While it is understandable that the landscape of online content is clearly skewed towards the promotion of shock-content or wild assertions in an effort to capture audience, John Hollinger goes just a bit further than the rest of us.  Hollinger, who first made a name for himself by inventing the largely unreliable PER rating system (a system that laughably lays claim to the “fact” that a guy like Kevin Martin is a more efficient ball player than Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash) is now making a name for himself with his “scientific” power rankings, rankings that as of yesterday had the Los Angeles Lakers as the 11th best team in the league, behind not one, two or three, but FIVE teams the Lakers have defeated already this season.

Being a sabermetrician at heart myself, I have tried to understand Hollinger’s futile attempts at doing to Basketball what Bill James and Paul Depodesta/Billy Bean successfully did to baseball. No matter how hard I try, however, each time I try to dig into Hollinger’s “science” I get about 20% of the way through the equation before getting lost in my own personal list of arguments against his formula.  Rather than waste my time trying to lay the arguments out here, let me just save you all some time, he is flat out wrong……and an ass who will forever be labeled on this website as a douche-tool.

Should be a great year of high school football playoffs as some very strong teams look destined to crash heads on their way towards a CIF final matchup. First ranked Crenshaw will have to battle it out with the liked of Carson and Venice.  The most interesting and hard fought division, however, is sure to be the SS Pac-5 as teams like Edison and Servite will have to battle tough competition if they hope of arriving at a rematch of the game that Edison won earlier this season.

USC had been flirting with mediocrity all season, losing to Washington and Oregon and not playing well against lessor competition like Arizona State and Notre Dame.  Still, in spite of their mediocre play, the Trojans found themselves still ranked in the BCS top 10 heading into this week’s home game against the Stanford Cardinals.  USC was no doubt benefiting in the rankings from the lure of Trojan teams of old, but the days of inflated rankings came to a certain end this Saturday as USC was humiliated by a talented and (formerly) underrated Stanford team.  Toby Gerhart rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns, as the currently unrated Stanford Cardinals (bet me that will change after the new rankings come out) ended USC’s string of Pac-10 titles with a 55-21 win.

As USC plays out its season in hopes of finishing with a 9-3 record, other Pac-10 teams will be fighting for the title and a birth in a BCS bowl game.  Standford looks very good heading into the toughest part of its schedule.  Oregon controls its own destiny, needing to win out to earn at least a share of the Pac-10 title.  Even Arizona, at 6-2, has a shot at making a run and end it with a season ending victory over USC in three weeks.

In addition to falling back from the elite of the Pac-10, USC must regroup as they face UCLA in two weeks in a game that could serve as a measuring stick as to where Southern California football is headed. While UCLA is mired in a 4-5 season, the Bruins have had strong recruiting classes and are currently playing quite a few underclassmen at key skill positions so, if the trajectory continues, UCLA could begin to once again challenge USC for Southern California college football notoriety.

Notes: The game was delayed on two occassions after the stadium lights went out due to power issues at the Home Depot Center.

• Gasol to be out until Christmas?  Just kidding…ha ha…maybe (Link).
• Bosh, Wade and Lebron on the same team in 2010?  Don’t count on it thanks to our failing economy (Link). Plus, Kobe tells Lebron to stop talking Free Agency (Link).
• Speculation that its not Stephen Jackson that is going to be out of Golden State soon but rather Don Nelson (Link).  Are Clippers interested in Jackson? (Link).
• Mike Dunleavy as good as gone? (Link).

MLB:

• Returning Home? Dodgers may move Sherrill for Edwin Jackson (Link).
• Wolf could be back in Blue (Link).
• Dodgers after Vazquez? Noooooot (Link).
• MLB.com confirms that Red Sox meeting with Lackey (Link).
• Orlando Hudson to New York? (Link).

Sometimes there are games that, when teams look at their schedule at the beginning of the year, they know they are likely to lose.  The Suns played one of those games and got clobbered by the Lakers and then the next night the Lakers got a taste of that schedule medicine, getting clobbered by the Nuggets.  Don’t worry LA/Phoenix fans……you are both at 7-2 and the tough schedule now will make you tougher come playoff time.

One thing that is obvious from the early going, Kobe appears to have redefined his game with the addition of an array of low post moves that have seemed unstoppable thus far this season. Kobe’s low post game is going to cause teams defending him to use taller and thicker bodies, as Kobe has thus far shown the propensity to abuse guys like OJ Mayo and Devin Brown in the post. As teams adjust to Kobe, it is a bit scary to know that all Kobe has to do to adjust to their adjustments is to go back to playing his regular game, that of a perimeter scorer who is a deadeye shooter yet can take anyone overplaying him off the dribble in embarrassing fashion.

I hate to yet again start making comparisons between Kobe and the Great MJ, but it is a bit obvious how similar Kobe’s career progression has been to that of MJ. MJ’s low post game and thickness were large late stage career additions to his game that the Chicago Bulls ended up riding to the back-end three-peat of their six championships in the 1990s. With a league that is arguably deeper in individual talent (Lebron, Wade, Paul, Howard…) and team expectations (Magic, Cavs, Celtics, Spurs…) than any other time in its history, it will be fun to watch and see if Kobe can truly elevate his game and his legacy amongst what appear to be insurmountable odds. Only time will tell, but so far this season Kobe is showing that the league may have prematurely appointed its current King.

To refresh your recollection, in 2004 the Chargers held the number one pick in the draft and were set to use the pick on that year’s consensus number one pick, Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning. Eli Manning, a southern boy, wanted no part of San Diego and rumors have it that he forced the Chargers’ hand, requiring them to get as much value as they could for the pick in order to avoid a messy contract battle with the star quarterback. The Chargers ended up drafting and then trading Manning to the New York Giants in a draft-day trade for Giant’s top pick Philip Rivers (number 4 overall) and three other draft picks, one of which ended up being used to draft all-pro linebacker Shawn Merriman and another to draft kicker Nate Kaeding.

Well, the trade came full circle on Sunday as Rivers (lead a game winning drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson with 21 seconds left on the clock), Merriman (2 sacks, including a game ending sack of Eli Manning) and Nate Kaeding (3 PATs, including the one that put the Chargers ahead 21-20) reminded the Giants of the 2004 trade that brought all three players to San Diego.

Although the results from today’s game may seem as if it is clear-cut that the Chargers got the better end of that draft-day deal, if you look back at the reults of the trade in totality it is still tough to say who got the better end of it.  Sure, Merriman is an all-pro linebacker and one of the most dominant at his position this decade, Kaeding is a top-tier kicker and Rivers is a pro bowler who puts up snazzy numbers year in and year out, but Manning has that ever so valuable Superbowl ring and has put up equally impressive numbers of late in his career.  Tough to say who got the better end of “the Trade” at this point, but if the Chargers can finally put the pieces together and win a Superbowl ring the analysis would become far more clear.

Why Should the NFL be in Los Angeles?

Why should anyone care about bringing the NFL to Los Angeles?  Well, the stats seem to suggest we should care.  Fact: Save New York, none of the current NFL cities have population counts that come anywhere near the 17 million residents living in and around the Los Angeles area.  Fact: Los Angeles is a city that can claim some of the most legendary athletes of all time (Magic Johnson, Kareem, Kobe, Manny Ramirez, Wayne Gretzky, Eric Gagne and Jerry West to name a few), some of the successful franchises and storied organizations in all of sports (Lakers/Dodgers) and some of the greatest weather and cultural centers in the world.   Fact:  The average home price and wage of a Los Angeles resident ranks near the top of all major cities in the nation.  Fact: All those stats suggest that the NFL is crazy to not have a team in such a great market.  The facts seem to overwhelmingly support Ed Roski and his team of developers contention that Los Angeles needs an NFL team.

Why Shouldn’t the NFL care about being in Los Angeles?

I’m not suggesting that the facts don’t support the contention that the NFL needs and team in Los Angeles (as a LA resident I would love to have the option of seeing a live game or two each season).  Yet, its hard to ignore the other facts.  Fact: Even with a population that dwarfs that of most any other county in the United States, Los Angeles is the city that drove not one but two NFL teams out of town almost fifteen years ago due to lack of fan support and dwindling revenues.  Fact:  To keep its residents entertained, Los Angles has Hollywood, hundreds of miles of beaches, six professional sports teams from the big 4 sports (Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Angels, Kings and Ducks), two major College Football programs (USC/UCLA) and a slew of teams in tier two sports (LA Galaxy, Chivas, Sparks, etc).  Fact: Los Angeles has gone almost 15 seasons without an NFL team and yet in that time the NFL has grown into the most popular sport in the United States.

While the stats support bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles, its not certain if the people of Los Angeles deserves an NFL team.  Lets face it, Los Angeles has such a wide variety of entertainment options available to its residents that the NFL is not a must like it is in places like Green Bay and Arizona.  Also, unlike New York, which has an equally impressive slew of entertainment options for its residents, Los Angeles is a sprawling town that is burdened with the lack of a solid public transit system and the lack of a historical affinity to its NFL franchise.  While the stats may support an NFL team heading back to Los Angeles, the history suggests that it may just end up being another failed attempt for the NFL.

So, even in a game that holds no real significance in the Pac-10 standings or the battle for a quality bowl game, today’s UCLA – Washington matchup will still provide us with some interesting things to watch.  Although I am tempted to give the edge to UCLA since it is a home game, I have to go with Locker and Washington as they will find a way to score at least some points, which is something that UCLA’s offense has proven inept at doing so all year.