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“BASEBALL NOTEBOOK”
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Here-There-Everywhere from Spring Training with Padres.

PADRES…AJ Preller uses the word ‘opportunities’ alot.  Give him his space and see if the acquisitions he made in the Juan Soto trade step into all the open slots in the Friars rotation.  They better.  A year ago, the Padres have 9-potential starters with major league starting experience.  Injuries hit them, and they did not have enough by the time August rolled around.

EX YANKEES..There is praise heaped upon the major league stuff that pitcher Michael King brings to the rotation.  He is slated to the 3rd spot in the rotation.  After that who knows who to trust.  Jhonny Brito and Randy Vasquez were more bullpen that starters in New York and both had ERA’s north of 4.00.  After that is Adrian Morejon, who has yet to establish himself in any role, Matt Waldron-more of a 4A pitcher than an established MLB starter.  The rotation is really thin beyond that and top prospect Robbie Snelling has yet to pitch above AA.

THE NEWCOMERS..The Padres have acquired 21-new players in the off season.  The 4-pitchers in the Soto-Yankees trade led by the highly regarded Drew Thorpe-who was in Class A-last year.  The big money relievers Yuki Matsui and Woo Suk-Go come from Japan-Korea and instantly go into the bullpen.  San Diego also traded for Enyel DeLos Santos, getting him back from Cleveland, as a setup guy.  And then there is the late signing of free agent reliever Wandy Peralta.

ON THE FENCE..Of the others signed, none seems ready to be a key guy in the rotation, Logan Gillaspie was let go by Boston;   Ryan Carpenter is an unknown who was in Japan last yar; Austin Davis was in Seattle; Luis Patino, has gone from San Diego to Tampa Bay to the White Sox, then broke down.

OTHER QUESTIONS..Jurickson Profar comes back a 3rd time in San Diego, but do you really think a (.236) hitter makes the Padres a pennant contender?

Is Jackson Merrill ready to be an outfielder?

If the Padres trade soon to be free agent Ha Seong-Kim, isn’t that a blow to their credibility?

How comes the Padres did not bring back Garrett Cooper to be DH-1B considering he was productive in Miami and San Diego?

No thought of giving Jake Cronenworth a glove and tell him to move to the outfield?  He’s played well all the other positions he has been at.

PADRES TV…So you can subscribe to Padres TV for 19.99 a month…and for 99.99 for the season.  So much for MLBs streaming packages.

No mention of Mike Pomeranz returning to host Padres-pre-post.  We know Mark Sweeney and Annie Heilbrunn were removed in budget streamlining.

The loss of the 60M per year with the collapse of Bally Sports will have a catastrophic impact on the Padres payroll.

USA TODAY…Quite a critical column as spring training by the paper, saying ‘Padres are old news…The excitement has vanished…The Fans are gone’.   Shall to be interesting to see if this is the roster they open the season with against the Dodgers, and if the criticism levelled the first week of camp is right on.

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“AZTECS BASKETBALL…BOUNCING BACK”
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That was a statement game, San Diego’s State explosive come from behind win, crushing Colorado State.
It put SDSU back in the Mountain West race with 3-weeks left in the conference season heading towards the MWC tourney

State flashed its fierce brand of defense that wrecked the Rams, who had a 14-point lead.
Jaedon LeDee put on a power forward show, shooting, rebounding, passing.

For the first time, the mass of guys off the bench played their best game collecrively, wave after wave of bigs coming off the bench.

It was an amazing display both front and back court.  Next up comes 20-win New Mexico with its high powered guards on Friday night.

In a sense, it is a chance of ‘payback’ after the 4-road beatings SDSU suffeered on the road.  Now State looks different, feels different, and may play different at the most important time of the year.

We know about LeDee, and now we know State has a ton of fouls to give if the rest of their ‘bigs’ show up and play that way again.

That was special, that was a statement game for the fans and coach Brian Dutcher.

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Coach Brian Dutcher:

Spectacular 2nd half vs Colorado State
That was dominant..we took it to them…took it from them
Here comes New Mexico

Jalen House-New Mexico so fast dynamic-gets downhill
Shoots 3-willing passer-gets to basket
He plays animated-plays to the crowd
Contain him with our guards-impact him and his ability
Dynamic-emotional player

Survived bad starts last couple of games
We took physical control by going big in lineup
We constantly in self examination as to why we are not productive early

Refs-not worry about what is being called-not called
Play beyond the refs calls and adjust

Jaedon LeDee played so well at different positions and survived fouls

Jay Pal created 2nd chance opportunities using his length
Our bigs played so tough inside
We are going deep into the bench to get minutes and fouls to give

New Mexico only win in this building in 2-years
Our players know that

Hard winning on the road…in MWC
Lost leads on road-have not won on the road
Deepest-best Mountain West season ever seen
7-teams are within 1-game of 1st place
Venues are so tough to go ito

LeDee-he plays the right way…knows he will not score off double team
We knew how good he could be..now country knows
He is big-strong..moves his feet..not just an upper body game

Everyone gives him their best…double-front him..push him
He fouled two of them out in CSU game

Time to move on from Colorado State-focus on New Mexico.
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“UCLA IN-CRISIS”
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They are leaving, UCLA football, headed to the Big 10-Conference.

He has left them, Chip Kelly, exiting the Bruins head coaching job.

Kelly is headed to the Big 10-too, but will show up as Ohio State’s Off Coord.

He has arrived, DeShaun Foster, as the surprise choice to take the Bruins job.

What a weekend for the once powerful Bruins team, the ones who won with Terry Donahue, Bob Toledo, Rick Neuhisel and Jim Mora.  Once upon a tme, the ‘Gutty Little Bruins’ or the Troy Aikman era.

Then came the bad hire of the ill prepared Karl Dorrell.  And now this mess with a name coach.

Now they have problems everywhere.

A trauma filled financial issue, with some 36M-in Athletic Department debt.  A university with a massive debt on the campus

A football program that has more empty seats at the Rose Bowl than fans in the stands.

A defection to the Big 10-Conference, triggered by the financial trauma, a move to play games in a powerful conference with very hard road trips coming up.

Blood on their hands, along with USC, for the death of the Pac 12, once knows as the Conference of Champions.

And now the nationally known coach exits, tin cans tied to his tail, after 6-years of disappointment at UCLA.

Chip Kelly, who built a brilliant football program at Oregon, is no longer what he used to be, one of college football’s bright lights.  He failed in the NFL with the Eagles, then the 49ers, then arrived at UCLA, only to drift aimlessly for the past 6-years.

Now after they gave him everything he wanted, including a record setting salary, and massive football budgets, he leaves in the middle of the night, with a (35-34) record, a fall from grace as a program, and he as a person.

He was interviewing for NFL jobs with the Raiders-Commanders, days after the National signing date, and a month after he lured players in from the transfer portal.

Now he has bailed, or been told to leave, but the wreckage left behind is monumental.  Lousy recruiting, half a coaching staff gone, his top QB having already left for Oregon, and the transfer portal opening for 30-days for UCLA players to leave because the coach left.

Lots of words come to mind at his hour when I think of Kelly.  Ingrate, deplorable, dispicable, selfish, egotistical, boorish, condescending.  They gave him everything he asked for to build the Bruins into what the Ducks were.  And he failed, and then he walked out.

Former Bruins running back DeShaun Foster is hired.  He spent 11-years there as a running back coach.  Just seven days ago he left to go to work for the Raiders, now he opts out and applies to come home upon finding Kelly jumped ship.

But this instant hire comes with issues.  He’s never been anything more than a position coach.  Never a coordinator.  Never a play-caller.  Never worked any side of the ball aside from running and catching it.

For AD-Martin Jarmond, this looks like a desperate move, hiring someone so unqualified for the big job as they move to the Big 10.

UCLA could have pursued a rock star coach like Pete Carroll, the USC and Seattle Seahawk icon.  There was David Shaw, the once highly regarded Stanford coach for more than a decade.  There was ex-Bruin Tony White, who helped rebuild Nebraska.  And a few other big names.

But they went for the easy choice, the home town running back, who has no experience swimming with the sharks that will be in the water in the Big 10.

And there’s a sidebar story.  Kelly not only lost bad games to bad teams over his tenure, not only failed to develop young star players, failed to get 5-star recruits to put on blue colors, there was so much off the field about him that turned out to be a turn off.

He refused to work with the collective raising NIL money.  He did not wish to interact with boosters.  He has a grudge relationship with the working media.  He didn’t care about anything except Xs-Os, his offense, his image.  It is all a bad look what he turned into.

And now we find out that the ‘Men of Westwood’, who run the NIL collective stopped giving money to UCLA football, and inferred if Kelly remained, they  would remain absent from involvement with Bruins football.

It is awful where we stand right now observing Bruins football.  Losing seasons, lost quarterbacks and now a late-late start right infront of spring football for an incoming inexperienced head coach, with half a coaching staff.

Kelly failing so badly, acting so badly, is an utter shock, to people inside and followers outside the circle covering UCLA football.

He used words like ‘relationships-friendships = championships’.  Guess that turned out to be a lie too, just like his reputation he could do at the Rose Bowl what he did at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.

Things cannot get worse can they?  You seen UCLA’s schedule for Year 1-in the Big 10-this fall?

Call me if you think the light at the end of the tunnel is a Foster-led UCLA solution, or a Big 10-freight train coming down the track?

UCLA in crisis for sure.

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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast
Super Bowl Recap
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“SUPER BOWL-LAST THOUGHTS”
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The Chiefs are back home preparing for their Super Bowl Parade.  The 49ers are home , their season shattered by the overtime loss.  Some last second thoughts:

ANDY REID..The mad scientist in him was activated at halftime with his team trailing and struggling against a very physical Niner front.  They went double tight ends, put them in motion, had them wham block.  They kept them in to help blitz block   And the motion packages opened running lanes for Patrick Mahomes.  Coaching genius at its best.

PATRICK MAHOMES faced enormous heat but never wilted.  He broke the back of the Niners ripping off 66-yards rushing including critical 18-and-21 runs, and conversions on 3rd and 4th downs in the second half.  Those scoring drives won the game, and were a direct product of the different formations Reid went to in the second half.

TRAVIS KELCE was not targeted in the opening half, facing all types of coverages the Niners designed.  So the Chiefs went the other side of the field, throwing to the other tight ends (Watson-Gray) and getting passes to Scantling and the game winning TD to Hardman.  The Niners had to go back to zone coverage in the second half, and voila, Kelce caught 7-passes in the second half and made things happened.

STEVE SPAGNUOLA saw his defense get pushed all over the field, the power run game with Christian McCaffrey and chunk play passes.  They came out in the second half, jamming the line of scrimmage, blitzing gaps and moving Chris Jones all over the defensive line.  The aggressiveness paid off as Brock Purdy time and again had people in his face and had to move off his spot.  When would you ever think this diverse Niners offense would go 3-straight possessions 3-and out.  They slowed San Francisco down alot.

KID DBs …The play was spectacular.  Left to go man on man because of the pressure the Chiefs presented upfront, Trent McDuffie and company broke up big plays down the field  all night long.  Then Purdy became inaccurate as the game wore on.

KYLE SHANAHAN is being second guessed everywhere about everything, and he now has 4-losses in post season where his teams fell apart, losing double digit leads.

RUN GAME GONE is a big issue.  Christian McCaffrey carried a heavy workload in the first quarter and the Niners had a lead. Then Shanahan took the  run game away, threw the ball alot, and did not get back to McCaffrey till late in the 3rd quarter or early in the 4th stanza.  They had both CMC and Elijah Mitchell and yet went away from the power game.  It was productive early and if they had stayed with it, it would mean Mahomes would have been on the sidelines standing next to Reid.  This is on Shanahan.

GIMMICK PLAYS were part of the Niners success during the season.  They hardly ran any jet sweeps, challenging the Chiefs on the edge   They never targeted George Kittle till very late.  And there were not alot of big plays to Deebo Samuel or Brandon Ayiuk.  All those weapons and yet they did not use them.

GASSED..that’s all I can say about the SF defense, which gave up (455Y) in the game to the Chiefs.  It became a war of attrition and there were alot of casualties on the Niners side. Losing Dre Greenlaw to the torn achilles was devastating.  Nick Bosa remained a standout rusher the entire night, but the rest of defensive front wore down and did not make a difference.

KICKERS…Harrison Butker went 4-for-4 and finished the season (44-for-46) including the Super Bowl record 57-yarder.  But another missed kick haunts Jake Moody, despite his 55-yard field goal.  He missed a point after chip shot that changed the scope of the game.  He finished the season with 8-missed kicks, and that’s a big name number.

COIN TOSS…Huge debate whether San Francisco should have taken the OT first possession or put the defense on the field.  Most coaches want their defense to make a statement in overtime, get the ball back and the offense knows what it has to do to win.

THE BLOWUP…It was a bad look on the Chiefs sideline, the Travis Kelce shouting match with Reid in the first half.  Yes it may be a flashpoint heat of the moment issue, but it was a disturbing sight, a tight end body banging and screaming at a future Hall of Fame coach.   Kelce owes Reid a public apology.

DYNASTY…Yes you can register that word and send it to Kansas City.  Back to back Super Bowl rings.  3-titles in a 5-year window.  Reid now (27-16) in postseason play.  Mahomes (15-3) in playoff games with (39TD-8Int) in that span.  Sound like a dynasty to me.

THE COMMERCIALS…Just didn’t seem there were that many ‘grab your attention’ commercials.  Maybe the ones that stood out included Tom Brady-Dunkin Donuts, and the ‘Kennedy’ political  ad. The most unique one might have been the ‘Jesus’ religious based ads.  The Phizer ads carried a key message.  The downside?  An awful lot of movie promo ads, all sci-fi types.

TV VIEWERSHIP..The final TV ratings are due out by Wednesday, and projections say (115.1) and that the halftime show with Usher peaked at (120M).  We’ll see what the overtime period peak numbers are, they should be thru the roof.

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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast-Super Bowl Recap
Monday 1pm
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(SUPER WIN-SUPER BOWL)
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Now that was Super…the Super Bowl Chiefs come from behind win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Andy Reid solidifies his credentials to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Patrick Mahomes now equals Tom Brady in terms of clutch postseason wins.
The Chiefs win their 2nd in a row and 3rd Trophy in a 5-year span.
Yes you can now use the word ‘Dynasty’ to describe what you saw.

The two top offensive teams in the NFL.  2-top defenses.  2-brilliant quarterbacks.  And coaching staffs who created chaos with the plays they called on both sides of the ball.

It was a defensive war.  Costly turnovers.  Quarterback sacks.  Enormous QB pressures.  Some bad penalties.

It became a line of scrimmage game.
Then it became a war of attrition game for both gassed defenses.

Both kickers set NFL records with 55 and 57-yard Super Bowl field goals.

There were a few Taylor Swift sightings.  Travis Kelce caught a bunch of passes late.  Christian McCaffrey was all everything on offense.

There was even a sideline yelling match, Kelce screaming at Reid when things were not going well in the first half.  All well that ends well.

But in the end it was too much Patrick Mahomes for San Francisco to keep out of the end zone.  It took a 75-yard game winning TD drive as time was running out for the Chiefs to celebrate under the confetti.

When they were done, Mahomes had thrown for (333Y-2TD) and broke off (66Y) rushing including scrambles on 3rd and 4th down that broke the Niners back in overtime..  Kelce had (9R-93Y) most of it after his spat with his coach.

Brock Purdy stood tough, finishing with (225P-TD) but he struggled mightily in the 2nd half as Steve Spagnuolo ratcheted up the blitz pressure.  McCaffrey had a combined (160APY) on  a day with a devastating loss.

The Chiefs did not wilt in the face of the fierce defensive line play, finishing the night with (455Y) compared to an impressive (382Y) SF put up.

Both teams were gassed at the end.  Mahomes took 4-sacks, 5-hits and 12-pressures.  Purdy went down once, had 8-hits and had 10-pressures.

As good as the defenses were, the Chiefs had 14-chunk plays of 10-yards or more.  As good as KC was, SF had 16-big plays of plus ten yards or more.

It was amazing anyone on either defense had any strength left, but the Chiefs did.  The Niners did not on the final drive.

For the fans, it was as wild as it could be, ending in a tie in regulation, and going down to the final snap in overtime before the Chiefs got the win.

Elation and relief for Clark Hunt, the owner, Reid, the coach, and Mahomes-Kelce, the dynamic duo.

Heartbreaking for Kyle Shanahan, who still has this albatross of post season failures, lost leads, on his 49ers coaching resume.

But it was Super night for the NFL.  The Chiefs go home with another trophy.

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