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.