That's How We Roll in the City of Angels

My computer had barely finished logging on, and my morning coffee had not even made its way into my blood stream, when the following message popped up from my good friend Agman: "so as things wound down on Sat[urday], everyone wanted to leave and I was like, 'let's stay to see if they commit a seventh turnover.' And they did . . . on the next play."

As with most dedicated Los Angeles (and Detroit) area sports fans, I have become uniquely comfortable with disappointment. Agman, as I am sure you all recognized, was referring to formerly-winless-Notre Dame's 20-6 victory over UCLA. Later that night, the Kings would blow a two-goal lead against the St. Louis Blues, losing 5-3. My weekend was not complete, however, until the Lions got blown-out by the Washington Redskins on Sunday, 34-3 (don't even get me started on the Dodgers. I'm not much of a baseball fan, but the Dodgers were supposed to be the best team in the National League this year and ended up finishing 7 games out of the Wild Card). Now, as you already know, I was in North Carolina for my Cousin's wedding so I had a great weekend. But had I been home this weekend, (1) I would have been at the UCLA game to watch the disappointment live, (b) would have rushed over to Staples Center to watch the Kings home opener, and (iii) would have forced my Brother-in-Law to tune one of his TVs to the Lions-Redskins game on Sunday morning. That sounds about as fun as getting a bad sunburn on your back and being forced to ride roller coasters the next day (this happened to me when I was about 12 years old . . . trust me when I say it was not a good time).

I should have seen this typical Los Angeles sports weekend coming from a mile away. First, I was on the East Coast, which meant college football did not start until noon on Saturday and the NFL did not start until 1:00 pm on Sunday (sometimes I forget how lucky we are on the West Coast: beautiful weather year round, an abundance of attractive women, and sports that are on when you roll out of bed on the weekends. No wonder there's an East Coast bias in sports, it's because everyone is so jealous of us left-coasters. They're so jealous that we get to watch more sports than them in a given day, so jealous that they're bitter and bias all sports rankings against us. They might as well call it East Coast Bitterness...but I digress). Second, Lindsey Lohan was released from rehab. Look, I wish Lilo all the best, but let's face the facts: I have her back in rehab by January, 2008 in my office pool and I still think I am going to lose to the receptionist who has her going back in late October, 2007. Lastly, USC lost to Stanford.

Now, do not get me wrong I was ecstatic that USC lost, especially because it was to the worst team in the Pac-10. My Brother-in-Law was following the USC game on his Blackberry while I was following the UCLA game on mine. During our breaks from tearing up the dance floor (you want a guaranteed good time at your wedding? Invite BAP and his family . . . we rock it like few families can), my Brother-in-Law and I would huddle around our table, hitting refresh as quickly as possible. When John David Booty was intercepted by Bo (that's right . . . BO) McNally with 13 seconds left, sealing Stanford's victory, my Brother-in-Law and I danced around in a circle like a high school girl who just got asked to prom by the varsity quarterback. But, as is the norm with Los Angeles sports, our joy was short-lived. A few refreshes on my blackberry later and it became apparent that Notre Dame was sealing Karl Dorrell's fate. It is hard to believe that the coach who led UCLA to ten wins two seasons ago, and a shocking 13-9 win over USC last season, is likely gone after this season. I am not a KD-hater like many Bruin fans out there, but it is hard to argue that he seemed woefully unprepared for the possibility that Ben Olson might get injured and not be able to finish the game. Perhaps he should have gotten McLeod Bethel-Thompson a few more snaps with the first-string offense during the week. Perhaps KD should pull the play sheet out of his pants and realize he has twice as many plays at his disposal. I hope KD is around for a few more seasons; I think he is a good coach who is moving this program back in the right direction. But one more embarrassing loss this season and I fear KD's job will be taking a long walk off a short pier.

Moving on to my Lions, I can not be too upset about their loss. After all, they have already matched their win total from last season. They have a bye this coming weekend which means they will be entering the seventh week of play above .500 for the first time since 2004. Mike Martz has put together enough offensive weapons that the Lions can outscore anyone they wish, but they are still having trouble protecting Jon Kitna. Greg Foster, brought in from Denver to anchor the right side of the line, can not remember the snap count by the time he leaves the huddle (he had 7 false starts heading into the Redskins game). Rod Marinelli has gotten the defense back into shape and playing relatively well. The secondary is still a concern and any decent passing offense will make a shootout of the game. But I can not be disappointed with what has transpired thus far this season. Besides, as a sports fan from the Los Angeles area, I am used to this by now.

Then there are my Kings. This is the team that gets me every time. By this point in time, you are all intimately aware of my unnatural man crush on former Kings coach Andy Murray. Since being hired by the St. Louis Blues in mid-December of last season, AM is 4-0 against his former team. I still, to this day, believe that the Kings took a major step back when they fired AM. Do not get me wrong, I think Marc Crawford is a good coach and will help to take this team to the next level, but he is no AM. I believe that AM was the scapegoat for an incompetent front office and owner. AM got his players to give their best at all times; he kept teams that were mediocre at best in playoff contention long after they should have been eliminated. If you gave AM a roster as deep as this year's team is and with as much young talent, the rebuilding process would have never been necessary. Dean Lombardi and Andy Murray, together, would be the Scott Pioli and Bill Belichick of the National Hockey League (minus the video cameras of course). And there is no way AM's team would have let a 3-1 third period lead turn into a 5-3 loss.

But am I surprised? Nope. It is just another day in the life of a sports fan here in the City of Angeles.