The Red Sox are the new Yankees

In recent times, no baseball team has been hated, talked about or followed as much as the Yankees. As of Sunday night, that’s going to change. The Red Sox winning the World Series also means something else.

The Red Sox are the new Yankees.

The Red Sox are the only team this decade to win more than one World Series. They have built a massive following of fans, bandwagoners, media hyping them and people who hate them. Their payroll has risen significantly over the years, and they may pass the Yankees next year since Alex Rodriguez has opted out of his huge contract with New York.

The Red Sox are the team to beat now. What a crazy world we live in.

Just 153 days until baseball season starts again.

(I got the photo here.)

Yet another UCLA loss to a bad team

For those of you not following UCLA football this season, I don’t blame you. I envy you.

For the third time this season, the Bruins got blown out by an inferior opponent. Yes, this is a team with loads of talent, 20 returning starters and a team that was ranked as high as #10 early on in the year. Instead, UCLA is 5-3, and 4-3 against teams they were favored against.

I wish I was surprised, but I’m not.

I wanted to believe that UCLA had turned the corner after the win over Cal last week, but I’ve learned that Karl Dorrell-led teams don’t ever turn corners, they just go back and forth between playing well and playing horribly.

Beating Washington State should’ve been easy — the Cougars’ only other wins this season were against San Diego State and Idaho.

UCLA has one good win this year (Cal) and three bad losses (Utah, Notre Dame and Washington State) — that’s not the sign of a well-run team.

Stewart Mandel, one of the best college football writers in the country, sums it up better than me:

UCLA is officially the worst-coached team in America. OK, Karl Dorrell — I give up. You win. I’ve given you every opportunity to avoid this designation … I included your team in my preseason rankings because I figured even you couldn’t screw up a team with 20 returning starters and an ultra-loaded defense. But I’ve gotta hand it to you, Karl — you’ve outdone yourself this time.

I can’t argue with Mandel — I certainly can’t think of a worse coach.