NBA coaching carousel begins

Now that the NBA season has come to an end, the major coaching moves will begin. Some major moves happened this past weekend. Pat Riley, a future hall off fame coach has stepped down from coaching the Miami Heat, the team with the worst record in the NBA. Also Larry Brown was hired by Micheal Jordan to coach the bobcats. This move was needed in order to bring a strong leader to a team that might be on the cust of becoming a factor in the NBA.
Now the real fun will begin with the other questions about coaches. First off who will Walsh hire to be the next coach of the terrible Knicks? can anyone who is hired change the face of that franchise? This will soon be answered. Also which coach that made the playoffs, fell short of expectations and can be on the hot seat? On possibility i see is the firing of George Karl. Denver has 2 of the best players in the NBA, however they were swept in the first round. Phoenix and Dallas had championship expectations and they both look like they will have first round exits, however against very good teams. Many will say Mike Dantoni and Avery Johnson are on the hot seat, however I feel that both coaches are too valuable to fire. Another big name coach that can be in trouble is Flip Saunders. Detroit has the expectation to win the east, and if they fall short again I feel he will be fired. We can only wait and see how the coaching carousel will fall this off season.

NFL Draft

What is a sports page, without a mock draft for the NFL draft? All sportswriters and fans have been weighing in with their mock drafts. I will now add my mock draft of the first ten picks to my page. The NFL draft is this upcoming Saturday, and many teams are looking to make many improvements. I believe this draft will be very intriguing with many possibilities.

My Mock Draft- 1-10

1. Miami Dolphins- Jake Long OL- Team needs to build foundation starting with offensive line.

2. St.Louis Rams- Glen Dorsey- DT- Team needs big force in middle of defense.

3. Atlanta Falcons- Matt Ryan QB- Maybe he will help people forget about Vick.

4. Oakland Raiders- Darren McFadden RB- Team needs star, after many loosing seasons.

5. Kansas City Chiefs- Chris Long DE- Team needs to replace pro-bowler Jarrod Allen

6. NY Jets- Vernon Gholston DE- He could play in the hybrid position in the 4-3 defense.

7. NE Patriots- Keith Rivers LB- Team needs to get younger at LB position.

8. Baltimore Ravens- Sedrick Ellis DT- Boost defense which is getting older.

9.Cincinnati Bengals- Ryan Clady OT- They need to protect Carson Palmer

10. NO Saints- Leodis McKelvin CB- Need shut down corner

What makes the draft so special is that all the experts have totally different opinions. The ESPN Scouts have all the players ranked. Also the two NFL Experts that cover the draft all year round are Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay, who have their own official mock drafts.

Wild Wild West

The NBA playoffs are set to begin. I would like to concentrate on the conference that is clearly the dominant one, the western conference. The East has some intriguing matchups however nothing will beat the 2008 western conference playoffs. It consists of 8 teams who have 50 or above wins. My opinion is that any of the 8 teams has a shot of making the finals, to play the Celtics (clear favorite in the East). We will see the best teams with the best players in the Wst. Also the two main MVP candidates are in the west, which are Kobe and Chris Paul. They happen to play for the top two seeds.
1st round matchups
1. Lakers Vs. 8. Nuggets- Kobe with probably the best team around him ever, against a team that consists of two of the best players; Carmelo and Allen Iverson.
2. Hornets Vs. 7. Mavericks- The suprprise of the league led by MVP chris paul, against the team that had one of the best regular seasons in history just a year ago.
3. Spurs vs. 6. Suns- Two of the preason favorites. Now that Suns have Shaq it only gets more intriquing
4. Jazz vs. 5. Rockets- Jazz are one of the most consistent teams and best home team, against a team which one 22 straight during the regular season( second all time)

My predictions
rd.1 rd.2 Western Finals
Lakers win 4-2
Mavericks win 4-3 Lakers defeat Jazz 4-3
Suns win 4-3 Suns defeat Lakers 4-3
Jazz win 4-3 Suns defeat Mavs 4-2

Trevor Immelman wins Masters

Trevor Immelman has won the 2008 masters. The Masters is known as the biggest golf tournament of the year. Tiger Woods, who was expected by everyone to win, came in second place. Any tournamnet in which Tiger does not win is considered a surprise. Immelman gets his first maajor win ever. Only four months ago, Immelman was in a hospital in South Africa as doctors prepared to remove a tumor from his diaphragm, learning only after the operation that it was benign. In my opinion it is always a great story when an underdog wins. Tiger Woods is by far the number one golfer in the world, and to Immelmans credit he was able to out golf him in the biggest tournamnet of it all. Immelmans lead never got lower than two strokes on Tiger. The big debate os going to be in Tiger Woods lost the tournament, or did Immelman win it. Although Tiger did miss some makeable putts, Immelman stayed consitstent and played solid golf all weekend at a tough course. That was why Immelman wore the green jacket, as Masters winners do.

Kansas Wins Tournament

Another great NCAA tournament is over. Although I did not win any of my brackets, the tournament was very entertaining and had some great games. The Kansas Jayhawks defeated Memphis in the championship game. The championship game was just a remarkable game to watch.Chalmers' 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation put the game in overtime. Memphis had the game won in the final minute, however, they missed four of five free throws at the end. Chalmers three point shot will go down in history as one of the biggest shots ever, and this game will possibly go down as the best championship game ever. In overtime Kansas pulled away and won the game 75-68. Chalmers was the MVP of the tournament. The championship game marked the end of in my opinion a very good NCAA tournament. For the first time ever the top 4 teams made the final four. The championship game was a great game with two great teams.

Fantasy Baseball

I am the commissioner of a very competitive high money fantasy baseball league. Two fellow classmates Adam Miller and Luca Giacona are in this league. The draft took place two weeks ago, and every manager believes that their team is the best, and feel that they will win the league. I will discuss my team in detail below. Adam Miller's team name is Willie Sux. Luca Giacona's team name is Cant Stop US. Their blogs discuss their teams in detail.
Analysis of My starting Lineup
Catcher- Brian McCann- Top five fantasy catcher. all star
First base- Prince Fielder- 50 home runs, and possible MVP candidate
Second Baseman- Robinson Cano- Top 3 second baseman, finished in top 3 in batting average
Shortstop- Troy Tulowitzki- Finished second in rookie of the year voting
Third base- Aramis Ramirez- Averages around 30hr, 100 RBI every year, top 5 3rd baseman
Outfield- Gary Sheffield- Great career, with over 400 HR's
Vernon Wells- a very consistent player with 5 tools.
Fukudome/Hamilton- two up and coming players who I feel will break out.
utility- Jim Thome- tremendous power. Closing in on 500 HR's
Carlos Delgado- Once one of the games best power hitters. I feel he can still produce.
Pitchers
Starters- Roy Oswalt- always finishes near the top in wins, ERA, strikeouts and innings pitched
Justin Verlander-also good #'s with wins, ERA and innings pitched. Will be great on a good team.
Brad Penny- Ace-like numbers. starting NL all star pitcher last 2 years.
Jarod Weaver- Young pitcher only getting better on playoff caliber team.
Joe Blanton- Solid numbers to closeout my rotation
Closers - Mariano Rivera- possibly the greatest ever
Jason Isringhausen- 30-40 saves every year
Manny Corpas- Big reason why Rockies made World Series run.

Knicks introduce Donnie Walsh!

The New York Knicks have announced that Donnie Walsh is going to be their new president. I am a big Knicks fan, and believe that a change of face running the franchise was very much needed. The Knicks have been an absolute disgrace over the past few years under Isiah Thomas. They have spent the most money than any other team in the league, and have been one of the worst teams. In my opinion Isiah Thomas has done an extremely poor job running this team. Donnie Walsh will take over the duty of running this team. He had a very successful reign in running things for the Indiana Pacers. He is a former New Yorker who is determined to change the franchise around. I believe his first move must be to fire Isiah Thomas. He was a great player, however he wasn't meant to coach or manage. He must also get rid of over payed veterans. Donnie Walsh has a lot of NBA experience and knows how to run a team. He seems to have a clear understanding of what needs to be done to be a contender. I am excited about the signing of Donnie Walsh because I think that was exactly what the franchise needed.

Wrestlemania

Today I would like to switch to a sport that doesn't get much attention as a major sport. On Sunday night Wrestlemania 24 was on pay per view. This is the WWE's biggest night of the year.I must admit that I used to be a huge WWE fan, however I am not a big follower of it anymore. Saying that, I watched this Wrestlemania and it was one of the most exciting wrestling events I watched in a very long time. First off I saw my favorite wrestler, The Undertaker, defeat Edge and win the championship.There was also a very good triple threat match for the championship between three of today's best wrestlers: Randy Orton, John Cena, and Triple H. Randy Orton won this very entertaining match. Another great event was boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s defeat of the monster 440 pound Big Show. It was amazing to see a 140 pound boxer defeat the Big Show by knocking him out. The greatest event of the night was the last match ever of Ric Flair. He was defeated by HBK. Flair has been fighting since 1972, and has been champion a record 16 times. The fans gave him a well deserved standing ovation afterwards. The next night on Monday Night Raw he gave his farewell address and all his colleagues came out to salute him. I have admired Ric Flair for all of my life, and he is probably he best wrestler to live.I am glad I decided to watch this event.

Preview of MLB season

With the games just beginning this week in Japan the baseball season if finally here. Prior to every baseball season I like to give my prediction of how the season will fall. I am looking forward to this season, as I have high expectations for my team the New York Mets. This year the Boston Red Sox will try to repeat as World Series champions. There are also the New York Yankees, who are hungry to get back in the World Series and will do anything to do so. Another team that I think will be very good are the Detroit Tigers, who made some very nice acquisitions. I also believe teams like the Angels, Indians, Mariners, Diamondbacks, Paders, Rockies, Phillies, and Braves will remain good from last year. A few teams that I believe can be a surprise are the Dodgers, Devil Rays, White Sox, and the Brewers.
My Predictions
NL AL
East New York Mets Boston Red Sox
Central Chicago Cubs Detroit Tigers
West Diamondbacks Mariners
Wild Card Phillies NY Yankees
MVP David Wright Miguel Cabrera
CY Young Johan Santana Josh Beckett

Surprise Sweet 16!

This week the NCAA tournament is down to the final 16 teams, which one of will be the NCAA champion within two weeks. The first two rounds have been full of upsets and surprises which really shows why this time of the year is called March Madness. One big surpirse was that West Virginia defeated number 2 seed Duke, which is a storied school with a lot of success in the tournament. Also Davidson who has never had sucess in the tournamnet defeated Georgetown, who was the number one seed in the Big East. There are also two number 12 seeds in the sweet 16. West Kentucky and Villanova have advanced from nowhere and have become fun to follow through the tournament. The tournament has been great thus far and I look forward to see how it all pans out. this is truly a great time of the year for sports fans.

NCAA tournamnet Begins

The period which is known as March Madness is ready to begin on Thursday. This is one of the biggest sporting events which occurs every year. This is the time f the year that everyone is filling out their brackets, and trying to win money. The tournament begins with 64 teams and ends with one national champion. Everyone tries to figure out who the surprises are going to be, and which teams will go the furthest. From my experiences, just as it is every year this year will have very intriguing games. The national champion to be for this year is way up in the year. I look forward to these next few weeks because I am sure that there will be many great games. Hopefully, I am successful in my brackets.

Red Hot Rockets

The Houston Rockets are currently on a 22 game winning streak, which is the second longest streak in in NBA history. A streak like this is almost unheard of. When the streak started they were in 9th place, and outside looking in of the playoff picture in the very tough west. They are currently the number 1 seed ahead of all those great teams out west. During their streak they have beaten the top western teams. The thing that makes this streak even more amazing is that 11 games into the streak their star center Yao Ming was injured and is out for the season. Many people felt that this would stop them from even making the playoffs. However, since they have risen to the #1 seed. Star Tracy Mcgrady has been leading the way, with a supporting cast that has really stepped up. In my opinion Tracy should get much consideration for MVP. The Rockets have a tough schedule coming up, and it will be very interesting to see how long the streak lasts. No matter what this streak will go down in history.

Big East Tournament Weekend

From Wednesday to Sunday of this week the mens college basketball conference tournaments will be held. The conference in this part of the country is the Big East. This is the conference which St. John's is in however, they did not qualify for the tournament. The twelve best teams in each conference make the tournament. The four best teams have a first round bye. These games will all be played at Madison Square Garden. Here are a breakdowns of the seeds:
No. 1 Georgetown No. 7 Pittsburgh
no. 2 Louisville No. 8 Villanova
No. 3 Notre Dame No. 9 Syracuse
No. 4 Connecticut No. 10 Cincinnati
No. 5 West Virginia No. 11 Seton Hall
No. 6 Marquette No. 12 Providence
I expect the tournament to be a great one. I believe that Georgetown is the best team and will win the tournament. However, teams like Louisville, Uconn, and West Virginia are very strong teams. Also many teams need a strong performance in this tournament in order to get a bid in the NCAA tournament.

What Baseball Season Means to Me

As Spring training is amongst us I think its time for me to reflect what I am looking forward to. I am a die hard New York Mets fans. I have been all of my life. I took this from my father. Since being about six years old I followed the Mets closely every season. I go to about 5-6 Mets game a year with eith er my family or friends. Baseball is one of my favorite sports and get excited every year about the start of the season. Since I was a kid baseball has been a big part of my life. I was also on a little league team for four years. My team won the championship two of the four years which I was involved. This year I am a little more excited for the start of baseball seasonthan usual. The mets are one of the favorites to win the World Series. In my lifetime I have never experienced them winning a championship. For the last two years they have been one of baseballs best teams, and as mentioned in an earlier blog they acquired baseballs best pitcher in Johan Santana. The season is less than a month away. This year I will watch as many games as possible, and try to attend about 10 games. The upcoming baseball season has me amped up.

Bret Favre Retires

This week long time Packer great QB Bret Favre retired. He has had a 17 year brill ant career. He was a true American icon and a hero to Green Bay Residents.In his 17 seasons, Brett Favre set numerous NFL records, including most yards passing (61,655) and touchdowns (442). Favre was truly an iron man and set the NFL record for most consecutive starts. He always looked like he was enjoying himself and having fun on the field. The Packers were competitive every year with him. He has been plating for 17 years at a high level. If he continues playing he will still be one of the best players in the game. However, mentally he felt that it was time to retire. Career Highlights and Awards: 9x Pro Bowl selection (1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007) 7x All-Pro selection (1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007) Super Bowl champion (XXXI) NFL 1990s All-Decade Team 3x AP NFL MVP (1995, 1996, 1997) 1995 NFL Offensive Player of the Year 2007 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year 2007 Fed Ex Air Player Of The Year

NFL Free Agency begins

On Friday the NFL free agency period began. This year there are many big names as free agents that have already changed teams. Star CB Assante Samual is now an Eagle. Long time star receiver Isaac Bruce and young star DE Justin Smith are now on the 49ers. WR Mushin Muhammad is back on the panthers. Also RB Micheal Turner will finally have his chance to start in Atlanta. Stars like Derek Anderson, Lance Briggs, and Teddy Bruschi resigned with their respected teams. Both super bowl teams: the Pats and Giants have lost key starters thus far.Stars yet to be signed include WR's Randy Moss and Jevon Walker.On a personal level, my favorite team the Jets have been very busy. They traded for former pro bowler DT Kris Jenkins. They also signed Tackle Alan Faneca who is known as one of the best players at his position. They also signed veteran LB Calvin Pace and T Damian Woody. They also traded Johnathan Vilma and Dewayne Robertson to dump salary. I am very pleased at the direction the jets are going this off season.

NBA TRADE DEADLINE

- Prior t0 the playoffs the dominant powers out west made big moves to advance their chances of reaching the finals. Currently their are 9 teams with a winning percentage over .600, which is very good. Only 8 teams make it to the playoffs, so every team had one last chance to improve their team. Some great players were moved to the western conference elite.

• LA Lakers- acquired Pau Gasol- 2 time NBA All Star
• Phoenix Suns- acquired center Shaquille O Neal- future hall of famer and huge presences in middle

• Dallas Mavericks- Acquires future hall of famer Jason Kidd to run offense

• Golden State Warriors- Signed All star Chris Weber

• San Antonio Spyrs-Signed Role Players Damon Stoudamire and Kurt Thomas to improve championship roster

- There were also some key moves in the east before the deadline by some contenders

• Cleveleand Cavaliers- Acquired all star Ben Wallace, Wally Sczerbiak, Joe Smith and Galante West to provide new supporting cast for Lebron James.

• Bulls- acquired veterans Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes to make one last playoff push.

• Atlanta Hawks- Acquired All star Mike Bibby to try to secure a playoff Spot.

ALL STAR WEEKEND

This weekend we experienced the NBA all-star weekend which I believe is one of the most exciting weekends in all of sports. It started on Friday Night with the rookie challenge. The NBA truly looks like it has a good set of younger players. The sophomores once again beat the rookies. Saturaday night was even more exciting. Jason Kapono won the three point shooting contest. He tied a NBA record with 25 points in the final round. The Slam Dunk contest was the most exciting ever. Gerald Green had a great dunk which he blew out a candle while slamming it down. However, It was Dwight Howard's night. He had 4 great dunks. The best was the Great Superman Dunk. The Weekend was ended on sunday night with the all- star game. Once again the game was an exciting up and down game. We saw the best players in the NBA make great plays. The eastern conference all stars won the game. Lebron James won the MVP award, which is second in his career. Not to mention the game was held in New Orleans, which shows the city is on its way back.

Big day In Capital Hill

On Wednesday two big stories arose in Washington D.C. The first was the congressional hearing of Roger Clemens and and Brian McNamee. Roger Clemens has said under oath that he has never taked HGH, which is a prohibited steroid. On the other hand Brian MCnamee has stated that he injected the future hall of famer Clemens with HGH. They were both under oath and one of these men is clearly lieing, and may face perjury charges. Back in November the Mitchell report stated that Clemens was pointed out for taking HGH, and Clemens has denied from day one. However, during yesterdays trial it was pointed out that Roger's close friend Andy Pettitte had stated thet Clemens talked about HGH to him.In my opinion it does not look very good for Clemens. Its starting to look more and more like Clemens cheated, and is lieing under oath to the U.S governemnt. He could be facing jail time.

The second big story was Senator Arlen Spector meeting with comissioner Roger Goddell about the destroying of the Patriots spying videos. The Senator want to know why the tapes were not used for further evidence. The Senator will be investigating how far the patriots cheating has gone. He wanted to know if the video tapes could have served him any good. Roger kept his position that burning the tapes was the best option for the league. I believe the patriots need to pay if they cheated, and won 3 superbowls.

NFC Wins Pro Bowl, ....so?

On sunday the most pointless game of the NFL season was played. The NFC defeated the AFC team 42 to 30. Adrian Peterson was the games MVP with 129 rushing yards, and Terrell Owens had a nice game with two touchdown receptions. But, really who actually cares? The game is played a week after the superbowl, and means absoulutely nothing. Most of the stars like Tom Brady, Tomlinson, and Rany Moss did not even participate in the game. I personally found the game boring and hard to watch. Unlike the NBA of MLB there are also no skill competitions to get the fans into it. MLB has the exciting Home Run derby, and the NBA has the slam dunk and three point contest. Also in MLB the winner of the all star game has home field advvantage in the World Series, which proves to be crucial. What does the pro bowl have? Its played in Honolulu which has no connection to the NFL all year. The coach of the game is the loser of the conference game, which makes no sense to me whatsoever. Also the rules that are in playfor the game make it a lot less enjoyable to watch. In my opinion the NFL has much work to do in order to promote their all star game and get their best players to participate in.

Shaq heads back West

This week the Miami Heat traded Future Hall of famer Shaq to the Phoenix Suns for all-star forward Shaun Marion and Guard Marcus Banks. The suns made this big deal, despite already having the best record in the very deep western conference. They traded one of their best players. However, they acquired a guy who was the most dominant player in the NBA during his prime. Many people believe that Shaq is too old and cannot play The Phoenix Suns styke of basetball. However, the suns feel that the piece that they were missing with their group of star player is a big guy to anchor the middle. They will depend on shaq to cover guys like Yao Ming, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, and Carlos Boozer in the playoffs. They also feel that the acquisition of Grant Hill provides them a s a very good player to take over Marion's position. Only the playoffs will tell how good this deal was.

The Miami Heat also feel that they had a very good deal. They are not going anywhere this year, with a last place record in the east. They acquire a younger star in Marion who they can build a team in along with Dwayne Wade. Also Marcus Banks is panning out to be a really solid role player. This trade will probably be the blockbuster of this NBA season.

Giants Prevent "19-0"

Giants fans have absolutely everything to be proud about. The New York Giants are superbowl champions.They defeated the 18-0 New England Patriots, in one of the biggest upsets in NFL history. Instead of the perfect patriots going down in history, the amazing turn around of the Giants will be a story talked about for decades. The Gants began the season 0-2, and had their fans doubting that they would even make the playoffs. Their great running back Tiki Barber retired and their coach seemed to loose control of the team. Later in the season their talented tight end Jeremy Shockey broke his leg. The Giants barely made the playoffs as a wild card team. Everyone including most Giant fans felt that Eli Manning would not be able to lead them past the first round. However, this was when Eli Manning and the Giants developed as a great team that played with great pride. They won 3 straight road games against division winners Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay going into the superbowl. They then outplayed and dominated the game against the undefeated Patriots. This was one of the greatest superbowls ever played. Eli Manning played the game of his life and won Superbowl MVP. This superbowl will be remembered for a while, and so is the story of the 2007 NY Giants. I am a Jets fan, however, I must say congrats to the NY Giants for a superbowl well earned.

Mets Sign Ace

On Friday the Mets made it official by signing ace Johan Santana to a $137.5 million, six-year contract extension, a record for a pitcher and the last major step needed to complete the team's blockbuster trade with Minnesota. Last year the one weakness the mets had, which led to their collapse, was that they did not have a true ace starter which they can depend on. WIth the acquisition of Santana, the mets not only acquire an ace, but in my opinion the best pitcher in the league. Santana clearly makes the mets the team to beat in the National league. Santana and Pedro provide a great one/two as starting pitchers, to go along with a very good ofense, and an all star closer. Another reason I feel this trade was great for the mets was that they kept their two top young prospects. This trade was brilliant for the mets organization. Santana is worth all the money he will make. The mets needed to make a big splash after their collapse, and they did by finding a way to sign the best pitcher in baseball. Santana is still young, and will be a big part of the mets when they open their new stadium next year. Santana will join Reyes, Wright, and Beltran that are stars that the mets will have for a long time. As a mets fan this trade gets me very excited. The mets were a good team that got even better today. I feel that they are clearly favorites to make the world series, and should have a great chance to win it.

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080202&content_id=2362552&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

Super Sunday

The perfect way to begin my sports page is to talk about the biggest sporting event of the year. This sunday the New York Giants will be playing the New England Patriots in Superbowl forty two. This superbowl is projected to have the highest national ranking of any event ever on television.The game itslef will contain two great teams that are filled with superstars. First off, The New England Patriots are trying to be the first team to ever go 19-0, and the second team to ever go undefeated for a full season. They are clearlt the class of the league. Their star quaterback Tom Brady has three superbowl rings already, a superbowl MVP, and a regular season MVP. He also broke the regular season passing touchown record (50), along with his receiver Randy Moss who borke the recieving touchdown record (23). This patriots team could arguably be the greatest team to ever take the field.
Their oppenents are the heavily underdog New York Giants. Not too long ago the giants were a team in turmoil. Many people did not feel the had good enough coaching, leadership, or talent to even qualify for the postseason. However, they played the underdog status perfectly and won three straight road playoff games. Their quarterback Eli Manning is starting to live up to his potential of number one overall pick.
All of this should bring an awesome game on sunday. Personally I feel the patriots have a much better team, however, the Giants are red hot and have a lot of momentum. It should be very intersting to see a red hot team play a team looking for perfection.