Southwest Division

1. San Antonio Spurs
Their old age will fool you, but they know how to win when it matters.
2. Memphis Grizzlies
They were close last year and they know the pressure is on to cash it in this year.
3. New Orleans Pelicans
They’re clearly ready to contend now with a fresh backcourt.
4. Houston Rockets
The winners of the Dwight Howard sweepstakes now must show for it.
5. Dallas Mavericks
They made a lot of moves that were puzzling at the time, but they will contend.

Head Coach: Gregg Popovich

Key Position: All – It’s not to say that the Spurs have any issues at any position, but rather they are now a year older with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. If Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green can capitalize on a tremendous playoff performance last year the Spurs should be well within an earshot of another title.

Key Acquisitions: G Marco Belinelli

Key to Win the Finals: Keep doing what you do best.

Head Coach: David Joerger

Key Position: Frontcourt – There is a lot of familiarity with this team. Their new head coach has been apart of the coaching staff for a while and knows the personnel he has. The only question is can the Grizzlies repeat the success they had with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol dominating the paint against almost every team.

Key Acquisitions: G Mike Miller

Key to Win the Finals: Familiarity is a big plus.

Head Coach: Monty Williams

Key Position: Backcourt – They already had a good backcourt with Austin Rivers, Greivis Vasquez and Eric Gordon. Now they have acquired Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday in trades to go along with Rivers and Gordon. It bodes well for a team that instantly has expectations of competing for a playoff spot.

Key Acquisitions: G Tyreke Evans, G Jrue Holiday

Key to Win the Finals: Build on the new acquisitions.

Head Coach: Kevin McHale

Key Position: Frontcourt – Adding Dwight Howard will help a lot, but what will that do for Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik who were the Rockets big free agent acquisitions the year before? It should help Lin to have a pick and roll player like Howard, but Asik is none too happy. He does provide the Rockets an excellent trade chip, but for now he gives them good depth considering Howard’s injury history.

Key Acquisitions: C Marcus Camby, C Dwight Howard

Key to Win the Finals: Don’t waste this opportunity.

Head Coach: Rick Carlisle

Key Position: Frontcourt – They really wanted Dwight Howard to pair with Dirk Nowitzki, but Howard passed and now the Mavericks have Samuel Dalembert? It makes sense with the Mavs horrible defense in the paint last year and with Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon in the backcourt this Dallas team should remain in contention.

Key Acquisitions: C Samuel Dalembert, G Monta Ellis, G Jose Calderon, G Devin Harris, F DeJuan Blair

Key to Win the Finals: Stay competitive.

Week 7 Review of the NFL

Peyton Goes To Indianapolis

Regardless of whether you thought Colts owner Jim Irsay meant well or not with his comments before Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis you have to admit that he and the Colts organization did a great job welcoming him back. Manning is a class act and he isn’t going to get dragged into commenting on Jim Irsay and what he did or didn’t say. They both handled that Sunday night game with class as far as I’m concerned. When Brett Favre returned to Green Bay as a Minnesota Viking, he didn’t handle it with class and to an extent neither did the Packers organization. Nonetheless Favre held a tremendous grudge against them and you could tell the way he handled himself leading up to and after that game. Favre won in his return where Manning lost. It was rather one-sided in favor of the Colts, but there were moments in the second half where the Broncos could have easily tied if not taken the lead. If it hadn’t been for RB Ronnie Hillman’s fumble near the goal line the Broncos potentially could have been down by only one score. Alas the Colts won and the Broncos lost. It was one of the few bright spots in a week where there were many bad games. Be thankful that this was a watchable game and not the Vikings vs. Giants on Monday night.

The Game Nobody Thought To Watch

All eyes were waiting for the Sunday night game, but most didn’t see the 4-2 Cincinnati Bengals and the 4-2 Detroit Lions as a game worth watching and I don’t blame them. They are the Bengals and the Lions after all. However, this was a great matchup between two of the games best wide receivers in the Bengals A.J. Green and the Lions Calvin Johnson. First of all, no one should be able to do what Calvin Johnson did in this game (see above). Catching a touchdown pass with three defenders around in the end zone. That does not make sense. Seeing A.J. Green catch and breakaway for an 82 yard opening drive touchdown shouldn’t happen either. Calvin Johnson would add another touchdown to finish with 9 catches for 155 yards. A.J. Green finished with 6 catches for 155 yards and the win. Both teams didn’t turn the ball over and both quarterbacks had great games. Bengals QB Andy Dalton and Lions QB Matthew Stafford threw for over 350 yards with 3 touchdowns. This game showed that both teams are capable of making the playoffs and even making some noise. This also could be a sign of things to come as the Bengals won a big road game while the Lions lost on a late field goal attempt. Either way this was the game of the week had it not been for the Broncos vs. Colts.

J-E-T-S One Game Out Of First

No one except for Jets head coach Rex Ryan thought the Jets would be this close to first place near the half way point of the season. To the New England Patriots credit they didn’t over estimate the Jets this time around. They nearly beat the Patriots in Foxboro during the second week of the season. This was a relatively close game that ended up going to overtime where there were grumblings about a rule that nobody had heard of before. Clearly the Patriots were in violation when one of their players was pushing another player into the line. The NFL clearly states that you can’t do that. Of course Patriots head coach Bill Belichick becomes the most vocal person in the room when it happens against him, but the rule is there. Yes, it’s a new rule, but every team should know about it. It wasn’t like the Jets marched down and scored a touchdown in overtime, but the penalty gave them an extra 10-15 yards of wiggle room to make the game winning field goal. Everyone knows about the rule now, but that’s not to say that other teams were doing it before and getting away with it. We’ll probably never hear about this rule again, but it’s always funny to see these kinds of rules crop up in a game when the New England Patriots are playing. Most of the time it’s been in their favor.

2013 World Series Preview

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Boston Red Sox

The Cardinals have been on an amazing run of success in the last 10 seasons. Since 2004 St. Louis has appeared in three World Series and won two of them. They’ve won four National League Pennants counting this year and have appeared in six National League Championship series. The one constant throughout this run of success has been the Cardinals pitching staff and it was no different against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. The MVP of that series was Cardinals starter Michael Wacha. In his two starts against the Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, Wacha was phenomenal striking out 13 in his 13 and 2/3 innings pitched while allowing only 7 hits and no runs. His game 2 start set the tone and put the Cardinals up 2-0 in the series. It also helped that the Cardinals bullpen was just as good with Carlos Martinez and Trevor Rosenthal giving up only three combined hits in their 9 and 2/3 innings pitched while striking out 11 combined hitters. With those three and the fact that they still have an ace in Adam Wainwright the Cardinals staff is poised to win a third World Series in a ten year span. They’ll of course need a big performance from their hitters such as OF Carlos Beltran who is making his first World Series appearance of his career. His 6 RBIs in the NLCS led the team who had a difficult task to score runs against the Dodgers starting staff. 2B Matt Carpenter bounced back in the NLCS with a .261 average and 4 runs scored. Their big boppers, 1B Matt Adams, OF Matt Holliday and C Yadier Molina will need to do better. Good news for the Cardinals is that 1B Allen Craig will be available for the World Series recovering from an ankle injury. Should the Cardinals continue this run of success it will be because of a talented pitching staff and timely hitting.

Boston’s last 10 seasons have gone a little differently from St. Louis’. This will be their third trip to the World Series in that span, but after last year’s 69 win debacle no one, not even their most loyal fan base expected them to get back to this position. The Red Sox were consistently the best team in the American League this year and their record showed it. Their run in the American League Championship Series could have gone in a different direction had it not been for a grand slam by DH David Ortiz to tie the game and to eventually win it in the 9th during game 2. More heroics happened in game 6 when OF Shane Victorino hit a grand slam to put the Red Sox ahead for good in the ALCS and eventually clinch the AL Pennant. Other than those two moments the Red Sox bats were kept relatively quiet by the Tigers pitching staff. Their hitters struck out a combined 73 times in those six games, but they scored runs when they had to at the right time. They could have the same problem again with a talented Cardinals staff that can pile up huge strikeout numbers. Boston will need their table setters in OF Jacoby Ellsbury and 2B Dustin Pedroia to play up to their standard to put pressure on the Cardinals pitchers. If those two can repeat the success they had in the ALCS the Red Sox will be fine on offense. Their bullpen was the star of the ALCS and the MVP, closer Koji Uehara with his 3 saves and 1 win were a testament to the Red Sox success against the Tigers. If Jon Lester and John Lackey can set the tone in their starts for the bullpen to finish the job then Boston won’t have any trouble with home field advantage on their side.

Red Sox in 6 games

Week 6 Review of the NFL

One-Sided Until The End

This matchup was hyped as one to determine if the Saints QB Drew Brees could demolish the Patriots with the amount of weapons at his disposal and if the Patriots QB Tom Brady could counter with his lack of weapons. Well it turned out that Brees was missing one for the entire game. TE Jimmy Graham was no where to be found. He ended up leaving the game in the 4th quarter with an ankle injury, but it was weird to see Brees not even look for Graham at crucial moments of the game. From what I could see Graham was in single coverage in those key spots. Regardless the Saints were doing a good job staying ahead of the Patriots and the Saints defense did a good job keeping Brady out of the end zone. That is until the final drive. For some reason the Saints went to a prevent defense and some of their players went brain dead and tackled a Patriots receiver out of bounds in field goal range. That extra timeout for New England setup the eventual game winning touchdown catch you see above. New Orleans’ defensive coordinator Rob Ryan’s face after that play said it all. But again why would you do the complete opposite of your teams gameplan on the final drive of the game? Alas the Saints are no longer undefeated and the Patriots can brag about beating a pretty good football team.

A Sad State

You know it’s bad when your home fans cheer seeing your starting quarterback being taken off the field due to injury. That’s what happened when Texans QB Matt Schaub’s ankle was rolled over by St. Louis Rams DE Chris Long. It wasn’t a dirty play by any means. You see it all the time now in football. What you don’t want to see is the fans that cheered Schaub getting hurt. I get that he hasn’t been the guy you expected him to be and that most Texans fans would have expected a Super Bowl appearance by now let alone an AFC Championship game. That doesn’t mean you need to lower yourself to barbarism and cheer someone’s pain. I get that it was a select few, but they need to be called out for what it is. In a football sense it was interesting to see if backup T.J. Yates would fair any better, but on that very drive after Schaub was hurt, Yates threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown by the Rams. Guess that idea won’t work either. If Schaub misses a significant portion of the season it doesn’t bode well for the Texans. No matter how you look at it the Texans are better with him. Going forward it doesn’t look that way. If Houston should finish with a losing record this year it will likely mean a lot of coaches and players will be looking for work elsewhere next year. Possibly even some front office officials. Regardless of their outcome the Texans are better than their record indicates and they need to start playing with some urgency.

Believe The Hype

I know, I know. I’m the same person that said the Buffalo Bills were back a few years ago when they started the season 5-2 and then went 1-8 to finish the season. Don’t doubt me now. This Chiefs team is 6-0 and has beaten some tough opponents so far. The Dallas Cowboys were the closest team to beat the Chiefs losing by only one point at Arrowhead Stadium. Their new head coach Andy Reid had them well prepared against his former team in Philadelphia. At the time the Eagles offense was the talk of the league and the Chiefs defense made them look ordinary. And although the New York Giants were 0-3 at the time they were still considered a good team when they played the Chiefs. Kansas City’s next three games before their bye week should ensure that they stay undefeated for their Week 11 matchup with the Denver Broncos. My hope is that Denver stays undefeated so that we can see a division rivalry renewed with two undefeated teams going at it. After playing Denver and San Diego twice after their bye week the Chiefs only worthy opponent will be the Indianapolis Colts. Should the Chiefs win their home matchups with the Broncos and Chargers, but lose on the road and to the Colts their final record would be 13-3 at the end of the season. Not bad for a team that was 2-14 a season ago. With that top notch defense and a steady quarterback in Alex Smith the Chiefs are here to stay.

2013 MLB Championship Series Preview

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Yes, the Dodgers had a relatively easy team stifling the Atlanta Braves in the Division Series. They had no answer for Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw who struck out 18 Braves hitters over 13 innings pitched in his two starts. Most likely he will start two if not three games in the NLCS against the Cardinals if it goes to seven games. To help avoid that scenario though the Dodgers will need their other ace Zack Greinke to be better and to lesson the pressure on a semi-weak bullpen. Los Angeles’ lineup was fantastic. Seven of their starters batted .333 or higher in the 4-game series with the Braves. SS Hanley Ramirez batted .500 with 6 RBI and OF Carl Crawford crushed 3 HR in the four games. If the Dodgers continue to get that kind of production it will give the pitching staff plenty of breathing room for the entire series.

It wasn’t easy as the St. Louis Cardinals beat their division rivals the Pittsburgh Pirates in five games. If the Cardinals don’t want to have to claw their way back into this series with the Dodgers, they will need a lot more from 3B David Freese and 2B Matt Carpenter. Freese did have a big game against the Pirates in the series clincher, but he will need to re-create that postseason magic he had in 2011. Carpenter has been a clutch hitter all season long, but his .053 batting average and 6 strikeouts against the Pirates was a bit of a surprise. His .318 regular season batting average say that he is much better than that. The Cardinals pitching staff presents a good counter to the Dodgers best starters. Adam Wainwright was a proven staff ace with his 1.13 ERA and 15 strikeout to 1 walk ratio in his two starts against the Pirates. Rookie Michael Wacha and Joe Kelly were solid as well in their starts and will need to repeat that against a tough Dodgers lineup. St. Louis has a much better bullpen than the Dodgers, but it will start with the starting staff.

Dodgers in 6 games

Detroit Tigers vs. Boston Red Sox

The Tigers are here in the ALCS for the third straight year and have only one World Series appearance to show for it. Detroit believes that this year is different, but they will have a much tougher test this year than they did last year with a banged up New York Yankees team. Max Scherzer was solid against the Oakland Athletics in the Division Series, but Justin Verlander stymied them again with a flawless start in Game 5. Boston has a better lineup than Oakland, but the Tigers pitching staff can compete with the best lineups in baseball. Some players had a tough going in the Division Series for Detroit. OF Austin Jackson struck out 13 times and had a .100 batting average. OF Torii Hunter batted only .158 and 3B Miguel Cabrera only had a .250 average, but his two-run HR in Game 5 was a big lift early in that game. DH Victor Martinez and SS Jhonny Peralta, who returned from a 50-game suspension for PED use, were both instrumental in getting the Tigers out of the Division Series. They’ll have to do so again with Boston.

It wasn’t a fair fight from the start. Tampa Bay couldn’t keep score with the Red Sox and the Rays pitching staff couldn’t stop Boston from scoring runs at key moments. It is an amazing transformation for the Red Sox franchise. They’ll have to continue to score a lot of runs with AL MVP candidate Miguel Cabrera coming to town. Jake Peavy and Jon Lester are the savvy veterans at the top of the rotation, but Clay Buchholz and John Lackey have some postseason experience too and they are a good match against the Tigers 3 and 4 starters. Boston’s bullpen is their strength once again and will be counted on to keep Detroit’s lineup quiet late in the game. OF Jacoby Ellsbury is on fire batting .500 in the Division Series and he sets the tone for the scoring outbursts that Boston puts on their opponents. With DH David Ortiz in the middle driving in baserunners the Tigers will need to have someone else beat them instead of giving Ortiz a chance to cause trouble.

Red Sox in 5 games