Revist: NBA Predictions

This is technically my second revist to this subject, but due to the agonizingly slow rate at which the awards are being handed out - it's almost a necessity.

Anyway, this will be quick. And, I don't have much else to write about as of this moment, hopefully tomorrow.

The NBA announce the All-NBA teams today, and I have to admit I was pretty darn close in my selections.

First Team:
Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard

Second Team:
Chris Paul, Brandon Roy, Tim Duncan, Paul Pierce, Yao Ming

Third Team:
Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Pau Gasol, Shaquille O'Neal, Tony Park

Now, I had three of the four first teamers selected correctly (Wade, Bryant, James). I also had Paul on the first squad, but he made second - and I selected Amare Stoudamire, who didn't make any team - mostly due to some injuries throughout the season.

As for the second team, I had selected Nowitzki and Howard, who both made the first team, but I got Roy and Duncan correct. I had selected Pierce and Yao Ming for my third team, however. My lone whiff was Deron Williams, who had a pretty strong year despite playing mostly on one leg due to an injry.

As for the third squad, I only was able to select Parker correctly. I totally missed on the Nuggets this year, but the trade for Billups not only elevated his game, but Anthony's as well. I also missed on Gasol, but I am not apologizing for not selecting O'Neal - despite a great season, who knew he had anything left?

Another rough time for Kevin Martin in Sacramento this season with injuries and a horrible team didn't help my selection of him on my third team. Also, Chris Bosh had a down year in Toronto, which really surprised a lot of people.

This should be my final NBA blog until the conclusion of the NBA Finals in June unless something amazing happens during the playoffs (which basically did with the Boston-Chicago series, but I will talk about that in the wrap up blog after the season).

Revisit: NBA Predictions

OK, I have slacked again with the postings - yet another job has been due here at work, plus I have been in the middle of getting everything completed for summer/grad school.

No excuse, I know, but I have a handful of ideas for blogs over the next few days. Here is the first and if I have time another will follow today.

Back in October at the beginning of the NBA season I, like I do in most sports, selected my playoff and award predictions for the season.

So here were my predictions:

Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics
Central Division: Cleveland Cavaliers
Southeast Division: Orlando Magic
Other Playoff Teams: Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, New Jersey Nets.
Champion: Orlando Magic
Western Conference
Northwest Conference: Utah Jazz
Pacific Conference: L.A. Lakers
Southwest Conference: New Orleans Hornets
Other Playoff Teams: Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers.
Champion: New Orleans Hornets
NBA Champion: New Orleans Hornets

Individual Awards
MVP: LeBron James
6th Man: Rodney Stuckey
Rookie: Michael Beasley
Coach: Byron Scott
Defensive Player: Ron Artest
All NBA
First Team
Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Paul
Second Team
Tim Duncan, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, Brandon Roy
Third Team
Paul Pierce, Yao Ming, Chris Bosh, Tony Parker, Kevin Martin

The playoffs began this weekend and out of my selections, I didn't do half bad.

For the East, I was exactly correct in my division winners with Boston, Cleveland and Orlando. As for my playoff teams, I was off by two - Chicago, Detroit and Miami all made the playoffs, but so did Philadelphia and Atlanta. My selections of New Jersey (finished 12th) and Toronto (finished 13th) were a bit off.

As for the West, I was only able to correctly select the Lakers as a divisional winner. However, both New Orleans and Utah made the playoffs. My lone miss for the West was Denver, who actually captured the Northwest division, while Phoenix just missed the playoffs in finishing ninth.

As of now, the only individual award handed out was Coach of the Year and that was given to Mike Brown of Cleveland - who definitely deserved it. The way the Hornets fell into the bottom half of the Western conference bracket, my selection of Scott was a bit off.

I believe I will get my MVP selection correct with LeBron James. My Rookie pick is going to be wrong, as Derrick Rose of Chicago will most likely win. Rodney Stuckey for 6th man blew up in my face as he ended up starting, so Jason Terry of Dallas will be the winner this year. I am not sure about my defensive selection - it could be him or it could be Orlando's Dwight Howard.

Playoff predictions:

WEST
LA vs. Utah - LA
Denver vs. New Orleans - New Orleans
San Antonio vs. Dallas - Dallas
Houston vs. Portland - Portland

EAST
Cleveland vs. Detroit - Cleveland
Boston vs. Chicago - Chicago
Orlando vs. Philadelphia - Orlando
Atlanta vs. Miami - Miami

Revisit: NFL Predictions

The National Football League's playoffs begin tomorrow with a pair of wildcard games.

I felt it was time to revisit my preseason predictions - since I was totally wrong about the Super Bowl champion, I feel it's ok to do it a little prematurely.

Anyway here were my predictions:

Conference Champions
NFC East: Dallas Cowboys
NFC North: Green Bay Packers
NFC West: Arizona Cardinals
NFC South: New Orleans Saints

AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC West: San Diego Chargers
AFC South: Indianapolis Colts

Wildcards
NFC: Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers
AFC: Jacksonville Jaguars, NY Jets

SUPER BOWL
Dallas Cowboys vs. San Diego Chargers

SUPER BOWL WINNER
Dallas Cowboys

My Super Bowl prediction was obviously way off - guess I shouldn't have watched the Dallas Cowboys on HBO's Hard Knocks before the season started.

The Cowboys were one of the many disappointing teams this season that had high expectations. Also among them were the Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Bucs, Green Bay Packers, N.Y. Jets and even the San Diego Chargers.

I will leave out the 0-16 Detroit Lions, who no one thought would be good - but they were flat out terrible.

Like every season there were certainly some surprises. I bet nobody thought the Tennessee Titans would be the best team in the NFL - led by backup Kerry Collins. The horrible Atlanta Falcons with a rookie QB Matt Ryan at the helm making the playoffs - as are the Baltimore Ravens, also with rookie QB Joe Flacco.

The biggest surprise may be the Miami Dolphins, however, who won just one game a year ago and made through the tough AFC East - including a valiant effort from the Tom Brady-less New England Patriots - to make the playoffs.

I know one person who is a little upset about that. Disgruntled Jason Taylor who was traded to the Washington Redskins in the offseason because he wanted a chance to win as the Dolphins rebuild. The Dolphins are in the playoffs - while the Redskins all have tee times this weekend.

Anyway, the regular season finished like this.

Conference Champions
NFC East: N.Y. Giants
NFC North: Minnesota Vikings
NFC West: Arizona Cardinals
NFC South: Carolina Panthers

AFC East: Miami Dolphins
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC West: San Diego Chargers
AFC South: Tennessee Titans

Wildcards
NFC: Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons
AFC: Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts

So, I got three teams correct in each conference - perhaps not in their correct position - but not too bad, selecting exactly half of the playoff field.

I correctly picked the Steelers winning the AFC North, Chargers winning the AFC West - and had the Colts winning the South, which was wrong, but they still got in. I missed on the Dolphins, Titans and Ravens.

In the NFC, I correctly picked the Cardinals winning the West and the Eagles being a wildcard team. I selected the Panthers as the second wildcard team, but they ended up winning the South. I missed on the Falcons, Vikings and Giants.

This weekend looks to be a series of 'upsets' in my opinion.

Colts vs. Chargers. Falcons vs. Cardinals. Eagles vs. Vikings. Ravens vs. Dolphins.

I am picking a straight visiting-team victory. The Colts, Falcons, Eagles and Ravens will all move on to next weekends battles - while the Steeers, Titans, Giants and Panthers await their next foes.

Enjoy the games.

Revisit: Baseball Playoff Predictions

Is the Major League Baseball season almost over? Finally. It is insane how long the season is. Want a small glimpse? I just tried to find my playoff prediction blog that I wrote to see how horrible I did with my picks - and it was my second blog written on this site.

THAT'S INSANE!!!!

Anyway, the Chicago White Sox finally made the playoff picture complete yesterday with a 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins. It's amazing, the baseball season is so damn long (please see above) and they still needed an extra game to sort this mess out.

Just to make things clear, in case you can't tell, I am not the biggest baseball fan. Like I have said before, the game is just not made to be watched on television. It's so slow. Games at a minimum are three hours long, and even then, the action is just too slow paced for my liking.

Baseball has long been labeled 'America's Game', but I have to say I think the NFL has long since surpassed it.

On to the actual blog.

Back in BLOG TWO: I predicted that the eight playoff teams would be as follows.

NL West: San Diego Padres
NL East: Atlanta Braves
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL Wildcard: NY Mets
AL West: Anaheim Angels
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Detroit Tigers
AL Wildcard: Cleveland Indians

As you can tell, these predictions sucked. I correctly picked just one team in the National League, as the Cubs did win the Central. And in the American League, the only true correct pick was the Angels winning the West, although the Red Sox did make the playoffs as the wildcard.

Down the stretch the Mets not only choked again, but they choked twice. After leading the East they allowed the Philadelphia Phillies to pass them again - and then allowed the Milwaukee Brewers to pass them in the wildcard. That is just as bad as the collapse from last season. But, the GM and the coach should get extensions - Oh wait, they did.

The Padres ended up being one of the worst teams in the league this season, so that prediction was truly terrible. The Dodgers outlasted the Diamondbacks thanks to the Manny Ramirez addition, and captured the West.

In the American League, I don't think anybody had the Tampa Bay Rays coming from the basement of the East to overtake not only the Red Sox, but the Yankees as well. A great story for the season, and I am rooting for them to make it to the World Series.

Well, as you can tell me baseball predictions were worse than horrible. Out of eight teams I correctly selected three - and only two of those in their correct location. Hope I do better in football and basketball (two sports I actually follow).

Anyway, to wrap up my playoff predictions:

Round One
Tampa Bay over Chicago
Boston over Anaheim
Chicago over LA
Milwaukee over Philadelphia

Round Two
Boston over Tampa Bay
Chicago over Milwaukee

World Series
Chicago over Boston

There you have it Cubs fans. Add me to the goat and Bartman. I have officially jinxed you from winning the World Series this year.

Now let's wrap up the season already. Spring Training starts in a month.

Revisit: Starting Times

A few months ago I mentioned how the starting times for professional sporting events has become insane for those of us who live on the East Coast.

This was during the NBA Finals, where games were heading into halftime at 10:30 p.m. on a weekday. I had come up with a sort of plan to accommodate both parties: Move the start times up and both parties can finish the game.

My question posed was simple: Are you more inclined to watch a game that you missed the start of, or watch a game that you have no possible way of seeing the conclusion of?

For many of the major sporting events, this question still rings true. However, something else has come to my attention - that at least for one sport, and for the regular season, almost everyone can be happy.

For the past few seasons, Monday Night Football on ESPN has given us something special. During the first week there are two Monday Night Football games: one features teams located closer to the East Coast, while the second has teams located more towards the West Coast.

Last night, the Green Bay Packers took on the Minnesota Vikings and the game started at 7 p.m. EST. Again, this start time is difficult for the West Coast, but for most of them interested they can still see the most of the game - including the conclusion. The game wrapped up at 10:30 p.m. which is pretty reasonable. As soon as the game concluded, the second game featuring the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders began: another Monday Night Football game, this time for the West Coast.

My question is pretty simple again: Why can't we do this every week?

Most Monday Night Football games begin on or around 9 p.m. to accommodate everyone. And again, for those of us who work in the mornings during the week, we can't finish the game unless we can function on very little sleep.

They (ESPN) already have enough of a crew to put on two Monday Night Football games. And the team of Mike (Greenburg), Mike (Golic) and Mike (Ditka) is pretty impressive calling the game as well. I really don't see the down side here. Each coast gets their own Monday Night game.
The only people who are going to suffer are those on the East Coast who have a rooting interest for a team in the late Monday Night Football game, and stay up to watch it. Or, for the Must-Watch-All-Football Guy, who has to watch anything football on television. Other than that, I don't see anyone complaining about this.

Each week there is at least one game being played on the West Coast. Why not move one of those 1 p.m. Sunday games to Monday night? It's not like everyone is able to watch every game anyway.

It's just one man's opinion. But, I think it's a pretty good one.