The NBA season is finally over and it’s time for the playoffs. For any NBA fan this is the best time of the year as we are down to the best teams of the year get to show their skills against the other best teams in games that actually mean something. I’ll take a look at each Eastern Conference playoff series, the teams, players, injuries and what I expect the outcome to be. (to check out my Western Conference blog click here)
#1 Chicago Bulls vs. #8 Indiana Pacers
So we have the best team in the East led by Derrick Rose taking on the Pacers who frankly have no players I know by name, still the must be doing something good enough to get to the playoffs -well not really because they ended the season 37-45 and to have a team with 8 more losses than wins have a chance to win the Title is bullsh*t, I’m all for a change in the NBA and reduce the number of playoff teams to 4 o 6 (a la NFL) but that is for another blog-. Chicago has been dominant all season led by Rose -my MVP pick- along with Noah, Boozer, Brewer and other guys and will easily take this matchup in 5 games, still I’m not totally sold on the being a championship team although I’m pushing so much for them because I enjoy watching them play and Chicago was so much overdue for a winning team.
#2 Miami Heat vs #7 Philadelphia 76ers
Miami taking their talents into the playoffs is no surprise, heck it was an obligation for a team with that much talent and all of the acquisitions they made. Philadelphia is another of those teams that makes the playoffs because of the system and really has no chance to win this series. LeBron, Wade -THE most important player for the Heat-, Bosh will prove to much even if they underachieve as they have done a good part of the season. I’ve got the Heattaking it in 5.
#3 Boston Celtics vs #6 New York Knicks
This is the most intriguing match-up in the 1st round of the East. The Knicks (ever since the Carmelo Anthony trade) have been a tough riddle to decipher; some games they seem like a Title contender and other games they seem totally lost. A truth is that even in the game that they have won their defense is lackluster, heck even I think a could drop 25-30 on them any given night. On the other hand the Celtics have a ton of experience so they have an advantage in that aspect, my doubts start after the Perkins trade and their faith on a old and injured Shaq. Both teams have been inconsistent the last couple of months so picking a winner will be hard but I will take a risk and pick The Knicks in 6 games.
#4 Orlando Magic vs #5 Atlanta Hawks
This is another tough series to predict. For me the Magic is a team with lots of problems, it basically consists of Dwight Howard and 4 other midgets; while the Hawks are just a team I’m not sold on in any way. But both teams have done something right to earn a spot at 4 & 5. Not to interested in this series as I don’t see any these teams going past the next round, for blog sakes I’ll take Atlanta in 6.
Who are your favorite teams to win it all in 2011???
On the eve of pro-wrestling’s Super Bowl I give you my WWE WrestleMania 27 blog.
Let me start off by saying that I’m pretty excited for tomorrow nights event, far more then for WM26 which I found to be somewhat of a letdown. I, as most wrestling fans, find the period from the Royal Rumble up to WrestleMania the best there is in the year. Now doubt Vince puts his best work on display in order to get the highest buy rate possible on Sunday Night.
One of the things I most look up to is the presentation of the show. This goes from the opening video package (no one does these as the WWE), to the pyro display which is always awesome (see video from Wrestlemania 23)
and the singing of America the Beautiful (I’m not even American but WWE always finds someone who gives out a great performance (see this clip from Wrestlemania 24 from a performance by John Legend).
Once the show kicks off we are in for some pretty solid matches and, from what I’ve read the possible match order will be:
Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan for the United States title.
With the risk of sounding biased, I’m a big fan of both guys. We all know what Bryan Danielson has done during his indy career, which has been nothing short of amazing -he, at one point, was the best in the world at what he did-, while his run in WWE has been good, his style has to change a bit to fit the structure. While Sheamus has a really unique look, he is good with the mic and is solid in the ring… I hate that they put any wrestler they have faith in on a huge losing steak like the one this fella was in, yet in a couple of weeks he was able to be back to a believable monster. If this is the opening match I expect it to go 10-13 minutes although I would love if they give these guys 15-18 so they can tell a great story and prove what they are capable of. I’m picking Sheamus to win after they take each other to the limit and Bryan keeps kicking out and coming for more. Bryan will win the title back at Extreme Rules.
Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole.
This next match has been built up beautifully yet has the potential to be a disaster. Cole has played his role as an asshole to a T, maybe even going a little to far but it all has been for the sake of this match. The risk I see is how will Cole come back to the announce table to be the true voice of the WWE; it’s hard to have a guys who is an ass try to get people to buy PPVs, WWE will find the way to do it. Coming back to the match, I’m expecting Swagger to be involved a ton along with Stone Cold Steve Austin to coverup for Cole’s lack of experience. Hoping this doesn’t stink up the joint, I see this going 7-9 minutes with King picking up the win in his first (took long enough), and quite possibly, his last WrestleMania match. Expect a lot of beer to be drunk by Mr Austin
Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes.
I’m a huge Mysterio fan, although his work rate has decreased the last 3 years; being from Tijuana I’ve seen Mysterio since the begging and his career has been nothing short (no pun intended) of amazing. For a 5 foot 6 inch guy (being generous here) to have the success he has had is a true testament to how awesome he is. This is a pic from around 2001 right after WCW had closed down and Mysterio was wrestling in Tijuana and Mexico City – I was around 5-7 or 5-8 back then so you can see how small he is-.
Opposing him will be Cody Rhodes. Who would have expected after Mania26 that Rhodes would be having a singles match at WM27 and DiBiase would be a jobber to the jobbers? Not me, but here he is and he has been great in his role; we have seen his tremendous growth over the last year. I’m not sure which way they will taking in this match, Mysterio would not benefit from this win and picking up a W at the granddaddy of them all would be the highlight of Rhodes’ career so far. I hope Cody takes the win in about 11-13 minutes.
The Corre vs. Big Show & Kane & Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov.
This match I have absolutely no interest in. At last notice Kozlov would not even make the match as they ran an angle at Axxess were The Corre attacked him and hurt his shoulder; I expect Kofi Kingston to take his place in this match. I was excited of the idea of having a Corre vs New Nexus match, but WWE decided to kick the head right of the Nexus (pun intended) to further the Orton-Punk feud, so we are stuck with Show and friends taking on Corre. Again, Barrett’s team would benefit immensely for picking up the W, so I’m going with them in a 5-7 minute match.
Snooki & John Morrison & Trish Stratus vs. Lay-Cool & Dolph Ziggler.
Another match I could care less of. I’d be so happy if they just let Ziggler and Morrison go out there and do their thing for 15 minutes but WWE is looking to capitalize on Jersey Shore’s huge audience and garner some media attention for the event. I despise Snooki and everything she stands for (I can’t believe how screwed up the American society is, I mean Snooki is a NY Times best seller… really?) but this may be a smart move, although I doubt someone will buy the show just to see what she does. As happens with most contests with an outsider, they pick up the win. So Nitro, Trish (still so hot after all these years) and Snooki will get their hand raised.
—Right after this match I hope they change the canvas and ropes at the risk of having the next Superstarts get infected by any STDs Snooki is carrying—
Randy Orton vs. CM Punk.
This has the potential to be a show stealer. Seriously CM Punk is an amazing heel, he is kind of what the Joker was in the Dark Knight, his “screams” and “shut up” line to one of Orton’s many wives was amazing
I-m so biased as I love Punk, he is great at every aspect of what he does and this feud has been solid. I’m not a fan of a face Orton but he has carried his part in more than a nice way. I really hope they get 15-18 minutes to show what they can do; the one thing I fear in this match is that Orton has to sell the leg injury so that may hamper the overall quality. I’m not going to pick a winner in this one as it is to close to call, the one thing I wish for is a show-stealing match.
World Champion Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio.
Being a Mexican you can expect who I’m rooting for, but the fact of the matter is that Del Rio has had the greatest rookie year in history. Just about 10 months ago (05/31) I was watching Del Rio in a dark match prior to a Raw taping in Austin, TX (he picked up a win over Tatsu) (see pic)
and now here he is, winning the Royal Rumble and in one the Main Events of the biggest show in the history of the world (until the next PPV). Edge, well he is a proven competitor who is as good as they get. This rivalry has missed the IT factor and not sure if Christian has provided it. I see Del Rio winning the title but it is hard to imagine he is going to win clean, so the logical thing would be for Christian to screw Edge although this would take the focus off Mr. Del Rio. All in all I hope they have a great 20 minute match with Alberto Pendejo -gotta love how WWE doesn’t censor cursing in Spanish, and Alberto uses a ton of bad words on live TV – picking up his Second World title win (the first on was the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship about 2-3 years ago)
Undertaker vs. Triple H.
This may be the shortest part of my this blog. Amazing buildup
Two of the greatest in-ring performers of our generation fighting it out on the biggest stage of them all. I expect this to be a classic for the ages with the Undertaker picking up the W after close to 30 minutes of brawling that will likely spill out of the ring and around the arena, similar to their encounter 10 years ago at the Astrodome at WM17. I expect Shawn Michael to be involved in some capacity but he will not be the deciding factor in this match. Undertaker 19-0
WWE champion The Miz vs. John Cena.
This match HAS to close the show as it will have the Rock involved, which is sure to be a money maker. My fear is that the crowd will be spent after the previous historic match and will be dead for this one, similar to what happened at WM25 where the HHH and Orton fell flat on it’s face to close the show after an AWESOME Taker-Michaels match. Nor sure how Rock will be used here as he has beef with both guys but he will no doubt lay the SmackDown here. As of last Monday I expected Cena to win this one, but after the way the treated Miz -jobbing to the Rock- he could be in line for the biggest upset at Mania EVER. Usually when a guy get the upper hand heading into a PPV they end up losing, and Cena was the last man standing on Raw. My final prediction will be a win for the Miz in 20 minutes.
All in all it seems like a good show, I hope we get a great PPV which is well worth the money and not with a 90 second main event. Having The Rock, Austin, Michaels and Snooki might help out with the buy rate which I’m expecting to be pretty close, if not, higher that 1M. I be tweeting my comments live during the PPV so you can check that out and I’ll post a review blog tomorrow eveing.
Long time no blogging, not really any specific topics I’ve been interested in writing but that is about to change. We are on the eve of Major League Baseball’s opening day, this is a national (well international since I’m in Mexico) holiday for us baseball fans.
It’s hard to explain why baseball is so great. I have a lot of friends who just despise baseball and I could rant all day on many of the beautiful aspects of the game they don’t get but we I’ll leave that for another day. I’ve some topics I’d like to touch on. We’ve got expectations for this season, playoff picks, MLB.tv and other random stuff
First off, lets talk about expectations for this season.
I expect tons of hitting, more so than last season. Temperatures will be hot so that definitely helps the ball travel, pitching won’t be so dominating and some teams just have a brutal lineup that makes any pitcher cringe when looking at the box score.
All “expert” analysis goes out the window after the first pitch tomorrow. Baseball is so full of surprise performances (José Bautista and 40+ HRs anyone?), injuries always come into play, off field issues also have a huge part on on-field performances. At the end of the day usually the teams with the most talent come out on top, that is until we get a team red hot at the right time of year… looking at you San Francisco Giants.
Looking for the Atlanta Braves to have a huge season. They’ve got the talent, lets see how the new manager holds it all together.
I expect huge things from John Lester of the Boston Red Sox.
Adrian Gonzalez will have a monster season and get the publicity, money and success he deserves. As a Padre fan I was sad to see him go. but at the same time excited as he deserves to take his talents (a LeBron quote for a guy who is as far, class-wise, from #6 as possible) to a huge market. Hope he makes it big, his home will always be in SoCal.
Jeter will continue to decline in every stat yet the Yankees won’t notice that.
Mets and Dodgers will keep spending money like crazy and get absolutely nothing in return.
I expect the Giants to run away with the NL West (again, this saddens me as a Padre fan). I think Pablo Sandoval will be great this season. Lincecum could get have another Cy Young season (the kid is still only 26). Hope Wilson is back pretty quick, beard and all.
St. Louis is a huge question mark. Their pitching is very suspect and with the Pujols’ contract stuff we could have an off year for them.
The NL Central is up for grabs between the Cards, Reds and (wait for it) Cubs…
I think the Braves will run away in the East, the Phillies won’t have the pitching and with Utley out they rely on Mr 200 K Ryan Howard to carry the load.
Texas will have another great season, will they make it to the WS like in 2010? I doubt it.
The AL Central is up for grabs.
For another year no one will show up at Marlins games, and fill up Tropicana only for Yanks and Sox games. Florida is not a place for baseball.
Playoff picks
NL West: SF Giants
NL Central: St Louis Cardinals.
NL East: Atlanta Braves
NL Wildcard: Chicago Cubs
AL West: Texas Rangers
AL Central: Minn. Twins
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Wildcard: Tampa Bay Rays
MLB.tv
I’m no spokesperson for any product, but this is a great investment if you are a baseball fan. For 120 bucks you get every game in HD quality in a long list of devices. Really a great thing to get, not much more to say about it but this is my 3rd year buying it and have never been disappointed.
Random
I hope we get a great season with lots of surprises to, like every year, prove that this is the most beautiful and unpredictable sport there is.
Hope my Padres put up a fight and make it fun for us fans. I see them finishing 2nd in the West.
I’ll constantly blog on baseball, there is so much to write about it.
Hope I can fly out to Boston to watch my Padres in June take on the Red Sox. Wearing my Adrian Gonzalez jersey will make it so much better.
Side note, I hope the NFL labor dispute gets worked out so we get a full 16 game (stop with the 18 game crap)
As the great Ernesto Jerez would say:
“No se diga más, solo PLAY BALL!”
The Playpen 