Round 1 Analysis, Plus Round 2 Preview

This is why the Stanley Cup Playoffs are better than any other postseason in sports. Every game, every series can simply explode in a flurry of greatness. In the West, all the series started wild before finishing as they were expected to, whereas in the East all the series were just flatout insane throughout. I'm surprised I still ended up getting 6 out of 8 games correctly (although I only got one series right in the number of games played). So let's look back at the first round games, going in order from least exciting to most exciting:

8. Wings over Coyotes in 7 - Strange that a series that went all seven games was the worst one, and yes a lot of it does have to do with the fact that Detroit won. But the other problem was that out of seven games, 5 of them were not even close, including the critical seventh game. Both close games happened early in the series, both won by Phoenix, which really shows just how much Detroit really outclassed them. But hey, this was the lone series I got the winner and number of games correct.

7. Canucks over Kings in 6 - This started off as one of the better series ongoing, the first two games being split in overtime. The Kings started off extremely hot before completely blowing it in Game 4, when even with LOL Luongo Vancouver still stole the game bby netting in four goals in the 3rd period. From that point on the Kings had no chance. Quick lost his edge and the Nucks rolled over him. This is the prime example of the Western Conference series starting off great and then cooling down at the end (well, except for one).

6. Bruins over Sabres in 6 - Right amount of games predicted, wrong team coming out on top. The games did play out as expected, that being it would come down solely to who the hotter goalie was, and in this case Tuukka Rask prevailed over Ryan Miller. I don't like Boston, but I gotta give them props, as it definitely was not an easy task for a team with not much offense (on paper) beating Miller.

5. Flyers over Devils in 5 - Okay, can't comment too much on this because Versus decided not to show ANY of these games on TV, but I have it this high because 1)The Flyers won, 2) The supposed worst goalie in the playoffs ended with one of the best GAAs and Save %, 3) LOL Kovalchuk, and 4)LOL Brodeur. Sports Illustrated had Miller and Brodeur as the top 2 goalies in the playoffs, and they both went down in the 1st round.

4. Pens over Sens in 6 - The only reason this is so high is the triple overtime Game 5 that resulted in a Senators victory. 3OT games are awesome. Other than that, the Crosbys pretty much rolled over them and did nothing to indicate they wouldn't be back in the SC Finals.

3. Sharks over Avs in 6 - Yeah this ended in two blowouts by the Sharks in Games 5 and 6, but the first four games were excellent, all but Game 1 ending in overtime. This also had the funniest individual game in the playoffs with Dan Boyle scoring on his own net to give Colorado the win. Shame they recovered from that.

2. Hawks over Preds in 6 - Of course I'll rate a Chicago series high, but this was actually a really good series. Almost every game was decided solely by third period efforts. Niemi got two no-no's. This series had the best individual game, that being Game 5 when the Hawks scored a short-handed goal with 20 seconds left to force OT, where they would kill a 5 minute major penalty and proceed to win the game. And of course, the Hawks won, so that gets a couple extra points. But it was outclassed by one other series...or should I say one person in particular.

1. Habs over Caps in 7 - First, it's automatically an amazing series because it went seven games and the last game was close. Second, LOL Ovechkin. Fun fact: Every playoff series that Ovechkin has been a part of has gone seven games. The guy is just not a clutch performer, and I hate to say it but Crosby is better, period. He didn't even play badly, but he has yet to step his game up to another level in the postseason. Other fun fact: this is the first time ever that the 8 seed defeated the 1 seed in the 1st round after facing a 3-1 deficit in the series. And there is only one reason Montreal pulled that off, and his name is Jaroslav Halak. In the last three games he faced about 150 shots and stopped all but three, one in each game. Plenty of those saves were "HOW DID HE MAKE THAT SAVE" ones too. Halak was so good down the stretch that the NHL already made a History Will Be Made commerical with him in it. If he keeps playing like this Pittsburgh is in deep trouble, hopefully he does. With all that said, XFD Caps!


Well as you can see, the first round was nuts, and the second round can only get better with some great matchups looming. Let's make some predictions:

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Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Captain, Happy birthday to you!!! ^_^

The Peavy puzzle

I'm not sure why he hasn't been good, either. I know you're wondering if you're a Sox fan, and I really don't know. But tonight, he goes against Rich harden and the Rangers to try to even the series and still have a chance to win it. Both Peavy and harden are 0-1, with Peavy's ERA a few points higher. If the Sox can do that timely hitting thing, it would be very helpful. I heard run support was a good thing.
I didn't see alot of last night's game because I was trying to flip between the Bulls and the Wings/Coyotes game as well. But what I did see from Buehrle, I liked. Matt Treanor kind of owned him, kind of the way his wife owns in the volleyball court. But other than that, Buehrle did alright i thought. the hitting was what made me mad in the 5th and 6th innings, when we had our best chances to score and failed to do so. The bats have been heating up a little bit, but it just hasn't been at quite the right time. Even our dear friend Mark Teahen got a hit as he came in to pinch hit for Nix in the 7th, but Juan Pierre grounded into a double play to kill that chance as well.
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A new rivalry?

I'm pretty stoked to say the least that we get to face the Canucks again in the second round, just like last year. They have a very good team, but I can't help but think that it will be a little easier than the series against the Preds because of the style of game that they play. Plus, I think we (especially Kaner) have Luongo's number, and if what I hear is true about Buff skating as a winger again, he will get in Luongo's head, and in his crease, all day.
As of right now nobody knows when game 1 will be, as we have to await the outcome of what could be a very epic upset in the Habs/Caps game. If Montreal wins, that means the Eastern conference had all upsets except for silly old Sidney Crosby. The only "upset" (and I use that term very loosely) in our conference was unfortunately those pesky Wings. The original Blackhawks rivals. But lately the buzz has been about the Canucks being our new rivals. It kind of got me thinking.
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The Bulls: a recap.

(alternate title: Vinny Del Negro, we hardly knew ye.)

Well, the inevitable defeat of the Bulls has occurred. They are now cleaning out their lockers and meeting with GarPax to give their thoughts on the season, and probably saying their last goodbye to Vinny.
This season was obviously disappointing despite making the playoffs. In fact the only reason we made the playoffs was because the rest of the Eastern conference is pretty much awful. I am however proud of them for hanging in there at the end when we needed to win the most. I know the core 5 players (Rose, Noah, Gibson, Deng, and Hinrich) can be really good, but I also embrace the idea of a free agent coming in during the offseason. We just have to be very careful on how we approach the issue.
Vinny will almost positively be fired. I don't want to hate on him alot, but it's just so easy. Rose and Noah only know him as far as coaching goes, and it could be kind of a sentimental thing (like poor teary eyed Kaner after Savvy got fired as the Blackhawks coach), but at the same time I really don't see the players respecting him the way they say they do. Rose and Noah need someone to help them develop into the players they can be, the problem is, nobody knows who the Bulls would have in mind. The announcement of Vinny's firing could come this weekend, but the announcement of who is taking his place might be a while.
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The craziest day: part III.

The third and final installment of this mini series of random ranting blogs is dedicated to my dear friends, the Chicago White Sox. After winning their first game against Seattle the night before, Saturday's game looked pretty good for us as well, as Freddy looked like he was pitching a great game. As I mentioned before, I was at work at the amazing Blackhawks game, so i only got to see bits and pieces of Saturday's Sox game, since it was a 3:10 Fox start time.
I saw that we were winning most of the way, and i was very excited, especially while at the same time being very antsy about the Hawks. But as the Hawks game ended in very awesome and very dramatic fashion, the Sox were in a position to also need such a dramatic victory.
Enter Paul Konerko.
Some of the regulars over at the Hawks stadium club also go over to my other place of work, the Sox stadium club. So in the midst of an amazing Hawks celebration, I watched the 9th inning attentively with them, hoping that some of the Hawks' energy could channel itself to the South side. Then, with 1 out, Paulie delivered. His 7th home run of the season tied up the game, and it was off of David Aardsma of all things. All the fans cheered with me even more as my euphoria level rose even higher.
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The craziest day: part II.

So on Saturday after my freak out about Dan Lefevour, there was another very important thing to be done. As I continued seating for dinner before game 5 of the Blackhawks Preditors series, I had many thoughts running through my head. I felt a little more confident than usual that we would win this game, but as I said in earlier posts, I didn't want to get "too cocky, Starfox..." so i kept my cool. I went out to watch the anthem and it was insane as usual, and I stayed out there to watch the puck drop. The time in between the anthem and the puck drop, i just got this rush of emotion, like I knew that once this puck dropped i would be witnessing yet another amazing Blackhawks game, and it made me very happy.
When the Preds scored first, that feeling went quickly from anticipation to kind of an "oh crap" kind of feeling. with Andrew Ladd's goal helping the situation, and Hjallmerson taking the lead for us before 1st intermission, I felt better, but was still being cautious. And as we still led 3-2 after the second, I started getting much more comfortable. And I think they did too...
10:00 into the third period is the cutoff point where we can't let anyone take alcohol out of the bar, so that's pretty much when my duties are done up front besides trying to stop people from doing so. So I go to the back of the dining room to put the glasses on the table (the dishwashers are really slow so we don't get them until around that point in the night), so I don't have the TV access that I have up front, but I still get the radio. At the point I went back, the Preds had tied it at 3, and I didn't realize till a little bit later that they went ahead 4-3. I was getting really antsy at this point, and rushed to put the glasses on the table, I had no concept of how much time was left, but my heart just kept beating progressively faster knowing that Hossa had gotten a 5 minute penalty (I didn't see the hit till later)...and then all of a sudden, i heard a giant roar in the crowd and ran up front as fast as I can...and I got there just in time to see Kaner do the unthinkable.
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The craziest day: part I.

Saturday, April 24th 2010 was probably the best day I've had in a long time, and I decided to share it in this blog as somewhat of a narrative, but I have to split it up into 3 parts. So here is part 1, I hope you enjoy. Why is this in the NFL part, you ask? because this was the first awesome thing that happened to me that day...
Before I can even tell you why this is so important, I first must introduce you to a dear friend of mine, the Mid-American conference, or MAC for short (Now anyone that followed the Bears draft probably knows where this is going...). The MAC has 13 teams, split into two divisions. My Alma mater, Northern Illinois University, is part of this conference, so i have familiarized myself with it very much (especially since my Freshman year was 2003). ESPN started playing random MAC games on Thursday nights , and my boyfriend and I have affectionately referred to these random games as "MAC day". Since 2003 was the best year of Huskie football EVER, in the recent years when it hasn't been as good (except the running backs that followed "the Burner" have still been pretty good) I have been more focused on the best QB in the state of Michigan, Mr. Dan Lefevour. I have been keeping an eye on him and was happy to know that he was a very high rated QB in the draft, and I was really just hoping he would get drafted before Tebow, but that didn't happen...
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XFD SHARKS

Yes, this is a Chicago sports blog, but I just have to mention what could very well be the funniest thing to happen in the history of all sports. Game 3 of the San Jose Sharks vs. Colorado Avalanche ends in regulation with a score of 0-0, with the Sharks outshooting the Avs 56-17 (yes I did say 56 shots, and Craig Anderson saved them all). Then, less than a minute into overtime, Dan Boyle tries to pass the puck...and puts it in his own net, giving the Avs a 2-1 series lead. That proves once and for all that the Sharks are the biggest failure of a sports team and if they lose this series they deserved XFDs and LOLs and LMAOs for years to come. I hope it happens, because then...

History will be made.

"Cleveland sucks?"

I just heard all the stuff Noah said about Cleveland and I had to laugh, especially because I was reminded of this.

game 1 thoughts

As much as I didn't want the Bulls to lose, I kind of had a feeling that they would. I anticipated them losing by alot more than they did, so that was at least exciting. Derrick Rose was awesome as usual, and the matchup of Noah and Shaq, although it makes sense, Shaq is just way too huge. Noah doesn't care about the size factor, he's just hungry for a win. And when they didn't get that win, he was upset with his own performance. I love that intensity and energy that he brings to the team, and I still attribute the Bulls 10 game losing streak in March to the fact that Noah wasn't playing. They just didn't seem the same with out him. I'm glad the Bulls at least put up a fight, which is really all I can ask of them at this point.

Cavs fans are all about this storybook playoffs for the King. Being a free agent at the end of it, they know that if he wins a championship with the Cavs, there's a much better chance that he would stay. This is a crucial time to the fans for that reason, and I knew they'd be very energetic the whole game too (I mean it was either that or go to the Indians/Sox game...luckily they could do both for just $5, and they were all drunk enough to do it).

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Chief Wahoo's broom

I'm not even really sure where to begin on this one. This series against Cleveland was most definitely one they should have won. Nobody in Cleveland even cares about baseball right now (see my Bulls blog later for why...). Saturday's game was empty at the beginning, but because of a special promotion from the across the street neighbor, "The Q", anyone at the Bulls/Cavs game could being their ticket stub and pay $5 get into the remainder of the game over at the Jake (or Progressive field or the not as-much-of-a-mistake by the lake or whatever they call it now...). So their attendance pretty much tripled with drunk Cavs fans that were like "oh man yeah we should go to the Indians game, bro!! I heard Lebron is gonna play second base!!"

Anyway, there were just alot of things wrong with the Sox this weekend. The offense is still the main issue. I feel like i'm repeating myself alot but I just don't know why the offense is always so bad at the beginning of the year. Andruw Jones, who was showing signs of life in his bat, kind of quieted down, but I still think he should be in every day. The Indians really don't have any outstanding pitching (well, not anymore) so we shouldn't be limited with the offense. Hopefully this homestand coming up will get them back on track, and maybe the first off day of the year today will help them out too.

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The power of the mullet!!

It's been quite the busy weekend, so I haven't gotten a chance to talk about these first two playoff games yet. After all of my hype for Friday's game, the result was pretty much a buzz kill, But I knew my Hawks could come through in game 2. But so far, the biggest story has been Kaner, who is playing like a stud, and looks like one too.

The theme for Friday for me was anticipation. Driving to the UC I just had so much excitement, and all the fans did too. I felt like we were all confident for a victory, but as Wolf once told me, "don't get too cocky, Starfox..." and I should have remembered these wise words from one of the best N64 games because the Preds seemed like they wanted to be known as a force to be reckoned with instead of "that team that's gonna get pwned by the Blackhawks". I thought Niemi played well on Friday, and Captain had a couple of chances to score, but "Heeeey Pekka Rinne" was also very good in that game. Not good enough to stop the mullet though! As Kaner was the only one to score. The Hawks overall just looked flat, and couldn't keep up with the Preds' defensive strategies. I knew that by the time game 2 started they would figure out a way to get past them, and they certainly did.

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playoffs???

well well well. look what we have here. The Bulls in the playoffs. After a year that I was very unsure thy would make it (I mean, they lost 2 games to the NETS) they actually pulled it off. Now, my friends all make fun of me very much for liking the Bulls, but hear me out for a few moments.
First of all, the Eastern conference is BAD. I mean, it's pretty much absolutely awful. So take that into consideration before we think the Bulls are awesome for making the playoffs. However, despite this badness, i really feel like the Bulls should have won many more games, if they had, you know, a good coach.
Vinny is...well...I dunno. Out of the sports, i know the least about basketball, but I feel like I still know more than Vinny Del Negro. I really like this Bulls team and I know they can be awesome. I just know that the coaching is an issue. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I think the Bulls can beat the Cavs, i'm just not going to do that. But I do think that we will at least put up a fight. Joakim Noah is one of my favorite people ever, and I know he can keep up that intensity.
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continuing the countdown...

Every morning I have been waking up with my first thought being "is it Friday yet???" As my 2 blogger counterparts have already stated, this is the craziest time of the year, and I have been going pretty crazy about it. I hate that I have to still wait 2 more days to see my beloved Blackhawks start some playoff hockey, but at least there will be some good games on tonight. I'm pullin for the Flyers, and i'm obviously gonna root for the Coyotes. It's not that Detroit scares me, it's just that i really don't like them. But i'll save the trash talking of the Wings for when it's neccessary.
So tonight's matchups: Flyers at Devils, Sens at Pens (that just sounds cool, doesn't it?), Avs at Sharks, and Wings at Coyotes. I'll be watching as much as i can, while also making sure the Sox are actually hitting the ball...AND monitoring what is going on in Charlotte for the Bulls' playoff sake. What an awesome sports night it will be. ^_^
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the curse of the pitcher we haven't seen before

It happens almost every single time. Some no-name pitcher from a mediocre team (although in the Jays' defense they have gotten off to a very good start) comes in and we make him look like he's, oh I dunno, Roy Halladay or something. Last night was no different, as the Sox had no hits at all until Rios hit that home run in the 8th inning. When AJ was up to bat before that, he of course was involved in a weird call, as the ball clearly hit the ground and not his foot but the umpire still awarded him first base. Maybe that messed with Romero's head a little bit. Maybe. But either way this whole thing is freaking me out now. What is it about pitchers that we haven't seen before? luckily as for tonight, Morrow has pitched against us before (maybe not against everyone on the team, but most of them i'm sure). So maybe we can get the bats going tonight and still have a chance to win 3 out of 4.
The night before was yet another extra inning affair, in which Mark Teahen was a stud. It was good to see him "coming through in the clutch" (as they say...) and getting that RBI triple. You can imagine my happiness when i found out later that he is Canadian...I feel like we will see him doing the shoot the puck during the playoffs for the Hawks. ^_~ That night was the second time that Peavy didn't have the velocity that he is capable of. Hopefully he gets that back for his next start against Cleveland on Saturday.
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A Few More Months

We are now on the edge of our couches and chairs waiting for the playoffs to begin. We have known who is playing who since Sunday evening. The up-to date match-ups including who's currently in the lead can be seen here. Most of the matchups are not exciting story lines to some, but guess what people, it's HISTORY TIME! This is the time of the year where hockey fans across the world put down their razors for 2 months, pick up a beer, sit on their couches, or recliners and watch any playoff hockey game that is currently showing. It doesn't matter to which team you would get into a brawl over, all that matters is that there are two teams right now that are laying it all out on the ice so that in what seems like a very short time, they will be able to take their victory lap around the rink with the Cup held high over their head. Then maybe afterwards when all the fans are out in the street rioting, the players will be able to just chill on the ice with their brothers and enjoy a cigar and a drink. I know I would.


So far, in the few days since the end of the regular season I have heard all kinds of playoff predictions. See More...

A Look at the NHL Playoffs

Ah yes, my favorite time of the year, the road to the Stanley Cup, where every game is a nailbiter, every team ups their play to a whole new level, and in general there is just more intensity. For us Chicago fans, it will be filled with even more anxiety than usual, since we absolutely expect the Blackhawks to win the Cup this year. We have the offense and we have the depth this year to win it all, depth that we will not have next year due to the need to clear cap space. The time is now, and the Hawks know it.

But what about the goaltending? Niemi has not started a single playoff game! There's no way he can hang with the veterans of the NHL! Well...not exactly. First off, in spite of the Hawks giving up the fewest shots on goal against them throughout the season, Niemi still has a great GAA and has proven in the past that he can hang in there. Secondly, let's take a look at the starting goaltenders this postseason:

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avoiding the sweep

That series against the Twins did not go quite as i thought it would, but there were some positives as well as the negatives (the negatives really just being the hitting). Danks, Freddy, and Buehrle all threw the ball well for the most part, which was the biggest thing i saw to stay hopeful. Once the bats get going I think we'll stop dropping 2 of 3 and maybe start winning 2 of 3 for once.
The most impressive and surprising moment was on Saturday when Linebrink came in with the sacks packed with Twins and nobody out. When i saw him coming out of that bullpen all i could think was "oh no..." but then by some miracle he got all 3 outs without giving up any runs!!! It was very awesome and i take back the bad things I said about him for now. It was sad that Freddy made one lousy pitch to give up that home run to Kubel, but otherwise he did an awesome job.
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The longest week

I'm not sure why the schedule doesn't have us starting Wednesday. I know why we can't start Thursday (The Harlem Globetrotters are invading the UC). So now I have to wait all the way till Friday. I'm really really excited for these playoffs to start, I dunno how i'm gonna make it through the week.
Today's game was a really good hockey game with a bad outcome. The crowd was insane, and it can only get more insane for Friday. That anthem is going to be EPIC. Also, the tribute to Eddie Olczyk was really really cool. what an awesome guy ^_^
Dispite losing to one of my two least favorite teams ever around sports (the other being the Twins, see my MLB post later), i do like matching up with Nashville. I think the fact that it's so close will be really helpful, and I know that we have matched up well against them in the past. Also, even though i'll be tweaking out all week waiting for the playoffs to begin, i like the extra rest it will give us, which might help in the long run. see more...

it's almost time...

All signs point to the fact that the playoffs for our beloved Blackhawks will start Wednesday at the UC. I'm glad this week has gone by so fast so far, with the plethora of sports in this town that have been going on. Wednesday is so close and yet so far, and i'm trying very hard not to get ahead of myself. Tonight's game against the Avalanche can be a possible playoff matchup, and i think we can pull off a series win against them if we do in fact have to play them. If we can score early and take control and show them who's boss, It could set the tone for later on. The same could go for Sunday against the Wings depending on how all of these matchups pan out in the next couple nights.
It was nice seeing the offense explode in Wednesday night's game against the Blues, but it seemed like they got a bit too relaxed after that. It's hard to keep up intensity like that when you have such a comfortable lead, but at a time like this, with playoffs just around the corner, the intensity should be a constant. I could tell the Captain was not happy with the team giving up 5 goals like that, so i'm sure he said something after the fact. I was glad to get the win though, those Blues play like a bunch of goons.
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one series down...

The opening series has come and gone, and the Sox have dropped 2 out of 3 to the Indians. Last night's game was close for a while, but once again the bullpen and offense were to blame for this extra inning loss to an Indians team that, well, just isn't very good.
Gavin Floyd looked like he was doing very well from what i was able to watch, but this offense is just never able to pick up the pitcher in these early games, and it's been that way for the past few years at least. The cold weather can be to blame, or the fact that the new members of the team haven't gotten used to hitting in this ballpark yet, but whatever it is they usually figure it out after a frustrating couple of weeks. This Sox pitching staff is too good to let this happen this time around, though. Tonight when Danks faces Liriano, I anticipate a very low scoring game. Even the coveted "man who invented hitting" Joe Mauer hasn't fared well against Danks, most famously so in the 1 game playoff back in 2008.
At Soxfest this year, i had decided to jump on the Mark Teahen bandwagon (which is about as empty as I thought it would be). I can't tell if I think he's bad at defense or if I just miss a certain other third baseman's defense from long ago. I feel like Teahen should be diving for the ball the way Crede used to, which i'm sure attributed to his back issues and the fact that after three games have been played this season, he is still not on a team. But i'm just so used to a third baseman doing that, I guess i've just been spoiled over the years.
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Buehrle is a stud...but should I worry?

I feel terrible about not having any time to blog about opening day, but for those of you who don't know me, I work at the United Center and US Cellular field (which I still like to call Comiskey Park), so I have been working every day since Saturday. But I would like to share some sentiments about the home opener for my beloved White Sox.

I was very very impressed by Mark Buehrle. I still can't get over that play he made in the 5th inning. It is easily the play of the year, even though it was on opening day. Also, I was very glad to see him throw 7 scoreless innings. I really really really believe that the Sox have the best pitching in the division and Buehrle is the key to that starting pitching staff.

Tonight on the other hand...i'm not too upset with Peavy's performance as I am with the Sox offense. Paulie has shown some unusual April offense, hitting 2 home runs in the last 2 games, but tonight's game showed that the cold weather calls for some cold bats in the Sox lineup. I really can't blame Peavy or the rest of the pitching for this one. hopefully tomorrow will be better and the Sox can win their first series of the year against a lowly Indians team...More to come tomorrow (if I have time, that is.)

Death of the Mid-Major

Leave it up to Duke to effectively destroy March Madness by killing the cinderella story, stomping all over the little guy, and giving the NCAA committee exactly what they want. With the tournament expanding to 96 teams imminent there will not be much hope left for teams from non-power conferences to make a great run for the title. It's sad that it's all about the money rather than the love of the game. Oh no, North Carolina didn't make it in, let's expand it so they can rake us in more cash! The expansion would not be so bad if 1) the selection committee actually knew how to seed properly, 2) the refs knew how to officiate properly, and 3) if the bias towards power conference teams wasn't so obvious. Only against against a Horizon league team could Duke blatantly elbow someone in the face twice and not get a call against them. But back to the expansion, who do you think this will help: Coastal Carolina, a 28-7 team that won the Big South but did not make the tournament because they did not win their conference tourney, or a terrible 18-16 Connecticut team? What, you never heard of Coastal Carolina? I guess the NCAA has to put UConn in the tournament even though they would get smoked. Butler winning would have given mid-majors hope, and it would also help recruits who might not start for Kentucky play for Siena instead, believing that if they can put a good TEAM together, then just maybe a championship run isn't so far-fetched. However, Duke basically spit on all of our hopes and dreams. Now, maybe they'll prove me wrong and help out the good mid-majors by expanding instead of putting in average power teams just because of their name.

And maybe they'll change the BCS into a playoff system...

Preview of Hawks Vs Stars

The preview for the Hawks game tells us what we pretty much know. Patrick Kane is awesome, so is Anti Niemi. I just hope that we continue playing Niemi because he certainly deserves it, as well as a run for the shutout record. He is currently only one behind Byrzgalov despite playing only half as many games. Patrick Kane has had a dry spell recently, but broke that in the past game to continue being the leader in goals and points on the Hawks. The game starts at 7:30 pm and will be on CSN. Tune in to watch the Blackhawks make a run to grab back the 1st seed in the Conference.


I'm glad that at least they play hockey a hell of a lot better than they throw a baseball.

A Slimmer Zambrano Not Good for the Cubs

After the offseason Zambrano reported that he lost 30 pounds. There were a few jokes about him, specifically about if it was him in a certain picture, but the reality of it was that he realized that he had to do something and was able to set his mind to it. He worked out and ate healthier so that he trimmed about 30 lbs off his body. There was excitement that the Cubs #1 pitcher was more focused, more in shape, and getting ready for the next season. That excitement took just longer than one inning to die. Zambrano only had one strikeout while letting up 8 runs before being pulled in the 2nd inning, which earned him a crazy 54 ERA. Then in the 7th Jeff Samardzija faced 7 batters and allowed 6 of them to get to home plate. The combination of 12 runs that were gift wrapped to the Braves were just too much for the Cubs to overcome. The Cubbies lost 16 to 5 in their season opener in Atlanta. True you cannot blame the pitcher for everything, but I'm at least blaming this game on the pitchers, specifically Zambrano and Samardzija.


I just wish that a Gatorade machine would fight back and take a bat to Carlo's head.

it's the most wonderful time of the year...

Twas the night before opening day...

i seriously feel like a little kid on Christmas eve here. So hopeful for what's to come, so much anticipation. I can't wait to see the ballpark fill up tomorrow. Hearing Nancy play on her last opening day (so sad...), Seeing the Pirates/Thunderstruck video, seeing Mark throw that very first pitch of the year. I probably won't get much sleep tonight. Baseball is here. I'm even watching the Yankees/Red Sox game right now because it's baseball, and it's on (and it is a really good game so far by the way).
I will say this, the invention of MLB network has both calmed down my anticipation during the offseason and increased it. I had access to baseball all year, but lately I have just been wanting to see some games. I think it's because of the show 30 Clubs in 30 days, which is an in depth preview of every single team. When the show began in early March, the itch to see these teams in action grew and grew, and now that i am watching a game I just want it to be 1:05pm tomorrow right now.
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Central champs!!!

I haven't had alot of time to post anything over the weekend, but these past two hawks games have been very wonderful.
Let's start with the game on Friday against the Devils. It wasn't very eventful aside from the awesome goaltending on both ends, until the end of the game of course. I was watching the game with a friend who doesn't know much about Hockey (or sports in general, that's why he has me to teach him ^_^) and I was explaining how the Hawks pulled Niemi and put in the extra attacker. No sooner did my friend ask "Are the Hawks known for scoring with the extra attacker?" than they did just that. It was very exciting, especially with only 26 seconds left. Then, of course, the Captain was clutch in the shootout, which was very nice to see.
Today, the crowd was really awesome, and so were the Hawks. It was really good to see the offensive power that was going on, and of course Niemi was a stud once again. Now, the Hawks have their first Central Division title since Kaner and Tazer were only 4 years old, and can't drop lower than 3rd seed in the standings. Now we just have to catch up with the Sharks, who as we speak are about to go into overtime with the Avalanche. see more...

Stupid Lovie

Like I said earlier on, it would be a very stupid move on the Bears part to get rid of Alex Brown. Lovie Smith has just shown me again, another reason why I get so upset sometimes with my beloved team. It just does not make sense to me why anyone would want to get rid of Alex Brown. Yes, Brown plays right end, but Julius Peppers is able to play either side, and with Israel Idonije's natural position being on the interior of the line, why would you want to force him outside. Sure, Smith believes in Mark Anderson, Jarron Gilbert, and Henry Melton but why would you want to have a less experienced D-line, which is no doubtingly less experienced because of the departure of Brown, in the same year that we are hurting badly in the secondary? True, our secondary has been less than stellar in the past few years, but with the release of Vasher the Bears are hurting for experience in their CBs and safeties. There is no reason why we cannot have serious depth in our defensive line to compensate for the lack of depth in other places. Especially with how the Bears players always seem to be injury prone. I'm expecting this year to end up with Tommie Harris playing a couple of games but then being injured, leaving the Bears with an outstanding end in Peppers that will be double teamed every play. We will then look to Idonije to make plays, but who knows where he will play once Harris is out of commission. Well the bright side is, Lovie and Co. will be gone after this next season.