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Let’s take a look at the NL East, where anyone, well almost anyone can emerge as the winner. I’ll take a look at the teams in alphabetical order, saving the Nats for last, where they belong. The Marlins, Mets, Phillies, and Braves will all be contending this year, with question marks on every team. Who will emerge the NL East champion?

 

Atlanta Braves

Last year the Braves finished in 4th place leap years behind the 3rd place Marlins. They are now younger, stronger, faster. They have also padded their pitching rotation with savvy vets Derek Lowe and Javier Vasquez. They will anchor a rotation that includes Kenshin Kawakami and Jair Jurrjens. The lineup will include McCann a power hitting catcher. Besides that, there are a lot of questions marks. Kotchman, Kelly Johnson, Garret Anderson and Escobar are all great role players, but there are too many of those on this team. Schafer is a steoroid using question mark, and Jeff Francouer has to prove himself once again. The rotation is decent, especially once they call up phenom Tommy Hanson from AAA. They also have a decent bullpen with Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez. The depth on offense isn’t legit though.

 

Florida Marlins

This team contended with the Mets and Phillies down to the wire last year. I think they’ll be right behind those 2 teams once again. They boast a young beastly pitching staff, which many consider the best in the NL East. Nolasco, Josh Johnson, Volstad,  Anibal Sanchez, and Andrew Miller have a lot to learn though. They can all strike out the best of them, but we all saw what happened to Dontrelle Willis. Is that the fate of the Marlins pitching staff? Or will they be the best indeed? The lineup is also young, and there aren’t many studs besides Hanley Ramirez. Uggla can hit for power, but hits around .240, while Maybin, Hermida, Baker, and Cantu can turn into studs, but haven’t yet. The bullpen is weak with Matt Lindstrom as the closer.

 

New York Mets

The Mets failed to make the playoffs with their 2nd collapse in a row last year. It won’t happen again this year. Their biggest question mark is their pitching staff, and suprisingly its not the bullpen. They had the worst bullpen of all the major contenders last year, but shored it up with the acquisitions of JJ Putz and FRod. Long relief may still be an issue though. But if the starters can get to the 7th, you can pretty much wrap up the game. The question is, can the starters get to the 7th? Santana is a stud, but there have been talks about cutting down his workload. The rest of the staff is full of question marks. Maine, Oliver Perez, and Mike Pelfrey have to step up and get it done in order for this team to make the playoffs. Having an offense like the one the Mets do, does help the staff a bit. This lineup boasts power and speed with Carlos Delgado, David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran. Daniel Murphy may be a nice surprise in left field.

 

Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies astonishingly came back to win the division last year. Can they do it again? They have the studs to get it done. Cole Hamels leads a staff that is a bit better than the Mets staff, but has the same amount of questions marks. If Oliver Perez breaks out, why can’t Brett Myers round back into form? What if John Maine and Joe Blanton are just good #4 pitchers, but can’t get it done higher up in the rotation come September? The Phillies, just like the Mets have a robust lineup that doesn’t lack power or speed, trust me, they won’t miss Pat Burrell much. Howard, Utley, Rollins, Ibanez, Victorino, and Werth have the Phillies thinking repeat. The rotation along with Hamels, includes, Myers, Jamie Moyer, and Blanton. There aren’t many concerns with the bullpen that includes Lidge, Madson, JC Romero, Durbin, and Eyre. They don’t matchup with the Mets here, but they have more depth in the pen and the lineup.

 

Washington Nationals

The reason why baseball doesn’t have much parity is because of teams like this. If anyone thinks that this team will contend, they need to lay off the Melatonin. The lineup has some power with Nick Johnson, Adam Dunn, and Ryan Zimmerman, but has more questions than answers. Milledge and Dukes have potential to be all stars, personally, I don’t think either ever gets there. There is some good depth with Willingham, Dmitry Young, Bard, Belliard, Kearns and Patterson being added. Their pitching staff is also full of question marks. I’ll admit it looks better than recent years with Lanna, Scott Olsen, Daniel Cabrera and rookie sensation Jordan Zimmerman, but it won’t matchup well with any of the other East teams. Joel Hanrahan is a decent closer but won’t be getting many save chances in this loaded division.

 

Projected Finish

Phillies

Mets

Marlins

Braves

Nationals

 

I know, it looks a lot like last year. But the top 4 teams will be closer than last, and the Nats may add a few wins to last year’s total. I still think due to the Mets and Phillies being powerhouses, and the Marlins with a great pitching staff, the Braves will once again find themselves in 4th place. Only this time it won’t be 13 games behind Florida. This will be a good race for 3rd, I think the Marlins will edge them by only a few games, with both teams only being no more than 10 back of the Mets and Phillies. The Nationals will once again be in last, and contend for worst record in the NL, if not the majors, but they have made some strides in the right direction. They just play in a very competetive division. I don’t think that Maine, Perez, and Pelfrey get it done for the Mets, but their offense will carry them to a wild card. Phillies have the pieces to get it done again, matching the Mets stride for stride. The only reason i’ll take the Phillies to take the division, is because I don’t want to be wrong when the Mets blow another late September lead.

Looks like the debate over the best conference this year is over. RPI meant nothing, as the Big East is standing tall in the NCAA tournament, losing only 1 team per round, and having 5 representatives in the Sweet 16.

 

The Big East after last night are now 14-2 in the tourney. Their main competitors, the ACC, and for some reason the Big 10 due to RPI weren’t even close. The ACC lost 4 teams in the first round, then lost Maryland in the 2nd round. What was supposed to be possibly the best game of the tournament thus far, ended up in a drubbing of Duke (the ACC’s 2nd best team by far) by Villanova (the Big East’s 4th, 5th, or 6th best team). The ACC’s record now stands at a measley 5-6.  The Big 10 is 6-6.

 

Both conferences only have 1 representative left in the final 12 teams, while the Big Beasts from the East boast 5 teams out of 12. With Louisville playing an overmatched Arizona team tonight, you can pretty much slate either 4 or 5 BE teams in the Elite 8. Not to mention that Marquette only lost by 2 on a botched play by Lazar Hayward in the final seconds against a Missouri team that just destroyed a top notch Memphis team. We could easily be looking at 6 elite Big East teams. And they kept up with Mizzou without their best player in Dominik James.

 

My prediction, going away from the Bracket I have already filled out. Louisville, Uconn, Syracuse and either Pitt or Nova fill the final 4.

 

And of course Notre Dame is represeting the best conference in history as a final four representative in the NIT. Yea I know, who cares?

The Indian Wells is probably my favorite tennis tournament after the big four grand slams…it is one of the schedules on the ATP tours where some of the highest ranked players show up to play, probably because it is in sunny California.  Last year majority of the top 15 seeded mens and womens players played in this tournament.

 

This year seems to be no different.  Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and Gonzalez reached the final 16, with Nadal and Roddick scheduled to play soon.  Last year Djokovic beat american Mardy Fish in a fairly good game to win the final match….hopefully this year Roddick will bring it home for the Americans!

Personally, I feel the MVP should usually be reserved for players on a team which will win over fifty games and have aspirations for a championship…it is kind of tough to ignore Wade now.  Who’s your pick?

For those of you who don’t know Mark Cuban (surprisingly there are quite a few of you), he is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and chairman of HDNet and 2929 Entertainment.  He is the same billionaire that once served Dairy Queen items to fans himself and danced on Dancing with the Stars.  He is known for getting involved on numerous occasions with referees, players, and his favorite person of all; David Stern.

Say what you want about the Jason Kidd trade (I for one agreed with it) or his antics…but one thing I can say about Cuban…he knows how to run a business…can you find a more passionate owner in ALL of sports? Someone who sits with the fans wearing Mavericks jerseys and screaming with giddiness everyone Dirk Nowitzki or Jason Terry hits a 3?

On his personal and official blog, blogmaverick.com (one of the very few blogs I frequent often) he wanted to do his part in helping to jump-start this economy.  His method? Post your ideas on his blog and he will finance you (with a few rules in place)…why does this work? It gets people motivated, interested to find a way to make money.  so if you have an idea…I highly suggest reading his Stimulus Plan article and post your ideas.  I know I will.

What a game…what a send off….Tyler knew this was going to be his last game at the UNC arena and wanted to make sure the fans got everything they came for with a 79-71 win over one of their fiercest rivals in Duke.  Of course, he had a lot of help from his teammates including Lawson who hit some clutch shots.

 

In his post-game speech to the fans and celebrities such as Michael Jordan and Raymond Felton he acknowledged the great time he had at UNC and Not many players can say they played all four years at college and still expect to be picked in the NBA lottery come summertime…but Hansbrough is one of them, who expects to be one of the top five picks.  Still, he has a lot of work to do before the NCAA season is over!

Ok, an update on an earlier post where I said Fox and Brian Austin-Green had broken up. Apparently, it was a publicity stunt. Man how I hate stunts!!!

The Dallas Cowboys have cut their number one wide receiver and offensive weapon in Terrell Owens. So what does this mean for their upcoming season? Well it’s going to be a bumpy ride, that’s for sure. Let’s take a look at what the Cowboys have done or not done so far this offseason, and how their opponents have faired.

1 – Adam Pac Man Jones is released. Well, I may be the only one, but I think he’s a good player. Off the field is a completely different story. This move can be viewed in either direction, i’ll call it a toss up.

2 – Cowboys tender Miles Austin, Stephen Bowen, Sam Hurd and Corey Proctor. By putting a 2nd round draft choice tag on Austin and Hurd, they shored up decent 3rd and 4th wide receivers, but would soon release T.O. leaving big holes at that position. The tenders weren’t a bad move though, they were smart ones.

3 – Brad Johnson is released….finally.

4 – Dolphins sign offensive lineman Berger, Cowboys don’t care, and neither does anyone else.

5 – Cowboys sign Jon Kitna. Ok, this is a huge upgrade over Bollinger and Brad Johnson, good move, but in the end, he’s still a backup. Unless he gets to start in the playoffs over Tony Romo who only shows up for the regular season.

6 – Keith Brooking signed by Boys. That defense needs some leadership.

7 – Cowboys sign Matt Stewart. They’ve also let go of Zach Thomas.

8 – Cowboys trade Anthony Henry. Nothing major.

9 – Canty signs with Giants, steal from Cowboys. If you’re going to let him go, make sure he doesn’t go to the Giants for god sakes.

10 – And of course the two biggest splashes, Owens is cut, Roy Williams is cut.

Well, with the Giants defense getting stronger by a little bit this offseason, and the Skins making big splashes, the Boys didn’t help themselves. They are only looking better than the Eagles in that division at this point.

Roy Williams is the most overrated safety in the NFL. Yes, he can hit harder than any other safety, but beyond that, there is no beyond that, that’s all he’s good for.

Owens on the other hand is vital to this offense. Jason Witten was seeing a wide open middle of the field due to Owens being double covered. That middle of the field will be clogged up this year, those double teams will come on Jason Witten. Linebackers will be able to stuff the box and try to stop the run as they don’t have to worry about Owens anymore. Yes he had off field issues, but was it really worth giving up the centerpiece of your offense? Only time will tell.

And with their first round pick, the Dallas Cowboys select….(insert WR here)

The season is over, the Steelers and their fans are still celebrating their historical run to the championship.  Now its time for the off-season.  First up, the Chiefs picked up Matt Cassel (was originally headed for the Broncos, thank god this didn’t happen) and linebacker Mike Vrabel) for only a second round pick….I wonder which team won here.

 

The Broncos picked up linebacker Andra Davis, RB Correll Buckhalter, and safety Brian Dawkins…solid off-season so far for the team.

 

The Giants were able to land the two players they wanted the most to solidify their defense; linebacker Michael Boley and Rocky Bernard.

 

The Saints resigned linebacker John Vilma and brought back tackle Jon Stinchcomb as well.

This was bound to happen, really, it was. Stephon Marbury (proud alienator of locker rooms) was allowed to talk to other teams since the beginning of the season and through all news reports the frontrunner always seemed to be the Celtics with the Heat coming in a close second. The Knicks finally released Marbury (financial terms were undisclosed) but he probably received most of his $20 million salary anyways.

I personally would have let him rot in New York for the rest of the season, why give him the opportunity to replenish his career after what he did to the Knicks for so many years? What makes this even worse is that if the Knicks do wind up with the #8 seed and the Celtics end up with the #1 seed..guess who will be playing each other! And I am fairly certain that neither Nate Robinson or Duhon can guard Marbury (who will probably get 15-20 minutes a game). My question is…how in the WORLD did Marbury get the Celtics to give him $1.2 million and not the minimum salary??