Different Year, Same Results

2006 NFL PREDICTIONS
AFC				NFC
	Win	Loss			Win	Loss
East				East
Patriots (1)	12	4		Eagles (2)	12	4
Dolphins	7	9		Cowboys* (6)	10	6
Bills	5	11		Giants	9	7
Jets	3	13		Redskins	8	8
North				North
Bengals (4)	10	6		Bears (4)	9	7
Steelers* (6)	10	6		Vikings	8	8
Ravens	9	7		Packers	6	10
Browns	5	11		Lions	5	11
South				South
Colts (2)	12	4		Panthers (1)	12	4
Jaguars	9	7		Bucs	9	7
Titans	4	12		Falcons	8	8
Texans	3	13		Saints	3	13
West				West
Chargers (3)	11	5		Seahawks (3)	11	5
Broncos* (5)	10	6		Cardinals* (5)	10	6
Chiefs	9	7		Rams	6	10
Raiders	4	12		49ers	3	13
*Wild Card winners
PLAYOFFS
Wild Card Weekend				Divisional Playoffs
Steelers over Chargers				Colts over Steelers
Broncos over Bengals				Patriots over Broncos
Cowboys over Seahawks				Cowboys over Panthers
Cardinals over Bears				Eagles over Cardinals
Championship Game:				SUPER BOWL XLI:
Patriots over Colts				Patriots OVER COWBOYS
Cowboys over Eagles
Awards:
Super Bowl MVP - Tom Brady
NFL MVP - Larry Johnson
Rushing title - Larry Johnson
1st pick in the 2007 Draft - San Francisco 49ers

Get Well Wishes.

Friday was a sad day in Red Sox Nation. Losing players all year long to injuries like ACL/MCL sprains, or shoulder injuries are nothing compared to the news that the young lefty heard on Friday. Jon Lester was diagnosed with lymphoma, a treatable form of cancer. Anytime you hear the words cancer it is a cause for concern. Lester will be starting the road to recovery this week, and all I, or anyone else, can do is wish him the best of luck. When news of this severity surfaces it brings a realism to the world of sports. Jon Lester get healthy and strong as soon as possible and I wish you nothing but the best.

Waiting is the Hardest part...

Quick little thoughts on why the Patriots are heading back to the Super Bowl this year....

It is simple. The Patriots are going to win the East, for a few reasons. 1. They didn't get any worse than last yr, this includes Rodney coming back from injury, and Branch isn't going to hold out the whole season because he will still have 1 more yr on his contract. 2. Dillon will be back to his normal self, what people don't realize is he ran behind a makeshift offensive line last yr, plus he had those injuries. He is fully healthy and if the presence Laurence doesn’t motivate him to be his old self, I don’t know what will. 3. No one in the east got better enough to overtake the Patriots. Sure the sexy pick is for the Dolphins to overtake the Patriots, but seriously are you that concerned with an offense run by Culpepper. I think the signing of Culpepper makes the Dolphins worse than last year. Now, you may ask why, and ill tell you. With Fiedler, he managed a football game, played within himself, he didn’t try to go out there and make plays he couldn’t. What does Culpepper do? Exactly, the opposite of that. He will cost them a few games because of this. And as a side point we have to remember that last yr, with out Moss, he has 6TD’s to 12 INT’s before his injury, so he hasn’t played well since loosing his premier receiver, and in case you don’t know what the Dolphins roster looks like, they have no premier receiver. 4. Last I checked we still had Brady and Bill. They are the best combo since peanut butter and jelly was put together. Also we now have a proven defensive coordinator, and that is not taking anything any from Mangini, I wish him nothing but success in NY, but he was 34 when he coached this team last year. Peeves is proven winner under BB and wherever he went in college. 5. Losing Adam does hurt, a lot, but I am not that concerned. I take the Patriots front office at their word when they say they saw something in Adam that made them not want to resign him. I also just have this gut feeling that Gostkowski will be a very good FG kicker for the Patriots this season.

To sum everything up; the Pats are better than last yr. No one in the East will overtake their thrown and I will see you in Miami come Feb.

This is just a preview to the NFL Preview I will be coming out with soon.

The Times are a changin’

The Boston Celtics just wrapped up their Vegas Summer league Schedule with a 3-2 record. The team was lead by the usual suspects of Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson. They all showed improved forms from last year. Gomes just dominated from the field averaging 19PPG, 6RPG while shooting a spectacular 60% from the field and 86% from the line. Green showed he has some long range potential with his 56% three point shooting. Jefferson lost some weight that can hopefully keep his ankle healthy for a full season. Rondo and Telfair both played some spectacular Point. The surprise of the summer league has to be Allen Ray. He was a non-drafted invitee to the camp, and the Celtics faith in paid off. He averaged over 14PPG while shooting over 50% from the field. I like his chances to make the team.

Let’s break down the Celtics position by position and give my prediction from the upcoming season.

Point Guards (Delonte West, Telfair, Rondo)

The Celtics clearly were not satisfied with their point guard situation because they traded for one on draft night, and drafted one as well. I like the Telfair move. He is a very capable old school point guard who can deliver a pass with the best PG’s in the league. He needs to work on his shooting as he only shot 40% from the field in the summer league, but he can knock down that open jumper when needed. Rondo is a guy who also struggles with his shot. The book on him in college is that he is very capable of leading a team, but he can’t hit that open jumper. He showed signs that maybe that wasn’t the case as he shot 56% from the field in the summer league. But what this guy can do is dish out assists. West, we are all aware of West can do. People in the media and the league, and clearly the Celtics front office don’t think he can be a true point guard that can lead a team to a championship. I agree with that. He is a very capable slash guard who can shoot well and spell a true point at the 1, but if he was our main point guard it would be tough to get through the playoff tree.

Overall grade: B

Off Guards (Tony Allen, Paul Pierce, Allen Ray, Wally Szczerbiak, Gerald Green)

This is a talented bunch. PDub is worth every penny of his 3 year 60 million dollar extension. Tony Allen plays great D and can also jump out of the gym. Wally is a shooter, so is Allen Ray. Green is the guy poised for the breakout year. We saw signs of it towards the end of last year when he really put together some great games he clearly carried that over into the summer league. He is a guy who has tremendous upside, and remember he is only one year removed from high school.

Overall grade: A-

Forwards (Gomes, Brian Scalabrine, Leon Powe, Brian Grant)

None of these guys are going to start this season and only Gomes is expected to play quality minutes. We saw what Brian can do (nothing) last year. Brian grant was dumped by Phoenix because of money and he probably won’t even see minutes with the Celtics. Powe is a wildcard. He was drafted in the second round but late. He played in the Pac-10 which is a good conference to play in, but I’m not expecting too much from him. Gomes could be trade bait for possibly AI, because Ainge isn’t that high on him and feels his trade value is much higher than he is. I love Gomes, I loved him at PC, I loved him last year for the Celtics, but if he can reel in AI I wouldn’t mind losing him. (More on AI later on).

Overall grade: C

Big Men (Big Al, Theo Ratliff, Kendrick Perkins, Dwayne Jones)

Big Al and Perk are most likely going to start out of this group, Big Al at the 4, and Perk at the 5. Theo came with the Telfair in the deal with Portland. If he can give the Celtics 15-20 min a game rebound the ball well and block his shots, which is all we can ask of him. Jones is not going to see any playing time this year. I am expecting HUGE things out of Big Al and Perk. They both showed flashes of brilliance last year and the Celtics are hoping that they can sustain that for a full season. I think it will happen, of course I said this last year about Big Al right after I bought his jersey.

Overall grade: B

Depth Chart Starter Backup 3^rd string

PG: West Telfair Rondo

SG Wally Allen Ray

SF PDub Green Scalabrine

PF Big Al Gomes Powe

C Perk Ratliff

Prediction

This is a Celtic team that missed the playoffs last year. This year will be completely different. The landscape of the east is very different. Everyone is anointing the Bulls masters of the East because they got Big Ben, but I’m not as sure. This is new type of league where it favors teams that can run and score, FYI the Celtics can run and score. The Bulls have both Tyrus Thomas and Big Ben who can’t put the ball in the hole. The Cavs showed what LeBron is capable of when they came within 1 win of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Heat are the Heat. I don’t like the Nets I think the Celtics will finish ahead of them. The Celtics can get to 45-48 wins with this team. I like what Ainge has done with it. PDub showed that he can take his game to the next level. I think the Celtics win the Atlantic Division and get at least a 3 seed, but deserve it this time. However, if the Celtics pull off the deal for AI they lock up the 2 seed and get to 51-54 wins.

Side Bar

I would love to see AI come to the Celtics; I am not sure how this guy is the problem in Philly. He plays with his heart on his sleeve and he brings it every game of every season. Sure he will miss the occasional practice, but come on we’re talking about practice. I think if we can pull off the deal without giving up Green, Perk, PDub, Big Al, or West I do it. So how can the Celtics pull off the trade without throwing them into the deal? Just looking at the salary cap numbers the Celtics can trade Wally, Scalabrine, and Telfair for AI. Why would the Sixers do this trade? Because they want to get rid of AI and AI wants to leave after all these trade rumors. Wally is a good shooter that could compliment Webber. Telfair is the point guard they are looking for as well and Brian would be thrown in for money reasons.

If the Celtics are able to pull off the deal for AI they make the Eastern Conference Finals. There starting lineup would just insert AI into Wally’s position. This would be a great deal for the Celtics and I hope they pull it off.

I am expecting great things from the Celtics this year and I think they are going to deliver. I still think they are a year away from really truly contending for an NBA title, with or with our AI. AI would help them go further this year. The Celtics have a solid foundation for the future and they have a solid foundation for the present as well.

Soon to come, a preview of the upcoming Patriots season as well as more stuff on the Red Sox.

The Good, The Bad, and The Skinny

As we sit here on July 5^th, it is the halfway point of the 2006 season and I still cannot get a read on this year’s Red Sox team. After winning 14 of 15 against the NL East and people talking about them like they won the World Series they come down to earth and lose two straight to the Devil Rays. Not only did they lose these games to the Devil Rays it is everything else that came with it. We had our two best pitchers on the mound for the starts and they both took the L. The Yankees also lost their last two games so I guess that is a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because we keep our lead in the AL East, a bad thing because we should have increased the lead. So with that said let’s hand out some grades and some moves we need to do to make this years team a world champion.

Pitching

The Sox have two Aces in Schilling and Beckett. They have a reliable consistent starter in Wake. A rookie pitcher who has pitched on thin ice in most his starts, but has gotten out of all of them while giving us a chance to win (Lester). And then we have a major major major question mark in Jason Johnson. This is a guy we got off the scraps from the Indians and in his first start for us, he had a rough two innings, but then settled down, but he took the loss. I am a little torn between who I want as my number 5 in the rotation. I have only seen one start for Johnson, albeit a bad one, but I willing to see what he has tonight in Tampa before I start calling for his head. Of course, the guy he is replacing in the rotation is no savior either. Matt Clement was not pitching well this year at all. He can’t get anyone out. So if I have to choose one of those two for my number 5 I take neither. We need to go out a get another starter. But more on that later. Our bullpen has been well chronicled. We have a bunch of rookies who I want to see out there much more than Taverez and Seanez. We have a nice matchup guy with Lopez. Take away what Timlin did yesterday he is having a great year. And of course we don’t need to reiterate how amazing Papelbon has been. He has one of the best years for a closer anytime anywhere.

Grade: Starting Staff B-, Bullpen C, Closer/Setup man: A

Offense

We were told at the beginning of Spring Training that this years Red Sox team wasn’t going to be your fathers Red Sox team. They weren’t supposed to mash the ball all around the field, they weren’t supposed to score a lot of runs, they weren’t supposed to have walk-off home runs every other week, and they were supposed to have a lot of holes in their lineup. But that just shows you what a team with two of the best power hitters in the game does. The old saying of “hitting is contagious” is definitely true. How else can you explain Lowell hitting over .300, Nixon hitting over .320, Gonzo hitting close to .270. (Now I know .270 doesn’t draw attention anywhere else but in Boston, but when you were supposed to hit .200 and the media said before the season that with Gonzo’s glove anything close to .270 would be amazing. It does warrant a mention.) A lot of players who weren’t supposed to do what they are doing are coming through. And because of that the Sox have scored 451 runs so far for an average of 5.5 runs a game, and they are on pace for over 900, that’s not too bad. Yuk in the top of the order has been a very pleasant surprise as well as his glove. Loretta is the typical number 2 guy that Edgar wasn’t last year. Ortiz is the best clutch hitter in the game, Manny is Manny. ‘Tek is having an off year with the average. Nixon is just hitting everything thrown at him. Crisp is getting more and more comfortable at the plate.

Grade: A

Defense

There isn’t much to say. The Sox have the best defense in the game. Earlier in the year they set the record for consecutive games without an error (17). Yuk is playing a great glove at first. Crisp is playing a centerfield that is making us forget about Jesus. Lowell, Gonzo, and Loretta are playing like gold glove winners. Just as a side point, Remy and Orsillo mentioned during yesterday’s game that Loretta and Gonzo have a combined five errors this season. Five errors from your middle infield that is unheard of.

Grade: A

Coaching

The coaching staff has been upgraded. They have a new pitching coach and new first and third base coaches. All of which have been upgrades. And I hate to say that about the pitching coach because Wallace had hip surgery and we feel for him and wish him a speedy recovery, but Nip has been great. Terry earned his 200^th win as a manager this season, and aside from some questionable decisions he has managed this team very well. I would love to see the young pitchers in there a little more. I want to see Hanson and Delcarmen in tight spots. Manny has been pitching very well.

Grade: B

Moves that should be made

The Sox need to upgrade their pitching staff. They don’t need to do anything with their lineup or defense. Adding another guy in the rotation and another guy in the bullpen will be great. Now I don’t think we should break the bank for anyone, I think it will be tough to land a Willis or Smoltz. Zito isn’t being traded. But I’d like to give Jake Pevey a look from San Diego. If the asking price isn’t too much why not make a deal with San Diego for the third time this year. Although a few days ago I heard the name Smoltz thrown out there for a Hanson, I am not sure how I feel about this. I think Smoltz will give the Red Sox a very realistic shot at another World Series ring, but Hanson is going to be a stud in this league. At the same time, it’s easier to fine a stud closer than an ace in the rotation. The Sox also need to add a bullpen guy to take over the Taverez or Seanez spot in the Bullpen. The Sox could go after someone like Joe Borowski who is pitching well down in Miami.

The Red Sox are not that far off from another World Series Title. Just need to add a few tiny pieces as the trading deadline.

Allow me to Re-intorduce myself...

Can we diagnose this embarrassment in the World Cup a failure for the US? I am not so certain. Sure they were ranked 5^th in the world in the FIFA rankings, their highest ranking ever. Sure they lost to Ghana, a team that has never qualified for the World Cup before 2006. However, this is a US team that finally earned its first World Cup point with their pathetic tie on Saturday to Italy, when the US couldn’t even score their own goal. This is also a US team that plays its games in a country that doesn’t care about soccer, or football depending on which American you are talking to. That can really be a factor in this story. Imagine yourself on a team that trains for 4 years for a tournament that is so popular throughout the world yet no one in America cares. When I tell people I watch the World Cup, or when people see that I am watching the World Cup people always say “why are you watching soccer, it’s so boring”. Is it? I find it very exciting and so do more and more Americans who slowly but surely are coming to terms with this international uber sport.

But back to the real topic... the games being played. The US opened up the 2006 World Cup with a loss to the Czech in which they looked completely flat and a team that didn’t deserve to be in the World Cup. In their second game they played to a tie with usual powerhouse Italy. In their third game they couldn’t handle Ghana, when everything else fell into place and all they needed was the win to advance out of group play. It’s sad, it’s upsetting, and it’s disappointing. The only reason why I don’t categorize the United States showing in the World Cup a failure is because you can see the seeds being planted for the future. The sport is growing in popularity and many more kids are playing the sport. Come 2010, the next World Cup, the US should be ranked even higher than 5^th in the world and they should have a better showing than this year.

It’s strange, normally Americans are used to dominating every sport we play, but it isn’t the case with soccer. The rest of the world has a leg up on us because soccer is the only sport they play. And sure this World Cup would have been different if it weren’t for the Ref’s. It’s ironic, Americans are new to this sport and yet we still are quick to blame the ref’s. Now I’m not saying that the ref’s didn’t screw up a ton of calls, because they did, but I am saying that the refs don’t play the game and we need to stop blaming the refs.

The refs in international soccer are also known for taking bribes and fixing games. I am not accusing anyone of anything, but I think it is a very big coincidence that the ref who officiated the US-Italy match, the ref who made a ton of bad calls, was found guilty of taking bribes and fixing matches. How can FIFA let this guy ref? again I am not saying he is still accepting bribes or fixing games, but if a ref were ever found guilty of doing that in the US he would never ref again, not even little league.

I think one of the main reasons soccer hasn’t been widely accepted as a sport in America is because of the rules. The refs are really quick to call red cards which mean you are out of the rest of that game as well as the next. Imagine getting a double technical foul in basketball and then you are done for the next game too. Now imagine that happening during the NBA finals. Does that make any sense? Not really. Another strange rule is the double yellow card. It’s fine that two yellow cards equals a red card, but it doesn’t make sense for yellow cards to carry over from game to game. Finally, you can only sub 3 times? Are you serious? What is the reason for that? Imagine playing hockey and telling the coaches, oh you can only sub 3 times in a game. Would people care about hockey? However, there are some rules I love about soccer. I love that the clock never stops. It makes the game much more intense and more fun to watch. Also well actually that is pretty much it, but I love soccer.

Although the US has been eliminated I will still have vesting interest in the World Cup. I personally thought England would win the Cup, but now that they lost one of their best players, it will be tough for them to make the finals, so I will love to see Brazil just dominate the rest of the World Cup. And I hope that Americans who watched the World Cup know the valiant effort the US gave and applaud them, and I hope the Idiot Americans that didn’t watch, who say soccer is a dumb sport, learn to love the sport and realize it is a great game to watch.

Ways to make Soccer in the US more popular

There a few ways that we, as Americans, can make soccer as big in America as it is for the rest of the world..

Firstly, we need a big name marketable star. We have tried in the past to bring some European soccer stars over to America, most famously with Pele and trying to lure him to the US for a 10 year $110 million dollar contract. However, I don’t think this strategy is a good one. We need a homegrown soccer superstar. We have a guy named Freddy Adu. Sure he is just turned 17, but this kid can play. Now I know he wasn’t born in America, ironically he was born in Ghana, but he is an American citizen, circa 2003. Right now he is rotting away on the bench for DC United. Why? How come this kid isn’t given a chance to play right away? If the kid has talent, which he does, he should be given the opportunity to play right away no matter what his age is. Because of this there is talk of him going to play oversees. This will be a huge mistake. Granted he will make boatloads more money in Europe, but this is what all our good players do. We need to bring the Americans back to America and let them play in our league. We need to build up a solid league with American superstars that the American people can relate to. If this happens we can help the sport grow.

Secondly we need to get MLS a major network TV deal. I don’t even know where you can watch a soccer game. I don’t think I have ever seen a regular season game on TV. If a network, let’s say ESPN, who no longer has Hockey, and doesn’t really show anything but Baseball on TV over the summer. (The MLS season run from the beginning of June until the end of October.) If ESPN picks up TV rights for MLS starting for the 2007 season that will give America 3 years of prime time exposure until the next World Cup in 2010. And of course along with a big network TV contract comes more advertising money that can be pumped into the sport allowing teams to spend more money on stars which will then allow teams in the MLS to keep the few superstars we have.

Now I don’t know what it was like when any other major sport was first introduced to the mainstream, (I’m only 22), but I’m sure they faced some of the same hardships that MLS does. People don’t fully understand the rules of soccer and until they do people will remain uninterested with the sport. I’m not too sure on how to fix this problem with American viewership other than the onus in on the fans to learn the sport, and the only way to learn all the rules is to watch the game of soccer.

No sport can grow in popularity without a big time TV contract. The fastest growing sport, the Arena Football League, didn’t start to boom until it received a TV deal with NBC. Once the AFL received its TV deal it was exposed to mainstream America and people learnt the rules of the sport, and learned to love the fast paced alternative to the NFL. Why can’t this be the case with MLS? Well it can. I beg ESPN to pick up TV rights to this great league.

NBA Champs: The Miami Heat

“We wanted it, we took it.” D Wade after the heat game 6 victory to win the NBA title.

Last night the Miami Heat won their first NBA title in franchise history. They came back from 2-0 series deficit to stun the state of Texas as they thought they would be crowned NBA champs this year. In game 6 last night, Wade, excuse me I mean the Heat came back from an early first quarter deficit to win the game. Now I have a few thoughts on this series and you are about to read them…

I had Dallas in 7 to start the series. I thought Dallas was the better team coming into the Finals. I thought Dallas had the momentum coming in, but I guess the series with Phoenix took too much out of them.

To start things off I would like to congratulate the Heat on winning the NBA title, because no matter what anyone will say, the Heat won the series and Dallas did not. But with that said I do believe that something fishy happened in this series. Now, I am not the kind of guy to yell conspiracy theory like the next fan of the NBA, but I am the guy who will point out some reasons why their may have been a conspiracy.

First things first, the free throws disparity was in huge favor of Miami. I went back and counted up the attempts and it backed up my statement (Mia:207, Dal: 155) and also included the deciding game in the series, game 5, in which Miami doubled up on free throw attempts (49-25). That is a huge disparity in free throw attempts for the game considering Shaq only took 12 FT’s. Now I know it has become commonplace to blame the ref’s for losses in every sport. The losing team never really lost the game, the ref’s did. It is very similar to Shawshank Redemption; no one in the prison committed any crimes. But with that said the Ref’s suck and something needs to be done.

The play that will be looked at forever is the phantom foul call on Dirk in overtime of game 5. While watching the game live I thought it could have been called a foul, but the more I look at that play there is no way that is a foul. No one even touched Wade on his way to the hoop. So you ask why Wade is getting a call that even Jordan wouldn’t receive. And there are two simple answers. The first is the NBA is in dire need of the next loveable superstar and Wade fits that bill. The second is the NBA does not want Shaq and Kobe on the same level. As long as Shaq didn’t win another title, fans could say Kobe or Shaq couldn’t win titles on their own. But now that Shaq has one without Kobe, David Stern can market Shaq as the better of the two and bring Kobe down another notch, and we all know how much the NBA loves to hate on Kobe now.

There was a second controversial call in game 5. While Wade was in middle of sinking the game winning free throws Avery Johnson signaled to Josh Howard to call a Timeout after the second free throw, however the Ref’s see this and think that Johnson was calling a timeout for then. Which is absurd, there is no reason to call a timeout there. Now, on the one hand the ref’s are not there to determine what the coach really means, but they are there to be the cooler heads. They are there to make sure the game is running as it is supposed to. So technically they had no obligation to huddle up and be like ok he didn’t want the timeout now, he wants it after the second free throw. But, at the same time they should have known the gravity of the situation and should have huddled up and corrected the situation. Now of course if the ref’s did do this it didn’t mean that the Mavs would have won the game, but they would have had a much better chance.

The ref’s weren’t the reason why the Dallas lost this series. They definitely hindered their chanced to win the series, but the reason why Dallas lost was because Dirk didn’t show up. He was shut down in the final four games of the series. Give credit to the Miami defense because Dirk was playing the best individual ball in the playoffs until Wade completely took the next step to the pantheon level of greatness. Wade completely raised his level of play in the finals, and put on one of the greatest performances in NBA Finals history.

While watching SportsCenter this morning, Tim Legler said DWade is the "greatest combo of athleticism and control that I have seen". Is he really? Kobe, Jordan, LeBron these guys aren’t better than Wade? Of course not, the guys in the media are trying to market Wade as THE next big thing in the NBA. It is crazy, because Wade is good, but how good is he really? I think most people can play the way Wade does when they have the Big Fella with them. Everyone is slurping what Mighty Mouse does. Wade deserves most of the praise he receives because he did play well even when Shaq isn’t around, but still the "greatest combo of athleticism and control that I have seen” that may be taking it a little too far.

Mark Cuban. This guy gets fined for all of his comments; of course they are all warranted, but even still. Is there any other sport that has an owner and commissioner clash so much as Cuban and Stern do? With that said, I totally think Cuban said to Stern about the league being fixed. I completely believe that Cuban would say something like that to the Commish, but there is a time and a place. You don’t yell that courtside after game 5, you do it in private and I’m sure David Stern told Cuban that.

As a whole the NBA Finals, as well as the rest of the NBA Playoffs were very well played and very exciting. This just adds to the growing popularity of the sport. Now all the League needs to do is solved the problem with the ref’s.

Just some quick thoughts on the Sox now…

I am very happy to see them on a 5 game winning streak after that embarrassing series with the twins last week. They really turned it around and they are playing much better baseball. I am very happy with Lester being our number 4 starter and we just need to get rid of Clement and find a new number 5 starter.

I am also pleased to see that they are taking the wheels off of our young arms in the ‘Pen. Craig Hanson, Manny Delcarmen, and Abe Alvarez should prosper with the big club and I want to see them in more pressure spots. And as I saw on Boston Sports Tonight this morning, Andy Gresh said that we finally have that flamethrower that can come in and just blow away the Yankee hitters late in the game. It will be very exciting to see how these kids turn out by the end of the year and if the plans stay on course, we will be raising another World Series Title come this October and all because of the kids.

NBA Finals Prediction

Tonight marks the beginning the NBA Finals. The matchup is between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat. The Mavs got here by sweeping the Grizzles. They then took care of the Spurs in 7. In the Western Conference Finals they slowed down the Phoenix Suns in 6. The Heat held off the Bulls in 6. Then they crushed the Nets in 5. In the Eastern Conference Finals they dethroned the Pistons in 6. The Mavs showed they can win on the road, they can win a defensive battle, and they can win a speed game. They are playing with the best player on the planet right now. Dirk is taking care of business and he is looking like a guy hungry for a championship. He has finally put the Mavs on his back and carried them. Now the Heat on the other hand have coasted through playoffs a little bit. They had a blowout loss on their home-court to start the second round of the playoffs.

Let me just remind everyone that The Closer and Saved both start in 4 days. I’m very excited.
Before I pick my champion I will compare the two teams.

Offense
The Mavs have the best player on offense. However, the Heat have Shaq. This guy can still put up 22-10, but he isn’t the same Shaq that he used to be. He isn’t far from what he used to be, but he is just mortal enough. The Heat also have DWade. He has stepped up in the playoffs this year. The Mavs have averaged over 102 PPG when the Heat scored only 97.5. I like the way the Mavs move the ball on O and like their offense over the Heat.
Advantage: Dallas

Defense
This edge clearly goes to the Heat. Shaq can still hold down the fort in the paint. They have James Posey who is an excellent one on one defender. And their team defense is better than the Mavs.
Advantage: Heat

Bench
The Mavs have more versatile players coming off the bench. While the Heat have ‘ZO, Posey, and Payton, the Mavs have Stackhouse who can score, Devin Harris’ speed, and Griffin and Dampier to defend and crash the boards.
Advantage: Dallas

X-Factor
Dallas has Stackhouse. He needs to play well in order for Dallas to truly dominate.
Miami has Walker. If he is able to hit his 3’s and help out with the point a little bit.
Advantage: Push

Coaching
Mavs have first full year coach Avery Johnson. He won Coach of the year and led Dallas to the second best record in the NBA. The Heat have Pat Riley. He wanted to take over this year when he replaced half his roster. I think Pat Riley’s experience coaching the NBA Finals will help a little bit, but not enough to give the edge to the Heat
Advantage: Push

Prediction
I liked these two teams at the start of the post-season and now they are set to square off against each other. I’ve liked what the Mavs have done all season long, and I didn’t really think the Heat reached their peak until the final weeks of the season. This has allowed them to reach the finals. This series will be hard fought by both teams as both franchises are making their first Finals appearance. While I think the Heat have the talent to win the series, I think they will come up just short and lose in an exciting game 7 in Dallas. Dirk will be too much for the Heat to handle and think Shaq has lost just too much to lead the Heat past the Mavs.

Once again Saved and The Closer are coming in four days!!!!! Set up those Tivo’s.

West Preview

NBA Playoffs Western Conference Preview

SA Versus Sac

The Spurs cruised to the number 1 seed in the west with an injured Duncan. He is still being hobbled by that injury, but don’t expect him to be that affected by it in this series. The Kings played great ball once they got Artest. He has been that shutdown defender they needed. But he won’t have the offensive firepower, or the defensive ability to shutdown Duncan. With that said they can still win 1 maybe a second so I have the Spurs in 6

Dallas versus Memphis

I originally had Dallas in 3 but that was when I thought the series was a best of 5, so I know have them in 4. Dallas has been playing the best overall basketball this entire season and Memphis won’t have a prayer in this series.

LA Clippers versus Denver

I loooove the Clippers. I have been a Clipper fan for a few years and I think this year they have a very well balanced team. They have Cassell at the point, Brand and Kamen inside, they have Cat at the wing, and they have Shaun coming off the bench with Radmonovich (who was acquired in a mid-season trade from Seattle). The Clippers haven’t won a playoff series since 1993, but they hold home court advantage in this series even though they are the lower seed. Cassell will pound the ball into Kamen and Brand, who should have been MVP, and hit the open jumper when needed. I have the Clippers in 5

Phoenix versus LAL

The Lakers have Kobe; Phoenix has everyone else that is worth mentioning. This should be an easy series for the Suns, but it won’t. Kobe will steal a bunch of wins for the Lakers, right now the series is 1-1. Kobe is very good. Kobe will show the world why people compare him to Jordan and why he wanted to lead this team without Shaq, because as long as Shaq was on his team he wouldn’t be help up as high without him. So he got rid of Shaq and now we will see why. In the end I have the Suns in 6.

Second Round

Dallas versus SAS

Like I said before, Dallas has been playing the best basketball all year. The Spurs are the defending champs, but their run will end here. The Mavs have the bodies to stop Duncan. I think Terry can shut down Parker. I think Manu will get some points, but it won’t be enough. Dirk is playing his best ball yet, and he will lead the Mavs into the conference finals with a huge game 7 victory.

LA Clippers versus Phoenix

The Suns know how to win in the playoffs. The Clippers don’t. The Clippers will have the advantage on the inside because Thomas can’t stop Brand. But the Suns have the advantage on the outside and with the fastbreak. This series will be very exciting to watch and very well played. In the end the Clippers will give a valiant effort, but they are still a year or two away from really contending in the West, and lose in 6.

Western Conference Finals

Dallas versus Phoenix

This will also be an amazing series to watch. The series has two very offensively talented teams who can also play some D. The Suns have the better guard play, while the Mavs have better big men, especially because Amare isn’t playing. This series will also go to the max and much to the dismay of some friends (Jon, Yosef, Yosef) I think Dirk will dominate the series and the Mavs can play D now with Coach of the year Avery Johnson that they will have the ability to pull out the series win. Also there isn’t a way the Suns can win the whole thing without Amare. Dallas in 7

NBA Finals preview coming later

NBA Playoffs Cont.

So apparently I’m not such a good basketball fan because I forgot that all rounds of the playoffs are now best of 7, I still had the first round pegged at 5. So that changes up some things because Dallas can’t win in 3. But anyway I will correct those errors as well as add some in depth reasons for my picks.

Detroit versus Milwaukee

I think that Detroit is the most talented team in the East. They can dominate the ball on the inside with the presence of the two Wallace’s. They control the boards on both ends of the court. In the back court the Pistons have Billups who is one of the best big game performs in some time. He just raises his game to the next level in big situations. With that said the Bucks have some talented big men as well, including four 7 footers, but only Redd can lead them to a victory and he will, but just one win. Pistons in 5.

NJ Nets versus Ind

The Nets played very well in the second half which lead to the Atlantic Division title. The Nets are led by a trio of Kidd, Jefferson, and Carter. I am probably the biggest anti Vince Carter fan out there, I can’t stand this guy. He is extremely cocky, complains about setting a bad example for kids by scoring 81 in a game. He needs to stop complaining and mailing it in. With that said the Nets did play well as a team, but they just don’t have the big men to stop O’neal. In my upset special I have IND winning in 7.

Miami versus Chicago

This series won’t even be close. Miami is the more dominant team, and they have Shaq, who contrary to what everyone has said all year, just mailed it in the past year and will turn it up another gear for the playoffs. We saw that in the first two games, this guy can still dominate a game. Oh and they have DWade. This kid is ridiculously good. He keeps on getting better and sure having a big man like Shaq opens the lane up enough for mighty mouse to increase his numbers, but he had a breakout year as a rookie without Shaq. I have Miami in 5 over the Bulls.

Cleveland versus Washington

LeBron LeBron LeBron. We are truly watching greatness. He showed that in game one of this series when he become the second youngest player to record a triple double in a NBA playoff game. He can dominate both ends of the floor. No one can stop him, and I think he will start his climb to being the next MJ in the playoffs of this year. Washington played well all year, fought off some injuries to lock up the fifth seed of the playoffs, but LeBron will be too dominant and will lead the Cavs to victory in 6.

Second Round

Detroit versus Cleveland

Detroit again will have the advantage inside in this series. Z can maybe take Ben Wallace out of his game, but Gooden can’t take care of Rasheed. No one on Detroit can take LeBron but his supporting cast isn’t good enough for them to take down Detroit unless, and I can see this happening, Detroit stays as cocky as they are now. A decent team can take them out with the way they are playing now, but I don’t think that will happen. I think Flip will knock some sense into their heads and Detroit will win the series in 6, but if for whatever reason Flip doesn’t know some sense into his players look for the Cavs to win in 7

Miami versus IND

Again Miami will be the dominant team in this series. The Pacers will exert a lot of effort to get past the Nets and thus causing a letdown in this series. Shaq will have his way versus anyone IND can throw at him and DWade will be unstoppable. This will be an easy series win for Miami in 5 games.

Eastern Conference Finals

Miami versus Detroit

This will be a great match-up. I am very excited to see this match-up happen. We will see Shaq battle the Wallace’s and we will see DWade battle Billups. This series can and will go the complete 7 games because these two teams are very close in talent. Last year Miami came within 1 game of beating the Pistons without a healthy Shaq or DWade, and now Miami has that and also added Walker, Williams, and James Posey who in these first two games of the first round showed he can hit that open trey. I’m taking Miami in 7.

Coming tomorrow will be the West preview.

NBA Playoffs

NBA Playoffs

I just wanted to put my predictions down before the playoffs started, and I will go into greater detail next week ...
East
First Round
Detroit over Milwaukee in 4. Redd can get 1 win for his team.
Miami over Chicago in 4.
Upset Special. Pacers over NJ Nets in 5
Cleveland over Wash. In 4. LeBron is going to shine.
Second Round
Detroit over Cleveland in 7. I really really want to take the Cavs in this series, but
I think I will be the only person outside of Cleveland to think that.
Miami over IND. in 6. Wade is too strong.
Conference Finals
Miami over Det. in 7. DWade has taken his game to a whole new level and this will be one of the best series in some time if Cleveland upsets the Pistons.

West
First round
SA over Sac in 5. Duncan is too good.
Dallas Over Memphis in 3. Dark Horse Watch.
LA Clippers over Den. in 4. I really like the Clippers.
Phoenix over LAL in 5. Kobe will give Nash and the Suns all they can handle.
Second Round
Dallas over SAS in 7. Again one of the greatest playoff series in some time.
Phoenix over LAC in 6. Clippers give a valiant effort but fall short to the better team.
Conference Finals
Dallas over Phoenix in 7. Sorry Jon and Yosef. I just think the Suns can't win it all without Amere

NBA Finals
Dallas over Miami in 6. Mavs have the D, and they have the best player in the series (The big German).

Overall this will be the best NBA playoffs since I can remember. I am very excited for the playoffs.
Again next week I will go into greater detail.

March Madness

As I sit here on Sunday March 26, 2006, about to start watching the UConn- GMU game all I can do is wish for the upset. I don’t want to see a team that has mailed it in for the first 3 games of the NCAA tournament. I never really liked UConn to being with. I think they are very well coached team, but lazy. The guy I think is the laziest is Rudy Gay. Here is a guy who is very attractive to NBA scouts because of his size and athleticism, but he is lazy. He doesn’t look like a number 1 overall pick, but nbadraft.net still thinks he is. I don’t like the way he plays. I’ve seen him play close to 15 times this year and like I said he looks lazy. He takes off plays on D, he doesn’t give his all on O. The guy on UConn who I feel should go number 1 overall is Marcus Williams. This is a guy who had to overcome the stolen computer scandal and he is still playing like an All-American. I would love for the Celtics to pick up this guy with their number 1 pick.
But onto what I really want to talk about…
As much as I am rooting against Uconn today, I want to talk about how exciting this year March Madness has been. Every game has come down to the final minutes, and it seems that every game has been close (a game decided by less than 10: 20 First round games, 9 second round games, 7 third round games, and so far 2 for 2 in the elite 8 round. 66% fall under that category.) It seems like every other game is either an OT game, or a buzzer beater game. Every game has kept me on the edge of my seat. If March Madness can be like this every year, I don’t think anyone would ever be upset.
With that said the best game to date has been the UCLA-Gonazaga game. UCLA overcame a huge second half deficit, and scored the final 11 points of the game, including that miraculous steal and lay-up.
What a tournament and since my bracket is done, I think Uconn and Vill are going to win today setting up an LSU-UCLA and Vill-Uconn final four with a UCLA victory over Uconn in the finals. happy watching the rest of today’s games and next weeks final four. We all know the games will be great.
later this week i will talk about the upcoming baseball season. as well as maybe a little bsketball

The long anticipated ramblings

It’s been a while since my last post, so let us start by saying I am very excited for the baseball season. I can’t believe it’s already here. I am not going to come out with my full baseball preview just yet, but let me say that I think the Red Sox, the White Sox, and the Cardinals have the best shot at winning the World Series. The Blue Jays and the Brewers look like intriguing teams….
Onto the NBA, with the All Star weekend finished the playoff picture is coming into focus. The pistons look like they are going to run away with the east, but for some reason they remind me of the Colts in football, hot start then cool off a bit and then stumble in the playoffs. If that were to happen I think the Heat will go on a run and reach the NBA finals. Out of the west I like the Suns. They are rolling right now and they don’t have Amare back yet. When he gets back they will be even so much better. Of course the Mavs and the Spurs are still in the west but right now they are on course to play each other in the second round and the winner will lose to the suns in the conference finals. My first half MVP is Elton Brand (25.5PPG 10.3RPG 2.6BPG) while leading the surprising Clippers to second place in the Pacific. Honorable mention goes to LeBron James. My Rookie of the Year is Chris Paul (16.3PPG 7.7APG 2.2SPG) while leading the NOK Hornets to a 31-25 record…
Onto the NFL. This past weekend was the NFL Combine. We saw some athletes increase their standings and some decrease. I think the athlete that screwed himself over the most was Vince Young. He apparently scored a 6 on his Wonderlic test, his agent claims he scored a 16. Either was he did not make himself appealing to NFL teams. To put this into perspective Matt Leinhart scored a 35 while Jay Cutler scored a 29, both are respectable scores. According to an anonymous scout when asked if Young was still a top 5 pick he answered "Sure … as a wide receiver, though." This isn’t a good thing for Vince Young and this only furthers my opinion that Vince Young will be an overrated QB in the NFL. We see this happen in every sport. A guy getting hot late in his last season, raising his stock and then a team wasting a pick on said player…
Final Thoughts…. Just wanted to mention the Olympics, I take pride in being one of the few who actually watched the Olympics because I care about my country. There are too many people in the US that doesn’t care about it, and all they care about it themselves. It’s upsetting when I read the ratings each week and see that American Idol is getting more viewers than the Olympics. Americans need to take a long hard look at themselves and learn to care about something other than themselves. The IOC needs to come up with some new and more exciting games so Americans can watch. No one in American wants to watch curling, or skeleton. They should have more skiing and snowboarding events because young Americans like those, and that is where they are losing viewers.
Next on Sportspop… we’ll take a more in depth look at the upcoming baseball season. As well as looking into the stretch run of the NBA.

Super Bowl Commercials

top 5
5. Budwiser Streaker
4. Touch football game
3. Fixing the Roof
2. Career Builder Donkeys in the office
1. Magic Fridge

JJ Redick

First off a few quick words on the Super Bowl. I was rooting for the Seahawks, I had money on them as well, but let me say this; the refs didn’t blow the game, sure they made some bad calls but championship teams know how to overcome those mistakes. As a game it was lousy. Poorly played by both teams and I didn’t even see an MVP but I guess Ward had to get it. The commercials of the Super Bowl were sub-par as well. The best commercial was the magic fridge. But on to one of the best college basketball games I have ever seen. The Duke-UNC game last night was incredible. We saw a young UNC team overcome a 17 point 2nd half deficit to take the lead only to have their youth and inexperience catch up with them. In this game a guy name JJ Redick absolutely blew up he was held to only 13 first half points, but exploded for 25 including that behind the back step back three to put Duke up 7 late in the game. We are watching arguably the best shooter in college basketball ever. Let me just say here that I HATE Duke, I am a huge UNC fan but I love watching JJ play. He can fill up the nets like no one I have ever seen. With all that said he is still too short to play the 2 in the NBA, and I don’t know if he can play the 1, but the scouts all say he will be an awesome pro so I agree with them. I can see how they say that. He gets his shot off no matter who guards him; he also has the ability to drive to the hole where he is automatic from the line. I am very excited to watch JJ play for the rest of the season, as well as seeing him cut down the nets, because Duke is the best team in college ball this year and then watch him continue his legacy in the NBA.

Are You Kidding Me?

"The only bad thing about it is young kids, whose minds are easily warped, are going to think, 'Ohhh, I am going to go out there and do it' instead of the team concept first,"

"It's remarkable, the execution and the efficiency, but we've got a lot of guys in this league, if they took 70 shots, they'd score a lot of points,"

How can Vince Carter say anything? This is the same Vince Carter that sabotaged his Toronto Raptors so he can get traded to a new team. This is the same Vince Carter that when he went down with injury his team performed better. This is the same Vince Carter who never met a shot he didn't like. This is the same Vince Carter that went to his meaningless college graduation ceremony on the same day of game 7 of the Eastern Conference Championship, a game they went on to lose. How does he have any right to say that The Mamba, I love that name, isn't a team player. His comments may be agreed upon by the majority of sports fans and players, but he has no place saying it. When I was watching PTI yesterday and I heard about it, I just laughed. That was the only reaction I can have to that. haha Vince you crack me up.

Mamba

Let me start this article off by stating that I am a Kobe fan. I love watching him play and while I was home this weekend I was ecstatic to hear that he had dropped 81. This guy dropped 62 a few weeks ago and then took himself out, and I am glad he didn't follow that precedent last night. What The Mamba did on Sunday night is far greater than what Wilt did in 1962. Kobe did it in a league where defense comes first and where teams as a whole sometimes struggle to score 81. Wilt was also a beast for his time, no one on the Knicks had the size to take him out of the game. People in today's game are supposed to be able to stop guys like The Ocho, but Kobe is the best player in the NBA right now. No question about it. Now that Kobe has scored 81 and realizes what it might feel like to drop a century on someone he will go for it. Kobe will drop 100 on someone this year and Phil can't stop him. Now I started this article off by saying I'm a huge Kobe fan, and let me say that while he did drive Shaq and Phil out of town he is still the best player in the game. He may be a ball hog, but wouldn't Shaq do the same if he were the one stuck on the Lakers with Kobe in Miami. It's easy to pass to guys like Wade, Walker, and White Chocolate. Who does Mamba have? Odem, that's it. So don't go saying that Shaq is the better teammate, and Shaq is better at the game than Kobe. Sure Kobe robbed us of the greatest duo since Starsky and Hutch, but wouldn't you do the same thing if you were trying to leave a legacy for this fine game? Because we all know that every sports writer would question his ability to win a championship without Shaq no matter how many they won together. And let me be the first to point out that Shaq has won the same amount of rings without Kobe as Kobe has without Shaq, zero, zilch, nada. And I will also like to add that Kobe will win multiple championships without Shaq, while Shaq will win none without Kobe. Kobe is having one of the greatest scoring burst in NBA history, just enjoy it, and enjoy the Lakers come payoff time.
coming later in the week, my take on the Championship sunday in football, and Superbowl predictions

Championship Weekend

Many people are talking as if the Patriots dynasty is over just because they didn’t win the Super Bowl. Let’s just state here that just because you don’t win the Super Bowl it doesn’t stop your dynasty. The Patriots dynasty is not over. They will still be a contender next year. On to the rest of the Playoffs…
In a surprising victory over the Colts, the Steelers became the first #6 seed to reach a championship game. They shut down a Colts offense that everyone slurped all year, but couldn’t get it done in the Playoffs, again. I don’t understand why the entire NFL and fans reel like Peyton Manning needs to win a Super Bowl and not only that, they feel bad when he looses. Why? They don’t care when other QB’s don’t win the big game. Peyton needs to show up in big games when the pressure is on. But back to the Steelers, they almost blew that game but thanks to our good friend, Mike Vanderjerk, they held on for a 3 point victory to travel to Mile High Stadium to face a very very good Bronco team. The Broncos were not able to run the ball against the Pats, 96 yards on the ground, but they were able to force the defending champs into 5 turnovers. The Steelers are an easy team to beat. You just have to line up and punch them in the mouth and the Broncos can easily do that, and I think they move onto the Super Bowl in easy fashion. The Broncos win 30-17
In the NFC we see a match up of a very good Carolina team going into Seattle to face the Seahawks. Carolina, like the Steelers have won 2 road games in successive weeks to make the Championship game, is coming off a dominating performance of the Bears. They went into a very hostel place; a place where I thought no one could win in Jan. and won. The Seahawks looked shaky coming off their bye week and they hung on for a victory over a team, Washington that looked emotionally drained after playing 6 consecutive must win games. Now I mentioned in my Playoff preview that I didn’t like Carolina, but they have showed tremendous heart and desire these past 2 games to reach the NFC championship game. They have also won 4 straight road playoff games. They look as good on the road as they do at home, the road doesn’t faze them like most teams in the NFL. Also John Fox is a fantastic coach, and I’m not taking anything away from Holmgren, but John Fox has only lost 1 playoff game in his career as a head coach and that was Super Bowl 38 against the Patriots. I’m giving the coaching edge to the Panthers, as well as the defensive edge. I think Carolina wins in a semi-defensive struggle 24-13.
Back to Peyton Manning, did anyone see how uncomfortable he looked in the pocket? He was moving around like he was on Dancing with the Stars, and he probably would have won had he been on the show. He was overthrowing receivers, he was missing open receivers, and he was missing the people who were blitzing on Pitt. Now I don’t want to take anything away from Manning because he records speak for themselves, but the record that I think speaks volumes is his 3-6 record in the playoffs. He has made the second most starts in NFL history without reaching the Super Bowl. We all have to remember that this was the year the Colts were supposed to go all the way. The Patriots were weaker than the past, the Colts defense was finally Super Bowl caliber, they had home field advantage on their carpeted dome stadium, and the Super Bowl was in the Dome. They wouldn’t have to deal with the cold of Foxboro or anywhere else, but once again Peyton laid an egg when the stage was magnified, and once the Patriots lost on Saturday night the Colts had to feel a sense of relief and perhaps felt like this was actually their year. I’m not saying that contributed to the loss, but its interesting.
Just want to say a few quick notes on the start of the new season of 24. I personally am a huge fan of the show, lots of excitement and I love the fact that its real time. The show picked up with Jack still in hiding and under an alias because of the whole Chinese problem from the end of last season, and if you haven’t seen the show, stops reading now, he has to come out of hiding because President Palmer was assassinated and Michele and Tony were blown up, Chloe was also attacked, but she survived and got in touch with Jack. The show starts off very strong and I am looking forward to see how they develop the story lines with President Logan and his wife and with the terrorist with nerve gas. Jack is also “back” working for CTU. The season begins with lots of promise, and I think it will be one of the best.

cool site

my freind Evan D sent me this link to an amazing site check it out http://www.prosportsdaily.com/ it has all the sports articles from every news paper

Playoff Preview

This weekend closed a wonderful year of regular season football. You had the teams that everyone picked to do well, and a few surprises, which are always fun. First off I want to congratulate Doug Flutie on that beautiful drop kick extra point. Now for my preview I am picking the teams I think will win the games, nothing to do with spreads. Onto the NFC…
The ‘Skins, Bucs game should be an exciting one. You have two very good defenses facing each other; you also have two Super Bowl winning coaches in Gruden and Gibbs. You also have two offenses that rely a lot on the running game. You have two QB’s who can manage a game and won’t lose a game for you, but they probably won’t win a game for you either. The ‘Skins are coming in on a five game winning streak. They have played very well in must win games. That’s why I like the ‘Skins to upset the Bucs in this game.
In the other Wild Card match up we see the Panthers travel to Giants stadium to face the NYG. The Giants are the NFC East division winners, and the Panthers got in with one of the two Wildcard spots. The Panthers have had an up and down season, but I think they will exploit the Giants’ defense, and have the ability to shut down Tiki. They also have a team that has been to a Super Bowl before and that goes a long way.
I have two upsets in the Wildcard weekend so that means I have the ‘Skins traveling to Seattle to face the Seahawks, and I have the Panthers traveling to Chicago to face the Bears.
In the ‘Skins ‘Hawks game we have a team that hasn’t one a playoff game in almost 20 years, but that same team has the NFL’s leading rusher, and a defense that can cause a lot takeaways. That will be too much for the ‘Skins so I have the ‘Hawks advancing.
In the other Divisional match up I have two very physical defenses. We also have two very good coaches, this game will come down to the weather and we all know how bad the weather is in Chicago in Jan. I have the Bears squeaking by the Panthers to advance to the NFC championship game to face the ‘Hawks.

In the NFC Championship game the Bears will cause enough points on defense to allow Rex Grossman the freedom of playing with a lead and the Bears will advance to the Super Bowl.

AFC
In the first match up on Wildcard weekend we have the Jaguars traveling to New England to face the two time defending Super Bowl champs who are playing on a roll despite their setback at home on Sunday. The Jags will be boosted with the return of Byron, but that won’t be enough to derail the Pats from facing the Broncos in the second round because..
I have the Steelers going into Cincy and beating the Bengals. The Steelers are too physical on D and will stop Carson Palmer who has had an MVP type season, (although my MVP goes to Tom Brady, but more on that in a later column), and the Steelers will ride The Bus for one more Playoff win.
In the first divisional playoff game we have the Pats going into Denver and looking to avenge their early season defeat, and I think they do it. They are playing with a much healthier team, their front seven on D has been playing excellent ball lately, and last I checked they still have Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. The combination of those two, plus Belichick doesn’t lose to a QB two times in the same season equals a win for the Pats.
In the second Divisional Playoff game we have the Steelers going into Indy to try and grab a win, but that won’t happen. Just because they have played bi-polar football the last three weeks doesn’t mean anything. The Colts will come out and dominate from start to finish in a huge win for Dungy and the rest of the city who lost a son.
But unfortunately for the Colts they have to face the Pats the following week in the AFC championship game, and I know everyone will be picking the Colts in this game, but I will stick with my Pats. They have picked against the Pats the last two years against the Colts and the Pats came out on top, so why should I believe anything different this year. Sure the Colts D is better than years past, and sure they will still be playing with extra emotion because of the loss of Dungy’s son, but the Pats know how to win in January. And so do Brady and Belichick. In fact the two of them have never lost a playoff game when they have been together. So look for the Pats to move on to face the Bears in Super Bowl XL.

In a rematch of Super Bowl XX, 20 years ago for those of you who don’t know Roman Numerals. The Pats will be seeking their NFL record third straight super bowl victory. They will face a stingy Bears defense, but they will also face Rex Grossman. Bill Belichick will have a field day drawing up defenses against him. The Pats will get at least one score on defense and one more on special teams plus one more on offense and that will allow the Pats to win their third Super Bowl in a row, and their first by more than three points.
Enjoy the playoffs and just to put it out there, I’ve got USC over Texas 48-34 in the Rose Bowl for USC’s record third straight national title.