Crazy how life can change week to week. There’s a group packing passports for a Margarita-filled trip to Mexico City to join in the NFL experience South of any border walls that attempt to separate us all. Next, we’re trying to see if there are any first responders, fire fighters or displaces residents from pretty much anywhere in the San Fernando Valley heading toward Malibu in need of a ticket to a Rams game that may not seem as important as it once was trumpeted to be. Before we finalize Week 11 with a Rams-Chiefs game that’s been moved back to the Coliseum (Monday, 5:15 p.m., ESPN), featuring a pair of 9-1 teams that may not, at this point, even be playing the best ball in their respective conferences but are still expected by some to exceed the record-setting over-under of 65, we take a deep breath. Too much is happening around us. The earth is still moving below us. As someone pointed out, look how different Southern California has become since the Dodgers’ won an 18-inning World Series game about three weeks ago now. Happy Thanksgiving week. Continue reading “11.19.18: Five things you should plan for the week ahead based on unscientific evidence of guaranteed importance”
“Look at the size of his hands,” Leavy said with amazement. “I describe them in the book as being the size of a back hoe. Twitter? I don’t think he’d have been able to Tweet with those hands.”
Which leads to Election Day Tuesday. Someone decided this Tuesday would be a great time to launch the college basketball season. The 49ers are wise. They will wait for the commotion to die down and then launch their 2018-19 campaign at UCLA (Pauley Pavilion, Friday at 8 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
The previous two trips Pete Carroll made to the Coliseum wearing it as the Seattle Seahawks’ head coach have been somewhat memorable. In
The fact USC (5-4, 4-3) still has a shot at winning the Pac 12 South may not be surprising, consider the Pac 12 South has lowered the bar on what’s acceptable for division supremacy. The Trojans, coming off a decent show at Oregon State that could turn things around offensively, have three more left, two in conference, including this Week 11 homecoming game against Cal (5-4, 2-4) at the Coliseum (Saturday at 7:30 p.m., ESPN). If you want to go early, there’s UCLA (2-7, 2-4) playing out the string at Arizona State (5-4, 3-3) on Saturday morning (11 a.m., Pac-12 Network). This is the final appearance for both teams before the USC-UCLA game at the Rose Bowl on Nov. 17 (kickoff time to be determined).
The Lakers/Magic Johnson/Luke Walton/LeBron James drama is already building. A 14-point loss (it wasn’t that close) to Toronto on Sunday night, coming off a four-point win (it was closer) in Portland, gave the Lakers some sense of a roller-coaster weekend. So what kind of Hollywood-like drama do the Minnesota T-Wolves bring to L.A. this week? With Jimmy Butler saga and a Derrick Rose redeption script. Butler says he will “let them know” whether he’s up for playing in back-to-back games after Minnesota’s 116-99 loss at Golden State on Friday. So, as both Butler and Rose sat out Minnesota’s 30-point loss in Portland on Sunday, who knows what’ll happen when the T-Wolves visit the Clippers on Monday at Staples Center (7:30 p.m., Prime Ticket). Maybe they just drop one, or both, into the Clippers’ lap as a parting gift before they continue their road trip with another Staples Center visit with the Lakers (Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Spectrum SportsNet, ESPN). Rose had that odd 50-point game in 41 minutes against Utah last Wednesday but hasn’t followed it up with anyone remotely special, battling ankle soreness. The 2011 NBA MVP is “still a superhero” according to LeBron James.
Any other time, and maybe any other season, a Kings-Ducks Freeway Frozen Frenzy Folly might create more froth. Will this first of four meetings have any buzz when they meet up at Staples Center on Tuesday (7:30 p.m., Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket)? Maybe only because the Kings (4-8-1), last in the league in goals (28, vs. 45 allowed, for a minus-17) and tied with Florida with fewest points (9), have become the first to make a head coaching change. The Ducks (6-6-3, 15 points, 37 goals scored vs. 42 allowed and losers of a league-worst seven in a row before snapping that streak Sunday with an OT win against Columbus) really aren’t all that much better in a tightly-packed Pacific Division can can be flipped in a matter of weeks.
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Which of you wise guys seriously expected to see the Rams land at 8-0 at this point in the NFL’s annual exercise to see who might possibly challenge the 1972 Miami Dolphins for undefeated greatness? Bovoda.lv just posted odds improving the Rams from 9/2 on Sept. 26 to 10/3 to win Super Bowl 53, and from 5/2 to 7/4 to win the NFC. (Odds to win the NFC West? They just improved to 1/25, from 1/16 … isn’t that easy money?) Bovoda also released this prop bet: What will be the total number of championships won by the ’18 Dodgers, ’19 Lakers, ’19 Rams, ’19 Chargers and ’19 Kings? Zero is the 5/7 favorite, with one next at 7/4. The Dodgers have already blown their shot. The Rams have the best chance, of course, of making one the loneliest number.
Going into Week 10, the first of six straight College Playoff Rankings come out Tuesday (ESPN, 4:30 p.m.), with updates each week through Nov. 27, then the final poll on Sunday, Dec. 2 that determines not just the final four but also who else is slotted in the bowl games.
How cool was it seeing Magic Johnson and Larry Bird have that back-and-forth on camera before Game 5 of the World Series? That had to make everyone smile. Thanks, again, for the memories.
The MLS playoffs are finally the real deal for rookie phenom LAFC, as it finished third in the Western Conference and is awarded a home game against sixth-seed Real Salt Lake (Banc of California Stadium, Thursday at 7:30 p.m., ESPN2) in this Knockout Round phase. A win puts them into the conference semifinals (Nov. 4 and 11), which feeds into the conference championships (Nov. 25 and 29) and leads up to The MLS Cup (Dec. 8). But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Galaxy may have, and look at what happened. Had the Galaxy won their last regular season game instead of blowing a 2-0 lead, they’d be facing LAFC. Twice in the regular season, LAFC handled RSL, including a 5-1 rout back in March, then 2-0 in L.A. in mid-August.
When the annual Breeder’s Cup isn’t at Santa Anita, we get a little down. But it’s back at Churchill Downs in Louisville (for the ninth time), so on the last day before we push the clocks back, we’ll try to justify a reason to push forward and tune in. First, unbeaten Triple Crown winner Justify isn’t here. Trainer Bob Baffert retired him with an ankle injury after his 6-0 run. That leaves Accelerate as the favorite in the 14-horse Breeders’ Cup Classic field. Last month at Santa Anita, the 5-year-old Accelerate beat Baffert’s McKinzie and West Coast. It’s a 14-race schedule over Friday and Saturday with a record $30 million in purses. Coverage: NBCSN has Friday from noon-to-4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. NBC has the Classic included from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 