1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Monday “This N That-On Those Teams in Town”

Posted by on May 22nd, 2023  •  0 Comments  • 

“This N That on Teams”

======

PADRES….You can call them underachievers, but you cannot call them out of the pennant race yet.  Things change weekly in the NL West, much of it based on injuries, some on slumps.  1-thing for certain, if this season does not work out, you can blame the players mostly, the manager in some cases.  But make sure you hold the General Manager accountable too.  This is AJ Preller’s roster, team, organization.  Currency spent, trades made, length of contracts given, stripping of the farm system and more.  If this does not work out this year, he’s to blame.  But there are still lots of games to be played.

DODGERS…A week ago the team to beat, a week later, so many injuries to their pitching staff.  Walker Beuhler’s long road back, just got longer because his velocity has yet to return in bullpen sessions.  Now you have lost flamethrower Dustin May again, with on going elbow issues post-surgery, that was repaired. And Julio Urias is on the DL and does not look like the same pitcher as last yar, or even to the start of this season.  The five young arms don’t look ready either but they are being pulled up from Oklahoma City ready or not.  What was a week ago, is not now.

ANGELS…You can hate the owner, the pitching staff, and some under performing players, but you have to marvel about the accomplishments of Shohei Ohtani, on the mound and in the DH slot in the lineup.  This is modern day greatness.

USC…I always thought Mike Bohn was a snake-oil salesman when he was here for 15 minutes as Athletic Director at San Diego State.  Now we learn that he was at USC and at Cincinnati, and now he is out.  The LA Times report of the Toxic workplace probe at USC involving 6-female employees has now been supplemented by testimony from 3-women at UCincinnati.  And the bigger question, how did leadership at USC, trying to clean up the messes of Mike Garrett and Lynn Swann not know all this.

AZTECS…I was saying for weeks I was worried about the financing of the NIL packages for its players and whether it was sustainable.    Now we see there are issues of how they can keep up with limited funds.  And how will they keep up with payments if they get the offer to go to the Pac 12-Conference.  Concerned here, you wonder how they survive at Wyoming-New Mexico and other places with limited resources.  I think SDSU’s linkup with JMI Sports is about marketing, and generating resources for their NIL program too.  Good move.

LAKERS..Do or die Monday night, down (3-0) to Denver.  The Nuggets are more than the big guy in the middle Nikola Jokic.  They have lots of firepower.  The Lakers, for all Anthony Davis and LeBron James can do in their 42-minutes on the floor, have lost consistency from the rest of the roster on a night to night basis.  It has been a good season, considering where they were to start, (2-10) but the Lakers, modern day Lakers, getting swept is not a good optic for the future.  The one dotted by age and no lst round draft picks for awhile.
Showtime and Kobe-Shaq is now a long time ago.

 

CLIPPEERS…They really respect Tyronn Lue, but if he wants to interview somewhere else, let him, but only if draft pick compensation is involved…a second round to talk…a number one upgrade if you hire him.  He seems fatigued by the constant injury crisis surrounding Kawhi Leonard-Paul George.  This follows the failure of the Chris Paul-Blake Griffin era, which never got them to the finals either.

CHARGERS..They must think they will just outscore Kansas City 42-41 going forward because they have not done much to fix their bad defense since the horrors of the (27-0) playoff loss to Jacksonville.  Their schedule is loaded, so they will have to score lots of points this year.  Love the offense.  Think the defense is worst than last year.

AZTECS…Have you looked at the football schedule.  All the big teams in the league, plus UCLA, come to town this year.  Wonder if that will attact the fans back, or is that dependent on SDSU being better than incompetent on offense.  Think this is a crucial season for Brady Hoke to regain trust and popularity in the community.  Ryan Lindley, it’s your time to shine with a new look offense.

GULLS..Interesting summer ahead with the parent Anaheim Ducks holding the second pick in the draft, 11-picks in all, and 30M cap space.  NHL scouts tell me the Gulls will have as many as 5-NHL defenseman on their roster, plenty of them in their twenties this fall, plus an assortment of young players.  Key will be finding some AHL-veterans to compliment and play well.  Hoping last year’s 20-win season was a one-off.

MLS..San Diego got its team and it will play in Snapdragon Stadium by 2025.  Soccer becoming a niche sport in San Diego, but will there be enough room for  MLS, the San Diego Wave, and the San Diego Loyal, and then the legendary San Diego Sockers, whose support seems wavering.  Would hope the Loyal could merge operations with the MLS team, and preserve all the work Landon Donovan  did with the USL team.
====================

Please follow and like us:

Leave a Comment:

Your email address will not be published.