Picks of the Day

Total: 204.36 Units

San Jose Sharks over Nashville Predators MONEYLINE
Bet 1 Unit to win 1.10 Units

Simply a bargain bet. Nashville should take this game at home, but SJ has been the better team in this series, and there is no reason not to take them with no spread at these odds.

Vancouver Canucks over Dallas Stars MONEYLINE
Bet 1 Unit to win 1.30 Units
(Game played on Saturday)

Same as above, if someone said "Lets flip a coin, if you win I'll give you $13, if I win you give me $10", wouldn't you take it? Every game in this series has been a coin flip, so I'll take Luongo at better-than-even odds.

Good luck!

RESULTS: 1.10 Units Won (205.46 Units)

Senators and Ducks join Rangers at the winner's table

Series Result: Ottawa Senators over Pittsburgh Penguins in 5
My Prediction: Ottawa Senators over Pittsburgh Penguins in 6

Make no mistake about it; this Penguin's team has got the talent. And what is really scary is that the talent; led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal; all kids younger than me. And my birthday is January 11th, 1986. Scary.

As I assumed would happen, Ottawa's experience just carried them in this series. That, and the fact that they've got themselves a damn good hockey team too. I put $15 on both them and the Sabres at the beginning of the season as teams to go all the way to the cup. And I still stand by those bets, as they are the two best teams in the East. Not to say that the Rangers/Lightning/Devils all don't have a legitimate shot against them... should be some great playoff hockey

Series Result: Anaheim Ducks over Minnesota Wild in 5
My Prediction: Minnesota Wild over Anaheim Ducks in 6

I knew it was a far fetched pick to begin with, but I was expecting a lot more of what I saw in game 4 of this series than in the other 4 games. But, alas, the Ducks were just the flat out better team. And now, I'm at a crossroad; do I analyze this team as the fan that I am, or the journalist I am trying to be? Well, lets do both.

Journalist:

As I discussed here, the Ducks really are the best team in the West. Furthermore, I love their chances to make it all the way to the finals again this year; and heres why. If Vancouver locks up their series against the Stars, and the Red Wings regain their composure and beat Calgary, I think the Ducks have a very favorable match-up against Vancouver. They've got more scoring depth (scored 36 more goals during the regular season), they've got the better defense, and while neither Giguere nor Bryzgalov can match up to Roberto Luongo (who, other than Brodeur and Kiprusoff, can?), the drop off isn't significant to the point where it will be a turning point in the series. Meanwhile, the Sharks/Predators winner (likely the Sharks) would face the Red Wings in what would promise to be both an emotional and physical battle to the finish. Either team isn't as fresh as the Ducks when they face off in the conference finals, who beat the Canucks in a much less heated 5 or 6 game series. I may be underrating the Canucks, and the Red Wings/Flames series isn't over yet... but things may very well be panning out perfectly for the Ducks this post season.

Fan:

Ducks fans do not deserve a team this good. Some Duck fans actually live in Anaheim and, when the franchise was born there, picked it up as their new home team. Fine. Others were fans of the Ducks movies and got into hockey that way, and watched the team when it formed. Okay, very lame, but fine.

The bulk of Ducks fans? Traitor Kings fans and people that just started to like them after their 2003 cup run; bandwagon fans. They hardly ever sell out. 90% of Ducks fans just disgust me. Meanwhile, King's fans who have stuck loyally by their team, some for as many as 40 years, are just now appearing to be heading in the right direction; while the Ducks are already there. And they've got such a strong young core that they aren't going anywhere, either. It is a near-perfectly run organization, and its fans are a bunch of bandwagoners and traitors. Where is the justice?

Oh, and by the way; I know its been said a million times, but Brian Hayward is the worst sack of **** color commentator in sports. Rex Hudler sucks; Angels fans as well as opponents will tell you that much. But Rex is fair; he loves his Angels (too much), but he doesn't bad mouth opposing teams, and gives credit where it is due. No exaggeration, Hayward will call a goal by an opposing team a lucky break if it is thrown on net and deflects in, and in the same exact breath talk about what a great heads up play it was by (insert Duck here) to throw the puck on net into traffic if it were a Ducks' goal. It is repulsive, it is terrible to hear as a sports fan as well as an aspiring journalist.

That last part about Hayward... goes in both the fan AND journalist category. I really do hate the way the guy calls games. Sue me.

Rangers cruise to the only sweep of the first round

Series Result: New York Rangers over Atlanta Thrashers in 4
My Prediction: New York Rangers over Atlanta Thrashers in 6

The end result of the series didn't surprise me at all. What did surprise me, however, was the Rangers' flat out dominance throughout the entire series. After 240 minutes of hockey were in the books, the final score read Rangers: 17, Thrashers: 6.

Thrashers: 6. The same Thrashers that already had Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk BEFORE adding Keith Tkachuk at the trade deadline. 6 goals was all they could muster in the series, a total trumped by the Rangers in game 3 alone when they won on home ice 7 - 0.

Credit Henrik Lundqvist for his excellent play in goal, but also credit the entire Rangers team for not only keeping pressure on in the offensive zone (averaging 35.75 shots per game), but for keeping pressure off of Lundqvist as well (averaging only 24 shots per game).

Now all the Rangers can do is watch and wait. If Tampa Bay can pull off the upset over New Jersey, the Rangers will play the winner of the Ottawa/Penguins series... which will likely be Ottawa. If Brodeur can power the Devils through that series, the Rangers will face off against the powerhouse of the east; the Buffalo Sabres (yes, I'm writing off the Islanders). Either way, it should make for an explosive series.

As for the Thrashers? Well, they traded away a lot of their farm system for this playoff run, so not winning a single game certainly isn't what they had in mind. All they can do is hope that this playoff experience was valuable, and they can build on it next year... and maybe add a key free agent or two.

A No-No and a baker's dozen round up a fine day of pitching.

Dan Haren pitched 7 innings of shutout baseball, gave up 4 hits and striking out 3.

John Maine also pitched 7 innings, gave up 2 runs, giving up only two hits while striking out 7.

Neither of those games was bad.

What was downright silly? Well, for starters, Brandon Webb allowed only one earned run in eight innings. Not too surprising. The kicker? 13 strikeouts. That made him the strikeout leader of the league in this young season.

But the real surprise came from a guy who was on my fantasy league's waiver wire; was being the key word, because anyone who tosses a game like he did is worthy of a pick up in my book; Mark Buehrle.

Only one walk away from a perfect game, Buehrle picked off the only runner to reach base. 27 batters up, 27 batters down. Eight of them via strikeout. 0 Hits.

Will this be the start of his return to his ace-like form from a few years back, or is it just a fluke game? Either way, his name has officially been etched into the history books.

Probably the funniest thing I've read in a while, in the 5th inning, Buehrle's teammates were giving him space and not talking to him, as is customary when your pitcher is in the middle of a no-hitter. Buehrle, though, walked up to multiple teammates and said "you know I got a no-hitter going."

Yes. They knew.

Nothing in baseball other than a perfect game is more impressive than a no-hitter. Congratulations Mark.

Tim Duncan; If you don't like it, you can giiittttt out!

Well, that's what Joey Crawford said anyway.

For those of you that haven't seen it, check it out here.

I can see both sides of this argument pretty clearly. Yes, Tim Duncan was laughing at the referee's call - disrespectful - and I believe Crawford when he says that he warned Duncan he would be T'd up again if he made any remarks/gestures from the bench. I can also sympathize with Duncan; getting thrown out of a game for laughing is awfully extreme. And why is it that Horry, who is seen laughing out loud while Duncan is being thrown out, isn't also given a technical? Isn't that just as disrespectful, if not more so?

David Stern claims that he had talked to Crawford before about that rule specifically, and when it was and was not appropriate to make a technical foul call. This was why the punishment; being suspended through the NBA playoffs; was deemed appropriate.

The main thing I take from all this really isn't whether or not the call in the game was fair, nor whether or not the suspension was fair. Those can both be argued. What I respect is that David Stern really is - no pun intended - STERN. Actions speak much louder than words, and time and time again, Stern comes down hard with suspensions and fines. What you and I think is irrelevant; Stern felt that the call was unfair and that Crawford was compromising the fairness of the game, and he took the action he deemed appropriate. Kudos to him.

I wish Bud Selig had Stern's toughness. Maybe then something might actually get done, and baseball would be cleaned up a little bit.

Baseball Prospect Lookout: A name you should start looking out for.

The Team: San Francisco Giants

The Kid: Tim Lincecum

In 2006, Lincecum pitched in a few different places. Most notably was his college, Washington.

He started 17 games for the Huskies and pitched 125 and a third innings, ending the season with a 12 - 4 record. He also had a microscopic ERA of 1.94. He also had a nation-best and Pac-10 record 199 strikeouts.

Oh, and I almost forgot! He won the Golden Spikes Award, which honors the best amateur baseball player in the country.

On April 18th, Lincecum faced off against the UCLA Bruins, and won the game 5 - 0.

He struck out 18 batters that night.

Later in 2006, Lincecum joined the Single-A Salem Keizer Volcanoes. He only pitched in 2 games for them, and he only pitched 4 innings. He allowed only 1 hit, and didn't walk anyone. 10 of his 12 outs were strikeouts.

He was soon promoted to the Single-A-Advanced San Jose Giants. He started 6 games for them, and pitched 27 and two thirds innings.

ERA: 1.95
WHIP: (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched): 0.90
Strike Outs: 48

Now it's 2007, and he's pitching in Triple A Fresno. In 2 games, he is 2 - 0 with a 0.00 ERA, and he has struck out 17 in his 12 innings pitched.

Have I mentioned yet that he has a filthy array of pitches, including a curveball to compliment his high 90's (and sometimes low 100's) fastball?

As soon as San Francisco suffers an injury to their pitching staff, or as soon as one of their starters falters a little too much, Lincecum will find his spot in the bigs, and be this year's Liriano/Verlander/Weaver.

Tick tock, tick tock. The wait is killing me.

Jackie Robinson Day: PPD

I'm not going to blog on how great Jackie Robinson was, and about what a pioneer of the game he was, and how he changed the face of professional sports forever.

The reason for that is, plenty of established writers have done that for you today. Go to http://www.mlb.com, http://cbs.sportsline.com, http://www.espn.com, or pretty much any major sports site, and you can read pages upon pages about this guy, including interviews from former teammates, people who were there during the time, etc. I can't hold a candle to that.

And you SHOULD go read those pages and pages. The man is a legend and a hero. His ability to keep a level head through all the seething hate he had to face... the word "admirable" doesn't come close. He was a damn fine ball player and a damn fine human being, too. If you don't know his story... do yourself a favor and go read it.

What I'm going to blog about is how upset I am with all these rain delays. In a day and age where high-tech luxurious domes are the norm, I can't figure out how this year seems to have a disproportional amount of games postponed due to rain, snow, and "cold".

I've been mad about this for the last two weeks, but today it really infuriated me; and not just because it screwed over my fantasy team.

Every park was going to commemorate Jackie Robinson today. Today was supposed to be the day that we payed homage to him in 15 of the league's ballparks. Unfortunately, 33.33% of those ballparks couldn't join in, because the rain was coming down a little too hard in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh.

Is it anyone's fault that mother nature decided to throw a temper tantrum today? Some might blame the scheduling committee for putting games in rainy cities. Al Gore might blame global warming.

I'm not blaming anyone... but it still irritates the life out of me.

NBA Western Playoff Race

I won't blog about basketball very often, because the honest truth is that it isn't my strong point. It is not a favorite sport of mine, and I'm not extremely knowledgeable about it. I hope to improve in that regard; get to know the players and the teams better over the next few years - but for now, blogging on something I know very little about just isn't good for anyone. It'll make me look like a buffoon (like I need help), and it will give you lackluster reading material. As such, I'll only blog about basketball when it is actually (in my opinion at least) somewhat interesting information that I have some legitimate input on.

Because as I was checking baseball and hockey scores, I accidentally skimmed through the NBA scores; and saw that the Lakers had lost to the Suns (not surprising), the Clippers had beaten the Trailblazers (not surprising), and the Warriors had beaten the Kings (not surprising).

What was a little surprising, though, was that all three went the way they should have. Because even if the Lakers had an 80% chance of losing and the Clippers and Warriors had an 80% chance of winning (I'm just making these numbers up here to make a point), the odds of all three happening would be .80 X .80 X .80; .512, about a coin flip.

SO, heads is interesting playoff race, tails is uninteresting playoff race. Flip. Heads.

It is a VERY real possibility that these teams end in a 3 way tie for the 7th, 8th, and 9th spots in the west. Unlikely, sure, but not out of the question.

The 40 - 40 Lakers face Seattle at home, then head to Sacramento to close out their regular season. The Lakers couldn't lose to Seattle if they tried. As for Sacramento, the Lakers absolutely should win that game too. But it is a division rival on a division rival's home court, and as Kansas City Chief's Herm Edwards coined and my brother loves to repeat, "You don't play just to play." Sacramento will be playing their hardest, and upsetting the ice-cold Lakers would not be one of the craziest things in sports history.

The 39 - 40 Warriors have games left at home against Minnesota and Dallas, and on the road against Portland. Yes, Warriors fans, I've heard a million times that you "match up well against Dallas. Your still going to lose that game. Minnesota and Portland are winnable games though, and would put the Warriors to 41 - 41.

The 39 - 40 Clippers have Sacramento, @Phoenix, and the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets to end their season. Much like the Warriors, they should lose their game to the superior opponent and beat the two inferior opponents. Guess what record that leaves them with?

Or, perhaps the Mavs and Suns rest starters, seeing as they don't need these games and are already focusing on the playoffs, and the Warriors, Clippers, and Lakers all win out the season; and all end up 42 - 40.

Either way, a 3 way tie is not too far fetched.

So who would make it in? Drum roll, please!

Lakers VS. Warriors: LAKERS get the tiebreaker, as they won the season series between the two teams 4 - 0 (think the Warriors want a few of those games back?)

Lakers VS. Clippers: LAKERS get the tiebreaker, season series tied at 2 - 2 , so it comes down to conference record, which the Lakers have better.

Warriors VS. Clippers: WARRIORS get the tiebreaker, season series tied at 2 - 2, and the Warriors have fared better in-conference.

So a 3 way tie would send the Clippers home golfing.

Where, of course, the Lakers and Warriors would join them in a few weeks when they get crushed by Dallas and Phoenix in the postseason.

Oh no... the Ducks are really good... among other reflections.

We'll start with hockey. (Shocking, I know)

I'm not saying that this series against the Wild is over and done with; the Wild are an excellent home team and still have time to make a series out of it. But lets be serious... the Ducks really are the best of the West. They've got the defense. They've got the offense. And scarier, they've got the defense that can contribute offensively and the offense that can contribute defensively. I've said it plenty of times before and I'll say it again, the West is so tough that you can't take any team in it lightly. But with the Sharks losing Cheechoo, I've officially switched gears into believing that the Ducks are, as so many pre-season experts predicted, the team to beat in the West (have I mentioned that yet?). I just hope for the sake of Kings fans everywhere that one of the teams in the West can put a hot streak together and keep this team out of the finals... but I'm not too sure I'll be holding my breath.

Shout outs in the NHL:

Ilya Bryzgalov - Came into the season as half of a goaltending tandem with no decided #1, he took the backseat as Giguere took the #1 position at the beginning of the year and held on to it strongly. Now, with Giguere out for personal reasons, Bryzalov has filled in masterfully, giving the Ducks a clear cut advantage through the first two games of this series.

JP Dumont - As disgusted as I am with the Predators and their dirty hits in the last two games, 4 goals is 4 goals. Dumont has brought his A-game in these young playoffs, and has 4 goals in 2 games to show for it.

Marty Turco - Dallas's whipping boy and "playoff choke artist" outshone Roberto Luongo en route to a 35 save shutout Friday night, perhaps taking the next step towards shushing his critics.

Shout outs in the MLB:

Roy "The Doc" Halladay - Plenty of pitchers can go an outing only giving up 6 hits. But how about going 10 innings with only 107 pitches and 1 earned run while you are at it? Scary to think that he probably would have pitched the 11th if one had been necessary, too.

Scott Kazmir - Out dueled the best pitcher in baseball; Johan Santana. 8 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, and 6 Ks got the job done in this impressive upset performance.

Eric Gagne - His return to the bigs featured a fastball at around 94 - 95 miles per hour, a K, and a save. Hate to see him in anything but a Dodger uniform, but all the same, would love to see him defy the odds and stay healthy.

Carlos Lee - Multiple times every season, Roy Oswalt pitches brilliantly, only to get no run support and the loss. In an ultra-rare turn of events, the exact opposite happened; Oswalt had a bad outing, but got a ton of run support and the victory. The main reason? Carlos Lee, who hit two solo shots and one grand slam. That's a pretty good day.

I'll weigh in on the NBA playoff race tomorrow, but for now, it is time to sleep.

No more multiple overtimes in the playoffs? You can't be serious?

I was reading on www.letsgokings.com, the awesome Los Angeles Kings message board that I frequent, that someone was arguing that the NHL playoff overtime system should be modified somehow, because it effects the entire series, and it is too mentally and physically draining on the players. I wasn't going to comment, because I figured this guy must be one in a million.

Then tonight, during my sports show Platforum, one of the guests on the show used his final word - a segment dedicated to voicing your opinion on something important to you in the world of sports - to make the same point that I'd read earlier this morning. Something needs to be done to change this playoff system.

If two people feel this way, it probably isn't a freak thing; there are actually people that feel this way! And this needs to be addressed!

The mental and physical fatigue effects both teams equally, because they both play the same long drawn out game! It is the team that can persevere - that can find the energy and adrenaline from their personal deepest depths - that come out on top when its all said and done. Giving your all when you've got nothing left to give is the stuff that champions are made of!

Look at how un-fulfilling the end of the World Cup was between France and Italy. It came down to penalty kicks. PENALTY KICKS to decide who is the best team in the world! Bartez, who is a small goalie and is terrible in the PK, didn't stand a chance; and the World Cup was decided.

Am I advocating non-stop sudden death in soccer? Probably not, simply because the nature of the game is so much more low scoring. But maybe giving both teams breaks - such as the period system in hockey - might keep the teams fresh enough to decide a winner. But that is a whole different sport and argument for a different day.

The point is this; nothing in the world of sports comes CLOSE to the intensity of NHL playoff overtime. Even considering making a change - to 4 on 4, or to a shootout, or any other silly option that anyone could come up with; would be absurd.

While we're at it, lets cut extra innings in baseball and decide a winner by a home run contest instead. And instead of overtime in basketball, lets switch to a slam dunk contest.

As for sudden death in pro football? That actually does need some work.