Friday, December 3, 2010

Friday Night

No I am not going out and partying on a friday night, instead I am a 15 year old boy so I'm watching the Celtics and the Bulls. I love the Celtics and I can honestly say that they have the best defense in the league as a starting five. Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, and O'Neal (maybe Perkins when he comes back) play the best half-court defense and can absolutely shut down teams. The bench however seems to keep up the offense sometimes but fails to do the same on defense. The bench's bigs are good defenders but not great. Anyway I think the Celtics are the easy pick to come out of the east right now. Even though they have the same record as the Magic, they seem to be more consistent. The Celtics never lose by more than 5 or so, where as the Magic seem to lay eggs some games and the next game completely turn it around and look like the best team in the NBA. The co-best team in the NBA with the Celtics are the Lakers. I know the Lakers have lost 4 straight games for the first time since April of 2007, I don't think there is any doubt in anyones mind that the Lakers are still the favorite out west.
Since I know this is what everyone is thinking about I will talk about LeBron. Yes, I watched the game last night. I thought going in that the Cavs would have a chance to win because of the whole situation, and what would be a playoff atmosphere. Instead the Cavs got destroyed and LeBron had his best scoring game of the season, but there was still a playoff atmosphere. But I got to talk about the beginning, I am not lying when I say that those were the loudest boos I have ever heard. I mean as soon as he stepped on the court that crowd was prepared to boo. You got to see that for Cleavland they had been preparing for this since July when LeBron had "The Decision", so they had all sorts of creative cheers, shirts, poster, etc. My favorite cheer was "your Wade's Pippen!", and my favorite t-shirt was "the lyin king" with a picture of James with a lion's mane. He should have handled the whole summer situation a lot better, but now that it's over that is not what bothers me. What bothers me is that he still won't apologize. Even when he got the opportunity when Craig Sager asked him straight up if he wanted to apologize, but he didn't. I'm not sure if he doesn't think he did anything wrong, or he doesn't want to say that he was wrong. Either way he makes things that shouldn't be complicated, complicated.
I am also so excited for the Patriots Jets game on Monday Night Football. It doesn't get any better than arguably the two best teams in the NFL on Monday night. The big thing I think will be the Patriots defense against the Jets much more multi-dimensional offense this year. I still don't think the Pats defense is that good even though they have some very good players on d. That's why I think it will be extremely important for the offense of the Patriots to keep the ball and therefore limit New York's possession of the football. The NFL media still can't seem to buy the Falcons though. I don't know what else they have to do. They have the best record in the NFC, they have beaten the Packers, Ravens, and Saints who are all considered Super Bowl contenders, and they have not lost at home, and over the last three years seem to have the biggest home field advantage in the NFL.
Short note about college football is that it now looks like we are definitely headed towards a Oregon Auburn BCS National Championship game in Glendale, Arizona. While Boise State thought that they might have a chance this year they ended any argument with there overtime loss last week in Nevada. I'm excited to hear that TCU will be joining the Big East which is great. Mainly because UConn might make a BCS bowl game and they are 8-3, while other teams like LSU with only two losses, most likely will not make a BCS bowl game. Anyway I might be just saying random stuff now so I'm done for now.

-Max

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Sunday

It's Sunday, which means I'm sitting at home watching football and eating as much as possible. I'm watching the Falcons Packers game right now and I am very impressed with the Falcons defense. Sure they caught a break with Rodgers fumbling in the endzone, but they have actually looked very good. For me I looked at this game as two teams who have great offenses, and one team that has a great defense, that team is the Green Bay Packers. But today it has been the Falcons who are showing up on defense, and leading right now 10-3 in the third quarter. It might be because of their great home-field advantage. The Falcons with Matt Ryan as their starting quarterback for the last three years are 18-1 at home. Which to me is amazing seeing how Ryan was a rookie in '08, and the Falcons struggled to an 8-8 record in '09. I'm also watching the Giants Jaguars game, the Jaguars are leading 17-9, and yet I still see the Giants as a team that could win the Superbowl which angers me. Even though the Giants have lost the last two weeks to the Cowboys and the Eagles, and are getting run over by the Jags, something about that team scares me. The Giants started 1-2 and everyone thought they were terrible. Then they turned it around to a 6-2 record and they looked like the best team in not only the NFC but the NFL. The offense can look unstoppable at times with both the power run game, and the explosive pass game. But then the Giants lay an egg and look like a confused team. But just the fact that they can look so good a times scares me. Because I think everyone remembers when the Giants hit their stride during the playoffs a couple of years ago and upset the favored and undefeated Patriots. So even if the Giants lose today and you hear all over ESPN that they are a terrible team don't listen, because they just might squeeze into the playoffs and beat your favorite team (if you have not noticed I'm a Pats fan). By the way the score of the Packers Falcons game is now tied at 10. Right after I tell you how great and surprising the Falcons d is Green Bay marches down the field and scores. Later tonight the Bears play the Eagles and the Chargers play the Colts, two great games. The Bears will look to slow down Michael Vick and the Eagles offense, and I hope they do because Vick is on my opponents fantasy team. The Sunday Night game is going to be great, Philip Rivers is having a great season and is really helping my fantasy team. Vincent Jackson will also be returning tonight after being suspended during the beginning of the season both by the NFL and the San Diego Chargers, I also just picked him up on my fantasy team, but enough about me. Alright that was just a quick update on the NFl today. Quick note the Heat lost to a good team last night yet again and continue to talk about this "process" which I guess means they have some sort of evil master plan to take over the NBA. Well I think they have already succeeded seeing how they are the only thing that anyone talks about while the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, and Magic quietly just keep on winning. Have a good week.

-Max

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thanksgiving Time

Hello everyone it's Thanksgiving time again that means football this Thursday as well as some basketball games both college and NBA. For football there will be the classic Lions and Cowboys home games, the Lions are hosting the 8-2 New England Patriots who are coming off another classic Brady Manning showdown and are looking to be yet another Super Bowl contender come this winter. The Saints will be in Dallas looking more and more like the team that made an incredible championship run giving their city a boost. The Cowboys on the other hand were looking to become the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl at home. But these Cowboy shave been a mess with some weeks showing up on offense but not defense and the other way around. But the last two weeks have looked like the team that many expected to see this year after they got a big win in New York and then at home against struggling Lions. This match-up could be a very good game because both teams are coming into this week hot and while one team is playing to prepare for the playoffs, the other is playing for pride. The last game of the night will be the Bengals and the New York Jets. This one has two teams going in opposite directions, the Jets are 8 and 2 but have been struggling to get by three mediocre teams in the Lions, Browns, and Texans. The Bengals have not lived up to the expectations and are only making news because of their wide receivers talk in the press. Bengals receiver Terrell Owens says that Jets corner Darrell Revis is "an average corner". But now I'll make my predictions for these games. The Pats will win in Detroit easily, the Cowboys will show up for a third straight week and knock off the Saints for the second year in a row during the regular season; and the Jets will win another close one against the Bengals with Owens playing well yet again but Ochocinco will get shut down by Cromartie.
In the NBA for some reason someone thought that the Washington Wizards against the Atlanta Hawks, and the Sacramento Kings taking on the L.A. Clippers were great Thanksgiving match-ups. Well guess what? They're not. Thankfully the Miami Heat take on the Orlando Magic tonight in Disney World, but if I were you I would stick to football on Thursday. But about the Miami Heat, recently they lost yet another game to a below .500 team, the Pacers, and just last weekend they lost at the buzzer in Memphis. This Heat team is starting to really annoy me, they just keep thinking of excuses for their play on the court. Whenever they win they are amazing and a championship contender, but when they lose they tell themselves that this whole thing is a process, and that they are still getting used to each other. Well if I remember the 2008 Boston Celtics brought three stars together and they started great right off the bat, and if they lost there was no excuses. They finished the year 66-16 and won the NBA championship. Now if the Heat want to consider themselves championship contenders than they have to not only start playing like it, but also hold themselves accountable for their miscues. So as winter is just starting to come so are the NFL playoffs, Bowl Championship Series, and the NBA and College basketball seasons are just getting into full swing. That's it for now, happy holidays and eat a lot.

-Max

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

NBA Season

The NBA season is coming up at the end of this month, and what better way to start off the season than with the Celtics and the Heat, two of the NBA's more talented teams this year. That game could very well preview the Eastern Conference Finals in May, the Heat of course are getting all the headlines because of their high activity in free agency this summer. The 2 biggest free agent signings were LeBron James and Chris Bosh, combined with Dwayne Wade alone would be a huge threat in the league, but with the addition of some solid veterans like Mike Miller and Eddie House, this team is looking like the 2008 Celtics team, except younger and maybe better? Of course Miami isn't the only team in the NBA if you may have forgotten this summer, there is another team out west who happens to have won the last 2 NBA Championships, the Los Angeles Lakers. This Lakers team, at least on paper, looks even better than last years team, who fought hard to beat the Celtics in 7. Both the Heat and Lakers look to be the leaders of their respective conferences at the moment, but don't sleep on lots of other teams who feel disrespected by the media for all of the hype involving the Heat.
The Orlando Magic seem to stand out the most, they won 59 games last year, had the second best record in the league, and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals before being knocked off by a red-hot Boston team. The Magic are led by their center and best player, Dwight Howard. But this is just for the regular season, and when it comes to playoff time I see the Celtics as the better team and maybe the best in the east. There will still be some teams trying to challenge the set top 3, the Hawks are still very skilled and athletic. They are led by Joe Johnson who signed a huge contract this offseason that will keep him in Atlanta for a long time to come. They still have great young talent, Josh Smith is a stat-sheet-stuffer at the power-forward position, Al Hordford is maybe ready to become one of the great centers in the league soon, and Marvin Williams is solid at the small-forward. Atlanta has Mike Bibby as their veteran point guard, and the clutch and explosive Jamaal Crawford coming off the bench, Crawford won sixth-man of the year award last year. The Bulls are the only other team that I could see challenging the top teams, they decided to use free agency as a chance to pretty much steal the Utah Jazz's players; they signed Ronnie Brewer (an athletic player who plays good defense), Kyle Korver (a sharp shooter who broke the NBA record for three-point shooting last year), and the biggest of all Carlos Boozer, the all-star forward who will miss the beginning of the season because of injury. CJ Watson should also help Derrick Rose, as he will be a nice scorer off the bench.
In the West all of the teams as always have a shot. The Gizzlies are still very young and talented but because they play in the west they might miss the playoffs yet again. The Hornets are looking to improve with the help of having Chris Paul back and healthy, and ready to try to get back to the level as his play in 2008. The teams that should be at the bottom of the playoff picture should be the Suns, Spurs, and Jazz. The Trailblazers and Mavericks will be very good once again but the Mavs just never seem to be able to get all the way, and now 2006 looks like that was their chance to win the franchise a title. The Blazers however are a team that should just keep getting better if they manage to stay healthy, which last year they could not accomplish. They had so many injuries last year, but this year they bring a young team led by all-star Brandon Roy. But the two best teams that seem most ready to take on the Lakers and snap their streak of 3 straight western conference championships, are the Thunder and the Nuggets. The Thunder gained so much from last years playoff berth, one in which they nearly knocked off the champion Los Angeles Lakers, who finished them off in a tough fought 6 game series. Westbrook, Durant, Green, and Harden are the young players who will only get better, and Durant is going into the season as the MVP favorite. The Nuggets are coming into the season quietly because of last years early exit from the playoffs, which from my observation was because of the loss of George Karl. Karl had to step away from the team last year because of health reasons, before he left they were on a roll but then his departure along with Kenyon Martins injury slowed them down the stretch of the season.
Now I will show you my regular season predictions for the playoff picture and the awards.



Eastern Conference
1. Miami Heat 67-15
2. Orlando Magic 59-23
3. Boston Celtics 55-27
4. Atlanta Hawks 48-34
5. Chicago Bulls 48-34
6. Miliwaukee Bucks 45-37
7. New York Knicks 43-39
8. Charlotte Bobcats 41-41

Note: If the Knicks manage to aquire Carmelo Anthony this year I could see them getting over the Bucks, Bulls, and Hawks.

Western Conference
1. Los Angeles Lakers 62-20
2. Denver Nuggets 58-24
3. Oklahoma City Thunder 56-26
4. Portland Trailblazers 53-29
5. Dallas Mavericks 52-30
6. Utah Jazz 52-30
7. Phoenix Suns 50-32
8. San Antonio Spurs 50-32

Coach of the Year: It will most likely be given to Eric Spoelstra no matter what but don't sleep on first year coach Tom Thibbideou of the Bulls, or Mike Danntoni for the Knicks.

Sixth Man of the Year: There will be the normal canidates of Jason Terry, Manu Ginobli, Jamaal Crawford. But James Harden on the Thunder could step up in his second year in the league, also CJ Watson of the Bulls could play very well as he is a great scorer coming off the bench for Derrick Rose.

Most Improved Player: Tony Parker could take this award because he had a tough season last year because of his injuries, and this year he will look play all-star basketball for the Spurs.

Rookie of the Year: Everyone looks to John Wall but I think Wes Johnson will win because he will have a bigger role in Minnesota, while Wall will be playing with Gilbert Arenas.

Most Valuable Player: Right now Durant is of course the front runner but I would not be surprised to see Dwyane Wade make a run and just maybe win it, he will be great with Bosh and James on his side.

Playoff Bracket:
First Round:
Western Conference
(1) Lakers 4 vs. (8) Spurs 2

(4) Trail Blazers 4 vs. (5) Mavericks 3

(2) Nuggets 4 vs. (7) Suns 2

(3) Thunder 4 vs. (6) Jazz 3

Eastern Conference
(1) Heat 4 vs. (8) Bobcats 0

(5) Bulls 4 vs. (4) Hawks 3

(2) Magic 4 vs. (7) Knicks 1

(3) Celtics 4 vs. (6) Bucks 1

Conference Semi-Finals:
Western Conference

(1) Lakers 4 vs. (4) Trail Blazers 3

(2) Nuggets 4 vs. (3) Thunder 3

Eastern Conference

(1) Heat 4 vs. (5) Bulls 2

(3) Celtics 4 vs. (2) Magic 2

Conference Finals:
Western Conference

(1) Lakers 4 vs. (2) Nuggets 3

Eastern Conference

(3) Celtics 4 vs. (1) Heat 3

I see the Lakers making it to the finals but not easily. They will have very tough battles against a team that has owned them for the past few years in the regular season, the Blazers, and against the Nuggets who after losing in 7 games may be losing Carmelo Anthony to free agency. The Celtics will come out of the east, they will beat the Bucks easily in the first round, then have a strong series against the magic because no one can guard Pierce. In the eastern conference finals they will out last the Heat because of their experience, depth, and ability to win big games on the road.

The Champion of the NBA Finals receives the Larry O'Brien Trophy.NBA Finals:



(3) Celtics 4 vs. (1) Lakers 2    Finals MVP Rajon Rondo








I honestly see the Celtics as an improved team this year, and despite the Lakers off-season moves to bring in Matt Barnes and Steve Blake, they don't look much better to me. The Celtics will get game 1 on the road and in game 5 at home they will get a little bit too excited and let the Lakers steal one. But in game 6 they will show why they are the best road team in the NBA and raise banner 18 in Boston.



Thursday, September 30, 2010

MLB October Preview

The NFL lately has left me forgetting about baseball and the great season that has been going this summer. That along with the fact that the Red Sox are now out of it. But now most of the playoff spots are set around the league. The Twins have taken their division and still have a chance to take the top spot in the American league. The Rangers have had their division wrapped up for a while and will get a big boost with Josh Hamilton re-joining the lineup. The Yankees and Rays are now battling for the division with the loser getting the wild card, both are also leading the AL in wins. In the National League the Phillies stormed back against the banged-up Braves to take the division by a healthy lead. The Reds have taken the central division on a walk-off home run by Jay Bruce earlier this week. Meanwhile out west the Giants seem poised to take the division with a 2.5 game lead on the Padres, and the Padres trail the Braves by 1.5 games in the wild card. I personally would like to see the Giants and Braves finish off the Padres and go to the playoffs.
But right now in the national league it really looks like the Phillies are going to be the team to beat in the playoffs, led by the return from injury of some key players like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins. As well as the NL Cy Young candidate Roy Halladay, who is having yet another great year. The MVP should be Joey Votto who amazingly did not make the All-Star team this year despite being near the top of the list in many offensive categories. In the AL Felix Hernandez should win the Cy Young because of his amazing ERA, and Josh Hamilton will probably win MVP despite being injured for the few weeks.
It's all setting up to be another exciting October in baseball. Right now what I see is the Yankees playing the Phillies again in the World Series, and for the second year in a row, capturing the championship over Philadelphia. What I would like to see is the Cinncinati Reds beating the Texas Rangers in the World Series, game 7, walk-off, home run, in extra innings, despite that being the perfect scenario it could still happen. Many things can happen in baseball and as I learned when watching the Tenth Inning, a film by Ken Burns, players can even break records that never seemed possible to break. But while some were broken by players who supposedly used performance-enhancing drugs, it seems to me that everyone at some point and time used them during the steroid era. This means that the best player of the steroid era really was the best player, because everyone was doing it. Steroids also does not necessarily take someone out of the Hall of Fame, Barry Bonds was arguably the best player in the game and a sure Hall of famer before he used steroids. So I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the baseball season and even if you are a big football fan don't forget about America's other game, baseball.
-Max

Monday, September 13, 2010

NFL Season Predictions

My predictions for the upcoming NFL season. This is before week one, where I was surprised to see the Steelers and Seahawks get big wins to start off the season. Also here are the playoff predictions and Super Bowl Champion. (* Wild Card Team)

AFC Standings:

AFC East              AFC North          AFC South       AFC West
Patriots 11-5          Ravens 11-5        Colts 12-4        Chiefs 11-5
Jets 11-5 *             Steelers 10-6       Titans 11-5 *    Chargers 9-7
Dolphins 7-9         Bengals 9-7         Texans 8-8       Raiders 6-10
Bills 2-14              Browns 3-13       Jaguars 3-13     Broncos 6-10


NFC Standings:

NFC East              NFC North        NFC South         NFC West
Cowboys 11-5      Packers 13-3      Saints 11-5         49ers 10-6
Giants 8-8             Vikings 11-5 *   Panthers 11-5 * Cardinals 7-9
Eagles 7-9             Bears 6-10         Falcons 8-8        Seahawks 6-10
Redskins 5-11       Lions 5-11         Buccaneers 7-9  Rams 1-15


AFC Wild Card Round:                                        NFC Wild Card Round:
#6 Jets 13 at #3 Patriots 21                                    #6 Panthers 17 at #3 Cowboys 31
#5 Titans 27 at #4 Chiefs 17                                 #5 Vikings 24 at #4 49ers 10

AFC Divisional Round:                                        NFC Divisional Round:
#5 Titans 14 at #1 Colts 24                                   #5 Vikings 24 at #1 Packers 27
#3 Patriots 21 at #2 Ravens 24                             #3 Cowboys 31 at #2 Saints 24

AFC Championship Game:                                  NFC Championship Game:
#2 Ravens 21 at #1 Colts 17                                 #3 Cowboys 13 at #1 Packers 27




                     SUPER BOWL XLV:


                  Packers 31        Ravens 24


Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XLV Champions


So those are my predictions, I picked the Chiefs to win the division because of their running back duo of Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones (who the Jets should not have released coming off a career year in New York). The Packers will win the Super Bowl over the Ravens because their secondary will make more plays than the Ravens young inexperienced secondary. With players like Collins, Bigby, and defensive player of the year Woodson, they should be able to make just enough plays on d to defeat the Ravens new-look offense. This is my first post so I would like to thank any of you that read this. I will be posting more on the new seasons of professional and college football; the playoff races in baseball; the NBA; college basketball; and from time to time a little NHL and soccer or "futbol".

-Max Belleau