Thursday, October 4, 2012

2012 MLB Playoff Predictions

WildCard Showdown
Man, I almost wish the Yankees were playing in that because it sounds much more exciting than AL Divisional Series. Nah, just kidding, WildCards are for suckers. 

Rangers over Orioles, 6-4
Cardinals over Braves, 3-2

Divisional Series
Or is it Division Series, I'm not really sure. Either way, it will be interesting with the new BBAAA format with B being the lower seed. The previous AABBA schedule was the norm for nearly 20 years of Divisional play. I think a dream scenario for the higher seeds is ABBAA. What do the hotels and airlines think of this with one less flight? The higher seeded teams sure don't like it from a business side because they only have one guaranteed home game in the first round.

Reds over Giants in 5
Cardinals over Nationals in 4

Yankees over Rangers in 4
Athletics over Tigers in 4

Championship Series 
Should this not actually be called the Pennant Series? You don't win the real Championship, only the League Championship, which is commonly referred to as the Pennant. I guess in the NFL they call it the AFC and NFC Championship Game, but in NHL and NBA it's dubbed the Eastern and Western Conference Finals. I like that better, but Pennant would be unique and baseball loves being unique.

Yankees over Athletics in 6
Cardinals over Reds in 6

World Series
So cocky. Only one team outside of America could possibly play in the series and we've proven over the last few World Baseball Classics that America isn't even the best baseball country on the planet. Whatever, part of being American is being overconfident, so I'm down with it.

Yankees over Cardinals in 6*


*did you expect me to pick another team to win it???



Wednesday, August 22, 2012

How are our Yankee Predictions Doing?


Pelle, Alex, Christian and I made 2012 season Yankee predictions for a number of different stats and figures in March. Let's take a mid/late season look at where they're at now. Actual number and projected number are below our picks.

Wins
Pelle: 98
Alex: 95
Christian: 96
Jesse: 102
Actual: 72/Projected: 95
Alex looks like the closest here, but Christian isn't far off. They'll need a 30-9 run for me to be right.

Andy Pettitte Wins
P: 9
A: 10
C: 8 
J: 11
Actual: 3/Projected: 4
Woof. Dandy Andy would have likely had at least 7-8 by now if not for his broken ankle. With a September return on the horizon, he's got no chance to make any of these numbers.

CC Sabathia Wins
P: 17
A: 18
C: 19
J: 21
Actual: 12/Projected: 16
CC spent a month on the DL during two stints but should have seven starts remaining beginning this Friday. No chance he gets to my number, doubtful he's at Christian's.

Phil Hughes Wins
P: 15
A:  11
C: 13
J: 15
Actual: 12/Projected: 16
Hughes, as he is wont to do, has been up and down this year. Looks like we were right in the neighborhood with his win total and Pelle and I have the best chance to nail it.

Mariano Rivera Saves
P: 41
A: 43
C: 39
J: 38
Actual: 5/Projected: 5
With his season over right around the same time the Knicks' was, Mo ended 2012 with 5 saves. His replacement, Rafael Soriano has done excellently this year, with 31 saves thus far, projecting for 41.

Mariano Rivera ERA of 1.50
P: over
A: over  
C: over
J: over
Actual: 2.16/Projected: 2.16
He gave up two runs in 8.1 innings. Looks like we were all correct, but the sample size was too small to accurately judge.

Brett Gardner Steals
P: 53
A: 44
C: 39
J: 46
Actual: 2/Projected: 2
Another Yankee out for the year. GGBG had 2 steals in 9 games before sustaining an injury. In that minuscule sample size, he would have been on pace for 43 if he kept it up.

A-Bombs (Alex Rodriguez home runs)
P: 28
A:  31
C: 33
J: 33
Actual: 15/Projected: 18
Woof, again. A-Rod is in the middle of a 4-6 week recovery for a broken wrist. Even while he was healthy, he looked old and didn't have much pop at all. No shot at getting anyone's prediction.

Derek Jeter batting average of .310
P: under
A: under
C: under
J: over
Actual: .324/Projected: .324
Jeter was on fire in April (.389), good in May, (.293), awful in June (.232) and scorching again in July (.346) and August (.386). If Mike Trout would just stick to being the future of baseball and not the present as well, Jeter would be competing for a batting title this year with Joe Mauer and Miguel Cabrera. Jeter's career September average is .324 on the nose, so he will look to finish right around where he's at now.

Yankee with most home runs
P: Cano
A: Granderson 
C: Granderson
J: Teixeira
Actual: Granderson/Projected: Granderson
The Grandy Man has 32 bombs this year. Cano is second on the club with 25 (after having just one through Cinco de Mayo). Teix is third with 23. Looks like Alex and Christian are spot on.

# of HR for Yankee leader
P: 41
A:  38
C: 39
J: 39
Actual: 32/Projected: 42
Grandy should hit the 40+ plateau for the second straight year if he has an average September. We were all right in the neighborhood but Pelle was the only one with the stones to guess 40+.

Yankee with most MVP votes
P: Cano (winner)
A: Cano  
C: Cano
J: Cano
Actual: N/A/ Projected: Cano
Cano leads the club and is third in the league in WAR with 4.3.

Three Gold Glove winners
P: push
A: push
C: push
J: under
Acutal: N/A/Projected: 3
Too early to tell, but a number of Yankees are in the top three of FanGraphs fielding rankings including Teixeira, Cano, Ichiro and CC.

# of All-Stars
P: seven
A: six 
C: seven
J: six
Actual: 4/Projected: 4
Whoops, looks like we were a little too confident. Granderson, Jeter and Cano started with CC also named to the team.

Yankees with 100+ RBI
P: three
A: four
C: four
J: four
Actual: 0/Projected: 1
Only Teixeira, who has 80 now, is on pace for triple digit RBIs. Granderson is close, pacing out to 96 with a current total of 73, but that's it. Cano (68) and Swisher (69) will have to catch fire to come close and may not even break 90.

Yankees with 100+ runs
P: three
A: four
C: four
J: four
Actual: 0/Projected: 3
Cano, Jeter and Granderson are all on pace for 100+ runs in 2012. Teix has just 64 and no chance to join the club. I'm going to act like FOX News on election night and declare Pelle an early winner of this category.

Yankees batting .300+
P: two
A: three 
C: one
J: two
Actual: 2/Projected: 2
Cano (.302) and Jeter (.324) should both be on the good side of .300 at the end of the season,  but no one else will be close. Ichiro is batting .312 in pinstripes but just .271 on the year. A-Rod is the next closest regular with a .276 average, but he'll need to RAKE to get to .300 in the few final weeks of the season once he returns. Pelle and I look smart here.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Numbers from my Trip to the Little League World Series

Michael on the field prior to Saturday's game vs. Indiana

This weekend, we went to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn. to watch my youngest cousin, Michael Ghiorzi, and his team from Fairfield American LL in Fairfield, Conn. compete. We left Saturday morning, heading north on I-71, then west on I-76 and I-80 to the small city in the middle of Pennsylvania. The team played in a pair of elimination games (after losing its opener vs. California, Thursday, August 16) while we were there, winning them both. Here are some stats, dollars and other figures from the trip.

50,000+- pins traded by kids and adults during any number of formal and informal pin trading sessions throughout our time there.
777- miles from Columbus to Williamsport, around town and back home.
28.1- MPG for the trip. Not terrible, but nothing to write home about...just blog about.
$32- price of the New England jersey I bought as soon as I got there.
$16.87- what I paid for a black velvet blazer at Kohl's originally priced at $225. Guess people from Williamsport don't have anywhere to wear such a thing so it was on mega sale.
12- runs Connecticut scored during the Saturday, August 18 game vs. Nebraska before it was stopped do to the mercy rule in the 5th inning.
11.5- estimated drive time round trip, in hours.
6'2"- height of Michael's older brother, my cousin Christian. Who we got to hang out with and learned that he's starting at FB for his HS Varsity team as a Sophomore.
6- Michael's uniform number.
4th- Fairfield's final ranking on the list of best teams in the country after losing vs. California (again, ugh) on Tuesday, August 21.
2B- position Michael plays.
1- nice person from Williamsport that we met in three days and two nights there. Mostly people were curt and just generally mean.
0- runs Connecticut gave up in the two games we saw.
0- hits allowed by Will Lucas in an elimination game vs. Indiana on Monday, August 20. The 49th no-hitter in LLWS history.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

ConfessLINs [REMIX]

These are my confessLINs
Just when I thought I said all I could say
Knicks get dumber every single day
These are my confessLINs
Man I'm pissed and I dont know what to do
I guess I gotta give part 2 of my confessLINs
How we ever going to beat the Heat?
Darn near cried when I saw that last tweet
I'm so pissed and I don't know what to do
But to give you part 2 of my confessLINs

[Verse 1]
Now this gotta be the dumbest thing I think the Knicks ever do
Letting go of Jeremy Lin and signing a fat number 2
'bout that Knick on part 1 I told you who was our hero our hero
Jimmy Dolan just let him walk out the door for zero for zero
The first thing that came to mind was why?
Second thing was is a NBA team about to make me cry?
Third thing was me wishin' that I never caught Linsanity
And how I'm thinking about ending my Knicks relationship

[Chorus]

[Verse 2]
Looking at the roster, it's stupid, tryna figure out
A drunk point and one who can't stop shoving food in his mouth  
Said it ain't gon' be easy

To move on from LinsanityI gotta get over it
I'm going through my closet
Looking for your jersey
Talkin' to myself

Thinking how can I toss this outI pull out the hanger and I just want to put it on
Hold it close to me, I'll throw it out after this song

[Chorus]

[Breakdown]
This by far is the hardest thing I think I've ever had to do
To tell you, the Jeremy I love
That my favorite team just kicked you out the door because of spite
I hope you can accept the fact that Dolan is immature enough to do this
And hopefully I can still root for you in H-town
This ain't about your career
This ain't about your life
It's about James Dolan and his ego
Please

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

I just made this. I'm so upset with James Dolan and the New York Knicks organization. Also upset with the Miami University athletic department at how difficult it makes going to see my RedHawks in Columbus in seven weeks. But back to the Knicks... this is one of the pettiest things I've ever seen happen in athletics. It's been written a thousand places, so I won't bother retelling the story here, but it's heartbreaking to be reminded once again that your team is run by a child, hated both in the cable industry and the sports world.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Top 5 Meatballs of All Time



This blog started in fall 2008. Since then, we've had nearly 300 posts of varying length and interest. Some got a few clicks, others got thousands. These are the top five most viewed posts in our history, so read them now, before everyone else on Earth does.

1- Urinal Review, February 2009
4- GUEST POST (Lube Tube), May 2009
5- What Your Dog Says About You, February 2009

So did we peak years ago OR have these blogs just been up long enough so good, older stories are going to get more hits? I think hope it's the latter.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Toronto Blue Jays Stadium Review



Indoor baseball in front of literally hundreds of Canadians!

C and I visited Toronto (SNOOOOOOZE) this weekend and one of the highlights of the trip was our visit to the Rogers Centre (Canadian spelling!) - not because it was great, just because it was baseball. Not close to my top five of favorite baseball arenas...of which I've now been to a baker's dozen.

Outside: The Rogers Centre - and most of downtown Toronto - looks like it was just jammed in an open city block. Something about the city just felt like it lacked urban planning and buildings were just put wherever there was some space with no care for how they looked or fit. It's a big white dome RIGHT next to the highway, pretty boring. The box office was very attractive though with all the windows connected, avoiding the window/concrete divider/repeat feel that most box offices have.

Inside: The whole time we're walking outside the dome, we know the roof isn't going to be open, we know we're walking inside, yet, when we walked in, it still feels weird. Something in me told me to expect an ice rink or basketball court when we got in, felt the warm temperature, smelled the indoor arena air. I told my brain we're in a baseball stadium, but when we walked to the top of the section behind home plate (pictured above), it was still shocking to see a baseball field. I want to say that indoor baseball is unAmerican, but of course it is, we were in Canada. It just feels dirty watching a baseball game inside, watching a pop fly reach its apex with a backdrop of scaffolding and catwalks is depressing.

Food: I had a foot long home run dog with beans, bacon, cheese and something else on it while C had a plain one. Pretty good, though the temperature left something to be desired. The garlic fries were not up to speed with their Yankee Stadium counterparts, but still pretty tasty. All in all, a pretty good range of items with a few Canadian staples like poutine.

Beer: Apparently it's not just at the ballpark, but in most of Toronto, where Coors Light, Bud Light, Bud, etc. are considered Domestic, while Molson and LaBatt are premium! What the what? Confusing, but fairly priced for a ballpark in a 'big' city/

Seats and Atmosphere: C came through with some great seats (front row in left center) for a decent price ($30) on the day of the event. This should have been a harbinger of the crowd at the game. Let me correct myself. It was pretty lean in there and only a crowd in the old definition of the word where two's a couple and three's a crowd. Pretty pathetic for a team (at the time) tied for 1st place in the best division in baseball on a Friday night with their ace on the mound. The fans behind us were drunk and annoying, but you'll have that anywhere. The dozens in attendance go nuts when Canadian Brett Lawrie bats, which was pretty fun to see. The ushers were normal looking girls in their 20s, which was a nice surprise to the normal surly or senile 80-year-old men working that job at most parks.

Overall: Not a place I'd have any interest in going back to, unless the roof was open and the Yankees were in town.
'

Friday, April 13, 2012

Looking Back at Yankees Trades

The Pelican texted this to me the other day. Would the Yankees be better served right now with Ian Kennedy, Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero or with Michael Pineda and Curtis Granderson?

The best hitter and the best overall player in this discussion is Curtis Granderson who won a Silver Slugger last season, hitting 40+ bombs and leading the AL in RBI. Ian Kennedy comes up right behind him with an excellent season in 2011 with 20+ wins and an ERA under 3.00, earning him 4th place in Cy Young voting. After that you're looking at a lot of youth and potential in Jackson (25), Montero (21) and Pineda (21). Jackson has been good in the leadoff role for Detroit with double digit triples and over 20 steals each full season to go with a TON of strikeouts. Montero caught fire last September in pinstripes before begin dealt for Pineda who was lights out in the first half of 2011 and eh in the second.

This season IPK and AJax are the class of this crop, with Kennedy going 2-0 with a 2.84 and almost a K per inning Jackson ripping the ball with four XBH, nine runs and an OBP of .536. Montero hasn't had any XBHs yet and Grandy just drove in his first runs with a bomb vs. Baltimore. Pineda is on the DL, expected to return in May.

IPK had a (kind of) chance to impress the Yankees and didn't so he was moved in the three-teamer that netted the Bombers Granderson. Grandy was decent in '10 and phenomenal in '11 and a great addition to the lineup and clubhouse. Kennedy is not winning 20 games (maybe he gets 12-13 W) in the AL East and AJax wouldn't have a place in the order with Jeter, Gardner likely better top of the order options than him. So for this part of the trade, the nod goes slightly to the Yankees, but you can bet that all three teams are very happy with their hauls.

The answer to Pelican's lies with Pineda. Montero is going to hit for average and power, but most likely out of the DH spot, catching 30-40 games a year, diminishing his value. If Pineda is first half Pineda for most of his time in pinstripes, this is a win for the NYY and I'd rather have the current pair of Yankees than the three amigos. However, if Pineda is oft-injured or more like second half Pineda, the Mariners stole this one and the Yankees look stupid for trading a masher for basically a high level pitching prospect when they already have two or three in the minors.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Yankee Predictions

Pelle, Alex and one of my cousins (Christian) and I make our 2012 season Yankee predictions for a number of different stats.


Wins
Pelle: 98
Alex: 95
Christian: 96
Jesse: 102


Andy Pettitte Wins
P: 9
A: 10
C: 8
J: 11


CC Sabathia Wins
P: 17
A: 18
C: 19
J: 21


Phil Hughes Wins
P: 15
A:  11
C: 13
J: 15

Mariano Rivera Saves
P: 41
A: 43
C: 39
J: 38


Mariano Rivera ERA of 1.50
P: over
A: over  
C: over
J: over


Brett Gardner Steals
P: 53
A: 44
C: 39
J: 46


A-Bombs (Alex Rodriguez home runs)
P: 28
A:  31
C: 33
J: 33


Derek Jeter batting average of .310
P: under
A: under
C: under
J: over

Yankee with most home runs
P: Cano
A: Granderson 
C: Granderson
J: Teixeira 


# of HR for Yankee leader
P: 41
A:  38
C: 39
J: 39


Yankee with most MVP votes
P: Cano (winner)
A: Cano  
C: Cano
J: Cano


Three Gold Glove winners
P: push
A: push
C: push
J: under


# of All-Stars
P: seven
A: six 
C: seven
J: six


Yankees with 100+ RBI
P: three
A: four
C: four
J: four


Yankees with 100+ runs
P: three
A: four
C: four
J: four


Yankees batting .300+
P: two
A: three 
C: one
J: two

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Goodbye March, the Best (or Second Best) Sports Month of the Year

March,

You came and went so fast, it was hard to truly appreciate you. Each year you compete with October for the crown of best sports month of the year. Let's recap what you meant to the sports universe and my world in 2012.

NFL
This is the one month where the NFL isn't supposed to reign supreme, but man did the shield bring it... Tebow to Jets! Manning to Miami Arizona Tennessee Denver! Payton gone for a year! Revis trashtalking Belichick! Gronk everywhere! The Ginger Hammer once again shows why the NFL is king and runs the one month it's supposed to be dormant. 

Miami Dolphins
Well, the 'Fins traded their best player in hopes to get another one for worse draft picks than they traded for him two years ago. That's not a good look. The team went hard after Peyton Manning only to get the stiffarm (stiff neck?) from #18. Then they watched the Redskins move up for RG3 while they looked at Matt Flynn and Alex Smith. After both those guys spurned them, Miami fans are headed to a depressing QB battle between Matt Less and David Garrard. Puke. Another terrible offseason for Ross and Ireland.

NBA
The Dwight Howard saga was wacky but ultimately anticlimactic as he stayed in Orlando. Two guys began the month as NBA coaches but ended it doing something else. The Bulls keep winning with or without D.Rose and look absolutely terrifying come playoffs. The Heat look like they're on cruise control and the Thunder, Spurs and Mavs look daunting out West.

New York Knicks
Woodsanity started to overtake Linsanity and the result was the same: winsanity. The Knicks went on a run winning eight of nine games after D'antoni was fired "quit." STAT got hurt and we thought he was out for a few days, then several months, then several weeks then a couple weeks now a couple or several weeks. Lin got dinged up but Melo started playing really well and the Knicks look good....for now.

March Madness
Two 15s upset a pair of deuces. A 13-seeded MAC team went to the Sweet 16. A Bluegrass blood-feud will end the month in a Final Four matchup. Quite the entertaining event, even though there was a lack of 


My Bracket/Miami RedHawks

Welp, they both sucked. That's all, nothing to see here, let's move on. At least Charlie Coles isn't in power in Oxford anymore.

MLB
Bobby Valentine is bumping his gums like its 1999 all over again. It will be nice to see him vilified when the Rays and Yankees (and maybe Jays) have better records than the Red Sawx this year. Bryce Harper is starting the year in AAA and the Nationals might not be terrible for the first time in the millennium. MLB started its season in Japan this year to resounding boos. I thought it was awesome when the league did this in 2004 because A-it was the Yankees and B-it was televised LIVE and C-I was in college so it was fine to wake up at 5 a.m., eat a dog and drink a couple Natty Lights. Since A, B and C are not true this year, I think the idea sucked.

New York Yankees
ANDY PETTITTE'S BACK! That was the major news of the month for the pinstripes. Team now expected to have a seven-man rotation and win 125-140 games this year. Also, the club released an alternate logo featuring the interlocking NY emblazoned on a steamroller. 

NHL
The Blue Jackets continued to suck, Sid Crosby came back and took up exactly where he left off and I don't remember what else happened.

New York Rangers
The Blueshirts stretched out their lead as the best team in the East/hockey. Lundqvist is a revelation and anything less than a Cup this year is going to be very disappointing. Luckily we know that Torts will flip out after every loss to ensure the team is motivated night in and night out.

Other
I was in St. Petersburg for the Honda Grand Prix, the IZOD IndyCar Series season opener. It was warm, sunny and generally awesome. Helio Castroneves won and honored Dan Wheldon in his celebration. Also, C and I went back to NYC where we had our "worst" Sergio Martinez fight seats to date (still not more than a dozen rows back and right behind Omar!). We saw Sergio go wild after getting "knocked down" in the 7th.

It was quite the month indeed.


P.S. October, you better step up.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Brackets Baby

Here are all my picks for the 2012 NCAA Basketball Tournament

South
2nd- Kentucky, UConn, VCU, Indiana, UNLV, Baylor, Notre Dame, Duke
3rd- Kentucky, VCU, Baylor, Duke
S16- Kentucky, Duke
E8- Duke

West
2nd- Michigan State, Memphis, Long Beach State, Louisville, Murray State, Marquette, Florida, Missouri
3rd- Michigan State, Long Beach State, Marquette, Missouri
S16- Michigan State, Missouri
E8- Michigan State

East

2nd- Syracuse, Kansas State, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Florida State, West Virginia, Ohio State
3rd- Syracuse, Wisconsin, Florida State, Ohio State
S16- Wisconsin, Florida State
E8- Florida State

West

2nd- North Carolina, Creighton, Temple, Michigan, North Carolina State, Georgetown, Purdue, Kansas
3rd- North Carolina, Michigan, North Carolina State, Kansas
S16- North Carolina, Kansas
E8- North Carolina

Final Four
Michigan State over Duke
North Carolina over Florida State

The 'Ship
North Carolina over Michigan State
This one will not be played on a battleship and will be closer than that affair, with the Tarheels winning 73-69.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Pro Football Talk Confirms Meatball Report

In yesterday's blog, I said Peyton Manning probably wants to stay in the AFC due to his familiarity with the conference. Pro Football Talk confirmed that today. Catch up!


Looks like (almost) all signs are pointing Manning to Miami!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Peyton Manning to (Fill in Team Name)

In order to respect myself as a blogger tomorrow morning when I wake up in my mother's basement, I have to crank out a Peyton Manning possibilities breakdown. Since I'm clearly a Dolphins fan, you know who will be at the top of the list, but what about the rest? We'll do this Bill Simmons style, grouping 31 teams (that don't play in Indy) according to how will the team react when Peyton's agent calls them (or they call him).

Hit ignore button
Patriots, Giants, Saints, Steelers, Packers

These GMs don't even have time to think about Peyton with All-Pro or All-Timers already tossing the pigskin. They might even block his agent's number from calling again.

Not answering 
Panthers, Lions, Bengals, Eagles, Falcons, Tampa Bay

With big money vets (Eagles) or affordable, promising youngsters (everyone else on the list) taking snaps now, there is a small chance any of these teams takes much of a look at #18.

Let it go to VM, then call back
Texans, Bears, Rams, 49ers, Cowboys, Ravens, Chargers

You know just so you can tell your QB that you didn't take the call. Then probably send them a text or call back within 24 hours. He's not going to the Bears, too cold. The Rams are trading down because they don't want to draft a QB, so I don't think they'll sign one and move Bradford. The Chargers are happy with PHILLIP RIVERS even after a step back last year.  I don't see the Texans as a big possibility like Mike & Mike were blasting listeners with this morning. They kept saying, if Peyton is 75% of what we're used to him being, you have to do it. Why? Isn't that already what they have in Matt Schaub, at a better price? Why mess with it now? He fits very well down in H-town. Why aren't more people talking about him going to the Ravens? Maybe they don't have the money to do it, but with that defense and Ray Reezy at RB, this team is built to win right now and have a good WR in Anquan Boldin to catch tuddies from Peyton. He would look weird in purple though. The Cowboys present the most interesting option here along with the 49ers. This seems like a classic Jerry Jones move. Romo has gone from unrated to overrated to rated as an above average, but not top, quarterback. Peyton would be the star in the Star at quarterback that Jones has been looking for since Troy Aikman walked was carried away. The 49ers were awesome this year with Alex Smith, imagine how much better they are with Peyton. Yeah, pretty freakin good. They make/win the Super Bowl last year with him tossing bombs, right?

Pick up, pretend you didn't recognize the number
Jets, 
"Hello this is Mike (Tannebaum). Oh what? Peyton, no we're happy with the Sanchise. He's an All-Pro this year, just wait and see." Then send a text as soon as Sanchez is out of sight saying "call u 2nite when mark leaves". I don't see Peyton wanting to go to NYC or in the same city as his baby bro. Oh wait, the Jets play in both NYC AND his baby bro's town? Yeah, not happening.

Pick up
Bills, Raiders

Two clubs that recently spent big (money and picks, respectively) on QBs that didn't play as well down the stretch as they had hoped. They're definitely taking the call though I don't see Peyton fitting in either place with one too cold and the other too weird and poorly run.

Pick up on first ring
Jaguars, Vikings, Broncos, Chiefs, Titans

These clubs either have a guy who can take them to the playoffs, or a young gun who they think can do that. However one of these teams has studs (well the Broncos do in my man Timmy Tebow, but Elway wants a traditional passer) and all of them could use a Hall of Famer under center. Imagine the coverage Manning and Tebow would get in Denver, Sal Palantonio and Ed Werder would earn 10,000,000 points on their Holiday Inn members cards from basically living there.

Calling every few minutes like Mikey in Swingers
Dolphins, Redskins, Seahawks, Cardinals, Browns

The "Hey, we have nothing at QB" section spans teams bad (Browns) to a piece or two away from being really good (Dolphins, Seahawks). From this group, I like the Fins, Cardinals and Hawks as the best personnel fits, in that order. Seattle has a very good defense and a very good running back, but no one at wideout and play in a cold, rainy city. The last two parts of that sentence is what takes them out of the running. Arizona went from a Super Bowl team to below average in the NFC after losing a very good QB in Kurt Warner a couple years back. You plug in a passer of Manning's class into an offense with Larry Fitzgerald and a decent defense with dynamic special teams, you can make the playoffs for sure. It's warm, they play in a below average division and have done this before.  There's a lot to like, but the move to the NFC may be a little shaky for Peyton (my conjecture) as he's recovering and may want to stay in the conference where he knows the teams and defenses a little better. This leaves Miami as the best option. Warm weather for most of the season, good at WR, RB, defense and O-line, the team will be a playoff lock with a top shelf QB at the helm. Miami owner Stephen Ross wanted to make a splash at coach and QB this offseason. He got Joe Philbin for the first part, you can bet he will make sure to cannonball on the second half of that equation. 

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Pelican's MLB Picks

Here are the Pelican's 2012 MLB season picks! I'll make mine later this month.

NL WEST Giants
NL C Cardinals
NL E Phils
WC 1 Nats
WC 2 Rockies
NL CHAMP Cards def. Nationals
AL West Rangers
AL C Tigers
AL E Yankees
WC 1 Red Sox
WC 2 Angels
AL Champ Yanks def Rangers
Champ Yankees
AL MVP Cano
NL Posey
AL CY Young Justin Verlander
NL Josh Johnson
AL Roy Yu Darvish
NL Alex White
AL MGR Cito Gaston
NL Mike Matheny

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The Oscars...

Suuuuuuuuuuuuck. As a Facebooker commented, isn't it just a televised work banquet? In the world's top 200 people who take themselves too seriously, movie business people have to take up 190+ spots, maybe 195. Just take a step back, realize you're making movies. You give people an escape from their boring, real lives, sure. But movie stars aren't saving lives, pump the brakes.


Billy Crystal, what is he, 70 years old? He was great in the 80s, but really, what has he done to keep him relevant in the last 20 years (besides 61* which was awesome)? Get real. This was soooooo NFLy of Hollywood, a young(ish) duo (Janet/JTLake: Hathaway/Franco) screw up your big show (Super Bowl Halftime: The Oscars) so you go in the opposite direction and have old people who you know will do a decent enough job and not get naked on stage (Madonna, The Who, U2, etc.: Billy Crystal). 


I don't get it. Hollywood is supposed to be liberal and on the forefront of what's cool and new...pushing the envelope, crossing lines, all that. This was a stodgy move that resulted in a handful of good jokes and (probably) a smaller amount of 18-24 year olds tuning in.

The Red Carpet isn't really all that fancy. It's pretty much a long line when you break it down. You show up wayyyy before the show, and zig zag through this long line before you can get into the theater. The famous people love it, but it's truly just a line. Shoot, toss a red carpet out in front of any bar or club, you already have the (sometimes) velvet ropes and you can recreate the Red Carpet experience at home! Waiting in lines is the best!


Friday, February 24, 2012

Is Linsanity Over?

No. End of blog, that's it.



But really, I'll explain why it's not. Jeremy Lin was awful last night. As one friend texted me during the game, "he looks like a highschooler out there." Eight points, three dimes and eight turnovers on 1-11 shooting. His backup Baron Davis didn't fare much better, making zero out of seven shots with three assists and only one turnover. The Heat are A-the best or second best team in the league right now B-the most dominant home team in the league (15-2) C-the hottest team in the league (eight straight Ws and 11 out of 12) and D-one of the top defensive teams in the league. 

The Heat planned to shut Lin down, make a statement, take the kid's spot at the top of SportsCenter, etc. And they did. Lin hasn't seen a defense that athletic and aggressive yet. Even against the playoff-contending teams the Knicks have beat in this run (Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Utah?), no one has been this stuck to him and been able to shut him down. It was basically the 12th game of his rookie year. Of course he's not going to put up 20 and 10 every single night. That's crazy to ask. 

The good news is the Knicks looked awful, terrible, disgusting at times and really were one bad quarter (really the first five minutes of the 3rd) away from winning this game, or at least making it much closer. Melo was erratic and off all night (7-20) and STAT got the ball a ton early to the tune of 11 first half points, but was un-involved late, finishing with just seven shots. Lin went from DNP-CDs and sparse mop-up minutes game by game to playing 35-45 minutes a night, so of course he's going to be tired. This All-Star break should help the kid freshen up (hoping he plays about three minutes tonight in the Future/Rookie-Sophomore/Rising Stars/Chuck vs. Shaq Challenge game). 

The Knicks are deep and very talented. And once again, D'antoni is tasked with the challenge to work new players in on the fly and in this case work in a new system on the fly. Especially tough to do with this smushed together schedule allowing for few practices. The Knicks were a joke for about 10 years, decent last year, then a joke for the first third of this season. They're likely not going to compete with Miami and Chicago in the East this summer, but they will make the playoffs and will do some damage if* they can run at the optimum level they want to by then.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Stadium Review: Yost Arena





C and I hit up Yost Arena for a Miami vs. Michigan hockey game in early February. She put together a group of 50 Miamians through the Alumni Association and we partied at B-Dubs before the game with some fun people and weirdos.


Location
Nice campus. I mean it's not the brick-laden picturesque utopia known as Oxford, Ohio that houses Miami University, but it's a nice campus.

Parking

We parked about a quarter-mile away and trooped it past some college houses and people drinking on porches. A couple of students were selling parking spaces on their lawn/in their driveway for $20 a pop adjcent to the rink. Didn't seem to have (m)any takers for this game, but I bet they clean up when State is in town.


Food
Didn't have any because we filled up at B-Dubs before hand, but the popcorn looked tasty!


Beer
They don't sell any...And I forgot my flask at C's house. Just a terrible drinking experience.


Layout
Gorgeous. Just and old school, brick building that looks like it's from another era. Well obviously, because it is. It was built in the 1920s and renovated in the 1970s. Still has that classic feel like a Wrigley Field. I don't see how 7,000 people can fit inside, but that's around the number they claim.


Tickets
It was a sellout! We got them for $25 apiece through the Alumni Association in the End Zone/Corner area. Not too far from what is usually my favorite spot to sit for hockey.


Entertainment and Atmosphere
Electric. Great crowd and as always the Michigan student section is clad in bright yellow. Good cheers and taunts (many of which were stolen from - but probably by - Miami). Nice mix of old stadium and new HD scoreboard and suites, etc. I might have had a better time had the RedHawks not lost.


Overall
Great arena, fun town. Will head there again when the 'Hawks are in town, but that will be not very often when Michigan leaves for the Big Ten Hockey Conference.