Tuesday, September 15, 2009

random sports thoughts vol. 3

A lot of people like to make there NFL predictions before the season to begin, I like to wait a week to see teams in actions.  It took roughly 59:30 seconds of game time to realize the Bengals are still the Bengals, ditto for the Buffalo bills. The New England Patriot offensive line is the most overrated unit in the NFL. Although the Oakland Raiders overpaid with a first round pick for Richard Seymour, I see where they are coming from, that Raiders secondary is good and with a pass rush they will be even better. Adrian Peterson is a man among boys. Anybody that has a problem with Brett Farve coming out of retirement is taking it too personal. Farve in the NFL is great for football and The Vikings/Packer games will be two of the most watched regular season games in football history. Jay Cutler threw four picks, if you're a Bear fan like I am that should not be your biggest concern. The Bears had a chance to steal the game from the Pack after a horrendous call from the referee helped lead them to first and goal from the 8, but they settled for a field goal, championship teams score touchdowns when they have too and just like last year the bears settled for a field goal leaving the door open for another tough loss. Michael Vick you've lost 70 million dollars any chance of future endorsements, spent two years in jail so how about sitting out the first 2 games of the season. Thats clearly a political move. Alot of people are picking the San Diego Chargers clearly forgetting that Norv Turner is the head coach.  I like Philly as an early Superbowl pick, but something tells me Atlanta make sneak in and lose to the Steelers on that Superbowl Sunday. 

I predict the Phillies will repeat as champs as Brad Lidge gets his act together after single handedly ruining my Fantasy Baseball team. The Red Sox will play the Angels which is bad news for them cuz they can beat the Yanks just not the Red Sox. So the Yankees will play for the World Series. 

Serena snapped and Federer snapped now you know the difference between an angry black woman and an angry white man.

Watching golf and the last two majors shows just how mentally strong you have to be to compete at the games highest level. 

Kanye West made Taylor Swift more popular than she'll ever be, Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse is what movies are all about, The Big ten football conference are pretenders, Charlie Weis gets fired after this year and I still don't have health insurance. Can I drop any more knowledge? Not today!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Random sports thoughts vol. 2

If you know you did steroids and are one of the names on the 103 person list. Come clean before you get leaked out, apologize to everyone and donate at least 10 percent of your salary to steroid abuse programs. Thats the only way to vindicate yourself. Whoever trades for Roy halladay is my odds on fav to win the world series. Carl Crawford got a single and made a catch he's your all-star MVP...WHAT?!?! Next year I predict that to make sure the all star MVP voting is taken seriously Bud Selig will announce that whoever wins MVP of the all star game will get to play for the World Series league representative that he plays for.

Shaq going to Cleveland gets them exactly as far as they got this year. They need to add another player, preferably a 6-8 swingman. Ron Artest signing with the lakers is as close to MJ/Pippen as you'll see. Kudos to the Spurs for signing McDyess and trading for Richard Jefferson, with a healthy Manu, they have an outside shot at beating the Lakers! I like Orlando with Vince Carter and his shot making ability over Hedo and the Match-up problems he causes. Plus Vince is that much better if Dwight Howard emerges as a consistent #1 option. There's no way the Bulls should trade Tyrus Thomas and Kirk Hinrich for the talented but oft injured and slightly small for a power forward Carlos Boozer! The lakers will be cool if they let Lamar Odom go, you heard it here first Adam Morrison will flourish playing for the Lakers! In a perfect world if A.I. kept his ego in check he would be a perfect fit coming off the bench for the...Bulls. We all know that it's not a perfect world

Blake Griffith can become a hybrid Karl Malone/Elgin Baylor or a slightly better role playing Kenny Walker. I do not know the answer to that.  Stephon Curry can be a Chris Jackson or a Mahmoud Abdul Rauf, with the new rules of the NBA and its fun and gun systems I'm thinking Chris Jackson. Minnesota T-Wolves are to point guards in one year what the Detroit Lions are to Wide receivers in a 5 yr. span. That can be a good thing.

Farve going to the Vikings reminds me of the girl who gets dump and tries to sleep with the guy she knows her ex cant stand. Has anyone ever won as much for losing as Andy roddick has? Tiger will not win a major this year. Joe Mauer is a white Kirby Puckett and I've dropped enough knowledge for one day. Peace!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Random thoughts from the world of sports issue #1

Of the four remaining teams that were left in the NBA playoffs (Lakers, Nuggets, Cavs and Magic) I was pulling for the Nuggets. After each passing game it was becoming harder and harder to route for them. Slightly it was because of dirty play, I'll get to that in a bit, but they way they were chest bumping and nodding there heads you would think they were the greatest show on earth. Nothing irks me more than to see a player running around like he's the best ever after he hits a shot and still shoots 3-15 from the field (i.e. J.R. Smith). Unfortunately thats the way the game is played today and it is also the reason why the NBA will not be fully appreciated as the beautiful artistic game that it is. Now I don't have a problem with a little dirty play especially in the playoffs but if you're going to be a bully Denver and then the bullied stands up too you, don't cringe in the corner and lose by 30 pts. at home in game 6 of the WCF. That just shows how gutless and how far your team is away from being a contender. Adios Denver!

Cleveland has to realize something about the NBA it's all about match-ups, always has and always will be. The Bulls knew it on there second repeat, they knew that in order to beat Orlando with Shaq and Penny they had to get bigger to match-up with them so they got rid of fan favorite B.J. armstrong and redefined the role of Ron Harper who was coming off a horrible season. Thats what the Cavs have to do, get rid of Delonte West and go bigger cause Dwight Howard is young and only going to get better. By the way that was bush league with Lebron not shaking hands and not talking to the media, win with grace and lose with grace, normally I don't have a problem either way with it. Unless you acknowledge that you're the face of the NBA and endorse 1000's of products to be sold due to your image. A slap on the wrist and Scott Van pelt gets to keep your throne King james!

I saw Kobe's interview with Magic last night and didn't believe a word he said. If you put Kobe in a room all by himself and asked if he thought he was the best player ever. I guarantee he would say yes and of course he wants to win without Shaq it's what he wanted to do all along. Which is why he ran Shaq out of town. This series will go 7 games and Kobe's legacy is riding on it, trust me I know it and so does he! Now that I've lambasted the Nuggets, let me say this with the rise of the Nuggets and the fall of the Pistons I say Chauncey Billups is a hall of famer. 7 straight conference finals can now be directly tied to Billups, without that trade he would just be recognized as a good player on a good team. His numbers are avg., but there's no denying his leadership.
Derek Jeter is one of 4 players with 2600 hits, 200 hr's and 1000 rbi's in his first 15 years..whoopty-damn-do! Those numbers are not hall of fame numbers they do represent consistent play and thats what DJ has been throughout his career. He's a hall of famer because of his clutch play and championship banners. Numbers can be construed to manipulate anything you want and I've nevr seen 2600 hits listed as a milestone. David Ortiz Yikes, I'm not touching that one!

Hockey why would you run your playoffs during the same time as the marketing guru of the NBA. Have it in April between the March Madness and the NBA playoffs, nothing really relevant happens in April. Now you're reduced to playing back to back games. So sad. If Roger Federer wins the French Open by not beating Nadal people will compare it to the Houston Rockets winning without Jordan in the league, that would be a mistake. Roger has 13 grand slam titles which justifies his career and unlike Jordan, Nadal actually played and lost in the French Open.

Take this knowledge that I've dropped people, process it and use it for future use or poop it out and use it as a fertilizer for growing your sports awareness. Peace Out

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Why I'm trying to like Kobe Bryant

He's done himself no favors, since day 1 it seemed apparent that he wanted to be the greatest player to ever play the game. Which is cool but the rule is, it only should show when you're on the court , not in interviews or everyday life. I shouldn't really blame him, when you're in high school at the ripe old age of 17 and you're having a press conference telling the whole world that 'you're taking your talent to the NBA' one might acquire a bit of smugness and arrogance to themselves. We can't expect everyone to be like Lebron cuz LeBron is not the norm. There are a lot of reasons to not like Kobe, be it running off Shaq, bad mouthing his teammates in public, demanding a trade even though he put that team together by forcing a Shaq trade which in effect by default put the team in rebuilding mode, cuz there's no such thing as equal trade value when dealing superstars. Selling Shaq up the river when he got caught up in the Colorado fiasco. Quitting on his team a couple of years ago against Phoenix in a game 7 no less refusing to shoot. I admit part of my dislike for Kobe has been the ridiculous comparisons to being as great as MJ, Laker fans i don't blame you at all, you're disillusioned no doubt but some of the things that Kobe does is flat out incredible but Mike is Mike a career 50% fg shooter while Kobe is shooting a career high this year of 47%. 

But I'm over that, I have a new outlook on Kobe, a good friend told me something about Kobe that I believe to be true. Kobe is just slightly crazy he's the kind of guy that laughs at the wrong part of a joke and thats cuz he's obsessed with his place in history. All time greats play to be the best in the game in there time and when their career is over. Their place in history speaks for themselves, but not Kobe thats why he ran Shaq off cuz he wanted to be the big dog, but he's seven years younger than Shaq so the passing of the torch woulda came and he could be sitting on 5 championships not 3, why Magic never shared this secret with him is very suspect. I watch Kobe now and i see a slightly humbled , more relaxed person, still crazy but more at ease with himself and his game.

That's not the reason i want to like Kobe. The reason is that i watch sports and i want to see the best there is, everytime I turn on the television and watch a game, i want to see an electric td run, a no-hitter pitch, a skill level to the highest degree and thats what Kobe represents. he's the best hooper in the game today, yes better than lebron who someday will be better than Kobe if he develops a consistent J and a postgame. Kobe is a magnificent talent and when i watch basketball I want to see the best player in the world and i want him to score 81 points and terrorize the fragile Vince Carter and boo him when he beats my team but still appreciate his performance. I think Michael jordan is the best to ever play the game but as a sport fan wouldn't it be great if someone was better than Mike. Isn't that why we watch sports? To see someone take it to the next level ala Tiger Woods over Jack Nicklaus. So you keep ballin' Crazy, and I don't care if you refer teammates as your team as if you drafted and coached them, nor do i care that I semi-believed you took Andrew Bynum out on purpose to pad your stats, keep calling out 'In yo face Oscar Robertson, Take that MJ, You can't hold me Larry Bird' as you're playing Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Paul. I know you're a crazy mutha f*#ka trying to secure your place in history, but I love the NBA and to love the NBA means loving Kobe Bryant...I'm a fan son, sorta!