AL East
Yankees 92-70 97-65 (1st)
Red Sox 89-73 90-72 (3rd)
Blue Jays 84-78 81-81 (4th)
Orioles 78-84 69-83 (5th)
Rays 71-91 91-71 (2nd)

AL Central
Tigers 92-70 95-67 (1st)
Indians 89-73 80-82 (2nd)
Twins 86-76 63-99 (5th)
White Sox 76-86 79-83 (3rd)
Royals 68-94 71-91 (4th)

AL West
Rangers 102-60 95-66 (1st)
Angels 80-82 86-76 (2nd)
Mariners 73-89 67-95 (4th)
Athletics 69-93 74-88 (3rd)

NL East
Phillies 95-67 102-60 (1st)
Braves 88-74 89-73 (2nd)
Mets 80-82 77-85 (4th)
Marlins 71-91 72-90 (5th)
Nationals 66-96 80-81 (3rd)

NL Central
Reds 92-70 79-83 (3rd)
Brewers 87-75 96-66 (1st)
Cards 81-81 90-72 (2nd)
Cubs 77-85 71-91 (5th)
Pirates 70-92 72-90 (4th)
Astros 64-98 56-106 (6th)

NL West
Dodgers 89-73 82-79 (3rd)
Giants 87-75 86-76 (2nd)
Rockies 84-78 73-89 (4th)
Padres 78-84 71-91 (5th)
Dbacks 72-90 94-68 (1st)

NFL Season predictions

Philadelphia 12-4
Dallas 10-6
Washington 8-8
New York Giants 6-10

Green Bay 13-3
Detroit 8-8
Chicago 8-8
Minnesota 5-11

New Orleans 12-4
Atlanta 11-5
Tampa Bay 8-8
Carolina 2-14

Arizona 10-6
St. Louis 9-7
Seattle 6-10
San Francisco 3-13

New York Jets 12-4
New England 11-5
Buffalo 6-10
Miami 4-12

Indianapolis 10-6
Houston 10-6
Jacksonville 7-9
Tennessee 5-11

Baltimore 11-5
Pittsburgh 10-6
Cleveland 6-10
Cincinnati 2-14

San Diego 13-3
Oakland 8-8
Kansas City 7-9
Denver 3-13

Playoff Teams:
Green Bay
Philadelphia
New Orleans
Arizona
Atlanta
Dallas

San Diego
NY Jets
Baltimore
Indianapolis
New England
Pittsburgh

2011 NBA Prediction: Season of about 44 games. The big name guys don't give a crap about the league overall because they're more than happy to play pick up street ball invitationals to show off and get paid. There is no unity between those guys and the also rans that fill out the league, so until those things wear off, there is no serious discussion about getting the league playing again.

Corrected NBA Playoff Predictions. I screwed up the seeding last time.

NBA playoff predictions:

Bulls over Pacers 4-0 (Pacers won't come within 10 points in any game--and I'm a Pacers fan)

Heat over Sixers 4-1
Celtics over Knicks 4-2
Magic over Hawks 4-3

Bulls over Magic 4-2
Celtics over Heat 4-3

Bulls over Celtics 4-2

Spurs over Grizzlies 4-1
Lakers over Hornets 4-2
Trailblazers over Mavericks 4-3
Nuggets over Thunder 4-2

Spurs over Nuggets 4-2
Lakers over Trailblazers 4-1

Spurs over Lakers 4-3

Spurs over Bulls 4-2 (yawn).

MLB Predictions. I'm late on this, but I haven't really followed the records of teams much to this point.

AL East
Yankees 92-70
Red Sox 89-73
Blue Jays 84-78
Orioles 78-84
Rays 71-91

AL Central
Tigers 92-70
Twins 89-73
Twins 86-76
White Sox 76-86
Royals 68-94

AL West
Rangers 102-60
Angels 80-82
Mariners 73-89
Athletics 69-93

NL East
Phillies 95-67
Braves 88-74
Mets 80-82
Marlins 71-91
Nationals 66-96

NL Central
Reds 92-70
Brewers 87-75
Cards 81-81
Cubs 77-85
Pirates 70-92
Astros 64-98

NL West
Dodgers 89-73
Giants 87-75
Rockies 84-78
Padres 78-84
Diamondbacks 72-90

NBA playoff predictions:

Bulls over Pacers 4-0 (Pacers won't come within 10 points in any game--and I'm a Pacers fan)

Celtics over Sixers 4-1
Heat over Knicks 4-1
Magic over Hawks 4-3

Bulls over Magic 4-2
Celtics over Heat 4-3

Bulls over Celtics 4-2

Spurs over Grizzlies 4-1
Lakers over Hornets 4-2
Trailblazers over Mavericks 4-3
Nuggets over Thunder 4-2

Spurs over Nuggets 4-2
Lakers over Trailblazers 4-1

Spurs over Lakers 4-3

Spurs over Bulls 4-2 (yawn).

Nailed a lot of these, but really blew it on Raptors, Cavs, Bucks, Spurs, Jazz and Suns. Overall, I missed 200 games or 8.1% which is probably pretty good. I only got 4 playoff seeds right, but only missed 4 playoff teams and was close on the Pacers as a hedge. Nailed the order of the SE division and Pacific division although that's not too hard to do under the circumstances.

NBA Prediction Results:

Boston Celtics 55-27 56-26
New York Knicks 41-41 42-40
Toronto Raptors 38-44 22-60
Philadelphia 76ers 32-50 41-41
New Jersey Nets 20-62 24-58

Central Division

Chicago Bulls 51-31 62-20
Milwaukee Bucks 50-32 35-47
Cleveland Cavaliers 44-38 19-63
Indiana Pacers 41-41 37-45
Detroit Pistons 22-60 30-52

Southeast Division

Miami Heat 66-16 58-24
Orlando Magic 54-28 52-30
Atlanta Hawks 46-36 44-38
Charlotte Bobcats 27-55 34-48
Washington Wizards 22-60 23-59

Playoff seeds:
1 Heat Bulls
2 Celtics Celtics
3 Bulls Heat
4 Magic Magic
5 Bucks Hawks
6 Hawks Knicks
7 Cavaliers Sixers
8 Knicks in a tie-breaker over Pacers (heh) Pacers

Southwest Division

Dallas Mavericks 51-31 57-25
San Antonio Spurs 50-32 61-21
Memphis Grizzlies 44-38 46-36
New Orleans Hornets 42-40 46-36
Houston Rockets 35-47 43-39

Northwest Division

Utah Jazz 52-30 39-43
Denver Nuggets 49-33 50-32
Portland Trail Blazers 48-34 48-34
Oklahoma City Thunder 44-38 55-37
Minnesota Timberwolves 14-68 17-65

Pacific Division

Los Angeles Lakers 59-23 57-25
Phoenix Suns 50-32 40-42
Los Angeles Clippers 35-47 32-50
Golden State Warriors 27-55 36-46
Sacramento Kings 21-61 24-58

Playoff Seeds
1 Lakers Spurs
2 Jazz Lakers
3 Mavericks Mavericks
4 Spurs Thunder
5 Suns Nuggets
6 Nuggets Trailblazers
7 Trailblazers Hornets
8 Grizzlies Grizzlies

*I don't understand football enough on a technical level to know why some teams like the Colts can never, ever, ever run the ball. Even back in the days with Edgerrin James, it never looked like an easy thing for them to do. Back then it was more along the lines of, "Thank God they're running the ball for 10 instead of Manning throwing another TD" from the defense. The last truly good RB they had was Marshall Faulk, but then you look at teams like the Saints and, well, practically everyone else in the league and they can run the ball for 100+ yards nearly every week. The Colts can't get it up to 50 yards in most games. They've got real problems besides all the injuries and I don't even know where you start to address them.

you got to see where they are lean and have injuries.

just like all of a sudden with two good games from an unknown... Stark... the pundits think Greenbay has developed a perfect running game...

just look at tampa.. they were really banged up and the panthers... forgedaboudit...

real

hey earth, lots of good... no i shall say Great football happening this season.

real

What an insane season. Looks like Frankie Fillet's annual pick of Falcons and Steelers is right on the money...this year anyway.

My preseason predictions giving a range of wins for each team probably looks easy to do, but really isn't. Also, with this kind of thing, I think something like 90% should be expected.

Obviously, some teams are easier to predict than others, but the NFL is a strange beast. Jacksonville alone picked up at least two wins on high risk plays with no time remaining (a 59-yard field goal and a 50 something yard hail mary deflection), but then again that's what the range of wins was supposed to account for---injuries and flukey things. It's hard to predict teams that quit though and that seemed pretty apparent with some.

Final results: 18/32 predicted teams fell inside their "win window" and only 7/32 teams landed in the predicted order of finish. Of the 12 playoff teams, I predicted 2 seeds correctly, but got 8 of the 12 teams correct (granted, that's easier to do). My Super Bowl teams are at least in the playoffs and my favorite prediction of Michael Vick running in a TD against Atlanta is looking more and more possible. I'll probably run a new set of predictions based on the actual playoff teams soon.

Here's the breakdown:

AFC East
Patriots 8-12 14-2 1st
Jets 6-11 11-5 2nd
Dolphins 7-10 7-9 3rd
Bills 2-5 4-12 4th

AFC South
Colts 10-14 10-6 1st
Texans 8-12 6-10 3rd
Titans 8-10 6-10 4th
Jaguars 3-7 8-8 2nd

AFC North (I'm a Browns fan, God help me)
Ravens 10-15 12-4 2nd
Bengals 9-11 4-12 4th
Steelers 6-12 12-4 1st
Browns 2-7 5-11 3rd

AFC West
Chargers 9-11 9-7 2nd
Chiefs 6-10 10-6 1st
Broncos 6-9 4-12 4th
Raiders 6-9 8-8 3rd

NFC East (this whole division has question marks)
Eagles 8-11 10-6 1st
Cowboys 8-11 6-10 3rd
Giants 8-11 10-6 2nd
Redskins 5-8 6-10 4th

NFC South
Saints 8-14 11-5 2nd
Falcons 8-11 13-3 1st
Panthers 5-9 2-14 4th
Bucs 2-6 10-6 3rd

NFC North
Packers 10-15 10-6 2nd
Vikings 6-11 6-10 4th
Bears 4-9 11-5 1st
Lions 4-8 6-10 3rd

NFC West (let the future record show that I flipped the Cards and Hawks at the last second) Darn, future record. Look what should have been.
49ers 8-11 6-10 3rd
Cardinals 6-10 5-11 4th
Seahawks 6-9 7-9 1st
Rams 1-4 7-9 2nd

AFC Playoffs

1. Ravens Patriots
2. Colts Pittsburgh
3. Patriots Colts
4. Chargers Chiefs
5. Texans Ravens
6. Jets Jets

Patriots beat the Jets
Chargers beat the Texans

Ravens beat the Chargers
Patriots beat the Colts

Ravens beat the Patriots

NFC Playoffs

1. Packers Falcons
2. Saints Bears
3. Eagles Eagles
4. 49ers Seahawks
5. Cowboys Saints
6. Falcons Packers

Eagles beat the Falcons (with a Michael Vick Rushing TD Ha Ha Ha)
Cowboys beat the 49ers (old school)

Packers beat the Cowboys (newer old school)
Saints beat the Eagles

Packers beat the Saints

Packers beat the Ravens by more than 10 points in the Bowl.

NBA 1/4 of the way through the year:

Eastern Division (so far my order of finish in this division is exactly right although clearly the Celtics win more than 55)

Boston Celtics 55-27 17-4 (#1 playoff seed)
New York Knicks 41-41 14-9 (#5)
Toronto Raptors 38-44 8-14
Philadelphia 76ers 32-50 7-14
New Jersey Nets 20-62 6-16

Central Division (gave the Cavs too much credit and the Bucks are disappointing, but still in the playoffs right now)

Chicago Bulls 51-31 12-8 (#3 by winning division)
Milwaukee Bucks 50-32 8-13 (#8)
Cleveland Cavaliers 44-38 7-15
Indiana Pacers 41-41 10-10 (#7)
Detroit Pistons 22-60 7-16

Southeast Division (nearly perfect on this division too. Winning the division is huge here as 4 and 5 will play each other and the winner is rewarded with the Celtics in round 2--or did that reseeding thing after round 1 happen?)

Miami Heat 66-16 15-8 (#4)
Orlando Magic 54-28 15-6 (#2)
Atlanta Hawks 46-36 15-8 (#5)
Charlotte Bobcats 27-55 8-13
Washington Wizards 22-60 6-15

Southwest Division (still time to nail this one, too although San Antonio is way better than I expected)

Dallas Mavericks 51-31 17-4 (#4)
San Antonio Spurs 50-32 18-3 (#1)
Memphis Grizzlies 44-38 9-14 (#5)
New Orleans Hornets 42-40 14-7
Houston Rockets 35-47 8-13

Northwest Division (I thought the Blazers would escape injury this year and it's pretty certain that the Nuggets will be dropping off here for the rest of the year, so this one's kind of blown up)

Utah Jazz 52-30 16-7 (#3)
Denver Nuggets 49-33 13-8 (#7)
Portland Trail Blazers 48-34 10-11
Oklahoma City Thunder 44-38 15-8 (#6)
Minnesota Timberwolves 14-68 5-17

Pacific Division (what a weak division this has turned out to be, but I suspect the Suns will pick up some extra W's for playing in it and the Lakers should cruise to number 1 seed because of it as well)

Los Angeles Lakers 59-23 16-6 (#2)
Phoenix Suns 50-32 11-11
Los Angeles Clippers 35-47 5-18
Golden State Warriors 27-55 8-14
Sacramento Kings 21-61 5-15

More NFL thoughts based on 3/4 of the season being in the books:

*The Cincinnati Bengals are the dumbest team in the league and I'm going to move them past the Raiders as the stupidest team year in and year out. Not realizing that a QB might be trying to draw you off sides on a 4th and 2 with seconds remaining is just out and out dumb and poor coaching to boot. I'm also glad that some team finally realized that when you see a defender twitch or jump the line to go ahead and move like he caused you to flinch. In this case, it was genius because it stopped the Saints from running the play they didn't want to run anyway and made the refs make a call. If it went against the Saints, it's no big deal since it would make them have to kick a 29 yard field goal instead of a 24 yarder (assuming Hartley can do that). And that dumb play by the Bengals isn't just one of many that they perform on a weekly basis. And Carson Palmer probably leads the way.

*The Steelers are the luckiest team in the history of the NFL. Seemingly every week, and not just this year, something fortunate falls into their laps.

*I don't understand football enough on a technical level to know why some teams like the Colts can never, ever, ever run the ball. Even back in the days with Edgerrin James, it never looked like an easy thing for them to do. Back then it was more along the lines of, "Thank God they're running the ball for 10 instead of Manning throwing another TD" from the defense. The last truly good RB they had was Marshall Faulk, but then you look at teams like the Saints and, well, practically everyone else in the league and they can run the ball for 100+ yards nearly every week. The Colts can't get it up to 50 yards in most games. They've got real problems besides all the injuries and I don't even know where you start to address them.

*I still can't believe the Jags are any good. The Titans absolutely stink.

*If the Browns had a quarterback better than Delhomme, they'd make the playoffs.

*The Bears might be a one seed and, if so, I predict they lose their first playoff game.

*If there is a draft next year, it should be pretty interesting. I haven't looked at the tiebreakers and I don't know if any of these teams have traded their first round picks for some reason, but right now it's:

#1 Panthers
#2 Lions
#3 Bengals
#4 Bills
#5 Cardinals
#6 Broncos

Do the Panthers go with a QB or RB? They took Claussen and have a stable of studs at RB. Do the Lions? Give up Stafford and Best is fast but gets hurt? The Bengals could probably use fresh blood at RB, although truth be told I think Carson Palmer is horrible. The Bills could go QB, or do they really like Fitzpatrick and their offense? The Cardinals have what they think are sleeper QB projects and have gone RB recently. And the Broncos have Orton and Tebow and recently drafter Moreno (although he gets hurt a lot). I just find it interesting that so many bottom dwellers don't have a glaring need or have already paid a high price for QBs and RBs that they already have right now.

*Also on the draft, I don't know how this works, but I'm assuming a lock-out would mean no draft? If so, and if the season is completely lost, the current players will be looking at two draft classes vying for their jobs in 2012 and doing it at a lot lower pay. That means fans might be seeing the last plays of a lot of current players and don't even know it.

Turns out the Hyundai couple is something called Pomplamoose and they've been doing these kinds of music videos on YouTube for a while. And a quick scan of the internet shows I was right about hopeless losers falling in love with the weird chick. See women, if you just smile and stare a guy, you can pretty much get any man you want.

Just another example of how things on the internet can't translate to the mainstream.

Pomplamoose

I realize it must be a pain in the arse to have to come up with new car commercials. I did the ad writing thing for a couple of years and coming up with ways to differentiate one car from another is definitely not easy, but two of them need to be taken out back and shot.

One is the Audi commercial showing progress where it starts out with a first person shot of footprints in the mud and quickly moves to train tracks and roads, etc until it shows the cars moving down the road. Nothing makes me want to buy a car more than the feeling of nausea caused by motion sickness. Not only does it make me sick to watch it, it doesn't even make sense. The tracks are already there, so Audi is following them, not making them.

And the second is a series of new holiday Hyundai ads where there's a couple of hipsters singing Christmas songs. Well, the chick is singing them anyway and the guy is running around like a loony assberger without his meds playing musical instruments when not causing general mayhem with the Christmas decorations. As annoying as he is to watch though, it's the girl that makes my blood pressure rise and want to punch things. She stares into the camera with a constant, dazed out looking smile while her clothes and other things change between smash cuts. It's one of those ads that makes you realize that you've obviously fallen out of some advertising demographic because instead of appealing to you, it makes you want to cause someone pain. And there's a car in the living room. And the girl's not attractive (although I get this sneaking suspicion that some people are going to think she's hot....probably because they aren't stared at like that from too many women in the real world...because they probably don't spend too much time in the mental ward). And her hair looks old fashioned. It's one of those things, like most recent Saturday Night Live skits, where you can identify the nugget of comedy or originality that probably got the thing the greenlit in the first place, but once the people were actually doing it on the set, they were probably looking around asking, "Is this really what we're doing here? Oh, well, do what you can to make this more interesting. Jump around or something."

NBA thoughts:

I flipped back and forth last night between the Ravens/Falcons game and the Celtics/Heat and a couple of things struck me.

This is the third time this year I've watched the Heat and I've watched countless Raptor games in previous years when they played the Pacers. And Chris Bosh isn't the definition of soft in my book. Pau Gasol of the Lakers is soft and to me that means the guy is there and he tries, he's just kind of gets pushed around and doesn't know how or have the strength to stand his ground or fight back. But I don't get the feeling from Gasol that he wants no part of it, it's just he isn't very physical on defense. Chris Bosh, on the other hand, isn't even there. It's like he's an invisible man on the court. He's only 6'10" and 245 so he will always be the smaller guy on the court and since James and Wade won't feed him the ball on a regular basis, he just has very little to do out there. They would be infinitely better off as a team either going the Celtics route with two or three interchangeable thugs down low or a rotation of high-flying athletic guys that don't need plays called for them and can just fill lanes and rebound to go along with Haslem and Ilgauskus. Bosh is a waste of money.

The other thing I don't understand and maybe this changed a few years ago, but why can't Wade play point? I thought when Miami went to the finals that was his role. He might not be a true point and maybe he would be destroyed by the quickness of guys like Rondo, but it's not like Arroyo is doing a bang up job in that position.

And why does cnnsi list 23 people on Miami's roster? Holy cow!

More NFL thoughts:

I forgot just how much I can't stand Joe Theismann and Matt Millen announcing a game.

Millen was groomed to take over for Madden back in the day and even went so far as to incorporate all the "booms" and such that Madden was known for. Problem was/is it's clearly a rip off and he doesn't even say it at the right time. A run of the meal 5-yard out pass doesn't deserve a "boom" in my opinion.

Theismann always a completely different, multi-layered kind of bad. First and foremost, he's wrong about what he sees on the field probably 50% of the time (and last night Millen either agreed with his wrongness or had his own version of wrong thinking to add to it at every turn). Second, he's one of those guys that thinks it's interesting to say something controversial even though nobody in their right mind could possibly agree with or think that way. He's trying to be shocking, but it just comes off as idiotic. It's an approach you'll see a lot of hacky sports radio guys try to pull off and it's just as lame. Thirdly, he's so gosh darned sure of himself and what he's saying even though everyone in the stadium could point out his dead wrong. Then he won't ever admit it like it's cute or something to be a stubborn headed fool. Fourthly, he talks about himself allllll the time. And that's not even so bad if you have some interesting stories or are sharing something that has been told before, but we all know Joe used to punt, we know he had the Hogs and Art Monk and played the Cowboys and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. It's more interesting what he doesn't talk about like John Riggins or his bone sticking out of his leg or how ESPN finally wised up and booted him out of the booth. Fifthly, when he's not talking about himself, or giving ridiculous viewpoints, or interpreting rules incorrectly, or seeing things on the field that didn't happen, he talks to the audience like we're freaking morons about what a team needs to do or who they need to throw to. Don't you think the Ravens would throw to Todd Heap if he's open? And besides that why is it imperative to get the ball to Heap? Is he going to score an 80 yard TD with seconds left on the clock? He said the same about Tony Gonzalez in the last minute. "If I was the Ravens, I'd really make sure Gonzalez wasn't the guy to hurt me." Really, you'd double or triple Gonzalez and let receivers with twice his speed run free when a team needs 60 yards in less than a minute? Well, maybe that's what the Ravens did because I don't Gonzalez caught a pass but the receivers sure did light them up.

And just a general thing about announcers, how freaking hard is it to remember the rules of the game that you are broadcasting? You still have guys freaking out about coaches not challenging in the last two minutes. The rule's been in place for years. Then last night both Theismann and Miller go crazy about a penalty in the last few seconds and how it's a run off of the clock and ends the game, only there was a time-out and the clock wasn't running meaning there would be no time run off. That didn't stop the three from arguing about it though.

And a general comment about the NFL Network, someone over there wants to have Matt Ryan's children or something. I've never seen so many close-ups of a player both on the field and off it in any game. Kind of weird.

soon it will be make the rules up as you play.. sandlot football.

real

*Matt Stafford must be made of toothpicks

*I'm back to thinking Terrell Owens is incredibly misunderstood, obviously he's self-centered, but in the long run most of his complaints and antics have been on the right side of things. He just goes about them the wrong way. Or maybe it's just taken somebody even worse than him like Chad Ochocinco to make him be more mature and responsible to the team. With that said, we'll see if he actually plays out the year. He probably will only because he can put up monstrous numbers and I think he's a free agent again next season.

*Speaking of TO, this definition of a catch is getting ridiculous. I understand the reason for the rule's specifics. With instant replay challenging whether a ball was caught at any point in stop or slow motion a dropped pass may appear to be in possession of the receiver for some amount of time anyway. But obviously the problem is when a guy makes a catch within the basic rules: catches and gets two feet down (or a shoulder, knee, etc) and then drops the ball after physically going out of bounds, or in the Calvin Johnson example after making a TD (Arian Foster's recent one was not a catch under any definition in my opinion).

It makes no sense that a guy running with the ball only has to cross the imaginary end zone plane and then can fumble the ball away and it's still a touchdown, but a guy can't catch it, get both feet down and then drop it and it not be a TD.

Which brings me to the possible nightmare scenario that could have happened last night. TO catches a ball in the corner of the end zone running full speed. He barely gets both feet down in bounds. Then in his next step he levels some security guard on the sideline. Had he dropped the ball because of this, would it have been ruled incomplete? I guess based on the new rules of what a catch is, it very well could have been.

It's way early, but it's fun anyway.

Here are my playoff predictions compared to where they stand as of about 2 weeks in.

Predicted Playoff seeds:
1 Heat
2 Celtics
3 Bulls
4 Magic
5 Bucks
6 Hawks
7 Cavaliers
8 Knicks

Current Standings:
1 Celtics
2 Hawks
3 Cavaliers
4 Magic
5 Heat
6 Knicks
7 Bulls
8 Pacers

Playoff Seeds
1 Lakers
2 Jazz
3 Mavericks
4 Spurs
5 Suns
6 Nuggets
7 Trailblazers
8 Grizzlies

Current Standings:
1 Lakers
2 Hornets
3 Nuggets
4 Spurs
5 TrailBlazers
6 Warriors
7 Mavericks
8 Suns (in a tie-breaker over Jazz, Thunder, Kings)

Clearly the Hornets are the only team killing me. I also didn't have the Warriors or Pacers (although I did have the Pacers just missing out).

On my season predictions, I'm pretty proud of my projected records for the Wizards and Rockets. They might not be as bad as the records I have here, but they are not playoff teams as many people that are paid to predict such things had said.

Somewhat Mid-Season Analysis of my predicted wins:

AFC East (so far I'm correct in predicting the order here)
Patriots 8-12 (currently 6-1? Holy crap that's been under the radar)
Jets 6-11 (5-2)
Dolphins 7-10 (4-3)
Bills 2-5 (0-7, at least 2 wins out of the next 9 games is actually looking pretty iffy right now)

AFC South (Place predictions still very much in play)
Colts 10-14 (4-2, I think the Colts win tonight to go to 5-2)
Texans 8-12 (4-2, loss gets them to 4-3)
Titans 8-10 (5-3, but may be the class of the division in reality)
Jaguars 3-7 (4-4, I can't believe they're 500)

AFC North
Ravens 10-15 (5-2, clearly not the title contender I thought they would be)
Bengals 9-11 (2-5, f'ing Bengals, either they're beating the teams that I like or choking against the teams they should beat, they drive me crazy either way)
Steelers 6-12 (5-2, come on late season swoon....nah, I reluctantly admit that I have to wait another year for their dynasty to crumble)
Browns 2-7 (2-5, right on target)

AFC West (looks like I might be wrong on some orders of finish but still have all the wins within the predictions. Weird.)
Chargers 9-11 (3-5, another team I love to see fail, but always seem to be counting on them to win in some pool or other. F the Chargers)
Chiefs 6-10 (5-2, they might win the division, but stay in the 10 win parameter I set)
Broncos 6-9 (2-6, look like they have all the makings of a last place team)
Raiders 6-9 (4-4)

NFC East (Like I said in the preseason, this is the screwiest division)
Eagles 8-11 (4-3)
Cowboys 8-11 (1-6, I guess they could still somehow go 7-2, but I love being wrong on this one. Come on 2-14)
Giants 8-11 (5-2, they might be somewhat of a paper tiger 13-3, or they could win it all. I still don't know quite what to make of the teams in this division)
Redskins 5-8 (4-4)

NFC South
Saints 8-14 (5-3)
Falcons 8-11 (5-2)
Panthers 5-9 (1-6, 4-5 or better the rest of the way? Doable, but not probable.)
Bucs 2-6 (5-2, one of only two real threats right now to break through my win parameters)

NFC North
Packers 10-15 (5-3, strange team)
Vikings 6-11 (2-5, I thought going in that the two teams with the biggest question marks were the Steelers and Vikings and one or both would have one of those crazy snake-bit bad years. Looks like the Vikings rolled snake eyes)
Bears 4-9 (4-3, this team has all the looks of a team that will finish with something like 4 of 5 losses to close the year)
Lions 4-8 (2-5)

NFC West
49ers 8-11 (2-6, I knew this was looking very similar to the year after the Browns had Derek Anderson's Pro Bowl year and the fans at training camp were shouting "SUPER BOWL, SUPER BOWL" to the players as they entered the practice field. So many times some team gets anointed as the next sleeper even though they were just lucky in a lot of ways the year before and some glaring problems get overlooked. Looking at my prediction, I guess I fell for this stupid 49er team, too though.)
Cardinals 6-10 (3-4, meh. I thought they still had too many players and too much pride to just give up the ghost. I'm starting to think that's out the window now)
Seahawks 6-9 (4-3, see future record? I knew I shouldn't have flipped the Cardinals and Seahawks at the last minute)
Rams 1-4 (4-4, 0-8 the rest of the way? Nah. I'm dead wrong on this one)

AFC Playoffs (some are stretching it, but everyone looks to still be alive here)

1. Ravens
2. Colts
3. Patriots
4. Chargers
5. Texans
6. Jets

Patriots beat the Jets
Chargers beat the Texans

Ravens beat the Chargers
Patriots beat the Colts

Ravens beat the Patriots

NFC Playoffs

1. Packers
2. Saints
3. Eagles
4. 49ers (uh, oh)
5. Cowboys (uh, oh again)
6. Falcons

Eagles beat the Falcons (with a Michael Vick Rushing TD Ha Ha Ha) (Hey, how about this prediction?)
Cowboys beat the 49ers (old school) (Hey, how about this one? Ugh)

Packers beat the Cowboys (newer old school)
Saints beat the Eagles

Packers beat the Saints

Packers beat the Ravens by more than 10 points in the Bowl.

Miscellaneous:

*The NFL shouldn't just suspend players that commit obvious illegal hits, they need to eject them from the game as well...if they aren't knocked unconscious already like Duntae Robinson. A hit like Merriweather's on Todd Heap should have been an ejection. Harrison's hit on Massaquoi should have, too, but not the one on Cribbs. Robinson's obviously was, too, but if you're so stupid as to knock yourself out making a "tackle" then I guess that's punishment enough.

*Chris Johnson looks like he's tweaking all the time. Does he have Tourette's or something? Seriously.

*This will never happen, but I'm ready to do away with the entire check swing being a strike in baseball. Just let them be balls. I think we can all tell the difference between a bunt attempt and a swing and as far as that goes, if you stand there to bunt with the bat across the plate and then pull it back, it's not a swing, so why can't a check swing be the same? I don't see how any hitter can have an advantage by being able to check swing as much as they want. And relying on a guy over a 100 feet away to determine if the bat crossed the plane of the plate is absurd as is reviewing them as some idiot announcers and sports guys have conjectured.

Stocks are doing nothing today. I think I'll just stare at the Stocks Gone Wild banner ad for a while.

I've always liked the Rangers, so I'm glad that they are moving on I just hope they can beat the Yankees. In fact, I guess I'm hoping they win the whole thing now. The Giants are just so boring and always have been--at least post Willie Mays. And I've already expressed my feelings about the Yankees and Phillies.

And, by the way, Cliff Lee is cool and all and watching a lefty throw a big curve on TV is always fun, but there is no freaking way he doesn't have some foreign substance on his hat. It's clear as day that it's on the bill and back of his hat.

He's not the only one doing this and it's been going on pretty blatantly for a few years now in baseball and only a guy or two has ever been "caught." So, what gives? I think unless the umps see something absolutely obvious like a guy spitting directly on the ball or something, it is generally up to the other team to notify the umps that they want something checked out. So, why don't they? Because their pitchers are probably using illegal stuff of their own, so calling the other team out would only put their own guys in jeopardy.

Major League Baseball cheaters. Won't you ever learn?

Here's a picture of the front of Lee's cap.

Okay, I'm committing to a real person. I predict the lady er doctor will win.

It's hard to root for any of these yahoos to win a job here so far. They all appear either pretty inept or socially backward. I'm switching my prediction to the older blond chick though, whoever she is.

Ugh, my whole National League bracket was destroyed and the Rays might go down next which would leave me with the hated Yankees. Actually, I think I hate the Phillies more than the Yankees just because of their fans. New Yorkers might be obnoxious and arrogant, but I'd much rather spend time or live in NY than Philly, so at least they have more of an excuse to act like jerks.

I still think the Reds had a shot to surprise the Phillies, but they decided to play like a little league team with the ball. Unreal.

The Braves (and I've always been a Braves fan) have amazing problems. How they won so many games is beyond me. And besides all their injury problems I think their main problem is coaching. Can't argue with Cox's success overall, but I think it is time for a new perspective on things. I don't think he should have pulled Kimbrel in game 3 and I think he should have pulled Lowe before he walked the bases loaded. But those things happen and they're judgment calls that can always go either way, on the other hand, batting coach Terry Pendleton should find work somewhere else. The Braves probably could have walked 5 or 6 times a game. Instead they walked about 4 times for the whole series. If they weren't striking out on high fastballs they were whiffing on breaking balls in the dirt. A couple of guys trying too hard to make something happen? Okay. But the whole freaking team doing that? That's a problem with the approach and game plan designed by the coaching staff.

At any rate, the Braves obviously need better fielders, but they also need some hitters for high average if they can find them. Still, at least the Mets are history and they got farther than anybody thought they would and overall were an exciting, frustrating team to root for.

Maybe next year.

NBA Predictions:

Atlantic Division (Boston has it so easy in this division, it's like spotting them 15 wins right from the start)

Boston Celtics 55-27
New York Knicks 41-41
Toronto Raptors 38-44
Philadelphia 76ers 32-50
New Jersey Nets 20-62

Central Division

Chicago Bulls 51-31
Milwaukee Bucks 50-32
Cleveland Cavaliers 44-38
Indiana Pacers 41-41
Detroit Pistons 22-60

Southeast Division

Miami Heat 66-16
Orlando Magic 54-28
Atlanta Hawks 46-36
Charlotte Bobcats 27-55
Washington Wizards 22-60

Playoff seeds:
1 Heat
2 Celtics
3 Bulls
4 Magic
5 Bucks
6 Hawks
7 Cavaliers
8 Knicks in a tie-breaker over Pacers (heh)

Southwest Division

Dallas Mavericks 51-31
San Antonio Spurs 50-32
Memphis Grizzlies 44-38
New Orleans Hornets 42-40
Houston Rockets 35-47

Northwest Division

Utah Jazz 52-30
Denver Nuggets 49-33
Portland Trail Blazers 48-34
Oklahoma City Thunder 44-38
Minnesota Timberwolves 14-68

Pacific Division

Los Angeles Lakers 59-23
Phoenix Suns 50-32
Los Angeles Clippers 35-47
Golden State Warriors 27-55
Sacramento Kings 21-61

Playoff Seeds
1 Lakers
2 Jazz
3 Mavericks
4 Spurs
5 Suns
6 Nuggets
7 Trailblazers
8 Grizzlies

Just realized I screwed this up. Should be Yankees over Rays, since I have them winning the world series.

So far my predicted first round winners are 2-4. Not looking good.

Rays over Rangers
Yankees over Twins

Yankees over Rays

Reds over Phillies
Braves over Giants

Reds over Braves

Yankees over Reds

Apprentice prediction: Well, I liked the last guy voted off, but obviously everyone else hated him, so now I'm going to go with young blond woman that was project manager a couple of weeks ago.

The Survivor prediction: One of the young guys. Actually at this point, no one has impressed me much. I'm passing for now.

The ever exciting Dancing With the Stars prediction: I think Kurt Warner's going to pull it off. He's not terrible, but he can show improvement from the beginning to the end. I think he has the housewife vote locked up and he won't have the backlash of being a past dancer.

I can't recall any pitcher throwing a heavier ball than Roy Halladay. If you hit it, it goes nowhere fast. And then he has multiple pitches that start in the strike zone and completely drop off to the ground. He is pretty incredible and it's hard to believe he's only won the Cy Young once and that was 7 years ago.

I still think the Reds are going to shock the Phils though before it's over. They probably need at least one hit to do that though. And now it means they have to win 3 out of 4 with one of those being against Halladay again. Short series suck and this explains the huge advantage to winning game one especially when you have a dominant ace.

I think the importance of playoff experience is absolute hooey dreamed up by seemingly every sports reporter and announcer covering every sport. There have clearly been cases of nerves getting to some people (Ankiel, all those Boston pitchers in 1986, certainly others that weren't so apparent), but does that always account for winning and losing ball games? In fact, there are several stories of batters being scared out of their minds at the plate, but somehow coming through in a big moment in the spotlights of playoffs. And I think that carries over to all sports. Sometimes you just don't know why some situations make you nervous and some don't and when it's going to affect you. I imagine Derek Jeter still has his moments in the playoffs where he stresses out, gets butterflies or whatever. Doesn't matter.

Nor does it matter that since Jeter's played in a gazillion playoff games that he has some sort of advantage over somebody like Roy Halladay who hadn't played in any until last night. It's just stuff to talk about that means nothing while you're waiting for the games to be played.

Today's speculation: SKGO will finish in the red for today (10/5/2010).

Will somebody please tell Matt Ryan he looks like a dork wearing his helmet on top of his head? I couldn't find a recent picture and the one below is from 2008. He's doing something that makes him look even dorkier this year. He's wearing it like a crown directly on top of his head.

Well, I had the teams right except I had the Padres instead of the Giants and I had the Yankees and Braves wining their divisions.

But my playoff scenarios stay the same (with the Giants substituting for the Padres):

I think people are really underestimating the Reds. People also tend to overlook the importance of a guy on the NL world series team that can be put in as a DH. The Reds have tons of guys (Nix, Hanigan, and Heisey), the Braves have Hinske and Glaus (and is Glaus really that bad at 3rd now that he can't play it at all?), the Phillies have Dobbs and Sweeney and the Giants have I guess Burrell and Huff. So, based on that I give the Reds and Braves the DH advantage if they make it that far, which isn't to say any of these guys could outperform any of the regular AL DHs (Guerrero TEX, Berkman NYY, Thome MINN, and whoever the Rays use Aybar? or Johnson?) Basically, it's all just another reason the DH should be outlawed.

Rays over Rangers
Yankees over Twins

Rays over Yankees

Reds over Phillies
Braves over Giants

Reds over Braves

Yankees over Reds

Thoughts so far on the football year....

Braylon Edwards is one of the dumbest players in the game and not just because of his off the field stuff. He has to get more boneheaded, lack of concentration penalties (false starts, illegal shifts, silly holds) than any other WR in the history of the game. I'm glad he's gone from the Browns.

Why does the league refuse to double team Roddy White? He's the only guy Ryan throws to. It's unreal. He's targeted nearly 20 times a game and teams still look like they can't believe they throw to him on third down. Are they that scared of Atlanta's running game?

I could almost say the same thing about Antonio Gates, but he is only targeted on every big play (not every single freaking pass attempt). And Gates appears to at least have some cover guys around him that he'll outplay for the ball.

I have underestimated the Steelers defense. Man, I can't wait for the Browns and them to switch places in the cycle that's supposed to happen, but it looks like it's never going to be. I have a friend that's a huge Steeler fan, but late last year he argued with me about how Troy Polamalu wasn't the key to the team even though they couldn't win without him. I've also argued with him about Roethlisberger not being all that great. Well, so far this year, it looks like it's all defense and running (as it should be for Steeler teams) and Roethlisberger is not all that important. Plus it looks like Ben thinks he has to get himself knocked around to play better which is a horrible mindset for your starting quarterback to have. He'll probably come back from suspension and promptly get concussed to end the year.

The Patriots defense sucks.

You're not division champs yet Houston.

KC and Seattle (and probably Arizona) are homer teams that will (do) suck on the road. Bet on it all year.

Sam Bradford is better than I thought he'd be. I always got him confused with the Lions Stafford and it looks like my prediction that Bradford won't start too many games in the NFL should have been for Stafford instead.

Asante Samuel would be one of the greatest DBs of all time if he could catch the ball once in a while.

The Giants are a freaking mess and Coughlin has lost that team. When a disciplinarian loses control, it's all over for everybody involved.

I expect the following coaches to be fired before next season: Coughlin, Del Rio, maybe Gailey, probably Cable, Phillips deserves to be (as he has for the past 3 seasons), Lovie Smith, probably Fox, and (please, please, please) Mangini. And if they get through this year, Singletary, Childress and McDaniels have already reserved their hot seats for 2011 where they will join the perpetual Norv Turner.

Commentary: The 18 game NFL schedule

Here's why I think this proposal is not all it's cracked up to be.

First of all, the general thinking is that when you combine the 4 preseason games, teams only play their starters about half the time. So, one might logically think if you cut out 2 games, preseason games might be more interesting because starters would be playing almost the whole game. I don't buy it. I would think coaches looking at a long 18 game season and injury concerns might not play their starters in either game save a series or two making the 2 preseason games even more worthless than they are now.

Secondly, this will have to make scrimmages and training camp much more focused and longer in order for teams to get in shape and evaluate talent. That doesn't necessarily lead to less injuries. In fact, it might even lead to more.

Thirdly, is what I think is most important, but I haven't heard much talk about this. The current NFL scheduling system is the most logical, fair and balanced in all of sports. You play your division 6 times, you play a division from your conference 4 games, and a division from the other conference 4 times on a rotating basis, then you finish up with 2 teams that finished in the same place as your team in their respective division. I assume that with 18 games, teams would pick up 2 more teams that finished the same place in their division to make it 18.

But here's the problem. As it is, if you get killed in your division and go 0-6, you have 10 non-divisional games that you nearly HAVE to win to maybe squeak into the playoffs at 10-6 (although considering your team handed over 2 wins to each divisional foe, 10-6 probably won't cut it).

With 18 games, you can go 0-6 in the division and then probably go 11-1 against non-divisional teams and probably make the playoffs. If you win only one divisional game and go 11-1 against everyone else, you're probably a shoe-in to make the playoffs at 12-6.

Maybe to the NFL, division games aren't all that important, but I think they should be. And maybe the difference between 10-0 and 11-1 (however unlikely that is in non-divisional play) is splitting hairs, but I think when things come right down to the wire as they often do and involve multiple tiebreakers to decide who's in and who's out of the playoffs, division games need to account for something more.

Or maybe I'm looking at this all wrong and they will re-align again and go with 6 5-team divisions and play 8 games in the division and 10 out of it and have the two leftover teams be independents like BYU and Notre Dame. That might solve the problem.

lol i predict them every year.. its a right of passage...

real

I'll mark your prediction, frankie.

I'll give you that the Falcons are always hard to predict and that division is used to flip flopping every year so maybe they'll do more than I've said, but I think the Steelers have way too many question marks this year. More question marks almost always equals more losses...of course my prediction is putting a lot of faith in the Bengals and that's never a good idea.

Falcons and the Steelers... thats all you need to know.. he he

Baseball Playoff Predictions....

1. Yankees
2. Rangers
3. Twins
4. Rays

Rays over Rangers
Yankees over Twins

Rays over Yankees

1. Braves
2. Reds
3. Padres
4. Phillies

Reds over Phillies
Braves over Padres

Reds over Braves

Yankees over Reds

NFL predictions...

I'm going to do something different. I'm going to predict a range of wins because in football a key guy can go down and suddenly your team is 7-9 instead of 12-4 and then there are always the last second field goals or what have you that let a crappy team win a game they shouldn't. So this is a prediction of best and worst case scenarios, but I'm putting the teams in my predicted order of finish, so that will count, too. I'll be more specific on the playoffs and championship.

AFC East
Patriots 8-12
Jets 6-11
Dolphins 7-10
Bills 2-5

AFC South
Colts 10-14
Texans 8-12
Titans 8-10
Jaguars 3-7

AFC North (I'm a Browns fan, God help me)
Ravens 10-15
Bengals 9-11
Steelers 6-12
Browns 2-7

AFC West
Chargers 9-11
Chiefs 6-10
Broncos 6-9
Raiders 6-9

NFC East (this whole division has question marks)
Eagles 8-11
Cowboys 8-11
Giants 8-11
Redskins 5-8

NFC South
Saints 8-14
Falcons 8-11
Panthers 5-9
Bucs 2-6

NFC North
Packers 10-15
Vikings 6-11
Bears 4-9
Lions 4-8

NFC West (let the future record show that I flipped the Cards and Hawks at the last second)
49ers 8-11
Cardinals 6-10
Seahawks 6-9
Rams 1-4

AFC Playoffs

1. Ravens
2. Colts
3. Patriots
4. Chargers
5. Texans
6. Jets

Patriots beat the Jets
Chargers beat the Texans

Ravens beat the Chargers
Patriots beat the Colts

Ravens beat the Patriots

NFC Playoffs

1. Packers
2. Saints
3. Eagles
4. 49ers
5. Cowboys
6. Falcons

Eagles beat the Falcons (with a Michael Vick Rushing TD Ha Ha Ha)
Cowboys beat the 49ers (old school)

Packers beat the Cowboys (newer old school)
Saints beat the Eagles

Packers beat the Saints

Packers beat the Ravens by more than 10 points in the Bowl.

Current Predictions stand at 8-22 because I was wrong about Lebron James staying in Cleveland.

I'm going to give myself credit on the Lakers prediction even though it happened in 7 games instead of 6. Pcat Doll chick won Dwts, doesn't look like TSNP or CYSG are going to quite do what I thought they would by 6/30. NBA draft predictions ended up 3-11.

So, current predictions stand at 8-21 with only the long range Bradford prediction still in play.

1. Washington -- Wall correct
2. Philadelphia -- Turner correct
3. New Jersey -- Cousins incorrect - Favors
4. Minnesota -- Favors incorrect - Johnson
5. Sacramento -- W. Johnson incorrect - Cousins
6. Golden State -- Udoh correct
7. Detroit -- Aminu incorrect - Monroe
8. LA Clippers -- Davis incorrect - Aminu
9. Utah -- Aldrich incorrect - Hayward
10. Indiana -- Hayward incorrect - George
11. New Orleans -- Whiteside incorrect - Aldrich
12. Memphis -- Monroe incorrect - Henry
13. Toronto -- Patterson incorrect - Davis
14. Houston -- Bradley incorrect - Patterson

Overall 3-11. Yikes.

Only Whiteside and Bradley fell out of my top 14 though as they were replaced by Henry and George.

The World Cup.

I don't care for hockey, I don't care for the Olympics, and I don't really care for soccer. But, I always get drawn into the Stanley Cup finals when there's an elimination game and Olympic hockey medal games and I always get sucked into the "Best of the World" drama and contrasting cultural flavors of events like the Olympics and the World Cup once they get going. Plus they are usually going on when nothing else of interest is, so they win my viewing by default. I also find it very cool to travel to some other country and see the genuine interest in locals over matches outside of the World Cup.

With all that said, here is what really annoys me about soccer.

I can't stand the fake injuries. I say that realizing that players do sometimes get serious injuries, but if you watch a whole match, you'd think half the players end up in intensive care every match the way they roll around on the ground after practically any physical contact (or near contact). They want to draw a red card or a free kick from the ref who may not have actually witnessed the act, I get that. It's just annoying and makes you think when a guy actually does break his arm or pulls a hamstring that he's just putting on a show like a professional wrestler. It's also annoying to me because I see these kinds of theatrics seeping into the NBA, college basketball and even football as those players try to earn a flagrant foul or ejection against the opposition. Penalizing floppers is the only way to stop this, I guess.

I also find the substitutions in soccer to be annoying. Why can't it be more like hockey? Let them do it on the fly and multiple times. How incredibly boring it must be to live the life of a guy on the bench of a soccer team. A team is allowed like two subs a game? And most don't happen until the second half? Ugh, boring.

People always complain about the low scoring, but watching a match that's high scoring and one-sided is worse by far. Germany winning 4-0 against Australia was unwatchable. I don't see anything that can be done about that, but eliminating offsides calls might help. This goes for hockey, too. I can only imagine how freaking cool hockey would be without offside penalties. It would become one of the most exciting sports out there with multiple one on one fastbreaks and breakaways.

The other odd thing about soccer that just cannot be fixed is this: when you watch any other sport, even if you're not a fan, you can easily, often instantly, recognize who is the best player in the game and maybe the best player in the sport. Even your wife or mom or infant child could recognize that Michael Jordan was better than most, that guys that hit like Pujols are rare, Peyton Mannings are different, etc., etc. Even hockey's best score seemingly every game or do something that shows you they are superior. You watch soccer and you listen to the announcers tell you who the best player is, or you see these guys on a commercial doing amazing things, but then the game comes around and everything these guys do that's special seems to be all subtlety and nuance. Obviously, the other teams prevent the best from taking over and this might open up opportunities for the rest of the team that might not otherwise be there, but as a casual viewer, this is boring.

On another note, I do feel sorry for England's goalie. If things were reversed and the US goalie screwed up like that, few people, I suspect even real fans, would even care all that much. We might even find it humorous and make the guy a celebrity. Oh, well. Such is the story of soccer in this world. I'm glad I'm in a country that doesn't care that much about it.

Well, it won't be Lakers in 6, but I still think they pull this off.

Looks like I was pretty accurate on the match-ups and the Celtics being at somewhat of a disadvantage because the refs won't let you play as physical in the finals, but they've gotten through it. Kendrick Perkins is useless in this style of game though. And I've got a theory that that guy is one of the dumbest people in the NBA, but maybe that's just how he comes off.

Also, as I have always thought, Gasol has proven himself to be about the softest big in the league and Odom has to be right near the top as well, so when Bynum can't go at normal speed, the Lakers have absolutely nothing inside on defense. Throw in that Artest is slow and clumsy, Fisher is outsized, and Bryant's defense is way overrated, then the Lakers troubles are really piling up.

How is Bryant's defense overrated? Watch the other team come down on any set play. Usually Bryant is guarding the other team's scorer or at least a guy that is an offensive threat, so he'll get the ball early in the shot clock. Bryant flashes defense on the first pass into his guy, but then if the pass goes out, Bryant is done playing defense. All a team needs to do is pass it out and then pass it back in to Bryant's man and he will be nowhere near the defensive position he needs to be in. But, to be fair, maybe that style does make you the best NBA defender in the league since even this flash of defense appears to be a great deal more than what others are willing to do.

Back to the x-factors. I missed on this because I, like most people, was looking for x-factors that would play on the positive side of things. I didn't consider the x-factor of Ron Artest basically being a slow defender who can't score, rebound, dribble or even jump. I think the Lakers would have won this thing in 5 or 6 if they had kept Ariza. Artest is looking like the Karl Malone acquisition now, too little, too late.

NBA Finals.

I guess I have to predict this even though the Lakers and Celtics are about my least favorite NBA teams, no, correction, they are my least favorite teams.

Let's see, you've primarily got

Gasol vs. Garnett/Wallace which is kind of a wash or a small Gasol advantage. Garnett is one of my favorite players of all time, but he's just not the same anymore. Maybe he's got something still in him, but usually you can't just turn it on in the NBA, at least not for an extended amount of time.

Bynum/Odom vs. Davis/Perkins which is pretty close, too if Bynum can play (which is the main reason I went against the Lakers in the first place. The dude is supposed to be hurt).

Artest vs. Pierce which appears to be a huge Pierce advantage, but this is the main reason the Lakers got Artest, so maybe he finally earns his money here. Of course, as much as I can't stand Pierce, I have been impressed with his giving up of his offensive game to focus on the other teams main scorer, so maybe he switches to Bryant on defense[!] I don't know. I'll give the advantage to Pierce.

Bryant vs. Allen is a slam dunk to Bryant. Even if you add some of Pierce to this equation, the Lakers still dominate here.

Fisher/Vujacic vs. Rondo/Robinson. This is interesting. I am still not a believer in Rondo. If he played for some team where he didn't have an interior big man that could move (Garnett) and a dead eye long range shooter on the perimeter (Allen) and another guy that's deadly from 10-20 feet and can get his shot EVERY SINGLE TIME (Pierce), he would be next to worthless. No one appears to want to guard him because he can't shoot, but he can pass and drive and with this team that's all he has to do to be effective. I've never been a big Fisher fan but he does get his 10 points, plays hard and does it every single freaking game. Vujacic may drive Rondo crazy as well. If Rondo can't play much, I don't see Robinson going off every game like he did in Game 6 against Orlando, so I'm going to call it a tie, but leaning more toward the Lakers.

X-Factors: Neither of these teams have much of a bench aside from the guys I mentioned above. In fact the Celtics bench is filled with dead weight beyond Davis and Wallace. The Lakers is a little better, but only marginally and probably will actually play less anyway. I guess you would have to put Robinson in as an X-Factor, Garnett may give it all he's got for one last run and maybe R. Allen, too as far as that goes, Wallace may do some things. For the Lakers, Artest might cause havoc for Pierce, but Vujacic might be huge. Guys like Odom and Bynum can't be expected to put together a string of more than one big game at a time, so I'm not considering them.

I think the only way the Celtics can win this series is to be physical, which is good for them because they are a more physical team than people realize. Unfortunately, you can play that way and win a lot of games throughout the playoffs to get to the finals, but then that stuff doesn't fly too much in the finals. The refs, fans, NBA officials all want a beautiful, high flying type game, not a lot of holding, hacking and muscling up. That greatly helps the Lakers cause because they are pretty soft especially in the middle. So, based on that, I will go with Lakers in 6 games. I want to say Lakers in 5, but there's that 2-3-2 series schedule to deal with.

*Updated NBA Draft Predictions*

I guess that Montejunas is staying home.

1. Washington -- Wall
2. Philadelphia -- Turner
3. New Jersey -- Cousins
4. Minnesota -- Favors
5. Sacramento -- W. Johnson
6. Golden State -- Udoh
7. Detroit -- Aminu
8. LA Clippers -- Davis
9. Utah -- Aldrich
10. Indiana -- Hayward
11. New Orleans -- Whiteside
12. Memphis -- Monroe
13. Toronto -- Patterson
14. Houston -- Bradley

Hmmm, predicting TSNP over a penny by 6/30/10 might be a stretch, but it is up over 100% today to .0015, so maybe it's coming after all.