Sports

Waiver Wire Wisdom 11/19/2008

Go and Get:

Shaun Hill. He hasn’t had a huge test yet, but when given a chance he hasn’t really played bad- in seven career starts he has 10 tds and 3 ints. He is the new Martz-QB, which makes him worthy of fantasy play.

Peyton Hillis. How the heck did Arkansas lose a game with McFadden, Jones, and Hillis in their backfield? Hillis is a good receiver, an excellent goal-line player, and most importantly Denver’s only legitimate option. He’ll get his stats.

Kevin Faulk. BJE has probably already been scooped up, but if your desperate Faulk is can probably get you 70 total yards.

1. San Jose Sharks – its alright to lose guys, its an 81 game season. Brian Boucher still has a pulse?
2. Pittsburgh Penguins- give me the two best players in the world and the deepest defense and i’ll give you a championship…..actually a few
3. Detroit Red Wings- Osgood is coming down to Earth, yet it doesn’t matter when you might have the best power play ever assembled and Hossa has yet to realize his center isn’t Crosby anymore
4. Minnesota WIld – if the National Security Department ever has trouble defending Fort Knox, they should call the Wild and Nicklas Backstrom – 31 goals in 16 games (Seriously?)
5. Boston Bruins – watching them pass the puck is like watching Disney on Ice, does anyone know who Tim Thomas is?
6. New York Rangers – Zherdev is coming into his own and Lundqvist is to the Rangers as Nicholas Cage was to The Rock

As I mentioned last week,

http://fantasysportsmatrix.com/blogs/sportsnut/fantasy_basketball_www2#

there seems to be a new Warrior flavor each week. Now it’s rookie Andrew Morrow. He’s worth a speculative add if you need scoring, but really, as soon as he has two sub-par games, he’ll be rotated out of the starting lineup. Hopefully he can keep it up, but Nellie is becoming the Shanahan of basketball. Luckily, there are a few new names on my list…

Andrew Bargnani, F/C, Raptors — Sam Mitchell says Bargnani will keep starting at SF. He’s no SF and of course, Bargnani has proven to be inconsistent. He’s worth a speculative add to your bench because he can block shots and hit 3-ptrs with C eligibility, and maybe, just maybe, he puts it together.

With the OU/Texas Tech game coming up, three of the Heisman frontrunners will be on meeting on the same field. Others will have a chance to shine, but you have to figure whichever QB wins this game will win the trophy. Strike a pose:

1) Sam Bradford (Oklahoma): 291, 2 TD, 1 INT. That’s what backup Joey Halzle did after Tech knocked Bradford out of the game in the first quarter last year. So Halzle essentially did that through a little more than three quarters. Will Bradford struggle against a decent Tech D? Did you watch the OU/Texas game? He single-handedly kept OU in the game against a very good Texas secondary. 300+ and 3 TDs aren’t out of the question. Obviously, I’m banking on OU winning (it is in Norman), but even if they lose, Bradford isn’t out of the running.

Dustin Pedroia has achieved a lot of things in his baseball career, none of which are as impressive as winning the AL MVP. At 5’7, Pedroia has always been underestimated because of his size, yet he has never let this stop his dream. His dream of playing major league baseball was never fueled by his height, skill, or success but rather his heart and passion for the game. With baseball becoming sullied by rampant laziness and excessive contracts, Pedroia is a clear example that hard work and a genuine love for the game may still exist in America’s FORMER pastime.

Since there were no upsets or losses by the top 15 in college football this week, I though I’d mix things up a bit and give my first edition of the NBA Power Rankings. So here we go:

1) LA Lakers (7-1) – Even though they lost to the new look Pistons on Friday, they are still beating teams by an average of 14 ppg. And Bynum hasn’t even looked that good yet.

2) Boston Celtics (9-2) – Could we be headed for a rematch in the Finals? Too early to tell, but Boston doesn’t seem to have skipped a beat. When will missing Posey become noticeable?

3) Phoenix Suns (8-3) – Shaq looks good again. Actually, really good. And the Suns look feisty again, evident in their lost to Houston.

4) Cleveland Cavaliers (8-2) – If LeBron keeps this up, he’ll be receiving his first MVP award in May. The addition of Mo Williams really helps.

Here are my bowl projections heading into Week 13:

—BCS Games—
BCS Championship: Florida vs. Texas
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Utah
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Cincinnati
Orange Bowl: Maryland vs. Ohio State
Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn St.

—New Year’s Games—
Cotton Bowl: LSU vs. Texas Tech
Gator Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. Miami
Outback Bowl: Vanderbilt vs. Northwestern
Capital One Bowl: Georgia vs. Michigan State

—Other Bowls—
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: North Carolina vs. South Carolina
Insight Bowl: Minnesota vs. Kansas
Sun Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Oregon State
Holiday Bowl: Oregon vs. Missouri
Alamo Bowl: Nebraska vs. Iowa

1. Kerry Collins was the difference for the Titans on Sunday. He is on a mission to shed the “Game Manager” adjective from his name. I for one am not a believer. I love his story as a recovering alcoholic that is at the steering wheel of a 10-0 team, yet i think his performance to this point is a result of other factors. The running attack of the Titans is borderline unstoppable. You have the fastest running back in the NFL in Chris Johnson and the “Dump Truck” in LenDale White. Defenses are trying to stop this potent running attack by placing eight men in the box. Essentially, Collins is facing one safety passing situations and for one day made the defense pay. Let it be known that Jacksonville’s defensive backfield has been suspect this season as well.

Maybe I should have stayed away from the games after all. Penn State did not look like a team that gave much of a damn. Sure, they won; but I was not impressed at all. In fact, I don’t think Penn State has looked good for a month and as we get closer to the end, the less I believe that the Nits have any chance of sneaking in to the title game. Next week could be Joe Pa’s last game at Beaver Stadium, so let’s home they will play with some emotion. And speaking of JoePa, the talk is that leaning towards hip replacement surgery right after next week’s game. Will this force PSU’s in changing the head coach? We’ll see what happens….

Here is the first installment of Shameless Sunday Picks:

Baltimore Ravens (+6) at the New York Giants: Take the Giants – 6

The Ravens are quietly flying under the radar and making a strong push for the playoffs. However, their schedule to this part of the season has been lackluster and New York is a tough place to play. I say the game will be close, yet Eli will take over in the 4th quarter and Brandon Jacobs will wear down a Ravens defense that will be on the field all day. I think Flacco will come down to Earth and that the Ravens will have a hard time trying to run on the Giants strong front seven.

Chicago Bears (+3.5) at the Green Bay Packers : Take the Packers – 3.5

Some interesting rule changes will be implemented coming into this year’s 2008 NFL season. Curious as to what you guys think of these new changes made. The following rule changes were passed at the league’s annual owners meeting in Palm Beach, Florida during the week of March 31.

Oftentimes in the news we hear things that make us shake our heads and go “huh”? You know…random things like Dennis Rodman wearing a bridal outfit to a book signing or Roseanne Barr being considered a “wise” choice to let sing a National Anthem during a game. Oftentimes teams or individual star players make decisions or act in a way that just leave you wondering “what in the world were they smoking” as their tactics or decisions seem to backfire in their faces.

Here are three such events in particular that got me saying “whaa?”

1) Shawne Merriman Opting to Play the Entire 2008 NFL Season Without Surgery

As you no doubt have heard, Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers has chosen to forgo surgery on his left knee in order to play football this season. He has two torn ligaments: the posterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments, and four separate doctors have advised him to pack it in for the season and have surgery, otherwise he risks career-ending damage to the knee. Merriman says his decision comes from a pact he made, a goal to compete at the highest level and help the Chargers win the Superbowl this season. I admire his courage, but as someone who has personally torn two ligaments in his left knee I want to tell Merriman that he is an idiot.

This is going to be a very interesting NLDS series because of two players: the Phillies’ slugger Ryan Howard and Milwaukee ace CC Sabathia. Both are arguably the hottest players at their positions right now over the last month, with Howard has 11 home runs, 32 RBI’s and a ridiculous .851 slugging percentage for the month of september, and Sabathia is 11-2 for the Brewers with a slick 1.61 ERA. It is unlikely that Sabathia will be used in game 1 because he would be pitching on two days rest, but game 2 is almost a given because the Brewers plan is to run him in game 5 if it goes that far.

The upset drives sporting events and fans alike. It’s the essential ingredient that keeps us watching. Without them, we would only admire the physical condition the athletes are in, rather than the elements of intelligence and chance that factor into sports. An upset reminds us that the situation changes and that a constant transition is occurring.

This is magnified in individual sports like tennis, where having a favorite player is rarely based on geography. When we don’t know who is playing, the underdog is the one we cheer for.

With Americans perpetually struggling to break into the top flight of players (i.e., the ones that have a chance to win), the cheering for Roger Federer
resounds in Flushing. He needed every bit of that motivation today as twenty-three seed Igor Andreev played beautifully, winning the first set. The five set Federer- Andreev match was anything but a rubber stamp for the Swiss’ move to the quarterfinals.

With the conclusion(???) of the Brett Favre-Green Bay Packers soap opera the other night and his official press conference for new team NY Jets, I find myself wondering why I was exposed to a sportswriters’ cornucopia of status updates on everything that went down. Clearly, someone on either the broadcasting or receiving end likes to follow Favre like a Facebook stalker or tabloid journal reader. Frankly, it annoyed me more than any sports-related saga this year like the Branjolina or Bennifer articles I was forced to observe at every grocery checkout stand I visited during that episode. America is sick with star-obsession and seems determined to live their lives through reality television shows and the latest sporting melodramas. This General Hospital: Green Bay was frustrating, but does it earn a spot atop my list of most annoying sports stories?

I’ve rounded up some links for you all to watch this fight, both on SopCast and on live streaming through Windows Media Player. All you need is a relatively fast connection and you’ll be watching these fights free! You won’t want to miss tonight’s UFC 86 card that features light heavyweight champ Quentin “Rampage” Jackson taking on #4 contender in the UFC, Forrest Griffin!

Here’s how to watch on SopCast

1. Download Sopcast player if you haven’t already: (www.sopcast.org)

2. Cut, paste the following link, which will open your sopcast player:

sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/24267

Alternatively, watch on Windows Media Player (although typically not as good quality as SopCast). Try the following links til you get a good one, as service is sometimes spotty:

One of the best MMA cards all year will be on tap this Saturday, August 9th brought to you by UFC. The fights start at 10 PM EST/7 PM PST. Check out this main card:

• Welterweight Championship bout: Jon Fitch vs. Georges St. Pierre*
• Lightweight bout: Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta*
• Heavyweight bout: Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring*
• Lightweight bout: Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson*
• Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia*

Loaded, right? Yes, I thought you’d agree! Here’s how to watch.

On sopcast (download the player and watch, usually better quality than streaming links). Download the player here: http://sopcast.org/download

Great card on for tonight as it’s BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk for the lightweight title. Also in action are Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine and Lyoto Machida vs. Tito Ortiz. Don’t miss it! The card begins at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST.

You can watch generally in one of two ways: 1) live stream on Windows Media Player or 2) through a peer-to-peer application such as SopCast (download Sopcast at sopcast.org).

Here are some Media Player links that might work:
www.justin.tv/ufc_fan
www.justin.tv/mmatv

SopCast links:

After downloading sopcast, tune it to channel 24267 or just go here:
sop://broker1.sopcast.com:3912/24267

I’ll check back later to make any updates or edits to this information! Enjoy the fights, all!

If you want to watch WWE: No Way Out, please check back later. I’ll have to confirm if the channel is right or not and I’ll post it. Cross your fingers! I’ll be back.

This will be one tremendous fight! Dubbed “The Battle” it pits undefeated welterweight champ Miguel Cotto against the Mexican warrior Antonio Margarito. It’s one of the most anticipated welterweight fights in recent history. The action starts at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST. Here’s where you can watch online (try the links and see which one works best for you):

MMA Fans w/o PPV, you can still enjoy UFC 82: Henderson vs Silva by tuning into a live online stream. The action begins @ 10pm EST/ 7pm PST. You are only two easy steps away:

1. Download the Sopcast Player from http://www.sopcast.org or from here http://www.download.com/SopCast/3000-13632_4-10601520.html
2. Turn to channel 24267
3. Enjoy!