When the going gets tough, Phelps' coach starts crying

Well I'm back from sitting my boss's house for 10 days, and ready to do some solid blogging. You probably saw that Michael Phelps lost in the pool for the first time in about four years yesterday, also losing his world record in the 200 freestyle to a relatively unknown German swimmer, Paul Biederman. Biederman beating Phelps was shocking enough, but shattering his world record by 0.96 seconds was even more astounding. How was this no-name able to accomplish this feat--most people, including Biederman, are saying it was his swimsuit.

Biederman swam in a polyurethane Arena X-Glide full-body suit, while Phelps stuck with his Speedo LZR Racer. Biederman's swimsuit was better, no doubt about that, but the fact remains he still swam an incredible race. Phelps' swimsuit was the unstoppable one for a couple years, now this suit is the best because it is more buoyant so the swimmer encounters less resistance in the water. This might bother you, but not me, because it's legal within FINA's rules. FINA has acknowledged that the high-tech suits are getting a bit ridiculous and will outlaw them starting in 2010, which is great. What bothers me is Phelps's coach, Bob Bowman's reaction.

After the race, Bowman was quoted as saying, "We've lost all the history of the sport. Does a 10-year-old boy in Baltimore want to break Paul Biedermann's record? The sport is in shambles right now and they better do something or they're going to lose their guy who fills these suits."

Would you just quit whining, Bowman? In answer to your question, yes, a thousand times yes, a 10 year-old boy in Baltimore wants to break Paul Biederman's record. Every 10 year-old boy that likes sports wants to break all kinds of world records. Whether that will be possible because they will be racing with less technology on their side is a legitimate question, but it doesn't start with Paul Biederman and his Arena X-Glide. Michael Phelps' LZR Racer was just as revolutionary when it came out, and changed swimming. Phelps and Speedo are as much to blame for this problem as anyone else. And by the way, Bob, I wonder why you haven't been upset about these suits every time that Phelps has broken a world record (you know, a gazillion times these past Olympics)? By the way, he broke his world record in the 200 butterfly today, making me wonder if a 10 year-old boy from Boston wants to break that record (again, the answer is yes). Maybe Bowman is just a sore loser who is just a bit too used to winning.

Bowman wants to hold Phelps out of swimming meets until FINA does something faster. That is just sad. Phelps has the option to wear one of these suits for the next 5 months, and he'll go right back to dominating everyone. The fact that he is sticking with his "obsolete" swimsuit is admirable, but it does not give him or his coach the right to complain about it.

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A Blast From the Past

I'm back after an incredibly long break, partially due to my being on vacation and having no internet, and partially due to lack of motivation. At any rate, I'm going to start back up here in the middle of July by talking about an event that covers the majority of July: The Tour de France.

Yes, yes, I know, you would rather watch some bad Kurt Russell movie on Tuesday afternoon TBS, but I'm telling you, the Tour is great. I got into it just before it was exposed for being just as bad as baseball, maybe worse, in the doping department. It has been absolutely heartbreaking to watch Tour after Tour get ruined by a serious contender testing positive for some banned substance, but like most sports fans, I and my family keep on coming back for more, because we want to see something special. When you know that you have seen a clean Tour from start to finish, it is really an awesome event.

That being said, the Tour committee is trying something old for a couple stages this year, and I think it is a mistake. In stages 10 (already happened) and 13 (tomorrow), there will be no radio communication from the team car to the riders. This means that the riders will not know how far behind the leaders they are, and makes it much more difficult to set an appropriate pace. I really don't know why they are doing this. You might think it will make things more exciting in a chaotic sort of way, but I am inclined to disagree. Think about forcing tennis players to use the old-style rackets for an entire tournament, or even just a match. Think about putting the old leather padding on football players instead of the protective equipment they wear now. In both cases, the results would be bad. That is the point behind all these advancements in sports, so that athletes have every opportunity to showcase their skills to the fullest.

Check out Stage 13 of the Tour and see what you think about it. Personally, I'm hoping the committee scraps it for next year as an unsuccessful experiment.

A Tradition Unlike Any Other...

No, not the Masters. A better sporting event with better grass than is found at Augusta National started today, and I am really excited about it. I am talking, of course, about the Tennis championships at Wimbledon. I wrote about the French Open recently, but Wimbledon is on an entirely different level. It just has a mystique about it with the all-white clothing that is required by the All-England club and the beautiful grass courts where the matches are played. I also would submit that grass is the best tennis surface because it produces the most exciting matches. Players are moving around the court both horizontally and vertically more than on any other surface, especially clay.

That being said, there is unfortunately not quite as much excitement as there could be in the men's draw with defending champion Rafael Nadal having dropped out of the tournament two days ago. Now the men's side feels like you can pretty much hand the trophy over to World number two Roger Federer, who lost to Nadal last year in one of the greatest tennis matches ever. Federer won five straight Wimbledon titles before last year, and he is ready to be back on top. Without Nadal there to challenge him, it seems like it should be an easy win for the Swiss tennis star. The tournament is still worth watching though, because grass is American Andy Roddick's best surface, and he usually makes a pretty deep run into Wimbledon, which is something pretty rare for American men's tennis lately.

There is also lots of excitement on the women's side, with defending champion Venus Williams coming back to try and best her sister Serena again. Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina, and Elena Dementieva all figure to be players for the championship again in a field of players that seems to be very even. That is the one good thing about women's tennis right now: you never know who is going to make it to the finals in a major on the women's side. That has not been the case on the men's side recently, and it certainly introduces a great deal of intrigue for the women's tournament.

Check out Wimbledon on ESPN2 starting at 7 am on weekdays. Watch when you can, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Don't Get Drunk and Drive

is the only thing I have to say to Cleveland Browns wide receiver Dante Stallworth. Don't be an idiot. That being said, give the NFL credit for doing what the law never seems to do: give these athletes what they deserve. Stallworth was given 30 days in jail for DUI manslaughter charges. HE KILLED SOMEONE. I don't care if it was on accident, 30 days in jail is not going to be that hard on him. The NFL, on the other hand, did basically all that they could, by issuing Stallworth an indefinite suspension.

Roger Goodell continues to be pretty impressive in the way he is handling these thug players in such a no-nonsense way. He made it clear that he was not going to tolerate any trouble from the players, and he has stuck to that so far. You can't help but have some respect for that. I think that Goodell has done a great job as commissioner, and that is something that can't be said for every sport. The job he has done is especially impressive because as NFL commissioner he has to deal with so many players. There is no other league that seems to have as many idiots as the NFL, and Goodell handles them pretty well. The only results to look for now, are NFL players stopping being idiots. That seems like it still may be a far way off.

The Long Haul

Well, I think all of us were hoping to avoid it, but it comes every year, and there is really no way to get away from it. As my older brother pointed out, we have officially entered the worst time of the year for sports. The NHL and NBA playoffs have ended, and we are in the middle of the unending baseball season. Don't get me wrong, I love baseball, but it is the only sport going on anymore, and that makes it very tough. Not much baseball is on TV over the course of a week, and it's hard to get excited about regular season games day in and day out. So, I'm going to put together a little list of activities for people to keep themselves from getting bored until baseball nears the end of its season and football starts back up.

1. Watch a movie. It's summertime! Some of the biggest blockbusters of the year are coming out this time of the year. If you haven't seen them yet, get out there and check out "Star Trek" or "The Hangover." Both of them were great. The new Transformers movie will be coming out soon, and several others. If you have already seen all the movies in theaters, get a Netflix account and start watching all those movies you have wanted to see but never got around to going to the theaters. I've got the movie "Hot Rod" coming pretty soon to my house. It's easy as can be, and a great deal.

2. Watch other stuff on TV. Sports are not the only good thing on TV. Check out "Burn Notice" on USA Channel. It just started up its third season, and I think it just might be the best show on TV. There is some kind of TV show or movie playing every night for all people of all ages. There is always something good on TV.

3. READ. I know, it sounds crazy, but do it. There is so much out there to read. Fiction books, Factual books, Magazines, Blogs. Go to a library or a bookstore. Order a subscription of a magazine. Read online columns. I'd recommend Bill Simmons. If you're desperate to keep up with your sports teams, read the blogs of the columnists that cover them during the year. They'll keep you updated on what is going on with the team. How guys are doing, what their injuries are looking like nowadays, etc. You can keep up with your team if you want to, you just have to be willing to complete the archaic task of reading. But hey, I assume you are reading right now, so what's the big deal? You're a pro!

4. Get outside for Pete's sake. Have you emerged from your sports cave in the past few months? If not, get out there, it's beautiful. You can go outside and bring football back early by playing a backyard game, or just do something as simple as catch. Go to a pool and get some swimming in. Whatever you choose to do, just go out because September will be here soon enough and you will be kicking yourself for not taking advantage of the sun and warmth.

Hope this list was helpful. There are many more things to do during this time I am sure. Go ahead and leave a comment. Help out your fellow readers that don't like TV, movies, reading, or the beautiful outdoors.

Congrats to the Lakers

Well, much to my chagrin, the Los Angeles Lakers are NBA Champions for the fifteenth time. I can't say I'm surprised, since I thought they were the team to beat after losing to the Celtics last year in the finals, but I'm still disappointed. I don't particularly like them. I do not like Kobe, Gasol, Ariza, Vujacic, or most of the Lakers. If not for a big-time appearance on Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, I would dislike Lamar Odom as well, making me a hater of pretty much every important player on the team. That being said, you have still got to give them credit.

The Lakers followed what I think has become the formula for winning the NBA title: play well in the regular season, but not necessarily as well are you are capable of playing every night (Cavs). Get a 1 or 2 seed for the playoffs, and then win when you need to. Don't tax yourselves, even if it means the sportswriters think you're soft and your fans are angry. Then, when you can see the finish line, pounce and take it. The Celtics did it last year, the Lakers did it this year. Both teams played more games than they should have in the playoffs. A year ago, the Celtics were taken to seven games by the two worst teams they played in the playoffs, the Hawks and Cavs. Then they beat the Pistons in six games and embarassed the Lakers in the finals. Much the same formula for the Lakers this year. While they handled the Jazz in five games, they allowed a depleted Rockets squad to take them to seven games and probably should have beaten the Nuggets in six games. When they knew the championship was in sight though, they dominated the Magic.

Sure, the Magic didn't play as well in the finals as they had the rest of the playoffs. Maybe they even choked in a couple games. But all that does is bring to light what the Lakers were able to do this year that the Celtics also did last year: they never choked. The Cavs blew big leads to the Magic, the Magic missed free throws. Last year, the Lakers blew a huge lead to the Celtics. The story for our last two championship teams? They almost never made mistakes, and that is the real way to win a title.

Hilarious

You know whats funny? I was just looking at ESPN.com and they are officially writing stories about wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. You might know him better as Chad Johnson, the Bengals wide receiver who's list of fines by the NFL is just about as long as the Ohio River. Anyway, it tickles me a great deal that his name change is finally sticking--his last name really is Ochocinco now.

You may not be a big fan of Chad Ochocinco, but I have no issues with him. He is having a blast out there, and that is about it. Sure, he is upset at times that his team is not winning with all the talent they seem to possess on offense, but that's a rare occurrence. Don't lump Ochocinco in with guys like Terrell Owens. Owens has managed to ruin the careers of two different quarterbacks (Jeff Garcia and Donovan McNabb with Tony Romo loooming as a strong possibility) and effectively destroyed his last three teams, all of them very talented. Ochocinco (it is really weird to type his name as that by the way, I feel like I'm talking about a different person altogether) has pitted himself in a race against a horse, celebrated touchdowns, praised his quarterback Carson Palmer, and changed his last name. Sure he wanted to be traded, but can you blame him? I would want to be traded two if I was playing for the Bengals. Compared to half his teammates, Ochocinco is a saint. He hasn't had trouble with the law, so he's a class act in the Bungals organization.

Don't act like Owens and Ochocinco are even comparable. If Ochocinco made an appearance in the Super Bowl, he would not be the main reason they imploded the next year, like Owens was in Philadelphia. He has some making up to do with his teammates this offseason, but he has reported early for OTAs, a good start. As always, I will be watching and enjoying the energy and goofiness Ochocinco brings to the game, and I hope you will as well.

Why?

Almost three quarters into game 1 of the NBA Finals there's just one question on my mind:  Why is Jameer Nelson playing in this game, or this series at all?  He's been out since before the All-Star break!  He hasn't played a minute in months.  What part of that would indicate that he would be ready at all to play in the NBA FINALS?!?!  I realize that he is a great player, but to play him now is absurd.

Orlando is the underdog in these finals.  But they have beaten the Lakers before.  They don't need to do anything crazy in order to do it again.  Just play the way they have been playing, and everything else will fall into place.  Dwight Howard should be dominant in the middle, and just like the Cavs, the Lakers should not be able to defend both Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis.  No need to play a guy who is obviously not going to be at his best.  No wonder they are doing by 27 points right now.

Just writing out a little bit of frustration right now.

Congress should stay out of sports

Congress is meddling in sports once again.  I was scratching my head wondering why they got involved in the steroids controversy in baseball, but this one seems even odder to me.  Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen has written a letter to NBA Commissioner David Stern requesting that he and the NBA eliminate the age limit that was recently put in place for young players.

For those of you who are unaware, the age limit says that a player must be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school.  It first affected players like Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, and most likely kept Derrick Rose and OJ Mayo from entering the NBA draft straight from high school.  Cohen's letter cites the fact that Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard are playing for the Championship this season, and both of them did just fine coming out of high school.  Cohen also made references to the scandals surrounding both Mayo and Rose at USC and Memphis that have surfaced recently.  With this, it seems like Cohen is attempting to claim that these two young players would have had no scandals following them if they had simply been allowed to leave high school.  Give me a break.  Sending those kids to college might have been pointless because they were never going to take it seriously.  But they were never going to take high school seriously either.  They were always going to be offered money and accept it or have their test scores switched.  This rule made no difference in that respect.  What it did do was provide college basketball fans with some excellent entertainment, especially from Rose, who led his team to the best National Championship game in recent memory.  I don't see much negative in that.

After that, Cohen comes up with this abomination in his letter:  "It's a restrain of trade on these kids, and you see it in the NFL and NBA," Cohen said. "You don't see it in Major League Baseball. I was watching the [Memphis] Redbirds play ... and I was looking at the field and there wasn't an African-American player on the field when the Iowa Cubs played the Redbirds [in a Triple-A baseball game]. I didn't see one on either team, and I thought, 'This is a white sport. And tennis is a white sport. And golf is a white sport. And swimming is a white sport. And hockey is a white sport. And they don't have these restrictions. But basketball and football are predominantly African-American sports, and that's where they have the rule that forces players into college [instead of] going straight to the pros. Something here doesn't compute."

Come on.  It's a race thing? Really?  It's smart.  A high schooler that attempted to go straight to the NFL would never make it, or he would die.  There is too much of a size and strength difference.  The same is true a lesser extent for basketball.  There is more growing and more strength to be gained.  In golf, baseball, tennis, etc., that is not as important.  To act like we are doing this to keep black athletes down is ridiculous.  Congressman, just enjoy the sports, don't try to control them please.

Here is the article if you would like to read more:  http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/11816994

French Open (It actually is this year!)

Right now we've got another lesser watched sport going on--tennis.  And even though the French Open is my least favorite of the tennis majors, it is still a really entertaining sport to get into.  I think you should check it out this year if you never have before, especially now because this year it is living up to its name of being an open.  Now that Rafael Nadal has been knocked in an enormous upset (think like the Pistons had beaten the Cavs in the first round of the playoffs), the trophy actually is open to anyone.  Now that Nadal, 4 seed Novak Djokovic and 6 seed Andy Roddick are out of the tournament, it really could be just about any of the remaining seeds.  Roger Federer figures to be the favorite now with Nadal out of the way, but he had to come back out of a 2 sets to love deficit to beat Tommie Haas.  Third-seeded Andy Murray is still alive, which could produce a pretty great final if he and Federer were to meet.

On the women's side, there is still a lot to root for if you are an American.  Serena Williams is still alive and playing well.  She will be one of the major players as we move toward the finals in the women's bracket.

What I'm suggesting is that you try out a new sport.  You can watch it on ESPN360.com, or on ESPN2.  There will be a game going on while you are doing your morning routine before work.  Check it out.  Learn about a new sport.  Every time I have taken the time to sit down and learn a sport, it becomes much more entertaining to me.  Nowadays, I'm a big fan of tennis.  Join in the fun.

Back, and Better Than Everi

Sorry to my faithful readers.  I understand if you are no longer quite as faithful as you once were, because I became unreliable.  However, I am back, and I think I've got my schedule all figured out, so I'm hopeful that I will be able to get back on track with this blogging.

Today I want to congratulate the NBA on officially springing back onto the national sports scene.  Anyone who is really a sports fan would acknowledge that these playoffs have been pretty incredible.  Not only did they have the greatest first round series of all time, but they also had the extremely entertaining second round series of Lakers-Rockets and Celtics-Magic.  Now, we are amidst two conference finals series that couldn't be going more perfectly.  Every fourth quarter in both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals has been ridiculous.  The largest margin of victory in the combined six games was the Magic's 10 point victory in game 3, and that was only as large as it was because of foul shots down the stretch.  Every game has been good, capped obviously by the greatest moment of the playoffs so far with Lebron hitting the three as time expired to keep the Cavs alive in the series.  The NBA has put itself back on the map in the sports world with these playoffs.  From here on out, I would expect that the NBA playoffs will continue to get more and more viewers in future years.

Amidst all the success of their games, though, the NBA has helped themselves out by coming out with perhaps the greatest commercial campaign of my lifetime.  The "Where Will Amazing Happen this Year?" commercials have been sending chills down my spine for quite some time now, and I have not gotten sick of them yet.  Now that they are evolving into a new format with showing moments from past playoffs, I don't expect that I will be getting sick of them anytime soon.  From Chris Paul's crazy layup and Lebron's vicious dunk on three Celtics to Larry Bird stealing the ball and Kobe throwing an alley-oop to Shaq, every commercial has been spot-on.  I have enjoyed them thoroughly.  Part of me wants them to use the same idea for next year.

At any rate, kudos to the NBA, keep it up, and I'll keep watching.

Some pretty cool stuff

Sorry about no topic yesterday to my faithful readers, it was the first day of the new job and a tough one, then I went and hung out with friends all night.  Didn't have much of a chance to get it going.  Back at it today though, and today's topic is something pretty unique in professional sports.  It's about money, but in the opposite way you would normally hear about it.

Defensive End Jason Taylor has done something incredibly refreshing in pro sports:  he has essentially taken a paycut in order to play for the Miami Dolphins next season.  Taylor had played with the Washington Redskins last season and was set to make $8.5 million this year with his team, but he walked away from that deal on March 2, when he decided not to spend the offseason at Redskins Park.  He did this for the best of selfish reasons:  Taylor wanted to spend time with his family.

Now, Taylor has continued to be an excellent family member by staying near them by signing once again with the Miami Dolphins.  Taylor signed a one year, $1.1 million deal with the Fins earlier today.  He told the Dolphins to set up a deal that fit within their budget; it didn't matter to them how much money they were going to pay him.  This is some pretty amazing stuff for a professional athlete, let alone a potential hall-of-famer.  I mean, honestly, Taylor is probably the best defensive end of this millenium.  He has showed some character that is basically unheard of in the pros, where it is all about holding out for a bigger contract in the offseason.  This is one of the coolest things I have read about in sports in a long time.  It is good to know that there is someone out there who playing more for enjoyment and fun than money.  I can only hope more players take something away from this.

Worried, disappointed, nervous

Always disappointing to hear that an athlete you have a vested interest in is selling out somewhat.  I wrote about Brett Favre the other day; well this one is a bit different.  I'm going to move from the pros to the high school ranks, from the Minnesota Vikings to the Thurgood Marshall Cougars, where junior Juwan Staten has announced he will be transferring to play for Oak Hill Academy next season.  Staten is one of the top point guards in the nation, which is why he will be trying his hand at playing for the perennial powerhouse in Virginia.  Why do I care?  Because Staten has verbally committed to play for Dayton starting in 2010-2011.  So what right? Sounds good.  Well, now I'm not so convinced that the Flyers' prized recruit is going to come, and I'm not sure that he is who I thought he was anyway.

Oak Hill Academy is not your average high school.  It recruits players from all across the nation.  I guess my main problem is this:  High school sports to me are still about the school, pride, and enjoying playing the sport.  College sports and even professional sports used to be like this too.  Gone are the days when a team would have the same group of guys playing together for 10 years, and gone are the days when star players would stay at colleges for four years.  The Florida Gators of a few years ago that won it two years in a row are probably the last team we will ever see with the same group of guys playing together for very long.  I suppose the natural progression is that this trend would continue to high school, but I was hoping it would at least take longer.  Instead we have schools like Oak Hill that have brought the world of recruiting and transferring to high school.  It is not a good thing in my opinion.

Now, Staten says he is still coming to UD, but I'm not going to hold my breath.  In the world of high school sports, Oak Hill is the New York or Los Angeles to any high school in Dayton's, well, Dayton I suppose.  It's more exciting.  It's glamorous.  Thurgood Marshall was probably fun, but not like Oak Hill will be.  I sure hope that Staten decides to stick to his what he is saying now.  I'm just saying that there is a lot he doesn't know about in the world, and he is going to be exposed to all of that now.  Thurgood Marshall does not travel nearly as much as Oak Hill Academy.  UD does not travel nearly as much as some of the bigger schools that will surely start to recruit Staten more heavily now that they have heard about his move.  Neither Thurgood Marshall nor UD garners much national attention; Oak Hill and bigger, more prestigious basketball schools do.  You get the picture.

I was hoping that Staten would see his opportunity to do something special at a smaller school.  Something similar to what he could do at UD--win an A-10 title, maybe make some noise in an NCAA tournament a year or two.  The reality is he's not going to win a national title if he goes to UD.  That's the reality at Thurgood Marshall too.  There is no national implications or USA Today notoriety to be gained there.  But there is the possibility of carrying his team to a state title, something Staten just missed out on this past year.  He scored 25 points, but they fell short of winning the game.  Deciding not to come back the next year just doesn't seem quite right to me.  If you've committed to a school, what more could you want than to win a state title?  Going to Oak Hill just seems like he's looking to get his name and play out there for the rest of the nation to see.  I hope I'm wrong.

Experiment in Statistics, Week 3

No need to freak out to all my faithful readers.  I was out of town for the weekend, so this week's version of my RMOB numbers will be coming slightly later.  With that being said, let's get right to it.  If you need an explanation of my method or what the numbers mean, the first Experiment in Statistics was posted 2 weeks ago, the RMOB is introduced and explained there.  These stats are through Saturday, May 9.

NL Team RMOB

1.Philadelphia .411

2. St. Louis .379

3. Colorado .380

4. Milwaukee .358

5. Chicago Cubs .350

6. LA Dodgers .346

7. Florida .340

8. Pittsburgh .328

9. Washington .322

10. Cincinnati .320

11. Atlanta .319

12. New York Mets .317

13. San Diego .307

14. Houston .302

15. San Francisco .299

16. Arizona .293

AL Team RMOB

1. Texas .408

2. Detroit .382

3. Toronto .377

4. Baltimore .376

5. Tampa Bay .371

6. New York .370

7. LA Angels .367

8. Boston .362

9. Cleveland .343

10. Minnesota .342

11. Kansas City .340

12. Chicago Sox .335

13. Oakland .331

14. Seattle .327

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the Texas Rangers have relinquished their lead to the Philadelphia Phillies.  With their dominance on offense I would not have been surprised if they had stayed with the highest numbers all season.  They were obviously very inefficient on offense this past week though, and dropped down to .408 from .430.  The Detroit Tigers are a bit higher than one might expect, but they are an offensively oriented team that is built in a similar way to the Rangers in my team.  The Kansas City Royals are very low in the rankings despite leading the AL Central at 18-13.  They seem to have done most of their winning with pitching, so the offensive efficiency has not been as key for them.  The Seattle Mariners have gone just 2-8 in their last ten, and it is showing in them having the worst efficiency in the AL.

As for NL teams, the Philadelphia Phillies are continuing to be incredibly efficient, and they are just a half game back of the NL East lead after losing a couple in a row to the Mets.  The Mets, meanwhile, have improved their efficiency up to .317, up from .308 last week and below .300 the week before.  They have now won 7 in a row, so it is proving to be good for them.  The Colorado Rockies continue to be near the top of the standings in the NL despite being only 11-18.  However, they have dropped about .015 from last week, down to .269.  I would guess that trend would continue for them.  In sticking with my last 10 trend for this week, the Brewers have been hot (7-3) and that is in part because they are amongst the most efficient teams in the NL.  The Arizona Diamondbacks are worst in the league at .293, and they are just 12-19 so far this season.  All in all, I am pleased with the accuracy, although there continue to be some teams that are the exception to the rule.

Taking it too far

Last week I wrote about the hard fouls committed by Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo in their playoff games and defended the players.  Today I will be writing about more players and more whistles blown against them.  Today will be different though, because this time I'm on the other side.

Derek Fisher and Rafer Alston both received suspensions for fouls they committed in last night's NBA playoff games.  Alston hit Celtics guard Eddie House on the back of the head after House hit a three as part of his big 31 point night.  After making the shot, House was jawing at Alston and at the Celtics crowd because he was fired up.  Alston tried to claim that House threw an elbow at him as he was running back from hitting the three.  Watch the replay.  It didn't happen.  What did happen was Alston losing his cool because he was being outplayed by a Celtics bench player.

In the late night game, Rockets-Lakers game 2, Luis Scola was coming up to set a pick on Derek Fisher.  Fisher saw it coming, so instead of worrying about playing defense, he just waited for Scola to get there and then he threw his shoulder into him pretty much as hard as he was capable.  This hit was as good as any you would see in a hockey game, and that's just the problem:  we're playing basketball.  I know that the NBA is physical and the playoffs are even more rough, but not like that.

Last time I was defending the players and criticizing the league for suspending Dwight Howard.  This time I fully support both players being suspended, and I'm even okay with it being for more than one game.  These plays were that bad.  The Fisher play was the dirtiest play I have seen in a long, long time.  Last time, Rondo and Howard were still playing basketball.  This time, Alston and Fisher were simply being thugs.  They are paying the price and their teams just might pay the price as well.

No Brett! NOOOOOOO!

A devastated, disappointed Nate is the one writing to you today, because yesterday Around the Horn, PTI, and Sportscenter all reported at length that Brett Favre was going to meet with Vikings head coach Brad Childress.  This is some of the worst news I have seen in sports in a long time.  It is breaking my heart to see one of my heroes do this to himself.

As a die-hard Packers fan I have been watching Brett Favre since I have been old enough to follow football.  He is the reason that I have been lucky enough to watch the Packers win a Super Bowl, and he is the reason that the Packers inexplicably went 13-3 two seasons ago.  He has been the face of my favorite franchise for what seems like forever.  Until a year ago, when he un-retired and went to the Jets.  That was tough to live with, but not because I was mad at Brett or considered him a traitor.  Brett left an incredible legacy for the Packers and the NFL.  I thought that by coming back he was ruining that.  As it turned out, he did a decent job with the Jets, although they did kind of choke down the stretch.  Now, Brett has said there is no way he's coming back to football for the second time.  And he has starting talking with another NFL organization for the second time.

Brett has been a beloved member of the NFL for a long time.  When he came back with the Jets, he remained that way.  People still liked him.  Now coming back to the Vikings is being interpreted as Brett's way of getting back at the Packers.  Michael Wilbon called him selfish.  So did Jay Mariotti.  Coming back into the league this time will have an affect on Brett's reputation.  Playing against the Packers will force me to root against Brett.  I don't want to do that.  I don't think most sports fans want be against Brett Favre.  If this continues though, that might be the way it is.

Here's to hoping Brett Favre takes a step back.  It should not end like this.

Entertainments Galore

O my, yesterday was just an awesome day in sports, specifically for me.  Nothing incredible happened, but a lot of good happened, and I think a lot of people missed it.

Let's start with the Mets, who went down 3-0 in the 2nd inning to NL East rival Braves.  When John Maine gives up runs, that is usually the point where he crumbles.  This time though, Maine lasted four more innings without giving up a run.  A very pleast surprise, and even more pleasant was the sweet scent of the Mets' power possibly coming back.  In a loss to the Phillies on Saturday, Daniel Murphy and Ramon Castro hit back-to-back home runs.  In yesterday's game, Carlos Beltran blasted a 2-run homer, then Carlos Delgado singled, and David Wright followed that up with a two run homer of his own.  Beltran tacked on another 2-run shot later in the game to seal the deal for a 6-4 win.  The Metropolitans have not been hitting many home runs, but with five in their last two games, I gotta say that I'm excited about the possibility of them hitting more out of the park.

Alright moving on to the next order of business, Red Sox at Yankees.  After a two hour rain delay, this got going in the New Yankee stadium and was simply enjoyable for the non-Yankees fan to watch.  The New Yankee Stadium is a disaster.  There are seats with obstructed view and home run balls are flying out of the stadium at record rate.  The thing is, this stadium is going to be around forever now.  They can't go back to the old Yankee Stadium.  So much money went into the building and it has just been a big disappointment so far.  I don't know what they can do, but they have got to do something to try and fix the problem.

Now it is time to move on to the highlight of the night:  Lakers vs. Rockets, game 1.  I don't think many people on the East Coast were up for the entirety of this one, but I can say that I am glad I was.  This was a pretty entertaining game from a basketball fan's standpoint, but it had so much more.  I could write about this one for a long time, but I'll check myself and just count down the top 5 reasons that you needed to watch this one.

5. Aaron Brooks is one of the most entertaining players to watch in the NBA.  He might be the quickest guy in the league, and was capable of getting his shot anytime he wanted on aging Derek Fisher.  He burnt him of the dribble 5 or 6 times last night.  A six-foot nothing guy should not be able to score 19 points off of mostly layups, but Brooks did just that last night.

4. Phil Jackson's attack on Craig Sager just before the fourth quarter started.  Sager was interviewing Jackson as the quarter was beginning, and was asking him about what the Lakers needed to do to continue their fourth quarter dominance over the Rockets (they outscored the Rockets 127-80 in the fourth quarter during the regular season).  Phil responded by saying that first off they needed to get Sager away from their bench because he was scaring the Lakers in his "Bozo the Clown suit."  Now we all know that Craig Sager looks ridiculous, but I never expected anyone to come out and be downright mean about it.  I think Phil Jackson might have officially achieved codger status with that one.  He could be losing it.

3. Shane Battier is still a ridiculous defender.  Kevin Harlan said that he finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.  That means he was behind Dwight Howard, Lebron, and Dwyane Wade.  The only one that I am okay with being in front of Battier is Howard.  The others were there because of numbers they put up and the flashy blocks they had.  Battier doesn't get blocks because he doesn't go for them.  Battier is a truly good defender.  He guarded Kobe all night and forced him to take jump shots.  He puts his hand in Kobe's face and contests every shot so that Kobe can't see the hoop.  Maybe Lebron or Wade would block Kobe a couple times in a game, and maybe they would pick his pocket.  But both of them would also both get beaten of the dribble by Kobe when they gambled and because they don't embrace defense like Battier.  Sure, Kobe scored 32 last night, but it took him 31 shots to get that way.  That is a lot of wasted possessions because Battier was working so hard on defense.

2. Ron Artest's hair.  I figured that we were past the time of styles and designs being shaved into our heads, but Artest proved me wrong.  He had the Rockets logo on one side, and I'm not even sure what on the other side.  As if him saying that Brandon Roy is the best player he's played against wasn't enough proof that he's insane, this seals the deal.

1. Yao Ming.  I am officially on the big guy's bandwagon after this game.  He went for 28 points and 10 rebounds in last night's game, and that was the least of his accomplishments.  Late in the 4th quarter with the situation still in doubt, Yao took a knee-to-knee collision from Kobe Bryant, went down and stayed down.  Rockets fans held their collective breath.  After the TV timeout, Yao was in the tunnel trying to get his knee loose.  He demanded that he go back into the game, and proceeded to go out and hit another 20 foot jumper to help the Rockets seal the deal.  He then followed up the win with only the greatest postgame interview with Craig Sager, and then admitted in the press conference after the game that he had just learned the word "underdog" a few days earlier so he couldn't really answer the reporter's question.  Awesome.

Here's to hoping that all days are half as good as May 4th.

NBA Playoffs, Round 2

Well, my predictions for the first round of the NBA playoffs did not go that well.  Sure, I went 5 for 8, but both 1 vs 8 matchups were pretty obvious as far as I was concerned.  If you take those out of the equation I went just 3 for 6, missing both 4 vs 5 matchups and the Spurs-Mavericks series.  I'm a littel bit disappointed.  Now I suppose I'll give my predictions for round 2, although now I'm more interested in some of the matchups and storylines that are coming up in Round 2.

First, I would predict that both 1 seeds will be winning their respective series and moving on.  The Cavs will beat the Hawks and the Lakers will beat the Rockets.  I would guess that the Nuggets will beat the Mavericks, because they are absolutely on fire right now.  The Mavericks are happy to be in the second round of the playoffs, and they will go no farther.  Chauncey Billups, Carmelo Anthony and the rest of Denver are playing very well right now.  I do think that could be a very entertaining series though as far as scoring is concerned.  These playoffs have been very low-scoring for the high-scoring reputation that the NBA has.  There have not been very many games where 100 points have been scored, and there have been several games in which the losing team only scored in the 60s.  It is always interesting to see these NBA guys start to care a lot more once the playoffs begin.  They play harder defense, they seem more decisive about their shooting, and their percentages go up from the free throw line.  That is why the NBA playoffs are so much fun to watch.  You finally get to see these ridiculous athletes play so hard.

Now, for the final series:  Celtics vs. Magic.  I think that the Magic will win the series in six games.  I have heard so much being made of whether or not the Celtics will be tired for this series because they put so much into the great series against the Bulls.  Here is my answer--no. Sure, they have played a long season and just went through a great NBA series that was exhausting even to watch, let alone play.  These guys are professional athletes though.  They are the most conditioned people on the planet.  The Celtics had over 24 hours to rest after beating the Bulls.  That is plenty of time to get ready to play a game at full strength.  When you consider all the treatment these athletes are getting--massages, ice baths, nutrition--all of that is done so they can be more than ready in whatever amount of time.  The Celtics will be just fine for this entire series in my opinion.

Finally, I am excited about this second round because it is giving two of my favorite former Dukies a chance to do something great.  Neither Shane Battier or JJ Redick is the key player on their respective teams.  Both, however are always playing hard and will give positive contributions to their teams.  Battier figures to be the primary defender on Kobe Bryant, splitting time with Ron Artest on that assignment.  Redick is now the starting 2 guard on the Magic with the injury to Courtney Lee.  I'll be rooting for some of my favorite college players to do well in the playoffs

Experiment in Statistics, Week 2

Well, it's time to get the update on my offensive efficiency statistic, and see which teams are doing the best job of bringing baserunners home.  If you have no idea what my statistic is about, I have an explanation of it in the first post on RMOB (Friday, April 24).  In that case, I will get right to the statistics and hope that the tabs work as I would want them to this time.

NL Team RMOB

1. Philadelphia .408

2. Colorado .388

3. St. Louis  .383

4. Florida .358

5. Pittsburgh .354

6. LA Dodgers .346

7. San Diego .334

8. Milwaukee .325

9. Chicago Cubs .313

10. Arizona .310

11. San Francisco .309

12. Cincinnati .308

13. Atlanta .303

14. New York Mets .299

15. Washington .296

16. Houston .284

AL Team RMOB

1. Texas .432

2. Detroit .394

3. New York Yankees .370

4. Toronto .367

5. Boston .366

6. Baltimore .365

7. LA Angels .362

8. Cleveland .353

9. Seattle .351

10. Tampa Bay .350

11. Chicago Sox .345

12. Kansas City .340

13. Minnesota .327

14. Oakland .313

Well, once again, some mixed results.  The Rockies and the Rangers continue to be the most glaring anomalies in the stat.  I think that the Rangers will stay at or near the top of the AL standings no matter what their record, because their hitting is ridiculous and their pitching is not very good.  As for the Rockies, I think that it will start to play out more accurately for them--either their record will improve more, or their RMOB numbers will go down.  Otherwise, it is once again fairly indicative of what the league standings look like.   The Orioles' RMOB is a bit higher than one might expect at .365, but everyone in the AL East has a pretty good RMOB.  The Phillies RMOB is extremely high, and skyrocketed this week, but my explanation for that would be that they are starting to play better baseball, offensively more at the form of their World Series winning ways.  The Nationals and A's are still two of the worst offensively efficient teams, and it is showing in their records so far this season. 

A break from Buddhism

Well, it's my worst day of studying today, and it is time to take a break from it all.  Buddhism has occupied most of my day today, along with the Mets earlier on (they wasted another great Santana outing, hooray).  Now, however, it is time to turn to the goings on in sports.  Today, there is something bothering me, and it deals with the NBA playoffs.

If you are not aware, Dwight Howard elbowed 76ers center Samuel Dalembert after grabbing a rebound.  It was deliberate, but not what I would call dirty. He was whistled and given a technical foul for it.  Great job by the officials in my opinion.  Now there is a huge deal being made out of the whole deal, and it has resulted in Howard being suspended for the next game in the series.  This is absurd.  First off, Howard wasn't even given a flagrant foul, it was a technical foul.  You shouldn't be suspended for a technical foul.  Second off, Howard also elbowed his teammate Courtney Lee and he will be out for the game 6 also.  Basically, this suspension is the NBA deciding that they want a game 7 in what has been a closer series than many expected.  Without their star and a key role player, I don't see how the Magic can pick up a win on the road.  The NBA should be ashamed of themselves.

In a related incident, the Bulls-Celtics series continued to be incredible.  They had another overtime game which the Celtics won to take a 3-2 lead.  With 3 seconds left the Bulls had the ball and were down 2.  Brad Miller got free on the inbound, took a dribble to the hoop and went up for what should have been a routine layup, until Rajon Rondo came flying in and smacked him in the face hard.  Rondo was whistled for the foul, Miller went to the line and missed the free throws, Celtics won.  People are now complaining that a flagrant foul should have been called on Rondo--get out of here.  That was a great hard foul late in a game.  It could have been called a flagrant foul--but that doesn't mean it should have.  People are now acting like the non-call cost the Bulls the game.  News flash--it didn't.  Even if the flagrant was called, Miller would have presumably missed the foul shot (since he did that anyway), and then the Bulls would have had the exact same inbound as before--down two, except now with less time to play.  Rondo's play was not dirty.  He admits that he knew he had no chance of getting the ball, so he just swiped.  That's the NBA; that's protecting a lead; that's how you win games some of the time.  It's that simple.  What really stinks about this whole deal is that people are not focusing on the game anymore--it was an awesome game.  These two teams went into overtime again, and then everyone seems to have forgotten about the 3 clutch shots Paul Pierce hit in the final 90 seconds of that game.  He was great.  The Celtics had no one else left with Ray Allen fouling out, and Paul Pierce stepped up just like everyone has been waiting for him to.  I'd look for it to happen again in game 6.

I guess my point is this:  stop worrying about the officials and the suspensions, and start worrying about the games.  Other than the Cavs-Pistons series and that 58 point win by the Nuggets, the NBA playoffs have been great so far.  That's why I want Dwight Howard in there still.  He didn't cheat, he didn't play dirty, and he is great to watch.  Let him play, and we'll be in store for more great games.

Ollie, Ollie, Ox in Free

Missed a post from yesterday, I apologize to my incredibly large following.  However, we will be getting back on track today seeing as I don't have to do quite as much studying.  I would like to point out before I start today's topic that the statistics in my last post were much more attractive looking when I was writing the post than they appeared in the actual blog.  I will find a way to amend this issue for this weeks experiment in statistics.

Now, on to today's topic:  Mets' starter Oliver Perez, also known as my least favorite player in the Majors.  I read a story on ESPN.com today that said Mets' manager Jerry Manuel is going to give Perez one more chance this season.  He is currently on a ridiculous three year, $36 million contract.  Way way way way too much for a guy who had an ERA of 4.22 last year and a record of only 15-10.  Perez has really only had one good season in his career (2002), and he only went 12-10 because he was playing for Pittsburgh.  This year, he is off to a 1-2 start, with an ERA of 9.31.  His strikeout to walk ratio is in danger of falling below 1.0, as he has issued 15 walks to just 18 strikeouts on the season.

After giving up seven runs on nine hits and three walks in 4.1 innings to the WASHINGTON NATIONALS, Manuel has said he will be giving Perez one more chance.  Perez's next start is scheduled for Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies.  As much as I hope the Mets beat their rivals, I kind of hope Perez doesn't pitch very well.  He is just not worth it to have in the starting rotation.  Plus, I think Perez could be an incredible middle reliever.  It seems like every start he goes the first three innings and looks like he is going to pitch a complete game.  Then the wheels come off.  That screams relief pitcher to me.  At any rate, I'm tired of him in the starting lineup, and I hope Manuel is looking for a dominant performance, like at least a quality start, out of Perez.  4 earned runs through 5 and a third innings should not be good enough to save his job.  He is killing the Mets right now, moreso than any other pitcher, and it needs to change one way or another.

Experiment in Statistics, Week 1

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would be keeping track of my own new statistic in an attempt to see if it will be indicative of the of the way the standings play out.  My statistic doesn't have a finalized name yet because I am trying to come up with a cool name like established baseball stats such as WHIP or VORP.  The statistic measures a team's offensive efficiency by seeing what percentage of baserunners a team is able to bring home and score.  To measure it, I took every method of getting on base--hits, walks, hit by pitch, intentional walks, and errors the other team committed, and put the number of runs they scored over that.  The result is a number similar to batting average indicating how many runs a team scores per man that gets on base.  For example, if a team has had 100 players get on base this season, and they have scored 30 runs, then their Runs per man on base (RMOB?) number would be .300.  That means that for every man a team gets on base, they score three tenths of a run, or for every 10 runners a team gets on base, they score 3 runs.  With the method of the stat being explained, I am open to cool acronym ideas for the stat, and open to better ways of expressing the number than the .300 variety.  If you would like to see how many men on base a team requires to score each run, I can attempt to play that out.  Love to hear the suggestions.  That being said, here are the results of the season so far. (RMOB as of Thursday April 23)

AL Team RMOB NL Team RMOB

1. Texas Rangers .458 1. St. Louis Cardinals .384

2. Detroit Tigers .388 2. Florida Marlins .382

3. Cleveland Indians .384 3. Philadelphia Phillies .381

4. Toronto Blue Jays .383 4. Colorado Rockies .375

5. Baltimore Orioles .376 5. LA Dodgers .366

6. New York Yankees .373 6. Pittsburgh Pirates .350

7. Seattle Mariners .366 7. San Diego Padres .344

8. Boston Red Sox .365 8. Milwaukee Brewers .328

9. Chicago White Sox .358 9. Chicago Cubs .320

10. LA Angels .347 10. Atlanta Braves .319

11. Minnesota Twins .341 11. Cincinnatti Reds .317

12. Tampa Bay Rays .339 12. Arizona DBacks .308

13. Kansas City Royals .321 13. New York Mets .301

14. Oakland Athletics .306 14. San Fran Giants .291

15. Washington Nationals .290

16. Houston Astros .263

Observations:  largely, the runs scored per man on base statistic is pretty accurate in showing how successful a team is.  The top teams in the NL, the Cardinals and Marlins, are both atop their divisions.  The Dodgers, Padres, Pirates and Phillies also are in the top half of the NL in RMOB, and are off to pretty good starts.  The only team that is doing well so far that doesn't have a high RMOB in the NL is the Cincinnatti Reds.  They are 9-6, but boast an RMOB of only.317.  Their pitching has been good, but I think the Reds have won several ugly games, and that is partially why they are so low in the rankings.

In the AL it is not quite as accurate, but still not bad.  The Blue Jays, Mariners, Yankees and Red Sox boast the best four records in the AL, and they all occupy spots in the top 8 of the league.  The Athletics, Rays and Twins are near the bottom in both the division standings and the RMOB rankings. 

The main anomalies that stick out are the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians and the Colorado Rockies.  The Rangers are scoring almost half the time they get a man on base, which is absurd, but they are not doing well on the season, only 6-9.  Similar to last year, the Rangers seem to be extremely entertaining offensively, but cannot get it done with pitching or fielding, so they are not very successful yet.  The Indians RMOB is near the top of the entire MLB at .384, but they had one game in which they scored 22 runs, a number that would seem to skew the statistic with such a small sample size so far.  The Rockies also have a pretty high RMOB at .375, despite being only 5-9.  They have just been very efficient, but not scored many runs.  They have only gotten 176 men on base as of April 23, good for 3rd worst in the NL.  While they have been efficient, it has only resulted in 66 runs, which has not been good enough to result in wins.

All in all, I am encouraged by the results of the experiment so far, and I hope they continue to be accurate as the season progresses

Boston

I missed a post yesterday, but I'm back in the saddle today.  I am going to talk about something that I don't think gets the attention it deserves...the Boston Marathon.

The marathon is one of the toughest events in sports.  Anyone who completes one during their lifetime has done something truly incredible in my eyes.  I was a pretty good distance runner once upon a time, but have never mustered up the courage to run in even a half marathon, let alone the 26.2 mile monster that is a marathon.  It is something that takes extreme dedication for months, often with no payoff other than personal satisfaction (hopefully).  You might get a pat on the back from someone who finished near you and hear congratulations from your family and close friends that knew you were running the race, but that is about it.

While doing any marathon is amazing, running in the Boston Marathon is at another level.  Unlike other marathons, you have to qualify to run in Boston.  When you go to Boston, according to my father, it is a completely different atmosphere.  Everyone is excited, they have a marathon village set up there.  When you are running at Boston, the entire course is lined with fans cheering you on.  In other marathons, outside of the start and finish, you won't hear very much noise other than from the volunteers handing out water and electrolytes.  When you run at Boston, everyone manages to find out, not just the people you tell.  Winning the Boston Marathon is pretty much as prestigious as winning the marathon at the Olympics.  Boston is that big.  It is the greatest road race in the world, and I think that more people should know about it each year.

Per usual, Kenyans and Ethiopians dominated the marathon run on Monday.  Kenyan Salina Kosgei won the women's race in 2:32:16, and Ethiopian Deriba Merga won the men's race in 2:08:42.  That time puts Merga's pace at just under five minutes per mile.  That is ridiculous.  That is something that many people cannot even comprehend.  Even as a runner, I have no comprehension of that kind of consistency and endurance.  It is truly an incredible accomplishment, and I hope awareness of these kinds of things increases as people learn to appreciate them.

UD Basketball, Duke Basketball

Recently stories have come out pertaining to my two favorite college basketball teams (The Dayton Flyers and the Duke Blue Devils) taking on transfers.  It is pretty incredible how similar the stories are in terms of how they will work out for the teams.  Most college basketball fans have heard about Stephen Curry's younger brother Seth transferring from Liberty to Duke next year.  Curry led all freshmen in scoring last year, averaging 20.6 points per game.  He will not be eligible to play next year, but in the 2011 season.  With junior guards Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson vacating their spots after next season, it will be perfect timing for Curry to step in as a redshirt sophomore and contribute to the Blue Devils, hopefully with some similar numbers to those he put up at Liberty.  Duke will be looking for a scorer, and Curry seems to fit the bill.

Doug Harris wrote a story in the Dayton Daily News about Drake sophomore guard Josh Parker accepting a scholarship to transfer to Dayton next year.  Parker will be filling the scholarshiip vacated by ex-Flyer Stephen Thomas.  Thomas is transferring away from UD in order to play more minutes for his final two years.

The similarities become scary when one considers the circumstances into which Parker will be transferring.  He, like Curry, will not be playing until the 2011 basketball season.  That will be just in time to fill in for junior guards London Warren, Rob Lowery, and Marcus Johnson as they will graduate after next season.  While not putting up quite as gawdy of numbers as Curry, Parker did average 10.7 points per game last year, which would put him as the third leading scorer on UD this past season.  It will be excellent timing for Parker to come to UD, as he will be able to come in and hopefully solidify a strong backcourt with star recruit Juwan Staten out of Thurgood Marshall.  I am excited about seeing what both of these transfers can do in the coming years.

My second first day in a row

The title of this post may seem confusing, but let me explain.  Yesterday was my first day as a blogger.  Today was my first day as the official sports editor of Flyer News.  I sat in the Flyer News office from 11 am to 6 pm, editing stories, and mixing it up with the rest of the staff.  It took forever and some of it was really a pain, but I had a good time for the most part.  We got to have pizza, and there are some other members of the staff that I get along with very well.  All in all, it was a good albeit tiring day.  Placing pictures is awful, but editing and writing stories is great.  It balances out, and eventually I will get better at all of it.

Now, on to the sports.  I have decided to attempt to analyze the New York Mets this year vs. last year in the hopes that they will do better this year.  I think that they have addressed their need in the bullpen, but I think that in order to make the playoffs this year, the Mets hitting will have to improve.  Specifically, they will need to improve their hitting with runners on base and with 2 out.  That is what all of the best teams do.  They steal wins by stringing hits together with 2 outs.  Unfortunately today, the mets could not do just that.  They lost to the Brewers 4-2 today, and the story was the Mets inability to bring baserunners home.  They got those 2 runs on 12 hits.  That is way too many men to leave on base.  In addition, the Mets could not come up with hits in the clutch.  In the bottom of the sixth inning, The mets were down 3 to 1.  With 2 out and none on base, Carlos Beltran hit a single, which Gary Sheffield followed up with a double.  With runners on second and third, Fernando Tatis came to the plate and flied out.  In the bottom of the seventh Carlos Delgado grounded into a double play with 1 out and Jose Reyes and Daniel Murphy on 1st and 2nd.  In the bottom of the eighth the first two batters got on base, and then Tatis struck out on 3 pitches, after which Omir Santos lined into a somewhat unfortunate double play.  All of these situations were times when runs should have been scored, and they weren't.  The Mets will need to hit better.  As my stat tracking has a larger sample size, I will start to come out with those numbers.

NBA Playoffs first round

My first post as a blogger comes on a fortunate day for a sports fan:  the NBA Playoffs started today, which gives me plenty to talk about.  For several years I stopped being a fan of the NBA mainly because of the strike and half-season.  However, recently I have become a fan again, and the NBA playoffs have always maintained their magic in my eyes.  I am going to attempt to make predictions for the first round of the NBA playoffs.  Hopefully I will be able to improve on my pretty abysmal college basketball bracket, and get my predictions back on track.  I'll begin with the Eastern Conference, because I think most of those series are easier.

First in the East is the Cavs-Pistons series.  The first game in this series has technically already concluded, but it goes along with what I and the rest of the world would have picked anyway.  The Cavs won, and they are going to win the series.  The only question is how many games it will take.  I think the Cavs will pull out a sweep, and my reasons are simple.  They have the best player on the court, the best point guard on the court, they are hungry for this playoff run and they have the Pistons number, having beaten them the past couple times they have met in the playoffs when the Pistons were the better team.  This time around, the Cavs are the better team, so they will win.

Next is the Celtics-Bulls 2-7 series.  The Celtics are going to be hurting all playoffs without Kevin Garnett, but they are obviously still a very good team.  They have played a significant amount of the season without KG, and done pretty well.  The first game has completed in this series as well, and it was a surprising Bulls win.  Statistics say that 79% of teams that win game 1 go on the win the series.  Paul Pierce will make the Celtics a part of that select 21%.  He is one of the most clutch players in the league, and steps up in big games time and again.  A young Bulls team will not get it done in a seven game series.  Celtics in 6 is my pick.

The 3-6 Game is between the Orlando Magic and the Philadelphia 76ers.  Once again, the better seed will prevail.  The Magic are a 59 win team and the 76ers are a 500 one.  There is good reason for that.  The matchups in this game favor the Magic.  I don't know who on the 76ers can completely shut down Hedo Turkoglu, and I know that none of them can contain Dwight Howard.  Magic in 5.

The 4-5 series in the East is maybe the best in the entire playoffs.  The Hawks vs. the Heat will go to seven games, and I think if it goes that far, it will not be easy to deny Dwyane Wade.  The Hawks played incredibly well in the playoffs last year, and took the Celtics to seven games in the first round.  I just think that you want to have the best player in a series, especially in the seventh game.  Dwyane Wade is the best and most clutch player of these teams, and he will get them through when it matters. Heat in 7

The Western conference playoffs are a bit more complicated, because there is such a log jam from seeds 2 to 7.  The first series to talk about is Lakers-Jazz.  Despite the fact that the Jazz match up pretty well against the Lakers, Carlos Boozer is not playing nearly his best basketball and the Lakers are my pick to win the championship.  Therefore, I think that the Lakers will win in five games.

Next is the 2-7 matchup between the Denver Nuggets and the New Orleans Hornets.  This is a series that I am very split on.  On the one hand, Chris Paul is the best player in the series, and I think that is the most important thing for a team in the NBA playoffs.  On the other hand, the Nuggets have a pretty good point guard of their own in Chauncey Billups.  The game breaker for me though, is Carmelo Anthony.  Of these two teams, he is the player that I would want to give the ball to at the end of the game.  According to 82games.com, Melo has scored the third most points in the clutch (last five min of fourth qtr or overtime in a five-point game or less) and boasts a higher shooting percentage than Kobe or Lebron.  That is big in a series that I think will go the distance.  Nuggets in 7.

The 3-6 matchup become much more intriguing near the end of the season.  It is the Spurs vs. Mavericks, and the Spurs are going to be hurting due to the loss of Manu Ginobli throughout the playoffs.  The Mavericks got extremely hot at the end of the season, and Dirk has had one of his best seasons in his career.  I am convinced that the Spurs are old enough that they will not win two series in these playoffs without Manu.  The question though, is will they win one, and I think the answer is yes.  I don't see anyone who can guard Tony Parker, and I think he will be too much for the Mavs to handle.  Spurs in 7.

Final matchup of the first round:  Trailblazers vs. Rockets.  I do not see a go-to scorer for the Rockets, and there is no doubt that there is one for the Blazers in Brandon Roy, who happens to be the best player in the series.  The Blazers also have athletic big men that Yao could have trouble defending.  I think that the Blazers takes this series down in 6.