Happy New Years from the Yard. On many levels, we would be happy to flush 2023 down the porcelain but not so fast Johnny. 2024 could be more combustible with the kindling of 2023 hot topic issues unresolved. Donald Trump is running again because he must. Trump thirsts for the power and the love of his white male constituents. Trump also must run because his PAC groups are paying his legal fees while he is a candidate. His donors know about the witches and they are helping the big Mac and Cheese out. He keeps running, they keep paying. The Yard has investigated the legal morass that Trump contends is a political witch hunt. Well, there are a lot of witches. Trump has four court cases that are ongoing. These four cases represent 91 total felonies. The current legal bills are $27 million and counting. None of these cases has gone to trial and Trump will not settle. While his minions take plea deals and Rudy must file BK under $150 million cavalcade of punitive damages, Trump stands defiant. He is now surrounding himself with new “friends”. The orchestrators of “the stolen election” narrative are running for the exits. His family who was everywhere while he was in office is nowhere to be seen now including his wife. Fun fact: Trump “allegedly” paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about their illicit affair. To date he has spent $1.7 million in legal fees defending himself against the felony bribery charges related to that payoff. No president in US history has ever been indicted. The job is big enough for big thinkers, Trump is not one of them. The job requires all your focus, Trump will be knee deep in legal cases in four states. He will not be looking out for the country; he will be looking out for himself. Some things never change.
The sports season of 2023 was outstanding for one reason. UCLA trounced USC 38-20 at the Coliseum. For many years, USC and UCLA shared that moribund facility as co-tenants. UCLA bailed in the 1980’s to the verdant pastures of Pasadena. USC was committed to their hood and put some lipstick on the pig. UCLA has struggled to win at the Trojan’s home turf forever and have been 7-15 there since 1979. UCLA beat USC eight straight in the 1990’s, still the longest streak in the rivalry. But the Coliseum was always a tough spot for the Blue and Gold. Reggie “where is my Heisman” Bush rushed for 260 in 2005 in a 66-19 rout. Ricky Neuheisel rattled King Pete’s cage in 2011 by calling timeout with 86 seconds to go trailing 43-0. Matt Barkley did not take a knee, he play-faked and threw a 50-yard TD to finish a 50-0 victory. So, it is sweet to beat USC at home by 18 points. Yard staff thinks the 62-33 beatdown in South Central was better in 2021. It is all good.
Dodger baseball has been in the news of late. We understand that committing a billion in payroll to two players seems excessive. The Dodgers are one of the most profitable teams in the majors so they will figure it out. I will put a link to the August 13 Blog, but we predicted, not a stretch, that the Dodgers were saving their 2022-23 money for Ohtani in 2024. Shohei got his $700 million. We did not know Yoshinobu Yamamoto was going to join the roster for another $300 million. He could be a better pitcher than Ohtani, but Shohei is a unicorn. Here are a few fun facts: Ohtani as a batter has been walked intentionally 14 times. Ohtani the pitcher has never issued one. On June 21, 2022, against the Royals he hit two home runs and drove in eight runs. On June 22, 2022, against the same Royals, Ohtani pitched eight shutout innings, allowed just two hits, and struck out thirteen. There has never been anyone like him including the Babe. He will not pitch in 2024 but he will be in the starting lineup, and there will be three future HOF playing most days. It will be fun for Dodger fans.
In the CFP, the Yard is picking Michigan and Washington to meet in the championship. We are not done with our analytics, but we do not like Nick Saban. He is the Darth Vader of college football, but he is tough to beat in bowl games. His record at Alabama is 16-6 in bowl games with six national championships. Michigan has put together an undefeated season and are 1.5 favorites. Jim Harbaugh head coaching record in bowl games is 2-7 which includes six straight losses. Among them a loss to Saban and the Tide in the 2020 Citrus Bowl 35-16. That was the only other time that Saban and Harbaugh have faced each other in a college football game of any type. Harbaugh has his work cut out for him, but he had lost seven straight to Ohio State before he won the last three in a row. He does not get credit this year because he got suspended…again. We like him because he is tenacious, pugnacious, and aggressive with a pinch of psychosis while appearing mildly detached. It has worked for Jimmy, and we hope he gets over the hump, wins the National Championship and then comes to Las Vegas to coach the Raiders.
In the other game, we like UW because we also dislike Seven-Win Sark who did win 12 this year. Michael Penix is the real deal for the Huskies. He beat a heavily favored Oregon Ducks flamethrowers in the Pac-12 Championship. UW and Michigan are the only unbeaten and we hope they play for the CFP National Championship.
Happy New Year!
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