His life had taken him to peaks and to crashes in the valley.

Lamar Odom, the ex-Laker and Clipper, experienced everything in his pro basketball career. Now he lies near death in Las Vegas, a life ruined, by his own personal decisions.

There is an overflow of sadness from lots of places today about Lamar Odom. A child’s mind in a star athlete’s body. A genuine person, friendly towards everyone. A kindred spirit on a roster and on the court. A troubled person, beset by life’s setbacks away from the game.

Odom was found unresponsive in a brothel in Nevada, near death from a significant overdose of liquor, Viagra pills, having done cocaine and heroin. The man with the constant smile was found face down, bleeding from the nose and mouth, vomiting all the pills he had ingested. No one will ever see that smile again. .

His career over, now sadly, his life likely over, with reports of being comatose, brain damaged, and having suffered a stroke by virtual of blood clots, triggered by the drug list of things found in his system.

Gifted is the easiest term to use to describe Odom’s talents. God-awful, the way to describe the things that were part of his life.

Broken family. Death of a son. A reality show marriage to a Kardashian. A divorce. A lifestyle of the rich and famous, that became a dreary story of someone down on his luck.

Odom was such a smooth player. Phil Jackson coached him up. Kobe Bryant loved his camaraderie. The Clippers, Miami, and Dallas all liked having his talents, his personality on the roster. He played 14-years in the Association and to the very end was dedicated to his craft, even while his personal life was falling apart.

At age 35, it was indeed the worst case scenario. Eroding skills, injuries, and the paychecks stopped coming. What to do without basketball.

The reality TV show, that painted him so poorly, is what may have finally set him off. It pushed him over the emotional cliff that he would be portrayed so badly by the family he married into. But that’s what reality TV and that reality marriage became, going off the cliff..

Money in his pocket, fame still around him, he lived hard, and now will likely die because of it.

As his post playing career careened off-track, people, players, teammates, friends, tried to reach out to him. He seldom responded. He was lost in a haze of drugs and depression, sadness and stupidity.

Lamar Odom was such a strong power forward in the NBA. He was so fragile as a person away from the court.

You could be sad, maybe even mad, but Odom lived life on his own terms, made his choices, and now will deal with the consequences.

It’s a terrible story of human failure, this USC-Trojans story, the demise of football coach Steve Sarkisian.  It’s a story of a relentless illness that has overtaken him, throwing him for a massive loss, unlike any of the hits he took as a quarterback, or the losses in games he coached.

The cloud of alcoholism hangs everywhere around Trojan Hall now, a day after the firing of the second year head coach, just 3-days after he showed up for a team meeting drunk, and then did not show up for practice.

The ‘dark side’ of the story seems to be leaking out everywhere.

Questions about Sarkisian’s lifestyle since arriving in Los Angeles, and rumblings he may been under the influence while coaching during the Arizona State game a couple of weeks ago. Rumors that players believed his strange behaviors at different parts of the season, were fueled by alcohol abuse.

The ugly public appearance incident at the the private ‘Salute to the Trojans’ booster function just a month ago.

Now the documented information of huge bar tabs run up on his credit card, while head coach at the University of Washington, over a five year span, in the city of Seattle, on road trips, with booster groups, and at conference related events also.

Under fire is Southern Cal Athletic Director Pat Haden, a classy man, brought in to rescue Troy from the aftermath of the Reggie Bush-NCAA scandal. Questions regarding how deep into the past he looked, when vetting Sarkisian as a coaching candidate to replace the controversial Lane Kiffin.

But questions should also be posted about the leadership at UW, his former employers. Did they know, how could they not know, when Sarkisian was out partying on a regular basis.

Players have now come forward indicating their beliefs that coach was under the influence alot, not just on his own time, but on university time too.

A coaching staff is like a fraternity, working together for one common goal, partying too. So it begs the question of a cover-up amongst his coaching staff at UW, or whether they were just as heavy party dogs, coaching the Husky program.

Sure there was never a DUI, or a public incident like the one at SC. But the across-the-board silence is stunning.

Coaches are trying to rally around Sarkisian. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll called it ‘heartbreaking’. Rams coach Jeff Fisher, says he hopes those closest to Sarkisian will not bail out on him. Both those NFL coaches have strong emotional ties to USC, one a former head coach, the other, an alumni and player.

There is outrage from some, this hire was ever made. There should be compassion too. Sarkisian is not the first ever, nor will he be the last, to fight a battle with the bottle.

USC made the only move they could, to sever him on Monday afternoon. You would hope the school would find a way to extending a helping hand, after using the iron fist to drop the hammer on the troubled coach.

Now more than ever, Sarkisian needs someone to help guide him out of the abyss he is in. His career may not be over, but he will be on the sidelines. He has lost his 3.4M a year salary and this prestigious job. His reputation has been stained badly.

Sarkisian has to give more than lip service now to the ‘does he have a problem’ question. Rehab and counseling have to be part of his everyday existence. Acceptance and dedication are needed now to beat this.

He checked into an intensive rehab program sometime yesterday.  He won’t be alone in his battle for sobriety, but he will be alone with his thoughts, the hardest part, day and night, in this battle.

He loved playing at BYU. He loved coaching Washington. His love for all the history of USC football is very evident. I liked him, I respected his accomplishments. I feel bad for the place he is in today.

Pulling for Sarkisian to beat the beer blitz impacting his life. We should give him compassion rather than condemnation.

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Devastating.  That’s about the only way to describe lasts night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, this last second setback to a team that didn’t have its star quarterback, and doesn’t have much of a defense either.

But then again, the Chargers don’t have much of a team either.

If this franchise didn’t have bad luck, it would have no luck at all.  The body bag count of injured players is mounting.  The poor play of a number of veteran players is alarming.

Philip Rivers hung in there to throw for 365-yards and a couple of scores.  Antonio Gates, coming off his four game suspension, caught 9-for-92.

Virtually no one else contributed with any consistency, and that’s why this team is in trouble.

The refugee offensive line took 6-penalties, allowed 2-sacks, and 5-hits on Rivers.  There was virtually no running game, and there was another Melvin Gordon fumble.  Rivers threw another pick six interception under enormous pressure from the rush.

The secondary broke down.   Brandon Flowers, who appears to have woken up this season as an old man, can no longer run.  He gave up a TD pass to Marcus Wheaton, got beat on the goaline by Heath Miller’s last second catch, and gave up 5-other catches.

It was gruesome to watch San Diego struggle so badly around Rivers.

This is a roster problem, an injury problem, a leadership problem.  It’s not likely to be a playoff team either.

The roster is flawed, its hurt, the schemes don’t work on defense.

So it begs the question, do the Chargers have the right General Manager?  Is Mike McCoy overwhelmed as the coach?

Will the fans walk away from the team as the owner continues his drive to relocate to LA?

Good teams beat up bad teams, and take advantage of injured teams. The Chargers haven’t done that this season, and Green Bay awaits.  The Chargers aren’t a good team.

This was devastating on many fronts.

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The Chargers-Steelers game will be a dandy tonite.  Last guy touching the ball, might win.  Philip Rivers offense has 16-chunk plays of 20-yards or more.  The Steelers can throw it to Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Darrious Heyward-Bay, and can surely pound it with Le’Veon Bell and De Angelo Williams.  Can you say (37-31) someone wins?

The Aztecs win in Hawaii was another important step.  Maxwell Smith threw another long distance TD pass, all setup by the strong run game led by Donnel Pumphrey.

You hate to use the words sad or tragic, but Steve Sarkisian’s life is falling apart, professionally as head coach at USC and personally in the middle of a divorce.  His everyday existence seems sprinkled with alochol.  He needs an intervention.

The Dodgers-Mets rivaly just went up another notch, in the aftermath of the Chase Utley takeout play of New York shortstop Ruben Tejada, that led to his broken leg.  A spur of the moment incident likely, though Utley and the Mets have a bad history.  I don’t buy the theory Matt Harvey, the Mets pitcher, retaliates tonight.

No quit in the Blue Jays batting order.  Home runs got them there to the post season.  Troy Tulowitzki saved them with a 3-run bomb last night.  They need another blast or two today to stay alive in the series.

Houston ace Dallas Keuchel is something.  Go figure (16-0) at home at Minute Maid Park, a hitters yard, this season.

The Cardinals and Cubs game three today.  I keep waiting for Chicago to wake up and freak out, as their young players figure out where they are, what time of the year it is and whom they are playing.

What an opening night for hockey’s return to San Diego, the AHL version.  Coach Dallas Eakins pledged his team would be in attack mode.  Scored 2-power play goals.  Hot young netminder John Giblson had 32-saves, many of them tough.  And nearly 13,000 jammed the Sports Arena.

Soccer’s culture is crazy.  Lose a couple of games and fire the coach.  Jurgen Klinsmann is in the midst of rebuilding his national program.  There is no Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey has a thousand miles, and there’s new goal keeping.  Yes losing the Gold Cup and the Concacaf tourney is not good, but cut him slack.

This-and-That, thinking out loud on a Monday.

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You remember the great year that Bob Gibson had as a starting pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1968, their World Series season.

The numbers were so dominant, so phenominal, baseball changed rules the following year about the height of the mound etc.

Throwing heat, bringing gas, he scorched guys in the batters box.  Just reminding you how great he was:

1968…(22-9)…(1.12-ERA)…(304-innings-268K-62BB-12HR)

Very few since that time have come close to those stats over the decades, until this summer.

Amidst the era of big time sluggers, year round workouts, supplements, Latin stars and more, introducing the record-setters, the Dodgers 1-2-combo of Clayton Kershaw-Zack Greinke.

Pity the teams that have to face them back-to-back in the rotation.  New York Mets, tonite, Kershaw, tomorrow Greinke.

The dynamic duo of the Dodgers have been superb, especially over the last 3-months.

Since June 27th, Clayton Kershaw has made 18-starts.  He went (11-2)….In 132-innings he has given up 18-runs…with 169-strikeouts.  Dominant.

Since June 3rd, Zack Greinke’s numbers have stood out in neon lights.  A total of 24-starts, a (14-2) record with a 1.51-ERA, allowing just 25 runs over 149-innings.

Think about that.  Combined the Dodgers aces have pitched 282-innings since early June, and have allowed just 43-earned run.

For the entire season, they have gone (35-10), while the rest of the LA starters hafe a combined mark of (29-34).

Bob Gibson was brilliant over a Hall of Fame career, (251-wins) and a lifetime (2.91-ERA) in Baseball’s so called Golden Era.

But for this season, this summer, this summer of Dodgers pitching has been spectacular.

Just ask National League hitters who spent the last 3-months flailing at their stuff.  New York Mets batters are about to find that out too.

Bob Gibson would be proud.

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