NFL week 9 preview

Well, week 9 of the NFL season is upon us and there are not that many exciting games this weekend, basically 3 that catch my attention besides the Thursday night game that features my horrible Chargers.

Norv logic – #FireNorv

The Monday night game featuring the Eagles going into the Big Easy to take on the Saints is really intriguing for many reasons. Mainly, both teams have been pretty big busts this season, the Saints at 2-5 and the Eagles at 3-4; while the record would make you think the Saints are a worse team I think it actually is Philly who is in more trouble.

I expected New Orleans to be a couple of steps lower than last season due to all the offseason mess and the loss of Sean Payton, so a losing season is not that much of a surprise. The Eagles I expected to be much better as they would finally put the pieces together and make the so-called All Star team work, that has not been the case. Vick has been his usual horrible self, with a ton of turnovers, the defense has been horrible, they have no running game even with McCoy -who should be the most important part of the offense- being a non factor, add to this mix a coach that has lost control of the team and is in his 14th year with the team, and you have a recipe for disaster. It is a interesting game since both teams have a lot of talent and are in desperate need for a win, sports books are a 3.5 point favorites and I expect them to cover it. My pick: New Orleans, 31-17.

 

The second game that catches my eye is the Steelers at the Giants. At 6-2 the Giants are one of the strongest teams in the league while the Steelers started out slow but have been picking up steam the last couple of games. Pittsburgh has been getting healthy and I’m looking for them to go on one of those 7-1 runs in their remaining 8 games since they have a not to hard schedule. The Giants are one of those teams that always flies under the radar even with a couple of titles in the recent past.

The home team is a 3 point favorite and this is a hard one to call. NY showed lots of weaknesses last sunday vs Dallas by letting the Cowboys come back from down 0-23 to almost win the game; sure it was just one week but you can see they have some holes. The Steelers are rolling and will continue to play great football. My wildcard for this game is how G-Men react to the Hurricane thing in the East Coast, I believe lots of them were affected, maybe practices were disrupted, I also believe that the emotion at Met Life Stadium will be a big factor come Sunday afternoon since it will be one of the 1st events since the hurricane hit; thus I got the Giants taking it. My pick: Giants 24-21

The game of the week is without a doubt the Cowboys traveling to Atlanta to take on the undefeated Falcons. The Cowboys usually put on pretty entertaining games, in some cases entertaining due to the fact that Tony Romo finds new and cool ways to mess up, in others -like last weekends second half- because they have an explosive and dynamic offense. On the other hand the Falcons are back home after spanking the Eagles in Philly in what probably was their best game of the year; Matt Ryan -or the Mattural as @RichEisen now calls him- is your 1st half offensive MVP, he is just playing head and shoulders above everyone else. Yes he may be 3rd in TDs and Passer Rating, 8th in Yards thrown but his game management and leadership have been superb.

So we have the Falcons a 4 point favorite with a 47 point over/under line. The over I’m not totally sold on it since I’m not sure which Romo will show up on Sunday, but I expect the Falcons to take it by at least a touchdown. My pick: Atlanta 30-21

 

The rest of the games are (bold for the winner taking in account the spread):

• Chiefs at Chargers -8
• Broncos -3 at Bengals
• Ravens -3.5 at Browns
• Cardinals at Packers -11
• Bears -3.5 at Titans
• Dolphins at Colts +2.5
• Panthers +3 at Redskins
• Lions -3.5 at Jaguars
• Bills at Texans -10
• Bucs +1.5 at Raiders
• Vikings +5 at Seahawks

This is my week 9 preview, who’s your team? How is it doing? Who’re you betting on?

Mr Khakbaz out!

2012-13 NBA preview

Lakers House, Staples Center from NBA 2K13

So tonight we kick of the 2012-13 NBA season with a couple of pretty interesting games on TNT. First the Celtics travel to South Beach to take on the defending champions, Miami Heat followed by the Dallas Mavericks being hosted by my Los Angeles Lakers. I’ll be looking into the favorites for this season, surprises and other things to expect during the basketball year.

This is one of those seasons where I don’t expect many contenders for the title. There are maybe 3 teams who I give a legit shot at the O’Brien trophy. Miami, LA, OKC are top contenders (according to my sports book the Heat are the favs at only +120, while LA and the Thunder are at +200); two other teams that could be interesting to watch are the Celtics and the Spurs. Beyond that I can’t see anyone even coming close to these 3 big ones.

My main focus will be those 3 teams starting with the defending champs. It’s no secret I hate the Heat with passion but there is no denying they are a great team, not for nothing the won it all last year. The core of the team, LeBron, Wade and Bosh, remains intact and they’ve added some interesting pieces, mainly Rashad Lewis and Ray Allen. While these 2 won’t put up All Star numbers they will be of great help off the bench, one of their few weaknesses last season, and will help keep the Big 3 rested and in top form for when they are required to perform. LeBron is the greatest physical specimen in the league, I still doubt his mental toughness but last year he proved he has enough of what it takes to be a champion.

The Oklahoma Thunder had a coming out party in the playoff series vs the Spurs last year; they are true contenders and will be great this year. The topic of recent conversation regarding them was the departure of James Harden, the thing was Harden (who has the greatest NBA beard ever) wanted more money in a shorter period of time and the Thunder would not give it to him, so they set up a deal this past weekend with the Houston Rockets that sent Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward to H-Town for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two 1^st round draft picks and a 2^nd rounder. All in all it was a good deal for both sides; the Thunder didn’t really lose THAT much, got a solid player in K-Mart and a gamble on Lamb, plus the draft picks; also Harden got his extension with a 6 million upgrade as to what OKC offered him. This being said I don’t think this changes the Thunder’s chances at a title, neither does Vegas; Westbrook and Durant are spectacular, Ibaka is a monster on D and they will be in serious contention for the title but will wind up coming up a bit shot.

Now on to the Lakers. Did any team have a better offseason? Ever? They only lost often injured and yet to fulfill his potential Andrew Bynum in the deal that got them Dwight Howard. Any smart NBA follower will tell you this is a steal, and it is! While Howard is a diva, you know you’ll get 15-15 night in and night out and a huge post presence that few teams have. Then you get Steve Nash who is not nearly what he was 5 years ago but will be a huge upgrade to any PG the Lakers have had in recent memory, he will be great for the pick and roll and will create a ton of shots for Kobe. The impact of Nash is beyond description, the amount of energy Kobe expends to fight for a shot is astonishing and Steve will be of huge help with this. So all in all you get a hall of famer PG, a future HOFer Center in addition to Kobe, Gasol and Metta World Peace, can’t get much better in a 5 month span. Will the Lakers win it all? Will everything work to perfection in year one? Not sure on both questions, we could have a case of what happened to Miami in year one of the Big 3. Still LA should win the West with ease.

As I said before, these are the only 3 teams I give a chance to win the title. That is not to say that there won’t be other fun teams & surprises. For one, the Portland Trailblazers will be a really entertaining team night in and night out; they won’t win more than 40 games but all 82 will be real enjoyable. Denver is another one of those fast paced, don’t care about defense teams who always provides some fun TV time. Chicago will be fun to watch, and depending if D-Rose returns could be a contender for the title; I see an interesting scenario where the Bulls are 6 or 7^th in the East and Rose comes back around March and they make a serious run at the Heat. Also the Houston Rockets will be pretty solid.

Who will take the main individual awards this year?

• MVP: Kevin Durant; barring a long setback due to injury he will be a monster in 12-13
• Scoring champ: KD will take this one for the 3^rd straight year
• Defensive player of the year: Dwight Howard, closely challenged by Serge Ibaka
• Rookie of the year: Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Hornets

As you can see the main awards will be distributed between Lakers and Thunder, thus my prediction of them having great years.

Now the million dollar question, who will reach the NBA Finals and win it all? I’m going with pretty much everyone else’s prediction: Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat. The winner? Logic says it will be the Heat but I’m going with my Lakers –actually saw a NBA 2K13 simulation of the whole season and it predicted the same outcome with LA winning the Finals in 7 games (for the article click here)

Who is your team? Who do you expect to win it all?

Mr Khakbaz out!

Go Lakers!

2012 World Series Preview

Baseball is a real special sport for me for so many reasons. Played it a while even though I sucked, have spent a ton of time at the ballpark with friends and family, have had some great times with my old man playing catch back home Nd have had the chance to interact with fans of lots of teams at 10 or so ballparks I’ve had a chance to catch games. So on the eve of the start of the World Series I’d like to share my thoughts on the 2012 postseason and how I believe the Fall Classic will unfold.

As always October brings us the most exciting baseball all year; most people don’t get the sport and think it is to slow, well when you’ve never given yourself a chance to go to the ballpark and understand that baseball goes way beyond to what happens on the field, well then you’ll never get it.

The Oakland A’s made the playoffs when in April no one gave them a chance, and rightfully so. They were in a division with 2 teams that were, in the eyes of many, favorites to win the AL Pennant, the Angels and Rangers. While their playoff run was nothing memorable, their play during the season was a thing of beauty.

Something I will never forget is the EPIC collapse of the New York Yankees. I mean, seriously, how can that happen? You’ve got Cano, A-Rod and Granderson who just were erased right of the map; first I kind of enjoyed it them I felt bad for these guys. What will 2013 have in store for the Yankees? I believe Jeter will be back, Granderson is liked and will be back. A-Rod has never really clicked with the NY crowd even when he put up MVP caliber numbers; his contract is a nightmare but I really think he needs a fresh start and will be moved to another team. Cano is a real mystery to me, he has all the tools but always seems to collapse at the clutch moment, he is too young and has a great upside thus he will be back.

I expected a bit more out of the Orioles since the Yankees couldn’t hit a lick, but somehow they were not able to grind out a series win. In my book the season was really good but the postseason will be remembered as a disappointment, if remembered at all.

On to the Tigers and Giants. Two teams that have a similar build and play to similar strengths. What I’ll do is try and break down the different areas of the game and see who has the “advantage” based on that.

Hitting. This is a clear advantage for the Tigers since they have the eventual MVP Miguel Cabrera, Prince Field and Delmon Young who always seems to have big playoff series. The Giants rely on timely hitting lead by Buster Posey but are not as explosive as Detroit. Advantage Detroit.

Starting pitching. When you have Justin Verlander on your staff and you can count on him going out there in games 1, 4 and 7 if needed you must feel pretty good, and a guy like Max Scherzer and you are in great shape. The Giants have Matt Cain, bust Barry Zito -who has been really good recently- and Madison Bumbgartner, and somewhere lost in the shuffle Tm Lincecum, who from what I hear will not be in the rotation. Both rotations are solid as heck and a huge part of why these teams have gotten so far. Again, advantage Tigers.

Bullpen. No need to get into much detail here, the advantage goes by far to the Giants.

Managing. I guess I’ll be a bit biased since Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy was the manager of my Padres for 12 years and I really like the guy. Jim Leyland is one of those guys that will always put the team in a position to succeed, he is as good as they come, doesn’t overthink stuff and just lets his guys go. Bochy is very similar in those aspects but I believe he has a deeper relationship and knowledge of his player that could prove to be the difference in the tight games we’ll have. Advantage Giants.

Intangibles. Luck. Call it what you want but so many things have gone the Giants way it’s amazing. A simple example is that double Hunter Pence got last night with the bases loaded; thanks to Fox’s 300 FPS camera we got to see how the bat broke and actually made contact with the ball 3 times! Never have I seen that happen. Just timely hits, a bounce there, and you find a way to sneak into he finals. But then again, luck is usually on the side of better prepared, more talented teams and people.

The final tally is 3-2 in favor of the Giants; but I still believe the 2 areas where the Tigers are favorites are the most important ones. Sports books seem to agree as Detroit is at -170 and SF is at +140 to take it all.

My prediction is that the Detroit Tigers will take it all in 6 games. My heart wants the Giants to win it all, hoping they can close it out at AT&T Park since it’s one of the best venues to catch a game (was lucky enough to catch 4 games in the summer of 04 while at Stanford) and they have some of the best fans around.

Regardless of the end result I hope we get some real exciting games with great pitching, timely hitting and just all around, fun to watch ballgames.
Who do you think will take it all?

Mr Khakbaz out!