The Chargers look to be in serious trouble this year in terms of missing the playoffs. The blame has to go on their star quarterback, Philip Rivers. In addition to key fumbles, Rivers has 15 interceptions this season, to just 13 touchdowns. To put it into perspective- last season, he had less interceptions while enjoying 30 touchdowns. With Carson Palmer looking good, it would be tough to see the Raiders not taking the division.

San Diego usually gets better as the season progresses, but that does not seem to be the case here. While Rivers is heavily to blame, the offensive line is not exactly doing him any favors. He has been sacked 25 times already, which was the same amount as the entire 2009 season. The Chargers have been at the top of the division for many years, and that is partially due to weak competition. But with the Raiders looking good (not great), and the Chargers looking not-so-great, Rivers may have a longer off-season than usual.

Next month, Brock Lesnar meets Alistair Overeem in what will be one of the biggest heavyweight collisions in UFC history. Many people are proclaiming that Overeem will easily win if it stays standing, and Lesnar will win if it goes to the ground. But here are ten reasons why Brock Lesnar will be victorious, regardless of where the fight goes.

1. Brock Lesnar won the eight-man, King of the Ring tournament in 2002; and two of the fights were even on the same night. In the eight-man Strikeforce Grand Prix, Overeem stopped after round one.

2. Did you know? Brock is a former NCAA Division I Champion.

3. Brock has defeated two Olympic Gold Medalists (Kurt Angle & Mark Henry).

4. In Overeem’s last fight against a Light Heavyweight, he lost to Shogun Rua. In Lesnar’s last fight against a Light Heavyweight, he beat Shannon Moore.

5. Brock has a record of 2-0-1 against The Undertaker.

6. MMAMath: Lesnar beat Mir, who beat Antonio Nogueira, who beat Sergei Kharitonov, who beat Alistair Overeem.

7. Amount of former (major) World Heavyweight Champions that Overeem has beaten: 0. Amount that Lesnar has beaten: 17 (Frank Mir, Randy Couture, Jeff Hardy, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Randy Orton, John Cena, The Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero, Big Show, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio).

8. In 2003, Brock Lesnar won the Royal Rumble, which means he outlasted 29 other superstars on one night.

9. Brock has a hotter girl to get on top of.

10. Lesnar’s F5 has finished off more opponents than Overeem’s Uberknees.

The Los Angeles Dodgers season opening win over Tim Lincecum was marred by an ugly incident with the beating of a Giants fan in the parking lot. This incident seemed to be a bad omen and coupled with other distractions, hung over the team’s head the entire year. With a core of strong young players, the Dodgers were expecting to be a strong team competing for a division title. The divorce case of the owner Frank McCourt and underperformance of key players In light of these circumstances, a few players had some monster individual performances. Unfortunately the team was not able to build on the momentum generated by those individuals and the team struggled to an 82-79 record.

Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp seemingly had to carry the rest of the team on their backs from start to finish. Kershaw outdueled San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum 4 times over the course of the season and each was a tightly contested contest. Kershaw finished with the pitcher’s version of the Triple Crown (strikeouts, wins, and ERA). Matt Kemp was equally as dominant in the batter’s box. Kemp was simply awesome. He nearly finished with the Triple Crown, but finished third in batting average. The performance by the rest of the team ranged from wildly mediocore to hardly inspiring at all. While Kemp had 39 home runs, the second highest on the team was Rod Barajas with 16. Andre Either, the player supposed to be second fiddle to Kemp, hit only 11 home runs and was a shell of his former self. The same could be said for starter Chad Billingsley, the number 2 starter behind Kershaw. Billingsley had the worst season of his career. His strikeouts dropped for the 3^rd consecutive year and recorded the highest ERA and most hits allowed of his MLB tenure. Dee Gordon, son of former pitcher Flash Gordon, came up to play shortstop for spurts and was electrifying on the basepaths. His game is very raw right now, but he could be a great sparkplug at the top of the lineup in the near future. The bullpen was also very strong minus the efforts of injured Jonathon Broxton and Hong-Chih Kuo.

The key for the Dodgers to have a more successful season in 2012 is to upgrade the lineup. Andre Eithier and James Loney are solid pieces, but not hitting in the middle of the order. Rod Barajas is an abomination at catcher, and veterans like Casey Blake and Jamey Carroll fail to strike any fear into opposing pitchers. The starting rotation must also be improved upon. Hopefully a settlement to the McCourt divorce case will allow the owner to set forth a direction for the team.

Bright Spots: Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, Bullpen, Hiroki Kuroda, Dee Gordon

Disappointments: Andre Ethier, Casey Blake, Rod Barajas, James Loney, Chad Billingsley, Jonathon Broxton

Winning the World Series in 2010 brought high hopes for the 2011 San Francisco Giants. The Giants returned almost everyone from their championship team and most thought they would be primed to return to the fall classic. A huge rash of injuries, including a season-ending ankle injury to budding star catcher Buster Posey in late May, were too much for the offensively-challenged Giants to overcome. Not even the mid-season acquisition of Carlos Beltran was enough as they became the first World Series Champion to miss the playoffs the following year since the St. Louis Cardinals in 2007. The pitching was fantastic for most of the season, but the offense was the exact opposite. Tim Lincecum finished with a record under .500 (13-14) despite almost dropping his ERA a full run from the year before (3.43 to 2.74). Journeyman Ryan Vogelsong filled in magnificently for the injured Barry Zito. Pitching in the majors for the first time in 5 years, Vogelsong went 13-7 with a 2.71 ERA and made the NL All Star team. The pitching staff set the tone for San Francisco as they finished second in the ML in runs allowed. After struggling mightily with his weight last year, slugger Pablo Sandoval showed up this season in fabulous shape. He carried that over into the regular season where he had a very strong campaign and also made the All Star team. Despite Sandoval’s efforts, San Francisco finished dead last in runs scored in the NL.

There is a lot of uncertainty moving forward for the Giants. They have huge question marks to answer at first base, shortstop, second base, centerfield, and one of the corner outfield positions. Aubrey Huff was absolutely dreadful, but has alternated great years with awful years throughout his career and is a good candidate to bounce back (not to mention he’s in the final year of his contract at $10 million). He will be competing with some youngster who got valuable playing time this year in Brandon Belt and Brett Pill. The Giants hope Freddy Sanchez can return strongly from his shoulder injury that forced him out of action for the season in June. It is unknown where the players for the remaining positions will come from, but free agency is a strong possibility.

All in all it was a disappointing season by the bay, but with a little better luck on the injury front, the season could have been a lot different. With their extremely talented pitching staff, a little help offensively could go a long way and a return to the postseason is very possible.

Bright Spots: Pablo Sandoval, Ryan Vogelsong, Madison Bumgarner, Sergio Romo, Nate Schierholtz

Disappointments: Aubrey Huff, Cody Ross, Miguel Tejada, Barry Zito, Brian Wilson