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 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!

MLB Opening day

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!”