Sunday, March 30, 2014

2014 MLB Preview: AL East

We've almost made it! Baseball that actually counts and is not played at weird times of the morning starts tonight! It's maybe the first real sign of spring!

In another total shocker, I goofed on last year's predictions out in the AL East, focusing too much on big splashes. There weren't too many big ones this year though, so hopefully I'll be closer to right this time. Also, you best respect the champ. Let's go.


Saturday, March 29, 2014

2014 MLB Preview: NL East

Happy Saturday and Opening Night Eve! We're almost there!

I'm onto the last geographical area of the league and the second to last division in the series of previews. Today I tackle the NL East, in a division where I kind of whiffed last year on the winner, but had kind of the right idea at least. There's a definite separation though between the class of the division and the also-rans. So without further ado, let's make that distinction.


Friday, March 28, 2014

2014 MLB Preview: AL Central

Happy Friday! We're onto the fourth of six division previews now, and I'm through with projecting another sad year for my Cubs team. But what about the other Chicago baseball team and the rest of their division?

Detroit saw its pitching staff lead the way to the postseason again, while the postseason saw something of a surprising entrant in the Indians as a Wild Card. The rest of the division might not really be in a position to make a run, but you never know. I was way wrong about Cleveland last year. Hopefully I won't be as wrong this time around.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

2014 MLB Preview: NL Central

We're moving right along in this year's series of MLB previews. The West Coast is done, and now I'm heading to America's heartland and my homeland.

I pegged the top of the division right last year, if only because it seemed to be a given. St. Louis was the division winner last year, but Pittsburgh outperformed expectations and finally became that feel-good story, making the playoffs for the first time in 21 years. Maybe there will be a changing of the guard? We'll have to see this summer. For now, here's how I think the division shakes out.


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

2014 MLB Preview: AL West

I'm onto Day Two of doing MLB previews now, as we're just a few days away from the stateside start of the season. After having done the NL West, we've covered the two teams that have already played, so I've already got a decent head-start on my predictions with the Dodgers being 2-0, though Arizona at 0-2 isn't as great a start. As people are fond of saying though, it's a long season, and April is a time of hope for basically every team. You know, unless you're the Cubs. I'm going to go cry in the corner now.

As for today, I'm looking at the AL West, where I've been pretty wrong two years running. I'm not going to be fooled again. Of course, this probably means I'll still be wrong knowing how my luck with these things go. We'll see. Here's how I predict the race will go.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

2014 MLB Preview: NL West

It's been a long, brutal winter. Spring officially began last Thursday, but it hasn't really seemed like it yet. We're (hopefully) past all that polar vortex subzero nonsense, though Sunday saw some lake effect snow in Chicago. It's hard to believe that on Sunday, Major League Baseball officially gets underway here in the States as opposed to that Australian pair of games this past weekend.

So like I did last year, I'm going to do a runthrough of all 30 MLB teams even though I've only kind of followed what's gone on during the offseason. I think I can do enough to at least reasonably guess at what will happen. Bear in mind though, this is a guy who picked the world champs to finish last in their division last year. I was wrong then, so take these picks for what you will.

Another fun side note: I totally threw out random records last season for my projections, and my dad put the numbers together only to find that I gave, on average, about a win too many to all the teams last year. I'm actually looking at numbers this time.

Since I want to do the division with the defending champ last, I'm starting in the opposite league on the opposite coast. As such, here's how I'm picking the NL West to shape up.


Monday, March 24, 2014

2014 NFL Tournament of Champions: Super Bowl of Super Bowls

It's been about a month in the making. I put forty-eight teams into a gauntlet of simulated battles on a virtual gridiron. Forty-six of them have fallen. Now, only two teams from the late '90s remain. Only one of them can claim the title of Greatest of All Time.

On one side, we have The Greatest Show on Turf, a team that earned a first round bye, took out a couple of old-time classic teams, then beat the top seed in the tournament to make this stage. On the other side, we have a team that fell a couple spots short of a bye, but won three of its five games on the road.

Since we're into the championship round, I'm going to step up the standard of proof. This round will be a best-of-five simulated series, with the "clinching" game being the official result. Since we're playing this game in Arlington at JerryWorld, weather isn't really a factor. All simulations are once again provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Game Notes: Carolina Hurricanes @ Chicago Blackhawks (3/21/14)

Final Score

Game Summary
Playing without a few of their major contributors, the Blackhawks (41-15-15) put forth a great effort early and got quite a few good looks, but Anton Khudobin held his own for the Hurricanes (30-31-9). Carolina didn't manage a shot on goal until more than 11 minutes had gone by. Ultimately the teams went into intermission scoreless. The Hawks didn't waste a lot of time in the second period, scoring a breakaway goal to take the lead. They'd add another one towards the end of the period thanks to some lackadaisical defense by the Hurricanes. Unfortunately, Carolina notched a goal with 38 seconds left in the period to halve the lead going back to the locker room. They came out and got a 5-on-3 power play, and after a timeout, scored directly off a draw to tie it up. They remained on a one-man advantage, but a bad bounce off a shot attempt gave the Hawks another breakaway chance, and they took advantage again. Carolina had a few decent looks to come back again, but struggled to get Khubodin off the ice thanks to great offensive zone pressure by the Hawks, who held on for the win.

Three Stars
3. Patrick Sharp (CHI): 1 G, 6 SOG, +1. Sharp netted his 30th goal of the year on that first breakaway off a great feed from Andrew Shaw. I didn't get to see him finish it off since I was standing behind our seats from an earlier food run, but I know the unmistakable sound of a goal when I hear it.
2. Alexander Semin (CAR): 2 G, 4 SOG, -1. I didn't really know anyone on the Hurricane roster offhand, but remembered Semin a little but when I saw his name. He scored both Carolina goals, the first on a rocket late in the second, and then a second one in the third while on a two-man advantage.
1. Jonathan Toews (CHI): 1 G (SH), 2 SOG, +1. Toews took a couple penalties tonight he maybe shouldn't have, but made the play of the game shortly after the Canes tied it up. An errant shot took a funky bounce towards the Carolina zone, and Toews caught up with it, and made a gorgeous forehand-backhand move to put it home. It was all the Hawks needed from there.

Final Thoughts
Photo of Arnie the Alpaca by Kristen Klecka
The anthem? Once again, amazing. I actually took video of it, but the video doesn't do it justice. If you haven't been to the Madhouse for a Hawks game, do so. It's magical.

One guy not mentioned on here so far, but should be? Corey Crawford. He made 26 saves tonight, including a few really good ones and also played well despite taking a stick to the groin. He may not be an "elite" goaltender, per se, but he's a very good netminder who can definitely help this team win another Cup.

Kristen and I went to this game as our dating anniversary gift to each other, and it happened to time out to be three months before our wedding. Clearly the outcome was becoming of the evening. We're now 1-1 on the season after seeing a loss to Minnesota earlier in the year. One thing we did confirm though is that our alpaca friend pictured to the left is a good luck charm: the Blackhawks are 2-0 when we bring him. We forgot to take him when we went earlier in the season. Now we know. Nobody bring up the Law of Averages; I don't want to hear it.

I do think this year's Hawks team is capable of repeating, but it won't be easy. Having to face Colorado in the first round as they're on track to do (though they now would have home ice) scares me a little bit based on season results. But then again, playoff hockey is totally different. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks. And hopefully come playoff time, the Hawks will be at full strength. Get well soon, Kaner.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Probably Faulty Bracketology: NCAA Tournament Predictions

We interrupt our focus on finding a football champion to bring you some basketball.

I've said for years and continue to maintain that the best four-day stretch of sports is the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Wall to wall basketball for four days? Count me in.

I started up a bracket pool again this year, but didn't get any takers this time around. Nonetheless, I figured I should at least share my picks to show everyone how much of an idiot I am when it comes to this and how I will almost certainly lose out on winning a billion dollars by 3:15 this afternoon.

While it might be difficult to see, you can click on the image to see a zoomed in view. If you're lazy, my Final Four is Florida, San Diego State, Wichita State and Michigan State. I have the Spartans topping the Shockers 71-62 in the title game.

I've had good first days in the past; I think my best finish was 15-1 after a single day before things started to fall apart. It always seems to happen on either the Friday or the Saturday. Last year it happened on the Thursday when I made the mistake of picking New Mexico to make the Final Four and seeing them lose their opener. I look forward to seeing some other shenanigans destroy my bracket this weekend.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

2014 NFL Tournament of Champions: Semifinals

It's been about a month since I started this project, and it's been significantly less work than the first Tournament of Champions I did. But I also haven't been trying to keep track of stats to the same degree I did. Even so, we've done a good job narrowing down the tournament field.

One of the old Steel Curtain teams remains intact, and the other three are all from the '90s, including our top seed of the tournament in the '91 Redskins.

There is one note I have from the quarterfinals last weekend. I made mention of Scott Bentley as the kicker on the '97 Broncos, which is what WhatIfSports has on the roster. This is a problem, as one reader pointed out to me on Facebook, in that Bentley played in one game for Denver in 1997 while Jason Elam was the main kicker. I've looked; there is absolutely nothing I can do about this. It's a mistake on the part of the simulator. Which is weird, considering WhatIfSports has a player entry for '97 Jason Elam. Let's just call it a quirk of the tournament and say virtual Jason Elam is out with a bruised code or something.

You can see the matchups that we have set up to the right here. We're doing this how we've done the first 44: a best-of-three simulation, with the "clinching" game being the official result. Weather forecasts will be taken into account. And despite the whole Jason Elam thing, all simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's set up a title game.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Most Valuabull To His Team

I haven't had much opportunity to do a lot of analysis of current sports events lately. A lot of focus here has been on North Central basketball, or running crazy tournaments to decide historical Greatest-Of-All-Time teams. But I feel like this is a topic I should chime in on. After all, I can't let Geoffy have a monopoly on the NBA and the Bulls, can I?

I was kind of looking forward to this NBA season with Derrick Rose expected to return to complete a core that a lot of people felt was definitely capable of winning a championship, but things fell apart very quickly. A perfect sports day on my 24th birthday was ruined by news that Rose had torn his meniscus and was likely to miss the rest of the season. Unfortunately, injuries are a part of the NBA and we have to take that news when it comes.

Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images
I think a lot of people, and I'd probably include myself, thought that that would be the end of the Bulls' season. The front office almost seemed to agree when they dealt Luol Deng to Cleveland. Even so, it was a move I agreed with, because it sets up the Bulls for reloading in the 2014 offseason, even though I'm not sold that they will get the ultimate prize. But that's a story for another time.

No one on the outside could have blamed the Bulls for dropping off the table after the Deng trade. Without your best guy, your glue guy, a team that was under .500 in a terrible conference would normally say enough and try to position themselves for the best possible draft pick this summer. But we all seemed to forget just who this Bulls team really is.

There should be some awards for this team that get announced this summer. First and foremost, and probably somewhat biased, Tom Thibodeau should win Coach of the Year. I don't mean to discredit guys like Jeff Hornacek, who has done a terrific job with the Suns, or perennial candidate Gregg Popovich of the Spurs. Thibs has had to deal with losing his best player to a knee injury for the third straight season (I'm counting the April 2012 ACL tear as the first). And when you consider what Deng meant to this Bulls team and Thibs in particular... man. Deng was one of, if not the guy that Thibs relied on most on this Bulls team. I thought for the last few years that Deng was the glue guy that kept this team going. Obviously the development of Jimmy Butler has helped with this loss to some degree. Say what you will about his management of minutes on his key guys, but this Bulls team would have folded without Thibodeau. This is not a debatable fact. Other coaches may have kept the ship around where Thibs has kept it, but I don't know if anyone would have had the same degree of success.

Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast (AP)
Going along with this though has been the presence of the guy who's clearly now my favorite Bull: Joakim Noah. He's the type of guy that you hate when he plays for an opposing team, but if he's on your team, you love him. I love how he does all the little things your team needs to do to win, and I love his energy and passion he brings every night. You know he cares and he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. Over the course of his career he's turned into one of the best defenders in the league, and I would go so far as to say he's the Defensive Player of the Year this year.

Now bear with me, because I'm going to put my homer hat partially on: Joakim Noah should get some votes for Most Valuable Player.

Photo by Jonathan Daniel (Getty Images)
Now before you denounce me as a lunatic Bulls fan, or a blind homer, or a "hater", let me clarify my position. Voters for the MVP vote for the top five guys for this award. I'm not going to sit here and say that Noah should be getting consideration for first place votes. If I had a ballot, I'd probably vote Kevin Durant first and LeBron James second. The kind of season Durant has had overall puts him in a very good position in that regard, and LeBron is LeBron. Those two guys deserve the 1-2 in MVP voting in some order. But I think Noah should finish in the Top Five. His numbers aren't first place-worthy (12.2 PPG, 11.3 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.5 BPG, 1.1 SPG, while shooting 48.5% from the field and 71.5% from the line) compared to LeBron or Durant, but averaging a double double is nothing to sneeze at. But his value clearly comes from those intangibles. Even with the Bulls' loss last night, I still have to put Noah up on that list somewhere.

Photo by Mike Ehrmann (Getty Images)
I'm also a realist. This Bulls team, as currently constructed, is probably not going to win a championship. In today's NBA, you need to have at least one superstar to win, plus the one or two major sidekicks and a few key role players. Being without Derrick Rose all but excludes this Bulls team, and Joakim Noah isn't at that superstar level unfortunately. But you can bet that Indiana and Miami are not looking forward to facing the Bulls in the playoffs. The Bulls may not win, but whoever they face will be relieved to be past them because of the hell Thibs, Noah and company put them through. If you're going to beat this Bulls team, you have to earn it.

Friday, March 7, 2014

2014 NFL Tournament of Champions: Quarterfinals

We've come a long way. Just a few weeks ago, I had penciled in forty-eight Super Bowl champions into a bracket, and just three weeks later, we're down to eight. A lot of fantastic teams have already fallen, but a lot of really good ones still remain. Today, we finish out the individual brackets to complete our Final Four.

We've had a lot of chalk working in this tournament, as the highest seed remaining in the tournament is 18th-seeded '97 Denver. The biggest upset so far? The '85 Bears getting a first round bye as the 2nd-seeded squad, then falling in their first game. Most of the teams that got byes are still standing. Can they keep going, or will home field advantage cease to be a factor?

To find out, we'll simulate these games as a best-of-three, with the "clinching" game being the official result. Weather forecasts will be taken into account, and all simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Time to play.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

2014 NFL Tournament of Champions Third Round: Terry Bradshaw Bracket

Last one for the weekend. We only have two games left before we get to the Elite Eight.

A lot of the classic teams still remain in this bracket, though its namesake only has one representative left. The original Super Bowl champion is still alive, as is the Greatest Show on Turf. A lot of fantastic teams still standing. But only two can advance.

So to see who will, we're sticking to tradition. These games will be simulated best-of-three, with the "clinching" game being the official result. I'll try to take weather forecasts into account. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's go.


2014 NFL Tournament of Champions Third Round: John Elway Bracket

Hey, I actually managed to get these up on a Saturday!

We're onto the second half of Round Three with only twelve teams left standing. By day's end, we'll only have eight. This bracket already saw a couple big upsets last round. The current defending champs are still around though, along with a couple of the first Super Bowl champions. We'll see if they can keep their magical runs going.

To find out, we'll simulate these two matchups as a best-of-three, with the "clinching" game being the official result. Weather forecasts will be taken into account, and all simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play football.