Final Four Bound

The Final Four are set and I cannot wait to see the games. North Carolina is slated to play Villanova and Michigan State is up against Connecticut. North Carolina managed to sooth right on past the Sooners without double digit scoring by Hansbrough or Ellington. This should pose an immediate threat to Villanova. The Wildcats of Villanova have a premier guard in Scottie Reynolds who is fearless and not afraid to take the big shot as he demonstrated against Pittsburgh. I still like the overall balance of the Tar Heels and look for them to advance to the Title game. Connecticut looks more determined than ever to win it all. Despite losing Jerome Dyson, losing a 6 overtime thriller to Syracuse, Calhoun in hospital for first tournament game, and the accusations of illegal recruiting, they still look so strong and dominate. Michigan State has some great three point shooters in Summers, Lucas, and Allen. Goran Suton is tearing it up in the tournament. He had 19 points, 10 boards, and 4 assists last game to beat Louisville and looks like there is going to be a good matchup between him and Thabeet. Detroit Michigan is going to be lit up this weekend and the stars will be out to play. Final Four here we come.

Lamar being Lamar

Lamar Odom has got to be one of the dumbest players in the NBA. The man makes himself and his teammates look like idiots. I have never seen an NBA player with so many dumb mistakes. I would like to know if anyone thinks there is a dumber player than Odom. If you do then here are some clips to change your mind.

Shaqtastic Suns

The playoffs are drawing near in the NBA season and the West is going to be interesting as to see who slides in the number 8 spot. The surging Suns look to take over Dallas as the 8th seed. Phoenix has 12 games remaining on their schedule and only half of them are against teams with an above .500 record. Dallas also has 12 games remaining in the season and 8 of those opponents have an above .500 record. Dallas holds a 3 game lead over the “Shaqtastic Suns”, but I warn you to not count out the Suns. On April 5 these two teams will meet to play and if the Suns win then the will split the season series at 2-2. It is too bad that Phoenix does not have Amare Stoudemire or else they would be a lock for the playoffs. The Suns will make run into the playoffs to finally get past the Donaghy altercation. In case you do not know what I mean here is the video.

Boom goes the Broadcaster

The world is filled with sports broadcasters and announcers. This ranges from all kinds of sports to different levels within each sport. Sports broadcasting are often criticized and are held accountable for what they say or “do not say”. As it is in this case were a college student is on television for his first gig with a local television station. I warn you this is painful to watch and will forever be known as one of sports most painful moments.

A Le Bron Block

Whether you are from New York, California, Japan, Canada, or wherever you know that the NBA has three potential players to win the league’s MVP honor. Unless your living under a rock, (if that is the case the go back under it), you know that the players fighting for it are Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James. As of late anyone will tell you that Dwyane Wade has been on a tear. My choice for MVP would have to go to Lebron James. Not because he is averaging 28 points, 7 boards, and 7 assists but because he has elevated his level of play on the defensive side of the ball. He takes the responsibility of guarding the best players on the other team. Here is a clip of how he does not give up on the ball and has made a consistent effort to play defense.

Bracket Busters

It is already the last day of the first weekend in the famous NCAA Tournament. My bracket is already a bust like a lot of people. I liked the Washington Huskies and they failed me and Wake Forest looked like one of the worst teams in the tournament. With that being said isn’t that what the tournament is about; people texting each other and praying that their teams are winning. The tournament is all about people becoming “couch guzzlers” and just eating food while watching their bracket unfold in front of them. Some get the depressing news that their final four is already screwed up on the first or second day. Thus brackets are consistently being ripped to shreds and it is only Sunday but on the Thursday they were telling everyone that they had “The Bracket”. This is one of the best times of the year for a sports fan and I can only hope I see the day when a 16 seed upsets a 1 seed.

In the big upset of today I have Marquette upsetting Missouri and advancing to the sweet sixteen. The most intriguing matchup of the day I would have to say it Cleveland State against Arizona. The 13 seed against the 12 seed look to be a high intensified game and I am just rooting for a good game there. Hopefully Carolina can keep it rolling and keep my bracket alive. Who was your bracket buster.

Highlights from the First Day of Tourny

VCU was one of the teams that I had advancing to the next round. I did not think UCLA had it in them to beat VCU but they are advancing to the next round. VCU star guard Eric Maynor had a shot to win it at the buzzer but the ball grazed the front of the rim resulting in a 65-64 loss. Teams like Villanova and Memphis had to fight to come back to even advance to the second round. Tough first games for these two teams were as North Carolina and Connecticut easily moved past their opponents to play again. Western Kentucky and Maryland were the two biggest upsets from the first day of the tournament. Western Kentucky was a 12 seed and Maryland was a ten seed. Not to mention that those Washington “Unknown” Huskies advance and still have my eye on the.

For today’s slate of games I will give you my upset pick were I will go with Arizona who has heard everyone talk about how they do not deserve to be in the tournament and they will use that to propel them to the next round.

The Unkown Huskies

Tomorrow is the start of the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Everyone wants there to be that Cinderella team who comes out of nowhere to do some damage in the tournament. Last year Davidson was that team and a couple years back it was George Mason. Will so much talent in the Big East and ACC this year, everyone expects teams from these divisions to dominate the tournament. Besides that people like Oklahoma and Memphis but I am here to give you a team that I feel can do some damage and make it to the Final Four.

The Washington Huskies are the number 4 seed in the west region. The teams opening game is against Mississippi State who has Jarvis Varnado who is having his own block party with all the blocks he has been piling up. The Huskies can get past the dominate defense with their stellar guard play which will propel them to the next round of the tournament. Next up for the Huskies would more than likely be the Purdue Boilermakers. At the end of the regular season the Washington Huskies were ranked 14th in the ESPN today poll. This team out of the Pac Ten is going to be a tough out in the tournament and will match up well with Purdue who in my opinion underachieved in the rather weak Big Ten. I say they underachieved because they were only 11-7 in conference play and will watch the Huskies advance to the Sweet Sixteen. I see Washington coasting by in the first two games and not having to exert much energy into those games giving them the opportunity to perform against Connecticut. Jerome Dyson was important to the other Huskies and will hurt there chance but I will say that AJ Price has stepped up his game. Washington is a great offensive rebounding team which leads to second chance points. This might be slightly lower with Thabeet in the middle but the Huskies of Washington have a full court press that will be sure to wear down AJ Price. Connecticut looks past this game and looks forward to the anticipated matchup against Memphis but instead the game will not happen. So that leaves me with Washington against Memphis which will be the biggest challenge yet for them. Memphis had four games this year that were against good teams and they were, Xavier, Georgetown, Syracuse, and Gonzaga. The only game out of those four that they won was against the Zags and I am afraid they have not played a tough schedule and thus are untested. Washington wins a slugfest and advances to the Final Four.

Did That Just Happen?

You know when you go to a game are you are one of the lucky people who attend a sports event and get to see an altercation between athletes and fans. I know that I have been to a Baltimore Orioles verse Seattle Mariners game last year and both teams were bottom feeders in the league but a fan in left field jumped the wall onto the field and began running. He sprinted across the whole outfield and back to where he started before the security grabbed hold of him. The young man was running past the Orioles outfield and easily could have been hit by one of them which I personally would have loved to see. Unfortunately that did not happen but here are some altercations where it did happen.

Steve Nash

Here is a video of Steve Nash who is actually a pretty funny guy.

Selection Sunday

Selection Sunday is upon us and the number 1 seeds for the tournament are Louisville, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Connecticut. Louisville got the number 1 overall seed in the tournament but I feel that North Carolina has the easiest route to the Final Four because they are playing in Greensboro, North Carolina. The talent of the teams in the south region just is not up to par as some of the other regions. Now with that being said I will give you my top six teams who I believe have a shot at winning the National Title. On this "Selection Sunday" my choices will be made in no particular order.

1.) North Carolina
2.) Connecticut
3.) Villanova
4.) Louisville
5.) Oklahoma
6.) Kansas

Upsets: Arizona beats Utah and Maryland beats California.

ACC Tournament Championship.

The ACC Tournament Championship is upon us and I did not have either one of these teams in this game. With that being said it should shape up to be a good game none the less. The Duke Blue Devils are set to face off against the Florida State Seminoles today. My head says Duke but my Heart says Florida State. With a win for Duke they basically are assuring themselves as a two seed in the NCAA Tournament. I will take Duke in this game because of the ability this team has to make the long ball. Duke will win the ACC Tournament and look to keep things rolling smoothly into the tournament.

ACC Tournament Round 3.

Yesterday I did much better getting all four games right but the wins by each team except Maryland were pretty. Today I look to stay on track with two more ACC games. Meanwhile the Big East tournament is looking good with the Orange of Syracuse beating West Virginia one day after their six overtime thriller. Well here are my picks for today’s games.

#1 UNC vs. #4 Florida State

Now I did say that Toney Douglas would lead Florida State to win and he did but not before and underachieving Georgia Tech gave them a run for their money. Today their journey ends when they face North Carolina. Tyler Hansbrough is not afraid of taking the shot at the end of the game like when he took over yesterday with a shot, free throws, and holding the ball for a jump ball in the closing seconds. Again with or without Lawson look for the Tar Heels to advance to the finals of the ACC Tournament.

#3 Duke vs. #7 Maryland

This should be a grinded out game with whoever’s heart is bigger will win this game. Maryland comes in hot trying to get a bid for the NCAA Tournament and I think they will keep the ball rolling against Duke. The way they do this is to shut down either Singler or Scheyer because Henderson will be able to get his. If Vasquez can keep up his play and almost triple double numbers then this team will face Carolina tomorrow. Maryland is fighting to play in the big tournament and in the past couple years these two teams have developed a rivalry, look for Maryland to advance.

ACC Tournament Round 2.

Yesterday my predictions on the ACC first round games were awful. I went a mere two for four. Today I hope to do a better and go a perfect 4 for 4. If the ACC does not interest you then I suggest watching the Big East because the games have been nothing short of spectacular. The 6 overtime thriller between Syracuse and Connecticut was one of the greatest college basketball games played to date. Anyways, if the ACC interests you then here are my predictions for today’s games.

#1 UNC vs. #8 Virginia Tech

I had Virginia Tech losing in the first round and have them losing today against Carolina. With or without Ty Lawson this team will do a number on Virginia Tech. I will be surprised if Carolina does not win by more than 15 points. The talented NBA ready class that they have will start off fast and never look back.

#4 Florida State vs. #12 Georgia Tech

Florida State has played well this season but most of their games have been relatively close. I have Florida State winning but unlike the UNC game this game will be close. Toney Douglas is the only player to average double digit points with 20.8 points. This man will take over the game in the closing minutes and secure a victory for Florida State.

#2 Wake Forest vs. #7 Maryland

Yesterday I was right in choosing Maryland and today they are going to need a big performance to get into the big tournament and I believe they will do just that. Maryland will win this game if they play to the potential that they have. Sometimes this team decides to not show up and play. The Demon Deacons already are in the tournament and will not be playing with as much determination as the Terps will be.

#3 Duke vs. #6 Boston College

Duke lost to North Carolina in their last game of the season and will look to rebound back in this game. Coach K. always seems to get his team going around tournament time and will get the ball rolling against Boston College. This team is full of knockdown shooters and oh yeah that freakish athlete Gerald Henderson. Look for Duke to walk away with a win.

Greatest Sports Prank

Now in my days I have played plenty of pranks on my friends. Some of the pranks I have done have been huge while others are just small harmless ones. For instance we told a friend of ours to come with us to this house that is believed to be haunted. We brought the works, video camera, flashlights, and cameras. Little did he know that the video camera was to film him and that the flashlights were lights so the video camera could capture it. Anyways we already had two people shacked up in the house before we got there to scare him when he entered the house. We walked in and explored the bottom floor casually as the two people who were already in the house began rolling little pebbles or rocks down the stairs. The man we were setting upon was convinced that the roof was falling but we convinced him otherwise and told him to head upstairs. One of the people already in the house that he didn’t know was their peeked around the corner. The kid we were pranking ran out of the house so fast and continued running for about a half a mile. He was shaking scared because he had no idea that we had set him up and when it was all said and done we had a good laugh out of it. We did this to a couple people. I thought that this was one of the greatest pranks you could do until I stumbled upon this. In sports you rarely see pranks and rarely are they that huge. Some players prank other players in the locker room and what not, but only a handful ever gets out to the public. Pranks are extremely funny as long as no one gets hurt. This prank below is probably one of my favorite all time and will definitely get a laugh out of you. Hope you enjoy this sports prank at the Maryland basketball game.

ACC Tournament First Round

#11 Virginia vs. #6 Boston College

Boston College is my choice to win this game. The Eagles have beaten both North Carolina and Duke this year. In their lone meeting against Virginia this year they beat them by ten points. I believe that Boston College will shut down Sylven Landesberg who had 32 points in their first meeting. Without his effort the team would have had no chance against Boston College because he had almost half of the team’s points. Boston College wins and advances to play Duke on Friday.

#10 NC State vs. #7 Maryland

Maryland should do way with NC State. Maryland won the first meeting between these two teams and is hungry to continue in the ACC Tournament. Greivis Vasquez has done everything in his power to keep this team afloat. He leads the team in points, rebounds, assists, ft %, and steals. His passion will carry the Terrapins who have not been playing well of late and have hopes of playing well in ACC Tournament get a spot in the big tournament. Number 7 Maryland demolishes NC State and will advance to play Wake Forrest.

#12 Georgia Tech vs. #5 Clemson

Clemson will face off against Georgia Tech for the third time this season and it will be the same outcome again with Clemson. Terrence Oglesby is a knock down shooter who will keep the floor spread for other players to get points in the paint. Clemson walks away with this one and goes on to face Florida State.

#9 Miami vs. #8 Virginia Tech

Miami did lose to Virginia Tech in their meeting this year but I feel that Miami will win a close one. Miami starting lineup consist of three seniors and two juniors led by senior guard Jack McClinton. This experience will help Hurricanes in the best match up of the first day off the ACC Tournament. Miami moves on to face North Carolina.

Wade's Game Winner Leads to MVP Chants.

Dwyane Wade is ever so more solidifying himself as the league’s MVP. Today the Heat where playing against the Bulls in a double overtime thriller. At half time Dwayne hit a shot as the buzzer sounded and it was only foreshadowing what would happen later. Wade hit a three pointer to tie the score up and send it to OT. At the end of overtime he missed a layup to win it and thus the game continued to double overtime. Although he missed the layup I will say that I have never seen anyone be able to switch directions and take the ball to the hole so easily. Hands down he can get to the hope with the best of them. In the second overtime the score was 127-127 and the bulls had the ball with seconds left. Flash snuck up on John Salmons and stole the ball from him with four seconds left. He went the length of the court and threw up a runner from just outside the three point line and it went in with nothing but net as the buzzer sounded. His nickname flash was exactly that and he carried the Heat once again on his own back. David Stern can take away his band-aids but they most certainly cannot take away his game. After the game Dwyane Wade was asked what was going threw his head there at the end. Dwyane’s response is “coach said we got a time out left so I was about to call it but then I was like nahh.” Wade is confident and knows that the Heat is his team and that it is his house. Wade is improving his resume ever so for the MVP of the NBA. In the last ten game’s Dwyane Wade is averaging 36.4 points, 10.7 assists, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.3 steals. Those stats are beyond amazing and he deserves some more hype and discussion as one of the NBA’s elite players. I think that ESPN gave him that recognition because when the game was over and the first hour of Sports Center came on and the shot was replayed ten times. It was discussed with Tim Legler in that hour and at the end of Sports Center the last 11 seconds where played with music and put Dwyane in the spotlight which he deserves.

Owens is West, East, South, and now North.

Terrell Owens is in Buffalo? Terrell Owens first was out west with San Fran, then east to the Eagles, then down South to Dallas, and now he is up North in Buffalo. T.O. was released by the Cowboys and just two days later he signs with the Bills. Owens toke a one year 6 million dollar deal and everyone jumps to the conclusion that this was a bad decision and that he seemed desperate to take the first deal. Bottom line is that T.O. can destroy a team and a quarterback but he will put up top numbers for receivers. This is a good no wait great deal for the Bills. He will be on his best behavior in Buffalo because he will want to score a decent deal next year that will lock him up with a team for multiple years. Not to mention that with Terrell Owens on the field it will definitely help to sell tickets. The Bills have talent with Lee Evans at wide out, Marshawn Lynch at running back, and a team full of potential. We all saw how Buffalo started out last year before falling apart. This is definitely a steal for the Bills and for this one year that he is under contract it will have a positive impact.

Number 5.

To wrap up this week’s segment on ugliest people in sports I would like to throw in Chris Kaman. If you have ever seen the Hills Have Eyes, the people in that movie look just like Chris. I might even go as far as saying some of them look better than him. I am glad that he finally shaved and cut his birdlike hair. Although without the hair in this picture he looks like the alien in Men in Black who gets his head shot of put it grows back. I wonder if he had kept the hair if it would help him on shots like this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdwHIQKGsPc
Chris Kaman wraps up my five ugliest people in sports. I will have a poll up soon to determine who people think is the ugliest of the five i choose.

Number 4.

Sheldon Williams is a former Duke Blue Devils star who has enjoyed absolutely zero success in the NBA. Before I started doing some research into this topic I did not even realize he was still in the NBA. He is a strong man who from the front seems to look like a normal man but when you turn him sideways woo is it a whole different person. What in the world is up with his ears, they are the smallest ones I have ever seen. His head is like a balloon and then he has got those things that just perplex me. How can a man that big, that strong, and that big of a forehead have ears that are as small as his eyes? I wonder if headphones are too big for him because they just absorb his ears. Sheldon Williams is contestant number four on my ugliest players in sports.

Number 3.

Andrei Kirilenko of the Utah Jazz is an all around good player and is nicknamed “ak-47”. Personally I think he should be called Frankenstein. The resemblance is so close from his skinny neck up to the top of his head. Speaking of his head what is up with that porcupine on his head. He is a bald man with needles on the top of his head. This Russian star scares little kids with one stare and others with his horrendous flops. Check out Kirilenko’s ugly flops which are almost as ugly as he is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2FG1WAry08&feature=related

Number 2.

Marshawn Lynch is a great running back for the Buffalo Bills but man does he just need to keep his helmet on. Just imagine him with a beard and he would look like that caveman off those geico commercials. His profile picture in yahoo sports is just awful, look at it for yourself. Mr. Lynch will never be allowed in commercials because of his face and thus might not get as many endorsements because his face is just that horrific. Lynch is one of the five ugliest people in sports.

The Faces of Sports you Wish you Did Not See, Literally!

Sam Cassell is one of the nominees for the ugliest athletes in sports. His alien like shaped head speaks for itself. Sam I am has the face that you see on one of the Halloween masks that you see at a store. His bumpy head would make for a nice rollercoaster ride and his ears look like those of a boxer except this man is in the NBA so I don’t know what is going on there. His gums stick out further than his teeth and his cheekbones look like those chocolate candy eggs that you get for Easter. Sam Cassell’s smile will make fringe. Sam Cassell is my first nominee for ugliest sports athlete. There will be one athlete for each day of the week this week.

March Madness

Today is March 1st and if you are a sports fan then you know what this means, March Madness. College basketball is something that has always had my attention and I enjoy watching it. There are several rivals that are something for sports fans to look forward to each year. They range from the battle of the blues, which is North Carolina Duke. There is the Maryland Duke game, the backyard brawl between Pittsburgh and West Virginia. These are just some of the big games during the year that fans look forward to watching but none of those games compare to the NCCA tournament. March Madness brings out the inner sports fan in everyone. Students will leave the classroom to go to the bathroom and either look up scores on their phones or call someone to get the scores. The big betters will sit in front of televisions with every game on and analyzing every outcome of the games. There will be millions of printable brackets being printed off and sold for multiple amounts for people to fill out. Everyone will be stunned when an 11 or 12 seed beats a 4 or 5 seed. This tournament is the hardest to figure out because any day a team can beat another team. March Madness will be at the forefront of sports during this month. Another intriguing part about the tournament is when the seeds are picked and announced. Everyone wants to know who will be the 4 number 1 seeds. I am here to give you my opinion on who I think are going to be the 1 seeds and the 2 seeds.

The Number 1 Seeds:

-Connecticut, Coach Jim Calhoun is experienced and can lead this team to a national title behind Hasheem Thabeet.

-North Carolina, Roy Williams has won plenty of games and even some national title games which will help keep Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington, and the rest of the Heels in check.

-Oklahoma, Blake Griffin is all that needs to be said about this team and his numbers are just astonishing but he is going to need the help of his brother and team to win it all.

-Memphis, Just one year removed from the title game the team finds itself as a number one seed. The team is riding a twenty game winning streak are 14-0 in the conference.

The Number 2 Seeds:

-Pittsburgh, The last two games of the season will tell a lot about this team. The Panthers have beat some good talent like Connecticut but just do not want the number 1 seed because when they get it the loose it soon after.

-Duke, The Blue Devils will get it together come tournament time. The only thing more confusing than there play as of late is how to spell Krzyzewski?

-Louisville, With their win over Marquette today and there remaining to games being opponents they should beat, this team should propel itself to a safe lock for the 2 seed.

-Michigan State, The fighting Spartans seem to have the intangibles intact to make a run in the tournament and with a run through the Big Ten tournament then they will secure a 2 seed.