NFL after week 2- AFC

AFC East

Jets- The first two weeks are probably going to be a microcasm of the Jets' entire season. The defense will be good week in and week out, but the offense will come and go. Ultimately they're too talented not to make the playoffs.

Patriots- The Patriots looked great through one and a half games, but were dreadful in the second half against the Jets. The offense will still put up a bunch of points because of Brady/Moss/Welker, but their lack of a run game still hurts, and their defense is definitely suspect. They'll be fighting with the Jets all year long for first in the East.

Dolphins- They're 2-0, but they beat the Bills and a Vikings team that didn't seem like they wanted to play. They would probably be a playoff team in the NFC, but I don't see them surviving through the mess of potential playoff teams in the AFC. 9-7 or even 10-6 is possible though.

Bills- Really really bad. They have very little going for them. Chan Gailey was a terrible hire at head coach, and have absolutely no answer at QB. I thought CJ Spiller would be good for them, which I why I have him on three fantasy teams, but he's done zilch so far. 3 wins, maybe.

AFC North

Ravens- Every year, the Ravens have a great defense but a below average offense. We thought with the addition of Anquan Boldin, another year of Ray Rice, and an improving Joe Flacco, they would have a formidable offense as well this year. Well, that definitely has not been the case so far. I think they'll put it all together and win the North, but Flacco has to be better.

Bengals- Really, I have no idea what to make of them. They got blasted by the Patriots, but beat the Ravens. I'm not sure if their win against the Ravens was more the Ravens being bad or the Bengals being good. I felt like they were a bit of a fluke last year, but I still picked them for the playoffs this year. With the strength the AFC is showing, however, I have a feeling they'll be on the outside of the playoffs.

Steelers- It's been ugly, but they're somehow 2-0 without Big Ben at QB. The defense has looked good, and the run game has done just enough to get the wins. In other words, typical Steelers football. I just wonder if they can win ugly the rest of the season. Like the Bengals, they could be a playoff team but there's a huge glut of teams to get through in the AFC.

Browns- They're bad, what else can you say? Delhomme is done, they might as well get Colt McCoy out there to see if he can do anything. Nothing much to say.

AFC South

Colts- Probably the biggest headline after week 1: what's wrong with the Colts? They never lose to the Texans, Peyton is done, defense is terrible and so on. So what do they do? They were the Colts and destroyed the Giants. They're fine, they're a playoff team. They Texans will challenge them, but they're still the team to beat in the South.

Texans- Probably the most talked about team of the year so far. They finally got over the hump and beat the Colts, then they staged a dramatic comeback against the Redskins. They definitely have the pieces in place to be a playoff team, with a high-powered offense with loads of talent at each position, and a solid defense with some playmakers. I think their defense may hold them back a bit, and remember, we think the Texans are gonna make the playoff leap every year. This is probably their best team so far, and they'll have a shot for sure.

Titans- See, this is what happens when you invest too much in a win over the Raiders. People were talking playoffs for the Titans after the way they ended last season and their convincing win over the Raiders. But besides Chris Johnson, they still don't have a ton of weapons on offense. Vince Young is inconsistent, and he's a headcase. The defense is nothing special. They're an 8-8 team in my book.

Jaguars- Is there a more nondescript team in the NFL than the Jaguars? They had a couple good seasons when they first started, but for the last 10 years or so, they haven't been good, they haven't been terrible, they're just there. Besides Maurice Jones-Drew, they have no standout players. Just not a good franchise.

AFC West

Chargers- Typical Chargers; look terrible one week, look great the next. We all know how this goes. They should win the West with a strong late season run. Everyone will be talking about them going into the playoffs and then they'll fizzle out in the first round.

Chiefs- Another surprising team, and they already have a win over their top division rival under their belts. I think their offense will put up points all year, but I still wonder how the defense will look over a full season. They have the pieces in place, and they could make it scary for the Chargers, but I think they're still a year away.

Broncos- They lost to a bad Jaguars team, then beat a bad Seahawks team, so really, I don't think they're very good. The defense just isn't very good, and Kyle Orton is a "game manager" (aka crappy quarterback). Josh McDaniels is not Bill Belichick, as much as he is trying to be. Fans will be clamoring for Tebow by week 6.

Raiders- So much for Jason Campbell being the answer at QB. Just another typical Raiders season. They might beat some bad teams, surprise a team here and there, but they're the Raiders. They have no direction and they're going nowhere.

Playoff Teams:

1. Colts
2. Ravens
3. Jets
4. Chargers
5. Patriots
6. Texans

NFL through 2 weeks- NFC

They say that you should't overreact to how teams in the NFL play after week 1. However, I think after week 2, we pretty much have a good idea of how each team will look this year.

NFC East

Eagles- Well, where do you start? Offense looks terrible in week 1, (not just Kolb, offense as a whole) but defense looks solid. Offense looks great in week 2, (not just Vick, offense as a whole) but defense looks terrible. Here's what we can take away. The Packers have a good defense, and were all over Kolb in the first half. They were not prepared for Vick, so he had success in the second half. The Lions have a terrible defense, so any QB would have had a big day yesterday. Vick was throwing to wide open targets all day. As for the defense, Stewart Bradley is much more important than we thought. Omar Gaither is terrible; he needs to be cut immediately. And Ellis Hobbs isn't the answer at corner. So what now? Probably some ups and downs, some more QB controversy, and most likely an 8-8, 9-7 season.

Redskins- Another hard team to pinpoint. Their D looked great against the Cowboys, but absolutely collapsed against the Texans. Donovan looks happy in the offense, as he gets to throw the deep ball all day. But they have zero run game, which is strange for a Mike Shanahan team. Like the Eagles, I see them hovering around .500 most of the year.

Giants- Terrible defense, and an explosive yet inconsistent offense. Eli will probably throw for 5,000 yards this year because they'll be behind in every game. Ahmad Bradshaw looks good, but Brandon Jacobs has clearly given up on being a football player, so their run game will suffer. They should probably be 0-2 but Matt Moore enjoys throwing to the other team more than his own. Unless they outscore everyone, I see last place.

Cowboys- Really an enigma. Watching their game yesterday, you felt like they should have been winning, but they didn't. Their run game has been non-existant, and if their pass rush doesn't get to the QB, they give up huge plays. They have too much talent to be down for long, but they need to get the running game going and fix the secondary. I still think they win the division in the end.

NFC North

Vikings- Gosh Brett, maybe training camp would have helped you out a little bit. Having a banged up WR corps doesn't help, but they still have the weapons to be a good offense. Brett's been the weakest link so far. They still have a good enough defense and run game to make the playoffs, but the old man better wake up soon.

Packers- They were everyone's chic Super Bowl pick, and so far they're living up to the hype. It'll be interesting to see how they do against an elite team, not that there are many of those in the NFC, but for now, they're with the Saints as NFC favorites.

Bears- 2-0, but are they that good? Their offense has looked good, with Matt Forte looking much better than last year, and Jay Cutler not making as many bonehead passes. The defense has been solid, but they're still not gonna scare anyone. As weak as the NFC is looking, they have a shot to be a wild card.

Lions- 0-2, but are they that bad? They should have beaten the Bears if Calvin Johnson felt like holding on to the ball before celebrating, and their offense almost outscored the Eagles. They have a lot of explosion on offense with Johnson and Jahvid Best, and they should be better once Stafford is healthy. I could see them getting to 6-10, which is a huge improvement.

NFC South

Saints- If they win tonight: Yeah they're good. Saints and Packers are easily the favorites in the NFC. If they lose tonight: Eh, no big deal, they're still the favorites with the Packers.

Panthers- Quite possibly the worst team in the league this year. Matt Moore is atrocious, and if/when Jimmy Clausen comes in, I'm sure he won't be much better as a rookie. The defense is awful, especially the secondary. Maybe 4 wins.

Falcons- Who knows? Disappointing loss to the Steelers followed by a dismantiling of the Cardinals. I feel like they're a team who will dominate at home, but be terrible on the road. Good enough to get the playoffs? Yeah, probably.

Bucs- Between the Bears and Bucs, I would choose the Bears as the less fluky of the 2-0 teams. The Bucs have a solid young nucleus, but they also beat two of the worse teams in the NFL. They might be good in a couple year, but no better than 6-10 this season.

NFC West

I'm just going to lump all of the NFC West into one here. They're all terrible. If the NFL was smart, they would give out three wild cards in the NFC and not let the West winner make the playoffs. The winner of the NFC West should play the winner of the CFL. It would be a close game. Since I picked the Seahawks to begin the year, I'll stick with them, but who cares? This is probably the worse division in the history of sports.

To recap, playoff teams:

1. Saints
2. Packers
3. Cowboys
4. Seahawks
5. Falcons
6. Vikings

2010 NFL Predictions

AFC

East
1. Jets 11-5

2. Patriots 10-6

3. Dolphins 8-8

4. Bills 3-13

North
1. Ravens 11-5

2. Bengals 10-6

3. Steelers 7-9

4. Browns 5-11

South
1. Colts 12-4

2. Texans 9-7

3. Titans 9-7

4. Jaguars 5-11

West
1. Chargers 10-6

2. Chiefs 8-8

3. Raiders 6-10

4. Broncos 5-11

NFC

East
1. Cowboys 11-5

2. Eagles 9-7

3. Giants 9-7

4. Redskins 7-9

North
1. Packers 11-5

2. Vikings 10-6

3. Lions 6-10

4. Bears 5-11

South
1. Saints 11-5

2. Falcons 10-6

3. Bucs 6-10

4. Panthers 4-12

West
1. Seahawks 9-7

2. 49ers 8-8

3. Cardinals 7-9

4. Rams 3-13

Playoffs

5 Patriots over 4 Chargers
3 Jets over 6 Bengals

5 Vikings over 4 Seahawks
3 Packers over 6 Falcons

1 Colts over 5 Patriots
2 Ravens over 3 Jets

1 Saints over 5 Vikings
3 Packers over 2 Cowboys

2 Ravens over 1 Colts
1 Saints over 3 Packers

Super Bowl XLV
Ravens 23 Saints 20

Bowl Projections 2011

Almost forgot, but I had to get them in before games start tonight.

R+L Carriers New Orleans
Southern Miss vs. Middle Tennessee, New Orleans, LA

St. Petersburg
UCF vs. South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL

MAACO Las Vegas
Cal vs. TCU, Las Vegas, NV

San Diego County CU Poinsettia
Navy vs. BYU, San Diego, CA

Sheraton Hawaii
Tulsa vs. Fresno State, Honolulu, HI

Little Caesars Pizza
Minnesota vs. Temple, Detroit, MI

AdvoCare V100 Independence
Boston College vs. Utah, Shreveport, LA

EagleBank
Wake Forest vs. East Carolina, Washington, DC

Champs Sports
UConn vs. Clemson, Orlando, FL

Valero Alamo
Oregon vs. Texas A&M, San Antonio, TX

New Era Pinstripe
Kansas State vs. Rutgers, New York

Gaylord Hotels Music City
Georgia Tech vs. South Carolina, Nashville, TN

Pacific Life Holiday
Stanford vs. Texas Tech, San Diego, CA

Meineke Car Care
Florida State vs. West Virginia, Charlotte, NC

AutoZone Liberty
Houston vs. Mississippi, Memphis, TN

Insight
Missouri vs. Michigan State, Tempe, AZ

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces
SMU vs. Air Force, Fort Worth, TX

Brut Sun
North Carolina vs. Arizona, El Paso, TX

Texas
Colorado vs. Northwestern, Houston, TX

Chick-fil-A
Miami vs. Auburn, Atlanta, GA

Dallas Football Classic
Kansas vs. Michigan, Dallas, TX

Outback
Penn State vs. Arkansas, Tampa, FL

Capital One
Georgia vs. Wisconsin, Orlando, FL

Konica Minolta Gator
Notre Dame vs. Tennessee, Jacksonville, FL


Rose Bowl Game
Ohio State vs. Oregon State, Pasadena, CA

Tostitos Fiesta
Oklahoma vs. Iowa, Glendale, AZ

FedEx Orange
Virginia Tech vs. Pitt, Miami Gardens, FL

Allstate Sugar
Florida vs. Texas, New Orleans, LA

GMAC
Central Michigan vs. Troy, Mobile, AL

AT&T Cotton
Nebraska vs. LSU Arlington, TX

Papajohns.com
Ohio vs. Cincinnati, Birmingham, AL

Kraft Fight Hunger
Washington vs. Nevada San Francisco, CA

Citi BCS National Championship
Alabama vs. Boise State, Glendale, AZ

LeBron Thoughts

Some thoughts after LeBronaggedon last night:

- Regardless of what side you're on (I would say about 90% of people are anti-LeBron right now), people are taking this way too seriously. An excerpt from an emailer in Bill Simmons' column: "Sports as we know it ended tonight." Seriously? Just stop. Players change teams all the time. When Scott Rolen forced a trade out of Philadelphia, we were pretty upset about it, but Phillies fans didn't vow to stop watching baseball. I know Rolen isn't on the same level as LeBron, but frankly, some of the reactions are just ridiculous.
I cried once over sports, when I was seven years old and Joe Carter hit the home run off of Mitch Williams as the Blue Jays beat the Phillies in the World Series. To see grown women, and probably a few men, crying over a player leaving their team is borderline insane.

- Speaking of overblown reactions, the person who looks worse coming out of all of this is Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. Instead of taking the high road and saying, "Hey, we're disappointed, but we'll move on," Gilbert said this. That's a good way to represent your franchise, Dan. By the way, there's no way the Cavs will win a title before LeBron does, so good luck with that.

- To everyone calling LeBron selfish, he left $30 million on the table by signing with the Heat instead of the Cavs. $30 million isn't chump change, even to someone like LeBron. Usually, we criticize athletes for just going wherever the money is. But now, a guy just goes to a place where he thinks he has a better chance of winning, and we get all over him for that.

- I don't blame LeBron one bit for going to Miami. He wasn't going to get it done with the roster in Cleveland. His second best player was Antwan Jamison, and he was terrible in the playoffs last season. He went to Miami simply because he feels he has the best chance of winning a title with Wade and Bosh as teammates.
To people saying, "Well this proves he can't win a title by himself," guess what, no one wins a title by themselves. Jordan had Pippen, Kobe had Shaq and now Gasol, Odom, and Artest, Wade had Shaq when they won a title. All of those supporting casts are better than anything LeBron has ever had, and he even got that team to an NBA Final. No great player has ever won a title on his own.

- Everyone is saying LeBron turned his back on his hometown. Cleveland is not his hometown, Akron is. It's like if I played for the Nets in Newark, and I left them and everyone said I turned on my hometown. Newark is just a city in the state I live in, not my hometown. Get over it Cleveland.

I never thought I would say this, but after all of this, LeBron, I hope you get your title next year.

Making the MLB All-Star Teams

Every year, the most complained about All-Star teams are in Major League Baseball. There's always a ton of whining about who got snubbed, who didn't deserved to go, which manager showed favoritism to his own players, and so forth. The MLB All-Star teams are definitely the most difficult to put together of all the major sports because of the number of players that have to be chosen as well as a player from each team having to be chosen as well. With that in mind, I decided to give it a try. I used the current fan voting leaders for the starters, and chose the pitchers and reserves.



NL Starting Line-Up

SS- Hanley Ramirez, FLA .295, 11 HR, 46 RBI, 14 SB
LF- Ryan Braun, MIL .303, 11 HR, 49 RBI, 11 SB
1B- Albert Pujols, STL .305, 16 HR, 52 RBI
DH- Ryan Howard, PHI .296, 15 HR, 55 RBI
3B- David Wright, NYM .303, 14 HR, 61 RBI, 13 SB (Placido Polanco elected, but injured)
RF- Andre Ethier, LAD .313, 12 HR, 47 RBI
CF-Carlos Gonzalez, COL .303, 11 HR, 45 RBI, 11 SB (Jason Heyward elected, but injured)
2B- Martin Prado, ATL .331, 7 HR, 32 RBI (Chase Utley elected, but injured)
C- Yadier Molina, STL .240, 3 HR, 30 RBI

SP- Ubaldo Jimenez, COL, 14-1, 1.83 ERA, 102 K

NL Reserves

1B- Joey Votto, CIN .312, 16 HR, 51 RBI
1B- Adrian Gonzalez, SD .306, 16 HR, 50 RBI
2B- Rickie Weeks, MIL .274, 13 HR, 45 RBI
3B- Scott Rolen, CIN .301, 17 HR, 53 RBI
SS- Jose Reyes, NYM .279, 6 HR, 31 RBI, 19 SB
IF- Juan Uribe, SF .270, 12 HR, 45 RBI
OF- Andrew McCutchen, PIT .299, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 19 SB
OF- Chris Young, ARI .261, 13 HR, 50 RBI, 16 SB
OF- Corey Hart, MIL .279, 18 HR, 60 RBI
OF- Marlon Byrd, CHC .311, 9 HR, 34 RBI
C- Miguel Olivo, COL .303, 11 HR, 38 RBI

P- Adam Wainwright, STL 10-5, 2.47, 107 K
P- Josh Johnson, FLA 8-3, 1.83, 107 K
P- Roy Halladay, PHI 8-6, 2.29, 102 K
P- Mat Latos, SD 8-4, 2.85, 84 K
P- Chris Carpenter, STL 9-1, 2.70, 100 K
P- Tim Lincecum, SF 8-3, 3.13, 117 K
P- Brian Wilson, SF 2.25, 21 SV
P- Heath Bell, SD 1.93, 21 SV
P- Jonathan Broxton, LAD 1.87, 16 SV
P- Yovani Gallardo, MIL 7-3, 2.36, 115 K
P- Roy Oswalt, HOU 5-10, 3.55, 97 K
P- Stephen Strasburg, WAS 2-2, 2.27, 48 K
P- Tim Hudson, ATL 8-3, 2.37, 51 K

There were several pitchers in the NL that deserved to be included on this team: Jaime Garcia, Matt Cain, and Mike Pelfrey could all make cases. I had to include Oswalt on this team because he's still the most deserving Astro despite his 5-10 record, and there's no way I'm picking Brett Myers over him. Strasburg gets on the team mostly because he plays for the Nationals, and the fans want to see him. Jayson Werth is more deserving than Young, McCutchen, and Byrd, but they all get in as lone representatives from their clubs. The backup infielders were tough to choose from, with not too many standouts coupled with the injuries to Utley and Polanco. Reyes was the best remaining SS, and Uribe can backup all three infield spots and is having a pretty solid season.

AL Starting Line-Up

RF- Ichiro, SEA .333, 3, 22, 21
SS- Derek Jeter, NYY .286, 8, 39
1B- Justin Morneau, MIN .350, 15, 49
CF- Josh Hamilton, TEX .346, 18, 57
2B- Robinson Cano, NYY .359, 15, 53
3B- Evan Longoria, TB .297, 12, 52, 12
DH- Vladimir Guerrero, TEX .327, 15, 60
C- Joe Mauer, MIN .300, 3, 34
LF- Carl Crawford, TB, .306, 7, 38, 26

SP- David Price, TB, 11-3, 2.44, 84 K

AL Reserves

1B- Miguel Cabrera, DET .335, 20, 66
1B- Kevin Youkilis, BOS .306, 15, 50
1B- Paul Konerko, CWS .296, 20, 56
2B- Ty Wigginton, BAL .266, 13, 40
3B- Michael Young, TEX .316, 11, 52
3B- Adrian Beltre, BOS .340, 12, 52
3B- Alex Rodriguez, NYY .285, 11, 54
OF- Vernon Wells, TOR, .288, 19, 47
OF- Shin-Soo Choo, CLE, .286, 12, 41, 12
OF- Torii Hunter, LAA, .285, 12, 53
OF- Alex Rios, CWS, .312, 13, 40, 21
C- Kurt Sukuzi, OAK .264, 10, 32

P- Cliff Lee, SEA, 6-3, 2.39, 76 K
P- Jered Weaver, LAA, 7-3, 3.01, 118 K
P- Jon Lester, BOS 9-3, 2.86, 111 K
P- Andy Pettitte, NYY, 9-2, 2.72, 74 K
P- Phil Hughes, NYY, 10-1, 3.17, 78 K
P- Jose Valverde, DET, 0.53, 18 SV
P- Mariano Rivera, NYY 0.92, 17 SV
P- Rafael Soriano, TB 1.83, 18 SV
P- Zack Greinke, KC 3-8, 3.72, 89 K
P- Clay Buchholz, BOS 10-4, 2.45, 64 K
P- CC Sabathia, NYY 9-3, 3.49, 89 K
P- Jeff Niemann, TB 6-2, 2.72, 70 K

Injuries to Dustin Pedroia and Victor Martinez really helped, as Wigginton and Suzuki are able to get in as the only players from their teams. I don't have a backup SS listed, but Michael Young and ARod have both played the position. Greinke gets in as the only Royal, definitely the toughest team to pick a representative for. Biggest snubs include Brett Gardner (.321, 24 SB), Magglio Ordonez (.319, 10, 49), and Jose Bautista (.234, 20, 50).

World Cup 2010

I won't try to write an in-depth preview of the World Cup, because I know I'm not enough of an authority on soccer to try anything like that. I'm trying to get more into the game, but it's not easy to be a soccer fan in the United States.

I've tried to watch a few Philadelphia Union games, but it's hard to watch when you realize you're basically watching a Triple-A league. People love watching the World Cup because they know they're watching the best play in the World. The same can't be said about the MLS. It's been a decently successful league that will expand to 20 teams by 2012, but I can't see it ever completely catching on because it's not the best. The NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA are all the best leagues of their sports in the world. If MLB suddenly moved to Europe, would you be satisfied to watch Triple A baseball? Probably not.

For soccer to gain more of a foothold in America, there needs to be more TV coverage of European club soccer. I know there's some now, but it's usually live, hence in the afternoon on the East Coast in America, when no one will watch it. Why not put a few taped games of the English Premier League on in primetime on ESPN 2 to see how it catches on?

After watching the first half of the Mexico-South Africa game, I realize there are a few things I would love to see change about soccer. First, enough of these horns. Yeah, it's kinda fun for a little bit, but it just gets annoying after about the first five minutes of the match. Plus it drowns out any of the actual crowd noise, so when something exciting happens on the pitch, the crowd reaction doesn't seem to match.

Second, why do they feel the need to have instant replays of the stupidest things? I don't need to see a slow-mo replay of the ref giving out a yellow card. I don't need to see a slo-mo replay of a coach shaking his head. I don't need to see a slo-mo replay of a guy wagging his finger.

Speaking of the finger wagging, it needs to be outlawed from soccer. There's only one man in sports who should wag his finger, and that's Dikembe Mutombo.

The US should get out of their group; of course that's what we said four years ago when they scored a total of one goal. I'm not sure why everyone's making their match against England the most important game in US soccer history. They can lose this game and still easily move on to the second round. Their Confederations Cup matches against Spain and Brazil were much more important, but I guess ABC needs to get their ratings somehow.

Anyway, my pick to win the World Cup is Netherlands. Why? 1) I'm rooting for them 2) They've been on fire since the qualifying stages and have an easy path to the quarterfinals.

EDIT: Goal, South Africa, amazing celebration