Tuesday, September 30, 2008

IUfan77's NFL 2008 Predictions

Here are my predictions for the 2008 NFL season (4 weeks late)....

NFC East winner - Dallas Cowboys
A vast array of offensive weapons (Romo, Barber, T.O.. Witten) are at Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips disposal not to mention a tough defense that showcases some felons.
NFC North winner - Green Bay Packers
The Favre-less Pack will win a very weak division, but it will be a very close battle between Green Bay, Chicago and Minnesota. Aaron Rodgers doesn't disappoint.
NFC South winner - New Orleans Saints
That's right, the Big Easy will regain their status as tops in the NFC South. Brees will have to hope and pray his offense gets healthy and remain that way or this season will be a repeat of 2007. I would say that the Bucs would challenge for the division, but a ratio of 2 INT's to every 1 TD is not a very good stat. The Panther's Steve Smith can't play offense and defense, or can he?
NFC West winner - Anyone in the division, but possibly...the Arizona Cardinals?
Arizona has the most solid chance of any of these teams. I do like Seattle, but with the exception of Julius Jones and backache hampered Matt Hasselbeck, the 'Hawks depth at wide receiver is very poor due to some key injuries. The 49ers still don't impress me enough, even if JT O'Sullivan has played average football, to say the least. The Cardinals have an old veteran under center (Warner), a decent RB (James)and some very talented young WR (Boldin and Fitzgerald).
NFC Wildcards - NY Giants and Chicago Bears
AFC East winner - Buffalo Bills
The key is consistency and some lucky breaks, er tears, (sorry Tom B.). The Bills are the strongest all-around team on both sides of the ball. Their QB (Edwards) is average, their RB (Lynch) is pretty good and their WR (Evans, Reed, Hardy) are decent as well. Defensively they have shown they can produce takeaways. The Patriots still have an outside chance at the division or more likely a wildcard, with the Jets and Favre on the outside looking in.
AFC North winner - Pittsburgh Steelers
Pathetic division, only logical choice.
AFC South winner - Indianapolis Colts
After a tough 1-2 start, the Colts will fire back up after their bye week. The Titans won't be unbeaten for long with Kerry Collins as their QB, the Jags could pull off the divisional upset or at least a wildcard, regardless, Indy will be playing in the post season.
AFC West winner - San Diego Chargers
The Bolts have started to regain that look they had last regular season before it all fell apart. Not a fan of Norv Turner as a head coach, great Offensive Coordinator, not a great head coach, but Philip Rivers with enough time and LT in the backfield and a defense that can keep their opponents out of the endzone (not the Broncos) make for a sure pick to win the division.
AFC Wildcards - Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars
NFC Champion - Dallas Cowboys
AFC Champion - Indianapolis Colts
Super Bowl Champion - Dallas Cowboys
And that is all I have to say about that.

MLB Playoff Round 1 Picks

For tonight I am picking the Twins, they just seem to be hot. Also, I am a Cubbies fan so that automatically means I don't like the Chi-Sox.

It really doesn't matter because I am going to pick the Rays to win that matchup.

Red Soxs over the Angels

Phillies over the Brewers

Of course I am going to pick the Cubs over the Dodgers. Go Cubs!!!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Thank You Washington for Your Wonderful Gift!


As my partner in crime mentioned in an earlier post, this season is weird. Not that the NFC has a winning record against the AFC (the last time I checked). Not that the J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets! hung fifty-six on an "improved" Arizona defense. Not even that the most impressive offense of this early season (Denver) failed to score even twenty points in route to a loss to the, Chiefs? No, it has to be the Dallas Cowboys' loss to rival Washington Redskins. I despise the Redskins, absolutely despise them, and their fans (not as general human beings but in the sports realm okay?). I'm not going to sit here and make excuses for why the Cowboys lost, they deserved to lose after the way they played. This is to the arrogant 'Skins fan: you won by TWO! I understand in the NFL a win is a win, but when a team plays as poorly as the Cowboys did on Sunday, you only won by TWO! In my opinion this only will fuel the Dallas fire, and show them that they are not going to be handed a Super Bowl, by making them work even harder than ever to make the playoffs. They now know that they are not indestructible, and will do what it takes to become indestuctible. So, thank you Redskins, by helping the 'Boys build more character and unity! See you on the other side!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Bryan's Week 4 NFL Picks

Before I make my picks I just wanted to comment on how crazy it is that there is already a bye this week. It seems like the season just started 5 minutes ago and already they are taking a week off. Crazy, anyway here are the picks.

Sunday, September 28
Cleveland @ Cincinnati- Close
Minnesota @ Tennessee - Close
Denver @ Kansas City - Blowout
San Francisco @ New Orleans - Close
Arizona @ NY Jets - Favre Redemption
Green Bay @ Tampa Bay - Closer than you think
Atlanta @ Carolina - Upset
Houston @ Jacksonville - Blowout
San Diego @ Oakland - Blowout
Buffalo @ St. Louis - Blowout
Washington @ Dallas - Closer than you think
Philadelphia @ Chicago - Close

Monday, September 29
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh - Upset

USC Bandwagon Crashed!


I think I called this one. Not that USC would lose because I think everyone in there right mind realized that they would lose at least one game, but I called the fact that first everyone is jumping off the USC bandwagon. People were already crowning them as national champs before they even played a game. Now everyone is talking about droping them out of the top 10.

Second, I called the fact that the USC homers would make excuses how this loss doesn't matter. A certain ESPN radio talk show host said that if he was offered USC vs. SEC as to who is going to win the national championship he would take USC. I thought that was crazy because you never take one over twelve and because the SEC is one of the toughest conferences out there, much tougher than the PAC-10. I listened to his show on Friday and all he did was make excuses for USC and how the loss doesn't matter, blah, blah, blah.

Really I don't care, I think this just shows the need for play-off system. The only way to fairly determine a true national champ is to have a play-off. It can't keep being the same teams playing ever year, how many chances is Ohio State going to get.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

NL Wildcard!

I am watching the NL wildcard very closely. I predict that the Brewers will win the spot. I am a huge Cubs fan and would rather play the Brewers than the Mets. The reason is we play the Brewers a million times during the regular season and we know a lot about them. I am aware that this could also work to our disadvantage, but I want to take that chance. Go Brewers!

I also have been following the AL Central race which is equally exciting. I think the Twins will pull it out. Especially if they can win tonight, then they play the Royals for their last series. Tonight will be very exciting.

Week 4 Picks

My Week Four picks are below. I have put who I think will be the winner in red. If you have any disagreements feel free to voice your opinion.

Here we go:

Sunday, September 28

Cleveland @ Cincinnati
Minnesota @ Tennessee
Denver @ Kansas City
San Francisco @ New Orleans
Arizona @ NY Jets
Green Bay @ Tampa Bay
Atlanta @ Carolina
Houston @ Jacksonville
San Diego @ Oakland
Buffalo @ St. Louis (I know Miami was bad last year, but I think St. Louis could be worse!)
Washington @ Dallas
Philadelphia @ Chicago

Monday, September 29

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh

There you go. Have at 'em!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

No Post-Season for Yanks

I am a Red Sox fan. Most of it comes from the Texas Rangers being terrible year in and year out, and when playoff time rolled around each year I found myself rooting against the Yankees. Often times those late season/post-season series were between the Sox and the Yanks, so I sort of hopped on the Bo-Sox bandwagon and began to follow them. However, On a night when the Sox clinched a playoff birth for the fifth time out of six years, the Yanks clinched a guaranteed NON-playoff spot. All this in the last year of Yankee Stadium. While I may genuinely despise the most overpaid-underachieving team maybe in baseball history it kind of saddens me to see them go out like this. I always enjoyed the past few seasons where they got knocked off in the playoffs, it was like a tradition for me. I love traditions new and old, and to see "The House that Ruth Built" go out without a playoff run seems like something isn't quite right.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Cubs Lose, NL Wildcard Implications

So the Cubs lost tonight, I think that means if the Brewers (who are tied with the Pirates as I write this in the 9th inning) win tonight then they will be only 1/2 game back from the Mets. The Mets started to look like they did last year and begain to choke, but they won tonight. What does that mean? I think it will be intersting to see the Brewers and the Mets fight it out over the next week. If I gambled my money would probably be on the Brewers, they just seem to want it really bad this year (even they have been in a slump the past month). Looks to be intersting week.

NFL Week 3 Observations

This season is starting off very different from last year. It is almost like bizarro world for the NFL. Of course Lucus' beloved Cowboys are undefeated (choke, choke, choke), but what about the Giants. Come on, did anyone really expect them to come out and make a strong showing this year. I sure didn't. And what about over in the AFC. The undefeated teams are the Bills, the Ravens (only 2-0 since there game against the Texans was postponed), and the Broncos. None of these teams were even thought about as being Superbowl contenders next to the mighty Patriots and my beloved Colts.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I mean can you believe how the Dolphins destroyed the Patriots. Ronnie Brown was a stud. If you have him for your fantasy team you probably thought you would pick him up for a bye week or something, but now you look like a genius. The AFC is up from grabs this year. Which brings me to my own team, the Colts, whom I am very disappointed in. They looked really bad. The offensive line has to improve. I know they are young but they have to protect Peyton so he can do what he does best, win football games. At least they have are on a bye this week, I heard Peyton on Mike and Mike this morning and he said that they would be working hard for the next two weeks to improve there weak spots, I hope it works. I don't think I can handle it if the Cowboys go to the Superbowl and the Colts don't, oh what am I saying the Cowboys always choke in the post season.

New Sports Blog

This is a sports blog, but not just any sports blog. This is the best sports blog ever (self-proclaimed, of course). Okay, it may not be the best sports blog, but at least it will be entertaining. My BFF (can I use that as a guy or that reserved for 13 year old girls?) and I are always arguing about sports, we also always have an opinion about what is going on in the world of sports, and who is the best team (Colts). So we thought let's right some of this down for the entire world to see, maybe someone other than our mothers will read it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.