A Royal Dilemma

As we pass the halfway point of the 2009 NFL season, there have been as many surprises as there have been disappointments. I don't think anyone saw the Titans stammering along to an 0-6 start or the Saints still atop the league with an undefeated record. I don't think many people thought the Patriots would be one muffed kick away from an 0-2 start against their own division only to drop a Franchise record 69 points in a snowstorm a couple of weeks later. Yes, its already been quite a season and I'm sure things will only get wackier as we approach the season's end. One of the more intriguing story lines of this season has been that of the Denver Broncos. Beginning the season with a new head coach, a new system and a new quarterback, combined with one of the leagues toughest schedules, many experts predicted no better than a .500 record for the mighty stallions. This was not at all the case as the Broncos stormed out of the gate to the tune of a 6-0 record beating division leaders Cincinnati, New England and Dallas along the way. One of the last remaining undefeated teams, Denver is now looking like a lock to win the AFC West with a stern defense and an efficient offense. So everyone is right to praise 33 year old head coach Josh McDaniels, right? I mean he's already done so much for a team in apparent disarray to egin the season, what's not to love. Well I'll tell that I think McDaniels is an idiot for one simple reason: Failure to recognize a weapon when he has one, and that weapon is a 2nd year wide receiver by the name of Eddie Royal.

Royal burst on to the scene in his rookie debut on Monday Night Football, opening week of the 2008 season with a monster game: 9 rec, 146 yards and a touchdown. I remember watching this and thinking, oh man, this kid is going to be dirty, the Broncos just got a steal of a pick at WR. What was even cooler to me was the Eddie Royal was my age AND from my hometown. In fact, our teams used to play against each other every year and I even remember watching him play when I was in high school. It was crazy to see this kid go from public school in northern VA to going for almost 150 yards and a TD in his 1st ever game in the NFL. Royal finished the 2008 season with 91 rec for 980 yards and 5 tds, going over 100 yards receiving 3 times, including a 6 rec, 164 yd day against Cleveland in week 10. That was good for second on the team behind prima-donna star wide out Brandon Marshall. Pretty good, right? With the explosiveness that this kid has, and a year of NFL experience under his belt, Royal should be having a breakout season in 2009, am I wrong? I certainly didn't think I was wrong when I drafted him in my fantasy league this year. In fact, I thought i was getting a steal of a pick when I saw he had gone unnoticed through six rounds and happily added him to my already loaded roster.

Well here we are, 10 weeks into the 2009 NFL season and Royal has been virtually invisible putting up a pathetic 232 yards on 25 receptions. His longest gain has been for a measly 20 yards, well under that of a 93 yd reception he had last season. What really upsetting is that you can't even blame Royal for this slump. He is still averaging almost 10 yards a reception and making good catches when the ball is thrown his way. Whenever he gets a chance he produces, unfortunately someone has come up with an offensive scheme that virtually leaves Royal the odd man out. This guy is begging for balls to be thrown his way, yet he continues to get the shaft every week, I mean look at that picture, he LOVES it. He has only had one game this season where he had over 5 receptions. One! You can blame is on Kyle Orton and his lack of arm strength. You can blame it on Orton still trying to develop a rapport with Royal as a receiver. But I am choosing to blame it entirely on Head Coach Josh McDaniels. I have no idea what this guys problem is, but he's become obsessed with using Royal mainly as a decoy this season and nothing more. Pretty much the only time Royal was even able to touch the ball was on kickoffs and punt returns, which is consequently how he's scored his only touchdowns this season, returning a kick and a punt in the same game! And yet, inexplicably, McDaniels decides to take Royal out of the kick return team the very next game! So say what you will about how great a job Josh McDaniels has been doing as a rookie head coach, but I will refuse to listen until he realized the kind of potential he has in Eddie Royal.

For the 2009 Denver Broncos, Royal is like the cute nerdy girl from your high school (Think, Rachel Leigh Cook in Shes All That), who always gets overlooked by the "popular guys" (Coach McDaniels, Kyle Orton). Brandon Marshall is like the Diva, captain of the cheer leading squad who gets all the attention because of her good looks. But what the popular guys fail to realize is that the cute, nerdy girl (Royal) is who they should be going for all along. She's got the brains and personality already, and once she hits college and comes out of her shell you know shes going to be smoking hot (Or in Royal's case, a top 10 NFL receiver). So where do I fit in? I like to think of myself as the guy who is nice to her and stay's in on Saturday nights watching chick flicks from the 90s instead of getting drunk and hitting on the hotter, more popular girls. Putting in my time now, so when she finally does get hot, she remembers it was me who was always there for her. This is why I will not drop Royal from my fantasy team, because when you least expect it, he is going to produce, I can see it. Now all we need is stupid Josh McDaniels to see it. If you want to make a run at the playoffs you need to turn a mediocre offense into an explosive one, and Royal is the one and only man who can help. Please Josh, I am begging you, look to your diamond in the rough and everything will be OK.

Smell's like Tim Spirit

Ah, college football season is right around the corner, with a mere six weeks until the start of the 2009 season, major conferences have began annual media days, with the SEC garnering the most attention. And why shouldn't it? The SEC has been the Elite conference in the BCS...pretty much since the BCS began. In four of the past six years, the eventual National Champion has come from the SEC, and this year should be no different. This is a conference that routinely has four or five teams scattered amongst the top ten (LSU, Florida, Alabama and Ole Miss this year). Over the past three years the winner of the Florida-LSU game has gone on to win the National Title. The coaching in the SEC is the cream of the crop, with four out of the twelve coaches (Spurrier, Meyer, Saban and Miles) having won National Titles, and four (Spurrier, Saban, Kiffin and Petrino) having coached in the NFL. This conference is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else, so it is completely understandible why SEC Media Days are getting so much national attention.

What I find so funny is how this attention is getting directed by the media, with most of the interest surrounding the defending National Champion Florida Gators. Sure, the media could be asking about the development of an underclassman defense that's a year older and healthier than they were a season ago. They could be asking about John Brantley, and how much we are going to be seeing of him this season, or about the explosive play-making ability of true freshman Andre Dubose. The could even be asking about why the team decided to give Sophomore CB Janoris Jenkins the coveted #1 jersey (previously worn by Percy "No Mercy" Harvin). But no. That would only make too much sense. Instead, the media has grown fascinated with one question: Who of the eleven other SEC coaches did NOT vote for Tebow as preseason 1st-team all-SEC Quarterback? In what has become known as "votegate," this may go down as one of the stupidest "scandals" in sports history. What's even funnier is that none of the SEC coaches will admit to not voting for Tebow. One of them is lying to the public and the media will die trying to get to the bottom of it. I mean honestly, who cares? Why do people care about this, i don't get it?? It's funny, thats for sure, but it makes no difference whatsoever on how the season plays out. It is clear that Tim Tebow is the best QB in the conference, maybe in the nation. All this is going to do is give Timmy more motivation throughout the season, motivation that Tebow doesn't need but will be happy to add to the bulletin board come September.

So I guess the "culprit" is still "at large" and since nobody asked my opinion I'm going to give it to you anyway. I think it comes down to two men: Steve Spurrier or Lane Kiffin. This, to me, is a classic Spurrier move. This is the same guy who has voted for Duke in the coaches poll every year since I can remember, and this includes the years when Duke was coming off of winless seasons. The guy is shameless and he knows it. Just like he knew Duke was NOT worthy of being a ranked team, he knows that whoever he voted for was NOT better than Tim Tebow. It just seems to add up and I would not put it past the Ole Ball Coach. Lane Kiffin on the other hand is just an idiot. He thinks he is helping his team get attention by calling out the SEC Big Wigs but rest assured, he will be paying for it when the season starts. Don't get me wrong, I think Tennessee has a lot of talent, and will be contenders in the East again soon. But Kiffin has done too much damage this year. I have already penciled in losses to Florida, Alabama and Georgia and have potential losses to Auburn and South Carolina. I can see this team going 8-4 this season and getting into a lower tiered bowl game, but the losses they experience will be downright crushing. I could see Kiffin voting for someone else to get under Florida's skin more than he already has (if that's even possible). Go ahead Lane, do you want the Gators to drop 100 on you because believe me, if they can, they will. THIS JUST IN my suspicions were indeed correct. It was Steve Spurrier who didn't vote for Tebow. What can I say...it was almost too obvious. "SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom confirmed to ESPN.com that Spurrier called within the past 24 hours and asked that his ballot be changed to include Tebow as the first-team quarterback. Spurrier told Bloom that his initial ballot, with Snead as the first-team quarterback, was a mistake." A likely story Steve....anyway, I guess we can put "votegate" in the books for now, but for your enjoyment...here's what the Old Ball Coach Himself had to say:

“As I’ve been asked several times, I need to address it right know. Who’d you vote for? And in actuality I didn’t do much voting at all. I didn’t fill the sheet out, but anyway, my answer was, some coach made a pretty serious mistake or either dumb or careless mistake by not having Tim Tebow as his first selection. When all this came up in the Thursday morning paper, I read some guy did not vote for Tim Tebow, and i was like, who was that?

Our director Jamie Speronis, filled it out, brought it into me one day. I looked quickly at it and I said, that’s fine, I signed off on it. I called him I said, certainly we had Tim Tebow? And he said, well actually coach, we had Jevan Snead. And I said, well wait a minute. Why? Why? He said, we already had 10 Gators, and I said, that’s bad. That’s my fault, I take full responsibility. I messed up, and i apologize to Tim Tebow. We should not mess that up, we screwed it up pretty badly.

I’m embarrassed about it, I feel badly about it, and that’s the way it happened. I called Charlie Bloom, I said, can i change our selection from South Carolina to Tim Tebow? And he said yes, so I was able to put Tim Tebow in today, so it’s unanimous. It’s maybe not right, but we made a mistake, I made a mistake. Tim Tebow is not only the best quarterback in this league, I think he’s the best in the country. I think he’s the best football player in the country, and what he’s done there, I believe he and Danny Weurffel will go down in history as two of the best quarterbacks, maybe the two best to ever play college football.

I admire and I respect Tim and I apologize to him. He should have been on that ballot. We messed up, I messed up. I tried to correct it as best as i can. I messed it up, i take full blame for it and that’s the way it happened. That’s the way it happened and we’ll try to move on. I still feel very badly about what happened there.”

Anyway, aside from the ridiculous hoopla of "Votegate" there were some other interesting story lines that were covered at SEC Media Day. For example, Dan Mullen took the podium on Wednesday, talking about the future of Mississippi State. Mullen, the former offensive coordinator for the Florida Gators is entering his first season as a head coach and he will no doubt have a special game plan in mind when the Bulldogs meet the Gators on October 24th. In fact Mullen went as far as warning Urban Meyer that he better "change his signals" when the two teams meet. Rich Brooks of the Kentucky Wildcats and Bobby Johnson of the Vanderbilt Commodores are both coming off successful seasons. Brooks transformed UK into a top 25 team a couple of years back and is using a stern defense to win games and will be returning stud DB Trevard Lindley. According to Brooks "(Lindley) can line up with any receiver in the country." Lindley was also responsible for one of Tebow's four interceptions last season, picking off Tebow last year in The Swamp. The Commodores, on the other hand, have been the bottom-feeders of the SEC for years until last season when Johnson led the team to a 7-6 record. This was their first winning record in 1982 and their first bowl victory since 1982. They also managed to pull off a then-stunning upset of Auburn early in the season. Auburn is going to be an enigma this season. After years of consistency, perched atop the SEC West, the Tigers has a stunningly disappointing 2008 season which culminated with the firing of head coach Tommy Tubberville. New head coach Gene Chizik has been met with high praise, but I am unsure of how he is going to fair in his first season as head coach in a VERY competitive SEC West.

I am incredibly excited, like literally salivating at the thought of football season and am sure a lot of you out there are too. We are only six weeks away folks, just enjoy the media days and try to wet your whistle while you can, pain through the last few weeks and then get ready for another exciting football season.

In other news what more can be said about White Sox starting pitcher Mark Buehrle's perfect game last night. This is one of the rarest feats in baseball (his was the 16th perfect game since 1900) and definitely something that everybody should soak up while they can. Buehrle is one of two active pitchers (Randy Johnson is the other) to have a perfect game and a no hitter under his belt. Buehrle has accomplished what very few pitchers in the league have by attaining this accolade. On top of this accomplishment, he also has a World Series ring and has hit a home run in his career (Hall of Famer, anybody?) This was a great feat for baseball and I'm glad I was around to see it.

In local news, the Washington Wizards made what looks to be their final offseason move by signing veteran center Fabricio Oberto to a biannual exception deal of $1.99 million. The 34 year old center was a member of the San Antonio Spurs, where he started on the 2006-2007 NBA Champion team. He also won an Olympic Gold medal with the Argentine National Team in 2004. He will provide some much needed veteran leadership to an extremely young front court. Honestly, this was the best move the Wiz could have made as they look to be serious contenders in the East next season (Unless the fall victim yet again to the dreaded "crab dribble!"). With the development of second year center Javale "Up-phreys" Mcgee and continued progress of Andre Blatche, 22, I like the Wizards chances this season. I think they are right in the thick of things in an eastern conference race that is turning into more and more of a dogfight everyday.

Finally, it looks as though the Baltimore Orioles are going to bring up the prized pitching prospect Chris Tillman. The 21 year old Tillman has been lighting it up in AAA Norfolk this season, averaging nearly ten strikeouts per nine innings. His call-up could not have come at a better time for the O's (41-53) who have gone a dismal 1-5 since the All-Star Break. The birds square off against the Red Sox this weekend (...so look for another 3 Ls), before opening a series at home against the equally dismal KC Royals. Looks for Tillman to make his debut Monday against the Royals.

Thats all I have for today, until next time...

some statistics courtesy of espn.com

Notre Done

So there's been a lot of "riff raff" going on the past year or so regarding the future status of Florida Gators head football coach Urban Meyer. In his biography, Meyer stated that it has always been a dream to one day coach at Notre Dame.In fact, he has a clause in the contract allowing him to bolt from UF to Notre Dame if the opportunity should arise. Because of this information coming to light, a lot of credible sources have been insinuating that Meyer may do exactly that and take his "dream job" at Notre Dame once the Tebow era comes to a close following the end of this season. A lot of experts seem to think that Three National Championships (because we are winning it this year) and a Heisman Trophy winner(maybe two) in Four years would be enough for Meyer to want a chance at starting over, a chance to rebuild another program much like what he accomplished at Bowling Green, Utah and finally Florida. Before getting into my argument, I'd like to take a minute to look at Meyer's uber-success in the NCAA.

As a coach, Meyer has reached the pinnacle of success with every program he's been a part of. Beginning with his first coaching gig at Bowling Green in 2001, Meyer was responsible for one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA Division I-A football that year, taking the Falcons from a 2-9 record to an 8-3 record in his first season. This six-win improvement gave Bowling Green its first winning season since 1994. As a result, Meyer was named the 2001 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year. The following season he guided BGSU to a 9-3 record and landed highest national ranking in school history (No. 16 ESPN/USA Today and No. 20 Associated Press) spending five weeks in the national polls. As almost a prelude of things to come at Florida, BGSU finished third in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 40.8 points per game while becoming the highest scoring team in MAC history. They also finished ninth in the nation in total offense (448.9 ypg) and 11th in rushing offense (219.1 ypg) in 2002. They were the only team in the nation to average at least 215 yards rushing and 215 yards passing per game and led the nation in red zone production, scoring on 61 of 63 trips (96.8%) inside the 20-yard line, including 52 touchdowns.

Defensively, Meyer was equally successful ranking first in the MAC in scoring defense (19.5 ppg), rushing defense (86.3 ypg) and total defense (319.5 ypg) in 2001. Bowling Green also led the MAC in turnover margin both years under Meyer. In two years at Bowling Green, Meyer was 17-6 and 5-0 mark against BCS teams with two wins over ranked opponents.

This success led to his next promotion as he became the head coach at the Univeristy of Utah in 2003. Much like the situation at BGSU, Utah was coming off of a losing season (5-6), and much like at BGSU Meyer responded by leading Utah to a 10-2 record and and outright MWC title (their first sicne 1957) and a no. 21 ranking in that years' final AP Poll. Utah won five more games than the previous year and tied national champion LSU as the fifth-most improved team in the nation. Even more impressively, Meyer was able to achieve this against one of the tougher schedules in school history. The Utes went up against Pac-10 contenders Oregon and California(the Ducks were ranked No. 19 when Utah won in a 17-13 upset) while managing to beat perennial Mountain West Conference powers Colorado State, Air Force and Brigham Young for the first time in 10 years. They ended the season with a 17-0 victory over Conference USA champion Southern Mississippi. Meyer was the only coach in Utah's 110-year football history to win a conference championship in his first year. This led to Meyer being named the National Coach of the Year by The Sporting News.

The 2003 season was considered by many as the greatest season in Utah history...well that was until the following year where Meyer and the Utes went an unprecedented 12-0 earning a spot in that years' Fiesta Bowl. This was the first time a non-BCS school earned a BCS bid, and if that wasn't enough, Meyer won. He upset the Pittsburgh Panthers and proved to the nation that the little guys could hang with the big guys. Following this monumental victory Meyer saw his next opportunity before him, replacing Ron Zook and taking the reigns at the University of Florida.

I think we all know what happens from here....two National Championships and a Heisman later, Meyer is responsible for one of the most successful football programs over the past decade and is on the verge of winning yet another National Championship this season. His 2008 team was the first in SEC history to score 30 or more points against every SEC Opponent. He was at the top of the SEC rankings in Offense, Defense and Special teams, and somehow managed to have an even more successful season than Steve Spurrier's Fun and Gun Gators of 1996. I remember when I first got to UF, when older students would regale me with stories of the Spurrier era and how we would routinely score 50 points a game. It seemed like a dream to me, something that we would never see again. That was until 2008, when we started beating teams by scores of 56-3 and 70-10. The difference between Meyer and Spurrrier is that Meyer has an incredible defense to complement his offense. A ot of the points the Gators scored last season were off of Defense and Special Teams, this was something that Spurrier never emphasized during his tenure at UF. So why would the guy ever think of leaving to take on a lowly Notre Dame team? Short Answer: He wouldn't.

This past weekend Meyer put an end to speculation of him leaving UF after the season with this quote:

"I'm not going to Notre Dame. Ever. I'm going to be the coach at Florida for a long time, as
long as they will have me."

Some people think Meyer only said this to help his recruiting while he stays at Florida. Alot of other teams have been using his ties to Notre Dame against him when trying to land the same recruits as Florida. Like, they will tell a top recruit that they shouldn't even consider Florida because Meyer will be gone after this season. This becomes a problem for the Florida football program, so it is understandable that something needed to be said. However, since becoming the head coach at Florida, Meyer as always been a man of his word and I see no reason why it wouldn't be the case in this situation.

Now, I know Meyer began his coaching career at Notre Dame and has always had a soft spot for them. I realize Meyer is addicted to new challenges and the thought of being able to transform a team, His team, that was once the mecca of college football, back in to a national powerhouse is nothing short of tempting. But I also realize that Notre Dame isn't what it used to be. In fact, Notre Dame represents everything that is wrong with college football today.

For starters, Notre Dame refuses to be part of a BCS conference, yet they get treated like a BCS team every year. There is even a special rule in the BCS that says if Notre Dame is ranked 12th or higher in the BCS rankings, they get into a BCS Bowl game. They also get to make their own schedule, where they usually sign up to play 8 easy games so they are assured a winning record and a bowl bid every year. This is ridiculous, Notre Dame gets to just sit around "eating cheeseburgers" while other teams are going through grueling schedules in attempts to earn bowl bids. Why doesn't ND just join a BCS conference? Is it because they want to keep tradition? No. It is because they are greedy. See, when a BCS schools wins a BCS bowl or a National Championship, all of the money they receive for playing gets split up equally amongst the entire conference. So when Florida won last year, the SEC all shared the profits from the win. So by not joining a conference, if (and this is a pretty big 'if') Notre Dame ever wins a National Championship(or even a bowl game...) they get to keep all the earnings for themselves. I know what you're thinking: "Good for them, they should get to keep all the money for winning, its not like the other teams helped them win or anything," and to an extent, this argument makes sense. If the USA is a country based on free enterprise then why is the BCS rooted in communist principles? But what you are forgetting is that Notre Dame is a catholic school. Wait, Notre Dame is THE catholic school. They are a part of the same catholic church that is considered the richest organization in the entire world.

So is funding really that big of an issue at Notre Dame? No. They are just greedy bastards and it sickens me. It's funny though, since the BCS began in 1997, Notre Dame has only one bowl win (Hawaii in 2008). In fact, since 1994, Notre Dame's bowl record is 1-13! Dismal. Maybe its karma for a greedy organization and a sign that they need to join an actual conference. There are so many conferences right now that are dying for extra teams so they can have a conference championship (ahem...the big ten). It almost makes too much sense. ND is located in the Midwest. They already play Michigan, Michigan St. and Purdue every year. The Big Ten has 11 schools currently, meaning one more school would give them enough teams for two divisions and a conference championship. Notre Dame, get off your high horse and join the Big Ten. Maybe then you will finally have a legitimate argument to play in a BCS Bowl because scraping wins against Army, Navy, and Duke just isn't cutting it anymore....just ask Utah (Undefeated and still not even a chance at a National Championship).

...But I digress, we were talking about Urban Meyer and why he would ever leave college football paradise for an old, used, and abused program like Notre Dame. Urban Meyer has it made at Florida. First off, Florida is a recruiter's dream. One thing about the south is that its climate is mild year round. This means that kids are playing football in the middle of December. As a result, you have what I like to call a "hot bed". Kids coming out of high school that are better prepared for football because they get to play more than kids coming from northern climates. Case in point: Florida has some of the best available talent in the nation. Meyer essentially has his pick of the litter and doesn't have to travel more than 200 miles in any direction to find it. Contrast that with Notre Dame's recruiting situation, where they have to scouer all corners of the nation in search of recruits. Why would Meyer want to spend all of his offseason traveling when he currently has the best talent in his own backyard?

Second, Meyer is a pretty active individual. He likes to golf, he likes to run, and most importantly, he likes football. There is no better place to be if you like the outdoors than in the state of Florida. Heading back to Indiana would mean frigid winters and less time to hit the links. He has also established quite a life in Gainesville; he is an active part of the community, his children go to school in the town and he has more money than he knows what to do with. Even if Notre Dame comes at him with serious cash, guess what, Florida is already going to make him the highest paid coach in college football, so what does it matter? If its more money he is looking for, the only place to find it is in the pros.

Third, he is already a god a Florida. I dont see the point in going somewhere else and risk tainting an already unbeleivable career. He has arguably passed Steve Supprier as the greatest coach in Florida history, and I think if he stays, he will go down as one of the greatest coaches in NCAA history. You will see his name right up there with Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes and Pete Carroll. It just seems to me that this is the smartest move he could make. If he wants to be remembered as one of the all time greats at the college level, he will stay in Florida. If he doesnt, then there's always the NFL. Either way, it looks like Notre Dame is S-O-L if they ever think they are going to get the Urban Legend.



Urban facts courtesy of: http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/meyer_urban00.html

Thats it, hope you enjoyed this rant. Until next time...

The Comeback Kids

Wow...something really special had to happen to get me blogging again as I typically see summer as an overall downer for sports. Although, its not all bad in the summer, you have Wimbledon (who apparently give hotties center court preference), the US Open, countless soccer matches, marquee boxing, plus you get to see the NBA draft and Free Agency open up. But when your MLB team falls farther and father away from .500 everyday, it can be hard to deal with baseball season on a daily basis. This is why I have been in a blogging cocoon for the last month, but last Tuesday the Orioles got me believing again. In what had to be my most exciting experience as an O's fan (believable since they've sucked for the last 11 years) the Orioles managed to climb back from a nine run deficit heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring ten unanswered runs in two innings to stun the AL leading Boston Red Sox 11-10, capping the biggest comeback in franchise history. That's right, in the 50 odd years the Orioles have been in Baltimore, this was the biggest comeback ever and the fact that it was against the Red Sox only made it sweeter. This game had everything including my heart in my throat for most of the game.

It started off like your typical O's game, close for about three innings until someone from the other team blows the game open by hitting a mutli run homer. This day was no different, at least it appreared to be no different, but then something happened. Raindrops. What started off as a beautiful summer day quickly turned into a rainstorm the likes of which I haven't seen since my days at the University of Florida. A rain delay was called before the start of the 6th inning and the only hope for O's fans in that moment was the the game would get called off (since it technically want a complete game yet). At that point the Sox were up 9-1 and nobody felt like staying around to watch another blowout. Fortunately for me, I happened to roll up to the game with a family of die hard Red Sox fans and they wanted to stick around to see as many runs scored as they possibly could. So almost 90 minutes later the water subsided and the remaining....i don't know...2,000-3,000 people took to their seats to watch the rest of the game. The top of the 7th inning was more of the same. The Red Sox looked in great shape as they added yet another insurance run to their growing lead. It's 10-1 Sox at this point and them some of that Orioles Magic decided to kick in. You know, they say strange things usually follow a rain delay, I used to write it off as folklore but that was all about to change.

Luke Scott took a monster swing and was only inches away from a three run homer. He settled for an off-the-wall (RIP MJ) double annd drove in Aubrey Huff to cut into the lead by a run. Stud rookie Nolan Reimold (if you don't know this kid yet, do yourself a favor and read this) advanced to third base, Scott was safe at second, and pinch hitter Oscar Salazaar stepped up to the plate. Salazaar had been lightining it up on the AAA Norfolk Tide, but I dont think anybody saw this coming: A low inside fastball led to a booming shot over the left field wall and a three-run homer for Salazaar. The score was now 10-5 and it looked like maybe, just maybe we had a game on out hands. Everyone was getting in on the action now, even lowly Felix Pie. The worst hitter on our team hit twice in the final two innings, including an RBI single to close out the 7th inning. Mark Hendrickson (3-4) then retired the side and the O's headed into the bottom of the 8th inning facing a four run deficit. After a string a singles and a sacrifice fly pulled Baltimore within one run of tying the game, the Sox decided to bring out their ace. After going through four closing picthers (Delcarmen ,Masterson, Okijima and Saito) Boston finally handed the riegns over to Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon had never blown a save against the Orioles in his career, effectively closing out 21 consecutive games vs. the birds, but he hadn't counted on facing Nick Markakis. After retiring Felix Pie and drawing a 2-2 count on Markakis with 2 outs, Papelbon gave up a triple, allowing two runs to score and giving the Orioles the lead for the first time and for good. Mr. Excitement George Sherril came in to close out and in true Orioles fashion (almost blowing the save) pulled out in the end and recorded his 17th save of the season.

And thus concludes the biggest comeback in Orioles history. Way to go boys, lets use this as a little momentum heading into the all-star break. And props to Adam Jones to making his first All-Star appearance. This guy has future-of-the-franchise written all over him.

Now that my narrative is finished, I'd like to take a minute to talk about the NBA and some of the moves that have been taking place over last week with Free Agents. First of all, this is not a great year for Free Agents, in fact it is one of the most mediocre classes that I can remember, however there have been so many moves the 2009-2010 NBA looks like a shell of its 2008-2009 Self. Shaq goes to Cleveland, Artest goes to the Lakers, Sheed goes to the Celtics and Carter goes to the Magic. The funny thing is, these four teams were already good. They were already serious NBA Title contenders for next year, they all added serious pieces and hardly had to give up anything. I can't wait to see who comes out of the East between these three teams. It looks like the balance of power has finally shifted in the NBA as the East is going to be a dogfight through the entire season. You could make an argument for 10 or 11 teams who will be vying for the 8 available playoff spots. Its gonna be great.

...And then there's the Wizards. Desperate to make a "big" move like everyone else, the Wizards traded their number 5 draft pick, along with half of the big men on the team for Mike Miller and Randy "ya foye" Foye. I'm not sure how I feel about this to be honest. On the one hand I like Mike Miller as a former Gator and he will get to contribute immediately to the team. He's this kind of guy who will get you 8-8-8 a game and if there is anything we can use on this team, its a guy who can pass the ball. I am also loving Randy Foye. Not only will he provide great minutes off the bench, but he is the ultimate insurance policy for Gilbert. Lets face it, there's no telling how healthy Gilbert is going to be throughout the season. His minutes are questionable as is his durability. But now, if he goes down for an extended period of time, we have a proven starter who is willing to come in and run an offense. I mean honestly he's the best back-up a team could ask for and would be a starter on most other teams (Fun fact: he also has reverse organs in his body). He can also play both guard positions so he may even start at the 2 for the Wizards at some point. On the other hand, the most pressing issue this offseason was the lack of big men on the roster. Haywood and Jamison are getting old and are not going to be able to give as many minutes as they have in the past. Yes they are still good players and will make an impact this season, but shouldn't we have tried to get someone younger would could complement Gilbert and Caron up top? I mean this Free Agency had some decent big men who you could get of a reasonable amount of money. Charlie Villanueva signed for just under $8 Million, Rasheed Wallace and Ron Artest signed for Mid Level Excpetion Deals, Even Shaq didn't demand that much money and it was obvious since February that the Suns were shopping Amare Stoudamire. But now the Wiz are left with only 4 big men, two of which are vastly inexperienced. Don't get me wrong, I think Javalle "Up-phrey's" Mcgee is the real deal and will flourish in Flip Saunders offense. The kid is a tree and can pretty much block anything, but with all the moves everybody else has been making this offseason, it just seems like the Wiz have come up a little short. I definitely think they will be in the thick of things come playoff time, but they are looking more and more like another first round exit and less like a title contender.

some statistics courtesy of espn.com

Thanks for your patience between blog entries. Until next time....

Hell or High Wieters

So today I am officially ending my O's blogging strike. I made it known after a four game losing streak and a sweep by the Yankees that I would refuse blogging about the Orioles until I saw at least a three game winning streak. Well guess what....as of yesterday, Baltimore completed their first three game sweep of the season, and consequently their first three game winning streak as well. So blogs away...hope you enjoy.

The timing of this winning streak could not have come at a better time or in better fashion as it did yesterday afternoon. In one of the wackiest games this season, the Orioles (21-26) pulled off the come-from-behind victory in extra innings against the free falling Toronto Blue Jays. Falling behind 7-2 early after a six run 4th inning from the Jays, the O's were able to produce a five run inning of their own in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game and eventually force extra innings. All five runs were given up by Blue Jays reliever Jesse Carlson (what you would call a real hitter's pitcher), the most given up by Carlson in one inning in his career. So everything was looking good for the O's heading into the bottom of the 9th as they saw themselves with two men on base and only one out with the top of the order waiting to strike. Unfortunately, Carlson was able to save face a little bit and got out of the jam to keep the game going for another inning. After trading outs through the 10th, apparent disaster stuck in the top of the 11th. With one out and one man on base, Arron Hill blasted one into right field and put the Jays up 10-8.

At this point, as I am watching the gamecast on my computer at work I am thinking "great, just great, another one of many shortcomings that I have seen from this team all season...". It was time for me to go home, so I shut down the computer expecting to read a bottom-line score of 10-8 when I got home and turned on sportscenter. However, when that moment came I threw my arms up in celebration as I saw the O's had pulled off the unthinkable and actually won the game by topping the Jays in the bottom of the same inning. After Luke Scott drove in Nick Markakis to cut the lead to a run, rookie left fielder Nolan Reimold blasted a shot of his own into center for the three run walk-off HR making him the first rookie in the past 18 years to hit a walk-off homer for the Birds (Leo Gomez did it on August 12, 1991 against Donn Pall of the White Sox). Final score: 12-10 Orioles. It was great to see some clutch performance on the offensive end finally. The O's recorded a season high 18 hits to score 12 runs. They rallied from behind twice, scoring five runs in the 7th and four runs in the 11th to record their 5th win in the last six games. The Orioles begin a three game series with the Detroit Tigers tonight (7:05 EST).

Can I talk about Nolan Reimold for a second? Where did this guy come from (actually...Bowling Green)?? One minute, we are relying on the scattered play of Felix Pie, and the next minute we have a bona-fide slugger who has really come into own over the past few weeks. During his 13-game stint for the O's, Reimold is batting .265 with 4 homers and 9 RBI. Not the most impressive numbers perhaps, but for a rookie who was thrown into the big leagues, I'll say he's holding his own pretty well. Capped with his three-run walk off last night, Reimold has set out a warning to opposing pitchers: You don't want to pitch to me when the game is on the line. Oh man! I am loving how these youngsters are stepping up....only a matter of time, just hang in there O's fans.

But wait, there's more!!....

Friday marks a significant moment for the Baltimore Orioles this season as their hopes for that "magical" .500 season may still be alive. About a quarter of the way into the regular season, the O's have finally decided to bring up their "Ace in the Hole" prized prospect catcher Matt Wieters as they embark on the second of three games against the Tigers (7:05 EST). Wieters has been the most talked about baseball prospect in the last few years and is already being hailed as the best prospect in all of baseball this season. In fact, one sportswriter whose name I forgot said Wieters could very well be the best catcher in the Majors by the end of this season. So my question as he steps up to the plate for the first time on Friday is can this kid live up to all the hype? Most signs point to yes, but I think it is still much to early to be certain. Here's a look at some of Wieters' accomplishments to date:

Drafted out of Georgia Tech in 2007, Wieters batted a combined .355 with 27 homers and 91 RBI last season with A Frederick and AA Bowie to earn the Brooks Robinson Award as the Orioles' minor league player of the year. This season, Wieters is batting .305 with five homers and 26 RBI with AAA Norfolk through Tuesday. He is a switch-hitter, which confuses pitchers about what to use against him. He also has formidable arm strength, making him a nightmarish match up for speedy base runners. Adding a guy like Wieters to the line-up gives the Orioles on of the most complete offenses in the Majors. They now have 8 guys who can hit the long ball and are threatening an any point in the line-up. You are looking at 1.Brian Roberts, 2.Adam Jones, 3.Nick Markakis, 4.Aubrey Huff, 5.Mevlin Mora, 6.Luke Scott, 7.Nolan Reimold (another rookie that has had a huge impact on the team already....just ask the Blue Jays and the Nationals), and 8.Matt Wieters. What pitcher would want to face that lineup?? I hate to jinx it, but if we can get some of these young pitchers to step up (Hill is 2-0, Bergesen and Berken both recorded wins in their 1st careers starts, and Tillman and Hernandez are still waiting in the wings) we may be able to get hot down the stretch. This is potentially going to be great to see as the summer begins, and good thing too because there isn't going to be much else going on during the "dog days" of summer. Cross your fingers Orioles faithful (but not you Nationals redcoats!), I think I can see something in the distance. I have to squint really hard, but I think it says .500....

That being said, this could just be another case of deja vu for O's fans. Haven't we heard this before? How long have the Oriole's sucked for, and how many "top" prospects have we landed only to see them fade away when the hit the Majors. I feel like every year we are supposed to have some baller kid come up and "save" the team, but guess what it? It NEVER happens. I think O's fan's just trick themselves into believing this to be true every year to soften the blow and mask the realization that we just suck. Although this remains a possibility with the Wieter's situation, I think he has been praised by too many throughout the baseball world for it to be a fluke. Maybe he wont start off as hot as everyone thinks he will, but by the end of the season he should be making his mark on the team no problem, besides, he cant be worse then Chad Moeller right?

That's it for today folks, stay tuned for an NBA Finals preview as I break down the remaining games of the Conference Finals. Can the Lebron's avoid a historic upset? Can the Nuggets bounce back and close out on a hostile road environment?? The NBA Playoffs continue to heat up and I don't think anyone knows who's going to be playing in the finals.

some statistics courtesy of espn.com

Until next time...

Hey Ricky Don't Lose That Number....

If you haven't heard by now, the results of Tuesday's draft lottery didn't go exactly as anticipated, which means bad news for Wizards fans. After winning the tiebreaker with the Los Angeles Clippers, the Wiz found themselves with the 2nd spot in the lottery and the 2nd best chance at landing this year's top overall pick. Now, I know that most of the time the worst team doesn't end up with the top pick, in fact, since 1990, only four teams with the worst record have won the lottery: the Magic in 2004, the Cavs in 2003, the Sixers in 1996 and the Nets in 1990. Crazier things have happened, I get that, but still I had high hopes for a Wizards team that really wasn't as bad as their record indicated to steal a franchise guy and maybe a NBA Finals appearance a couple of years down the road. Alas, my hopes were crushed as the Wizards hear their name drawn much earlier than expected, winding up with the #5 pick, while the Clippers, the team with the position that the Wiz would have had if they'd lost the tiebreaker ended up with the 1st pick. I know what you're thinking, "Hey! the 5th overall pick is still pretty good, what's all the fuss about?" But this year it couldn't be further from the truth.

In what is one of the weakest drafts in recent history, there are only really two players that are worthy of being taken in the top five in my opinion. The first and most obvious choice is Blake Griffin, who has been on NBA radars since he first put on his OU jersey back in 2007. This guy may be a little overrated, but there is no doubt that he could have an immediate impact on any team that drafts him. The second guy who could turn out to be a real game changer right out the gate is Spanish showman Ricky Rubio. I've been watching tape of this kid since the Beijing Olympics and let me tell you first hand that he is the real deal. His passing is so superb that he makes Steve Nash look like Dan Werner. Honestly, I would prefer Rubio to Griffin if I had the first pick in the draft. But since America has already decided unanimously that Blake Griffin is God, the Clippers, and maybe even the Grizzlies (#2 overall) are going to pass on him. Aside from those guys, the rest of the field is weak upon first glance and I really see no difference between the 5th pick and the 25th pick. Everyone in that range seems to have an equal chance of impacting the teams that drafts them.

So why do the Wizards always pick the worst possible draft years to suck and get a high pick? The last time the Wizards were fortunate to land a top 5 pick was in 2000 where they won the cherished #1 overall pick and foolishly squandered it (thank you very much Michael Jordan...) on Kwame Brown. This kills me on two levels because not only was he the biggest bust at the top of the draft since Sam Bowie (thank you very much Micheal Jordan...), and set the Wiz back another couple of years, but he was also initially committed to my Alma mater, the University of Florida. Had there not been as much hype around him by the likes of MJ and others, he would have played for the Gators and had at least one year of Billy-Ball under his belt. His presence at the college level could have helped a team that snuck into the National Championship game in 2000 as an underdog, get there again as a favorite in 2001. Instead, he went on to flounder in the NBA while the Gators went five straight seasons without making it past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.

It's been nine years since the dawn of a new millennium and our little Wizards team is all growns up and is all growns up (So I'm the a**hole in the bar...). That being said, I don't think the Wiz and Abe Polin will be as foolish as they have been in the past, as a high draft pick gives them quite a bargaining chip to work with. I see two possible options/directions that the Wizards could go in by utilizing this pick. First, in what seems to be a popular idea, they could package this pick along with Antawn Jamison and attempt to land a proven, somewhat young big man to join Gilbert and Caron as part of a new "Big Three." One team that is in the discussion is Phoenix, who wants to clear up some cap room and has been shopping around F/C Amare Stoudamire for the past season or so. I think Amare would be a great fit in Washington's offense. He's fast, he's athletic and he plays the same position as Antwan so there wouldn't need to be any adjustments made to the line-up. For Phoenix, they get a guy in Jamison who will give them consistency for at least another year or two and they don't have to worry about keeping him to a long term contract after that. Also, they could draft a young big man with the 5th pick that could work with Jamison and develop to fill into his role once he departs from the team.

A second option could be for the Wiz to trade with Memphis up to the second pick and use it to draft Ricky Rubio (highly unlikely but would be a dream come true for me). Initially, this may look like a bad move for the team since they already have the 111 million-dollar-man Gilbert Arenas playing the point, but I think that a player like Rubio would, if anything, enhance Gilbert's scoring ability and allow him to utilize his silky smooth shooting skills (alliteration intended). With Rubio at the point, Gilbert could be moved to SG. This almost makes too much sense, as a shooting guard Gilbert could focus primarily on shooting off "off-ball" screens, much like Ray Allen does in Boston. Let's face it, the guy is going to have had lost a step or two coming off of three surgeries, so this position would allow for him to still be a scoring threat, without banging his knee up driving to the hoop or having the ball in his hands all the time. This could be a good way for Gilbert to ease back into real game scenarios and also give the Wiz a deadly back court with Deshawn Stevenson and Nick Young coming off the bench. Unfortunately, I don't see what the Wiz have to really entice the Grizz besides their pick. I don't think Memphis would be too inclined to to eat up what's left of Antawn's contract while not dumping any significant salary of their own in the process. Unfortunately, this looks like a lost cause, but it's still a cool scenario to think about..or mull over thinking what could have been...

I also wanted to take a minute to talk about the NBA Conference Finals and the complexity of these two match-ups. I find it ironic how the Lakers and the Cavs are both the favorites to win their series, and yet their respective opponents are clearly the more complete teams. While LA and Cleveland are anchored behind one incredibly dominant superstar, Denver and Orlando have a lot of role players and position players that contribute equally to the game. Let's look at Denver first and how they match up against LA.

This Denver team was incredibly underrated heading into the playoffs, I myself had them losing in the first round to the New Orleans Quit Show, but even I can admit when I make a mistake. These guys are for real and they are doing it by practicing the fundamentals of basketball. Denver's defense has been unstoppable at times. Carmello Anthony may be one of the most underrated defenders in the league, as he has proven that Kobe Bryant can be stopped (although Kobe did mange to sink a few wet J's right in Melo's face). He was all over Mr. Consistency for the first two games of this series, and the rest of the team struggled as a result. This allowed for the Nuggets to get favorable match ups for the rest of their starters and the defense was able to thrive. He is also so versatile on offense and can make you pay in a lot of different ways. As an incredibly strong small forward, he always has an advantage under the boards. A lot of times this will draw a double team and he can kick the ball out to an open shooter if he doesn't muscle in the hoop himself. He can also shoot the long range shots and can create shots for other players. It's nice to see Melo finally coming into his own after living in the shadows of Wade and Lebron for the last six years.

Does anyone on the Lakers have an answer for Chauncey Billups? This is another guy that I slept on all season and never truly realized how important he is to this team. He made everyone on the Lakers look stupid in game two, creating his own shots and drawing fouls pretty much at will. He is a nightmare to contain for opposing defenses, especially one that's still searching for its identity like LA's. Billups finished with 27 points, Melo added 34 and 9 rebounds, and the Nuggets stole away home court advantage in a 106-103 victory last night. As for supporting casts, Denver's is as scrappy as they come. The difference in this series is the hustle that the rest of this team shows every time they are on the court. Whether its fighting for loose balls or creating turnovers, it just looks like Denver wants to win more. I am so impressed with this team, I really believe that they have the tools to win a championship.

What's shaping up to be another exciting series is the Eastern Conference Finals. I don't think anybody saw Orlando's game one victory (107-106) coming, especially Cleveland. Lebron James had a career playoff high 49 points and it still wasn't enough to get the win. In the same way as Denver, Orlando is the more complete team in this series. Cleveland's offensive strategy worked pretty well during the regular season, but it was destined to fail because of their lack of role players. Essentially, the Cavs built their entire team around Lebron's style of play, and since Lebron's does pretty much everything, all Cleveland had to find in a supporting cast were guys who could knock down jump shots when their defenders left them to double Lebron. Since James is the one creating all the shots, everyone else's decisions are based on what he does. Take James out of the equation and you are looking at a lottery team in the Cavs. This is favorable for the Magic because they have guys on the floor aside from Dwight Howard that are proven difference makers (Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu) and are matching up incredibly well against the sub par Cleveland players. In game one 'shard was playing like the all star he was in Seattle. If he can keep producing like he did, Cleveland is in big trouble (though, they already are in trouble). He was unstoppable Wednesday night, hitting the same shot time and time again. This is a perfect example of how the Cavs supporting cast can't really compete, I mean, how many times are you gonna let Orlando run the same play? It was hard to watch, it really was. The key to beating Cleveland is easier than many thought it would be. Shut down the role players and you can win, even if Lebron puts up silly numbers, which he undoubtedly will. I would like nothing more than to see a Magic/Nuggets finals just to spite the NBA and all their terrible officiating, because you know its in their best interest to have a Lakers/Cavs final (The puppet commercials have already penciled those two teams in). In an earlier post, I said that a Lakers/Cavs final HAD TO happen for the good of the NBA and the good of every NBA fan, but now my stance has changed. I think a Nuggets/Magic finals would be just as exciting a match-up because the teams are better and they are hungrier to win since nobody expected them to make it there in the first place. The NBA, where unexpected happens...

I got nothing to say about the O's (16-25) except hopefully they can end their losing skid against the woeful Nationals this weekend's "battle of the beltway" (not too much of a battle, these days...). NBA and NHL Playoffs all weekend, enjoy your memorial day.

some statistics courtesy of espn.com

Until next time...

King of the Spring (NHL vs. NBA)

Hey Max Kellerman, listen up because I got a hot lead on the biggest bout since Pacquiao vs. Hatton. It'll be perfect for Friday Night Fights. No, it isn't anything involving Floyd Mayweather (although July 18 should be marked on everybody's calendar as ya boy makes his return to the ring vs. Marquez). I am talking about stacking up the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs against the first two rounds of the NHL playoffs. This one may go the distance, Max. You've had excitement on both ends in the First round with even more buildup in the respective second rounds, more game seven's than I wish to count (although I will for your enjoyment) and a slew of superstars to go along with everything. So here it is folks, a match for the ages... "llllllllllllllllets get ready to rummmmbbblleee!!!!"tm. (Boy, I hope I don't get sued by Michael Buffer for that one)

Ding Ding:

Round 1: The Upset

The first round of the NHL playoffs had as marquee of an upset as you can have, as the 8 seeded Ducks of Anaheim dethroned the 1 seeded San Jose Sharks. Winners of this year's President's Trophy, the Sharks had the best record in the NHL and were at one time the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Looks like those Mighty Ducks had other plans (do you think they implemented the "Flying V" into their offense?). They made it look easy, going up on San Jose 3 games to 1 before winning the series in six. I am shocked and appalled that the media didn't make a bigger deal out of this upset, which was no doubt monumental in hockey's storied history. The Sharks are only the fourth team in NHL history to go from winning the Presidents' Trophy to first-round elimination in the NHL playoffs. I just remember the uproar we all heard from the media in 2007 when the 8 seeded Golden State Warriors knocked off the perennial favorite Dallas Mavericks in the first round. You never heard the end of it. "Its one of the biggest upsets in NBA history," they would say. Well, I don't see how this is any different, if anything this is more impressive. This is a team that was completely restructured midway through the season, who were clawing at the end of the regular season just to make the playoffs and who had an inexperienced goalie at the helm in sophomore stud Jonas Hiller (the west coast's version of Varly) who replaced supposed All-StarJean-Sebastien Giguere. This was nothing short of a miracle, and clearly a first round match-up to remember.

The NBA playoffs were few-and-far-between in the upset department, with the biggest upset probably being the 6 seeded Dallas Mavericks unseating the 3 seeded San Antonio Spurs. This is actually a bigger upset than it looks. The Spurs rarely and I mean RARELY lose in the first round, hell they rarely even lose in the second round. In fact, this year marks the first time the Spurs have lost in the first round since 2000 when they fell to the Suns and their longest drought without an NBA finals appearance since 1999-2002 (Their last appearance was in 2007). Not only did they lose, but they got spanked, barely avoiding the sweep in a 4 games to 1 decision. The Mavs rallied to win 4 games in a row to close out the series and advance out of the first round for the first time since making the NBA finals in 2006 (Probably the last time Crystal Taylor was let out on parole too...). So yeah, I guess you could call this a pretty big upset. I didn't even think Dallas was going to make the playoffs this year but they managed to close out the regular season strong and showed everyone that they deserved to be there. The only hole in the story is that the Spurs were battling injuries all series. Tim Duncan was playing through soreness and all-star 6th man Manu Ginobli was on the sideline in a suit and tie. If those guys were playing at the top of their games, this would have most likely been a much more interesting series as this is typically one of the best rivalries in the West.
Advantage: NHL


Round 2: The Stars

As is usually expected come play-off time, fans have the privilege of seeing the league's best players square off to bring their team a title, and there was certainly no shortage of star power in either league so far this postseason.

The NHL got to see the emergence of two great young goalies that nobody even knew existed before April. Simeon Varlamov of the Washington Capitals and Jonas Hiller of the Anaheim Ducks were suiting up in the AHL gear earlier this season only to have huge coming out parties when their teams needed them the most. After a disappointing game one loss to the offensively challenged New York Rangers, Capital's coach Bruce Beaudreau decided to pull the veteran Jose Theodore for a 20 year old Russian kid who didn't know a word of English. The result? Genius. Varly recorded shutouts in 2 of his first 4 games and left the series as one of the league's best goalies. Hiller performed in similar fashion holding the surging Detroit Redwings scoreless through nearly 60 minutes in a grueling game two triple overtime thriller in the second round, recording 59 saves and propelling his team to a late (and I mean late) victory. Aside from the goalies the NHL gave us two of the best athletes to play the game since the Great One himself. Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby lived up to their names in every way possible, combining for 26 total points in their round two match-up, including a game where both superstars recorded hat tricks. Can it get any better than that?

What more can you say about the direction of the NBA over the last decade. So many guys have turned the league's image around and strived to promote unity, charity and responsibility to appease many disgruntled fans and parents of younger fans. In this year's playoffs, we got the opportunity to see all of these guys compete against each other with class (this excludes you Derek Fisher and probably you too, Rajon Rondo). The "Redeem Team," who took home the gold metal in the 2008 summer Olympics pretty much all showed up for this year's playoffs. Chris Paul, and Dwayne Wade unfortunately saw first round exits after disappointing performances by their teams. However, Lebron, Kobe, Dwight and Melo are all still alive and vying for a spot in their respective conference finals. You also got to see the defending champs scrap their way to victory after victory behind the leadership of all-stars Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. You got to see the most underrated player in the NBA dismantle teams on his way to a 7th straight conference final in Chauncey Billups. You also got to see fellow Olympians Dirk Novitzki (Germany) and Tony Parker (France) on the hardwood. The only place I would dock the NBA is the exclusion of the original blogging sensation, my boy Gilbert from this years playoffs...but I think that is destined to change next year.
Advantage: NBA

...we've got a real slug fest going on here, eh Maxy Boy? Let's move on to the next round. Ding!

Round 3: Game Sevens Galore

Wow, the NHL really hit the jackpot this season, especially in the second round with three of of the four possible match-ups going to a seventh game (too bad they have manatees in the scheduling department who refuse to stop airing two games at the same time). I will tackle the second round in a minute, but lets not forget the amazing round one match-up between the Capital and the Rangers. After falling behind 3 games to 1, the Caps rallied to win three in a row and beat the Rangers in game seven off of a Sergi Federov goal with time winding down in the final period. You also had the 6th seeded Carolina Hurricanes push and eventually break the third seed New Jersey Devils in a Game seven where the Canes came back from down one in the final two minutes of the game. Jussi Jokinen and Eric Staal each scored in the last 1:20 of regulation to beat New Jersey 4-3. This was also a series that included a literal buzzer beater by Jussi Jokinen in game four. Great couple of Seven game first round series.

The NBA also had the pleasure of seeing two first found series go to seven games, also both on the east coast. However, these two series couldn't have been more different from one another. On the one had, you had probably the most boring seven game series in NBA history, and on the other you has arguably the most exciting one of all time. The Hawks and the Heat duked it out in a seven game series that was about as exciting as watching hair grow. Not once in this series did a team fail to lose by double digits, with each team dismantling the other in successive games. How was this possible? How could these blowouts go back and forth with such predictability? I was more than happy when this series was finally over, but was bummed because I was really looking forward to it before the playoffs started. Whatever, I'll get over it because then there was the Bull-Celtics series. Another 1st round series that was so littered with overtimes it was like watching two series being played at once. I will get back to this game later, but lets just say it turned all of America into either a Celtics or a Bulls fan for two weeks. Kudos to a future match-up that could delight NBA fans for years to come.

Now, back to round two. The NHL really couldn't have asked for anything better this year. With Carolina v Boston, Anahiem v Detroit, and the much anticipated Washington v Pittsburgh series all going to seven games. On top of that, Chicago scored 5 goals in the 3rd period to upset the Vancouver Canucks in a wild game six of their series too! The Anaheim v Detroit series was an unbelievable one, where the lowly 8 seed once again took a front-runner to the limit, falling just short in game seven by a score of 4-3. This was a series that saw a triple overtime game, that's right TRIPLE OT! The Boston-Carolina series came to an end in OT as well as Carolina upset the top seeded Bruins 4-3 last night. So now you are looking at a 5 and a 6 seed advancing to a conference final, amazing. Finally, you had the Caps/Pen series, which I will get into later, but lets just say this was another series littered with overtime's and game changing moments out the wazoo. Overall, there were seven games in the second round that were forced into overtime. Its been a great run for the NHL in the playoffs so far, I hope this will bring the NHL back to national prominence like it was 15 years ago.

The NBA was fortunate enough to have two second round series make it to seven games. The Celtics-Magic has been almost as exciting as the Celtics-Bulls(or at least as exciting as it could be, I don't think we could have asked for a better encore), with the Celtics rallying from big deficits in two games, and almost coming back from a 28-point deficit in game one. The Magic have looked dominant at times and flat at others, but no doubt everything will be on the line come Sunday. Also the Huston Rockets accomplished what few believed, pushing the runaway Western Conference favorite LA Lakers to a seventh game as well. They have been doing it with stout defense and precision shooting when it counts. They are like a completely different team on their home court and it will certainly be a challenge to go into the Staples Center and knock off LA on Sunday. This has been an aggressive series with tons of technical fouls and ejections, all the more reason for fans to keep watching. Look forward to a couple of good game sevens this weekend.
Advantage: NHL


Round 4: The "Game-Defining" Series of a Lifetime

OK folks, this is what playoffs are made of. The series that you will be telling your children about 20 years from now, and there was one from each of these leagues.

The NHL was extremely fortunate to have its two biggest stars go head to head for a grueling seven game series culminating in a 6-2 whooping in Washington D.C.. Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby out matched each other night after night in an "Anything you can do I can do better" series that saw 3 overtimes, two hat-tricks in one night, a total of 26 points scored between the two players and a never say die mentality (well...until game seven anyway). This was as good as it gets folks. This was the Magic v. Bird of the NHL. Not since Wayne Gretzky have we seen such prowess on the ice as we have from these two young guns. It ended in an upsetting fashion (especially for Washington Fans) but I think the NHL got exactly what it expected. This rivalry is far from over, and with the help of this second round series, we are looking at one of the all time great match-ups in any sport for years to come.

Equally as exciting was the first round series between the defending champion Boston Celtics and the pesky Chicago Bulls. Nobody gave the Bulls a chance in this series, but after a game one win in overtime, people were beginning to come around. Much like its NHL counterpart, this series saw four games go into overtime, including one double overtime and one triple overtime game. There was more excitement packed into these seven games than in the entire 2008 playoffs combined. It was incredible, and although there wasn't much on the line, being that it was only a first round match-up, this is still going to be remembered as one of the greatest series in NBA history, and with all the great match-ups that have happened in the NBA that is saying a lot. You had the emergence of two young guys who no doubt will leave their mark's on the NBA in the coming years in Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo, as well as a rag-tag supporting cast on both teams that nobody gave any credit to during the regular season. I was especially impressed with the way the Celtics were able to compensate for the absence of their best player Kevin Garnett and string together a title defense that is a good as any in recent memory.

The scary thing is, this may not even be the best match up in this year's playoffs. We are one series away from potentially seeing the NBA's version of Ovechkin vs. Crosby, as Kobe and the Lakers and Lebron and the Cavs are both still alive for a spot in the NBA finals. Forget Magic v. Bird, this match up between two guys, two former teammates on team USA, who took the league by storm will be as hyped as any NBA finals someone my age has ever seen. I know the Lakers are looking a little flat down the stretch, but if they manage to pull this off we are looking at a historic NBA Finals...I can't wait!!!
Advantage: NBA

Winner: NBA

So there you have it folks. The final bell has sounded and the decision has been made. The NBA playoffs still reign supreme. It was a closer than expected bout, but the NBA still has the potential for a marquee match up, while the NHL's best has already past. Its amazing how close this fight really was though. Look for the NHL to only get better in the years to come. There is no doubt the intensity level is better in the NHL, but with a series like the Celtics-Bulls and the thought of a Cavs-Lakers final, it was just enough to edge the phenomenally exciting NHL playoffs out of the winners circle. Hope you all enjoyed the fight. Back to you in the studio Max....

That's it everyone. Make sure to watch the Preakness Stakes this weekend. Looks like Horse Racing will be the first sport to integrate sexes as front runner Rachel Alexandria looks to take the crown from a group of feisty Studs. Look for Kentucky Derby winner Mine that Bird to give her a run for her money...this is gonna be good. Also, the O's (15-20) are staring down a 9 game road trip as they look to get back to .500. They beat the Royals last night, but are facing Zack Grienke tonight (6-1, 0.51 era...oh lord). God speed boys, god speed.

some statistics courtesy of espn.com

Until next time...

Double (2-0). 0 (0-3). Seven.

So far, it has been as series for the ages. Could we really expect anything more from these two teams heading into game 7? It has been hyped as the NHL's "marquee" match-up since 2004 (when Sid and Ovi were drafted), and all everyone has been hearing about since the onset of this year's playoffs. Yes, this Capitals/Penguins series has certainly met and exceeded all possible expectations. In six games we have seen more lead changes, more overtimes, more intensity, more hustle and more insane saves than in any series in recent memory. You've had two superstars live up to their names and then some, as well as a myriad of unlikely heroes along the way. This has been a series where the teams have been tied or within a goal of each other 92 percent of the time. I mean, how much better could this get? It has become the NHL's version of the Celtics-Bulls series that wowed the country two weeks ago. A sort of "NBA on ice" that has already seen three different overtimes (The Caps have now played more overtime periods against the Penguins than against any other franchise), and has had just as much razzle dazzle as any play-off series in any sport over the last decade.

What's interesting about this series though, is that nothing seemed to add up from the start. In five out of the six games played, the team that has scored first DID NOT end up winning, which is an anomaly in itself. You had the team that went up a commanding two games to nothing turn around and lose the next three (after winning a franchise record five in a row) and facing elimination going into game six. The Capitals have been out shot in every game, and really outplayed in every offensive category throughout this entire series, and yet here we are at a 3-3 stalemate and you can throw everything else out the window. Its been a series where the NHL's self-proclaimed "saviors" have clashed to combine for 23 points (13 points for Ovechkin on 7 goals and 6 assists and 10 points for Crosby on 6 goals and 4 assists) in only six games, culminating in a thrilling Monday night showdown that almost ended this Cinderella story one game too early. Fortunately for the Capitals, that wasn't the case.

Things looked bleak early for the Capitals who trailed 1-0 giving up a goal four minutes into the first period to Bill Guerin after a turnover by Alexander Semin. The defense held strong though, eventually shutting out the charging Pens for the rest of the period. The Caps were out shot 18-5 by Pittsburgh in the period, making it the biggest period shot differential that the Caps have faced all play-offs. Going into the second period and facing the same deficit, the Caps finally were able to generate some offense. Ignited by Victor Kozlov, who finished with two goals on the night (the first multi-goal play-off game of his career), and continued by my boy Thomas Fleicshmann, the Caps jumped to a 2-1 lead that they looked like they were going to hold heading in the third. That was until defender Mark Eaton tied it up on a power-play goal with 50 seconds remaining in the period.

So the stage was set like it had been so many times before. Tie game heading into the third period. You could feel the tension amongst us Caps fans. Uncertainty was the only thing that was certain as we approached the final twenty minutes of regulation. Another power-play early into the period spelled disaster for Washington as Kris Letang (goals in three straight games) capitalized and gave the Pens a 3-2 lead. Not sixty seconds later, the Capitals answered tying the game off of a goal by Semin, who finally woke up from his play-off coma, then took the lead thirty seconds later thanks to a second goal by Victor Kozlov. So this should be it, right? The Caps hold on and push the series to game seven just like the experts predicted. Wrong, that would be too easy. Sid the Kid scored with under five minutes to play to tie the game, yet again, at 4 goals apiece.

The final act of regulation came with two minutes to play. After Brooks Laich was hit with a critical slashing call that put the Pens on a power play, it was up to the defense to close out regulation. At this point, Pittsburgh had connected on two out of four power plays and had all the momentum to close this thing out as the thought of another overtime loomed large. Washington's defense as well as goalie Simeon Voila-mov played fantastic during this final stretch and the Caps were able to push the game to yet another overtime. Voila had a wonderful game, despite allowing four goals, racking up 38 saves (the Caps were out-shot 42-26 in the game) and keeping his save percentage above 90%. He was hit with a barrage of shots over those final two minutes, but he never faltered. He's still playing like a seasoned veteran despite being only 21 years old and has definitely been Washington's "X-factor" all play-offs.

Finally, game six of the series was right where it needed to be: Overtime. Unlike two of the three games that preceded it, this time it was the Capital's whose backs were against the wall and it was clear that they would not go down without a fight. Despite being on the road, the Caps had the momentum going into the extra period, coming off of a big penalty kill to end regulation. They played with the confidence that they had at the end of their first round match-up with the Rangers and looked like the better team on the ice for the first time in three games. Then it came down to the unlikeliest of heroes. David Steckel, a solid role player over the course of the regular season who was beginning to come into his own this series deflected Brooks Laich's shot past Marc-Andre Fleury into the net for the game winner. This was Steckel's third goal of the series. In what was certainly the biggest shot of his career, Steckel saved the game and the season for a Capitals team too loaded with talent to call it quits in the second round. Steckel helped the Caps break their seven overtime game losing streak and bring a HUGE momentum shift heading into Washington for game seven. After six games of this series I can say that it has been a bumpy, uncertain and gut-wrenching ride that unfortunately has to end come Wednesday.I, for one, can't wait to see how it plays out.

In other news, Washington Nationals stud third baseman Ryan Zimmerman looks to extend his hit streak to 30 games. Now, all you readers know that I am an O's fan and I have been known to say that I would take Nick Markakis over Zim any day, but I gotta tell ya, this kid is slowly making me eat my words. He essentially makes the strike zone disappear when he's at the plate, its unbelievable. I know its early to bring up "what shall not be named" and I don't want to jinx the guy, but could you imagine? It's nice to see the Nats have some relevance for once in the majors, and they have actually been playing somewhat well as of late. Behind the bat of Zimmerman, along with the arms of some young pitching, the Nats have finally cracked double digits in wins (didn't think we'd be seeing that until June!). Adam Dunn is leading the team with 11 homers and Zim is currently hitting .381 with 6 dingers of his own. Don't look now, but these guys could have a better record than the O's pretty soon...unfortunately. But seriously, I'm happy for them, keep up the good work guys.

There are a couple of big games in the NBA playoffs tonight as the Magic look to bounce back after a heartbreaking loss at home to the C's on Sunday night courtesy of a Big Baby Davis 18-footer to win the game 95-94. The Lakers also look to reclaim the series lead after falling to a Yao-less Rockets on Sunday. These are both great series and I can't wait to see what happens. Finally the O's open up a two game series with the D-Rays tonight as they try to claw their way back to .500.

some statistics courtesy of espn.com

That's all I got for today, you better watch Game 7 tomorrow night if you know what's good for you. Donald Brashear looks to make his return after facing a 6-game suspension and then a healthy scratch last game. Until next time...