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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“AFC-WEST…NEW LEADER
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Looks who is in first place in the division.

The Chargers have beaten two rivals in the AFC-West already, in two road games.

Justin Herbert is off to a blazing start at quarterback, but the real hero at the start of the season is the defense.

What they did to slow down Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, was topped by the choke hold effort in suffocating everything Geno Smith attempted to do with the Raiders.

Jesse Minter took everything Chip Kelly had in the Raiders playbook and shredded it.

3-interceptions.  3-sacks.  5-QB-hits.  9-pressures.

It got so bad, star tight end Brock Bowers was more a pass blocker than a receiver.  As tough a runner as Ashton Jeanty has shown to be, the holes were few and far between.

Smith, coming off a 362-yard passing day in New England, panicked all night long, threw lollipops up for grab, was chased sideline to sideline.

How hard was it?  Justin Herbert completed 14-passes in a row after a slow start, and finished with 10-and-60 yard TD strikes.  Smith engineered a 19 play drive but could not get into the end zone, settling for a field goal.

The win cost the Chargers linebacker Khalil Mack with a hyperextended elbow on a friendly fire hit.  The Bolts were everywhere, hitting everything.

Think about this.  The Chargers next stop will be vs Denver.  That might be a defensive war too, but if so who cares.  A win next weekend would put the Chargers at (3-0), with all the wins coming against the enemy in the division.

The Raiders?  Alot of work to be done-patching the defense and protecting their quarterback.  The Chargers exposed them all over Allegiant Field on Monday.

1st place-Chargers.  Right now, pretty good, because they have earned it.

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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast…1:30pm
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on the Table..Stay for Fans Forum
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“UCLA–ALL TIME LOW”
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They have played football at UCLA since 1928.

There have been spectacular seasons, some disappointing seasons, but nothing in modern day football like the disgrace we have just witnessed.

UCLA’s coaching ledger stretched from Bill Barnes to Pepper Rodgers, to the greatness of Terry Donahue, the short venue of Dick Vermeil, the ups and downs of Rick Neuhisel, the dynamics of Bob Toledo and the good old boy Tommy Prothro.

It also contains the fallout from the expected success, but the failures of Chip Kelly, here today, gone tomorrow.

But no one has seen what we have just seen in the last three game stretch at the Rose Bowl.

Yes there has been an odd awful fall, a (2-7-1) under Rodgers.  A (3-7-1) season with Donahue.  Neuhisel staggered to a (4-8) campaign.

Kelly, with all his accolades, went (5-8) and (4-9) to start a rocky road, that is now littered with a death like financial deficit gripping the athletic program.

All that has been bypassed by the arrival-and-failure of ex Bruins running back DeShaun Foster, who had limited coaching experience, was never a coordinator anywhere, and yet was given the job after a 72-hour window of interviews.

An awful start in 2024 was followed by a disgrace beginning in 2025.  Sandwiched in the middle was the firing of 9-assistant coaches, after only 9-months on the job, all hand picked by Foster.

It got worse and worse in year two.  3-blowout losses in a row to start this fall.  A defense torched in all 3-games.

The arrival of Tennessee QB-Nico Iamaleava, who bailed from UT in a dispute over NIL money, showed up and announced he would play one year and then likely go to the NFL.  No one else wanted him and his attitude, but Foster took him, and his play has been erratic.

Attendance has plunged in the Rose Bowl.  Season ticket support has cratered.

And Foster picked a war with the working media, closing practices, banning interviews this year too.  How’d all that work out?

And now with the firing of Foster on Sunday, hours after the horror show loss to New Mexico, comes this nugget.  His players now have a 30-day window ‘right now’ to enter the transfer portal.  And four top recruits-decommitted within hours of the firing.

So we sit here now with a poor roster, the beginning of the Big 10-schedule, and an Athletic Director who still has his job, despite all of Martin Jarmond’s decisions.

He is the one who hired Foster,and  also delivered the disaster that was Chip Kelly, and all the transactions that have left the Athletic Department (216M) in the red.

Off the field, social media has been vicious.  A year ago, the Men of Westwood said they would no longer fund Bruins football if Kelly was retained.  He was told to leave.

Then as the losses bled into more losses this year-came this social media slam ‘We regret to inform you the season ticket holders are entering the Transfer Portal.

And the weekend gem after the loss to New Mexico, ‘Congrats UCLA, you are now in last place in the Big 10-Big 12 and Mountain West Conference.  Ouch.

Firing an unqualified head coach is the right move.  That’s not the only firing that should have taken place at UCLA this weekend.

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Hacksaw’s Great Sports Weekend Podcast
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“NFL WEEKEND #2..PICK EM PAL
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You won’t be able to top what we saw on the opening weekend of the NFL-the great matchups and the blockbuster TV ratings for a couple of games.  Now we settle in with some good games and some you won’t probably watch.

CHARGERS-RAIDERS..Jim Harbaugh-Pete Carroll..last seen yelling at each other on opposite sidelines…Two very different personalities and styles.  Could be a throwing contest, Justin Herbert vs Geno Smith.  Could be two defenses under duress.  How do the Bolts cover Brock Bowers-Jakobi Myers-Mike Mayer.  At the  same time, do the Raiders have enough people to deal with Herbert’s pass catching brigade (McConkey-Allen-Johnston and the TEs).  The unknown, both OL have unsettled situations.  Herbert single handedly bdat the Chiefs.  Geno went wild (362P) in a road win.  Might be a (39-37) game?

CHIEFS-EAGLES..Could you imagine Andy Reid’s team being (0-2) by Sunday night?  Might happen.  Week two has to be different than the opening loss.  The Chiefs have to get the ball down the field.  Have to protect Patrick Mahomes.  Have to survive the test of manhood they will get from Saquon Barkley.  Have to contain Jalen Hurts.  The Eagles-vs-Mahomes-they will chase him alot.  Eagles to win.

TAMPA BAY-HOUSTON…Pretty good matchup-Baker Mayfield’s firehouse passing attack against a Texans pretty fierce  pass rush.

ATLANTA-MINNESOTA…Young guys QB matchup.  Michael Penix coming off a (298Y) outing vs JJ McCarthy who lit it up with 3TD drives in the fourth quarter in their win..Lots of firepower on both sides of the ball.

LIONS-BEARS…Detroit will create chaos for Chicago QB-Caleb Williams, and he was running for his life last weekend.  Likely turnovers, sacks and some ill-will too.  This Bears offense is a great mystery as is where Caleb is along the learning curve with new coach Ben Johnson?

RAVENS-BROWNS..Baltimore’s defensive collapse was epic-bet you don’t see that again.  Bet they bring the heat on Joe Flacco.  Lamar Jackson-vs-Myles Garrett-will be pretty cool QB-DE pass rush matchup too.

COWBOYS-GIANTS…Dallas and Dak Prescott come off a pretty good first game, even it was a loss.  The Giants did not have a good first game, and unless Russell Wilson does better, he might lose his starting job to rookie Jaxson Dart.  The only bigger cry in NY, aside from Dart, is to fire Brian Daboll.

SEATTLE-PITTSBURGH..Aaron Rodgers debut infront of the Iron City Beer drinking crowd will be wild.  So will Pittsburgh’s pass rush.  Sam Darnold had a really poor opening debut in Seattle colors.  This could be messy.

BILLS-JETS..Josh Allen takes this high wire act on the road.  Justin Fields will need to make more plays than a week ago.

BENGALS-JAGUARS..A bizarre weekend win, when Joe Burrow won, despite throwing for (113Y).  The Jaguars think there will be more catches and yards for Travis Hunter after a so-so debut last week

PATRIOTS-MIAMI…Big trouble brewing in Miami Gardens, after a dismal first weekend.  Can you believe, the Dolphins had (43Y) in offense at halftime, a team with Tua and Tyreek on the field.  Now Hill has off field problems on top of a wrist injury, and mess with the roster.  New England was sloppy in Mike Vrabel’s debut, but Drake Maye will make things happen.

49ers-SAINTS…The injury toll keeps growing, now Brock Purdy and George Kittle are out.  Mac Jones starts at quarterback.  The Saints have to be better than the 13-penalty filled loss last weekend.  How long before Tyler Shough gets the starting call at QB.

ARIZONA-CAROLINA…Kyler Murray needs to stack good starts on top of good starts.  Bryce Young and his coach Dave Canales, the jury is really out on this tandem.

DENVER-COLTS…Bo Nix had an odd-turnover-marred game so things will get better.  Daniel Jones played really well in his Colts debut, as did his do everything tight end-full back-H back-Tyler Warren.  Keeping RB-Jon Taylor on the field-healthy is important

RAMS-TENNESSEE…Oh boy-Cam Ward.  If he thought last week’s (112Y) passing day was hard- wait till he gets a load of the Rams defense.  And Matthew Stafford has lots of weapons to use.  Could be a bad blowout in Nashville.

PACKERS-WASHINGTON…Micah Parsons, Jordan Love, the Packers pass rush and big play receivers-just way too much for Jayden Daniels to deal with in that Thursday night game.
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========Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast…**Special Time 9am**
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on Table-Stay for Fans Forum
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“PENNANT RACE = CHAOS”
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Two weeks out from the end of the pennant race, and so much is undecided, so much turmoil everywhere.  A close up look at questions you might consider:

DODGERS..Might have the biggest payroll, might have a Gold Standard rotation, but whom in the bullpen are you going to trust in postseason.  LA has relief pitchers, all with veteran closer’s experience on their resume, with ERAs between (4.21-and-4.78) and you are going to give them the ball?

PADRES..They think they fixed the bullpen, but they have not fixed the rotation beyond starter Nick Pivetta.  Do you really believe you are safe if you give the ball to Darvish-Cease-Vasquez in the playoffs?  And what about Manny Machardo, hitting just (.193) since August 1st?  A by-the-way, #29 in home runs this year.  And as you read this, they are (5-11) the last three weeks.

METS..The year long pitching issues are resurfacing, and despite a batting order led by names like Soto-Alonso-Lindor, New York might not make the playoffs, even with that big payroll.  At last check this week, they had 3-rookie pitchers in the starting rotation.

YANKEES…What a poorly constructed team, with a thin bullpen, and a team flawed by really bad defense.  If Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton don’t hit home runs, can they win?  Outscored (23-3) last two games.

HOUSTON..All you need to know, awful lot of pitching injuries, and 25th in runs scored.

CUBS..Great season but now Kyle Tucker and Peter Crow-Armstrong are ailing and they are not hitting.  Wrong time of the year for this to happen.  They are now #26 in runs scored.

TORONTO..Bats have cooled, Bichette just went on the DL, and the bullpen is erratic.

SEATTLE..Big Dumper-Raleigh, plus Suarez-Naylor they can hit, but they are fading at the bad time, on a (6-15) skid.

DETROIT..Two extended losing streaks leads to a basic question.  Who aside from ace Tarik Skubal do you believe in on this rotation now?

PHILLIES..Need the lineup to get hot.  Now Trea Turner is hurt.  There is no Zach Wheeler.  Might an all lefthander rotation survived in the playoffs?

MILWAUKEE…Even the Brew Crew has cooled off.  On pace to 100-wins, they have gone thru a (6-8) spell.

Two weeks to go, and a bunch of teams have issues.
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“AZTECS BASKETBALL–ALOT OF EXPECTATIONS
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San Diego State  is ready for preseason fall workouts.
The fans are ready for the start of the season.

Hard to say ‘curb your enthusiasm’ when you look at the roster.
But you can get enthused with the release of the SDSU schedule.

I might say ‘Wow’ about the roster potential.
I will say ‘Wow’ about what lies ahead.

Coach Brian Dutcher’s comments heading to preseason:
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Excited at this schedule..full of challenges

Goal is make tourney
Schedule super games in November
Our goal make NCAA tourney with November schedule

Michigan-Oregon-Arizona will be a challenge
Build our reputation in November
17-home games this year
People do not want to play us in Viejas
Always look for home and home with big time teams

UCLA exhibition game helps us build NIL budget too-fill Viejas
20-game Mountain West schedule is out
Yes will be travel issues
Final trips thru MWC..
Won’t miss Laramie-Albuquerque-Colorado Springs

Exciting to have Grand Canyon on schedule
2-more quality games to build our resume

Resume..need to build non conference
Seeding comes from NCAA based on strength on non-league

Do not want to travel 3-time zones to play home and homes
Searching for schedule like we had with Gonzaga

MWC-PAC 12..acrimony-not much conversation about it
Transfer portal has changed entire rosters in MWC

Roster-very deep roster..great for coaches-not fair to players
When Gwath-Byrd went into portal-we had to get players if they left
We needed depth-losing Gwath for 7-games last year proved that

Think this is the deepest roster I have had at SDSU..Individual talent-now have to put the team together.

Magoon Gwath-version-coming off knee issues
Ahead of schedule in rehab
7′-shooting threes-handling the ball..has an NBA future
Back in practice in October

This freshman class is very good..Tae Simmons is coming off hamstring..Elzie Harrington is quite the playmaker

Thokbor Majak- learning curve..has healthy ankle..redshirt freshman…looks like he good be good-but has to learn physical part of game..young bigs have to learn to handle physicality

Miles Byrd-is a different player now-aftermath of NBA camps..Bigger-confident-mature.

Sean Newman is a pass first point guard who can get ball to guards who can score

Jeremiah Owen from Wyoming brings great experience.
Latrelle Davis will be a scorer off the bench

Reese Waters is back after a year layoff..his timing is getting better

Our program is based on high school kids-so you build a culture.  Want players who spend 4-5 years in the program.  We will take transfers to fill out the roster.  High school kids want to play right away.  Bigs understand they may take a red year shirt.

I would be shocked if we did not have the lowest transfer rate in the country.  We have usually lost just the 5th year seniors-guys went for the money..now control rules money changes taking place.

Our move to Pac 12-will create more revenue…but revenue is not there right now.  We are still raising money at SDSU-not like Big 10.  Every dollar counts for this program this year…Money raised in UCLA game goes to Aztecs program.

Divorce with MWC…conference keeps Aztecs NCAA-Units from tourney as part of exit fee from conference…Our parting gift-want a thank you note.
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