For your on the job sanity. You're welcome. Justin Lovett-Blue Chad Sanders-White Greg D'Arco-Yellow Samson X-Grey
Monday, November 9, 2009
Image of the Week
I decided that starting today, I will post up the "image of the week" every Monday, from the week prior. This week's image of the week belongs to the new World Champion Yankees, they won their 27th World Series title last week. Hats off to the Yanks, congrats.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
NBA Season!!!!!
Finally, the beginning of the NBA season is here. Briefly I will mention five potential sleepers this season and my pick for the NBA Championship.
Sleepers:
1. Anthony Randolph, F Golden St Warriors
2. Gilbert Arenas, G Washington Wizards
3. Wilson Chandler, F New York Knicks
4. Aaron Brooks, G Houston Rockets
5. Carlos Boozer, PF Utah Jazz
We know Randolph is a supreme athlete in this league. Towards the end of the season, and especially during the summer, Randolph showed he may be ready for a breakout season.
Gilbert Arenas looks like he is finally healthy. To be honest I can’t remember the last time he was healthy. I do know the Wizards have improved their roster and have added a lot of depth, taking a little off Gilbert’s shoulders. Look for Arenas to get back to what he does this year.
Wilson Chandler, I love this guys game. I wish he weren’t playing for the Knicks but what can you do. Last year Chandler doubled his scoring average from the year before, from 7.3 to 14.4 ppg. Look for him to continue building his averages.
Aaron Brooks showed in the playoffs that although he stands at a generous six feet he is lightning quick and plays with a lot of heart. I anticipate he will have a big season for the Rockets as they struggle without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady.
It is funny to think of Carlos Boozer as a sleeper. After all, the guy has been an NBA All-Star and was on the redeem team, that brought home the gold medal. Boozer has some what been written off in Utah with the emergence of the younger and cheaper Paul Millsap. Boozer is also in the final year of his contract, meaning he will play his best basket to insure he gets the big pay day next summer.
Finally, my NBA Championship prediction:
Cleveland Lebrons
Sleepers:
1. Anthony Randolph, F Golden St Warriors
2. Gilbert Arenas, G Washington Wizards
3. Wilson Chandler, F New York Knicks
4. Aaron Brooks, G Houston Rockets
5. Carlos Boozer, PF Utah Jazz
We know Randolph is a supreme athlete in this league. Towards the end of the season, and especially during the summer, Randolph showed he may be ready for a breakout season.
Gilbert Arenas looks like he is finally healthy. To be honest I can’t remember the last time he was healthy. I do know the Wizards have improved their roster and have added a lot of depth, taking a little off Gilbert’s shoulders. Look for Arenas to get back to what he does this year.
Wilson Chandler, I love this guys game. I wish he weren’t playing for the Knicks but what can you do. Last year Chandler doubled his scoring average from the year before, from 7.3 to 14.4 ppg. Look for him to continue building his averages.
Aaron Brooks showed in the playoffs that although he stands at a generous six feet he is lightning quick and plays with a lot of heart. I anticipate he will have a big season for the Rockets as they struggle without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady.
It is funny to think of Carlos Boozer as a sleeper. After all, the guy has been an NBA All-Star and was on the redeem team, that brought home the gold medal. Boozer has some what been written off in Utah with the emergence of the younger and cheaper Paul Millsap. Boozer is also in the final year of his contract, meaning he will play his best basket to insure he gets the big pay day next summer.
Finally, my NBA Championship prediction:
Cleveland Lebrons
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Waste of time?
Is it just me, or is everyone annoyed when the Eagles send Michael Vick out for the wild cat just to hand the ball off? I understand it is only week 6, but come on. The Eagles coach, Andy Reid, knows that he has every viewer and opposing coach glued to the play when Vick enters the game. For us viewers, there is the anticipation factor of waiting to see which play will be “the one” that reminds us of the old Vick. For opposing coaches, before Vick takes the snap the question has to be raised, is this the play where we see Michael Vick, the playmaker?
Up until this point Vick has played the role of the decoy. The Eagles have been winning, so I guess you can’t argue with that, but to be honest, I could go out there and do what Vick does. If he isn’t handing the ball off, he’s running the option, and when that happens, its clear he has no intent on keeping the ball for the run. In Vick’s two games played, he has attempted five passes and completed one for one yard. He also has four rushes for 10 yards. Impressive is not the word that comes to mind when looking at those stats.
I understand it is still early in the season and there is really no reason for the Eagles to be revealing Vick’s true meaning to the team, but I ask Andy Reid to please stop playing with our emotions…
Up until this point Vick has played the role of the decoy. The Eagles have been winning, so I guess you can’t argue with that, but to be honest, I could go out there and do what Vick does. If he isn’t handing the ball off, he’s running the option, and when that happens, its clear he has no intent on keeping the ball for the run. In Vick’s two games played, he has attempted five passes and completed one for one yard. He also has four rushes for 10 yards. Impressive is not the word that comes to mind when looking at those stats.
I understand it is still early in the season and there is really no reason for the Eagles to be revealing Vick’s true meaning to the team, but I ask Andy Reid to please stop playing with our emotions…
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
That Time Of Year...
As many of you know, and hopefully can tell, I am a die hard sports fan. I love all sports, but if you read my blog, it is also very clear that I favor football and basketball. Getting even more specific, as much as I love basketball, my favorite time of year is September at the start of the college and pro football seasons.
Let’s just look at opening weekend in college football. There were teams that came out and took care of business, as expected. Ranked at No.1, the Florida Gators pummeled Charleston Southern University, 62-3. The funny thing about that is, Florida was a 70-point favorite. The Texas Longhorns opened up against Louisiana-Monroe with a 59-20 victory and the USC Trojans ran through San Jose State, piling up 342 rushing yards.
Of course it’s no fun when everything goes according to the rankings. Everybody likes to see an upset. The No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners came up short against the 20th-ranked BYU Cougars in a 14-13 loss. Not only did Oklahoma lose the game and probably their national championship hopes, they also lost their starting quarterback and Heisman candidate Sam Bradford to a shoulder injury for at least a month.
To conclude week one, The University of Miami and Florida State went to battle in what I consider to be the best college football game I’ve seen since the USC v. Texas National Championship game. The nail-biter was full of offense and not very much defense (who can argue with that). Miami ended up winning the game, 38-34.
Opening week in the NFL was just as exciting as opening week in college football, with several intense close games and a few surprises. But if I talk about it in detail I feel like this post will never end…
All in all, there is no month like September.
Let’s just look at opening weekend in college football. There were teams that came out and took care of business, as expected. Ranked at No.1, the Florida Gators pummeled Charleston Southern University, 62-3. The funny thing about that is, Florida was a 70-point favorite. The Texas Longhorns opened up against Louisiana-Monroe with a 59-20 victory and the USC Trojans ran through San Jose State, piling up 342 rushing yards.
Of course it’s no fun when everything goes according to the rankings. Everybody likes to see an upset. The No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners came up short against the 20th-ranked BYU Cougars in a 14-13 loss. Not only did Oklahoma lose the game and probably their national championship hopes, they also lost their starting quarterback and Heisman candidate Sam Bradford to a shoulder injury for at least a month.
To conclude week one, The University of Miami and Florida State went to battle in what I consider to be the best college football game I’ve seen since the USC v. Texas National Championship game. The nail-biter was full of offense and not very much defense (who can argue with that). Miami ended up winning the game, 38-34.
Opening week in the NFL was just as exciting as opening week in college football, with several intense close games and a few surprises. But if I talk about it in detail I feel like this post will never end…
All in all, there is no month like September.
Friday, October 2, 2009
What Happened Kimbo?
Last Wednesday all eyes were on SpikeTV for the third episode of Season 10's Ultimate Fighter. If you watched the second episode, you knew the third episode would feature Kimbo Slice's debut fight as an Ultimate Fighter contender. The last 20 minutes of Wednesday's episode was focused on the two-round bout between Kimbo Slice and his opponent Roy Nelson.
At a first glance, Roy Nelson looks like a fat, out of shape bum, leaving you to assume Kimbo would most likely knock him out. But if you know anything about Roy Nelson, you know he is very skilled and has a lot more MMA experience than Kimbo.
Prior to the fight, Nelson said he would fight Kimbo standing up, but if he felt the fight shift to Kimbo's favor, he would take him down. He held true to his word. Kimbo showed a slight advantage when they were standing, so Nelson took him to the ground. Immediately Kimbo's inexperience was exposed, as Nelson used his size, specifically his weight, to pin Slice down in side control. Once in side control, Nelson had complete control of the fight and he repeatedly punched a defenseless Kimbo until the ref eventually stopped the fight.
While most were probably disappointed with Kimbo's performance, I saw a little potential. He appeared to be listening to his coaches and showed a solid stand up game, as expected. It's no secret that his weakness is his ground game, but with time, he can improve that enough to get him through fights. I don't think Kimbo will win this season’s Ultimate Fighter, but I do think he will have better success in his future fights.
At a first glance, Roy Nelson looks like a fat, out of shape bum, leaving you to assume Kimbo would most likely knock him out. But if you know anything about Roy Nelson, you know he is very skilled and has a lot more MMA experience than Kimbo.
Prior to the fight, Nelson said he would fight Kimbo standing up, but if he felt the fight shift to Kimbo's favor, he would take him down. He held true to his word. Kimbo showed a slight advantage when they were standing, so Nelson took him to the ground. Immediately Kimbo's inexperience was exposed, as Nelson used his size, specifically his weight, to pin Slice down in side control. Once in side control, Nelson had complete control of the fight and he repeatedly punched a defenseless Kimbo until the ref eventually stopped the fight.
While most were probably disappointed with Kimbo's performance, I saw a little potential. He appeared to be listening to his coaches and showed a solid stand up game, as expected. It's no secret that his weakness is his ground game, but with time, he can improve that enough to get him through fights. I don't think Kimbo will win this season’s Ultimate Fighter, but I do think he will have better success in his future fights.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Boxing Vs. UFC
Tonight marks the first head to head battle between popularity declining boxing and newly popular UFC. There has been a large debate about which sport has a larger following. With the decline in interest in boxing and the sudden popularity rise of UFC, the question is raised, which sport is more popular? The answer could all depend on how you define more popular. You could compare yearly pay-per-view sales. You could compare merchandise sales. For today the best comparison will be tonight’s pay-per-view sales. UFC has a card featuring Rich Franklin and the return of Vitor Belfort and boxing has a card featuring its number one fighter, Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Marquez.
My prediction for tonight is that boxing will have higher pay-per-view ratings than UFC. Numbers don’t lie, but they can be misleading. To be honest a Floyd Mayweather fight should out sell a UFC card that doesn’t feature any of UFC’s top five fighters. Floyd is the best pound for pound fighter of this era. He has an undefeated record of 39-0 (25 KO’s), finishing every fighter put in front of him. I think most people are anticipating Mayweather to win tonight pretty easily. After all, this fight is the warm up for the fight everyone actually wants to see, Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao. So while Floyd will probably out sell UFC, it is not exactly a fair fight.
I think the numbers that people should pay attention to are UFC’s pay-per-view ratings for tonight, compared to their average pay-per-view ratings. If there is a significant decline, then boxing still has hope. But if the numbers are about the same as the average, then that leads me to believe that not even a Floyd Mayweather fight could affect UFC sales, on a mediocre card…Not good for boxing.
I guess the only question left is which pay-per-view will you be watching tonight?
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Ultimate Fight: Heavy Weights
Make sure you watch the premiere of the Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Weights. If you haven't heard already, this season will feature the Youtube phenom Kimbo Slice. On top of that the two coaches in this season are Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans. With featured names like these, I anticipate this being one of the highest rated Ultimate Fighters, if not the highest rated. After all Kimbo Slice has two of the top three highest rated MMA fights of all time. Kind of incredible for a guy that became a star from street fighting. The show tonight comes on at 10 pm, on Spike. Like everything on Spike there will be plenty of reruns, so if you happen to miss it tonight, you can catch it later in the week.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A Big Laugh...
As the week came to an end, I decided the joke of the week belongs to…Mr. Andre Smith.
The Cincinnati Bengals first round pick Andre Smith suffered a small fracture in his foot in a non-contract drill just two days after ending a 30-day hold out. Andre Smith has been part of a bad chain of events that started at the end of his college season, including being accused of dealing with an agent before he was eligible which resulted in his suspension from the Alabama bowl game.
Next came the much anticipated NFL combine. Smith continued to disappoint after leaving the combine without telling anyone, only to explain later that he left because he felt unprepared. After drawing negative attention to himself, he returned for the 40-yard dash. If you haven’t seen Andre Smith run the 40, please please please click this link...(Andre Smith 40 yard dash...skip to the 42 second mark in the video) If you have seen the video already, you should understand Smith did nothing but embarrass himself as he wobbled 40 yards shirtless.
At one point, Smith was regarded as the top offensive tackle in the draft. However, after the agent and combine issues, team executives decided that his talent did not outweigh the possibility of future off-field issues, and the top five teams in the draft passed on him.
While being picked 6th is still a big deal, the first offensive tackle taken, Jason Smith, was selected second. Jason Smith’s contract is for five years $62 million, with $33 million guaranteed. Andre Smith’s contract is for four years $26 million with $21 million guaranteed. His contract also has a team option in 2010, that if exercised, Andre can earn $42 million with nearly $30 million guaranteed. Andre’s contract also states he will lose half of his game check each time he weighs in over 350 lbs.
In short, I guess it is good that Andre Smith and his agent finally got a deal done, so he can catch up on the things he has missed…but he has a lot of work ahead of him before he is ready to see game time. After watching HBO’s Hardknocks, it appears that Smith will have to earn the respect of his teammates and coaches. He has a little more to prove than the average rookie.
The Cincinnati Bengals first round pick Andre Smith suffered a small fracture in his foot in a non-contract drill just two days after ending a 30-day hold out. Andre Smith has been part of a bad chain of events that started at the end of his college season, including being accused of dealing with an agent before he was eligible which resulted in his suspension from the Alabama bowl game.
Next came the much anticipated NFL combine. Smith continued to disappoint after leaving the combine without telling anyone, only to explain later that he left because he felt unprepared. After drawing negative attention to himself, he returned for the 40-yard dash. If you haven’t seen Andre Smith run the 40, please please please click this link...(Andre Smith 40 yard dash...skip to the 42 second mark in the video) If you have seen the video already, you should understand Smith did nothing but embarrass himself as he wobbled 40 yards shirtless.
At one point, Smith was regarded as the top offensive tackle in the draft. However, after the agent and combine issues, team executives decided that his talent did not outweigh the possibility of future off-field issues, and the top five teams in the draft passed on him.
While being picked 6th is still a big deal, the first offensive tackle taken, Jason Smith, was selected second. Jason Smith’s contract is for five years $62 million, with $33 million guaranteed. Andre Smith’s contract is for four years $26 million with $21 million guaranteed. His contract also has a team option in 2010, that if exercised, Andre can earn $42 million with nearly $30 million guaranteed. Andre’s contract also states he will lose half of his game check each time he weighs in over 350 lbs.
In short, I guess it is good that Andre Smith and his agent finally got a deal done, so he can catch up on the things he has missed…but he has a lot of work ahead of him before he is ready to see game time. After watching HBO’s Hardknocks, it appears that Smith will have to earn the respect of his teammates and coaches. He has a little more to prove than the average rookie.
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