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“HAPPY NEW YEAR”
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“2025-LOOK BACK-2024”
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A New Year and a final chance to look back at the top stories of last year.

So many things to consider, personalities, wins, losses, controversies, deaths.

My top 10-sports stories of 2024:

10..TRAVIS HUNTER….What a fabulous season the Colorado WR-DB had, that included the dominant vote count in winning the Heisman.  He played (1,050) snaps for Deion Sanders crew.

9..JOHNNY HOCKEY..The NHL mourned the summer tragedy, the Columbus Blue Jackets star  and his Boston College star brother, killed by a drunk driver while cycling.  Johnny and Matt Gaudreau honored in both the US-and-Canada.

8..SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER…He might not make you forget Tiger Woods’ greatness, but it was a start, the 9-wins, the Grand Slam wins, the Fed X-points title, and the Olympic Gold Medal 62-final round.  Some season.

7..FERNANDO-RICKY-SEY HEY…They left us too early and with memories, Fernando Valenzuala, Ricky Henderson and Willy Mays…each great for different reasons.

6…PAC 12-DEATH…What was great, now gone, done in by greed, incompetence and arrogance.  West Coast football may never be the same ever again.  It was something special since 1915.

5..CHIEFS-SUPER BOWL..The brilliance of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid take their 2nd Super Bowl trophy back to Kansas City, and serve notice they are looking for a 3rd ring in a row this year.

4..BELICHICK-SABAN…They leave football and leave a legacy, Belichick’s 333-wins and 6-Super Bowl rings in New England, and Saban’s 7-College Football Championships at Alabama and LSU.

3..DODGERS..Pick any topic and it fits here.  The Dodgers win the World Series, another NL West title, the entire Shohei Ohtani saga.  A speical season.  A dynasty franchise.

2..PETE ROSE…Beloved in Cincinnati, despised everywhere else.  His memoriabilia is in the Hall of Fame, he is not.  The debate during his life will continue now in death, he deserves to be in Cooperstown.  A trail of records.  A trail of controversy about his gambling addiction.  The finest player to watch, the flawed person.

1..CAITLIN CLARK…She changed Women’s College Basketball, changed the Iowa Hawkeyes, and forever impacted the WNBA.  A talent, a personality, a tough as nails player.  She became the face of the women’s game.  She has forever changed the business model of women’s college basketball and the business of the WNBA.

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Hacksaw’s Holiday Sports Podcast
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“PADRES BASEBALL-KEEPING SCORE AT HOME
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A wild Hot Stove League of baseball deals in the month of December.
And we are not done yet.

It started with the blockbuster Juan Soto-Mets contract, worth (51M) a year.
It finished in December with Arizona’s (35M) a year deal with Corbin Burnes.

In between, a bunch of trades of big hitting first baseman, some deals with young prospects and a flurry of deals involving second tier free agents.

The Dodgers landed Blake Snell.
The Angels have brought in 7-free agents of varying degrees of talent.

Still out there is Japanese star Roki Sasaki, but now there are 20-teams out there requesting meetings with the 23-year old pitching phenom.

The Padres, have yet to make a move on any name players.
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No deals with price tags on next year’s contract for Dylan Cease-Mike King.
No contract upgrade for CF-Jackson Merrill.
The Padres shutout making the trades they wanted at the Winter Meetings.

Trade talks for a wide variety of pitchers who were on the block and have come and gone.

They have lost Kyle Higashioka.
The price tag on Jurickson Profar is too high.
Asking Ha Seong-Kim to take less in his contract was rejected.

AJ Preller has not made a deal with any of the top tier free agent pitchers, but that was expected, considering the huge price tag they were demanding, and the Friars payroll limitations..

A group of tier two free agent pitchers are still out there, but some have age issues, others are coming off injury issues in their career.

The Padres only off-season deals were for minor leaguers, refugees from other teams, or guys who have gone abroad and want to come back.

That roster of signees include:
..Jose Espada..a former Cardinals pitcher, who had a (2.89) ERA-in Japan
..Juan Nunez..a young reliever out of the Orioles farm system (2.45) in AA
..Eikin Huizi..from the Tigers farm system with a (4.68) mark in the minors.

..Oscar Gonzalez..a part-time DH-OF from Cleveland (.269-13HR) in career
..Moises Gomez..from the Cardinals system (127HR) in a minor league stay.
..Yon Perlaza..a Cubs 2B with 67-HRs in 7-years in the minors
..Trenton Brooks..a Giants minor league 1B..who hit (.120) in SF

Now there are still players you could trade for.  Maybe there is a bargain baseman veteran to sign.

Maybe Preller really believes the vacancies on his pitching staff can be filled after a year of experience with Randy Vasquez or Matt Waldon.  Maybe minor leaguers Alek Jacob..Stephen Koleik…Sean Reynolds…Jhonny Briito..Tom Cosgrove make a difference for a full season.

Minor league slugger Tirso Orelas or career minor leaguers Eguy Rosario-Brandon Lockbridge might grow into bench players.

6-weeks out from spring training, things can still happen in free agency, deals can still be made.  We just don’t know the price AJ will have to pay to keep his guys or go get other guys in the trade market.

Keeping score at home…we know this as of New Year’s Eve…”Padres are 0-for-Off Season” so far.

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Hacksaw’s Holiday Podcast-Monday-1pm
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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‘CHARGERS–PATRIOTS–REACTION
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The Chargers are feeling pretty good about themselves right now, and maybe rightfully so, though I am not so sure.

They blasted their way to a (40-7) win over the hapless New England Patriots on Saturday, putting themselves into a wildcard playoff spot.

The chunks of adversity they had to encounter were set aside for 3-hours in pounding out a win against one of the weakest teams in the league.

QB-Justin Herbert was superb, and now has 21-TD-3 Int in a banner season.  His offensive line did not give up a sack.  The return of running back JK Dobbins allowed them to grind out yards in the run game.

The defense knocked around Pats rookie QB-Drake Maye and the Chargers came home with a (10-6) record.

All fine and dandy, but I will ask you a bunch of questions, again and again.

As everyone celebrates the culture build thanks to Jim Harbaugh and Joe Hortiz, and getting to the playoffs is an accomplishment, let us be realistic.

Just asking, who have you beaten this year in this 10-win run?

One team with a winning record, Denver and its rookie QB-Bo Nix, who are (9-7).  The other 8-teams the Bolts put away have a sub .500-record or an (8-8) record, and they deserved to lose but didn’t against Cincinnati and Atlanta.

If you are keeping score at home, the combined record of all the teams the Chargers beat this year is (47-96) heading to the final Sunday of the season.  Yes (47-96).

The teams the Bolts lost to, the good teams on the schedule have a combined record of (52-28) at this hour.

And by the way, when you get to the playoffs, you won’t be playing the likes of Carolina-the Saints, the Raiders starting in the widcard round.  It’s the likes of the Ravens-Chiefs-Bills in the AFC, and a consortium of Lions-Vikings-Packers-Eagles from the NFL street corner.

Not sure the Chargers are in their galaxy.

And speaking of a fall from grace, some performance by the Saturday opponent, the former 6X-Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

The homefield loss was pitiful in Foxborough, a setback that was bad on the field, and worse for what it represents on behalf of once famous owner Robert Kraft.

Did you see the empty seats around Gillette Stadium?  Did you hear the chants from the fans thruout the second half ‘Fire Mayo’…Kraft’s hand selected head coach.

You had to feel bad for rookie QB-Drake Maye who got hounded-pounded all day long.  A roster without playmakers on either side of the line of scrimmage.

Bill Belichick is gone, and what he left behind is a woeful roster without talent or quality draft picks.  Since Tom Brady exited with his rings, the Pats are (31-53).

Saturday’s game was ‘pitch and catch’ all day for Herbert and the Bolts.  There was no pass rush, only 1-QB pressure.  The Bolts had a (428-181) dominance in yards, a (40-20) edge in time of possession minutes, and a (77-48) edge in snaps.

It was like watching the varsity play the freshman in that game.

No talent in New England and a Patriots team that has shown no improvement.

Right there infront of you was an example for the nation to see.  The once proud Patriots dynasty had become a disgrace.

Robert Kraft has to own this because he let it happen on his watch, let Belichick control every football decision to be made, and now it has all come due.

It’s a long winding road coming home up Route 1-in New England after games in that stadium.  Imagine the long winding road to rebuild this franchise.

Oh, one final thought.  As Team Spanos walks around LA this week, strutting  over their accomplishments, taking credit for everything, remember it was the NFL who did an intervention and told them to quit failing, pay the big money, hire the right coach, and hire Jim Harbaugh.  The so called ‘`1st Family of Football’ was ordered to quit making mistakes in the 2nd biggest market in the NFL.

And one other item, the Chargers need to approach the final Sunday of the season, this road game against the Raiders, as a ‘payback game’.  The Bolts should not forget the (63-21) hammer job inflicted on them late last season, in which I wrote in a column that night, ‘I expect your resignation on my desk by 9am in the morning’, something that happened to Brandon Staley-Tom Telesco.

The Bolts need to inflict a ‘Payback’ beating on Antonio Pierce who left his starters in the game right to the end and never took his foot off the pedal.

And once the Chargers repay that debt and get ready to go to the playoffs, they then can  answer my question.

‘Again, who have you beaten this season?’

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=========Hacksaw’s Great Sports Weekend Podcast..Friday..1pm
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“BIG NFL WEEKEND”
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There are important games lots of places in the NFL with the final two weekends ahead of us.  There are headlines everywhere.

CHARGERS-PATRIOTS..Justin Herbert (18TD-3Int) has been marvelous.  So has rookie WR-Lad McConkey (69R-13YPC).  The rest of the offensive has been unreliable or inconsistent.  But the Bolts are (9-6) and should finish with 11-wins and maybe a home wildcard game.  The Patriots are (3-12) with a woeful offense (298Y), a rookie QB-Drake Maye (2159P-14TD) who has taken 47-sacks and a defense (41TD) that has given up (342YPG).

BRONCOS-BENGALS..A blown Denver win last week that will haunt them.  Bo Nix has been great (2200P-22TD) and the defense has stood out (51 sacks), but I don’t know how Denver stays in the game against Joe Burrow and his MVP numbers (4229P-39TD-8Int) and WR-J’Marr Chase (108R).  What has ruined a Cincinnati season (7-8) is a defense (360YPG)

RAMS-ARIZONA..Sean McVay’s troops have won 8-of-10.  Matthew Stafford has thrown for big yards (3573P)..and the WRs-Cooper Kupp-Puka Nacua have combined for (135Y)…Arizona has collapsed losing 4-of-5…despite a big play offense (353YPG)..but QB-Kyler Murray has reverted back to turnover issues.

GREEN BAY-MINNESOTA…Big games every weekend in the Black & Blue Division…The Packers are (11-4)..Jordan Love has strong armed this team all year (3135Y-24TD) and Josh Jacobs (1212Y) has been dominant…Sam Darnold is the story in the Twin Cities (32TD-105R)..the duo WRs Jefferson-Addison have combined for (148R-15YPC)…This will be wild on Sunday
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Other NFL notes you should know about:

BEARS..QB-Caleb Williams has been sacked 67-times heading into the final weekend.
RAIDERS..All those QBs combined (80R)..Brock Bowers (101R)…Defense (11-tovers)
LIONS..QB-Jared Goff’s special season stats (4100P-33TD-112 QBR)
EAGLES..It’s Jalen Hurts-Saquon Barkley led offense (370)..It’s defense (278YPG) too
DALLAS..Backup QB-Cooper Rush (11TD-3Int) has helped them win 4-of-5
BUFFALO..QB-Josh Allen (4063APY-39TD) in an MVP type fall.
RAVENS..An offense averaging (423YPG)-thanks to Lamar Jackson-Derrick Henry.
CHIEFS..Cannot be unimpressive (15-1)..Patrick Mahomes (3820Y-26TD)
MIAMI..Running up hill to make the playoffs-big plays have gone away..WR (9YPC)
STEELERS..3-losses in a row..Russell Wilson (102QBR)
WASHINGTON..Hot rookie Jayden Daniels (4040APY-28TD)..what a year
TAMPA BAY..Baker Mayfield (34TD) and an offense (389-YPG)
BROWNS..This says it all..(63-QB sacks allowed)..25-turnovers-28%-3rd downs
HOUSTON..Lost 5-of-8..injuries everywhere
COLTS..QB-Anthony Richardson (61-QBR)..8TD-15-turnovers
JAGUARS..A brutal defense (390YPG) and injuries wrecked the year
JETS..Aaron Rodgers (24TD-8Int)..just not consistent offense
TITANS..What a QB-mess..47-sacks..20-picks..12-fumbles
ATLANTA..Lots of money for Kirk Cousins (18-turnovers)
CAROLINA..A wasted season for RB-Chuba Hubbard (1195R-4.9YPC)
SAINTS..Bad defense (378YPG)..bad injuries too
GIANTS..Yes (2-13)..QB rating73..48-sacks allowed
49ers…Lost 4-of-5…lost so many players injuries..have scored 6TDs in 5-losses
SEATTLE..Hard to believe have lost 6-home games this year..wasting Geno Smith (4176)

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“THURSDAY THOUGHTS”
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Random thoughts on stories everyone is talking about:

PADRES-AT-ZERO…Halfway thru the Hot Stove League, and the Friars have done nothing, zero, zilch to upgrade their roster.  No leftfielder.  No pitching upgrades.  No re-signing of any in-house free agents.  The payroll likely stays at 170M.  Can they rally back?  Yes, if players drop their price tags.  But Jurickson Profar wants (3Y-45M).  Tanner Scott wants (8-10M) a year.  Names are coming off the board and AJ Preller maintains he can still make deals, but he may have to deal away more from the farm system to make trades.  We still have to wait on what they wind up paying Dylan Cease and Michael King for the great 2024-seasons they had.

DODGERS DOLLARS..LA is not done dealing, The payroll is (309M) and they are still talking about another big expenditure, whether it is slugger Teoscar Hernandez or the re-signing of Jack Flaherty.  A bit of a surprise, them letting go of Walker Buehler, who signed in Boston.  And still to come, they have to right a (103M) in luxury tax payments to MLB.

ANGELS…They have been active, but all the acquisitions won’t have much of an impact.  They could still make a significant deal if they were to import 3B-Nolan Arenado of the Cardinals, but that is a big investment (64M) over the next two years.  But this type of deal gets owner Arte Moreno his credibility back.

RAMS..The beat goes on with two weeks left and a chance to hold onto first place in the NFC-West.  For the first time this season, they had no players on their mid-week injury report.  What a turnaround from Coach Sean McVay and veteran QB-Matthew Stafford.  A (1-4) start has been replaced by an (8-2) run.  Everyone is a believer.

CHARGERS…Two road games, at New England, at the Raiders and an (11-6) finish likely.  They still have issues.  Way too much reliance on QB-Justin Herbert, and when you get to the playoffs, you won’t be playing teams like the Carolina Panthers, Patriots or the Raiders.  Getting there is step won.  Doing something on playoff weekend is another.

LAKERS..Rumors everywhere a trade is coming to go get a defensive player to go in the paint.  What will it cost them?  Maybe Rui Hachimura or D’Angelo Russell plus a number 1-picks.  The Lakers continue to stumble, struggle, as witnessed by a lack of interior defense, ugly losses including the most recent to the Pistons, and way too much reliance on Anthony Davis-LeBron James and little growth from their young draft picks.

CLIPPERS..One night it is James Harden exploding.  Another night it is Norman Powell, and more recently C-Ivan Zubac has put up impressive scoring-rebound numbers.  They have a better record than the Lakers , in what was supposed to be a transition year post-Paul George.  Can they keep this up over a long haul schedule?

AZTECS…Coach Sean Lewis has signed 17-players out of the transfer portal.  Sounds impressive but it is a reminder they have had 62-players go into the portal in two years since Lewis was hired off the Colorado led-Deion Sanders staff.  So spring football will be a clean piece of paper, new players, new system, new-steep learning curve.  All the same stuff that led to a (3-9) season last year.  Lots of work to be done.

HOOPS..What a start at SDSU, in a rebuild season, so many new players for Brian Dutcher.  The guards are carrying them.  The bigs are starting to play at both ends, and they held up well in a rugged stretch of non-conference games.  They look ready for the MWC schedule with Utah State coming in.  An impressive (8-2) start.  Do not forget all things Triton basketball, UCSDs amazing (11-2) start with a team that could win the Big West title with a bunch of 3-point bombers.  Can you imagine 2-basketball teams from San Diego in March Madness?  All that in what was once a bad basketball market?

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