This week is all about one game: the Colts at the Patriots. Everyone is hearing about it, but everyone knows it’s worth the hype. Both teams are coming off huge road wins last week, and the Manning vs. Brady rivalry is once again in play. This game, along with the Bengals and Ravens, should have a huge impact on the AFC. Who will win the game? Will the Broncos or chargers take the AFC West? Will either of last year’s conference champions even make the playoffs? Find out in this week’s 10 questions.
2006-2007 Big South Preview
Every year, there is a mid-major conference that everyone says will pull at least one upset in the big dance. This year, that conference is the Big South. Teams like Winthrop and Coastal Carolina are almost dead locks to make the tournament. The Eagles came within one shot of sending Tennessee home last year, and Torrell Martin has already stated that it won’t happen again. How do these teams stack up?
2006 NFL Week 9 Picks
Another tough week in week 8 as we went a combined 54%. It was pretty much another crappy week around the web for everyone else as well. The average this week was 8 wins. (Did anyone in their right mind pick the Raiders over the Steelers? You know, the 2005 Super Bowl Champs?) If you want to see how we stack up against all the experts, check out a very nifty expert picks compilation spreadsheet by our buddy Tokar.
The featured games this week are Cincinnati @ Baltimore, Kansas City @ St. Louis, Denver @ Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis @ New England. You can download the podcast directly (running time 40 mins) or subscribe to the feed.
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The weekly pickem winner was Buff and his picks are below.
Patriots to Win This Year
We all know it’s impossible to guess who will win or even make it to the Super Bowl. We were all witnesses last year to a Pittsburgh Steelers team that was a Wild Card and eeked out a couple games that could have gone either way against superior teams. I’m not coming out and saying that the Patriots are a shoe in to win the Super Bowl this year. In the NFL playoffs, anything can happen. However, you can’t deny yesterday’s win over the previously 5-1 Minnesota Vikings makes you think a little bit.
College Football Week 9 Thoughts
Can’t Say We Didn’t See It Coming
Well, maybe not to Oregon State but I think we all knew that USC was going to lose this season. This isn’t the same Trojans team that we have seen the past three seasons and I’m not just talking personnel. They have struggled several times this season and just don’t have the ability to put teams away. To use the famous pun, “they lack that killer instinct.”
You almost get the feeling with this USC team that they need to figure out that they are not going to win just because the name on the front of their jersey. They need to go out on the field and earn it!
Mountaineers Moving Up!
Thanks to the USC loss and another impressive victory on their part the West Virginia Mountaineers are the number three team in the most recent BCS Poll giving them a legit opportunity to be in the BCS Championship Game.
By David J. Cohen
Coming into the NBA season several teams have received a lot of publicity. Out west the Suns are everyone’s favorites if F Amare Stoudemire is healthy. The Spurs and Mavericks are the other top contenders out west. And the biggest surprise last year, the Los Angeles Clippers, return stronger and with more experience.
In the Eastern Conference analysts and commentators would make you believe only two teams exist. The Miami Heat will try to defend the title with an aging core mixed with the possible arrival of several young players. The Chicago Bulls add C Ben Wallace to the best defense in the league and hope it is enough to win a championship. Everyone else in the east is pretty much invisible. However, like the Clippers last season, there is a team ready to make a huge step forward on their road to a possible title in the future. It started after the all-star break last year and will continue this year. It’s the NBA’s biggest sleeper team: The Orlando Magic.
Before Drayton McLane bought the Houston Astros in 1992, he was already one of the United States’ wealthiest individuals, having made a fortune in the grocery business. He had always been a baseball fan, ever since he was a child and the statistical nature helped him learn how to “multiply and divide.” But his presence, along with that of Houston Rockets’ owner Leslie Alexander, at a Jones Business School forum on sports management Monday at Rice University would never have attracted such an audience if he didn’t own the Astros.
“I remember several years ago, we were going to create a grocery distribution center in Phoenix,” McLane said, “and there were two reporters there and they were bored to tears. Then when we announced that we were buying the Astros, we called a press conference and there were 200 reporters packed in.”
The NBA starts up tonight with two good matchups — Chicago at Miami and Phoenix at LA Lakers. But before we the season tips off, let’s take a look at how each team stacks up. This year, Zach Crizer will be doing the weekly NBA Power Rankings. Check out the rankings below and leave your feedback in the comments.
Another NBA Season is Upon Us
Last season there were the usual suspects for the crown of NBA Champion — the Spurs, Mavs, Pistons, and Suns… but one man (and an officiating crew) took the trophy to South Beach. The “New Breed” of NBA talent is and may have already taken over the league. D-Wade, LeBron, Melo, Chris Bosh, and Dwight Howard are going to get some of that superstar attention, and it’s well deserved. Those guys are the real deal. Some mainstays, like Kobe, AI, K-G, and Paul Pierce are going to whittle away on sub-par teams. Meanwhile the Spurs and Mavs will plug away victory after victory, and the Suns will…run.
The Champion comes from the East, but the competition is in the West. I get the inkling that 7 of the top 10 teams in the league are west of the Mississippi. I don’t have many big predictions, or bold statements to make, because I think they are all futile given no one has played a game yet. For all I know, the two teams I like to play in June could be in the lottery, that is how fragile some teams’ hopes are. This is just an average man’s take on what might happen in the 06-07 NBA season. Good luck fellas.
College Football Grab Bag
USC Loses game and possible chance at the national title in Corvallis
Somebody tell me, because I am really not sure, but did USC lose this weekend? Of course I am being sarcastic. I have seen headlines such as “Leave it to Beavers” (ESPN) and other witty headlines all weekend. They lost and really did anyone not see this coming? Of course losing to Oregon State nobody could have predicted, but you knew this team was going to lose a game.