Stanley Cup Playoffs

I know that I constantly say how we're "in one of my favorite times of the year" for a lot of my posts, but in this case, this is the biggest and the best! My favorite time of the year is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After watching these games, I really can't believe how anybody can't LOVE hockey! I mean, this isn't like the NBA, where you almost always guarantee that the 1 seed beats the 8 seed. Yes, it definitely happens more frequently than not, but the NHL playoffs provides far more competitive action.

Proof positive of this comes from tonight's games of San Jose vs. Colorado. San Jose dominated most of the play after a fairly even first period. But that X factor came out to play. Craig Anderson, who I know won't win the Hart Trophy as the MVP, but honestly, who on earth has been more important to his team than Craig Anderson?, stopped 51 shots! And Ryan O'Reilly gets a stick on a puck that ricocheted in past Evgeni Nabokov. Yes, the Avs were not the better team that night, but the nature of hockey allows for them to stay in, and win what ended up being an amazing game. How many times do you see that type of thing happen in the NBA? Never!

It's just the nature of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, anybody can win, and if you don't come to play every single game as if it is your last, then you won't win! The Olypmic tournament provided us with some absolutely amazing hockey, and I think that the Stanley Cup Playoffs will provide us with a lot more hockey like that. During the playoffs, it isn't about your contracts, it isn't about your endorsement deals, it's about winning the cup. For my money, I'll take a triple over time thriller over Kobe vs. Lebron any day of the week.

Time for the sporting world to go CUP CRAZY!!!

Long Wait, but now Some Takes

Man, it has been quite a long time since I've written anything, and a lot has happened! So I'm going to give my take on what I see as some of the biggest things that have happened this sporting season!!

First, Tiger. I wrote an earlier post about Tiger Woods praising his character. For not acting like a diva when a kid hit a better ceremonial drive off the tee than he did. Then, all of this stuff happened and we learned that the squeaky clean Tiger Woods has some blemishes. First off, his wife is freaking hot! Can we honestly think that any of the women that Tiger was messing around with had it going on more than her? Seriously. More seriously, though, I do hope that they are able to work things out, although trust issues like that have a tendency of never going away, no matter how ok things seem. I hope they are able to work this out for their kids. It's hard enough to be a kid with a celebrity for a parent, it's even harder when those parents have to break up and you see it plastered on the news every day of your young life. I hope Tiger's words are sincere, but it's just hard to know now. Tiger has shown us that we really don't know what kind of a person he is, and just because he says the right things on camera, doesn't necessarily mean that he's doing the right things as a person.

A lot of things going on in football! The Broncos traded to get Brady Quinn. Not a huge bit of news in and of itself, considering it was for a rarely used FB and a 6th round draft pick for a guy who has played on one of the worst teams in the last few years, but Brady Quinn does still have the potential to be a great player for a long time. A year to get used to the Bronco's system and to work with a full time QB coach will only do good things for him.

A new overtime rule. Really? Is it really needed? Granted, it is only for the playoffs, but come on. How long have we gone with the previous version and been ok with it? How many actual NFL players have called for changes to this rule? It has always only been fans of teams that lost in the OT and "expert" columnists that claim that it was needed. The players have always been matter of fact about the whole thing. We didn't stop them, so we didn't deserve to win. Ok, that seems like a good enough reason to me. How much of this is because it was Brett Favre's team that lost in the NFC championship game? It wasn't needed, but it may provided the public with what they want. Something they've deemed "more fair" than before. I guess I can live with that.

Donovan McNabb got traded!? No really! This time he actually did! For how many years have the Eagle's fans been calling for him to be traded, only to love on him when he took the field the following year? Sure, they got to a bunch of NFC Championship games, and only won one of them. Lost the only Super Bowl they played in, more because they didn't begin to play quickly until far too late than anything else. And what's more, they traded him WITHIN THEIR DIVISION!!!! This guy was the best quarterback that the Eagles have ever had!! Why on earth would they trade him to a division rival? I know they wanted to do right by McNabb, or at least Andy Reid did, but come on! You still have to think the most about your team. Do you really think that Kevin Kolb is going to out duel McNabb when they take the field against each other? This is definitely a HUGE gain for the Skins and Mike Shanahan. A mobile quarterback who can throw anywhere on the run. Hmm, nah, Shanahan doesn't know how to work with a guy like that. cough cough, John Elway, cough cough. This could be the start of something really good in D.C.!

Duke won March Madness for the 4th time! Congrats to the Blue Devils and the Cameron Crazies! Duke was my favorite college basketball team for a long time when I was growing up. Then I stopped caring. But man, I wish that I had actually watched that Duke v. Butler game. Sounds like an incredible amount of drama for such a low scoring game. At any rate, I did NOT predict really anything in the NCAA Toury. After a promising start, my bracket took a pretty huge nose dive. Thank you Kansas, New Mexico, Georgetown.

NHL! After an up and down year, my Colorado Avalanche have clinched a playoff spot! It looks as if they will be playing the Sharks in the first round. The Sharks are quite a good team, with quite the history of blowing it, big time, in the playoffs. The Avs are a young team with a lot of energy and a goalie that has been out of his mind. Even though it is a 1 vs. 8 series, I wouldn't be at all shocked if it went a long way, or even if the Avs won the series. Matt Duchene should be the runaway winner of the Calder Trophy, NHL's rookie of the year award. I'm sure that Joe Sacco won't win the Jack Adams trophy, coach of the year, but turning a team from last in the conference to a playoff team, with the youth and inexperience of the team, deserves serious consideration. And I know that Craig Anderson will not win the Hart Trophy, but if you look at things, he has absolutely been the player that has been most valuable to his team, in my opinion. How many unbelievable saves has that guy made in tight times? He has faced more shots than any other goalie this year, and has a 2.56 GAA, a .916 sv. %, and 7 shutouts! That's insane!! It will obviously go to Ovechkin or Crosby, but really, what guy has made a bigger difference for his team than Craig Anderson?

I'm going to try and be much better about my blogging. I hope to make certain I do things once a week, but the school year is winding down, and I'm going to be moving here pretty soon. So I may not be able to hold onto that promise. Anywho, if you're still reading, thanks very much for your time! I hope that you stay around!

Free Agents and Drafts for the Broncos

Well, I was planning on writing a little something a bit earlier on this, but then the Broncos went out and kept making moves that changed things for me. So, here's my take on things for the Broncos.

Firstly, some of my students were asking me what I thought the Broncos should do in the draft. I thought, for not very long, and decided that I thought they needed the largest, strongest, ugliest NT available in the draft to drop right in the middle of that 3-4 defense. Then, the Broncos went out and signed Jamal Williams. Okay, fine, so they fixed that up. So we don't need to get one of those anymore.

Secondly, I think everybody is in agreement that Kyle Orton is not really going to be a long term solution for anybody. So I'm hearing lots of talk about the Broncos going to Colt McCoy, so I'm reading up on it and trying to figure out all the dish on McCoy. Then the Broncos go and trade for Brady Quinn, and barely give up anything. Peyton Hillis, who really didn't contribute (and wasn't really given a chance to contribute) to the team last year, a 6th round draft pick in 2011, and a conditional 2012 draft pick. I mean, scraps. Okay, Brady Quinn may not be better than he was in Cleveland, but you have to give him a bit of the benefit of the doubt considering that he was in Cleveland for crying out loud. Nothing was going right there for anybody. So I'm willing to give him a bit of a chance.

So what do we need now? Well, the defense still needs improvement. Okay, most people seem to believe that the Broncos are going to go with Rolando McClain, Alabama's very talented ILB, which would make sense in solidifying our 3-4 defense. But we are also going to need a top level WR to replace Brandon Marshall, since he is pretty much all but gone. Even if no team picks him up, I don't see him suiting up for the Broncos again, given all of the clashes that he had with McD. I think he'd rather sit out than play for McD again. But we'll see. So possibly the Broncos will go for Dez Bryant from Oklahoma St. A Marshall size WR that can hopefully do the same sorts of things without all of the drama.

Good work by the Broncos in the free agency pool. Have addressed a lot of their needs. If they can find a decent LB in the time leading up to the draft, they may do even better, and then we can focus on getting a strong WR in the draft, or vice versa. They do still need a lot more work.

NHL Headshots

Ok, I have to say that I am getting a little tired of this subject being brought up week after week after week. Not because I want people to accept the fact that head shots are a part of the game, because they aren't. Just as Don Cherry has said over and over, there is a fundamental lack of respect for the health and well-being of the other players on the ice that wasn't this bad back in the rough and tumble 70s and 80s!

What I want to know is how much of this is enough to make the league take action? I mean, this problem has gone back for a while. Marty McSorely , Todd Bertuzzi, Chris Simon. And now we have even more, it seems like every single week! Just now we have another one where Marc Savard ends up getting carted off on a stretcher. . Worst part of this is that there wasn't even a penalty called on this play. How can we possibly have that happen here?!

Suspensions are only a part of what needs to happen with this sort of hit. This sort of hit has no place in the game! I am totally with Don Cherry with his explanation of why things have gone downhill with this. With the fight instigator penalty in play, it makes it impossible for any type of policing. If you knew that you had to fight the other team's biggest and toughest guy if you took a cheap shot on one of these players, would you really do it? Probably not! But now, with the fight instigator penalty, that makes this impossible, because if the tough guy comes after the other guy, they get the fighting major, and extra 2 minutes, and a game misconduct. That changes the game.

So what is there to do? Outrage of this will only do so much. We can all sit back and say that these are gutless cheap shots that have no place in the game until the end of time, but that isn't going to stop it from happening. 5 game suspensions won't stop this from happening. When will the NHL, and Colin Campbell specifically, take a stand and do more than just say that this has to stop. We can get rid of the fight instigator penalty, and allow players to police each other again. Ban those types of hits entirely and impose HEAVY suspensions on players that make this kind of hit, with the potential of lifetime bans on players who are repeat offenders. This is one of the only ways that I can think of to stop this from happening. If the respect for the other player's health isn't there, at least they may be stopped with concern for their own career. That way, they would have nobody to blame but themselves once they are taken out of the league.

The bottom line in all of this is that every time things like this happen, it puts the NHL in the news for the wrong reason, and people are more turned off from what is an amazing game because of the actions of a few thugs who can't control themselves. We all need to work together to get this sort of thing out of the game. Come on Colin Campbell, Gary Bettman, you're the people who set the standards. DO MORE THAN JUST TALK!!!

Free Agency!

Day or so late, I realize, but it's all good. It is free agency time in the NFL, with a special new twist to go along with it! There isn't going to be a salary cap to stop teams from trying to buy everybody they possibly can! This could be interesting.

Now, we have seen from a few teams, most recently the Washington Redskins, the danger in spending too much on free agency. Yeah, you get Albert Haynesworth, thought to be the most dominant DT and that he would remain this dominant for about another 8-10 years, but then he gets a smoking hot 100 million dollar contract. It's weird, but look at his production the next year, way down. Yes, injury didn't help him, but still. What is it with NFL players not putting out their best effort once they get paid?

Anywho, we'll get to see how Julius Peppers handles this now that he has landed with Da Bears! That is a great get for the Bears, though I don't anticipate that Peppers will be playing all 6 years of that contract that he got.

The Lions seem to have gone nutty over another wide receiver, but not because they drafted this one. They gave Nate Burleson, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks a 5 year, $25 Million contract, with $11 Million in guaranteed money, to a guy who had 63 catches last year. That seem excessive to anybody else? I mean, yeah, he was on the lowly Seahawks, but who's to say that the lowly Lions will get him any more catches than that?

The Ravens nailed down Anquan Boldin in an amazing trade. They got Boldin and a 5th round pick in exchange for a 3rd and 4th round draft pick this year. I bet Flacco had to change his pants after he heard that news. Now the Ravens definitely have a legit passing threat.

Questions still remaining. Where will Brandon Marshall land? What over aged player will take a pay cut to try and go to the Pats? Will the Saints really let their ball hawk Sharper get away? Will Brett Favre retire, force the Vikes to find another solution, and then try and unretire again? Who's going to decide that they can make TO a team player this time? All these questions, AND MORE, still to be decided!

Gold Medal Game!!!

What an Olympics we have had! And who could have guessed that we would be in for the gold medal game that we are being given in the Men's Ice Hockey tournament. Now, everybody knows that the women's hockey tournament will almost always come down to the US vs. Canada, but I don't think anybody predicted that on the men's side.

The USA seriously benefited from their underdog persona that they brought into the olympics. As far as everybody is concerned, right now, they are over achieving. Not only did they beat Finland to get into the Gold medal game, they embarrassed them. Canada was in control for all but the last 5 minutes of the game against Slovakia, when they decided to be the Colorado Avs for the last bit of the game, and allow their opponent to make it close before holding on for the win. So what kind of a gold medal game are we going to have?

I think that it is safe to say that we are going to continue to see Luongo in the net for Canada, and just as easy to say that we will see Ryan Miller for the US. Canada seems to have broken out of their goal scoring drought, after blasting Russia in the quarter finals. Canada owned the shots on goal against the US in the first round, but the US got a few early ones that just stunned Canada, and never really allowed them to get going. I think we are pretty safe in thinking that a goal 40 seconds into the game probably won't happen this time around. Canada has learned their lesson, in my opinion. They know that they have to come to play against this USA team, and I think we can all agree that if the team that embarrassed Russia comes into this Gold medal game, then the US could be in a lot of trouble.

The US has already proven that they can beat Canada, and I doubt that we will see a formula too much different than the first time. We can all count on this game to be physical, fast, and exciting.

All in all, I think that Canada is going to prevail in a close game, and the country will go absolutely nuts. I give it to Canada by a score of 6-4.

Big day for the Americans!!!

The 2010 Olympics have already had some amazing ups, and some very agonizing downs. The big down came before the games even started with the Georgian luge competitor who died after a crash on what is known as the world's fastest luge track.

We've had 18 goals in one game by the Canadian Women's Hockey team, and some great men's games as well.

Today was, by far, the biggest day that the Americans have had, to date, in the 2010 Winter Olympics. 3 big events, and 3 gold medals.

Shaun White won the men's smowboarding half-pipe, again. No real surprise there, he's pretty much always the favorite in that particular event. Congrats to him, although I do have one silly thing with him. Shaun White doesn't want to be called the Flying Tomato anymore. He's suggested that people call him "The Animal". A silly thing to take him to task for, but come on Shaun!!! You can't choose your own nickname!!!

Shani Davis became the first person to ever win back to back gold medals in the 1000 meter distance in speed skating. Shani Davis always seems to be in the news for bad reasons. Not that he goes out drinking and beating people up or anything, but he just always seems to be quoted as making really snarky comments about people and about the US Olympic committee. Still, you can't argue with his results. He clearly has a fantastic work ethic, and has proven, yet again, that he is the best in the world at the 1000 m. Chad Hendricks also won the Bronze in this event. So congrats to him!

Third, and probably the most reported on before the games, was Lindsey Vonn. How would her injury hold up? Would the weather delay mess things up? Simple answer. Nope! Not only did she overcome her injury and the weather, she became the first US Woman to EVER win the Women's downhill event. Just an amazing performance after all of the hype.

A huge congratulations to all Olympic performers, but a special congratulations to the record setting American Gold Medalists today. GO TEAM USA!

Winter Olympics! 2010!

Ever since I was a little kid, I always remember getting incredibly excited for the Olympics. I'm about to turn 28, and I still feel the same kind of excitement. I remember watching the 2008 summer games, just a little bit back, watching the US Men's 4 x 100 Meter freestyle relay team have a magical anchor leg to win the gold medal. My wife and I both jumping up and down and shouting at the TV to GO GO GO!! I remember being a kid and pretending that I was a speed skater flying around my living room while my parents laughed at me. And I remember having a monster crush on Kristi Yamaguchi.

I think we can all agree that there is just something special about the Olympic games. During the rest of the year, people could care less about figure skating, or cross country skiing, or curling. But when the Olympics come around, suddenly everybody knows something about each event. I'm sure that national pride has a lot to do with it, but there is a little bit more as well, I think.

The Olympics is still one of the last pure sporting events left. True, recently the summer games have had issues with doping scandals, but even those have been less and less this last time around. And we know that there always seem to be some kind of judging issue to come up in the figure skating competition, but still, there is something incorruptible about the Olympics. Something pure. Something that people all around the world see, and recognize every other year. A time when honoring your country and respecting your competition is celebrate more than the next big signing bonus or possible work stoppage. A time when bitter enemies can shake hands at the end of a match, or race, and each side can forget about the hate bred between them. For 2 weeks, at each Olympic games, we see peacefulness. We see the world the way that it aught to be.

For all the scandals that come and go, for all the corruption and greed that may prevail, the Olympics, summer or winter, remain good and pure. Success and failure is measured differently. People fulfill their dreams just by being able to compete, and a medal is just icing on an already amazing piece of cake. I cannot wait for the start of these games, and I cannot wait to see the ICE HOCKEY Tournament! Go Canada!

What events will you be watching?

WHO DAT?!

Firstly, and most obviously, congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for winning their first ever Super Bowl, on their first ever trip there. What a season, and what a way they managed to silence critics, and always just go about things in their way.

I have to say, this was such an amazing game, I can hardly believe it. Just a bunch of moments where you had to sit back and literally rub your eyes because you can't believe what you just saw. I was completely and utterly stunned by that onside kick at the start of the second half. And I have never seen a scrum for a loose football like that, ever! Where people were pulled out and then went back in 2 or 3 times because they knew what was at stake. Just an astonishing game.

One cannot say enough about what Sean Peyton and Drew Brees have done for that team. This is a team that, not very long ago, was once again being referred to as the Aint's. Then you get Drew Brees, you draft Reggie Bush, you get a hell of a coach in there, make some great signings and look what you have. It is truly astonishing.

As for the Colts, there is no need to worry about them. They will be back just like they always are next year. And I want to comment on another thing about the Colts. They have shown, again, that they are still one of the classiest teams in the league, especially Peyton Manning and Jim Caldwell. I mean, both of them said it exactly how it was. Knew what happened, told it like it happened, made no excuses, and gave every single bit of credit to the team that won. I credit Manning and Caldwell for showing the kind of class that all people who play any sport should aspire to. Unlike other players and coaches who, coincidentally enough, have gone through similar things in the last few years, and just seem to want to sit in the locker room and sulk instead of speaking to anybody. (coughing noises) **brady** **Bellichick** excuse me, I feel a bit of a cold coming on. I'll have to take something for that.

Once again, we have had an amazing Super Bowl. A new team is crowned champion. Another season has ended. And now we await free agency and the draft. I look forward to all of that, and will work to continue to provide fun sports insight. Congrats, once again, to the New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl 44 champions.

Super Bowl Sunday!!

It is upon us, ladies and gentleman. One of the greatest American traditions that really actually does manage to bring everybody in the country together around a single event. Everybody can agree that the Super Bowl is today's definition of excellence in sports. And we know that this year's Super Bowl is going to be quite the show.

#1 Saints vs. #1 Colts.

How can you possibly pick a winner in a game like this? Both teams are so immensely talented that it seems like the scoring will never stop! So how do you choose a winner in this kind of a game? Well, I'll give it a try.

Offenses, we know that both offenses are pretty much unstoppable. Both offenses are incredibly deep and give opposing defenses troubles because how do you focus on just one person? Brees has 5 receivers that he will throw to all over the place, and a running back who might as well be a wide receiver. Manning is just Manning. He has 3 great receivers, and when he can't find one of them, probably the best receiving tight end in the game today. If there is an offensive advantage to be gained here, it goes to the Saints in that New Orleans has a better running game than the Colts do.

The other thing, in regards to the offense, is that both of these offenses have shown that whenever they are down in a game, and it doesn't ever seem to matter by how much, both of them are capable of coming back. So even if one team does seem to have control for a bit, there is no saying when the other team will suddenly turn it on and take control back.

Defenses are roughly comparable. Although the injury to Dwight Freeney may be the biggest thing leading up to this Super Bowl. He may still play, but the way things are described with him, he may have to play through a considerable amount of pain which could make him much less effective. Both defenses are pretty strong in the secondary, and are very opportunistic. Again, if there is a team who has a defensive advantage, I have to say that it is the Saints. Starting with the injury to Freeney, this makes the Colts front 4 less dangerous. Obviously, they aren't worthless with Mathis up there, but now the Saints can really focus more on Mathis. Secondly, the Colts run game. The Colts ranked dead last in the league in rush yards per game. Obviously, Peyton Manning pretty much makes up for this, but, it does make their team rather one dimensional. For all the talk about their amazing pass game, the Saints were 6th in the league for rushing yards per game.

Time for my pick. I must state, straight off, that the biggest winner of this game is going to be the fans. We are in for what could easily one of the best games ever played. The biggest surprise of this one would be if one team comes out and completely destroys the other. I can see either team winning this one. I'm a fan of both teams. Peyton Manning is a great player and professional. The same can be said for Drew Brees. The nation is pulling for the Saints, and many of the "experts" have picked the Colts. It's really hard for me to say one over the other, but every single time I play it over in my head, there is just something in this that makes me think that the Saints are going to win this one. So that's my pick. I'm taking the Saints.

Score:
Saints 38 - Indy 33

Let me know your picks, and enjoy what should be one hell of a game!