Category Archives: LA Kings

September 15, 2013 · 19:51

Kings & Chiefs

(HEADS UP – If you hate sports, just can’t see what all of the fuss is about, or are just one of those folks who choose to look down on all sports for whatever reason – I’ll see you tomorrow, you don’t have to read further. It’s a sports rant today.)

Very early on after starting this blog I wrote a minor rant about some of my sports-based passions. At that time the LA Kings were just starting their run in the NHL playoffs and the LA Angels were already starting to disappoint about a month into their MLB season.

Now the seasons have turned, literally in the sports-related sense. The Angels are about two weeks away from the blessed ending of another thoroughly forgettable year and the Kings are playing their first pre-season game, with the season starting for real the first week in October. Best of all, the NFL season has started and my beloved KC Chiefs look like they’ll suck a lot less than they did last year!

The Angels will make a great case study for Harvard Business School or some sports management program. They’ve gone out for the last several years in a row and paid a TON of money to free agent players who have failed to produce anything like the numbers they were expected to. Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and (don’t even get me started on) Vernon Wells — big money, long term contracts, and mediocre performance from them all.

On the other hand, the Angels have gotten amazing production from some of their rookies and younger players. Mike Trout won the AL Rookie of the Year award last year and his sophomore year has been even better. This year’s rookies JB Shuck, Collin Cowgill, Kole Calhoun, Andrew Romine, Luis Jimenez, and Grant Green have all produced as well or better than the high-priced free agents, once enough injuries happened to let them be brought up from the minors. Maybe it’s because they’re hungrier to make it, maybe it’s just because they’re younger, but whatever it is, they’re doing a better job. Meanwhile, the team is stuck with hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries for the next ten years or so for players who aren’t producing now and will likely be producing less at the end of those contracts.

Interesting business model.

Meanwhile with thirteen games left we’re in third place, sixteen games out in the division. That’s not good math. In the wildcard we’re still alive mathematically, 9.5 games back, but we would have to jump over five different teams to get a playoff spot, and that’s not going to happen in this version of reality. We’re at 72-77, five games under .500, and the only realistic “goal” the Angels have for the last two weeks is to perhaps at least have a winning season. Whoopie!

When last we left the Kings, they were starting their playoff run, trying to defend their 2011-2012 Stanley Cup Championship. The Kings did really well in the playoffs, winning nine of the sixteen games necessary to hold onto the Cup. They beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 in the first round and the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in the second round, before falling to the Chicago Blackhawks 1-4 in the Western Conference Finals. It was a glorious run and I had on my jersey for every game and was blowing the Joyous Vuvuzela of Victory with every goal, even if that meant hauling it across the country and blowing it in hotels and in the homes of relatives. (The relatives knew the job was dangerous when I married into the family, the hotels, not so much.)

As the new season starts, I’m really looking forward to another winning campaign and again being a contender for the Stanley Cup. Having won it once, I would like to see my favorite team win it again, and this year I would like to be there in the crowd on the night they dance it around.

Finally, after enduring in agony a miserable 2-14 year in 2012, it was with renewed hope that I (and about a half million fellow Chiefs fans) looked forward to this season with a new general manager, a new coach, a new quarterback, and a new attitude. So far we haven’t been disappointed. Today we had our first home game and won a close one over a good team (Dallas Cowboys) and that makes me happy. This upcoming week we’re the premium Thursday night game in Philadelphia against the Eagles. That should be a real treat.

I don’t really expect the Chiefs to be in the Super Bowl this year after posting a 2-14 record last year (not that I would object to that happening, mind you) but it will be great to be competitive again. I know that it’s a rebuilding year and that 8-8 would be a spectacular improvement over last year. And let’s face it, 7-9 would be OK, probably, kind of. Even 6-10. Maybe. On the other hand, if we catch a couple of breaks, 9-7 or 10-4 isn’t completely out of the question and that might get us into the playoffs. Right?

Just sayin’…

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Filed under KC Chiefs, LA Angels, LA Kings, Sports

June 8, 2013 · 20:48

Busy Vacation

We’re not big on those vacations where you go find a beach and just lay there & sip adult beverages for a week with no schedule other than sleep when you want and then get up when you want and then do what you want until it’s time to go back to sleep (when you want).

So it’s been a busy, busy couple of days. Here’s a couple of quick photos off of my iPhone with more pictures & stories to follow when we get back and catch our breath…

2013-06-08 photo (1)

 

2013-06-08 photo (2)

 

Oh, and it’s nearly midnight and we’re off again by 9:00 tomorrow morning yet I MUST stay up because my beloved Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings are in a must-win-or-go-home game, now getting ready to start double overtime. How can a true fan think of sleep at a time like this, even if I can’t blow the Joyous Vuvuzela of Victory when we win?

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Filed under Flying, LA Kings, Travel

May 17, 2013 · 20:22

Odds & Sods For Friday, May 17th

Item The First: When the gravitationally challenged cat is just falling asleep on your lap and you shove your phone into your jeans pocket right underneath her head causing her to come abruptly awake thinking that there’s something large crawling down your leg in your pants, she will extend all weapons, make an odd sound, levitate about three feet into the air (helped in part by using said weapons to dig into your soon-to-be bleeding flesh), and go tearing out of the room while looking back over her shoulder wondering WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT! Despite the potential pain and loss of blood, this is pretty funny.

Item The Second: For those not keeping score at home, my beloved MLB Angels continue to pretty much suck big-time this year. For the second year in a row the team has made huge payroll moves and signed big name free agents so that on paper we’re unstoppable and should easily win 100+ games. Instead we’re on a pace to easily lose 100+ games. This does not amuse me.

Item The Third: On the other hand, my beloved NHL Kings have found their stride in the playoffs and have now won six games in a row, beating St. Louis in the first round and now leading San Jose 2-0 in the second round. The Joyous Vuvuzela Of Victory continues to sing, and the neighbors haven’t yet called the police. This brings me joy.

Item The Fourth: I got a bit more good news today on the potential employment front. Without getting into details, I got word regarding one of the better opportunities so far. I’m told that I did well on this week’s panel interview (after first getting my resume looked at to begin with and then passing the written accounting skills test) and I’m now on the short list for the one position that’s open. Let’s hope for the best!

And now the cat beast has recovered her wits enough to remember that she hasn’t been fed yet tonight. My master summons me! I must fulfill my primary function, the main reason that I was endowed with opposable thumbs!

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Filed under Cats, LA Angels, LA Kings, Odds & Sods, Sports

May 1, 2013 · 21:01

Kings & Angels

No, not the next Dan Brown novel. This is a fair warning for those just getting to know me. I will rant about sports on occasion.

It’s been a thing for about as long as I can remember. As a kid growing up in Kansas City I was devoted to my A’s and Chiefs, learned to love those lovable losing Cubs in Chicago, and in high school my mother got seriously frustrated at times with my sour moods after my high school football or basketball teams lost. (Our high school football teams lost A LOT…)

These days I’m following my beloved Angels and Kings here in Los Angeles. This leads to certain highs and lows, as any sports fan will tell you.

While the Kings have been playing pretty well in the shortened NHL season, grabbing the #5 playoff seed in the West, as the defending Stanley Cup champions (last year’s playoffs were very exciting and made me very happy!) we’re expecting the best from them. Last night was Game One against St. Louis and it was thrilling, right up until the end. I was standing by for the whole game with The Joyous Vuvuzela of Victory, which gets blown every time the Kings score. (The dog and cat don’t like it. The long-suffering wife probably doesn’t like it either but she loves me so she’s stuck she cuts me some slack.) The Kings were down 1-0 for most of the game but pulled the goalie and tied it with less than a minute to go, sending the game to sudden death overtime.

Then in OT my favorite player, goalie Johnathan Quick, made a completely boneheaded move and we lost. (I’m sure you can find a video of it on You Tube – or on this Friday’s “Not Top Ten” on ESPN. It might unseat Sanchez’s “Butt Fumble” as The Worst Of The Worst.) I used words my mother would not have approved of. The Joyous Vuvuzela of Victory wept. It took a while for me to realize that Quick was the reason we were still in that game to begin with (if he hadn’t been hot all night in goal we would have been down 0-5 or so at the end of the first period) and he’ll come through next time.

Talk about highs and lows!

And then there’s the Angels. Last year we picked up a few huge superstar free agents and were supposed to dominate the league. Instead we rarely got out of first gear, had a couple of outstanding performances from certain players, but then missed the playoffs. Again. This year we picked up another superstar free agent and were everyone’s pick to be the first team to go 162-0. (Well, close, at least.) In March I even got to go to three days of spring training in Phoenix with my son. It was glorious and wonderful. This whole year was going to be glorious and wonderful, and the Angels were going to dominate and spend October winning the World Series again!

Instead we’ve pretty much sucked all year with lousy starting pitching, a worse bullpen, anemic hitting, and an almost complete inability to hit with runners in scoring position. This occasionally leaves me feeling a little blue, which might be good if I were a Dodgers fan, but I’m not.

In thinking about what might be causing the Angels’ performance problems, I have a couple of working theories. (Mind you, I’m a tech geek with a degree in physics, I’m not superstitious at all, don’t believe in sympathetic or any other kind of magic, and I fully realize that my theories are total BS. But they’re fun.)

First, the long-suffering wife has correctly pointed out that prior to last season we got rid of two of our favorite TV announcers, Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc. They’re now working for the Kansas City Royals, who are doing surprisingly well, while we have stumbled and stuttered. So maybe it’s not us, maybe it’s Rex and Steve…

Second, I really admire our current announcers for their professionalism in the face of the team failing to meet expectations and under performing so badly. If we were a really lousy team (trust me, really lousy Angels teams have existed over the years) it would be easier to accept.  But Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza always stay calm, where I would be screaming, ranting, and wondering on the air how these guys can make the mistakes they do. So maybe it’s Victor & Guby’s fault. Maybe they need to be more like Bob Uecker in “Major League” when we don’t play up to our potential, venting a bit, pissing and moaning.

Maybe it’s like in “Bull Durham”, where the manager needs to throw some equipment and scare a few people in order to get their attention. I know that’s not Mike Scioscia’s style – you can’t tell from Mike’s expression if the Angels are ahead by ten or losing by ten. But maybe that reputation for always maintaining an even strain would make the impact of such a tantrum all the more potent.

Or maybe I just watch too many baseball movies. (That’s the craziest theory of all – we all know that there’s just no such thing as too many baseball movies!)

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Filed under LA Angels, LA Kings, Sports