UCLA 62; UC Berkeley 46

Another slow start from the Bruins. They seem to have gotten into the habit of taking their opponents best shots in the first ten minutes before letting things settle down, at which point the Bruins take control and don't look back. That's not unexpected. Teams get up to face the Bruins, as they should. When you're a top five team, you have to expect teams to come out fired up. To their credit, the Bruins never seem to look rattled. When Ryan Anderson hit a 30 foot jumper while the shot clock expired, or when he went he lost the Bruins defense and was rewarded with an uncontested dunk, the Bruins didn't panic. They play a steady game, at their pace, and eventually they wear their opponents down and come out on top. They did it against WSU. They did it against Arizona. They did it against ASU. They did it against U$C.

They have a knack for knowing when to pounce, and when they found themselves down by eight points roughly 10 minutes into the game, they went on a 7-0 run over the next few minutes, and ended up outscoring Cal 20-8 over the final 10 minutes for a four point half time lead. They continued the trend in the second half, eventually stretching the lead out to 15 points before calling off the dogs with five minutes to go.

Aaron Afflalo was yet again the Bruins' best player, scoring 25 points, with 20 coming in the second half. On the defensive end, he gave Ayinde Umbaka fits (unfortunately for Ubaka, an intestinal virus hampered him as well), holding him to 0 points on 0-8 shooting and only two assists. Josh Shipp was the only other Bruin in double figures, adding 12 points, coming mostly on twisting, driving layups and put backs. LRMAM, Lo Mata, and Al Aboya cleaned up the glass, with 11, 8, and 8 rebounds respectively, with 10 of those 27 boards coming at the offensive end.

On the other side of the floor, Cal got decent performances from freshman Ryan Anderson and sophomore Theo Robertson, who finished with sixteen points, many coming on uncontested dribble drives from the perimeter, as the Bruin D got caught too far away from the basket a time or two.

Another solid performance, with the game never in doubt after the first 20 minutes. They're guaranteed a split on a tough road trip, and head to Palo Alto on Sunday to attempt the sweep against Trent Harris' Cardinal, led by the shot blocking Lopez twins, Brook and Robin. Stanford hammered U$C last night by 15 on the strength of Brook Lopez's triple double (18 points, 11 rebounds, and an astounding 12 blocked shots). If they can close the Bruins down on the interior, it could be a long night. UCLA is a guard oriented team, but that doesn't mean they're perimeter oriented. They'll need to get to the basket to be effective, and that could be tough against a team that blocked an incredible 19 shots last night against the Trojans. On the other hand, Stanford turned the ball over 20 times last night, and if they can't take care of the basketball, the Bruins will look to get out in transition, and that could be a key. Maples is always a tough place to play, but getting a sweep up north would be a nice step towards another Pac 10 championship.

Austin Stories

So the other day I had images from this old MTV sitcom called Austin Stories stuck in my head. Did some checking around the web for old images, interviews, etc. and came across this site. Also found out that the DVDs are being sold on eBay by Howard Kremer, one of the creators/stars of the series, so on a lark, I decided to buy a copy. It's run was only 12 episodes, and MTV cancelled it before it went into its second season.

The verdict: I'd put it in the pantheon, the exclusive company of Arrested Development and the Office. Seriously, it's that good. It's quirky, intelligent humor, which isn't to say it's too highbrow. It just means you have to be kinda smart to appreciate it, which means it wouldn't appeal to roughly 98% of the viewing public, at least not in a world where Two and Half Men is the #1 comedy in the country.

Fortunately, for those of you who were never exposed to this show, Youtube has the first episode in three separate parts. Enjoy. Then go buy the DVDs. You can even get them autographed by Howard.

Luc Robitaille

I didn't mention it, but the Kings retired Luc's #20 on Saturday night. Normally that would lead to a longer post like the one I just wrote for Erstad, but I kind of already did that for Luc when he broke the team goal scoring record, so I'll just link to it here.

As for the ceremony, I'll admit that I teared up a few times, but that's probably because I was a little drunk already.

Also, Kopitar is just freaking incredible. Watch the second goal in the hilight reel. Just awesome.

Darin Erstad

Pending his physical, Darin Erstad is off to the White Sox. Part of sort of doesn't care, considering I may not be able to watch much baseball next year, and though I could watch the White Sox fairly often, doing so, which requires listening to Hawk Harrelson and Darin Jackson, would probably result in me being forced to blow my brains out. So chances are that's not going to happen.

Still, there's no denying Darin Erstad's place in Angels lore. In 2000, he put together one of the finest seasons in Angels history, hitting .355/.409/.541 with 25 homers, 39 doubles, and an amazing 100 RBIs from the lead off spot. In that season, against the Yankees, he provided one the most memorable moments in the team's regular season history when he saved the game by making an amazing catch in left field in the bottom of the tenth before slamming the eventual game winning home run in the top of the 11th (props to Mo Vaughn, whose two out, three run homer off of Mariano Rivera in the top of the ninth sent the game into extra innings).

But no single at bat was ever as important as his eighth inning lead off home run in game six of the 2002 World Series against the Giants. The Angels had already cut a five run lead to three in the previous inning. But they still had a two run deficit to contend with, and with one swing of the bat, Erstad crushed a 1-1 change-up over the right field wall, and gave everyone just a little more hope. I want go so far as to say it gave the outcome an air of inevitability, but suddenly the Angels trailed by one with the heart of the lineup coming up against a depleted Giants bullpen.

His enduring image in an Angels uniform? For me, it would have to be watching him settle in under Kenny Lofton's fly ball to right center that ended the 2002 World Series. 29 years of Angels fandom (for me, anyway), culminated in that one moment.

It's a cliche to say that Erstad was "scrappy" or "a gamer", but honestly, I can think of very few players who fit that description better. There was a never a time when he gave less than everything he had. He rotated between three different positions, winning gold gloves at two of them, because that's what the team asked him to do. Not every major leaguer would do that. And players like that are invaluable because sometimes you need that flexibility to move pieces around the guys who can't or won't move.

Darin Erstad, along with Tim Salmon, epitomized the 2002 Angels. He'll always be remembered fondly by Angels fans, not only for the way he represented the Angels on the field, but off the field as well. I wish him luck on the South Side.

Indiana 43; Illinois 51

Imagine that. Illinois actually WON a game in which they had a second half lead. For those still holding out hope that the Illini have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament game, this was pretty much a must win. Pay not attention to the fact that they beat an overrated Indiana team (any national ranking for Indiana is an over-ranking). The Illini had to beat a ranked team, and they had to prove to themselves that they can close a team out when leading in the second half.

Remember when the Illini were fun to watch? Hell, even when they had a rotating line of butchers at small forward earlier in the decade, they still had exciting guys who could bring you out of your seat. This year's team is just kind of boring.

As the score indicates, the Illini did it with defense. They held Indiana to only five points in a fourteen minute stretch that started halfway through the first half. They held Indiana to 20 points in the second half, and six of those were in the final minute when the game had already been decided.

Sean Pruitt had big night on the boards with 13 rebounds to go with his ten points. Rich McBride has responded to the criticism by catching fire lately, adding 15 points last night, including a couple of big three pointers that stretched the lead out to eight points, a lead they would never relinquish. Fortunately, he has stepped up as Jamar Smith continues to slump, due in no small part to his injuries. Since going 6-14 for 17 points against Michigan on January 3rd, he's been awful, 11% from the field, and 7% from three. he's four for his last 37, including just 2-28 from beyond the arc. Ouch.**

The Illini shot 65% from the line, roughly on par with what they've done all season. Warren Carter was 6-6, but Sean Pruitt (who only shot three free throws), was 0-3, while Chet Frazier was 3-7. Any wonder why they've had a hard time holding leads?

I wouldn't call this a signature win, but it is a stepping stone. Perhaps they can build on it and go on a little run. If Jamar Smith gets his stroke back, and McBride keeps shooting well, and Randle gets healthy, they have a chance to go on a winning streak that could put them in tournament contention. But they pretty much need ALL of those things to happen.

**I swear I didn't read Mark Tupper's blog before I posted that. Seriously. But it's word for word what he wrote (although I wrote 'beyond' and he wrote 'behind') so I'll change it.

Following up

About a week or two ago, I posted about a piece I read concerning Major League Baseball's negotiations with DirecTV to make them the exclusive outlet for the Extra Innings package. Looks like they've reached an agreement.

Major League Baseball has decided that it doesn't want my business unless I use the television company that they've chosen. And so, I won't be a consumer of Major League Baseball anymore. That could change come May, of course, but I'm not getting DirecTV, and I'm not going to spend a full season watching MLBTV, so chances are, you won't be reading much about the Angels here anymore.

At least I'll be able to get to bed at a decent hour.

Wisconsin 71; Illinois 64 and Arizona 69; UCLA 73

Big Ten

Pretty predictable result. Quite frankly, I thought Wisconsin would roll, and Illinois made it a lot closer than I expected. They were victimized by some poor officiating, two calls in particular, but even more so by their own inability to make free throws. They shot only 60% from the line, and it seemed like every time it mattered, they could never do any better than one out of two. That was huge down the stretch.

The refs didn't help. They took two points off the board for Illinois when Brian Randle jumped to catch an entry pass and bounced to the rim for the basket and the foul. The ref inexplicably ruled that the foul was on the floor, which was interesting considering he was on the floor for about a tenth of a second. Later, with Wisconsin leading by only two and under a minute to go, Marcus Landry of Wisconsin drove the basket and ran over Brian Randle for an offensive foul. Only, somehow the basket was allowed to count. He rose, hit Randle, released the ball, yet still got credit for the basket instead of having waved off. A two point lead was stretched to four, Randle made only one of two, and that was that.

Good game for Sean Pruitt who had 19 and 14 against only one turnover. Another 0-5 for Jamar Smith, who let's face it, if this is all due to his ankles, he needs to be out of the lineup until he's healthy. On his last few shots, he missed everything. It's been really ugly, and either way, he's hurting the team right now. He's trying hard, but he just doesn't have it. Randle finished with 8 points, and seemed to lift the Illini when he started to assert himself down the stretch. He's turning into a poor man's Frank Williams. He sit out the first 30 minutes, and in the last 10 minutes, he makes you think "where the hell was he in the first 30 minutes?!" Oh well, the descent continues.

Pac 10

Boy is there egg on my face after I said Arizona would probably win. I forgot that they're loaded with guys who a) can't play defense, and b) struggle against teams that actually can play defense (UCLA, U$C, Wazzu....guess who three of Arizona's losses have come against?). A certain Cat fan once said "Defense is overrated; especially if you shoot 60% from the field." I've really only watched Arizona's last three games (48% against Oregon, 38% against U$C, and 39% against UCLA) so I guess I would have to watch a team that consistently shoots 60% to test that theory. Keep in mind that UCLA was missing its best interior defender as well.

Mustapha Shakur (11 points - six of which came in garbage time when the game had already been decided, 8 assists, 3 turnovers) showed why after four years, he remains one of the most overrated point guards in college basketball, as he was pretty much completely owned by a sophomore who wasn't supposed to be anything more than a backup this season (Collison had 14, 7, and 2). Juwann McLellan has gotten so bad that Lute is wishing he had kicked off a kid earlier in the season only so that he could reinstate him to replace McLellan. I'll give credit to Ivan Radenovic, who I actually noticed in the second half for the first time in his four years at Arizona.

A lot has been made of UCLA's "struggles" against zone defenses. Teams play zone defenses in an effort to make it difficult to get the ball inside (which often helps protect their own big men from foul trouble). The idea is to force your opponent into jump shots, and make the guards beat you. If teams want to play a style that dares Collison, Afflalo, Roll, Westbrook, and occasionally Shipp to beat them, well, good luck with that.

Deserving of recognition for UCLA:

• Alfred Aboya was only 1-4 from the field, but he grabbed 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive end, and made all of his free throws.
• Michael Roll was only 3-9 from beyond arc, but finished with 13 points and a nice assist on the interior after breaking down the defense.
• And of course, Aaron Afflalo was the player of the game yet again, going 9-14, including 3-6 from three, for 22 points. In addition, he held down Marcus Williams to 11 points., who finished with 11 points 4-12 shooting, and turned the ball over four times.
  

Not really a must win for UCLA, but it keeps them atop the conference standings along with Oregon, who is clearly the no worse than the second best team in the conference, and can prove they may very well be the best at Pauley next month. And of course, it's always good to see crybaby Lute lose again. It's off the Bay Area next week for two tough games against good teams from Cal and Stanford. It's another solid test from a conference that's loaded with good teams.

ASU 50; UCLA 60

First things first, as I type this, the idiot Arizona announcers are doing the U$C - UA game. U$C took seven seconds in the backcourt. The announcer says "U$C only has three seconds to get the ball over the mid-court line". Ya know, if you're going to broadcast games in a power conference, you should know the rules. Only the shot clock doesn't re-set. If you take four seconds to inbound the ball before calling a time out, you still get another five seconds after the time out. Similarly, if you take nine seconds in the back court before calling time out, you get another ten seconds to get the ball over the time line. Play by play guys should know that.

Now, on to the UCLA game. I've come to the realization that the reason I hate watching games against teams that play zone defenses is because I root for the two teams in the country that seem to have no clue how to play against a zone defense. It's a slow tempo, pass it around, use the clock type of game, which really isn't all that fun to watch. For now, Arizona State has to play that way. Honestly, I don't know enough about Herb Sendek to know if that's his style, but for now, we're stuck with it.

UCLA hit the shots they needed to hit, played the defense they needed to play, and despite trailing for a majority of the game, eventually pushed it out to a 12 point lead before winning by ten. Darren Collison led the Bruins with 16 points, inlcuding a couple of threes. And big ups to LRMAM who grabbed 15 boards in this one. He's been hurting, so it's good to see him get back to his strengths, which is pulling down rebounds.

I don't quite understand his thinking, but a couple of times in the second half, UCLA settled for what really were bad shots late in the shot clock (a product of the zone defense they were facing). Don McLean, UCLA's color guy, noted after they made two that those were shots they could have gotten early in the shot clock, thereby forcing the tempo. Well, sorry, but no shit. They can get bad shots at just about any point in any game. Notice that he didn't make a similar comment after they chucked up 30 footers at the end of the shot clock. The reason they don't take those shots after five seconds is because they're working (or possibly praying) that something better opens up. This isn't rocket science.

U$C beat another team looking ahead to their matchup against a top three team yet again, which means Arizona will show up hungry on Saturday. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised to see Arizona win, so long as they don't rely on a good second half from Ivan Radenovic, who seems to find new ways to come up small in the final ten minutes every year. But UCLA is due for a home loss, and Arizona has already choked away three conference games, so the law of averages says they have to win sometime. Then again, UCLA seems to come out big against good teams, except for maybe Oregon. Should be a good one.

More Stuff

Illinois

They beat a bad Minnesota team last night by 12, and they looked really good at times, but they also looked pretty bad at times. Richard McBride continued his resurgence, or maybe it's just a surgence, by going 3-7 from beyond the arc, but Rich being Rich, those were his only nine points. Warren Carter also had a nice night, finishing with 17 points, 11 boards, and five assists. Sean Pruitt was not as good. Seven points on 3-10 shooting with five turnovers. Get used to that. Minnesota realized that whenever the ball went in to Pruitt, it wasn't coming out, and even triple teamed him at times. If he can't get off against Minnesota, it could be a rough year for him until he learns to pass out of the double team. A slaughtering at the hands of Wisconsin awaits.

Angels

Boy, they get some really stupid letters at the LA Times, don't they? Here's a sampling:

• Q: I enjoy watching Vladimir Guerrero. The man has so much natural talent. Has he shown any frustration in the last few years with the Angels' inability to make the playoffs?
• A: Well, first of all, they've made the playoffs in two of his three years in Anaheim. Second, seeing as how he came from a team that used to win about 10 games per year, he's probably handling it pretty well.

• Q: Why on earth would the Angels trade Scot Shields? The guy is clutch, he's as reliable a shut-down reliever as there is in the major leagues. Getting rid of Shields, in my opinion, would be a huge mistake.
• A: The Angels haven't traded Shields, and by all accounts, they aren't "trying" to trade him. Listening to offers is not "trying". And as good as Shields is, he's not exactly Mariano Rivera. He is, in fact, 17-18 over the last two seasons. Those numbers are skewed because he comes into a lot of games when the Angels lead, i.e., games he can't win, but can lose. Still, that's a lot of losses for such a great pitcher. I love Scot Shields, but he's had his issues over the last couple of seasons.

• Q: Because Joe Saunders seems to be a six-day pitcher, why not use Bartolo Colon as a spot starter until Saunders can be a five-day pitcher?
• Joe Saunders struggled late in the season, after pitching more innings than he ever has, on normal rest, and was lights out on extra rest. That doesn't necessarily make him a "six-day pitcher". It makes him a guy in his early to mid 20s reacting to his largest workload ever. How about we let him mature a little bit before we label him a "six-day pitcher".

Lakers

Great quote from head coach Phil Jackson after last night's big road win over the Spurs

"We value a road win, especially against a team like this," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said, before adding a dose of caution. "You know that line in that movie, 'Let's not start patting each other on the back quite yet.'

I don't think that's the quote you're thinking of, Phil. I think you're thinking of this one.

UCLA

Tonight at home vs. ASU. Let's hope they don't get caught looking ahead to their game against underwhelming Arizona. Also, it would be nice if Josh Shipp were healthy so that we could see Shipp guarding Shipp (his little brother Jerren).

While I'm back on the subject of music...

...It's getting to be good concert season again, and there are finally a bunch of good acts coming to town. So far I'm set to see:

The Shins at the Congress Theater:



The Apples in Stereo at Subterranean:



And the Walkmen at Schuba's:

More music

Just found this on Youtube. Geez, check out the hair on Mark Gardener. This is a very non-shoegazer song by a very shoegazer band.

A Rare NFL Post

Trust me, there are a million other places you can go to read about yesterday's games, but really, what the hell was McCree thinking on that fourth down interception/fumble in the Chargers/Pats game? Seriously, doesn't everyone learn in third grade, while playing football at recess, that you knock down the pass on a fourth down play?

Of course, that was just one of a shitload of mistakes the Chargers made, but at this rate, the way all of the remaining playoff teams are playing (except maybe New Orleans), the Super Bowl is going to a contest to see which team can out-suck the other.

Conrats to Yutaka Fukufuji

The first Japanese born and trained player in NHL history got into his first NHL game today, making a brilliant save on Eric Brewer, before allowing a power play goal later in the period.

The Kings lost again, 6-5 to Andy Murray's St. Louis Blues. Anze Freaking Kopitar added a couple more assists, and congrats to him for his anti-climactic naming to the NHL young stars game (which actually may field a better group of players than the all-star game). Lubo Visnovsky will be the Kings sole representative in Dallas at the All-Star game.

Honestly, this might be the best we can hope for from the Kings this season. An exciting, entertaining game that puts them one step closer to the number one overall pick, or something pretty darn close. Also, it makes it more obvious that they'll be sellers at the trade deadline. The future is bright.

UCLA 65; U$C 64

Nailbiter, eh? I've gotta say, I thought this was a strange game. Usually, when a team erases a nine point deficit late in the game, they do it with a good sized run, or at least a stretch of five minutes or so where they are clearly and unequivocally the better team. I never got the feeling that UCLA put together that kind of run, but the scoreboard disagrees. I'll be honest, when Darren Collison hit his two consecutive threes, cutting a 10 point lead to 4, I thought the Bruins were back in it. When U$C ran the lead back out to 10 shortly thereafter, I thought the game was over.

But somehow, the Bruins found a way to claw back, slowly cutting into the lead, getting another three from Collison, a layup from Al Aboya, a three from Russell Westbrook, a Lo Mata layup, then a bunch of free throws. Next thing I knew, the game was tied, and Aaron Afflalo was knocking a three to give the Bruins a three point lead. A couple of Mata layups later, and the lead was up to six before U$C hit a couple three of their own, and got a gift from the Pac 10 refs in the form or a four point play for Nick Young. That set the stage for Afflalo's heroics, as he moved the free thrown line, and knocked down the game winning jumper.

Big win on the heels of the Oregon loss. And with the week off, and Josh Shipp's absence, this gives Shipp over a week and a half to heal for the homestand against Arizona. Some observations coming out of this game:

• Courtesy of my dad: Tim Floyd arguably spends more time on the floor and out of the coaching box than he spends in it. And lord knows, he spends more time on the floor than half his team. Speaking of which;
• U$C could have problems in the second half of the Pac 10 season if they continue to give most of their minutes to only six players. Especially on the road. That's a lot to ask from your starters this early in the season.
• I'm going to repeat what I wrote after the Illinois-Squawk game: Next year, I'd like to see college basketball make it a point of emphasis to stop calling defensive fouls, and start calling offensive fouls, on players who kick their defenders while shooting three pointers. Nick Young got a four point opportunity, giving U$C a last minute lead, basically because he kicked Darren Collison. I'd still like someone to tell me why in the hell that's a defensive foul.
• U$C whines more than any team I've ever seen about calls that don't go their way. It was unreal. They got 95% of the marginal calls, and they whined about every single one that went against them. Must be the thug mentality around which U$C has built its athletic programs.
• I'm not going to tell Ben Howland how to coach, but he typically uses his time outs after made baskets starting around the nine minute mark. Until Lo Mata learns to make free throws, he may want to start saving those until the end of the game so that he can switch Mata on for defense and off for offense. College refs aren't going to start enforcing the intentional foul rule anytime soon, so either deal with the hack-a-Mata, or sub more wisely.
• Galen Center? Meh. Didn't seem like a big home court advantage to me.

I hesitate to call this a big win, but the fact is that they avoided what would have been a huge loss. Nice gutcheck considering the deficit they faced in the second half while in foul trouble and without one of their top scorers. Time to get ready for their real rival when Arizona comes to town. The good news is that they won't have to worry about facing a team that plays defense (and to give U$C credit, they are a good defensive team). I'm still not sure Arizona has figured out that there are two rims on a basketball court.

Iowa 70; Illinois 74

I'm not going to do a long post about this one. I've pretty much given up hope on Illinois making the tournament, and I really couldn't care less about the NIT, but I have some observations on the parts of the game for which I stayed awake:

• College basketball is virtually unwatchable when one or both teams are playing a zone defense. Every possession is 30 seconds of throwing it around the perimeter until someone finally jacks one up. And it's not just bad teams that react that way. What's funny is that in the second half, even with a zone, Iowa still got torched on the inside.
• Next year, I'd like to see college basketball make it a point of emphasis to stop calling defensive fouls, and start calling offensive fouls, on players who kick their defenders while shooting three pointers. Adam Haluska basically kicked Warren Carter, who was standing still, on his way down from shooting a three pointer, and was rewarded with three free throws. Haluska is a flopper, and was repeatedly either bailed out by officials, or allowed to take four or five steps at a time, and that was in Champaign. I don't think he'll even have to dribble the ball in Iowa City.
• Brian Randle was particularly active and effective in the second half run that built up Illinois' biggest lead, be it on defense, or while dishing (a team high six assists) and dunking on the offensive end. He has to be that good every night for the Illini to be competitive.
  
• As good a win as this was, the Illini were a couple or Warren Carter misses away from a loss. Jamar Smith was non-existent, going 0-7 from the field. Trent Meacham was just as bad at 0-5. Fortunately, Rich McBride picked up the slack, going 5-11 from the field for 15 points. They got 48 points from their starting front line, which is kind of a surprise against a zone team, but they're going to need to be better from the perimeter if they want to compete.
• Apparently trash talking is now grounds for a technical.
  

In roughly a five minute stretch in the second half, Illinois scored seventeen points. They showed how good they can possibly be. The question is whether they keep it up over more than five minutes at a time. That might be enough to beat Iowa at home, but it won't be enough to finish in the top half of the Big Ten, and it won't be enough to make the NCAA tournament.

Moonlighting update

Not the TV show. A couple of posts from yours truly are up over Song of the Day.

Also, while you're over in Bullsieville, check out all of the "Tucker Carlson is Batshit Crazy" stuff over there. Long story short, Tuckwad goes to video store. Store clerk (Chuckles) says "hey, TC came into my store, he's a crazy wingnut" on his blog. Tuckwad goes nuts and gets guy fired for no apparent reason. Oh, the power of being a minor celebrity. All of the relevant links compiled by Plover.

A Digression

First things first, Maury Brown brings up the DirecTV issue on his own non-subscription required blog with a few more excerpts over here. Primer discussion here.

JenJen (sorry about those Buckeyes), was incredulous yesterday over the possibility that I could tire of baseball if I can't get the Angels on television routinely. I was going to respond with another comment, but it led me into a larger post, so I figure I'd respond with a new post.

First, in response to Jen's comment, I'll probably never stop enjoying going to baseball games and whatnot, but if I can't get the Angels on TV regularly, I'm going to lose a fair amount of interest. It's inevitable, which brings me to my larger point. I don't know if any of the rest of you feel the same way, but as I've gotten older, I've found that I've gotten more interested in the teams that I root for, and less interested in the specific sport in which that team plays. For example, I read a ton of news stories about the Angels, and I visit most of the Angels blogs regularly. I watch every game I can, and listen to those that aren't on TV (assuming I'm not playing golf on a weekend). But I can't sit through a baseball game on TV if the Angels aren't one of the teams playing. I can't sit through a hockey game on TV if the Kings aren't playing. I used to be up to date on the scoring leaders and standings in the NHL. Now, I have no idea what divisions most of the Eastern Conference teams play in, and I'm still a little unclear on some of the Western Conference teams. And I say this as someone who watches pretty much every Kings game.

There are reasons for this, of course. In hockey, the unbalanced schedule means the Eastern teams rarely play the Kings anymore. The proliferation of the net has made a hell of a lot more information available about specific teams and players. A lot of the effort that went into following leagues and other teams has gone into following prospects in pro sports, and recruiting in college sports. I'm less interested in other teams because I know less about them because I don't follow them as much because I follow my own teams more.

Like I said, maybe I'm the only one experiencing this, but it seems I like sports less, but my sports teams more, than I did 15 years ago. Of course, that could change if I can't watch those teams play regularly anymore.

Angels Blogging Could Become Pretty Much Nonexistent

According to Maury Brown, the business of baseball guy over at Baseball Prospectus, I could be seeing a lot fewer Angels games this year. MLB is in...well, I'll let him tell it:

John Orerand and Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal have reported that MLB is in advanced talks with DirecTV to make the satellite television company the exclusive provider of MLB Extra Innings. While Extra Innings was initially only offered on DirecTV in 1996, the package has been available on cable since 2001, and on Dish Network since 2004.

In other words, yours truly could become one of those shut out of the Extra Innings package, and I'm not switching to DirecTV just to get the baseball or hockey (also in negotiation) packages. Apparently regional telecasts on Saturday afternoons which screw out of market fans weren't enough for MLB. They'd rather grab the quick buck and sell-out to DirecTV, thereby alienating me and probably a bunch of other fans.

Of course, I could go back to getting MLBTV, or getting the radio package, but having tasted the Extra Innings package, I'm more likely to just scrap the whole thing and stick to reading news reports in the Times until I tire of baseball completely.

So if you stop by in April looking for my take on Angels news, and you don't see anything, that's probably why. Or, it could just be laziness.

Over the Weekend

Illinois

Umm, these guys aren't really going to be very interesting to write about this season. They're pretty bad so far. I still think they have the talent to turn it around, but as Mark Tupper has pointed out, they have yet to find someone who want to be a leader, and it doesn't help that their senior backcourt senior isn't very good. I'll admit, I thought Weber was going to turn McBride into a very good player, but he's been a disappointment for most of his career at Illinois, at least in my opinion. So who will it be? Well, my guess is no one, but if anyone can do it, it's Brian Randle. He has the ability, but so far he just doesn't have the fire.

As for Saturday's debacle, I didn't really see it. It was on at the same time as the UCLA - Oregon game, and once I saw what the score was after about 10 minutes, I decided it would be a waste of time. Sorry.

UCLA

Had to happen sometime. Give credit to Oregon. They played extremely well, especially without Malik Hairston (speaking of that, maybe I just changed the channel every time it came up, but I didn't hear his injury mentioned once by the broadcasters - more on them later). Aaron Brooks played the game of his life, while the Bruins played without a doubt their worst game of the season (only including games against actually decent teams), and still had a chance to win or tie at the end. I've only seen one team in the last 20 years or so that I really thought could go undefeated, and this team wasn't it. Better to get this one out of the way on the road.

And while I'm on the subject, it should be interesting to see what kind of record U$C ends up with in the conference season. So far, thanks to the way the Pac 10 schedule works, it looks like they're either going to get teams that are looking ahead to UCLA (like Oregon and Washington), or teams that are drained from having just played UCLA (like Washington) (like Oregon State - see update at bottom). Of course, if they keep winning, that might change. And they'll get to test themselves against UCLA this weekend.

As for Barry Tompkins and Dan Belluomini, interesting exchange in the second half when LRMAM picked up his third foul. Howland sat him down, and brought him back on shortly thereafter, prompting Barry and Dan to comment that Howland was taking a chance bringing him back in with three fouls. A minute or two later, UCLA brought the ball down the floor, and a cross-court pass was knocked out of bounds by Oregon. Howland took LRMAM back out of the game. Somehow, Tompkins or Belluomini got convinced that there was a foul, and it was on LRMAM (his fourth). One proceeded to convince the other, and as a result, they were very shocked when Howland brought LRMAM back out a minute or two later with, in their view, four fouls. Finally, after figuring it out, they blamed it on a scoring mistake. Sure, guys. Whatever you say.

Angels

Nothing, really.

Kings

Nice 3-2 win over Detroit on Saturday after a dreadful first period. Before the season started, I said that the Kings would need more goal scoring from the blue line. Last year they had about 40 goals from defensemen, and about a third of those were from Joe Corvo, who's obviously gone. I said they'd need closer to 55 this year to be competitive. About halfway through the season, they've got 26, so they're ahead of last year's pace, but behind the pace I said they'd need to be at. Of course, a few more goals from the defense wouldn't make this team much better considering they have a hard time keeping it our of their own net.

Regardless, the Kings used two goals from defensemen to come back from a two goal deficit to tie the game before Michael Cammalleri got a good bounce on a power play for the decisive margin late in the third period. Lubo Visnovsky got his 13th of the season on a rush up the right wing, and Rob Blake tied the game on a fortuitous bounce from a Brian Willsie pass through the crease (though it still required a nice finish from Blake).

As for that power play goal that won the game, the man advantage was created by another jaw-dropping move from Anze Freaking Kopitar. He beat a man coming out of the Kings zone, pulled an incredibly timed pull and drag move at the blue line, smartly getting the puck into the zone before dragging it around a poke-check and splitting the defensemen for a great chance that probably should have been a penalty shot (he was a step behind the defense with a clear scoring chance - nothing in the rules says it has to be a clear break from the blue line). The kid is 19, folks. He's worth the price of admission.

*UPDATE - Nestor links to a Trojan Times article where Oregon State coach Jay John agrees.

"Me"

Jack Motherf***ing Johnson. Is it any wonder Kings fans already freaking love this kid before he's ever played a game for the franchise?

But Johnson, a sophomore at Michigan, came through big-time for the U.S. in the 2-1 shootout loss in the semi-final on Wednesday when, twice facing elimination in the tie-breaker, the big defenceman beat Canadian goaltender Carey Price both times.

In fact, when U.S. coach Ron Rolston was selecting his three shooters for the shootout, he said, "OK, we'll have Pat Kane, Peter Mueller, and . . ."

Johnson interrupted and said, "Me," startling his teammates.

That is freaking awesome. Can't wait to get this kid in a Kings uni. And the fact that he's American is just icing on the cake. I'm not exactly Mr. Rah-Rah America or anything, but I'll root for just about any player on any team (except the Ducks) if they're American.

UCLA 71; Oregon State 56

Didn't see it. Only those of you special enough to live in SoCal got this game. Instead, I got some lame womens' game and something about Texas football. Yippee!

Elsewhere, the bloom is off Oregon's rose after choking at home against $C last night, so Saturday's match-up loses some luster. But the Bruins should beware of team that wants to take out some frustrations. Also, Washington and Arizona played an exciting game. Props to Arizona on a big win. Maybe someday those two teams will discover that they're actually supposed to play at both ends of the floor.

Full Circle

Heading home today. Sitting at LAX right now waiting for my flight back to Chicago. I've been from Temple City to San Clemente, back to Temple City, up to Santa Cruz, back to Temple City the next day, down to San Diego the day after that (played Torrey Pines - North Course), back to Temple City, and now here.

Most disappointing moment? Realizing the parimutuel punched in an exacta on the 5 horse and the 10 horse instead of the 5 and 9, which I'd requested. Didn't realize it until I walked away. Had time to correct it, but the odds on the 9 and the 10 were virtually identical, so I figured "what the hell, it's probably a sign." It was. A sign that I'm an idiot. The 5 and 9 came in, and the $3 exacta would have paid me $180. I didn't bet anymore after that.

Dominance - Washington 74; UCLA 96

One early trend for the Bruins seems to be that they play down to their competition in games against non-marquee opponents. But in a matchup with more hype, they simply dominate their opposition. Such was the case against Michigan, and such was the case yesterday against 14th ranked Washington. The Bruins took the lead from the outset, forced turnover after turnover, most of which led to easy baskets, and put Washington in a hole from which they'd never see daylight.

Washington was able to hang around most of the first half, occasionally cutting the lead to around four, at which point the Bruins would run the lead back out to nine, and there were times that UCLA looked in danger of losing the lead, but with just under three minutes to go in the first half, they scored the last nine points of the first half, and the first six points of the second half for a 15-0 run that all but put the game away.

The Huskies responded with a zone defense that gave the Bruins trouble at times, but timely shots from Mike Roll, who finished with 15 points, and James Keefe brought Washington out the zone, and UCLA took over from there, adding another 12-0 run that slammed the door.

Aaron Afflalo played the game of his life, pouring in 20 in the first half, 27 for the game, while adding 8 assists and five rebounds. In addition, he hit all of the big shots when UCLA needed a shot in the arm. Darren Collison added 15, and almost had more assists (12) than points. In all, UCLA finished with an astounding 29 assists. Just Shipp finished with 13 points in limited time due to his sprained ankle, while LRMAM and Lo Mata each added eight more.

If this is how the Bruins are going to play against big time opponents, it's going to be a great year. Now they just need to come out with a little more fire against teams like Washington State. The next test is at Oregon on Thursday. Mac Court is really a brutal place to play, and the Bruins have yet to play a true road game, unless you really want to count Chaminade. How they approach that game will say a lot about their season.

Milestone

At some point today, this site had its 25,000th visit. Only half of those were from me.

Also, this is officially the first post I've entered a) while actually travelling, and b) from a Blackberry or other such mobile device. One of the benefits of a new job.

This also means I'll likely not see any of the UCLA - Wazzu game.

More travel

Heading up to Santa Cruz today, then driving back tomorrow, so posting may be lighter than it's been recently, assuming that's possible. And yep, still pissed about the Hillenbrand signing.

Well, thank God it's basketball season

Hey, at least UCLA played one good football game. Pat Cowan proved why he's not a real starting quarterback. And Stanford has to be pretty happy right now that they didn't hire Walker. Nice work on third down, defense. Utterly pathetic performance.

Angels Sign Hillenbrand

Seitz quits caring about Angels.

Seriously, management deserves to lose every game this season. These guys are fucking morons.

Traveling

I'm posting this from O'Hare, where my flight has been delayed for an hour and twenty minutes. I'll be back in the Southland tonight and hanging around until the 3rd, with a possible run up and back to the Bay Area. The bad news is that I waited too long to buy my ticket, and it's costing me a little under $700. The good news is that part of that includes a first class ticket on the way out, which is nice. Last time I flew first class it was because I missed my flight and had to go stand-by. Ended up a row or two in front of Keith Foulke and Bill Mueller on their way to Phoenix for the all-star break. Anyway, I'd be looking forward to the warm weather with more excitement if it hadn't been fairly warm here lately, though a little wet.

Big one for the Bruins, tomorrow. Michigan comes in with only one loss, though they haven't played a particularly tough schedule. Still, they've got some skill, and a lot of athleticism, especially Petway, who can jump out of the gym. Last year the Bruins constantly double teamed the ball in the post, and it was a very successful strategy, though they still needed a key late steal by Aaron Afflalo to seal the win. On paper, this year's game shouldn't be as tough, but the Bruins haven't exactly been firing on all cylinders for 40 minutes lately, and as poorly coached as Michigan is, it won't be as easy to put together big runs, the likes of which put away Sam Houston State and Oakland. A common explanation for the sluggish play in those games is that they've been looking ahead to Michigan and conference season. Let's see if they play like it tomorrow.

John Lackey Unfiltered

Baseball Prospectus has a new blog section called Unfiltered. I imagine you have to be a subscriber to get access to it. I'm a subscriber, so I get it. Anyway, the other day, Nate Silver did a bit on "The Most Underrated Pitcher in Baseball":

PECOTA says that he’s the 20th most valuable pitcher in baseball long-term, more valuable than Roy Oswalt, Dontrelle Willis, or Justin Verlander. He’s one of just eleven pitchers to post a VORP of 40 or higher in each of the last two seasons. He pitches in a major media market, is in the prime of his career, and has no red flags in his injury or health performance record. And yet, he’s never received a vote for the Cy Young award, never made an All-Star team, and has barely one-fifth the Google hits of Barry Zito.

Who is he?

Well, assuming you read the title of this post, you know who it is. It's John Lackey. Included in that entry are the ten other pitchers who hit the VORP requirement, and of those ten, Lackey's last two seasons have been at about the bottom of that list, behind all but Brett Myers. Anyone who's been reading this site a fair amount over the last couple of seasons is aware of my frustrations with John Lackey. I love the guy, and I think he's a great pitcher. But he's incredibly frustrating to watch. He's got a horrible habit of getting ahead of guys 0-2 or 1-2, then taking about 10 more pitches to finish guys off. As a result, he'll routinely hit the 100 pitch mark around the sixth inning. Now, Nate and I know each other fairly well. He's a Chicago guy, and we knew each other through Primer before he started writing for Prospectus. I sent him a quick email with my observations, and he did a little digging, resulting in today's post, which I'll excerpt with his permission:

...Lackey has wound up walking the batter 4.7% of the time that the at-bat starts out with an 0-2 count. That struck me as a high percentage...and in fact it is. I took a sample of 25 arbitrarily-selected starting pitchers,....[O]nly two of these pitchers walked the hitter more often than Lackey. [ed. note: the list contained all quality starting pitchers, ranging from Johan Santana at the high end of the ability scale down to probably Eric Milton at the low end]

Score one for our Angels fan [ed. note: Woohoo!]....

But is walking the hitter following an 0-2 count a bad thing?

Lackey’s OPS allowed following 0-2 counts if .405, which is a low number; the average for pitchers in this sample is .465....

It turns out that there is a correlation between walk rate on an 0-2 count and OPS allowed, but it’s quite weak (.26).... Lackey’s hyperaggressive strategy when ahead in the count might be frustrating to his fans and his managers, but there’s no evidence that it’s poor pitching.

That's a great point, and as I responded to Nate, my problem isn't so much that Lackey gets hurt more often than he should when he gets ahead, but rather that he sends his pitch count to a level that leads to Scioscia bringing the hook early than he might want to (and definitely earlier than I want him to). For what it's worth, I have no recollection of complaining about Lackey giving up too many two out hits (though for all I know, I may have complained about this before).

Considering the strength of the Angels bullpen over the last few seasons, early removal of a starter who is otherwise pitching well isn't the problem that it would be on a team with a crappy bullpen, so the net result is probably negligible. That doesn't make it any easier for me to watch him pitch. And ultimately (and this goes for Ervin Santana, too), if he could develop an ability to take advantage of those counts and save himself some pitches, he could add 2/3 of inning to his per game average. That's an extra 20-25 innings per year that he could take back from the pen. FWIW, his innings/start is pretty comparable with Zito, Willis, and Brett Myers, although he trails behind Brandon Webb, and that's before taking into account the fact that Webb plays in a league where he may occasionally be removed for a hitter even when he's going good on the mound.

It's nice to see some respect for Lackey from the new media, and thanks to Nate for digging a little deeper into the numbers. I'll continue to like Lackey, and I'll continue to get frustrated with his inability or unwillingness to put guys away earlier in the count, but if he keeps putting up seasons like he has the last couple of years, the frustrations will be fleeting.

Lots of doings last night

The Kings, Lakers, Illini, and Bruins were pretty much all on TV at the same time last night, so it was a workout for both the DVR and the split screen, but I caught a sufficient amount of each game, except maybe the Lakers game, which quite frankly, I didn't really care that much about anyway.

Illinois

For the seventh straight season, the Illini walked off the court in St. Louis with the Busch Bragging Rights trophy, having down Missouri yet again. It was actually a very entertaining game. Tons of lead changes, lots of runs by both teams, a very quick pace, and a lot of fun to watch.

Coming off a 22 turnover performance against Belmont, this one looked a little scary for the Illini. Mizzou, under new coach Mike Anderson, is running Nolan Richardson's old 40 minutes of hell system. High pressure, turnover inducing basketball. But Chet Frazier rose the challenge, turning the ball over just three times against the press, off-set by his three steals, while dishing out six assists and scoring eight points in nearly 40 minutes of action. But he wasn't a runaway player of the game. Sean Pruitt scored a career high 19 points to go with nine boards. And Brian Randle made big play after big play, adding 10 points, seven boards, and two steals of his own. He made a huge block down the stretch, and kept a possession alive when he tipped a rebound of a missed free throw out to a teammate in the final minute. Still, the Tigers hung tough, and had a chance to tie with under four seconds to go when Stephon Hannah fumbled away an attempt at a three.

Despite some other (better) takes, I actually thought the Illini looked pretty good, and the performances by Pruitt and Randle are something to build on. Warren Carter had a bit of an off night before taking a shot to his hip flexor, but it was good to see that they could win when he doesn't have a big night. Conference play is right around the corner.

UCLA

Fortunately, the Illinois game kept me from paying a great deal of attention to the first half. It was really an awful performance. The funny thing is, if you look at the numbers, the game doesn't look that bad. They shot a great percentage from the field, from beyond the arc, and from the free throw line. They held Sam Houston State to relatively low numbers from the field, and the led the rebounding battle. But they got behind big early, and with the slow down "Princeton" style that SHS plays, it took them a long time to get back into the game. It was a definite trap game, coming a few days before Saturday's test with Michigan. School's out as well, and the home crowd was less than intimidating (quick aside: Why can't this team draw for shit? I can't think of another storied program, ranked number one, that wouldn't have sold out this game, and it's not like Pauley is a big venue).

Leading the way again, surprise surprise, were Josh Shipp with 18, Aaron Afflalo with 12, and Darren Collison with 11. I thought Russel Westbrook, despite only playing 10 minutes, had probably his best game aesthetically. He dropped in seven point on three for four shooting, and moved the ball well despite not picking up any assists. The kid can score, maybe a little better than Collison could at this point last season. If ha can mature a little more this season, he'll be nice option when the Bruins need an extra offensive punch, and I especially like the lineup this team would be able to put out against a team like Missouri (they aren't scheduled, but I use them as an example) if they wanted to go small and litter the court with ball-handlers and scorers. Michigan awaits on Saturday.

Kings

Slow start again, down 2-0 early thanks to two bad goals allowed by Cloutier, and the Kings never recovered. Despite the heroic efforts of man-child Anze Kopitar (two more goals and an assist), the Kings never got closer than a goal down. Both of Kopitar's second period goals were answered by Flames who pretty much waltzed into the crease to re-extend the lead to two goals each time, and despite dominating the second period, the Kings had nothing to show for it. When Kristian Huselius cherry picked his way into the Flames fifth goal with about 7:30 to play, the deal was done. Dustin Brown added his ninth of the season on the power play to cut into the final margin.

Not sure I would have gone away from Brust in this one if I were Marc Crawford. The kid looked as good in his two games as Cloutier has looked in his two best games this season. Probably should have given Cloutier a couple more days of practice to get back into the action, but hindsight it 20/20.

The bad news is that Kings seem to be taking one step forward, one step back. On the plus side, that's a big improvement over the one step forward, three steps back they were routinely taking a couple of months ago. There's a lot of season left, and these guys aren't going to make the playoffs, but the guys who need to progress are progressing, and the guys who aren't progressing aren't going to be a part of the next good Kings team anyway.

The Weekend

Not to be confused with "The Weak Ender". Pretty slow weekend as far as sports that I care about are concerned. Slow starts doomed one team, and almost doomed two more.

UCLA

This game wasn't on TV in my part of the country, but from the looks of things, the Bruins didn't get things going until late in the first half. The big scorers were the guys you expect to be the big scorers, Afflalo, Shipp, and Collison. For one of the few times this season, the Bruins didn't enjoy a large turnover margin (they only forced 16 while turning it over 14 times). Especially discouraging was the rebounding margin. They were outrebounded by the Golden Grizzlies 35-31. That has to improve. Weird stat of the game: Mike Roll scored 8 points on 4-8 shooting, which means he made four two point baskets, and no three pointers. I would not have expected a stat like that in his entire career.

Positive: They held their opponent to 32% shooting while making 51% of their own shots. On the year, they haven't been a great field goal percentage defense, making up for that with forced turnovers. Negative: 55% from the free throw line. At some point this season, that's going to kill them if it doesn't get better. Altough, I should point our that four of their eight misses were from Josh Shipp (3-7), who is really not a bad free throw shooter. Still, it's been a team issue all season.

Oh well, first game in a week, and they were sluggish, as is to be expected. They still coasted in the second half, and found minutes for Keefe, Wright, and Westbrook. Still, a game against an opponent like this should have featured a lot more garbage time.

Illinois

Another slow start. Back and forth game for the first half. Belmont (who faced UCLA in the first round of last year's tournament) is a three point shooting team and it seemed in the first half like every time the Illini opened a six or eight point lead, Belmont would hit a couple of threes and get back in the game. The second half was another story, though, as the Illini went on a big run to start the half that essentially put the game away.

Warren Carter, who's been absolutely outstanding this season, led the way with 21 points, despite only going 4-9 from the free throw line and turning the ball over six times. He's not a bad free throw shooter, so hopefully that was an abberation. Sean Pruitt added 13, and Brian Randle had 10 to give the Illini frontcourt a big advantage over their opponents. Both teams hit eight three pointer, but Belmont needed seven more shots to get there, and their second half shooting was awful. Chester Frazier had a surprising 11 rebounds, and six assists against three turnovers. Turnovers were a problem, with the Illini giving it away 22 times. That's not a very Bruce Weber-like statistic, and it will have to get better in Big 10 play for the Illini to have a respectable season. Again, like UCLA, they had a week off, and it's not surprising to see them come out flat in the first half.

Bragging Rights Game against Missouri is Tuesday night. The Illini are riding a Bragging Rights Game winning streak that goes back to my second year in law school, but it actually looks to be in jeopardy this season. Should be a good game.

Angels

They didn't do anything this weekend....slackers.

Kings

A poor first period was a little too much to overcome on Saturday against Dallas, despite a terrific second period and a solid third. Still, they pulled a point against a team that has completely owned them this season. The last couple weeks, they've looked like they really belong in the NHL, which is a nice change. Ironically, they've been getting their most consistent goaltending ever since they all started getting hurt. Brust has looked pretty darn good in his two starts. They showed a lot of resilience coming back from a two goal deficit, despite blowing a late lead before going to overtime. The shootout kind of sucked, though.

I really shouldn't be surprised at the success they've had the last month or so on the power play. They have a lot of offensive talent, and they've got a ton of skill and experience on the blue line for those situations. But they've been so inexplicably bad with the extra man the last couple of years that I'd pretty much given up hope. Of course, the PK is still pathetic.

The good news is that they've played most of their games scheduled against the Ducks, Sharks, and Stars, so the schedule should get a little easier in the second half.

Brendan Donnelly traded to Boston

For minor league non-prospect Phil Seibel. He's a couple years removed from Tommy John surgery, and like Terry Evans, appeared to make a dramatic one year improvement at a pretty advanced age. Somewhat ironic in that Donnelly was a similar minor league journeyman who made the majors for good at an advanced age. If the similarities continue, maybe we can expect Seibel to nd have a few very successful major league seasons. He was primarily a starter in A and AA last year, before converting to relief at AAA and pitching 15 very good innings.

It's a shot in the dark, to be sure, but the Angels rid themselves of a guy who showed a bad attitude last year when he was demoted to the fourth arm out of the pen, and right now, it looks like he would have been no better than the fifth or sixth arm out of the pen. It also goes to show how crappy the Red Sox bullpen is that Donnelly could be their best reliever next season. So the worst case scenario is that the Angels get something for a guy who would have been mop up at best next season, and still needs to be signed. Good move by Stoneman.

Slow week, but the Kings won

There has been very little news this week that I care about. Both UCLA and Illinois have taken the week off for finals, the Angels signed Darren Oliver, and that's about it. We're even in the slow period for college football. When that happens, you get a bunch of Super Furry Animals videos (and really, you're better off because of it).

But on the plus side, the Kings played one of their best games of the season last night at the worst arena in the NHL (more on that later). Anze motherfucking Kopitar had two fantastic goals, including the first short hander allowed by San Jose this season. Michael Cammalleri and Derek Armstrong added a couple of their own, and emergency starter Barry Brust played brilliantly in net to earn his first NHL win.

In a couple of weeks I'll revisit the good and bad from my season preview and player predictions for the Kings. Mostly bad, I'm guessing, which pretty much matches the Kings so far. But there have been positives, not the least of which is the revelation that has been Anze Kopitar. I've been watching the Kings for probably 25 years, and he's the most physically gifted player at his age I've seen come out of their system in that time. After a slow start, Alexander Frolov has really picked up his game in the last couple months, and if he can sustain it through the rest of the season, it could represent a step forward. The talent has always been there. The consistency hasn't. Dustin Brown has shown offensive flashes, and continues to fearlessly go after the largest trees in the forest. Cammalleri hasn't put up huge numbers, but he's been a solid offensive contributor, and he's just looked better to me this season than last, though the numbers may not bear that out. Let's face it, the Kings aren't very good, but the foundation is there, and so far I have no complaints about Dean Lombardi's rebuilding.

And finally, a couple of words about the shittiest arena I've ever been to, HP Pavilion in San Jose. I've attended hockey games at the Forum, Staples Center, whatever the hell they're calling the arena in Anaheim, the United Center, Joe Louis Arena, some minor league stadium in Toledo, and the arena in San Jose flat out sucks. I went to a game in 1996 or 1997 when the Kings were playing the Sharks. One of my college roommates lived up there, so I flew in and we hung around San Jose before heading to the arena when the doors opened about an hour and a half before the game. We had seats in the first available row of the second deck in the center ice section (which is actually the second row, as it sits right behind the broadcasters). The cool thing was that we got to chat with Mike Allison and Bob Miller before the game. However, at this arena, there is a railing which is in place around the landing at the top of the stairs to keep people from falling into the lower deck. Note the term "railing", as opposed to, say, plexi-glass or something else that you can actually see through. Anyway, despite the modern design tools in the hands of the architects, and despite the primo nature of our seats, we were completely blocked from seeing one entire section of the ice. This is an unacceptable design flaw. There should be no such thing as an obstructed view seat in a modern arena. I'm still bitter about that experience, and it has nothing to do with the fact that Kings got the crap beat out of them that night. So yeah, that place is a piece of crap.

S F A

Probably the greatest song you'll ever see performed live, should you be so lucky to catch SFA in concert (and I guarantee they'll play it):


Another great when played live:


Actually better live than on the album, at least when they played the demo version about five years ago:


Let's bring it down a notch:


What the Beach Boys would be doing today if they were contemporary, and if there had, like, been another different Beach Boys 35 years ago:


And the coup de fucking gras:

Sick a week

So I've been sick for pretty much the last week or so, possibly strep throat picked up at a wedding a couple of weeks ago. I've been more or less out of it at work, and I spent the entire weekend sleeping on the couch in front of the TV, not really wanting to move. So that's probably as good an excuse as anything for not posting for a while.

Anyway, here's a quick "around the teams" dealie:

UCLA

On the football side, apparently Pat Cowan is suffering from the effects of a concussion, most likely suffered on the hit by Ray Malacriminal in the fourth quarter of the U$C game, a hit that apparently wasn't helmet to helmet if you're a Pac 10 official. Should be interesting to see what Dorrell does for the Emerald Bowl. I've gotta think that both Cowan and Olson will be getting playing time, and that the job will be open for competition next spring. I still feel that in the long term, Ben Olson will be the quarterback who can take the Bruins further, but Cowan has his strengths (most notably his ability to scramble), and he'll either be a capable back-up, or he'll be a starter for someone else. Though I believe he's taken a red-shirt year, so he would only have one year of eligibility left if he were to transfer. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Next season is a long way away.

The basketball team starts a third consecutive week at #1 after taking down their third ranked opponent of the season. Saturday's game against Texas A&M was physical affair, and neither team looked like they were at the top of their ability, but the Bruins played with more poise down the stretch, made the big shots when they needed to make them, and took care of the basketball. They continue to be awful from the free throw line, and eventually that's going to haunt them if they can't turn it around. Lorenzo Mata's fifth foul with a few minutes remaining was probably a blessing in disguise, as he will probably be a liability on the offensive end late in games. That will be amplified by UCLA's inability to call timeouts after made baskets to switch offense for defense, a result of Ben Howland's philosophy of calling timeouts after made baskets starting about the nine minute mark. I'm not sure why he does that, and I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone ask him about it. But hey, it works, so I'm not going to question it.

Of course, certain anonymous Arizona fans would point out that Arizona is ranked first in Ken Pomeroy's RPI ratings. That's the same Arizona team that has played all of one team who's even receiving votes in either the AP or ESPN polls, and needed some help to beat an Illinois team missing its two best players. Note to Cat fan, there is a reason why they don't set the field for the NCAA tournament in December. The committee might want to see more than wins over New Mexico State, Samford, and Northern Arizona. Props on beating a bad Louisville team well on its way to missing its second straight NCAA tournament.

Illinois

A lackluster second half against UIC led to a victory that was a little too close for comfort. On the plus side, Brian Randle and Jamar Smith were back in the lineup. They still aren't shooting the three very well, and they're turning the ball over too much. They showed that they may have trouble scoring when Warren Carter is doing everything, but as mentioned above, it was Randle's first game back, and his nine points and nine rebounds were a nice spark. As he continues to heal and gets some athleticism back, it should improve the team on both ends. For Jamar Smith, it was nice to see eight free throw attempts, but 1-6 from the field isn't going to cut it. For the first time this season, I was underwhelmed with the play of Calvin Brock. He was due for a bad one. Belmont lies in wait as a tune up for the bragging rights game against Missouri, which looks like one the Illini might drop for the first time this decade. That's definitely a statement game.

Angels

The Angels signed Darren Oliver today, who will replace the last worthless lefthander who held the LOOGY role. Oliver was generally considered to have a fair amount of potential, and was never really any good. He's spent most of his career as a starter, bouncing around Texas, St. Louis, Colorado and a few more stops before landing with the Mets last year in a relief role, during which he had his first above average season since 1999. It's not a long deal, and its not for a ton of money, so I don't really care if it goes bad. What bothers me a bit is that this is the second guy Stoneman has signed coming off a good year preceded by a bunch of awful ones. Anyway, it probably strengthens what on paper should be just about the best bullpen in the AL.

On the offensive front, no real news, which is probably good news at this point. Quite frankly, I don't see the fascination with getting someone like Manny Ramirez. He's a terrific hitter, no doubt about it. In a perfect world, they would acquire Manny and dump GA, opening the DH slot for Manny with the ability to play him in left to rest Vlad and/or Rivera. But that's not going to happen. GA isn't going anywhere, and he's going to be in the lineup, and there's nothing any of us can do about it except hope he finds the fountain of youth that takes him back to 2003. The only real upgrades in this lineup are going to come at first and third base, and those would be expensive, controversial, and possibly unnecessary, depending on how long we wait for Kotchman/McPherson/Morales. Personally, I think the pitching is excellent, and there's enough offense that they can afford to take a wait and see approach at those positions. On top of that, the real options out there on the market have their own question marks, except for maybe A-Rod, who no one expects to leave New York.

Anyway, I'll continue to try to mend, and keep this updated as health/work/time permits.

87-114 versus 35-49

Interesting. Oh well, I must just be imagining things.

For reference, front-court scoring in that time has been 138 for AZ to 118 for IL. While Illinois has been more perimeter oriented, they haven't been almost 2.5 times as perimeter oriented as Arizona. Then again, no coach for Illinois has ever run across the floor and cried like a little bitch when one of the little girls on his team started a scrap that he couldn't finish.

Ivy

Do they have a new album coming out or something, because I seem to be getting a lot of hits lately from people looking for pictures of Dominique Durand. Not that it's bad way to waste your time, of course, just seems kind of out of the ordinary.

UC Riverside 38; UCLA 61

Well, they didn't quite shock the world, but hey, we led about three minutes into the game, which was pretty impressive. The Highlanders didn't embarass themselves, and for a team with half the guys either dead, sick, or hurt, they acquitted themselves pretty well. Go Highlanders.

Tough game in which to really judge UCLA. With Saturday's events still fresh in everyone's mind, it had to be hard to concentrate, but the Bruins did what they do. No real impressive performances. Double-Double from LRMAM. Poor shooting from beyond the arc. Kind of a sleepy performance. Next test is this weekend versus Texas A&M.

Move the Fiest Bowl to Columbus

It's 1997 all over again. You remember 1997, when the coaches gave Tom Osborne and his band of criminals at Nebraska a retirement gift by jumping them over Michigan for a share of the national championship, despite the fact that Nebraska needed an overtime game (which had just been instituted that season), and needed to cheat to win that game (dude kicked a ball into the air that was then caught for a touchdown).

Well, the voters are at it again, ignoring the fact that Michigan is more deserving than Florida simply because they'd prefer not to see a rematch. The basic argument says Michigan had their shot at Ohio State, and they lost, so they shouldn't get another shot. Mind you, these are generally intelligent people making this argument. Do you ever think they'd be in favor of cancelling a super bowl if the teams had met in the regular season? How about if two teams were meeting in the NCAA basketball championship after a regular season match-up? Should we just decide who the winner is based on the previous result?

See, there's this thing called home field/court advantage. The theory is that the team playing on its home field, in front of its home fans, using its own locker rooms, etc, has the advantage over the team that had to travel and play in a hostile environment. It's not a very difficult concept to grasp. For example, noted sports rater Jeff Sagarin pins the home field advantage at somewhere around three points. And guess how many points OSU beat Michigan by in Columbus?

There are also a bunch of revisionists out there who would like to believe that the OSU-UM game was never all that close until the end. Don't buy their bullshit. Until a personal foul was called with about 6 minutes to go, Michigan was going to get the ball back down by four points with a chance to take the lead. On a neutral field, I think each team wins about half the time. And if you think OSU is the country's best team, logic dictates that Michigan has to be number two.

Just another reason the BCS is a joke.

U$C 9; UCLA 13

I've got the crow cooking in the oven and I'm ready for my meal. WHAT. A. GAME!! DeWayne Walker ought to be enshrined in the UCLA hall of fame right now.

Incredible performance by the Bruins defense. The sack numbers aren't indicative, but they pressured Booty all night, they completely shut down the run, and they were remarkably effective on the corners. I was very worried about Rodney Van versus whoever they planned to run out against him, but the defense held firm. The stopped the criminals on numerous third and short and fourth and short attempts. And the play of the game, Eric McNeal, a tip and interception with 1:10 to go, was absolutely amazing. On defense, it was a total team effort. The front four held their ground, and the other seven, especially Dennis Keyes, who made a lot of big tackles, did their part. Shout out to the linebacker corps as well, as they were supposed to be the weak link this season with the graduations of Justin London and Spencer Havner. They were stout. And Trey Brown, I hardly heard his name mentioned, and if you're a cornerback, that's not a bad thing.

On the offensive side, I wasn't completely wrong. I didn't think UCLA would score enough points with Cowan at the helm, but that was before I knew the defense would play out of their minds. But credit to Cowan, who did all the leg work, literally, on the only drive that led to a touchdown. And he popped back up from a major shot to the head by Ray Malalaualsdfhga, which really isn't a fair fight, since Ray has had all of that prison time to work on his cheating skills. And speaking of blatant penalties that weren't called, here's my post from Bruins Nation:

It's been that way all season. They opened the season by becoming the laughing stocks of college football in the Oregon-Oklahoma game. They further embarrassed themselves in the UCLA-Arizona game when Ben Olson was knocked out with a late hit, and Tuitama was knocked out with a helmet to helmet hit (hey, I call 'em like I see 'em)


Fast forward to tonight.

1. I thought the late hit on U$C when Cowan ran for the first down was a bad call. But the helmet to helmet hit by Maladjusted on Cowan was so blatant and so obvious that my six year old niece could have called it. Should have kept that drive alive.
2. In the last minute on the third down play, U$C calls a time-out that they don't have. This wasn't surprising, as most U$C players can neither read nor count. Yet still, the clock stopped for at least ten seconds worth of time that should have come off the clock.
3. With the new rules in college football, the clock is supposed to start after punts when the ball is ready for play. Apparently there's a caveat to that rule that says the ball isn't ready for play until U$C says it is, as the refs stood over the ball for about 20 seconds, and I think Booty was on 2 before they finally ran the clock.

Great win. Awesome performance by the defense. Pathetic display by the women of troy. And flat out embarrassing work by Pac 10 officials.

And I stand by that. the officiating was awful.

But hat's off to Karl Dorrell. Hat's off to all of the Bruins. Hats off to TJ Simers, who has called this victory for the Bruins all week.

As we speak, Arkansas and Florida both seem to be figuring out new ways to lose, so who knows for sure whether Michigan might be in the national championship game, or WILL be in the national championship game. Speaking of Arkansas, their punt returner just fucked up a play inside his own five yard line that led to a Florida touchdown. What is it about Arkansas? 8 years ago, Clint Stoerner basically handed the ball to Tennessee in game that the hogs should have won, and Tennessee ended up winning the national championship. Stupid Arkansas.

Tremendous win for the Bruins. Tremendous win for the program. They stood up to bullies and punched them in the face. Anyway, that's all I can of for now. Just an awesome win. It's been a long time.

Congratulations, Arizona

You beat an unranked team, playing without their two best players, essentially at home, and you still needed the refs to give Carter and Pruitt their fourth fouls with about 18 minutes to play. As a UCLA fan, let me just say that I'm glad this piece of shit team is in the Pac 10, because Arizona is incredibly overrated. Oh, and Cat fan, in case you forgot:

Suck on it.

What a messed up day

UCLA-U$C, Kings-Ducks, and Illinois-Arizona all on at the same time. Brutal. Worse yet, all three teams I'll be rooting for figure to lose. Ugh.

So, Tomorrow's the Big Game

Well, not THAT Big Game, but a big game nonetheless. UCLA will be getting a great deal of support from somewhat unusual locations like Ann Arbor and Gainesville, while U$C will be getting its typical support from the legions of front-runners that scoop up all that gear when the women of troy are good in football. What does that all mean? Nothing.

But anyway, as predictions go, there's no logical case that can be made for UCLA pulling off the upset in this one. The only way they win is if the score stays low, which isn't altogether impossible, just highly improbable. The big problems, as I see them:

1. UCLA has one good cornerback, while U$C has two really good receivers, along with a good running game. One and a half if you count Al Verner. But when Rodney Van is in the game, he's going to get torched. He hasn't stopped a good receiver all season, and these are the best receivers he's going to face. They can't match Trey Brown up on one without getting burned by the other, and
2. If the Bruins get behind early, the don't have the offense to come back. They'll certainly hold up their end of the bargain on the low scoring, but I just can't see them scoring enough points to win.

I think the game will play out one of two ways. Either U$C gets up big and keeps building, or the Bruin defense holds it tight and U$C pulls away in the last ten minutes. Of course, the wild card is always turnovers. And interception returned for a score here, a couple of fumbles there, and UCLA could end up taking the game if they get a lot of breaks. That's tough to predict, though, and I'm not going to do it here.

In the end, I'll say the final will be U$C 27; UCLA 13. It's going to be 17-13 with about ten minutes to go, at which point U$C will kick a field goal, get a stop, and score a touchdown to cap the scoring. Right now I'd take U$C and give the points. I hope to hell that doesn't happen, but that's what I feel in my gut.

Updates on the stuff I care about

UCLA

The basketball team will be #1 in both polls next week following Ohio State's loss to North Carolina last night in what was actually a pretty exciting game. Both teams look pretty damn good, and I wouldn't be shocked if they met in Atlanta in April, unless of course the final four isn't in Atlanta, but I'm not going to look it up, so you can figure out what I mean. Anyway, as noted before, this just means it will be that much more shocking when the UCR Highlanders shock the world on Sunday.

On the gridiron, the coaching staff announced today that Pat Cowan would remain the starter going into the game with the women of troy this weekend. I'm not happy about this. Nothing against Pat Cowan, but I see the team with two identities. They're either a) the pretty mediocre team with Cowan at the helm, or b) the mediocre team with Ben Olson behind center who may actually be really good at times. In other words, Cowan is more of a known quantity, and while Olson coming off an injury may be worse than Cowan, he may be better, and the known quantity that is Cowan will not be enough to beat $C. It's a gamble, but one worth taking. Though quite frankly, the play calling figures to be so conservative with either one that I can't see the Bruins scoring more than 21 points at best. That's probably not going to be enough.

Angels

The rumored supposedly done deal that shall remain nameless looks less and less like a done deal. The HH crew have been commenting on reports that a) Kenny Williams says he hasn't approached anyone about Crede, and b) Scioscia told Figgins he's the third baseman next year. Well, as a wise man once said, well, let's not start sucking each other's dicks quite yet. First, Williams never said that no one else approached him. Yeah, I'm parsing, but that's the way these guys work. Second, who cares what Scioscia told Figgins? Nothing is settled until those guys take the field next year. Of course, either Stoneman or Williams could make some sort of unequivocal statement that no deal will be done involving those players, but they won't because they're GMs, and GMs hedge. It's part of the job.

A reader pointed me to another take over here earlier today. I agree with this part:

If the Figgins-Santana for Crede-Garcia trade goes through, and Matthews, Crede, and Garcia all play up to their ability, Stoneman just might make a few friends in the OC.

I disagree with pretty much everything else. Sure, if Garcia, Crede, and Matthews all play at their best, like say, Crede and Matthews repeating last year while Garcia repeats his 2001 season (that was five years ago, folks), it would look like a great deal next year, and I'm sure a lot of people behind the Orange Curtain would be very happy. It would still look awful three years down the line when Santana is a top 10 starter, Crede is hurt, and Garcia is either back to sucking, or pitching for another team for HUGE dollars. Look, there is risk in every deal, and even deals apparently lopsided against you can work out in your favor if everything breaks right, but show me a GM who expects everything to break in his favor every time, and I'll say "I didn't know you were buddies with Allard Baird and David Littlefield".

There is really no one the White Sox would consider trading who could a) help the Angels this year, and b) equal the value of Ervin Santana. It's just not possible. Pitchers who have completed two seasons by age 23 with his stuff and numbers don't come around very often, and trading him now in exchange for mediocrity is such a dumb idea that I can't even believe I'm addressing it. But, that's pretty much my take. Stoneman has already burdened the team with one albatross this off-season (at least the fourth in a continuing series - see also: Erstad, Anderson, and Finley), and if he does any more damage, it may take the franchise a few years to recover. Fortunately for me, were he to make that deal, I'd be rooting for another team, and the Angels lack of success wouldn't bother me.

The Night Before

Illinois

Ugh. What a tough game to watch. Stagnant offense, poor shooting, out of control play at times. Rich McBride just looked completely lost, not a good sign for a senior. Jamar Smith is clearly still recovering from his ankle sprain. He was a step slow all night. And this was some of the worst defense I've seen from a Bruce Weber team in a while. Lots of open looks for the Terrapins, and outside of some excellent offensive rebounding, the Illini were not a good team last night. Good effort from the Illinois big men, though. Warren Carter pulled down a ton of boards in the first half, and made the only three pointer before the break. Sean Pruitt finished with nice numbers, but I'd like to see him take it to the basket a little stronger. Brian Carlwell provided a nice spark. He's got a lot of work to do, but he's going to be a good one. But boy, this team really needs Brian Randle back. I thought Calvin Brock played a good game as well. 11 points and 4 rebounds in 19 minutes. Not sure why he didn't get more time. He's their most athletic player with Randle on the bench.

UCLA

Not on TV, but it was nice to see the real leaders getting it done on the offensive end. They combined for 44 points, with the point guards adding another 21. LRMAM hit the boards in the second half, but it looks like he was the only one. The Bruins were killed on the glass by 41-22 margin. That's unacceptable, but having not seen the game, it's tough to see what contributed to that. On the plus side, the Bruins created 23 turn overs, while only guilty of 10 themselves. And 13 of 22 from beyond the arc is going to get it done most of the time. Nice night from Russel Westbrook, including 11 points on 3-3 from three point land. The 0 assists and 2 turnovers aren't much to write home about, though. Of course, this means the Bruins will still be undefeated when UC Riverside shocks the world on Sunday!

On the football front, the Bruins have agreed to meet Florida State in the Emerald Bowl on December 27th. Look, I can't get excited about these games either, and about eight or nine years ago, this would have been a great matchup, but the fact is that going to a bowl game means another full month of practice, and that's too valuable to turn down at the college level.

They still have yet to name a starter for Saturday's game with the women of troy, but after the way the offense operated last game under Cowan, they'd be crazy not to go with Ben Olson. On paper, this is going to be another in a long line of beatdowns. But it's a rivalry game, and stranger things have happened. With their defense, I actually think they have a better chance going into this year's game than they did last year. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

Angels

Still no announcement of the potentially worst trade in franchise history, though people in the comments both here and at Halos Heaven are reporting it's a done deal. Don't know what they could be waiting for. For now I'll still hold out hope that this is not going to go down.

Looking at his BBRef page, Santana's closest comps through age 23 are Ben Sheets and Mark Mulder. How did those two fare in their next two seasons? Sheets had an average age 23 season, going 11-13 with a 4.45 ERA, but exploded the year after that, posting a 2.70 ERA while striking out 264. He's struggled with injuries since. Mulder went 34-16 over his next two seasons, posting era+s of 134 and 136. Of course, he had already established himself as an ace at 23, so he's not as good a comp as Sheets. Regardless, there's no reason to think that Santana won't progress, and trading him before he establishes himself for such dreck as Freddie Garcia is mind-bogglingly insane. Not to mention, Santana has destroyed the A's in his first two seasons, going 6-1 with a 1.55 ERA while allowing fewer than a baserunner per inning. Might want to keep a guy around who simply owns your arch-rival.

Like I said, officially, this deal hasn't gone down yet, so I'm still an Angels fan. For now.

Idiocy

I have never been a Bill Stoneman basher. 2002 goes a long way in my opinion of most of the people in current Angels management, but if the rumors are true, someone needs to steal the keys from this madman as soon as humanly possible. The L.A. Times is reporting that the Angels are discussing a trade of Figgins for Crede. That's the good news. The bad news is that the trade would also include Ervin Santana for Freddie Garcia. That's lunacy.

The difference between the relative values of Crede and Figgins is much lower than the difference between Garcia and Santana when salaries are added in. It's the type of difference that could easily be filled by a Steven Shell, or some other such minor league arm that isn't among the cream of the Angels pitching crop. Why Stoneman would even consider a deal in which he would add a pitcher who has declined each of the last two seasons, and is owed in the neighborhood of $10MM is beyond me. Santana, on the other hand, was at least Garcia's equal last year, will only be 24 years old, and is club controlled for the next four seasons.

I've been an advocate of a Figgins for Crede deal, but not at this price. This is just fucking nuts.