Frank's Sports Cast

The LeBron Watch: The Decision

2010-07-07T17:12:00.001-07:00

For 2 years, we've been counting down for the summer of 2010. The moment LeBron Jamesand the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated from the playoffs, we all sat back and waited to see what would happen. On July 1st, we knew who LeBron was meeting with but we didn't know how the process would work. Was LeBron going to be the first man to go and create a domino effect? When was he going to make his announcement? Were we all just going to wake up one day and it would be announced or would we know ahead of time? For 2 years now, we have debated who has the best chances to land LeBron and what was going through his mind.

Tomorrow night, Thursday July 8th, 2010 at about 9:10 pm, all of our answers will be concluded and LeBron James will sign his name above a dotted line that will change the NBA for the next half decade. The best part about the whole situation is the other great free agents surrounding him have already found a place to play. Now that all the big pieces are in place on all of the contending teams, the only thing left for LeBron to do is to make a crucial decision. On July 1st, there were 8 teams involved in the LeBron James Sweepstakes and I think there are just 3 teams remaining heading into tomorrow's final decision.

1. Cleveland Cavaliers: The Cavaliers don't have a winning team surrounding James to win a championship. We saw this occur for the past 5 years and now the Eastern Conference is stronger than it has been in the past decade with the Miami Heat adding Chris Bosh. The only thing they have that LeBron is interested in is loyalty. If you don't think loyalty doesn't mean anything to James, just take a look at his life. He is married to his high school sweetheart, he is still best friends with his high school buddies, and he lives in Akron. This guy is anything but unfaithful. The city of Cleveland took a serious blow when Bosh decided not to do a sign-and-trade with Cleveland because that would've landed James. However if anyone out there thinks it'll be easy for him to leave Cleveland, you're sadly mistaken. They are in this just as much as any other team.

2. Miami Heat: What's not to like about Miami? Living in south beach, having legendary Pat Riley run the team, and playing with all-stars and close personal friends like Dwyane Wadeand Chris Bosh. If he goes to Miami, they will win at least 4 of the next 6 NBA Championships. Everyone always says it won't work if he joins them because who will take the last shot in a close game? First of all they won't have many close games. Secondly I look at that aspect as an advantage. Who will take the last shot? For the opposing team, who will they guard? There is no question in my mind that they will be killers in the NBA and it won't be very entertaining to watch. I came into this summer thinking Miami were the favorites to land LeBron and I hope I am wrong.

3. New York Knicks: The Knicks have been the most entertaining team out of the bunch. Nobody thought they had a chance to land LeBron and here they are in the hunt with about 26 hours to go. The one thing they have done is kept their word. They wanted to clear cap space for this summer and they did. They went out and got a big man in Amare Stoudemire. The only thing they need to do now is convince LeBron that they are not done and I think they may have done it. They have plans to add one of Tony Parker, Chris Paul, or Carmelo Anthony next year. They will be able to do this after Eddy Curry clears off the books next year.

After long hours of reading reports from sources and several reports and doing my best impression of mind-reading LeBron James, I have come to the conclusion that he will be a New York Knick by the end of Thursday night. I think LeBron has 2 major factors playing into this decision. One is his brand. There is no question that LeBron cares about his brand because he knows he's the most talented basketball player on Earth right now. If he goes to Miami, he will always be looked at as Wade's Robin. If he went to New York, he can become the Batman and take all the credit if he wins a championship. Secondly is his competitiveness. If he goes to Miami, he will win several championships. However, if he goes to New York, the rivalry of the Knicks and Heat will be ignited once again. He can look at the Heat and think there are Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. I want to go to New York and compete with myself and Amare Stoudemire and try and form my own dynasty. Not only do I have feelings about the situation, I also have heard several things under the table. He is making his decision in Connecticut, close to New York. I heard 2 of LeBron's top advisors from his camp are expected to be in New York either today or tomorrow. I've also heard Nike is preparing to launch their famous, "Witness," t-shirts in orange and blue, the Knicks colors.

I have eliminated the Chicago Bulls because the Bulls were rivals of the Cavaliers and if he leaves Cleveland, I think it will be an extra low-blow if he went to Chicago. I have eliminated theNew Jersey Nets because they are just too young and I'm sure he will consider going to them the next time he is a free agent. Either way, it has been a fun ride following LeBron and this will go down as one of the most entertaining free agency summers in any sport. It will conclude tomorrow so everyone should tune in and witness history.

New York Mets

2010-06-23T12:00:00.001-07:00

The New York Mets has surprised everyone including myself on a great start to their 2010 season. Even without injured Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes still not playing up to his potential, they find themselves just a game and a half out of first place in their division behind the Atlanta Braves and 3 games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies who were supposed to run away with the division. Even with the great start, the Mets players still find something to complain about. The other day, there were reports about players like Johan Santana andFrancisco Rodriguez promoting the idea of going after another big starting pitcher like Cliff Lee or Roy Oswalt. They said if the Mets were serious about winning a championship then they would go out and trade for one of these big named players. I'm just glad that Santana and Rodriguez aren't the general managers of my favorite baseball team because the Mets are in no situation to be trading away prospects for one big name. They did the same thing with Johan Santana who is now an average 5-4 and isn't even considered the ace of their starting rotation anymore. Now he's locked up in a mega deal that the Mets cannot get out of. Every team in baseball needs prospects. Just look at the Mets last year. When their starting players got hurt, there was nobody to bring up and they were the most embarrassing team in the league. Now they are decent and they want to trade away more prospects for another starting pitcher? I'm sorry but if they were smart, they'd know that it's not hard to acquire a good pitcher if you play in the National League. Just ask the Chicago Cubs about Carlos Silva who blew up last year with the Seattle Mariners and is now 8-2 with a 3 ERA. As for Francisco Rodriguez, just shut up and pitch. You're not nearly the closer you were before you came to the Mets so you should be the last person to say anything.

NBA Finals: Celtics vs Lakers

2010-06-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

I think the Los Angeles Lakers are better than the Boston Celtics. However the Celtics find themselves one game away from their 18th championship and the Lakers find themselves one loss from elimination. In a 7 game series with 2 championship caliber teams, anything can happen. In game 4 we watched Glen Davis and Nate Robinson lead the Celtics to a victory with the Lakers starting 5 on the floor and with Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, and Paul Pierce on the bench for most of the 4th quarter. In game 5, we saw Kobe Bryant get absolutely no help from the entire team including guys like Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, and Ron Artest. However if either team can make it to game 6, that's when we truly determine who the better team really is because there is officially no more room for error. I thought games 4 and 5 were must wins for the Celtics because they had to win 2 out of 3 at home and could not go back to L.A. down 3-2. So in desperation, they took a stand and now have a 3-2 lead heading into game 6. Now it's time for the Lakers to dig deep and win tonight. If they can win tonight, game 7 will be a game for the ages. Before that happens, the Lakers need to win tonight and I'm a little worried after what I saw in game 5. Other then Kobe, the entire team was a non-factor. Gasol needs to play better basketball and Andrew Bynum needs to do something. I know he has issues with his knee but he needs to put up at least 10 points and 5 rebounds. Lamar Odom is another player who needs to do something! In tonight's game, I think the Lakers will answer the call and win their biggest game of the year to date. In game 5, the Lakers shot for 36% from the field and the Celtics shot 56% and the game still game down to the final minute. The Lakers have the better team, they now need to take advantage of their home court and win. If they cannot pull out a win tonight, I will admit to completely overlooking the Celtics throughout the entire Finals and I will be convinced they are the best team. However I had the Lakers in 7 games and I'm sticking to it until a team is holding up the title.

Trouble Brewing for the New York Jets

2010-06-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

It looks like not all is well for the New York Jets. They had a great offseason signing big free agents and are considered serious threats to win the AFC East division next year. However, there is just one small problem with one particular player and that player is Darrelle Revis. Revis has been threatening to sit out of training camp and possibly games if he doesn't get a new contract that will make him the highest paid cornerback in the NFL. He has been trying to get a contract extension for awhile now but earlier today, the confrontation hit the field for the first time. Revis showed up to camp but kept his word and sat out during parts of practice. He told the press at the end of the day that he was feeling lightheaded but nobody believes that including head coach Rex Ryan who said he doesn't want Revis at practice if he's not 100% committed. Now the key to the Jets defense is an unhappy player and the Jets have put themselves in a tough situation. I blame the Jets for everything. People cannot come out and say Revis is a selfish player because everyone knows that anything can happen in football. They deserve to get guaranteed money and deserve to get paid after successful seasons. Just ask former Jet Leon Washington who was scheduled to get a contract extension after last year but broke his leg and is now on the Seattle Seahawks playing for 1.7 million dollars. In addition, the only reason why he is demanding the highest salary for a cornerback is because the Jets kept saying all of last year how he was the best. So now they have to pay him like it. Currently, the highest paid cornerback in the NFL is Nnamdi Asomugha who is getting paid 16 million dollars a year and Revis reportedly won't accept anything less than that. The problem in all sports is every owner is as smart as the dumbest owner. For example, Al Davis overpaid Asomugha and has set the bar for the next cornerback who wants to be paid respectively. Now the Jets will have to pay they price for hyping up Revis as the best cornerback.

Cliff Lee to the Yankees?

2010-06-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

There have been rumors about the possibility of the Seattle Mariners shopping around star starting pitcher Cliff Lee. Just today, I heard the New York Yankees were involved in the possibility of landing Lee and Lee would agree to sign a long-term contract with the Yankees. First of all if the Yankees could pull this off, just crown them their 28th World Series victory. Having 2 ace pitchers in C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee running that rotation with their offense will lead them to a championship pending a serious injury. They wouldn't have one hole in their entire starting rotation from 1 to 5. However, they should be careful with what they are doing. It is no lie that the Yankees position players are getting old. If they trade for Cliff Lee, they will have to pay a big price for him. I wouldn't mind them getting rid of pitching prospects because their pitching would be set for years. However I have heard the Mariners would be asking for either shortstop Eduardo Nunez or both Austin Romine and Jesus Montero who are both valuable catchers. If this is the case, I wouldn't pursue Lee. I always believed that a team should never trade for a player like Cliff Lee when his contract is running out. Why give up a bunch of prospects for a player who will eventually be a free agent the following year? However in this case, I'd do it if Seattle's only asking for pitching prospects because Cliff Lee has proved himself to be a great pitcher in the postseason and it looks like the Mariners are definitely looking to trade him. A team is not going to trade for him and not sign him to a long-term contract. So with that being said, I think the Yankees should go out and get this guy if the price isn't too high. Everyone will say they should trade Javier Vazquez for him but the Mariners aren't going to take on a one year rental on a player like that. For Lee, they are going to want valuable young talent.

The LeBron James Watch: Head Caoches

2010-06-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

Lately a few teams that have been in the hunt to sign LeBron James have made some head coaching signings. The Chicago Bulls signed the former assistant coach of the Boston Celtics Tom Thibodeau, the New Jersey Nets have verbally agreed to a deal with Avery Johnson, and the Cleveland Cavaliers have narrowed their search down to either college head coach Tom Izzo or Byron Scott. The Cavaliers have openly said they have not asked or discussed with LeBron who he would like to play for next year if he were to stay with the Cavaliers. To be honest, unless a team brings in a big named coach like Phil Jackson, I don't think any coach will sway LeBron to that respective team. He had head coach Mike Brown with him in Cleveland last year and they ended up getting the best record in the league. At the end of the day, he's going to go to the team with the best overall roster. I think any coach can be successful with LeBron. It's the 7 game series in the playoffs where LeBron needs other players to help him out. This is why the Bulls are favorites because they have Derrick Rose. The Knicks are in the mix because he can sign with New York and another big free agent can come and help. This is why the Nets are in the mix because they have a young group of talent and he can have another player sign and help out. I'm not saying anybody like me or you could coach this team but I feel like LeBron trusts most NBA coaches are good enough to be successful with the right group of talent. If you don't believe me then just think about why the Nets or Bulls didn't wait until July 1st to sign a new head coach. If LeBron really cared, they would be taking a huge chance on signing a coach. With that being said, I think Avery Johnson was the best hire out of all the coaches rumored to land a job. I always thought Johnson never should have gotten fired from Dallas and as a former point guard, he can really guide this team and win some games next year.

NBA Finals: Celtics vs Lakers

2010-06-08T14:55:00.000-07:00

After watching game 2, the only player everyone was talking about was Rajon Rondo and how great he is. Ah, I thought we already established that after he basically carried the Boston Celtics on his shoulders throughout the entire playoffs. Now, after the Celtics won game 2 in L.A., everyone has the Celtics winning the series and Lakers fans are freaking out a little bit. They need to relax and remember that they have Kobe Bryant on their side and they ultimately have the better team. Rondo had a triple-double and Ray Allen, a very overrated player, had the game of his life and the Lakers still kept it close up until the end of the game. If the Celtics want to win the Finals, they need this performance from both players every single game. The Lakers have Kobe, who battled through foul trouble the entire game, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum. I was nervous for the Lakers when Bynum's knee was acting up but in game 2, he looked great. If he can compliment Gasol, the Lakers have nothing to worry about. I truly thought Kevin Garnett would step up and have a big game 2 after everyone called him out and said he was getting slow and getting worse. However he didn't showing the entire world he clearly isn't the Garnett everyone is used too. The next best player the Celtics have down low is Kendrick Perkins who is no match to Bynum. Teams with the better big men down low will eventually win. With everything being said, I think the Lakers will win tonight. For the people who still think the Lakers will win the series think the Celtics will still lock up game 3 because of the home court. I think the Lakers will come out and win game 3 and 4 then lose game 5. Even after last night, I still think the Lakers are clearly the better team. the only team that can beat the Lakers are themselves. I still think it will be a close one tonight so make sure you tune in between this game and Strasburg's debut.

The Ultimate Debut

2010-06-08T14:29:00.000-07:00

The time has finally come for the phenom pitcher to make his major league debut for the Washington Nationals. Stephen Strasburg has been hyped up through college and has made headline news for each of his starts through the minor leagues. It's great to see this happen to the sport of baseball. Draft picks are always overlooked in baseball because once a player is drafted, they spend time in the minor leagues before they move up to the majors. In all other sports, the player goes from high school or college to the pros. Hockey has a minor league system but if a player is good enough, like Sidney Crosby, he will be moved to the NHL very fast. However this makes Strasburg debut the biggest in baseball ever. I think it's the most hyped up debut in all of sports since LeBron James debuted for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Not only are we witnessing a rare hyped up debut in baseball but I think this is the rise of the Washington Nationals. They will no longer be the team that finishes last every year and stocks up on number 1 picks. I think this team will be the next Tampa Bay Rays. They play in a weak National League, the National League East in particular only has the Philadelphia Phillies as a threat who can be overcome, and they now have one of the best pitchers in baseball in Strasburg. Even without Strasburg this team is 6 games out of the division. If anyone has any doubt on this kid, just sit back and wait. He is going to be an absolute stud in the pros and it's going to start tonight against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. On top of everything, the day before Strasburg's debut, the Nationals signed the next ultimate phenom, Bryce Harper, who will eventually help this team in several years. Things are finally starting to turn around for the Washington Nationals.

NBA Finals: Celtics vs Lakers

2010-06-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

The NBA Finals is finally here. I wrote a blog earlier in the week about how great this series could be and my mind has not changed. The Boston Celtics will travel to Los Angeles for game 1 to play against the Lakers. I have the Lakers winning in 7 games. I know the Celtics have been playing good basketball but the Lakers are the ones who are the defending champions and they are also the team with Kobe Bryant. When the Celtics were playing against the Cavaliers earlier in the playoffs, I emphasized how good the Celtics were because if you named the top 5 players from both teams, LeBron James would have been number 1 and the other 4 would have been Celtic players. In this situation, Kobe would be number 1, and the rest of the list would be scattered. I would take Pau Gasol over Kevin Garnett right now. I think Ron Artest is the best defensive player on the court which will eliminate Paul Pierce or Ray Allen. If the Celtics have any chance of winning, they need Rajon Rondo to shine the way he has throughout the entire playoffs. He apparently has an ailing back which could be costly for the Celtics. Not just the top 5 players from each team but if you look at the Lakers roster compared to the Celtics roster, the Lakers are clearly the better team. The Celtics have a very similar team from when they won back in 2008 over the Lakers. The Lakers are much more improved from 2008. The starting lineup is better, the role players are better, and the coach is clearly better. The Celtics play great defense and are very good in clutch shooting situations which is why I think it will go to game 7. However I cannot see the Lakers losing at home in game 7 and Kobe getting eliminated on his home court. It will be a very exciting series to watch and I will be here to breakdown every game.

Ken Griffey Jr. Retires

2010-06-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

Injuries can be very brutal for any athlete. I meet people all the time who were good athletes growing up and had their careers cut short due to injury. There have even been big names like Grant Hill and Kerry Wood who were expected to be the next big names in their respective sport and never reached their full potential because of injury. Ken Griffey Jr. was one of these players who suffered from the injury bug for several years. However he was still able to put up staggering numbers like 630 career home runs and 10 gold gloves in center field. It's easy to say Hill and Wood could have been great players but we honestly don't know for sure. They were just good for several years. Even with the injuries, Jr. will be looked at as one of the greatest players of all-time. I cannot imagine how much better he could've been if he stayed remotely healthy. For those who don't know about Griffey, he is known as the, "good guy." In an era of steroids and PED's, Griffey was never suspected of taking anything. If you were to eliminate the players who are known for taking PED's, Griffey me be the best player to ever play the game behind Babe Ruth. It's sad to see him go the way his is leaving the game. He obviously wants to keep playing and the Seattle Mariners have basically done everything to get rid of him except for releasing him. The one flaw in Griffey's resume is he has never been to the World Series. I think he should keep in shape and resign with a contending team later on in the year. The Yankees would be perfect because of that short porch in right field. That would be a great way to end off his career. If this is the end of Griffey, it truly is the end of an era.

NBA Finals: Celtics vs Lakers

2010-06-01T11:11:00.000-07:00

The NBA playoffs have been average this year. That should all change with our upcoming NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Even though we have the best team from the West playing against the best team from the East doesn't mean we are guaranteed a great series. The Lakers or the Celtics could each sweep and it could be very boring. However I have 3 reasons why I think the average playoffs as a whole will end off with one of the best NBA Finals ever. The first reason is the rich history between these 2 teams. When I think of rivalries, I think of the Yankees and Red Sox, Duke and North Carolina, Michigan and Ohio State, Giants and Dodgers, and there are others including the Lakers and Celtics. However the only difference between the Lakers and Celtics compared to a lot of other rivalries is they can meet for the championship of their respective league. Duke and North Carolina can technically meet in the NCAA Championship but it is very rare since they are competing in a field of 65 teams. The only other rivalry even close to the Lakers Celtics that can meet in a championship game is between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys. The second reason is this series could determine who the kings of the NBA are. I'm not talking about this year but in the history of the NBA. The Yankees own baseball with 27 championships, the Canadians own hockey with 24 championships, and the Steelers own football with 6 Super Bowls. In football the Cowboys and 49ers are close with 5 Super Bowls but it's not even close in basketball. The Lakers have 16 NBA Championships and the Celtics have 17 NBA Championships. The Lakers could finally tie the Celtics and share the throne as kings of the NBA. Finally, the final reason is the present teams. These 2 teams are clearly the best teams in the league. In some sports, the conference championship series are more exciting than the actual championships. This is usually the case when the Yankees and Red Sox meet, the winner usually goes on to win. Not here. The Celtics have knocked out the possibility that they are old and washed up as they knocked out the Magic and Cavaliers easily. The Lakers are the defending champs and have made it back without too much trouble. If this doesn't get you pumped up, just remember that this is also the battle of the past 2 NBA Champions. The Lakers vs Celtics is guaranteed to be a great legendary series. I always thought the greatest rivalry was the Yankees and Red Sox. I think these 2 teams now own that title since this will be the 12th time both teams will be in the Finals against each other.

New York Yankees: Trouble Ahead?

2010-06-01T09:44:00.001-07:00

When the season first started, I thought the New York Yankees were even better this year than they were last year. They have a 4th reliable starter in Phil Hughes, a 5th starter in Javier Vazquez who can eat up innings, Joba Chamberlain back in the bullpen, and surprisingly a better lineup as well. However as we watch April and May pass and June finally here, the excuse of, "it's still early," is officially over and the serious contenders start breaking away from the rest of the league. I think we know the Tampa Bay Rays are just as good as the Yankees and will be in the hunt for the division title until late September. I think everyone knows the Boston Red Sox are a playoff caliber team but because they play in the same division as the Yankees and the Rays, they will not make the playoffs. But even with this speculation, the Yankees have me a little worried. Yes, they won 3 out of 4 games over the Cleveland Indians. However the one loss they had when they blew a 6 run lead has been really bothering me over the weekend. The injury to Alfredo Aceves is clearly the worst injury so far this year. I think he is more valuable to this team than Posada, Johnson, and Granderson combined. When they blew the 6 run lead, it showed how weak the Yankees bullpen really is without Aceves. Joba is made for the 8th inning, Damaso Marte is made to get lefties out, and Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin are made to come in and eat up innings after starters are taken out early. Aceves is there to come in around the 6th or 7th inning and hold on to a close lead which is the most important part of the bullpen in my opinion. As long as he is out, the bridge from starter to either Joba or Rivera is a shaky one and it could cost the Yankees some valuable games down the stretch.

NBA Playoffs

2010-05-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

When the Los Angeles Lakers took a 2-0 lead over the Phoenix Suns and the Boston Celtics took a 3-0 lead over the Orlando Magic, I thought about what a miserable NBA playoffs we have all witnessing. The only series that was entertaining was when the Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers and that was only because everyone couldn't believe LeBron James would be eliminated two years in a row early. However I think I spoke too soon. Just a few days later, the Suns have tied up the series with the Lakers as they play game 5 tonight in L.A. The Magic have come out of their coma and won 2 straight games including one in Boston. Now we finally have ourselves a few good series. I had Orlando winning in 6 games but after the Celtics won game 1, I changed it to 7 games with the Magic still winning. I underestimated the Celtics a little bit because I was so caught up in how bad the Cavs were, I forgot to credit the Celtics. However I still think the Magic have a slight chance to pull this series out. Game 6 in Boston is game 7 for both teams. If the Magic lose, they are eliminated and if the Celtics lose, it'll be very hard to win a game 7 on the road after dropping the past 3 games and letting the Magic back into the series. As for the Lakers, Suns series, I had the Lakers winning in 5 games. I thought the Lakers would win 2 at home, which they did, and I thought they'd steal one game in Phoenix and complete the series at home. Apparently Steve Nash, a very overrated point guard by the way, is tired of being eliminated and is trying to make it to the NBA Finals for the first time in his career. In order to make that possible, he needs to lead his team to a victory on the road to take away the Lakers home court advantage. If he wants to do that, it has to be tonight because they aren't going to win game 7 if necessary. I have the Lakers finishing the series in 6 games and still have the Magic pulling off the stunning upset and winning in 7 games.

The LeBron James Watch: Phil Jackson

2010-05-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

It seems like the LeBron James Watch takes another unexpected turn everyday. Today, the talks have been surrounding head coach Phil Jackson. On one hand, you can consider Phil Jackson as one of the greatest head coaches of all-time. On the other hand, you can say he has had the best players surrounding his teams. He won 6 NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls where he coached the great Michael Jordan. He won 4 NBA Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers while coaching Shaq for 3 of them and Kobe Bryant in all 4 championships. Will he leave L.A. next year to possibly coach the next great player in LeBron James? When the talks about LeBron and John Calipari surfaced, I said LeBron would never go somewhere because of John Calipari. If anything, Calipari would be the guy who would follow LeBron James to a team. Now that Phil Jackson is a contender to land a coaching job, I think James would follow Jackson because he has such a great resume. I don't think he should because even though Jackson coached Jordan and Bryant, he had a great team surrounding those players every time. Out of the 3 teams that are interested, the Bulls have the best team that could surround LeBron. However I don't think Jackson would go back to Chicago unless LeBron was definitely signing with them. The Nets are a possibility because they will give Jackson the money he wants but that's a big rebuilding team. I don't think LeBron will go to the Nets. The Cleveland Cavaliers fired Mike Brown because they are trying to bring in a great coach to lure LeBron into staying. If Jackson signs with the Cavaliers, I cannot picture LeBron playing for anyone else because he will notice the effort the Cavs are going through to keep him and he is already guaranteed an extra 30 million dollars if he stays in Cleveland. Phil Jackson could be the next big clue as to what uniform James will be wearing next year.

The LeBron James Watch: New York Knicks

2010-05-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

The idea of LeBron James coming to the New York Knicks seems like a fairytale. The Knicks are not a good team to come to if LeBron wants to win. In fact, in those terms, the Knicks could possibly be the last team on LeBron's mind. However, you can never underestimate Madison Square Garden. Players dream about calling the Garden their home court. It's the most famous arena in the most famous city in America. If the Knicks can get another big free agent and possibly a good point guard, LeBron coming to New York is not out of the question. Chris Bosh just recently came out and had New York as one of 5 teams he would like to sign with. However he did say his decision will be largely effected by where James signs. If the Knicks can somehow get James to sign with New York, Bosh can follow him to the Big Apple. That would settle signing 2 great free agents. However, for everything to fall into place for New York, to make them serious contenders to land LeBron James, I think the Knicks need to acquire a good point guard. A few weeks ago, the San Antonio Spurs said they will listen to offers for point guard Tony Parker and the Knicks were interested. If they can somehow trade for Tony Parker, I think the Knicks will become front runners to land James and Bosh and become serious contenders in the East for the first time since 1999. I was trying to think about who the Knicks could get rid of for Parker and it's not going to be easy to pull off a trade. Danilo Gallinari is their best player but he has been compared to the next Dirk Nowitzki. I'm sure the Knicks wouldn't get rid of him unless they were 100% sure LeBron was coming to New York. I do think the Knicks would have to include Wilson Chandler and Bill Walker. That may not be enough for Parker but those 2 players would definitely need to be in the deal if Gallinari isn't. Right now I have the Knicks in 3rd place in terms of a team that could land LeBron James but if they act aggressively, in the next 39 days, they can move up and possibly land James on July 8th. Knicks fans need to stay positive and realize this could happen.

The LeBron James Watch: Miami Heat

2010-05-19T12:43:00.002-07:00

Ever since LeBron James got eliminated from the playoffs, the 3 teams that have been mentioned the most for a possible suitor for James has been the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, and the New York Knicks. The sleeper team involved in this whole situation is a team I feel has the second best chance to land LeBron James if free agency started up today. That team is the Miami Heat. The Heat is possible suitors for a few reasons. The main reason is they have a great player named Dwyane Wade. Both James and Wade are very good friends and have played with each other in the Olympics. Wade has also come out throughout the regular season telling the nation he would love to play with LeBron and the two have talked about it. What makes Miami such a good situation is the fact that Wade is still under contract. Back in 2006, Wade signed a 3 year contract with a 4th year option just to make sure he had a team in contention during this crazy summer full of free agents. So technically, the Miami Heat could keep Wade under contract and still sign 2 max free agents. If this works out, the 2 free agents would most likely take a slight pay cut so Wade could resign to a max contract. The names I have in mind are obviously LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire. In addition, they still have Michael Beasley who was the number 2 overall pick 2 years ago. If this all falls into place, Pat Riley will take over as head coach again and they will have the best team in the NBA. The only big disadvantage for this move is Dwyane Wade will always be the number 1 guy in town. A great example of this is when Alex Rodriguez came to the Yankees and had to move to 3rd base because of Derek Jeter. LeBron James has been compared to the great Michael Jordan. Watching him take a backseat to Wade would be hard for me to believe. He could stay in Cleveland or go to New York or New Jersey and start his own legacy. He says winning is his number 1 priority but I have a feeling this is slightly holding him back from signing with Miami on July 8th.

The LeBron James Watch: Chicago Bulls

2010-05-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

There are several teams involved in the LeBron James sweepstakes. According to LeBron, his number 1 concern is winning. That's why the current favorites to land LeBron are the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have some advantages and one big disadvantage. Their number 1 advantage is Derrick Rose. LeBron James has been begging the Cleveland Cavaliers to obtain a point guard throughout his career. I personally think that was the one missing piece for Cavaliers. Not only is Derrick Rose one of the best but he's also very young and playing alongside James could really turn this franchise around. Another advantage for the Bulls is their available head coaching position. That's where the rumors began with John Calipari coming to join the Bulls with LeBron. I didn't make a big deal of this story yesterday because it's very similar to any story that comes out about Brett Favre. At the end of the day, he's not going to make a decision on whether or not he's going to come back until Labor Day weekend. In this situation, John Calipari could sign with Chicago tomorrow. However he's not going to leave Kentucky unless LeBron will definitely play for him. In addition, LeBron is not going to go somewhere just because of John Calipari. So to put it in better terms, Calipari is going to follow LeBron, LeBron is not going to follow Calipari and James isn't signing with a team until at least July 8th. So if James does sign with Chicago and there is an open job available, he can then pick his coach. The big disadvantage is Michael Jordan. If LeBron signs with the Bulls, he will always be compared to the great Michael Jordan. He says this doesn't bother him but if he signs with New York, New Jersey, or Cleveland, he will be considered the greatest the day he signs the dotted line. If the Bulls want LeBron, they need to add another great big man because I don't think Joakim Noah is good enough to play with LeBron and win. However for now, they are sitting in the driver seat.

Hanley Ramirez

2010-05-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

I think a lot of people would admit that the most respected baseball player over the past 2 decades has been Derek Jeter. He is respected because he is known as a winner and to never give up on any play ever. In addition, he has never had any problems off the baseball field. This is impressive knowing he lives in New York City where any little incident can leak out into the media. On top of that, he respects his teammates and the coaches that surround him no matter what. With that being said, shortstop for the Florida Marlins, Hanley Ramirez, grew up idolizing Jeter. He wears the number 2 because he says Jeter was his favorite baseball player growing up. Apparently he's only a fan of Jeter's winning because he obviously has not caught on to the respective side of Jeter. Last night Ramirez was chasing a fly ball and it dropped right in front of him. When he bent over to get the ball in a running motion, he accidentally kicked it into left field. Instead of pursuing the baseball aggressively, he jogged after it while the runners all advanced. Respected manager Fredi Gonzalez benched Ramirez after the inning. Ramirez did foul a baseball off his shin previously in the game but if he was hurt, he should have come out of the game. If he was good enough to play, you have to give 100 percent. I credit Gonzalez to bench Ramirez. The big problem I have with Hanley is he didn't take the benching too well. He went on this morning ripping his manager saying he has no idea what kind of injury he had because he's never played baseball. Hanley has to learn to shut up and take the punishment. There have been many players benched for not hustling. Hanley's the only one who still thinks he's right in the situation. If Lou Piniella was the manager, he wouldn't be playing for a week. It's embarrassing to call Derek Jeter your favorite baseball player and have an incident like this. He needs to know what kind of person Jeter is before he can become half the player.

The Start of the LeBron Watch

2010-05-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

The fact that the Eastern Conference Finals has started and the Western Conference Finals is about to begin tonight and LeBron James has been stealing the back pages of every newspaper, I have decided to take advantage of the situation. The reason why this is such a big deal is because we have an Eastern and Western Conference series every year. A player with the caliber of LeBron James is a free agent once every 20 years and that might be an understatement. Add the fact that there are several other outstanding players available that could possibly play with LeBron next year makes this offseason a lot more significant than the playoffs. With everything going on, I am going to start the LeBron Watch. July 1st marks the first day other teams can talk to LeBron other than Cleveland and July 8th is when LeBron can finally sign with any team he wants. We are 44 days away from July 8th and the teams that are involved with signing LeBron needs to be aggressive. For the next week, I will discuss what each team involved has to do from now until LeBron James signs with a team. After this week, I will have weekly updates on the front running teams because teams will make moves and rumors will spread as to where LeBron will eventually sign. In addition, I will cover stories surrounding rumors about LeBron James. For example, news broke out today that John Calipari and LeBron James could be working together to find a possible destination for both of them. As the day progressed, the story has died down. So for the next 44 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes, and 40...39...38, seconds remaining until free agency, make www.franksportscast.blogspot.com your source for coverage on the greatest free agent arguably of all-time.

NBA Playoffs: Suns vs Lakers

2010-05-17T10:21:00.001-07:00

When the Cleveland Cavaliers finished with the best record in the NBA during the regular season, the majority of people had them as the favorites to win the NBA Championship. Then while they were falling apart to the Boston Celtics, the Orlando Magic was viewed as the favorites after they swept the Atlanta Hawks. While this was all going on, the Lakers went through a tough series eliminating the young Oklahoma Thunder but then went out and swept the Utah Jazz. From the first game this year, I've had Kobe Bryant and the L.A. Lakers winning the Championship against the Orlando Magic in 6 games and I'm sticking to my pick. Not only will the Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns tonight but they will eventually win the series in 5 games. The Lakers and the Celtics are in a league of their own but the Celtics are aging quickly which is why I think they will eventually lose to the Magic. As for the Lakers, they have everything. They have the star player in Kobe Bryant who is still in his early 30's, 2 big men in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, the top defensive player left in the playoffs in Ron Artest, possibly the greatest coach of all-time with Phil Jackson, and great role players that fix Jackson's system perfectly. I love Steve Nash and I hope he retires with a ring but he's not going to get one this year.

NBA Playoffs: Celtics vs Magic

2010-05-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

The Orlando Magic have been unstoppable in the playoffs this year winning their first 8 games of the playoffs and have been looked at as the new favorites to win the NBA Championship. Then the Boston Celtics came into Orlando last night and dominated. Now people are wondering if the Magic can even reach the Finals. I had the Magic winning this series in 6 games. I still have them winning the series but now I think it will go to 7 games. What's so great about the Boston Celtics is they have everything a championship team needs to win. They have a great starting 5, good role players, a solid bench, and they play great defense. I think the Magic have the advantage in coaching and role players but the Celtics have the best starting 5 and defense in the East. Defense won the game for the Celtics in game 1 and Stan Van Gundy needs to figure out a way to score on them. Dwight Howard is a scary player for the Magic. He is either a dominating big man or he is invisible. Kendrick Perkins was playing great defense on him down low. Usually the Magic just feed the ball down low to Howard and watch him work. After watching Perkins on defense, I expect to see more pick and rolls to the hoop and a bigger game from Rashard Lewis. He was a ghost in game 1 and since the Celtics have the better starting 5, the Magic need everyone to step up drastically.

John Calipari to the Bulls?

2010-05-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

It's funny to see what teams will do for a player that will go down as one of the greatest players of all-time still in his prime. The New York Knicks sacrificed the past 2 seasons just to clear up salary cap space for this summer. The Cleveland Cavaliers are so desperate to keep LeBron James that they are willing to fire current head coach Mike Brown, who finished with an overall record of 127-37 over the past 2 years, to possibly bringing in a big named head coach to bribe LeBron to resign. Now the latest are the Chicago Bulls who are willing to steal current head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, John Calipari, away from Kentucky and make him head coach of the Bulls. Calipari already had a head coaching stint with the New Jersey Nets and that didn't work out for him too well. So why are the Bulls interested in Mr. Calipari? It's because he has a good relationship with LeBron James. It's weird how that works out. Calipari tweeted a message on his twitter saying he will be the coach of Kentucky next year. He also said he would stay with Memphis last year and he signed with Kentucky 4 days later. I like how aggressive the Bulls are becoming to try and land the best player in the NBA because that's smart. I also think Calipari should take the Bulls job. Even though Calipari failed in his first NBA head coaching position, he's made to coach in the NBA. College coaches usually have patience who can build a 2 or 3 year competitive team every 4 years. Calipari is always attracted to the one and done players who are very talented. The NBA is full of the best basketball players in the world, he'd have the opportunity to coach the best player in the league, and he would be reunited with star point guard Derrick Rose who he coached at Memphis. It all seems to fall into place.

LeBron James Eliminated

2010-05-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

Now that LeBron James has been eliminated, the countdown to July 1st is officially on. The game last night was nothing new to what we have seen the entire series. The only difference is the Cleveland Cavaliers had the game close with 5 minutes to go. However the Boston Celtics were able to pull away at the end of the game to solidify themselves as the better team. LeBron once again looked beat up. I got the sense that he was passing the ball more often to prove his case that he doesn't have a good team around him. I don't know if it was that or if he really is injured. What I do know for sure is that LeBron was not 100%. He didn't drive to the hoop to create plays and his first instinct throughout the entire game was pass first. That's not the LeBron that took this team to the NBA Finals in 2007 and that's not the LeBron that led his team to the best record during the regular season. As the Boston Celtics march on to the Eastern Conference Finals, the rest of the world will be watching LeBron's every movement as July 1st approaches. I think the top 3 destinations are the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, and the New York Knicks. The New Jersey Nets are a possibility but I don't think he will go there. I don't think the Heat are strong contenders but I do think they have a better chance than Cleveland. It should come down to the Bulls and the Knicks. If the Knicks have any chance of bringing LeBron to New York, they need to sign another top player first to lure him. We can cover every angle of this situation but at the end of the day, were not going to find anything out until July comes.

NBA Playoffs: Celtics vs Cavaliers

2010-05-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

Once again, the sports world witnessed the Cleveland Cavaliers get embarrassed on their home court in a critical playoff game in the hands of the Boston Celtics. Unfortunately, all the blame is on LeBron James. He is the face of that franchise and cannot allow this type of performance to happen twice. I saw a new type of LeBron last night. He was completely out of the game and simply looked like he didn't care at all. I had the feeling in the press conference after the game that he was deflated and sick and tired of carrying this team on his back. It also looked like he was a man ready to leave town. It's sad to watch because he truly is on his own. Mo Williams is garbage, Shaq is too old to be the effective big man he once was, and Antawn Jamison is a decent player but not good enough to help LeBron out. The owner of the Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert, said this loss was inexcusable because the ingredients for a good team is on the floor. He's completely wrong. Jamison was the best addition to the Cavaliers throughout the LeBron era but they don't need another 6 foot 9 offensive specialist. They have the best small forward in the game. They need a point guard and better role players. After putting this into perspective, it's hard to blame LeBron for everything but after leading his team to the NBA Finals back in 2007, there's no excuse for his performance in the games the Cavaliers have lost. On the other hand, the Boston Celtics look very good. I'm not surprised they are winning but I am impressed by their dominance this series. After they lost game 3 on their home court, I thought this team could cough up this series because they are the better team by far but LeBron is the best player in the NBA. However they have bounced back beautifully winning game 4 and then game 5 on the road. The Cavaliers are in trouble and I'm sticking with my original pick, Celtics in 6.

Braden vs A-Rod

2010-05-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

Dallas Braden is probably the luckiest baseball player on the face of the earth. He comes off as a punk who yelled at Alex Rodriguez for, "running across his mound." Then he becomes the 19th major league baseball player to ever pitch a perfect game against currently the best team in baseball. His mother died while he was in high school so the fact that he pitched this game on Mother's Day made him the hero on Sunday. Ever since this happened, everyone looks at Braden as the innocent winner to the feud between himself and A-Rod. On top of everything else, after he pitched the perfect game, Braden's grandmother said, "stick it A-Rod," to reporters. Well now I know where Braden gets his tendency to start confrontations from. To all of the A-Rod haters out there, the selfish player we all remember is in the past. He finally shut his mouth and delivered a World Series to New York which now puts him under the column as a winner. So why is everyone still hating on him? I've heard great players like John Smoltz and Darryl Strawberry come out and say they've never heard the unwritten rule that players cannot run across the mound. When Braden was the one who opened his big mouth and started a problem, A-Rod was the one that laughed it off saying it wasn't a big deal. Than Braden was the one who came out late last week and threatened to beat A-Rod up. Now all of a sudden he pitches a perfect game on Mother's Day and A-Rod is the A-Hole? It's ridiculous because no matter what A-Rod does, he will always be looked at as the bad guy. He didn't do anything. This isn't Braden vs A-Rod, its Braden vs Braden. After the baseball game, when Braden looked like the hero and pitched the perfect game, why does his grandmother open her mouth? You're grandson is the center of the baseball world for that one special moment to honor his mother and she says something about A-Rod. That was an uncalled for shot and I hope this whole situation dies down soon.

Haynes-not-worth the Trouble

2010-05-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

The Washington Redskins granted big defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth with a 100 million dollar contract last year. Now the team cannot wait to get rid of this guy. Trade talks heated up with him during the NFL Draft. After he didn't get traded, he somehow found a way to piss off his teammates. Haynesworth has not reported to voluntary camp for the Redskins and defensive end Phillip Daniels doesn't like it. He said Haynesworth needs to be at camp to show the younger guys that the veteran guys have bought into the new system Mike Shanahan has brought to the team. He also said that the voluntary camp has turned into mandatory camp after the team finished 4-12 last year. A message to all the younger players on the Redskins: do not look at Haynesworth as your leader. Donovan McNabb is a leader on that football team. London Fletcher is another great defensive leader on that team. After what Daniels just said, I'd look at him as a leader over Haynesworth. Jim Haslett is the new defensive coordinator for the Redskins and proposed installing a 3-4 defense. Once Haynesworth found out, he got mad because he's used to a 4-3 defense. Right there shows this guy isn't a leader. Leader's do anything to win. I have a lot of respect for Daniels for calling out Haynesworth but to be honest, they don't need Haynesworth. With his contract, his complaining, his injuries, and his overall attitude, they'd be much better without this guy.

NBA Playoffs: Celtics vs Cavaliers

2010-05-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

After the Boston Celtics stole game 3 from the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, all they needed to do was win their home games and they would've found themselves in the Eastern Conference Finals. Instead, the Cavaliers handed the Celtics their worst home playoff loss in their astounding franchise. The Celtics rebounded by winning game 4 but now if they want to win the series; they need to steal another game in Cleveland. I've been trying to figure out who is more important for their team, LeBron James for the Cavs or Rajon Rondo for the Celtics? LeBron led his team to a dominating win in game 3 after he scored 21 points in the first quarter. The Celtics were able to tie the series after Rondo's triple double with 29 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists. In the first game the Celtics won, Rondo had an incredible 19 assists. These 2 players are the most important players for their respective teams hands down. Rondo's roll is a little bit more easier because he has the big 3 players he can dish the ball around to and he's the point guard who has the ball in his hands more than any other position player. For LeBron, he needs to do everything for his team in order to win which is why I still have the Celtics winning in 6 games. With the series now a best of 3, will anyone step up and help LeBron significantly? At the press conference after the game, someone asked if LeBron James will play defense against Rondo. Is there anybody on that roster that can guard Rondo? It's very sad for the Cleveland organization. LeBron has been a member of this team for 7 years and they have not found a point guard to help this team out. Game 5 is obviously critical for both teams but much more critical for the Cavaliers because they cannot afford to drop 2 games at home and expect to win 2 games in Boston.

NBA Playoffs: Spurs vs Suns

2010-05-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

Steve Nash would normally go down as one of the greatest point guards to every play the game of basketball. The only problem is he has not won an NBA Championship. For people who know me personally, I have a very hard time calling a player one of the best of all-time if they finish their career without any rings. In basketball, I think players should have at least 3 if they want to be considered legendary but for now, Nash is still looking for his first. The problem throughout his career with the Suns has been the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs were looked at as the team playing the best basketball heading into the 2nd round after they beat the 2nd seeded Dallas Mavericks. Not only did Nash lead his Suns past the Spurs in a sweep that was finalized last night, he has gotten past the Spurs for the first time in his career after being eliminated by them 7 times! A few of these times was when Nash was on the Mavericks but either way, Nash has finally surpassed the Spurs and will move on to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2007. This series really showed the world how old the Spurs are getting and this may have been their last shot to win an NBA Championship with the core 3 players. As the Spurs fade out of the NBA playoff picture, the Suns start heating up where they will eventually play the L.A. Lakers after they finish off the Utah Jazz. Even though this whole article has been about Nash, Jason Richardson is the one who has elevated this team from being an average team out West to a team that is 4 games away from a Finals appearance. If they want to beat the Lakers, he needs to play great basketball.

Dallas Braden Who?

2010-05-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

A little while ago, the New York Yankees played against the Oakland Athletics. Alex Rodriguez was on first base while a man named Dallas Braden was pitching. Whoever was hitting at the time hit a foul ball and while A-Rod was heading back to first base, he apparently ran across the mound instead of going around the mound. After the batter was retired, Braden decided to yell at A-Rod saying it was disrespectful that he ran across the mound because that's an unwritten rule in baseball. Braden had some words after the game, A-Rod said he didn't have a problem with it and everything should have been settled. All of a sudden, reports come out recently that Braden has stirred up the conversation again talking more trash. He said the next time they play, he might have to settle things physically with A-Rod and that he is a selfish player who only plays for the name on the back of the jersey and not the front of the jersey. Can someone please tell me who this guy is and where he came from? A-Rod nailed the situation right on the head when he said this guy is trying to get his 15 minutes of fame. The situation happened, you had a problem with it and said something, now move on. Isn't there an unwritten rule in baseball where a player who has a combined record of 17-23 shouldn't call out a future hall of fame player with over 580 career homers? Does he even know who he is talking to? I mean seriously, A-Rod has the body of a linebacker. I cannot believe this is still going on. This guy deserves a good smack in the face. I agree that A-Rod used to be a selfish player but he grew up. Apparently, Braden is the one who still has some maturing to do.

NBA Playoffs: Hawks vs Magic

2010-05-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, and Joe Johnson. These are the list of players that have the option to be a free agent this summer. Most of these players were heading into this NBA season expecting to receive possible max contracts next year or at least coming close to one. If any team in the NBA still thinks Joe Johnson deserves to be in the same conversation as these other names and are willing to give Johnson a major contract, they should think twice. Johnson is a great player and there is no doubt about that. All I'm trying to say is none of these players would allow their team to get completely shelled by the Orlando Magic 114-71 in a playoff game. None of these players would allow their team to go 7 games before knocking out the Milwaukee Bucks without Andrew Bogut. If any of these players were to allow this to happen to their teams, they wouldn't be looked at as the main cause. Joe Johnson is a big contributor. He wasn't clutch last series against the Bucks and certainly wasn't very good tonight against the Magic. In 30 minutes tonight, he scored 10 points on 4-11 shooting with 3 assists. He is the leader of this team and if he's not putting up points, it is his job to create plays for other players. The Hawks as a team have absolutely no idea how to play a basketball game as a team on a consistent basis. When they go down by double digits, everyone turns into Michael Jordan all of a sudden and wants to put up 40 points instead of running an actual offense to create points. The worst part about this entire scenario is their head coach. Before the post-game press conferences came on, I thought head coach Mike Woodson would come out and be fired up and maybe have a speech that would echo in the ears of the Hawks players every time they took the court and played with some dignity. Instead, he was as calm as I was last night before I went to sleep. He simply said they didn't have, "any juice tonight." You didn't have any juice? That's all you have to say after a complete embarrassment? I may be overreacting about the whole situation but after watching Johnson's performance throughout the playoffs, the entire team's overall attitude, and the, "fired up," Mike Woodson, I think the Magic will knock the Hawks out in 5 games.

NBA Playoffs: Celtics vs Cavaliers

2010-05-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here we go again. The Cleveland Cavaliers finish the regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference for the second year in a row and they are about to be knocked out of the playoffs again. The only problem is they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals last year. This year they won't even make it that far because they are going to get knocked out by the Boston Celtics. They are going to lose for 2 reasons. One, LeBron James isn't 100 percent healthy. He is healthy enough to help his team maybe force a game 6 but Cleveland needs him to be 100 percent if they want any chance of beating Boston. The second reason is because this team isn't very good. The reason why they are able to obtain the number 1 seed is because they never play the same contending team twice in a row during the regular season. In a seven game series, opposing coaches are able to adjust to what the Cavaliers do on the offensive side of the ball which is always centered on LeBron. Even though the NFL playoff system is the most exciting playoff form because it's one and done, the best team doesn't always win. In baseball, basketball, hockey, and all other playoff forms with an actual series, the best team always wins and the Celtics are exposing the Cavaliers terribly. Let's just look at the Celtics compared to the Cavaliers. The Celtics have 3 players called the big 3 which are Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett. Rajon Rondo isn't even considered one of the top 3 players on Boston and if he were on Cleveland, he would be the second best player easily. On the Cavs, LeBron is their best player and who is their second? Antawn Jamison? I'm sorry but he has not played well enough to assist LeBron and that's not a very hard objective. How about Shaq? He isn't because he cannot last on the floor for more than 35 minutes because he's 38 years old. Could it be Mo Williams? Mo Williams is the most overrated player I've ever witnessed. The only reason why he is looked at as decent is because he plays with LeBron. If any of these 3 players were on Boston, Jameson would be a player off the bench, Shaq might be able to start just because they don't have a big man but they can easily win without him, and Mo Williams wouldn't sniff the floor. I've been hard on the Celtics this year but for the first time in a long time, they are healthy and they will knock the Cavaliers out of the playoffs.

The LeBron James Sweepstakes

2010-05-03T09:48:00.001-07:00

There is one thing these following cities and states have in common: New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles. They all want LeBron James to wear their respective basketball team's jersey next season. We have been studying LeBron's every action and everything he has said for the past 2 seasons looking for clues and hints as to what he will end up doing this summer. From 2 years ago until now, the 2 famous questions remain. Will LeBron leave Cleveland? If he does, where will he go? During this whole process, I've looked at this whole situation as a heavyweight fight between the cities and states I mentioned before against Cleveland. On Sunday in Akron, Ohio when James accepted his MVP Award, Cleveland won that round of the 2 year long fight. If you listen to what LeBron says, it all pointed towards him staying in Cleveland. He mentioned he was, "just a little kid from Akron." He also said, "I love Akron to death." He revealed his goal since he was a little kid saying, "Since I was a little kid, I always said I was going to find a way to put this city on the map," which he accomplished. After that he said, "And I'm going to continue to do that." That tells me he wants to stay in Cleveland. It also tells me LeBron is very easily manipulated. He was in Akron in front of his home crowd and his teammates. Why would anybody want to leave at that very moment? However, if the Cavaliers get knocked out of the playoffs by the Celtics or the Magic, I think his next thought will be it's been fun but it's time to move on. The one reason why those previous cities and states still have a chance to land LeBron is because he wants to win a championship and because he wants to be a billionaire. After finishing the regular season with the best record in basketball for 2 straight years and he doesn't reach the NBA Finals this year, I think he will leave. We'll have to wait and see what occurs in the playoffs but right now, the city of Cleveland is the frontrunner.

Johan Santana Issues

2010-05-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty hard on the New York Mets in the first month of the season. Than all of a sudden last week, the Mets finished 9-1 in a 10-game home stand and found themselves in first place in their division! However I wasn't convinced that the Mets were a first place team and I think I was pretty accurate after the series with the Philadelphia Phillies. Mike Pelfrey is clearly not as good as he has been pitching lately. The Mets only dominate pitcher is Johan Santana. That was until the shelling he received last night. Normally one bad outing wouldn't be a cause for concern but the way he struggled is what I have a problem with. First of all I've never seen Santana get hit the way he did last night allowing 10 runs and 4 homers including 9 runs in one inning. 2 of those homers were against lefty batters. All of this was in just 3 2/3 innings pitched. The second major problem I had was when he walked the pitcher with the bases loaded! We're talking about a pitcher who is in the same conversation as Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum as possibly the best pitcher in baseball. There is no excuse for walking Jamie Moyer at all, especially with the bases loaded. Is there something wrong with Santana or was this just a rough outing? Santana is known for his fastball and then his devastating circle change up. Recently, Santana has had trouble hitting 90 mph with his fastball. So if the fastball isn't fast enough, it takes away from his great change up because they are close in speeds. I think Mets fans have to be concerned. He will beat up on the average teams but if they want to stay close within the division, he is the anchor of the rotation that is expected to beat the other contending teams in the league. After his performance last night, that's going to be hard to do.

Walter Jones Retires

2010-04-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

When the report came out about the retirement of offensive tackle Walter Jones, it wasn't as big of news as Brett Favre's new ankle report or Santonio Holmes getting kicked off a plane for being a jackass again. The reason for this is because he is an offensive tackle and the offensive linemen in the NFL get the least amount of attention out of all major sports. In the 13 years Jones has been in the NFL, he has been one of the best and should go down as one of the greatest offensive tackles of all-time. I'm apparently not the only person who considers him great. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks back in 1997 and has not worn another jersey in his entire career. The Seahawks organization is so thankful for his services that they have retired his number 71 on the spot. I don't remember the last time a franchise did that for any player. Mike Holmgren also notices how great of a player he is. Holmgren has coached some amazing offensive football players in his career including Matt Hasselbeck, Brett Favre, Steve Young, and Joe Montana. He said the greatest offensive player he has ever had the privilege of coaching is Walter Jones. Not only do people think he is a great player but his statistics are amazing as well. The offensive lineman position doesn't have many stats to refer to like other positions but the rare one they do have, Jones is one of the best. After 13 years of protecting the quarterback's blindside, he has allowed just 23 sacks! If that resume isn't impressive, I really don't know who would be considered a good football player. On top of it all, today is Walter Jones day in Seattle.

Dez Bryant vs Jeff Ireland

2010-04-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Before the NFL Draft, the NFL teams were able to interview a bunch of players as part of the drafting process. Getting to know a player has been very important lately because teams don't want to draft guys like Plaxico Burress or Ben Roethlisberger who could lead that respective team to victory but could also get arrested or suspended for parts of the year. After the NFL Draft passed, Dez Bryant, wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, said one of the interviews he was involved in got him extremely upset. As it turns out, the Miami Dolphins general manager, Jeff Ireland, asked Bryant a controversial question during his interview that has caught the attention of the sports world. He asked Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute. When the story first broke yesterday, everyone was shocked by the question Ireland asked and wanted a price on his head for it. Than today, after it settled down a little bit, there were a few people on television and on the radio that actually stood up for Ireland saying the goal of the interview is to know the player's whole background. I understand the goal of an interview but it is clear that the question Ireland asked was 100% inappropriate. If Ireland and other general managers had a list of questions for every athlete and for some reason that was one of the questions for everyone, it would still be a little bit weird but it would be understandable because everyone was asked the question. However he only asked that question to Bryant because when he was born, his father was 40 years old and his mother was 12. Knowing this information triggered the question which makes it completely wrong. You didn't hear any general managers asking that question to guys like Tim Tebow or Sam Bradford. I'm just happy for Bryant for keeping his composure during the question because if he punched Ireland in the face, a lot of people would look at him as immature and a hot-head. He handled it the right way.

LeBron James Hurt

2010-04-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

"King James," is actually human. As LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers knocked out the Chicago Bulls last night, Cavaliers fans couldn't celebrate like usual. We all witnessed LeBron James shoot a foul shot lefty because he couldn't lift his right arm over his head and watched him hold his arm in place like it was in a sling for the final seconds of the game. I'm not a doctor or an expert on injuries but if I were a Cavaliers fan, I would be very nervous. In his press conference after the game, James said his arm felt like somebody hit his funny bone and he went numb. He also said it occurred a few days ago and continues to get worse. On top of everything, he doesn't know what the problem is and even after an MRI, nobody knows. This reminds me a lot of Colt McCoy in the NCAA National Championship when he got tackled and came up holding his elbow the same way James did in the final seconds and had the same symptoms James said he had. After the National Championship game, he said his arm felt numb and useless. The only difference between the 2 players is McCoy was in the championship game of his senior season and we haven't seen him throw a football since. LeBron is scheduled to play round 2 against the Boston Celtics very soon. James says the fans of Cleveland have nothing to worry about and if any player can overcome an injury like this, it is LeBron. However you have to wonder if it'll get worse throughout the playoffs or if it will go away. I said before that I am not a doctor or an expert on injuries so I have no idea. I don't even know if he has the same injury as McCoy. I'm just pointing out the symptoms are similar and that same injury forced McCoy to be drafted 85th overall.

NBA Playoffs: Jazz vs Nuggets

2010-04-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

Before the playoffs started, I gave the Utah Jazz a lot of crap for earning the 5th seed because I didn't think they could win a series without home court advantage. Before the playoffs started, I was worried about the Denver Nuggets because it was going to be very hard for them to win high tensioned playoff games while their head coach, George Karl, is battling cancer. When I found out the Nuggets were going to play against the Jazz, something had to give. Would the Jazz overcome their road failures or would the Nuggets win without their general? Right now the Jazz are winning the series 3 games to 1 and have a chance to clinch the series in Denver tonight. I hate to say the Jazz are winning 3 games to 1 because George Karl isn't on the sidelines directing his Nuggets but I do think the Nuggets are a better overall team. However I cannot take away what Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer has done against the Nuggets. They have been together for 5 years now and this is the third year they have both been healthy for a large margin of the year. They have great chemistry together and have beaten the combination of Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony. The reason why the Nuggets are the better team on paper is because they have other key players so Billups and Anthony aren't forced to do everything. The only problem is those key players have not shown up so far in this series. Kenyon Martin is battling injury issues, Nene Hilario has done nothing for the Nuggets in the games they lost, and Chris Andersen has not been consistent. He had 2 blocks in the game 1 win for the Nuggets but has had 1 block in the remaining 3 games. As those players are struggling for the Nuggets, guys like C.J. Miles and Wesley Matthews has stepped up tremendously for the Jazz which is why I think they will eventually close the series out in game 6 in Utah.

NBA Playoffs: Thunder vs Lakers

2010-04-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

After the L.A. Lakers took the first 2 games of the series at home, they ended up losing the next 2 games on the road to the 8th seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. The series was tied 2 games to 2 and the number 1 seeded Lakers were actually in a do or die situation at home in game 5. If they lost, they would not have been knocked out of the playoffs but the defending champions did not want to go down 3 games to 2 to an 8th seed and prepare for an away game. Not only did the Lakers need a win but they needed a big win to solidify themselves as the king's of the Western Conference and show the young Thunder what kind of animal the Lakers can be. That's exactly what they did. The Lakers dominated from the start and ended up winning last night's game 111-87. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's no surprise that the Thunder is giving this team a run for its money. They are young and got hyped up from their home crowd. However when they returned to L.A. it was like the Lakers telling the Thunder, "Play time is over." The Lakers are the adults and the Thunder is the children. The children had their fun playing around all day long but when they returned to L.A. it became dark and it was time for the little kids to go to bed and let the adults have their fun. I got that sense when they returned to L.A. It's almost like the Lakers were mad the Thunder for even trying to make this series a close one. They laid the hammer down last night and I think they will be able to close the series out in Oklahoma because they damaged the Thunder. The only way the Thunder can win is if they play full-court basketball because they are young and can run up and down the court at will. The Lakers are masters of turning the full-court game into a half-court game when they actually run plays and beat the Thunder with jab punches. After the beating the Lakers gave to the Thunder, I think they can start looking towards the 2nd round.

Ryan Howard's Pay Day

2010-04-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

Ryan Howard was expected to test out the free agency market when his contract ended in 2011. That is no longer an option. Yesterday, Howard signed a 5 year, 125 million dollars extension which will keep him in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform until 2017. Once the extension money kicks in, he will be making about 25 million dollars a year which is more than C.C. Sabathia, who makes about 23 million dollars a year, and just about as much as Alex Rodriguez who signed a 10 year, 252 million dollars contract extension with the New York Yankees. I'm surprised the Philadelphia Phillies signed him so soon and for the amount they signed him for a few reasons. Ryan Howard has said he wanted A-Rod money when he became a free agent. The Phillies could have waited until he was a free agent, let him look around for A-Rod money, and could have resigned him for about 18-20 million dollars a year because he wasn't going to find any A-Rod money from any other team. Since he is now getting A-Rod money, let's compare the players starting with defense. A-Rod is a top-5 defensive third baseman in the league and Ryan Howard is only playing first base because he plays in the National League where the designated hitter position doesn't exist. Let's look at some lifetime numbers. Just remember that this is A-Rod's 16th season in the major leagues which means he passed his prime about 5 years ago. This is Howard's 7th year in the majors and he is 30 years old which means he should be in the middle of his prime. A-Rod's lifetime batting average is .305, he has a lifetime on-base percentage of .390, and he has 1749 strikeouts out of 8372 at-bats which averages to about 1 strikeout every 5 at-bats. Mr. Howard has a lifetime batting average of .279, his lifetime on-base percentage is .373, and he averages a strikeout in about every 3 at-bats which pays off after 3000 at-bats. He is clearly not the player A-Rod is and will never be. With that being said, the Phillies panicked and overpaid for Howard. They could have been patient and waited to pay him more reasonable money. For those who still aren't convinced, look up the numbers between the 2 players when they met in the World Series last year. I feel bad for the Cardinals who will have to pay Albert Pujols about 30 million dollars a year if they want to keep him.

NBA Playoffs: Spurs vs Mavericks

2010-04-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Everyone thought the San Antonio Spurs were washed up and old after they clinched the 7th seed in the West. Today they sit with a 3 games to 1 lead over the 2nd seeded Dallas Mavericks after the Spurs dropped the first game of the series. As much as this team has accomplished over the past decade, I'm a little surprised myself. Tony Parker was hurt for most of the 2nd half of the season and Tim Duncan isn't the same offensive player he once was. However with all 3 of them on the floor, they simply make plays. It all starts with Manu Ginobili. When he went down with an injury last year, that's when the Spurs fell apart. When Tony Parker got hurt and Tim Duncan had a few slow games, it was Ginobili who picked up the pieces and he has been great all series long. As great as he has played, I was still surprised the Spurs were able to take a 3 game to 1 lead over the Mavericks. I felt this team needed an extra boost from a different player on the roster and when they signed Richard Jefferson, I thought he would be perfect for the 4th man role. Instead it has been George Hill who torched the Mavs for 29 points and proved to me why he should be starting over Parker. The question now remains if the Spurs will win the final game of the series or will the Mavericks overcome the deficit and force a game 7 in Dallas. It all comes down to game 6 in San Antonio because I think the Mavericks will win game 5 and if it goes to game 7, I think they can win that game as well. Game 6 is where the Spurs have to make sure they can close out the series in front of their home crowd and I think they will. Notice how these teams have been rivals over the years but the Spurs are the ones who have won 4 championships since 1999 and the Mavs have 0.

NFL Draft: Round 1

2010-04-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

The first round of this year's NFL Draft had its round of surprises. The biggest shock in my eyes is Sergio Kindle not getting drafted in the first round! This guy is going to be a great football player and whoever drafts him in the 2nd round will have a huge steal. Another huge shock, which is more obvious, is Tim Tebow getting selected ahead of Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy by the Denver Broncos. On top of everything, he was taken in the first round which was an absolute shock. I am a huge Tim Tebow fan and I really hope he proves all of his haters wrong and becomes an elite quarterback at the next level. However I didn't like the fact that the Broncos used one of their first round picks for him. I thought they could've traded around with their 2nd round pick to pick Tebow up but I guess other teams were interested and they didn't want to waste time. It's strange though because they have a lot of other needs on that football team. I think the two main reasons why they did draft him ahead of the other quarterbacks is his work ethic and because he's a winner. I'm not a fan of Jimmy Clausen and the only reason why I'm surprised he wasn't picked in the first round is because everyone thought he would. I think he's too small and just not one of the more talented quarterbacks in this draft. I'm undecided on Colt McCoy and his future in the NFL but I think he is a much better quarterback than Clausen. Another surprise was the Broncos drafting Demaryius Thomas and letting Dez Bryant go to the Dallas Cowboys. I thought Dex Bryant would be picked in the first 20 picks so when the Cowboys got him, I was very surprised.

NFL Draft Preview: New York Giants

2010-04-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

This year's NFL Draft is critical for the New York Giants. Right now they are an average team and if they don't make good decisions, they could drop to the bottom of the league. However if they make strong picks that can make this team better quickly, they can win the division since the Redskins and Eagles aren't threats in my eyes. They have the 15th pick and they need a defensive player! I keep hearing rumors that the Giants will draft C.J. Spiller if he is available. If they do that, it'll be a big mistake. My take on running backs is if the guy can run and the offensive linemen can open holes, you can get just as good of a back in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th rounds. This theory is erased when guys like Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson enters the draft but Spiller isn't one of those guys. If they draft Spiller, it will be a huge mistake. They need either Rolando McClain or Jason Pierre-Paul. My first choice would be McClain because they desperately need a linebacker. If he is taken, I would draft Jason Pierre-Paul, trade away Osi Umenyiora, and move Mathias Kiwanuka to linebacker. I love Osi but there is bad blood within the organization which will be hard to patch up. Plus Kiwanuka has said he doesn't want to be a backup player anymore. If they get McClain, Kiwanuka has to suffer getting less playing time. However if Pierre-Paul is available and McClain is taken, you cannot pass on this guy. He is an absolute freak of nature and is compared to the next Jevon Kearse. The upcoming draft for this team is critical for the next 3 years in my eyes and they cannot afford to make any mistakes.

NFL Draft Preview: New York Jets

2010-04-22T11:32:00.001-07:00

The New York Jets are in a very interesting spot. I know they made it to the AFC Championship game last year but they were just a 9-7 football team during the regular season. I have them as my offseason winners besides the NFL Draft because it hasn't occurred yet. They added leadership to their team, a star wide receiver, and another shutdown cornerback to play alongside Darrelle Revis. With that being said, I think the Jets should do one of two things. They should either trade down their 29th overall pick to obtain more picks or pick the most talented defensive player available with the 29th pick. I've heard some rumblings of the Jets possibly trading down. They are already slim on their picks and they cannot afford to give up anymore picks. Plus, if they trade down, they will have to pay that lower pick more guaranteed money than they would if they drafted a player with the 29th pick. You can never go wrong with drafting a defensive player or an offensive lineman. The Jets do not have many holes to fill but they do have weak safeties and aging offensive lineman. However if the best available spot is a linebacker or a defensive lineman, I'd pick that particular player. I expect them to pick the best available safety.

Big Ben's Big Day

2010-04-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ben Roethlisberger has obviously been all over the news lately for all the wrong reasons. The big story today was how long he would be suspended for and the answer to that are 6 games that could possibly be reduced to 4. I thought that would be the end of it. Wrong. A week before he was given his 6 game suspensions, everyone wondered if the Pittsburgh Steelers would trade Big Ben. After all, they did trade away Santonio Holmes and he was a big time receiver for the Steelers. When the rumors first came out, I thought there was no way they could trade their franchise quarterback. However today, hours after the suspension, the heavy rumors started coming in saying the Steelers would listen to offers if it included a top 10 pick in tomorrow's draft. By the end of the day, the rumor grew to where the possibility of Ben being traded was 50-50 percent. I think this would be a terrible move. The Steelers shouldn't make any big decisions because emotions are running high right now and when emotions run high, people do stupid things. The only problem is the draft is tomorrow and Big Ben's contract isn't getting smaller. What are the chances the Steelers could trade Ben away for a top 10 pick and that pick could be as good as Ben? Roethlisberger is 28 years old and has a good 8 years left in his prime. Even though I am against them doing this, I have a feeling by around 8 o'clock tomorrow night, Big Ben will be wearing an Oakland Raiders uniform. The Raiders have the 8th pick in the draft, they need a quarterback, and Al Davis is attracted to big name players. If not the Raiders, the Buffalo Bills are also another possible destination with the 9th overall pick. I think the chances of the Steelers trading Ben is now 70-30 in favor of the trade because it's hard to patch up a relationship after an organization tries to trade a player away, especially a franchise quarterback. If the trade will occur, it will happen tomorrow and I think Roethlisberger will be a Raider by tomorrow night.

Zambrano to the Bullpen

2010-04-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

This may be Lou Piniella's final year with the Chicago Cubs. He's in the final year of his contract. The only problem is I don't know if he would be invited back if he wanted to come back. The Cubs winning 97 games back in 2008 feels like it was 10 years ago. Now the Cubs are 1 game away from embarrassing themselves by losing a series to the New York Mets. Not to mention they just lost a 3 game series to the Houston Astros who are currently 4-9. They headed into tonight's game with a 5-9 record losing 4 straight and already 4 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals, who currently lead the division. So what does a desperate manager do 13 games into the season? Apparently Piniella decided to take his ace pitcher, Carlos Zambrano, out of the starting rotation and put him in the bullpen. Piniella said after the game that Zambrano would help the team more with his arm coming out of the bullpen. In replacement, they have Ted Lilly coming back from an injury and he is expected to take over the final spot in the rotation. I cannot believe he is doing this. First of all I'm tired of Piniella doing things and everyone accepts it because he is, "Lou Piniella." He is not a very good manager. This is his 24th season as a baseball manager. He has won 1 World Series! That was back in 1990 with the Cincinnati Reds. Since then in 6 playoff appearances, his playoff record is 15-27. That's not good. So for him to take Zambrano out of the bullpen is another disaster. You cannot pull the plug on your ace pitcher. That is lowering his confidence and in many ways, pulling the plug on the season. Is he really trying to tell the world that there is nothing wrong with Zambrano and he went from being the ace of the staff to not being able to pitch in the rotation at all? I don't know what's going on with Piniella and the Cubs but I'm starting to think he may not make it to the end of the summer with this job.

Big Ban

2010-04-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

Ben Roethlisberger will miss a significant amount of games next year. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has not announced specifically how much time he will miss but after several reports have circulated ESPN, it looks like he will miss 4-6 games. I think Goodell will say the suspension will be for 6 games but good behavior during the suspension will probably bring it down to 4 games. Even if he misses one game, which he will at least, it's a bust for the Steelers. Their franchise quarterback is getting suspended for sexual assault? On top of that, this is the second time in the past year that he has been accused of sexual assault. My question for the sports world is whether or not Big Ben will be involved in a big trade or not? According to reports, they are not shopping Roethlisberger but they aren't ignoring offers. This tells me that if they get a very nice trade offer, I don't think Big Ben winning 2 Super Bowls will help him. It's a very tough decision to make. I personally wouldn't trade Ben. The only way the Steelers would consider making a trade is if they can get a top 10 pick in the NFL draft and can land a quarterback. It's very hard to find a franchise quarterback that can win your organization 2 Super Bowls before the age of 28. On top of that, other than Sam Bradford, the class of quarterbacks in this year's draft isn't too appealing for a team that would replace a player like Big Ben. The only reason why I'm not counting out a trade is because they just gave away Santonio Holmes for a 5th round pick for off the field problems. Big Ben's situation is much worse so what makes you think they won't trade him for a high draft pick? The next couple of days will be very interesting.

NBA Playoffs: Thunder vs Lakers

2010-04-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

When you look at the standings, the number 1 seeded L.A. Lakers are up 2 games over the 8th seeded Oklahoma City Thunder which doesn't seem like much of a surprise. However if everyone watched every game, the Lakers could have easily dropped both of those games. A lot of people look at this and think the Lakers are overrated and even if they make the NBA Finals, they will not walk away with a title. Even though the games were close, I look at this series and think the Lakers are the best out there for a few reasons. One, I think the Thunder is one of the toughest teams to beat in a 7 game series. Even if they are the 8th seed, they were a 2 wins away from landing the 6th spot where they would've played against the Phoenix Suns and I think they would've won that series. Secondly, the Lakers proved they can win close games. It's better sometimes to win in single digits because it shows they don't lose their composure. They have the experience of a team who just won the NBA Finals last year so you know guys like Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher aren't going to get washed up in the moment and perform. Thirdly, this team is simply the best all. They have an experienced point guard in Fisher, a star player who can take over a game when everyone else is struggling in Bryant, and 2 big men in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Even with all of those players, the X-factor for the Lakers is Ron Artest. His defensive ability has kept Kevin Durant off his game and will continue to guard the best players for the opposing teams later in the playoffs. I remember when the Lakers signed Artest and the Celtics signed Rasheed Wallace in the offseason and everyone was debating who would help their team more. I think it's clear now that the Lakers made the better decision. For all of you who think the Cleveland Cavaliers will take the title, look out for the defending champions.

NFL Schedule Released

2010-04-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

It's always a big deal when the upcoming NFL schedule is released. The Houston Texans have been very close to making the playoffs in recent years and this year will not be much easier. According to the 2009 standings, the Texans are the team with the toughest schedule. At the end of the day, the NFL turns out to be the most unpredictable league in all of sports so it doesn't really matter. There are a few games that are going to be, "must watch," games like the rematch of the NFC Championship game. The Minnesota Vikings will have to travel to the dome again to play against the New Orleans Saints as they accept their Super Bowl rings. Both teams obviously are favorites to make it to the Super Bowl again, pending Brett Favre's decision, and one of those teams will enter the 2nd week of the season with a loss. Another game that sticks out is in week 4 between the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. The game will be in Philly which will mark the return of Donovan McNabb. Well find out at that moment whether or not the Eagles will regret trading McNabb to a divisional opponent. Eli Manning will go up against his brother Peyton Manning for the 2nd time in their careers in week 2 as the New York Giants will play at Indianapolis against the Colts. The final big game I'm looking forward to is the Monday Night football game in week 5 at the Meadowlands between the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Jets. I would love to see what the Jets can do against the team I thought was the best in the NFC last year. There are plenty of other awesome games but those are the few key games that definitely stick out.

T.O. in Washington?

2010-04-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

Terrell Owens is a big name wide receiver still without a place to play next year. According to reports, Donovan McNabb wouldn't mind having him join the Washington Redskins. Not only would he not mind it, it was his idea in the first place. Normally I would be all over McNabb simply because of what Owens put McNabb through while they played in Philly. However now it's not much of a story for 2 reasons. One, Owens is no longer the, "diva," he once was. Secondly, he's not nearly as good as he once was a few years ago. So even if the Redskins get Owens, it will be big news because those 2 players would reunite but it should die down throughout the season. Putting the attention factor aside, after doing a little research, I was surprised to see that Owens is actually the best wide receiver available. According to the Redskins roster, the wide receiver position is a big need for this team. However if the Redskins don't want all of the attention that would surround them, there are 2 other players who I think would be able to succeed with McNabb. One is Muhsin Muhammad who had a decent year last year but he is 36 years old like Owens. If you're going to sign an older player, it might as well be Owens since McNabb has played with him before. The second name is Bobby Wade who was formerly on the Kansas City Chiefs. Here's a player who is 29 years old and never really had a breakout season. In addition, he has never had a decent quarterback throwing it his way. So the Redskins have different options heading into next year if they don't want to get involved with Owens but at the end of the day, he is the best available receiver.

Eagles Get a Steal

2010-04-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

There have been more steals in this year's NFL offseason than ever before. I've seen Donovan McNabb get traded within the division, Santonio Holmes get traded for a 5th round pick, and now young linebacker Ernie Sims has been traded for a 5th round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles. Ernie Sims isn't a jaw dropping name in the NFL but I think he is one of the most talented linebackers in the league. He was troubled a little bit last year with injuries but he has put up legit numbers in the past. In his second year in the NFL, he posted 97 solo tackles on a terrible Detroit Lions team. He hasn't been recognized too much because of the fact he was on the Lions who have been dreadful for several years. However now that he is on the Eagles defense, everyone will know his name by the end of the year. The Eagles defense is perfect for him because they are known for their blitz packages. A young guy finally joining a contender in the NFC East will definitely take advantage of the opportunity. The Eagles gave up a 5th round pick for Sims to the Broncos and they sent a 7th round pick and their tight end, Tony Scheffler, to the Lions. The Eagles have a lot of problems heading into the 2010 season and a lot of explaining to do after they just traded their former franchise quarterback to a division rival. However getting Ernie Sims on the defensive side of the ball will certainly help this team.

New York Yankees

2010-04-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

We are just 2 weeks into the baseball season and we already have some big surprises. The Oakland A's are the leaders out West by 3 1/2 games, the Minnesota Twins are 9-4 without Joe Nathan, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 7-5, and the Boston Red Sox are about to finish the day with a 4-9 record. If there's one sure thing this year in baseball it's the New York Yankees. This team is 9-3 and has won their first 4 opening series and they still aren't playing their best baseball. Mark Teixeira has been struggling and Javier Vazquez is 0-2 in his first 2 starts back with the Yankees. They are able to pick up those struggling players with flawless defense and good pitching everywhere else. The Yankees are currently on a 10 game error free streak, C.C. Sabathia has been as dominate as ever in his past 2 starts, and Mariano Rivera is simply ageless. Not to mention their lineup is accomplishing things their team used to do back in 1998 when they finished with a 125-50 record. They take a lot of pitches and they will do anything to score runs. I say this because the old Yankees are used to smashing a bunch of homers. Now they score runs with infield hits, sacrifice outs, and stealing bases. I think the best move made by Joe Girardi so far is moving Nick Johnson to the 2nd spot in the lineup. Even though he's batting .158, his on base percentage is .407. On top of everything, they have played contender teams in the American League like the Red Sox, Rays, Angels, and Rangers. When Teixeira and A-Rod start putting up their regular stats; this team is ready for a repeat. I cannot see any other team stopping them.

Great Day in Baseball

2010-04-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

As the NBA playoffs kicked off and round 1 of the NHL playoffs continued, it was the day in baseball that stole the headlines. Well, the game between the Montreal Canadians and the Washington Capitals was the best game all day but because hockey doesn't get the attention the sport deserves, baseball stole the show. The New York Mets won a 20 inning game against the St. Louis Cardinals and Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies pitched a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves. The Mets game was very exciting because anytime a game goes into 20 innings, it's definitely entertaining. However I'm not quick to give the Mets too much credit. The pitching on both sides of the ball was great. Anytime a game goes into the 18th inning scoreless, the pitching staffs have to be proud. The first run was scored in the top of the 19th and it was because the Cardinals used position players to pitch the 19th and 20th innings. Sure that was bad managing by Tony La Russa but that was the only way the Mets could score a run. The problem I have is in the bottom of the 19th and Francisco Rodriguez comes in and blows the save. I don't know what happened to this guy since he came over from the Angels but he has not been good at all. As bad as the Mets looked, the Cardinals looked even worse. This team is considered contenders and they couldn't score a run against the lousy Mets for 18 innings? In the other big event, Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a no-hitter. When I first found out about this, I wasn't surprised. Jimenez is a low key guy who has been good in recent years and has shown significant progress every year. When a guy can still throw 97 mph in the 9th inning, how could he not be great? He clearly got stronger as the game went on and pitched the no-hitter against a very impressive Braves lineup. Congratulations to Jimenez on not only the no-hitter but the 3-0 start as well. I think it's safe to say we have another name involved in this year's Cy Young award winner next to Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay.

The Race for Bradford

2010-04-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

The St. Louis Rams were dreadful last year. In return, they were granted the number 1 pick overall in the draft coming up in 6 days. Then there are the Cleveland Browns who have been dreadful for the past decade and they just traded away their young quarterback Brady Quinn. Rumors have been circulating that the Browns are trying to trade up to that number 1 pick in exchange for their 7th pick and most likely other draft picks. They have the picks to make this trade because they have 10 draft picks in the entire draft. Obviously the Browns want to make this trade to acquire quarterback Sam Bradford. The only reason why the Rams are even considering the pick is because they think they will be able to draft Jimmy Clausen with the 7th pick. I've been thinking about this trade since the reports came out and if I were the Rams, I would stay with the number 1 pick. If they make a trade, they will get their franchise quarterback in Clausen and still have several other draft picks that would be included in the trade. However I think Sam Bradford is the closest thing to a lock to be a successful quarterback compared to the other quarterbacks in the draft. I'm not fully sold on Clausen. I personally think Colt McCoy will have a better NFL career. In addition, I have Tony Pike as the third best quarterback ahead of Clausen. Even though I think those quarterbacks will be more successful than Clausen, none of them are locks. The sure pick is Bradford. As for the Browns, if they don't get the number 1 pick, I'd draft safety Eric Berry if he's still on the board and draft either McCoy or Pike with their second round pick. Even if Berry is picked, I'd go after an impact defensive end or defensive tackle before I pick Clausen to run my franchise. It'll be interesting to see what those 2 teams will do by next Thursday.

LeBron All Business

2010-04-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

LeBron James is known for cracking jokes, laughing, and just having a good time with the media unless he's mad about an incident. While the media was talking to him today before the first round of the playoffs start on Saturday against the Chicago Bulls, James wasn't laughing or cracking any jokes. It's weird because he has nothing to be mad about since his team has the best record heading into the playoffs. This media session was more business then pleasure. As the questions flowed about the upcoming series, James was all business saying he's been waiting for this moment since his Cavaliers got eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals last year to the Orlando Magic. Chicago Bulls young star, Joakim Noah, said his Bulls team is prepared to, "shock the world." When LeBron heard what he said, he first said Noah is a great player and a great talent. However he ended his statement saying, "It's a different monster they're going to be playing against Saturday." After hearing this I was actually pretty shocked. I know LeBron is dying for a championship but I was expecting this type of mentality against a better team like the Magic, Hawks or even the Celtics. I don't have a problem with it. I love when players are willing to do everything possible to win a championship. I would just rather see him say that to actual contenders in the East rather than a lousy 8th seed. I guess it's better to look at their upcoming opponent and not look ahead. After all, the Bulls are finally playing good basketball with a healthy Derrick Rose and clearly playing like they should be a 6th or 5th seed. All of this just tells us we will be in for a very good playoff series.

Durant vs Jackson

2010-04-15T09:47:00.001-07:00

The Oklahoma City Thunder has surprised the NBA throughout the entire year by becoming playoff contenders. The only problem is because every other team in the West have such similar records, the Thunder dropped all the way to the 8th spot which means they will have to face the L.A. Lakers in the first round. I think the Lakers are going to the NBA Finals but if I were a Lakers fan, I'd be very nervous going up against this young team. To add fuel to the fire, head coach of the Lakers, Phil Jackson, basically called out the star player for the Thunder, Kevin Durant, saying he gets a lot of calls his way which means he gets to the free throw line a lot. The one thing I love about Durant is he is down to earth. He is a 21 year old star who treats everyone with respect. The fact that he does respect everyone means he never really holds a grudge on the court until now. It doesn't seem like Jackson called him out by his comments but Durant has taken his comments personally which is bad news for the Lakers. I never really understood the deal with people saying players get special privileges on the court like Michael Jordan was famous for. If you watch the game of basketball, there are always plays where people should have been fouled or should not have been fouled. However the fact that Michael Jordan or any other star player drives to the hoop and gets in that situation more than others automatically means they get special treatment. I never understood it and I still don't. I think Jackson is a great coach but a lot of times he needs to insert his foot into his mouth. The Lakers are the kings of the West but they haven't played good basketball lately and if they think they can just push a button to get back to their dominance form, they are sadly mistaken. I think the Thunder will steal a game in L.A. and it'll be up to the Lakers to overcome the deficit. Look out for Durantula!

NBA: Suns vs Jazz

2010-04-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today is the season finale for the NBA regular season and the Western Conference is still a blur. The only series that we know of for sure is the number 1 seeded L.A. Lakers against the number 8 seeded Oklahoma City Bobcats which, by the way, will be a great series to watch. We know the other 6 playoff teams we just don't know who will be playing who. I was listening earlier to the scenarios and I felt like someone was trying to tell me a story in Spanish. Either way, the teams are so close together it really doesn't matter who is playing who except in the game tonight between the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz. If the Jazz win their game tonight and the Dallas Mavericks lose their game, the Jazz will clinch the number 2 seed. I personally think the Jazz are tied out west as the third best team with the Mavs and behind the Lakers and Denver Nuggets. If the Jazz can win tonight, with either a number 2 or 3 seed, they will overcome the Mavs. If they lose tonight's game, they will be just another team in the west that will eventually get knocked out early. The reason why I have so much riding on this game is because if they lose, they will fall back to the 5th spot. With the 2nd or 3rd seed, they will have home court advantage throughout the playoffs at least through the first round. This is very important because they are 32-8 at home and a lousy 21-20 on the road. If the Mavs end up winning and meet the Jazz in the second round, I think the Jazz can knock them out in 6 games. The Mavs have a good record but are 27-13 at home and 27-14 on the road. This tells me they will not be able to beat the Jazz at home but the Jazz could steal one in Dallas. If the Jazz can win their final game tonight and clinch a 2nd seed, we will see the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Finals against the L.A. Lakers where they will eventually lose. Since the Jazz are home, I think they will pull out a victory in tonight's game. However if Carlos Boozer is seriously injured, which doesn't seem to be the case, this whole article will be useless because even with a win tonight, they will not be able to last without him throughout the playoffs.

Brandon Marshall Miami Bound

2010-04-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

The NFL has been surrounded by big free agent names and big names being traded throughout the entire offseason. Brandon Marshall, former wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, was one of those names that we heard about for the longest time. He was also one of the last big names traded to another team. Today we learned that he was finally traded to the Miami Dolphins for a 2010 and 2011 2nd round pick. The deal works out for both teams including Marshall himself. After watching Santonio Holmes getting traded for a 5th round pick, receiving two 2nd round picks for Marshall seems like a great deal and it is considering he was drafted as a 4th round pick. For the Dolphins, they finally get their long awaited big time wide receiver to help take them from an average team in the AFC East to contenders with the Jets and Patriots. For Marshall, not only did he also receive a 4 year, 47 million dollar deal but can now call Miami, Florida his home town. It doesn't get much better than that. I think a lot of people look at what Marshall did with the Broncos last year and think he is a major distraction. I've even heard someone compare him to Terrell Owens. Nobody is as bad as Terrell Owens. He was driven out of town by 3 different teams for throwing his quarterbacks and head coaches under the bus. With Marshall, he got mad because the Broncos just traded their franchise quarterback at the time in Jay Cutler and had Josh McDaniels, a rookie head coach, come in and basically start a rebuilding team. After what the Patriots have accomplished and what the Jets have done this offseason, this was a risk the Dolphins had to take and I think it will pay off in time. They still have missing pieces to fill in on the defensive side of the ball.

End of an Era?

2010-04-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

Since Mike Scioscia took over as manager for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2000, they have been the team of the American League West with the exception of the first 2 years. Since 2002, they finished with 89 wins or better every year except for 2003, they have 6 playoff appearances, 5 divisional titles, 1 best record overall in baseball, and 1 World Series back in 2002. That includes one year when they won 89 games and still didn't make it to the playoffs which occurred back in 2006. The point I'm trying to get across is they have been in contention for a long time. For the past several years, when the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox bid for a top free agent, the Angels were the 3rd team in contention for big names as well. However I think we are starting to witness the end of an era when I watch the Angels this year. They no longer have the ace pitcher in John Lackey. Jered Weaver can become an ace in the future but I do not think he's quite there yet. Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders are number 4 and 5 starters at best on other teams who are currently the Angles number 2 and 3 starters. They no longer have that shut down bullpen like they did when they had Scott Schoeneweis and closer Francisco Rodriguez. Now their bullpen is terrible with guys like Scot Shields and Brian Fuentes. They no longer have the power in the lineup like they did when they had Valdamir Guerrero. They have guys who can produce runs with Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu, and Torii Hunter but you have to wonder if they can stay consistent since they will all be 35 by the end of July. The one key part they still have is their role players but the reason why they are called role players is because they fill in the remaining holes the big names cannot fill. With a weak bunch of stars, role players become useless.

2010 New York Jets: Success of Failure?

2010-04-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

The New York Jets surprised the sports world last year by clinching a wild card playoff spot and making it all the way to the AFC Championship where they eventually got eliminated by the Indianapolis Colts. In comparison, if the Jets don't make it back to the AFC Championship game next year, it would be a complete failure due to their busy offseason. They have easily had the most active free agency out of any team in the league by adding big names. The only problem is I don't know what to expect from the Jets next year. I expect them to win the division with possibly a first round bye. The question remains how well they will do in the playoffs? I think the problem with the Jets is they have entered the spotlight too much. Their first big trade was Antonio Cromartie who is a great addition to a team who already has Darrelle Revis but is a distraction off the field. They just brought in Santonio Holmes who has been getting into a lot of trouble off the field. Then you have to wonder why they got rid of Thomas Jones for LaDainian Tomlinson? He clearly is not the same player he used to be and I don't think he will get any better which will be a great feature for the New York media to feast on. Now they are talking about bringing in Jason Taylor who the Jets fans already hate and is in his late 30's. Not to mention the entire team is run by a quarterback in Mark Sanchez who everyone forgets was 2nd in the league in interceptions and a head coach in Rex Ryan who cannot even control his own actions. I just think the Jets are getting a little to global to the rest of the league and they don't have the experience to control that power. Add the fact that this team will be featured on HBO's Hard Knocks. It will be very interesting to see how the Jets turn all of this attention into success.

Santonio Holmes to the Jets

2010-04-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

Recently if you're a wide receiver and you play in the Super Bowl, it's been bad luck to have the game of your life. In Super Bowl 41, Marvin Harrison had a big 5 catch, 59 yard performance and he was released 2 years later. In Super Bowl 42, David Tyree pulled in one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history and he hasn't caught an NFL pass since. In that same Super Bowl, Plaxico Burress had the game winning catch to knock off the previous 18-0 New England Patriots and he is currently in jail. Then in Super Bowl 43, Santonio Holmes pulled off one of the greatest performances in the 2 minute drill for a wide receiver ending the drive off with one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history. Late last night, that same player was traded to the New York Jets for a lousy 5th round pick. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, this is a huge move. Not just because Holmes is a big impact player but because the Rooney family has laid the law down. Sending Holmes away is a way of saying they are not going to tolerate any crap off the field and it doesn't matter how good you are. This was a message sent directly to Ben Roethlisberger basically saying if he keeps up his act off the field, he's next to go. Holmes isn't under the spotlight Roethlisberger is under because he's not a franchise quarterback. However Holmes has been getting himself in trouble off the field as well which led to this trade. Most recently, he is under investigation for throwing a bottle at a female. I love what the Steelers are doing because they are putting their franchises reputation ahead of everything which usually pays off in the end. I would not have traded him for a 5th round pick to a heavy AFC contender but they did the right thing by getting rid of him. As for the Jets, they just stole a big time wide receiver in this league.

Jason Taylor to the Jets?

2010-04-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Reports came out earlier in the week that defensive end/linebacker Jason Taylor was in New York for 2 days meeting with the Jets. Recently, reports have indicated both sides are close to a deal. This isn't just any ordinary player in the eyes of Jets fans. This is a player who was a star for a rival team for a long time. He is also a player who has called out Jets fans in the past. His most famous quote was when he was comparing the Giants fans to the Jets fans. He stated the Giants fans, "have class," and the Jets fans, "take the C-L out of class." My concern for the Jets is if he's really worth the criticism. Normally they should never care what the fans think and just go for what helps the team out. However Rex Ryan has used the fans as an advantage a lot in his first year as head coach. The fans clearly don't like Taylor and he's not nearly the same player he has been in the past so it'll be interesting to see how he will be treated if he signs with the Jets. In terms of making the actual football team better or not, I cannot see how Taylor doesn't make them a better defense. The Jets had one main goal heading into this offseason and that was to improve the pass rush in their front 7. This will make it easier to get consistent pressure on the quarterback even when they aren't blitzing. Plus Rex Ryan has said he would sign Taylor strictly for blitzing. Taylor is very consistent when it comes to health and didn't have the best numbers last year but if the Jets can get him for a good price, I'd easily pull the trigger on this deal. His 6 foot 6 figure is intimidating for opposing offenses and he still has the ability to make big plays. As for Jets fans, the past will be easily forgotten if he can succeed.

Troubles for the Mets

2010-04-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

After the New York Mets struggled last year, everyone focused on their troubles due to injuries. This is very true because half their team from last year's opening day was injured by the end of last year. This year they are 1-2 and part of it is because Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are still injured. However even when those 2 players return, I cannot see this team winning enough games to make it to the playoffs. The problem isn't their injured players, it's their starting pitching. Johan Santana is great and that's it. John Maine is their number 2 starter and he's as good as a 3 or 4 on any other team. Since he joined the Mets, I've been hearing about a young player who has good stuff and has a bright future. He's now 28 years old and out of the 3 years he's been with the Mets, his lowest ERA is 3.60. The other 2 years his ERA has been right around 4. It's a known fact that it's easier to pitch in the National League and if he cannot pitch or stay healthy, the Mets have a serious problem on their hands. Their number 3 starter is Johnathon Niese who is 23 years old. He has a bright future but the Mets cannot have Niese as their number 3 starter if they want to be contenders this year. Their 4th starter is Mike Pelfrey who is inconsistent and not very good. His ERA last year was over 5. Their 5th starter is Oliver Perez who is just horrible and is getting paid 12 million dollars a year. Opening Day looked like the Mets had a little spark this year but now reality is setting in and they are not going to win with pathetic pitching.

The Return of Tiger Woods

2010-04-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

The day has finally come. Tiger Woods will return to the PGA Tour after an absence of 144 days. I have personally never witnessed anything that has been covered from start to finish as much as Tiger's situation has been and it has certainly been a wild rollercoaster. On top of everything, his return is in the middle of a major. Now we can finally stop talking about Tiger's personal life and start talking about his golfing. My expectations for Tiger are the same as usual and that's finishing at least in the top 10. Tiger has had 3 other layoffs from golf containing 60 days or longer. In 2008, he was out of golf for 60 days and ended up winning the U.S. Open which is another major. In 2006 he took 67 days off after his father passed away while once again playing at the U.S. Open and he completely missed the cut. His longest period of time away from golf came between 2008-2009 when he tore his ACL and missed 254 days. He ended up tying for 17th place at the WGC-Accenture Tournament in his return. Based on this information, I'm getting several mixed messages. The time he took a 67 day layoff was a personal reason like this and he missed the cut. However that was his first layoff during the Tour and since then he has had 2 other big layoffs. The other 254 layoff he had was from a major injury and he at least placed in the field even if it was only 17th. Even though this is another personal layoff, I think it's still much different from when his father died. This personal layoff has to do with him and I think he has much more to prove to the sports world than ever before. With that being said, I think Tiger will finish in the top 10 and I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled out a victory.

Haynesworth on the Trade Block?

2010-04-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Since Donovan McNabb has been traded to the Washington Redskins, the rumors continue to circulate in the D.C. area. According to reports, the Redskins were offering big defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth when they first started discussing a trade for McNabb. For those who don't know, Haynesworth was signed to a mega 7 years, 100 million dollar contract with the Washington Redskins last year. Last year Daniel Snyder was running the team as well who signed any big named player that came across his plate. Now that Bruce Allen is running the team, Haynesworth's name has come into some trade conversations. Reports also indicate the last time he was mentioned in a trade was in the end of March which was about a week ago and they are currently not discussing him in any trades anymore. I believe the organization for now but you cannot tell me they are dying to get rid of this guy. He is looked at as one of the best defensive players in the league because of his size and strength. This is false when you check out his career stats. He is way overpriced because he had a breakout year which so happened to be his contract year. The fact that he is getting paid 10.29 million dollars next year and will be getting paid 21.92 million dollars in the final year of his contract means he's officially stuck in Washington unless they trade him for nothing or for another big contract in return. Fortunately for the Redskins, they have a bunch of other overpaid players they can get rid of thanks to Daniel Snyder. Santana Moss is no longer the receiver he once was, some people may disagree with me about DeAngelo Hall but I think he's overrated and is in the middle of a 6 year, 54 million dollar contract, and cornerback Fred Smoot. That's also not mentioning Clinton Portis who has been in the NFL for 8 years and was only healthy for 4 full seasons but he will be a free agent next year. Even if they do clear all of these guys off of their roster, they will still be stuck throwing millions of dollars as Albert Haynesworth for the next 6 years.

Tiger Saying All the Right Things

2010-04-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

Ever since Tiger Woods has been in the news, everyone has been giving their insight as to what Tiger should do and when he should do it. To be more specific, once his accident occurred, everyone said he should come out right away and talk to the media. When he finally did talk to the world, people said he should have had an open press conference to answer questions instead of just saying a statement. Everyone also wanted to give Tiger advice as to when he should return to the game of golf. Even when he announced he was going to play in the Masters, everyone second guessed him saying whether or not he would be ready to play or if he should play at all this year. Tiger's obviously not the smartest guy but he took care of this situation at his own pace. I was one of those people who said he should have had an open press conference when he first made a statement. However after seeing him in yesterday's press conference at the Masters, I really think he handled the whole situation as well as he possibly could. I'd rather see Tiger wait 4 months and start answering the questions as honest as possible rather than talk to the media too early and give us nothing but crap. It's going to take a long time to earn respect back from his family and all of his business partners but he said all the right things in yesterday's press conference to earn the respect back from most of the nation. I loved it when he said he was going to respect the fans more and the sport more. Unfortunately it took a major event for him to realize that but these athletes would be nothing without the fans pouring their free time and hard earned money into watching these athletes and as a fan, that's all the majority of the public wanted to hear from Tiger. They also want to see him play which is what he will do Thursday. He has finally taken himself down from the imaginary pedestal he put himself up to and he's finally realizing he's just another human being who happens to be very talented at golf. By doing this, he will be more respectful to his opponents on the golf course, the fans that surround him, and the rest of the people that surround him including his family and friends. More importantly, I think this will make him a better golfer.

MLB: Opening Day

2010-04-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

Besides the game Easter Sunday night between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, yesterday was the official Opening Day for the rest of the baseball world and what a day it was. The day had just about everything you could ask for with the vibe of an October playoff game because it's the only day just about every team is tied up. It's also the day for future stars to make their introduction to the sports world. The world was finally introduced to Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves when he hit a homer in his first major league at-bat. He ended up finishing the game batting .400 with 4 RBI's. On the opposite side, we see early struggles from great players on Opening Day like we saw with Carlos Zambrano as he lasted just 1 1/3 innings pitched after giving up 8 earned runs. He currently has an ERA of 54. We usually never see a top play on Opening Day that could possibly be the play of the year but that was thrown into the mix yesterday when Mark Buehrle made an outstanding defensive play throwing the baseball to the first basemen between his legs while falling to the ground. While Zambrano was struggling for the Cubs, Albert Pujols and Tim Lincecum both proved their MVP and Cy Young Awards last year were no flukes. Pujols finished 4-5 with 2 homers and Lincecum pitched 7 shutout innings against the Houston Astros. To top off the entire day, we even witnessed a walk-off hit by Jarrod Saltalamacchia for the Texas Rangers. The first day of the 2010 NCAA Tournament was very memorable and it ended by having one of the best National Championship games ever to be played. Hopefully the great Opening Day in baseball will lead to a similar ending in November.

National Champions: Duke Blue Devils

2010-04-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

The road to the Final Four has finally ended and the Duke Blue Devils were the last team standing as they were crowned National Champions! Not only was this great because I am a huge Duke fan but it had everything you could imagine for a great basketball game. The theme was David vs Goliath, the mid-major Butler Bulldogs trying to knock off the powerhouse of Duke, set the tone from the start. Then the fact that the largest lead by either team was a 6 point lead for Duke. It was close throughout the entire game and every possession counted. It was all topped off with a half-court shot that would've either won the game for Butler or would've given Duke their 4th National Championship and it leaned towards the direction of Duke. Normally a team like Duke would have lost this game. They had no points off the bench and Butler led the game in rebounds as well as second chance points. However Duke's starting 5 were just that much better than all the aspects Butler had going for them. Butler's starting 5 only had 1 senior and the experience factor definitely paid off for Duke. The Big 3 for Duke weren't as unstoppable as they were against West Virginia but they played well enough. The key factor for Duke was their blocked shots and Kyle Singler's defense on Gordon Hayward who was held to just 12 points and 8 of them coming from the free throw line. Both teams showed they could win with great defense and Duke just had the upper hand. One problem I had with Duke was Brian Zoubek's final free throw shot with 3.6 seconds left. I thought he should have tried to make the shot but Coach K knows best as he told Zoubek to miss intentionally to knock a few seconds off the clock. It was one of the best college basketball games I've ever seen and it was a great way to end off a great tournament. Congratulations to the Duke Blue Devils for winning their 4th championship and taking it away from none other than the North Carolina Tar Heels.

NCAA Championship Game: Butler vs Duke

2010-04-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

The March Madness has ended and we are now in April where the field slims down from 65 teams to now 2 teams. The final 2 teams are the Cinderella Butler Bulldogs and the powerhouse Duke Blue Devils. Everyone looking at this matchup knows Butler is the 5th seed coming out of the West and Duke is the number 1 seed from the South region which would obviously be an upset if Butler pulled this game off. However it's much more than just their seeding. Duke has the famous coach in Mike Krzyzewski or known as Coach K who has made Duke from a regular program into a powerhouse by winning 12 ACC Tournament Championships, 11 trips to the Final Four, and 3 National Championships. Add his Olympic Gold Medal and there's not much more this guy can do to prove himself. That's not only a great resume but even better when you compare it to Brad Steven's resume who is the coach for Butler. This is Stevens and Butler's first appearance in the Final Four and each of their first championship game appearance. As for the players, the Duke players haven't accomplished much more than Butler because Duke has struggled in recent years. However they play in a much better conference and have been playing against highly ranked teams all year long. Butler missed out on this experience since they play in the Horizon Conference but have been battle tested since they beat Syracuse, Kansas State, and Michigan State. Duke is clearly the better team and needs to stick to fundamentals when they play in tonight's game. They need to continue crashing the offensive boards to give their team second chance points and 2 of the big 3 players need good games. We all saw what happened against West Virginia when Scheyer, Smith, and Singler are all contributing. If they are hot like they were on Saturday, Butler has no chance. Even though that's rare, I still think Duke will win this game in a close one even if one of the big 3 players has a rough night. Butler has had a nice run but there's no shame in losing in the National Championship game.

McNabb Traded to the Redskins

2010-04-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

Earlier tonight, the Philadelphia Eagles announced they have traded their franchise quarterback in Donovan McNabb to their division rival Washington Redskins. When I first heard these reports, I was shocked to hear they traded McNabb to another team in the same division. For the Redskins, this is a great trade. Suffering a 2nd round pick in this year's draft and a 3rd or 4th round pick in next year's draft is well worth it for a franchise quarterback. The trade will end up being a bust if McNabb doesn't resign with the Redskins after this year but that's a risk they had to take. Washington has a ton of problems with overpaid and overrated players but trading for McNabb certainly fixes their quarterback problem which may overcome other issues. McNabb has never won a Super Bowl but he knows how to bring a team to the playoffs and give his team a chance to win and that's what he's going to do with the Redskins. On the other hand, as great of a trade this was for the Redskins, it was that much worse for the Eagles. In fact, the trade they made was very unprofessional. Andy Reid wanted to trade McNabb to a place that would make Donovan happy. If the Eagles treated this situation like a business, like they should have, they could've traded Donovan to either the Buffalo Bills or the Oakland Raiders in the AFC and wouldn't have to worry about McNabb. However because the Eagles are soft and wanted to make McNabb happy, they will have to play him twice a year and make a team within their own division much more of a threat for next year than they were before this trade. Not only that but McNabb only has one year left on his contract so if he was traded to Oakland, it's not like McNabb would be stuck there for several years. He has the chance to sign with any team next year. Redskins' fans should be very excited for this upcoming year and Eagles fans should be disgusted by their team's decision. I'm 50-50 on whether or not they should have traded McNabb at all but trading him to Washington is a terrible mistake.

Final Four Set!

2010-03-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

Today finalized one of the most historic tournaments into the final four teams from the 2010 NCAA Tournament. The surprise team to about 98% of the nation was the Butler Bulldogs beating 1 seeded Syracuse and 2 seeded Kansas State for their first Final Four appearance in school history. They will have a tough game against 5th seeded Michigan State. Tom Izzo has proven to be one of the best college basketball coaches in the game today. I personally thought they were going to get knocked out by Maryland and I even thought their first round game would be tough. Instead Izzo brings his team to their 6th Final Four in the past 12 years. The only problem is he only won 1 title in those 6 years so it will be interesting to see how his team will do without Kalin Lucas against the final 3 teams. On the other side of the bracket, I had West Virginia against Duke in the Final Four. The only problem is I had the Blue Devils losing to West Virginia and now I'm 50-50 on the game next weekend. Bob Huggins has done an incredible job with the Mountaineers and after winning the Big East Championship and beating the great Kentucky Wildcats, it's hard to say they won't win. However when Duke had 23 offensive rebounds against Baylor, I don't think this team has anymore weaknesses. Led by 3 elite scorers, this team always has a hot shooter. This game will most likely be the best game of the tournament because I think the winner of this game will bring home a championship.

The Favre Effect

2010-03-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

Since Brett Favre played his last game of the season last year, he was told by head coach Brad Childress he has all the time in the world to make a decision on whether he is going to retire or return next year. I think the reason why he's giving him so much time is because he expects Favre to return. However what if he doesn't? If he doesn't, the next quarterback for the Vikings, who were one 12 men in the huddle penalty away from making it to the Super Bowl, will have an open competition between Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson. That was until the Eagles announced they will be entertaining trade offers for their franchise quarterback Donovan McNabb. Today McNabb said if he were to be traded, he would like to go to the Minnesota Vikings. Now the Vikings have a tough decision to make. Even if Favre decides to return next year, do they tell them thanks for everything and go out and trade for Donovan McNabb and have a chance to win not only next year but for the next several years? Could they sacrifice a first round pick to pick up McNabb and sign Favre for one more year so they have McNabb for the future? This is why I have a problem with Favre taking his sweet time deciding whether or not to return to football. When he pulled this stint in Green Bay, they had Aaron Rodgers ready and told Favre to piss off. It's one thing to really not know what you want to do. It's another when you're holding a franchise back on making key decisions because even though Favre doesn't know what he wants to do, the entire league isn't going to pause until he makes a decision. The Vikings now know what Green Bay went through 3 years ago. If I had to make the decision to move on without Favre or wait for him, I honestly don't know what I would do.

Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback Dilemma

2010-03-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

For the past several years, Donovan McNabb's name has been mentioned in trade rumors but head coach Andy Reid has never confirmed the rumors. Today he has finally said the Eagles are listening to offers for not just McNabb but for Michael Vick and Kevin Kolb. I'm not sure why the Eagles would be floating McNabb's name out there. He has done nothing but win, he still has a number a good years left in his career, and he is the face of the franchise. What I like about McNabb is how he represents the Eagles in a classy way which is usually underrated but since the allegations came out about Ben Roethlisberger, that factor becomes much more important. In addition, if they are planning on trading McNabb, Kevin Kolb better be ready to win with this football team because they are a few additions away from going deep into the playoffs again. I don't think they should trade him because he wants to sign with the team next year and if you sign him to an extension, they wouldn't have to worry about a quarterback for the next 3 years at least. However if they do, I think the Rams would be a perfect fit for McNabb. I wouldn't trade the number 1 overall pick for him but I would trade the 2nd round, number 1 pick and another later pick to add him. McNabb is great because he can create plays with his feet. With a struggling offensive line, the Rams could use him as well as drafting another great player with the number 1 pick other than Sam Bradford. The quarterbacks in this year's draft aren't great and they could use McNabb until they do find the right quarterback. As for the Eagles, this may be the best possible deal because who is going to trade away their number 1 pick for a potential 1 year rental?

NFL Overtime Changes

2010-03-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

The NFL has officially changed their postseason overtime rules and it's very similar to what I said they should do awhile back. If a team wins the coin toss and ends up kicking a field goal, the opposing team now has a chance to score. If the opposing team ends up kicking a field goal, the game will then turn into a sudden death game because both teams had a chance to score. However if the team who won the coin toss drives down the field and scores a touchdown, the game will be over. I love the new overtime rule in place. With the old rules, if a team wins the coin toss and elects to receive, that team only needs about 4 first downs to score a field goal and that's if they start at their own 20 yard line. If they get a decent return to the 30-35 yard line, it's not very hard to get into field goal range. I also like the fact that it's just for the playoffs. The NFL is currently the most popular sport out there. Don't fix anything that's not broken. Nobody had a serious problem with the original overtime rules during the regular season because if you come up on the short end of a coin toss, you have 15 other games to determine your fate. In a playoff game where the loser goes home, the rule fits perfectly. At the end of the day, I love the decisions made and I think this rule will make the playoffs even more exciting for the future.

Super Bowl 2014: Tampa vs New York

2010-03-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ever since the NFL waived the weather requirements for the Super Bowl, the game can be hosted by any city. Detroit hosted Super Bowl 40 but Ford Field is an indoor stadium so weather wasn't an issue. However that may not be the case for the Super Bowl in 2014. The two remaining cities left in the bid for the game of the year is between New York and Tampa. I live in New York and having the Super Bowl here would be amazing. However when I put that factor aside, having the Super Bowl in New York doesn't seem like a fantastic idea. I think part of the reward a team gets for representing their conference in the Super Bowl is playing in a warm climate where the very best team can win. If the New York Giants were the best team in the NFC and hosted the NFC Championship, the home field advantage is not just an advantage because of the home crowd but also because they play half their games in a cold climate. That advantage can be accountable for teams that play in cold weather in the Super Bowl in 2014 if New York hosts the game. Not only does it come into play for the teams but it affects the fans as well. About a month and a half ago, New York was hit with a snow storm and the entire tri-state area was on high alert. If that occurred during Super Bowl weekend, all the Super Bowl festivities would be completely ruined. The game deserves to be in a warm climate so the certain teams aren't given a specific advantage and the fans will have every chance to attend the game.

Kalin Lucas Gone

2010-03-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

Michigan State isn't nearly as good as they were last year when the Spartans made it all the way to the championship game before losing to North Carolina. However they still had their leader in Kalin Lucas on the team and the fact that he had a year like last year under his belt only helps their chances of a possible return to the Final Four. That was until yesterday when Lucas went down with an injury. Today we have learned that he will be out for the entire year. Even though his replacement Korie Lucious hit the game winning shot against Maryland, he's not nearly the same player Lucas is which is obvious. He is only averaging 5 points a game and it's impossible to fill in that leadership role Lucas brought the Spartans. I didn't think the Spartans were good enough to make it to the sweet 16 in the first place. Take away Lucas and this team might be heading towards a loss in their next game. The reason why I say they might is because they are playing against 9th seeded Northern Iowa. However with the absence of Lucas, Northern Iowa has a great chance to pull off the upset especially after they just knocked out the number 1 overall seed.

NCAA Tournament

2010-03-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of the best first days we have ever seen in terms of close games and upsets. It's no surprise because this year's at-large bids are considered one of the weakest classes we have ever witnessed. There are other big games on for today and I'm going to give you a list of upset games that are possible today as well.

12 Cornell vs 5 Temple- There are 2 games in today's schedule where the higher seeded team is almost favored to beat the lower seed and this is one of them. Cornell is special because they are the best 3-point shooting team in the country. On the other hand, Temple is the best defensive team against 3-point shooting. Usually a good defense beats a good offense but if any team can turn that around, it's a team from the Ivy-League. I like Cornell over Temple.

13 Siena vs 4 Purdue- This is the second game where the higher seed is close to being favored over the lower seed. Purdue has had such a rough road all year long being so good earlier in the year than losing Robbie Hummel for the entire year. Since they lost him, it's been a down-hill fall. They were in the top 5 in the nation 2 months ago and now are underdogs as the 4th seed. I picked them to win because I feel like they can still beat a 13th seed and since they are the underdog's, they may have a chip on their shoulders. However this Siena team has been sharp all year long and will be very tough to beat. It's a similar situation to Texas where they started off great and fell apart and I thought they would win at least one game and didn't. Hopefully, for my bracket, Purdue can pull one out.

12 New Mexico St. vs 5 Michigan St.- This game isn't on anybody's radar but I'm letting everyone know to watch out for New Mexico St. It's not that New Mexico St. is better but I think they are playing much better basketball. Michigan St. had a decent year but everyone forgets that they were the number 1 preseason pick and have been losing ever since. I'm not a big fan of the Spartans this year and I smell an upset coming from Spokane.

Ron Washington

2010-03-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

The only news coming from baseball should be related to spring training. That's not the case for the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington came out yesterday admitting he used cocaine during the regular season last year. Owner Tom Hicks and the rest of the staff appreciated his honesty and are willing to give him a second chance. I cannot believe he did not get fired on the spot. If it's a young player I'd be willing to give him a second chance. However the fact that the manager was the one using cocaine in the middle of the season last year is unacceptable. He deserves a second chance with a minor league ball team. It's nothing personal to Ron Washington. I believe him when he says it was a one-time deal. However the team will never look at him the same way ever again even if they say they have forgiven him. I look at it as he used cocaine for 2 reasons. One was he was stressed about how his team was doing or a personal reason and leaned towards cocaine to help him out. Two, he has a hidden problem and could not control himself even if it was just one time. The Rangers are on the rise and they cannot afford any distractions. The manager is the leader of the team and if the leader has a problem where he cannot control himself, the team needs a new leader. Even though I believe him that he did it once, there's no excuse. It's not like cocaine was just in his dresser and was like ehhh ill have some today. The fact that he did cocaine means he went through the trouble of looking for a dealer, buying the stuff, and making the big mistake. Either that or a close friend had it and convinced him to do so which means he is easily influenced or he hangs out with the wrong group of people which either way isn't a problem a 57 year old baseball manager should have. If he was the manager of my favorite team, I'd be furious.

Bracketology: Championship

2010-03-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

After a controversial Final Four without Kentucky, here are my 2 teams who will meet in the championship: Kansas vs West Virginia

The Kansas against Syracuse game is as close of a coin flip as you can get. Both teams belong in the championship but the way they were placed in the bracket makes that impossible. Kansas has players who won the championship 2 years ago and it looks like they will do it again. If these 2 teams meet, the winner will march on to win the championship. In the other game, my Dukies are not good enough to beat West Virginia. Even though I will be rooting for them, West Virginia is too good. Duke needs a big man that can be effective down low. If they don't reach the Final Four, that will be the reason why. Brian Zoubek has evolved as a rebounder in the past 2 months but if you watch him get the ball in the post, he always passes the ball out. They rely on the 3-S's way to much which is why Da'Sean Butler and the Mountaineers will meet the Jayhawks. In the Championship game, it's no surprise that I have Kansas winning the entire championship. They have the leadership in Sherron Collins, the size in Cole Aldrich, and the side-kick of Xavier Henry. Not to mention one of the best bench players in the nation as well. I think this will turn out to be a great game but the Kansas Jayhawks are my 2010 NCAA Champions!

Bracketology: Final Four

2010-03-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

I'm finally up to the Final Four in my bracket and I'm about to finish it up. I hope I helped anybody out who had trouble with particular games and hope to continue to help for the remainder of it. My Final Four teams are:

Kansas, Syracuse, West Virgina, and Duke

The Kansas against Ohio State elite 8 match-up may be the game of the tournament. However I cannot imagine Kansas losing this game. Ohio St. had a lot of trouble getting through their conference tournament. Evan Turner is the savior if this team. Kansas has about 4 saviors. I think the experience of Kansas will eliminate the hopes for Buckeye fans. The game from the West region is Syracuse against Xavier. Xavier has made a great run up until this point but I have Syracuse making the final punch to advance to the Final Four. I used to think there were 3 teams in their own league in the country but now I think it's between Syracuse and Kansas. Kentucky was that other team but they have had too many close games throughout the regular season and the conference tournament. They will meet West Virginia in the elite 8 and will lose to the Big East Champions. The Wildcats have the most talent and the best coach in the nation. However most of their star players are freshmen and their experience will come back abd haunt them. Finally I have Duke against Baylor. If Duke beats Louisville, this team is going to the Final Four. Baylor will not be able to stop the 3-S's in Smith, Scheyer, and Singler.

Bracketology: Elite 8

2010-03-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

This part of the bracket is where the good teams separate from the rest of the pack with the exception of 1 or 2 Cinderella teams. Here are the elite 8 teams on my bracket:

Kansas, Ohio St., Syracuse, Xavier, Kentucky, West Virginia, Duke, and Baylor.

There are a lot of key teams missing from these 8 teams. In one of the weakest tournaments in the history of college basketball, I'm going above and beyond with these sleeper teams. Kansas is the best team in the tournament and will beat Maryland. There's not a doubt in my mind they will advance. San Diego State's run will end when they run into Evan Turner and Ohio State. Their main upset was Georgetown and will not be able to pull off a second straight upset to Ohio State. Syracuse is the 2nd great team in this tournament and will prove that against Butler. The first big upset for me is Kansas State falling to Xavier in the 3rd round. I think the fact that Kansas St. lost several times to Kansas really left a scar on this team. They went up against the nation's best team 3 times and lost every game including a big loss to Iowa St. which was very embarrassing. I just don't think this team is ready for the spotlight and will lose to Xavier. The other big possibility of an upset comes from the East region between Kentucky and Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin and I think they have a great chance to knock off the Wildcats but John Wall is something special. He leads that team that has 5 other future NBA players who I think are too good to get knocked out this early. Another classic Big East match-up between Marquette and West Virginia will be a very good game but I love West Virginia to win. If Duke can get by Louisville in the second round, this team is going to the Final Four and that starts with knocking off Texas A&M. The final game is between Baylor and Villanova where I'm picking another big upset. Baylor has been consistent in their tough conference and I think they can take advantage of a weak Villanova team. Even though Villanova will have 2 wins from rounds 1 and 2 to patch up their confidence, I think Baylor is too good and will have them second guessing their ability to move on.

Bracketology: South Round 2

2010-03-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

My lovely Dukies have a really tough game to play in round 2 if everything goes according to plan. Here are the teams from the South region that will advance to the sweet 16:

Duke, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Villanova.

For everyone out there who strongly thinks Louisville can beat Duke, you are not crazy. I love Duke but this game has been itching at me ever since I watched the selection show. I'm sticking towards Duke because they are my favorite team and I cannot imagine Jon Scheyer ending his career as a number 1 seed not reaching the sweet 16. Purdue is banged up but will be able to avoid an upset from Siena. They will not be able to dodge Texas A&M. Donald Sloan will be too much for Purdue to handle. They were never the best defensive team and since they lost Robbie Hummel, they cannot score either. The Baylor, Notre Dame match-up is going to be another interesting game. I have every 3rd seed knocked out in the first or second round except for Baylor. I hope they prove to me they can hang with the other 3 seeds. Villanova is another question mark the way they lost 5 of 7 games to end their season. However Richmond doesn't have a good enough defense to stop Scottie Reynolds and the Villanova offense. I like Villanova to advance to the sweet 16.

Bracketology: East Round 2

2010-03-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

If everything goes according to plan, two previous number 1 teams will meet in the 2nd round! Here are my winners from round 2 of the East region:

Kentucky, Wisconsin, Marquette, and West Virginia.

The battle between Kentucky and Texas will be very exciting because Texas was once ranked number 1 in the nation. Then they fell apart which is why they are an 8th seed in the tournament and I have Kentucky kicking them while they're down. They will end the season for Texas. I love both Cornell and Wisconsin. For those of you who are filling out your brackets either team is a great pick. I'm sticking to Wisconsin because they have been battle tested throughout the entire year. The main question from this region is New Mexico as good as their 3rd seed? I don't think so as I have Marquette beating New Mexico in the second round to advance to the sweet 16. The 7th seeded Clemson Tigers will play against West Virginia and I think this is an easy pick. I love West Virginia. I think this team will be going very far. In that case I have them over Clemson.

Bracketology: West Round 2

2010-03-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

This bracket has a very tough game between the 6th seed and the 3rd seed. Check out my winners from round 2 in the West region:

Syracuse, Butler, Xavier, and Kansas St.

Even though I have Syracuse moving on to the sweet 16, it's not going to be an easy win for them when they play Florida St. If both teams advance to the 2nd round, I will be very excited to watch this game. The result will still be Syracuse over Florida St. My upset pick is Xavier over Pittsburgh. I'm not a huge fan of Pittsburgh even though they did go beyond their expectations this year after losing some key players to the NBA. However Xavier has been playing better basketball lately and I love their sophomore guard Jordan Crawford. Watch out for this player and watch out for the upset. I'm picking Butler over Murray St. Once again Butler has faced mid-major teams like this all year and they will continue their dominance. The game between BYU and Kansas St. is another tough one. I've been going changing my pick with this game but I'm sticking with Kansas St. They struggled down the stretch but I feel like they will get their acts back together.

Bracketology: Midwest Round 2

2010-03-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Even though the first round has already been covered, it doesn't mean the upsets are over. I have a little surprise in the mix in the Midwest region. Here are my winners from the 2nd round:

Kansas, Maryland, San Diego St., and Ohio St.

As everyone should know by now, Kansas is the best team in the NCAA Tournament. I don't think UNLV will give them any problems as they will move on to the sweet 16. The game between Michigan State and Maryland is between a 4th and 5th seed. I'm sticking with Maryland. I was 50/50 on selecting Michigan St. to get eliminated in the first round. I'm not very impressed by them, they had their year last year and blew it, and I think Maryland is the better team hands down. Here is my upset bid. I love San Diego State over Georgetown. It's hard to pick Georgetown to lose because they have one of the best big men in the nation in Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman has been unstoppable recently. However this is still the same team that struggled the entire year with consistency. I really like San Diego St. and they will upset Georgetown unless they shoot 70% from the field. Between 7th seeded Oklahoma St. and 2nd seeded Ohio St. I like Ohio St. I love Evan Turner and what he has done for this program. He is clutch and will help this team move on to the sweet 16.

Bracketology: South Round 1

2010-03-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

The South region has had a lot of publicity because everyone thinks the selection committee paved the way for Duke to advance to the Final Four. I don't know about that but I will start going down that road by picking my winning teams from the first round:

Duke, Louisville, Texas A&M, Purdue, Notre Dame, Baylor, Richmond, and Villanova.

The big upset rumor for this bracket is Siena over Purdue because Purdue is all beaten up and Siena is a hot mid-major school. Not only do I think Purdue will win but the only upset I have is the 9th seed over the 8th seed. The "easy picks," for this region is what I'm going to cover first. Duke will win easily, Baylor should take care of Sam Houston St., I'm a big fan of the Atlantic 10's Richmond who will beat St. Mary's, and Villanova will not continue to lose against Robert Morris. With Louisville being battle tested coming from the Big East and with coach Rick Pitino at the helm, I think Louisville should take care of California. The Pac-10 is terrible this year and I don't have a lot of those teams winning their first game. An intriguing game is 5th seeded Texas A&M against Utah St. but I don't see Utah St. as one of those upset alert teams. They haven't played anyone big and still finished with 7 losses which are a lot for a team in a mid-major school which is why I'm picking A&M. Purdue is all banged up and dropped from being ranked 5th about a month and a half ago to dropping to a 4th seed in the NCAA Tournament. However I still think they have enough pieces to push themselves past Siena. I'm sure Purdue is upset they dropped so far in the seedings and want to prove to the nation they are still contenders. My upset alert is between Old Dominion and Notre Dame. Part of the reason why Notre Dame finished 10-8 in the Big East is because Luke Harangody was hurt for awhile. Still this team depends on him way too much. All it takes is a few fouls to keep him out of the game and Old Dominion is the mid-major school that can capitalize. With all of this being said I like Notre Dame winning but I would not be surprised if Old Dominion pulled off the upset.

Bracketology: East Round 1

2010-03-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

The Kentucky Wildcats lead the East region as the number 1 seeded team along with a lot of other teams that could cause some tough decisions. Here are my round 1 winning teams from the East region:

Kentucky, Texas, Cornell, Wisconsin, Marquette, New Mexico, Clemson, and West Virginia.

I don't have too many upsets in this region for the first round but that doesn't mean the decisions were easy. Like usual, I will start with my "easy picks," for the East region. Kentucky will win without a doubt, I love what Wisconsin has done all year and I have them going far, Marquette is the best 6th seeded team in the country which is equivalent to a win, New Mexico has handled mid-major teams all year long and Montana shouldn't be any different, and I absolutely love West Virginia winning. Maybe the picks were a little easier to make in this region but it doesn't mean the games won't be great. Not to mention my major upset for the region with Cornell over Temple. I've watched Cornell whenever I was able to and this team is very good. Temple is very good too but Cornell has been the much better team. They finished 30-4 but 2 of those losses came from Syracuse and Kansas. It's obviously bad they lost to those teams but the fact that they played 2 number 1 seeds means they will not be scared by anyone in this tournament. They also have a great senior in Ryan Wittman who is averaging over 17 points a game. Not to mention all of them are geniuses. Look out for this team in the tournament. The 8, 9 match-up between Texas and Wake Forest is intriguing but there are only 3 good teams from the ACC this year which are Duke, Florida St., and Maryland. Wake shouldn't even be in the tourny and I think Texas will beat them. The final game is Clemson against Missouri. I love Trevor Booker who made the ACC All-American First Team who is not only the best player on Clemson but is also the emotional leader as well. I think Booker and other key players will advance Clemson over Missouri. Clemson is inconsistent but I don't think that will be a factor in this game.

Bracketology: West Round 1

2010-03-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

Each region is intriguing in its own way. The West region has plenty of above average teams from all over the nation which leads to several upset alerts! Here are my winners for round 1 of the West region:

Syracuse, Florida St., Butler, Murray St., Xavier, Pitt, BYU, and Kansas St.

I'm going to start with my "easy picks." Syracuse will demolish Vermont, I'm not a big fan of Minnesota at all which is why I have Xavier, Pittsburgh finished second in the best conference in the nation so should handle Oakland, and Kansas St. will win. Now if you notice I have a few upsets in this region. However the famous 12th seed over a 5th seed which happens at least once a year a high percentage of the time is not occurring in this region. Butler is considered the king of the mid-major schools the way Boise St. is in college football. I think there is a better chance of a 12th seeded mid-major school beating a 5th seeded team from one of the 6 major conferences than this upset occurring. Butler has handled teams like this all year and it will continue when they playUTEP. Gonzaga is considered another elite team from the mid-majors but I'm a big fan of Chris Singleton and Florida State. They aren't the most impressive team but the one factor that sticks out is they have always beaten the teams they are supposed to beat. Even though Gonzaga is seeded ahead of Florida St., I cannot see them losing to a team from the West Coast Conference. Brigham Young is another team from the great Mountain West and I'm confident they will handle the Florida Gators very well since I didn't think the Gators deserved to be in the tourny in the first place. Finally the upset of the West region is Murray St. over Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt finished 12-4 in a very weak SEC Conference and has several bad losses to teams like Cincinnati, Illinois, and Western Kentucky. I can see Murray State pulling off the upset and shaking of the West region a little bit.

Bracketology: Midwest Round 1

2010-03-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

The NCAA Tournament is finally underway and everyone has about 3 days to fill out their brackets. I'm here to help you with your decisions throughout every region and every round. Here are my winners from the first round of the Midwest Region:

Kansas, UNLV, Michigan St, Maryland, San Diego St, Georgetown, Oklahoma St., and Ohio St.

This bracket is by far the most interesting one of them all. I'm just going to get the "easy to pick" games out of the way. Kansas will move on, Greivis Vasquez and Maryland are way too good to get defeated by Houston, Georgetown will beat Ohio, and Ohio St will move on to the second round without a doubt. Now what makes this bracket the most interesting is the fact that it has 3 Mountain West teams which are UNLV, New Mexico State, and San Diego State. San Diego St. won the Mountain West Tournament but New Mexico St. finished with 29-4 record and 14-2 conference record. I personally think all 3 of them can win but I'm picking Michigan St. over New Mexico St. because the odds of all 3 Mountain West teams winning are very slim and Michigan St. still has players on the team from last year who made it all the way to the Finals. UNLV finished 4th and they are playing against Northern Iowa who finished 28-4. However Northern Iowa has not played anyone decent and also lost to DePaul earlier in the year. I have UNLV over Northern Iowa and Michigan St. over New Mexico St.

I strongly believe San Diego St. will beat Tennessee. Tennessee was great earlier in the year but several key players got kicked off the team and have not been the same since. They pulled off a few upsets but just about all of them came at home. On a neutral court, San Diego St. will pull off the upset. Finally 7th seeded Oklahoma St. against Georgia Tech is difficult because both of these teams are just average. Georgia Tech made a run in the ACC Tourny but I've been a fan of Oklahoma St. ever since they beat Kansas. I have Oklahoma St. over Georgia Tech.

Selection Sunday

2010-03-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

Today kicked off one of the most exciting playoffs in the sports in the world. Selection Sunday landed 65 teams in the mega NCAA Tournament that annually leaves great memories. However Selection Sunday always leaves major questions as to how teams were seeded and teams that were left out of the dance. The main topic was the fact that Duke was ranked ahead of Syracuse. I honestly think Syracuse should be a number 1 seed but as the 4th overall team because I look at the conference tournaments as part of the playoffs and they lost their first game. West Virgina made a very big case to become that 4th number 1 seed by winning the Big East Tournament but Syracuse had a better season from start to finish. Most people think they should have been placed ahead of Duke. Duke proved to be consistent throughout the season winning the ACC regular season championship and the ACC Tournament so I agree with the committee by placing them as the 3rd overall seed. If Syracuse wanted to be the 3rd overall seed, they needed to play like that throughout the season and failed to do so. Another argument always brought up are teams left out of the dance. I only had a problem with 2 teams being left out. The first, Virginia Tech finished 23-8 and easily should have been replaced by 19-10 Wake Forest. They both were in the same conference and Virginia Tech finished with a 10-6 conference record compared to the Demon Deacons 9-7 record. Add the fact that Virginia Tech beat Wake in their only head to head battle and I think it's obvious. The second omission was Mississippi State. The fact that they lost to Kentucky in the SEC Championship game in overtime and missed the final cut is terrible for the Bulldogs. Their numbers are just about identical to the Florida Gators so the fact that the Bulldogs were able to reach the SEC Championship game should have edged them ahead of the Gators.

Tomlinson to the Jets?

2010-03-12T13:04:00.000-08:00

LaDainian Tomlinson has been in the news lately. Yesterday he visited the Minnesota Vikings and today he is with the New York Jets. For Tomlinson, the better fit is with the Jets. The Jets will be in contention for more years than the Vikings, they have a better and younger offensive line to run behind, and he can be a pivotal leader for that offense. Rex Ryan is a defensive guy and they have experienced players on defense but the offense is very young and could use Tomlinson as the leader. However is Tomlinson as good of a fit for the Jets as the Jets are for Tomlinson? I think the answer is no. Don't get wrong, Tomlinson would make an impact on the Jets. If they end up signing Tomlinson, that will defeat the purpose of releasing Thomas Jones. I thought they released Jones to get younger but signing LaDainian will keep another running back over 30 years old on the depth chart and Jones was a lot better. Tomlinson was always known for running very well in the open field. Jones was a guy known for running north and south only. I agreed with the Jets by releasing Jones and trust me when everyone sees how terrible Jones will do next year with the Chiefs, you'll forget all about him. However signing Tomlinson defeats the purpose. They are still signing an older back worse than Jones and will probably ask for the same amount of money or close to it.

Big East Mess

2010-03-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

Every year before the Big East Tournament starts, there are at least 4-5 teams that have a legitimate chance of winning. This is because there have been 4-5 teams in the top 25 from the Big East for the past several years. This year turns out to be a little different compared to years in the past. Yesterday #1 seeded Syracuse, #2 seeded Pittsburgh, and #4 seeded Villanova all fell to their respective opponents. Pittsburgh is not considered as good as the other 2 teams because their overall record is not as good. However Villanova and Syracuse have been struggling terribly. Villanova will enter the NCAA Tournament losing 5 out of their last 7 games and Syracuse will enter the tournament losing 2 straight and their number 1 seed could be in jeopardy. This is a perfect example as to why the Big East is the best conference in the nation. I'm a little worried about Syracuse because they lost badly to Louisville to end the regular season and now lose again so they cannot advance to the 3rd round. Add the fact that they lost a key player in Arinze Onuaku to a knee injury that looked serious. However I still think this team is the 3rd best team in the nation. Georgetown can be the best team in America when they play well and Chris Wright played his best game all year. It's definitely a sour note to end on entering the tournament when they led both of those games at the end of the first half. As for Villanova I'm very nervous. This team may end up as a 4th seed in the tournament after being ranked number 1 for a week. Scottie Reynolds has not been the clutch player down the stretch he has been throughout his career at Villanova. They need to basically start from scratch and figure out how to start winning games again. If any coach in America can do that, it's Jay Wright.

NCAA Tournament #1 Seeds

2010-03-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

For as long as I could remember, three out of four of the #1 seeds were just about a lock for the NCAA Tournament. It was predicted to be Kansas, Kentucky, and Syracuse. The 4th number 1 seed is a battle between Duke, West Virginia, Kansas St., and Ohio St. That was until about 20 minutes ago because that's when the world witnessed Georgetown knock off Syracuse in the Big East Tournament. Georgetown was the 8th seed in the tournament and Syracuse was the 1st seed. This could potentially knock Syracuse out of the number 1 seed and push them back to a 2. For this to happen, I still think 2 out of the 4 teams fighting for a number 1 seed need to win their respective conference tournaments. If that's the case, I think Duke and West Virginia will be the remaining number 1 seeds. Duke has been the favorite to take over the 4th number 1 spot before Syracuse lost to Georgetown. Add the fact that they are in a weak ACC Conference and they should win the conference tournament and clinch the 3rd number 1 spot. Now this is where it gets interesting. I'm already knocking out Kansas St. and Ohio St. because I don't think they will win their conference tournaments. If they do, I'll change my perspective on my number 1 seeds. However if they don't and West Virginia does win the Big East Tournament, they could snatch they number 1 seed. With Syracuse out, the Mountaineers are my favorites to win the tournament. They have the resume to take over the 4th number 1 seed. Add the fact that the Big East is the best conference in the nation. So if they win the tournament, they should get the final number 1 seed.

Tiger Woods Returning to Bay Hill

2010-03-11T10:55:00.000-08:00

About 2 weeks after Tiger Woods got in his accident and his whole personal life spilled all over the press, we started asking ourselves when Tiger Woods would return to golf. We have a strong possibility that his return could be just 14 days away from today. Once Tiger Woods read his apology statement to the world and his life returned to as much normalcy possible, there were rumors surrounding Tiger saying he had started getting back into shape and starting playing golf again. That was a strong sign he was willing to return to the tour this year. Once that happened, everyone predicted Tiger's first event would be at Bay Hill and it makes a lot of sense. Bay Hill is also known for the Arnold Palmer Invitational where Tiger has had tons of success and Palmer is a good friend of Tiger's. In addition, Bay Hill is in Orlando, Florida where Tiger lives. More importantly the first major of the year, the Masters, is just 2 weeks after Bay Hill. If Tiger is returning this year, there was no way he was going to miss the Masters and he wasn't going to make the Masters his first event of the year. It all falls into place when you put everything into perspective. I think coming back this year was the best decision Tiger has made since November. If he wants his life to get back to normal, he needs to stop hiding and return to golf.

Browns Cleaning Out

2010-03-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

The Cleveland Browns have been in the news lately for all the right reasons. Yesterday they released quarterback Derek Anderson and today there have been rumors about Brady Quinn being traded or released next. The first step towards rebuilding a team is getting rid of excessive contracts for players who aren't making you a better football team. The first player they got rid of was Braylon Edwards last year. Then yesterday it was time to get rid of Anderson who was due to receive 8.81 million dollars this year. I never liked Quinn but he might still be able to be an effective quarterback in the right situation. The Browns aren't the right situation for him and he's not the right quarterback for the Browns which is why getting rid of him would be a great move. Having 2 average quarterbacks is just as bad as not having one at all. They have the same quarterback situation as the San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers, Oakland Raiders, and the Buffalo Bills. The only difference is they are finally doing something about it. If they are successful with getting rid of Quinn, the only overpriced player they will have left on their roster who they should get rid of is defensive end Kenyon Coleman. It's no surprise that Mike Holmgren has this team on track to becoming contenders.

UConn One and Done

2010-03-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

The UConn Huskies entered the Big East Tournament with a 17-14 overall record and a 7-11 conference record. That earned them a 12th seed but weren't considered a 12th seed. In other words they were actually considered to be selected into the NCAA Tournament because they had a tough schedule and beat 3 top 10 opponents this year. However they were going to need to make a decent impact in the Big East Conference to make a case to the selection committee. That all came crashing down earlier today when UConn not only lost to the St. John's Red Storm but got beaten down badly by 23 points 73-51. It was a rough year to begin with when head coach Jim Calhoun missed several games due to health issues. However things did start turning around when they pulled off a few upsets. On February 22nd, the Huskies just finished beating West Virgina and had a conference record of 7-8. At this point in time they were seriously considered as the 8th team from the Big East to be selected to the NCAA Tournament. Then they crashed by losing their final 3 regular season games to Louisville, Notre Dame, and USF which led to Calhoun benching Jerome Dyson and Kemba Walker. This has been an awful year from beginning to end. There's not a doubt in my mind that Calhoun will recruit hard and build his team stronger than ever next year. It was simply not their year this year.

Allen Iverson

2010-03-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

Allen Iverson has been talked about way too much in the past year. It started out with basketball because his career is quickly diminishing before our eyes. Now it's starting to become very personal. It started about 2 months ago when he took a leave of absence to take care of his sick daughter. Now there are reports surfacing that he has a drinking problem and gambling problem along with problems with his marriage. To make a long story short, his life is crashing down to earth because he is no longer an NBA star. I would have a lot more remorse for Iverson if his problem was just his daughter. I'm not saying he's lying about it and to be honest it's none of my business. However, if you ask for a leave of absence to take care of your daughter and you are sighted at bars, clubs, and casinos than I lose respect for you. In the great words of Colin Cowherd, Iverson is going through something called a, "you," problem which means everything that is wrong with him is something he brought upon himself. He didn't make his daughter sick but he brought all of this negative attention to himself because he's so used to being the star. Now that he's getting older, he will most likely end up like another broke athlete. I really hope for the best for Iverson but I'm certainly not going to feel bad for him and I'm very tired of hearing about him. Either play basketball or retire like every other athlete.

Notre Dame to the Big 10?

2010-03-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

In college football, the Big Ten and Pac-10 have been discussing the possibility of adding schools to their respective conferences. I personally think it's a great idea. The mid-major schools have a chance to get added into a much better conference so they get more respect at the end of the year because of the higher competition. However what made me read this recent story was the fact that the Notre Dame football Athletic Director is complaining about the possibility of being added to the Big Ten. This is exactly why I hate Notre Dame. They had so much success in the past and even have a great movie about their program and blah blah blah. Last time I checked, the Yankees were the team of the century and everyone hates them. Meanwhile Notre Dame was successful than fell off the face of the earth after Lou Holtz left and everyone still looks at them as the founding fathers of college football. They think they are too good for the Big East so they join the IA Independents. Now they might get moved to the Big Ten and the AD of the program is trying to get out of it. If they think they belong with the elite programs of college football, why don't they put themselves in a respected conference for enhanced competition? If they get moved to the Big Ten, I guarantee they won't reach a BCS Bowl game for the next 3-4 years.

Joe Nathan Done

2010-03-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Minnesota Twins have been involved in the news during the entire offseason because they have been trying to resign Joe Mauer to a long-term contract before his contract ends this year. Now they have a much bigger concern entering the new season. Joe Nathan who is the closer for the Twins and one of the best in the business today has a torn ligament in his elbow and is done for the entire year. I know everyone is predicting the Yankees and Phillies to meet in the World Series again and there are a few other teams in the mix but this is why it's so hard to win. One day were talking about the Twins entering a new year with a new stadium and predicted to win the division and the next day their star closer has a sore elbow and has a torn ligament. Done for the year. That's why I hate when people say the Yankees buy championships. Even though they are still playing by the rules, there's much more to the game than buying big free agents. Anyways Nathan isn't officially done for the year but I keep hearing reports that he's going to rehab the injury and try and pitch this year. The only thing that does is slow the process down. If its next week or 3 months down the road, he will get surgery and the Twins will be looking for a closer if they aren't already. Tough break for the Twins.

Big Ben in Big Trouble

2010-03-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

As everyone knows, Ben Roethlisberger is in serious trouble again. A 20 year-old college student is claiming she was sexually assaulted by the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise quarterback. In terms of legal issues, all I know is he hired the high profiled lawyer Ed Garland which means he will need the best of the best for this case. In terms of football, he could be out of football next year because of legal issues. There's a possibility he may even be released or traded. The Steelers are owned by the Rooney family and they are known for running a first-class organization. The fact that their star quarterback is involved in another sexual assault case will not be taken lightly by the family. Unfortunately, Roethlisberger has been in the news negatively now for the third time in his short career. The first sexual assault case was dropped by the victim. Ben came out of that case as the good guy and the woman seemed crazy. Even if he comes out clean in this current case, he will always be looked at in a negative way. Also Ben was involved in a serious motorcycle accident which was stupid because he was riding without a helmet. I hate to blame Roethlisberger for getting in an accident but it just seems like he cannot stay out of the news. People may be reading this now and saying to themselves that it's crazy to think Big Ben would get released or traded because of these altercations against him. I'm telling you that the Rooney family does not want their franchise player to be linked as a sexual offender and we may see a major change by the start of training camp.

NBA: Power Rankings

2010-03-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

The NBA's defending champions has lost 3 straight games and Cleveland has rested LeBron James. That still has not affected my top 5 power rankings too much.

1. L.A. Lakers

2. Cleveland Cavaliers

3. Dallas Mavericks

4. Denver Nuggets

T-5. Orlando Magic

T-5. Utah Jazz

I added 2 teams tied for 5th because this league is going to come down to 6 teams. The Boston Celtics are aging, the Phoenix Suns are not consistent enough, and the Atlanta Hawks are one player away from pushing themselves to the next level which would be an Eastern Conference Finals. The only other teams that may make a splash in the playoffs are the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think their experience will eventually get them knocked out but I can easily see this team advancing to the second or even third round. However when it's all said and done, these 6 teams are the ones who will be hanging around. I don't care about the Lakers losing 3 games in a row because every great team goes through a little losing period. The Lakers have been to the NBA Finals 2 years in a row which give them a huge target on their backs. As long as the Lakers are in first and LeBron James is healthy, the Mavericks are not going to move up past the third spot during the season.