Hello again. This time around I thought we could talk about Curling, which up until a few days ago I found as exciting as sitting on a cactus. Now for anyone who doesn't know Curling is a team sport in which stones are slid across a sheet of carefully prepared ice towards a target are where two teams of four players take turns sliding the heavy polished granite stones across the ice towards the house (a circular target marked on the ice). The purpose is to complete each end (delivery of eight or ten stones for each team) with the team's stones closer to the center of the house than the other team's stones. Two sweepers with brooms or brushes accompany each stone and use stopwatches and their best judgment, along with direction from their teammates, to help direct the stones to their resting place, but without touching the stones.
Now I know it doesn't sound like an exciting time but once I started watching the USA men's team this last week I found that I couldn't stop. This is a sport that requires extreme concentration and quite a good deal of athleticism. these athletes have to slide these stones with accuracy and direction to knock the opponents stones out of the way so that they can get points. Watching the sweepers use their brooms to direct and control the speed of the stones is fun as well.
As far as the Olympics go both the US men and women have at this point been eliminated with both teams finishing 2-7. Nonetheless we should applaud all these athletes for representing our country and giving their all. I am pretty sure that this is a sport that I will follow a little closer from now on.
I am still compiling for the baseball preview blog. I feel this will be a fun and exciting blog that all will enjoy. I'll be back in a couple days with more but until next time.
Stu.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
NHL Playoff Preview and I Need Help!
This time around I thought we could take a look ahead at the NHL playoffs. Now from what I can tell from most things I have read, the Chicago Blackhawks are the favorite to win the Stanley Cup. Right now, as i write this they are sitting at the number two seed in the western conference. The San Jose Sharks are sitting at number one and on paper, at this point seem to be the only team capable of keeping up with the Blackhawks. That will change come playoff time. Now I do see the top six seeds (San Jose, Chicago, Vancouver, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Colorado) making it into the playoffs no problem. The final two seeds, right now Nashville and Dallas, will be Dallas at number seven and Detroit at number eight. So San Jose, Chicago, Colorado and Phoenix will make it to round two. Colorado will best San Jose and Chicago will take out Phoenix. The Blackhawks will beat the Avalanche to advance to the Stanley Cup.
In the east the top eight seeds are as follows: Washington, New Jersey, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Boston and Montreal. The top seven will make it in and Montreal will be replaced by the New York Rangers. Washington, New Jersey, Buffalo and Ottawa will advance and Washington and Buffalo will meet in the conference championship. Washington will dispose of buffalo easily and move on to face Chicago for the Stanley Cup.
The Cup will come down to the last game with Washington taking it all. That's my prediction and I'm sticking to it.
I would like to take a quick moment to congratulate the New Orleans Saints on their Super Bowl victory.
Within the next couple weeks I will be doing my MLB preview. I will be giving my look on the season as well as getting some other views from around the country. Anyone interested in giving their input on the upcoming season can leave me a comment on this page and ask me how to get involved. Thank you all once again!
until next time,
Stu
In the east the top eight seeds are as follows: Washington, New Jersey, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Boston and Montreal. The top seven will make it in and Montreal will be replaced by the New York Rangers. Washington, New Jersey, Buffalo and Ottawa will advance and Washington and Buffalo will meet in the conference championship. Washington will dispose of buffalo easily and move on to face Chicago for the Stanley Cup.
The Cup will come down to the last game with Washington taking it all. That's my prediction and I'm sticking to it.
I would like to take a quick moment to congratulate the New Orleans Saints on their Super Bowl victory.
Within the next couple weeks I will be doing my MLB preview. I will be giving my look on the season as well as getting some other views from around the country. Anyone interested in giving their input on the upcoming season can leave me a comment on this page and ask me how to get involved. Thank you all once again!
until next time,
Stu
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
College Basketball Fairness and a Half Court Shot!
Welcome one and all!
I thought this week we could take a look at fairness in college basketball. Now as far as games are concerned I feel that the refs are doing an amazing job in most cases. What i'm talking about is national recognition for schools that are not in the BCS conferences. Now the BCS or Bowl Championship Series, is associated with college football but if you notice, the recognition that BCS schools recieve seems to carry over into basketball. It appears to me that schools in the WAC, MWC and other non BCS conferences have to fight tooht and nail to get any sort of recognition.
Now here is this weeks AP top 25 rankings:
1 Kansas
2 Villanova
3 Syracuse
4 Kentucky
5 Michigan State
6 West Virginia
7 Georgetown
8 Purdue
9 Texas
10 Duke
10 Kansas State
12 Brigham Young
13 Ohio State
14 Tennessee
15 New Mexico
16 Wisconsin
17 Gonzaga
18 Vanderbilt
19 Temple
20 Baylor
21 Georgia Tech
22 Pittsburgh
23 Butler
24 Northern Iowa
25 Mississippi
Now out of these top twentyfive teams eight of them are from non BCS conferences. Granted its not as lopsided as the polls are during football season but it still quite lopsided. This shows to me that the non BCS schools are still a long way off from gaining the national spotlight they deserve and I find it wrong that the schools football status is being carried over to basketball.
Schools like Villanova, Georgetown, Brigham Young, New Mexico, Gonzaga, Temple, Butler and Northern Iowa are doing great things to help the non BCS schools gain attention but these schools have to have to have great nonconference records and even better conference records to even get the selection committee to look their direction. For example with the WAC the team that wins the conference tournament will get in but that'll probably be it. The MWC might get a little luckier and get three, whereas the Big Ten, Big East and ACC had seven bids apiece in last years tournament. In 2009 each of the 31 conference winners got an automatic bid, this includes the 6 BCS conferences. That leaves 34 at large bids. Four of those bids went to non BCS conference schools, the remaining 30 went to BCS conference schools. So lets see.... 28 non BCS conferences get 32 bids and 6 BCS conferences get 36? that seems a little off. Now I don't want to take anything away from these student athletes. They are doing a tremendous job and are extremely talented individuals. I merely wanted to point out the signs that I was seeing of favortism for the BCS schools being carried over from football tho basketball. It just doesn't seem right to me but I hope these non BCS schools keep showing that they are a force to be reconed with and that all these athletes BCS and non BCS keep up the good work.
Now on to something else,
A girls basketball coach thought he was about to be on the recieving end of a joke when he was blindfolded and spun around at a pep rally and told he would win tickets to the NCAA's Final Four if he hit a half-court shot. The coach played along with the gag and sent the crowd into a frenzy by hitting the shot.
But no luck as far as the tickets go. The tickets were never actually purchased being as the whole bit was a gag, so they wound up buying him a gift card to a Mexican restaurant instead.
Response Time!
Thanks to everyone for thier comments last week. I appreciate hearing from everyone and now I would like to reply to Pat from Camarillo, Ca. Pat wrote:
"So you mean the Colts secondary can keep with the Saints receivers right?
And the Saints will win, but I suck at predicting score, so I won't even go there."
Pat,
I do believe that the Colts secondary will keep up. I don't think that they will shut them down completely but enough to come away victorious. I will stand by my belief that in order for the Saints to win they need a big showing from Bush. Good luck to both teams and Pat I hope to hear from you again.
Until next time,
Stu
I thought this week we could take a look at fairness in college basketball. Now as far as games are concerned I feel that the refs are doing an amazing job in most cases. What i'm talking about is national recognition for schools that are not in the BCS conferences. Now the BCS or Bowl Championship Series, is associated with college football but if you notice, the recognition that BCS schools recieve seems to carry over into basketball. It appears to me that schools in the WAC, MWC and other non BCS conferences have to fight tooht and nail to get any sort of recognition.
Now here is this weeks AP top 25 rankings:
1 Kansas
2 Villanova
3 Syracuse
4 Kentucky
5 Michigan State
6 West Virginia
7 Georgetown
8 Purdue
9 Texas
10 Duke
10 Kansas State
12 Brigham Young
13 Ohio State
14 Tennessee
15 New Mexico
16 Wisconsin
17 Gonzaga
18 Vanderbilt
19 Temple
20 Baylor
21 Georgia Tech
22 Pittsburgh
23 Butler
24 Northern Iowa
25 Mississippi
Now out of these top twentyfive teams eight of them are from non BCS conferences. Granted its not as lopsided as the polls are during football season but it still quite lopsided. This shows to me that the non BCS schools are still a long way off from gaining the national spotlight they deserve and I find it wrong that the schools football status is being carried over to basketball.
Schools like Villanova, Georgetown, Brigham Young, New Mexico, Gonzaga, Temple, Butler and Northern Iowa are doing great things to help the non BCS schools gain attention but these schools have to have to have great nonconference records and even better conference records to even get the selection committee to look their direction. For example with the WAC the team that wins the conference tournament will get in but that'll probably be it. The MWC might get a little luckier and get three, whereas the Big Ten, Big East and ACC had seven bids apiece in last years tournament. In 2009 each of the 31 conference winners got an automatic bid, this includes the 6 BCS conferences. That leaves 34 at large bids. Four of those bids went to non BCS conference schools, the remaining 30 went to BCS conference schools. So lets see.... 28 non BCS conferences get 32 bids and 6 BCS conferences get 36? that seems a little off. Now I don't want to take anything away from these student athletes. They are doing a tremendous job and are extremely talented individuals. I merely wanted to point out the signs that I was seeing of favortism for the BCS schools being carried over from football tho basketball. It just doesn't seem right to me but I hope these non BCS schools keep showing that they are a force to be reconed with and that all these athletes BCS and non BCS keep up the good work.
Now on to something else,
A girls basketball coach thought he was about to be on the recieving end of a joke when he was blindfolded and spun around at a pep rally and told he would win tickets to the NCAA's Final Four if he hit a half-court shot. The coach played along with the gag and sent the crowd into a frenzy by hitting the shot.
But no luck as far as the tickets go. The tickets were never actually purchased being as the whole bit was a gag, so they wound up buying him a gift card to a Mexican restaurant instead.
Response Time!
Thanks to everyone for thier comments last week. I appreciate hearing from everyone and now I would like to reply to Pat from Camarillo, Ca. Pat wrote:
"So you mean the Colts secondary can keep with the Saints receivers right?
And the Saints will win, but I suck at predicting score, so I won't even go there."
Pat,
I do believe that the Colts secondary will keep up. I don't think that they will shut them down completely but enough to come away victorious. I will stand by my belief that in order for the Saints to win they need a big showing from Bush. Good luck to both teams and Pat I hope to hear from you again.
Until next time,
Stu
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