Sept. 21, 2009
BLVR covers the Bruins, Lakers, Vikings and Reds, who by fate or destiny became the favorite teams long ago of a young kid growing up in Southern California.
Great weekend for the BLVR. Bruins win and improve to 3-0, Vikings win and are 2-0 headed into their home opener against the 49ers and the Washington Huskies pulled off the upset and stunned former No. 3 USC. That's all good stuff and made for an outstanding weekend.
Being a BLVR means that you actually have to believe in things. Case in point: About halfway through the third quarter of the Huskies-Trojans game, I promised the football gods that if U-Dub won that I would buy a No. 10 Jake Locker t-shirt. About 10 minutes after the game I was online buying a Huskies purple No. 10 replica t-shirt for myself and my friend Siri, a huge Huskies fan who lives in Seattle. You gotta believe. Now, back to our regular programming.
BRUINS
Bruins fans went into Saturday's game against Kansas St. with a little bounce in their step following the Huskies 16-13 win over USC. Congrats to UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft who had a decent game replacing starter Kevin Prince. Craft was at the helm last year when the Bruins went 4-8 and he coughed up a school record 20 interceptions. With the offensive line buying him a little more time, Craft was able to get the ball down field, including a 51-yard bomb to Terrence Austin, who made the catch in stride and took it to the house. Wide receiver Nelson Rosario also had a highlight reel catch in the fourth quarter when he made a one-handed grab of a Craft pass for a first-down that kept an eventual field-goal drive alive.
The Bruins have a bye week coming up and then will head to The Farm to play at Stanford. That means the Bruins will be 4-0 going into their home game Oct. 10 against the Oregon Ducks. I've already predicted a victory against the Ducks, which means the Bruins will be 5-0 when they have a major showdown with Cal on Oct. 17 at the Rose Bowl. My crystal ball gets a little cloudy when I try to predict things too far out, but I vaguely see a Kai Forbath field goal winning that game against the Golden Bears.
LAKERS
Congratulations to Pau Gasol, who lead the Spanish team Sunday to the European basketball championship.
Also, belated birthday wishes to Coach Phil Jackson, who turned 64 on Sept. 17.
The Lakers open training camp Sept. 29 and new forward Ron Artest said today that if the Lakes don't repeat that he'll take the blame. That's a bold statement and I'm glad he's ready to fall on his sword and all, but Artest doesn't have much to worry about, because the Lakers are going to repeat.
Almost forgot, congratulations also to Lamar Odom who after a six-week whirlwind romance is going to marry reality TV star Khloe Kardashian. I'm not really sure what I think about that but congrats seem to be in order.
VIKINGS
Nice solid win Sunday by the Vikings over a Detroit Lions team that is much improved, but still not much of a threat. Brett Favre set an NFL record Sunday when he made his 271st straight start in the regular season. Old No. 4 finished 23 of 27 for 155 yards with two TDs and no interceptions in the Vikings' 27-13 win. Super running back Adrian Peterson had 92 yards rushing on the day, including a 27-yard TD scamper midway through the third quarter.
Next up for the Vikings are the surprising first-place and undefeated San Francisco 49ers who will hit the road to face the Vikings at the Metrodome.
REDS
The Reds are 18 games back in the National League Central Division. Sigh.
On the bright side, the new Joe Posnanski book "The Machine" about the legendary 1975 Cincinnati Reds squad is a great read. I'm only on page 33 -- it was a busy weekend -- but so far this book has had several tasty anecdotes. For example, I never knew that Hall of Fame manager George "Sparky" Anderson grew up in Los Angeles in the Watts area and despised the Dodgers. The Reds already had the core of the Big Red Machine in place in 1973 and Sparky guaranteed his team would win, only to lose to the New York Mets that year in the playoffs.
Excerpt:
"Then came 1974 and the worst season of all. The Reds won 98 games, more than every team but one. But that one team was the Los Angeles Dodgers, and they won 102 games and went to the playoffs instead. This was beyond heartbreak. Sparky Anderson lived in Los Angeles. He hated, just hated, the Dodgers."
End of excerpt.
I hate the Dodgers, too.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of Posnanski's fine book. It's already shaping up to be as enjoyable and informative as the late David Halberstram's "October 1964," which chronicled the seven-game World Series showdown between the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals amid the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement and baseball's shifting financial landscape.
By the way, if you're into baseball books, I highly recommend "Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball," by the conservative columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George F. Will. It's my favorite baseball book.
--Paul Chavez, BLVR
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