Jimmy Bramlett

Things are starting to look up for the Clippers and the Kings, but how long will it last? Injuries started piling on the Clippers. Chris Paul with the bruised knee. Chauncey Billups with tendinitis in his left foot. Blake Griffin with a strained left hamstring. That explains as they lost eight of 11 games including horrible losses to Toronto, Boston and Washington that just left you shaking your head.

Tuesday night saw two Los Angeles teams desperately needing wins getting them. It sounds strange to say that the Lakers were desperate for the win since they have gone 2-1 on this Grammy road trip entering play tonight. But coughing up leads in those three games and being four games under .500 makes every game crucial for the Lakers. This was especially true in Brooklyn tonight with tricky games in Boston, Charlotte (yes, Charlotte) and Miami set to close out the road trip.

Thanks to the Lakers and the Super Bowl, the spotlight was taken off the Clippers for a little bit. But as we rolled around today in our own preservative filled post-Super Bowl hangover of discarded pig intestines and processed dairy products and assorted amalgamations of sodium-enhanced legume mixtures, it was hard not to take a look at the Clippers tonight.

What a difference a week makes. One week ago the Lakers finished up a completely woeful three-game road trip in Memphis losing their fourth straight game 106-93. The cries of "Trade Dwight!" and "Trade Pau!" and "Fire D'Antoni!" and "Kobe is a ballhog!" erupted in a symphony of cacophony throughout the Southland.

They thought they could. They thought they could. The game wasn't pretty. "It's not pretty," Simon Gagne confirmed. "We still have a lot of work to do." They do. Missed passes. Linemates skating at different speeds. Coverages busted. Pucks given away in the defensive zone. Five games into the new season things are still looking rough for the Kings. But once the final horn sounded, the scoreboard read a 3-2 shootout victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

It's a regional sports network! The Dodgers announced they will be launching their very own RSN SportsNet LA in an agreement with Time Warner Cable.

The game between the Kings and the Edmonton Oilers was a deep study of the rulebook, ineffective power-plays and patience. At times it was like watching the Lakers playing the Washington Wizards. Unfortunately for the Kings, the results are starting to look Laker-like as they fell to the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in overtime.

I was ready to watch Manti Te'o's confessional with Katie Couric. I had my snacks and refreshments laid out in front of me. I turned off my phones. I made sure my laptop was out of reach. It took me three minutes before I switched over to SportsCenter and moved on with my day.

Three minutes, 41 seconds. That's the time it took for the reality to hit the Kings, the reality of having to defend a championship. Reality bit the Kings as they lost their season opener 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Beards and dope. The spotlight in sports this week has been focused on everything but sports itself. Thankfully we have the Clippers and the Lakers here in Los Angeles to focus on, for one day at least.

I have a big problem with Notre Dame and their credibility issue. Their policy of protecting its football players at all costs makes their defense of Manti Te'o and his fake girlfriend ring very hollow.

In the late 1990's and early 2000's, JT LeRoy was the hot young author. His harrowing works included the novel Sarah and short story collection The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things and detailed child molestation and rape, prostitution, drug abuse that struck a nerve with the public. His fans included Dennis Cooper, Gus Van Sant, Shirley Manson of Garbage. Even Asia Argento directed and starred in a film adaptation of The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things in 2004.