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“HOT HEADLINES-HOT TAKES”
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AZTECS..Yes, a lopsided loss to Gonzaga, but a real learning curve game in which a young SDSU team did not cave in against a likely Final four Zags team.  Watch SDSU grow as the winter goes on, watch them become a force, especially as their bigs get more big game experience.  This looks like a team with exceptional upside, especially with Magoon Gwath’s growth.

UCLA-USC..Once upon a time, Pauley Pavilion was basketball’s mecca on the West Coast. Not anymore.  Can you believe a program under Mick Cronin, that goes to the NCAA tourney yearly is drawing just (4,694) fans per game?  And cross town, despite the arrival of Eric Musselman, USC is averaging(3,753) a night.  Down the road, sellouts, in excess of 11,000 are a way of life here, you know, San Diego State, the West Coast basketball power.

AZTECS FOOTBALL..A disappointing season grinding to a conclusion.  Sean Lewis has his philosophy and his 20-0-page playbook.  He needs time.  He needs another of his type of players in a recruiting class.  He needs to be able to retain his top talent from going into the transfer portal.  He also needs a healthy offensive line.  And he needs not to have 42-players enter the transfer portal that occurred last winter after he got the job.  This only counts as one bad season.  Cannot let it grow to two in a row.

USD..Lost in the shadows is the job Brandon Moore has done in the Pioneer League this season.  Big play offense.  A real opportunistic defense.  Sadly no one pays attention.  USD is a 1AA team without scholarships.  They should be in the Big Sky Conference, where there is more identity.  But that means 65-scholarships for football and impacts all the other programs.  Tough call, but I think it is the right road to take.

CHARGERS..Check that game off the list, the Bolts having to prove they could beat a good QB, and they did, in taking down Joe Burrow and the Bengals, eventhough that was a dreadful second half in which they nearly gave it all back.  The pluses, obviously QB-Justin Herbert, and the growth of a new wide receiver group.  But there are negatives.  Herbert is taking too many sacks, hits, pressures.  The secondary looks thin because of injuries.  The linebackers are weak in coverage.  Still to come, Lamar Jackson, Kirk Cousins, Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield.  They need to check off more boxes on this schedule.

PADRES…Waiting to see where the next round of acquisitions are coming from. and it appears there will not be a big increase in the payroll, not at least to the 200M needed to take care of the current players, and find help from the outside.  Likely departures of Jurickson Profar and Ha Seong Kim create holes to be filled.  A need to find a starter in place of Joe Musgrove.  And if Tanner Scott leaves, a need to find another strong setup reliever.  Big month of December for AJ Preller.  Names like Charley Morton..Shane Bieber..Mike Siroka…Matt Boyd might be names to pay attention to.  Outfielders they could-should look at include Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader, and maybe Alex Verdugo.  And we wait to see if there is Christmas Gift names Roki Sasaki coming this way once he is posted coming out of Japan.   Stay tuned.

GULLS-DUCKS…It’s taken awhile, but all these young players are starting to play better.  The Gulls look explosive with college hockey star Sam Colangelo and rookie import Yegor Sidorov as goal scorers.  Waiting for Pavel Regenda to start potting goals.  Oddly as the Gulls started to score, so did the Ducks, with a 3-game win streak and wins in 4-of-5, something we have not seen in years.  Raw rookie Cutter Gauthier has found his sea legs along with 2nd year gem Leo Carlsson.  Not sure why Trevor Zegras has become a non scorer after a first good year and a half in Anaheim.  It looks like the Ducks may be about to turn the corner and become both young and good.

SNAPDRAGON STADIUM…Shiny, new, and empty.  2-years into its opening, empty seats, bad turf, high prices, and fans-friends-alums turned off.  It’s more than the football product on the field.  Find me a good decision made by Athletics about the operation of the stadium, and where it is now compared what its upside could be.  What a challenge to fix everything amiss at SDSU.

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