Football

Time to jump on the bandwagon – I have compiled a list of what I think will happen in early July during the free-agent frenzy in the NHL.  Some are just thoughts to consider, but I have a few strong beliefs compiled in here as well.  But you really have to ponder over how often us hockey bloggers are actually correct.

Continue reading "Free Agency Spoilers"

yed at 7:00, three games at 8:00 and three more at 10:00 or after.

What can the National Football League teach us?

On December 27 (NFL week 16), NFL fans watched a great game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens at 1:00 in which Steelers' receiver Santonio Holmes got 86 receiving yards against a tough Ravens defense, and Ravens' halfback Ray Rice amassed 141 rushing yards in a 23-20 Steelers victory.  Shortly after that game ended (approximately 4:15), NFL spectators watched in horror as American hero Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts fell to the New York Jets 29-15 to end their perfect season bid.  As if that wasn't enough, the NFL had yet another exciting game start at 8:20 between the surging Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears.  Greg Olsen's brilliant catch in the endzone during the first half led the way as the Bears squeezed out a victory, 36-30.

Continue reading "The NHL Could Learn from the NFL"

It's time to make predictions for the NFL season. It should be a bit easier since most of the games from Week 1 are already out of the way. Also, my picks for the week were submitted before the games began, just not here.

Steelers over Titans (was submitted here prior to the game)

Seahawks over Rams

Falcons over Dolphins

Bengals over Broncos (Brandon Stokely, are you flipping kidding me?)

Vikings over Browns

Colts over Jaguars

Saints over Lions

Bucs over Cowboys (Tampa's definitely rebuilding now)

Eagles over Panthers

Ravens over Chiefs (Survivor/Lock of the week)

Texans over Jets

Giants over Redskins

Cards over Niners (San Fran is back)

Packers over Bears

Patriots over Bills

Chargers over Raiders

 

I'll look at my final results after the Monday night games are over, but those should be a couple of sure things too. Now here are my division and playoff picks for the year. Number indicates seed in playoffs.

AFC North

1 Steelers (Still the Champs)

5 Ravens (No more Rex Ryan)

Browns (QB controversy could last all year)

Bengals  (Marvin Lewis' last year with this mess)

 

AFC South 

2Titans (Running game + defense > Kerry Collins)

Colts (No more Dungy, no more dominance)

Texans (Every year a sleeper pick, every year a disappointment)

Jaguars (Maurice Jones-Drew can't play every position)

 

AFC West

4 Chargers (Another year of underachieving due to Norv Turner, no relation)

Broncos (No Cutler, no problem)

Chiefs (If they can hang with the Ravens, they can hang with this division)

Raiders (The PUNCHline of the AFC West. Ba dum shing!)

 

AFC East

3 Patriots (Brady's back, but the defense is starting to get old)

6 Dolphins (The Tuna won't let them be a one-year wonder)

Jets (Mark Sanchez will have his growing pains, but will be in the playoffs next year)

Bills (TO will provide entertainment, but that's about it)

 

NFC North

1 Vikings ( AP showed yesterday why he went number 1 in fantasy)

6 Packers (Rodgers is ready, defense is solid again)

Bears (Urlacher being out for the year is tough, too tough for the Bears to win)

Lions (Stafford starting might be the right call, but not to win games this year)

 

NFC South

2 Falcons (Atlanta will post back-to-back winning years for the 1st time in franchise history)

Saints (Brees threw 6 tds yesterday. I was right to be unhappy when I missed out on him in fantasy)

Panthers (Delhomme might be done winning games as a NFL QB)

Bucs (Already time to look towards next year)

 

NFC West

4 49ers (Decent team wins worst NFL division)

Cardinals (The second biggest hangover of the year)

Seahawks (That game was ugly yesterday. Needing a half to break away from the Rams doesn't look too good)

Rams (I'm still going to cheer for them, but in the end, another high draft pick could help. Bulger is awful)

 

NFC East

3Giants (Manning's new receivers appear to be ready to help)

5 Eagles (Probably pick them to win if McNabb doesn't get hurt)

Cowboys (Now that TO is gone, we'll see that Romo was the bigger problem all along)

Redskins (They could easily win the NFC West, this is the AL East of football)

 

I'll wait to pick the postseason until we get there. League MVP is Drew Brees.

 

Anyone who missed the US Open yesterday missed some crazy stuff. There was Roger Federer's dominating win over Novak Djokovic, including this magical shot to set up match point.

Continue reading "NFL Opening Weekend and US Open"

 The Cardinals got Smoltz for a song. Will he pay a big dividend in September and October? Hey, so far pretty good. What happens come playoff time. Will he adjust to a set up role? Will he have too?

Continue reading "What does Smoltz bring the Cardinals?"

1:11 PM CST: Well, after staying up til 4 am watching videos from the Lonely Island (you know you've done it too), I managed to sleep through the majority of the first halves of the opening games. There are now just seven minutes remaining in my featured game and the 15 seed Cal State Northridge is down by just one to Memphis. They've even led the Tigers by as many as six points. I have Memphis and John Calipari's greasy hair going to the Final Four, but I want this to happen.

Continue reading "NCAA Tourney Running Commentary"

Just picture it: it’s the top of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays are holding a slim 2-1 lead over the New York Yankees. Up to bat is Derek Jeter with Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez on deck. Cito Gaston, in order to shut the door on the game and the series gets on the phone and brings in the big gun, Pedro Luis Lazo, winner of two Olympic Gold medals with Cuba and current closer of the Blue Jays. And even if he gives up a run its okay, because leading off the bottom of the ninth for the Jays is Alexei Bell, who hit 30 HR with 100 RBI with Santiago del Cuba last year.

Continue reading "Part Time Jays: How to add a little ..."

According to several blogs, including Baseball Digest Daily, Mark Teixeira is headed to the Angels, in exchange for middling 1B Casey Kotchman and minor-league pitcher Stephen Marek, with perhaps others thrown into the mix.

Continue reading "Tex is an Angel"

den death of his father,  Favre passed for 399 yards and four touchdowns on "Monday Night Football" in a blowout win.  Remember on September 30, 2007 Favre passed Dan Marino in most touchdowns with 421 in his house of horror Metrodome against the Vikings.  This can go on for days.  He has so many accomplishments and has showed so much that it would be wrong to remember him by throwing an interception in his final game.

Continue reading ""Iron Man" Set to Retire"

I have never claimed to be an expert when it comes to predicting outcomes of football games, although last year I nearly predicted the exact final score of the Super Bowl while hitting on seven of my nine prop bets. (My prediction was 26-17, the final was 29-17.) For whatever reason I had a very good feel for that game. This year's Super Bowl, however, remains a mystery to me. Part of the reason I am having trouble getting a good feel for this game is that I am a bitter Jets fan and I can't stand either team. I'm finding it difficult to put my personal feelings aside and look at the game objectively. I think right now I am as close to objectivity as I am going to get, and with that being said, here is my official Super Bowl XLII prediction.

Continue reading "Super Bowl XLII Prediction"