The Best Games/Series of the 2000's

As the decade draws to a close, The Wizard of Sports compiled a list of the best games or series of the past decade in sports. It would be difficult to definitively rank the top 30 on this list against each other, thus the top 30 games/series that follow are listed in no particular order:

1. NBA – Lakers defeat Kings, 4 games to 3, 2002 Western Conference Finals




2. College Football – USC 34, Notre Dame 31, October 15, 2005





3. MLB – Yankees defeat Red Sox, 4 games to 3, 2003 ALCS

4. Tennis – Andre Agassi defeats Marcos Baghdatis, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5, 2006 US Open 2nd Round: While there wasn’t a championship on the line, this match had as much drama as any match during the 2000’s. This was Agassi’s final tournament and the crowd did all that they could do to will Agassi to victory in what would be the final win of his distinguished career. With the electric atmosphere of a night match at the US Open and a formidable opponent in Baghdatis, this match became an instant classic. At 4 -4in the 5th set, the players contested a wild game with 8 deuces.



5. College Basketball – Illinois 90, Arizona 89 (OT), 2005 NCAA Tournament Regional Final



6. College Basketball – Arizona 96, Gonzaga 95 (2OT), 2003 NCAA Tournament 2nd Round

7. MLB –Rockies 9, Padres 8 (13 innings), 2007 NL Wild Card Tiebreaker

8. NFL – Patriots 32, Panthers 29, Super Bowl XXXVIII, February 1, 2004

9. Tennis – Rafael Nadal defeats Fernando Verdasco, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4, 2009 Australian Open Semifinals

10. NHL –Maple Leafs defeat Islanders, 4 games to 3, 2002 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals : While this first round NHL playoff series may not be remembered by a lot of people, I can tell you that this series was an easy choice to make this list. The Islanders were playing in their first playoff series in 8 years and their fans packed Nassau Coliseum to create one of the loudest and intense environments I had ever witnessed. The Maple Leafs had one of the dirtiest teams ever assembled with Darcy Tucker, Tie Domi, and Shayne Corson issuing cheap shots and picking fights throughout the series and that helped make this a classic series. These 2 clips give you a great idea of what this series was all about:





11. College Basketball – West Virginia 111, Wake Forest 105 (2OT), 2005 NCAA Tournament 2nd Round

12. MLB – Diamondbacks defeat Yankees, 4 games to 3, 2001 World Series

13. Tennis – Todd Martin defeats Carlos Moya, 6-7, 6-7, 6-1, 7-6, 6-2, 2000 US Open 4th Round

14. College Football – Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (OT), 2007 Fiesta Bowl

15. Golf – 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines, Champion: Tiger Woods, Runner-Up: Rocco Mediate

16. Soccer – United States 3, Portugal 2, 2002 World Cup 1st Round

17. College Basketball – Syracuse 127, Connecticut 117 (6OT), 2009 Big East Tournament Quarterfinals

18. Tennis – Rafael Nadal defeats Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7, 2008 Wimbledon Championship

19. College Football – Arkansas 50, LSU 48 (3OT), November 23, 2007

20. NBA – Lakers defeat Pacers, 4 games to 2, 2000 NBA Finals

21. College Football – Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2OT), 2003 Fiesta Bowl

22. Soccer – Italy 1, France 1, (Italy wins shootout 5-3), 2006 World Cup Final

23. Golf – 2004 Masters: Fan-favorite Phil Mickelson finally wins his first major championship after years of near-misses, draining an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole to edge out Ernie Els by one stroke. The back nine of the final round was filled with high drama and high quality golf.

24. NFL – Patriots 16, Raiders 13 (OT), AFC Divisional Playoffs, January 19, 2002: This game would not have been nearly as memorable as it turned out to be if it hadn't been played in a blizzard. The snow, the drama, and the Tuck Rule controversy all combined to make this one of the iconic games in NFL history.

25. MLB – Red Sox defeat Yankees, 4 games to 3, 2004 ALCS

26. MLB – Rays defeat Red Sox, 4 games to 3, 2008 ALCS

27. NBA – Warriors defeat Mavericks, 4 games to 2, 2007 Western Conference 1st Round

28. NHL – Penguins defeat Capitals, 4 games to 3, 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals

29. NFL – Steelers 21, Colts 18, AFC Divisional Playoffs, January 15, 2006

30. College Basketball - Gonzaga 109, Michigan State 106 (3OT), 2005 Maui Invitational : The average sports fan might scoff at a regular season college basketball game being on this list, but this game was so fantastic and well played that it definitely merits a place on this list. Adam Morrison was the star of the show with 43 points in a game that had countless lead changes and a dramatic buzzer-beating 3 pointer from Michigan State at the end of regulation to force overtime.

Things That Annoy Me

I wanted to get up a quick post regarding a few things that have really annoyed me in sports this fall:

• 4th Down Interceptions : Anyone who has even a basic knowledge of the game of football, knows that it often behooves the defensive team to knock down a pass on 4th down rather than intercept it. Unless there is a chance at a decent return of the interception, the defense will get better field position with an incomplete pass rather than an interception. This is not complex strategy yet I have seen numerous occasions during this football season, particularly in college football, where defensive backs intercept these 4th down passes down the field with very little chance at returning them past the line of scrimmage. I am not sure whether the reason for these 4th down interceptions is stupidity or selfishness, but it is very annoying to watch nonetheless. Equally irritating is the defensive back who gets his hands on a 4th down pass, does not come up with the interception, and then proceeds to react like he is so disappointed in himself for not securing the interception.


• Basketball fans who count down the final seconds of the shot clock/game clock too fast: I don’t understand why it is so difficult for fans to count down from 5 seconds to the buzzer at the correct pace, but I would guess that close to 90% of the time the crowd counts too quickly. I would estimate that the countdowns are usually anywhere from 0.5 to 1.0 seconds too fast, meaning that there is still at least a half second left when the fans reach the end of the countdown. Fans are often highly critical of players, yet they themselves can not even execute the simplest of tasks correctly.


• Basketball players who shoot desperation shots at the end of periods with time still left: Basketball players should have a mental clock in their head to know exactly how much time is left at the end of periods and exactly how far up the court they can go to get the best shot before time expires. Yet I so often see players bringing the ball up the court and chucking up a shot from halfcourt or beyond with plenty of time left to continue their dribble and get close to the 3-point line. Like the fans I described previously who count down too quickly, many players underestimate the length of a second. Coaches should be working on these end of game/period situations in practice, but it is obvious that some coaches do not spend time on this. Even great players are guilty of this offense; during last night’s Blazers-Knicks game Brandon Roy launched a shot from beyond 50 feet with around 3 seconds left on the clock at the end of the 3rd period when he easily could have reached the 3-point line to attempt a normal shot. Roy shot it so early that by the time his brick hit the backboard there was still time left on the clock. This is just a terrible basketball play.

• Teams wasting a foul to give at the end of a period: This is an NBA phenomenon that occurs when the defensive team hears they have a foul to give at the end of a period. Too many times in this situation the team just plainly gives up the foul without it serving any purpose. The foul is usually taken with at least around 3 to 5 seconds remaining with the offensive team in a non-threatening position. The offensive team still has plenty of time to get off a quality shot, but now the defensive team is susceptible to giving up a couple of free throws if they commit a non-shooting foul. The proper ways to use the foul to give are: play an aggressive defense and go for steals; or treat the foul as an insurance policy and only use it if your man has a step on you or beats you off the dribble or if the defense is in a compromising situation. Just because you have the foul to give does not mean you have to use it.
  

• The losing team running out the final seconds of the game by holding the ball: This may seem like a meaningless thing to get upset about, but it bothers me when at the end of a basketball game where the outcome has already been decided, the losing team holds or dribbles the ball for the final 10 seconds or so. The losing team should always shoot the ball in these situations and let the winning team dribble out the clock. The crowd usually salutes the winning team with cheers as the final seconds tick down and dribbling the clock out is like bowing after a good performance. It seems stupid if the losing team is the one doing the "bowing". Along the same lines, although this is probably exclusive to college basketball, I hate it when the guys at the end of the bench get into a blowout in the final minute and proceed to hold the ball or dribble the clock out. If you're playing in garbage time you should always continue playing right down to the buzzer, no matter if you are up by 40 or down by 40. These guys rarely get into the game so they should take full advantage of their precious few minutes. The losing team can not take offense if the last guys on the bench are still shooting with a 40 point lead; that is just the art of garbage time basketball.

• College basketball referees telling the guys on the bench to sit down: I never can understand why referees are so preoccupied about 5 or 6 excited players on the bench standing up during a pivotal moment at the end of a game. It's the biggest moment of the game and the referee is worried about bench guys standing up? Just officiate the game and let the kids be kids.

Jorge Posada is the Wimpiest Player in Baseball

That was quite the embarrassing display put on by Jorge Posada on Tuesday night as he came off looking like a punk, wuss, and coward in starting the bench clearing brawl with the Toronto Blue Jays. It all began when Toronto's Aaron Hill was drilled in the back by a pitch in the top of the 8th inning. While that hit by pitch was probably unintentional, Toronto pitcher Jesse Carlson perhaps felt that he wanted to defend his teammate and he proceeded to throw a pitch several feet behind Jorge Posada in the bottom of the 8th. I think the pitcher in these situations should just go ahead and hit the batter instead of throwing behind him, but either way this is pretty standard protocol in baseball. Yet Jorge Posada whines about it and he starts to act in a "fake tough guy" way. Posada yells at Carlson and walks toward the mound but he was more of less just walking down the 3rd base line with the bat in his hand as he was too much of a wimp to go directly towards Carlson or charge the mound. The pitch didn't even hit Posada; he had no right to be upset. Even if he is plunked, he should just realize it's part of the game and take his base. If I was Carlson I would've gone ahead and nailed Posada in the back with the next pitch, but nothing happened the rest of the at bat and Posada ended up drawing a walk

However, Posada is not satisfied and after scoring later in that inning he brushes against Carlson near home plate giving him the little chicken wing elbow. That was such a bush league and cowardly move as he knows Carlson would kick his rear end in a straight up fight. Carlson yelled back at him before Posada ran towards Carlson inciting a bench clearing brawl. Posada was not exactly intimidating when he went after Carlson as he was essentially curled up like a fetus when he reached Carlson.

If Posada felt he was so egregiously wronged by having a pitch thrown behind him, he should've manned up and went after the pitcher right then and there. But wimpy Jorge just ran his mouth and threw a wussy chicken wing elbow later in the inning. His antics just showed everyone that he is the wimpiest player in the league.

2009 Tennis Grand Slam Cumulative Resutls

Juan Martin Del Potro's surpising 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory over Roger Federer in the US Open final was a great achievement and a great moment for tennis. Del Potro showed so much resilience in the match as there were numerous instances where things looked bleak for him and he could have gone down quietly. Yet he hung in there, pulled out the 2nd and 4th sets in tiebreakers and then got ahead early in the 5th set on his way to capturing the title by winning the 5th set 6-2. It was refreshing to see a fresh face win a grand slam, as either Federer or Nadal had won 17 of the previous 18 grand slam titles. Del Potro is only 20 years old so he should have plenty of chances in the coming years to contend for more grand slam titles. The US Open final was an exciting finish to a great season of grand slam tennis. We will now have to wait a little over 4 months for the next grand slam to begin, the 2010 Australian Open. Looking back on this past year's grand slams, here is a look at the top 25 players this season in terms of their grand slam results:

1. Federer - 2 championships, 2 runner-ups
2. Del Potro - 1 championship, 1 semifinal, 1 quarterfinal, 1 2nd round
3. Nadal - 1 championship, 1 semifinal, 1 4th round, (1 DNP)
4. Roddick - 1 runner-up, 1 semifinal, 1 4th round, 1 3rd round
5. Djokovic - 1 semifinal, 2 quarterfinals, 1 3rd round
6. Murray - 1 semifinal, 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds
6. Verdasco - 1 semifinal, 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds
8. Soderling - 1 runner-up, 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 1 2nd round
9. Gonzalez - 1 semifinal, 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 1 3rd round
10. Haas - 1 semifinal, 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds
11. Robredo - 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds, 1 3rd round
11. Cilic - 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds, 1 3rd round
11. Tsonga - 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds, 1 3rd round
14. Simon - 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds
15. Monfils - 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds, (1 DNP)
16. Davydenko - 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 1 3rd round (1 DNP)
17. Ferrero - 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 1 2nd round, 1 1st round
18. Hewitt - 1 quarterfinal, 2 3rd rounds, 1 1st round
19. Stepanek - 2 4th rounds, 2 3rd rounds
20. Berdych - 2 4th rounds, 1 3rd round, 1 1st round
21. Kohlschreiber - 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds, 1 2nd round
22. Almagro - 4 3rd rounds
23. Wawrinka - 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds, 1 1st round
24. Andreev - 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds, 1 1st round
25. Karlovic - 1 quarterfinal, 1 2nd round, 2 1st rounds

US Open 2009

This year's US Open has had some good moments so far, but the drama and excitement will really come to a head if both Federer and Nadal can get to the final on Sunday afternoon in the one grand slam tournament that they have not met in. In the past 16 months, Federer and Nadal have played in the final in the 3 other grand slam events including their classic 5 set match at Wimbledon in 2008 that lasted nearly 5 hours with Nadal winning 9-7 in the 5th. It will really be great for the game to have these 2 legendary players meet on the biggest stage in tennis.

More thoughts on the US Open:

• Watching the US Open this week has only reinforced my feeling that this is the best grand slam tournament of the four. The spectacle that is night tennis at Arthur Ashe Stadium creates a great atmosphere that trumps any other atmosphere in tennis. The hard court surface at the Open also creates the most entertaining style of play, as the court is not as fast as the Wimbledon grass and not as slow as the clay at Roland Garros. The server oftentimes becomes too dominant at Wimbledon, while the rallies on clay at the French Open can sometimes become too long. The rankings of my favorite grand slams would be 1. US Open, 2. Wimbledon, 3. Australian Open, and 4. French Open.

• For the 2nd year in a row, the weather during the US Open has been absolutely spectacular with not a single rain delay thus far through the first 10 days. Last year the tournament was uninterrupted by rain until the final Saturday of the tournament. The weather has been the polar opposite of what it was for golf's US Open in June at nearby Bethpage Black, when rain disrupted every round of that tournament.

• John McEnroe is quite possibly the best television analyst in sports history. He has a vast knowledge of the game of tennis, he knows the in-depth scouting reports on seemingly the top 200 players on tour, and he's not afraid to offer his candid opinions. McEnroe is the go-to source for tennis opinions and his presence on telecasts makes that telecast much more enjoyable. Johnny Mac also is witty with a great sense of humor. McEnroe was part of a great moment on Monday night when during Novak Djokovic's post-match on-court interview, Djokovic invited McEnroe down from the broadcast booth to hit balls with him in front of the late night crowd at Ashe Stadium. McEnroe accepted Djokovic's offer, took his tie off and ran down to play Djokovic. McEnroe humorously imitated Djokovic's habit of bouncing the ball 20 times before serving and the two played a few points before embracing at the net. The moment just illustrated the greatness that is Johnny Mac. In honor of Johnny Mac here is a hilarious famous (or infamous) clip from his playing days:
  

• Robin Soderling showed a lot of guts in Wednesday night's quarterfinal match with Roger Federer as he fought back from losing the first 2 sets 6-0 and 6-3 to make it a compelling and dramatic match. Soderling won the 3rd set in a tiebreaker after falling behind in the tiebreaker 4-1 and he had his chances in the 4th set tiebreaker to force a 5th set but he ultimately lost that 4th set tiebreaker and the match because of the greatness of Roger Federer. Soderling has had a breakout season after upsetting Nadal and reaching the final at the French Open and he won himself a lot of fans with his valiant effort against Federer here at the US Open.

• #2 seed Andy Murray was upset by Marin Cilic in the Round of 16 in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in an uninspiring effort by last year's runner up. Murray has had a very good year but he must be disappointed that he did not make it to a grand slam final and that he only made it to one grand slam semifinal(Wimbledon). Murray will now lose the #2 ranking to Nadal when the new rankings come out after the US Open.
  

College Football Week 1 Analysis

1. Easily the best and most significant game of the week was BYU's 14-13 upset of Oklahoma. I, like most other prognosticators, did not believe that BYU had a chance to hang around with the Sooners. Oklahoma had blown away so many quality opponents last season and I did not think BYU could hold up physically to the Sooners combination of size and speed. But in hindsight I should have seen the upset coming. Oklahoma playing a neutral site game in a brand new state of the art stadium against a heavy underdog with an experienced quarterback - Oklahoma's Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State in January 2007 fit that description as well. Oklahoma was breaking in a completely new offensive line and BYU had a veteran quarterback in Max Hall that had the poise and ability to bring his team up and down the field on the Oklahoma defense. Max Hall had to be the key player for BYU as Oklahoma's strong front line completely shut down BYU's running game. Hall did throw 2 interceptions but his play on BYU's game winning drive was outstanding as he led the Cougars 78 yards in nearly 9 minutes for the winning touchdown.

There may be some people who will not give BYU the credit they deserve for this win because Oklahoma's Heisman winning quarterback Sam Bradford was knocked out of the game with an injury on the final play of the first half. The idea that BYU won because of the Bradford injury is completely off base. Bradford played the entire first half and BYU had stayed right with the Sooners, probably even outplaying the Sooners in the half despite trailing 10-7. Oklahoma had four 3-and-out drives in the half and their only touchdown was set up by a muffed BYU punt return. BYU's huge win has now put themselves in position to have a magical season and they will vault themselves into the Top 10 of the polls.

2. Thursday night's much anticipated matchup between Oregon and Boise State on Boise's blue turf field turned into a dud as Oregon's offense was completely dominated by the Boise State defense. Oregon was held without a first down for the entire first half and never really seriously threatened Boise State in the 2nd half. Boise State should have won the game by 30 points but their own self-inflicted mistakes and sloppy play kept the score down. It is safe to say that the final score of 19-8 was not indicative of how much Boise State outplayed Oregon. This was the debut game of new Oregon coach Chip Kelly who is taking over for underrated longtime coach Mike Bellotti. Bellotti retired from coaching to move over to the position of athletic director at Oregon and early indications are that the program may take a step back without him at the controls.

Overshadowing Boise State's big victory was the postgame sucker punch from Oregon senior running back LeGarrette Blount to the face of a Boise State player. Blount had been chirping in the week leading up to the game, saying that Oregon owed Boise State an "ass whooping" for Boise State's win at Oregon last season. Thus, after Boise State's win on Thursday a Boise State player tapped Blount on the shoulder and said something to him. Blount responded by unleashing a cheap shot on the Boise State player as he was looking away. Blount then backed away, jumping up and down, and whooping and hollering. Blount nearly pulled a Ron Artest on the Boise State fans, as they were heckling him as he walked through the tunnel to the locker room. He had to be restrained by multiple people who escorted him safely to the locker room. As disgraceful and classless as the punch was, it was Blount's behavior after the punch that may have been even more embarrassing for the Oregon program. Athletic director Mike Bellotti is such a classy and no nonsense guy that it came as no surprise that Blount was subsequently suspended for the rest of the season for his actions. Blount has been projected as a 2nd or 3rd round NFL Draft pick in 2010 so his game will translate well to the NFL with all of the troublemakers that play in that league.

3. Ohio State's defense was gashed way too often Saturday by Navy's triple option offense in Ohio State's 31-27 win. With USC coming to Columbus next week there has to be serious concern for the Buckeyes although Terrelle Pryor did have a nice game to open his sophomore season. Speaking of Navy, they have time and again shown how good their program has become. Navy plays such a tough, gutty style of football and they are an easy team to root for. Navy has had some very nice wins the last few years and hanging with Ohio State on the road was just as impressive as some of their big wins have been. Since 2007, Navy has beaten Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and Wake Forest and they have held up well in their other games on the big stage. The rest of Navy's schedule is very manageable and I expect the Midshipmen to have a chance to have 10 wins this season.

4. Texas opened their season with a cupcake in Louisiana-Monroe and won comfortably as expected, 59-20. Contrast that to rival Oklahoma who scheduled a tough BYU team and also have a road game to play at Miami in a few weeks. The rest of Texas's non-conference schedule is relatively easy as well with games against Wyoming, UTEP, and UCF. This brings me to my point regarding the Texas-Oklahoma debate last year as to who deserved to be in the BCS Championship Game. I heard several times during the past few weeks when reading the college football previews that Texas was "royally screwed" last year for getting beat out by Oklahoma for the BCS Championship game berth despite beating Oklahoma head to head. First of all, Texas Tech was also in that mix as part of the three-way tie for the Big XII South. Texas Tech beat Texas who beat Oklahoma who beat Texas Tech, so any way you slice it the head to head factor is rendered moot. Second of all, while the Texas-Oklahoma and Texas-Texas Tech games were both tight games, Oklahoma took Texas Tech behind the woodshed in a 65-21 beatdown. Lastly, I think the biggest factor in Oklahoma's favor in the Oklahoma-Texas-Texas Tech comparison was the difficulty of Oklahoma's non-conference schedule. Oklahoma played eventual Big East champion Cincinnati and a very strong TCU team that ended the year in the Top 10 and beat them both by 25+ points. Texas meanwhile did not play a high quality non-conference opponent and they do not again this season. I get very irritated when I hear the arguing and complaining from people saying Texas got screwed last year. They did not go undefeated and thus they forced the BCS to differentiate between several similar teams and Texas's lack of non-conference schedule strength cost them.

MLB's Biased Charity

I stumbled across the tidbit below from Phil Mushnick's column in the New York Post this week and I think he makes an outstanding point. Many people involved in MLB have lamented about the lack of blacks in MLB. Last year I am told that 8% of the players in the league were black. Now this only includes black Americans because black players from Dominican Republic and other foreign countries are not included in that figure. MLB has charity programs designed to attract more black Americans to baseball. CC Sabathia has even called the lack of blacks in MLB a "crisis". I don't see how it matters how many blacks are in the league and it is certainly not anything that should be called a crisis. I don't see the NBA or NFL implementing programs to stop the decline of white Americans in their leagues. Here is what Phil Mushnick wrote in his column:

"Let's see if we've got this right: MLB is financing initiatives to have more African-American kids play baseball. Meantime, the Mets have closed their Florida instructional league facility and will move it to the Dominican Republic. Soon, MLB can expand its "Play Baseball!" initiative to include all U.S. kids!"

College Football Preview Part 2

ACC
OVERRATED TEAM: NC State Wolfpack
NC State is getting a lot of pub as a potential sleeper this season thanks largely in part to their strong regular season finish last year when they won their final 4 games to even their conference record to 4-4 and earn themselves a bowl bid. Sophomore dual threat quarterback Russell Wilson was named to the All-ACC first team last year as a freshman and he does give the Pack a chance to compete in this league. But for a team that hasn't had a winning conference record since 2002 I don't see them seriously challenging for the ACC Atlantic title as many prognosticators do. NC State has struggled against the pass and their opponents last season scored at least 24 points in all but 3 games.

UNDERRATED TEAM: Boston College Eagles
Boston College has been such a consistently good program since moving to the ACC for the 2005 season that I think they are being grossly underrated by being picked last in the ACC Atlantic in the media's preseason poll. They are coming off back-to-back Atlantic Division titles under coach Jeff Jagodzinski who was let go during the offseason because he interviewed for the New York Jets' head coach opening against the wishes of BC. BC regrouped after losing longtime head coach Tom O'Brien after the 2006 season and I do not believe that the program will drop off with new coach Frank Spaziani taking over the program. BC has a lot of depth throughout their lineup and they showed that last year by exceeding expectations and winning the Atlantic Division the year after all-world quarterback Matt Ryan graduated. BC has had a winning conference record in all 4 of their seasons in the ACC and they shared the Big East title in their last season in the Big East in 2004. BC is not a flashy team but it is time that people show them
the respect that their program deserves.

PROJECTED STANDINGS (projected conference record):
Atlantic Division
1. Clemson (6-2)
2. Florida State (5-3)
3. Boston College (4-4)
4. Wake Forest (4-4)
5. NC State (3-5)
6. Maryland (3-5)

Coastal Division
1. North Carolina (6-2)
2. Virginia Tech (5-3)
3. Georgia Tech (5-3)
4. Duke (3-5)
5. Miami (2-6)
6. Virginia (2-6)


SEC
OVERRATED TEAM: The entire SEC
The entire SEC as a whole has been regarded as far and away the best conference in America over the past few years. There is a sentiment that players in the SEC are collectively faster and more explosive than the rest of the players in college football. And whoever survives the SEC gauntlet is given the benefit of the doubt in terms of the BCS, as the SEC champion will be said to be deserving of the chance to play in the BCS Championship with all things being equal. While the BCS champion has come from the SEC the past 3 years, I do not believe the whole conference has been clearly superior to the rest of the conferences. Last year particularly, the SEC was down, yet the public perception was that the conference was head and shoulders above the rest of the country. While the SEC might have been great at the very top, I quantify conference strength by how tough the middle and bottom of the conference is. Several SEC teams last year had their worst season in years. Auburn, Tennessee, Arkansas, and LSU were significantly down from their previous few seasons. The SEC went 6-6 head to head versus the ACC last season with Florida accounting for 2 of the SEC's 6 wins. While conference vs. conference records do not necessarily mean a whole lot, this illustrates that the SEC may not be as dominant as it appears to be. I am not trying to say that the SEC is a bad league, but I believe the rest of the top conferences are just as good.

UNDERRATED TEAM: Auburn Tigers
Last season Auburn failed to make a bowl game for the first time since 1999 and somehow it cost head coach Tommy Tuberville his job. Auburn has been such a consistent power in the SEC West this decade that I found it mystifying that a good coach like Tuberville could be fired after one bad year. Auburn struggled last year mainly because of a punchless offense with poor quarterback play, but the defensive talent is still there to make this team a factor in the SEC West. Auburn has been flying under the radar in the lead up to the season, but they will get back to a bowl game and have some big wins this season.

PROJECTED STANDINGS (projected conference record):
East Division
1. Florida (7-1)
2. Georgia (5-3)
3. Tennessee (4-4)
4. South Carolina (3-5)
5. Vanderbilt (2-6)
6. Kentucky (2-6)

West Division
1. Ole Miss (6-2)
2. LSU (5-3)
3. Alabama (5-3)
4. Auburn (4-4)
5. Arkansas (3-5)
6. Mississippi State (2-6)


Big XII
OVERRATED TEAM: Oklahoma State Cowboys
I am not buying into the hype for Oklahoma State as a darkhorse title contender. Sports Illustrated has the Cowboys at #7 in their preseason rankings and the Cowboys are 9th in the AP Preseason poll. Oklahoma State has a very explosive offense with wide receiver Dez Bryant being one of the top wide receivers in the nation with strong senior quarterback Zac Robinson at the helm. But the Cowboys defense was so porous at times last season that it is hard to take this team seriously as a contender. When we last saw Oklahoma State's defense they were letting Oklahoma score on nearly every possession in the regular season finale and getting run over by Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli in the Holiday Bowl. Throw in Texas Tech's 56 point outburst on November 8th and it is easy to have cause for concern for Oklahoma State's potential as a Top 10 team this year. The Cowboys will be tested right out of the gates with Georgia coming to Stillwater in Week 1 and I think the Bulldogs will expose the Cowboys as an overrated team.

UNDERRATED TEAM: Missouri Tigers
Missouri this season is left with the unenviable task of replacing their 3 best players from last season, quarterback Chase Daniel, receiver Jeremy Maclin, and tight end Chase Coffman. Not only did those 3 players carry the bulk of the offensive load for the Tigers for the past few years, but they were among the best at their respective positions in all of college football. Missouri lost a lot of defensive talent from last year as well, but the program has progressed to the point where they should be able to reload and surprise some people who are expecting the Tigers to fall back after back to back North Division titles. I think Missouri will go into the regular season finale Border War against Kansas with a chance to win the Big XII North yet again.

PROJECTED STANDINGS (projected conference record):
North Division
1. Kansas (5-3)
2. Nebraska (5-3)
3. Missouri (4-4)
4. Colorado (3-5)
5. Kansas State (2-6)
6. Iowa State (1-7)

South Division
1. Oklahoma (7-1)
2. Texas (7-1)
3. Oklahoma State (5-3)
4. Texas Tech (4-4)
5. Baylor (3-5)
6. Texas A & M (2-6)

College Football Preview

With the college football season kicking off next week, here is a conference by conference preview, starting with the Big East, Big Ten, and Pac 10.

Big East
OVERRATED TEAM: Pittsburgh Panthers
Pitt lost their best player from last year, workhorse running back LeSean McCoy. Their QB is still Bill Stull who has been absolutely dreadful at times.(See 3-0 Sun Bowl loss to Oregon State for proof) And Dave Wannstedt is shaky as a coach and he has underperformed when compared to previous coach Walt Harris. For a team that last year finally broke a 3 year drought without a bowl appearance I don't see how the talent level is there to warrant Pittsburgh being picked in the preseason media poll as the Big East favorite.

UNDERRATED TEAM: Connecticut Huskies
The Connecticut program has flown under the radar for several years now and they continue to field a competitive and gritty team without the talent level that many Big East schools have. Not many people realize that Uconn won a share of the Big East title with West Virginia in 2007. Coach Randy Edsall has done a masterful job building this program up from a Division 1-AA school to a formidable Big East program. This year's team loses their best player in school history, first round NFL Draft pick Donald Brown, but the defense is strong enough to keep the team in games and I think this team will surprise people as they so often have done during their 5 years as a Big East member.

PROJECTED STANDINGS (projected conference record):
1. Rutgers (5-2)
2. Cincinnati (4-3)
3. West Virginia (4-3)
4. Connecticut (4-3)
5. Pittsburgh (3-4)
6. South Florida (3-4)
7. Louisville (3-4)
8. Syracuse (2-5)


Big Ten
OVERRATED TEAM: Penn State Nittany Lions
Last year's Big Ten Champions begin this year with high expectations, ranked 8th in the Preseason USA Today Coaches' Poll. I don't see the offensive firepower there to warrant such a high ranking. Quarterback Daryll Clark has been serviceable at the position and I do not think he will be able to carry a Penn State team that lost a lot of talent from last year's team including 4-year starting wide receiver Derrick Williams. Joe Paterno's team will take a step back this season.

UNDERRATED TEAM: Northwestern Wildcats
Northwestern has a typical Northwestern team again this year- undersized and less talented than its peers, yet tough, gritty, and competitive. Head coach Pat Fitzgerald took over the Northwestern program as the youngest head coach in college football and he has molded the Wildcats into a scrappy bunch, similar to how Fitzgerald was as star linebacker of Northwestern's 1995 Rose Bowl team. Northwestern catches a little break this season in that they do not play league favorite Ohio State. We saw flashes of Northwestern's potential last year when they outplayed Missouri in the Alamo Bowl before losing in overtime. I think this year's team will surprise people by making an appearance or two in the top 25 during the season.


PROJECTED STANDINGS (projected conference record):
1. Ohio State (8-0)
2. Illinois (5-3)
3. Penn State (5-3)
4. Michigan State (5-3)
5. Iowa (5-3)
6. Northwestern (4-4)
7. Minnesota (4-4)
8. Wisconsin (3-5)
9. Michigan (3-5)
10. Indiana (1-7)
11. Purdue (1-7)


Pac - 10
OVERRATED TEAM: California Golden Bears
Every year over the past four seasons, Cal has started the season with high expectations only to fall flat and fail to meet those expectations. I myself will not get suckered into drinking the Cal Kool Aid this year. Cal has high expectations again this year as they were picked to finish 2nd in the Pac-10 preseason media poll behind USC. Cal does have some talent including darkhorse Heisman candidate running back Jahvid Best, but this team does not have the mental toughness needed to win a big game (i.e. beat USC) or avoid the road upset that has plagued them year after year.

UNDERRATED TEAM: Stanford Cardinal
For a Stanford team that hasn't played in a bowl game since 2001, a winning season would be a cause for celebration and I believe this year's team has a good chance to have a winning campaign. The highlight of 3rd year head coach Jim Harbaugh's tenure thus far has been the historic upset of USC at the Coliseum in 2007, but Harbaugh is aiming for bigger things for this program. Stanford has the pieces in place necessary to finish in the top half of the league. Keep an eye out for senior running back Toby Gerhart, who last year broke the school record for rushing yards in a season. Gerhart is a tough, hard-nosed player who is an absolute pleasure to watch play football. Guys like Toby Gerhart help make college football such a great game and I advise football fans to make sure to check this guy out this season.


PROJECTED STANDINGS (projected conference record):
1. Southern California (8-1)
2. Oregon (6-3)
3. California (6-3)
4. Stanford (5-4)
5. Oregon State (5-4)
6. Arizona State (4-5)
7. Arizona (4-5)
8. Washington (3-6)
9. UCLA (3-6)
10. Washington State (1-8)

Tiger Woods Goes Down

Relatively unknown South Korean golfer Y.E. Yang delivered a monumental upset on Sunday to defeat Tiger Woods and win the PGA Championship. Tiger Woods had been a perfect 14 for 14 in major championships when having the lead going into the final round. He had had won 36 of 37 of all tournaments when having the 54 hole lead with that 1 loss occurring in 1996 in one of his first tournaments as a pro. Tiger Woods came into the PGA Championship off tournament titles at the Buick Open and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the past 2 weeks. Tiger vaulted to the top of the leaderboard right away this week posting a 5 under 67 early Thursday afternoon. After Friday's 2nd round Woods had a 4 shot lead and Saturday and Sunday looked like they would just be an anticlimatic coronation for Woods and his record tying 5th PGA Championship win. Entering the final round Woods' lead had been trimmed to 2 shots, but it still seemed highly unlikely that he would relinquish the lead. Yet here was Y.E. Yang paired with Tiger Woods and able to stare Tiger down to become the first Asian to win a major championship.

Y.E. Yang is probably unknown to all except the big-time golf fan. This was only Yang's 2nd major championship appearance in the last 2 years; his other appearance was in this year's Masters where he failed to make the cut. Yang did win a PGA Tour event earlier this year at the Honda Classic in March, although that is a lightly regarded tournament that did not include many of the big names on tour. Yang also won an international event in 2006 at the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai where he outlasted Tiger Woods to mark his arrival on the world golf scene. I became familiar with Yang only over the past few weeks as he finished 8th at the Canadian Open, 5th at the Buick Open, and 19th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Tiger Woods has been beaten in majors before as this was his 6th runner-up finish in a major championship, but nobody has had to play alongside Tiger to beat him. So many world class players have wilted playing under the glare and spotlight of a Tiger Woods pairing in the final round of a major. This is what makes Yang's achievement so incredible. Sunday's final round had so much of the drama that makes major championship golf so entertaining. The Woods-Yang duel was supposed to have included a 3rd man in the mix, but defending champion Padraig Harrington dropped out of contention with a quintuple bogey 8 on the par 3 8th hole after hitting it into the water twice. Yang was able to make up Woods' 2 stroke lead by the 4th hole and he would stay at least within 1 shot of Woods the rest of the way. Yang took control of the tournament on the 14th hole when he made the shot of the tournament, an incredible chip in from just off the green for eagle. That shot will probably go down as the most memorable shot in all of golf for 2009.

Yang would hold on to a 1 stroke lead and take it to the par 4 18th hole where he knocked his 2nd shot within 7 feet of the hole to all but clinch the victory and the big upset. Y.E. Yang played an outstanding tournament and rose to the occasion with the low round of the day on both Saturday (67) and Sunday (70). Woods on the other hand played poorly over the weekend. Woods played way too conservatively on Saturday with his 4 stroke lead when the Hazeltine course had low scores there for the taking. Woods did not attack the pins, seemingly content that avoiding the bogeys would be enough to pull out the victory. On Sunday Woods missed countless 10 foot putts and stumbled his way to a 3 over par round of 75. In the end Y.E. Yang was the best player of the week and he is a worthy PGA Champion. His dramatic conquering of Tiger Woods concludes what has been a very entertaining major championship season in 2009.

Other PGA Championship Observations:

• Lee Westwood had a strong showing in a major once again. Westwood finished 3rd this week to go along with a 3rd place finish at the Open Championship. You may remember that Westwood also finished 3rd at the US Open last year at Torrey Pines, narrowly missing a 15 foot putt on the 72nd hole that would've put him in the playoff with Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate. Westwood made the cut at all 4 majors this year, one of only 12 players that can make that claim. In my opinion, Lee Westwood is the best active player never to have won a major championship. At the age of 36 he should have several good opportunities ahead of him to win his elusive major title.

• In addition to Westwood, the other 11 men to make the cut at all 4 majors were Kenny Perry, Angel Cabrera, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Rory McIlroy, Ross Fisher, Henrik Stenson, Camilo Villegas, Sean O'Hair, Graeme McDowell, and Kevin Sutherland.

• Phil Mickelson struggled for the 2nd week in a row in his return from a 6 week layoff. Mickelson finished in 73rd place at +12, twenty shots behind Y.E. Yang. This was after last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational where Phil was never in contention. I hope Phil can regain the form that saw him come so close to winning the US Open at Bethpage in June. The PGA Tour is more exciting when the fan favorite Mickelson is near the top of the leaderboard.
  

MLB Progress Report - AL Central

American League Central
The AL Central race is shaping up to be a very tight race with the Tigers, White Sox, and Twins separated by only 2 and 1/2 games. The Tigers and White Sox each made a nice acquisition at the trading deadline to bolster their pitching staff. The Tigers picked up Jared Washburn and the White Sox traded for Padres ace Jake Peavy, who is currently injured but may me able to return later this season. These moves were important because both the Tigers and White Sox have not exactly distinguished themselves from the rest of the mediocre AL Central. The Tigers have the worst record of any division leader in baseball at 55-50 and the White Sox spent nearly all of May and June under the .500 mark. The Twins have not stood out from the pack either as they have been hovering around the .500 mark the entire season; they have been no worse than 5 games under .500 and no better than 3 games over .500.

In terms of pitching, the Tigers and White Sox have a clear edge over the Twins. The Tigers rotation with Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, rookie Rick Porcello, and newcomer Jared Washburn is strong and their closer Fernando Rodney has only blown 1 of 22 save opportunities this season. The White Sox starting staff might be even superior to the Tigers' if Jake Peavy can come back from his injury in September and regain his top form. Having Peavy and Mr. Perfect Mark Buehrle at the top of the rotation can not only vault the Sox to the division title but it can give them a puncher's chance to reach the World Series. The Twins on the other hand lack the front line starters that the Tigers and White Sox have. Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, and Kevin Slowey are, at best, slightly above average and Francisco Liriano has been a major injury-plagued disappointment after starting his career with an outstanding 2006 season. The Twins have 2 of the best position players in the American League in Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, but I think their lack of pitching will keep them from getting into the postseason.

I predict that the White Sox will wind up on top of the AL Central for the 2nd year in a row. The Sox have a little more pop in the middle of their lineup than the Tigers with veteran sluggers Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, and Jim Thome, along with last year's 5th placed finisher in AL MVP voting, Carlos Quentin. Last year's AL Central race came down to the very end with the Sox beating the Twins in a one game playoff. One can hope that this year's race will come down to the final day of the season as well.

MLB Progress Report - AL East

As the 2009 calendar turns to August, we are close to two thirds of the way through this year's MLB regular season. The non-waiver trade deadline has passed and the pennant races are heating up. Over the next few days I will offer up my takes on the playoff races. Today I will discuss the AL East.

American League East
As it stands here on August 3rd, the Yankees and Red Sox are tied atop the AL East in the loss column with the Tampa Bay Rays 6 games back. I will dismiss the Rays as a contender because they have been inconsistent nearly the entire season. Their bullpen is shaky and while their starting rotation is nice, they lack the dominant starter or two that the Yankees and Red Sox have. In addition, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena have been major disappointments the past 2 months after each had red hot starts. The dropoff for Longoria has been particularly stunning. Longoria was on a record RBI pace in the middle of May and he finished May with 55 RBI's. In June and July he had 23 RBI's total. Even more discouraging for Rays fans is Longoria's .209 batting average in June and July. Carlos Pena has never hit for a high average but after hitting .231 in April and May, his batting average during June and July was .201, while his homerun production was cut in half during those months. When your #3 and #4 hitters are in major slumps, it puts you at big disadvantage and I don't see how the Rays can make up a 6 game deficit to catch either the Yankees or Red Sox in the standings.

The Yankees will host the Red Sox for a big 4 game series this upcoming weekend looking to finally beat the Red Sox after losing the first 8 meetings of the season. Despite their 0-8 record vs. Boston this year, I would favor the Yankees to win this weekend's series and ultimately outlast the Red Sox to win the AL East. The Red Sox have been struggling with their offense since the All Star Break and John Smoltz has not been good since making his Red Sox debut mid-season. The Red Sox did get healthy over the weekend though by sweeping their perennial whipping boys, the Baltimore Orioles. (Over the past 4 seasons, the Red Sox have a 50-17 record vs. the Orioles.)

The Yankees meanwhile have been red hot. Prior to losing 3 out of 4 to the White Sox this past weekend, the Yankees had won 9 of their previous 10 series. To be blunt, the Yankees should be in 1st place with the offseason moves that they made. The Yankees signed 3 of the top available free agents in the offseason, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixiera, and AJ Burnett, by throwing significantly more money at the players than their next best offers. Adding those big names to the stable of proven Yankee veterans and talented youngsters, the Yankees have the best team in the league on paper, as they have for much of this decade. While World Series championships are not won on paper, regular season games are and the Yankees are a virtual lock to reach the postseason. When it comes to the postseason, however, the Yankees have proven to be failures. Only 5 players remain from the 2004 team that choked away a 3 games to none ALCS lead to the Red Sox, but there have been several other players who have been with the Yankees for their 2006 and 2007 playoff flameouts.

The X-factors for the Yankees' postseason chances this year will be their strong young pitchers, Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes. Chamberlain has always had great stuff, but as a starting pitcher he has been mostly erratic, often struggling to reach the 7th inning. Since the All Star Break Chamberlain has been very good in his 3 starts, pitching 21 and 2/3 innings while giving up 2 runs and 8 hits combined in the 3 starts. A dominant Chamberlain would give the Yankees a huge edge in the postseason because Sabathia and Burnett have been just a little bit above average as starters this season and projected #2 starter Chien-Ming Wang is out for the season after having a pitched terribly all season long. Meanwhile, Phil Hughes has been great as the 8th inning reliever; he has given up only 1 run in his last 18 appearances spanning 23 and 2/3 innings. A dominant Hughes-Rivera combination will harken back to the days of the late 90's when the great Yankees bullpen was the biggest reason for their postseason success.

Even if the Red Sox can not beat out the Yankees for the AL East title, I do like their chances to win the wildcard, although the Texas Rangers have impressively hung around and only trail the Sox by 2 and 1/2 games. The Red Sox nucleus of Pedroia, Youkilis, Ortiz, Beckett, Wakefield, and Papelbon has only known success and the depth of their pitching staff and bullpen gives them an edge over the Rangers, in my eyes.

Welcome Back Michael Vick (sarcastically)

Yesterday Michael Vick was reinstated to the NFL by Commissioner Roger Goodell after serving less than 2 years in prison for brutalizing and killing dogs in the dog fighting ring that he operated. The NFL is now worse off for having this loser back in the league. Vick has shown that he is a complete lowlife even before he was arrested for his treatment of dogs.

Vick was one of those guys who would taunt his opponents whenever he had the opportunity. Additionally I recall one incident in October 2006 when Antonio Pierce of the Giants leveled Vick almost simultaneously as he was ducking out of bounds. Pierece was flagged for a personal foul and Vick had to be restrained from going after Pierce. Vick's overreaction showed how much of a thug he was. Vick's thuggish reaction almost made me forget they were playing football where hitting is part of the game.



Vick's lack of character was displayed later in the 2006 season when he saluted his hometown Falcons fans by extending both of his middle fingers to the crowd. Vick was upset that he was being booed and he showed his respect for the crowd by giving them the double middle finger salute. In January of 2007, Vick was stopped by airport security when he was carrying a water bottle that smelled like marijuana. The bottle showed no traces of marijuana, but it is not a coincidence that Vick had been in possession of a bottle smelling of drugs. Later that year while awaiting trial for the dog fighting case he failed a drug test. I will spare the details of Vick's actions in the dog fighting operation that led to his incarceration, but it was obviously brutal and gutless. When news of the dog fighting operation had spread to Commissioner Goodell, he met with Vick to speak about the allegations. Vick lied to Goodell's face, denying any involvement in the dog fighting ring that was being operated out of his Virginia house.

Michael Vick is a guy that has shown no regard for decency or the law. He is supposedly "remorseful" and "sorry" for what he has done. Of course he is going to appear that way, when he is bankrupt and desperate for a chance to play football again. Let's call a spade a spade or in this case, call a dirtbag a dirtbag. Vick has had countless chances to rehabilitate himself, but he has never done so. Commissioner Goodell should not have reinstated Vick, especially given the fact that Vick abused his trust and lied to his face about the dog fighting when Goodell was trying to help Vick through his troubles. I think it is laughable that some NFL players have been critical of Goodell for being too harsh on Vick. Especially outrageous were the comments by Terrell Owens who said that "the commissioner needs to go sit in jail for 23 months." I realize that Terrell Owens is a clown who should not be taken seriously but I still find that to be such an offensive statement. Owens is under the impression that Vick is a victim who was unfairly forced to go to jail for 2 years.

I found it interesting that an ESPN.com poll this week found that 55% of NFL fans would want their favorite team to sign Vick to play for their team. There were over 70,000 respondents to this unscientific ESPN.com poll. These poll results do not reflect well on American society. The fact that the majority of football fans would want to root for a guy of Vick's character if it meant helping their team win is depressing. It just shows the win at all costs mentality that has permeated most professional sports in the 21st century. Never mind the issue of Vick's character; Vick the football player is not a player that was at the peak of his game prior to his suspension and incarceration. Vick's completion percentage is under 54% for his career and his passer rating in his last 3 years prior to his suspension ranked 20th, 25th, and 21st in the NFL in each respective year. Vick has a great ability as a running quarterback, but in today's NFL the quarterback needs to be a strong and accurate passer. Take a look at Vince Young and how he has lost his starting job with the Tennessee Titans. Michael Vick the football player just does not have much use anymore, save for a cameo role in the Wildcat offensive package. Also throw in the fact that Vick has been out of football for 2 years and he might have difficulties regaining the peak fitness and skills needed for an NFL quarterback. I know that I don't want my favorite team, the New York Jets, to even contemplate signing Michael Vick. Hopefully no team will sign Michael Vick and he can live the rest of his pathetic life away from football.

Most Annoying Types of Pick-Up Basketball Players

Having played countless pick-up basketball games since my high school days, I have come across a lot of different types of players. Chances are if you frequent any gym or playground in America, you will find at least some of these player types. Here are the 10 most annoying pick-up players, in no particular order.

1. Handchecker/Rider: This player has never been taught how to play defense with his feet or maybe he is just incapable of playing good legal defense, because this guy has his hands on you all over the court. He think good defense consists of riding you any time you put the ball on the floor, illegally impeding your progress. He defends your hard off-the-ball cuts by grabbing you. If the pick-up games would be officiated by a referee, this player would be whistled for a blocking or holding foul every time down the court.

2. The Black Hole : This guy serves as a black hole for the basketball, as there is a slim chance that you will ever see the ball again for the rest of the possession if you give it to this guy. This player will either turn the ball over or chuck up a shot. He has no interest in passing the ball back to you and on the rare occassions that he is forced to try to pass to you, he will have trouble completing that pass. This guy is usually one of the least skilled guys on the court and is not to be confused with the Chucker.

3. The Profuse Sweater: After only a few possessions up and down the court this player is drenched in sweat. Anyone who comes in contact with this guy gets wet as well. This is a guy that you usually want on your team so you don't have the assignment of boxing him out or running through his extra debilitating screens.

4. Guy Who Doesn't Get Back on Defense: This guy often puts your team at a disadvantage because of his laziness, poor conditioning, or lack of toughness. He needs to understand that getting back on defense is a minimum requirement of any basketball player.

5. The Chucker: This guy has some talent, but he takes way too many shots. This guy doesn't care about ball movement; if he has an open look at a 3, he will chuck it up. The Chucker might make a few shots, but he is not a fun guy to play with.

6. Guy Who Calls Too Many Fouls: This player often drives into multiple defenders, loses the ball or misses his shot, and bails himself out by calling a foul. He will also be charging like a kamikaze on a fast break only to call a foul on the defense. The guy fails to realize that he initiated the contact and the defense did nothing but stand in his way.

7. The Arguer: The Arguer will dispute almost every close call, whether it be an out of bounds call, a foul call, or a traveling violation. This guy is particularly sensitive to the traveling and double dribbles that are called against him. He thinks that extra step is within the rules because he saw Lebron James make a similar move. The stubbornness of the Arguer is unparalleled; his opponents better get used to playing the odds and evens game to settle disputes because this guy rarely gives in.

8. The Hot Dog: The Hot Dog eschews the simple pass on a 3 on 1 fast break and instead has to showboat and use a behind-the-back pass that often leads to a turnover. This guy also loves the exotic dribble moves. You can usually spot this guy by looking for the shorts that go down close to the ankles.

9. Guy Who Messes Up the Score: This guy is always shaving points off his opponent's score and adding points to his own team's score. Sometimes this is done on purpose, but oftentimes he does this subconsciously. You can call it wishful thinking or just forgetfulness. This guy forces you to keep close tabs on what the real score is.

10. Guy Who Has No Idea What the Score Is: This guy never keeps track of the score himself so he is constantly asking what the score is and who is winning. He will continue to ask what the score is even though we just told him a few minutes ago.

10 Things I Hate About You Stuart Scott

1. I hate the Booyah phrase that he overuses.

2. I hate how he uses hip-hop language when doing highlights. Stuart, please use real English like any professional newscaster does.

3. I hate his lazy eye, it is disconcerting.

4. I hate the stupid jokes he used when saying goodbye to a contestant on Stump the Schwab. For example, he told one contestant that there were test tubes backstage as a parting gift.

5. I hate how he kisses the rear ends of the superstar athletes; he seems particularly smitten with the superstar black athletes.

6. I hate the stupid Poetry Jam segment he used to do on Sportscenter, although it was so pathetic that it turned out to be quite amusing:



7. I hate how he tries to make whatever show he is on about him. People tune in for the sports not for Stuart Scott.

8. I hate how he references the University of North Carolina whenever he possibly can. Yea Stuart, we know that you went to UNC and they have a good basketball program, just shut up.

9. I hate how he tries to push his hip lingo onto the people he's working with, whether it be his fellow news anchors or the sports figure he is interviewing.

10. I hate how he has made Sportscenter unwatchable when he is on.

Wimbledon Thoughts

This year's Wimbledon has lacked a little bit of luster with defending champion and #1 ranked player Rafael Nadal withdrawing prior to the start of the tournament with a knee injury. But as we come upon the championship match, there is buzz growing as we are left with quite an intriguing finale. Roger Federer will be vying for his 15th grand slam title which would break the all-time record he shares with Pete Sampras. Federer will oppose Andy Roddick who will be trying to win his first grand slam title since 2003. Roddick reached the final by playing a masterful semifinal match against Britain's hometown player Andy Murray. Roddick played a great all-around game against Murray, combining his trademark powerful serve with a nice array of serve and volleying and baseline play. Roddick improved on his stellar tiebreaker record for 2009, winning both the 3rd and 4th sets in a tiebreaker. Roddick is now 26-4 in tiebreakers this year, which has to be a big psychological advantage for him whenever he finds himself in a tiebreaker.

Speaking of psychological advantages, Roger Federer has to be feeling very confident for the championship match against Roddick as he has an 18-2 career record against Roddick. In grand slam meetings Federer has a 7-0 record against Roddick. Those 7 grand slam victories include 3 wins in finals and another 3 victories in semifinals. Without Federer around, Andy Roddick would have won several more grand slam titles and may very well be recognized as the best player of his generation. Nonetheless Roddick has a chance on Sunday to spoil Federer's chance at history and claim a monumental victory of his own. Roddick has worked tirelessly on his fitness level and his all around game this past year, and a 2nd grand slam title would be so gratifying and emotional for him. For Roddick to pull of the big upset, he has to continue to get his 1st serves in at a high percentage and serve upwards of 35 aces for the match. I don't care how many grand slam titles Federer has, 140 mph serves are difficult to handle. I also think Roddick's mental toughness has improved so much this year and that will help him stay in the match if he gets behind. Roddick's grand slam results this year have been the best in his career, reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open for the 2nd time, the 4th round at Roland Garros for the 1st time, and reaching the finals of Wimbledon for the 3rd time. These results give Roddick the confidence and mental fortitude necessary to beat Federer.

However, Roger Federer is playing at a place that he has dominated for the past 7 years, going 47-1 at Wimbledon since 2003. Federer is by far the greatest player of my generation and he will not let this opportunity at history slip away. I predict that Federer will beat Roddick in 4 sets and will win his record breaking 15th grand slam title.

Orlando Gags Away Game 4, Likely the Series

Orlando's Game 4 overtime loss to the Lakers on Thursday night has to be considered one of the worst losses in recent NBA Finals history. The Magic had numerous opportunities to win the game but failed time after time and now are one loss away from elimination. Orlando's free throw woes became contagious in the 4th quarter as Turkoglu and Howard bricked numerous free throw attempts. Howard's 2 misses from the charity stripe with 10 seconds left in the 4th gave LA a chance to tie and they took advantage. Ironically Howard's missed FT's will go down as the most infamous missed FT's in NBA Finals history since Orlando's Nick Anderson missed 4 consecutive FT's down the strecth in Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals.

With a 12 point lead at halftime, Orlando should not have allowed the outcome of the game to hinge on some missed FT's. The Magic came out uninspired from the start of the 2nd half and quickly ceded control of the game to the Lakers who seemingly erased that halftime lead effortlessly. Watching the game on television, it appeared that there was a lack of energy in the building from the Orlando fans in the 3rd quarter and this could have contributed to the Magic's lackluster 3rd quarter play. The Magic were also hurt by the disappearance of Rashard Lewis who scored only 3 points in regulation. Lewis has been, in my opinion, Orlando's best scorer throughout the postseason and his scoring was missed throughout Game 4.

Orlando's 19 turnovers were a problem throughout Game 4. Rooting for Orlando, it was also frustrating to see the Lakers get numerous second chance opportunities on the offensive end. So many key Lakers possessions were prolonged by offensive rebounds and loose balls that eluded the Magic during broken plays and scramble situations.

Other notes from Game 4:

• Orlando's final possession of the 4th quarter with 4.6 seconds left was atrocious. With the Magic having made so many clutch shots in these situations throughout the playoffs, I had a good feeling that the Magic would win on their final shot. Alas, they struggled mightily inbounding the ball and were stuck with a panicked Mickael Pietrus forcing up a difficult shot. If you recall Denver's turnovers in similar situations in Games 1 and 3 of the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers out-of-bounds plays defense has now helped them win 3 huge games in the playoffs.
• Trevor Ariza continues to play at a surprisingly high level. Ariza shot less than 32% from the 3-point line during the regular season, yet is shooting 48.1% from behind the 3-point line during the playoffs and has made a few big shots. Ariza also has done a lot of the little things well including his defense and rebounding. Although I do want to point out that Ariza has been illegally riding, touching, and hand-checking Hedo Turkoglu all series long when Turkolgu has had the ball. While I am the first guy in the world to complain about ticky-tack fouls, Ariza has been unfairly gaining an advantage with his defensive tactics and should be whistled for the appropriate fouls.
• While Orlando's and Jameer Nelson's defense of Derek Fisher on his game-tying 3-pointer wasn't the greatest, I can still live with the Lakers having that shot. The Magic did the right thing in forcing the ball out of Kobe Bryant's hands and Fisher made a shot that wasn't as easy as it looks. In addition I did not think that this was the best time to use the strategy of fouling with a 3 point lead because the Magic had been struggling from the FT line and there was still about 6 seconds left when Fisher took that shot. Sometimes you have to live with your opponent making a difficult shot.

Random Musings

Here are a few random thoughts from the past few days in sports:

• The Penguins 4-2 victory in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night will hopefully add some juice to the series. The NHL Playoffs had seemingly peaked a few weeks ago at the conclusion of the 2nd round with three great 7-game series and an equally entertaining 6-game series. The conference finals and the first 2 Stanley Cup Final games had been lacking drama and been somewhat anti-climatic. Game 3 was an entertaining, back and forth game and it at least gives the impression that the outcome of the series is in doubt. The Penguins netted 2 power play goals and rode their raucous home crowd to the big victory. Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby even got on the scoring sheet for the first time this series with 3 assists and 1 assist respectively. If the Pens can win Game 4 on Thursday night to tie the series, we should be headed for a quite a finish to the series.
• Mark Teixeira caused a bit of ruckus last night during the Rangers-Yankees game when he threw a hissy fit after being hit by a pitch for the 2nd time of the game by Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla. Teixeira thought it was intentional and proceeded to stare and jaw at Padilla before finally walking to 1st base. Teixeira, noticeably agitated, then broke up a potential double play by sliding hard into shortshop Elvis Andrus. While I would usually encourage plays like that, Teixeira's slide was borderline dirty. This was now the 2nd time in the past few weeks that Teixeira had a temper tantrum. He was upset when Carlos Gomez of the Twins made contact with his arm on a couple of plays at first base. How dare anyone make contact with the immortal Mark Teixeira. Do Padilla and Gomez know that Teixeira will be making $180 million over the next 8 years? I also love Teixeira's postgame quote last night when he said "We did the talking with our bats." Not really Mark since you were talking trash at Padilla as soon as you were hit. Teixeira has quickly blended in with New York to become an easily hateable Yankee.
• The semifinals of the French Open are set with Roger Federer being the only one of tennis's Big Four remaining. Federer has now reached the semifinals in 20 consecutive grand slam tournaments which is an extraordinary achievement and one of many reasons that I believe he is the greatest player of all-time. Federer had an easier than anticipated match with Gael Monfils in the quartefinals and will play Juan Martin Del Potro in the semifinals, a guy who he has dominated in the past. Federer has won all 12 sets he has ever played against Del Potro including the 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 whipping he administered in the quarterfinals of this year's Australian Open. With the other semifinal featuring surprising Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez, Federer has an excellent chance of completing the career Grand Slam and tying Sampras' career grand slam record of 14 titles. A Sunday morning championship match at Roland Garros with Roger Federer seeking history would be must-see television for even casual sports fans.
  

MLB Red Hat Disaster

I'm sure that there were many of you out there who were irritated by the red hats that were worn by all MLB teams on Memorial Day. The red hats were worn to "honor" America on Memorial Day, but all they did was make a mockery of the teams and the players wearing them. If I was MLB I would seriously consider abandoning the red hat promotion which is also scheduled for July 4th and September 11th. The person who was responsible for the idea should also be fired immediately.

The idea to dress every team in a red hat irregardless of the teams' color schemes is mindless. You don't need any fashion sense to realize that. Seeing teams like the Mets, Yankees, Orioles, etc. with clashing red hats was uncomfortable to watch. The players looked like absolute buffoons. If MLB wanted to honor veterans and fallen soldiers on Memorial Day, they should have had the teams wear understated patches or ribbons. The red hats are similar to the pink bats and arm bands worn by many players on Mother's Day to honor mothers and bring awareness to breast cancer. Just because it's for a good cause, it doesn't give MLB carte blanche to pull whatever dumb stunt they please. Many fans including myself were not able to enjoy the games as much on Memorial Day or Mother's Day because of the terrible asthetics and the fans should be respected more than this and not be subjected to disasters like this.

Ranking the NBA Finals of the 2000's

In anticipation of this year's NBA Finals, I thought it would be an opportune time to rank the NBA Finals of the 2000's from the best series to the worst series. The rankings are based on the competitiveness and entertainment value of the series.

1. 2000 - Lakers over Pacers in 6 games: This was an unheralded great series as it pitted 2 outstanding teams against each other with both teams playing at a high level. This was 1 of only 2 NBA Finals matchups of the decade that had the #1 seed from each conference. (Boston-LA 2008 was the other.) While this series did have a couple of blowouts, it is the greatness of Games 4 & 6 that earn it the #1 ranking. Indiana tied Game 4 in the final minute of regulation on a 3 pointer by Sam Perkins, but could not pull out the victory in overtime despite Shaq fouling out. Reggie Miller missed a potential game-winning 3 pointer in the final seconds and fell into a 3-1 series hole. After Indiana ran to a blowout victory in Game 5, they pushed the Lakers in Game 6 in a back and forth battle that was one of the best games that I have witnessed. The Lakers ultimately won the game and the NBA title in a well played series.

2. 2008 - Celtics over Lakers in 6 games: The Celtics and Lakers renewed their 1980's rivalry in a much anticipated series that was characterized by big leads and big comebacks. In Game 2 the Lakers cut a 24-point 4th quarter Celtics lead to 2 before Boston made plays in the final minute to seal the win for a 2-0 series lead. After winning Game 3 the Lakers looked poised to tie the series, holding a 24-point lead in the 3rd quarter of Game 4. All of a sudden the Celtics stormed back and ended up handing the Lakers a devastating loss. Game 5 also saw the Lakers run out to an early 19-point lead that was erased by Boston. The Lakers regained a 14-point lead in the 4th quarter only to see the Celtics come back to tie the score, although the Lakers persevered to win and force the series back to Boston. Boston blew the doors off the Lakers in Game 6 and the Lakers never mounted a comeback, losing meekly 131-92. Paul Pierce was tremendous in this series, displaying his great all around ability: scoring, creating for teammates, rebounding, great on-the-ball defense.

3. 2005 - Spurs over Pistons in 7 games: While this was the only series of the decade to go the full seven games, the first four games were blowout victories by the home team. Game 5 finally provided some drama with Robert Horry hitting a memorable 3-pointer in the final seconds of overtime to give the Spurs a 1-point victory. Games 6 and 7 were very entertaining affairs with the lead changing hands countless times throughout. The Spurs ultimately prevailed in Game 7 however, behind Finals MVP Tim Duncan's 25 points and Manu Ginobli's 23 points as Detroit was denied back-to-back championships.

4. 2003 - Spurs over Nets in 6 games: The Spurs and Nets played a competitive, though not particularly pretty, series. The games were low-scoring with only instance of a team reaching 100 points in a game. Tim Duncan had a great series including a dominant Game 6 effort with 22 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 blocks.

5. 2006 - Heat over Mavericks in 6 games: This was a decent series but it gets demerits because of the terrible officiating of the series. Miami's championship is probably the most tainted title in NBA history because of the special treatment that Dwayne Wade was given by the officials. The foul call that Wade received in the final seconds of Game 5 from Bennett Salvatore singlehandedly and unfairly took the victory away from Dallas. Keep in mind that this was only one of many questionable foul calls made throughout the series. Wade shot a staggering 97 free throws in the series. He averaged over 16 free throws per game!

6. 2004 - Pistons over Lakers in 5 games:

7. 2001 - Lakers over 76ers in 5 games:

8. 2002 - Lakers over Nets in 4 games:

9. 2007 - Spurs over Cavaliers in 4 games: This Cavs team was the worst team to make the NBA Finals in my 17 years of following the NBA.

Lakers vs. Magic - The Real Dream Matchup

After Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic finished off Lebron and the Cavaliers in Game 6 on Saturday to win the Eastern Conference title, we heard a lot of talk about how disappointing it was for the NBA to be deprived of the Kobe-Lebron "dream" NBA Finals matchup. The television ratings will suffer, there will be far less buzz, Nike's Kobe-Lebron puppets ad campaign is ruined, yada, yada, yada. Count me among those who are sick and tired of hearing about television ratings and their relevance in sports today. Whenever we reach a championship series/game in sports today, there is inevitably a discussion of how the television ratings will be and how big or small the markets of the teams are. TV ratings are a good indicator of how many casual fans and women are tuning in and the higher the TV ratings, the higher the league's bottom line will be. The hardcore fans are hoping to see a competitive series and a high caliber of play, and they will be tuning in regardless of how "attractive" the matchup is on paper for the casual fan. The less I hear about televison ratings, the better.

As for the Lakers-Magic matchup, this appears to have the makings of a great series and in my eyes it is the real dream matchup for the NBA. On one side we have the powerful LA Lakers, with their now 30 NBA Finals appearances and their legendary coach and superstar player that many, including myself, love to hate. On the other side we have the Orlando Magic who have never won an NBA Finals game playing in a town known only for Disney World with their Mickey Mouse team name and their sweaty, overweight, "everyman" head coach. For the impartial fans the Magic are the easy team to root for and their bandwagon is filling up fast with myself included as a passenger.

On the court the Magic appear to have the talent and depth to knock off the Lakers. The Magic have been very impressive thus far in the postseason with their ability to knock down the 3 point shot at a high percentage. With contributions from Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Rafer Alston, Mickael Pietrus, and Courtney Lee, the Magic present matchup problems on the perimeter for a Lakers defense that has been carved up at times this postseason. Then consider Dwight Howard who really increased his scoring output against Cleveland and even shot a solid 70% from the foul line in the series. Howard is commanding double teams which is ideal for the Magic with their plethora of accurate 3 point shooters. Orlando had no trouble breaking down Cleveland's highly rated defense in the East Finals and I think Orlando's offense will continue to thrive against Los Angeles.

The Lakers advantage obviously is Kobe Bryant who despite being an arrogant, moody SOB is a tough player to defend and he has the ability to singlehandedly carry the Lakers and get them a title. Unlike Lebron and the Cavaliers, however, Kobe has an elite player alongside him in Pau Gasol. The Lakers' role players, in my opinion, are not anything to write home about. Derek Fisher is only good for hitting wide open jump shots, Bynum is too often invisible on the court, Ariza is overachieving, and I do not think highly of either Shannon Brown or Jordan Farmar.

My pick for the series is the Magic defeating the Lakers in 6 games. The Magic remind me of the 2004 Pistons with their balance, depth, and the way they have been unheralded throughout the season. Those Pistons were also underdogs in the NBA Finals and East Finals, yet pulled the upsets in both. I see the Magic doing the same.

Welcome to the Site

Welcome to The Wizard of Sports. My name is Anthony Salvaggio, aka The Wizard of Sports, and I created this blog to deliver entertaining sports commentary to passionate fans. I have been following sports closely since my early childhood and I hope to share my opinions and knowledge with others who share the same appetite for sports as me. The Wizard of Sports is the nickname that was given to me by my family and friends because of my sports trivia prowess and my ability to recall facts about games and seasons past. I have also been referred to as Rain Man (I like to think that that is intended as a compliment.) I even had the chance to showcase my abilities on ESPN's Stump the Schwab game show, but unfortunately I flamed out in the first round of the show, which is a moment I still rue to this day.

If I had to rank my favorite sports I would have to list college football and college basketball as my two clear favorites. After that, it would probably be a tie between the NHL, MLB, tennis, golf, NBA, and NFL. (Ranking my favorite sports is akin to asking someone to name their favorite son or daughter.) I also follow the Olympics and World Cup of soccer closely. The Wizard of Sports blog will cover all of these sports and will also follow some of the peripheral sports from time to time.

Once again, welcome to the site and I hope you enjoy it. I encourage you to leave comments and/or email me with feedback. My email address is NJDevils015@aol.com. Thanks for visiting.