The Late Night Happy Hour with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

Friend of the show Dave Schilling, who writes about sports, culture and style joins, talking about his work on "Black Renaissance: The Art and Soul of Our Stories," which premiered on YouTube, Friday. What makes the celebration of the arts and Black culture so critical? He talks about the genesis of the idea, and what it was like working with so many talented comedians and musicians in the midst of a pandemic.

From there, it's Damian Lillard and what makes him so much fun to watch (though not as fun as Steph Curry, Schilling contends) and the much ballyhooed sweater game of Lakers star Anthony Davis. Also, are shoulder pads back? And who should be wearing them?

And where are we on Coming 2 America? Is it a good thing Eddie Murphy is playing 183 characters in a movie again?

Spring Training kind of snuck up on us, but now that we know it's here, we have questions. And to answer them, we hit up Jorge Castillo, who does outstanding work covering the Dodgers for the LA Times.

We start with atmosphere. It's no a normal Spring Training, whether talking about the players or the media covering them. What's the atmosphere like? How are the Dodgers responding to being champs... but in the weirdest possible season? Is there any chip on their shoulder, or a need to prove last year was legit by winning again over 162 games?

The projections for the Dodgers this year are insane. As high as 107 wins, according to simulations from ESPN. Who else could come close? If you have to pick nits with this team, where do you start? Castillo points to the back end of the pen, but even that's not a big problem in the spring, and may not become one in October.

What about Trevor Bauer? Any fear he could upset what has been some excellent chemistry over the last year-plus?

How does the Bauer deal reflect the current economics of baseball? And what might be coming as the league and the Player's Association get closer to negotiating a new CBA? Hint: It could get very ugly, very fast, he says.

Finally, we have a long conversation about language in clubhouses. Castillo, whose family is from Puerto Rico, writes in both English and Spanish for the Times. He talks about what is lost when media can't communicate with Spanish-native players in their first language, and how too often Spanish speaking players are treated as a monolith, when culturally there are huge differences.

The Jazz thumped the Lakers on Wednesday. No big surprise given the current state of the champs, who are still down Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder. And also because the Jazz are routinely kicking the crap out of any team they play. So at this point, with the best record in the league by a pretty good margin, with a run of dominance few teams have matched in recent years, we ask the official question of The Late Night Happy Hour...

"Are the Jazz for real?"

Sabreena is a believer. There's a lot to like about this team, and many reasons to believe what they're doing is sustainable. That said, they're not without vulnerabilities. And in the playoffs, will some of the advantages they currently have over the competition go away?

We all know why the Lakers are losing right now, but should fans be genuinely concerned about the shooting?

After a moment to wonder whether Alex Caruso's new "Manscaped" ad is the greatest commercial a Laker has ever made, or just the best commercial anyone has ever made, we look at the Clippers. Why is it working this year, with Ty Lue? Is their incredibly good work from beyond the arc sustainable? What will be different this year in the playoffs? Why does this year's team make more sense? She calls them the best team in basketball.

Finally, Sabreena, who was once a contestant on Jeopardy! gives her review of how Ken Jennings performed in his guest hosting capacity.

He's a die hard fan, so on a personal level the struggles of the Boston Celtics this season are hitting NY Times NBA writer Sopan Deb particularly hard. But they have a simple explanation, at the root: The C's let an All-Star caliber player in Gordon Hayward go to Charlotte, and replaced him with... nothing. So add in a banged up Kemba Walker and an injured Marcus Smart, and what did people think was going to happen? That they'd be better than last year?

Meanwhile, there's actual cause for optimism in New York, where Julius Randle has made the All Star team for the first time in his career. Deb profiled Randle for the Times, and we talk about the former first round pick's growth from Los Angeles through New Orleans and now for two years with the Knicks. What has helped him grow so much this year? It starts with stability, which is a weird thing to say about that franchise, but it seems they might have some.

Finally, it's some music talk. Nobody stans for the Dave Matthews Band like Sopan, and he/they recently received quite an honor, one Deb feels he may have helped bring about. And what's the deal with the "dad" vibe Springsteen is putting out these days?

It's not always easy to be a sports fan today, especially if you're a member of a community that hasn't traditionally been valued by the sports establishment - think women and LGBTQ people, for example - or simply enthusiastic fans whose team loyalties are exploited by greedy/apathetic/lousy team owners or large entities like the IOC and FIFA that suck cash out of communities in exchange for hosing mega-events.

So what do fans do about it? How do they hold their teams, leagues and athletes responsible without walking away? What can sports do to improve from within? Complicated questions for people who love sports, and in their new book "Loving Sports When They Don't Love You Back," Kavitha Davidson and Jessica Luther explore these and more.

After a quick update on Monday's fatigue-fueled loss to Washington for the Lakers, we dive into the interview. Who traditionally hasn't been "loved back" by sports? Who has, and how interested are they in being loved in a different way?

Why are sports a place where fans are so willing to compartmentalize? What is it about sports loyalties that makes it hard to draw hard lines in the sand for people (even those in the groups sports tends to ignore -- Davidson and Luther, for example, are both massive sports fans)?

How should people talk about trans athletes? Is there really a "problem" with trans women competing and hurting women's sports? Why are sports so often used as proxies for larger cultural battles?

Why are Luther and Davidson ultimately optimistic?

Finally, we close with a conversation about Ted Lasso, one of the great shows about the spirit of sports ever made.

You know him from 710 ESPN Radio in LA, and basically every television show ESPN has. But Friday on the Late Night Happy Hour, Jorge Sedano takes on his toughest task -- Explaining the state of Florida. It's not a job for everyone, but this Florida native is willing to try.

But first, some other stuff, starting with Pat Riley. Is he ever going to retire? What would that even look like?

What will LeBron James do once he actually gets to Atlanta for the All Star Game? He obviously would prefer not to have to go, but will he put on a show, anyway? Jorge says yes, and explains why.

Then we remember how exactly we got to this point in a very weird season, part of an even weirder year.... before getting to the evening's main course (about 30 minutes in...)

SEDANO EXPLAINS FLORIDA!!!

We give Jorge a bunch of stories, and he rates each of them on a 1-5 Gator scale of Floridaness. 5 being Super Florida, 1 being "Could have happened anywhere!" We've got monkey's biting children at chain restaurants! Sisters stabbing each other with Epi-Pens! Urine in the microwave! So what says Jorge?

He's the guy at the center of one of the best new basketball websites out there. Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) of BasketballNews.com joins the Late Night Happy Hour, breaking down a huge range of topics over the course of an hour.

We start with the Lakers, who won their first game Tuesday without Anthony Davis. Looking ahead, what do these games without him mean? What can the Lakers accomplish? How does the absence of Davis impact the MVP campaign of LeBron James? If he carries the team could LeBron win the award, but hurt his chances at another title?

What about the rest of the league? Is Utah for real? Just how bad are the Nets defensively, and how good is "good enough," given their star power? We debate.

Finally, the NBA and its players have enjoyed an excellent relationship over the last few years. How much of that is jeopardized by the league staging an All Star Game this year?

He covers the Sacramento Kings for The Athletic, but Jason Jones is also an L.A. dude, and joins the Happy Hour to talk Western Conference basketball and his beloved Dodgers as Spring Training kicks off.

We start on the Brooklyn Nets, who are the opponent for the Lakers in Thursday's big marquee national TV matchup. They can't stop anyone, really, but how good do they need to be on that side of the ball to be successful? It worked out well enough Tuesday against the Suns, as Brooklyn got enough stops to complete a big fourth quarter comeback with both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in street clothes. Just how bad on defense is good enough?

What do the Lakers lose without Anthony Davis in the lineup? How can the team benefit, even knowing anything they do now with him out of the lineup won't stay "as is" once he returns? Jones notes why these games could ultimately benefit the Lakers.

From there, we dive into the Kings, and the future of former Lakers head coach Luke Walton. Is he doing good work up there? How good should the Kings be? Will Walton survive this season and make it into next?

Next, was Draymond Green on to something when he teed off on media and fans for the double standard he believes players are held to when it comes to trades and professionalism? Was he creating straw men? Complaining too much?

Finally... Jason Jones loves his Dodgers. And with Spring Training basically here, he's ready to crown them again.

She's the host of the Dimes and Dozens podcast, and a musician (check out her work @tinydeaths). Tonight, Claire de Lune joins the Late Night Happy Hour talking NBA, music and more.

We start with... movers! She recently swapped apartments, smack in the middle of the pandemic. And while the experience sucked, the movers did not. So that's a plus. From there, we talk decorating, which means Ikea. And the vastly different experience you have as a single, childless person vs. how you look at it as a parent of small children, when you need activity/food hacks at a low, low price.

Then, it's on to basketball. The Lakers continue playing bad first quarters. The shooting has gone downhill. So is there any reason to worry? What's the appropriate amount? 5% concern? 10%? Which flaws might actually come back to haunt them?

And who else in the league is best suited to beat them? A viewer asks us to name three teams, which ultimately leads to a debate about the Nets. Can they get good enough defensively to support a potentially unstoppable offense?

What about the All Star Game? How big a mistake is it to stage the game, not just because of the pandemic -- it's reasonable to think the league can stage the game safely -- but because the players really, really don't want to do it? Should the stars rule the day?

We wrap talking a little music. What makes something timeless? What artists of today could have real staying power? And why?

He's created a cult following online designed around the unique appeal of sports and pop culture from the 70s and 80s. Ricky Cobb of @Super70sSports joins the Late Night Happy Hour, talking the origin story of his site, why baseball players with glasses seem to be such a fertile ground for excellent Twitter comedy, the reason nostalgia plays so well online, and much more.

He's a sociology professor by trade, so Cobb understands how these sort of communal experiences -- things like Gatorgum! -- can bring people together in ways you wouldn't expect.

Fun conversation with a guy who has carved out a unique space in the online sports moment we're in. And it's a pretty big space, too.