What A Weekend.

Edit: I am listening to Mike and Mike from last week as well as the Michael Kay show where they both have “NFL Experts” in Ron Jaworski and Peter King who both said that Tom Brady looks as excellent as ever and he’s going to have another unbelievable year. Probably not as good number-wise last year but their chemistry is too good for them to struggle. Ha, so much for that. /Edit

This pretty much sums up the Jets/Dolphins game:

With the score 7-all and Jets kicker Mike Nugent nursing a thigh injury suffered in the first quarter, the Jets decided to go for a touchdown on fourth-and-13. Under heavy pressure, Favre shrugged off 305-pound defensive end Randy Starks, and as he was sandwiched by two defenders, he threw a dying-quail pass that found an open Chansi Stuckey for the go-ahead touchdown.

“He’s a miracle worker,” Dolphins fullback Boomer Grigsby said. “He threw that thing in the air and God said, ‘Brett Favre will have a touchdown pass.’ And he did. That’s Brett Favre being Brett Favre.”

P.S. Tom Brady is probably out for the year. Not that anyone should be celebrating the news or anything…

Reviewing Baseball Predictions… And Making New Ones

Back on March 29th, I made baseball predictions about where the teams would finish and here is what I had said back then.

AL: Boston (East), Detroit (Central), Los Angeles (West) and Toronto (Wild Card)
NL: New York (East), Chicago (Central), Los Angeles (West) and Philadelphia (Wild Card)

As of right now, 2 of those picks are dead on (Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs). 2 of those picks are flat out wrong (Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays). What is going to be interesting is the race down the stretch to see if Boston can make up 3.5 games to win the division, whether the Mets hold on to win the division (up by 3 right now) as well as if the Phillies can gain 4 games on the Brewers with a little over 20 to go. I didn’t know it then, but what a story it would be if Joe Torre makes it to the playoffs with Manny Ramirez and the Yankees don’t make the fall classic.

I can go from having as little as only two correct picks or I can have as much as six out of the eight possible teams in their correct location.

Down the stretch analysis after the break… Continue reading “Reviewing Baseball Predictions… And Making New Ones”

NFL Predictions… What Are Yours?

I’ll post my NFL predictions for this season now and talk about a couple of things I think will crucial this upcoming season. A couple of things to look out for will be the age of the New England Patriots’ defense. No one expects them to run the table again in the regular season but people might be in for a surprise if their age finally catches up to them and they end up losing 4 or 5 games. Also, who knows how injured Tom Brady really is and how effective he’ll be in the early parts of the season?

In the NFC, Aaron Rodgers has been handed a wonderful team but a great receiving group and all he has to do is not try to be Brett Favre. If he can stick to the short passes and allow the receivers to do their work with YAC as they did last year along with the new found running game in Ryan Grant – the Packers could really repeat as one of the top two seeds in the conference. New York Giants on the other hand have lost two considerablely talented players on defense and will that blow be big enough to keep them out of the playoffs? I doubt it because their offense has matured well enough and Eli should be able to carry a team to a couple of wins just by himself this year.

In the playoffs, you can never count out Brett Favre and certainly he’s not done with the way he played last year. Cold weather will be not be an issue and just might be something to provide Jets’ fans with something to hope for. However, let’s all be realistic. The Jets went 4-12 last year and just making the playoffs this year will be a dramatic improvement so I doubt they advance much further even though I do have them winning a game in the post-season.

Is this the year that Tony Romo finally breaks through and stops choking in the clutch? I think so. Packers losing Favre drops their main threat to be #1 once again in the conference and they had all the opportunities in the world to beat the Giants last year in the Divisional Round and if Romo can control the ball, they would have at least been a game away from going to the Super Bowl. No reason to expect the same progress this year, if not a little bit more poise and potentially a couple more wins in the post-season.

Does a Manning win a Super Bowl this year as well? Well that would make it three years in a row with Peyton and his Colts beating the Bears in 2007 although the loss of Jeff Saturday in the early parts of the season can slow down their progress but probably not enough to keep them from winning the division yet again en route to the Super Bowl XLIII victory on February 1, 2009.

Predictions are after the break. Continue reading “NFL Predictions… What Are Yours?”

Ocho Cinco? How About Acht Fünf?

A funny take on Chad Johnson legally changing his name to Chad Ocho-Cinco. Now I’m never a fan to link to anything that has to do with New England Patriots unless its about an injury of theirs or them losing a game in the Super Bowl after going 18-0 but here is a great piece:

Ocho Cinco

When Chad Johnson legally changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco to reflect the 85 on the back of his jersey, he didn’t figure that he would instantly be making thousands of enemies nationwide. Aaron Carlson, Spanish teacher from Kearney, Nebraska explains: “Chad’s little prank is making it difficult for us to effectively teach numbers. Students think that we are teaching them wrong because this clown can’t use a dictionary.”

Why is Carlson, and many other Spanish teachers so upset? “Ocho cinco” actually means “eight-five”, while “ochenta cinco” or “ochenta y cinco” would be the correct formations of 85 in Spanish.

“I really don’t care, you cant stop me either way,” related Ocho Cinco. “Maybe next year I’ll go with Acht Fünf. That’s some German right there.”

Due to a torn labrum it is uncertain when Ocho Cinco will be sporting the new jersey on the field. Ocho Cinco has said he hopes to play this weekend against the Baltimore Ravens. Any time will be too soon for Mr. Carlson. “I can only hope he’s out for at least 4 weeks. We’ll be done with 2-digit numbers by then.”

[Source: NE Patriots Draft – Spanish Teachers Protest Ocho Cinco]

Free Stevens Athletics Broadcast

This year, Stevens Athletics in conjunction with Empire8.tv and Penn Atlantic will be broadcasting several sporting events all season long free of charge to all viewers. The sports this fall that will be broadcast include the following: Basketball and Soccer for both Men and Women as well as Women’s Volleyball and Field Hockey. Sports the following spring should include Lacrosse for both Men and Women as well as Men’s Volleyball. This year, an audio broadcast will also be provided for Stevens’ baseball games.

Stevens kicked off their athletic season this past weekend hosting the Stevens College Cup where they defeated #8 Redlands Bulldogs and Fairleigh Dickinson University – Florham Devils to go 2-0 on the weekend. The field hockey team had just as impressive of a showing going 2-0 themselves after defeating Haverford College on Saturday and No. 14 Juniata College on Sunday in an incredible double-overtime game.

Tune in to another exciting season of Empire 8 Athletic Conference sports, streamed live to you in the comfort of your home or office. Get never before access to home games all season long, and keep up with your favorite teams and players. Empire8.tv is where you get the best seat in the house, no matter where you are.

Once again if you want to watch any of the games, here is the link: Empire8.tv. The games are only broadcast live and you cannot watch a rebroadcast online. Repeats will be played on campus through the SIT TV.