27th February 2010
Chelsea (61 points) v Manchester City (46 points)
In their last outing against each other, Manchester City beat Chelsea, 2-1.
In Chelsea’s last outing, Didier Drogba scored two goals against the helpless Wolverhampton Wanderers. Chelsea’s victory put them four points ahead of Manchester United. The Wanderers’ Kevin Doyle gave Chelsea problems but his lone presence was not enough to beat the Blues.
Manchester City played to a draw against Liverpool in their last outing. Both teams failed to attempt and threatening goals.
Chelsea will get their revenge and keep their lead atop the standings.
[read more]
Week 13 NFL Preview and picks
Boy, if my life depended upon me getting these weekly predictions right, guess I wouldn’t have much time left on this earth. But then again, no one is perfect. Oh wait there are some who are….the Saints and Colts are still perfect on the season. These two teams have just a few short weeks left to make NFL history. That would be both the NFC and AFC having undefeated teams at the end of the regular season. Can they do it? We’ll see.
Jets at Bills - The Bills have had four straight losing seasons, and stand at 4-7 right now, you would think the Jets might have no problems. But remember this, the Bills are coming off of a really big win against the Dolphins last week. After scoring on an average of 12.3 points per game, the Bills beat the Dolphins in the 4th quarter with 24 unanswered points. With Ryan Fitzpatrick the kid out of Harvard connecting with TO, the Bills offense is actually beginning to gel. On the other side of the ball, the Jets at 5-6 and their offense floundering, it will be up to the defense to try and help this team fight for it’s very slim playoff chances.
Prediction - Bills 20 Jets 17
Patriots at Dolphins - Both these teams are reeling from games they lost last week. But the Patriots loss has got to be the most painful since they were humiliated by Drew Brees and his Saints on prime time TV last week, 38-17. The totally manhandled Pats are in dire need of this road win to rebuild confidence in themselves. Problem is, they’re going to Miami with a team that is not too happy themselves for getting beat by the Bills last week. With the Dolphins being just one game behind the Pats in a tight AFC East race, this game is crucial for the Dolphins. In the Dolphins favor, the Patriots have yet to win a game on the opponents field, London doesn’t count since neither team was at home. Important game for both teams.
Prediction - Dolphins 24 Patriots 21
[read more]
NFL Week 9 Preview
Packers at Buccaneers - The Packers will be rumbling into Tampa after their loss to their ex-QB Favre last Sunday, and no doubt they will be in town looking for a “whipping boy” to take their frustrations out on. And Tampa are just the right boys to take it out on. At 0-7 the Buccaneers are backed into a corner and will undoubtedly be cowering when the Packers walk onto the field.
Prediction - Packers 35 Buccaneers 17
Dolphins at Patriots - The Patriots have a lot going for them this week. They’re not coming off of a bye week, but they are also coming off of two extremely lopsided wins prior to the bye week. And last but not least they are playing at home. Wow Miami has already got a big hole to be digging out. Miami’s offense is suspect, in their last outing they only managed 104 yards but were lucky enough to get 21 points in the 3rd quarter with their defense. But it’s not likely the defense will be that lucky this week.
Prediction - Patriots 38 Dolphins 21
Chiefs at Jaguars - The Chiefs go to Jacksonville this week without Larry Johnson their starting running back, due to disciplinary reasons, and without him, there’s not much of an offense. The Chiefs are one of the worst offenses in the league ranking 30th . The only thing that might be a factor in this game is the fact that the Jaguars rank nearly at the bottom of the league in defense. Don’t expect much scoring fireworks in this game. Take your choice, it could go either way in this game. But I’ll make a prediction anyway.
Prediction - Jaguars 13 Chiefs 10
Texans at Colts - Texans probably have the best team they’ve had since entering into the NFL, but they will be traveling to unfriendly territory this week, with a team led by Peyton Manning, that are on fire at 7-0, so it’s unlikely that the Texans will be able to even think of beating down Manning who is have another career year.
Predictions - Colts 45 Texans 30 [read more]
Europa League Picks November 5 2009
Group D
SC Heerenveen (4 points) vs Hertha BSC Berlin (1 point)
Heerenveen earned the right to be included in the round of 32 after defeating Hertha 1-0 in their previous match. Heerenveen found themselves with only ten men after Daryl Janmaat was sent off late in the game but Hertha failed to capitalize. Goalie Brian Vandenbussche made fantastic saves, preventing Heerenveen from scoring an equalizer.
Expect Heerenveen to cement their hold on second place in Group D and send Hertha deeper into the bottom of the standings.
Group D
Sporting Clube de Portugal (9 points) against FK Ventspils (2 points)
Sporting has a firm group atop the Group D standings. Meanwhile Ventspils finds itself at the bottom half of the group. If not for Laizans penalty kick, Sporting would’ve scored a 2-0 victory over Ventspils.
Sporting finds itself undefeated in Group D and will try to keep it that way against the lowly Ventspils.
Sporting will remain undefeated after they pick-up an easy win over Ventspils [read more]
The NFL Week 8 Preview and Picks Season 09/10
Another week has gone by and some teams like the Chiefs, Browns, Lions, Redskins, Seahawks and others have barely gotten out of the starting gate, whereas teams like the Broncos, Saints, Colts and Vikings are so far ahead of the rest of the pack, it would take a miracle now at mid season to stop them. And then of course there are those team like the Rams, Buccaneers and Titans that haven’t even gotten out of the starting gate with their winless records. How ironic it is to see the Rams and Titans in the raise for the # 1 draft pick of 2010 on their 10th anniversary of their trip to the Super Bowl against each other.
But I digress, let’s see what we are in store for in week eight of this NFL season. [read more]
Sunday, October 25th features a few games but if you’re going to watch one game Sunday it should be Liverpool against Manchester United. Must-see match-up especially with a struggling Liverpool team that is long overdue for a win.
Liverpool (8th place, 15 points) against Manchester United (1st place, 22 points)
Liverpool is riding a two game losing streak in the EPL (four total including the Champions League) but a return home is just what this team needs. Injuries to Torres, Gerrard and Johnson have plagued them the past few games. Their previous lost was to Sunderland 1-0 by a deflection off a red ball thrown into the pitch. They will have no excuses against Manchester United once Torres and Johnson are inserted back to the lineup. Gerrard is still uncertain because of an injured hamstring.
Manchester United cruised at home against the Bolton Wanderers 2-1. Knight’s early own goal gave Man United the early lead and Valencia sealed the deal with a goal at the 33rd minute. Man U played without striker Wayne Rooney and he is still not sure if he can play against Liverpool.
Liverpool is due for a win and with the return of Torres and Johnson, they could do it against rival Manchester United. It’s a tough call but I’m leaning towards Liverpool especially with Rooney out and Owen looking out-of-sync last game. [read more]
The match ups this week aren’t all the cream of the crop with so many on byes and with the amazing amount of teams that find themselves scrounging around at the bottom of the pile. So it’s hard to say which game playing this week is going to be a must see. But if you bet or play fantasy football, I would suppose most the games this week would peak your interest.
Let’s begin the week’s review with a game that no doubt has everyone knowing it’s outcome.
Colts at Rams - The Colts are coming off of a bye week, which isn’t exactly what the Rams like to hear. Here we have the undefeated Colts coming to town to play the winless and helpless Rams. Even though this is being played in St. Louis, the Edward Jones dome has not been home field advantage for the Rams in months. To make matters worse, the Rams are suffering from the off season loss of their top receiver Torry Holt and continue to try and find someone to replace him, the only thing close to being a threat is Donny Avery who can’t seem to stay healthy. To prove just how desperate the Rams are at wide receiver, they actually traded one of their better defensive players, Will Witherspoon to the Eagles for a 5th round pick in 2010 and an unproven rookie wide receiver by the name of Brandon Gibson. Who? Exactly. So coming off the bye for the Colts is just an added bonus. Peyton Manning should have a field day. The rest of the team doesn’t even need to show up. [read more]
NFL Regular Season
Five weeks into the 2009-2010 NFL season, five teams are undefeated and four teams are winless. The Colts, Broncos, Vikings, Saints and Giants are all finding ways to win every game they’ve played so far and all look to be well on their way to the playoffs. On the other end of the spectrum, the Titans, Chiefs, Rams and Bucs can’t find a way to win even one game so far and the only question between them seems to be who will have the first pick in the 2010 NFL draft. The season is young and there are many games to go before we reach the post-season, and as anyone who has watched the NFL knows, anything can happen. But you have to like the odds for the top teams to reach the post season. Perhaps this will even be the year we finally see the mythical Manning versus Manning SuperBowl. Based on the first five weeks of the season, there are certainly worse bets you could make. [read more]
Ok, so it is back. The lure of this competition is like no other; the Champions League is what makes or breaks you as a player. Ninety minutes of opportunity, will you grasp it, or let it slip? This competition is a war, a unique collection of the best footballing talent that Europe has to offer. Let us be honest, the Champions league has never disappointed us, year in and year out it takes our breath away. The passion that is expressed in these matches, whether from player or spectator is something special, an occurrence that is a representation of what true love for this game of football is all about.
In my experience, the playing field is leveled for these games. There are so many intricate factors that become important, that, on any given day, a team from a city that cannot full a stadium can take down the largest of European powerhouses. What is the measure of your heart; how far are you willing to go to realize your dreams? Whoever finds the answers to these questions will see that they have that little extra something, that spare trick or moment of pure genius that separates the good players from the really great ones. This makes it possible for any team, from any country to write their name in the record books and be recognized as legitimate competitors. This is the beauty of the Champions League; there is none other like it. [read more]
The NBA Finals are here and the marquee matchup all of the experts predicted did not materialize. For my part, I tried to go against the grain but not only did I pick the wrong favorite, I picked the wrong underdog as well. Predicting a winner doesn’t get any easier from here. The Lakers are favored to win the Finals with homecourt advantage, but the Magic were 2-0 against them in the regular season and have consistently shown that it’s a bad idea to bet against them in this 2009 postseason.
The Lakers have looked strong, particularly in their Game 6 shellacking of the hapless Denver Nuggets last week and as an organization they appear to be focused on redeeming themselves after losing to the Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals. Kobe Bryant is at the top of his game, and he averaged 34 points per game against the Orlando Magic this season. Andrew Bynum will present a key matchup defending against Dwight Howard in this series. If Bynum falters against Howard, as he did during the regular season, look for the Lakers to rely on Gasol to pick up the slack. [read more]
