Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Tuesday night thoughts

It's getting late but here's a quick group of thoughts...

- We may have a decision from Albert Pujols by the time my next blog post. 3 teams are in at over $200 million. Likely Marlins, Cardinals and Angels. Cubs may be involved too but it's looking likely Pujols is heading for South Beach. See if LeBron can host a Decision special for him.
- The Big East is adding members that are nowhere near east in Boise State and San Diego State. Last time I checked San Diego is on the Pacific Ocean not the Atlantic which puts them as far west as you can be...interesting.
- Week 14 of the NFL Season starts Thursday...get your fantasy roster ready as the playoffs begin. Hopefully you made it. Took a bunch of work but thankfully I did.

That's all for now, more in the morning hopefully....

Tuesday morning thought pattern

First day of the week is through, let's look at what's going on....

- I have to open this with the happy announcement of Ron Santo making the Hall of Fame. It took long enough and it's quite sad that he isn't alive to see it. A great day yesterday was for Santo's family and Cubs fans everywhere
- The NHL must want attention as it was approved a new four-conference realignment. I'm quite pleased by the fact that leagues are grouping teams by geography area and that the schedule will be more balanced but must said, some radical move to group 7 or 8 teams into a conference like the old MLB setup.
- Finally a coach is speaking up on the injustice of the BCS. Give Boise State coach Chris Petersen a lot of credit for coming out and blasting this current system. No one likes it, it must be changed. How hard would it be to have a 8-team playoff? Not at all.
- I would love to find out where the Miami Marlins found a money machine at. After signing Jose Reyes and Heath Bell, the Marlins offered a 10-year contract to Albert Pujols on Monday. They seem to be in on every free agent, where is it coming from?
- The Chargers finally found their way last night with a win over the Jaguars. Finally, a good game from Philip Rivers. Those have been few and far between this year but makes the AFC West all competitive still with four weeks to go.
- It was reported late last night that the Lakers are exploring trading for both Dwight Howard and Chris Paul. The way the NBA is headed, we may as well just have 8 super teams and forget everyone else. This is no way competitive balance can succeed with superstars on just a few teams.

There's your morning report, more late tonight....

Monday, December 5, 2011

Monday Morning Thoughts

The weekend is over....let's look at what has happened.

- Quite a scare the Giants put into the Packers Sunday afternoon. Tie game late in the fourth quarter before Aaron Rodgers dug his team out to send Green Bay to 12-0. The Pack have 3 home games left in their last four remaining games. The road to 16-0 seems paved now.
- If this season couldn't get any worse for the Bears, it appeared to after Matt Forte went down in a terrible 10-3 loss to the Chiefs. Chicago has zero chance w/o Forte and Cutler in the lineup. Now a trip to Denver and Tebow is coming. The season is slipping away in the Windy City.
- Speaking of seasons slipping away, how about the Lions? A 5-0 start has slid all the way to 7-5. While Detroit put up a nice effort Sunday night in New Orleans, this team is going to need a major miracle now to make the playoffs especially with their final game on New Year's Day in Green Bay with the Packers likely looking to finish 16-0.
- As I bring up New Orleans, the college football rematch everyone really didn't want to see will happen when LSU takes on Alabama in the BCS Championshp Game. If anyone outside of the southeast going to care about this game unless you are an alum of either school? The SEC will win the national title for the sixth straight year and more power to them for it but it's time to move the trophy out of the south for at least a year.
- The rest of the college bowl schedule was released Sunday as well and one matchup I'm really looking forward to is the Fiesta Bowl between Stanford and Oklahoma St. Those two high-powered offenses should make for a great game in Glendale on Jan. 2.  Couple other games I'm looking forward to would be Houston/Penn St. in the TicketCity Bowl and Wisconsin/Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
- To finish the college thought train, it's a real shame Michigan St. gets stuck with the Outback Bowl against Georgia while their in-state counterparts get a BCS game against Virginia Tech. The Spartans were in the Big Ten Title Game, played Wisconsin tough while Michigan sat all day Saturday but what can you do?
- Baseball's Winter Meetings got off to a roaring start with the Marlins signing Jose Reyes. Great move to get fans into the new ballpark and now where will Hanley Ramirez play? You would have to figure he is moving to 3B but reports say he is not open to moving positions so stay tuned.
- Prediction-wise this weekend I went 8-6 with the NFL picks (Chargers d. Jaguars tonight for the last game) and Saturday's picks went 7-3 so an overall 15-9 weekend.....not terrible I guess.

That's all for now, look for more tonight....

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Predictions that aren't always accurate

NFL Sunday is here and these are my predictions for today.....

Tampa Bay d. Carolina
Pittsburgh d. Cincinnati
Atlanta d. Houston
NY Jets d. Washington
New England d. Indianapolis
Oakland d. Miami
Denver d. Minnesota
Buffalo d. Tennessee
Chicago d. Kansas City
Baltimore d. Cleveland
Dallas d. Arizona
Green Bay d. NY Giants
San Francisco d. St. Louis
New Orleans d. Detroit

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Saturday Evening Thoughts....

Thoughts on this Saturday night....

- So Houston didn't want that BCS bowl game after all I see. How can you lose at home in the biggest game of your school's history and the money you could have had if you win. Choke job supreme.
- The Houston loss gives TCU the opening they need to go back to a BCS game. Only team to beat Boise State this year and probably off to the Fiesta Bowl now. Well done Horned Frogs.
- It now looks 100% for that LSU-Alabama rematch for the national title after the Tigers win in the SEC Championship Game. LSU started slow but rolled Georgia in the second half. These are the top two teams by leaps and bounds, set the game up.
- Normally, early season college basketball isn't anything special but put Kentucky and North Carolina together and you got something. An amazing game that came down to the last second with these two long-time programs. I think we may be seeing them again together at the Final Four.
- Week 13 of the NFL season continues Sunday and after that awful performance from the Eagles Thursday, we should see some compelling things I figure. Saints may put up 50 on the Lions, same with the Patriots against the Colts.
- Baseball's winter meetings start Monday. Watch the fireworks with this, big trades will happen, big signings will occur but who to where? Only time will tell.

Enjoy the rest of your sports weekend.

Saturday Selections

We'll begin today with a list of predictions and later on in the day, I'll break down the day more in full with some additional thoughts on the world of sports...

College Football
LSU d. Georgia
Houston d. Southern Mississippi
Wisconsin d. Michigan St.
Oklahoma St. d. Oklahoma
Clemson d. Virginia Tech

Men's College Basketball
Kentucky d. N. Carolina
(16) Marquette d. (9) Wisconsin
Illinois d. (19) Gonzaga
Purdue d. Xavier
Tennessee d. (17) Pittsburgh

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Spinning Wheel

Welcome back into the Manager's office, here is the latest...

- The revolving door of coaching in the NHL continues to spin as the Ducks fired Randy Carlyle to hire just fired coach Bruce Boudreau. Are all the teams just going to fire their coaches next and shuffle them around the league?
- Speaking of coaches, Mike Leach is back and this time he's at Washington State. I'm sure Leach will bring his high-powered pass-first offense to the Great Northwest but there is one slight issue especially in that region....what happens when it rains like it does a lot there? Think about it.
- How about the Big Ten in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, winning 8 of the 12 games? This is a shift that has been happening for some time now, Big Ten basketball is getting better and while the ACC is always going to be good with Duke and North Carolina....the Big Ten has made strides.
- Football on the slate tonight as the Eagles go to Seattle to face the Seahawks? Philly has been a MAJOR disappointment this season but the Hawks have lost Sidney Rice for the season now with a concussion. I see the Eagles getting through this one, 24-10.

Short and sweet to start the day, more later.....