NFL 2010 Predictions

I'm not in the business of blogging about sports, but since the NFL is some of the best television out there, I'm gonna throw out my predictions on the upcoming season. Things get started when Brett Favre and the Sidney Rice-less Vikings travel to the reigning Super Bowl champion Saints on Thursday night.

NFC West
49ers, 13-3
Cardinals, 6-10
Seahawks, 5-11
Rams, 3-13

NFC South
Saints, 12-4
Falcons, 9-7
Panthers, 8-8
Bucs, 4-12

NFC North
Packers, 13-3
Vikings, 10-6
Bears, 7-9
Lions, 5-11

NFC East
Cowboys, 10-6
Giants, 9-7
Redskins, 8-8
Eagles, 7-9

AFC North
Ravens, 11-5
Steelers, 9-7
Bengals, 6-10
Brown, 2-14

AFC East
Jets, 10-6
Patriots, 10-6
Dolphins, 9-7
Bills, 3-13

AFC West
Chargers, 12-4
Raiders, 8-8
Chiefs, 6-10
Broncos, 3-13

AFC South
Colts, 13-3
Texans, 11-5
Titans, 10-6
Jags, 4-12

Wilcard Round
Saints over Falcons
Cowboys over Vikings
Ravens over Titans
Texans over Jets

Conference Semis
49ers over Saints
Packers over Cowboys
Chargers over Ravens
Colts over Texans

Conference Championships
49ers over Packers
Colts over Chargers

Super Bowl
Colts over 49ers

MVP: Drew Brees
Defensive PoY: Mario Williams
RoY: Ryan Mathews
CoY: Mike Singletary

Is there a chance that I don't pick the Colts to win the Super Bowl while Peyton is still on the team? Probably not. Also, for picks by guys that watch way more NFL Football than I do, go over to The JRP and Solomons Lines.

NBA Saturday Night- In a Dunk Funk

After Vinsanity left us all speechless at the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest with his array of gravity defying jams, the event went into a complete lull for the next half of a decade. Honestly, does anyone remember what Desmond Mason, Fred Jones or Josh Smith did to win this thing? The terribleness of the event culminated in 2006 when Nate Robinson was awarded with his first title because he's shorter than me. The fact that it took him 17 tries to finish his final dunk should have gotten him fives across the board, but instead he won and I continued to hate the contest.

It was in 2007 when the competition was revitalized as Dwight Howard made his first appearance and Gerald Green took home the crown. Howard may try to be funnier than he is at times, but his ability to use creativity at this event is never frowned upon by me. From his putting a sticker at the top of the backboard while throwing it down to Green dawning Dee Brown's jersey while covering his face on a dunk, it was all gold. Green won the title with a windmill while jumping over a table. Yes my friends, we were back.

The next season was when Dwight and the Dunk Contest came into its own. He started off by throwing one off the back of the backboard, catching it behind the glass and throwing down a windmill with the left hand. Something so athletic we had not seen since his current teammate VC back in Y2K. Defending champion Green fought back with his most creative attempt to date as he blew out the candle on a cupcake that sat on top of the rim, while stuffing one home. Green, I might add, had plenty of other dunks in 2008 that would have gone for 50 against this year's challengers. But it was Dwight taking the whole thing to another level as he put on the Superman shirt and cape and dunked it (honestly it didn't matter what dunk he did at that point). When he alley-ooped it to himself, tapped it off the backboard with his left and dunked it with his right, he capped off a night of pure entertainment that we had not scene at NBA All-Star weekend since Vince's craziness back in 2000.

Last year, although in no way could have matched 2008, was quite another fantastic night as Dwight and Nate Robinson had plenty of gimmicks up their sleeves (even though they left the incredible dunks at home). Between Dwight getting changed into his cape in a phone booth and bringing in an 11 foot hoop, to Nate changing into his green uniform as he became Kripto-Nate it was again a great contest with plenty to get excited about.

That brings us to last night's debacle of an event. I don't even know where to start with what we were given by these idiots. Reggie Miller was actually telling the truth when he kept saying that these were the dunks that the dudes sitting around the Calabasas YMCA would throw down. It was so boring that it actually became interesting. How bad were they going to be? Were they really not going to use any props or gimmicks? Did no one think of a new dunk this year? The longer it went on, the funnier it got that this was actually the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. The announcers really shined during this moment as they grabbed on to the sentiment of every single person watching and made fun of how bad the dunkers were doing. So Nate Robinson wins his third title when one of his two final dunks was a regular two handed jam?!? You guys are joking right?!?

Unless they want this thing to turn back into what it was in the early 2000s they need to find guys like Dwight that are going to keep it interesting. I'm not saying Dwight has to keep coming back. He's done it three times and gave us more than we could have asked for. But come on fellas. I know the creative dudes are out there. Just come out next year and give us another show. If I don't deserve that than all is wrong in the world. After all, I do watch the NBA All-Star weekend and the NBA Playoffs, but no regular season games. I am a devoted fan.

Other Thoughts On NBA Saturday

-The best of Saturday's festivities was definitely the announcing crew- Kenny, Chuck and Reggie were absolutely on their game.

-Three-point Shootout is easily the most bland aspect of the day (probably because I know I coulda beat half of those dudes back in my prime).

-Shooting Stars competition is sufficient because you always like to see dudes hit half-court shots.

-Then we get to HORSE. An event that could be fantastic, but in these last two years has been terrible. The major problem is in picking your contestants. If Kevin Durant and Rajon Rondo aren't two of the least personable dudes in the NBA I would be shocked. Rondo seems to have as much personality as a door knob. Chris Webber is screaming out Rondoooooooooo for 30 seconds and you don't crack a smile, or even a death stare? Are you a robot?

Okay so you aren't going to get good talking, charismatic guys, then stop talking and let them take more shots. Stop showing replays and analyzing their next moves. Just heave up the crazy shots. That leads us to our next problem. None of these dudes do fancy shots on the regular? You are professional basketball players. You're in the gym all the time. I've seen dudes do crazy shots on youtube all the time. Figure it out.

I honestly had much more fun watching my boss play against CCSU's Ken Horton in a game of HORSE Saturday morning than I did watching these three jokers. Not only did the Durantula not have any crazy shots, but he embraced the fact. He said his plan was to win with regular shots. No one wants to see that KD!

Friday Night Lights- Injury Limp

Midway through Injury List I started thinking to myself that recently Friday Night Lights just hasn't been that great. Maybe I over-hyped it in my mind, or maybe it has trailed off since the greatness that was the first season, but this year just hasn't been that satisfying.

My initial thought was that the story telling just wasn't anything to write home about, and that the great characters are the main thing holding it together. If you substituted average characters into these plots it would be a sub-par show. The Coach Taylors, Tim Riggins and Matt Saracens of the world may be the reason that nothing that interesting has happened as of late.

Chatting with T-time about this fact, he brought to my attention that the first season might have been that much better because it had such a great story to start with. It was your prototypical sports story, based on the book Friday Night Lights and had plenty to work with. I mean the star quarterback goes down, gets paralyzed, and the team rallies behind the backup QB and wins the Texas State Championship. How are you going to surpass that as a story? Well in my opinion they haven't. What else can you do? Have them lose. Well they did that, now they've run out of sports stories.

Until they get to season four where they have a terrible team and can now use this God awful East Dillon team as a new type of sport story. The winless schmucks that take down the might Dillon Panthers and end their season. The Lions may beat the Panthers at the end of this season, or they may lose, but my major point is that they haven't done a good job at making this story line prominent. Their ability to showcase a great story has been lost. They have come back to a football plot once in a blue moon this season. When they end up beating Dillon at the end of the year, it's not going to feel as satisfying because there hasn't been nearly enough build up.

It seems as though they have been putting much more effort into the side characterization stories. These minor stories of the series have never been fantastic, but the high quality of all of the characters have usually improved them. I've always loved Coach, Riggins, Saracen, Julie, etc. And although I detested many characters over the years (Street, Lyla, Tami) they all have evoked certain emotions, albeit mostly hatred, in order to improve their own plotlines.

Maybe it's that they've run out of good stories, or maybe its that the new characters aren't up to snuff, but recently things haven't had the same feeling. I have definitely grown fond of newcomer Becky Sproles, but I could care less about what is going on in Vince, Luke or Jess's lives at this point. All three come across as dull.

Other Thoughts


-Have they always been terrible at sports related stuff, because this week's aberration was so laughable. Luke limps off of the field after enduring yet another blow to his badly bruised hip. When the coaches take a look at it, they see the ginormous bruise and are outraged. Coach T asks, "What the hell is that?!?" And the assistant coach responds, "It's a hip flexor. He's done. He's out for the season."

First of all, the hip flexors are a group of muscles in the body, not an injury. Sure that's semantics, but if you're not a sports announcer you usually don't say it's "a knee" when someone tears their ACL. Secondly, just from looking at a bruise, this guy knows that Luke has severely strained or torn his hip flexor muscles? I don't think so. I know the show likes to skip past the ins and outs of football as of late, but how bout a little screen time for the kid dealing with this injury instead of saying "hip flexor, out for season."

-I loved Tinker finally getting some nice speaking lines.

-I loved longtime head of Secret Service Aaron Pierce coming back as Landry's dad. I also loved the awkwardness between Jess and Lance's family, especially when the mom asked how she was liking O'Bama as President.

Here's hoping the final two episodes end in a bang.

The Blind Side- Love the True Story

It's been a while since my last post, and it might be a while until my next one. After all, late December/early January is the bleakest time in the world of new television. With the holidays upon us I found myself watching nothing but Christmas movies (mostly Santa Clause 2 and 3) and Modern Family's Undeck the Halls over and over again. No matter how many times I view it, Jay Pritchett's "You too are total innocentes!" continues to be a delight.

As I returned to my life on the road, I found myself traveling to Blacksburg, VA for a tournament at Virginia Tech. Sure in the past I have had to endure the viewing pleasure of What Happens In Vegas and Destiny's Child Live In Concert with this group of inidividuals, but today was different. Someone got their hands on a dvd screener of The Blind Side, which has been in theatres since late November.

I heard about the story of Michael Oher a while back and was highly interested when I saw the trailer. Michael Oher is the starting left guard for the Baltimore Ravens. The Blind Side tells the story of how he made it out of the Memphis projects, because a rich, white family took him in and made him a part of their family. Personally, I love a good true story more than a fictitious one because, for the most part, the people the audience connects with actually exist in this world.

Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuoy, the woman that takes the homeless Oher in, gives him food and clothes and helps him to earn a Division I football scholarship to Ole Miss. I thought I might be annoyed by Bullock's performance before in this, but I was wrong. I've seen her play the scared heroin in Speed and The Net. I've also seen Bullock play the hapless romantic lead in While You Were Sleeping and Two Weeks Notice. This was the first time I've really been impressed by her acting chops. She did a fantastic job portraying a woman that knew how to get exactly what she wanted, but also had the compassion to take care of a young, black kid from the ghetto.

Whether it was Pistol: The Birth of a Legend or Invinceable, I've often found myself disappointed in the window of life a sports biopic uses. As good as The Pistol is as a film, I want to see more of Pistol Pete. If you don't want to take the time to say anything about his LSU or NBA days, how about a bit more about his days after eighth grade? Yeah I know, it's a story, but it's a story about a real person and that makes me want to see more. In this particular case, I think The Blind Side used the perfect amount of time for the story of Michael Oher. The reason? It's current. He's just entered the NFL. We're watching that part of his life happen right now. He was at Ole Miss only a year ago. Many sports fans saw him excel at the college level on his way to All-American status. The only important storyline America should be curious about is how the heck this family helped him make it to where he is today. And they did that tremendously.

Without mentioning many more details of the movie, I'll just say that i was extremely emotional throughout the entire thing. Quinton Aaron, who played Oher, was terrific at playing a troubled, but genuinely caring human being. I wanted to see him succeed in everything he did.

Jae Head, with the exception of a few moments from Bullock, was the only source of comic relief in the movie. He played Bullock's son, a young kid that adored Oher, helped him with his football training, and did most of the negotiating with the college coaches that were recruiting Oher. Head was almost identical to his character in Friday Night Lights, that loved and adored Tim Riggins. He's great at this character.

The Blind Side was a great movie, but as I look into the future I have a tough time thinking about it as a sports movie. Football was the backdrop for this film about a kid making something out nothing. With that in mind, I think that my only major problem with the film is the beginning. The cold open is really well done, as Bullock monologues about Lawrence Taylor's career ending hit on Joe Theisman. It makes it seem as though the movie is all about teaching this kid how to play football and how to protect a quarterback and that was not this movie at all. I don't think it was the right message to shove in the audience's face to start the movie.

Drinking Kool-Aid

By far the most overused phrase in sports this fall, mostly in football, is drinking the kool aid. Everyone is either drinking or not drinking the Titans kool aid because they're 6-0 but weren't predicted to make the playoffs by many analysts. A lot of people were drinking the Kyle Orton kool aid when he had three weeks in a row of 300 yards. Not many were drinking the Gus Bus kool aid when he came in at quarterback for the Vikings.

I don't know where this phrase originated from, but I enjoyed it when I first heard it. But now that I hear it everyday on Fantasy Focus Podcast, Football Today Podcast, Around the Horn and PTI, I wish that these guys would come up with many more clever and witty phrases like this, instead of overusing and ruining such a good line.

G-Men

It is usually a standard practice of the media to peg the defending champions in every professional sport as the team to beat the next season. I have never agreed with this way of denoting the team that was most likely to win. Don't get me wrong, there are those small amount of media members who don't do this, but the majority of analysts and reporters do. "You have to beat the best to be the best." The Spurs were the best team in the NBA last year even though they were in the middle of the pack during the regular season.

Here's the problem I have now. I haven't heard one NFL analyst claim that the Giants are the best team in the NFL "because they are the champs." All of the sudden media members are using actual reasoning to choose who the teams to beat are? Not that I'm a Giants fan, but after all of the times that the defending champs have not deserved to be the pre-season favorite, how come the G-Men haven't got one mention as the best team in the league...Patriots, Colts, Chargers and Cowboys are all mentioned before them.

End of an Era

Last night I played in my last competitive organized basketball game. The other members of the 2007-2008 Vassar College Brewers lost to St. John Fisher College in the ECAC tournament and finished the season with a record of 18-8. I began to think back over the last 13 years of my life. I was a member of 21 organized basketball teams over those years. The teams ranged from travel teams, AAU, middle school, high school, and college.

I played with many great players on all of those teams, but I wish to recognize the ten best players that I played with over the past 13 years. This list was very difficult, as I only took into account years in which I played with each player. The criteria also was a combination of overall talent and how good they were comparatively to that specific team and the competition we played against.

10. Darren Mastropaolo- 12th Grade Falmouth High School 6'8" Center
Darren was a dominating force his senior year of high school. He could post anyone up and had a great touch from 15 feet. In AAU Darren rivaled me in 5th, 7th, and 11th grades but played with me in 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th. When I moved to Falmouth for my Senior Year of high school it was a joy to play with him again. Darren went on to play Division 1 basketball at Bucknell University where he was a starter and a captain.




9. Judson Winton- Senior Year Vassar College 6'0" Guard
Jud, on the other hand, I only got to play with for one year. This guy was seriously one of the hardest workers I ever played with. Our off-season workouts were ridiculous my freshman year because of this guy. Another 1,000 point scorer for Vassar, Jud could penetrate at will and could both finish and drop it off for an assist. Jud went on to play professionally in Ireland after he finished college. Jud was a product of University High School out of San Francisco, California.



8. Tyson Brazell- Senior Year Vassar College 6'3" Guard/Forward
Tyson was a great competitor, defender and became a great scorer in his senior year at Vassar College. He helped lead the Brewers to the two best seasons in school history. One of the greatest clutch players I ever played with, it was a pleasure to play with him for four seasons. When visiting Vassar College before his freshman year, it is rumored that the Coach told him he would probably get cut and he then went on to be a 1,000 point scorer and First Team Liberty League selection. Ty played his high school ball at the Waterford School in the great Salt Lake City, Utah.



7. Jason Hight- 12th Grade Maine Hoops 6'2" Guard
What I remember best about Jay the one year I played with him on Maine Hoops was his great ability to take what came to him when we were playing an average team and then take over games when he had to. Both a great penetrator and 3 point shooter, he was impossible to guard. He played the point and the 2 guard but probably got the second most rebounds on our team that season. Jay played at Westbrook High School and went on to play Division 1 basketball at the University of Maine.









6. DJ Lewis- 6th Grade Maine Hoops 5'11" Forward
DJ was a one year wonder in the state of Maine. He showed up in Topsham, living with his aunt and uncle and played with us on Maine Hoops for half of an AAU season. His athletic ability at that age was unbelievable, and it didn't seem as though he matured at all yet. He was a 5'11" forward that could dunk a girls ball at age twelve. Sadly DJ moved back to Milwaukee with his parents midway through that season and no one has heard from him since.

5. Rocco Toppi- 10th Grade Maine Select 6'3" Forward
I played with Rocco from 5th to 11th grade in AAU. Other than being able to grow a full beard within a day, Rock was extremely talented in many ways on the court. He was tall in his younger days and was always forced to play in the post. We all knew that he loved to be on the perimeter. He worked on his outside shot a lot over the years and improved it to the point where he was an unbelievably hard guard because of his 3 point shooting ability to go along with his great inside finishing. Rock won a state championship at Portland High School and went on to play both basketball and baseball at Brandeis University.

4. Mike Gallagher- 8th Grade Maine Hoops 6'5" Center
Mike was a unstoppable force for anyone we played in 8th grade. He was a huge reason why we beat everyone in Maine by 20 plus that season and then went on to win three out of five games at Nationals (before this tournament got deflated because of the emergence of Big Time). Although Mike was a great scorer, it was his cleaning up of every rebound that made him so dominant. He could post you up or hit the face up J. It was a pleasure to play with Mike from 7th to 11th grade in AAU. He played his high school ball at Sanford High School in the great state of Maine.


3. Aaron Spaulding- 12th Grade Cape Elizabeth High 6'3" Guard
Aaron was the best shooter/scorer I ever played with. I averaged the most assists of my career my sophomore year by feeding Aaron the ball. He could hit the three all day, drive and finish in the lane, and was a terror on the defensive side of the ball. I can still see his go to spin move on the break in my head whenever I want. Aaron was the first and only 1,000 point scorer at Cape Elizabeth High School (cough. I moved to Falmouth for my senior year, or it would be the two of us. cough.) Aaron played Division 2 basketball at St. Michael's College where he endured many injuries but was a senior captain.



2. Andrew Dvilinsky- 6th Grade Maine Hoops 6'1" Center
Andrew could score on anybody in sixth grade. When he got it in the post, it was all over. He could rebound, block shots, d up in the post. He had great touch around the basket and always found a way to put the ball in the hoop. Andrew was a bit of a victim of early growth for he never developed his ball handling skills or outside shooting and turned to baseball later in adolescence. He played third base for the state champion Deering High Rams.

1. Larry Avitabile- Junior Year Vassar College 6'3" Forward
Although Larry was Player of the Year in the conference his Senior Year, his play and his stats were a bit better in his Junior Year. I spent most of my time at Vassar College playing basketball and living with Larry. It is going to be hard to realize that those time are now over with the end of our careers. Lar was a forward that did everything for Vassar for four years. Think about this...He led the team in Scoring, Rebounding, Assists, Field Goal Percentage, Blocks and Steals. That is pretty ridiculous. It's not like he was playing on a bad team. We lost to the conference champions by two points in the semi-finals. His stats were in the top five in the conference in all of those categories. He did a lot of ball handling and was a great defender. Without a doubt the best player I played with over the past 13 years.