Super Pick; Travelin' Chip; Bonkers Trade; Tough Schedule; Autocracy Week 2

The biggest sporting event of the year takes place this Sunday.

And I'm really looking forward to it. Super Bowl LIX (59), matching the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Some observations from this peanut gallery:

• The top story: can Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes engineer a Super Bowl three-peat, something that's never been done before?

• Some local trivia: Reid's first full-time coaching job was as the offensive line coach at San Francisco State, from 1983-85, under the legendary Vic Rowen. The program was so cash-strapped that Reid and other coaches sold hot dogs to raise money.

• The Chiefs are masters of winning close games, having one 17 straight decided by one score.

• Both of their recent Super Bowl wins fell into that category--38-35 over the Eagles two years ago, 25-22 over the 49ers last year.

• Hard to believe the 49ers were that good a year ago, after their miserable performance this season.

• Next year's Super Bowl will be on the 49ers' home field, Levi Stadium.

• All previous eight teams that won two straight Super Bowls, including the 1990 49ers, failed in their quest for a third. In fact, none of them even reached the Super Bowl.

• The Eagles are formidable, with the league's best defense and the league's best running game.

• Philadelphia running back Saquon Barkley, discarded by the NY Giants, may be the best free agent signing in NFL history.

• Barkley rushed for over 2000 yards during the season and has been running wild in the playoffs.

• Quarterback Jalen Hurts, wide receiver A.J. Brown and tight end Dallas Goedert add a solid passing game.

• The stout Eagles' defense is led by tackle Jalen Carter, linebacker Zack Baun and safety Brian Dawkins; it's orchestrated by former Stanford and 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. 

• They will try to keep Mahomes off balance, shut down the Chiefs' run game, and smother tight end Travis Kelce.

• On the other side of the coin, the Chiefs are peaking at just the right time. 

• Mahomes had, for him, a lackluster regular season, with "only" 26 TD passes and 11 interceptions. He wasn't even selected for the Pro Bowl.

• But he was brilliant in the Chief's thrilling win over Buffalo for the AFC championship, and he always does whatever it takes to win in the playoffs.

• In recent games, Kareem Hunt has given the running game a lift. And rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy has done the same for the passing attack, giving Mahomes another big weapon.

• * The KC defense, also one of the league's toughest, is led by interior lineman Chris Jones, cornerback Trent McDuffie and safety Justin Reid (a Stanford alum). It is orchestrated by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who's going for his fifth Super Bowl (three with the Chiefs, one with the Giants).

• The Chiefs are favored by a point and a half. And, as noted above, they tend to win close games.

• A year ago, I picked the Chiefs because of their advantage over the 49ers in three pivotal areas--head coach, quarterback and placekicker.

• They have the same advantages in this one.

• And it's never a good idea to pick against Reid and Mahomes.

• Chiefs 30, Eagles 28.

Travelin' Man: Chip Kelly was one and done at Ohio State.

After helping to lead the Buckeyes to a national championship as Offensive Coordinator, Kelly is returning to the pro ranks in the same role with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Kelly famously left UCLA--and his $6 million salary--behind when he took the OC job in Columbus for a paltry $2M. Kelly had interviewed for a number of pro jobs but was unsuccessful in landing one. Now he'll join new Raiders' coach Pete Carroll in Vegas. And he's back to his UCLA salary at $6M, without having to worry about recruiting, NIL or the transfer portal.

Career-wise, Kelly has had much more success in the college ranks, posting a 46-7 record at Oregon from 2009-12 and reaching the NCAA championship game in '10, then posting a so-so 35-34 record with three 8-win seasons at UCLA.

In the pros, not so much. He was fired in his third season as Philadelphia Eagles' head coach, and had one disastrous 2-14 season with the 49ers. 

His biggest challenge with the Raiders is the lack of a proven quarterback. 

Bonkers Trade: Over the weekend the Dallas Mavericks made one of the most stunning, and in my opinion, idiotic, trades in NBA history, shipping superstar Luka Doncic to the LA Lakers.

Doncic almost single-handedly took the Mavs from a No. 6 seed to the NBA Finals last year. All he did was average 34 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists per game.

Luka is in his seventh season. He's yet to reach his 26th birthday. He was Rookie of the Year in 2018-19 and has been First Team All-NBA every year since.

In return the Mavs got Anthony Davis, 32 yext month, a player who has spent more time on the bench sidelined by injuries than on the court in six of the last seven seasons.

When Mark Cuban gave up controlling interest in the Mavs, many predicted something like this would happen. Back in 2020, Cuban said "If I had to choose between my wife and keeping Luka on the Mavs, catch me at my lawyer's office prepping for a divorce."

Tough Sledding: The 2025 ACC football schedules were released last week, and the folks at Stanford aren't doing any backflips.

The Cardinal will face no fewer than nine 2024-25 bowl teams this fall--CFP National Championship runner up Notre Dame, three teams that finished in the nation's Top 25 (No. 12 SMU, No. 13 BYU, No. 18 Miami), all on the road, and five other teams that participated in the post-season--San Jose State (Hawaii Bowl), Pittsburgh (Game Above Sports Bowl), North Carolina (Fenway Bowl), Boston College (Pinstripe Bowl) and Cal (LA Bowl).

The good news is that the home schedule is much more appealing than last year. The Cardinal will host Notre Dame, Cal, Florida State, Boston College, Pitt and San Jose State.

Hopefully more fans will show up than last season, when crowds of under 10,000 were commonplace.

Transfer Update: The Cardinal has been active in the transfer portal this off-season, pulling in 10 players, the best of whom appear to be offensive tackle Niki Prongos (UCLA), wide receiver Caden High (South Carolina State), running back Tuna Altahir (Eastern Washington, and Yale receiver David Pantelis.

High caught 62 passes for 908 yards and seven TDs last year; Altahir rushed for 718 yards; Prongas started eight games for the Bruins; Pantelis caught 61 balls for 901 yards and eight TDs.

Another incoming player will be center Nathan Mejia from Sacramento State, who started all 13 games for the Hornets in '23 but missed all of '24 with a leg injury. He played for Stanford coach Troy Taylor in 2022.

Outgoing: Stanford also lost a number of players to the portal, most of whom were backups or didn't play last fall. The only significant losses were starting offensive tackle Luke Baklenko (Oklahoma) and starting QB Ashton Daniels (Auburn). 

Daniels was expected to lose his starting job to sophomore Elijah Brown this season.

The most important loss may have been wide receiver Elic Ayomanor, the only Stanford player to be mentioned on All-ACC teams, who opted to turn pro despite having two years of eligibility remaining.

He'll be missed.

Autocracy Arrives: He tried to warn us during the presidential campaign, but apparently we weren't listening.

Only two weeks in, it's apparent that Donald Trump 2.0 will be a vehicle for retribution--pursuing personal vendettas, settling grievances and seeking vengeance against opponents. 

Just what the presidency was intended to be, right?

After Week 1's outrage--pardoning the "hostages" who violently attacked policemen on Jan. 6, denying birthright citizenship, and shipping off immigrants to Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia--he showed there is no limit to his stupidity, vengeance and bigotry.

Unfortunately, there also seems to be no limit to his power. Trump is intent on taking full control of not just the executive branch, but the judicial and legislative branches as well. And no one seems willing or able to stop him.

Attempting to target "woke" programs, wannabe King Donald instead froze all government grants and assistance spending, inciting nationwide panic before universal outrage forced him to backtrack. 

He fired 18 inspectors general--the people charged with providing federal oversight--purged DOJ prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases, invited two million federal workers to resign, and imposed tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico (since delayed) and China that will raise prices for every American.

The morning after the collision of an American Airlines plane and a blackhawk helicopter which claimed 67 lives, Trump spent about one minute lamenting the loss of life before launching into his typical blame game, falsely claiming that Joe Biden and Barack Obama's diversity programs were responsible for the tragedy.

Trump said DEI requirements had made standards for air traffic controllers so low that the skies were unsafe.

Was there any evidence that air traffic controllers were to blame? Was there any evidence that DEI hires were somehow involved?

Of course not. But don't confuse him with facts.

When pressed, Trump admitted there was no evidence, but said it was just "common sense" to blame diversity.

No, Donald, it wasn't common sense, it was just another crass, tasteless attempt to target non-whites, diversity programs, and Democrats.

But I'm not surprised. When it comes to Trump, there is no bottom.

We're only two weeks into his second term, and already the bigotry and cruelty from this vile, despicable man have been revolting.

The bad news is, he's just getting started.

God help us.