Monday Spread Option 03-17-14

It's March Madness time! Which region of the bracket looks like the toughest?

Ty-
The toughest region has to be the midwest region. It has 1 seed Wichita St. and 2 seed Michigan but it get's a lot tougher with Louisville as a 4 seed and Duke as a 3 seed. Oh and don't forget about Kentucky, the team that almost beat Florida yesterday, as an 8 seed. Oh and 5 seed Saint Louis does tend to keep lesser teams in the game because of their playing style but they also keep themselves in games against better teams too. So you really can't sleep on anybody in this bracket. This is already a hard bracket for me to pick just because I could see so many teams coming out of this bracket.

Monday Spread Option 0-3-10-14

The Heat, Thunder, and Pacers have all struggled recently. Which of these contenders are you the most worried about?

Ty-

Although all of these teams have struggled I think I would rank my level of concern in this order
1. Pacers
2. Thunder
3. Heat.

The Heat have lost 3 straight but I think it has more to do with LeBron James getting tired after playing his hardest to try to win the MVP race. You have to also couple that with the fact that the heat played two teams that usually give the Heat and LeBron trouble with the Spurs and the Bulls. The Heat will be fine once LeBron gets through this stretch.

The Thunder have played great offensively since Westbrook has returned. Both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have had triple-doubles in the last 8 games and are threats to do so every night. But the Thunder have two problems they must shore up. They have to learn how to play better defense without Kendrick Perkins and Thabo Sefalosha for an extended period of time. They have been absolutely terrible defensively, giving up open layups and 3's regularly. Their opponents have averaged more than 10 three pointers made a game in the last 8. That said I think that they will get it together, it just might take a little time for them to get their feet defensively, but they have the youth and athleticism to cause problems defensively against anybody.

The Pacers worry me the most because they lost 4 straight and they have gotten worse offensively and defensively over that stretch. The eye test just tells you that they just seem a step slow at everything right now. It also doesn't help that Paul George has struggled. The Pacers need to get it together because I don't think they can beat the Heat in a series without home court advantage.

Spencer-

I'm most worried about the Pacers too because the thing with them is that they aren't the most prolific offense in the league. They are 20th in the league in points per game, so I worry about them keeping up with teams especially in the west with great offenses. The have prided themselves on defense all year but have dipped in that category even allowing the most points per game in the league. I think this team is similar to Golden State a few years back when they beat Dallas in the playoffs. They have the match-ups to beat the Heat but will struggle against other, better teams come playoff time. Luckily they may have an easy road to meeting the Heat in the Eastern Conference Championship with how weak the other teams in the East are.

The Thunder are next for me. Similarly to what Ty said they are a scoring machine but can't stop anyone n defense without guys like Perkins and Sefalosha. That worries me especially come playoff time when they play other western opponents that can put up big scores. I know they can maybe keep up with anyone offensively but to use football as an example the Broncos fanfare of an offense ran into a great defense in the playoffs and well we saw what happened. Different sport but bottom line is you gotta be able to play defense.

The Heat are obviously the least worrisome to me. Look I've said it all year, I'm not gonna worry about a team that isn't even full strength every night. I'm not gonna fall for this trap where the Heat aren't crazy good and then when they make the finals be all surprised. No way Dwayne Wade is going to miss games in the playoffs, they're saving him for that time of year, and no way Lebron isn't gonna push through fatigue in the postseason either. We know who the Heat are.

The Houston Rockets have the best record in the league since the beginning of 2014. Do you think that they have to be considered as a legitimate threat to win a championship?

Ty-

The Rockets are a legitimate threat to win the championship. I'm not saying they are a favorite though. They would need for everything to break their way in order to do that. But they have been playing outstanding because James Harden and the rest of the team have been playing a lot better defensively. It seems like Harden has finally figured out how to output on offense at an all-star level while still playing defense. Dwight Howard is obviously a big part of their defense and his offense has looked a lot better than he did last year. The reason why I don't think they will win the championship is because the top 3 teams, (Clippers, Spurs, and Thunder) all have a guy who can guard Dwight Howard one on one and The Rockets survive too much on their 3 point shot falling. Right now they are shooting well but that usually takes a hit in the playoffs. But if they continue to play like they are playing now then they will have more than a punchers chance.

Spencer-

I thought they were a contender from the beginning of the year honestly. Just like when the Heat first got together with their big three I thought it would take some time for the Rockets to build the chemistry and play as a team with Dwight, Harden and company. They have reached their peak I think and at the right time with the regular season winding down over the next month. They can score (hence the 3rd best points per game average with 106.6) and rebound (5th best in rebounds per game with 45.5) and are right in the thick of things in a competitive Western Conference. I don't know if they are my favorite to win it all necessarily but I think the deserve the respect of being in the running especially if they continue to win games against conference opponents. Wouldn't be surprised to see them there come June if they play like they are right now.

The Wichita State Shockers are now 34-0 and ranked #2 in the nation. Is it time to start recognizing them as a threat to make the Final Four again?

Ty-

I didn't know how else to phrase this question without seemingly admitting that people don't really believe in this team. Now people have their arguments when it comes to who they have played on their schedule. Although they have played an easy schedule, it still means something to win every game. Even their tougher out of conference schedule has to be looked at as a plus. The other reason we should take this team serious is because they made the Final Four last season! So it is not as if they can't do it. This team has to remind everyone of Butler when they went to the Championship game in back to back years. This team just knows how to win and we all have to start recognizing that. Now I also wouldn't be surprised if they lost early in the tournament, because nothing in the tournament surprises me anymore. But we should probably give these guys a little more respect. Mainly in a year like this when the tournament will probably be wide open.

Spencer-

They have been a threat in my mind for a while. Despite playing in the Missouri Valley Conference it's been evident that they are more than just a good team in a bad conference. They have been beating teams in their conference by nearly 20 or more points most games. Now that doesn't necessarily scream that they will do that against teams like Florida and Kansas and Duke but I think they can at least play with those teams. For that reason I don't doubt they could repeat to the Final Four. A handful of guys on their team were there last year and know what it takes to win in the tournament, and their coach, Gregg Marshall, is a phenomenal leader and keeps his team focused but confident that they can beat anyone. The biggest thing working against them in my opinion is they haven't played a ton of close games this year, and went to overtime just once so I wonder how they will do in a tight game with time winding down. Still lets not discredit going 34-0 no matter what conference you play in and lets not be surprised if they make a run again. This time around though I wouldn't consider them a Cinderella because they have earned my respect as a top team. 

Tiger Woods was bothered by a persistent back problem for the second straight tournament in a row yesterday. Do you think that people Tiger Woods will ever be able to get back to Majors winning form?

Ty-

It is crazy how much the world has changed for Tiger after his scandal. Tiger isn't losing because of that though, it is more just a landmark in time that people remember as a turning point to when Tiger became a less feared opponent to the rest of the golf field. Now this has happened because he has been injured over the last few years. First he had a knee problem and now he has a back problem and both of those body parts are extremely important in the sport of golf. He finally seemed to get over the knee problem but i'm not sure if he is having a back spasm problem, if he can return to majors winning form. Back problems are one of those things that are hard to shake but if he ever gets healthy for a stretch I think he can still win a major this year because he has been putting a lot better lately.

Spencer-

The older Tiger gets the tougher it gets for him to get back to major winning form. I know in golf you can win majors in your 40s but Tiger's body is already bothering him now with these issues I don't see that just getting better with age. That doesn't mean he won't win a major again. When Tiger was dominating the game it was almost like he had major winning form weekend after weekend. The thing is you don't need that every weekend you just need it one weekend. I find it hard to believe that Tiger won't find his form ever again for a major, especially cause we see glimpses of it now and then.

What we learned. 

Ty- Carmelo Anthony should go to the Chicago Bulls whether the Knicks get Phil or not.

Let me just say that I doubt that Phil Jackson will take the Knicks up on their offer to become the President of Basketball Operations. It also doesn't matter because it is a stupid idea for both parties. Phil Jackson usually only go to situations that are already promising. He is not a fixer, he is a coach who can put an already talented team over the top. I can't see him wanting to go to the Knicks, with that team and those players. On the Knicks side it's stupid because Phil Jackson has never had a front office position and nothing about Phil Jackson really screams somebody who is good at evaluating talent in that capacity. He also seems to laid back for the demands of an executive position. 

(Update: Sources tell ESPN that Phil Jackson is expected to take the job)

But none of that even matters because regardless of if they get Phil Jackson or not, Carmelo Anthony should leave New York if he wants to have a legitamate chance to win a championship. He should become a Chicago Bull! Why? Because for all of the flack that Melo takes, people can't dispute that he has been a winner in the NBA. This season could be the only season in Melo's career in which he didn't make the playoffs. So I don't think Melo would enjoy having to be bad in New York again next year because the Knicks have all their money tied up in Amar'e Stoudemire, Tyron Chandler, and Andrea Bargniani. 

This is why Carmelo needs to go the the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls and Tom Thibodeau with how well they play defense. There is no question that Thibs could get Melo to exert himself on defense. While Melo has the offense that the Bulls are surely lacking right now. I honestly think that if you added Carmelo to this Bulls team now, even without Derek Rose, that team would be better than the Knicks were last year. A team with the starting five of......

Pg- Derek Rose

Sg- Jimmy Butler

Sf-Carmelo Anthony

Pf- Taj Gibson

C- Joakim Noah

That is a great team with 3 All-Star starters. Carmelo and Derek Rose are 2 of the top 15 players in the NBA at least. While Noah is one of the 5 best Centers in the league. how could that not be enticing for Carmelo Anthony after the year he has had in New York.

 

Spencer- ESPN will find a way to make "Lebron Breathing" a new story. 

I want to start off saying I don't hate Lebron James and that I concede that he is hands down the best player in the league. That being said though I can't stand ESPN making everything Lebron does a story. 

When you see one story about Lebron broken into 8-10 different segments on the Sportscenter rundown, you know the network s bored. Here is a picture of said rundown the day after Lebron dropped 61 on the Bobcats last week...

I will be the first to admit that 61 points is impressive, it was against the Bobcats so I'm not necessarily surprised, but it is impressive. Does it really have to make up every topic on an hour long show consecutively though? We might as well change it to "Lebroncenter," honestly. They basically take one Lebron topic and rewrite it 10 different ways to continue talking about it. SMH! I remember last summer a topic on Lebron going to jury duty and taking a picture before he left the house. Why is that even news man? People go to jury duty everyday. You don't see any news station covering the guy who left work for a few weeks to go do what is required of him as a citizen. Its just too much. It's literally Lebron overload. Every night/day its the same thing too. There are 30 NBA teams in the league and ESPN spends the whole day talking about one guy on one of those teams. I know he is a marketing tool but is there nothing else to talk about? 

 All in all I don't mind talking about Lebron and his performance and the Heat in comparison to other teams, but when an an entire show is dedicated to one guy and we call it "sports news" I change the channel. There is a lot other stories out there that go unnoticed or untouched. Let's start talking about what your name says and start talking about sports, or change the name to Lebroncenter.  

Monday Spread Option 02-10-14

1. SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Missouri DE, Michael Sam came out as homosexual this weekend, what do you think it means for him and his hopes to get drafted and for the NFL as a whole?

Spencer-
For Michael Sam himself I think it just shows how courageous he is as a person to be open about being a homosexual knowing the judgement that can come with it. He broke the barrier and in a way, like Jason Collins was for the NBA has become an activist for being open about your sexuality no matter who you are or what you do. I sincerely hope he is judged by NFL scouts for his athletic ability and skill as a football player and not for anything else other than that. Obviously the media is going to make a bigger deal out of a potential NFL player being gay than what should be made in today's day and age, but that shouldn't deter a team from drafting him. When they look at Sam and his athletic resume they should decide to draft him or not draft him because they feel he is going to contribute to their team's success or not. Obviously I don't have control over that but his sexuality or the unnecessary attention that comes with drafting him shouldn't be reasons for not taking him in the draft.

Ty-
Honestly I don't know. I believe that this shouldn't be a big deal at all. Openly homosexual people have become more accepted in our community, as they should have. So my hope would be that it wont affect his draft status at all. But I will say that just because we like to believe that in 2014 homosexual people are universally accepted than we would be wrong. There is still a lot of discrimination and hate in the world. Although I don't think he will go through anything that a Jackie Robinson will go through I'm sure that he will go through his own hardship and he is a brave person to be the first openly homosexual in the NFL. But we won't know how this affects him until draft day. Mel Kiper has Sam graded as a 4th rounder. If he shows well in the combine but slips more than 2 rounds in the draft than I think that tell us all we need to know about how ready NFL teams are to draft a homosexual player. I do think that people aren't giving football players enough credit. I played football in high school with a lot of guys who are very open minded. The best thing about this is that although it seems a little late for this to happen, all you need is one person to make this no longer a problem or a big deal. This will be great for athletes who feel they have to hide who they are in order to realize a dream of theirs.

2. The Dunk Contest has a new format. Do you like it? Do you think that it will make the contest better?

Ty-
The Dunk Contest format has changed quite a bit. Now instead of head to head there will be two teams, East and West. There will be a freestyle portion where people just continue to dunk for 90 seconds non-stop and the judges decide which team wins. The winnng team decides who goes first in the second round which is a head to head portion where one dunker from one conference goes up against another from the other conference. The judges will decide each head to head matchup until one conference has won 3 matches. Each match loser is eliminated, so you could have a situation where one player has to win 3 head to head matchups in a row to win for his team. After the winning conference is crowned then fans get to vote on who the "Dunker of the Night" was.

I think that I really like the format change. I'm excited to see how well it works and if it adds more intrigue to the final event. It also helps that for the first time since the 80's there are 3 All-Star players (Paul George, John Wall, Damien Lillard) in the dunk contest. Sure it's not LeBron but I also feel like LeBron is more of a great in game dunker than he would be in a competition like this.


Spencer-
I do like the changes. I think before the NBA was having problems getting stars into it, the dunks were getting less and less impressive, this was a creative change that allowed for more of a "team" feel but still come competitiveness with people coming up with creative ways to dunk the ball. I think the togetherness or team aspect of it now promotes some of the bigger names to do it cause they all get to play as together, be creative together and do less dunks individually. Can't argue with the NBA trying to bring in a positive change to it to bring back its popularity. If not for anything people will at least check it out to see this new format.

3. The Olympics have started. What do you think will be, or should be the most watched events?

 Spencer-
 Personally, I'm most excited for the Hockey and I enjoy watching some other events like Curling cause it's just so different and the strategy to it is pretty cool, the Bobsled cause who doesn't like a sled going down a ice slide at 90 mph, and then some of the skiing/snowboarding stuff is pretty cool too. I think Americans should try to watch as many events as they can cause whether you believe it or not the Olympics is a cool way to unite people in each country around the world by showing some competitiveness but advertising togetherness as well. That being said though I think the Hockey will be the most watched. After 2010 in Vancouver when the U.S. nearly beat Canada for the gold medal in one of the best hockey games of all time I think people will be anticipating that again. I still remember all the tweets hating on Canada after that game so I know everyone wants a rematch with that team for gold this year.

Ty-
I think most people are going to tune in for the hockey portion. Specially if you are a NHL fan because they have put the season on pause for the olympics. I like watching most of the events because they are so fascinating to me. Alpine Skiing is crazy.Luge looks like it's fun to do. Bobsled, shout out to Jamaica! "Sanka, you dead?" "Yah man". Yes I just quoted cool runnings! You also can't forget about figure skating and my personal favorite, Curling. They just slide a thing on ice and the team sweeps in front of it to control where it goes! I think that it's just simply amazing that somebody though of that as a sport. 

4. There are only 2 undefeated teams in men's college basketball

left, Wichita State and Syracuse. Which team do you think can stay undefeated longer?

Ty-
I think that it is almost a little crazy that these two teams are even undefeated but Wichita State has a better chance. Syracuse is really good but they do have weaknesses. One weakness is that besides Cooney, they aren't a very good shooting team. But they find ways to win with their great front line and defense. It just doesn't seem like the Orange are a dominant team. Which is fine because they keep finding ways to win. They are coming up on a rough stretch though, going on the road to face Duke, Pitt and Virginia in 3 of the next 6 games. I wouldn't be surprised if they won all of those games but they have benefited from playing some of their harder opponents at home. Wichita State has a great team that has continued the momentum from it's run in the tournament last year but they aren't as good a Syracuse. They just benefit from being in a conference that might only get one tournament bid.

Spencer-
Although I hope my Orange pull off the undefeated season I think it is very unlikely given their tough schedule down the stretch, so I got to go with Wichita. Syracuse plays in the ACC and even though the have made the transition to the conference very well (out to a 10-0 start), they still play games with quality opponents in their eight remaining games including #25 Pittsburgh, a highly anticipated rematch at #8 Duke and #17 Virginia. It's not going to be easy to sweep those games. With that in mind I take a look at Wichita who is a well deserving to ranked team, and I see a schedule that bodes well for them going undefeated. They only have six games remaining, all against non-ranked Missouri Valley Conference foes. Enough said. Great team in a week conference could mean undefeated.

5. What did we learn this week in sports?

Spencer: Fan's think buying a ticket to the game is a free pass to be as ignorant as they want.

Look I love going to games live and in person and cheering for my teams, but there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. I think we saw that line being crossed during the incident at the Texas Tech, Oklahoma State game when Marcus Smart shoved a fan who insulted him when he fell out of bounds into the stands. Now we don't know exactly what was said but it may have been racial, and even if it wasn't I just can't accept this as a culture. Look boo all you want, disagree with a call and express your anger, but when you insult a person or label them with judgements and fallacies it's crossing the line in my opinion.

Do I agree that Smart should of shoved the guy? No, keep your composure man that's part of your job. But it's also part of a fan's job to show some respect for the game and the players playing it. People forget that sports are there for our entertainment pleasure, which means the people playing them are their for our entertainment too. Whether or not they are on your team shouldn't matter, they are still playing a childs game that we love to watch. If you're going to be obnoxious watch from your house so you can scream at the TV and your family won't judge you. But it isn't a free for all for fans just cause you bought a ticket to the game. Also if the n-word was thrown out there that is even more ridiculous cause now while Smart serves a suspension and the fan who brought race wrongly into it gets to come back next week. We expect our beloved athletes to show some character, well why don't we as fans show some damn character? Stop embarrassing yourself, and the members of your fan base.

Ty- (Editor/Side note: Does anybody believe that this guy only said "Piece of crap"? Either the Orr guy is a little kid and preceded to call Smart a "Doo doo head dumbie" and Smart is really short tempered. Or  this Orr guy is lying about what he said.)

The Detroit Pistons don't realize their problems stem from signing Josh Smith and not Maurice Cheeks.

The Pistons recently fired their head coach Mo Cheeks after the team started 21-29 in an already disappointing eastern conference.

The Pistons are the east bizarro-esqu version of the New Orleans Pelicans. Both teams added tons of talent in the offseason, but they added talent that was redundent to their roster. The Pelicans added too many guards when they traded for Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday, which resulted in poor defense and a poor record.

The Pistons did the same thing but with front court players. They added Josh Smith and forced him to play as a small forward when he has always played better as a power forward. This meant a lineup of Josh Smith, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. This resulted in bad defense, bad offense, and a poor record. Josh Smith is too slow footed to cover quicker small forwards and Greg Monroe continues to be to slow of foot to guard well ever. Meanwhile the Pistons score below the league average for points per game.

Joe Dumars was praised for putting together the Pistons team that won a championship in 2004 but maybe it is time that he is let go. He has now possibly botched two free agent periods where the Pistons had ample amount of cap space. Maybe another coach can come in there and make them a better team either for the rest of the season or next year but right now the Josh Smith signing is looking like a failure. It also hurts that the Pistons are on the verge of missing the playoffs in a conference where the number 3 seed is only 2 games over .500.