Catching up

Man, I've really been lazy lately. Lots of stuff going on, and not much of a desire to write about any of it. Anyway, this seems like a good time to start catching up:

• The Angels have finally, for the first time in three years, been mathematically eliminated from the playoff hunt. Expect a longer post-mortem here sometime shortly after the end of the season. I'd imagine that like last year, I'll do my position by position breakdown, outlook, and what I jokingly like to refer to as analysis. Short preview: It's the defense that did them in. No matter how much they needed a big bat, or another bullpen arm, ultimately they were sunk by allowing over 140 errors and 80 unearned runs. It's tough to win on pitching and defense when you can't play defense. It didn't help that this team seemed to lack the magic. Time for a new monkey.

• The Bruins looked downright pathetic against Washington on Saturday. They came out blazing in the first quarter, and they were so domininant that it looked like their inability to put the ball in the endzone wasn't going to be a problem. But Washington made adjustments, the Bruin braintrust didn't, and the result was predictable. The talent is there, but they need a better gameplan. Still, fundamentally they appear to be better defensively than they have been in years. But honestly, if they can't beat Washington, they aren't going to beat U$C, ASU, Oregon, Cal, or Notre Dame. That means they have to beat Arizona, OSU, Stanford, and WSU to get to six wins. I don't like those odds. It's going to be a long season, and I'd put the odds on Dorrell getting canned at better than 50/50. I'm not a knee jerk Dorrell hater, but that effort by the coaching staff on Saturday was unacceptable.

• In my last round of the year (and possibly ever?), I fired a 79 at Dubs on Saturday. This one was planned in May, and I wasn't going to stick the guy who has the permanent tee time with my $135 green fee. Kind of a weird 79, with a bad hole followed by two good holes, and so on, until bogeying the last two holes. Played the whole round with one ball, though. A real accomplishment.

Here's a cool Teenage Fanclub video.

• Hockey season gets underway soon, and I'm actually really looking forward to seeing the Kings play this year, especially O'Sullivan and Kopitar. I think their defense stacks up to be really solid, and if they can get some improvement from the likes of Cammy, Brown, and Frolov, they could surprise some people. Lord, just please get into the playoffs this season. That's all I ask. And beat the fucking Ducks.

• I'm gonna be home at the beginning of November for a couple of days attending a wedding in Palm Springs, but I'll probably take a day on either side of the weekend. Might be a good time for a small halosphere get-together since it will be the only time I'm ever home when Welch isn't in France.

Anyway, that's all for now. But keep watching this space!