November 23, 2024

Boston vs LA, Again!

June 1, 2010 by

How did the NBA get so lucky again? As much as David Stern would love to have a Kobe vs Lebron NBA Finals there is no debate that this is still the marquee matchup that got the NBA a new and exciting audience 26 years ago and is still a ratings magnet to this day.

It is amazing that combined these two teams have 32 total championships between them out of a total number of 62. The NBA Finals have been played every year since 1947. The Lakers have been to the NBA Finals 29 times and the Celtics have been to a total of 20 and have faced each other head-to-head 11 times. Magic Johnson’s Lakers won 11 of 19 games over Larry Bird’s Celts in Finals, but Boston is 9-2 vs the Lakers all-time in the Finals after starting with an 8 game winning streak.

This has all the makings of a great series that could very well go 7 games and I believe that this series will go the distance. This gives us all a reason to embrace the NBA Playoffs so enjoy.

I see at least 1 game going OT and the series being won by LA in 7 with a nail biter at the Staples Center.

Filed Under: Basketball, NBA Tagged With: , ,

Baseball is Freezing Over

May 18, 2010 by

I firmly believe that the end of the world is here. There have been numerous prognostications and it has now finally happened.

I can understand the Tampa Bay Rays in first place because they have been a solid team for 3 years and only 2 years ago they had a World Series attempt. But, perennial doormats like the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds are in first place as of May 18th and the Washington Nationals are actually above .500 with a 20-19 record.

It’s really not hard to figure out why these teams are doing well though if you look at the numbers. All three have winning records within their division and are winning on the road. If you can break even on the road and win 60% of your games at home then you are generally pretty close to a playoff spot.

Cincinnati finally doesn’t have the Griffey albatross around their neck and their farm system has been producing some solid major league talent. I haven’t seen Dusty Baker chomp this many toothpicks since he took out a then un-hittable Russ Ortiz in the 7th inning of Game 6 in the 2002 World Series up 4 runs only to lose that game and Game 7 to the Angels. I am by no means saying the Reds have talent like they did in the days of Rose, Perez, Morgan, Bench, but things are looking up. Young talents like Votto, Bruce, Phillips and Cueto surrounded by a healthy veteran laden left side of the infield including Scott Rolen and Orlando Cabrera makes them a threat.  Look out also for Mike Leake 4-0 who is a rookie and last year was playing for Arizona St. I picked them to win the NL Central before the year and although they started slow they have gone 14-6 since April 25th. Oh, they also still have a 100 MPH thrower hanging around in AAA that is only 20 years old.

San Diego and Washington on the other hand will not be there in the end. San Diego can’t hit and although Bud Black is using the Mike Scioscia method of playing baseball he will need a few more hitters to keep up their hot start.  Washington is a nice story, but they will be done by July at the latest.

Filed Under: Baseball, MLB Tagged With: ,

Where is College Football Going?

May 13, 2010 by

With all the talk about the Big Ten becoming the Big 14, the SEC stealing some ACC schools just after the big ACC merger a few years ago along with the whispers of realignment of the Pac 10 which could become the Pac 12 I start to wonder just WTF is going on?

Earlier this week it was rumored the Big Ten had offered membership to four schools: Notre Dame, Nebraska, Missouri and Rutgers. The ACC is looking anxiously at the Big Ten expansion because it could set off a chain of events that one day affects the ACC with regards to Bowl games and the money those games generate for the ACC. Already losing the Gator Bowl this year the ACC is scheduled to have three New Years Eve games which we all know is nothing monetarily in comparison to the January 1st games.

The big loser in all of this would be the Big East.. They could lose up to 4 maybe 5 teams out of a conference still looking for an identity after losing Miami, Va Tech and BC to the ACC a few years back. They have added Louisville, Cinci and UConn which are nice schools, but only in basketball are they a marquis brand. Losing a Rutgers, UConn, Syracuse and Pitt would be devastating for the league considering that football is the big purse that allows for the other sports to survive.

As far as the Pac 10, they plan to hire super agency CAA to find out if what they want to do is a viable solution for the league, Geesh, so SoCal it makes me want to puke and I live here. You don’t need an agency to conduct studies and get paid millions to come up with the answer because the answer is to EXPAND you Idiots! Get BYU and Utah or raid the wo-be-gones from the Big 12 like Colorado and Kansas and expand the brand into the middle of the country. Basketball as well as football would be affected in a positive manner. Every year 2 of the most storied programs (KU and UCLA) could play in hoops in a home-and-home. Sounds better than Utah vs UCLA or BYU vs Oregon State, right? Whatever they do I hope they do it fast! Knowing how the Pac 10 purists handle emerging ideas I say that the conference will still be in the same boat 5 years from now, but maybe with a Pac-10 and Big 12 partnership — NOT a merger — to maximize TV opportunities.

And finally the SEC. One of the most popular scenarios right now is for the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Pac-10 to expand and form four super-conferences by absorbing teams from the Big East and Big 12. Ya right, and we will have a college football playoff to boot! Anyway, the SEC is looking at grabbing South Carolina rival Clemson as well as Miami and Fla St out of the ACC to create a super duper conference. Maybe ESPN can start a new network called ESPN-SEC and throw in Tim Tebow as their lead analyst.

In any case all these adjustments are leading to what we may all want. These super conferences happen and let the winners of the conferences play in a 3 game tourny where we would have a semi-final and a final to at least give us some sort of playoff system to crown the absolute champion.

It would definitely be better than what we have now!

Filed Under: College Football, Football, General Sports Tagged With:

Shocker at Boston Marathon

April 19, 2010 by

I know we all get excited to watch running events on television, but some people do actually watch the Boston Marathon because it is probably the most popular marathon each year. So as we watched the conclusion of the 114th Boston Marathon today we were shocked to see a Kenyan (Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot) win the men’s race and an Ethiopian (Tebya Erkesson) won the women’s race. Some miracles never cease.

Kenya’s Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot won the 114th Boston Marathon on Monday, breaking the course record with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 52 seconds. Ethiopia’s Teyba Erkesso took home the women’s title.

Filed Under: General Sports, Marathon Tagged With:

OMG! What Have I Done?

April 11, 2010 by

In case you didn’t know I recently moved back to SoCal, Long Beach to be exact, and since my return all of my favorite LA teams are in the crapper except for the Los Angeles Kings.

I came back to SoCal on the 24th of February and the Lakers have lost 10 games and 6 of their last 9. They have been dominated at home for two consecutive Sundays against San Antonio and Portland. They are limping into the Playoffs and Kobe is totally off his game shooting less than 30% from the field in his last 5 games.

One week into the MLB Season it is very apparent that the Angels and Dodgers, who are perennial playoff contenders, are horrific so we could be in for a long summer.

So what do I have to look forward to? Well, the LA Kings are in their first NHL Playoff season in 8 years which helps ease the pain a little bit. Also, the Long Beach Grand Prix comes to town next week so that is another plus, but doesn’t take away the sting overall.

When exactly does football start?

Filed Under: General Sports Tagged With: , , ,

The Best Week in Sports

April 7, 2010 by

This is probably the best week of the year in sports and we are very excited for the outcome of The Masters this weekend.

Here is what we have had in sports just since Monday.

Duke beats Butler in one of the greatest National Championships in recent memory. Sure there was the Kansas and Memphis game 2 years ago that went to overtime, but this game provided us a Hoosiers like feeling. Butler practices and plays their games in the arena which Hoosiers was filmed. The campus is only 6 miles from the arena where the Final Four was played and even though they are a mid-major they beat giants like Syracuse and Michigan State on its way to the final game against Duke. The epic story and run through the tournament was only seconds away from having a happy ending, but the Blue Devils sqaushed the dream and the memories of the Butler Bulldogs.

On the same day of the National Championship we had the real Opening Day of MLB.  Spring is officially here so we can all wear white shoes and/or pants for the next five months.  My prediction for the World Series is an exact repeat of last year between the NY Yankees versus the Philadelphia Phillies.

Also on Monday, Tiger Woods made his much anticipated press conference at The Masters. If you don’t think Tiger commands an audience and that the PGA doesn’t need Tiger then consider the fact that the 32-minute press conference garnered 23 million viewers. The Golf Channel’s coverage of live PGA golf in 2010 has only attracted 18 million total which is hard to fathom.

When Tuesday came around the greatest women’s basketball team EVER came from behind to beat Stanford in the women’s National Championship. The Lady Huskies have now won two championships and 78-games in a row.

Now as we roll into Wednesday we are excited for The Masters which is the greatest golf spectacle of the year.  I think Paul Casey wins this year and it very well could be a clean sweep by the Europeans in the Major’s this year.

So, make sure to stop by your local liquor store and enjoy the weekend’s festivities. It truly is the best week of the year!

Filed Under: General Sports Tagged With: , , ,

Deja Vu, Again?

March 12, 2010 by

Much to my chagrin it has been since 1966 that North Carolina, UConn and UCLA will not be in the NCAA Tournament at the same time. In that year a small Texas Western (now UTEP) team won the Championship in one of the most controversial games in NCAA history.

Texas Western, coached by Don Haskins, won the 1966 national title with a 72–65 victory over an Adolph Rupp coached Kentucky squad. Coach Haskins started five black players for the first time in NCAA Championship history. At the same time Adolph Rupp a legend in NCAA basketball did not believe in having black players on his team.

This year in the NCAA basketball tourney we have more parody than we have had in recent memory and while the big schools who have owned the headlines are out it leaves us with schools such as Butler, BYU, Siena, Northern Iowa and so on to take the plunge into basketball immortality.

Is this the year when we get another George Mason in the Final Four? Or is there an opportunity to get 2 mid-majors in the championship game? The answer is YES! There very well could be a team like UTEP in the Final Four. That’s right! Coming out of Conference USA where Memphis has owned it the last 5 years they went 15-1 and are on their way to the dance to maybe shock the world once again.

The Jay Bilas’s of the world says that there is no parody this year. OK, we do still have Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, and Syracuse at the top. But what about New Mexico in the Top 10, Butler #12, and Gonzaga and Kansas St bouncing around the top 10 as well?

If you break it down, Kentucky is relying on three freshman and a senior to carry them and all the pundits say that they are the team out the top 4 that could fail first. Duke is relying on 3-pt shooting and when they run into a team that is faster, quicker and bigger underneath they will get humbled. Kansas is solid and Syracuse has its moments of forgetting that you can be beat in any game, case and point, LeMoyne at home in an exhibition game and twice to Louisville who may not make the field of 64.

So, who will fill out the Final Four along with Kansas? Remember, the only time all the top seeds made the Final Four was 2 years ago so don’t count on it happening again for a while.

Filed Under: Basketball, College Basketball, General Sports Tagged With:

Yo! Joey Brackets

March 9, 2010 by

Who exactly is this guy Joe Lunardi and why does every college coach need his help these days?

Joseph Lunardi (AKA Joey Brackets) has been a fixture on ESPN and ESPN.com since his first Bracketology was pushed online back in 2008. His first post collected over 250,000 hits the first day and now it routinely receives millions from the second week of the season until the final selection of NCAA tournament teams. The busiest days are of course this coming weekend from Friday through Sunday at 6PM EST prior to the selections when he is adding and subtracting teams that have folded during their conference tournaments.

Lunardi correctly predicted all 65 teams to appear in the 2008 NCAA Tournament and correctly selected 63 out the 65 teams in the 2009 field by placing both Creighton and St. Mary’s incorrectly in his final bracket on March 15. Last year Lunardi only incorrectly left Arizona off his bracket so needless to say he really knows his stuff. A lot will be determined in the next few days and you can rest assured that Lunardi will be all over the action and constantly updating his predictions for the tourney.

According to Joey Brackets here are the latest bubble teams:

Last Four In

* Memphis
* Arizona State
* San Diego State
* Illinois

First Four Out

* Washington
* Seton Hall
* Rhode Island
* Ole Miss

Next Four Out

* Dayton
* UAB
* Mississippi State
* Minnesota

Filed Under: Basketball, College Basketball, General Sports Tagged With: ,

Remembering Hank Gathers

March 5, 2010 by

It was 20 years ago yesterday that we lost one of the best college basketball players of all time in Hank Gathers. Gathers left Philly and the east coast so he could go play for little ole Loyola Marymount and ex-pro head coach Paul Westhead. Gathers alongside Bo Kimble would end making the Loyola Marymount Lions a must see college basketball team and a pure joy to watch. In the 1988–89 season, he became only the second player in history to lead NCAA Division I in scoring and rebounding in the same season. Gathers averaged 32.7 points and 13.7 rebounds per game. The next season would be his last because on March 4, 1990 he collapsed with 13:34 left in the first half of a West Coast Conference tournament quarterfinal game against Portland. Hank collapsed just after scoring on an alley-oop dunk that put the Lions up 25–13.  He was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital at the age of 23. An autopsy found that he suffered from a heart-muscle disorder, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

I remember watching this specimen of a human play a few times in my days and I truly have never seen a team play the way the Lions did. They typically shot the ball within 10 seconds of gaining possession and their defense was a full court press designed to force their opponents into a frenzied up-and-down game. Loyola Marymount own the records for the 5 highest scoring games in NCAA history including the blowout of reigning National Champ Michigan 149-115 in the second round of the 1990 tourney.

Hank was so good at everything on the court except for foul shooting. When he finally had enough of those woes he started practicing shooting his free throws left handed. He became proficient and increased his FT% considerably because nothing was going to beat Hank.

Hank’s life unfortunately ended too early and he is just another example of how life is really too short.

Check out the cut of the 30 for 30 story to be aired on ESPN:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4960817

Filed Under: Basketball, College Basketball, General Sports Tagged With: ,

So Long Raleigh, It Has Been Amazing

February 19, 2010 by

Here it is, my final weekend living in Raleigh, NC. The town I was introduced to StoneColdJZ and right now my feelings have become sullen, but at the same time exhilarated.

I will continue to write on this site, but I will provide you a lil more west coast bias than normal and hope for a rise or two from those of you who are staunch Big East or ACC freaks.

I thank StoneCold for introducing me to the NC State Wolfpack who I have adopted as my 3rd favorite team behind the UCLA Bruins and the Pacific Tigers.  I thank Dexineffex and Gresh for introducing me to the second coming of USC in attitude by trying to shame me into accepting UNC as my Triangle team.  I thank Dwyer for not trying to conform me into a ‘Cuse fan and I have a special shout out to Chasey who tried to force me into rooting for his team, err, teams like LSU, South Carolina, Penn State and Youngstown State or was it Grambling? Not sure, but it has been excellent sparring with you all.

I will catch you next week from the shores of Long Beach, California where we will again begin the verbal jabs of who is and who is not good, bad, nasty, arrested or cheating.

Filed Under: General Sports
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