Can anybody tame the 12-Th man?

Looks like the road to the Super Bowl will definitely go through the 12-Th man and the deafening noise he creates in Seattle. The New Orleans Saints went in there tonight and looked like the old 'Aints. These 2 teams share one thing in common in that they are both nearly unbeatable at home. They are both 6-0 at home and the playoffs in the NFC will be decided by who gets to stay home and who gets to go on the road. It's looking more and more like the Seahawks are going to be at home and that's huge for them. The Saints on the other hand are suddenly tied with the Carolina Panthers for the division lead and they better win that division. The Saints are not a team built to go on the road and create magic in cold weather. They need the dome at least until they have to go in to Seattle again deep in the playoffs. The crazy parity in the NFL has suddenly made the Carolina Panthers a legitimate contender in the NFC south where the Atlanta Falcons are struggling at 3-9. These 2 teams have completely switched roles from what was expected of them in the pre-season. May be the Panthers with that defense will put up a better fight against the Seahawks in the playoffs than what the Saints showed us today. The NFC champion has to come from either of these 2 divisions unless somebody from the mediocre NFC North or East go on a crazy run late in the season.

In the AFC, it appears like the usual suspects will be at it again this winter. Manning is at 10-2 and Brady is sitting at 9-3. Indy and Cincy are not far behind, but they just don't look like a legitimate contender. In fact, neither does New England, but they are getting healthier, continuing to win, and they have Tom Brady. Indy is definitely missing Reggie Wayne and don't look all that dominant anymore. Kansas City was always considered a pretender and they have been proving that the last few weeks, though there is no shame in losing to Denver. The Chiefs stayed close at home and had a shot against the Broncos, but they are clearly not in the same class. It would be interesting if the AFC championship game pits Manning against Brady and if the NFC puts Russell Wilson against Cam Newton. It would be the classic contrast between the old guard and QB royalty on the AFC side and the new guard and a window into the future on the NFC side. Of course these young guns have a lot to prove. NFL's parity will drag them to the dumps in a hurry. Just ask Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan. Only the true legends like Manning, Brady, and Brees are able to resist the ravages of parity and injuries and stay relatively consistent and on top. 

Week 13 in the NFL is significant for another reason. For most fantasy leagues, this is the end of the regular season. Good luck all you ballers. The thanksgiving weekend also featured some great college games. The iron bowl between Auburn and Alabama was an instant classic and people are still talking about it well into Tuesday. Auburn won the game by returning a missed field goal all the way back for a TD on the last play of the game. Tough way to lose a shot at a national championship for Alabama, but I am  not shedding any tears for a SEC team. Saban's decision to go for a field goal was of course the right call, it just backfired on him. We got another BCS mess on our hands, but I don't mind seeing some new teams in the championship game. Ohio State escaped against Michigan much to my chagrin in another close rivalry game. The NBA season is also in full flow and my Phoenix Suns are surprisingly not bad at all. It looks like the Indiana Pacers might be able to challenge the Miami Heat for real. Who would have thought a Indiana Pacers, Portland Trail Blazers game in early December will feature a 16-1 and 14-3 teams. But then again, it is still early December and there is a long way to go before we know if anybody can really challenge the Heat in May and June.

Mid-season blues

The New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings played a horrible Monday Night game tonight. Usually, the Thursday night games are bad, but this one was worse. Somebody had to win this one and the Giants did to wrap up week 7. The real story of this week was injuries. It's that time of the season when bodies are sore, legs are weak and minds are tired. Guys - both superstars and no-namers, went down all over the place yesterday. Sam Bradford, Reggie Wayne, Brian Cushing, and possibly Doug Martin are all out for the season. Jay Cutler, Nick Foles, Jermichael Finley, Lance Briggs, and Arian Foster also went out and I am sure I am missing some other names. This shows how violent this sport is despite all the rule changes and softening of the blows. It does pain me to watch these guys get hurt. But thats the reality of the NFL.

As for the games, Colts welcomed Peyton Manning back to town in what was the game of the week. Despite all the chatter from their blabbering owner Jim Irsay leading up to the game, the Colts welcomed Manning with class and treated him well at the game. But Andrew Luck showed why Manning is in Denver and not in Indy anymore. Luck is the real deal. His maturity and skill-set is better than most 10-year vets and he looks as close to being the next Peyton Manning as anybody ever has. Plus, he is more athletic and can make some things happen with his legs. Out of all the young-uns, Luck and Russel Wilson look like the most complete talent. It was a real impressive win for the young Colts. They are 5-2 and have already beaten the Seahawks, Niners, and now the Broncos. I have no idea how and why they lost to the Dolphins and the Chargers. The only bad thing for Luck and the Colts was the bad pass he threw to Reggie Wayne, who was wide-open, but had to bend down and twist trying to catch the ball and ended up with a season-ending injury untouched. I am sure Luck is beating himself up over that today pass. But this Colts team is going places both this season and in the future.

The Kansas City Chiefs are the only unbeaten team in the league. I can't wait for the Chiefs-Broncos division games. This used to be THE rivalry back in the John Elway days. The rivalry is back now. In the NFC, the Niners are hitting their groove and look like a true contender finally. The Seahawks will be there at the end too and thats the other division rivalry that has super bowl implications written all over it. The NFL season is rolling into shape, but let's hope injuries don't derail the flow of some of these teams. It wouldn't hurt to see a new team or two contend as well. Teams like the Patriots don't look as dominant as they used to and thats a good thing. Speaking of New England, the World Series is here and fittingly, it features two of the most baseball crazy cities in the country - St. Louis and Boston. This series might go 7 and Boston takes it. I want Saint Louis to win, but I don't think a NL team can do a lot of damage at Fenway park.

Quarterbacks running wild

Just like that, 25% of the NFL regular season is in the books. After 4 games, Denver, Seattle, New Orleans, Kansas City, and New England are all 4-0. Not a whole lot of surprises there except Kansas City. Seattle and New England were Peter King's Super Bowl pick in the pre-season. But after watching the Patriots in the first game or two, I have to say they are a bit of a surprise. They are a little thin and injured at the receiver position and the offense looked shaky and anemic at times in the early going. With Gronk and Amendola coming back from injuries and the rookie receivers improving, I thought the Pats will improve later in the season, but they are 4-0 already with the fourth win coming on the road against a good Atlanta team yesterday. Kudos to the usual suspects Brady and Belichick for keeping the flag of excellence flying high in foxboro. Speaking of usual suspects, Brees and Peyton Manning are on fire as always and are carrying their teams and their fantasy owners to incredible heights. These guys wake up from bed and throw for 4 TDs on a whim! That level of quarterbacking and translates to a 4-0 record in today's NFL pretty seamlessly.

Seattle is the only team in the 4-0 list that is built more on old school values like defense and a running game. They are the most complete team and they also have a solid QB in Russell Wilson and a great home field advantage. That makes them a super bowl favorite especially after dismantling the Niners two weeks back. After the first 4 games of the season, my pick for the Super Bowl is Denver V Seattle. The most surprising 4-0 team is Kansas City and kudos to Andy Reid and Alex Smith for turning the culture there overnight. I still don't consider them a legitimate contender though. As injuries pile up, team chemistry improves, and the weather gets colder, new forces will emerge in the NFL, but these 4-0 teams will stay in contention all season.  If you are looking for fascinating match-ups in the near future, look for Peyton Manning's visit to Indy and New England. Those are potential playoff previews with a side of QB drama that should tell us a lot about how this season will turn out. The elite teams that we expected to join this list, but struggling right now are the Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons at 1-3.

The 0-4 list is very surprising to say the least. New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers headline this list and even Tampa Bay was supposed to be way better than their 0-4 start. Bucs QB Josh Freeman has lost his job to rookie Mike Glennon and rightfully so. Jacksonville is the other team that's staying true to it's form, but somehow Blaine Gabbert still has a job. Even his third year QB batch-mate Christian Ponder is in a little bit of a trouble with Matt Cassel coming in for him as an injury replacement and doing very well. Minnesota, Houston, Green Bay, San Francisco, and Atlanta are some of the teams that has the talent and were hoping to be better record-wise at this point. But some of those teams will be there at the end. I am a little surprised they are burning Matt Schaub's jersey already in Houston. He did throw that horrible interception, but where is the love and the loyalty? Our sports culture is so different and on edge these days. It's no surprise fans in Oakland were booing Matt Flynn at every chance they got. Raider fans were clamoring for Pryor like he is the second coming of Peyton Manning. To be fair to the Raider fans, Flynn was pretty bad and if Schaub is in so much trouble after all that he has done, Flynn doesn't stand a chance.

27-Th to First

The Oakland Athletics clinched the AL west title for the second straight year. This is the most interesting and underrated stories in Major League Baseball the last 2 seasons. The team with the 27-Th highest payroll among the 30 teams in the league has finished first in the difficult AL West. This division was supposed to be all about the high-spending Anaheim Angels and Texas Rangers. They had the money and some big name talent and I still remember the A's fans taking about their team with a sense of resignation a couple of years back. And then magic happened last season. When the movie Moneyball came out in late 2011, it looked like a bad time for a Billy Beane biopic. He had not been in the playoffs in 5 years and there was no apparent light at the end of the tunnel or a plan in sight to compete against the new found money in Anaheim and solid talent in Texas. But then he pulled a moneyball-2 in 2012 with nobody looking. The A's clinched the division title in the last series of the year behind a bunch of solid, rookie pitchers and a couple of good hitters.

Coming into this season, the Angels and Rangers added more talent and even the die-hard A's fans were wondering if last year was nothing but a fluke. The hope was that the young pitching was real and when you have pitching, you have a lot going for you. The hitting was always a question mark. And then Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick decided not to show up at the level we expected them to. Given that they were the only pop in the lineup in 2012, this should have been disaster, but Josh Donaldson saved the day for the A's all season. Between him and timely home runs from others, the offense actually improved from 2012. And Reddick and Cespedes have also joined the party late in the season. The pitching was still there and old man Bartolo Colon was a true ace for a majority of the season. He slipped a little and seemed to have found his rhythm again the last couple of weeks, but his season ERA is still a robust 2.64. Both the starting pitchers and the bullpen have gone through ups and downs, but the pitching has been there as a unit all season long.

After a rough August where the schedule was difficult, the A's started rolling again in September. The rangers started slipping around the same time - bad timing for them, and when the A's swept them last week in Texas, this division was over. Now the A's have officially won the division with a week to spare after sweeping the Twins and taking all drama out of this race. This team is on a roll and I can't believe what will happen to this world if they won the World Series. Thats no dream. I think this team has enough weapons to make it happen. I have always maintained that the MLB playoffs are a crap-shoot. A team on a roll with good pitching can make anything happen as the other Bay Area team - the Giants, have shown us 2 out of the last 3 years. It would be awesome to have the national media and the baseball establishment deal with Billy Beane and the A's winning a championship. I like and respect Billy. It's about time he wins the big one. Congrats to him on building a division champion out of the 27-Th ranked payroll. Good luck to him the rest of the way this season and post-season. Go, get em all Billy.

Random Musings from Week 1 of the NFL

The return of NFL is so exciting and fantas(y)tic that I can't even muster a cogent blog post. I just decided to list some random musings from what I saw in week 1.

1. The Steelers are a bunch of hot garbage. I can't remember the last time they looked this bad. Mike Tomlin better have a lot of cute one-liners ready to deal with this mess. He once told us there is a difference between smashing grapes and drinking wine. His team is currently doing neither.

2. Peyton Manning is back all the way. His throws were wobbly early last season, but 7 TDs to open this season is all you need to know if you are wondering how his arm is doing these days. He has always been a definition of a franchise QB, but he has now elevated another franchise to the Super Bowl level all by himself.

3. I wonder how many years Peyton's got left in that 37 year-old body. Some Colts fans are probably missing him, but I still prefer the talented Lucky boy who is 14 years younger.

4. Tom Brady needs receivers. If Gronk is not back soon, Danny Amendola will be in a body-bag by week 6. But he will probably be on the injury report by then anyways. So that's neither here nor there.

5. Raiders are not as bad as we thought. Terrelle Pryor could be this year's Tim Tebow. And by that I don't mean he will be out of the league in 2 years.

6. Saints won the game against the Falcons, but didn't look super impressive doing so. Coach Sean Payton better bring his supposed magic to the party starting with game 2.

7.  I was surprised that the horrible late hit call in the Jets-Bucs game didn't create more controversy. Jets won the game because of it and only because of it.

8. Colin Kaepernick almost proved Jaws's point in week 1. He seems to be as legit as they come. He is not a running QB. He is a good QB who can run if needed.

9. What a start to the season for Adrian Peterson. He took the first hand-off to he house. But Ponder has to improve for this team and AP to realize their potential.

10. Carson Palmer once again played good enough to give his team some hope, but not good enough to give his team a win. Nobody fumbles the ball from blind-side hits more consistently than Palmer. But the Cardinals at least have somebody they can finally call a NF quarterback.

11. Happy to see Alex Smith and Andy Reid start off in style for the Chiefs. AFC West suddenly looks better than expected, but are they good to disturb the peace in Peyton's division? Time will tell.

12. Same old Chargers and Rivers. They gave the game away to Houston in a way that would have impressed even Norv Turner.

13. NFC East is competitive as always. Dallas. New York, and RGIII played horrible first halves and a slightly better second half. Philly under Chip Kelly looked great on offense and might be fun to watch all year if Vick stays healthy. But thats a big if.

That's my baker's dozen from week 1. At least it's not just 10 things. If you still accuse me of being a Peter King wannabe, I will take that as a compliment.

The wait is over

I don't usually watch pre-season in any sports, but it's always a happy day when the NFL pre-season games start. Football is back and not a day too soon. After spending an inordinate amount of time since the Super Bowl in jails across the country, footballers are back to doing what they do best - entertain America on the field. The hall-of-fame game was nothing special, but the hall-of-fame class this year was. Bill Parcells, Chris Carter, and Warren Sapp were worthy inductees this year. Now we are ready to start thinking fantasy and football. The only downside with the training camp and pre-season is, we have already started losing stars to injuries. Jeremy Maclin, Percy Harvin, and Dennis Pitta are some of the high-impact offensive players who are injured causing a minor consternation to their actual teams and major disturbance to fantasy rankings.

Maclin's injury gave an opening to Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper, but then he opened his mouth and ruined his career. He hurled a racial epithet at a black security guard at a concert and like everything else these days, this video ended up on youtube. This is a very  delicate situation for the Eagles as some of Riley's black teammates are still understandably upset. Vick sounded forgiving, but not all of his teammates share Vick's opinion. The Eagles have to play this just right given this is a new coach's  first year. It would be sad if Coach Kelly lost the locker room even before he coaches his first game. Cooper is probably a certifiable racist to have said what he did and his career is in jeopardy. He is now in "counseling", which seems to be a fashionable thing to do these days for any celebrity in any kind of trouble. This is not the most auspicious start for coach Kelly, but he will try and make the best out of this.

Of course the Patriots are probably laughing at the Eagles for making a mountain out of a molehill because the Pats were dealing with a real mountain of a problem for a while. Aaron Hernandez is accused of murder and the Pats have cut him. He makes Gronk look like a choir boy. What a tight-end combo for hoody both on and off the field. Brady has lost quite a bit of his offensive weapons to surgery, free agency, and murders. But he is still Tom Brady and a deep playoff run is very much on the cards for the Pats. As for Hernandez, the crimes he is accused of are mind boggling and unfathomable. He might have thrown his entire life away, and for what, nobody knows. It's good to get the games going so we can start taking about the action on the field instead of all this nonsense off of it. We have all taken the first step starting last weekend. Football is back on TV again and everybody is thinking and talking about it.

Off-season and mid-season

The biggest news of the summer has been Dwight Howard signing with Houston. He agreed to terms a week or so back, but I was not going to write about it until he was officially signed and introduced in person. That happened yesterday and we can now be sure he will not flip-flop anymore or throw some tantrum. To be fair to Dwight, his off-season was relatively quick and easy compared to the drama he created last year in Orlando. The media attention was obviously elevated because he is a superstar, biggest name in the market, and because it involved the LA Fakers. Ultimately, he did make the right basketball decision in going with the talented, young roster in Houston. The Lakers have an aging, injured roster. I would have been scared to re-up with them as well  if I was Dwight.

The Lakers needed Dwight more than he needed the Lakers. It would be a completely different argument if Kobe was 28 years old, but he is not. After next season, Nash is literally the only guy on contract. Thats a lot of flexibility and cap-room and you can easily see a franchise like the Lakers re-loading in a hurry. But if you are Dwight, that's just way too much uncertainty. And given the emotional and other kinds of bonds Kobe has with the franchise, you have to assume the Lakers will re-invest a lot of that cap-room in an even older Kobe next year. So Howard went with a more stable situation in Houston. Can't really blame him. As for the Lakers, it's not too bad for them either. They got Kobe for a year and a massive cap-room in 2014 when LeBron, Wade, and Carmelo (and Kobe) become free agents. I can't see any of them going to the Fakers, but you never know.

As NBA's off-season is moving along, baseball is at it's midway point. The home run derby was today and the A's Yoenis Cespedes won it. Well deserved recognition for the best slugger mainstream America has never heard of. Good things seem to be happening in baseball this season with both the A's and Diamondbacks - the teams I care the most about, are leading their respective divisions. The A's are in a dog fight for the division and it's going to be tight till the final weeks of the season. But the young A's seem very capable of seeing this through. This is shaping to be a good season, but the steroid scandal is supposed to take many players down very soon. I don't have a problem with that, but I am worried MLB will screw it up and create a big mess. The players association has enough juice to make things messy plus that's generally the way Bud rolls. Commish Bud Selig will find a way to screw this up.

Two Time Champion

LeBron James is now a two time Champion. For all the criticism and rough times he has been through, he might actually be on track to achieve all his goals given that he is only 28. He has already been in the league 10 years and has clearly established himself as the best player in the league. He has accumulated a bunch of MVP awards and he just clinched his second, finals MVP. He had a phenomenal game 7 tonight with 37 points and 12 boards. He shot the heat to a championship as spurs  continued to clog the lane and gave him open jumpers. That strategy worked for most of the series, but not tonight. I knew the spurs were in trouble once LeBron hit a couple of early 3's in the first half. When a player of that caliber gets in rhythm, its hard to derail him sometimes. Plus he had amazing support from Dwayne Wade, Shane Battier, and Mario Chalmers tonight. They kept nailing critical jumpers - many 3's in the case of Battier. Spurs tried their best to keep up and gave us a great game - thanks to Kawhi Leonard, but with Ginobli and Green hurting their cause more than helping and with LeBron guarding Tony Parker, it was trouble late in the game. It was a sad site to see Tim Duncan miss that 2-feet hook shot and tip on Shane Battier that could have tied the game. Not sure how the game would have gone even if he had hit that, but that miss could keep him up at night for a while. 

The spurs really lost the series in game 6. I am even surprised they were able to stay in the game today in game 7. The series got interesting in game 6 after a bunch of blowouts. The last 2 games were superb entertainment. It elevated this finals to the level of an instant classic. Of course, it took a huge collapse by the spurs in the last 30 seconds of game 6 to make this series what it has become now. Up 4 with just around 30 seconds to go and heading to the free throw line, Ginobli missed a free throw to go up by 5. LeBron missed a 3, only to get the ball again after an offensive rebound to hit another 3. Up 2, Kawhi Leonard then missed one more free throw and Ray Allen hit a game-tying, legacy saving 3 with just 5 seconds to go. This is exactly why they brought Ray Allen to town. A shot like that justifies millions in salary given what was at stake. That 3 was also after another LeBron James missed 3 and an offensive rebound - Tim Duncan was on the bench for both those rebounds. And Pop by the way also put Tony Parker on the bench later for the last possession of overtime and a late possession in tonight's game 7, the one where Ginobli turned the ball over like he has been doing all series. Questionable coaching by one of the best coaches in the league. The spurs lost game 6 more than the heat winning it. It doesn't matter. Five years from now, all of this will just be remembered as LeBron's second championship. Nobody can take that away from him and the heat. 

Game 6 was truly a game of historic proportions because of what a loss there could have meant to LeBron's legacy. He had a mediocre shooting series up to that point and the first 3 quarters of that game was brutal. He then had an amazing run in the 4-Th, but slowed down again at the end and spurs looked like they got that game locked up. He had a few bad plays in the clutch again and the twitter universe was ready to pounce on LeBron like it was 2011. Nobody's entire legacy is evaluated and critiqued with every play quite like LeBron's. Even Bill Walton jumped the gun a little early when the spurs were up 5 with less than 30 seconds to go and said something like never compare LeBron to MJ or Kobe. I guess how he feels tonight after game 7. That Ray Allen 3 saved LeBron a lot of pain. I am really curious to see how much more shine this second ring adds to LeBron. The first ring was obviously a huge relief and LeBron has recovered a lot of his reputation, but the haters are still out there - me included. I don't hate LeBron personally or want anything bad to happen to him, but I definitely don't like the way this Miami heat team has been assembled. The national media had to ease up on him after the first ring and they may start deifying him after 2. He is an once in a generation player and I have no doubt he is better than Jordan as a overall basketball talent - LeBron can do it all and do it well, but none of that earns him my loyalty at this point

Rings and only rings will determine where LeBron's legacy ends up in relation to Jordan's. Thats exactly why he has hooked up with Wade and Bosh and his plans seems to be coming to fruition now - 3 years, 3 finals, 2 championships. The spurs in that game 6 could have dealt a huge blow to his legacy. It would have been 2 losses in 3 straight finals and 3 losses in 4 total trips including his Cleveland days. Jordan and Montana never lost the championship games and thats part of their greatness. LeBron has already lost 2 out of 4, but 3 out of 4 would have been horrible for him. He doesn't have to worry about it now, especially if he can win 5 out of 7 or 6 out of 8 championships when it's all said and done. Of course, thats all still a long way off. He will try to three-peat next year. Miami's luxury tax situation is rough and it's anybody's guess how this team will look next year, let alone in 2 years. I expect the big-3 to be back next season, but I am not sure if they can afford good supporting talent. I also expect the Pacers and the Bulls to push them harder next year. The heat will still have the world's best basketball player whose confidence is sky high now with these championships in the bag. They are the early favorites for 2014. Let the off-season begin. Wonder where the spurs go from here. What about my Phoenix suns? May be the suns can add a piece or 2 and win 10 more games. #ModestGoals.

Close, tied, and boring

This NBA finals had a lot of potential coming in and is living up to it in some ways with 2-2 tie after four games. Despite being all tied up, it has not been the most entertaining finals so far. The reason is, there was one close game and an amazing game winning basket by Tony Parker in game 1, but we have been exposed to a whole lot of one-sided games and blowouts since then. This series has not had any flow or pattern so far. Teams have alternated wins and a different guy has been the story every game. At this points, it's impossible to say who is the better team or who is the favorite to win it all. I was convinced San Antonio was going to win this thing after their game 1 and 3 victories, but after Miami's game 4 win, I am not so sure anymore. Miami now gets to host 2 out of the remaining 3 games and that should make them the favorite. This makes game 5 very critical for San Antonio. They can't afford to lose game 5 at home and hope to win 2 straight on the road against LeBron James. 

Momentum goes with the winner of last game and in addition, the other thing that makes the Miami Heat the slight favorite now is the sight of Wade finally dominating game 4. Wade has been mostly absent for a majority these playoffs, It's a completely different ball game when this guy is on. It's a nightmare for any team trying to defend both LeBron and Wade. Unfortunately, Pop has to figure this out now given the sudden revival of Wade. He was terrific in game 4. Tony Parker's injury is another concern for the Spurs. He started off hot in game 4, but his second half was nothing special. Ginobli is struggling as well with just 7.5 points per game in these finals. If the Spurs win this series, we might have an improbable MVP in Danny Green. For Miami, it will probably be LeBron who has done a little bit of everything, though he had a rough time scoring in the first 3 games. His block on Thiago Splitter in game 2 might be remembered as the most memorable play of these finals if Miami win. That was an awesome play much like Parker's shot in game 1. 

Let's hope for a few more memorable moments and tighter contests over the remaining games. My theory about game 3 winners after a 1-1- tie always taking the series is also under duress here with the Heat wresting home court back. Spurs have to win at least one more on the road to win the series, but Miami don't have to. Both teams are veteran squads and winning on the road has not been a problem for either. Some experts also feel momentum is a lesser factor in the NBA finals than in other rounds. All of this makes it hard to get a feel for or predict this series even after 4 games.  May be game 5 will provide us with all the answers. Off the court, the most significant news to me has been the retirement of Grant Hill and Jason Kidd. They came into the league together in 1994 and are going out together after long careers. It's truly an end of an era in the NBA - an era that will always be close to my heart as I grew up as an NBA fan during that time. I am also proud that both their paths passed through the Phoenix Suns. I can't believe Kidd has already scored a head coaching job with the Nets, but I wish him good luck.

Game Zero

I dozed off pretty much through the entire fourth quarter of the Pacers-Heat game seven tonight. That tells you all you need to know about this game seven. It was a big letdown. The pacers didn't really show up. They made this an interesting, intriguing, and competitive series until the start of game seven. Once the game started, the pacers we have been accustomed to seeing the last couple of weeks left the building. There is always the danger of this happening in game sevens with the road team. The pacers are a young, inexperienced team and these lights were too big for them. The pacers gave game one away and that's where they lost the series just like the warriors did against the Spurs. And, just like the warriors, the pacers did help prove my theory that if the series is tied after 2 games, the winner of game three takes the series. They pounded the heat with their size and toughness, but whenever the heat dialed up their intensity, pacers seemed to lack the firepower to keep up. The much-hyped game seven ended up being a lame precursor to the finals - a game zero of the finals if you will.

The Pacers need one more piece to take the next step. I like George Hill - first round picks of the San Antonio Spurs are usually no chopped liver, but they need a better point guard to manage this talented, big team. May be they can trade Danny Granger in a package and score a point guard in return. Granger is not bad either, but he is too similar to Paul George and Paul is way better. Part of me would like to see Granger back with this team with a more mature George and Hibbert, but I think they can use a point guard instead. I have full trust in Donnie Walsh, their president of basketball operations, to make the right call here. It will be an interesting off-season for the pacers. They are a legitimate contender now and am glad pro basketball is back in the hoosier state after a rough decade or so. Between the pacers and the bulls - if and when Derrick Rose returns, the Heat might have some serious threat next season. 

But first things first. Can anybody stop the heat this season? The pacers almost did it and that should give a big psychological boost to the spurs. The heat don't look anywhere near invincible and the big three has shrunk to big one all of a sudden. The "one" is definitely not a bad "one" to have, but I am really curious to see how coach Pop deals with the unstoppable LeBron James. I pick the spurs to figure this out and take this series in six. Heat don't do well against size - the pacers had size, and they don't well against speedy point guards - the spurs have Tony Parker. Duncan is not the same these days, but he is still the "big fundamental" and his size will bother the heat too. The spurs are going to be a handful for the heat and I both like and want the spurs to pull off the upset. For all the tumult the heat have been through the last three years and all the criticism LeBron and others had to endure, they have made it to three straight finals. Things are very much going according to plan for the big-3 though there is this collective public yearning for them to fail. But if they lose their second finals in three tries, it will be considered a failure.

NBA's final four

NBA's final four is an interesting mix of small market teams and LeBron James. I am not sure how much Commissioner Stern is going to like a Memphis-Indiana finals and what kind of TV ratings that would get, but it's a slight possibility. At least last year, he had the big market Boston and a super star in Kevin Durant still balling at this point of the season. This year, America has to get to know Paul George and Mike Conley if they want to enjoy these conference finals. Paul George helped his own cause quite a bit today. The lanky and talented George put up 27 points and hit a game tying 3 to send the game to overtime, where he shot 3 clutch free throws to put the Pacers ahead with just 2.2 seconds to go. He defended LeBron well for long stretches as well. But his youth shows up here and there and he does make mistakes befitting a 3-Rd year player that he is. In regulation, he threw the ball away in one of the key possessions towards the end. And in OT, he over-committed on defense and got stuck at the perimeter trying to chase LeBron and let him drive right by him to the hoop. It was too easy for LeBron.

There seems to be a lot of games going to overtime this playoffs and thats a good thing. Most of the chatter after this OT game though was about Indiana's coach Frank Vogel putting Roy Hibbert on the bench during 2 late possessions in OT, both of which ended in LeBron James layups. I would like to have Hibbert in there as well, but the match-ups usually dictate these things. Miami is a small team and having Hibbert in there can be a liability sometimes. There is no guarantee he is going to be close enough to contest the shot anyways. The Heat have the shooters and athletes to pull him out. It's not like Hibbert contests and blocks every single layup when he is in there. I am sure Vogel won't pull him out in similar situations in future games and he admitted as much, but I won't blame him for what he did today. He had to make a decision based on match-ups. He is still a young coach himself and hopefully, he learned something today. The whole Indiana gang needs to grow up fast if it wants to win this series. They have a shot and this series might go 7 either way.

In the West, I was hoping for another great series with Memphis and San Antonio, but Memphis has not really joined the series quite yet. They did come back from way behind to force OT yesterday, but they need to get in the game from the beginning to have a shot against a great team like the Spurs. They go back home now and have to win both their home games to make a series out of this. They have the talent to beat the Spurs and more importantly, I want Memphis to win because they have the talent to beat Miami. But they need to get to the finals first. They will be the tougher match-up for Miami if they ever figure out a way to stop Tony Parker in this round. Zach Randolph is yet to really show up in this series. Coach Pop is so good he is going to take something or things away from Memphis. So Conley, Gasol, and Z-Bo have to collectively bring their A-Game to get it done. I still don't know what Pop really did to Golden State, but he sure took both Curry and Klay away after they both had amazing starts to that series. I don't mind Pop and his old guys from Texas getting to the Finals one more time, except for the fact that I feel the Grizzlies will give the Heat the most trouble. May be Indiana will make that point moot. But then again, they probably blew that chance today. Too many possibilities and angles, but we can only watch and enjoy.

Pivotal Game

NBA playoffs go on for a long time. So you better get used to a lot of cliches during this time. The one I like is, "a series does not started until a road team wins a game." The other over-used concept is that of a "pivotal game." Once you get past game 1, the experts start calling every game pivotal. It's hard to say if game five is more pivotal than game six, but one thing we can all agree on is, no game is more pivotal than game seven. But putting the two concepts together, I have come to the conclusion that game three is the pivotal one if and only if the teams split the first two games - which is exactly what has happened in the conference semis this year. All four series saw the road team steal a game from among the first two. After Westbrook's injury, Memphis has become the fancy pick to win the west. So it was not surprising to see them steal game two in Oklahoma City. In the East, the Pacers are pretty good and the Knicks are over-rated. So Pacers' win in NY was not a surprise to me either. But Chicago shocked Miami in game one raising hopes for an enormous upset. You had to wonder if that will last given the talent differential between the two rosters, but one can only hope the Heat gets tamed at some point this season. The real surprise was the Warriors not only winning game two in San Antonio, but dominating game one as well before losing it in spectacular fashion.

The Warriors are fun to watch with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson shooting lights out. Coach Mark Jackson recently said they are the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game. That shocked many people and sounded like total hyperbole, but nobody has been able to come up with an alternate back-court to match these two in terms of pure shooting accuracy. Of course, we have heard the "best back-court ever" tag many times, but Jackson was talking about just shooting skills and he is probably right. The only thing that I don't like about it is, these guys are too young for us to start bestowing such accolades on them. I would like some level of consistency before calling them the "best ever" anything. It's not worth talking about if they end up being the best shooting back-court just over a two week or two month period. But they sure have been that. Curry is very special and unique himself. I can't think of anybody who shoots and can also drive like Curry. And Klay has an even better stroke than Curry and between the two of them, I can see where Jackson is making this claim. He is not too far off. The Warriors are fun to watch and they dominated seven out of the eight quarters in San Antonio, but only won one game. They blew a sixteen point lead in four minutes in game one to lose in double overtime. They could have come back home up 2-0, which would have been shockingly amazing. The Warriors made the Spurs look old and lucky. 

Thats why game three was critical. Had the warriors won it, they would have retained and expanded on the momentum coming out of those two games in Texas. And it was the one and final shot for the Spurs to grab momentum and home court back and get the series on an even footing. Thats exactly what they did. They made sure they didn't fall into a big hole at the beginning of the game. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan took care of the rest. They were both unstoppable and they showed us the difference between true superstars and just good shooters like Klay and Curry, who could not get anything going in game three. The home crowd was crushed as the Spurs won the game to set the series back on course. The warriors can still win the series, but the spurs are the favorites now. They have two more home games and they are not going to lose at home anymore. Disappointing pivotal game three for the warriors and their fans. They are a fun team to watch, but the spurs are in the driver seat now and the fun might be over in seven. In the East, Miami did the same thing San Antonio did as they went into Chicago and wrested control right away. The Bulls had no shot with all the injuries, but they are a tough team and they had high hopes after stealing game one. LeBron killed those hopes and the heat can now win game four to really derail the bulls or they can take it easy and win game 5 and 7 at home to wrap things up. I say they win one more road game and wrap this series up in 6.

The story was different with Memphis and Indiana. These teams are legitimately better than their opponents and they didn't just "steal" one road game. They came back home and won game three to establish their superiority. So get ready for a Spurs-Memphis and Miami-Indiana slug-fests in the conference finals. Warriors will be a lot more fun, thunder will have more star power in the form of Durant, and the Knicks will be great for TV ratings in the big city. But neither us nor the NBA offices can always get what we want. Commissioner Stern has to deal with a playoffs soon without the Lakers, Durant, or the Knicks. It will still be fun to watch, but the question for the league and TV "suits" is about how many will watch. At least the NBA office has better things to worry about than the major League Baseball offices right now, The latest issue with MLB is the officiating. The umpires missed a home-run call even after watching the replay one day and they didn't know the rules on another call the next day. No league gets our attention for all the wrong reasons quite like MLB. It's still early days in the baseball season and we should cut MLB some slack. We will start focussing on the action on the field sooner than later as the season heats up, but not yet. 

Man versus God

The famous saying goes "man proposes, God disposes." The almighty really disposed the LA Lakers this NBA season. Just flashback to last summer when the Lakers signed Nash and then traded for Dwight Howard. All the talk was about them winning the championship. Most people didn't think they were better than the Heat or the Thunder, but a deep playoff run was almost assumed. That core of Nash, Kobe, Pau, and Dwight looked great on paper. But the games are played on the hardwood and not on paper. This group never worked as a team. Dwight was my one question mark even before the season and he proved me right. He is over-rated to begin with - a big body with great athleticism, but not enough low-post skills several years in to his NBA career. With him coming back from a serious injury, I thought things were going to be tough for him. But then Nash and Kobe never really played well together and Nash seemed to have aged 3 years in 3 months last off-season. Pau is great, but he never found his role in Mike D'Antoni's system. Of course D'Antoni never found a system for this team either. He was more lost than Pau this year with the Lakers. Kobe was his usual self, but their season really ended when he got injured with just a few games to go in the season. The Spurs put them away rather easily and the season of great hope ended in total despair with Kobe, Nash, MWP, and Steve Blake in street clothes and Darius Morris, Andrew Goudelock, and Earl Clark starting for the mighty LA Lakers. Who would have thought this would happen at the beginning of the season.

Speaking of plans not panning out, the OKC Thunder suffered a disastrous injury to Russell Westbrook. This pretty much ends their championship aspirations this season. They were fine during the regular season without James Harden, but now they wish they had him since Westbrook is gone. Kevin Durant is flying solo and he is going to crash-land soon. They will get past Houston, but it's going to be tough for Durant to take them past San Antonio, Miami, or even Memphis. This is another reminder that life can change in a second. OKC went from a championship contender to a one-man show overnight. Westbrook will be missed in these playoffs much like Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Danillo Gallinari, Rajon Rondo, and David Lee. Too many injuries and one-sided match-ups resulted in somewhat of an uninspiring start to the playoffs in the first round. But now, things are heating up. One series that was fun from the first game was Warriors-Nuggets. Steph Curry is becoming a super star and a shooting star. He has had an amazing regular season and is now doing it in front of a national audience in the playoffs. When he goes on one of his hot shooting streaks, he won't remind you of anybody because I don't think there has ever been a better shooter in the league. If he keeps it up, he will retire as one of the best shooters in the history of the league. So don't miss the show when he is on TV.

NBA's heat-map

The long NBA regular season is now over and the playoffs are starting tomorrow. I just realized I had blogged just five times about the NBA this entire season. Thats what happens when you are busy and your favorite team is 25-57. So I will blame my lack of focus on the NBA on the Phoenix Suns and their horrible season. But the playoffs are always fun and deserve our collective attention. As much as I hate the Lakers and Kobe, we will miss him in the playoffs. You don't want to see anybody get hurt, let alone a superstar like Kobe just before the playoffs. The Lakers are not even the same team to hate without him. They finally made it in as the 7-Th seed surprising everybody. They get the Spurs instead of the Thunder, which is supposed to be a friendlier matchup. I don't think it matters anyways. They will be bounced early. But do we really even care with no Kobe to love or hate? Thats the power of a NBA superstar. Kobe is Kobe, plus he had a phenomenal season. It was hard to see him go out so close to the playoffs.

The other problem with an injury so close to the playoffs is that it also means you are relatively close to the beginning of next NBA season, as crazy as that may sound. Derrick Rose is still not back from the injury late last season, but thats a topic for another day. So Kobe may not be back until mid-way into next season. He has vowed to come back and I believe him 100%, but it might be 2014/2015 before he is completely back and he might be too old by then. Thats why there are legitimate concerns about his career being over. I think it might be over for all practical purposes, but not officially yet. He will be back. The Lakers are still a story, but Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol don't move the needle and Steve Nash has not been effective this year either. I remember talking to a scalper back when Charles Barkley was a superstar in Phoenix. He said the toughest part of his job was when Barkley was out injured. He just could not move any tickets. Lakers tickets lost a whole bunch of value with Kobe's injury.

On the schedule this weekend are a couple of interesting match-ups. Boston-NY is always interesting regardless of the sport. Golden State at Denver is another fun series. Stephen Curry is the next big star on the horizon and the Warriors look like a genius for locking him up at the beginning of the season at what will now be considered a bargain basement price for Curry. James Harden leading the upstart Rockets into Oklahoma city is intriguing too, but they don't have a realistic shot at doing anything significant. At the end of the day, the entire playoffs looks like a distraction while the Heat map out their way through the playoff maze to lock up their second championship. LeBron had such a phenomenal season that even thinking about alternate names for the NBA MVP honors sounds ridiculous. The biggest lock of this season might be the two awards - LeBron for MVP and Damian Lillard for rookie of the year. And of course Heat for the championship, though I am still holding hope that the Pacers or Spurs or Thunder will bother them just a little bit.

Final Four Homecoming

The NCAA tournament so far has been mediocre at best. It is always interesting and worth watching, but some years are better than others and this year is not one of them. It took a turn for the bizarre last Sunday during the elite eight when Louisville's Kevin Ware suffered the most horrific injury I have ever seen. CBS didn't really have it's act together and ended up showing two replays of the injury before realizing this was not fit for TV. I had the misfortune of witnessing both the replays and was in shock much like his teammates. The instantaneous look of disgust and tears on his teammates' faces showed you how bad the injury was and how disturbing it was for them to see one of their brothers suffer through that. Even coach Rick Pitino couldn't control his tears. I can't imagine how much pain Kevin was with his broken legs, but he still mustered enough courage to implore his teammates to go, win the game, and get to the final four. Duke's fate was sealed right there. Louisville is now going to Atlanta for the final four and Kevin Ware will be there on the bench in his hometown. I can't wait to see this guy there. It will be good to see him there after what happened last Sunday.

Wichita State crashed the final four party meant for the big boys to join Michigan, Syracuse and Louisville.  For all the excitement about the upsets and the madness, it's incredibly hard for lower seeds to go all the way to the final four. We love the tournament because there are upsets, though we just don't know who gets upset. For every major program that makes it to the final four, couple of them lose along the way to lower seeds. Secondly, there is way more madness through the elite eight and  there is at least one Wichita State or Butler sneaking into the final four every year. Upsets are fun, but the mainstream programs are not bad either for business. This year's tournament has gotten good TV ratings despite mediocre games because of the bigger programs from larger states like Ohio State, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan, Syracuse, and Indiana making relatively deep runs. Florida Gulf Coast was the story of the first couple of weeks, but the bigger programs seem to move the needle better. Speaking of FGCU, their head coach will take his coaching skills and his super model wife to USC. His salary just went from 157 K a year to more than million a year. What a tournament for this guy! Our tournament will never be as good as his, but a Louisville-Michigan classic can make it better.

Rutgers head coach Mike Rice has been relieved of his duty after a disturbing video surfaced showing him pushing, kicking, and throwing the basketball at his players during practice. I have no idea how he assumed he was going to get away with that in this day and age. He proved that some people are not just bad, they are also stupid. I am surprised the players let him pull this garbage. Goes to show that these players are still kids and the coaches need to be teachers first and foremost. The corrupt NCAA system often obscures this fact, but we should at least pretend to maintain a semblance of teacher-student relationships between these coaches and players. Rutgers is a state school too, which necessitated a comment from the popular New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on the topic. I don't have a problem with Mike Rice getting fired, but what if he was really working on changing and improving his behavior? There is always another side to punishment. As Mike Rice lost his job, Rick Pitino's kid got one. Richard Pitino is now the head coach at Minnesota at the ripe old age of 30. Never hurts to have a recognizable last name.

NOff Season

I call the NFL's off-season, NOff season - No off-season. NFL has been taking up more and more of our attention during the spring and summer months the last few years and this off-season has been even more interesting and engaging. The reason being there is way more talent and big names in this free-agent class than usual. There were several people waiting with bated breadth for NFL's new year to begin on March 12-Th. There were transactions like the niner's Alex Smith trade that were informally finalized earlier, but had to be formalized officially after that day. A flurry of activity followed. We have to start with the Super Bowl contestants who are clearly moving in opposite directions. The champion Ravens dropped a lot of change on Joe Flacco. Thats the good news. But now Flacco might have to pass to himself, try to catch the pass, and play defense after the interception. They have gutted their defensive roster with Ray Lewis retiring, Ed Reed on his way out, and with Dannelle Ellerbe, Paul Kruger, and Cary Williams walking away. In addition, they traded Anquan Boldin to their Super Bowl enemy San francisco 49'ers. 

Niners were already having a good off-season because of the surprisingly high draft-picks they got in return for Alex Smith from Kansas City that added to their already rich basket of picks in the upcoming draft. Then they used a lowly 6-Th round pick from that basket to score Anquan Boldin from the Ravens. The niners need a speedster and Boldin is not one. But he is a great receiver and it's a smart pickup. They also had to match the Seahawks, who had a great season last year and have added Percy Harvin to the mix. He is a great talent, but I think they overpaid for an injury-prone receiver. The NFC West just became very interesting with 2 legitimate contenders for the ultimate prize. I am also happy for Alex Smith ending up at Kansas City with Andy Reid. I like Andy Reid as an offensive coach. For him to pursue Alex Smith is in and of itself a vote of confidence in Alex because Reid knows QBs. He has a track record of making stars out of mediocre QBs and thats good news for Alex Smith. KC is also making several other moves and they already had some talent that under-achieved last year. They could be a surprisingly decent team in 2013.

The niners are also mentioned in the Darrelle Revis trade, though Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the only serious suitor as of now. Atlanta and Denver Broncos are the other 2 teams that improved themselves a lot among the elite teams to keep up with the niners and the seahawks. The Falcons let go of Michael Turner, but signed a slightly younger Stephen Jackson out of Saint Louis. With Tony Gonzalez un-retiring, the Falcons are locked and loaded for another impressive run. The Broncos lost Elvis Dumervil, but they did add solid talent in the form of cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Wes Welker. Peyton Manning should be delighted to see Welker in the slot to go with all the other talent he has at his disposal. The patriots are playing with fire in letting him go to their rival and instead signing Danny Amendola. Danny is younger and talented, but is also injury prone. There are also reports that Brady took a pay-cut to help the Pats sign free agents like Welker and he is now disappointed that they let his friend walk. I think Bill Belichick's ego is now getting in the way of smart team-building. They have also cut Brandon Lloyd and if they don't re-sign him, their receiving corps might be real thin.

Those are some of the interesting stories of this off-season so far. The Super Bowl champion seems to be headed for a rebuilding effort and at the other end of the spectrum, so are the Oakland Raiders. They didn't have a lot of talent to dump, but they seem to be dumping whatever little they have. They have cut receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey and defensive back Michael Huff, both former first-round picks. They have also let Brandon Myers - Carson Palmer's primary safety valve, walk to NY Giants. The black hole is going to feel like a bottomless pit for a year or two. Poor Carson Plamer. He might start missing his "glory days" in Cincinnati. There are rumors that they might cut him too. Terrelle Pryor starting in the NFL might be the best argument for a NFL minor league system. There are also rumors that the Raiders might draft Geno Smith. I like Geno Smith way more than Pryor, but Palmer might have to stay to even make the Raiders remotely watchable. In any case, there are several moves to go for all the teams between now and the draft.  With Ed Reed, Charles Woodson, Osi Umenyiora, Dwight Freeney, and possibly Brian Urlacher still available in free agency, it looks like a pro-bowl roster from a few years back. So the noff season shall continue unabated.

NBA's stretch run

I have not blogged a whole lot about the NBA this season. When your favorite team - Phoenix Suns in this case, is playing a robust .344 ball, it's only natural to lose a little bit of interest in the league. But the interest in the NBA peaks only around this time anyways. Actually, it really peaks about a month from now when March madness is over and the playoffs are just around the corner, but people do start following it a lot more after the Super Bowl. The storyline for the rest of the season is whether or not the Lakers make the playoffs. Thats both good and bad. The good news is, the Lakers are struggling to make the 8-Th spot. The bad news is, once again the sports-world is almost exclusively obsessed about a big market team and it's prospects. Of course there are enough stars in LA to hold everybody's interest. Kobe is a "big market" all by himself! The worse news is, the Lakers probably will sneak into the playoffs. But I don't think they are going anywhere even if they do get in.

The Lakers are 4 games behind the Golden State Warriors for the 6-Th spot, but they are only 1.5 games behind the 8-Th spot. How cool is it that the Lakers are the 3-Rd best team in the state of California? I am pretty sure it will stay that way. The Warriors have had some issues lately with losses piling up due to a tough schedule and road games, but the schedule is easing up now and they should stay above the Lakers, who are playing better these days. Both Houston at 7 and Utah at 8 are good teams but the schedule is going to determine if and when the Lakers overtake them. The lower half of the West is fascinating with some new blood in there. It will be fun to watch the Warriors and the Rockets compete in the playoffs. As it stands today, Warriors play the Clippers, who they have owned in the regular season and Rockets will play the Thunder pitting James Harden - the pride of Arizona State, against his old team. I sure can live without Nowitzki and Kobe in these playoffs, but not sure if commissioner David Stern wants to.

In the East, the Heat and LeBron look unstoppable. They have won 16 straight and LeBron hit the game winner to clinch the game yesterday. That would have been big news last year when LeBron was relentlessly criticized for being genetically incapable of being clutch. It's amazing how 12 months and a championship can completely change perception and reorient the conversation. Now, those discussions sound absurd. Credit LeBron for putting in the work and perfecting his game. LeBron is single-handedly removing any and all drama from the Eastern conference playoffs, though I still have some hopes for the Pacers who have beaten them twice in the regular season. But the playoffs are different and the Heat's only challenge might  have to come from the West. Unfortunately, it won't come from my Phoenix Suns. The only thing I am looking forward to with the Suns is, I want them to disprove ESPN's Bill Simmons' assertion that the Suns will have the worst record in the league. Thanks to the Charlotte Bobcats, Simmons is going to be wrong, but not by much. Simmons by the way was ranked as the most powerful sports media personality by Sports Illustrated. I was pleasantly surprised. It's a good list with a lot of great names - Barkley at 2, Bob Costas at 3, Jon Gruden at 5, and Adrian Wojnarowski at 6. Congrats Bill Simmons.

King's League

LeBron James is good. I know I am not breaking any news with that. But what has always been interesting to me is, how well his career has stuck to the script and followed the plan when it comes to greatness. That's not easy considering how improbable the plan looked and how complicated the script read given the unprecedented hype and expectations he carried into the NBA. There has never been an athlete who has met such levels of hype. And that's despite the fact that no athlete has ever had to deal with as much hype as LeBron and they still always fall way short of expectation. You could make an argument that LeBron has even surpassed the ridiculous hype since being called "the chosen one" when he was just 17-years old. He made it harder on himself with the whole drama off the court around his free agency and made some enemies across the nation, but his game on the court never deviated from the golden script a whole lot. Most people's anger and hatred seemed to have dissipated with the championship last year as Americans love a winner more than anything.  There is still some lll-will around him for having "taken his talents to South Beach" - including your truly not totally pardoning him yet, but at this all-star break, LeBron's star is at the highest it has ever been.

LeBron's game has constantly and consistently improved over the years, though not at the pace some people expected at times. But some of that might be media and other's fault and not LeBron's. There were some legitimate concerns about his killer instincts and toughness that he finally answered during last year's playoffs. There were a couple of games against the Pacers and the Celtics where he dominated the game and just wouldn't let his team lose. The Heat were slowly and surely becoming his team throughout last season, but that playoff run put the finishing touches on the change of ownership from Wade to LeBron. It was not Wade's house anymore and he was merely renting a room from LeBron, a room that might have even been smaller than Bosh's sub-let. LeBron didn't look like he needed Wade a whole lot as he showed he could do everything Wade did including hitting clutch game winners, only better. The championship victory erased many concerns. The toughness gene might still be missing, but the perception has changed forever. Perception is often reality in life, especially when it comes to abstract intangibles in sports like "being clutch" or "having heart." With the MVP trophy and the ring last year, LeBron was the "king' for real finally.

This season, LeBron is taking the next step, the very existence of which was not a guarantee considering how great he was already. Where do you go from that impressive 2012? LeBron is going right to the GOAT discussion - Greatest Of All Time. He is bringing everything in his arsenal together and with the addition of more low-post polish and championship experience, he is putting up numbers that challenges all conventional wisdom around basketball efficiency. I don't know if 40's are the new 30's, but shooting 60% may become the new 50% as LeBron is making 60% look normal and simple. He is currently averaging above 56% shooting for the season, which is unheard of for a wing player. Even MJ has not shot that high for a season, though we are not sure if LeBron can hold on to that through the end of this season. But he just came off a ridiculous stretch where he averaged over 30 points and 60% shooting for 6 straight games.  Thats efficiency and domination at historic levels not even taking in to account all the other things he does on the court - namely the rebounds, assists, and the defense. This obviously has kicked off a "is LeBron is the greatest ever?" debate. And the question reached the GOAT himself.  Michael Jordan is celebrating his 50-Th birthday today to coincide with NBA's all-star game. So he has been on TV quite a bit and had to deal with a variant of this question.

While it's still not polite or smart to compare LeBron to Jordan himself, we are not too far away from that discussion. I don't think LeBron will be able to accumulate 6 championships like MJ, but if he gets to 3, we have to entertain the comparison because of every other number LeBron is going to put up. This guy is going to accumulate some numbers that will be hard to argue against. But the comparison between LeBron and Kobe was a topic Jordan had to weigh in on this week. He said it was a tough one, but he will go with 5 over 1, meaning Kobe's 5 rings makes him better than LeBron's one. I think thats people taking the easy way out though I do see the logic of using championships as a tie-breaker if the comparison is tight. We may do that for LeBron V Jordan 4 years from now. But that argument is a cop-out here with Kobe for a couple of reasons. LeBron to me is way better than Kobe and thats not to take anything away from Kobe, who is great in his own right and is probably a top-10 player in the history of the game. But Kobe has never even sniffed the levels of efficiency that LeBron is playing at right now. And, Kobe's 5 rings are way different from Jordan's 6 in that it includes Shaq's 3. So, LeBron in my mind is a ring away from putting Kobe firmly in his rear-view mirror and probably 2 rings away from challenging his airness himself for the best ever because he is going to have all the other numbers on his side. He is true basketball royalty and 2013 will be remembered as the year when he entered the GOAT discussion. That in and of itself is an impressive achievement and a good reason to watch the rest of this NBA season.

A dark, ravenous Super Bowl

ESPN is featuring Michael Jordan highlights in it's sportscenters to commemorate his 50-Th birthday.  That's when you know the Super Bowl is over and we are in one of those sports dead-zones on the calendar. ESPN always goes to MJ for help during these challenging times. It was a great Super Bowl to wrap up the football season. Some things in the Super Bowl worked out as expected - the game was close and Beyonce was hot. There were a few surprises - a long power outage and the niners lost. I wanted and expected the niners to win. The interesting thing was, the niners were down but never out. Joe Flacco was on point in the first half and threw for 3 TDs. The vaunted niners defense looked toothless and fell behind 21-6 when Beyonce started dancing at halftime. The niners had made a habit of coming back from large deficits with Kaepernick at the helm and with the Ravens defense being good but not great, everybody assumed it was only a matter of time before the niners made a comeback in the second half. But Jacoby Jones retuned the second half kickoff back for a TD to put the Ravens up 28-6. The niner faithful was worried, but still hopeful. That's when the power went out.

It was ironic that the niners, who suffered through an embarrassing blackout one Monday night last season on national TV against the Steelers at their home at candlestick, were now experiencing a blackout in the middle of the Super Bowl. NFL was caught unawares at the biggest event in all of sports. The delay was more than 30 minutes and something happened to both the teams during that break. The niners started coming back furiously when the game resumed and by the time the 4-Th quarter rolled around, we all had a tight game on our hands. Kap was playing a perfect second half and the Ravens looked lost and confused. If the niners had won the game, the NFL would have been in trouble because the power outage would have been the focus as far as why the ravens lost. Luckily for the NFL, the niners came back but not all the way back. They had a shot at the end to win and it would have been an all-time classic if they had sealed the deal. It was still a great super bowl, but the comeback story fell short. The niners had multiple shots at the goal line at the end, but a ravens blitz on 4-Th down stopped Kap from throwing the go ahead TD. Harbaugh wanted a holding call, but Michael Crabtree didn't get it.

Lot of the niner fans are still upset at that non-call and some others are more bothered by the missed penalty on the kickoff return by Jacoby Jones. Whatever it was, it's nothing more than water under the bridge now and only Flacco and the Ravens are still smiling. There is some talk about Jim Harbaugh's lack of composure during the game. I wonder what the media would have said if he had won. Even the niner fans are now questioning his demeanor. In reality, that was and will continue to be a non-issue. Both Jim and the niners should be good for a few years. It's a young team with a younger QB who looks like a superstar in the making. The real concern is, their defense has been giving up tonnes of points every game since the last couple of games of the regular season. Their secondary is week and the league seems to have figured them out. This league is a copycat league and every team is now ripping them apart. It is now on Trent Baalke and Jim Harbaugh to make some adjustments with free agency and all their draft picks. Flacco had no issues against this defense and earned himself a well-deserved MVP trophy. I have always been a Flacco fan. He is sometimes elite, often unreliable, mostly understated, sporadically arrogant, and definitely clutch. The ravens have to pay him through the nose now that he is a super bowl champion and a free agent. At least they don't have to pay Ray Lewis anymore. The Ray Lewis era is officially over with him going out on top. We can only hope Ray stays retired and doesn't pull a MJ on us.

Who's got it better than the fans of the HarBowl? Nobody!

HarBowl is for real and almost here. I love everything about this Super Bowl, which is now less than 2 days away. Some people in the media were put off by the very thought of the harbowl from day 1, even before any of the expected overexposure started. Super Bowl stories tend to run it's course in a couple of days and bore us for 10 more days as the non-stop hype machine bombards us for 2 straight weeks. But I was happy to hear the harbowl stories of brotherly love on ESPN instead of it being Ray Lewis's retirement channel, 24 X 7. Both are strong story-lines, but brothers coaching against each other in a Super Bowl is beyond fascinating and may never happen again. Only thing better could be the Manning boys playing each other in the big game and time is running out on that ever happening, though we have 2 years of clock left on it. I also like it because these 2 guys are great coaches, and I don't usually throw around the word "great" without meaning it. Jim Harbaugh is flat out a witch and his head coaching record in both the college and the pros speak for themselves. 

John Harbaugh is even more fascinating. I have always been intrigued by his success given that he started of as a lowly special teams coach in the NFL. For him to go into that Ravens locker room with strong personalities like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and earn their respect and build an identity for himself takes some serious leadership and people skills. It's not surprising anymore given that he has been successful and nothing builds credibility in sports quite like winning, but coaches like him rarely survive the first 2 or 3 years. I knew he was a stud when he established himself in that town beyond those first couple of years and of course, he will become a legend if he wins the Super Bowl on Sunday. I can't even imagine the mindset of his parents during this Super Bowl. I am glad they got a news conference too during the hype week. They deserve it and their mindset as they watch their 2 sons compete is as good a side-story to follow as anything else. As for the sons, John is a lot more level-headed and normal while Jim is a football psycho. That almost makes me want to pick the older and saner John to win, but Jim is a better coach. Plus he has the better roster. So advantage Jimmy boy.

Speaking of the rosters, the game itself is going to be very interesting and tight. I am expecting a high-scoring game and mistakes will decide it. Turnovers are a story in any football game, but it's going to be even more of a factor in this one as I expect it to be close and swing back and forth. Kaepernick seems to be everybody's favorite QB all of a sudden and Joe Flacco has been playing great in these playoffs too. The Ravens defense has improved over the course of this season, but I don't think they are still good enough to stop what Kaep and Harbaugh will throw at them. The niners do have a far superior defense, but at a neutral venue, against a good offense, I expect them to be good, but not great. Plus Flacco plays well ONLY in big games and all he needs to do is connect on a couple of long bombs to put the Ravens in a good spot. I expect him to do that and I expect Kap to keep up with him and the guy throwing a bad pick or 2 wil decide this game. Or may be a fumble. The running backs in the game are worthy of a lot of attention too, but Frank Gore and Ray Rice have not gotten much airtime due to the other stories in play. Late in the season, their backups LeMichael James and Brandon Pierce have become effective X-factors too. There is enough talent on the field on both sides of the ball to make this Super Bowl a classic. I expect a TD win for the niners. 31-24, San Francisco 49'ers.

In Harbaugh I trust. I meant Jim Harbaugh, but I would neither be surprised nor too disappointed if it ends up being John Harbaugh.

Suns are a hot mess.

The Phoenix Suns don't have any championships banners in their rafters, but they have always been a reputed, classy franchise. A lot of that credit goes to their long-time, now ex-owner Jerry Colangelo, who tried his best to field a winner most of the years. They have had some impressive, albeit futile, playoff runs including a 13-year playoff streak between 1989 and 2001. And who can forget the 7-seconds or less teams with Nash and Mike D'Antoni that kept us wildly entertained until a couple of years back. Of course, the committed fan base and the weather in Phoenix were also definitely instrumental in establishing the Suns as one of the top franchises because the free agents always wanted to play for the Suns.  But their current owner Robert Sarver is single-handedly making the Suns a laughing stock of the NBA. After decades of chasing the Lakers and their championships, Sarver has decided that the Suns are better off chasing the ghost of the other LA team, the Clippers. Now that the Clippers seem to be headed to sustained excellence with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, Sarver is working on making the Suns the new Clippers and is making tremendous progress. 

To be fair to the Clippers, I don't think even they have had a week quite like last week for the Suns. Sarver and the front office decided to part ways with coach Alvin Gentry - like it was his fault this roster is not competing with the LeBrons and Durants of the world. After removing the only thing (in their minds) between Michael Beasley and the MVP honors, namely Alvin Gentry's coaching, they decided to  achieve the impossible and make this Sun's season even worse that it already was. They hired Lindsey Hunter out of nowhere and made him the head coach passing on a couple of viable and practical options on their bench - fan favorite Dan Majerle and old timer Elston Turner. I was surprised Lindsey Hunter was even available to coach. I thought he was still a backup point guard at Cleveland or Toronto or somewhere. But all kidding aside, Hunter might become the next great coach in the NBA, but the way the Suns GM Lance Blanks handled this was horrible. It was so unexpected and offensive that both Majerle and Turner walked away from their jobs. The Turner situation got even worse as he wanted to come back later and now the team is paying him to stay away from the team the rest of the year. 

Forget drafting top talent and attracting great free agents, the Suns can't even hire interim head coaches without messing things up. As if this drama was not enough, there are also reports of Blanks and Jermaine O'Neal getting into a profanity laden argument in the locker room. To borrow from ex-Suns great Charles Barkley, "Cotton Fitzsimmons is rolling in his grave." The good news is, the Suns are just 4.5 games behind the Lakers. But the bad news is, both teams are horrible and the Suns have the worst record in the west. I don't even remember the last time I saw the Suns this far down the NBA standings.  They are 15-30 and Sarver didn't open the wallets even when Nash was winning him 55 games a year. What can we expect him to do in free agency with this team? Their rookie Kendall Marshall doesn't look anything like a high lottery pick and their new head coach doesn't have any coaching credentials, at least not yet.  This situation looks like it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. There are no quick fixes in sight. The Suns will be hosting Steve Nash and the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow. Nash has not added much to the Lakers or their record, but the Suns definitely miss him badly. The most interesting part of the remainder of this Suns season might be seeing the Suns fans respond to Nash when he visits them. This is how far the once proud franchise has fallen.

Sarver, please sell the team and save the franchise. Take your millions and give back our team.

Where has all the parity gone?

Parity. This has been one of NFL's selling point for over a decade now. Parity means every team has a shot at a great season every year. Teams go from top to bottom and bottom to top in no time and there is no stability in the NFL power structure from year to year. But surprisingly, this years conference championship games will feature 3 of the 4 teams from last year's games. This is a rarity in the NFL. In the NFC, no team has been been able to get to the championship game in back to back years since the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005. But the San Francisco 49'ers are back and ready to roll, albeit with a different quarterback this year. In the AFC, both the Patriots and the Ravens are back. That has not happened in a long time. Where did the parity go this year? I am surprised, but I am not complaining because we have 2 great games waiting for us this weekend. A re-run of championship games only adds to the intrigue and the rivalry.

The Ravens almost beat the Patriots last year - if only Lee Evans had squeezed that TD pass. But "almost" is nowhere near the promised land. They want to go further this year, but the problem is, they are on the road again and the Ravens have been a little worse this season overall than last. They didn't earn a bye week like last year and had to win a close one at Denver to get here.  But they are motivated to extend Ray Lewis's career - who he is retiring after this season, and they always seem to play well against the Patriots. Flacco doesn't inspire a lot of confidence on Sundays, unless he is playing against the Patriots in the playoffs. The Ravens need him tomorrow more than ever because Brady will get his scores one way or the other against a shaky Ravens defense. The Patriots defense is not much better, but they do stop the run and that means Flacco and the receivers better show up and chuck the ball all over the yard. I expect a tight, high-scoring game. I think the Ravens will win this one. I don't want to see Brady and Belichick in the Super Bowl again, though I wouldn't be surprised if it happens.

Just like the Patriots, it's no surprise the niners are in the championship game, though they got there behind Colin Kaepernick after benching Alex Smith for no good reason except Kaep is better. The niners brought back the same team this year - especially on defense, and their only challenge was supposed to be a tougher schedule and possible injuries. They had to face a little bit of both and the schedule especially made sure they didn't end up at the top of the NFC standings again. So they have to now go to Atlanta unlike last year when they hosted the NY Giants. The Giants showed them that a road team can win and the niners hope to do the same this year. In fact, everybody seem to expect that and the niners are a 4 point favorite on the road. Nobody seems to respect the Falcons and after the near loss last weekend against the Seahawks, they expect the falcons to crash and burn against a slightly better opponent. As good as Russell Wilson was, Kaep is a better physical talent though not as poised and mature as Wilson - no young QB has ever been that poised. But Keep's stock is high right now and that combined with the niners defense gives them the edge.

I expect a close game here as well. As good as the niners defense is and even if they stop the run, which they probably will, Matt Ryan and those talented receivers will not go away without making some noise. Kaep has to stay on top of his game and not not get flustered or intimidated. It will be a test, but he has shown he is capable of passing such tests. The real problem for Atlanta is that they are too happy just to be here. They feel like a huge monkey was removed off of their shoulders with that playoff win last weekend. The niners are way more focussed and motivated to do bigger and better things. If Kaep plays a good game, the niners should win this one. I pick the niners to win and the underdog Ravens to show Vegas that the 7.5 point spread is uncalled for. A Har-bowl would be great for the media except for the Harbaughs themselves. Their parents would obviously be conflicted and confused, but I am sure Jim Harbaugh would hate all the attention. I don't know much about John Harbaugh. He looks a little more normal and less psycho than Jim, but it will be tough on him too. I say bring on the Har-Bowl. I want it and expect it. It's both my preference and prognostication.

Pissed off for greatness

Ray Lewis is still balling. His career is alive and kicking for at least one more week after the Ravens beat the Broncos and Peyton Manning today. He is not the same player he used to be even 5 years back, but I am happy that his 17-year career is continuing for now. Ray Lewis is an amazing story of redemption, especially from my perspective. We live in a culture that loves winners and we forgive any kind of sin as soon as the accused athlete wins the Super Bowl or the World Series or the NBA championship. Nothing makes us fans forget a murder or a rape faster than a championship ring and MVP honors. But I am personally pretty unforgiving when it comes to these athletes with a sketchy past. I sometimes think I need to be a little more willing to give people a second chance - everybody needs one at some point. For some reason, Ray Lewis is one athlete who has come full-circle in my book from the bad guy who was accused of murder to an interesting, talented, and almost an inspirational figure I have learned to like. And it has very little to do with the fact that he was a Super Bowl MVP the season after he got into legal trouble.

I am a Ray Lewis fan for many reasons. He has kept his nose clean since the incident. He invokes the name of God, which many guys do especially after running into legal issues. They either truly find God during their troubled times or their agent tells them to become more godly to fix their public image. But Ray sounds genuine when he talks about God or anything in general - not that his godliness is relevant or important to me. His genuine passion about life and football is endearing and he has been consistent with that passion for more than a decade now. His teammates seem to love him too and his talent on the field of course speaks for itself. Guys who are such high-level performers definitely work hard and have a level of drive and love for the game that is hard to dislike. On top of that, Ray gets high marks for his leadership skills from everybody around him. Last, but not the least, I have become a big fan of his inspirational speeches. The man can talk. Both his style of delivery and the content of his words make for some great sound bites. If you have not seen the video below of Ray talking to the Stanford basketball team before a game last season, I would strongly recommend it.

"Pissed off for Greatness" and "effort is between you and you" may end up being 2 of the classic quotes ever. Ray is nowhere near greatness at his age right now, but Joe Flacco might be considered great as of today. This guy is the most inconsistent quarterback in the league and today, he beat Peyton Manning - on the road, in cold weather, under hostile conditions, with impressive numbers, and long touchdown passes. Flacco might be a better quarterback in the playoffs than the regular season. That definitely seems to be the case with road games as he goes AWOL on the road during the regular season. But the guys just wins playoff games and every time we say he is not elite, he looks super elite. He has won playoff games in every year he has been in league and thats a pretty impressive stat for any young quarterback. He may be the only elite, inconsistent, playoff tested, and unreliable winner in the NFL.  He is going back to the conference championship game and so are the Harbaugh brothers. They are both in the championship round just like last year and the talk of Har-Bowl shall begin in right earnest.

Colin Kapernick was brilliant today in a game that presented a weird vibe for the Niner fans going in. They felt very diffident with some injury concerns and with an unproven, young QB at the helm. While Kaep had shown some promise, he had also shown his inexperience and made some "rookie" mistakes.  It was only to be expected that he would face his toughest challenge under the glare of the playoff lights against a MVP caliber QB in Aaron Rodgers. Sure enough, he came out and threw a pick-6 and I bet most Niner fans imagined the worst from Kaep and the niners the rest of the way. But he shrugged it off and was just unstoppable the rest of the way. He is just unbelievably FAST! One expert called him "Cam Newton with a brain" a few months back and he looked every bit like that today. The Packers had no answer to his legs as he out-rushed Michael Vick and every other quarterback in the history of the game with 181 rushing yards. He showed why Harbaugh and some fans are excited about him. While his inexperience is what made Harbaugh's mid-season QB switch scary and confusing, his innate talent and abilities were never in question and it was all showcased in full tonight. His legs were awesome, but he also made some throws that Alex Smith can never make. In fact, very few QBs in the league can make those bullet passes with accuracy. Good day for him and the Niners and a bad day for the Packers. Their defense was bad and their offense and special teams had one crucial turnover each that donated points to the Niners in the first half. Now we get to see Kaep in the NFC championship game next week. Good for the kid. He better be "pissed off for greatness" next week.

Not so wild weekend.

There is playoff football and then there is good playoff football. Unfortunately we didn't get the later in the NFL this weekend. The best weekends in the playoffs are the wild card and divisional rounds because we get 4 games spread over both Saturday and Sunday with no scheduling conflicts on TV. Of those 2 weekends, I usually prefer the wild card weekend even more than the divisional round. The divisional round usually features better teams, bigger names and more hyped up match-ups, but sometimes those teams are so good and well rested, they end up blowing out the visitors at home. The wild card games tend to be closer and exciting. Not the case this year, though the final scores do look decent in all 4 games. Cincinnati almost beat Houston, but they never seemed like they were in the game. Not with the red-head Andy Dalton throwing for a paltry 127 yards to go with an interception and with Arian Foster running all over them for 140 yards and one "namaste". It was also a repeat of the playoff match-up from last year and this one was even less exciting. I am happy Schaub finally got his first playoff action and earned a victory. Of course the Patriots will put the Texans out of their misery next weekend.

I was personally looking forward to the Saturday night contest between the Packers and the Vikings. While I did expect the Packers to win at home, I expected some fireworks from Adrian Peterson. But just before the game, Christian Ponder was surprisingly declared inactive. Ponder is no Joe Montana, but he a'int no Joe Webb either. Despite some people predicting that such a last minute start for Joe Webb might even be a plus for the Vikings given his running abilities, we were left to ponder if we would have gotten a better game with Ponder behind center. All-Day and Joe Webb started well, but the Packers wrested control soon and poor Joe was clearly over-matched. He tried to donate the ball to the Packers a couple of times early, but the Packers didn't take it. Of course they didn't need it as they won it rather easily. All-Day almost got to 100 yards, but he couldn't get it all done by himself. Webb was no help and we didn't get the marquee matchup I was expecting with 2 MVP candidates - All-Day and A-Rod, in the mix.

Ironically, I thought the closest game of the weekend was the one with the widest margin score-wise. Andrew Luck moved the ball well against the Ravens in Ray Lewis's last home game ever, but the Colts just could not score TDs. 3 field goals can beat Flacco if he is on the road, but not at home. The Colts had another health episode with their offensive coordinator Bruce Arians ending up in the hospital on game day. Tough season for them, but nothing to be ashamed of. Great performance by Luck all year. Let's see where they go from here. More on Ray Lewis later. He probably deserves a separate blog post all by himself. In the final game of the weekend, the story ended up being RG III's knees. He started very well and the Redskins were up 14-0, but the game then deteriorated into a sloppy, no-fun contest for a couple of quarters until Lynch went Beast Mode. He first fumbled at the goal line and then atoned for it with a great TD run. Russell Wilson was great in that game too. He is just solid and always under control. RG III twisted his knee and left for good in the 4-Th quarter after laboring around due to a lesser knee incident in quarter 1.

This happened on the same day when news leaked that the doctor didn't agree with some of the procedures Mike Shanahan followed or did not after RG III got hurt the first time around. So Shanahan didn't handle RGIII right when he first got hurt, then he let him come back a few games earlier than he should have, and then didn't take him out on time when he got hurt again in this game. Thats a trifecta Shanahan doesn't want on his resume. Good to know Shanahan treats the million-dollar, future of his franchise worse than his pet hamster. I know it's not a concussion, but looks like the NFL coaches are still behaving like it's the 70's when it comes to other injuries. The games were so mediocre this knee-gate is the biggest story for this week. Let's hope for better games next weekend. The BCS championship game today sure was no help to starving football fans. Notre Dame lost 14-42 to Alabama showing us all why it should have been Oregon playing in that game. I can't stand the SEC hype, but it's hard to make that argument if SEC teams keep winning the title every year. 7 straight for the SEC and 3 out of 4 for Nick Saban and Bama.  I don't know if nice guys finish last, but bad guys do seem to finish first in the BCS. As you can tell, I am not a big Saban fan, but Congrats anyways.