The beginning of the end

The San Diego Padres end their season on Sunday in L.A. To add insult to injury, the season ends without the likes of Matt Kemp or Justin Upton. Kemp has a hand injury while Upton has a neck strain. Even more injury is the report that A.J. Preller has yet another international scouting violation for holding a workout for players before the eligible date. According to a report from the San Diego Union Tribune, Preller also payed for the flight, housing and dining for the players to workout for them. What is happening to this organization? Is Preller taking it to the toilet? We have all hailed the moves that he has made (or lack thereof when it came to the July 31 trade deadline) just to see them result in a worse record than last year. How could a team with an improved rotation and improved lineup and an improved bullpen fall apart? Injuries? No. Look at the St. Louis Cardinals. That team has been riddled with injuries all year long and yet they have the best record in baseball. Could it be the GM that has been the cause of so many losses? I doubt it is the manager or the hitting coach or the pitching coach or the ownership group. I say let's give Preller two more years to work on improving this team. I am optimistic that he can still. I still believe that he can turn this thing around, and in fact, I believe that we can win next year. But this will be a crucial offseason to see what happens.

Football!!!!! College, to be exact. Last week's action included a Utah win over host Oregon and a UCLA win over host Arizona, the site of college gameday. This week, however, sees a lot more action and potential for upsets. Let's list them off, shall we?
-23 West Virginia at 15 Oklahoma at noon ET on FOX Sports 1
-13 Alabama at 8 Georgia 3:30 ET on CBS
-3 Ole Miss at 25 Florida 7 ET on ESPN
-21 Mississippi State at 14 Texas A&M 7:30 ET on the SEC Network
-Arizona State at 7 UCLA 7:30 ET on FOX
-6 Notre Dame at 12 Clemson 8 ET on ABC
Expect the weather to play a role in some of these games as a hurricane passes through the east coastline. This includes the final listed game of Notre Dame and Clemson. But it should be yet another exciting week to come as upsets abound.

In the NBA, another injury to Derrick Rose has given Bulls fans another scare as he broke his orbital bone in his face. After surgery, it was determined that he will only need two weeks before he resumes basketball activities. Rose has missed more games in the last three seasons than Tim Duncan has missed in his entire 18-year career. That tells you that Rose is an injury prone player -- even though he denies this accusation. Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson, however, has another story on his mind. He has been in a holdout of his contract after his one-year tender fell off the table on Thursday. He has been in negotiations with the team all offseason, wanting a multi-year deal of around $19 million per year. The Cavs were only willing to give $16 million. It looks like neither party will budge as the season approaches. The preseason is only a few days away as teams start their games next week. Do not expect much action from the major stars such as LeBron James or Tim Duncan to name a few. The season begins the first week in November. More will be given on that as the date approaches. Well that seems to do it on this week's edition of the world of sports. Feel free to leave comments on how I can improve. Thank you.