January 20th update

Super Bowl on line this Sunday

• Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots: 3 PM Sunday – The AFC held true to form as the #2 ranked Ravens travel to Boston to take on the #1 seeded Patriots. The Patriots are coming off of an easy victory over the Denver Tebo… err Broncos and will look to contain Ravens star RB Ray Rice just as they did Tebow. The Ravens and their aging but stellar defense will look to find a way to slow down the Patriots potent offense led by Tom Brady. Brady as he has all year long, will look for his two star tight ends, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.
• New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers: 6:30 PM Sunday – The Giants look to continue their white hot streak across the country taking on the 49ers. The 49ers, led by running back Frank Gore and quarterback Alex Smith, will look to build upon a big game last week which catapulted Smith from the realms of obscurity to the front page after leading his team back from two late deficits. The Giants are led by their passing game on offense with Eli Manning and two star receivers and a relentless pass-rush on defense featuring DL's Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka.


Pioneer X-Gamer dies after accident

• A story that we broke last week has gone from sad to tragic. Canadian Skier Sarah Burke died on Thursday after suffering severe brain injuries incurred during a training accident on January 10th. Burke, 29, was a free style skier, a sport closely related to free style snowboarding (made famous by Shaun White). Burke had won 6 gold medals at the X-Games (an ESPN sponsored event for extreme sports) and was instrumental in convincing organizers of the 2014 Olympics to include the sport.
• Married to a fellow skier, Burke leaves behind a legacy not only in actual competition but pioneering for changes within her sport. She had enough clout to convince the powers that be at the X-Games to include a few other forms of freestyle skiing into their competition, a feat that very few competitors in any sport can claim. She will not only be missed by everyone inside her sport, but by other athletes as well.


Mayweather calls Pacquiao, wants to fight on May 5th

• In an event that could be this generation's Ali-Frazier or "Fight of the Century" if it happens; the much anticipated Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight seems to be gaining some steam. Mayweather called his rival who is currently in the Phillippines where he acts as a legislator and one can only assume Mayweather reiterated his desire to fight on May 5th as he has been pining for for weeks.
• The two are unequivocably the two best boxers in the world today and a fight between the two would draw mind-boggling revenue, the likes of which will likely never have been seen before in any similar event.
• Just like Ali-Frazier, there's a brash, obnoxious loudmouth (Mayweather) and a quiet class act (Pacquiao or "Pac-Man). But these two take it even farther as Pacquiao gives back to his community in so many ways, not the least of which is acting as a Congressman despite being in his boxing prime while Mayweather won his last fight on a cheap shot and afterwords nearly picked a fight with boxing legend Larry Merchant who might not have been able to defend himself as he is over 80 years old. It would be a good vs. evil duel with the winner taking home the title of the best fighter of our generation. You better believe you'll be hearing a lot more about this if it actually does happen.

January 16th update

Favorites tumble in NFC, coast in AFC

• The NFL playoffs always have a few twists and turns and this year has been no exception. The Two most impressive teams over the course of this season according to many were the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers, led by MVP favorite Aaron Rodgers and likely runner-up Drew Brees. However both lost over the weekend as the Saints couldnt survive a crazy 4th quarter against the San Francisco 49ers and the Packers fell flat at home against Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

• The Saints fell behind 17-0 early and looked to be in trouble but quickly recovered and actually took the lead twice late in the game. However, the Saints have not been good on defense all year and could not guard TE Vernon Davis who torched them for 3 TD's including two in the fourth quarter and one with 9 seconds left in the game to provide the final margin of victory for the Nniers.

• The biggest play of the Packers-Giants game undeniably came at the end of the first half. With the Giants on the Packers 37 yard line, clinging to a 13-10 lead with just seconds remaining in the half, coach Tom Coughlin opted not to kick a Field Goal, instead throwing a Hail Mary pass which was inexplicably caught by Giants WR Hakeem "the Dream" Nicks. Green Bay never recovered and lost 37-20.

•The other two games were less surprising as the Patriots obliterated the Tim Tebow-led Broncos 45-10 with Tom Brady throwing for a playoff recorde tying 6 TD's just minutes into the second half, 3 of which went to TE Rob Gronkowski. The Baltimore Ravens won with their standard formula of defense and mistake free football, committing 0 penalties and 0 turnovers to barely edge the upstart Houston Texans 20-13. San Francisco and New England will host the Championship games next week with the winner playing in the Super Bowl on February 5th.

Yankees Make Big Moves

• Entering this offseason, the biggest question for the New York Yankees was surrounding their starting pitching. After their ace CC Sabathia, the Yankees pitching staff was a large question mark. However, in a flurry of moves within about an hour of each other on Friday night the Yankees took two big steps to shore up the rest of their staff.
• The biggest move was acquiring Seattle pitching phenom Michael Pineda. Pineda will be a top 3 starter for the Yankees (joining Sabathia and Phil Hughes) and made the All-Star team last year at the ripe old age of 22. He's still raw and has the ability to improve but he's a bright star with a lot of upside that the Yankees hope will be realized. The Yankees gave up star catching prospect Jesus Montero in this trade, showing just how high they are Pineda.

• The other move was signing former Dodgers starter Hideki Kuroda to a one year deal which will give them a quality arm in 2012 and will probably allow their two young young minor league stars (Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances) another year to develop and be coached.
The last two spots of the rotation can be filled with a number of prospects or established veterans.

Australian Open Starts this Week

• The Australian Open, the start of the Tennis season, kicked off on Sunday in Sydney. Many of the stories of this years tournament have come off the court. Venus Williams pulled out prior to the tournament due to an autoimmune disease that has kept her out of competition since August. Additionally, interesting comments from her sister Serena made some doubt her commitment, and comments about gay marriage by Australian tennis legend Margaret Court have given the tournament yet another front page talking point.
• In the Women’s bracket, #1 seed Caroline Wozniacki should have a nice path to a championship. She may have to play Li Na (last year’s runner up) in the semifinals. The toughest bracket is the one containing Serena, world #3 Vera Zvonereva and former Grand Slam event champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova
• In the Men’s bracket, the usual suspects are around. World ranked #1 Novak Djokovic is the prohibitive favorite but he will have to face the standard bearers of the last 10 years in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have been feuding recently with regard to player's rights. Incredibly, in the past 27 Men's Grand Slam events, only one (the 2009 U.S. Open won by Juan Martin Del Potro) was won by someone other than Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.

January 6th update

Kings fire coach after spat with player

• The Sacramento Kings made a strong statement in support of young Center Demarcus Cousins on Wednesday night, firing coach Paul Westphal after the two were in a fight. Apparently at the end of a game Cousins began shouting at his coach and demanded to be traded. This has been disputed, but nonetheless Westphal issued this statement through the team's website making it seem like Cousins may indeed be traded.
• Owners rarely side with players in situations like this however Westphal's almost immediate firing afterwards certainly comes as a strong commitment to the talented but mercurial Cousins. Perhaps owners Gavin and Joe Maloof realized that Westphal had permanently damaged his relationship with the center and that he wasn't going to help the team as much in the coming years as a potentially great tandem of Cousins and PG Tyreke Evans.
• Westphal's replacement is King's assistant coach Keith Smart. Smart only played one sesason in the NBA, but has been a coach in the League since 2000; including as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 and the Golden State Warriors from 2010-2011. Smart is perhaps best known for a shot he hit in college. As a member of the Indiana Hoosiers in 1987, Smart hit a jump shot in the national championship game that that gave the Hoosiers a 74-73 lead at the buzzer to win the championship.


NFL Playoffs Begin this Weekend

• Saturday at 4:30: Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans – The Houston Texans limped into the playoffs but nonetheless get to play at home in their first ever playoff matchup. Starting their third string rookie quarterback and nursing injuries to many of their major position players the Texans are hurting. Luckily they start the playoffs against the Cincinnati Bengals who are a very young and untested team who also starts a rookie QB, Andy Dalton who some are calling "Shawshank" (since his first name is Andy and his hair is Red, the names of the two main characters from that movie).
• Saturday at 8:00: Detroit Lions at New Orleans Saints – Only five times in the history of the NFL has a quarterback thrown for 5'000 yards and 2 of the five were achieved by the two starting QB's in this game (Drew Brees and Matt Stafford) in 2011. That being said it would appear that the Detroit Lions are heading into a buzz saw disguised in a Mardi Gras outfit. The New Orleans Saints are coming off of the best offensive season in NFL history, and will face a Detroit defense that has been kindly described as suspect. The Lions are back in the playoffs after more than a decade of ineptness, but many in Vegas are expecting this to be a blowout in favor of the Saints.
• Sunday at 1:00: Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants – Probably the most evenly matched game of the weekend features the Eli Manning led Giants against the Matt Ryan led Falcons. The Giants are looking to keep their momentum after a big win last weekend against the Dallas Cowboys, while the Falcons are looking to win a playoff game for the first time in more than 5 years.
• Sunday at 4:30: Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos – The Steelers will try and contain the Denver Broncos and QB Tim Tebow, who you may have heard of if you haven't been living under a rock. The Steelers are considered favorites but are dealing with multiple injuries. QB Ben Roethlisburger is nursing a bad ankle sprain, while Safety Ryan Clark and Running Back Rashard Mendenhall have already been ruled out of the game.

January 2nd update

NFL Playoff Picture Set

• When the New Year began, a number of playoff spots were still up for grabs in the NFL but after a wild and crazy day of games, the playoff picture is finally set. There were not many surprises as the overall structure of the playoffs stayed relatively the same. There were no changes in the top three seeds in either conference but the bottom of the playoff set did see some slight changes as a number of teams who needed to win today lost.
• In the NFC, the Green Bay Packers did not have to win to gain homefield advantage throughout the playoffs but nonetheless set an all-time record for passing yards in a game... all with Aaron Rodgers watching from the bench). The San Fransisco 49ers beat the hapless St. Louis Rams to keep the #2 seed and the New Orleans Saints broke NFL records left and right blowing out the Carolina Panthers in the second half to keep the #3 seed. The #4 seed went to the New York Giants as they won their quasi-playoff game against their division rival, the Dallas Cowboys. The Atlanta Falcons leapfrogged the Detroit Lions to take the #5 spot while demolishing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This NFC portion of this weekend's wild-card playoff round will feature the Lions at the Saints, and the Falcons against the New York Giants.
• The AFC also stayed true to script as the New England Patriots somehow managed to win by 28 despite being down 21-0 early to the Buffalo Bills. Additionally, the Baltimore Ravens won against the Cincinnati Bengals to ensure the other first round bye. The Houston Texans were already locked in as the #3 seed and lost a meaningless game to the Tennessee Titans. The Denver Broncos won the #4 seed even though they lost their game this weekend to the Kansas City Chiefs, only scoring 3 points on offense. They will host the Pittsburgh Steelers who were locked into the playoffs as the #5 seed after Baltimore won, and last but not least, the Cincinnati Bengals got the #6 seed even though they also lost and ended up with the same record as a rival. They won the tiebreaker due to the fact that they defeated the Tennessee Titans, the other 9-7 team. This weekend the Steelers will play the Broncos and the Bengals will play in Houston against the Texans, who are playing their first ever playoff game.


Winter Classic ready to take off

• Beginning in 2008, the NHL has played an annual outdoor game dubbed the Winter Classic. This season's Winter Classic will feature the New York Rangers versus the Philadelphia Flyers at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia usually reserved for the MLB's Phillies.
• The Winter Classic is hockey's ambassador to the non-hockey world and has been a resounding success so far despite the fact that weather conditions play a part in this game unlike typical indoor hockey games. Game time is being pushed back from 1 PM until 3 PM (EST) to try to fit into the best pocket of weather according to local forecasts.
• The home fans will not get to see offseason acquisition Ilya Bryzgalov play but the goalie took his benching very good-naturedly, saying "I have great news and even better news. Great news, I'm not playing tomorrow night. Good news, we have a chance to win the game tomorrow night."


Biggest Day of College Bowls today

• If you're lucky enough to have the day off today there's plenty of college football for you to watch and if not, hopefully you can sneak in a few updates from the office as there are 6 games going on today, 5 of which match ranked teams against one another. The schedule is as follows:
12 PM: Houston vs Penn State. Penn State's tumultuous season ends against a record setting Houston offense and QB Case Keenum who missed out on a perfect regular season and BCS bid by losing their last game of the season.
1 PM: Ohio State vs Florida. The two annual powers struggled this season, going 6-6 but get a good bowl bid primarily because they have large fan bases and college football is more about money than results.
1 PM: Michigan State vs Georgia. The losers of the Big 10 and SEC championship games, respectively, face off in what should be a great game but should also have more Georgia fans as it is being played in Tampa, Florida.

1 PM: Nebraska vs South Carolina. In another Big Ten/SEC matchup, South Carolina hopes that it can finish off a terrific season despite no longer having starting QB Stephen Garcia (dismissed from team) or superstar RB Marcus Lattimore (Leg Injury).

The two biggest matchups of the day were previewed in Friday's update but just as a reminder, the Rose Bowl features to top 10 teams in Oregon and Wisconsin at 5 PM and the Fiesta Bowl features the top 2 ranked teams who are not in the National Championship game, Stanford and Oklahoma State (at 8 PM).