Monday Spread Option 04-07-14

1. The NCAA Championship game is set and much to some's surprise it is UConn and Kentucky. Who do you think will be the 2014 NCAA Champion? 

Ty-

I had a great feeling that Kentucky would be here and I have been picking them to win for a while now or since my Bracket became completely obliterated. But I really have no idea who is going to win this game. Kentucky has beaten so many great teams on their run but it has been in all close games. It speaks to their mental toughness but it also means that they got some lucky bounces a few times on this run. I can't keep picking against UConn right? especially after how they handled Florida. I guess with a gun to my head I have to ride with Kentucky. I do think this game is either going to be UConn in an easy win or another close game where you would think Kentucky would pull it out but I think UConn has clutch players that can win that way too. I know thats hedging on my pick a little bit but I'm going to stick with Kentucky because I have changed my picks too much.




Spencer-

I can't keep picking against Kentucky. Dramatic win after dramatic win has got them this far and I just think they are a team on a mission. Their group of high school All-Americans have come together to play as one and Aaron Harrison has the clutch factor and I think they have what it takes to put an end to this hot UConn team. That doesn't discredit what UConn has done though because they have had a great run to the title game too and I wouldn't be surprised if they even prove me wrong again. I just think Kentucky is the better team.

2. The NBA playoffs are taking form and there are some tight races in both the East and the West for the final playoff seeds. Which teams will grab that last playoff seed in both conferences? 

Spencer-
It's crazy that several under .500 teams may make the postseason in the East but that is just the kind of year it has been. That being said I have to think the Hawks are going to pull it out for the 8th seed, mostly because the Cavs, who have just four games left, have to basically win out to have a shot at it, which could happen with the easy schedule they have but it is the Cavs, they have underperformed all year. The Knicks have probably the toughest schedule left of the three teams as they take on Toronto twice still, a tough Chicago team and their cross-town rival Brooklyn. They are so hit or miss it is hard to say they will pull it off. The Hawks basically control their destiny as they have the 8th seed now and still have six games left with at least three against inferior opponents. I see them holding on to make the postseason. In the West it isn't going to be so easy for any of these teams as four teams  are vying for three playoff spots. With Golden State in the 6th spot right now I see them holding on to make it with just five games to go one of which is against the Lakers who no playoff team should be losing to, so that just leaves Memphis, Dallas and Phoenix. The interesting thing is one of the spots could come down to Dallas and Memphis playing each other in that last game of the season. Phoenix also can control their destiny as they play Dallas and Memphis each once in their final five games. I think the way it will shake out is that Memphis wins their two winnable games against the Lakers and 76ers but drop the other three to the Heat, Suns and Mavs. Like I said that last game of the year could be key for them and I think losing it they are left out of the playoff picture. The Mavs then will take the 7th seed cause they will most likely win three of their last four and the Suns get the 8th seed because they beat the Grizzlies head to head but lose to Dallas. Should be an exciting finish to the season these next two weeks!

Ty-
The playoff seeding is starting to form but with a little less than a week left of games before the playoffs start, the seeding race is starting to get interesting. In the east it is just between the Knicks and the Hawks for the 8th seed. The Knicks probably went into yesterday's game with the heat thinking that if they did win they would make up some ground because the Hawks were playing the Pacers. Instead they lost and the Hawks blewout the Pacers. Now I don't think the Knicks can pull it off. It sucks because the Heat would have a harder time playing the Knicks than the hawks but Knicks deserve to not be in the playoffs because they are 12 games under .500. In the west it is a lot more interesting where the Warriors, Mavericks, Grizzlies and Suns could all either be as high as a 6 seed or be as low as out of the playoffs. I think the Warriors and the Mavericks do get the the 6th and 7th seed but It will come down to who wins when the Suns and Grizzlies play april 14th to determine that last seed.

3. The Pacers have now lost 7 of their last 10 games and have fallen 2 games behind the Heat in the lost column for the 1st seed in the Eastern Conference. Have you completely lost faith in them?

Ty-
The short answer is yes I lost complete faith in the Pacers. I have very little say about it but I have. I have never seen a team so young and and up and coming for a year and a half now just fall apart out of nowhere. The only team that they seem to still give problems is the Heat. Which is a good thing because the Heat haven't played great recently either but if they don't get the Number 1 seed idk if they can beat the Heat on the road. Mainly because they put so much pressure on themselves to get home court advantage instead of worrying about being able to beat them no matter what. But their problems are worse because now I don't think that they could beat any team that came out of the west is they somehow made it to the finals.
Spencer-
You're a fool if you've lost faith in the Pacers completely, in my opinion. Look they are struggling, every team in every sport, at every level goes through struggles, but what we do know about the Pacers are when they play together and like they should they are a championship caliber team. I expect them to regroup for the playoffs and be fine. Plus If they have proven one thing during this stretch its that they can still beat the Heat, so if they make it to a series with them to go to the Finals you know we're going to get the Pacers best. Now I don't think they will fair well against most of the top teams in the West so I may have lost faith in them winning it all, but I still believe in their ability to make it out of their conference playoffs. 

4. NCAA President Mark Emmert said, " Unionization of players attempt is grossly inappropriate solution to the NCAA's problems." Do you agree or disagree with that statement?

Spencer-
The best part of that quote is that Emmert admitted the NCAA has problems. Glad they are finally on board, but overall I don't agree with his statement. Look I'm not saying player unionization is the solution to the problem but I think that the way that student athletes have been misrepresented and used pushed them to this point where they have began unionizing. If Emmert and the NCAA have a better idea then by all means I'm willing to listen, but to this point their ideas have been in his own words "grossly inappropriate."

Ty-
I don't think I have ever agreed with the NCAA. Probably never will. So no I don't agree with Mark Emmert but I will say that the unionization of players is probably more of a protest against the NCAA and not a real attempt to find solutions. It is a symbol of players wanting their voice to be heard, but I'm honestly not sure is a union would actually help or not. Either way i'm for it just because of what it could mean for the student athlete and the NCAA.

5. What you learned this week in sports: 

Spencer- The media tries to hold professional athletes to an unnatural standard. 

This lesson for me comes directly from the situation regarding Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy and his choice to spend time with his wife during and after the birth of his child and miss the first two games of the season. Look in my opinion it was the right thing to do. We don't know as outsiders what the situation was with his wife, if she was able to have the baby naturally, how long she had to stay in the hospital after birth and if she just plain needed help taking care of the child while she recovered from one of the most painful procedures a woman can go through in child birth. I have no problem with a dad taking time off work to spend time with his wife and new son or daughter, whether that person works in an office cubicle or is a professional athlete. It is completely unfair and irrational to hold a professional athlete to some outrageous standard that family should come second to a childs game. Now I know that childs game pays the bills for them but I think with the money they make they are okay to miss a game or two and still be able to pay the bills. 

Which leads me to Boomer who on his radio show said that Murphy and his wife should of scheduled a C-section before opening day so they could have the baby and he could get back to the Mets, a statement I was shocked to hear from a former pro athlete who has a family of his own. I want to hear him ask his wife to do that. I don't know any woman who would think that was a great idea and would endorse that option. Add onto the fact that if you have a caesarean section it takes even longer to recover from than natural child birth. So what a great idea! Leave your wife and go play baseball while she recovers from major surgery for four weeks, oh and she gets to take care of a baby at the same time. Great idea Boomer, great idea! Give me a break. 

The bottom line in this is what I learned, and simply put its that we need to realize that while we idolize, look up to and root for these professional athletes and want them to be there day in and day out for our team, they are human beings with their own lives to deal with. They are grown men and woman with other things than just work to worry about. Because that is what their sport is for them...work. While we see it as entertainment the field of play is their office. The media has a tendency to dehumanize athletes from time to time and it is ridiculous. Athletes are people just like you and me, and if you would take off two days, three days a week however long to be with your wife during the birth of your child, why can't they?

Ty- This NCAA Basketball Tournament Has Not Diminished The College Basketball Regular Season.

People keep bringing up this argument that when lower seed teams make the championship game or when there are more playoff teams added that it makes the regular season less meaningful somehow. Those people must be people who don't like when sports are spontaneous. Those people must really hate change or even perseverance.

This tournament has been great for college basketball. Because although these teams are traditionally big name schools but it does show that teams from lower seeds do have a chance to win it all as well. That is great for fan enthusiasm because now more teams will believe they have a shot to win regardless what school you go to. That doesn't diminish the regular season because in the cases of both Kentucky and UConn, they used the adversity they faced in the season to grow as a team and build into the teams they are today. They learned about themselves and what it took to win as well as became mentally tough over the course of the season.

This diminished regular season argument just baffles me. In any sport you need the regular season to figure your team out. Also adding teams to playoffs only increases the amount of competitiveness because teams are going to play harder when they have a chance to make the postseason. Football is the most popular sport and there has been many times including last years Ravens team that isn't a top seed but got hot at the right time and won the championship. No matter what it should be about trying to play your best when it matters the most.