Spencer-
For me I have to go with the Bruins, Red Wings series and my reasoning is pretty logical. The Detroit won the last three contests against Boston and went 3-1 against them on the season. It is just one of those match-up nightmares for the Bruins for whatever reason. The Bruins are arguably the best team in the league but Detroit has their number. It is reminiscent of the Dallas Mavs a few years back when they were the best team entering the playoffs and lost to Golden State in the first round. Some teams just match up with others better than other. It will certainly be a test for the Bruins but if they can pull through I like their chances at winning it all.
Ty-
It is pretty crazy that the two top teams have a losing record against the 8 seeds in each conference. The Bruins are probably the best team but they could lose the the Red Wings because of the match up. But I think I would go with the LA Kings having a better chance to beat the San Jose Sharks. The Kings have a winning record against the Sharks and each game has been competitive for the most part. So although the series will be hotly contested I think that the Kings could easily win this series.
Ty-
I honestly don't have an answer for this question. There is no completely dominant team right now in the NBA. If I had to choose I would say the Miami heat but i'm extremely uncomfortable with that pick. The Heat can beat most teams but could lose to the Pacers, San Antonio, and maybe even the Nets if Dwayne Wade doesn't get healthy. The Thunder can beat any team in the league but has trouble with the Heat. While San Antonio can beat any team in the league as well except the Thunder. So although I want to say there is a team that deserves to be the favorite but the matchups make it really hard to feel confident about any teams chances in the west. Which is a great thing, I have never gone into the playoffs this oblivious to who will win before.
Spencer-
My top three favorites are as follows:
1) Miami Heat
2) Oklahoma City Thunder
3) Indiana Pacers
The Heat are my top favorite because, well lets be honest, they've been dogging us all season. They have shown time and time again they turn it on for the big games and coast in the rest knowing they can easily beat some of these other teams but they don't want to risk injury. The Spurs have been doing it for years and the Heat have now perfected the art themselves. You know the Heat are going to come to play and look to defend their title. For the Thunder they are finally back to full strength with everyone back from injuries and they have proven they can beat all the best teams in the west. They also are 4-0 against the conference's top team San Antonio, which leads me to believe that if the Spurs and Thunder meet for the conference championship the Thunder will win. They match up well with the Spurs and they are quick and youthful. In the three hole is Indiana because I'm not sold that the wheels have fallen off completely. I know they have struggled in the second half, yet they have still somehow managed to hold onto the top seed in the East as of now and although they got blown out by the Heat last week they have proven that they can play that team closely and beat them. I think they'll get it together for the playoffs and have a shot to go on a run for the title.
3. The MLB is about two weeks into their long regular season. Obviously there is still a lot of time for teams to turn it around or drop off, but what is the biggest early season surprise ?
Spencer-
My biggest surprise is definitely the Brewers who won their ninth game in a row last night and are an impressive 10-2 to start the season. I was fuming early last week when they swept my Red Sox but I'm starting to realize their pitching is no joke. They lead the league in ERA (1.80), quality starts (9), WHIP (.98) and batting average against (.199). Most of their pitching staff is 30 or younger so they are experienced but not old. Yovani Gallardo has been fantastic so far with just a .96 ERA and the addition of the veteran Matt Garza in the off-season has given them depth in that area as well. Then some of their youngest guys like Will Smith and Jim Henderson come out of the bullpen and have been just lights out so far including their solid closer Francisco Rodriguez aka K Rod who they got in a trade last year. In fact only two of their six relieves coming out of the pen have surrendered any runs so far in the season. Obviously Milwaukee's pitching will cool down a bit as time goes on but they are looking like contenders early, which is something I didn't expect.
Ty-
It's April so it doesn't really matter how well teams are playing this early in the season. There is so many games in the MLB that it is easy for a team to go in a season ruining slump. But Milwaukee has to be the surprise. They are 10-2 and I don't think anybody was talking about their bull pen going into the season but they have the lowest team ERA. We knew that they might be able to hit, and it helps that Ryan Braun is back and hitting at a crazy pace,
4. Bubba Watson won his second Masters in three years as he is continuing to become a household name with Golf fans. With that in mind did you miss Tiger Woods on the course this year, or do these newer names/stars carry the sport on their own?
Ty-
Golf is just better when Tiger Woods plays. So I don think the golf needs Tiger to play but what it really needs is an up and coming golfer like Tiger was early in his career. People thought that could be Rory McElroy but he hasn't been as dominant as Tiger was at a point. It also would help if that player was American as well. Without Tiger in contention for majors, it just makes golf even more boring to watch and Golf cannot afford to be more boring in todays age where people have shorter attention spans and need to be engaged more.
Spencer-
No one can deny that having Tiger Woods in any golf event throughout the year amplifies its excitement and even Jon Daly said last week that not having Tiger in an even is disappointing. But I do think his absence has helped other names like Bubba Watson and Adam Scott and Rory Mcilroy gain some ground in professional golf and with fans. Bubba has now one two Green Jackets and has gained more and more fans and notoriety along the way. It's honestly great for the game because you don't want the sport to live and die with Tiger Woods. In my opinion these other guys are beginning to carry the sport, which is important for the games grown and we saw that with the Masters this year. It was still in the words of Jim Nantz "an event unlike any other," on golfs biggest stage.
5. What We Learned:
This is more about me just venting than something that I really learned. I hate that the NFL Draft is in May now. Not because I can't wait to watch the draft but because it has made the NFL off season more absurd.
The NFL Offseason is already the longest and most covered offseason in sports. Pushing the draft back means we have to way almost another month of mock drafts and players shooting up draft boards or falling down others. From the end of College football until now we have seen Clowney drop out of the top 2 picks and now is projected to go number one by ESPN's Todd McShay.
Teddy Bridgewater ended the year as one of the best quarterbacks, but now he is projected to go behind both Johnny Manziel and Blake Bortles. I know that the pro-days have to do with the projection changes but there has been too much changes. I hate how guys are predicted to go early because of their on the field play and then lose draft spots because of how well they ran or threw the ball in shorts to uncovered receivers.
Out of all the drafts, the NFL perplexes me the most. People don't have gross overreactions to players measurements or showing at the NBA combine. Players were graded more on their play during the sports season and not as much on personal workouts and other measurables. The dragged out drama and exaggeration of the NFL offseason was already too much to handle but now we have to deal with it even longer.
Spencer: MLB Replay is a learning process
I am a big supporter of the MLB expanded replay because I believe in today's day and age when we have these video capabilities and technology we should be getting these calls right and not letting human error cost someone a game or a play. That being said this weekend, as Red Sox manager John Farrell fiercely pointed out, the human error is still causing problems as it is carried over to these replays.
For background we'll start with Saturday's Red Sox, Yankees game when the Red Sox got snubbed on a call. As Dean Anna
According to the MLB Replay Rule book and to Farrell's point's he brought up in his post game press conference, a runner is deemed out the based on the second the ball touches a fielders hand or glove with his foot on the bag as long as the fielder maintains possession of the ball. Therefore the runner must beat the ball even touching the fielders glove in order to be safe. The section from the rule book is below...
If you look close at the replay of that play it seems to hard to tell based on first touch if Cervelli beats the ball to Napoli's touch, which makes me now see more clearly what Farrell was angry about. As he explained after the when they unveiled the replay system it was clear that it was based on the ball reaching the glove and not being completely in the back of the glove and closed on. If anything there was at least inconclusive evidence to dictate whether he beat it or not so the call should have stood.
Either way this points out the biggest flaw in the system and that is that each person viewing the replay may have a different definition of a runner being safe or a runner being out or a ball being caught or a ball being dropped. It is that human element still dictating the game only it takes more time now. I do think this system can work, I do think it has to for the better of the game and I do think it will get better with time. It is important though to make sure everyone is on the same page on these calls and that everyone understands how to get the call correct. We can't have 30 different interpretations of these calls.
This first year is certainly going to be the test for this system and it sucks that it hurt my team, but at the end of the day I support it. Just have to work out the kinks.
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