Where did the last two months go?

I can't believe its been since April that I last wrote. A lot of you have asked if I was doing the blog anymore and the answer is yes. I've had some renovations going on at the house and the computer was down for a period of time. Since the last time I wrote I've had more requests to write about non-sports topics then sports. Well I plan on doing both stayed tuned for the first annual things that are currently annoying me column but first a recap of what's going on in the world of sports.



We'll start in chronological order. The Red Wings won the cup in better entertaining than I expected finals. Maybe it was the fact that we had two great hockey cities, or the star power in the series but I felt like people actually somewhat cared about this. Pittsburgh has the scary look of the 80's Oilers teams although they will never be able to keep everyone. Detroit was the best team in the NHL all year and won the cup. This hasn't happened in a long time and probably helped the buzz for the series. The ratings were the best they've been in six years. Maybe Gary Bettman will stop having those Vietnam like flashbacks to the Tampa Bay Calgary tilt. Overall very entertaining year. A quick goodbye to Dominik Hasek who retired today. A sure hall of famer, six time Vezina winner, two time Hart winner, & a now two time cup winner (if you count being pulled for Chris Osgood to win the cup.) This is what leaves the Dominator's legacy somewhat in doubt. A cup on that '98 Sabres team would have probably made him the best ever in most eyes but I really don't know.



The NBA have been very interesting. All season we talked about how many great teams there were and we got the two ones seeds. Lakers vs. Celtics the dream matchup. The weird thing is as the Celtics are two games away I can't help but think that they almost lost to the Hawks? It was just a few weeks ago but people seem to have forgot already. I guess the point I'm trying to make is great matchup-yes, great teams-I don't know. The coaching changes have been interesting. Terry Porter, Michael Curry, Vinny Del Negro? Yes my beloved Bulls are on the verge of hiring Vinny Del Negro. I've decided that the orginization is trying to acquire every white point guard of the 90's. Skiles, Paxson, now Del Negro. Somewhere Mark Price is waiting by the phone. Quick note-Did you know that Rod Strickland is 8th on the all time assist list?????? He has 1200 more assists than Steve Nash! Even better is when I was looking at Strickland's bio on NBA.com it said in his personal profile that he likes to spend his summers at his parent's house in New Jersey an even more random fact. I had the link here to NBA.com but it was creating problems with the post.

I've gone way off the subject. The Bulls with a ton of young talent and the improbable number one pick in hand seemingly should have the pick of the litter when it comes to coaches and they are looking at a guy with no coaching experience not head coaching but coaching of any kind. I hope Paxson knows what he's doing. Oh wait I shouldn't be doubting him he knew that trading for Garnett or Gasol would be a mistake. I have to stop talking about this or my head may explode.



Finally the baseball season has been off to a wild start. Let's revisit my preseason predictions after 60 some games. NL sleeper team Reds-Verdict is still out on this one. Yes they are in last place but are only three games under .500 and Jay Bruce has arrived and Volquez is disgusting. Congrats to Griffey injuries stopped him from being the greatest of all time. NL MVP David Wright-gotta be Chase Utley. Playoff teams Dbacks, Mets, Cubs, and Braves-2 for 4. The team to really watch right now is the Phillies would could have the improbable three different guys winning the MVP three years in row, starts making you think about this team being another arm or two away. AL sleeper team Tampa Bay-dead on, but hard to say if that bullpen is going to be as good as they've been. AL MVP Bobby Abreu-decent start but has a long way to go as does the whole team. The next few weeks we are going to figure out if this is just another slow Yankees start or if they are just a .500 team. Which leads us to the AL playoff picks Yanks, Sox, Mariners, & Tigers-Yikes.



On to the NFL. Is it just me or is the most intriguing story line how many different types of vehicles Cedrick Benson can get dwi's in, I mean someone should check to see if he has his pilot's license at this point. Tage & Dave (my good friend & brother in law, both Bears fans) this is your starting Bears offense at the skill positions, Rex Grossman, Matt Forte, Devin Hester, and Marty Booker. They should lock up Robbie Gould to a long term deal. Oh wait they did! Enough abuse. Its getting time to think about fantasy and its hard to believe that Benson, Shaun Alexander, and Travis Henry all don't have jobs a couple of years ago these guys were going in the top ten. I've checked out the latest mock draft on our site cbs.sportsline.com and I feel like I should stop looking at these things. One of their fantasy writers took Larry Johnson with the 8th pick. I wonder is this guy on to something or does he enjoy crystal meth. This is going to be my next few months looking at magazine and Internet columns trying to find as much information as possible instead of drafting by gut. Whether or not you believe me I wanted to take Randy Moss and Tom Brady with my first two picks last year but the magazines projected Lawerence Maroney and Willie Parker. kkkkkkkkkkkkkkklllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Sorry I actually passed out there.

I'll be back soon.

Back From the Dead

I have actually found that during my three week hiatus that someone of you are actually reading my blog and have wondered when I would be writing again. Well I'm back and in new paragraph form! The headaches can stop now Sterge.

I have spent most of the last three weeks watching basketball. Is there anything more exciting than March. As usual I spent the first two days locked in to my friend Tage's house with the occasional trip out for food and adult beverages. There are a few things that I learned from those two days. 1. 21 brackets, a player scoring pool, and a team pool is way too much-I found that every play had a positive or negative outcome, I thought my head might explode. 2. Arkansas has teen wolf playing for them- If none of you know what I'm talking about check this out ( http://deadspin.com/371021/steven-hill-is-looking-awesome ) and finally 3. We NEED to get the direct TV coverage next year- I can no longer tolerate CBS's decision making when it comes to games.

Speaking of CBS who is in charge of that nickel and dime station. They can't give us the right game and when they do Jim Nantz and Billy Packer are the announcers. At this point I would rather have Joe Buck and Tim Mccarver do the games, this is how bad its got. Billy Packer has completely lost touch with the game yet we have to hear his outlandish comments every year while Jim Nantz sits by like someone is going to taser him if he calls Packer out on anything. If you put up a poll right now on you would rather have call the game the Johnson-Elmore, Enberg-Bilas, or Lindquist-Raferty crews would Packer and Nantz receive a vote from anyone who watches basketball?

Despite the fact those two will be calling the final four, I am expecting an all time classic. Four #1's, and if there was any year it should have happened it was this one. Although having Davidson there would've been interesting. For those of you who did not see it Davidson's fans had one last hope yesterday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBkf9dxiIe8 . Funny stuff if they had tried that with WVU their houses would probably have been burnt to the ground right now. I am not going to make any predictions on a winner because I do not want to curse any chance I may have to win in my pools although I will say this UNC, Kansas, UCLA should all win it.

I was reading an article earlier on great places to watch the final four, and I would like to enter my first nomination into the places NOT to watch the final four-any Canadian sportsbook. I'm saying anyone because I'm assuming the casino we were at this weekend (bachelor party-great time!) wasn't just exclusively ripping us off. They called themselves the OLG which I can only figure stands for Outright Loss Gaming. I could go through everything but you wouldn't even believe me, let me try. You can only bet parlays? This parlay has to be in the dollar amounts they assign on the tickets?? You can bet spreads and over/unders but they have to be separate??? You could only bet hockey or college basketball and they had to be separate???? If you actually won a bet you would not receive the amount you bet back????? and you had to wait an hour for them to verify the final????????????????????????????????????????????????? Well I understood this one after because the fine print said the house reserved the right to determine the home/visiting teams and if online info did not match up with ticket the bet was a loss?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? I would not have been surprised if they had let us bet an NBA game but told us we had to predict the final score.

Lastly I wanted to talk about some other predictions for the upcoming MLB season, oh wait it already started, three different times huh? Let's start with the NL. My sleeper team the Reds, same feeling I had last year about the Brewers a lot of young talent ready to take off. Cy young winner I can't see anyway that Johan Santana won't win the award facing a pitcher everyday instead of a DH. MVP is interesting one. I could see someone having another Jimmy Rollins type season and winning it. I would like to pick Prince Fielder but the whole vegan thing is turning me off instead I'm going to stay with the Mets theme and take David Wright. However I don't think the Mets will be going to the world series, they will lose to the Diamondbacks. I also see the Cubs and Braves making the playoffs. In the American league you will never not see me pick the Yankees so it will be the Yankees over the Tigers with the Mariners winning the West and the RedSux as the wild card. Sleeper team-the Rays, Tony Parker's wife is supposed to be unbelievable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Longoria . Cy young-Justin Verlander just a hunch really could be a few guys. MVP-People are going to think I'm a homer and I'm nuts but I see a huge year out of Bobby Abreu. I can understand why a lot of people are thinking Manny and A-Rod but he seems poised to revert back to his heyday Philly days and just seems a lot more comfortable with New York apparently I'm not the only one thinking this http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080401 . Anyway Yanks over D-backs to make 2001 the way it should have been.

Avoid the Noid

After all the responses to my last post (0) I felt the pressure to go right back to work. Before I ramble on about a few sports issues, I want to bring up a situation that happened to me a few days ago. I've always struggled with the decision of whether or not to order food when there is horrible weather out. On one hand I feel horrible that anyone has to drive in bad weather for work, on the other hand this is their job to deliver food. So anyway the other night it was one of those horrible storms that only western NY can produce and I get home from work late so we call at Domino's pizza at 6pm they are just around the corner. Domino's is back on their 30minutes thing so needless to say I'm pumped. 7:00 comes around and I have not heard from or seen anyone from Domino's yet. I make my first call. They explain to me that their driver cannot make it up my hill (long pause by me) "There are many ways to get here besides that" Domino's is about five minutes away with completely avoiding the aforementioned hill. (long pause by Domino's rep) "He's not that smart" This comment will come back into play later. They assure me that my pizza will be there shortly. 7:30 has hit and I still have not seen anyone yet. I decide to call back and cancel the order I'm going to go get something else instead. The fourth Domino's employee I've spoke to at this point tells me to speak to the manager before I cancel. I reluctantly agree to this. He says that he will make another pizza and get it out to me asap. He also tells me that if the other driver shows up to tell him whats happening.......will do. Let me tell you at this point I'm thinking that this storm isn't too bad as I'm watching other cars zip up and down the hill. At 7:45 I see a Domino's truck pass by the house going DOWN the hill.......in a truck. At 8:00 I see the same truck pull up and I see the driver walking towards the door with no food (huh.) I ask him if he is delivering here and if he is the second driver. He says yes and goes to get the food. I'm not trying to be cruel here but as he approaches I'm debating of whether or not he is mentally retarded. I explain to him the situation and ask him if he has the remade pizza and he assures me he does. I go to sign, as I used my credit card, and he tells me he doesn't have the slip but he has one from 128 Willard????????????? OK, he tells me hes going to come back with the slip for me to sign and then proceeds to start walking down the street away from his running truck. I'm still not sure what happened to him, did he realize he walked the wrong way, did someone steal his truck, or his is he still wandering in the woods (a possibility because he was a good two houses down) The wife and I are ready to resort to cannibalism at this point. We open the pizza to reveal the last pizza put out during school lunches. At this point I don't care I call Domino's to tell them I received the pizza and that if that guy ever returns don't worry about me signing. We are just about finished eating when the doorbell rings! Its Domino's! Its the manager with the new pizza! I tell him about my conversation with the other driver he apologizes and gives me the other food. I felt like it was an episode of 24, the time was now 8:36. Lets recount 6 Domino's employees (1 lost), 2 pizzas, 2 cinnasticks, 2 diet cokes, and 2 confused customers. Will I order again during bad weather.....more than likely....moving on. Its been a crazy first week of free agency in the NFL. My Vikings made some decent moves. I love the Madieu Williams signing from Cincy. I think the Bernard Berrian signing was needed but did they have to pay him like they were signing Jerry Rice from 1987. This will all be destroyed in my mind if they make the rumored trade with the Bills for JP Lossman. The thought of this makes my brain hurt. Speaking of the Bills they have made some fantastic moves getting Marcus Stroud and Kawika Mitchell. They are also apparently close to getting Marlon Mcree and Ben Troupe. The funny thing is they might have only the third best off season in their own division. The Jets (Jenkins, Woody, Pace, and Faneca) and the Dolphins (Ferguson, Smiley, Torbor, Wilford, and about 5 others) have been frantic at the start. All this and the Patriots losing a lot could make for an interesting division this year, oh wait Moss resigned forget what I just said. If any of you ever read the Sports guy on ESPN.com Page 2 please check out the latest links column, fantastic. I wanted to pass along my personal favorite http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/ One last NFL note, I'm not sad about Brett Farve retiring in any way, except that someone in my fantasy league would have taken him way too early. I'm starting to do all my research for my march madness brackets, team pool, and players pools. The conclusion so far a lot of teams capable of reaching the final four. A couple of weeks ago after the NBA trade deadline I picked the Suns to win it all not looking real good right now but I'm sticking by it. The thing I'm wondering is the team that comes out of the West going to have anything left for the Finals. The team that ends up with the one seed in the East is only going to have to play one of the other big three (Clev, Det, Bos) big advantage. With Wrestlemania approaching I have an idea for a match lets see Hank Steinbrenner destroy John Henry in a cage match. I hate John Henry he looks like every other weaselly little Red Sox fan, sorry didn't mean you Slow! It really is time to restore the universe to order I can't live in a Red Sox dynasty world, lets go Yanks..... please. I'll have more thoughts on the baseball season coming up but I'm starting to get hungry, Domino's sounds good.

I would have started this much sooner but I've been busy chipping wallpaper off my hallway! For those out there are considering buying a home in the future let me tell you be prepared for cleaning and fixing things you didn't know existed before. I'm thinking of opening a consulting business where you get walked through every single thing you will have to do to your home then you can decide whether to buy or not. Don't get me wrong I love my house and would do it over again but a little warning would've been nice. Someone else that should have been warned not to get a big head was Tennessee. I think just about everyone saw they were ripe for a letdown against a very good Vanderbilt team. Bruce Pearl was doing the talk show circuit like he had won the super bowl after the Memphis game. He said he was proud of how his team acted like they had been there before, he should follow suit. Funniest moment from the Memphis-Tennessee game- My wife asked me with five minutes left "Is that guy going to kill us" speaking of Dick Vitale calling the game. I would like to see a three man booth of Gus Johnson, Dickie V., and Brent Musberger. I realize you would have two play by play guys but someone would have a brain aneurysm five minutes in. I wanted to mention that the NHL trading deadline came and passed. I really like the Penguins getting Marian Hossa, and the Sabres were smart to trade Brian Campbell although I'm surprised they couldn't get more. The thing that struck me the most about the deadline was that I have fallen out of touch with the NHL. I have always been a huge hockey fan but the lack of major TV contract, and lockout have made it a "check the scores" sport for me. I didn't know who half the players traded were and I doubt many people did....sad really. Game 2 of last year's finals lost in the ratings to a rerun of Mama's Family! From Vicki Lawerence to Yao Ming. The Rockets have the worst luck if they could ever keep all of there guys healthy they would be a legitimate title contender. There current win streak was just enough to get Houston fans hyped before we realized that they are in fact cursed. There is breaking news right now that Congress is going after Clemens believing he didn't tell the truth and I want to know if there is anyone in America besides them that's going "yeah lets throw him in jail".......absurd. One last thing I wanted to mention today an icon died today in Pittsburgh Steelers announcer Myron Cope. For any of you who have ever lived in the Pennsylvania, West Virginia area you know the love that was felt for this man the creator of the terrible towel. I'll never forget those annoying Subway commercials during college. RIP. I had to keep this short but coming soon MLB preview, NFL draft thoughts, and Conference tourneys!!! My palms are starting to sweat.....hello Canada!

Making moves?

It is the night of the NBA trading deadline and as a Bulls fan I think the most interesting thing I've discovered so far is that Drew Gooden had that patch of hair on the back of his head because he said he stole it from that white spot on Rasheed Wallace's head. Here is a pichttp://sportswrap.berecruited.com/2007/06/03/ode-to-drew-goodens-hair-gooden-explains-his-duck-tail-hair-cut/ Drew no longer has the "Sheed", and its too bad because there is not much else to talk about with they're deal. I have no problem dumping Ben Wallace (can't hustle when you can't move anymore), and Joe Smith (actually was productive in spurts but hard to believe this guy was a #1 overall pick). I just don't understand how you end up with with the guys Lebron doesn't want to play with. From everything I've seen so far people like this trade for the Bulls. I just don't see it, a pu-pu platter for a dung sandwich. I do like getting Shannon Brown I feel like he has a lot of potential. John Paxson has been holding his pocket aces and checking for three years now. He had more young talent than anyone in the league and could have pulled the trigger on Garnett, Gasol, or Jermaine O'Neal. His biggest mistake was not firing on the Kobe deal this summer. Just a few short months ago he could have the best player in the world for Ben Wallace (we just got a view of his current market value) & Luol Deng. This guy should be on 24hr watch. Speaking of 24, quick note, I heard that due to the writers strike we will not be getting a new season until NEXT January. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_(season_7) People tell me all the time that its getting old, and that the premise is the same every season. I think that it may have gotten a little stale but compare it to everything else on TV right now excluding a few shows (Lost.......well really just Lost) what would you want to watch? Sure there are a few good reality shows Rock of Love is great, The Moment of Truth (How can you not love a show where the audience claps for prior criminal activity) and my current favorite My Big Redneck Wedding (if you haven't seen it, you have to watch) http://www.cmt.com/sitewide/apps/flipbook/index.jhtml#/sitewide/apps/flipbook/index.jhtml?fid=1580788&flipbookid=1580788&opener=/shows/dyn/my-big-redneck-wedding/series.jhtml&trueFid=1580788&photoID=2763848 Let me give you a small excerpt from the last show I watched. There was a guy writing his vows and he said he wanted to use bigger words but didn't have a clitoris. A couple of quick thoughts before I go, as always the NHL is wide open. The Rangers are a playoff team that looks like its going nowhere unless they can make some deadline deals. The Sabres had a wonderful come from behind victory the other night against Tampa, how about Vanek. This guy is going to end up with 35 goals after struggling early in the season. My gut feeling though is that they trade Campbell at the deadline to risk having a Drury, Briere repeat. Everyone was talking about the Shaq vs. Kobe matchup from the other night. Great game if you watched. I think the biggest beneficiary of Shaq being on Phoenix is going to be Amare, he looked like no one was guarding him because of the attention that still has to be paid to Shaq. That wasn't the story though. How good did the Lakers look? When Bynum gets back this team is going to be tough. One other observation from the debuts. Jason Kidd got swallowed up by Chris Paul. Paul's stat line 31-11-5-9! He's starting to get a lot of MVP talk. Lastly I wanted to ask this question to the group. I'm facing a moral dilemma. My wife has a name in mind for our first born daughter that I'm not real crazy about. She knows this and has presented me with a deal. We are currently renovating the upstairs of our new home and I am turning an old kitchen into a bar. We have conflicting views on what this bar should look like. Namely I want to paint it blue and gold and put WVU emblem carpet in. She presented me with an offer she gets to name the baby and I get the WVU bar. Let me know your opinions.........maybe she could be the Bulls new GM!

Random thoughts

I had antcipated this post being about how people choose their favorite teams but there has just been too much going on this week not to comment on. First off I did not have a chance to watch the slam dunk and 3pt contest on Saturday night but have seen the highlights and read about it. After years of the same dunks, what a breath of fresh air. The Gerald Green cupcake dunk was cool and everything of Dwight Howard's looked sick. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nba+dunk+contest&search_type= I'm still in favor of them doing something different for the weekend. I love the Sports Guy's idea of H.O.R.S.E, I guess they tried it in the NBDL all star weekend. http://www.nba.com/dleague/allstar2008/dream_factory_preview_08.html This could at least replace that horrible competition with the legend, current player, and WNBA player. "Hunny, we can't go anywhere tonight Lisa Leslie will be shooting free throws!" My friend Sterge made a comment on the last post about the quality of the play in the NBA right now being horrible. I do agree but there is a lot of good young talent after watching some of the all star game. My thought was that the reason why the quality is viewed as bad is because we have too many teams. There are teams in markets that everyone new was not going to work New Orleans (maybe next year's favorites) and Memphis for two examples. Logically then the next step would be for David Stern to announce that they are looking to add five more teams over the next ten years. Huh? Whats that you say international teams? How many guys right now are hoping Amsterdam is awarded a franchise. JR Rider is already in the best shape of his life. Despite everything I am excited for the 2nd half of the season. I have never seen a sport with the race so close between teams in one conference. Four and a half games seperate 9th place Houston and top seed New Orleans. Quick predictions for the second half. MVP-LeBron (they really need to get him some help) Champs-Phoenix over Boston (I don't love the Shaq trade but it gives them a big man in the west and I think he can be motivated for another half a season.) Now that the super bowl is over we can start really getting excited about college hoops. I however am not excited about the possibility of another big east team getting ten conference wins and being left out of the dance. NO conference is better top to bottom than the big east. I'm not sure if any of them are going anywhere in the tournament but the conference is a war. One last thing I wanted to touch on was this weeks Congressional hearings. I was going to completely avoid this subject as the whole thing was a joke. The only one with any sense was the rep from NC Virginia Foxx (who one the contest for Congressmen with the best porn star name.) She was reprimanded for openly questioning why they were there, and that they should be looking for government oversights not putting there nose where it doesn't belong. Thank you! We are wasting our tax money settling an argument between two guys. The only reason this is happening is because someone didn't like their friend George Mitchell being lied to. I think we've all learned that a lot of people have taken HGH and steriods including Rockets' wife.......very creepy. Boothy made a comment on my last post that the Yankees should move their spring training facility to DC. Which made me think when did this all become about the Yankees? The last time I checked there were some other players named in that report. Let's put Wally Joyner on the stand! Pitchers and catchers reported for spring training this week. Lets start talking about that and stop talking about Jose Canseco (which none of the congressman I watched could pronounce?) and Rocket's ass. Hit me up!

Why?

When I alert everyone that I have a new sports website and blog many of you will ask the same question. How much spare time does Mo have? The answer being enough time to do this and to log two days of game time on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (best game out there now) but this is besides the point. The real reason why I wanted to do this is because I needed a place to talk sports. As you grow older and get married, which I did in October, you realize the opportunity to talk sports with your boys becomes few and far between. Yes with technology these days you can make a call on your cell or send a text message when there is a great play or breaking news. But usually "Did you see Jeter's play last night" gets the response of "Hunny put your phone away the officer is asking why you were going so fast" You get the picture. You see my conversations about sports these days sound like this "Is that guys' name really Longar Longar?", "Why do the basketball players' shoes squeak so much?", and "Does Eli have a girlfriend." Guys this was all I could do to relive those days of all the boys in Morgantown and Jimmytown watching the game together, the way it was meant to be. I expect to talk about all things sports on this site but those of you who know me will figure to hear a lot of Bulls, Yankees, Rangers, Vikings, and Mountaineers talk. Yes my favorite teams are all of over the country but I'll explain that later. I have now found my place to vent! Hit me up!