Sports Show On Mute

I Have Moved

2011-03-02T10:51:00.001-05:00

I've restarted myself over at duhwinning.wordpress.com. COme on over, the water's nice.

CHampionship

2010-12-29T02:11:00.001-05:00

Channel Surfing: Lettin' It All Hang Out

2007-07-15T19:54:00.000-05:00

Channel Surfing is my semi-regular link dump in which I whore out other blogs for your amusement. If you'd like to be linked email me via the address on the right.

Who would've thought, Adam LaRoche is pretty clever (100% Injury Rate)

Ever wonder which many attractive celebrities have worn jerseys? I know I have and now It's been documented. (Winning The Turnover Battle)

Mini Me wonders if Joel Freeland has finally landed? I vote for no... (WBRS Sports Blog)

RCT let everyone know how I created this blog here. In step by step fashion. (My Brain Says Rage)

One of the Dolphins best players pick up a DWI. Suffice to say Sanchez is not pleased. (Shot To Nothing)

TGWF goes where no man should ever want to. Brady Quinn's Ipod... (Ghosts Of Wayne Fontes)

For the plane ride, I'd give them their money back after the fact. (Six Pack Sports Report)

Megazord Form!

2007-07-15T19:48:00.000-05:00

So now you're wondering, "What is this new blog about?" Well, what is the blog community? It's just that: A community. Unlike competitors in the mainstream media, blogs routinely share ideas, content, and offer up ways to supplement each other's efforts. When we looked around and saw very few blog networks that are truly networked, We said, "What can we do about this?"

EpicCarnival.com is designed to bring some of the more creative independent blogs together under a single umbrella. Call it a "Super Blog" if you will. As legendary philosopher Hilary Duff said, blog networks are "so yesterday." With writers from New York to California to even the UK, EpicCarnival.com will bring you some of the freshest, most diverse content you'll find on the Internet in one convenient location.

We're starting out this venture with writers from 34 authors from 28 blogs, all with diverse backgrounds and writing styles. If one of them doesn't find a way to entertain or inform you somewhere along the way, well then, you're just not trying.

Featuring the writers behind blogs such as Winning the Turnover Battle, 100% Injury Rate, Our Book of Scrap, the Blog of Hilarity, Shoutfan, Deuce of Davenport, Why Don't We Get Drunk and Blog?, Babes Love Baseball, Sports Show On Mute and many, many more, EpicCarnival.com aims to bring daily, unfiltered content from some of the fastest growing voices on the Internet to make a Megazord of sorts.

It is our collective hope that people visit EpicCarnival.com time and again and that each day we make their Internet viewing experience a little better than it was the day before. Come check it out!

Note: I'll be posting a still unnamed column on the weekdays among other things. So come by, and check it out!

A-Rod Flips Cashman The Bird

2007-07-13T01:40:00.000-05:00

Today, finally some good news coming out of the Bronx for us Yankee haters. Alex Rodriguez will not negotiate a contract extension with the Yanks during the season. As much as I dislike the Yankees, I like A-Rod, and I always have. He's a fantastic all-around player and he's taking the right stance in this situation. Especially when you consider other pending Yankee Free Agents Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera. If A-Rod wasn't on the insane pace he is, the Yanks wouldn't even be considering this move. And his failure to cooperate with the is a win for the baseball fan who's tired of hearing about his lack of "true pinstripes". In honor of A-Rod's likely departure from underachieving cash machine I've cooked up a few other things I wouldn't mind seeing happen to the Bronx Bombers.

- The Yankees are eliminated from playoff contention by mid-August forcing the WWL to give up on the "can they still make it" Fact or Fiction segments.

- Johnny Damon is caught cross-dressing in Hoboken, finally explaining why he throws like a girl.

- Derek Jeter is photographed with a Transsexual entering his car outside a nightclub in Tampa Bay. It immediately hits "wwtdd.com" Ala the Beverly Hills Mayor on Entourage. The NY faithful simultaneously throw up.

- Carl Pavano finds health and returns to the rotation. He posts a 1-13 record with a 12.45 ERA before being traded to the Dodgers where he gets it together and closes 5-0 with a .67 ERA. And leads the Dodgers into the World Series, Jeff Weaver blushes.

- Chien-Ming Wang demands to be traded.

- It turns out Bobby Abreu is actually 49 years old. Julio Franco is absolutely devastated.

- George Steinbrenner finally fires a few people. Becky, formerly of marketing files a lawsuit claiming Cashman touched her.

- Jason Giambi names Brian Cashman as his supplier in his interview with George Mitchell.

To be honest I wouldn't necessarily like to see all or any of this happen. But, maybe it it did ESPN would quit shoving the Yanks and their playoff chances down our throats. Okay, fine. I'd like to see most of this happen. Maybe I am that much of an ass-hole. Or maybe I'm annoyed? Who knows.

MLB Survivor: Weeks 12 and 13

2007-07-10T17:53:00.000-05:00

For a rundown on the rules click here

Another twofer this week as I had a long busy weekend and was unable to post last week's knockouts. Anyhow, we're sticking with the status quo here, NL followed by AL.

Eliminations Thus Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Houston
Florida
Baltimore
Cincinnati
New York (AL)
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati
Tampa Bay
Chicago (AL)
Chicago (NL)
Oakland
San Francisco

Leaving The Diamond: Atlanta Braves
Reasoning: While they're only sitting 2 games behind the Mets at the break. The Braves just don't have it this year. Andruw Jones is having potentially the worst walk-year in the history of free agency. And the rest of the team develops Xylophobia when Chipper Jones is out of the lineup. Not a good sign, considering Chipper Jones is to the DL as Jeff Francoeur is to the whiff. John Smoltz' recurring shoulder issues this season are another concern as well, seeing as outside of Tim Hudson consistency isn't much of a theme in the rotation.

Next season, maybe Atlnta gets another streak going, who knows? They've got some fantastic young players for the future. Unfortunately, the cornerstones of the team are brittle or amazing horrible (I'm looking at you Andruw). Leaving these Braves out in the cold for the second consecutive year. -BD

Leaving The Diamond: Philadelphia Phillies
Reasoning: This is a controversial one, because the Phillies do legitimately have a chance to win the NL East, especially when you consider how the Mets have been playing of late. Here's my logic on the matter: the Phillies' entire season jumped the shark in that whole rain delay / tarp debacle right before the All-Star Game. What do I mean? Well, that provided the seminal visual images of the Phillies' season to date - it wasn't some Ryan Howard blast, or some Chae Utley walk-off double, or some Freddy Garcia 10 K performance. No. It was a bunch of dudes trying to hold down a tarp in an otherwise meaningless game. The Phillies are doomed; they've hit their high point as of mid-July. Nothing they do past this point will amuse or entertain people any more than that. Plus, this whole 10,000 losses thing is going to affect their psyche, and let's be honest - when's the last time this team got through an entire September without screwing absolutely everything to the wall? I'm going to boot them now in an effort to look like a genius. I may just end up lookin' like a moron. It's cool, though. I'm used to it. -Ted

Leaving The Diamond: New York Yankees
Reasoning: Brandon did this right before the All-Star Break, which I suppose takes a moderate amount of wind out of the sails of a New York product (that's me!) kicking his beloved Yankees (read: I haven't rooted for them in years, although I did scream out my living room window when that foul ball nestled in Charlie Hayes' glove) off the MLB island. Nothing is going right for this team: it took them until June 22nd to get a full five-day swing through the pitchers they want to constitute every five days. They begin their post-Break game set with the Devil Rays, and Clemens is pitching Friday night. At any other time in my life as a sports fan, I would have picked a sweep for the Bombers, with a definite win Friday and a potential loss Sunday if they let their guard down. Right now? I'm calling 2 out of 3 to Tampa, including one 11-3 absolute massacre where Carl Crawford has five steals. And you think these guys can catch the Red Sox? Not a chance - unless the Sox have to play the Indians and Tigers for the entire rest of the season. -Ted

Leaving The Diamond: Texas Rangers
Reasoning: The Rangers have been about as bad as possible so far this season. They still have no quality starting pitchers to speak of. And even some of their hitters haven't quite been up to par so far this season. Leading to one of the worst records in all of baseball. Don't even get me started on Sosa, who may be the most overrated "big name" player I've ever seen. All in all It's been a pretty horrible summer deep in the south so far, and it doesn't look like things are going to be getting better anytime soon. Especially when you consider they may be trading some of their most reliable players. Those most wanted fella's just all happen to be middle relievers. And the only guys who can keep the ball in the ballpark. I'd say it's safe to say that when Gagne and Otsuka head for greener pastures, offense will pick up even more in Arlington. In related news, Ron Washington's heart attack odds are expected to hit 4-1 by the trade deadline. -BD

Channel Surfing: Proctor, Put Down The Matches!

2007-07-04T16:32:00.000-05:00

Not even a real bonfire, can light one under the Yankees. (Just Call Me Juice)

The sad reality of ESPN. Congrats To Biggio and Big Hurt, no references required. (One More Dying Quail)

I don't know about you. But, I think this does sound like fun. (Seal Clubbers)

"Signs. Signs. Everywhere there's signs. F@#cking up the scenery. Breaking My Mind." -- You figure Bonds is haunted by the particular musical number? (Signal To Noise)

Have you seen the greatest trade in NBA history? It's got all the shock and awe the league needs. (The Basketball Jones)

'Who's Now' was the final straw that created this list. I'm over here Stu, can't you see me with your "peripherals"? Oh, wait. (100% Injury Rate)

Taking a look at the upcoming Futures game. Always fun to watch the Future, ya know, before it comes.. (The Extrapolater)

The greatest sports cereals you've never heard of. (Deuce Of Davenport)

A Draft? In Here? I Don't Feel It

2007-07-04T08:43:00.000-05:00

It's been nearly a week since the alleged "biggest draft of all-time" as some have called it. And I'm just now getting around to my critiquing. No, I'm not handing out grades here. You'd like to read that, about as much as I'd like an HJ with some Jergens and 60-grade sandpaper. I'm just going to look at a few teams. Those moving in the right direction and those who's fans repeatedly screamed "WTF!!!!!!" last Thursday.

High Fives (no hand-pounds):

Portland Trailblazers
I'm going to miss calling them the Jail Blazers though I simply cannot believe the potential this young team has already. With Oden, Aldridge, Roy, Jack and many other young parts the Blazers are easily the most promising franchise in basketball. They had the best draft out there stealing Josh McRoberts, and the two foreign point guards everyone is raving about. Not to mention Taurean Green who would make a solid 2nd or third option at the point (likely third) this season while they await Fernandez and Koponen. The cherry on top was signing Oden, Green and McRoberts in less than a week. And Koponen signed a waiver to play in the summer league before likely coming to the states next season.

Los Angeles Clippers
I really like the Thornton pick at 14. As I felt like Crittenton was over-hyped and would have been a reach. The Clippers may have agreed, or they felt Thornton was just too good to pass up. Also a good reason. He might finally get them to trade Corey Maggette. Which I love, because trades amuse me. I think they should fantasy draft the league every five years, NBA 2K7 style. It'd be more interesting. Anyhow, the Jared Jordan pick was even better in round 2 as he feels their PG need with Livingston's status still up in the air. And it gives them a facilitator who can also shoot when it's needed. Jordan should fit in well with all the scorers the Clips have.

Golden State Warriors
Unloading Richardson's massive contract is a big part of my thinking here. He was a key contributor last season, but if Marco Belinelli is anywhere near the player a lot of "experts" seem to think he is. Losing Richardson won't be a problem in Golden State. While I still think Brandan Wright's overrated. He'll provide a great half-court defensive front alongside Biedrins in the early going. And if his offense develops Golden State could win this trade by a large margin. Then again, I partially think the Warriors went after Wright in hopes of using him to pry Kevin Garnett from Minnesota. A move that could push the Warriors into the upper-echelon out West.

Well... OK (Could have been better, could have been a lot worse):

Atlanta Hawks
While they didn't get Amare Stoudemire, Billy Knight and the 12 Angry Men had a solid, need-filling draft. They got the best player available at #3 with Al Horford, rather than reaching on Mike Conley. Horford should be able to silence the Shelden Williams boo's for a little while. He's got the tool to be a great player. With the worst case scenario being an absolute rebound whore who gives your offense (much needed) second chances all night long. In Acie Law they got the best PG on the board. While some feared they'd go for the local guy Crittenton. In the end the Hawks made the right decision picking another college standout who should push for the starting job early on. I mean, he can't realistically be worse than Tyron Lue can he? The Amare factor drops the Hawks into the push category. If not for those damn rumors they may have squeezed out a high five for once.

Charlotte Bobcats
From a basketball standpoint I absolutely hate the Jason Richardson trade. He's not the kind of player who can lead a team to the top. Need evidence? G-State wasn't touching the playoffs until Baron Davis came into town. J-Rich is at best second fiddle. And Yes, I know their in the East. From a marketing standpoint I love this move. Charlotte has been flushing dollars for years. Trying to find the "face of the franchise" who can "put butts in the seats," J-Rich can do that. One highlight reel tomahawk at a time. This trade, bad or good, shows the Bobcats are finally trying and willing to not just spend, but over spend. I'll give Charlotte a push, as two rights and two wrongs make a maybe. And that's science.

Seattle Sonics
Everyone has been falling all over the Sonics since the draft. I personally feel like I'm looking at the same team. Maybe a little better, probably a little worse. Sure, Kevin Durant is great but he'll take a little time to adjust to the pro game. And he's not going to carry Seattle all by himself. No, Chris Wilcox will not help. The Jeff Green pick is horrendous for me though. While I like thought process behind the trade the Wally contract hurts it quite a bit. And again JEFF GREEN? Not to hate on Green who should be a solid player, but at #5 you've got to be kidding me. Especially if your taking a guy who plays the same position as Durant. Your not going anywhere anytime soon. Why not take Yi? Or Brewer? Two arguably better fits alongside Durant. My best guess on the Green pick is his attitude. He'll be fine laboring in the shadows, while Durant pushes the Nike's. But he doesn't make your team much better and probably never will.

WHAT THE F@#K ARE YOU THINKING? (easily my favorite category):

Boston Celtics
This is without a doubt the easiest call of the draft. Danny Ainge somehow convinced himself the Ray Allen trade made sense. Then again, it probably took little convincing. While I like Ray Allen as a player is he even worth #5 and Delonte West? I'd say no, when you consider his age (31) and his skill set. He's a mostly perimeter player who never fully developed his game off the dribble. Alongside Pierce he creates a similar team to what Seattle had last season. Except, Pierce is less athletic than Rashard Lewis, despite a better shot. Toss in even less talent than Seattle had around them and what have ya got? An 8-seed in the East. Hardly an advancement, Danny. I'd hate to be the guy cleaning up this mess when your fired in two years.

Phoenix Suns
Not only did they sell what would've been their best pick (Rudy Fernandez) but they let their playoff exit get to their heads. They drafted defense first with Alando Tucker and D.J. Strawberry. For a team that shoots, they drafted two guys who can't. That's really all that needs to be said.

Sacramento Kings
Spencer Hawes: BUST! That's all I'm saying about their ONLY pick. Senseless, completely senseless.

Rare Fandemonium! DUCK!

2007-07-03T11:57:00.000-05:00

Just got home from Transformers... It was far better than expected and I'm glad I was convinced to go. As I already knew Megan Fox is disgustingly attractive. Before the actual subject of this post you can have this:

Anyhow, the below poster is fantastic. It's even better as a Tigers fan. I don't like to roll out my fandom too often here. But in this case it's needed. As he is the most deserving of the options. On a related note, their will be update(s) tomorrow. So hide your children. The plan includes something NBA draft related I haven't had time to do and something else I'll be kicking around this hollow skull o' mine tonight at work.

MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 10 and 11

2007-07-01T17:09:00.000-05:00

For a rundown on the rules click here.

Ted and I got our signals crossed a bit over the last couple weeks so you get two for one this week. As usual it'll be NL followed by the AL.

Eliminations Thus Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Houston
Florida
Baltimore
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati
Tampa Bay
Chicago (AL)
Chicago (NL)

Leaving The Diamond: Cincinnati Reds
Reasoning: I hate that the Reds suck every year. Not so much because of the Reds but because of Ken Griffey Jr. Especially this year as the Reds forced him to move to RF from CF where he's accumulated 10 Gold Glove's. Griffey was one the best defensive CF's of is era and maybe all-time. He personified greatness for me growing up, especially when he said he'd "retire" if he was traded to the Yankees.

As far as the rest of the team goes, Homer Bailey's looked good so far and Edwin Encarnacion could be a great hitter if he can get his head out of his ass long enough. Outside of those two I don't see a lot of potential. You've gotta like Ryan Freel as he plays nearly every position on the diamond and often finds himself on the DL because he's never met a wall that liked him. Honestly, their's not much to be said of the Reds outside of those two. They're mostly old and bad and I can only hope Dunn and Griffey can escape before the trade deadline. -BD

Leaving The Diamond: San Francisco Giants
Reasoning: The sorry arse element of the Giants right now (by the way - are any teams nicknamed "the Giants" any good outside of maybe Japanese teams? Tom Coughlin is a friggin' joke!) is that they are always in the news because of Mr. Bonds, and starting roughly now, since B-Squared is five off the Hammer, we're going to have to see the Giants on national TV constantly. That's depressing, because it's July, all we have is baseball, and I don't want to see craptacular beisbol, I want to see something good. The Jints, though - they are friggin' awful. What's gonna happen is, Bonds is gonna hit it, and then no one is going to discuss or see the Giants for the remainder of the season. It's kind of like what happened with that random "Tori" girlfriend that Zach had on Saved by the Bell. She was there, and super-relevant, and guys were feuding over her, and then she just disappeared and suddenly Zach is taking Kelly to his senior prom? WTF? Anyhoo, the Giants suck. They've been voted off already, but here we go again. -Ted

Leaving The Diamond: Oakland A's
Reasoning: Ah, another Bay Area team. I don't think we've knocked off the A's yet, but it may be time. As of now, they are 9.5 games back of a red-hot Angels team that will probably clear 100 wins on the season, I fear for Nick Swisher's life everytime he plays a series on the East Coast (I imagine he shows up to batting practice in his underwear with handcuffs on), their pitching has been inconsistent and injured, and let's face it: you can never really put the A's over the Angels, because while the Angels have R. Monkey, what do the A's have? That seal? What is that friggin' thing anyway? It can dance up a storm, but so can most fat guys if you give em weed and beer and put them in a 10,000 degree suit in northern California (please - like you haven't done it). The A's are becoming irrelevant faster than Billy Beane's fomer minor league outfield mates Lenny Dystrka and Darryl Strawberry did, and as a result, we're kicking 'em off this thing. -Ted

Leaving The Diamond: New York Yankees
Reasoning: Let's be honest here, this is not the team everyone thought it would be heading into the season. While the pitching has been predictably bad it's been the hitting that's let this team down more often then not. While Alex Rodriguez has been off the charts in every category he's gotten limited help on a day-to-day basis. Derek Jetter and Jorge Posada have been the only two guys A-Rod's had hitting alongside him. While Bobby Abreu has been atrocious for the most part hitting .247 this season with a measly .342 OBP and just 4 home runs. On top of Abreu, Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon haven't been hitting either leaving the Yankees offense at the top of the disappointing list this season.

The pitching as I said has been bad, but that was predictable coming into the year. Even with Roger Clemens they haven't improved at all as they rack up one short outing after another. Leaving the bullpen worn down already and it's only going to get worse for those guys. While the Yankees could still get hot enough to steal the wild card. They won't be ending that World Series drought this season I'll guarantee you that. I'd say their's a better chance Scott Proctor sets the Stadium ablaze.

For a Yankee hater such as myself this is fantastic. Couldn't be any happier to bid them adieu this season. Now for A-Rod to opt on and head elsewhere and all will be well with the world. -BD

The Real Kobe Video

2007-06-28T15:56:00.000-05:00

Now here's the real Kobe video that features a priceless inquiry at the very end. Enjoy.

(Via: Our Book Of Scrap)

Mocking The Experts Again

2007-06-28T14:38:00.000-05:00

A bunch of us got together over at Awful Announcing once again for a little Mock Draft. This time of the NBA variety of course. I took on the Bobcats as I wanted a spot in the lottery and what a good decision it was. Both of Charlotte's picks are in the first round this year at 8 and 22 so they're was definitely some potential for improvement. Then again isn't that the Bobcats mantra this time of year anyway? AA's even handing out grades this time around. Yours truly, somehow picked up the only A+ handed out after taking Corey Brewer and Sean Williams. I maintain that basketball is the only sport I really know anything about. Anyhow, go check it all out, folks. As it was a great success with only one "WHAT??", to be spoken of.

For the picks click here, the grades here, and for my individual lottery mock here.

If I Were These GM's: NBA Mock Draft

2007-06-22T07:35:00.000-05:00

The problem with Mock Drafts tends to be that by the time you get around to doing one. You've already looked at about 800 others. I will try and fight Chad Ford and all the other Mock Drafts as I take a look at this from a little different perspective. What if I were these GM's, sitting in my swanky office and printing money on that cool machine you see in drug related movies (ala Blow or Rush Hour). Here I go, looking at every roster millions in my pocket. What am I going to do? To keep those millions coming in...

(NOTE: I'm going with just the lottery here as I don't know many of the international players well enough to slot them with teams.)

1. Portland Trail Blazers - Greg Oden
The Blazers winning the lottery to begin with was probably the best evidence we'll ever see that the Lottery is not rigged. As far as the pick goes, it's an absolute slam dunk can't-think-twice-about-it kinda pick. As great as Kevin Durant was last year at Texas will he be that good at the next level? Who knows swing-men are a dime a dozen in this league. Big men however, are not. When you get your shot at one like this, you absolutely have to take it. Consider how dominant he was in the National Title game against TWO lottery caliber players. Al Horford and Joakim Noah had no answer for Greg Oden and if the rest of his team had shown up. Maybe those Buckeyes raise the title. The Blazers will settle their SF issue another time. They MUST take Oden or risk that Bowie/Jordan situation all over again.

2. Seattle SuperSonics - Kevin Durant
This is an easy pick here. The potential is certainly there for KD. But will he be able to tap it at the next level? Is he strong enough? Like Oden's injuries, Durant's toughness has been called in to question quite regularly since he couldn't bench 185 pounds at the "combine". I'm not convinced Durant will be the mega-star that many others are. The biggest question for me, is how will be adjust to be pushed around in the early going? That should let us all know just what kind of player he's going to be. As I have no doubt that he'll be pushed around a little bit in the early going. If he responds well at the very least he has the tool to become a second tier level superstar (ala Tracy McGrady, or Vince Carter). Regardless, with Lewis certain to leave this is another no-brainier.

3. Atlanta Hawks - Al Horford
While Mike Conley Jr. is probably the most fitting pick in this spot I as the Hawks have plans for pick #11. Thus, it's Horford time in Atlanta. Considering only Marvin Williams is worth the ink on his contract this actually makes sense. This would push Sheldon Williams (way too many Williams') into the 3rd/4th big man off the bench role he belongs in. As I'd expect Horford to take the starting job from the slow-developing Marvin quickly. And, as Billy Knight my fear of losing my job makes Horford's NBA ready body an easy pick. I liken him a lot to Carlos Boozer with more pure talent and he puts the work in. Horford has what it takes to the second best player in this draft if Durant fails to excel at the next level.

4. Memphis Grizzlies - Joakim Noah
Operating under the "keeping Pau Gasol" umbrella missing out on Horford certainly hurts. And while Brandan Wright's potential is intriguing I don't know that he'll be much better than Hakim Warrick can be. Nor do I want to wait for Pau's prime to expire before he's ready to contribute. With that in mind I'm reaching a little bit and taking Joakim Noah in this spot. While many think they have to take Conley here, I disagree. Damon Stoudamire is still solid and I believe Kyle Lowry will contribute at some point. At least as a serviceable backup to Damon this year (sorry Chucky). I like Noah here as he's a long, defensive energy guy who can score around the basket and has shown some promise with his jump shot. His emotion alone should provide a boost to this sad bunch and his size inside along with Gasol's provides an immediate defensive juggernaut upfront. Now only if they could get those guys on the perimeter to stop somebody once in a while they'd be in good shape. Just imagine their defensive front if Rudy Gay can do his best Tayshaun Prince. The length would be absolutely overwhelming. This is a reach I can admit that, but I believe it's the best fit for Memphis whether it happens or not.

5. Boston Celtics - Corey Brewer
Before I sat down to do this I'd have never thought I'd slot the three Gators 3-4-5, let alone with Noah going before Brewer. That said if Boston cannot swing some kind of deal for Garnett Brewer is the best fit. With Jeff Green a close second. Wally Szczerbiak has been completely useless and will likely continue on that path. Brewer is a very different kind of player than Wally is. And I think he'll fit in much better than Wally ever did. He'll provide solid defense on the perimeter the minute he steps onto the floor. Eventually he could develop into a defensive stopper in the mold of Tayshaun Prince, using his length and athleticism to slow down opposing ball handlers. Offensively he's pretty raw but he's fearless going to the basket and has a decent, though easily block-able jump shot. He's got a good shot to be a Josh Howard/Prince mix though a little worse offensively then Howard. Along with Pierce and Jefferson I think Brewer can get Boston back into the playoffs in the horrid Eastern Conference.

6. Milwaukee Bucks - Mike Conley Jr.
This would be a dream come true for the Bucks. And could save them millions in the long run as they prepare to offer free agent Chauncey Billups a max contract. Would drafting Conley be enough to deter them from chasing Chauncey? Who knows. But it would be enough for me. With the young nucleus they have they might as well toss Conley directly into the fire immediately and Earl Boykins is a solid backup at the point. Conley can take time developing his jump shot and concentrate on getting to the rim and facilitating for his teammates. With Redd, Villaneuva, Bogut and an improving Charlie Bell Conley won't have to score at all. And can pick his spots and develop into the Tony Parker like PG I think he will become. I think this is a great fit for both Conley and the Bucks. All they'll be missing is a true PF so they can move Villaneuva to the three where despite his size he plays better and put Bell into the 6th man role.

7. Minnesota Timberwolves - Jeff Green
Whether Garnett stays or not Green will fit in nicely in Minnesota. With Garnett still around he can develop into the player they wanted Wally to be. Like Brewer he should be a solid defender on the perimeter from day one and in a situation where he'll defer to KG he should thrive in his first year. He, Foye, and hopefully McCants will provide a great group moving forward when KG leaves via free agency. Should KG leave via trade, (especially in that deal with Boston) Minnesota will be an exciting team. And Jeff Green will become the face of the franchise in just a few years. As the most polished of the young group.

8. Charlotte Bobcats - Al Thornton
Charlotte is in need of three things: defense, scoring and publicity. Well "two out of three ain't bad" with Al Thornton another small forward who's just about as good as Green and Brewer but not quite as marketable as either. At this point anyway. Adam Morrison cannot play defense and he struggled offensively last year as well. He's probably one of the worst #3 picks of all time. But that pick was based a lot on marketability. This one should not be. With Gerald Wallace and Matt Carrol both likely headed for the door (Wallace almost for sure) Thornton can step in and do his damnedest to pick up that slack. He's good enough right now to lead the team in scoring and if the Bobcats do manage to pick up Rashard Lewis. Thornton, Lewis, Felton, Okafor and Brezec should be a solid core moving forward. The biggest issue will be that they'll overpay for Lewis and regret it when Thornton turns out to be the better player.

9. Chicago Bulls - Yi Jianlian
I don't know much about Yi at all. I've never seen more than a few video clips of the guy. But the Bulls can offered to take a flier here and reap the benefits if he's anywhere near what many think he will be. Chicago is the ideal market for Yi as well so it's a perfect fit all around. This pick should signal the official end to Andres Nocioni's tenure in Chicago. Not to mention Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha can pick up the slack while Yi develops. This is all assuming the Bulls don't gut the team for Kobe Bryant. That would be a huge mistake.

10. Sacramento Kings - Spencer Hawes
For the Kings it all depends on whether or not they believe they can unload Ron Artest. If not, and I suspect not Spencer Hawes makes sense. Brad Miller's getting older and he's a similar player to Hawes. Which could be beneficial in his development. While Hawes should spend a lot more time in the post then Miller does he's an excellent passer for a big man, much liker Miller. The only other real option here for the Kings is Julian Wright. But if they're keeping Artest Wright doesn't fit.

The Hawks Trade the #11 Pick to Portland for Jarrett Jack
Chad Ford mentioned this as a possibility and I'd say the Hawks have to do it. If not Billy Knight will be hoping Crittenton or Law can be impact players immediately. While Jack has developed into a serviceable point guard and should only get better. This trade makes sense all around as Portland fills their SF slot. Though that makes Sergio Rodriguez their starting PG.

11. Portland Trail Blazers - Julian Wright
The Blazers make out beautifully here if this all happens. They get the SF they're looking for in Wright and don't have to trade Randolph if they really don't want to. Wright much like the other swing men in this draft should be solid defensively from the get-go. His offense can develop as it won't be needed in the early going. With Oden, Randolph, Roy and Aldridge and Sergio should do a solid job running the offense for the time being. Who knows though, maybe Portland spins Randolph for a PG at some point this summer and treks out a young albeit loaded roster that can grow together. I've heard people call Wright Ron Artest without the headache's and while I agree to a point I think Wright can be much better offensively than Artest ever will be.

12. Philadelphia 76ers - Brandan Wright
Talk about a team that needs everything. Outside of Andre Iguodala no one on the roster is really worth mentioning. Andre Miller would be the exception but he won't be apart of the future and could be moving on before to long. Given the youth on the roster taking a "long view" pick such as Wright would be fine. Especially in this spot where his value is high. If he slides as he should I think Philly has to take him here. The potential is there and if he meshes well with Iguodala they could develop into a solid tag-team moving forward. Not to mention Dalembert and Wright up front would be an imposing defensive presence in terms of length. Hate to try and get a jump shot off in the lane with these two roaming.

13. New Orleans - Nick Young
Young is the ideal fit in this spot and from the Mocks I've seen there's a good chance he's going here as well. He should fit in well with Chris Paul and Peja out on the perimeter and leave the Hornets with only one concern, defense. If Young and Paul work well together the two of them and David West would make a nice threesome to go with Peja in the Western conference. If all goes well they could crack the playoffs next year and avoid the fringe where they've spent the last two years. Young's presence alone should put extra pressure on defense's and allow the Hornets to put up points in bunches. Now they just need to address their perimeter defense. Maybe Peja can play some...maybe not.

14. Los Angeles Clippers - Acie Law IV
Their are two situations in the league that I think are ideal fits for Law. This is one of them, the Pistons would be the other. Law will get the opportunity to learn from what of basketballs most experienced point guards. Who also happens to have a similar skill set to that of Law. After Shaun Livingston's injury last season his future remains up in the air. Drafting Law could
provide some stability at the PG spot and a ready-to-play one at that. Cassell isn't far from retirement and it wouldn't shock me to see Law steal the starting job by mid-season. As long as Law doesn't get to crazy with his shot attempts and just facilitates in the early going he should be in good shape. He needs to learn to pass more and his game will be about as good as it can get. He can defend and shoot already. Why in the world would anyone take Crittenton over him right now?

To Bad He's Not A Royals Fan

2007-06-20T05:35:00.000-05:00

Could you imagine no longer being allowed to watch your favorite team play? Because of a medical condition, of all things. That's the case for this guy:

Jim Coan, 46, of Ulnes Walton Lane, Ulnes Walton, near Leyland, hasn't watched a single Liverpool FC game for more than 10 years after being diagnosed with heart rhythm disturbance which knocks him unconscious when he gets too excited.

Because he suffers from Atrial Fibrilation he has missed nail-biting games like this year's disappointing Champions' League Final defeat against AC Milan and the victory in the same tie in 2005, the UEFA Cup win in 2001, as well as the Reds' FA Cup victory against West Ham last year.

This guy need to turn his attention to baseball. Mainly those perennially bottom-feeding Royals in Kansas City. The excitement and blackouts would surely subside. As I don't know anyone who gets excited watching the Royals play. That is, unless their a fan of the opposing team of course.

Football fan 'banned' from games (Lancashire Evening Post)

THE YANKEES ARE COMING, THE YANKEES ARE COMING!!!!!!

2007-06-19T07:55:00.000-05:00

Based on the coverage of the Yankees on the WWL (among other outlets), you'd think it was a similar situation to the British. It however, is not. As those Yankees are still 8 games out as of this morning. And despite finally playing up to their potential their only the 4th best team in the American League AT BEST. In reality they're probably closer to 6th.

Anyhow....

I've grown to expect the over-coverage of the Yankees and even the Red Sox for that matter. But generally they've been atop the AL East or at the very least, within 5 games or so. Yet as soon as they'd won 4 in a row according to "expert" (I use that as loosely as possible) Steve Phillips, the Tigers should be worried, as the current leader of the wild card. This to me is an absolute joke. Were about 70 games into the season and you think teams should be worried about who's behind them in the standings? Are you serious? Baseball is a game of ups and downs, they plays 162 games for a reason. To offset such slumps and so on. To make sure, in the end, the best teams make the playoffs. Not the team who gets hot for a month and contends when they'll get destroyed come playoff time (I'm looking at you Mariners).

I understand that New York and Boston are bigger markets than Detroit, Cleveland, Oakland etc. And that ratings make the world go 'round. But at some point the top teams outside of those two places deserve to lead Baseball Tonight and SC without one of their pitchers having to toss a no-no.

I guess I'm just tired of it. Until the Yanks are within a game or two I'd rather it wasn't discussed at all. I don't hear the WWL talking about how many games out the Twins are in the Central. Let alone how close the A's are in the West. And Steve Phillips isn't telling the Mets to worry about the Phillies. Or the Brewers to worry about..uh.. well, you get the point.

I've gone and forgotten exactly where I was going with all of this but the point is: it needs to stop. The glorification of second place is a joke. And the over-coverage of everything Yankees is exactly why so many of us hate them. So knock it off, dammit!

Otherwise flash this at the beginning of BT each night:

MLB Survivor Challenge: Week 9

2007-06-16T18:36:00.000-05:00

For a rundown on the rules click here.

Eliminations thus far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Houston
Florida
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati
Tampa Bay
Chicago (AL)

Ted's up first with the NL and I'll follow with the AL as usual.

Leaving The Diamond: Chicago Cubs
Reasoning: This whole 'Survivor' thing is starting to get tough (ironically, avoiding the song "Eye of the Tiger" by the band of the same name when working out is equally tough, although if you download the song "Tourist" by Athlete - from the Gilbert Arenas "Impossible is Nothing" ad - you have a pretty handy way to do it).

This week, we're bouncing a team who is currently second in their division. WHAT? We're bouncing a second place team in mid-June? Uh huh, you heard me right. (Who the eff am I talking to, by the way?). The reason is, this just isn't any second-place team: it's the Chicago Cubs. The North Siders are 5.5 games back of the generally superior Brewers, who have the two best "young players" in baseball (Hardy and Fielder) according to a recent Sporting News poll.

As for the Cubbies, in this month alone they've seen a clubhouse implosion (Barrett and Zambrano), an on-field shite show (Sweet Lou), multiple media sources confirming them as "sellers" as opposed to "buyers" (despite the 300 million they've already spent), and the annual summer ritual at Wrigley of "the experience" utterly transcending "the game itself."

And as noted, it's mid-June.

Here's the one problem with this: by eliminating the Cubs, we've officially conceded the NL Central to Milwaukee as of now, having already bounced every other team in the division best referred to as "Comedy Central." This might not be the best idea considering the Brewers were no-hit earlier this week by Verlander, but we have faith in Bernie (Mr. Brewer) and the gang.

Leaving The Diamond: Baltimore Orioles
Reasoning: Let's be honest with ourselves here, The Orioles are horrible, that's h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e! It's almost unbelievable at times how bad the O's are. Sure they occasionally have a good game but so do the Royals and Nationals, which is about on the level they are. In fact, they may be WORSE than the Nationals. Something I'd have never thought possible before the season started. The Nats just swept the O's in the alleged "rivalry series". That one was just as one-sided as that World Series re-match was.

The O's are one of few teams that have almost no players I'd be encouraged about going forward. The exception to that in Baltimore is Nick Markakis who has been absolutely killing the ball of late. And should be the best player on the team once Tejada finally leaves town. This is of course, as long as Tejada doesn't go giving him any B12's as he's heading out the door.

As far as pitching goes Erik Bedard is as good as it gets for the O's, he strikes out batters in bunches he just can't get any offense to go with all those K's. Adam Loewen everyone seems to think will be good. I haven't seen enough of him just yet to disagree and he's been out with a stress fracture in his elbow since May 1st. Chris Ray appears to have gone from damn good one year, to god awful the next. It's gotten to the point that O's fans are shrieking when he trots in from the bullpen. Probably the most interesting of the O's pitchers is Daniel Cabrera, the hard throwing righty who can't ever seem to find the strike zone on a regular basis. He lead the league in walks last season with an insane 104 free passes. This year he's got 45 thus far and climbing, though I don't think he'll catch up to that personal worst of 104. Cabrera is great when he's on, he actually hays somewhat similar stuff to Justin Verlander. The guy who tossed a no-no in Detroit on Tuesday. I can't help but wonder what Cabrera might be if he found some control, though at this point I'd say that's unlikely.

With that the greater D.C. area can move on to Redskins talk. At that letdown is a few months away.

I Could Never Even Begin To Quantify My Experience Last Night

2007-06-13T08:21:00.000-05:00

My View

It's funny, just last week my friend and I were discussing no-hitters after Shannon Stewart ruined Schillings bid in the bottom of the ninth. I vaguely remember mentioning how much I would love to be in attendance for one. Regardless of who's tossing it. As unimaginable as that was just a week ago. It's become a reality, as my favorite pitcher in the big's put on one hell of a show last night.

Even funnier to me now is this. The day I didn't get to see Verlander pitch because it was "too cold" here in Detroit. Until yesterday, I still hadn't seen him pitch, in person that is. But yesterday, I not only got seen him pitch. I got to see him etch his name into the history books, at just 24 years old (though older than I).

Now I'm going to attempt to re-hash what went on inside Comerica Park yesterday. To the best of my ability.

We arrived at the Park about 5 o'clock. Just in time for the gates to open as batting practice took place out on the field. It was a nice day, as many have been of late around here. But it didn't seem any nicer than Saturday was.

We scoped out our seating area and took a few pictures before heading down to the first baseline. To hopefully get a ball. No such luck though. We grabbed a little alcohol and headed for our seats. About 7 rows off the field behind Magglio Ordonez in right field. For $20 these were absolutely fantastic seats.

It was a pitchers duel early as both Suppan and Verlander started off well. Before Suppan surrendered a solo shot to Brandon Inge in the bottom of the third. Soon after, one of my friends and I hit a couple of concession stands as Verlander sat down Prince with a knee-buckling curve.
(Speaking of Prince, he was a big part of why I wanted to see the Brewers. Being Cecil's son and all I wanted to catch him live. We purchased the tickets a month and a half ago so Verlander taking the hill was just a bonus.)

We returned to our seats and of course, ate. But not long after (5th), one of my friends asked the other two of us if "we were aware of what was going on?" We both gave a nod and a "yeah," as we watched Verlander sit down one Brewer after another.

It wasn't until the 7th inning that I'd say any of us believed it might happen. After Verlander snapped Prince's one-hopper out of the air and Magglio made one of the sweetest catches I've ever seen live. It was beginning to feel like it was meant to happen, rather than might.

(Magglio's catch, by the way was absolutely amazing from my vantage point. I honestly didn't think he had a shot at it. But this is probably one of many reason I don't play baseball for a living.)

In the 8th, I've never been so happy in my life to have Neifi Perez in the lineup. Carlos Guillen doesn't make that play. Let alone the stop to begin with. As much as I love Guillen his defense tends to leave a lot to be desired. Anyway, the little Neifi flip to Polanco who finished the double play was one of those plays where you can just feel it. I've never been so nervous at a baseball game in my life. Especially one that I had absolutely no "real" control over.

(I actually complained when I seen Neifi was playing instead of Omar Infante. But, he's not making that play either. Score one for the defensive specialist. Who's bat is still in a FedEx warehouse somewhere.)

As Verlander took the mound in the ninth everyone in the building was on their feet. Watching in awe as he struck out Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino again. The latter couldn't have looked worse at the plate all day, racking up an Andruw Jones like 4K effort.

J.J. Hardy was it, he was all that stood between the Tigers young "ace" and history. After hitting 102MPH on the gun in the NINTH inning. Verlander got Hardy to fly out to right. Directly in front of where we were sitting to give every one of us something to remember.

I'll never be able to truly explain what went on inside Comerica Park last night. But, my chest still hurts from my heart pounding through those last few outs. And I'm pushing 24 hours after heading to work after the game. But, I can say this.... I shared an experience with 33,555 last night that I'll certainly never forget. And I don't think they will either.

Note: Pictures are coming, my camera died after taking a few during BP and I'm waiting for one of my friends to upload them.

Visiting Fans Aren't All Bad

2007-06-11T17:48:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday I descended upon downtown Detroit for a bachelor party, that included a baseball game, among other things. It was the second game of a three game set between my Tigers and the other team from New York, the Mets.

My friends and I decided to make the game a little more interesting. How you ask? Gambling, of course! The expiring bachelor's Uncle taught us a little game we could play called "Got 'Em." In which the participants rotate batters, on BOTH teams, predicting whether or not said batter will get a hit. HBP's, walks, and errors are pushes and no money changes hands. A single earns you a $1, a double $2, triple $3, and $4 for a big fly. The risk in this game however, lies in saying "Don't Got 'Em" and watching said player launch a home run into the left field seats. As you must then pay every participant in the game $4, and hate yourself the at least the next seven minutes. With the bases loaded it gets even better as for every guy on when a ball goes over the fence you add a dollar (i.e. bases loaded = 8 bucks a piece). The more players the more thought provoking each decision may be.

During the bottom of the second inning a contingent of Mets fans (5) sat down directly to my right. The most noticeable being the one women in the bunch who was an absolute rod-inducing stunner. Soon after a couple of my friends and I headed toward the Comerica Bar as it's $6.25 for a Jack N' Coke while it's 8.50 for a beer. Considering the Jack N' Coke is about 80% Jack I'll take that deal, every time.

When returned to our seats the stunner had swapped seats with one of the other Mets fans and was now sitting next to me. I sat down and immediately began chatting her up. Explaining our little game of "Got 'Em" among other things. Soon she joined the game, as did another of her Mets compatriots and our participants total had risen to seven. And I found myself debating Hanley Ramirez against Jose Reyes with both the stunner as well as what turned out to be her fiance. As, while my friends are sports fans they hardly engulf themselves in it as I do. And as these fans clearly did as well.

As the game wore on us Tigers fan were winning both the game and the "game" within it as the stunner's fiance asked if I wanted to put money on the outcome. With Todd Jones preparing to come in for the top of the 9th. I was weary but he immediately offered me 2-1 and I jumped at that. As the Tigers were leading 8-7 and Todd was bound to have a good outing at some point.

Sure enough, my faith was rewarded as Todd Jones picked up the save and I collected my $40 as promised.

While they're were plenty of ass-hole Met fans in attendance on Saturday, heckling as the Mets got off to a 1-0 start in the first. These fans were not any of them as they were fans of the game just as much as they were fans of the Mets. They were exactly the kind of fan's you'd like to meet at a game, especially considering they were from New York (Flushing) rather than Detroiters who had jumped on other bandwagons.

Interestingly I took a couple of Peanuts to the back and head from my fellow Tigers fans who were aiming for those Met fans. Which made me understand exactly how it must feel to go into a visiting stadium like this guy did.

Here's hoping the Mets can rectify last year's finish and meet these Tigers in the World Series like they should have.

Anyone else have a positive experience with some out-of-state Fans at your home park?

(Image: Newsday.com)

Linkfest!: Now With Extra Hotness

2007-06-08T20:21:00.000-05:00

I definitely won't be updating tomorrow as I'll be downtown all day for a bachelor party. Said party includes tickets to the Mets/Tigers game (bonus!), here's a little something for the 6 of you to pass the time.

Congratulations U of A your entire team is hot, oh and you won the Softball World Series, too (Just Call Me Juice)

Amanda Beard plays it safe in Playboy, that means no snatch for you. Here are the pics. Obviously NSFW. (Via TBL)

I have the crazy feeling Elton Brand didn't fit in so well at Duke. (Awful Announcing)

Where's the value at the top of the MLB Draft? Pitchers? Or could it be those guys with the sticks? (One More Dying Quail)

So, you didn't watch the NFL Finals either? We're in the clear, nobody did. (The Big Lead)

Elisha Cuthbert says pussy on on Conan, now if only I could.... (Our Book Of Scrap)

Actors, as well as athletes can kill animals in the field of play. (Randball)

Parents get worse by the day... but should we be surprised? (Seal Clubbers)

Rick Reilly will stop at nothing to promote his new book. He also appeared on ESPNEWS and Radio. I won't be buying. I mean, c'mon it's a collection of all the stuff that's been in SI. And we complain about coaching retreads. (Signal To Noise)

Scott Pollard thinks you should do drugs. This is probably because not even his team president knows who he is. (The Extrapolater)

Mike Modano can't keep his women in check. Actually, that makes sense. (WBRS Sports Blog)

I'll believe it when I see it as well. (The Wayne Fontes Experience)

A little late on this, but if you found yourself confused while watching College Baseball today. This should help. (The College Baseball Blog)

I'm doing pretty good in the Blogger Fantasy Baseball league. Here's the latest update. (Seal Clubbers)

Here's a little Arizona bonus.... it's the "catcher" of course.

MLB Surivvor Challenge: Week 8

2007-06-08T18:02:00.000-05:00

For a rundown on the rules click here

Eliminations Thus Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Houston
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati
Tampa Bay

Ted's busy this weekend and in all his confusion sent me another AL elimination. No big deal though as he'll be picking up NL duties the next two weeks as I do the same over in the AL. As usual it's NL up first and then the AL.

Leaving The Diamond: Florida Marlins
Reasoning: While the Marlins are only a half game back of the Phillies for 3rd in the NL East they've got no shot at all to win the whole damn thing this year. While Hanley Ramirez and Miguel Cabrerra are fantastic and likely always will be the rest of the team is far to inconsistent to count on. The pitching especially.

I've always had a fond place in my heart for the Marlins after watching them knock of the Indians in 1997 and then the Yanks in 2003. But since then they've traded away the team only Ramirez has lived up to his potential on a consistent basis. The rest have been up and down, some just down.

While the pitching staff has been ok thus far it's likely to get a whole lot worse as these young guys add to their innings totals. I'd venture to say that with the way the Nats are playing lately the Marlins could fall into last place out east before this season is all said and done. Something most people wouldn't have even considered possible before the season.

I'd like to see Dontrelle Willis pitch a little better though. As the leader of the staff he needs to set an example for those untested behind him. Regardless, these fish are now "sleeping with the fishes" as far as this guys concerned. (Apologies for the very general reasoning on this one. I'm a little out of it tonight.)

Leaving The Diamond: Chicago White Sox
Reasoning: This was a tough one for me. I really wanted to do the Yankees, but then they had to go and start playing well. You might find it funny that I'm reluctant to do the Yankees when I'm currently picking a team who is just 1 game worse than them, and actually closer within their division than the Bombers are.

Here's my logic: the Sox got the Yankees this week at a rough time for the organization. Sure, they had come off a walk-off HR on Sunday night by A-Rod against their arch-rival, but the Clemens start was delayed and momentum seemed to be seeping out of the Bronx balloon yet again. Advantage, Chi-Sox - and they took it, winning the first game of the series, 6-4. Then, they proceeded to get utterly pounded the next two nights.

This follows a disturbing trend of the White Sox, currently fourth in the AL Central, not being able to close the deal. In the first Interleague series go-round, they dropped 2 of 3 to the Cubs (the Cubs!!!). Last week, they were SWEPT by the Twins (a division rival, naitch) and beaten pillar to post by the Blue Jays. They even SPLIT with the D-Rays. When you're splitting with Tampa Bay only 2 years removed from the World Championship, that's fairly sorry ass.

Look, the Sox have enough talent to probably win 85 games or so. Unfortunately, that's going to do nothing the way the Tigers and Indians are likely to finish, and with what the Twins are capable of if they get hot. So, Ozzie and company, see you back on the South Side... in '08.

Schilling Has Blue Ball Experience

2007-06-07T18:16:00.000-05:00

All the blood was rushing threw his body he could feel it, he was almost there. And then.... Shannon Stewart lined a fastball into left field and it was gone. At 40 years old Curt Schilling almost tossed a no-hitter. He almost had the second biggest orgasm of his career (outside of the world series of course). In the end he was left with nothing but a stinging pain in in abdomen as one of baseballs greatest feats was snatched from him in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.

*Curt had agreed pre-game to let Sports Show On Mute mic him. Irony I'd call it, as I got the post-game conversation between he and catcher/captain Jason Varitek.

Varitek: Well that sucked. Sorry buddy.

Schilling: My groin hurts.

Varitek: Gettin' a little old for 9 innings are ya?

Schilling: I was almost there Jason, I almost... finished.

Varitek: What do you mean, finished?

Schilling: You know what I mean.

Varitek: Yeah, I guess. You almost got the no-no I get it, Curt. But we got the win at least. You pitched a hell of a game today. Wh- Why are you limping?

Schilling: IT hurts.

Varitek: What hurts?

Schilling: IT!

Varitek: I'll get the trainer...

Schilling: NO! There's a first time for everything. It's weird though. It almost feels.. as if Jessica Alba was giving.. (Varitek interrupts)

Varitek: Where are you going with this?

Schilling: Just go with it... she was giving me a beejer and she knew I was almost there and she just.. stopped. And walked away.

Varitek: Guess you shouldn't have shaken off that slider eh?

Schilling: I'm talking Alba, and IT! And your talking about sliders??

(Varitek walks away shaking his head)

Schilling: (clutching IT!) Where's CHB when I might actually need him?

*This is all completely false. As you all should have figured in the first place.

(Photo: MSNBC)

Congratulations NBA, You Got What You Wanted

2007-06-06T19:45:00.000-05:00

The NBA got exactly what it wanted over the weekend as one of it's most bankable stars advanced to the NBA Finals to take the team everyone loves to hate, the San Antonio Spurs. Though if I were David Stern I'd feel a lot better about Cleveland's chances if Wise and Co. were suiting up aside LeBron than the cast of misfits who are. That said, I do think Cleavland has a chance despite my snap reaction of Spurs in six.

Why do I think Cleveland has a chance? Simple. Last season Dallas looked like a slam dunk champion when Miami knocked off Detroit to advance to the Finals. Yet Dwayne Wade put his team on his back and took the trophy home to South Beach. I realize Wade had Shaq, along with many other decent, if not solid players around him. While LeBron has... well LeBron has himself and that's really all he needs, isn't it? The short answer would be no. As I'd take D-Wade's Jordan like potential over LeBron's Magic like potential any day of the week. But given what we seen against Detroit you have to believe Cleveland can beat San Antonio.

To do it though, those role players are going to have been even bigger and better than they were against a Detroit team that just doesn't have it anymore. Below is what MUST happen for Cleveland to even force seven games. Let alone win the whole damn thing.

1) Cleveland must out rebound San Antonio by a decent margin. I'm thinking 7-10 boards per game. As the more opportunity LeBron has to work against Bruce Bowen the better off Cleveland will be.
2) Daniel Gibson and the rest of LeBron's "sidekicks" (are they even worthy of being sidekicks?) have got to make all of their shots. And I mean all. One 5-5 from three game after another from Gibson is what it's going to take.
3) Varejao must flop convincingly against Tim Duncan. None of the obvious flop stuff. He's got to sell 'em like he never has before. Otherwise Duncan will routinely dominate every single big man Cleveland has on the inside. Not ONE of them can even hold his jock. Not one. Foul trouble is Cleveland's only shot.
4) Eric Snow, Larry Hughes and Daniel Gibson have got to keep Tony Parker in front of them. Something that they will not be able to do. Hughes maybe but with his bad ankle I expect Parker to abuse him off the dribble time and again.
5) Have Ira Newble take out Manu Ginobli in game 1. A major clothesline would do the trick. If all goes well Ginobli misses a game or two and Cleveland has a real chance to win this damn thing. Newble can afford the suspension. He doesn't play anyway.

Odds are only the rebounding is a possibility. Though if #5 becomes a reality anythings possible. In the end the Spurs are better, they have more "experience" (though I hate that argument), and Cleveland is over matched at nearly every position.

I'd have to think LeBron will win at least one game and just to cover myself I'll give the Cavs two. That's right, my snap judgment of Spurs in 6 is what I'm sticking with. But I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again. And I sure as hell won't be shocked if LeBron finds a way one bias call after another to slay the giant that is the San Antonio Spurs. David Stern would certainly be happy. Now if only he hadn't helped cost Phoenix that series he'd be even happier. As they'd likely be ushering in the new generation of fast offense on the NBA's biggest stage against the NBA's more marketable star. Instead though, Stern must settle for this. Two small market teams, one superstar, and one loaded defensive juggernaut.

Disagreements? I'm dying to see someone pick Cleveland in less than seven. I need a good laugh.

Silly Billy D Headin' Back To Gainesville

2007-06-05T19:37:00.000-05:00

Let me preface this by saying I am a Florida Gators fan as many of you know. And I couldn't be happier that Billy Donovan is headed back where he belongs. At the same time Billy's image has taken an asteroid like hit over the past couple of days. As he's joined the laundry list of wishy-washy, flippity-floppity coaches throughout the sports world.

All seems to be resolved now as Stan Van Gundy has been offered the Magic coaching job, and Billy D will sign a contract with the Gators. Yet all is truly not resolved. Anthony Grant the likely successor to Billy D's thrown at UF may take the worst hit of all in this. As he must return to VCU, and convince potential recruits that he's staying for the long haul. Something we all know isn't true. Grant will be heading to the land of the "Major" in the next year or two, whether it's Florida or not. I feel bad for Grant as I was excited to see what he could do with the Gators and expecting great things.

On the other side of the coin you have the Magic, who have got to be wondering what's going on after being spurned post-press conference by Billy. Is the job really that bad? No. Is Billy scared Darko Milicic's inevitable lack of development will be his undoing anyway? Maybe. Did Billy catch Stuff kissing Smokey? Possibly. Or was this whole thing just a jealous man's attempt to make his wife pay after catching hew in the sack with Lee Humphrey? Unlikely, considering it's pretty clear Mrs. Billy calls the shots and she wasn't having' any of this moving bulls--t!

Regardless of why all of this took place I can say that I'm happy that Billy's heading back to Gainsville. And I'll be even happier if he agrees to put the NBA on hold for the next five years. Especially if he can't go to Miami and succeed Pat Riley, a man, and team that I despise. Not to mention I don't know that the Heat can handle another guy with a $500 per month gel budget. The five-year no NBA contract could also help recruiting over the next year or so. Though I don't expect Florida to be anywhere near where they've been recently for at least 2-3 years. SO that recruiting help may not help anyway.

All in all this whole thing is not that big of a deal. And as far as I'm concerned this wasn't quite a Saban as Billy never said he wasn't going anywhere. He always took the "I don't want to talk about that" approach. Which can be tough to do considering how often the media asks those pressing "Are you leaving?" questions when the rumor winds are swirling.

In hilarious news the Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the Magic are likely to lose out on Stan Van Gundy to the Kings. Of all teams!! It's safe to say the Magic are definitely the "catchers" this week.

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 7

2007-06-02T06:29:00.000-05:00

For a rundown on the rules click here.

Eliminations So Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
St. Louis
Toronto
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado
Texas
Cincinnati

As usual the NL is up first, that's me this week. Followed by Ted with the AL.

Leaving The Diamond: Houston Astros
Reasoning: I've toyed with the idea of knocking out the Astros ever since Roger Clemens decided to go back to Jeter's house. They start every year slow and then rebound to make the playoffs. Or at least get close ala last year. But this year that won't be happening, with Pettitte and now Clemens the Houston pitching staff is absolutely brutal. Outside of Roy Oswalt and maybe, and I mean MAYBE Jason Jennings I wouldn't trust any of those guys. Not to mention that awesome bullpen they run out there. What was it seven runs they surrendered in the ninth last night? SEVEN!!? That's ridiculous, it went from 1-1 to 8-1 in one inning and with that anemic offense the Astros have that one was over and everyone knew it.

Speaking of the offense, wasn't Carlos Lee supposed to solve a lot of their problems? They certainly paid him to. Yet the little he has done is far from enough. The Astros recently dropped 10 games in a row to fall even further back in the NL Central. A division that arguably no one is ever out of, the Astros may have taken themselves out already. Lance Berkman snapped his 19-game homer-less streak in the game that spanned the skid, coincidence? I don't think so. Berkman has been mediocre at best this season while Carlos Lee has more or less took over his production from last year. The Astros offense believe it or not may be worse. Recently called-up Hunter Pence has been fantastic though, stringing together two-hit games in bunches. He's already hitting 4-5 in the lineup most of the time. While he's been great he's not ready to be that guy just yet. And the Astros are going to continue to struggle.

Also worth mentioning, Roy Oswalt appears to have inherited Clemens problem this season. As the Astros just cannot score when he starts. Last night was an example of this as Oswalt went 7, giving up only one run and got the no decision as his bullpen blew it. Oswalt in my opinion, is one of the best pitcher in the game today. And I'd love to see him get out of Houston before the little run support he does get dries up all together.

So long Houston, here's hoping Matt Shaub can avoid linebackers with the moxie of David Carr.

Leaving The Diamond: Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Reasoning: It's funny that it took so long for this to happen, don'tcha think?

The reason, quite simply, is this: Elijah Dukes threatened.... OK, OK. I won't go there. The actual reason is thus: it's not 2012. See, come 2012, the Rays might last in this type of challenge (and knowing how my life is going right now, I may well be doing this type of challenge then) until early September. If they keep their current nucleus together and gain some pitchers along the way, they'll have a tremendous group.

Unfortunately, right now it's 2007, and here's the most interesting thing about the D-Rays to me: by being as bad as they will end up being, they will prevent the Yankees from finishing dead last in the AL East. I think that's something everyone outside of New York has been waiting for on the order of 17 years, and the damn D-Rays are going to stop it from happening. As such, I need to get them out of here right now. Behind Scott Kazmir, there's next to nothing in that rotation.

Stay tuned, though. See, BD and I go back and forth here, so I've got the AL again in two weeks (roughly June 12th). If the Yanks are playing the way then that they are now, I'm completely and utterly willing to knock them off the Sports Show on Mute island BEFORE THE ALL-STAR BREAK. Who woulda ever thought that was possible? (Note well: once I do that, they will unquestionably win the '07 World Series, probably over the Nationals, which is the first team we bounced).

The Hop Must Stop

2007-05-30T11:43:00.000-05:00

A week or so ago I watched as Sammy Sosa sent #598 into the seats and then proceeded with his post-watch-HR-fly-over-wall hop. He then, of course rounded the bases. Sammy's little hop is quite possibly the worst HR strut in the history of the game. Not to mention all those pesky steroids and now ~~HGH~~ he's Slammin' Sammy all over again. Just once I'd love to see a pitcher clothesline Sammy mid-hop, put an elbow to his throat and then drag him off of the diamond. Aware that he has not been forgiven, that he is and forever will be a one dimensional player who needed steroids (allegedly) to nail down that dimension in the first place. Anyhow, Sammy's feminine hop got me thinking.

Who, in the game today, has the best HR strut? I've managed to narrow it down to my top five. Though some bias has been inserted I tried to be reasonable. I've included only those who came to mind when the idea first surfaced. No one else. No research what-so-ever. So here ya go... my top five..

5) Magglio Ordonez
This one I obviously have to explain -- I'll never forget where I was when Ordonez sent the Tigers to the World Series with one swing of the bat last October. Nor will I ever forget what it felt like after watching the Tigers play sub .500 ball for my entire life. While Ordonez doesn't have the greatest of struts and he won't come to many of your minds when asked: Who's strut is the best? His nonchalant post HR approach puts him in my top 5. And that October jack definitely helped. Embedding was disabled on the only good video I could find. So click the link to watch Maggs tiptoe towards first as the ball flies over the fence. It's almost as if this wasn't the biggest swing of his career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLVdWgDjMjM

4) Albert Pujols

3) David Ortiz
The Ortiz slamming starts at about the 0:50 second mark.

2) Barry Bonds
Undeniable... refer to the first :45 of the above video for a few Bonds shots.

1) Ken Griffey Jr.
The Junior strut is undeniably the greatest HR strut in all of the land. Without a shadow of a doubt Junior has cornered this market. Now if only he hadn't been injured to damn much.

The below video kicks off with the best capture of Griffey's strut I've seen. Animation or not. The video also features many other struts. Including the dreaded hop.

So, Who's got the best strut for your money? If it Junior? Or is it someone I haven't even mentioned here?

And A Bird Craps On The President

2007-05-29T09:19:00.000-05:00

Watch his left sleeve and it's impossible to miss. Especially if you turn up your speakers loud as you can hear it as well. Some actual site updates tomorrow...

Comedy Of The Summer: Superbad

2007-05-28T08:40:00.000-05:00

This is a hilarious trailer, though its NSFW as far as language goes. Enjoy...

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge Weeks 5 and 6

2007-05-23T13:11:00.000-05:00

Those wondering what this is all about, click here.

Well work became a problem last week (damn responsibility) and despite Ted getting his entry to me early. I failed to post it at all. So this week you get a dual elimination from us both. As usual here are the knockouts thus far for both of us.

BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Kansas City
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Colorado

Per usual we'll lead it off with the NL.... I'm up first and then Ted.

Leaving The Diamond: St. Louis Cardinals
Reasoning: Fall anyone? It really is amazing how bad the Cardinals have been this season. Though let's be honest no one thought they were better than the Tigers last season either. They just happened to be for a little over a week to win the whole damn thing. Those very Tigers swept the Cards over the weekend. And watching the majority of all three games all I can say is... wow. The Cardinals couldn't hit a beach ball if it blew out of the stands. Let alone something much smaller and less colorful.

I knew they couldn't hit but I hadn't seen it for myself until now and that put the stamp on this one. Though I even toyed with the idea when I sent the Giants into oblivion two weeks ago. This is a great joy for sure. As an avid Cardinal hater for as long as I can remember (I even rooted for Boston in 2004, and I surely am not a Sox fan). I must say this is a great pleasure.

While Pujols was solid over the weekend he's off to a slow start this year and has virtually no protection with Scott Rolen stealing money behind him. Not to mention their pitching staff is comprised of two of last year's relief guys (Wainwright and Looper) who have struggled for the most part. And Chris Carpenter is still in limbo following an early season injury. The Cards, despite that horrendous division are going nowhere this season and I couldn't be happier.

Good bye, and good riddance. Albert can't complain about the MVP this season.

Leaving The Diamond: Cincinnati Reds
Reasoning: This is a tough one for me in some respects. See, just like my earlier elimination of the Orioles (a team personally dear to my own heart), the Reds are the favorite team of one of my good friends / college roommates, Peter. He checks out most Reds vs. Nationals series, as he's a DC resident these days, and that's kinda the jumping off point for this elimination.

See, the Reds beat the Nationals this past Monday night - the game was in Cincinnati, so I doubt Peter was there - on a Javier Valentin knock in the 8th inning. The more and more I thought about that game, I kept thinking that legitimately, I would probably be inclined to watch Problem Child 2 more than any given three-inning stretch of it. It's sad, because that victory might be one of the most exciting the Reds have this year - and it only brought them to "a little closer to third" in the NL Central.

The Reds right now aren't a team you follow; they're a collection of players who are interesting for various reasons. Ken Griffey Jr is looking hot right now, although he'll probably stab himself with a spork within a few weeks and be done for the season; Adam Dunn might be legitimately the most awesome power hitter in MLB right now just in terms of sheer distance; Ryan Freel is a star in the making, and a total freak who has imaginary friends north of 25; and Josh Hamilton's story is inspirational. It's also nice to know Scott Hatterberg still has a job.

However, baseball is a team game, and the Reds, as a team, are a total friggin' joke. Bye bye, Cincinnati. We'll see you on the flip side.

Moving over to the AL Ted kicks us off, while I'm hitting cleanup to wrap this dual week Survivor up.

Leaving The Diamond: Texas Rangers
Reasoning: Unlike my main man BD, I can't do a repeat - it would just be too easy to eliminate the Royals every time I have the AL; legitimately, that team has a chance to get no hit every time they play - so I'll go with Texas here.

As of Sunday, the Rangers are a pedestrian 9-9 at home, 4-6 in their past 10, and are getting owned by the Angels, logically the class of the division. Here's what's probably most troubling: take a gander at their depth chart. Their No. 1 pitcher is listed as Vicente Padilla; their CF is Kenny Lofton, who may be older than Frank Robinson; and Brad Wilkerson - who, good catch last weekend aside, might be one of the most underwhelming baseball players with potential in history - rocks out in left.

The Rangers infield is very good and legitimate - Teixeria, Kinsler, Young, and Blalock. Unfortunately, their pitching is mostly a bunch of ass clowns and former steroid abusers, and the A's and Angels are both significantly better than them. We're voting them off the island this week, and in so doing, we're hoping that Sammy Sosa fades into obscurity along with the squad as a whole. Seeing that home run bop now is like watching old Mel Gibson movies after you learned he's an alcoholic bigot. It just makes you sad.

Leaving The Diamond: Toronto Blue Jays
Reasoning: That's right Tampa Bay lives to see another day, despite Elijah Dukes and his karma. The Blue Jays as I fight the repeat then become the casualty. Currently sitting in a tie with the Yankees 10.5 back of what is probably baseball's best team, the Boston Red Sox. The Jays just cannot find a reliable starter outside of Roy and A.J. and with those two injuries are a constant concern. The worst part about this for me is that the AL East will once again feature a NY/BOS (well, Boston) winner and Vernon Wells still isn't going to get his shot on the big stage. Much like Carlos Delgado never did up there in free health care land.

The Jays have got to feel good about Jeremy Accardo's emergence at the back of the bullpen. Though I think he could have probably closed games last year. B.J. Ryan's injury has given him his time to shine and that may open up Toronto to moving Ryan and his massive contract is Accardo can keep this up all year. Casey Janssen has also turned into quite the reliable set-up guy after having a roller-coaster of a ride in the rotation the past two years or so.

All in all Toronto has a solid nucleus of talent but to compete in the east, better yet the AL they're going to need better pitching. At the very least three consistent, and reliable starters. A.J.'s been solid so far this year and so has Roy when he's not having an appendectomy. The rest of those guys, however, have been brutal and I'd anticipate that continuing. The lineup has been struggling as well with Alex Rios leading the team in BA (.282) and HR (9) while Aaron Hill leads in RBI (25). More or less, nothing is working. Which illustrates just how bad the Yankees have been so far this year (which is fantastic by the way).

Adios Canada, it's just to bad your favorite sport is almost over as well.

Portland Is Officially Back On The NBA Map

2007-05-23T08:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening the ~~Jail Blazers~~ Trail Blazers hit the jackpot. As overused as that phrase has been used, it's necessary in this case. I laughed to myself when I awoke to find out that Boston and Memphis has both missed out on the two biggest can't miss NBA prospects since LeBron hit the league. Even better than Hawks snuck into the top 3 as well killing any chance Phoenix had to add another solid player to their overflowing roster.

A lot of people are saying today that Portland may just surprise people and take Kevin Durant, as he seems to fit their needs. This is asinine, especially considering the Sam Bowie fiasco. Greg Oden will be a Blazer, like it, or not. He, Aldridge and Roy make a hell of a front court moving into the future. Hell, they could get at least home court advantage in the East next year. Durant meanwhile, will replace Rashard Lewis in Seattle, not join him as many are saying. Lewis will cash in after opting out of his contract this summer and Seattle will be virtually the same team next year. Unless the Sonics, for some reason pay Lewis and put themselves in cap hell should Durant be the player many think he is. For now, though he's as close to a mirror image as you can get to Lewis. Yet he's only just finished his freshman year of college. I consider Lewis a poor man's Tracy McGrady and that's what Durant is as well. Durant, however, I feel has a much higher ceiling than Lewis ever will.

Moving on down the list you have to wonder what those Grizzlies and Celtics are going to do. Many have Memphis going with Corey Brewer (Gators!) at four. While Boston seems to be a wild card. As I've seen 2-3 different guys falling into the five slot across the web.

I'll touch on the rest of it and pull out a Mock Draft in the coming weeks. This picture I think about sums it up though....

It'll be okay Danny...

(Pic: AP/ABC News Website)

Nash: Future Actor?

2007-05-15T20:03:00.000-05:00

Everyone and their brother is commenting on Bob's elbow during the final seconds of last nights game. Everyone seems to think that Horry tossed Nash a solid check to go with the elbow. I, however, do not. I've seen Nash flop time and again and this one was no exception. As Horry barely pushed him and Nash flew violently into the scorers table.

I realize Nash isn't a big guy. Especially not in comparison to Horry. But come on people! The Golden Canadian sold that one better than The Rock once did on Monday nights. Nash deserves a Slammy (at least I think thats what the WWE awards are called). The final minutes of that game made me feel as though I was watching a poorly written episode of Raw, circa 1999. Plus if Horry had really give Nash a hard shot there would have been no give. He wouldn't have turned at all. Little Nash would ran into a wall not a table.

As far as the "NBA wants Spurs to win" conspiracy theorists. You know who you are, Arnie. Think before you open your mouth or put finger to keyboard. Your telling me that the NBA wants the boring, slow it down, drag it out, all defense, barely any offense, Spurs to win the west? Are you kidding me? The Suns are the new poster kids for the Association and the up-and-down offense that has taken over the league. The NBA would much rather have that little Canadian boy raising the trophy than Mr. Monotone himself, Tim Duncan.

The Suns are the NBA's last hope this season for a champ they want. The last chance for an offensive minded team finally getting something done outside of the regular season. The last chance for that alleged "move towards quick offense" the whole NBA's making. (Quick Note: that will never happen.) And I'm done on this one...

One final thing though, folks. Head on over at Awful Announcing and help AA celebrate his one year anniversary. From the only one here at SSOM I hope it's a good one. Even if your a hack...

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 4

2007-05-11T12:45:00.000-05:00

It's now time for Ted and I to each knock off a 4th team, all be it a little later in the week than usual. Click here for a rules refresher, otherwise let's get to the eliminations.

Eliminations So Far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
San Francisco
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Baltimore

Ted's NL knock out leads us off..

Leaving The Diamond: Colorado Rockies
Reasoning: Right now, my roommate has a 101 fever, and is pretty much laying in bed, moaning, and checking the Internet. He appeared briefly earlier tonight when I was flipping from "National Lampoon's Vacation" (the original, WallyWorld one) to Rangers vs. Yankees. My argument, at the time, was that the Rangers were the least relevant team in MLB history. Given how long they've been around, and the lack of things they've accomplished - and yea, yea, I know all about the whole Nolan Ryan period - I think my theory holds water.

He says to me, under fever, "What about the Rockies?"

My rebuttal: "Sure, the Rockies are irrelevant, but bear in mind, about 3-4 years into their existence, they made the playoffs." Indeed. Bichette, Walker, and Castilla. I have absolutely no idea who pitched for them then, and am too lazy to check at this point in my evening.

The thing is, they ain't making the playoffs this year, and as such, they're off the island this week in the Sports Show on Mute MLB Survivor Kinda Sorta Challenge. In so doing, I'd like to propose a new element of pop culture: the Sports Illustrated middle of the book jinx. A few weeks ago, SI ran an article on Matt Holliday and Garrett Akins (roughly around page 52), and since then, all the Rockies have done is slide further and further into the doldrums of a competitive NL West, despite having a crapload of individual talent.

Here's the thing, and let's not blame Sports Illustrated in the process (although it would be easy to): they have absolutely no pitching. And if they did have pitching - if this team got Brandon Webb, and John Smoltz, and Josh Beckett, and Jeff Suppan - they'd still be doomed. You know why? THEM BALLS FLY OUT OF COORS! There's no way this team is winning anything close to putting them near relevance in the next few years. It's a joke to still have them around in this competition. Good night, sweet prince.

And my AL pick..

Leaving The Diamond: The Kansas City Royals
Reasoning: Well I tried not to but I have to pull our first repeat yet. Having watched all three games of the Royals-Tigers series this past week I realized just how brutal they are. No matter what they did in each game the Tigers found a way to counter and come out on top with a series sweep. While the Royals deserve some credit for knowing Gil Meche was just suffering from "horrible pitching coach" disease up in Seattle (the same thing Weaver has now). And Alex Gordon and Billy Butler appear as though they'll both be good players down the road. The rest of the team is brutal. Okay, not everyone, Soria (Rule 5 Pick), Teahan and DeJesus are solid players.

Yet even with these few guys the Royals will still probably lose 100 games this season. They've got to happy they're not as bad as the Nats but that's hardly an accomplishment. I no longer think the Royals will suck forever. But I could be wrong as it wouldn't surprise me to see Gordon and Butler walk once they hit free agency a few years down the road.

Gordon the alleged wave of the future continues to struggle in the early going this season (.173/.312/.269). While I think he'll eventually figure it out and become a good player if not a great one. Right now he's acting as nothing more than an anchor and potentially just hurting himself with all his unsuccessful plate appearances. While I don't like the Royals at all, only the Yankees deserve to be bad. And hopefully they'll figure all this stuff out eventually.

Golden State Goes Sprewell Without Latrell

2007-05-10T00:01:00.000-05:00

Tonight the Warriors had the split in Utah all but locked up. They missed one free throw, thats right, FREEEEEEEEEEE throw after another and Spreed it. (PJ Carlesimo could not be reached in San Antonio for comment.) I guess it really was all about Nellie as Utah pushes to the head of the pack in the SA/PHX sacrificial lamb race. The unfortunate reality is that Utah won't be revisiting the west final next year and Jerry Sloan will get fired...( ok, maybe not.)

Maybe Baron's lost his groove after being shunned by one Mormon after another at the club. Though I'm sure Baron is a proponent of polygamy.

Derron Willams has got Jason Kidd version 2 written all over him. Just watching him play I see a young Kidd. Back when Kidd was a pretty consistent scorer to go along with that play-making. How about that leaner in the lane to force OT? Simply fantastic for a guy who was considered a "reach" when the Jazz passed on Chris Paul. Williams-Paul will be two of the best PG's in the league for years to come. As they both posses great scoring and play-making ability.

Final Note is for Derek Fisher. Who hit the arena in the 3rd quarter tonight after spending the last few days with his daughter. Who's sick, I haven't gathered whether or not she's going to be okay. But with all that must've been on his mind Fisher was huge for Utah tonight. Hopefully all is well in the Fisher household as Derek is role-player, high class guys in the league that deserve everything they've got.

And an amusing picture I found while seraching for the Sprewell shot...

A Litte Over One Month In

2007-05-09T19:48:00.000-05:00

So we're a little more than one month into the MLB season and a lot of interesting things have already happened, and will certainly happen. Here are a few observations, and approximations strait from the realm of idiocy I dwell in.

- The NL West is going to be contested down to the wire. The Dodgers and Padres are both as good, if not better than last year. While Arizona, San Francisco and Colorado have all been competitive. The D-Backs and Rockies both have a bunch of young, only going to get better talent. The Giants may end up the worst of the bunch once Barry breaks the record and the rest of the team start to show their age. As they will go long stretches without being able to score. Never a good thing. But they've got to feel good about the young arms of Cain and Lincecum.

- The Yankees may very well miss the playoffs for the first time since 1993. Boston is playing very well in the early going and while they will slump at some point. I'm just not sure it'll be a big enough slump for NY to overtake them. This is also under the assumption that the wild card comes from the Central. Where there are at least two teams better than the Yanks in my opinion.

- Ryan Howard's got some competition in the "best young first basemen" category, his name is Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez is tied for second in the NL in HR's (10), and RBI (30) for the West's second place team. He's been on fire, and I fully expect him to continue to get better. Nice move by SD, inking him to an arguably cheap 4-year extension April 1st. As this future star could have certainly gotten a lot more.

- The Milwaukee Brewers are pretty good. My issue with making the claim they'll win the brutal NL Central is the youth. As you never know when it might all come crashing down. This was also my issue with Detroit last year, though. As the Tigers relied heavily on 3 young players (Granderson, Zumaya, and Verlander). The Brewers rely on a lot more than just three. That said the Cardinals suck and just barely edged out the Giants in the challenge last week. The Astros really needed Clemens as Oswalt can't do it alone. They're done if Oswalt catches whatever Brad Lidge's got. No one else in the central should really contend. Unless Griffey hits 74 HR's, that is. Oh, wait. The Cubs appear to be decent.

- Joel Zumaya's injury might just cost the Tigers the AL Central, and the post-season all-together. I know he's just a setup man but even a lights out Fernando Rodney can't get the ball to Todd Jones every night by himself. While most of the other guys have been solid so far. I'm not buying until they've done it for three months. So if Detroit's out, and Minny's struggling who's in? Cleveland for sure, Chicago? Possibly.

- What the point of the Rule 5 draft? Is it so one team can prove they have a better development system than another? A few names that have changed cities via Rule 5 draft: Dan Uggla, Shane Victorino, Derek Turnbow, Joakim Soria, and of course Johan Santana. While I get that this gives guys whose teams don't have room for them an opportunity to play at the MLB level. It also robs those who have consistently drafted well and I think it should be abolished.

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 3

2007-05-03T14:11:00.000-05:00

Week 3 has arrived in the "survivor" challenge and Ted and I are ready to end two more teams season early. This week I'll be making my 2nd NL elimination while Ted takes care of the AL. For a refresher on the rules click here.

Here are the teams we've each eliminated thus far:
BD
Washington
Seattle
Ted
Kansas City
Pittsburgh

Now onto this week's eliminations.

Leaving The Diamond: San Francisco Giants
Reasoning: Looking at the Giants and Barry Bonds it's hard to imagine how they've fallen. Bonds is the poster child for steroids while the Giants as a whole are the poster children for Life Alert. Every season they seem to get older and every season they suck. Every time Ray Durham gets up from a slid the dugout let's out a collective sigh of relief. As he didn't break his hip.

As I child I was a big time Bonds fan, growing up seeing the man he is off the field has done nothing but make me sick. Whether or not Bonds used steroids I still wouldn't want him to break Hank's record. He's a prick and seeing guys like him succeed is never really a good thing.

This past off-season the Giants gave Barry Zito a massive contract, almost as if to say they were willing to pay big to win. Yet that singing will make little difference this season as the lineup remains mostly intact. I like Matt Cain a lot and I think he'll be great in another uniform in a few years, as it's unlikely he stays in SF for good. Cain is the youngest Giant by 2 years over reliever Jon Sanchez. While playing with all of these veterans will teach Cain about Viagra, Life Alert and many other geriatric necessities. It won't help he and Zito win games. So it is with an ecstatic middle finger in Bonds' direction that I send these Giants into 2007 obscurity.

And now Ted's AL elimination.

Leaving The Diamond: Baltimore Orioles
Reasoning: This one hurts a bit. I went to college in DC pre-Nationals, so my friends and I took in quite a few games in the "friendly confines" of Camden. I once screamed at Kenny Lofton enough - the glorious summer of 2002, when he was with the White Sox (I think? He might have been on 10 teams that summer) - that he actually reacted. As such, I became a kinda sorta Orioles "fan," in the sense that I have an Orioles hat and a Brian Roberts poster, and I display them both frequently enough to vaguely be associated with the organization.

I also once had a multiple e-mail exchange with Jim Beattie.

Anyway, I digress. The Orioles looked good early, but now they look too much like the normal Orioles. As of Wednesday morning, they've lost 3 in a row, are 2-8 in their last 10, had a chance to rumble with the Tigers this week - when the defending AL Champions wanna fight, goddamn it you fight - and instead "fagged out" and no punches were thrown, and bright spots like Daniel Cabrera are beginning to become eyesores. Cabrera looked good in that same Tigers game, then walked six and threw 2 wild pitches. It's cool if you throw 98, bro, but get it under control, joo know?

Even though the Yankees suck right now and everything under the sun bad is happening to them, they'll recover. The D-Rays won't win the division, but they have enough young talent to not get eliminated by BD or I for a little while. The Red Sox might be headed towards another '04. But the Orioles? No chance, not this year. Goodbye, sweet prince.

Muted!: Episode 1: The NCAA Tournament

2007-04-25T20:56:00.001-05:00

The inaugural episode of "Muted!" has finally been compiled. "Muted!" is a round table like exercise among bloggers on a given a topic that is currently relevant. While one can argue whether or not the NCAA Tournament is relevant at this time. The process of compiling the following information began before the tournament's first game even tipped.

(NOTE: I have no idea what the deal is with the font. It will not let me fix it no matter how many times I try to.)

Participating in this first episode are Eric from Sealclubbers, Signal To Noise, Mini Me from WBRS Sports Blog, Marco from Just Call Me Juice, Complete Sports and obviously me from the very place your reading this now. I would like to thank you five for helping out with what was an interesting trial run with this concept.

Without any more rambling I give you "Muted!: Episode 1: The NCAA Tournament:"

Should the field of 65 be expanded?

Eric-SC: Kind of, sort of. I mean, where does it end? If you expand past 64/65 you either have to have a "play-in round" or go all the way to 128 teams and add another round/week to the tournament, and that's just ridiculous.

S2N: No. Making the field bigger isn't going to solve the arguments had every year when the selection committee screws up by letting some seriously undeserved teams get in (Stanford, Arkansas) at the expense of others (Syracuse, Drexel, K-State).

Mini Me: I agree with S2N. Look at this year's field. The number of teams is ideal in my opinion, but which teams received bids is the problem. And that leads us to a great problem...The fact that the NCAA committee has less than an hour after the final game to come up with the bracket. They should be given at least 3 hours to determine the final field. If given sufficient time, the committee would do a much better job not only in regard to which teams are given bids, but also in regard to seeding , another major problem in this year's tournament.

BD: I completely agree that the field should stay where it is except for maybe expanding to 68. This would create four play-in games. For which I'll share my idea later. Rather than given the committee the extra three hours though Mini Me why not a full day? ALL conference tournaments should end the day before the brackets are announced. This should fix any major seeding issues. As far as who gets those final slots? Human error may be inevitable as any extra time I don't think will sway any one's argument. One thing I wonder is why not let some of those writers in for real? Rather than the mock they did earlier this season why not add a college basketball writer or two to the committee. A rotating panel of course, or even former players?

JCMJ: I'm against expanding the field. This isn't like the BCS where the 3rd or 4th best team in the country is getting robbed, we are talking about the 66th and 67th teams. If anything, I would expand it to 68 teams, adding 3 play in games on Tuesday. But I'm not much of a fan of that either.

Complete Sports: On the contrary, I believe the NCAA field should be reduced by one team, back to 64. If we expand any further, we run the risk of making the regular season in major conferences almost irrelevant. With more teams, 5-11 or 6-10 in a major conference might be good enough to make the Tourney, and that's a road that nobody wants to go down. So my plan would be to get rid of the Play-In game, and get back to 64 teams, which just seems like the perfect number for the Tourney.

Should all 65 bids be At-Large? Thus abolishing the auto-bids.

S2N: It's tempting, given the faltering of a lot of favored teams in conference tournaments this year (Xavier, Nevada), making the NCAA pick two teams from conferences that were expected to only send one. However, you lose Cinderella teams this way, and it would turn March Madness into a slightly more legitimate form of the BCS, and most of us hate college football's convoluted bowl system to begin with.

Eric-SC: I say that each conference hosts a tournament, with the regular season champ of that tournament "hosting" and being that tournament's top seed. Then a selection committee (who will still be scrutinized) decides seeds and every other team would be shipped out to these tournaments. So the last place team in the worst conference would be the worst seed in the tournament hosted by the top team in the best conference. It would be complicated as hell, but might actually reduce the number of games played and every single team does have a chance... no one is left out in the cold. Some teams will get screwed by placements, but there is no Syracuse style controversy.

Then of course the winners from these tournaments go into the final brackets. Its way more complicated, but with the kind of money that gets thrown around this time of year on commercials, broadcast rights and tickets, I think that they can manage. Also, it helps everyone, including the small conferences who many times do not really deserve to be playing in the tournament just because they won their rec-league of a conference. Think about the boost in attendance at some small conference tourney where Duke would have ended up. I think it would really spread the wealth and expose fans to teams they would have never dreamed of seeing live.

Complete Sports: No, I love the format the way it is. One of the best parts of college basketball is the low-major conference tournaments, where it is literally win or go home. By abolishing the auto-bids you lose that type of magic and excitement. There are some problems with this format, in that a 'non-deserving' team can make the field, but that's the beauty of college basketball and the beauty of these conference tournaments... no matter what you've done, you have a chance as long as you can keep winning at the end. That's the beauty of college basketball.

JCMJ: No way that should happen. Having schools from smaller conferences make the tournament is what makes March Madness great. I would rather see the tournament somehow expand to involves every team in college basketball than to 65 at-large bids. All at-large bids would ruin what makes March Madness so special.

BD: Rather than make all 65 bids at-large why not give the auto-bids to the regular season champions? Because I think upsets would actually increase if the better, more consistent team always got into the dance. I, for one, do not enjoy watching the schools who steal bids get destroyed by high seeds after making such great runs to sneak into the dance in the first place. This idea would also make the regular season relevant for those small conferences who do not allow the regular season champion to host the conference tournament. As winning the regular season title in many leagues gets you nothing. If this idea isn't an option then I'd surely say no. We get enough Jay Bilas bashing small schools as it is now. I can't even imagine all the small school bashing that would go on if every bid was at-large. Not to mention the NCAA Tournament would become nothing more than a showcase for the major conferences. Which would ruin the tournament overall and I think actually put pressure on the few small schools who do get in. As they'd feel like they have to win for the sake of their fellow small schools who were snubbed.

Mini Me: If the NCAA tournament implemented an all at-large policy, how would the tournament be different? Well, the majority, if not all of the typical 13, 14, 15 and 16 seed teams would be replaced with most of the NIT field. What would be the result? I think we would have more competitive first round games, but involving mostly teams from major conferences, thus less mid-majors and small conference teams. Because of this we would lose the entire concept of the Cinderella team. Without the potential for upsets by unfamiliar teams the tournament would lose a great deal of intrigue and become not that indistinguishable from other sports tournaments. Thus, I believe it is in the best interest of the NCAA to keep the format which they currently use. Also, I highly recommend allowing Gus Johnson to call Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games, rather than James Brown.

Should the play-in game be eliminated all together?

Mini Me: NO! Do not eliminate this game. And that adamant answer has nothing to
do with the game itself. Hell, I don't even watch it. But with this game, the NCAA can add one more bubble team to the field. In a time when more mid-majors are emerging and major conferences are becoming even deeper in quality, it gives the NCAA a chance to add one more
quality team into the field.

BD: If anything I would suggest creating 4 play-in games and moving them to the 12 seed qualifiers. This would put 8 bubble teams against one another for the opportunity to get into the field. The biggest problem with the game is the fact that two AUTOMATIC bid winners play one another. Since it's the "play-in" (the "opening round" tag line is bullshit) game, that nullifies the fact that these teams had already been guaranteed a spot in the field. In using bubble teams your pitting "at-large" contenders against one another. This idea could even potentially help the committee avoid a little scrutiny. If they had used this idea this past season the games would have likely included Drexel, Syracuse, Kansas State and West Virgina. Say Drexel and West Virginia knock out Old Dominion and Illinois and arguably strengthen the field. This Tuesday T.V. numbers for a quadruple header would without a doubt increase as well. In the end everyone is happy with this small field expansion.

Eric-SC: If they don't do what I suggested above, I say that all the smaller conferences should have to play in to get in no matter what, and they would have to play these games immediately after their tournaments end. This cuts the automatic bids nearly in half and would dramatically increase the quality of competition in the first round of play.

S2N: Yes. There's no emotional investment in watching a team win that we all know is going to lose the next game, but both FAMU and Niagara won conferences recognized by the NCAA, I believe. Make at larges play for that game if you're going to keep it. Not to keep beating on every one's favorite whipping boy, but make Duke play for their spot.

Complete Sports: Yes, I do think the Play-In Game should be eliminated. I understand the positive effect of getting an extra at-large team into the field, but I just think about the teams involved. Think about the team that wins their conference tournament (thus earning the right to play in the Tournament), but then loses the play-in game. Technically, they were in the Tournament. But is it really going to feel like it to the players? If I were in charge, I would get rid of the Play-In Game and drop the field back down to 64 teams.

JCMJ: Yes, they should either eliminate the game all together or have of a four game play-in. Just sending two teams off to Dayton for one game isn't fair to those two teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Either expand it or eliminate it.

Does the CBS exclusivity hurt/ruin the tournament coverage?

JCMJ: I actually really enjoy the CBS coverage of the NCAA Tournament. I grew up watching the tournament on CBS and it wouldn't feel right on another network like ESPN (just like the NBA doesn't feel right on ABC instead of NBC). My only complaint is the speed at which they switch to interesting/close games.

Complete Sports: I don't know that it necessarily hurts the Tournament, though it does give
them less incentive to try really hard. For the most part, people will watch no matter what. So CBS can do things like go to long commercial breaks after every stoppage of action no matter what the moment is (like a 30 second timeout late in the game). Since you can only find the games on CBS, there doesn't seem to be a real interest sometimes in making it as compelling as possible so viewers will stick with it, because they don't have any other options if they want to watch. But that said, I don't have too many complaints about the Tourney broadcasting, so no, I don't think the exclusivity hurts it too much.

S2N: CBS' exclusivity is only annoying or problematic if you're live-blogging a game or really want to pick the game you watch. The Eye is very sensitive to the viewer Mercy Rule, switching games when teams are getting destroyed or other games are in closer, more crucial situations, which is good. Sometimes they can be itchy with the trigger finger, moving away from GT-UNLV after the Rebs opened up a lead only to have the Yellow Jackets make a comeback while they were away. The MMOD service probably wouldn't be available if CBS and say, ESPN were splitting rights. Besides, we hear enough of Vitale and some of the other more annoying ESPN analysts during the regular season.

Eric-SC: I don't think it huts it per se, especially since that is how I have always remembered it... but then again if ABC/ESPN combo'd that shit fans would be much happier with an increased number of games to choose from. If I get to dream, I would dream that the NCAA would sell one region each to the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox) and then CBS could get the Final Four exclusives. Again, its all about maximizing the number of games on TV from a fan's perspective, and from the NCAA's perspective, more games on TV means more money and ads.

Mini Me: Well we know that the NCAA loves CBS exclusivity. It is that exclusivity that has made them a boat load of money (none of which go to the players, but that is a different topic for a different day). I enjoy CBS' coverage of the event. They do a good job switching between games, and if you don't enjoy the game you are currently watching you can always watch the games online. So, in summary I don't have a problem with CBS' monopoly of NCAA games. If they did a poor job covering them, then I would certainly feel different though.

BD: Overall the CBS coverage is actually pretty good. I really dislike the the studio team but because I don't see them too much it's not that bad. I think CBS needs to get a better handle on when to switch from one game to the other, however. I was literally yelling at my TV watching the Duke-VCU score as Michigan State pounded on Marquette. They didn't switch until Marquette-MSU got under a minute. This is probably because I live in Michigan but that's no excuse. A blow out isn't any fun to watch regardless of who your rooting for. I'd love to see Fox or NBC pick up half the games. Even more games would be on TV, and as Eric said CBS could keep the Final Four exclusivity.

How do you think the NBA's age rule has and will effect the tournament in the future?

Complete Sports: I think it's had a large effect for fairly obvious reasons... many freshman
that may have entered the draft will be in college for at least 1 year. This improves the quality of play, which is obviously good. Just looking at this year, the results are large. Without Greg Oden, OSU wouldn't have made the Championship. Kevin Durant was one of the stories of the year. Brandan Wright was one of the top players for North Carolina. There's a good chance
none of these guys would have been in college without that rule. Looking ahead, I see more of the same. Guys like OJ Mayo, Eric Gordon, and Michael Beasley all might have gone straight to the NBA... instead, they'll be on college campuses next fall. Having talents like this is great for the college game.

S2N: I'm not a huge fan of Bob Knight as a person, but I won't debate his emphasis on graduation rates and avid interest in making sure his players are also hitting the books. I would ditch the age rule and then adopt his suggestion that anyone who accepts a college scholarship to play ball has to fulfill a number of credit hours of semester in order to even be eligible to play on the team, and if you go play college ball, no leaving until after your sophomore year.

The rule as it stands is a half-hearted solution that doesn't address the bigger issue at all. It gives the NBA some cover, but does nothing for college basketball or athletics in general. If I ran the NCAA, I'd either push the NBA to get rid of the rule altogether or make it tougher, NFL-style.

Eric-SC: Well, it definitely upped the level of competition, because you look right now at Ohio State and Texas and wonder where they would be if the age rule had not been modified. But the biggest impact on the level of competition is not just the studs, its those guys who would have gone undrafted and fallen off the face of the Earth. More quality players all trying to get in, get off, get out and get to the NBA means that every team from Duke to Old Dominion has a chance to land a stud recruit who wants one year of exposure and then jet to the NBA. With only one year required, I think a lot of recruits are not going to necessarily go to the best team, they might go to the team who will let them on the court immediately and let them shine. I think that by making it only one year, we are going to see a lot more small schools land recruits way out of their league because they are assured PT right away.

Mini Me: Because of the NBA age rule, expect in the future to see very similar match-ups to the Ohio State v. Florida game. A running theme in college basketball will be the young, talented, freshman led team vs the experienced, team-oriented team. Sometimes the experienced team will prevail (Florida) and sometimes the Phenom Freshman led team (Syracuse) will win. No matter who wins titles, the bottom-line is that having more super-talented freshmen in college basketball will result in an increased quality of basketball.

BD: The rule as far as I'm concerned is a joke. While the level of competition was certainly up this past season it means nothing when these guys leave for the NBA. It hurts CBB as a whole when these schools basically rent these guys for one year. As the teams have to immediately rebuild rather than waiting at least 2-3 years. If anything the rule should be 2 years to protect the schools who are willing to take these guys on and give them a place to showcase themselves for the NBA. I agree completely with Mini Me, championship games of the future will put experience against young, raw talent time and again. Is this a good? Maybe. The games will be good but it's the players themselves as well as the schools who take them that will suffer in the long run. A guy who goes to school for one year is no different than a guy coming strait out of high school as far as I'm concerned. The one year rule is nothing but a quick fix for the NBA. Where they cash in even more, as those who have big years like Kevin Durant did become instant marketing giants. While the Kobe Bryant's, Tracy McGrady's and KG's took a few years to become the players everyone thought they were. The only good thing about the rule is it prevents those who are not ready from entering the draft. But does anyone actually think those guys won't hit the draft the next season anyway? I don't.

JCMJ: I think that the NBA age rule will have a positive effect on the NCAA Tournament in the future. Just look at the quality players who we may not have seen had it not been for the age rule: Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, Brenden Wright and Mike Conley Jr. There is no doubt that these players have increased the quality of play in college basketball. While some may ague that players constantly leaving after one year to go to the NBA will hurt team chemistry, it's not like players have just started jumping ship after one season since this rule.

As you can see we generally agreed on all of the questions. Whether or not any of our thoughts and opinions come to fruition remains to be seen., But on a couple of the topics we can only hope.
This turned into much more of a question and answer session than a back a forth argument style I was looking for. Mostly due to some bad planning by your truly. I have a few new ideas for this moving forward to create more debating on each question. The trial run for "Muted!" was overall a success however. Thanks again to all of those who took the time to partcipate your assistance was and is greatly appreciated.

If you have a blog, and would like to be part of any future episodes of "Muted!" or have any ideas for future topics you'd like a panel to take on. Leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail at sportsshowonmute(at)gmail(dot)com. The next topic and panel is currently undecided at this time. I'm also unsure of how regular this feature will be.

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge: Week 2

2007-04-25T19:41:00.000-05:00

After each eliminating one team last week Ted and I have set our sights on the opposite league. As this week I take on the AL while Ted pencils in the latitude and longitude of an NL team. And preps to send that WMD right on over. While here in the early going the list of teams who likely won't be winning anything is long its still amusing to pretend they're no longer playing at all. Kaufman stadium is a figment of every one's imagination from this point forward. If your looking for the rules you can click here. Otherwise let's get to the eliminations.

Ted's up first this week with his National League cast off.

Leaving The Diamond: The Pittsburgh Pirates

Reasoning: Look, it's not like the Buckos are bad - alright, alright, they are bad, but so is the entirety of the NL Central - it's that this season, their futility (with the Warriors making the playoffs, they have basically the longest postseason drought of a long-standing professional franchise) is serving as a backdrop to other items of baseball relevance.

For example, Bonds this season? Not one, but two homers in a single game against his former club. Saturday night? Pittsburgh falls prey to a Russell Martin walk off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th at Chavez Ravine, serving as a footnote to Martin's ascension as a top NL catcher and the Dodgers "we're old, but we're good" last ditch effort to make Grady Little slightly more than a guy who waited too long with one pitcher.

Even the Pirates landmark wins this season - over the Astros, right at the beginning - have proved a joke, because the Astros are now running with Milwaukee for first in the division; and even Pittsburgh's acquisition of record - Adam LaRoche - hasn't been great. As of me writing this, he's got 3 HR (cool), 7 RBI (eh), a .281 slugging percentage (blech), and a .105 average (I just threw up in my mouth a smidge).

For all these reasons, Pittsburgh is now off the island. It's alright, though: Steelers are only what, 17 weeks away?

And now my American League sacrifice. And ironically enough it's an all Superbowl 50 edition.

Leaving the Diamond: The Seattle Mariners
Reasoning: Well lets see, the best pitcher they have is on the DL for the next two weeks. Adrian Beltre is still horrible if you consider his contract post steroids (allegedly). Richie Sexson has exactly five more hits than he has HR's. FIVE! Considering he has only 3 HR's you see why I'm astonished this guy is the 10th highest paid player in the entire league. Sexson's average so far this season is an amazing .160 in 15 games. That's absolutely brutal. Looking at how bad Seattle is you'd never think they had the 7th highest payroll in the MLB. Not to mention that it tops 100 millions and they can't even hang with the Marlins.

It has to hurt knowing that the highlight of their season was Felix out dueling "The Monster" (Dice-K) at Fenway two weeks ago. And that Ichiro who's contract expires at season's end will likely head to greener pastures. Or at least you would think. Fan's in the pacific northwest can't help but shed a tear as they watch A-Rod, a former Mariner, decimate the competition after leaving Seattle. He obviously wasn't too expensive if you consider what the Mariners are getting out of their highest paid guys. A-Rod can do what they've both done this season all by himself.

So much like Pittsburgh's fans, Seattle's will be looking toward the fall sooner, rather than later.

NBA First Round Best Guesses

2007-04-20T20:15:00.000-05:00

The NBA playoffs are finally upon us as the most monotonous of regular seasons has come to a close. I've never been less excited about the NBA playoffs in my life but more likely than not a game or two will keep me watching well into the night. So lets get this show on the road...

(L)EASTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Detroit Pistons Vs. (8) Orlando Magic
This one is a forgone conclusion as the Pistons will roll whether it be in 4 or 5 games. There biggest concern should be getting "too much" rest as they await the winner of Chicago-Miami. My biggest issue with the Magic is their mascot. It's some green smurf-like creature that makes absolutely no sense at all. Where in the hell is the wizard or some other magical creature.
Guess: Pistons in 5

(4) Miami Heat Vs. (5) Chicago Bulls
The Bulls despite being the 5 seed have home court advantage here with the better record. The Bulls perimeter defense gave Miami fits last season and it should be much of the same this year. I don't know how healthy Dwayne Wade is but unless he's in the 90% range the Heat probably aren't very happy Cleveland moved up to the 2 seed and left them with Chicago. Provided the stockpile of talent Scott Skiles has at his disposal I'm going to take the Bulls in this one.
Guess: Bulls in 7

(2) Cleveland Cavaliers Vs. (7) Washington Wizards
Wow. How the Wiz have fallen since losing two of their big three. Without the Hibachi and Caron Butler LeBron will likely have his way with Washington. I'm going to count on Jamison for at least one night in the forties and the Wiz to steal one at home.
Guess: Cavs in 5

(3) Toronto Raptors Vs. (6) New Jersey Nets
Thanks to the injuries in Washington the Nets were able to steal the 6 seed on the final day of the regular season. So Vince Carter has to go back to his old home to try and get his underachieving Nets into round 2. I had thought Toronto would win this one. But with Garbajosa out I think the Nets will be able to pull this off despite not having home court. It should be a long one and a Vinsanity highlight filled one at that.
Guess: Nets in 6

B(W)ESTERN CONFERENCE

(1) Dallas Mavericks Vs. (8) Golden State Warriors
While the Warriors have arguably had the Mavs number the past two years I'm just not buying a 67 win team losing in the opening round. If it happens that fine, I'll be more surprised than shocked. But I think the Mavs come out to get started again what they should have finished last year. The Mavs should run through these Warriors without little trouble unless Josh Howard gets hurt.
Guess: Mavs in 5

(4) Utah Jazz Vs. (5) Houston Rockets
Just like Chicago in the east Houston has the home court advantage here. I think that may be the difference as T-Mac gets the first round money off his back. T-Mac has had his best season yet as a pro as far as I'm concerned and it'll continue that way as it extends. The x-factor in this one is probably Kirilenko though as if the old version shows up they may be able to steal this one.
Guess: Houston in 7

(2) Phoenix Suns Vs. (7) Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers tank-fest down the stretch netted them a date with Phoenix instead of San Antonio. While this is the more winnable series it not going to happen. Everyone wants to think that after last year the Lakers are ready to pull it off this time. I'd say not a chance. The rest of the team spends too much time watching Kobe. His scoring spree down the stretch was certainly impressive but it did nothing but hurt his team. I don't even need to mention anything about Phoenix you all know who they run out on the floor.
Guess: Phoenix in 4

(3) San Antonio Spurs Vs. (6) Denver Nuggets
Everyone seems to think the Nuggets are going to give San Antonio a major test. I disagree completely as my thoughts on the Nuggets are well documented. The Nuggets are this years version of Sacramento for San Antonio. The team "no one wants to play" that the Spurs dispatch rather easily. The first game or two should be amusing but after that I expect the Spurs to take care of business like they always do.
Guess: Spurs in 5

Well that it for my guesses. While many of them will likely be wrong I like to feel like I know something about basketball. Hey I got the Gators correct in the NCAA so I'm not that bad at this...

The MLB "Survivor" Challenge

2007-04-18T10:11:00.001-05:00

In watching the opening two weeks of the MLB season I find myself already wanting to eliminate teams from playoff contention. The Royals and Nationals of the world might just as well hang up their cleats and look forward to 2010 when the young talent they do have might be able to carry the rest of a mediocre roster into the playoffs. Enough rambling, the idea here is that Ted from APABR and I are going to eliminate teams on a weekly basis from the MLB. Officially ending their seasons before they're even really over. In the end we'll each have one team left standing and if one of us manages to pick the team that wins the whole damn thing I'm sure they'll get some kind of prize. Such as a shiny penny with the year of their birth as commemoration for their contribution to this blog.

Here are the general rules:
-We must alternate leagues. If one goes AL, the other eliminates NL that week etc. except ONCE. As the NL has 16 to the AL's 14 teams
-1 team per week for 20 weeks.
-2 teams per week for the final 4 weeks.
-The Final elimination during the playoffs opening week.
-With each elimination we will provide a reason. Said reason does not at all have to be a well thought out, valid and insightful one.

Here in the first week I've got the National League while Ted will be taking the American League to tribal council.

Leaving The Diamond: The Washington Nationals
Reason: The obvious pick for the first National League team who's season is already over the Nationals are arguably a AAA team masquerading as a Major League team. The only player on the Nats entire roster I'd want on my team is Ryan Zimmerman. The promising young third basemen is surely to compete with David Wright as the best third basemen of the league for years to come. A fantastic defensive player as well as a solid offensive contributor Zimmerman just missed out on last season's rookie of the year award. He's likely going to leaving Washington whenever he becomes eligible for Free Agency a few years from now.

While I would attend a Nationals game if I lived in the DC are and someone gave me tickets I doubt I'd pay more than 5 dollars to go to a game. I feel sorry for any die hard baseball fan who lives in the DC area as the alternative (Baltimore) isn't a whole lot better than these guys are.

Moving forward one can only hope the Nats can figure out what the hell they're doing in the front office. Not trading Alfonso Soriano last season was one of the worst decisions I can remember by a front office at the trade deadline. Especially considering the Nats knew for a fact they weren't going to be able to resign their best player. The Nats do not currently employ even one pitcher I'd trust to take the mound for my team.

Onto the AL where Ted will cast off his first team.

Leaving The Diamond: The Kansas City Royals
Reason: My logic? Simple. Even with a relatively hearty performance from Zach Greinke, and an overall Royals team that beat the Red Sox on Opening Day, KC is still the worst team in baseball through the first two weeks, with the Nationals victory Monday night. The team has promise: Alex Gordon, if he stays, will be a stud; Mark Teahen will, as well; and Emil Brown is the best player you've never heard of not named David DeJesus. You also have to figure (hope?) that Dayton Moore knows something about running a baseball team, considering that: a) he studied at the foot of John Schuerholz, and b) he could have had the Boston job in '05.

As a final piece of workable logic, there's this: my friend invited me to a Royals game this summer. It's a friend I haven't seen in a while, and it's summer baseball, and it's bad summer baseball, which to me is a little slice of heaven (doesn't matter how drunk you get, now does it?). I still declined. I told him we could meet up at the new Busch instead, which involves a great deal more logistics. I just can't sit in the sun at Kauffman and not cry. This team is that bad.

And that concludes week one of as Ted called it "the Sports Show on Mute Kinda-Like-Survivor MLB Challenge." If any of you other bloggers out there would like to join the challenge just leave a comment or send me an e-mail at sportsshowonmute(at)gmail(dot)com with your blog name and your first two eliminations. One from each league to be posted next week alongside Ted and I's second elimination.

Mocking the Draft Experts...

2007-04-18T09:44:00.000-05:00

The First round of the mock draft over at Awful Announcing is complete and up on the site. Some interesting, senseless, and even smart picks throughout. I was picking for the Jaguars in the first round and will be doing the same in 2nd. Below is what AA has up regarding my pick and a few surrounding comments. I've also added a few more comments that followed my pick.

SSOM is picking for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I think their biggest weaknesses was a lack of a proper state of mind. They need to be focused. Someone needs to scare the shit out of them. In which case the best pick is 6'9" offensive tackle and, by the look of his name, possible mafia enforcer, Jason Cappizzi out of Indiana (Pa.).- Digital Headbutt

With the 17th Pick in the AA Mock Draft The Jacksonville Jaguars and Sports Show On Mute select:

S Reggie Nelson from The University Of Florida!

If he had been taken I would have taken Leak as the Jaguars feel that drafting a "winner" is the most important thing. Nelson will replace Dean Grant who defected to Seattle as a Free Agent.

The Biggest problem is that according to the WWL Nelson has a mental problem. He does not learn and retain the defensive system very well. But because he didn't tank the Wonderlic the Jaguars feel like he can be a great, intelligent player.

No witty commentary? this is shocking.- Me

I think witty commentary is a victim of Fridaynightitis. - The Extrapolater

I think the problem with the Jags drafting "winners" is that anyone who puts on those hideous teal uniforms is, by definition, a loser.- East Coast Bias

Oh C'mon now. Teal is new Blue. What else would explain the Pistons 4-5 year Teal run?- Me

You'll notice that they won the Championship after they went back to classic red, white, and blue. - East Coast Bias

I second Brien. Why do you think the Pistons sucked those years? Why do you think the Hornets let go of all their good players? That color does something to you.

But in SSOM's defense, the Jags usually go with black home uniforms now. - Digital Headbutt

The Hornets, (who I had forgotten about) are resurrecting themselves right now. Teal will own this country in 10 years. Just wait, it's coming. - Me

I would tell you that teal is extremely gay, but then I would have no moral authority. After all, I pledge unwavering allegiance to a team in light blue. -- Teal is REAL manly, I'll tell ya that. Blech. >:P - Digital Headbutt

I'm not claiming Teal is manly. But it's not any less manly than Light Blue is.

I should probably toss out that I'm not a Jaguars fan. The Lions were gone and the Jags were the next best thing. So I'm not sure I'm even qualified to debate the manliness of Teal in the first place. But I think its safe to say Jimmy Smith will smoke you (or is it sniff?) if you were to ever question his manliness. - Me

Can't argue with that. Jimmy Smith will f--- you up. But so will Lawrence Taylor and Julius Peppers. - Digital Headbutt

I also was damned to hell not much later by S2N and Holly from Ladies... as they both wanted Reggie Nelson. But were holding on to unreasonable expectations that he would even be on the board when the picked.

I maintain the manliness of Teal still. Especially if it's being put up against Light Blue in said contest. I found the fact that we were discussing such a subject more amusing than the context of either argument. So I wanted to post a few more things that AA had not as he waded through the 15+ pages and 100+ e-mails of useless commentary from all of us.

Virginia Tech

2007-04-17T08:15:00.000-05:00

There's nothing I can say about yesterday's events that will change, or affect anything. Thus I will say nothing but this:
(Per: Our Book Of Scrap)

Linkfest!: 100% Schrutebag Free

2007-04-11T23:00:00.000-05:00

Bloggers will unite for an NFL Mock Draft this week. Anything can and probably will happen as we pick what we think will happen, what actually might happen, or just go completely nuts and insert a punter into the first round. I've got the Jags for those interested. (Awful Announcing)

Complete Sports reminds us all what used to be as Kenny Mayne returns to the SportsCenter desk. I, for one, wish he had never left. (Complete Sports)

Marco handicaps just who might be the #1 pick in his upcoming Criminal Fantasy Football league with Pacman off the board. (Just Call Me Juice)

I give you Kevin Millar: Dancing Machine... courtesy of S2N and many others. (Signal To Noise)

The Extrapolater will be adding Josh Hamilton to the SLP leader board and hopes, as I do, to still see him there come August. (The Extrapolater)

Brad Penny's apparently dating Eliza Dushku and I'm weeping on the inside as one of my favorites dates a Dodger! (The Big Lead)

Mini Me fills us all in on the new high-school drug testing policy in Texas. (WBRS Sports Blog)

The Oriole Post throws out a few of Don Imus' past episodes of verbal vomit. (Oriole Post)

The Glorious Guest Post: Best Kings of All-Time?

2007-04-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

Hello, friends. My name is Ted, and I don't often write on this site; rather, I typically write on this one. Come by and see me sometime. I crave acceptance.

It's a lazy Hump Day here in my living room, consisting of me mindlessly cruising the Internet, sipping a Corona Light, and marveling over the fact that I had vegetarian Indian food for dinner... and liked it. Meanwhile, the NESN telecast of Red Sox vs. Mariners is on a low hum in the background. The game was supposed to be a showcase of Japanese superstars in Dice K and Ichiro (and to a lesser extent, that Mariners catcher).

Instead, a funny thing happened on the way to the multi-national flashbulb convergence: Felix Hernandez - "King" Felix, mind you - had other plans. He tossed a complete game one hitter to stifle one of the better offenses (and teams) in baseball, one day after they hung a 14-3 whupping on his Pacific Northwest crew. Hernandez, who is about 1/4 of the age of Julio Franco, has had a good season thus far (there ain't much else on the Mariners): he K'ed 12 on Opening Day, and now this.

So, it got me thinking: who is the best - most worthwhile, let's say - "King" in sports?

King James: The obvious contender, LeBron James actually made his NBA debut against the Sacramento Kings, in what had to be some type of sign from whatever religious deity you happen to believe in. He did well, and uh, he's continued to do so. He's even got the whole MJ "Can't solve the Pistons early in his career, even though he elevated his team already to the level of challenging them" thing going on. It's almost too cute to watch. His dunks are breath-taking, his shoddy defense is defendable by pundits until it reaches a breaking point, and he's the most marketable cat in the entire world, sans MJ himself. He might just be the most worthy of his "King" nickname.

The Kings themselves: No, no, no. I'm not talking about the Los Angeles Kings. The last time they were relevant, so was Marty McSorley, and Wayne Gretzky was doing more than whispering sweet nothings (and horse racing tips) in his wife's ear. I'm talking about the early millenium Sacramento Kings (or the "Queens" as Shaq might say), who re-energized Arco Arena behind a dynamic pass and pass and pass and shoot offense led by Webber, Peja, and the rapidly-approaching-career-shark-jumping Bibby. Ahmad Rahad opened a Western Conference playoff game in 2002, screaming over an image of rabid fans in Sac-Town, "The Kings have single handedly made basketball fun again." Well, uh, I think Kobe and Shaq helped too, but the Kings were certainly fun to watch - the Blazers, but ten years later, and with a better PF (sorry, Buck). The fact that they never actually got over the hump kind of hurts them here.

King Kong Bundy: In an era when the immobile fat ass was king for Vince McMahon, King Kong Bundy had a good run. He main-evented 1/3 of WrestleMania II (that was the weird 'Mania broadcast from three locations), taking on Hulk Hogan in a steel cage match, which he invariably lost. He had the classically entertaining Bobby Heenan as his mouthpiece, and later in his career, when he returned to the WWE, he got a big match with Undertaker at WrestleMania XI (he lost that one too) and had DiBiase as his moto-mouth. He weighed about 450 pounds in his heyday, and went at it with Andre the Giant too. He existed in an era for wrestling when girth meant everything, and your ability to sell a storyline was secondary. You sneak attacked a babyface, they got hurt, and they came back and beat your ass. He didn't have much to work with, but he was a spectacle. You gotta at least include the brother, no?

Macho King Randy Savage: In the same vein, Randy Savage was the "Macho King," although it should be noted he only used this moniker for a very specific period of his career. He defeated potentially retarded Hacksaw Jim Duggan for some Burger King style crown he wore around, and then proclaimed himself "The Macho King." This led to his mixed-gender feuds with Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire, and later the incredibly intense battles with Ultimate Warrior. The peak of Savage's career, though, was probably the WrestleMania IV era, when he won the tournament to grab his first World Heavyweight Title. During his "Macho King" days, he was a jackass with an ugly valet. I can't rank him that highly; his WCW days were seemingly even better.

Rex Hudler: Rex means King, no? Hudler was the ultimate utility man (sorry, Bip) in the 1980s and early 1990s, and is now a fairly sweet commentator for the Angels. Much as he was called "Wonder Dog" and also "Worm Eater" (for his penchant for downing worms as a delicacy in Japanese ball clubhouse), he loves to dish out the generic nickname, calling John Lackey "Big John," for example. Rex was Lenny Dystrka, with less flair and on the west coast, before it was truly cool to be Lenny Dystrka (I loved Dystrka with the Mets, but I think he reached his "sweetness peak" with those early 1990s Phillies teams). He rates high amongst my kings.

Henrik Lundqvist: I just read, via Google, that some people call him "King Henrik." That's laughable. The Thrashers will red light this guy into Swedish obscurity. He is Swedish, right?

Arnold Palmer: This is a more generic nickname, although I have a sneaking suspiscion Palmer has probably asked a hooker somewhere during his career to call him "Golden Bear," just to see how it sounds. Palmer won a ton of events, was golf's first TV star, and has things - tournaments, awards, etc - named after him, which is the ultimate nod to you within a sport you competed in. He's definitely a worthwhile King.

My take right now? Palmer at the 1 slot, James at the 2, Sacramento circa '02 at the 3, Rex Hudler somewhere beyond that, King Felix coming up on the outside (can you imagine if this guy gets big money from a major market in a few years? He could either combust like Gooden or take off like Koufax, only with a longer, and ostensibly less Jewish, career), and Lundqvist way back on the Q.

Your take, now? I am sure I missed a crapload of people, including a bunch of figure skaters and European-born race car drivers I wouldn't know if they busted in my house right now doing the Macarena (which might be the most interesting that's happened to me in weeks).

Why Mute Is Necessary: Swin Cash

2007-04-10T22:25:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to chime on this for weeks but as I only manage to catch NBA Fastbreak once a week at best I kept forgetting. I'm not sure if the WWL hired Swin Cash to show they were open to female analysts on male sports or not. But her first appearance (as far as I know) on NBA Fastbreak coincided with Stacy Dales first appearance on College Gameday. While Dales was solid, Swin Cash was, and is horrible. She's worse than John Kruk and Sean Salisbury combined. Cash finds it necessary to emphasize every other word she says. I've never in my life heard anyone speak the way she does. I unfortunately cannot find any clips of her talking online, and I have no doubt that's not a coincidence.

If NBA Fastbreak was recorded by a stenographer (as illogical as that is) it would look something like this:

In order! To get the! Ball to the! Post! You! Must! Pass it! Yes! Pass It! I! Said! Pass it! Yes!

I find myself wishing the WNBA season would start. Something I would have never expected to wish for.

Thank You, Swin Cash, for reminding us all "Why Mute Is Necessary"!

GOAL!!

2007-04-10T22:19:00.000-05:00

This is fantastic. Steve Nash shows off his soccer prowess once again by kicking a ball off the glass and into the basket from about 5-6 feet behind the three point line.

Streaming Thoughts: Suck On That, Derek!

2007-04-10T20:37:00.000-05:00

First of all, I'll admit I'm a little late on this but as I near the end of the semester at school things have become a little more chaotic. In 3-4 weeks when the semester finally does end, expect me to update more often than I ever have. Moving on the actual subject of this post.

The WWL has been experimenting with the possibility of implanting chips into the brains of the biggest athletes on the planet. Then streaming all of their thoughts on the .com or across the bottom of the screen should they be competing on one of their networks. The initial attempt (or BETA) was on Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees third basemen. Below are a collection of A-rod's most amusing thoughts over the first week of the baseball season.

April 2nd, 2007
- Dammit Jorge, that should have been your ball. Here come the boo's and it's only the first inning of the first game.

- (Approaching the plate in the 8th) I suppose I should hit one out now. Put this game away.

- A curtain call? For me?? Wow!!

April 5th, 2007
- Snow?? This is ridiculous, I'm cold.

- Need to get this over with. If we lose, we lose. I'm just going to pop one up here and get back into the heat of the dugout. (Bases were loaded)

April 6, 2007
- (As the game winds to a close and A-rod sits alone in at the end of the bench.) Why doesn't he want to have sleep overs anymore? At least one night during the off-season we should get together and watch movies all night. Maybe even talk about ~~boys~~ women. If he doesn't appreciate me than I think it may be time to take New York from him. That's it! If Justin can Bring Sexy Back. The surely I can take NYC back, right? Why am I asking myself questions?

- (Driving home) Maybe I should just hit 81 HR's this year. Make steroid Bonds look like a school boy and expose everyone else who doesn't try every single plate appearance. Nah! Too taxing.

April 7, 2007
- Let's get this started. I'll put one in the seats now and try to put this game outta reach early.

- That's it, draw a walk Derek. Force someone else to pick up the slack.

- Bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, and all I need is a single? To hell with that this one's going into the black seats.

- Whooo! Suck on that, Derek!!

April 8, 2007
- Might as well start another game with a long ball. It never gets old watching the ball fly into the seats.

April 9, 2007
-Ponson's pitching today? HA! Someones guaranteed a souvenir tonight. That guy sucks.

April 10th, 2007
- (Sigh...) Might as well start this one off with the long ball as well. Oh... and there it goes..!

- What to do that's even better than Homering almost every day? I've got it! I think I'll steal home in the bottom of the ninth, in a tie game, when the Mets come to the Stadium in June. We'll see if Derek's still the king of New York after that.

A-rod's first week in thoughts has certainly been interesting. Will he take New York from DJ? I doubt it. But he can dream, right?

Once a week, if not bi-weekly I'll be "Streaming Thoughts" here at the Mute network. Anyone who's head you like to have checked out? Leave a comment or email me at sportsshowonmute(at)gmail(dot)com

Colin Cowherd is a Douchebag

2007-04-06T20:59:00.000-05:00

(Awful Announcing got an image off of CC's webcam.)

I'm sure all is aware of what the D-Bag did to The Big Lead yesterday. I didn't hear it, as I, much like any real sports fan do not listen to ESPN Radio at all. Before getting rid of my Sirius account I had caught D-Bag's show once. It was bad, really bad, and it amazes me that he has enough listeners to pull of this little stunt. ESPN's radio content as a whole is garbage and D-Bag is only one of the many who don't earn their paychecks clogging our airwaves. As no one on any of ESPN's many networks, radio stations and of course the .com are allowed to truly speak their mind. For fear that ESPN may ruin any potential or current partnerships. I'm sure we all still remember them canceling Play makers over the NFL's dissatisfaction.

I really have no idea what TBL could have possibly done to upset the D-Bag. I read virtually everything TBL posts daily and cannot recall D-Bag even being mentioned. Below I've listed nearly everyone's take on this. As many seem as baffled as I am when it comes to what provoked the D-Bag.

This Hurts Us More Than It Hurts You, Colin (Deadspin)
Somehow, We let all the Morons on Radio and TV. (Signal To Noise)
Cowherd: Nous Accusons!! (Every Day Should Be Saturday)
Cowherd Invetigated, Colin Cowherd and Great Bullies, and On Open Discourse: Colin Cowherd (Pacifist Viking)
That Wasn't A Very Nice Ting To Do (One More Dying Quail)

I'm off to work, I'll be adding to this list tomorrow afternoon/evening some time. ANy that I may have missed leave in the comments and I'll add them.

Too Cold?????

2007-04-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

Since when is it "Too Cold" for baseball? If it were November and the wind chill was 16 Degrees as it was today the players would have taken the field as if it were any other playoff game. Yet, today baseball in Detroit was canceled. The first game I'm able to get out to this season didn't happen. I was finally going to see Justin Verlander pitch in person, but of course not. Now when I go to this particular game on September 10th it'll likely be Chad Durbin, Zach Miner or some other ~~ass-hole~~ never been who doesn't deserve his rotation spot toeing the rubber.

I'm even more unhappy about this because I made the 45 minute, or so trip down to Comerica Park. Despite listening to SPORTS RADIO during this entire 45+ minutes the cancellation was never mentioned. The local news channels that I was watching before leaving for the ballpark also failed to mention to this. So allow me to thank you local media. Yes, THANK YOU for wasting a quarter tank of my three dollar a gallon gas. Too Cold??? What a load of ~~shit~~ crap!

EVEN WORSE the damn Yankees played in the snow. The YANKEES! The most overpaid manicured bunch in the majors played in cold, snowy New York. Yet, TIGERS cannot? Why don't we call them the paper Tigers from now on and I'll buy this.

Let's be honest with ourselves here. This game was canceled because the Tigers knew that only 1-3,000 people were going to show up. Thus, they're not making any money. God forbid the rich don't get any richer. To think, I was excited to see a snow game. I should have figured Verlander couldn't pitch without any nice warm sand in his v........

The Glorious Guest Post: Sports, and Johnny Drama

2007-04-05T08:20:00.000-05:00

This is a guest post for Sports Show on Mute. I'm Ted, and you may know me better as a guy who writes here. If you don't, well, that's OK. For now I'm here, and that's the important thing.

As some of you may know, especially if you are inclined to watch sports on mute and thus occasionally find other programming worthy of your interest, HBO's power-packed lineup returns Sunday. While most of the attention is on The Sopranos - this is it, for real; the last nine episodes - will Tony be dead come June 8th? - perhaps some more attention should be focused on the other half of the Twin Towers for HBO, Entourage.

That's right: Vinnie, E, Johnny, and Turtle, along with Ari and company, are back for another eight episodes themselves. It's a show that's made countless 20something males feel absolutely miserable that their lives aren't like that, but it's also firmly established the hanger-on culture as pop culture relevant, even revered.

Aside from the show itself, there's no place in the world where the Hanger-On, Second Fiddle and Loving It gameplan comes into play like professional athletics. Consider this: once, many years ago, I was at a party at Georgetown. Makes a ton of sense, since I went there. Allen Iverson, then in his early days with the Sixers (post-crossing over Jordan, but pre-NBA Finals) showed up. He had, legitimately, 11 people with him. Honestly, maybe more. You wouldn't recognize a single face among them, unless you were from Newport News, VA or Washington, DC - and even then you wouldn't. But this is his posse. His entourage. In a similar, although more depressing vein, most surveyors of the Adam "Pac-Man" Jones situation say that his greatest undoing is his friends, and his need to provide for them. Purportedly, he was asked once: "If you could choose the NFL or your boys, what would you choose?" He responded in an instant. "My boys."

Everyone who's anyone in sports has an entourage. However, since I don't hang out with professional athletes (sigh), I can't really rank said groupings. What I can do, though, is take an assortment of four-person pairings from recent and past sports history and equate them to the HBO crew. Let's get poppin.

The Throwback: The 1971 Baltimore Orioles 20-Game Winners

You ever consider how rare this truly was? Four 20-game winners on one team, given how baseball is today? Impressive. I needed an old school throwback comparison, and this seemed random enough to just work.

No question that in this group, Jim Palmer is Vincent Chase. He's the first name that comes to your mind; whether it's the fact that he seems oddly out of place in modern society, perhaps even deranged, or the fact that he does those lending advertisments, he's still the first name on everyone's mind when it comes to the Orioles of this era. Since Vincent is the reason "Entourage" even exists, well, Palmer is him.

Eric would probably be Mike Cuellar. My logic here is that Mike Cuellar is the main character amongst the O's "Big Four" who could, to use the parlance of the industry, "hold his own storyline." He was the Co-AL Cy Young in '69, and he won 20 games four times in five seasons. He's in Baltimore's top five pitchers of all-time in virtually every relevant statistical category. Now, on Entourage itself, when the show isn't about Vincent or his movie deals, who is it usually about? Well, perhaps Drama and Turtle, but they tend to come as a package. Shows have been about "E" and his "man-caught-in-the-middle-of-fun-and-responsbility-almost-like-a-Greek-drama" package before. If it ain't about Palmer, it's about Cuellar; and if it ain't about Vinnie, it's about E.

The next two are a bit sadder, because Pat Dobson and Dave McNally are both deceased now. I'd vote McNally as Johnny Drama. Why? The sad part about McNally is that at the very end of his career, he became a free agent, but never got to actually experience what his freedom might have brought him. Drama's like that, too. He's a free agent in many respects, but because of his situation, and who his other peeps are (i.e. his brother), he never seems to experience it. Still, Drama is capable of big things - like McNally, who hit a Grand Slam in the 1970 World Series. And that leaves Dobson as Turtle. I'm not sure I can make a rational argument for that, except maybe this: Dobson ended his playing career on a down note in '77, going 3-12 with a 6.16 ERA. That's kind of like how Saigon did up Turtle, no?

A More Modern Example: Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Al Hoford, and Taurean Green

Talk about relevant. The first back-to-back national champion since the early 1990s? You know what's even better? These four cats (er, Gators) live together. They're suitemates. Just like the Entourage boys!

Joakim Noah is the leader, or so it seems. "We gon' do it all night, baby! All day and all night!" Um, what? Anyway, even though Horford might go higher in the draft, Noah is Vinnie Chase in this foursome. Their hairstyles are even vaguely similar.

"E" would probably be Taurean Green. Here's my logic: a) he's short, and so is Eric; b) he's the Gator most similar in terms of wordly problems to Green. See, on the Gators, Green is apparently the "wormy, nerdy, book-study" one. "You'll be more likely to find him on the couch than in the club," says Horford. Eric isn't a nerd, by any means, but that's his essential quandary at all times: is he the responsible guardian of his boys from home, or a wild man living out a dream on the West Coast? He's got no idea. You know Noah has brought him along when he's about to tag team two girls wearing a Japanese smoking robe, and Green's been like, "Well, err... ummm..."

Horford is Turtle: capable of so much, yet often overshadowed. They also both probably have mad officially licensed NBA gear in their closets; and I could see Horford ending up on the Knicks, kinda, so that makes it relevant too.

That leaves Brewer as Drama. This makes sense. See, as noted above, Drama is constantly in the shadow of his brother (more peeps discuss Noah than Brewer), but sometimes - sometimes - Brewer breaks out, like he did winning the '07 MOP. Drama breaks out too, occasionally. I mean, hell, he did that pilot once, right? Plus, don't they kind of have the same wiry-yet-beefy frame?

Another Modern Example: Beltran, Delgado, Reyes, and Wright

I'm honestly doubting that these four Mets - all of whom, and this is the best part, are legitimate MVP candidates in the NL - actually hang out. I'd be more inclined to think Wright does his own thing, or maybe pals around with Reyes, and then Beltran and Delgado are close. Although, I believe Delgado just had a kid, so he might be out of the loop all together. Regardless, none of 'em are probably like Ty Wigginton, who once stabbed his foot on glass at a NYC bar. Guess what, buddy? You're going to the Pirates. Take that.

I'd make Reyes into Vinnie here. He's hot (uh, I think I can say that...), he has movie star charisma, and he's redefining his position, in much the same way as Vince redefined the action hero for Aqua Man. Plus, you know Reyes has slept with at least one girl right before her wedding because he was on her list.

Wright becomes Eric. You know he's probably ending up with a girl as simeltaneously exotic and slutty as Sloan - I always thought that during Kris and Anna Benson's brief breakup, she would start sleeping with Wright - and I think he worries about his game enough that he doesn't want to be all wild. Again, the morality conundrum. It defines Eric, and it defines No. 5.

Delgado is Drama. Why? They both lift a lot, and no one paid nearly enough attention to Delgado until he took over in the playoffs last year. Then he got this big SI feature and a bunch of other articles, and suddenly he's the toast of the town. That has happened to Drama yet, but it will. It has to. For all of our sakes. All he needs is a big playoffs, er... some type of pilot with Kristy Swanson.

Thus, Beltran is Turtle. Not sure why this works other than process of elimination. However, wouldn't you like to be at a place in your life where you could call Carlos Beltran "Turtle" and get away with it? I would.

Last One: Dirk, Jason "The Jet" Terry, Josh Howard, and Jerry Stackhouse

You can pick a lot of examples on the Mavericks, the prohibitive favorite to get the latest sports monkey off their back. I even contemplated using Cuban and Avery. I'll save for that for later.

Dirk is Vince, no doubt. Dallas revolves around him, despite what Terrell Owens might think (or Michael Young, or whoever happens to be good on the Stars at a given point in time). He's the movie star, the leading man, whatever.

His wing man, in the truest sense, is Howard. This team got so much better since Josh Howard hit the floor running. He does almost everything right, and he's a classic story because no one wanted him except Wake, and then no one wanted him except Cuban. Eric always seems to be second fiddle to Vince, but he's still a man in his own right, and a cool one at that. He's J-Money.

Jason Terry is Turtle. Why? They both have a lot of shorts. Jason Terry sleeps in the shorts of his opponents before he plays 'em. I bet Turtle does that with whoever the Knicks are rumbling with the next night.

That leaves Jerry Stackhouse as Drama, which makes sense: was big at one point (Drama had a pilot, and Stackhouse once averaged 28 points in a year), and is now playing a smaller part contextually in life. I think Stackhouse might be a bit happier about it than Drama is, but if you sit around all day playing video games and fuckin' with James Woods, your life is still pretty sweet.

As a bonus for the Mavericks comparison, let's call Avery Johnson Lloyd. They kind of sound alike, no? And Mark Cuban can be Ari. I envision him doing push ups in a full suit in his office at 10:55am daily, telling Avery to hold his calls. Actually, there's no question in my mind that if Ari was a real life person, he'd probably be representing Mark Cuban in some capacity.

Superprogram A Reality?

2007-04-03T22:12:00.000-05:00

With the Gators-Buckeyes back-to-back championship finale's it seems many are ushering in the new era of big-time college athletics. Pat Forde sure is. An era in which the Superprogram finally becomes a reality. Gone are the days of schools who consider themselves either a basketball or a football school. Or are they? I would say those days are far from gone. Despite the Gators and Buckeyes recent two-way success it's unlikely to continue, or at least become the norm. The belief that a Superprogram can never truly exist is the main reason many think Billy Donovan is heading for Kentucky. Most coaches ego's are far to large for them to play second fiddle to another sport.

If being a Superprogram means duplicating what Florida and Ohio State have done this past year than its an emphatic no from where I'm sitting. If it's being consistently competitive in both sports then I think this era has been upon us for years. Florida's been competitive in football forever and for at least the last nine years or so have done the same on the hardwood. Texas has been solid in both sports for years but has never been called a Superprogram as far as I can remember. Despite the football team's National Championship last season to go along with the basketball team reaching the Elite Eight.

If the Superprogram is indeed a reality I'd imagine those one-way schools are in some trouble moving forward. If teams can consistently reach championship games in both sports in the same academic year, the Duke's of the world could have some difficulty recruiting. Wouldn't you think? If I were being recruited by two schools; one a Superprogram and the other a one-way program. Why in the world would I go to the one-way school? Wouldn't I rather go to an Ohio State just because of the possibility of being there when they pulled a Florida? I think I'd find it soothing to know that the football team was there to relieve some of the pressure if we don't get it done on the court. Or vice versa. Yet if I'm playing at Duke it's all us, all the time. If we fail the student body is disappointed until the next season tips. Because the football team surely won't do anything but disappoint. What if I'm at Auburn and we're once again spurned by the BCS. As basketball season rolls on everyone will still be talking about it. Why? Because the basketball team hasn't seen the NCAA Tournament but once since the War started.

I'll admit my theories are a bit flawed here, but I think the overall idea I'm going for works.

If you were playing football and were torn on whether to attend Auburn or Ohio State (regardless of where you live) wouldn't you head for Columbus?

NOTE: I hadn't seen Forde's article until Marco over at JCMJ mentioned it. Thanks to him for pointing me in that direction as it's a good read. And I probably would have missed it in the after game jumble.

Buckeyes and Gators lead the Megaprogram parade (ESPN)

Obvious Conclusions After Opening Day

2007-04-02T23:04:00.000-05:00

Now that opening day has come to a close it's pretty clear what's going to happen this season. From HR totals to CY Young winners. Here you go.

-Adam Dunn will hit 324 HR's (Renteria will get hurt and miss 20 games falling 40 HR's behind Dunn.)

-Miguel Cabrera will hit .750 with 648 RBI and 162 HR's and an .833 OBP

-Hanley Ramirez will score 648 runs and steal 324 bases to go along with 648 hits.

-Chris Burke will "leg out" 324 doubles.

-Tony Pena Jr. will put up just as many triples.

-Craig Monroe, Adam LaRoche, and Willy Taveras will each strike out 648 times.

-Ben Sheets and Gil Meche will win the CY Young's in their respective league's.

-Jose Contreras' 63.00 ERA will cause Ozzie Guillen to choke him.

-Solomon Torres will save 162 games for the Pirates.

-Carlos Zambrano will allow 324 HR's, 50 of them to Adam Dunn.

-Felix Hernandez will strike out 420 batters.

-The Tigers will return to the AL Central cellar as the Royals in an uplifting story win 100 games.

-The Red Sox will finish dead last in the AL East as the Yankees make it 10 strait.

-The Pirates will compete for a playoff spot.

-The Indians will put up a combined 2106 hits.

If Opening day really told us anything, Gil Meche would have probably already won a Cy Young.

Continuing the Pessimistic Approach

2007-04-02T16:23:00.000-05:00

I realize everyone on the planet is picking the Gators to once again dash the hopes of a state tonight. I, however, have a weird feeling the Buckeyes will get their vengeance. The fact that I somehow manage to always find a reason my team will lose. Rather than win should be noted. I like to consider myself a realist. But, recently I've discovered I may be more pessimistic than realistic. While I did pick the Gators in my original bracket I spent days trying to figure out who would beat them.

So continuing my pessimistic approach I'll take the Buckeyes over the Gators tonight. As fortunes reverse completely from the December match up and January football game.

Regardless though, all of Gator nation should appreciate the run this school has been on in both major sports as it's unlikely to be duplicated any time soon.

Why Not Rely On Some Devil Rays?

2007-04-01T13:17:00.000-05:00

A Saturday ago I drafted my first and only Fantasy Baseball team for the upcoming season. I, along with 11 others, will be apart of "Show & Tell W/ Sean Salisbury". Seal Clubbers is running the show and scheduled said draft for 5 P.M. eastern time. Until about 2-3 days before the draft I had forgotten all about it. I realize this is irresponsible on my part, but hey, shit happens. With that said I think it's obvious I had no real strategy for drafting my team at all. Instead I just woke myself up an hour or two before I probably would have. (I work midnights, thus I sleep days.) Came to my computer and entered the draft room a minute or two before my first pick. Looking at my team now I can't help but think I'm an idiot. Partially because I paid a little less attention to baseball's off-season than usual. I've been spending all of my free time with my mistress, March Madness. I'm not going to get into the fact that apparently the Braves are solid again, while Arizona and Milwaukee are division contenders. Never mind that let's get the debauchery that is my fantasy team.

I had the 9th pick of the opening round. When the time came just a few minutes removed from my slumber I debated between David Wright and Miguel Cabrera. In the end, I, of course, went with the Marlin. Drafting Cabrera as the cornerstone of my infield.

When my next pick rolled around #16 to be exact I finally landed a player I've wanted for years in Carl Crawford. My favorite Devil Ray will roam left field for this team.

It was a long wait after that and I began to wonder who I might get when pick 33 rolled around. To my surprise one of the best short stops in the league was sitting there, I quickly invited Michael Young onto the team bus.

When pick 40 came up a few moments after that I knew I had to take a pitcher. So I took my NL Cy Young favorite in Roy Oswalt.

The next time the draft pendulum swung my way I picked up Carlos Delgado(57) and John Smoltz(64) to guys I consider reliable. While Delgado isn't necessarily a top tier first basemen he has a lot of protection in the Mets lineup and should produce as usual.

At pick 81 I took my first closer with Huston Street. He should be solid if he can avoid injury and I'm as confident as one can be that he will stay healthy.

My next two picks had me laughing out loud, thankfully without the clever (HA!) online acronym staring me in the face. At pick 88 I went with Scott Kazmir who's fragile body could let me down. But he's got great stuff if his team could back him for once. At 105 I decided to take my first leap of the draft with Delmon Young. While I think Young has the potential to be great he also gave me my official team name. "TossMeTheBatDelmon!" I wanted it to be "Throw Me The Bat Delmon!" but its to many characters for Yahoo! to handle apparently. I wasn't sure what to think at this point having drafted THREE Devil Rays in the first nine rounds. Let alone back-to-back risks in Young and Kazmir.

I followed Young with a hometown favorite of mine (Who's first start I will be on hand to witness Thursday) in Justin Verlander. While I agree he may run into a sophomore slump and face some arm fatigue after last season. This was a leap I had to take as V as I like to refer to him as. Is one of my favorite players. Not to mention I didn't get Carlos Guillen so I have to have my other favorite Tiger, right?

Mike Cameron(129) and Ervin Santana(136) were the next to join my team. While I'm still iffy on the Cameron pick he had a decent year last year if I remember correctly. Santana doesn't strike out a lot of guys usually but he wins and I'll take that.

I decided to take the other half of the Rangers middle infield with Ian Kinsler(153) as my starting second basemen. While Paul Lo Duca(160) gets the honor of being my catcher for the second consecutive year. In Lo Duca's case I expect him to score a lot of runs which is enough. Kinsler should hit for average and I guess that will be enough. Wow. I'm going to finish last or close to it in this league.

Former Marlin AJ Burnett(177) was my next pick as I continued to put together a solid stable of starting pitchers. His injury past is a concern but when he's healthy he's usually good for 7-8 strikeouts a night. Mike Gonzalez(184) though is not the closer in Atlanta. I'll admit I knew that but took him anyway. Forgetting all about Rafael Soriano's presence in the bullpen in case of a Wickman breakdown. Gonzalez is a candidate for release as I need a second catcher.

After this I took one chance after another opting for youth and potential (bad idea) over reliable yet older (more fragile) guys. Below is the rest of my draft picks in order:

201. Stephen Drew
208. Willy Taveras (Has since been released in favor of Luke Scott as I had ZERO RF/LF backups outside of Victorino.)
225. Jhonny Peralta (Could be a steal!)
232. Adrian Gonzalez
249. Nate Robertson (Custom Oakley's anyone?)
256. Anibal Sanchez (Another reach, for sure.)
273. Edwin Encarnacion (He'll battle for the backup spot behind Cabrera.)
280. Shane Victorino (Could take Cameron's starting job.)
297. Nick Punto (One word: Versatility!)
304. Alex Gordon (Encarnacion's competition. Who I think will overtake him.)
321. Jason Jennings (He was solid in Coors. If he can avoid the short porch he'll be fine.)
328. Casey Kotchman (I think this is a steal in the 28th round. )
345. Chris B. Young ( Another ROY candidate on my roster.)
352. Luke Hochevar (Has been released in favor of Dustin Hermanson.)

So I need a backup catcher badly. Theres a good chance I'm going to be starving for saves with Street as my only reliable closer. Though Hermanson should be decent at least. I'm trying to drop Gonzalez for Solomon Torres but he apparently doesn't exist in the parallel universe that is Yahoo! Sports. I want to cut Punto but will then be without a backup 2B and that's not different than not having a catcher. Plus Punto has three position availability which is always nice.

In the end I anticipate my fantasy baseball season going over about as well as Delmon's bat toss did. Like a fart in a salon full of women. I tried to hold it back though. The youth movement that is.

UPDATE: Within minutes of posting this I found out the Reds had cut Dustin Hermanson. I picked up Ronny Paulino to fill the backup catcher spot.

CBB End Game

2007-03-30T19:23:00.000-05:00

We have reached the conclusion to the College Basketball Season as the Final Four starts in less than 24 hours. As much as I love the Final Four. I hate to see the CBB season end. End is exactly what it's going to do, however. Everyone is wondering who's going to win the whole enchilada and take home the bacon. And every other bad metaphor you can think of. If your one of those people you've come to the wrong place. I will oblige all six of my readers however and make my picks as I've done all along.

Florida Vs. UCLA
If Florida wins this game the odds of me getting caught with a shank on the way to the mess hall greatly increase. As a Gators fan I think my friends are getting tired of hearing about them. As far as the game goes I think it all really depends on the Brewer-Afflalo match up. If Brewer can completely remove Afflalo from the game like he did in last season's championship game the Gators would likely coast into the title game. Collision is certainly an upgrade over Farmar at the point and I expect him to have a big impact on the game. Another Key match up will be Collision-Green at the point. If Collision can frustrate Green and create turnovers with his defense the Gators could be in trouble. Otherwise I think Green will get his and the Gators will win. UCLA's defense was outstanding against Kansas and if they can keep the pressure up and get the Gators into foul trouble I think the Bruins win.

Prediction: UCLA
Hope: Gators

Ohio State Vs. Georgetown
This game will likely be decided by which big man stays on the court and out of foul trouble. I'd put my money on Oden as he's much more athletic than Hibbert and I'd imagine he'll give the G'town big man fits inside. As for the perimeter I like Ohio State there as well as Ron Lewis and Mike Conley have both been fantastic throughout the tournament and I'd expect that to continue. The only way G'town wins is if Jeff Green has a monster game on both ends of the floor. I just think OSU has too much for the Hoyas.

Prediction: Ohio State
Hope: Georgetown

If I don't get time to pick a Champion here ya go. I think Ohio State will win despite the fact that I thought they were soft and overrated all season. I'm not to happy about this thought. But what can you do?

Idiot Vs. Machine

2007-03-28T22:25:00.000-05:00

For my MLB season preview I have elected to put myself against my Xbox 360. The game of choice is MLB 2k7, which features some of the most realistic baseball graphics yet. My pride is likely to take another hit if and when I lose to a video game. I'll be checking in with these picks as the season progresses and finishes up. Just to see how far off I was. Shall we get on with the embarrassment?

*- Wildcard

AL EAST

Machine
Boston Red Sox 94-68
*New York Yankees 90-72
Toronto Blue Jays 82-80
Baltimore Orioles 79-83
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 61-101

Idiot
New York Yankees 92-70
Boston Red Sox 84-78
Toronto Blue Jays 79-83
Baltimore Orioles 67-95
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 60-102

Thoughts: The Machine goes out on a bit of a limb here taking the Red Sox to win the division outright. I on the other hand in all my spineless glory will take the Yankees. I think the pitching will be good enough and the offense is still stacked from top to bottom. If I had to put Clemens somewhere I'd be in New York. I expect the Blue Jays to finish close to 2nd but miss out on a top 2 spot once again. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Devil Rays finish 4th and drop the O's into the cellar.

AL CENTRAL

Machine
Detroit Tigers 94-68
Minnesota Twins 84-78
Chicago White Sox 82-80
Cleveland Indians 75-87
Kansas City Royals 72-90

Idiot
Detroit Tigers 99-63
*Cleveland Indians 94-68
Minnesota Twins 88-74
Chicago White Sox 81-81
Kansas City Royals 66-96

Thoughts: A little bit of bias here as I live In Detroit and am an avowed Tigers fan. With that said I just don't think Cleveland has the pitching to win the division. While its possible the Tigers pitching staff has a hangover ala the White Sox last season. I don't think it'll happen and I like the addition of Sheffield and resigning of Casey a lot. I know Sheff's old but as power bat is all the Tigers needed. I think the Indians will slug their way into the playoffs but I still do not like the bullpen a whole lot. I think the Twins will miss Liriano and Radke a great deal as Garza and Johan will not be enough on the hill. The Sox I think will still struggle a little bit finishing forth. But considering the strength of the division and how often they'll play their divisional foes this isn't too bad. I almost penciled in KC as the last place team in the AL but I think they'll be just a little better than Tampa.

AL WEST

Machine
Seattle Mariners 89-73
Oakland Athletics 81-81
Texas Rangers 80-82
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 74-88

Idiot
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 88-74
Oakland Athletics 86-76
Texas Rangers 80-82
Seattle Mariners 77-85

Thoughts: While I don't have them quite reaching 90 wins I think the Angels will be a lot like last years Tigers squad. The top of the rotation should be good with Colon, Lackey, Santana and Weaver. The Machine goes a different direction with the Mariners finishing at the top while the Angels bring up the rear. The A's could steal this division if Crosby and Harden can stay healthy.

NL EAST

Machine
New York Mets 94-68
Washington Nationals 88-74
Atlanta Braves 87-75
Florida Marlins 72-90
Philadelphia Phillies 68-94

Idiot
New York Mets 91-71
*Philadelphia Phillies 89-73
Florida Marlins 77-85
Atlanta Braves 76-84
Washington Nationals 62-100

Thoughts: I think the Mets will regress slightly this season as their pitching woes continue. They should have went harder after Zito in the off-season to solidify the rotation. The offense will carry them once again as they narrowly escape an improving Phillies team to win the division. The Phillies I think are a year away from winning the division but they should be very good this year. All the walks Ryan Howard's going to get should have the Bonds effect on the offense. The machine surprises again here picking the Nationals to finish in second place just ahead of the Braves. I'm making a bit of a leap with the Marlins but I think if the pitching is anywhere near as good as it was during the second half last season the Marlins will compete to the end again.

NL CENTRAL

Machine
Houston Astros 87-75
Chicago Cubs 80-82
Milwaukee Brewers 80-82
Cincinnati Reds 77-85
St. Louis Cardinals 77-85
Pittsburgh Pirates 70-92

Idiot
Houston Astros 85-77
Milwaukee Brewers 83-79
St. Louis Cardinals 81-81
Chicago Cubs 80-82
Cincinnati Reds 70-92
Pittsburgh Pirates 67-95

Thoughts: I think the Astros offense will finally be better with the addition of Carlos Lee. They'll be the last team standing in the worst division in baseball when all is said and done. I think the Brewers make a solid run but just miss the playoffs. The Cardinals will slide as Wainwright and Carpenter are not enough on the mound. The Machine seems to agree this is a bad division as we pick the majority of it the same.

NL WEST

Machine
San Diego Padres 93-69
*San Francisco Giants 89-73
Los Angeles Dodgers 78-84
Arizona Diamondbacks 77-85
Colorado Rockies 76-86

Idiot
Los Angeles Dodgers 89-73
San Diego Padres 84-78
Arizona Diamondbacks 81-81
San Francisco Giants 80-82
Colorado Rockies 76-86

Thoughts: The Machine seems to think this is a big year for the NL West as it send two teams into the playoffs. I like the Dodgers a lot this year as I think they'll improve over last season's first round playoff exit. I expect the pitching to be at least as good as it was last year and for Nomar and Co. to continue to get on base regularly. Padres could also win the division as they have solid top of the rotation starters and an up-and-coming young bat in Adrian Gonzalez.

Playoffs

American League
Machine
Round 1
Yankees over Tigers in 5
Mariners sweep Red Sox
Round 2
Yankees over Mariners in 4

Idiot
Round 1
Tigers over Angels in 5
Yankees over Indians in 4
Round 2
Tigers over Yankees in 7

National League
Machine
Round 1
Mets over Padres in 5
Padres sweep Astros
Round 2
Padres over Mets in 7

Idiot
Round 1
Mets over Astros in 4
Dodgers over Phillies in 5
Round 2
Dodgers over Mets in 6

World Series
Machine
Yankees over Padres in 5

Idiot
Tigers over Dodgers in 6

Thoughts: The machine in no real shock takes the Yankees over a surprising Padres team. I like to very similar teams to meet in the World Series this year in LA and Detroit. I also like the Angels a lot because of their pitching and if they can get consistent production from the young bats they could be representing the AL in the series. In a bit of a homer pick I took the Tigers in six.

Awards

American League
Machine
MVP - Manny Ramirez
Cy Young - Mike Mussina
Reliever Of The Year - B.J. Ryan
Rookie Of The Year - Kei Igawa (NYY)

Idiot
MVP - Carlos Guillen
Cy Young - John Lackey
Reliever Of The Year - Fernando Rodney
Rookie Of The Year - DICE-K!! (BOS)

National League
Machine
MVP - Jose Reyes
Cy Young - Noah Lowry
Reliever Of The Year - Brad Lidge
Rookie Of The Year - Matt Albers (HOU)

Idiot
MVP - Albert Pujols
Cy Young - Roy Oswalt
Reliever Of The Year - Takashi Saito
Rookie Of The Year - Chris Young (ARZ)

Thoughts: Rather than go with what seems to be the norm and take Alex Gordon for AL rookie I took a chance on Dice-K. I also like Delmon Young a lot but I'm not sure he qualifies. Going out a a small limb with my AL picks as I took Carlos Guillen for MVP and John Lackey for Cy Young. I would rather take a chance that take Johan like everyone is. I like Jeremy Bonderman and Roy Halladay a lot this year as well. In the NL the Machine has some inspired picks with Noah Lowry winning the Cy Young. If that happens I'll defecate in my pants. The Reliever of the year category is a complete shot in the dark. It's only here because it was one of the top awards on the game.

That's it for me. I should be back in the next day or two with my final four thoughts among other things.

Linkfest!: Kobe Wants The Ball

2007-03-23T18:34:00.000-05:00

Signal To Noise knows that Kobe wants the damn ball. So give it to him. (Signal To Noise)

Hurricanes Are For Drinking doesn't have a lot of interest in Fantasy Dancing With The Stars. (Hurricanes Are For Drinking)

A Price Above Bip Roberts has a letter for Tubby Smith. (A Price Above Bip Roberts)

Mini Me thinks its time to fire Danny Ainge. (WBRS Sports Blog)

OMDQ is fine with Papelbon closing if... (One More Dying Quail)

So Much For Clutch

2007-03-23T00:12:00.000-05:00

Well I looked good for about 25 minutes on the Tennessee game but what can you do when a team blows a 20 point lead? Tennessee gave a valiant effort but the fact is their shooters just didn't stay hot. Vanderbilt could be in the very same situation tomorrow and I wouldn't be at shocked. Same goes for Oregon, Butler, and UNLV as well. Ohio State is clearly vulnerable though and I wouldn't be at all shocked if Memphis knocks them off in the Elite 8.

Kansas and Memphis should be thanking whoever it is they thank for those missed layups. Acie Law's missed layup, like it not, cost his team the game. That, however, was not even the worst part of the game. The worst part was sitting in my car trying to listen to it on Chicago A.M. 1000 (I live in MI). It went from sounding great to nothing but static every three to four seconds. I still cannot figure out WHY the Red Wings game was on TWO channels while the tourney games were not on any of the local sports channels. It still baffles me to this very minute. Not to mention listening to it for the 4-5 minutes it took them to figure out the clock situation. Law had a great career though and I look forward to watching him play for money.

As far as the Salukis go not only did Matt Shaw miss a layup but Jamaal Tatum missed the wide open follow. If the Salukis get that bucket theirs a very good chance they pull off the upset and go on to play UCLA. In what would have without a doubt been one or the ugliest games ever played for the right to advance to the Final Four. The Kansas-UCLA game should be interesting though I like Kansas. I think they have a defense that's arguably just as good as UCLA's and a much better offense.

If tonight was any indication tomorrow games should all be very good with the exception of one. Which of those games will mirror the Pitt-UCLA game I have no idea. I'll let you all know after all the game are over.

As far as the Tubby Smith move to Minnesota goes I really don't know what to think. Tubby got out to avoid a future axing it appears. He wasn't going to get fired this year though as Kentucky would have had to pay him 4 million to do that. Minnesota though? They haven't been any good since Bobby "Action!" Jackson was running the show. The Michigan job I thought would have made more sense for him but what do I know? Your right. Nothing. Michigan according to the local sports radio outlets appears interested in Lon Kruger.

Who's declared for the draft so far you ask? Two people NO ONE cares about. Glen Davis is probably a second round pick at best. He could be a solid pro in time ala Jason Maxiell here in Detroit but I think he'd be better served to go back to school. His size really turns "scouts" off. OK that sounded dirty. I feel the same way about Josh McRoberts who only hurt himself this season. He should have come out last year. Now he needs to stay. He's said he's hiring an agent though, so he obviously coming out. Their are too many big men in the draft this season if all those expected to come out do so. I don't think Josh reacts well to criticism and his NBA career will be less entertaining than the LPGA.

Steve Lavin quit calling EVERYONE big a LOAD. Your making Rick Majerus look brilliant which is a tough pull. That's it I'm done.

Sweet 16 Picks

2007-03-22T13:19:00.000-05:00

#1 Kansas Vs. #4 Southern Illinois
This game has the potential to be ugly to watch given the defensive prowess of both teams. I'd love to say SIU will win but I just don't know if they can score enough to keep up with the Jayhawks. Especially with Matt Shaw likely to miss this game. My guess is Brandon Rush slows down Jamaal Tatum and Julian Wright does the same to Randal Falker and Jayhawks win by 10+.

#2 UCLA Vs. #3 Pittsburgh
This one should be even more unpleasant to watch than the Kansas-SIU game as neither of these teams score a whole lot. It's all defense and no offense in this one. Pittsburgh as far as I'm concerned is not very good and Aaron Gray is ineffective more often than he's effective. With that said I think the Bruins score just enough to advance.

#1 Ohio State Vs. #5 Tennessee
When these two teams played earlier this season the Buckeyes won a highly contested game by two points. Chris Lofton shot badly yet they still only lost by two. The Vols can win this game and I'd love to see them do it. Greg Oden is the key to this game. If his teammates get him involved early and keep him involved throughout I think the Buckeyes could dominate in this one. If the Vols are successful in pulling Oden out of the paint with Wayne Chism then the Vols have a very good chance to win. I say Lofton plays better and Tennessee sends home the first #1 seed this year.

#2 Memphis Vs. #3 Texas A&M
This one should be a lot like the Memphis-UCLA game in the Elite 8 last season. All defense and not a whole lot of offense. That game came down to who made plays late in the game. If I had to pick one guy to rely on late in a game I'd be the obvious choice Acie Law IV. If Joseph Jones establishes himself against Joey Dorsey and Dominique Kirk contributes even half of what he did against Louisville then the Aggies could win easily.

#1 North Carolina Vs. #5 Southern California
If anyone has the defense and offense needed to knock off the Heels the Trojans may be it. They showed in the Texas game they can take one player out of the game. If the Trojans can slow down Ty Lawson and keep this game in the half court I like their chances. UNC struggles defensively from time to time in the half court and this is USC's best shot to knock them off. When all is said and done though I think Lawson will get his team up and down the court at a fast enough tempo for the Heels to win. It'll be close all the way but I just think the Heels have to much.

#2 Georgetown Vs. #6 Vanderbilt
In beating Florida earlier this season Vandy showed they're shooting can negate any size. Will they shoot up near 60% though? I doubt it even as good as Derrick Byars has played I just don't see Vandy shooting well enough to pull this off. They have virtually no size and Roy Hibbert should dominate if he tries to. This one should look a lot like the match up earlier this season when G'town won by 16.

#1 Florida Vs. #5 Butler
This one really comes down to Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey's shooting. When they shoot poorly Florida loses and looks bad doing it. When they shoot well the Gators are virtually unbeatable. If those two shoot well the Gators should roll in this one. If they don't as they haven't recently the Gators could be in for a dog fight and it could come down to who makes plays down the stretch of the game. I won't be shocked if Butler does win this game but I think Florida will shoot well enough to advance.

#3 Oregon Vs. #7 UNLV
This could turn out to be the best game of the Sweet 16 as both of these teams like to shoot it from three. If they're both shooting well this one could end up in the high 80's and Oregon probably wins. Because when Oregon's hot they're on fire there seems to be really no in between. Wendell White will be the key to this game as he must penetrate and create for his teammates like he did in the two previous game if they're going to win. Kruger needs to shoot well from outside as well. I think UNLV has enough size to cause a few problems for the Ducks and they can certainly shoot it with them. I like the Rebels despite my bracket.

I only took two upsets here but I wouldn't be shocked if their were as many as four as we cut down to eight. Outside of UNLV and Tenn I think Butler, USC and Vandy can all win as well. No matter who wins the A&M-Memphis game it's not an upset so I didn't count that one. Anyhow I'm off to do homework. I'll be posting a little more next week.

Ahhh... That was better.

2007-03-19T18:21:00.000-05:00

For everything the opening round was not (exciting mainly) the second round was. Saturday had three overtime games, one of which was double overtime. Sunday had larger point spreads but still some solid games overall. The only way the second round was any better is if VCU completes the comeback with a win over Pitt on Saturday night. That and Florida knocks off Purdue by 60 but you don't always get what you want right? My issues with the CBS coverage continued though as with good games comes more mishandling. My Final Four is still intact though I'm not doing well overall. That's alright though as the games have been exciting over the past few days and that's all you can really ask for. Some other thoughts:

-The Greg Oden no-call highlighted the early games on Saturday. While on one hand I wish they would have called the Flagrant foul at the same time I do not like the Officials deciding games. But at some point the refs have to quit swallowing their whistles no mater what happens. They did, however, have no issue calling the last second foul in the Pitt-VCU game. (I found this interesting as I watched UNC get one call after another against Michigan State.) Levance Fields choked away those last second free throws but it didn't matter as Pitt won in OT.

-But is starting to shoot better and I can see them knocking off the Gators. The Gators would have to shoot poorly again and continue to play as if they're going to win regardless of effort. Watching Florida play is mind boggling to me as the talent is certainly there. This switch flipping is going to backfire on them sooner, rather than later as I see a possibility they miss the Final Four. You heard it here first though folks, Florida will not repeat as National Champions.

-CBS' brilliant coverage of the Vanderbilt-Washington State game still has me confused. This game went to double overtime yet I was not allowed watch but the end of regulation, OT 1 and then the majority of the second OT. I only got to watch the second OT because BC-G'town had ended.

-The Aggies have got to be excited about next year even without Acie Law. Dominique Kirk and Joseph Jones will be a formidable combo next season and they should still be a top-10 caliber team. How about Kirk on Saturday though? He knocked down one shot after another in route to a career high 21 points in the biggest game of his life. He played all 40 minutes of the game yet never really looked tired. Law was great but Kirk was the difference in the Aggies win over Louisville.

-UNC and UCLA both closed Saturday impressively by letting two teams they should beat easily hang around. UCLA probably looked worse as they let Indiana make a 16-3 run to tie the game with one minute left. The Bruins held on but how do you let this happen? Looked like they were just coasting to the finish line and I, for one, wish it would have cost them. In UNC"s case MSU was just out manned or they would have probably sprung the upset of the weekend. I said Neitzel would need forty and I was right as 40 for him would have sent the game to overtime at least. Did anyone else think it was wrong that Drew's dad made him do everything with his off-hand when he was 5 for a future basketball career? Borderline child abuse I'd say.

-I don't know if Southern Illinois can beat Kansas but I very impressed with their win over Virgina Tech. Maybe it's a good thing Illinois choked away the win in round 1 as the Illinois-SIU game could have been a brutal watch. Kansas probably has too many weapons but I'll be rooting for the Salukis.

-It's hard not to like UNLV after watching them blow a sizable lead against Wisconsin but still comeback and win. They never panicked and I think it's safe to say Lon Krueger will be coaching at a Big 6 school by next season.

-USC's Tim Floyd deserves an Oscar for his game plan against Texas. He took DJ Augustin out of the game eliminating Durant's sidekick and completely negating Durant's 30 points. Their was never any doubt USC was going to win that game. I wasn't shocked they won but I was very surprised how dominating they were. I won't be surprise din the least if they knock off the Tar Heels this weekend.

-Tennessee can actually win even when Lofton has an off night which has to be encouraging for the Vols. Lofton was 4-16 from the field on Sunday (though he still had 20) yet his team still came back from a halftime deficit to knock off the Cavs. Sean Singletary's 4-14 outing certainly helped though. The Vols re-match with Ohio State should be a good one as OSU won by 2 in Columbus earlier this year.

-Ohio State may actually be better without Greg Oden. Remember they gave UNC all they could handle before Oden returned from injury earlier this season. After Oden fouled out they definitely played better. I think it has more to do with the fact that Conley is better when he's the first option. Rather than them being a better team without the big man.

-The ACC (UNC) and Big Ten (Ohio State) have got to be disappointed as they each have one team remaining while the Pac-10 (Oregon, UCLA, and USC) and SEC (Florida, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee) each have three. I thought the ACC was over hyped all year and I'd say this proves that. I still have no idea how the Big Ten got 6 bids in the first place. They showed decently in the opening round and I think MSU, Purdue and Indiana will all be even better going forward. Wisconsin was disappointing but it was expected by nearly everyone after the Butch injury. I felt like regardless of who won the GT-UNLV game they'd beat Wisco and that's exactly what happened.
-The best game of the Sweet 16 should be the Memphis-Texas A&M game on Thursday evening. I anticipate a similar contest to the Memphis-UCLA game last year. A slow it down defensive team against a run n' gun team usually results in quality viewing.

That's it for me today. I'll be back tomorrow with some linkage and at some point before Thursday I'll make my Sweet 16 picks.

Well this has sucked

2007-03-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

I don't just say that because today I went from either leader, or near leader in all of my pools to very near the cellar. In the two blog pools I'm completely ok with that because those guys (and girls) watch games and seem to know what they're talking about. But in my two personal pools, not so much. The current leaders in both of those pools have all chalk and that's it and this is why I'm losing. Because I take chances and truly look at match ups. These people watch two Michigan State games this year and then pick based on seeding. Those are the people who are supposed to be punished for wasting their money at this time in the year. Those non-fans who just try to make a quick buck but never pull it off. Well this year is the year of casual fan. The year of the Big Six conferences. The only upsets we'll be seeing will involve one "Major" knocking off another in the later rounds. The only two exceptions to that would be VCU and Winthrop who could win the Midwest the way things look right now. They did take Wisconsin to overtime this season remember. Their game with Oregon should favor them and it won't be a surprise if they win again.

After two days here are your upset total ladies and gentlemen: FIVE! Three of which are 9 seeds beating 8's. Which don't even count. Those are pick em's just like the 7-10's.

If you want to talk to me about SIU, Butler, Nevada and UNLV then you deserve to be slapped. All of those teams were the higher seed and a win by them at this point isn't really an upset. Some will claim if Nevada knocks off Memphis (they won't) or UNLV beats Wisconsin (they will) that those are upsets. Well they're not, sorry. Wisconsin isn't very good hence my Ga. Tech pick. I believe I said in my picks I thought whoever won the Ga. Tech-UNLV game would beat Wisconsin. After the stellar performance Wisconsin had today I think that's a legitimate thought.
I don't mind not winning any of my pools, thats fine. But to mostly "Hey a 1 is better than a 16 right?" kind of guys bothers me. Maybe I over analyzed or maybe Illinois just choked so hard I think Deron Williams coughed. I'll admit the Arkansas and Albany picks were probably more wishful thinking than anything. Moving on from my "I'm going to lose my pool and I'm wanted that $100 rant."

The tournament has still been horrible this year anyway you slice it. Even if I was looking at a perfect bracket I wouldn't be happy with this. IF VCU and Winthrop both miss out on the sweet 16 I may need Florida to win the whole thing to satisfy me this season. Last season it wasn't needed, this year it is. The best part of the tournament is watching some team you didn't even know existed beat the Duke's of the world. (VCU doesn't quite fit this category.)

Anyway I'm done complaining. It's just frustrating when the biggest sporting event of the year for me personally has sucked at this magnitude. Only 9 of 32 games decided by less than double digits what a joke. Now looking at tomorow's second round games...

Winners In BOLD (well who I think will win anyway)
#9 Xavier V #1 Ohio State - It'll be close though.
#4 Maryland V #5 Butler - Pace should dictate the winner here.
#6 Louisville V #3 Texas A&M - Only because I have them as National Runner-Up.
#6 Vanderbilt V #3 Washington State - I truly do not know so I'll take Wazzu because they're the higher seed.
#7 Boston College V #2 Georgetown - Dudley probably gets into foul trouble again.
#11 Virgina Commonwealth V #3 Pittsburgh - A VCU win could save this years tournament for me.
#7 Indiana V #2 UCLA - UCLA's D should be too much but I think Indiana can keep it close.
#9 Michigan State V #1 North Carolina - Lets hope MSU can end the day on a high note. I doubt it.

That's it for me. If you actually read the entire rant tan you deserve a gold star. Anyone else feeling like this years tournament has been disappointing so far?

Day 1 Impressions

2007-03-16T00:41:00.000-05:00

My prediction of an upset heavy tourney seems way off thus far as only one true upset took place on Thursday. That one upset was a great one, however. Eric Maynor is the reason I picked VCU to advance to the Sweet 16 and on Thurday he did not disappoint. Let me just say though, I hate CBS. I don't care where I live when MSU is up by 20 and Duke is up by 2, I do not need to see the end of the MSU game. They didn't cut to VCU-Duke until the MSU-Marq game was under a minute. Hating Duke has never felt so good. My brother who doesn't follow college hoops at all seemed a little shocked at my excitement in the closing minutes of the Duke-VCU game. Some people just don't understand do they?

Other thoughts:

-Louisville was very impressive against Stanford. I know it's hard to play an east coast game in the morning for west coast teams but that was brutal. My Runner-up Texas A&M is in for a dog fight on Saturday. I'll nervously be watching that one with my fingers crossed.

-Vanderbilt also looked very good in their complete domination of George Washington. If Vandy comes out that hot on Saturday Washington State may not have a chance.

-My biggest upset picks take place tomorrow as I have Illinois, Creighton, and Georgia Tech all winning and advancing to the Sweet 16. Plus Albany and Arkansas picking up one win.

-In my main Bracket (JMCJ Blog Pool, and two work pools) I have the above picks and today I missed on BYU, Old Dominion and Texas Tech.

-I have to slap myself for the ODU pick after picking Butler on this very blog earlier this week.

-Let's all hope that the favorites start losing with a little more consistency. The NBA rule's affect is clear so far. All those potential Lottery picks having to go to school appears to have widened the gap for the time being. I expect it to close dramatically over the next few years though. More and more should be Blue Devils will end up at Davidson and the like. The future of college basketball should be exciting even if this years tournament lacks the upset punch that made last years so special.

-UNC may lose earlier than many expected. They let EKU back into the game before blowing them out all over again. I expect the Spartans to give them a run for their money come Saturday.

-On my Awful Announcing bracket I'm perfect with the exception of Texas Tech. My thirst for Bob Knight quotes seems to have blinded me on that one.

-Xavier will give Ohio State a game on Saturday, I'm certain of that.

-If your looking for a place to catch the game at work and you don't wanna pay for MMOD check out all the live blogging going on at WBRS Sports Blog and Awful Announcing.

I'm sure I'm missing some things that I wanted to mention here but I can't wait for tomorrow non the less.

A few questions for all six of you readers. How does your bracket look after one day? What do you see happening on Saturday? Do you think VCU can not only beat Pitt but stun UCLA?

East and South Regions Plus the FInal Four

2007-03-14T22:54:00.001-05:00

Alright it's time to take a look at the last two regions just 12 hours before the first game. The two regions below are probably the two toughest to pick as I think the #1 seeds road is tougher (UNC) or their overrated (Ohio State). I consider these two regions the hardest to pick because of my lack of faith in both of the #1 seeds. Yet in Ohio State's case the question becomes, who in the hell is going to beat them before the Elite 8? Here's what I've got:

East

1st Round

#1 North Carolina - #16 Eastern Kentucky
Unfortunately for EKU UNC will absolutely walk here. Thanks for coming I guess.

#8 Marquette - #9 Michigan State
They're saying Jerel McNeal will not play in this game. With that in mind I'm taking the Spartans as McNeal the Big East defensive player of the year would have given Drew Neitzel fits. With him out I expect Neitzel to play well and will his team into the 2nd round.

#5USC - #12 Arkansas
I'm taking the Razorbacks here as I think their size up front will be the difference. As long as Charles Thomas is at 90% after injury his ankle against Floirda I think the Hogs can will pull this one off.

#4 Texas - #13 New Mexico State
I really liked Reggie Theus' team this season but unfortunately they've drawn the best player in the country. Durant will not let his team go down in round 1 and the Horns will advance. Don't be shocked however if The Aggies make it a close one.

#11 George Washington - #6 Vanderbilt
This appears to be the trendy first round upset pick among blogger's. I won't be biting as I think Derrick Byars will play well and the overall athleticism of Vandy will be too much for GW.

#3 Washington State - #14 Oral Roberts
I like Caleb Green a lot and I think the Golden Eagles can definitely win this game behind Green and Ken Tutt. With that said I'm going to take Washington State as I got to watch them play a few times this season and I think their defense will play well enough to win. This one, however, could go either way.

#7 Boston College - #10 Texas Tech
The two arguably worst teams from their conferences to receive bids to the tournament square off here. I greatly dislike them both in round 2 so I'll take Tech with the hope that Bob Knight is his usual candid self during the round 2 interview session.

#2 Georgetown - #15 Belmont
This should be an hard game to watch as the much bigger Hoyas will likely dominate Belmont. Here's to hoping its not the game that's on in my area.

Round 2
Well after my power flashed and I lost these picks. Lets do them again shall we.

#1 North Carolina - #9 Michigan State
Assuming Drew Neitzel doesn't score forty points I think North Carolina rolls here. The Spartans are going to need to dominate the glass as well something I consider unlikely. This season's Spartan team lacks the experience to close the talent gap between them and the Heels. UNC could walk in this one but it'll be competitive early.

#4 Texas - #12 Arkansas
The hogs won't have anyone who can even slow Durant down let alone stop him. I think he score in the neighborhood of 30 as Texas advances to the Sweet 16.

#3 Washington State - #6 Vanderbilt
This one should be a good one as I think Vandy will shoot well enough to keep it close and maybe even win. The Cougars will have too much defense and Derrick Low is the reason I'm going with them.

#2 Georgetown - #10 Texas Tech
The Hoyas finish a rather pedestrian first weekend with a win here. Though I do think the Hoyas are in for a let down as Jay Bilas picked them to win the whole thing. Rooting for a blowout though so and hoping Knight gets asked a stupid question.

Sweet 16

#1 North Carolina - #4 Texas
This one has instant classic written all over it. Numerous future NBA stars will face off for the right to go to the Elite 8. Now that the build up is over with I can make my pick. Until tonight I was sure that Texas would win this game. I now think UNC will get it done. They have plenty of athletic guys that they can throw at Kevin Durant to try and slow him down. I expect this one to be a lot like the two Kansas games as Texas falls short just barely.

#2 Georgetown - #3 Washington State
This could be a very interesting game as Washington State's up and down style could take the Hoyas out of their comfort zone. If the Hoyas can keep it slow their size should dominate the Cougars inside. I expect the latter to be the case as Georgetown wins in a surprisingly close one.

Elite 8

#1 North Carolina - #2 Georgetown
After playing a tough Texas team just two days earlier UNC comes out flat and gets down early as Jeff Green puts his team on his back in the early going. Johnathan Wallace and Patrick Ewing Jr. provide much needed energy for the Hoyas as Roy Hibbert spends a lot of the game on the bench in foul trouble. In the end I think its a little too much Green for the Heels as Georgetown manages to dodge the kiss of death that is Jay Bilas and knocks off a tired UNC team to reach the Final Four.

South

First Round

#1 Ohio State - #16 Central Connecticut State
Greg Oden should have a big day against the other Blue Devils as the Buckeyes advance.

#8 BYU - #9 Xavier
A lot of people like Xaveir here but I'm taking Keenen Young is the real deal inside and the Cougars will advance in what should be a pretty close game.

#5 Tennessee - #12 Long Beach State
As much as I hate Tennessee I think Chris Lofton will show up and be ready to go for this one. These two teams play a very similar style on both ends of the floor so it should feel like practice for them both. I think LB will keep it close but I like Lofton and the Vols to advance and avoid the dreaded 12-5 upset.

#4Virgina - #13 Albany
The Great Danes almost knocked off UCONN in the first round of last season's tournament and returned their best player. I expect Jamar Wilson to have a big day as Albany knocks off the over seeded Cavaliers. I know Sean Singletary is a fantastic player but it's his 39% shooting percentage that scares me and is a big part of the reason for my pick.

#6 Louisville - #11 Stanford
Stanford is among the last four in like Illinois and Arkansas two teams I've picked to advance past the opening round. Stanford is where it ends as I expect Louisville in Lexington to take advantage of the hometown crowd and advance to the second round.

#3 Texas A&M - #14 Pennsylvania
The Aggies shouldn't have a lot of problems here as I think they're the best team in the region. It's their second round game where I have concerns.

#7 Nevada - #10 Creighton
I've noticed a lot of people are hopping onto the Nevada bandwagon over the last few days. All I have to say about that is watch your step as your jumping right back off. The Wolf Pack play absolutely NO defense and they come into the tournament in a bit of a slump. I expect Creighton's to stifle the Pack's shooters and and Anthony Tolliver to push Nick Fazekas around inside.

#2 Memphis - #15 North Texas
Memphis blew one Conference USA team after another out of the water this season. I expect this to be similar to those games as Memphis walks moves on to round 2.

Second Round

#1 Ohio State - #8 BYU
I almost want to take the Cougars here as I think their big's will give Oden trouble. Conley Jr and co. will be a little too much on the perimeter for the Cougars.

#5 Tennessee - #13 Albany
I think Chris Lofton continues to shoot the lights out in this one as he's got to be looking forward to that rematch with the Buckeyes in the Sweet 16.

#3 Texas A&M - #6 Louisville
This may be the toughest game The Aggies will face before the Elite 8. Louisville's youngsters create all kinds of problems the fact that the game is in Lexington is only one of them. I think Derrick Caracter falls off the wagon and Acie Law's refusal to let his team lose in the 2nd round again this year is enough to get A&M into the Sweet 16.

#10 Creighton - #2 Memphis
Here's an upset for you my second #10 seed to advance to the Sweet 16 is the Blue Jays. They outlast their MVC counterpart SIU and reach the Sweet 16. I think they're defense and is just too much for Memphis. It'll be close but the Tigers will miss a bunch of free throws and allow the Jays to steal it.

Sweet 16

#1 Ohio State - #5 Tennessee
While the Buckeyes have improved a great deal since these two met in Columbus on January 13th (The Buckeyes got a controversial 2 point win). I think Tennessee has a great shot to knock off the #1 seed. In the end however I think the Buckeyes size inside will be a little too much as they squeak out another close one.

#3 Texas A&M - #10 Creighton
This one should be all defense a very little offense. Nate Funk and Acie Law would be a fun match up to watch. In the end I think the Aggies win. This team is on a mission.

Elite 8

#1 Ohio State - #3 Texas A&M
This one will be very good and I think it could go either way, like most of the late round match ups. Joseph Jones and Antanas Kavaliauskas are bangers inside and will give Oden fits. On the perimeter Acie Law's defense is likely to do the same to Mike Conley. It'll be close though and an interesting tidbit about Law from Yahoo.com: " If Law's scoring in the final four minutes of Big 12 games was projected over 40 minutes, he'd average 63 ppg." That right there is the difference folks as A&M advances to the Final Four.

Final Four

#1 Florida - #2 UCLA
A re-match of last season's title game seems inevitable looking at the brackets. I for one am excited to see if this season's Bruin squad can make this one a little closer than they did last year. Having a week to prepare will certainly help Ben Howland's group. I just think Al Horford and Noah inside are too much for a Bruins team that really doesn't have an inside presence at all. Corey Brewer should give Aaron Afflalo fits once again as the Gators get back to the championship game.

#3 Texas A&M - #2 Georgetown
This one is the toughest call of of the two final four match up. After very little thought I decided to go with my heart and take the Aggies. Seeing their second seven footer in under a week won't seem like such a big deal after dispatching the better one the previous weekend. I think Acie Law is on a mission and his taking his team mates along for the ride. Green should continue his good play here but I think Hibbert disappears and A&M commands the inside with its two big men men.

National Championship

#1 Florida - #3 Texas A&M
For me its been between these two since the Aggies knocked off my third contender Kansas on the road a month or so ago. A&M had no business wining that game but they did and that's a big part of the reason I want to pick them here. I however, will not be doing that as Florida's balance will be just too much. I think Horford takes home tourney MVP this time around as he and Humphrey must play well for them to even think about pulling this off. I'm hoping they do find a way to get it done. But I won't be shocked if Texas A&M walks out of Atlanta with the trophy.

That's it for me. I'm generally pretty good at picking Final Four teams. Its getting the champion right I'm not too good at. Enjoy the Madness all, I know I will.

Midwest and West Region Previews

2007-03-13T20:22:00.000-05:00

Let me first say that I am probably so far off base here in the long run that I have successfully cost myself $20 dollars. Not only that but in trying to figure out how to not pick the same Final Four as 97.5% of ESPN I may have completely destroyed what was once a promising bracket. Oh how far I've fallen since picking 6 of last seasons final eight correctly. I have on MORE than one occasion completely ignored my own pre-bracket release predictions. I have officially filed Jay Bilas, Digger Phelps and even Hubert Davis under the growing "should be unemployed" list that is set to debut in the next few weeks. Whether they're right or not, picking strait chalk across the bracket is nothing but cowardly. Doug Gottlieb should be spending more time on the Game Day set than any of those three. At least he had the cajones to pick UNLV into the Elite 8 to go with all his chalk. Also for more preview action from your favorite analyst you don't have to listen to check out my rundown over at JCMJ.

Midwest

Round 1

#1 Florida - #16Jackson State
Obviously taking the Gators here, but it should be fun the watch the Nations #2 scorer in Trey Johnson of J-State.

#8 Arizona - #9 Purdue
I'm going to take Arizona here even though my head screams Purdue will win. Arizona has the talent for sure but they've played so bad over the past month or so you wonder if Marcus Williams is just ready to be drafted already. Arizona is getting the same "could beat the #1 seed" hype it got last year from ESPN. I'll ruin my predictions now and say they will not.

#5 Butler - #12 Old Dominion
I almost don't even care anymore who wins this game. I'd rather ODU had drawn USC and Butler was hosting Arkansas but what can you do? I expect Butler to force ODU to shoot a lot of three's something the Monarchs are not the greatest at. ODU getting handled by George Mason decides this one for me. I'll take Butler in what I could argue is an upset.

#4 Maryland - #13Davidson
Trust me I want to take Davidson because Maryland is a threat to the Gators but I'll go with the Terps here. I'm looking forward to getting a look at Stephen Curry as I missed the SoCon final last week.

#6 Notre Dame - #11 Winthrop
I'm taking Winthrop but I think this game could resemble the VMI-Winthrop Big South final. I look forward to Digger's boys going down in round 1. I just wish I could they'd get blown out.

#3 Oregon - #14 Miami, Ohio
I'm going to assume Miami is a 14 because they pre-seeded the MAC winner expecting a Toledo or Akron champion. Miami finished the season 18-14 and needed the ugliest buzzer beater of all-time to beat Akron. I think Oregon walks in what could be the most lopsided first round game of this region.

#7 UNLV - #10 Georgia Tech
So Ga. Tech hasn't won but one true road game in two years you say? Well its sink or swim for me with this pick as I'm taking Ga. Tech here and that my friends is not all.

#2 Wisconsin - #15 Texas A&M-CC
I think this will be closer than the fans in Madison would hope. But the game is in Chicago and if Wisconsin lost this I one of my friends may indeed bust out the noose. With that in mind I'm taking Wisconsin but I wouldn't be shell shocked if TAMU-CC pulls it off.

2nd Round

#1 Florida - #8 Arizona
Arizona shows up about as well as they did against Oregon and Florida blows through the first weekend forgetting they even played a game.

#5 Butler - #4 Maryland
Congratulations Butler you performed perfectly as far as seed expectations go. Maryland should shut Graves down and knock off the Bulldogs without too much trouble.

#11 Winthrop - #3 Oregon
Much like Winthrop first round game this one will be a fast paced three point shootout. I want to take the Eagles here but they got a bad draw. Oregon wins in a close one.

#2 Wisconsin - #10 Georgia Tech
My falling opinion of Wisconsin since Brian Butch's injury is well documented. I like the Yellow Jackets and their horrendous road record to spring the upset. If UNLV beat Ga. Tech I like them to beat Wisconsin also for the record.

Sweet 16

My original bracket had a Sweet 16 of Florida, Old Dominion, Winthrop and Georgia Tech. I felt I was a little double digit heavy and cut it down. Plus I did some actual research on a few teams.

#1 Florida - #4 Maryland
The winner of this game WILL win the region. I'm going to take Florida as I think their overall balance will be enough to get past the Terps.

#3 Oregon - #10 Georgia Tech
I'm going to take the Ducks and their quartet of guards in this one assuming the shooting touch is still there two weeks removed from the Pac-10 tourney championship.

Elite Eight

#1 Florida - #3 Oregon
It pains me to have nearly the same two at the end of this bracket as the rest of the nation. But what can I say I like both of these teams a lot. The first Nine N' 5 will attest to that. To bad the Ducks didn't fall into the South they could have ruined some brackets. But in this region they're one of the favorites, go figure right? It's somewhat ironic Florida will take out another four guard team to make the Final Four.

West

1st Round

#1 Kansas - #16 Niagara
As much as I love Purple Eagles, especially the occasional sighting over the falls. I think Kansas wins this one but it'll be a little bit closer than expected.

#8 Kentucky - #9 Villanova
It looks like Nardi's not going to play in this one but I'll still take Villanova. I say Scottie Reynolds goes insane and drops 41 for a new career high.

#5 Virgina Tech - #12 Illinois
Here I go completely ignoring my previous predictions as I take Illinois to knock off Virgina Tech. Va. Tech is way to inconsistent for my taste and as bad as Illinois was this season I think they'll slow the Hokies down and take them out of their comfort zone. It'll still be tight but I think Illinois sneaks by.

#4 Southern Illinois - #13 Holy Cross
This could be one of the best games of the first round as both teams specialize at the defensive end. These two have nearly identical PPG (63.15/64.24) and PPGA (56.45/57.36) totals and I wouldn't be shocked to see this game end in a 1 point win for.... Southern Illinois. I almost have to pick them so there you go.

#6 Duke - #11 VCU
While they're from the CAA they're not George Mason, its VCU. New head coach, and former Florida Assistant Anthony Grant steps in and leads VCU to the CAA regular and conference titles in his first year. That's impressive given the strength at the top of the CAA this season. I'm going to roll with VCU here as I hate Duke, and they'd lose in round 2 anyway so who cares. That damn Sweet 16 streak ends this year Coach K.

#3Pittsburgh - #14 Wright State
I was all set to take Pitt who I think is the most over rated team of all those in the "Major" conferences. But to hell with it, I said last week I'd take Wright State if these two played so to hell with it that's what I'm going to do. DaShaun Wood I'm counting on you to make me a genius.
#7 Indiana - #10 Gonzaga
This one is quite the toss up from my perspective. I'll take Indiana as I think the D.J. White and Earl Calloway will play well against Gonzaga's no defense approach.

#2 UCLA - #15 Weber State
See Ben Howland take on his Alma-mater. See Ben Howland's Bruins trounce his Alma-mater.

Second Round

#1 Kansas - #9 Villanova
I think Brandon Rush for the most part puts the clamps down on Scottie Reynolds as Kansas advances to the round of 16 for the first time in three seasons.

#4 Southern Illinois - #12 Illinois
As much as I hate to say it Bruce Webber will meet his former team and send them home earlier than I'd like. This one could be ugly to watch as I'd expect the final score to barely get over 50.

#11 VCU - #14 Wright State
As much as I'd like to pick Wright State here a #14 seed has never beaten a #11 in the second round. Not to mention I'm already on a huge limb taking WSU to beat Pitt.

#2 UCLA - #7 Indiana
The Gonzaga rematch is avoided but the result is just the same for the Bruins. They'll get past Indiana without a whole lot of trouble as D.J. White gets into foul trouble early.

Sweet 16

#1 Kansas - #12 Illinois
Much like it would have been with the Southern Illinois boys Illinois's defense will annoy Kansas. In the end the 'Hawks pull away for a relatively comfortable win. By relatively I mean 6+ by the way.

#11 VCU - #2 UCLA
For all those Ben Howland plays two teams he has ties to fans I'm sorry. Pitt will not make it this far or anywhere for that matter and UCLA will win again. I wish VCU was Final Four bound but I just don't see it. UCLA should win in a somewhat close game by 10.

Elite Eight

#1 Kansas - #2 UCLA
It looks like nothing but chalk if you scrolled directly to this spot but it's not. The Bruins get Julian Wright into quick foul trouble running one guy after another at the big man forcing him to spend most of the first half on the bench. This allows UCLA to build a comfortable 9 point halftime lead that they barely hold onto in one of the most thrilling game of the tournament so far.

Well that's it for the first two regions. Thoughts? Am I a complete jackass? Let know if you feel so inclined.

You've got to be kidding me

2007-03-12T20:36:00.000-05:00

As I visited all the major sports sites today I found myself shocked. Not only was I generally agreeing with all the so called experts I currently have the same Final Four as a number of them. The so called experts are wrong every year. These guys get paid to cover this stuff yet they can't pick a bracket to save their lives. Now that I'm suddenly agreeing with them I see something very, very interesting coming this weekend. If you thought last year was crazy just wait for this weekend.

I have a feeling we may be looking at the most upset heavy opening weekend in recent memory. Never mind a Mid-Major in the Final Four because I don't see one who can pull it off this season. Instead settle for a pair of potential #14 seeds in the Sweet 16 (Wright State, Oral Roberts). Three double digit seeds still standing come the second weekend in the Midwest (Ga. Tech, Winthrop, and Old Dominion). The supposed bad SEC should show well, I see a little Tennessee vengeance if the rematch with Ohio State happens. Both Missouri Valley schools should survive the opening weekend Creighton as continues to roll after their Conference Tourney win.

In the next few days I'll really dive deep into this as I try to slowly overhaul my bracket so it looks nothing like anything Jay Bilas would pick. Because we all know Jay Bilas is a moron who likes to start arguments with Joe Lunardi when all Lunardi is doing is trying to predict what the committee will do. Tomorrow night when I return from class I will start looking at the regions making my official upset picks and locking my bracket down so that I can end this month about $500 richer than I started it.

The Nine N' 5 3/11/2007 Final Edition

2007-03-11T16:11:00.000-05:00

For the final edition of The Nine N' Five this season I'm throwing out all previous standings. No longer does it matter where you were in the last nine a week and a half ago. The following nine are the most likely to walk away Nation Champions in order of most to least likely. Without further ado here are my Nine most likely Champions come April 2nd.

1. Florida Gators
I have to give Florida the #1 slot after playing well in the SEC tournament winning each game by 17+ points. They key for the Gators is defense and keeping their bigs out of foul trouble. If they can do that I think The Gators will be repeat National Champions in 2007.

2. North Carolina Tar Heels
Arguably the most talented team in the country, not to mention the deepest. The Tar Heels ended NC State's Cinderella run in the ACC tourney 89-80 today to capture their first ACC Tourney championship since 1998. They're the biggest threat to Florida in large part because of their inside depth. They'll be able to run one guy after another at Noah and Horford to try and get the two Florida bigs into foul trouble. I expect Florida to miss playing them though as both should be a #1 Seed and UNC could get beat by a more experienced and consistent club before they reach Atlanta.

3. Kansas Jayhawks
Probably the second deepest team in the nation after UNC. The Hawks fantastic trio of perimeter guys (Rush, Collins, and Chalmers) combined with Julian Wrights versatility make the Jayhawks a very tough team to defend. It's important for Wright to stay out of foul trouble if the Jayhawks are going to reach Atlanta and compete for the National Championship.

4. Georgetown Hoyas
Jeff Green alone has carried this team over the last month or so with unexpected help from Patrick Ewing Jr. in the Big East Tournament. Roy Hibbert needs to be more aggressive inside and impose his will on defenders if they do indeed hope to win the National Championship.

5. UCLA Bruins
No team has ever won the National Championship after losing their first game in their conference tournament. UCLA could be the exception to the rule but their lack of true quality up front will ultimately be there undoing. Not to mention Aaron Afflalo can be shut down as we seen in the Cal game. Something likely to happen should they run into a team with a perimeter stopper.

6. Texas A&M Aggies
The Aggies defense alone makes them a Final Four contender but will their lack of offensive punch due them in? Acie Law is fantastic but outside of him no one on the team other than maybe Joseph Jones has been consistent enough on the offensive end. I think in the end their offense probably costs them the Championship but a Final Four berth is what I'm expecting.

7. Texas Longhorns
They've morphed from the greenest team in the country to arguably the most dangerous. No one wants to see this team as the 3-4 seed in their region. Kevin Durant is incredibly difficult to defend because of his length. He can get his shot off whenever he wants and he also dominates on the glass at both ends. This team does seem to tired down the stretch of games and I could see that costing them the Final Four this year. Next year Durant or not though this team will be back in the mix.

8. Ohio State Buckeyes
Its not secret I do not like the Buckeyes at all. They tend to forget who their playing with at times and tend to fall in love with the 3-ball. I think theirs a goo chance they don't even make the Elite 8. That said I'm not a genius by any stretch and it wouldn't totally shock me if the Buckeyes cruised to Atlanta. When they get their though they'll be going home. They've lost to every top tier team they've played except Wisconsin. I for the record do not have Wisconsin on the top tier anymore.

9. Wisconsin Badgers
I feel like I have to include the Badgers on this list given what they've accomplished this season. With that said I think Wisconsin is the worst of all the teams projected to land on the top 2 seed lines. Since losing Brian Butch they're offense, which was already slow has bogged down even more. They scored just 26 points in the first half of the Big Ten final against Ohio State. The Badgers only chance for a title is Alando Tucker taking over every game they play. Tucker doesn't really have that personality and I'd be very surprised if he suddenly developed it over night.

Honorable Mentions: Memphis, Louisville, Oregon, and Southern Illinois.

The Final 5: Most Likely First Round Upsets at First Glance

5. #11 Winthrop over #6 Notre Dame
4. #12 Old Dominion over #5 Butler
3. #14 Wright State over #3 Pittsburgh
2. #14 Oral Roberts over #3 Washington State
1. #13 Albany over #4 Virgina

A few notes, Drexel getting left out when Stanford, Illinois and Purdue all got in. At least ODU got in. Kinda thought the reason Drexel would get in was because Syracuse was likely to get and they beat them. Neither get in though and the ODU-Drexel head to head may have cost the Dragons.

I'll have more tourney coverage as the week progresses.

Collecting My Prize

2007-03-07T22:52:00.000-05:00

After winning the Battle for the Aggro-Crag College Hoops Pick 'em over at Just Call Me Juice (along with Signal To Noise) I was given a guest spot on JCMJ. I elected to stay in the CBB vein and posted "Who Could Be This Years.." a look at who could be this years versions of George Mason, LSU etc. It's all just speculation based on what I've seen this year and how the brackets look come Sunday could change my mind entirely. That said I wanted to do it now as next week will be dedicated to the brackets themselves.

NOTE: The Nine N' Five for this week will be up in the next few days. I want to let as many conference tourneys as possible finish up and those that do not finish get a little deeper.

VMI's Coming Out Party

2007-03-04T13:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterdays VMI-Winthrop was one of the best games I have watched all year and it emphasized why championship week (technically two weeks) is one of the best of the year in College Basketball. VMI lead the nation in scoring and steals this season running an all out press on defense and a less organized version of the Phoenix Suns offense all season. These particular philosophy's led the Keydets to a 5-9 conference record and #6 seed in the tournament. In this game VMI actually broke the Division I record for steals in a season with 490. The Keydets shocked their conference foes switching from the fun-n-gun to a more slow paced offense with a 2-3 zone base defense. After Winthrop torched VMI by 32 points and then 13 this season many expected this game to be much more of the same. This game however was very, very different. Winthrop's largest lead was nine, on the same floor that the 32 point spanking had taken place. That nine point lead was followed by a quick VMI rally to pull it close again. Every time it looked like the Eagles would pull away VMI rallied back to within 2-3 points and kept it interesting. While VMI only held maybe 1-2 leads the entire game they played very well and certainly had the Eagles a little nervous. After all this Eagles team isn't quite a lock if they lose this game despite all four of their losses coming against the RPI top 16 including an OT loss to Wisconsin. In the end Winthrop triumphed over VMI to capture the auto-bid in the Big South and save themselves from sweating it out until next Sunday night.

As much as I like the Eagles and want them to get into the tourney I almost wish they had lost just to see if they could get the at-large I think they deserve. Despite his great year I'd have to think Reggie Williams will stay in school for his senior season and if the Holmes twins (Chavis and Travis) play the way they did Saturday VMI should be good next season. I'd have to imagine the new style will stick given their tourney success. Can't help but wonder how good they might have been had they played it all season though. The familiarity would have certainly helped out I would imagine. But at least for next year I think Winthrop might just have some company on top of the Big South, don't you?

You've Got To Be Kidding, BABY!

2007-03-03T12:30:00.000-05:00

Well I've always liked Dick Vitale for the most part even with his constant yammering on about the ACC. His distinctive ability to put Duke into the tournament whether they're 7-19 (unrealistic I know) overall or 22-4 is amazing. But this time Dickie V loses his free pass with me. Duke is one thing this is another.

"I'd take Horford over him [Noah]. You know who told me that in confidence? Billy Donovan grabbed me all alone and said the pro scouts are making a mistake. He said there's no way I would take Noah over -- he said he would never say that publicly -- over Horford."

Audio Link

I realize this isn't technically his fault but regardless, it's inexcusable. I'm going to go ahead and blame Dick for Florida's lack of defense, three point shooting and all of their other recent woes while I'm at it. Actually thats a lie, but so was saying I've always liked Dickie V. He's annoying and I more or less hate the ACC and all the people who line up to give Coach K mustache rides. I haven't seen this anywhere other than where I found it so I thought I'd chuck it out there for the rest of you to digest. The Gators have generally appeared to be quite the level headed bunch but for a reeling team could this be the final straw? After all the ugly kid needs to at least get drafted first doesn't he?

Credit: Luke Winn of SI for the link

The Nine N' 5 2/28/2007

2007-03-01T02:35:00.000-05:00

Teams continue to fight for tournament position as we head down the home stretch of the regular season. Two top teams head into the week on two game losing streaks (UF, Wisc). Whoever wins the Big 12 surely deserves a one seed now that Florida has coughed it up, don't they? The list takes a new look this week as I drop not two but three top tier teams off the list all together after losses this past week. Partially because they don't deserve they're spot and partially because we need some fresh blood in The Nine.

1. Kansas (1) 26-4 13-2
The Jayhawks hold steady at the top spot after blowing out Iowa State and then escaping Oklahoma with a two point victory. I'm beginning to like the Hawks a lot heading into March and a Big 12 tournament title could convince me this team is finally ready for prime time. First though the Hawks must host Texas with the league title on the line in the two's only meeting of the season.
This Week: Regular Season Finale 3/3 Texas

2. UCLA (3) 25-3 14-2
The Bruins continue to be one of, if not the most consistent team in the country with a wins over Cal and Stanford. The Cardinal you may remember knocked off the Bruins earlier this season at their place. Standford didn't even make it much of a game when they traveled to Pauley falling by 14. Wazzu's loss this past week pretty much guaranteed the Bruins the Pac-10 regular season title with a win in either of their final two games. That win they'll get for sure in the season finale at Washington, that is if they don't get it Thursday in Spokane.
This Week: 3/1 @ Washington State, Regular Season Finale 3/3 @ Washington

3. Ohio State (4) 26-3 14-1
The Buckeyes finally find a way to get past Florida and that 26-point beat down the Gators handed them earlier this season after clinching the Big Ten regular season title. They barely got by Wisconsin, squeezing out the narrowest of victories with a one point win. Brian Butch's injury gives them the inside track to the Big Ten tourney title as well as a #1 seed in the dance. I still think they're going down early in the tournament regardless of their regular season achievements. They should be able to handle Michigan on the road to close out the regular season and put an end to the Wolverines season officially.
This Week: Regular Season Finale 3/3 @ Michigan

4. Florida (2) 25-5 12-3
The Gators dropped two more this week but didn't fall too far thanks to losses by the majority of those behind them in the standings. This team is finishing a lot like last years team did but I just don't know if they can pull off the repeat the way they're playing. They're no longer a #1 seed though I think that could be good for a team that would prefer to be the underdog. Al Horford is the only player who still plays defense when they get down and if that continues the Gators will end their repeat bid on the first weekend. The LSU loss in unforgivable though LSU has looked better without Glen Davis in the lineup if you can believe that. The Tennessee loss didn't really surprise me as I was expecting it the way they've played on the road recently. If they lose their finale to Kentucky at home this week and go out early in the conference tourney the Gators could be looking at a #3 seed if those below them can close strong.
This Week: Regular Season Finale 3/4 Kentucky

5. Southern Illinois (9)
The Salukis wrapped up the MVC regular season title last Saturday with a win over Evansville. If they can win the conference tournament they could get as high as a #3 seed, but I see them as a #4. I don't expect them to win "Arch Madness" as it usually features quite a few upsets and a Mo State, or Bradley tourney victory isn't out of the question.
This Week: Conference Tournament 3/1-4

6. Memphis (UNR) 25-3 14-0
I am finally giving the Tigers their due in The Nine with the six spot this week as they have already clinched the Conference USA regular season title and are looking likely to sneak into the dance as a #3 seed. While I think Memphis has talent just like last year I think they benefited from a good draw last season and it's unlikely that happens again. For that reason I think the Tigers go home earlier than they're expecting but the Sweet 16 is not out of the question.
This Week: 3/1 @ UTEP Regular Season Finale 3/3 @ SMU

7. Washington State (5) 23-5 12-4
The loss this week at Oregon really didn't surprise me as the Ducks did beat them in Spokane. The Ducks however had been struggling of late and I expected that to continue but was wrong. I still like Wazzu a lot in the dance and they should still get at the very least a #4 seed. A share of the Pac-10 title would help and they can take a step in that direction with a win over UCLA on Thursday. I think they find a way to beat the Bruins but I like UCLA's chances of knocking off Wazzu's in-state rival on Saturday.
This Week: 3/1 UCLA, Regular Season Finale 3/3 USC

8. Nevada (UNR) 26-2 13-1
The Wolf Pack also garners a little respect this week finally moving from the "Also Considered" into the The Nine after picking up their ninth consecutive win this past week at Boise State. Nevada was shaky in their Bracket Busters game two weeks ago actually trailing Northern Iowa at halftime before cruising to a fifteen point victory. That raised some red flags for me and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Pack go down in round one again this season. I'd like to think Nick Fazekas won't go out like that and that Marcellus Kemp won't let him. Only time will tell but I think Nevada absolutely has to win the WAC tourney to try and get themselves a #4 seed to have a better chance to advance in March.
This Week: 3/1 @ Utah State, Regular Season Finale 3/3 New Mexico State, Conference Tourney 3/6-10

9. Texas (UNR) 22-7 12-3
This spot was all A&M's if they had beaten Texas tonight in Austin, they obviously did not. Texas outlasts their in-state rival in double overtime despite some heroics by Acie Law who just did not want to lose. Texas has continued to show improvement over the weeks and qualify as a decent sleeper come dance time. If they do beat Kansas on Saturday that sleeper talk goes by the wayside and Texas is officially a contender. I don't think it happens but I wouldn't be shocked to see Texas in Atlanta come April as they certainly have the talent, they've definitely been tested this season, and that youth seems to be starting to ware off unlike those guys in Columbus. Remember folks Texas A&M blitzed these guys 100-82 less than a month ago tonight ti took two overtime's for A&M to get within four points off 100. The venue certainly plays a factor but I think Texas is playing much better over the last month and I wouldn't want to see Kevin Durant in an elimination situation that's for sure.
This Week: Regular Season Finale 3/3 @ Kansas

Dropped Out: Wisconsin (6), North Carolina (7), Georgetown (8)

Also Considered: BYU, Louisville, Maryland, Drexel

This Weeks 5:
My favorite Bracket Busters if they get into the dance and draw a team like Pittsburgh or Oregon in the first round.
5. San Diego State - What can I say? I like this team and have since last year when they should have beaten Indiana last year.
4. Winthrop - How do you not like a team that barely lost to UNC on the road and took Wisconsin to overtime?
3. Old Dominion - They can play with anyone, need evidence? They beat G'Town in D.C. by 13 earlier this year.
2. Appalachian State - With wins over Vandy, VCU, and Wichita State its hard not to think this team can pull off an upset. They need to win the conference tourney though and Davidson will have something to say about that.
1. Drexel - All I can say is Road Warriors and with the tourney at neutral sites its hard not to like the Dragons. They've knocked off 'Cuse and 'Nova both, and while they're best basketball may be behind them they showed @ Creighton they can still get it done.

The Nine N' 5 2/21/2007

2007-02-22T02:02:00.000-05:00

Bracket Busters weekend was one of the best weekends in college basketball this season as some surprised on the road (Drexel, App. State) while others disappointed (VCU, Wichita State). Some of the the usual upsets took place as well as Florida went down at the hands of Vandy. Those shocked by that game should slap themselves as Vandy looks like a sleeper for the sweet 16 if they get a decent draw. No worries here though you won't be seeing an underachieving Buckeye team in the top spot, this isn't a ladder like those rankings the four letter network puts out.

1. Kansas (3) 24-4 11-2
I almost left Florida in their top spot even with the loss to Vandy but decided since I look at the whole profile (well most of it) I'd give the Jayhawks the nod this week. They did beat Florida by two on a neutral court this season even though Corey Brewer had mono. Kansas followed up a solid week last week with another blitzing of Nebraska by 53 and another win over K-State, this time in Manhattan. The only game they could lose left on the schedule is the season finale when they host Texas. If Kansas can put it together in March for once they could win the whole thing, I for one just don't see it.
This Week: 2/24 Iowa St, 2/26 @ Oklahoma

2. Florida (1) 25-3 12-1
The hardly surprising loss at Vandy barely costs them this week as Florida still looks like the best team in the country overall. Those who were shocked should remember Vandy led Florida by 11 at the half in their first meeting in Gainesville but couldn't hold on, this time they did. I for one am happy as maybe this will show the Gators they can't always come back. Also this past week Florida routed South Carolina who really isn't recovering well from the devastating loss of Renaldo Balkman after their NIT championship last year. Florida looks good to finish 15-1 in the SEC at this point though if the good Tennessee team shows up Tuesday they could knocked off the Gators.
This Week: 2/24 @ LSU, 2/27 @ Tennessee

3. UCLA (6) 23-3 12-2
UCLA slides past Ohio St. after going into Arizona and blowing out the Wildcats. Just when you thought Arizona was figuring it out they get embarrassed at home. UCLA is good but are they really that much better than Arizona? On paper definitely not, unfortunately for some #1 seed Arizona could be landing in a 8-9 match up near you. UCLA did need an 18-2 run to close to beat Arizona St. by 6 who at the time was still win less in league play. USC took the honor of losing to the Sun Devils, but hey at least they were on the road. The Bruins appear locked in for a #1 seed in the big dance as long as they can beat Wash St. March 1st and win the conference regular season championship. They'll look for a little vengeance this week as they welcome Stanford to Pauley Pavilion.
This Week: 2/22 California, 2/24 Stanford

4. Ohio State (4) 25-3 13-1
The Buckeyes hold steady in this spot after playing another close one with Penn State, I truly do wish one of these basement dwellers would pull off the upset. So many have gotten close and that is one of many reasons I think the Buckeye faithful will be crying again this march. Marco over at JCMJ breaks down why OSU is heading back to Columbus early this year and I couldn't agree more. The Buckeyes can't afford another bad outing this weekend as they welcome the Badgers to town with the league title on the line. If they do lose this one I have a feeling we could be seeing some more cruelty towards animals on the Ohio State campus.
This Week: 2/25 Wisconsin

5. Washington State (5) 22-4 11-3
After a week without games I elected to leave the Cougars right where they were last week with only UCLA jumping over them. Not much else to say other than they must win out to win the regular season title, that includes winning the aforementioned match up with UCLA.
This Week: 2/22 @ Oregon, 2/24 @ Oregon State

6. Wisconsin (2) 26-3 12-2
I expected the loss to Michigan State because they're a good home team and Drew Neitzel plays especially good at home. They should return the favor in Wisconsin to close the regular season I still think they need more consistent contributions from Brian Butch to go far in march. They probably lose a second consecutive game this weekend when they travel to Columbus with the league title on the line.
This Week: 2/25 @ Ohio State

7. North Carolina (7) 24-4 10-3
The Heels stay idle at the seven spot this week after wins over Boston College and NC State. I still think UNC is one of the best in the country and the big rotation they use should be a large advantage against a team like Florida if they can get the Gators into foul trouble. They only have one game on the schedule this week as they had to Maryland for a game that I can see the Terps stealing.
This Week: 2/25 @ Maryland

8. Georgetown (8)
The Hoyas continued their winnings ways this week after Jeff Green hit a big shot with 19.8 seconds left on the clock. Roy Hibbert went three strait halves against Villanova this season with attempting a shot befoire the second half of that game. He needs to be a little more consistent and impose his will on the front line if the Hoyas are going to make a return trip to the Sweet 16 or further. They have a chance to steal the Big East this weekend with a trip to Pitt, If Aaron Gray doesn't play I like G'Town in this game.
This Week: 2/24 @ Pitt

9. Southern Illinois (9)
SIU has all but sewn up the MVC regular season title and they had a fantastic week this past week going to Butler and knocking off the Bulldogs. My biggest question for the Salukis is the same as last year; Can they score enough to win in March? I'm not sure yet I think it really depends on their draw how far they go this season. I was thoroughly impressed with the job they did shutting down A.J. Graves against Butler. This team is a true wild card I just don't know yet.
This Week: Regular Season Finale 2/24 Evansville

Also Considered: Texas A&M, Memphis, Nevada, BYU and Texas

This Weeks 5:
Who are those potential top four seeds with a good chances to exit early come March? Here are a couple candidates, though I think it all depends on the draw.

5. Wisconsin - See what I said above, though I am beginning to think that I've been short changing their potential over the weeks.
4. Memphis - The talent is definitely there but they haven't played anyone and I doubt they get a draw as favorable as last year.
3. Oregon - If Brooks doesn't get it together they're going down in round one.
2. Ohio State - They tend to forget Oden's on the team and show their age way too much. If they have to play a team who can put up points in bunches and plays defense I think they could be in trouble.
1. Pittsburgh - Even with Aaron Gray I just do not like the Panthers while experienced their wing plays don't really impress me. I see the Panthers bidding adieu by round two as a best case scenario for them.

The Nine N' 5 2/14/2007

2007-02-15T00:12:00.000-05:00

Upsets, near upsets, and strange blowouts highlighted the week in college basketball. Allowing it to easily maintain its spot as the most unpredictable of big time sports on the planet. Their's quite a shakeup in The Nine this week with all the top tier HOME losses.

1. Florida (1) 24-2 11-0
The Gators got off to a great start against Kentucky this weekend before letting the Wildcats come back to make a game of it. I think I may have figured out how to beat the Gators and UNC may be the team to do it. It's going to take a deep team with good big men that can compete well inside against Horford and Noah and get them into foul trouble. For the record their were a lot of tick tack foul calls in the Kentucky game but the Gators survived and now may be flirting with an undefeated SEC record. I do think they need a loss before the NCAA tournament starts however as trying to put together a thirty of so game winning streak would certainly be tough to do. The streak currently stand at 17 which ties last years season opening streak would hit 22 if they win their final 5 regular season games. The Gators also decided to let another team think they might beat them as Alabama just like Vandy led the game by 11 at half only to lose by 9 in the end after the Gators turned it on in the second half. The Gators are playing with fire a little bit but I still think they're far and away the best team in the country.
This Week: 2/17 @ Vandy, 2/21 South Carolina

2. Wisconsin (3) 25-2 11-1
The Badgers get this spot almost by default having played really no one this past week. They even struggled for most of the game tonight against a 9-16 Minnesota team before putting them away for the 13 point victory. I do think Wisconsin is currently the weakest overall team in terms of #1 seed contenders. They deserve a #1 without a doubt but I just think as I've said before they rely too much on Alando Tucker. If he has an off game they're going to get beat by a team that shouldn't even be able to compete with them. As of now I'm going to go ahead and say Ohio State wins the rematch and the Big Ten regular season title. That is assuming they don't go into one of there "Who's Greg Oden again?" lulls during that game.
This Week: 2/17 Penn State, 2/20 @ Mich St.

3. Kansas (9) 22-4 9-2
Big jump for the Jayhawks this week but with nearly everyone else losing and they;re utter domination of since losing a game they should have won against Texas A&M. The 'Hawks won by a combined 47 points on the road against Missouri and Colorado after beating a Kansas State by 27 at home following the A&M game. Julian Wright looks like the real deal, he can fill up every inch of the stat sheet and if he's playing well this team can beat anyone in the country. They should continue their dominance this week as they take on Nebraska who they beat by 20 two weeks ago and also a rematch with K State in Manhattan.
This Week: 2/17 Nebraska, 2/19 @ Kansas State

4. Ohio State (5) 23-3 11-1
The Buckeyes had another solid week pushing their win streak to 10 against mediocre Big Ten opposition. They were all set to take the #3 spot over before they barely squeaked by Penn State on the road tonight. Geary Claxton is one of the better players in the Big Ten who gets no publicity at all and he put together a solid all around game in this one with 19 and 10 boards but the Nittany Lions couldn't pull off the upset. The Buckeyes fell into one of those previously mentioned lulls in the second half of this one, much like the Mich St. game getting outscored 24-43 by the Nittany Lions. I still think they'll steal the Big Ten from Wisconsin but it'd hard to be encouraged by the way they play against the bottom feeders in the Big Ten. This is one of the reasons I think they're nothing more than a lock for a #2 seed come march.
This Week: 2/18 @ Minnesota, 2/21 Penn State

5. Washington State (7) 22-4 11-3
The Cougars continue to climb the rankings and build a strong case heading toward march. Wazzu is beginning to look like the best team in the talent rich Pac-10, better maybe even than UCLA. They did lose in Los Angeles but will get a chance at redemption in Spokane when the Bruins come calling' on the first day or March. This past week Wazzu knocked off Cal and also won on the road against the state rival Huskies. Wazzu had 8 days off after tonight's game with Washington before a double dip at the Oregon schools.
This Week: Strangely No Games

6. UCLA (2) 21-3 10-2
In their only game of the week UCLA went to West Virgina and came out with a 70-65 loss at the hands of the Mountaineers. Darren Collison did not play however, if he does I think they win that that game. UCLA still has the inside track to win the Pac-10 and get a #! seed though as the WVU game was out of conference. The rematch with Wazzu could decide the conference regular season title on the second to last day of the Pac-10 regular season.
This Week: 2/15 @ Arizona State, 2/17 @ Arizona

7. North Carolina (4) 22-4 8-3
Despite being swept by Va. Tech this season and suffering their first home loss UNC is still one of the best four teams in the country and has to make this list. Not to mention they beat another team by a ridiculous margin, that team Wake Forest fell 104-67 in Chapel Hill. BC has them by half a game right now in the ACC but I still like the Heels to win the conference regular season and tournament titles and entering March on the right track. You have to like the Hokies chances come march if they can shake the inconsistency and come to play every night.
This Week: 2/17 @ Boston College, 2/21 NC State

8. Georgetown (UNR) 19-5 9-2
The Hoyas have ripped off 8 strait wins and appear to be heating up at the right time. In their last two wins they absolutely dominated Marquette and a West Virgina team that was coming off a win over UCLA. Does that make G'Town better than UCLA? Probably not but I do like this team to do some major damage in March if Roy Hibbert continues to play the inspired ball and dominate the paint like everyone expected when the season started. The Hoyas have a shot to steal the Big East from Pitt if they can beat Pitt on the road in two weeks.
This Week: 2/17 @ Villanova, 2/21 @ Cincinnati

9. Southern Illinois (UNR) 22-5 13-3
The Salukis are an impressive 13-3 in one of the toughest most balanced conferences in the country, the Missouri Valley. Their wins include season sweeps of Creighton and Missouri State the second and third best teams in the conference. The Salukis are on pace for a top 5 seed in the tournament especially if they can pull off the upset and beat Butler on the road this Saturday. Should be a great game, I know I'll be on my couch watching it. I don't know if the Salukis have the scoring punch to make a major run in the tournament this year but they've had an impressive season and a win over Butler would change my mind.
This Week: 2/17 @ Butler, 2/21 @ Indiana State

Dropped Out: Texas A&M, Marquette, Oregon Also Considered: USC, Texas, Va. Tech, San Diego State, Pitt, Nevada, VCU, ODU, BYU

This Weeks 5:
Mid-Majors who likely need to win their conference tournament to make the dance.

5. Hofstra - Needed to beat ODU on the road on Tuesday.
4. Wichita St. - Tonight's loss at Drake was likely the final nail in their coffin.
3. Drexel - Those non-conf road wins are useless if you can't win at William & Mary.
2. Bradley - A Win at VCU would help, but not enough to cover up that 29 point thumping @ MSU.
1. San Diego St. -Despite throttling Air Force and UNLV in the last two weeks the non-conf is pretty bad. Not to mention can the MWC really get four bids? I doubt it.

No Gays Allowed On My Team!

2007-02-14T23:35:00.000-05:00

While there have been some interesting comments thus far regarding the admission by John Amaechi that he is in fact a homosexual. The latest by former NBA player Tim Hardaway certainly takes first prize at the ~~republican~~ bigot national convention. Hardaway who was making the media rounds today representing the "NBA Cares" for an upcoming project over all-star weekend appeared on the Dan Le Batard show in Miami. His interview was almost over but Dan wanted to ask him one last question. How would Tim deal with a gay teammate?

"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team," Hardaway replied. "And second of all, if he was on my team, I would really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room. But stuff like that is going on and there's a lot of other people I hear that are like that and still in the closet and don't want to come out of the closet, but you know I just leave that alone."

It gets even better folks, when Dan asked him what he would do if he had a gay teammate Hardaway said he would ask for the player to be traded or bought out of his contract. This is by far one of the most asinine things I have ever heard in my life. I found it particularly surprising considering I had only a little while before seen Tim interviewed on ESPNews. During that particular interview Tim seemed to be doing a good job of promoting what the NBA would be doing this weekend. I will not be explaining what that is as Tim doesn't deserve any positive publicity regardless of what their doing this weekend. Dan obviously caught him off guard as ESPN did not ask him anything about Amaechi, it is possible of course he asked them not to. He has in the last hour or so apologized for his comments, but if you hear the audio its pretty clear he meant everything he said. He responded with exactly what he thought on the subject and retracting the statement at this point isn't going to change that. He should have asked Jim Mora about making comments on radio shows they get around fast no matter what show it is. Le Batard's show I would imagine is pretty big though considering he's on ESPN all the time. Congratulation's to Tim Hardaway, he just made Shavlik Randolph looks like a nice and accepting guy.

To see the rest of Tim's comments visit The San Jose Mercury News' article hear.

Hear Tim's comments here. Its under Motion in the box on the right side of the page.

It's What's On The Outside That Counts!

2007-02-13T18:17:00.000-05:00

It amazes me sometimes how just being an attractive woman and ending up on television at the right moment can lead to a spread in Maxim. Not to mention a job with SI for FSU Cowgirl Jenn Sterger, she may be coming to a campus near you. This particular woman managed to get "fuck" on national television by creating a t-shirt for herself. Maxim went ahead and picked her up and took photos of her and I'm sure they competition was fierce to land her. Here's a small excerpt from her interview with Maxim:

Are you a season ticket holder?
Yeah. I sit in the same seats, every game, 30-yard line. So the one day I'm wasted and half-undressed, I make it on national television with "Fuck" on my shirt. [laughs] Just insane. Usually I don't get drunk at the games because I need to pay attention to what's going on.

But this time you had a few too many?
Yeah, just to give you a little insight into how my day was going, before the game I was drinking Red Bull and vodka and pouring Pop Rocks into my mouth, letting it foam out.

Nothing like a little hard earned publicity, it is the American way after all. I'm not hating though, good for her, she sure isn't painful to look at. Without a doubt the "Fuck Jeff Feagles" shirt is the best one. We may never know which of these pictures truly reflects her appearance, but it probably falls somewhere in the middle. If she comes trailer free I'll take here...

Thanks to Just Call Me Juice as it took me a few minutes but I remembered where I had originally seen her before her over publication.

Is It Just Me?

2007-02-13T09:36:00.000-05:00

Or is the NBA season already boring? I don't know about everyone else but even as a die hard basketball fan I can barely watch an NBA game. Instead I've watched all kinds of obscure college games (Florida A&M-N.C. A&T anyone?). The NBA season is only approaching the mid-season break and It's already predictable how it will end. I could probably name where I think each team will finish in each conference and only miss one or two. Those two would likely be bottom feeders or late movers (Rockets?) who are getting injured players back into shape, and into the lineup. I truly believe the league needs to figure something out to keep it's fans interested throughout the season. I go through this every year, I'm as pumped as ever for the first ball to be tipped and then by February I'm ready for the playoffs to start. I'm ready for the real drama, which unfortunately is not how many games the Celtics can actually lose in succession. It's all about elimination games where it really counts. Honestly the Mavericks have more or less locked up first out West with Nash's injury providing some breathing room. The Pistons appear to have the East firmly as they continue to improve with Webber (Wow, was I wrong on that one, so far anyway). The rest will fall in line behind those two conference leaders. The only things about the NBA currently interesting to me are the Nuggets losing, and the Rockets pulling with a half game of San Antonio for the 3 spot out West.

Meanwhile, David Stern is somewhere smiling enjoying the revenue and looking forward to a Las Vegas party. Stephen Jackson I would hope will be barred from the event, all things considered. Yet watching Gerald Green dunk, Mike Miller shoot, and the ridiculous skills contest is of no interest to me. Oh and don't even get me started on that stupid shooting stars competition. I'd rather watch the D-League All-Star game than that, the D-League game I do not believe is televised unfortunately for those of you who got excited. It is taking place in the Mandalay Bay south convention center for those of you who will be in the area. Rather than putting his players in a place where the potential to do bad things is so great its almost a guarantee. I would anticipate this being mid-level guys though for those of you hoping for pictures of LeBron leading gangland beating of a bar manager like Jamaal Tinsley did. I think its pretty clear he'd have to be traded to the Pacers first. It really must be boring in Indianapolis because I don't remember Marquis Daniels ever getting into trouble before this year. It is possible that it just wasn't as publicized because Dallas sportswriters actually have something else to write about.

I don't know exactly what the NBA should do about its predictability and the overall distraction it can be from what really matters. College Basketball where all the players actually care not just half of them. Maybe a Mark Cuban-Dwayne Wade death match? Before the match both must re-draft their last will and testament leaving all possessions to the winner. I honestly have no idea where to from here, but I know one thing. The rest of the season won't be much different from the first half. Let's get to the playoffs already, or at least start Baseball early...

The Nine N' 5 1/7/2007

2007-02-08T01:55:00.000-05:00

It was an interesting week in College Basketball with top teams going down one after another. One constant remains however, and that is this weeks top team.

1. Florida (3)
The Gators extended the nations longest winning streak to 15 tonight with a win at Georgia in a more or less boring game. It wasn't a blow out by any means as the Gators won by 10, but watching it at no time did I even consider Georgia a threat to win it. Florida also blew out Tennessee this week, minus Chris Lofton it won't be as easy when they see a healthy Lofton at Rocky Top. Florida takes its show on the road this week to Kentucky and then hosts Alabama, both teams can beat them but I think only Kentucky is a threat. 'Bama is a horrible road team and has a good chance to get routed by the Gators.
This Week: 2/10 @ Kentucky, 2/14 Alabama

2. UCLA (6)
The Bruins jump four spots this week after going 3-0, including a game against Oregon in which they result was never in question. UCLA also blew Oregon St out of the gym and knocked off USC as well. The game against Oregon was probably the most impressive as they took a solid 10 point lead out of the gate and never let Oregon get within striking distance. I was expecting it to be a much more hard fought game but it was far from it. UCLA heads to West Virgina this for a game they should win, but going on the road cross country is never easy and WVU could pull the upset.
This Week: 2/10 @ West Virgina

3. Wisconsin (5)
The Badgers put together a 2-0 week with a relatively easy victory on the road over Penn State and a home win over Northwestern. Wisconsin had little trouble dispatching N'western after struggling against them on the road. The Badgers get bonus points for bouncing back strongly from last weeks loss to Indiana. Wisconsin should keep it rolling as they take on Iowa and Minnesota this week, neither of which is a very good team. They've got to continue to win games against lesser competition by 10+ points to hold this spot.
This Week: 2/10 Iowa, 2/14 @ Minnesota

4. North Carolina (1)
The young and talented Tar Heels got bored and managed to let a mediocre NC State get them on the road before taking their trip to Durham tonight. UNC trailed for most of the game against Duke before coming back to pick up a tough road victory over the Blue Devils who have lost 3 strait for the first time since 1996. Despite playing a bad all-around game the Heels took advantage of an exhausted Duke team late to win. My advice for March would be to slow them down and force them into the half court but then again most people already know that. UNC should win both games this week, despite being dominated by Va. Tech on the road they're just too good at home and Va. Tech has been shaky lately. I think the Heels could have both of there games this week won at halftime.
This Week: 2/10 Wake Forest, 2/14 Virgina Tech

5. Ohio State (7)
The Buckeyes got consideration for the four spot this week but neither of their victories was impressive enough to over take the Tar Heels, It's not their fault the Big Ten is as bad as it is but there not playing anyone too good. OSU didn't have much trouble in East Lansing beating the Spartans by more than they did on their home floor, disapproving many who thought they would lose, me included. They also welcomed a bad Michigan team to Columbus and picked up another big ten victory as everyone looks forward to their rematch with Wisconsin in Columbus to end the month. They should pick up another two victories this week as they face some more bad Big Ten competition.
This Week: 2/10 Purdue, 2/14 @ Penn State

6. Texas A&M (UNR)
The Aggies posted an impressive week with wins at Kansas and over Texas at home. In the Kansas game they trailed by double digits for a large portion of the second half before going on a 17-4 run to end the game and walk out with a win. Acie Law's 3 ball down by two late in the game would prove to be the dagger, and you have to wonder why Brandon Rush would give him that much space. That wasn't enough for the Aggies however as they went home to welcome Texas and suddenly they were a high scoring team. That probably has more to do with the 'Horns than the Aggies but A&M blitzed the 'Horns 100-82 in a game that was over in the early part of the second half. It's a much easier week for the Aggies this week as they try to hold the top spot in the Big 12. I anticipate a 2-0 week ahead as they get Texas Tech at home this time, and Tech is a horrible road team.
This Week: 2/10 @ Nebraska, 2/13 Texas Tech

7. Washington State (8)
Solid 2-0 week for the Cougars as they hit the two Arizona schools in one road trip and came out unscathed. They won at Arizona by 6 and the result was never really in question in the final minutes of the game. Derrick Low looks fantastic and he seems to shoot the lights out every time I get to watch the WSU play. Low attempted just six shots two days later making half of them as his team barely escaped Arizona St with a win 48-47. I don't know if they were tired or not but theirs no reason they should struggle against the worst team in the Pac-10. WSU heads into a three game week that ends in Washington against the in-state rival. They'll be looking to avenge a previous loss to Standford, this time at home and the Cal game should be a win if they wanna stay on this list.
This Week: 2/8 Stanford, 2/10 Cal, 2/14 @ Washington

8. Oregon (2)
The Ducks drop 6 spots after an 0-2 road trip through Los Angeles that included a bore fest of a loss to UCLA, and another close loss to USC. Though USC was in control for most of the game Oregon got it close late but just couldn't pull off the road win. Oregon will finally return home this week after 4 consecutive road games that saw them finish 1-3, if not for their strong resume up to this point and the strength of the Pac-10 as a whole some might be talking bubble for Oregon right now. But no one is for a reason, Oregon's a lock unless they completely fall apart at home. They'll be welcoming the two Arizona schools to Eugene this week and should be able to bounce back from a tough last two weeks.
This Week: 2/9 Arizona St, 2/10 Arizona

9a. Kansas (4)
I copping out to keep Kansas on the list this week after tonight's absolute destruction of Kansas State. Kansas had a disappointing week however falling to Texas A&M in a game they lead the entire way and had no business losing. The 'Hawks failed to take advantage of having the two teams only meeting this season at home and it may have cost them the Big 12 regular season crown. Kansas lead the game throughout and up until the last few minutes appeared as though they would cruise to a 10-12 point victory. Yet with less than a minute left they found themselves up by just 2 points with Acie Law putting the dagger in their hearts, and in Brandon Rush's eye. Kansas missed a bunny and then a 3 point attempt at the buzzer, but the game was over when Law hit that shot. The shot is one Law never should have been able to take. Rush gave him way too much space in a pressure situation because he was afraid he was going to drive right past him and tie the game. Law undoubtedly noticed this and ended the game right there, you have guys defending behind you for a reason you absolutely have to play tight at this point in a game. Rush was the goat on this night and come March it may be the same story for the 'Hawks is they see themselves making another early exit. Teams have apparently caught on to Rush's iffy ball handling skills in the half court and have tried to keep Kansas slowed down and force him into mistakes. He's a fantastic player but he makes strange decisions at times and never seems to show up in the big games (was 3-13 from the field vs A&M). Kansas has a pretty easy week ahead despite a pair of road games.
This Week: 2/10 @ Missouri, 2/14 @ Colorado

9b. Marquette (9)
The Golden Eagles extended their win streak to eight this past week avenging a previous loss to Providence and knocking off Rutgers as well. The Eagles have their toughest test since winning at Pitt. this week as they head to Georgetown to try and knock off the Hoyas who have been playing pretty well lately. It's an interesting match up on paper as G'town is a large team compared to the Eagles who start three guards and looks to beat you with speed. I like Marquette here but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Hoyas pick up the victory.
This Week: 2/10 @ G'town, 2/14 @ DePaul

NOTE: Had to do the 9a, b this week because I couldn't knock Marquette off the list after a perfect week and Kansas hasn't quite fallen of the radar yet.

Others Receiving Consideration:
Pittsburgh, Butler, USC, So. Illinois, and Nevada.

The Bottom 5:
The candidates for early exit come march reside on this list, their are many more but I keep it to 5.
5. Alabama - Starting to finally get it together it appears winning a rare road game, albeit at LSU this past week. They did need a buzzer beat to beat Ole Miss at home however.
4. Oklahoma State - Now losers of 7 strait big 12 road wins, the once lock for the tourney could be heading for the bubble if they don't right this ship.
3. Clemson - After a 17-0 start the Tigers are just 2-5 since including a three blowout loses, one of which was to... Georgia Tech of all teams.
2. Duke - Losing to UVA on the road was fine, but the loss to Florida ST at home isn't and they made it three strait losses tonight at home against UNC.
1. Michigan St - Just when you think they might be getting it together they get outscored 36-12 in the second half by Purdue of all teams and lose 62-38 to extend their losing streak to 4.

The Time Has Come

2007-02-04T12:59:00.000-05:00

For the last two weeks I have refrained from commenting on the football game to be played today. I felt like you had all heard enough from the mainstream media that you didn't need my thoughts until the last minute. Not to mention all the uncertainty that surrounds a game that everyone seemed to think was a route when Indy survived the Patriots. The media got the hype machine rolling though, and thanks to the Bears impressive score against the Saints were able to garner some respect. The score in that game, was not at all indicative of how close it was. If the Saints don't turn the ball over four times they win, bar none, without a shadow of a doubt. Drew Brees threw the ball all over the Bears defense all day, so what do think Mr. Manning might do? If the Colts win and I'm saying IF I think they not only cover the spread but make it 14 at least. A Bears victory I think results in a close hard fought game with Robbie Gould hitting the game winner. Now for my prediction......

Colts 34 Bears 17

Theirs a chance I'm wrong here but if the Colts can move the ball on the ground even somewhat effectively, and their defense makes most of the tackles they win easily. They don't need to be the defense they were against the Chiefs but we can't have the defense they showed up with against Houston either. The Bears secondary is in for a long day, their only shot rests on getting to Manning early and very often. Meanwhile, I think the speed of the Colts ends will be a little much for the Bears and they'll be in Grossman's face all day long leading to maybe many mistakes. If the Colts get up 2 scores its over... end of story. That's it for me, now go enjoy your parties, your booze, and your tears if your team loses.