While there is no case for celebration for Kings fans, there is a distinct optimism rarely found for teams that are in dead last in any professional sport. The Kings have definitely underachieved so far this season after many picked them to be a playoff team at the outset. The Kings have been in the top 5 in the Western conference in goals scored all season and boast some of the NHL's best power-play and penalty kill numbers and yet have the worst record in the NHL. Which is very puzzling because most often when teams are rebuilding offensive skill and output are the last and most difficult areas to develop.
While the struggles of the Kings goaltending and defense have been well chronicled, it should be noted that in the teams recent three game winning streak goalie Jason LaBarbera has stopped 103 of 109 shots faced for a defense that has blocked 52 shots in the process. The youth of the team has really shown as they have been by far the most inconsistent and frustrating team in the NHL this season. The Kings lack size on the defensive side of the puck beyond Rob Blake and have been turning the puck over at very inopportune times so far this season.
The reasons for optimism in Los Angeles though are evident as this is the first season of general manager Dean Lombardi to have all of his coaches and scouts in place. Lombardi is credited with the turnaround of the San Jose Sharks and is well respected throughout the NHL as having a great eye for talent. Lombardi believes in rebuilding from bottom up which starts with quality scouts, one on one meetings and evaluations with prospects and a process of developing young quality defenseman and goalies. While the players Lombardi has drafted on the offensive side of the puck have paid huge and instant dividends, defenseman and goalies generally take longer to develop.
Perhaps the most encouraging thing for Kings fans comes in there current weakness, their youth. With such gifted offensive talents as Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Patrick O'Sullivan, Mike Cammeleri and Alexander Frolov the Kings look set on the offensive side of the puck for years to come. The defense doesnt look bad either with hickey and martinez playing well in the minors the top two defensive players selected by the kings in last years draft and who could forget mentioning Jonathan Bernier who dominated junior hockey for team canada in goal. Id say even though the team is in last place there is reason to be optimistic for kings fans.

Right now things are progressing great in Lakerland but most fans are still weary of another collapse. Last season the Lakers got off to a blazing 24-12 spot before limping into the playoffs in the 7 seed. Obviously this team is a lot different than last years team but just how good are they? Right now the lakers are one game back of dallas (two half games) for the third seed, and own the 4th best record in the western conference.
    Well the players seem to think that they have turned a corner Kobe Bryant has continually praised his bench and young teammates Andrew Bynum and Jordan Farmar. After the win against the Bulls Kobe said that everyone has seen what Andrew can do offensively but his biggest contributions have come defensively where he has 10 blocks in the past two games and is seemingly changing shots almost every possession.  Phil Jackson has said that Andrew is doing a much better job of getting up the floor and owning rebounds this season and has shown much more consistency and heart.
    The bench has been huge for the Lakers this season and the starting point guard position has also been upgraded with fish coming in for smush. Sasha Vujacic has been hot of late and many scouts and GMS have been saying Jordan Farmar is starting to look like a young Tony Parker. All of this success and still you'd be hard pressed to find content Laker fans in L.A. While there is a lot of clamoring for a second true scorer to back up Kobe, this team has very quietly put up 107 points per game the third highest to only Phoenix and Golden State. While averaging a decent 101 points against, the biggest difference has truly been the tempo and defense. This Laker squad is a lot more athletic and looking to break out a lot more and that comes in large part to better rebounding,  an increase in steals and an all around better effort defensively.
     I personally am excited about the future of this Laker team as there young players are starting to develop and excel with the emergence of Farmar and Bynum and the promise and athleticism shown by Javaris Crittenton and heart shown by Ronny Turiaf. The Euros seem much more comfortable out there in their roles and Walton is starting to find the form he was in before injuries plagued him last season.
   
    Laker fans dont forget that Kwame Browns contract comes off the books at the end of the season and the Lakers should have around 14 million to spend on free-agents in a crop that could include.... Ron Artest, Luol Deng, Shawn Marion, and of course Elton Brand.....

With the winter meetings approaching this week in Nashville, one of the most interesting topics of discussion will be the availability of four time all star third baseman Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera hit .320 with 34 home runs and 119 RBIs last season for Florida all at the young age of 24. People tend to forget that because his numbers have been so consistent with batting average, home runs, and RBI that he still is a developing player and has his prime years ahead of him. The Angels and Dodgers have balked at the asking price recently of the third basemen but should they? Many of the prospects talked about in these deals are actually older than Miguel who turns  25 in April.
    In 17 career post season games Cabrera hit .265 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI, oh yea and he did all that in his rookie season in which he only played in 87 games. While the asking price of four prospects may be high, more often than not prospects do not fulfill expectations. Cabrera is a proven feared hitter who has shown clutch, power, and average in his young career. Cabrera has been questioned for his work ethic and off-field habits most notably his weight, but that all depends on who you talk to. To paraphrase Ozzie Guillen, current White Sox skipper and former coach of Cabrera, " Miggy has a lot of heart and pride, he wants to be the best and knows that his weight is an issue for him, he has worked hard in an off season regimen this season".  Guillen and Cabrera are said to be close friends.
    If you question what one bat could do for a lineup just look at Albert Pujols in St. Louis, Pujols emergence over recent years has been a big reason for the success of the Cardinals who have not many other power threats but hitters like this change the way pitchers throw to other hitters in the lineup just because they know he's on deck.
    Any deal the Angels would make for Cabrera would have to include Jeff Mathis and Howie Kendrick but the sticking point seems to be that the Marlins also want Nick Adenhart and Brandon Wood while the Angels seem hesitant to give up both together. The Dodgers offer is centered around Andy La Roche, but the Dodgers are hesitant to give up Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw both in a trade for just one player, other Dodgers metnioned have been Jonathon Broxton the fire throwing reliever, Tony Abreu and Delwyn Young.
    Other teams with an outside shot at Cabrera are the Giants and White Sox but both are commonly thought of as not having the prospects to get a deal done.

Dodger fans is anyone else fed up with this commitment to mediocrity. Dodgers have one playoff victory and zero series wins since 1988. Something has got to change. In an interview last week colletti stated his stay the course rhetoric and he truly believes dodger fans are foolish enough to think that joe torre alone will take an 82 win squad to the playoffs. The fact is since the McCourts took over they have not spent money on a single big free agent. We continue to get these washed up veterans who are often injurred and years past there prime ex.
*Bill Mueller-3b... injurred less than a month into first season
* Nomar Garciaparra- signed a two year extension after only one productive season nomar has missed time in each of the past five seasons.
* Jason Schmidt- signed a huge contract last season, had a history of injury but management didnt care
* J.D. Drew- the thing that irritates me most about this one is we signed him for similar money as it would have been to retain adrian beltre who was almost an mvp the year before.....drew promptly got paid and under preformed

Im fed up with hearing excuses and how good the farm is I love James Loney, Billingsley, Kemp, and Kershaw but even without them we still have high grade prospects that we could use to get back an adrian beltre or trade for a troy glaus, miguel cabrerra, hank blalock, joe crede etc.

At the winter meetings next week i want to see action and if as dodger fans we dont see an Aaron Rowand, Andruw Jones and or Hiroki Koruda I dont think we should continue to go to chavez ravine. Fans need to make a statement that we love this team but we wont but up with garbage any longer. We are the Los Angeles Dodgers for goodness sake we draw more fans and revenue than anybody that isnt named New York Yankees. Its time to act like it.