With no football this weekend, not much going on in the sports world except for college basketball. This is one of the more boring years of college basketball I can remember. NBA is worthless watching until the playoffs. Can we go ahead and have a Pistons/Celtics and Suns/Spurs conference finals? Hockey has been dead for years. Living in the south my whole life, I never watched it or grew to watch. The sport didn't invest in its community and the younger generation is moving on to other things.
Random Thoughts for the week:
Is this Brady walking boot thing a smoke screen? I watched all of the Chargers-Patriots game and didn't remember seeing an injury. Looks like Vegas isn't buying it b/c the Super Bowl line has not moved much.
I think the 12 point line is too big for the Super Bowl.
Who cares about this Tiger Woods, noose, comments BS. No one cares about golf. Golf is one of those sports people get more enthused as a participant than watching it.
After picking UNC to finish #1 in the ACC and GT to finish last, UNC loses at home and GT reels off 2 in a row. It's still early in the season.
Just got DVR last week and watched more TV this week than I have in a while. Thought the new show 'Moment of Truth', was over-hyped. 'Deal or No Deal' is still fun to watch. 'American Idol' has lost its luster. 'American Gladiators' and 'Celebrity Apprentice' have been surprisingly good. Starting to become addicticted to watching 'Las Vegas'.
Going to the movies on Saturday. Can't decide on 'Bucket List', 'Cloverfield', or 'Rambo'. Have a gut feeling Rambo will be a bomb. Wife wants to see 'Bucket List', but 'Cloverfield' has gotten really good reviews and did well at the box office last week.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
UFC 80 Preview - BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson
I've been following the UFC for the past 2 years. I think Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is one of the most exciting sports to watch. I remember watching in the early days with Royce Gracie at the frat house in college on our cheater box. I took a sabbatical up until 2006 for UFC: USA vs Canada, when I went to it live in Vegas. I was hooked again. The sport is growing and as time goes by, will evolve even more. I think there should be some rule tweaks, but I'll get into that another day.
Preview: BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson
BJ Penn is one of my favorite fighters. He has all the tools. Very good at everything: striking, jijitsu, ground n pound, etc. However, his downfall has always been his conditioning. I think he's over his non-conditioning and watching UFC Countdown the other night, he looks very focused. Penn has 4 losses in his career, all to world class fighters (Matt Hughes, GSP, Lyoto Machida, Jens Pulver). He could have very easily won all those fights. I think the BJ Penn domination tour starts this Saturday. Joe Stevenson is a good fighter and I like his attitude, but he's faced nowhere near the competition BJ Penn has faced. I just hope this fight is not a 25 minute hump fest with little action all on the ground. I expect Penn to submit him.
Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabrico Werdum
Gonzaga has revenge on his mind in this fight. Werdum defeated Gonzaga very early in his career. Both fighters have come a long ways since that fight. Gonzaga moreso than Werdum. Gonzaga shocked the world by beating CroCop. He turns around and looks scared against Couture. I thought Gonzaga should have dominated Couture, but I think nerves got to him. Werdum's last fight was against Andrei Arlovski. It was a lackadasical fight. I thought Werdum could have won the fight if he would have been agressive the whole time. His striking was not that bad. Arlovski looked as if he was fighting not to lose. Both are World Class jijitsu competitors. I think this fight will go the distance. 2 fighters coming off loses usually results into fighting not to lose. I give the edge to Gonzaga. He has the size advantage. Hopefully he'll use his leg kicks more, which he failed to do against Couture in the early part of that fight.
NBA Basketball Pick:
Cleveland/San Antonio Under 181.5
Preview: BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson
BJ Penn is one of my favorite fighters. He has all the tools. Very good at everything: striking, jijitsu, ground n pound, etc. However, his downfall has always been his conditioning. I think he's over his non-conditioning and watching UFC Countdown the other night, he looks very focused. Penn has 4 losses in his career, all to world class fighters (Matt Hughes, GSP, Lyoto Machida, Jens Pulver). He could have very easily won all those fights. I think the BJ Penn domination tour starts this Saturday. Joe Stevenson is a good fighter and I like his attitude, but he's faced nowhere near the competition BJ Penn has faced. I just hope this fight is not a 25 minute hump fest with little action all on the ground. I expect Penn to submit him.
Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabrico Werdum
Gonzaga has revenge on his mind in this fight. Werdum defeated Gonzaga very early in his career. Both fighters have come a long ways since that fight. Gonzaga moreso than Werdum. Gonzaga shocked the world by beating CroCop. He turns around and looks scared against Couture. I thought Gonzaga should have dominated Couture, but I think nerves got to him. Werdum's last fight was against Andrei Arlovski. It was a lackadasical fight. I thought Werdum could have won the fight if he would have been agressive the whole time. His striking was not that bad. Arlovski looked as if he was fighting not to lose. Both are World Class jijitsu competitors. I think this fight will go the distance. 2 fighters coming off loses usually results into fighting not to lose. I give the edge to Gonzaga. He has the size advantage. Hopefully he'll use his leg kicks more, which he failed to do against Couture in the early part of that fight.
NBA Basketball Pick:
Cleveland/San Antonio Under 181.5
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
2008 ACC Basketball Predictions
As a Georgia Tech grad and living in North Carolina, you can definitely say I'm in ACC Country. I have always followed ACC basketball, even in my youth in Georgia. I think the ACC will be uneventful this year. There's the North Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils, then everyone else. There are a lot of bad teams in the ACC this year, including my GT Yellow Jackets. The ACC is not the dominant conference this year. I don't think there is a dominant conference this year. Right now, it looks as if the Pac-10 is the best conference this year top to bottom, but they aren't dominant either. A lot of major conferences are top heavy like the ACC. This could be a year where we see a lot of mid-majors rise during the NCAA tourney.
Now for my ACC Predictions, yes, I know, we are a game or two into conference play, but pre-season predictions are useless in college basketball with teams relying so much on freshman nowadays. Right now, we have a gauge of some of the teams.
1. North Carolina
2. Duke
3. Clemson
4. Boston College
5. Maryland
6. Virginia
7. Miami
8. Wake Forest
9. Florida State
10. NC State
11. Virginia Tech
12. Georgia Tech
I break the ACC into 4 tiers. UNC is Tier 1. Duke is tier 2. 3 thru 8 is Tier 3. 9 thru 12 is Tier 4. By tiers, I mean each team is ranked in their Tier and I expect them to remain and will not move up or down a tier. Teams 3 thru 8 are the toughest to predict. I'm confident in the tier, but the order was tough to predict. I'm not sure if I can trust Clemson basketball. I think Wake Forest is the wild card of the bunch. They can potentially rise to 3 by the end of the season. They have the right tools. Miami is off to a great start, however, like Clemson, it's hard to trust Miami basketball. Virginia made a good run the second half of the season last year and their best player, Sean Singletary, is back. Could see the same this year. I may have BC up a little high. I've seen them play a couple of times and am not impressed. I would not be surprise if they falter the 2nd half of the season. Maryland is an anomaly. You just don't know which Maryland team shows up each night. Yes, I'm putting my boys (GT) last. I think this is a very bad, undisciplined team. I'm not going into detail right now. That's for another blog.
PICKS FOR TONIGHT (1/16):
Virginia Tech +5.5
Georgia Tech +11
Orlando Magic -1
Now for my ACC Predictions, yes, I know, we are a game or two into conference play, but pre-season predictions are useless in college basketball with teams relying so much on freshman nowadays. Right now, we have a gauge of some of the teams.
1. North Carolina
2. Duke
3. Clemson
4. Boston College
5. Maryland
6. Virginia
7. Miami
8. Wake Forest
9. Florida State
10. NC State
11. Virginia Tech
12. Georgia Tech
I break the ACC into 4 tiers. UNC is Tier 1. Duke is tier 2. 3 thru 8 is Tier 3. 9 thru 12 is Tier 4. By tiers, I mean each team is ranked in their Tier and I expect them to remain and will not move up or down a tier. Teams 3 thru 8 are the toughest to predict. I'm confident in the tier, but the order was tough to predict. I'm not sure if I can trust Clemson basketball. I think Wake Forest is the wild card of the bunch. They can potentially rise to 3 by the end of the season. They have the right tools. Miami is off to a great start, however, like Clemson, it's hard to trust Miami basketball. Virginia made a good run the second half of the season last year and their best player, Sean Singletary, is back. Could see the same this year. I may have BC up a little high. I've seen them play a couple of times and am not impressed. I would not be surprise if they falter the 2nd half of the season. Maryland is an anomaly. You just don't know which Maryland team shows up each night. Yes, I'm putting my boys (GT) last. I think this is a very bad, undisciplined team. I'm not going into detail right now. That's for another blog.
PICKS FOR TONIGHT (1/16):
Virginia Tech +5.5
Georgia Tech +11
Orlando Magic -1
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
NFL Roundup! NFC/AFC Championship Predictions
We've got the NY Giants vs Green Bay Packers in the NFC and the New England Patriots vs San Diego Chargers in the NFC. Before we get to my predictions, let's get my thoughts on the past weekend's results.
The Chargers and Giants shocked most everyone by winning this weekend. The Chargers moreso than the Giants. That was a gutsy performance by the Chargers, especially with all the injuries. However, I think the soft coaching from Tony Dungy and the poor defensive play cost them the game. There was poor tackling, giving up the big plays, and crucial turnovers in the red zone. It seems like almost every year, a team with a bye comes out flat. A lot of it has to do with the coaching. Yes, Dungy has a Super Bowl ring. Dungy led teams have a history of coming out flat and soft. See Tampa Bay and Indy before last year.
As for the Cowboys, very similar to the Colts. However, you could see the struggles from the Cowboys coming a mile away. If the Cowboys defense didn't play soft, I think they would have won. How many missed tackles did Toomer dodge, not break, on the 1st TD? It was unexcusable to let the Giants get away with that 2 minute drive at the end of the 1st half. Wade Phillips made a mistake giving the team the bye week off. It's playoff time! Their minds should be on football all throughout the playoffs. Romo can go to Cabo after the SuperBowl. The Cowboys and the Colts were suffering from the same virus. They expected to cruise through their games last week, but the Giants and Chargers wanted it more. Give the Giants and Chargers credit. They stepped up when they needed to and took advantage of mistakes.
Now for predictions for this weekend. The AFC Championship kicks off first. The Patriots are favored by 14 points. I think the Patriots blow out the Chargers. I am personally rooting for the Chargers. LT is in a class by himself on and off the field. However, I think the injuries will catch up to them. Chris Chambers has stepped up big for the Chargers the past few weeks. It will not be enough. Belichick will shut down Rivers and LT like they did their meeting earlier in the season. Brady will be Brady, Moss will be Moss, and the Pats will be the Pats. I expect the Patriots to win by at least 3 TDs.
The NFC Championship is very interesting. They are expecting a high of 7 degrees for the game. Everyone wants to see Brady vs Favre in the Super Bowl. Eli Manning has been playing very well as of late. It's been a collective team effort by the Giants. Favre is on a magic carpet ride. Ryan Grant had a game for the ages last week. I think this will be a close game. Even with the weather conditions, I don't think the Packers will have a great advantage b/c they aren't use to these conditions. Don't expect an air it out game from Favre this week. I expect the Packers to win a close won though. The Packers receivers against the beat up Giants secondary will be the difference in the game. I like the Packers to win, but not by the 7 point spread.
NFL PICKS:
New England -14
NY Giants +7
Stronger Play on New England.
The Chargers and Giants shocked most everyone by winning this weekend. The Chargers moreso than the Giants. That was a gutsy performance by the Chargers, especially with all the injuries. However, I think the soft coaching from Tony Dungy and the poor defensive play cost them the game. There was poor tackling, giving up the big plays, and crucial turnovers in the red zone. It seems like almost every year, a team with a bye comes out flat. A lot of it has to do with the coaching. Yes, Dungy has a Super Bowl ring. Dungy led teams have a history of coming out flat and soft. See Tampa Bay and Indy before last year.
As for the Cowboys, very similar to the Colts. However, you could see the struggles from the Cowboys coming a mile away. If the Cowboys defense didn't play soft, I think they would have won. How many missed tackles did Toomer dodge, not break, on the 1st TD? It was unexcusable to let the Giants get away with that 2 minute drive at the end of the 1st half. Wade Phillips made a mistake giving the team the bye week off. It's playoff time! Their minds should be on football all throughout the playoffs. Romo can go to Cabo after the SuperBowl. The Cowboys and the Colts were suffering from the same virus. They expected to cruise through their games last week, but the Giants and Chargers wanted it more. Give the Giants and Chargers credit. They stepped up when they needed to and took advantage of mistakes.
Now for predictions for this weekend. The AFC Championship kicks off first. The Patriots are favored by 14 points. I think the Patriots blow out the Chargers. I am personally rooting for the Chargers. LT is in a class by himself on and off the field. However, I think the injuries will catch up to them. Chris Chambers has stepped up big for the Chargers the past few weeks. It will not be enough. Belichick will shut down Rivers and LT like they did their meeting earlier in the season. Brady will be Brady, Moss will be Moss, and the Pats will be the Pats. I expect the Patriots to win by at least 3 TDs.
The NFC Championship is very interesting. They are expecting a high of 7 degrees for the game. Everyone wants to see Brady vs Favre in the Super Bowl. Eli Manning has been playing very well as of late. It's been a collective team effort by the Giants. Favre is on a magic carpet ride. Ryan Grant had a game for the ages last week. I think this will be a close game. Even with the weather conditions, I don't think the Packers will have a great advantage b/c they aren't use to these conditions. Don't expect an air it out game from Favre this week. I expect the Packers to win a close won though. The Packers receivers against the beat up Giants secondary will be the difference in the game. I like the Packers to win, but not by the 7 point spread.
NFL PICKS:
New England -14
NY Giants +7
Stronger Play on New England.
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