NBA – A quick look at the NBA Playoffs (Part 2)

Let’s keep on going with our attempt to answer some question about the NBA Playoffs. Let’s talk a bit about the Miami Heat, before we get on to take a look at the team that holds the best record in the league: the Chicago Bulls. Let’s look at the facts. Miami has had a season filled with ups and downs. The 9-9 start, followed by a strong comeback in December, was then filled in with a series of downfalls that culminated with head coach Erik Spoelstra saying that there were guys in the locker room crying after the Heat lost at home against the Chicago Bulls 87-86.

Yes, after a 3-0 whopping series against Boston, the squad finally man-up to defeat the defending champions earlier this week. Still, Boston managed to finished with the third best record in the league, but to be quite honest, the Heat regular season was not as brilliant as the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chrish Bosh might make it sound like. The Miami starting trio said that the season had been a success. Well, it will only be a success if they can turn that record into something spectacular once the season kicks in.

Sure, the Heat could have it fairly easy on the first round, playing against the Philadelphia 76ers. No one I really expecting the 76ers to stay alive further then a 6th or maybe a 7 game series. But things will not be that easy once they have to match up to either the Celtics or the New York Knicks.

The Bulls have something of an easier road down the stretch. The Bulls will have to start the season against the Indiana Pacers and should (and let’s face it, they probably will) make it pass the first round, they would probably find either Orlando Magic or the Atlanta Hawks on the second round. If we had to make our picks we would say Orlando. And the thing is that Derrick Rose might be too much of a matchup against Dwight Howard and the Magic.

There is something of a motivational component to this whole performance by the Chicago Bulls. They haven’t played like this in a long-long while. As a matter of fact, the last time we saw them played like this, they won 6 national championships. So yes, like we’ve said before, Derrick Rose is not Michael Jordan, but the people in Chicago might start believing that he is, and given the home-team advantage they have throughout the Playoffs, they are going to be a tough team to beat at home.

NBA – A quick look at the NBA Playoffs (Part 1)

This is it! In two months from now, the NBA will have its National Champion. Would the LA Lakers repeat their title and confirm themselves as the dominant force? Are the aging Boston Celtics still capable of holding off much younger (and certainly less experienced) squads? Is the Miami Heat really as good as LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh make it look like? The Chicago Bulls finished with the best record of the league and the best season since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, but can Derrick Rose and Co. live up to the high expectations?

The NBA Playoffs are finally here. As these teams have proved on previous years, it really doesn’t matter much what a team can (or specific players) can do on the regular season, because it is really the Playoffs where it all comes down to win or go home. The Lakers and the Celtics are really good at this. Both teams can turn on the switch at anytime, and then they are gone. They have what it takes to change the game. Kobe Bryant is there, Pau Gasol is there, and the squad is guided by no other then Phil Jackson, a coach that doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone no more. But can they survive the playoffs on the weakling right knee of Andrew Bynum. Last time Bynum was out, the Celtics defeated them for the 2008 championship. It’ isn’t a good omen.

The Celtics skidded plenty late in the regular season and lost the No.1 and No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Yes, at the end, Doc Rivers decided to rest his starters, so at least giving up the No.2 seed was part of a bigger plan. But can they really get back to top shape by this weekend? Let’s face it: Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are not getting any younger, and they tend to suffer a bit down the stretch. But guided by the multitalented point guard Rajon Rondo, they could once again, upset younger teams in the east. Yes, they’ll miss Kendrick Perkins, especially if you consider they might have to overcome the Knicks, the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls to arrive into the finals.

NBA- A quick look at the Lakers most recent flops

by Stephen Lars on Feb.28, 2011, under Basketball, Sports News

The LA Lakers are not at their finest moment right now. Just like it happened to the Boston Celtics, the Lakers are getting slower, older, and just not as shiny and in focus as they used to be. And yes, to be fair to the comparison, it certainly appears as if the Celtics have done a much finer job at getting old. All though the Lakers are still the favorite team to win the NBA Championship this year and this is the most successful team since the turn of the century (winning two out of the last three NBA Finals and 5 in the last decade) on the other hand, their most recent performances have raised some concerns about the team’s overall stability.

Yes, the Lakers have Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom and Ron Artest on their roster and that’s just the supporting cast for non other then Kobe Bryant. But the most star-filled team in the western conference has lost to the likes of the Sacramento Kings, the Charlotte Bobcats and the league-weakest link: the Cleveland Cavaliers. And that’s just in the last month alone.

And yet, for the most part, it seems as if these early signs have not been considered much of an alarm signal, not even a warning sign. But there are certain -lets call them symptoms- that could or should be taken into consideration. For starters, Derek Fisher is 36 years old and certainly in the twilight of his career. Lamar Odom is certainly not at his finest, while the always troubling and a bit delusional Ron Artest is as unreliable as he is talented.

The only thing that we are left with is the experience that this team has, and overall, the undeniable fact that the LA Lakers are a strong all around team capable of winning when it matters most.

And then there is another factor. It seems as if this time around, working their way into the Finals should certainly be an easier task for the Lakers then for any of the Eastern Conference counterpart. Yes, this time around the Chicago Bulls, the New York Knicks, The Miami Heat, the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics are going to have to bring on their A-game to face the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Thornton Makes Quick Recovery

Posted by Leigh on December 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

Sidelined jockey Robert Thornton has made a much quicker recovery from a nasty injury to his knee ligament, making his return six months earlier that initially thought.

ATP Tennis- A quick look into Roger Federer’s season

year-old Swiss player that so brilliantly has dominated the sport of tennis since 2003. Seven years after the Federer Express won his first Grand Slam and after surviving one of his most upsetting seasons ever, Roger Federer has completed his way back into the sports headlines by winning the season finale World Tour Championship in the 02 Arena in London.

To keep the dramatic nature of his game, Federer played the Championship game against Rafael Nadal, the Spaniard hot-shot who is currently the No.1 ranked player in the World. A younger player who this season won three Grand Slam and completed his Career Grand Slam when he took over in the US Open.

Roger Federer came strong in the first part of the season. He was outstanding in the Australian Open. He took Andy Murray down in the Championship game by 6-3,6-4,7-6. This was the second time that Federer denied Murray a chance to win a Grand Slam.

But things went south from there on. He fell to Nadal in the Mutua Madrid Final and when it came to play at Roland Garros, for the French Open, Federer failed to qualify in the semifinals for the first time since the 2004 French Open. Robin Soderling would be the man who took him down in the quarterfinals. Nadal went on to win the tournament for the fifth time and replaced Federer as World No 1. Federer was just one week away from equalling Pete Sampras’s record of 286 weeks as World No. 1

Then Came Wimbledon. If someone was expected to put on a great show and a comeback for a disappointing participation at Roland Garros was Federer, as he had been the most dominant force at Wimbledon during the last decade. And then came one of the biggest upsets in his career. Sure, commentators and professionals alike had been talking about how much Federer struggled against Alejandro Falla in the first rounds at Wimbledon, but nobody was really expecting Federer to lose against Thomas Berdych in at Wimbledon’s quarterfinals.

He fell to the No. 3 spot in the World Rankings. He had to bring in his A-game into the court if he wanted to win at the US Open. He avenged his French Open defeat against Soderling but was unable to make it pass Novak Djokovic who played a magnificent 5-set game against Federer. Novak would eventually loose the final to Rafa Nadal. He kept on his rhythm and won important championships. He won at the Stockholm Open and at Basel. With this make he completed his 65th career title, surpassing Pete Sampras who had 64.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal arguably might be the two best players ever to pick up a racket. Federer is 5 years older the Nadal. Federer has won a record 16 grand slams, and has been a dominant force in the last decade of the sport. As the two players make it into the winter break, all we can wonder is if Federer still got what it takes to get back on the top. Federer will know go on and defend his title at the 2011 Australian Open. If he fails to do so, and Nadal happens to win in the land down under, it might just be the first sign that a new order King of the Slams is in his way to become legendary.

NCAA Football: Quick look at the BCS top 5 teams

by Stephen Lars on Nov.03, 2010, under Football, Sports News

As the NCAA Football season evolves into the second half of its regular season, and there have been plenty of changes in the No. 1 spot, we can help but to start guessing which two teams are going to be making it into the BCS National Championship Game on January 10 in Glendale, Arizona.

Now, just like it has been happening for a while, the No. 1 spot in the BCS once again changed. Yet, this time, the former No. 1 team, the Auburn Tigers, didn’t loose its game, actually, the Tigers defeated Mississippi by 20 points, 51-31. And yes, keep an eye out for their quarterback Cam Newton. Not only can he rush, and pass like a top-notch quarterback, but against Ole Miss, Newton caught a 20-yard touchdown pass on the Tigers’ opening series. The Tigers are 9-0, but it wasn’t enough to hold on.

As a matter of fact the No. 1 spot belongs to Oregon.  The Oregon Duck went on the road to face the USC Trojans, but they made one heck of a comeback as the third quarter found the Ducks on a 29-32 deficit. But then LaMicheal James clicked in. He rushed for 239 yards and three touchdowns, while quarterback Darron Thomas was 19 of 32 for 288 yards and 4 touchdown passes. So the high scoring Ducks have now scored 40 or more points in each of their 8 games of the season.

The TCU Horned Frogs are currently in the third place of the BCS Rankings. These guys have the nations strongest scoring defense and so far into the tournament have allowed only 8.7 points per game.

Sitting close in fourth place is the Boise State. With a 7-0 record the Broncos have taken over some fairly big contenders in the season. They took over Virginia Tech and have been fairly stable in their recent games. Their latest win was a 49-20 crushing of the guys from Louisiana Tech. The Boise State Broncos quarterback Kellen Moore completed 20 of 28 for 298 yards and two touchdowns. He has thrown 2 interceptions in the season. If he can keep up the good performance the Broncos might be playing in one of the BCS Bowls this season.

Fifth comes Utah. The Utes have an 8-0 record and have already proved worthy of their top-5 position by defeating the Big East Conference leader Pittsburgh in an exciting overtime game early in September. They have a great scoring offense, but have yet to prove their value against tougher opponents.

Now, we cannot let pass a couple other great teams that although are not in the top 5, should certainly be placed in the equation for the BCS Championship Game. For instance, if it comes to choosing one team without a perfect record, we couldn’t leave behind the Alabama Crimson Tide. At 7-1 this season, Alabama had held a 19 game winning streak until the team fell to South Carolina in early October.

And there are the Sooners too. Oklahoma fell to Missouri, but they swept pass the Florida Gators 41-17. They climbed to No. 1 spot but  like most every other team since, they weren’t able to hold on to it.

The NCAA Football betting season is just about to get better as the teams rush into the final part of the season.

NCAA football – Quick Guide to Understanding the Bowl Championship Series Ranking

When it comes to assessing NCAA College Football teams, things do get very interesting and up to some extent extremely confusing. For starters, there are quite a few different rankings out there. We have to start by working our way around a key-issue: understanding and defining the Bowl Championship Series. As you know the NCAA is the sanctioning entity that rules and governs American Collegiate Sports.

The NCAA organizes many distinct events and tournaments that will yearly bring in an elimination process that will give out a National Champion. When it comes to Football, things work a bit different, as there is no single-elimination postseason to determine a National Champion. So contrary to the NCAA Basketball’s March Madness or its winter counterpart for Hockey’s Frozen Four, the NCAA Football has come out with a ranking and poll-based system to promote big postseason games and appoint a national champion.

That’s where the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) kicks in. The BCS is a selection system that annually creates five bowl-matches at the end of the regular season, involving the top 10 ranked teams in the nation, or to be more precise, the top 10 ranked teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. This is a group of Conferences that contain the elite of college football programs in the nation.

A couple factors ramble in as to what makes a conference fit the Bowl Series or the Championship Series. Altogether, it is a matter of game-day Stadium attendance, the total number of full scholarships offered to the athletic program of an specific school, and the tradition and prominence of the Conference at which a team plays which dictates its status as a Bowl Series.
Now, the best two teams out of that top ten ranking are given a chance to play the BCS National Championship Game that is held once the other four Bowl Games are played. The winner of this game is then virtually considered the National Champion.

The remaining 8 teams then have a chance to play the other prestigious and significantly lucrative BCS Bowl games. The BCS bowl games are the Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena California, The Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, The Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, and the Orange Bowl at Miami Gardens, Florida. For a chance of prominence for other competitive teams not ranked in the top 10 of the nation there are other 27 non-BCS bowls held annually in the postseason.

The 10 teams that play the Bowls include the conference champion from each of the six BCS Conferences and four other teams. Up to a certain extent, the other conferences would then have a chance to bring on their best prospects to fill up those 4 spots, but it is not usually the case.

Understanding the Rankings:

The BCS ranking formula was revised after the somewhat embarrassing season of 2003. It was evident that something went wrong when the next-to-final BCS poll ranked the University of Southern California (USC) at #3 while both the Coaches’ and the AP Poll had ranked USC at #1. As a result of this discrepancy, USC did not play in the BCS’ national championship game. The criticism came up as the BCS rankings had privileged computer based votes over human voters, as many believed the USC should had been given a chance at the BCS National Championship Game.

USC went on to defeat another highly ranked team: Michigan. The AP Poll kept USC at #1 while the Coaches Poll, which is contractually obligated to select the winner of the BCS game as the number 1 team in the nation, went on to vote for Louisiana State University (LSU). The resulting split national title was the very problem that the BCS was created to solve.

The BCS would then again have to face yet another embarrassing moment as the Associated Press decided not to take part of the BCS rankings after what happened in the 2004 season in the final Polls between University of California at Berkeley and the Texas Longhorns. Truth be said, iCal was affected not only by the AP voters but also by the Coaches’ Poll as well. And yet, because the AP poll was made public and the Coaches Poll was kept confidential, most of the criticism over the decision to promote Texas over California was placed on the AP voters.

The AP Poll steps down from BCS rankings

The BCS ranking system is based on a combination of the most prestigious polls in the nation and computer selection methods that determine a weekly ranking of the teams. First thing first: let’s leave the math to the mathematicians as most of the formulas and algorithms involved here, particularly in the computer based votes, certainly surpass the understanding of our writer’s staff.  Anyway, this is what we have come to understand so far.

Up until the 2004 season the BCS ranking system took into account the AP Poll, the Coaches Poll and a computer average which is based on 6 distinct ranking systems. In this computer calculation the lowest and the highest ranking for each team is dropped. The main distinction is that with the computer based calculation there is a schedule strength factor involved in the mathematical formula that helps level things out.

The AP Poll and the Coaches’ Poll, on the other hand, are human based votes. The Coaches Poll is compiled by the USA Today Board of Coaches, which is conformed by 59 head coaches from teams at Football Bowl Subdivision. It has been going on since the 1950’s and it is somewhat of an insider’s look at the NCAA college football rankings.

The Associated Press (AP) is a compilation of the top 25 list elaborated weekly by the polling sportswriters across the nation. Each voter makes his own top-25 list and the results are then combined to give out the official weekly review. As we mentioned before, since 2004 the AP requested their poll would not be taken into account for the BCS rankings. Despite their reluctance to be part of the rankings that decide the National Champion, the AP Poll is one of the most respected rankings out there for both NCAA football and basketball.

The Harris Interactive College Football Poll

After the Associated Press’ decision to withdraw its participation in the BCS ranking, the NCAA formed the Harris Interactive College Football Poll to be used instead. The rankings are compiled by Harris Interactive, a leading company in the Internet market research field.
The Harris Interactive Poll has its own scientific approach to the matter of ranking college football teams. The Poll does not usually come out each year until the last weeks of September. By that time the tournament has already been played for at least three or four weeks. The final Harris Poll comes at the end of the regular season. It is the only poll that doesn’t provide for a preseason or a postseason ranking.

The Harris Interactive Poll is composed of former coaches, former players, athletic program administrators and from sports media specialist both active and retired. Like in the case of the AP and the Coaches’ Poll each voter submits his or her own list of top-25 teams in the nation. The panel of voters of the Harris Interactive Poll has been selected to be a statistically valid representation of all 11 Football Bowl Subdivision Conferences and of the Independent Institutions as well.

The BCS rankings explained

From the moment the first official BCS ranking comes out, each week, the BCS standing is delivered. The BCS ranking consists of the Harris Interactive Poll, the USA Today Coaches Poll and the computer rankings. Each distinct Poll or ranking conforms one-third of the BCS Standings. Each team is assigned an inverse point total. The No.1 team is awarded 25 points; the No. 2 team receives 24 and so on. The two poll percentages are calculated by dividing each team’s total points by the possible points in each poll. That is 2850 possible points for the Harris Interactive and 1475 possible points for the Coaches’ Poll.

The computer ranking percentage is calculated by dropping the highest and lowest ranking for each team and then dividing the remaining total by 100, which is the maximum possible points given by the computer ranking. So basically, the same process is applied to each of the third components. Once these three figures are derived, the BCS Average is calculated by averaging the percentage totals of the Harris Interactive Poll, the Coaches’ Poll and the computer rankings.

This Season, the No.1 and No.2 teams in the BCS rankings as of December 6th, 2010, will be selected to play in the BCS National Championship Game on January 7th 2011. The game will be held in Pasadena California. The winner of the game will be awarded the Coaches Trophy. Since there is no official standing from the NCAA as which team is the National Champion, the Coaches Trophy is emblematic of the National Championship.

Sports News – A quick look at the Commissioners who run the multibillion-dollar world of Pro-Sports

by Stephen Lars on Aug.19, 2010, under Sports News

If you take a look at some of the more recent careers thought on American colleges, you might have stumbled across higher-education institutions that offered bachelor degrees on Sports Management. You can’t help but wonder how many young students are actually investing in such a career. It doesn’t really sound profitable unless you make it to the big leagues, and even then, it would seem as if your degree had very little to do with becoming the commissioner of any major professional sport league.

It is no secret that being the responsible for a sport is a very demanding job. This holds true particularly if you are the commissioner of one of the top-ranking sports in the world. In the following lines we are going to take a look at sports best paid commissioners. We must advice that as of press time, we were not able to come up with a good source for Joseph Blatter’s salary. Rumor has it, he would be the number one ranked sports commissioner (all though he is the president of FIFA, in general terms his title inside the soccer’s elite federation, the job description fits fairly well).

So, there is no point in arguing that sports commissioners have to deal with many issues, including disputes, negotiating contracts, taking care of all disciplinary matters and basically, they are the face of the sport. Not only do they have to deal with many complex issues, but their every move and decision is closely followed by and certainly criticized by the team’s fans, the owners, the players, and the specialized media.

But don’t get us wrong here. It pays very well to be one. For starters, let’s take a look at the guy who handles MLB. Bud Sleig, just for the record, a Bachelor in Political Sciences and American History by the Wisconsin-Madison, hits under 19 million dollars last year. He made 17.4 million in base salary, a little under half a million dollars in both employee benefits and expense allowances. Now, that is a sweet deal. Just to get you into perspective, the average baseball player makes 3.3 million dollars. Now, to really give you an idea of how his salary compares to the the MLB standards, only ten professional active players make more money then Selig.

Now, take a guess, who hits the number 2 mark? Well, that’s right, it is the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. He also has to deal with a lot of responsibilities and tasks, among them having to control one of the most profitable sports leagues in the world. Check this out, the NFL made nearly 6 billion dollars on revenue last season. Not only is it amazingly rich, the NFL is the most sought after marketing good, since it is the most popular professional sport in the US. Godell only made 11 million dollars last year. Poor thing. Because of the need to cut operating costs, he froze his salary this year, and back in 2008, he had established a 25% pay cut on his salary.

David Stern, the NBA commissioner sits at third. He is partially, next to Micheal Jordan, of the 1990’s rise to stardom of the NBA as a professional and extremely competitive and entertaining league. Many consider him the finest commissioner of all sports. Rumor has it, that he makes somewhere around the 10 million dollar mark on his salary. He probably should be making a bit more considering the superb job he has made as the head of the NBA.