Jaquez and Tyger Campbell, but it doesn’t work in the era of NIL and for a lot of the glitz and glamour players. Over time we see his players lose confidence, end up in his dog house, and it crushes the morale of his team, and limits the teams ceiling. The tough love approach might be more appropriate in the Big East, or schools that aren’t recruiting 5 star recruits. This might also explain why we’ve seen the Bruins be in close games against a lot of elite teams over the last few years, including in the tournament, but unable to finish them. Let’s hope he can prove me wrong and regain momentum, but at this point, one has to ask themselves the question.

To baseball where there still isn’t much news on the Dodgers to report. However, a couple of things did pop up that are worth discussing. The Blue Jays signed former Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease to a 7 years $210 million contract. While I credit the Blue Jays for spending money to try and improve their team, I’m convinced that they didn’t actually watch Cease pitch last year. Dude is basically a #3 starter at his best, and had a one year outlier where he looked closer to a #2 starter 2 years ago. If Cease got that much, then I’m sure Tarik Skubal is probably thinking he’s worth about $60 million a year. If the Dodgers are going after him, they should be prepared to pay him that for about a decade. There’s also a few trade rumors floating around about Tyler Glasnow and him being on the trade block. However, I have a very hard time believing that the Dodgers would trade him. The Dodgers just need him to be great in October, and that’s exactly what he was. No reason to trade him when he’s on a reasonable deal.

Finally, the Angels are in talks to buy out Anthony Rendon from his disastrous contract, and the final $38 million on it. Rendon will likely retire, but if I’m the Halos, that’s not good enough. Rendon should be punished by making him play out the the final year of his contract in AAA, staying on army cots or in one star hotels, while eating at Applebee’s most nights. He was totally lazy, and a terrible professional the last 6 years. Rendon was so useless and buying him out gives the Halos no more financial flexibility, so buying him out does nothing. In fact, it’s also really annoying buying him out because we can’t tell anymore jokes about him if he retires.

November 24,2025

The Rams look incredible. They beat up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last night on Sunday Night Football 34-7. Matt Stafford is playing some MVP ball right now, throwing 3 touchdown passes, while the defense looks elite, coming up with 2 interceptions. They are now 9-2, and are currently the #1 seed in the NFC with six weeks to go. There’s still a lot of football left to be played, including some touch matchups against the Lions and Seahawks. However, the Rams are going to be getting some guys back from injury, including Tutu Atwell, Tyler Higbee, Ahkello Witherspoon, and Rob Havenstein. The schedule may have some tough games left, but this team might be getting even better in the coming weeks The Rams are for real are looking like a real Super Bowl threat, which should have their fans in SoCal ecstatic!

Elsewhere around the NFL, don’t look now, but the Ravens have won 5 straight and are back in a playoff spot. Patrick Mahomes remembered he was Patrick Mahomes, as the Chiefs got by the Colts in OT to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Eagles were in a very generous mood given that it’s the holiday season, giving away a 21-0 lead and lost to the Cowboys 24-21. The Raiders got punked by Shadeur Sanders and the Browns, and then sent Chip Kelly packing. Something tells me UCLA fans don’t feel so bad that he got fired.

To the NBA, where the Lakers beat the Jazz last night for their 4th straight. Don’t ever give this team 5 days off like they just had, because they looked pretty rusty despite finding the win column. The Lake Show are 12-4 and 2nd in the Western Conference, which is pretty solid. They are also better with Lebron James, who returned from injury last week. If you think otherwise, you’re a fool. They are good, but it’s just a matter of whether or not they are good enough with a team like OKC in their conference, who are looking like monsters. The real story though is the firing of Jesse and Joey Buss from the organization last week. This is a clear reminder that family businesses are complicated and can get ugly. Jesse and Joey were running the Lakers scouting and G-League departments, and doing an excellent job mind you. However, their expectation was that one day they would run basketball operations, because that’s what their father, Dr Jerry Buss, wanted. However, once Jeanie Buss fired her brother and Mitch Kupchak in 2017, she was determined to abandon that plan and take the franchise in another direction. It’s clear that the Buss trust was ambiguous enough to allow Jeanie to take control and get enough support from the other siblings to sell the team and cash out. Joey and Jesse are 20 years younger than her, so of course they want to run the team, and voted against the sale to Mark Walter. That was enough for Jeanie to go act like Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, and get her brothers fired. Since the brothers said they haven’t talked to her or Rob Pelinka in months, did they just get a letter from HR with their Christmas Bonus letting them know they were fired? I can only imagine that Jeanie must truly hate her siblings to do this to them, and she must be walking around with a chip on her shoulder from things they have said or done to her in the past. That’s unfortunate. It’s amazing that Jesse and Joey were as successful as they were with the dysfunction that was going on within the organization. I do look forward to seeing what the Lakers can do with people that have better working relationships. With that being said, hopefully the scouting and development will be just as good, because it’s been great for the franchise.

Meanwhile, the Clippers are in really big trouble. They got Kawhi back yesterday, but it didn’t matter, as they got smoked by the Cavaliers. The Clippers are old, they don’t play defense, and they are lacking an identity. To make matters worse, OKC has their 1st round pick unprotected this year, so there is no benefit to tanking. In fact, the rest of the league is going to hate them for it. Now there are rumors about a John Collins for DeMar Derozan trade with the Sacramento Kings, in desperation to turn it all around. Why? So they can get even older? Imagine if after all they are going through, Adam Silver hands down a punishment for circumventing the salary cap with Kawhi’s contract. The Clips could be in shambles for the next decade, like they were still owned by Donald Sterling. Then there’s the retirement announcement by CP3. Paul is definitely among the top 5-10 point guards to ever play the game. It’s a bit surprising for a player as good as he was, he played for so many teams. He was an amazing competitor, but the real shame is that David Stern vetoed that trade to the Lakers. Seeing him and Kobe on a team together, and potentially an in his prime Dwight Howard, would have been fascinating and fun to watch. Paul’s career outlook probably would have been a lot different too.

In College Football, USC’s playoff hopes went down in flames on Saturday with their loss to Oregon. This game proved what we thought all along. The Trojans have a good football team, but not a great one. Is that the fault of Lincoln Riley? Well somewhat. However, it’s also the fault of those that decided to move to the Big Ten. The competition is that much more fierce, and there’s nothing Riley can do to fix that. If USC goes 10-3 with let’s say an Alamo Bowl win, in their 2nd year in the Big Ten, you can’t be too unhappy about that. However, once the big guns come in next year with that recruiting class, the expectations should be higher. That means playoff or bust. Whether or not Riley wants to stick around though is another question worth asking.

As for the UCLA football, the went crashing back to earth win another loss, this time against Washington. The Bruins had a nice run in the middle of the season when they played with pride, but ultimately, the talent just wasn’t there for this team to compete. The Bruins will face the Trojans next week at the Coliseum for rivalry week, but the real questions that are more important than what’s happening on the field are whats happening with their coaching search, and where will they play their game next season.

To baseball, where the offseason rumors are cooking up on the hot stove, especially when it comes to the Dodgers. As I mentioned earlier, they shouldn’t be handing out a deal of 5 of more years and $400+ million to a player like Kyle Tucker. He’s nice, but not necessary. I don’t see them doing that despite the rumors. There’s also some noise around a reunion with Cody Bellinger via free agency, or Corey Seager via trade. Seager makes way too much money to be considered, and misses way too many games. Bellinger on the other hand might be a more reasonable option depending on the cost, especially if he’s a 3 year contract or less. He’s not MVP Bellinger, but he can still be productive at the plate, and can play multiple defensive positions very well. However, I still think the one move they should consider if available, is a trade for Tarik Skubal. He’s arguably the best pitcher in baseball, and you can never have enough pitching. Plus, he’s not going to sign a contract extension with anyone, so I don’t think the return the Tigers can get is as overwhelming as they think. Of course they still have to pay the man a few hundred million, but they can do anything they want. They are the Dodgers!

As for the Angels, they made an interesting move last week, trading Taylor Ward to the Orioles for Grayson Rodriguez. On paper when you first look at this move, you actually think the Halos made a great move here. Then you realize that Rodriguez missed all of last year with an arm injury. Here’s the thing, if any other team made this move, my reaction would be that it’s a very cagey move, with huge upside, and that Rodriguez could be a potential ace for the Halos. Rodriguez has 4 years that are cost controlled as a starter, while Ward is a pending free agent. It sounds great until you realize that Rodriguez has to revive his career after injuries with the Angels. There will be little player development help, so he’ll almost have to do it off of talent alone. That’s what happens when Arte Moreno is your owner!

On the ice, the LA Kings finally gave their fans something to feel good about, which was the fact they re-signed winger Adrian Kempe. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why a great player like Kempe decided to stay with an organization that is run by complete buffoons, especially when he could have made more money on the open market. Nevertheless, the Kings should be thanking their lucky stars he really like LA, and wanted to stay. Now their problem is that they need a top line center to replace the aging Anze Kopitar and Philip Danault. It also doesn’t help that Drew Doughty is injured again. The Kings need to be very careful because they are not winning regulation games against crummy teams. That could cost them a playoff spot down the line later in the season if they don’t get their act together.

November 17, 2025.

I had the privilege of attending the showdown between the Rams and Seahawks yesterday at SOFI Stadium, where the Rams came away victorious. Some might say that was an ugly win, but it really wasn’t as ugly as people might suggest. Sam Darnold always turns into Betty Crocker against the Rams, cooking up 4 turnovers, but LA only won 21-19, in a game that came down to a missed field goal at the end. However, the Seahawks have one of the best defenses in the NFL too, which prevented the Rams from ever putting the game away. There is no need to be apologetic. The Rams beat a Super Bowl contender, and they are a Super Bowl contender. I can’t forget about that spectacular 50-yard punt with 1:41 left by Ethan Evans. You can call it ugly if you want, but to me it shows that this team is healthy, deep and talented enough to win a game like this, against a very good team. It also shows they can win games in a variety of ways too. I’m usually not a fan of 3rd jersey’s, but I did really like those midnight black uniforms. Now if only Philly can lose another game so the Rams can move into 1st place in the NFC.

Meanwhile, what the heck happened to the Chargers? They got dismantled by the Jaguars on the road 35-6. The Bolts offensive line offered about as much protection for Justin Herbert as a busted condom. Herbert threw for only 81 yards and was under constant pressure. The Chargers acquired Trevor Penning from New Orleans to try and overcome their offensive line woes. However, after yesterday they probably want to send him back to the Saints for a couple of beignets and an iced coffee from Cafe Du Monde on Bourbon Street. There have been some inconsistencies with the injuries, but there’s still good news. The Chargers are still in a wild card spot, they have a bye week to get some reinforcements back with Eric Rogers, Savion Washington, and maybe even Omarion Hampton. They’ll also get to play the Raiders after the bye week, so things are looking up despite the rough week. Kansas City is also just a mere 5-5 and the Broncos are a questionable 1st place team, so the Chargers need to take advantage of their opponents struggles, especially with an AFC that is feeling more and more wide open.

In the NBA, the Lakers are off to a really nice 10-4 start and Lebron James hasn’t even played a game yet. I don’t want to overreact too much to the complete beat down they suffered against Oklahoma City last week, but I think there’s a few things that are apparent right now. OKC is the best team in the league right now, and it’s going to take a very disciplined style of basketball to beat them. That means limiting turnovers and moving the ball and not taking bad shots against their elite defense. It just so happens that this guy Lebron James is still pretty good at basketball, and can help the Lakers in those areas. I suppose some of you may not be familiar with him because you think he should be traded for a pair of used socks, but trust me, he will help. The Lakers shouldn’t worry about OKC right now, they should worry about getting better everyday as a team, and getting healthier, while building chemistry. That by itself could make them as good, if not better than everybody else other than OKC in the Association.

As for the Clippers, they have a major catastrophe on their hands so far, starting just 4-9 on the year. The Clips got off to a slow start a couple of years ago and recovered, but this situation is far more precarious. The team is older, and they don’t seem to have much of an identity as they did in previous years. They also aren’t nearly as good defensively as they were then. That’s been problematic, and even when Kawhi Leonard was in the lineup, they didn’t look much better. However, the real problem with them not turning things around is that OKC has their 1st round pick this year. So the last thing the entire league needs is for OKC to get another top 3 lottery pick to make their team even stronger than what they are now. See Laker fans….it’s all fun and games with the Clips losing games, until you learn that they are really screwing the rest of the league.

Speaking of the NBA, I have to address this Nico Harrison situation with the Mavs. Harrison was fired by the Mavericks last week, and of course the casual NBA fan are going to say it was because he made one of the worst trades of all-time by trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers. However, anybody that knows anything about basketball knows that Nico is just the fall guy here for new owner Patrick Dumont, who gave him the greenlight to trade Luka. Nico also made moves that put the Mavericks in the finals the year before, so he’s not some complete disaster of a GM people will make him out to be. I also think that firing him now is simply a weak PR move by Dumont because fans in town are calling him an idiot. Of course your team isn’t going to be good when Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis are injured. What did you expect? If he had any real guts, he would let Nico stick around and see what happens once Kyrie and AD get on the floor together. I mean that was their vision right? So why not at least see the vision through? It’s not like fans will think Dumont isn’t an idiot anymore because he fired Nico.

To College Football where USC came up with a big win against Iowa at home on Saturday against the Coliseum. You have to be fair to Lincoln Riley for this one. USC showed toughness, their defense stepped up, and they did it in rainy conditions. We haven’t seen much of that type of resiliency and fortitude from them. Makai Lemon and Jayden Maiava reminded everybody that they are not only talented, but tough too with big catches and throws when it mattered. USC’s playoff hopes are still alive, but it’s very simple. If they go to Oregon next week and win, they get in. There’s probably more people that believe in Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy, than those that believe the Trojans can go up there and beat the Ducks. I’m actually surprised that the line opened at only -9.5 for Oregon, which shows much respect to USC. Maybe even too much.

Then there’s UCLA, who got trounced by Ohio State. The magic of the Bruins win streak is definitely over, and they really didn’t have much of a chance against the top team in the nation. Nico Iamaleava was out with an injury, and even though Luke Duncan performed respectably after half time, this thing was over when they got off the team bus. The real question for UCLA will be whether or not they are going to play at SOFI Stadium next year, and who their next coach will be. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be James Franklin, who would have been a great hire for the program.

Speaking of UCLA, basketball season is underway, and the new look Bruins are 3-1 in the early going, ranked #15 in the country. They suffered a close loss to #5 Arizona on Friday at the Intuit Dome, which is nothing to be ashamed about. Overall it seems like the Bruins have a lot more talent on offense this year, especially with Donovan Dent in the backcourt, a more experienced Tyler Bilodeau in their front court, and a versatile center in Xavier Booker. However, the last few seasons during these big games, UCLA tends to go stretches without scoring in crunch time. UCLA blew an 8-point lead in the final 7-minutes. In that stretch and many others we’ve seen, the offense looks befuddled and disorganized. Look it’s a long season, and Cronin teams tend to get better as the season goes on, so the Bruins are going to be in the tournament and compete against some of the top teams in the country. Their defense will be good. However, if they really want to be a true contender, they will have to play better in crunch time on the offensive end. That’s on Mick Cronin.

Not much to report on the Dodgers off-season activity, as baseball usually gets off to a slow start in the off-season. However, congratulations to Shohei Othani on winning his 4th MVP last week, and 3rd consecutive. He beat out Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto. Sometimes, we take people’s greatness for granted, but don’t do that with Ohtani. The man is modern day Babe Ruth, and every time he takes the field, there is the potential for something amazing to happen. Meanwhile, everyone seems to be waiting to see how aggressive the Dodgers will be spending money this offseason. They can certainly do whatever they want, but I don’t think dishing out 5 years and $100 million for Edwin Diaz, or 10 years and $400 million for Kyle Tucker are in their plans. However, I’m sure those players would be quite interested in joining the Boys in Blue.

Finally, we’ve unfortunately been hearing a lot about gambling in sports these days. We heard all about the NBA scandal with Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, and potentially others. Then there was the indictment of some MLB players such as Emmanuel Clase, recently for their role in allegedly giving out information on prop bets. We also heard over the weekend that the NBA has asked a number of teams, including the Lakers (and yes they had to say the Lakers to get people to read the headline) for their cell phones to further investigate any gambling wrong doing. Perhaps now Jared Vanderbilt will finally go to jail for all those airballs he’s been shooting. In all seriousness though, the idea of legalizing gambling sounded great, until more illegal activity started popping up. That’s far more problematic to all sports leagues, because if suddenly people believe that sports aren’t real or they are fixed, it’s meaningfulness is irrelevant. We haven’t even fully legalized it in all states yet, and we’re hearing more about these incidents popping up in baseball, basketball, and I’m sure you’ll hear more about it in other leagues too. More than anything, it makes you ask yourself if we should back off on the legalization of sports gambling, because we’re losing the integrity of it all, which comes first.

November 10, 2025

It’s been over a week now and Los Angeles is still basking in the glory of the Dodgers 2nd straight World Series title. I’ve been hearing a lot of questions raised about who the better team was in the series against the Blue Jays. The Dodgers needed to have about 10 things go right in that series to win it, especially in the last 2 games. In those big moments, it was the Dodgers that came out on top, whether it be due to luck, skill, or some combination of the two. As great as the Blue Jays were, they simply weren’t as great in the biggest moments of the series. It certainly doesn’t make them a failure by any stretch of the imagination. It’s cruel someone had to lose, but just don’t tell me that the better team didn’t win.

There’s also the question about what the Dodgers do from here to try and make it a 3rd straight World Series title. While the core of their team is still very good, they are not young. Freddie Freeman is 36, Shohei Ohtani is 31, Mookie Betts is 33, Blake Snell is 32, Teoscar Hernandez is 33, Tayler Glasnow is 32, Max Muncy is is 35, and Tommy Edman is 30. These guys definitely deserve the right to compete for another title, and glad to see the options for Muncy and Alex Vesia were picked up. However, the Dodgers should really not be signing anybody this off-season to any 7-10 year deals that are another $400-500 million. As tempting as it is to make a push for a Kyle Tucker or Tarik Skubal, they are likely to age poorly. The good news though? They have arguably the #1 farm system in baseball. Most of that talent is in the outfield and about 2 years away, but it’s certainly a good problem to have as they will have to figure out how to get younger in the next 2 years.

In the NFL, the Rams took down the 49ers yesterday in Santa Clara. I know you are what your record says you are, but this could team easily be undefeated right now. They should have beaten the Eagles in Philly a few weeks ago, and they should have also beaten the 49ers the first time as well. In any case, the Rams are firmly in the hunt for the #1 seed in the NFC more than halfway through the regular season. They will have a monster matchup next week at home against the Seahawks, with the 1st place on the line. The play calling on 3rd and 4th down has been much better by Sean McVay, and the offensive line has been doing a brilliant job protecting Matt Stafford. I’d really like to see the defense get more pressure on the opposing QB, but we’ve seen them do that earlier in the season, so hopefully yesterday was just an aberration. They will also have to get more consistency from both their punting and kicking game if they want to do some damage.

Meanwhile, the Chargers dominated the Steelers yesterday 25-10 on Sunday Night Football. The Bolts defense completely smothered the Steelers all night, holding them to a mere 221 yards. Aaron Rodgers looked like he should be hosting Jeopardy, rather than staring an NFL game last night. Justin Herbert was solid, and for a team with as many injuries as the Chargers have, a 7-3 record is pretty impressive. Ironically, the Broncos 8-2 record seems like complete garbage even though they are in 1st place, while it’s the Chiefs and their 5-4 record and building momentum, who seem the most dangerous. Also congratulations to Keenan Allen, who made his 956th career reception last night, which gave him the most receptions in franchise history.

In College Football, UCLA got taken down by Nebraska. All the momentum they had after a few wins in a row is gone, and this is pretty much who we thought they were. However, the real story is that the Bruins are close to an agreement to move to SOFI stadium, by ultimately breaking their lease at the Rose Bowl. I don’t really think this is as great of an idea as it sounds. SOFI might be a slightly smaller stadium and 13 miles closer, but the traffic from Westwood to Inglewood makes the distance negligible. SOFI stadium is also not exactly the collegiate feel that the Rose Bowl is, and obviously doesn’t have the history they do in Pasadena. Ultimately though, if UCLA doesn’t fix their product on the field soon, they can play at SOFI or on the moon and nobody will show up.

As for the Trojans, they took down Northwestern at home on Friday night at the Coliseum. They are 7-2 and now up to #17 in the AP Poll, and 4th in the Big Ten. If the Trojans can win out, which would include wins against #20 Iowa and #9 Oregon, that would probably be enough to get them into the College Football Playoff. That might also quiet down a lot of the noise that Lincoln Riley and the Trojans are both looking for a divorce from one another. That’s still a tough road for the Trojans to get through just to get to the playoff though. Jaiden Maiava will probably take some heat for Friday’s mediocre performance, but he had a lot of good throws that were just dropped by his receivers. They’ll need to show a lot more if they want to win out.

In the NBA, the Lakers were starting to roll, then they decided not to show up in Atlanta. The Hawks have even more injury problems than the Lakers do. I’m going to chalk up Saturday’s loss to having a few too many chicken wings at Magic City the night before. The Lakers are probably another week away from getting Lebron, Austin, and Gabe Vincent back in their lineup. In the meantime, in the Western Conference you simply cannot bank enough wins, given how competitive it is. Right now however, it feels like it’s OKC’s world and everybody else is just living in it.

Then there’s the Clippers, who fell to 3-6 over the weekend with a loss to the Suns. The Clips have now lost 4 in a row, and this is a familiar story. Kawhi Leonard has missed the last 3 games because of an ankle injury, and is expected to miss at least 3 more. Kawhi is definitely a big deal, but the Clips have been relatively healthy otherwise for the first 9 games. James Harden has only missed 1 game, and Bradley Beal has missed 2. However, the Clips built their team on the idea that they have the depth to overcome some absences here and there from some of their veteran players. So far that seems like the same story we’ve seen from them for the last 6 years. The idea of the Clippers sounds promising, but never really translates into any real success on the court.

Finally, UCLA Basketball opened the season last week, and collected a couple of unimpressive wins over Eastern Washington and Pepperdine. Mick Cronin nearly lost his mind after the first game, given that the Bruins allowed 53% shooting from the field, which allowed the Eagles to hang around and make the game competitive. The defense got much better against Pepperdine, and so did Xavier Booker, who made a huge impact in the paint. UCLA will need to sharpen up quickly because after tonight’s game against West Georgia, they’ll take on #13 Arizona at the Intuit Dome on Friday. I wouldn’t freak out too much yet though. Mick Cronin teams have a tendency to get better as the season progresses. This week will give us a much better idea of just what kind of potential this team really has this year.

November 3, 2025

Somehow they did it! The Dodgers came back from the dead over the weekend to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays in game 7 of the World Series.  They are now back-to-back World Series Champions.   I thought for sure this team didn’t have the bullpen, or plate discipline to do it.   I thought the Blue Jays had too good of a team.  It turned out that the Dodgers have more than just talent money can buy.  They had high character role players that stepped up in big moments to deliver a championship.  That’s something the Blue Jays didn’t have.  Miguel Rojas won the series with both his glove, and his game tying l run in the 9th inning of game 7.  Andy Pages went from getting benched to making a heroic defensive play in the 9th inning of that game.  Let’s not forget Will Klein throwing 70 pitches in game 3 when he had never thrown more than 30 in a game.   Those are the guys you need to win a title.    Also, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was worth every penny of that $325 million contract he signed, even if he never pitches again.  The rest of the starters were outstanding all postseason, and I’m so happy to see Clayton Kershaw retire as a World Champion.

I’m sure much of the talk will be about whether or not the Dodgers are ruining baseball. However, what they are doing is actually great for the game.  20 million people watched the World Series.  Dynasties in the making are great for any sport, and the Dodgers can become one in my mind with 1 more championship in the next 2 seasons.  This is a brilliantly run organization that as fans, we should be so proud of and enjoy for as long as this run lasts, because they don’t last forever.

To the NFL where the Rams handles business yesterday against the Saints at home.  Matt Stafford threw for 4 TDs, and the team dominated on both sides of the ball.  When Stafford is well protected, it feels like he can be one of the best QBs in the league.  That’s a problem the Rams have been having for a few years now, but appear to have finally fixed it.  There’s a lot to be excited about.  The Rams are a Super Bowl contender now, will have $90 mill in cap space, and 2 1st round picks this spring.  They are set up nicely for a big run!

The Chargers found the win column as well against the Titans, but it was a costly one.  The Bolts suffered injuries to two key offensive lineman, including Joe Alt, who is arguably the teams most important lineman.  In case you weren’t sure how big of a loss that was, Justin Herbert was sacked six times after that.  He still managed to come up big though, and the Chargers won a game they had to have against a team they had no business losing too.  Hope they can get creative on the o-line moving forward though, or else they could be in trouble.

In College Football, the Trojans got a solid win on the road against Nebraska on Saturday.   USC is now up to #20 in the AP Poll and looking respectable,  it probably no shot for the CFP.    I know everybody wants to bag on Lincoln Riley for not being tough, but the Trojans rallied and used the toughness of a run game to overcome a bum passing night.   They’ve got Northwestern and Iowa coming up next at home, which are two very winnable games.

The Lakers have won 3 in a row and are now 5-2 to start the season.  If your first thought is that they should trade LeBron or Austin, I have news for you: you’re an idiot.   Put aside your “I don’t like LeBron” agendas, and your “Austin isn’t a big enough star” agendas.  Those three together can easily be on of the best trios in the NBA.  On top of that, most of you owe Rob Pelinka an apology because DeAndre Ayton, Marcus Smart, and Jake  LaRavia have been fantastic so far.  I’m liking this teams chances of quickly emerging as the 2nd best team in the West.  After that we’ll see if they can challenge OKC.

As for the Clippers, they are off to an ok start with a 3-2 record.  You would hope it wouldn’t take a buzzer beater from Kawhi to beat a winless Pelicans team, but at this stage a win is a win.The Clips at least have to feel good that Kawhi doesn’t need much ramp up and is playing at an elite level already.  Considering the Clippers have wins against the Suns, Pelicans, and Blazers, but losses against the Warriors and Jazz, it’s pretty hard so far to figure out just how good these guys are going to be.