Each holiday season for nearly two decades, a group of aged,
former gym mates, meet for a holiday dinner in the Pasadena area. The gym is long gone but the spirit still
flies. I have written about it in the
past but this year unfortunately, I was unable to attend because of my various
business ventures. The group is very USC
centric which does not silence the Yard but if you have been watching college
football rivalries, the USC-UCLA has been decidedly Trojan during the
aforementioned decades. This year the
Bruins trounced the Trojans and flipped the game board. UCLA coach Chip Kelly and the Bruins are on
the rise with a young exciting team. USC
keeps mining their past with their coach and AD. They have been doing that since Peter bolted
to Seattle. USC deserved to win by all
measures. It has been a tough 18 months
at the original U and the only U for many.
The football team was incidental to the other University improprieties. The football team could have helped diffuse
the situation with another Rose Bowl run.
And it was right there until it was 5-7.
Thankfully for all Bruin fans, USC AD Lynn Swann is sticking with his
man, Clay. I wish I could have been there to lend support to my boys from Troy
during their troubling times. And damn, it really would have been a super fun
dinner. See you all next year!
Sports has always been a Yard tenant. It is not just the passion for any event but
the binary nature. There is a result
that defines the winner from the loser.
If you or your champion, it is rose petals and Clicquot. If you are the lost, it is self-loathing and
alcohol. The Yard has been involved with
several boozy, self-loathing moments over the years with our chosen teams. There
is most likely alcohol on the champion side as well but loathing lite. Championship events cannot end in a tie. The tie-breaking events are called shootouts
and sudden death. It all resonates as
impactful as it sounds when the winner has to be determined in overtime. With
all due respect to these vigorous athletics, chess has the best OT strategy of
any sport. For purposes of this
discussion, chess is a sport. It is
definitely not a hobby. Defending World
Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and the
challenger Fabiano Caruana (USA) battled through a 12 set tied match in the
World Championships this past month.
Carlsen eventually won but all the buzz was if there would be the
ultimate chess tie-breaker, Armageddon. That is the absolute coolest tiebreaker
moniker ever. I am not sure what happens
but it sounds like it would involve Liam Neeson, in flowing robes, shouting,
“Release the Cracken” and the competitors would have to battle primordial chess
beasts to the finish to declare a champion.
It did not come to that but the Yard can only hope for it in the future.
NBA basketball is back on the rise in LA. The Clippers have been successfully
disappointing these past several years.
Since they ran off Donald Sterling and made a run to the conference
finals, the Clippers have slowly sunk into irrelevance. It was their time to seize the city with the
Lakers mining the lottery draft. But they stumbled and bumbled while Blake
Griffin was cold cocking the towel boy.
Chris Paul bolted for Houston.
DeAndre finally made it to Dallas and the rest of the Clipper abyss drifted
from our conscience. In 2018, the
Clipper lineup does not boast a recognizable name. The most known names are the coach and the
owner. But somehow, this team of
castoffs and journeymen is among the conference elite at this time. It should be noted that the Rockets are awful
and the Warriors were lost for a bit but the Clips look like they have some
staying power. They need to act fast
because the Lake show is coming on like Lebron James on a fast break. The purple and gold probably does not have
enough Cowboys to take out the Warriors this year but look out next year. And Steph Curry, I am pretty sure Neil and
Buzz made it to the moon and planted a flag but you have coffee with Kyrie
Irving so he can share the world is flat discussion. Better you lads focus on basketball rather than
pontificate on hillbilly conspiracies. Steph,
another year at Davidson and they would have covered the Moon Landing.
Yard youth was a huge Ram fan.
Timmy Lawlor and I watched the Rams go down in defeat to the Minnesota
Vikings about 12 times it seemed. It was
always a frozen day in MN and the Ram players looked like they wanted to be
anywhere else but there. The Vikings
always won and then lost in the Super Bowl.
Roman Gabriel, Jack Snow, the Fearsome Foursome, we worshipped them all
but they could never deliver. The slow
erosion of faith from the move to Anaheim before the eventual re-location to
St. Louis helped erase the heart ache of being a Ram fan. It was already painful enough being a Bruin
fan. The Lakers and Dodgers were only
champions back in the day. But slowly
upon their return, the horned helmet legion has started to pull us back into
the fray. Yard staff wants to stave off
the unquestioned loyalty vote until the Raiders get to LV and we see what up
with dat. After watching what the
Chicago Bears did to the Rams on a cold night in Chicago, it was clear the vote
did need to get pushed. We are sending a
scout team to the first Ram playoff game to vet this game changing staff vote.
In 2015, there was no Pro Football in LA. And in 2016 when the Rams and Chargers both
moved back to LA, some would say Pro Football still had not come back to LA
with the Chargers storming to a 5-11 season and the Rams a stellar 4-12. Both teams were playing in ill-suited
stadiums by NFL standards but when you are not playing up to standards, who
cares. In 2018, both teams are among the
elite in the NFL. The Rams have been a
team on the rise for two years now. The
Chargers have not been in the playoffs since 2013. Phillip Rivers has always been among the
elite but his team could just not seem to get over the top. This year Rivers has lead this team to the
top of the AFC. With Thursday night’s
miracle win in Kansas City, the Chargers clinched a playoff spot. We hope they go far and for more reasons than
the 6:1 bet we made on them winning the AFC.
We love Rivers fiery personality on the field. He is a different person off the field as
would be a devout Catholic father of eight with the 9th due in
March. Rivers can be affable in
interviews and off the field. Once he
comes out of the tunnel he is a seething, competitive ball of fire. He barks at his teammates, the referees and
opposing fans throughout the game. He
was taunting KC fans after their home favorite went down in the last
second. Some may not like it, but at the
Yard, we love it. You all can have Aaron
Rodgers and his stoicism. Rodgers may
have more fans but Rivers has the Yard!
What else does someone need other than Yard karma! Unfortunately, quite a bit but we love this
feisty pro-creator!
The dumpster fire in Arizona has already been lit. The D’backs were going to conquer the NL west
with their sharp young lineup while snatching Zack Greinke from the Dodgers
with a ridiculous contract just a few years back. Much has been written about this in the Yard
and it still stings. If Zack had stayed,
the Dodgers might have won a title possibly during these past two
campaigns. Playoff pitching for the
Dodgers is the problem, not regular season pitching. Grei `nke
is an Asperger’s genius on the mound whether it is the playoffs or the regular
season. He would be brilliant in October
but he will never find out because he took the dough not the chance for a
ring. The first match was lit when the
Snakes traded their heart to St. Louis in Adam Goldschmidt. He was the most feared and consistent bat in
the batting order. Now Zack and company
can fight the Giants and Padres for the race to the bottom. Padres have the inside track but the Giants
have some compelling resolution these past few 90 loss seasons. And just like with the Trojans head coach, we
can only hope the Giants keep Bruce Bochy around to help retreat the charge. He has been excellent in that regard.
Extra Innings: The holidays are upon us and as usual we missed all
of the Black days and most of the other days left to shop. Jo at the Yard has become our elf to make
magic happen with unique thoughts and American Express. The craziest gift idea we have heard is the
23 and me. DNA testing for your friends and relatives for Christmas sounds down
right creepy. We are told these ads do
not run in Arkansas and Appalachia. We really cannot think of a gift that is
more invasive. We all think the
government is tracking our every move anyways but millions of us are giving it
up and paying for it! Does it sound like
a great idea to give everyone DNA tests for Christmas and then wait for the fun
discussing the results next year?
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