Change in theme

So just talking about Los Angeles sports is getting a little boring so I decided I am just going to talk about anything I feel like. I hope nobody minds. So expect for the unexpected on my posts.

Johnny Drama

So Los Angeles is known to be a place where many celebrities end up getting in trouble, but most recently two former sports stars have gotten in trouble in Los Angeles, namely former NBA star Dennis Rodman and former MLB player Jose Conseco.

Yesterday Dennis Rodman was arrested for hitting a woman at a Los Angeles hotel. Rodman, 46, is a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the year and was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence. This isn't the first time Rodman was arrested for domestic violence. In early 2003, Rodman was arrested on charges of domestic violence at his home in Newport Beach for allegedly hitting his then-fiancee on her lip.

Also yesterday, Jose Conseco, the former AL MVP who made millions during his baseball career, had his Los Angeles home foreclosed. He said he walked away from his $2.5 million, 7,300-square foot home in suburban Encino because it didn't to continue making payments.

Oh and I am very sorry for my extremely long post yesterday, I should have split it up into at least a few posts, or posted it by sport. Im new to this blogging thing, and am still learning so sorry for the long post. Thanks

April Review

So today I am going to talk about how all the LA teams are did in April. Chad Billingsley finally pitched a good game for the dodgers, Angels pitcher  K-Rod leads the MLB in Saves, the Lakers advanced past the first round in the NBA Playoffs, the Clippers still suck, the Avengers have lost the last 6 of 7 games, two of USC's leading scorers have declared for the NBA Draft, while 10 were drafted in the NFL Draft... 10!!! As for UCLA, former Bruin QB Troy Aikman was inducted to the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame today, Freshman guard/forward Chase Stanback will not return to UCLA and is transferring while four starters declared for the NBA Draft, and 3 UCLA football players were selected in the NFL Draft last week.

So that's a quick summary of what's going on in LA Sports that I like to cover. First of all, congratulations to SP Chad Billingsley for getting his first win of the season and bringing the Dodgers win streak at 5 games now (actually 6 games, they just beat the Marlins less than an hour ago). The winning streak is at 6 games mostly because of how well SS Rafael Furcal is playing. For the month of April, he is batting .381, 26 runs scored in 27 games, 11 RBIs, seven steals, a .462 on-base percentage (reaching in every game), and a .602 slugging percentage. As of today the dodgers are 15-13 and 5 games back from the first place D-backs in the NL West.

Closer Fransisco Rodriguez has 11 saves and a 3.86 ERA and highly-touted pitching prospect RHP Nick Adenhart will make his Major-League debut tonight against the A's. Also SP Ervin Santana learned to pitch well away from home and Joe Saunders has finally given his chance to shine as both pitchers have below a 3 ERA (Saunders 2.03 & Santana 2.48) and the Angels hitters continue their solid play especially 1B Casey Kotchman who is leading the team in HRs with 6, and tied with Gary Matthews Jr in RBIs with 19. Right now the Angels are 1 game ahead of the A's for first place in the AL West at 18-11.

The Los Angeles Lakers easily handled the Denver Nuggets sweeping them in the first round of the NBA playoffs and now will play either the Utah Jazz or the Houston Rockets. KoME, Pau Gasol, and Lamar oDUMB are playing great and in my opinion the Lakers have a great chance to make the finals as the Jazz and Rockets don't have what it takes to beat the Lakers.

As for the Clippers... nothing

The LA Avengers of the Arena Football League are playing horrible and have lost the last six of seven games to put them at 3-6 with 7 games left in the season. If they can turn it around and win at least 5 of those games, maybe they have a chance for the playoffs, but I doubt it.

For college sports, the USC Football factory continues to churn out more talent for the NFL with a national-best 10 players getting drafted by NFL teams last week. I think the most intriguing pick is QB John David Booty going to the Vikings in round 5. I think that is a nice steal for the Vike's and Booty could potentially become a starter with them in the future if their other two QB's (Tavaris Jackson and Gus Ferotte) continue to struggle. 

For basketball, everybody expected freshman guard OJ Mayo to declare for the NBA draft in June but for freshman forward Davon Jefferson to declare comes as a surprise since many feel he is not ready yet and could potentially be drop out of the first round. He previously said he would not declare for the draft but he's not the first to say that. Projections: Mayo top 10; Jefferson late first to early second.

The only noteworthy thing to say about UCLA football is that former UCLA QB Troy Aikman has been inducted into the college football HOF. For basketball, 4 out of 5 starters are declaring for the NBA draft and another player is transferring. PF/C Kevin Love, SF Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, and guards Josh Ship and Russell Westbrook have declared for the NBA draft. Love probably needs a little more work as he did struggle against some of the competition in college but he should have a solid NBA career. I think Mbah a Moute and Shippp are making big mistakes and probably wont be first round picks. As for Westbrook, he is my favorite player on UCLA and many NBA scouts believe he's the best prospect on teh UCLA team. Darren Collison staying for another season was a bit of a surprise but I think he made a good choice, even though the recruits coming in may take some playing time from him. NBA Draft projections: Love - lottery, Westbrook - lottery, Mbah a Moute - Late first/early second, and Shipp - second round/undrafted. UCLA might have a tough season next year, except they have one of the top recruiting classes coming in so I think another top 10 ranking and high tournament finish is not out of the question.

On a small note, highly touted freshman G/F Chase Stanback will not return next season and will transfer to play his final years at another school. He was a 4-star prospect who didn't receive any playing time during the 2007-2008 season, but I wish him luck since I watched him and his high school, Fairfax high destroy Hamilton High School, the school I attended. 

Ok that's enough for today, probably too much for today but this is a my April month review so that's why I said a lot. I hope you enjoyed this edition of LA Sports by Zach S-E and look out for my another post next week. Thanks

Hello

Hi my name is Zach Siegal-Eisman, I am a Sport Management major and soon-to-be a Junior at Syracuse University, and I love sports!

After much encouragement from friends and family, I finally decided to create a blog dedicated to everything Los Angeles sports including:

• Los Angeles Dodgers
  
• Los Angeles Lakers
  
• Los Angeles Clippers (my favorite team ever!!!)
• Los Angeles Avengers
• UCLA Bruins Football & Basketball
  
• USC Trojans Football & Basketball
  

I didn't include the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, because frankly, THEY DONT PLAY IN LOS ANGELES! Also I wont be talking about the Los Angeles Kings or Los Angeles Galaxy, because I don't like hockey and soccer and dont want to talk about them. Also I am not going to talk about the Los Angeles Sparks or Los Angeles D-Fenders, because nobody cares about the D-Fenders or Sparks. Also I am not going to write about Los Angeles High School Sports or other smaller sports, because I am not very knowledgable on those subjects.

Just so you know I will try to post as much as I can but this will most likely be updated about once a week, probably on the weekends. 

Next post: Tuesday May 6