By Joe Torosian
Kick it!
The Buss family fight, while interesting to some, will play out and recede…The bigger story involving the Lakers sale is the Dodgers.
The Dodgers’ biggest problem isn’t Edwin Diaz and Kyle Tucker, but the possibility of much more on the legal front bearing down on Mark Walter.
I asked last week; I’ll ask again: are Dodger fans worried?
Not a Dodger guy, but the Dodgers have shown how to get things done at all levels. I would hate to see Walter and the organization go down.
As a New York Mets fan, I might laugh and be very snarky toward the Dodger fans who torment me, but I do not want the Walter regime to collapse.
In professional sports, I love an evil empire—I need an evil empire otherwise it’s all about being nice.
As O.W. Shaddock once said, “I want some feelings! I want some blanking team spirit!”
And that feels like a rare thing in pro sports these days.
I’m trying to decide whether the permanent darkness hovering over the Los Angeles Chargers organization is generational or strictly on the Spanos family.
The Curse is real: Chargers center Tyler Biadasz—severe knee injury.
Biadasz was drafted in the fourth round of the 2020 draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He spent four years in Dallas and two in Washington before signing with the Bolts (3yrs/30-rocks/20 guaranteed) this offseason.
He’s appeared in 92 games, made 84 starts, and over six seasons he’s missed only nine games—just four since 2021.
And now he’s hurt.
Najee Harris spent four years with the Pittsburgh Steelers—without a quarterback—and ran for a thousand yards each season.
Came to the Chargers as a free agent in 2025, appeared in three games, and tore his Achilles.
(By the way, they lost both of their elite starting tackles last season as well.)
Try to think of a franchise that has had more frontline starting quarterbacks in the last 60 years? Go back to the start of the AFL.
Jack Kemp took them to title games. John Hadl lit up the scoreboard throughout the ’60s. Dan Fouts is a Hall of Famer, and the forgotten Stan Humphries (“Show me your lightning bolt!”) took them to a Super Bowl.
They whiffed on Ryan Leaf, but did draft Drew Brees and Philip Rivers. Then—thanks to the cosmic stupidity of the Miami Dolphins—Justin Herbert was available to draft at #6 overall in 2020.
And yet they are always derailed.
Jim Harbaugh brings a lot of good mojo, but I do not think it is enough to counter all the bad Organizational/Spanos Mojo. Father Merrin and Father Karras need to be called in.
Final Chargers Question: If they returned to San Diego, would LA notice?
Last add Curse: Notice how I didn’t even mention Marlon McCree?
It’s not a new buzzword/phrase, but it’s being so overplayed…is anyone else getting tired of the expression, “stacking days“…?
I’ve heard it more this summer than the equally jejune “next man up.”
The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Seattle Mariners 22-0 last night. It got so bad for Seattle they put Glenn Abbott (75) on the hill to finish the game.
#96—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth.
For what it’s worth, Sunday’s Indiana Fever-Atlanta Dream game drew 2.6 million viewers. The second game of the doubleheader featuring the Portland Fire-Phoenix Mercury and the retirement of Diana Taurasi’s jersey had 1.4 million viewers.
I hate the QNBA so much, I watched two games last night. The competitiveness is addicting…the ball’s not always great, but it’s worth the watch.
For 85 bucks, you can purchase a seat in the Chase Center in San Francisco tonight to see the Minnesota Lynx (29-7) play the Golden State Valkyries (25-9).
The Dude abides…
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Isaiah 45:6
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Not only is Walter crooked, but the Kushner half of the Lakers’ new ownership doesn’t exactly resemble the Boy Scouts either. These days, we’re not so much rooting for teams as we are for hedge funds and leveraged buyouts.
Mark Walter stands accused of borrowing and lending between companies he owns. This allows him to create money out of thin air, the way our Federal Reserve does. Competition from individuals is more than the feds are willing to tolerate, so the hammer is coming down hard.
The act of faking reality by pretending to possess wealth is nothing to be proud of, no matter if it’s done by the government or a private party. So I have to depart from Torosian’s stated desire to let Walter’s “evil empire” roll on. I’m actually disappointed that a man of the cloth would condone this kind of behavior. I suppose he might say that God told him it’s OK.
The only people deserving of our support in this sad affair are guys like Magic Johnson, who accrued his wealth honestly, not through financial malfeasance.
From Joe T.: When I say I want an Evil Empire…I’m saying I like it when there are teams everyone begins to hate because of their success…I don’t know if Walter’s innocent or guilty…I just don’t want to see the Dodgers collapse…and I hate the Dodgers, but on the baseball side it is tough to argue that they haven’t done everything right.