Hockey Weekly

So Hockey is getting interesting for me. I started out in first place but have struggled to stay at .500. This week I went 5-5 winning the following categories: G, A, PPG, ATOI, and SOG. For the 2nd week in a row I didn't win any goalie categories which is really upsetting to me. My players of the week were Ales Kotalik, Scott Niedermayer, Dany Heatley and Milan Hejduk. I am currently 28-28-4 which puts me 3rd in the division and 5th in the league. I definitely need to get new goalies though. I have been struggling at that position and it's costing me some deadly points. As always check back next week for more Fantasy Hockey.

Basketball Weekly

Well another week of basketball has gone by and I did okay this week. It could have been better because I only went 3-5 in my league. The categories I won were PTS, AST, and 3PM. I killed it on three pointers. I have some really good shooters on my team but 3-5 just doesn't cut it for me because I know I have better players then that.

My players of the week are Ben Gordon, Shaquille O'Neal, Grant Hill, and Steve Nash. Good work boys. I am currently 9-7 which puts me in 2nd place in the division and 4th place overall. I need to pick up the pace this week and make some moves. There are a few guys I am not happy with and am trying to get rid of and hopefully I do eventually. As always check by next week for further updates on my Fantasy Basketball team.

Did Lebron Force Braylon Out of Cleveland?

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to the Dan Patrick show and he was talking about the Braylon Edwards incident that happened awhile ago. He was saying that Lebron demanded that Braylon Edwards be traded out of Cleveland or otherwise he would not play another minute of basketball. I've read that Braylon punched Lebron's friend because he was jealous of Lebron and that led to the scuffle. Okay well here is the scenario I envisioned that happened.

Braylon Edwards and Lebron James happen to be in the same nightclub on that night. And because of who Lebron James is, his friend probably started mouthing off to Braylon Edwards, probably talking trash in the process and that led to Braylon hitting him. Then because of who Lebron is to Cleveland he probably told people that he wanted Braylon Edwards out of his town. In a way he did Braylon a favor by running out him out of the Browns organization. Now he is on a decent team that can contend. The Browns are a joke and so is Lebron actually.

I do not understand why people love this guy so much. He walks around with a New York Yankees hat on, not supporting his other local teams. They call him "King" What's he the king of? I can think of atleast 5 basketball players better then him. Guys like Kobe, D-Wade, and a few others I feel are way better then Lebron. They also never called Jordan, Magic, or Bird the king and they were way better the Lebron ever could dream of being.

This whole incident and possible theory just fuels my disliking for Lebron James even more. I feel bad for the city of Cleveland because they are putting all their hopes and dream on this guy when you know he will probably leave after this year. This is the same guy who was embarrassed to hide video footage of a college kid dunking on him. He's a poor sport, he's a crybaby and he's not that great as everyone thinks he is. Maybe someday Lebron will grow up but until then he does not have my respect and probably never will.

The Wrestling Wars Rise Again

In June 1994, Hulk Hogan did the unthinkable and did something no one ever thought he'd ever do. He signed with Ted Turners WCW and changed the wrestling world as we know it. Up until that point WCW was never really on the same level as the WWE. Don't take that statement the wrong way because WCW had some great stars like Sting, Vader, and whole bunch of other guys. In 1993 the WWE started it's weekly show Monday Night Raw and it was pretty much unopposed except for Monday Night Football. That all changed in August of 1995 when WCW aired Monday Nitro at the Mall of America. The shock value that WCW was trying to create started that night when Lex Luger appeared on Nitro just one day after being on WWE's Summerslam. People went nuts and focused their attention on this company who was pulling out all the stops.

The wrestling world changed even more at Bash of the Beach 1996 when Hulk Hogan joined up with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to form the n.W.o. In my opinion this is when the Monday Night Wars really began. WCW dominated the ratings for nearly 2 years and came close to putting WWE out of business but then WWE through the gloves off and started the attitude era. Stone Cold, the Rock, DX and Mankind along with others were doing crazy stuff on TV that you'd never thought would be done in professional wrestling. In my humble opinion 2000 was the turning point in the Monday Night Wars. By this time WWE had Kurt Angle, and Chris Jericho but they signed Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn. They were the ones going out putting all the good matches on and now the WCW didn't have that. WWE was pushing new stars and WCW wasn't.

A lot of things led up to WCW closing down and a week before Wrestlemania 17 Vince McMahon bought the rights to WCW and ended the Monday Night Wars. I can tell you without any doubt in my mind that 2001 was really the last great year in professional wrestling. For 8 years no one has been considered competition, no one has come close to being what the WWE is and always has been. Then the unthinkable happened again and shook the wrestling world again.

On October 27, 2009 Hulk Hogan signed with TNA wrestling, company that's been an existence for almost seven years. TNA has made some major moves by getting Kurt Angle, Team 3D, Bobby Lashley, and Mick Foley. They also had Christian for awhile as well as Booker T. TNA is doing the thing that WWE use to do but doesn't really do anymore and that's push new stars. They have guys like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Matt Morgan, Desmond Wolfe, and others. TNA has a great mix of veterans and young talent that will take wrestling to another level again. WWE has gotten away with being boring, predictable and stale for eight long years and now maybe we will the unpredictable TV we once saw from them.

The one thing people really need to understand is that WWE is at the highest level that it will ever be at. I honestly don't think they can do anything new or get any higher. TNA has a lot of room to get better, and go to higher places. Now by having Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff they can go to higher place hopefully and make a good run. The one thing I fear though is if they have the same mind set they did in WCW. They were out to put Vince and WWE out of business and they can't go about it that way. They have to focus on TNA, and how to make TNA better. If that happens they will be around for a very long time. I am not sure if there will be a Monday Night War, a Friday Night War or whatever day of the week wrestling airs but TNA is going to be competition for the WWE. WWE is going to have to start listening to their fans or many of them will switch to TNA. Don't forget Hulkamania is still strong and all the Maniacs are going to tune in to see what he does.

WWE vs. TNA, I for one cannot wait to see some good wrestling, good TV, and some good competition once again. It's been a long time coming and it will fun to watch. Wrestling fans should be very excited. My prediction is that 2010 is going to be the best year in wrestling since 2001. Stay tuned to see who comes, who goes and to see what is going to happen. In wrestling never say never and anything can happen. Stay tuned for more.

Thoughts on Yankees World Series Win

For the 27th time in their history the New York Yankees have won the World Series. They defeated the Phillies last night 7-3 to win the series 4 game to 2. A lot of history was made in this World Series. Chase Utley tied Reggie Jackson's record for most home runs in a World Series with 5. Ryan Howard had 13 strikeouts, the most ever in a World Series. Then you have the Yankees with Hideki Matsui ties a World Series record with 6 RBI's in a game, and 8 RBI's in the series. He also batted .600 throughout the series. The only other player to do that was Babe Ruth. Matsui is also the first Japanese player to be named World Series MVP.

Both teams had a great but in the end the additions of Teixeira, Sabathia, and Burnett really paid off this year. However you cannot discredit the additions of Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez for the Phillies because they did some great things down the stretch. Even if Pedro has pitched his last game he had good last run. And as far as Cliff Lee goes, I believe he still has a few years left in him and many more miles to go. The Yankees have won their 27th World Series in the 40 times they have been there. That's a good ratio of wins and appearances considering the World Series has been played for 106 years. I also forgot to mention Johnny Damon made history as well. He became only the 2nd player in history alongside Eric Hinske to win the World Series as Yankee and Red Sox. Something that people only dream of actually playing for both sides of that rivalry.

So the next question is will the Yankees repeat? Or will a team that has not won in a longtime find glory in 2010? I guess we will have to wait another year. In the meantime let the changes begin. Free Agency, coaching changes and a lot of movement will start here pretty quick. So long baseball. It's been a good season with the Evil Empire recapturing the throne once again.

NFL Week 9 Predictions

Well we are pretty much half way through the season and things seem to get more intense every week in some way, shape or form. Here my predictions for week 9.

Atlanta Falcons over Washington Redskins
Chicago Bears over Arizona Cardinals
Indianapolis Colts over Houston Texans
New England Patriots over Miami Dolphins
Green Bay Packers over Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jacksonville Jaguars over Kansas City Chiefs
Seattle Seahawks over Detroit Lions
New Orleans Saints over Carolina Panthers
San Diego Chargers over New York Giants
San Fransisco 49ers over Tennessee Titans
Philadelphia Eagles over Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos over Pittsburgh Steelers

So there are my picks for the week and as always check back on Tuesdays for each weeks recap.

NFL Week 8 Recap

The Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. What do they have in common? They are the only undefeated teams left in the NFL. Then there are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who have not won a game this year. The Rams, and Titans both got their first victories of the season. I was very impressed by what Ted Ginn Jr. did this weekend having two 100 Kickoff Returns for Touchdowns. He just didn't do it in the same game, he did it in the same quarter. That's a very impressive feat. Nothing else really exciting happened this week except for Brett Favre returned to Green Bay with the Vikings and stuck it to his old team. It was actually a really fun game to watch. Speaking of fun, fantasy football was kind of fun this week for me. My Yahoo League game down to last nights game and here's how it looked at the end.

Hollywood's Rejects 222.92
Team Insano 219.23

My highest pointer earner was the Chicago Defense who decimated the Cleveland Browns. This win puts me at 4-4 and in fourth place in the league. My ESPN league also came down to last nights game as well. Here is how that turned out.

green street elite (GSE)(6-2)94
Hollywoods World of Sports (HWOO)(1-7) 84

My highest point earner was the Chicago defense again. This lost still keeps me in last place. I also only predicted 7 out of 13 right for the week too. I am doing better in Yahoo but I am still sucking in ESPN. I need to turn it up a notch and hope for better results. I'll be back tomorrow with my predictions for week 9 so come on back.

Hockey Weekly

This week in Hockey I played a lot better then what I did last week. Here is how it looked at the end of the week.

Hollywood's World of Sports 6-4-0
Arizona Steel Heat 4-6-0

The categories I won were G, A, +/-, PIM, PPG, and SOG. I did not win any of the categories for Goalies so I was extremely disappointed in that aspect. My players of the week included Zach Parise, Shea Weber, Patrick Marleau, Scott Niedermayer, and Marc-Andre Fleury. I am currently 23-23-4. I am third in my division and 6th overall in my league. I am only three games back in my division and know I can make the up and get back to first place. Check back next week and every week to see how I do in Fantasy Hockey.

Basketball Weekly

This week was the first week of the new NBA Season and my fantasy team did quite well. I went 6-2 meaning I won six categories and lost two. Here is how it looked in the end

Hollywood's World of Sports 6-2-0
Team Russo 2-6-0

The categories I won were FG%, 3PM, REB, AST, BLK, and PTS. I barely lost the other two categories. Some of my players played extremely well this week. My players of the week include Ben Gordon, Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, and Ray Allen. This puts me in 1st place in my division and 1st place in the league. I have good group of players on my team this year and hope that they bring me some success. The Lakers, the Celtics, and the Magic are all picking up right where they left off. It should be an interesting year for the Lakers and Celtics considering everyone is expecting both teams to be in the finals. Only time will tell if there is a rematch from two years ago. Check back next week and every week to see how I do in Fantasy Basketball.

NFL Poll Results

Before the beginning of the year started I put two polls up asking which NFC and AFC team would be in the Super Bowl. It is now the half way point of the year and here is how people voted.

NFC
New Orleans Saints- 33%
Detroit Lions- 27% (someone or many people must have been drunk when they voted)
New York Giants- 11%
Green Bay Packers- 11%
St Louis Rams- 5%
Dallas Cowboys- 5%
San Fransisco 49ers- 5%
Minnesota Vikings- 3%

AFC
Indianapolis Colts- 25%
Pittsburgh Steelers- 25%
New England Patriots- 18%
Cleveland Browns- 12% (see the Detroit Lions reference)
New York Jets- 6%
Denver Broncos- 6%
Baltimore Ravens- 6%
Cincinatti Bengals- 2%

So there you have it, the fans have spoken. The Saints might be dead on, and in the AFC it's always a toss up. We have nine more weeks to figure out who will even make the playoffs. Thanks for your participation.