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“Baseball Playoffs-Emotion-Drama”

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I’t pretty electric, regardless of where the games are.

Fenway Park fans are frantic. In Houston, they howl.

In Milwaukee, the nose level was spectacular. At Dodgers Stadium, LA fans showing things they hardly ever show-fire.

And so the ALCS and NLCS have bought us some spectacular plays, big home runs, great defense, and tons of strikeouts.

The Red Sox lead Houston in that American League series, by virtue of a stunning home run late that blew the game open at Minute Maid Park.

As dominant as Boston has been, they bombed their way a big win in Houston, this from a team that hits (.282) at home and just (.236) on the road.

Houston oddly hits better on the road than they do at their homer-happy own stadium.

Both teams have amazing lineups.

Houston needs a win now with Charley Morton coming off the DL to get this critical Wednesday start.

Boston has to be concerned about the health issues around Chris Sale, and the fact David Price has no history of any post season success.

Rookie Betts or Jose Altuve could well decide this series.

This Dodgers-Astros series has been on the edge.

Some long ball hitting, but lots of strikeouts, 17-last nite by LA and 15-via Milwaukee’s order. .

Some really nasty play, thanks to 3-incidents involving Manny Machado. Some fabulous catches and near catches involving Cody Bellinger.

And some risky play involving glove challenged Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal.

The managers will be questioned when this is all over. Milwaukee’s overuse and reliance on Josh Hader.

The Dodgers use or is it mis-use of its long relievers, Kenta Maeda and Alex Wood, when they pitched, how many guys they pitched too.

This drama on Tuesday night was really something. LA’s strikeout totals are staggering thru the first 4-games of the series..17-strikeouts in the last game…and 49-k’s in four games.

The Brewers bullpen has to be exhausted, 10-shutout innings last nite alone and they lost. Do they have anything left?

So we march forward.

Houston has to win on Wednesday. The Dodgers are at a crossroads too. They could take the lead in this series with Clayton Kershaw in a short turnaround.

We’ve seen so much, and we’ll see a little more.

Don’t know if the World Series can top what we’ve seen in the AL-NL Championship series.

Emotion….drama….tension….you name it-we’ve seen it, and this baseball postseason is not over yet.

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“NBA Season Opens-Taking 3 Point Shots”

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It’s here. The beginning of the NBA season on Tuesday night, and the dawning of the next era of Lakers basketball. The Lakers and the LeBron James era begins, as we wonder if it will rival Shaq & Kobe, Magic Johnson and Showtime, or the West-Baylor-Chamberlain era of decades ago.

Here’s a look around the NBA-and talking points.

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LAKERS…LeBron James is the greatest player in the league right now, equal to all things Michael Jordan in terms of productivity. He walks in the door with the challenge to grow a team around him. Will be fun to see his impact on the growth of Lonzo Ball, and budding young stars Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kozma. The bench has experience, but some volatile personalities. And they seem to have a void at center. This will be a fun basketball season, considering what the Buss family gave us for 5-straight seasons.

WARRIORS…All hands on deck, a unique mix of star players, minus ego, playing together to get rings, not worrying about getting max-contracts. And now you add DeMarco Cousins on a 1-year deal, trying to rally off an injury riddled season. Curry-Klay-KD-Draymond, a very special mix.

BOSTON…They built this with tons of young players, good draft picks, and now the sprinkling of free agents. Gordon Hayward, who came from Utah, got hurt opening night and missed the season. Then Kyrie Irving got hurt and needed surgery, and yet they were there at the end of the season. Brown-Tatum-Horford rounds out a star group staring five.

76ERS…They lost forever, had lots of crippling injuries, and now they believe it is the time to be great. Embid-Simmons-Fultz-Saric. Very good, but very young still-do they have enough depth.

TORONTO..Kawhi Leonard joins a talented roster, and could be to the Raptors what LeBron is to the Lakers. We shall see if this is the NBA version of ‘1-and-Done’ for Leonard, headed to free agency, or whether his unique personality is a perfect fit in a foreign country. The other question, does Kawhi’s quad injury return?

OKLAHOMA CITY…Firepower everywhere, in Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Andre Roberson. Big concern, a lot of miles on Westbrooks’ surgically repaired knee. How long can he keep this pace of playing tons of minutes every night, up?

HOUSTON….It’s about firepower, with James Hardin and Chris Paul, and now you add Carmelo Anthony. Wow. But who plays defense, and does the loss of some defense to free agency hurt Mike D’Antoni’s team?

MINNESOTA…Explode with all that talent, or implode with all those personality issues? A bad preseason with Jimmy Butler making noise all the time about wanting a trade, and the questions about chemistry problems with Karl Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Some soap opera season ahead of us in Twin Cities.

WASHINGTON…The Wizards have John Wall and Brad Beal, and now they add Dwight Howard, the soldier of fortune center, who changes teams yearly, and an underrated shooter in Austin Rivers. Lots more talent. Don’t know if this works or not. The key word, team chemistry.

SAN ANTONIO…Life after Kawhi now begins. They’re all gone, now, Leonard-Ginobli-Parker and of course Tim Duncan. Gregg Popovic will be coaching the youngest team ever had.

NEW ORLEANS…Anthony Davis has become a beast of a big man. They lose DeMarco Cousins, but add Julius Randle, the ex-Laker, and still have Jrue Holiday.

PORTLAND…Firepower every night from Damian Lillard and CJ Mccollum, but who else is there to help. Young pups Anfernee Simmons and Gary Trent bear watching.

MILWAUKEE….A superstar no one knows much about, Giannis Anteokoumpo, gets help now with the addition of shooter Brooke Lopez and Ersen Ilyasova. See if they have enough to compliment their star.

MEMPHIS…Grit and grind basketball has gone away with all the injuries to Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, but now they get help from Kyle Anderson and others. Don’t know if it will be enough.

CLEVELAND…King James came home, got them a ring, and now has left for LA. Kevin Love, JR Smith, Larry Nance, but not much else. It will be a long winter in Cleve-town.

DALLAS…The hot Euro rookie Luka Doncic might be the next Dirk Nowitzki, and DeAndre Jordan comes in to play the paint, and the kid Dennis Smith is now a second year player. This is an intriguing roster.

INDIANA…Victor Oladipo became a star last year, and the rest of the young players followed him in a fun season. Holiday-Bogadanovic-Turner all return to the Pacers fold.

UTAH…What a good season, led by Donavan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Ricky Rubio fit in and was the glue in the backcourt. The Jazz play team basketball, in the spirit of Jerry Sloan.

MIAMI…Josh Richardson, Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic, make up a good starting group, but salary cap problems continue to plague this team, and seem to stop the Heat from adding an additional key part.

CHICAGO…The injury history to Zach LaVine seems to take the shine off what could be a good young team. Jabari Parker joins a front line anchored by Lauri Markkanen, dealing with his own injury issues, but Kris Dunn, budding star is back again.

DETROIT….Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond, but not much else in what has seemed to be a forever rebuilding job in Piston land. The Bad Boys were a long time ago.

CHARLOTTE…Michael Jordan hired Mitch Kupchack to try and get more talent there. It still seems to be Kemba Walker against the world.

LA CLIPPERS…The rebuild is underway. Tobias Harris is a budding star, and Shai Alexander could have a fascinating rookie year, but all the stars are gone, and it will take free agent signings to fix the franchise next summer. The Clippers seem ready to fall of the radar.

DENVER…The Nuggets have young talent, led by Nikola Jokci and Jamal Murray, and they have defense and leadership in Paul Millsap, but they don’t appear to have enough firepower.

ATLANTA….Trae Young-Mikel Bridges-Dennis Shroeder are really good young players, but this is the NBA not the ACC, and the Hawks don’t have enough veteran players.

NY KNICKS.. .David Fizdale inherits a mess. Star Kristaps Porzingas is out till midseason with surgery. They just waived Joakim Noah, taking an 18M salary cap hit. Kevin Knox could be an upcoming star, but the ownership-leadership-roster makeup is a mess.

SACRAMENTO….Marvin Bagley, it’s your turn to lead the Kings out of the abyss. DeAndre Fox, Buddy Hield, and forever losing in Northern California. Don’t know how Vlade Divac keeps his GM job, but then again, the ownership doesn’t know what they’re doing. Cowbell Hell days of Chris Weber are a long time ago aren’t they?

BROOKLYN…..All the oil money of Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov hasn’t made a bit of difference. The team is either a dumping ground for bad contracts, or stocked with too many kids. Who helps DeAngelo Russell?

PHOENIX…Dysfunction-Junction, the ownership of Robert Sarver. Firing coaches, GMs, front office scouts, bad trades, questionable contracts, bad drafts. Yes, they have top pick DeAndre Ayton and Devin Booker, but what else. You name it-the Suns have done it recently-wrong. Once upon a Jerry Colangleo time, this was a special place to play. And you thought Donald Sterling or Ted Stepien were bad guys?

ORLANDO….A franchise that once had Shaq, Penny Hardaway, and GM-Pat Williams, doesn’t have much nowadays, does it?

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Monday Memos to NFL Teams”

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What I see-what I’d say to teams around the NFL, if I were writing Monday memos.

CHARGERS…This offense has really come together, and Philip Rivers has a lot of bullets in the gun to use, and barring injury, they could average 400-yards a game for the season. Melvin Gordon is playing like a man possessed, so quick, so tough, so physical. The defense must still prove itself against good offenses. Beating the Bills or Browns doesn’t rally me.

RAIDERS…Jon Gruden’s name does’t mean a thing on the field. His quarterback is turning the ball over, is getting lit up, and now is hurt. The offensive line is leaky, and the defense is deplorable. This has the makings of a disaster of a season. Nice add on to Gruden’s resume.

CHIEFS…QB-Patrick Mahomes is so good in the pocket, and just as dangerous out of th pocket, even under duress. He’s throw 4-picks in the last two games, but he continues to be dangerous making plays down the field. But defensively, KC gives up lots of yards and points. The secondary is shabby. Oh if they had any type of quality defense.

STEELERS…Don’t know what to expect this week when holdout RB-Le’Veon Bell ends his holdout and reports to camp, 6-weeks late, and 2-losses later. Interesting to see what his teammates say. Even more interesting, do the Steelers trade him before the late October trading deadline? RB-James Connor keeps putting up good Sunday numbers.

BRONCOS…Not much defense anywhere on the field either, hard to believe this is the home of Von Miller. But the secondary gives up plays, and the front is not very physical against the run. And from week to week, the receiver corps is up and down.

GIANTS…Pat Shurmur should go to the top of ‘hot seat’ list of coaches in trouble. The team has too much drama swirling around WR-Odell Beckham and Eli Manning is takings hits and hits behind a bad line. Think where they would be without the all world rookie RB-Saquon Barkley.

JETS….That’s right 7-field goals from Jason Myers to compliment QB-Sam Darnold. Field goals aren’t sexy, but a win is a win isn’t it.

BILLS…Back to back games throwing for 84-89 yards from 1st round draft pick QB-Josh Allen, and now he’s hurt. Football in Buffalo a mess.

TENNESSEE….The Titans are ruining QB-Marcos Mariota. They allowed 11-sacks, yes 11, in getting shutout by Baltimore. Mariota keeps getting hurt too.

MIAMI…Can you believe what you see? Brock Osweiler comes off the bench and throws for 380-yards in a Sunday win. See how long that lasts, Of course if oft-injured Ryan Tannehill remains hurt , the backup may have to play more.

RAMS….The gifted Jared Goff led offense continues to make explosive players everywhere, but we are still waiting to see the high priced defense become a force on the field, and we’re almost at the halfway points.

COLTS…Andrew Luck is putting up great numbers, but no one else is doing anything, as the Indy record is now (1-5). It’s a bad roster that doesn’t play defense.

BROWNS…The Browns self destructed in their loss to the Chargers. Bad penalties, defensive breakdowns big plays by opposing quarterbacks. They may lead the NFL in takeaways, but they don’t stop anyone, and their QBs are getting maimed trying to make plays.

JAGUARS…Last year was nice but Blake Bortels looks now, like he looked most of his career. 5-interceptions and 8-sacks the last two games, both losses. so much for Jacksonville being an AFC power.,

HOUSTON…They seem to be wasting JJ Watt’s tremendous bounce back season for all those injuries. QB-Deshaun Watson has taken 14-sacks the last two weeks, as they struggle to score points.

49’ERS…Credit backup QB-CJ Beathard with heart and grit. He checks off all the boxes when he plays, TDs, picks, scrambles, turnovers hits, sacks, injuries He’s a linebacker playing the quarterbacks position.

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“This-That-The Other”

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Time to move around the NFL roadmap, five weeks into the season.

CHARGERS…Yes they are (3-2)…but the trend has continued from last year. They don’t do well against teams with winning records. They are (0-2) this year against the good teams, losing to the Rams-Chiefs, who are a combined (10-0) so far. Last year, the Chargers were just (3-7) vs winning record teams last year, so there is still something to prove.

RIVERS ROLLS…King Philip leads the AFC in passing, and is second in the NFL in passing. Who leads the league, the guy across the street, the Rams Jared Goff. Rivers has a 116-rating, just behind the amazing 119-rating held by Goff.

GOODBYE BOLTS…They won’t be home for five weeks, and won’t play here again till November 18th. Next weekends game will be hard, in Cleveland against a vastly improved Browns team, with a very aggressive defense. They then go to London to meet Tennessee, have bye week, then two more road games, at Oakland-Seattle. November 18 is a long ways away.

DANDY DUO…This has been impressive, the combo RB-group of Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler, catch and run. Gordon has become an ultimate power back, a slasher with explosiveness. Stunning too, his ability to be so dangerous out of the backfield catching passes. Keeler has become a rugged change of pace guy, has the extra gear when he gets outside, has the toughness inside, and catches the ball too.

MIKE IS RIGHT…Last year’s first round pick Mike Williams is a tough matchup physically, runs precise routes, wins jump balls, and is really hard to cover to in the tightness of the end zone. A star in the making, but would like to see him used more. Target him more than 3-passes a game.

TY THE GUY….Not sure when that will happen for Tyrell Williams. yes there are some big catches for big yards, but there are drops, penalties too. Thought as third year guy, he would step to the next level, but he stumbled going up the step.

BANGED UP….No Russell Okung, no Joe Barksdale, no problem last week, but that was against the worst defense in the world, the woeful Raiders. This weekend, Browns Defensive Coordinator Greg Williams will have Cleveland’s defense, led my Myles Garrett, cranked up. If they have to play the kids upfront, Rivers could be knocked down a lot.

DEFENSE…So far, so good with the young players. Everyone is raving about the big rookie safety Derwin James, big-physical-fast and a bright light. It has not been a good start for Casey Hayward, coming off a good year. the other corner Travon Williams has been picked on a lot, and given up plays. Ochenna Nwosu had a good preseason camp, but hasn’t made much of an impact. Unsung DE-Issac Rochelle has grown as a player, and now that Corey Liuget is back, could be a force on the either side. Looking for rookie LB-Kyzier White to get back on the field

KICKER CRISIS….it’s not just in LA, all these kicking problems, it’s everywhere, as witnessed by Packers star kicker Mason Crosby missing 5-kicks on Sunday. But for 2-plus million they are paying Caleb Sturgis, he’s missed 7-kicks already this year. This keeps up, they will have to swallow the money, and go find someone else.

KICKOFF KING…3-impressive returns in two weeks Desmond King should solidify his hold on the punt return team. Still waiting for these speed guys to become a force on kickoff returns. Not yet.

BRADLEY’S BOYS….Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley has not had his full lineup yet, so we don’t know hoe dangerous they can become. They are fast, and they have shown blitz ability. But now ahead, a ton of road games. They’re going to need a better pass rush, and who knows when Joey Bosa might be available. Because they had to give up a home game to go play in London, the Chargers have only 4-home games left on the schedule, and it’s just early October.

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“Aztecs in Drivers Seat-Cannot Slip Up”

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San Diego State comes off a huge emotional, important win, at Boise State, and should be at the top of the world.

But in college athletics, with young kids, one week does not translate into the next week in terms of quality of play.

Add in SDSU still has to go play at Fresno State and at pass happy-improving Nevada-Reno. So nothing is guaranteed.

This week, Friday night, promises challenges. short work week, weird offense-Air Force wishbone.

Rocky Long’s quotes

..Short work week-getting ready for wishbone offense
..Air Force has confidence..ran Navy out of the ball park
..Very difficult week for us to defend their Triple Option
..Triple offense gives Air Force two extra blockers
..High pressured blitz package-straight man coverage-they hassle you on offense-radical defense

..Our formula is to keep the ball-run the clock-that defense makes it tough
..Their offense wants to keep the ball
..Worried did not have lot of success against triple option
..Air Force has decided to throw more-so run offense is not as dominant
..They want to keep it 40-minutes a game

..Do we blitz them and risk giving up big yardage plays
..Not confident-completely different running game than we ever see
..Our scout team cannot duplicate speed of their offense
..We need to get turnovers out of this game Friday

..Confidence level of our team should be high-but this is not same situation
. It is so hard to get ready for triple option offense-especially way they run it
..Be careful we don’t get knocked on our asses by their blockers
..Triple option gives you lots of advantages-fans don’t want to see it though
..It’s hard to recruit players to triple option offense-no one runs it

..Air Force players go to academy to do something different in life
..Their kids have lots of big things in store for them
..Last week-out offensive guys had tough time dealing with noise-snap count
..Friday night game-don’t know if Air Force has fans in a Navy town

..I wish Friday night was hi school night
..Ky Tezino-LB-we put a lot of stock in how they look in practice..-he has grown
..Tezino got to play because of injuries-really plays well–practices now-really good
..Tezino is doing things at great speed-good linebackers have skill
..Tezino is a good blitzes-a downhill fast guy

..Ryan Agnew is getting better every week-extends plays
..Our defensive backs will have to play like linebackers this week
..Air Force coaches-advantages and disadvantages.
..Big issue-don’t have as much time with players as we do..stricter schedule
..They have 2-plus hour window to do football meetings and practices
..We all have 72-hours a week to work with players-but their hours more compressed.
..They get players who want to go to the academies-know what to do with life.
..They have players with different attitude in life-they are on a mission
..They get mature-driven-young men

..USA Today-called you most ‘value coach’ in America-that’s nice
..Coaching at levels like Alabama are different
..Problems are different…stress level different…but pressures are same here-there

..New sod at SDCCU-hope it is not slick.

..I have such respect for the kids who go to the academies.

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