Viva La Super Bowl
Breaking News: The Super Bowl is in Las Vegas this week and more from the week in sports
The Silver State is hosting their first Super Bowl. I’m here to catch all the West Coast Stories and vibes.
It’s been a minute since I last wrote an email to this chain. Over the past few years, I’ve been concentrating on building my network in the tech scene as well as raising my teenage sibling. However, I’ve written freelance articles, continued my football podcast, kept blogging about the Raiders and stayed plugged-into sports on the West Coast.
Now, my parenting chapter is coming to a close in the next year. It’s time to get back to building a newsletter for the West Coast sports fan by the West Coast sports fan. Expect to hear from me a lot more often. I’ll be sharing the best sports news from the West Coast each week.
Super Week Meets Vegas
Yes, West Coast football is legit. The San Francisco 49ers are the fourth NFC Champions from the NFC West, just over the last six years. Both the Rams and 49ers have gone to the biggest stage twice in that span. Shout out to California. It will be six champions from the Pacific Time Zone, in ten Super Bowls, if you include the Seattle Seahawks’ back-to-back run from 2014-15.
Otherwise, Los Angeles natives are in both defensive backfields. Chiefs corner Trent McDuffie told me about why Nipsey Hu$$le is on his playlist. Deommodore Lenoir shouted out his favorite seafood spot in Cerritos, CA. Lenoir played his college ball at Oregon while McDuffie went to Oregon.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid played together at Stanford for a bit. Both were very complimentary of one another during media availability.
Otherwise, Super Bowl signage was all over the Strip. The famous Bellagio fountains featured replica Super Bowl trophies and signs. The Super Bowl experience in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center featured many games. You could see every Super Bowl ring and ticket stub.
It was nice to see Al Davis get his flowers as the late Raiders owner had a mini exhibit in the experience. Davis is often credited with creating the merger that resulted in the Super Bowl and the modern NFL. He’s also credited with moving the game forward with diversity.
WEST COAST TIES
BangBang:
Defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day started his career with the Rams.
End Clelin Ferrell started his career with the Raiders.
Tackle Matt Pryor is from Lakewood California.
Linebacker Fred Warner is from San Diego. Jon Feliciano started his career with the Raiders.
Backup QB Sam Darnold played at USC. Offensive lineman Jake Brendel played at UCLA.
Ben Bartch is one of the few players in the league from the state of Oregon.
Defensive Tackle Arik Armstead is from Sacramento.
Safety Tashaun Gipson was born in San Bernardino.
ChiefsKingdom:
Linebackers Cole Christiansen and Dru Tanquill both started their careers with the Chargers.
Defensive lineman Neil Farrell started his career with the Raiders.
Corner Jaylen Watson played at Washington State.
Gametime: 3:30 P.M. PT
Christian McCaffrey also won the Offensive Player of the Year award. He and QB Brock Purdy also finished top-four in MVP voting. Patrick Willis also finally made it into the Hall of Fame.
Senior Bowl and Shrine Bowl Standouts
Leading into the Super Bowl, I also checked out the College All-Star games.
First, the Shrine Bowl happened in Frisco Texas. Here’s some standouts:
USC receiver Tahj Washington was among the players who consistently made plays all week.
UCLA edges Grayson and Gabriel Murphy both made plays all week.
Edge Solomon Byrd also showed some flash in practices.
Fresno State linebacker Levelle Bailey and UCLA LB Darius Muasau made plays all week.
Anthony Gould from Oregon St. made his team’s biggest play with a return for a touchdown.
Backs DeShaun Fenwick (Oregon State) and Carson Steele (UCLA) didn’t play in the game but both could add some vaue to NFL backfields.
Moving to the Senior Bowl in Mobile Alabama. I really was only in Mobile for the actual game.
However, Michael Penix Jr. of Washington made himself money in practices from what I saw on TV and heard from folks I knew on the ground. Penix told me after the game he just wanted to concentrate on getting one percent better each day before the NFL Draft in April.
More Notes:
Taliese Fuaga played his college ball at Oregon State and he is from Tacoma, Washington.
Laiatu Latu from UCLA played well during the week but didn’t play during the game.
The Sacramento native also spent some time at Washington, before a neck injury force him into a medical retirment.
Utah offensive tackle Sataoa Laumea grew up in Rialto, Ca. He played both tackle and guard at Utah. U
SC running MarShawn Lloyd stood out in practices as did his receiver teammate Brenden Rice.
NBA Trade Deadline
The NBA Trade deadline came and went.
Despite rumors about Klay Thompson getting traded by the Warriors, he stayed in Golden State.
The Los Angeles Lakers did not do anything at the deadline, despite rumors about trading D’Angelo Russell. They may make a move for Los Angeles Native Spencer Dinwiddie.
Los Angeles Clippers veteran P.J. Tucker requested a trade but ultimately stayed put.
The Sacramento Kings acquired Fresno great Robin Lopez. He may get bought out.
Portland made a minor deal for Dalano Banton from the Celtics.
PS The Lakers unveiled the first of three statues to memorialize Kobe.
MORE LINKS FROM THE WEEK
Tom Brady’s ownership in the Vegas means money
NaVorro Bowman to join Chargers staff
Rams hire Grandson of NFL Legend
Deandre Ayton not thriving in Portland
Nobody knows where the A’s will play
Mariners make some minor moves
Ohtani makes Dodgers debut for Spring Training
Ducks make collaboration with the Offspring
Sharks place Leon Gawanke on waivers
That’s all I got for this week. It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more updates on the PST media newsletter as well as more news from the West Coast. Also, am I the only one waiting for Vultures to drop on Apple Music?