I just wanted to wish all the fathers out there and here at WordPress a very Happy Father’s Day! Enjoy it!

Here is your weekly fantasy baseball update, brought to you by absolutely nobody, because for some reason, nobody wants to sponsor a “delusional fantasy nerd”

Whatever.

Anyways, here we go!

Batters to Claim
Nate McLouth, Pirates- He has a .311 BA, and has homered 13 times already. Must-have if you are in need of a consistent outfielder.

Pitchers to Claim
John lackey, Angels- He hasn’t played much this year, but I expect that to change, seeing as he averages 11.5 fantasy points per game. Definitely someone to consider.

Scott Kazmir, (Devil) Rays- He’s worth 13+ points per game, and for some reason, he is only owned in 76% of the FOX Sports leagues. There’s a chance he’s still there in your’s.

Gavin Floyd, White Sox- He is quitely putting together a nice season in the Windy City’s South Side, and he is definitely worth your roster space.

Batters to Cut
Adrian Beltre, Mariners- Probably the dumbest team in baseball right now, Beltre has no chance to explode like he has in years past. It’s time to let him go from your roster.

Pitchers to Cut
Jose Valverde, Astros- Way too inconsistent, and I think a serious setback is in the near future.

Any Pirates Pitcher, Pirates- It amazes me that even the Die-Hard Buccos fans would want to kill their roster with the pitching Pittsburgh has. Cut them all!!!

Batters to be Wary Of
Prince Fielder, Brewers- A very slow start is questionable, and Fielder is on pace for only 20 home runs this year. Be careful when deciding to keep, add, or cut Fielder.

Pitchers to be Wary Of
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers- A strong debut had people picking him up, but a slow start that earned him negative fantasy points is reason to be wary of Kershaw.

Thanks for reading! Let me know any of your opinions about this!

-Mike Greenspire

The Los Angeles Lakers are up 3-1 after a very controversial call Tuesday night in San Antonio at the end of game 4.

Joey Crawford, the referee (whom I think is one of the best refs around in any sport) made the call that Brent Barry was not fouled by Derek Fisher, and the game ended on a missed hail-mary shot from way downtown.

Well, yesterday, the NBA reviewed the call and said that it should have been called as a two shot foul. Now, considering Barry made both of those shots, the game may have had a different outcome, but I doubt it. If you haven’t led for an entire 48 minutes, I doubt that you will be able to gather enough momentum from 2 foul shots to go into overime and win.

So, with that said, I don’t think it would have changed the outcome at all. Hell, I don’t even think Barry would have sunk both free throws, but we’ll never know, will we?

Even if the Spurs don’t win this series, I doubt that Spurs fans will hold that call in their memories as what cost them their season. I think that they are very respectable and decent fans, and wouldn’t bame the bad call on the Lakers or their fans.

I’m 100% certain that the Lakers aren’t letting the thought of the NBA Finals get in the way of their game tonight, so I’m gonna think about it for them!

Say the Lakers advance and sit around until June 5th waiting for the Celtics and Pistons to hurry up, yada yada yada. Here is what I believe would happen to each possible NBA Finals opponent of the Lakers:

Lakers vs. Celtics
The Celtics get the majority of home game sin this match-up, which up until last week probably meant that they were gonan win. Uh, wrong!

The Pistons, who are a far inferior team to the current boys in Purple and Gold, defeated the Celtics in Boston by 6. Now, if Boston keeps playing how they have played, then I firmly believe the Lakers can steal at least one game in the Garden.

Lakers in 6.

Lakers vs. Pistons
The Pistons make noise every year, but when the get to the East Finals, they lose. If that changes, I doubt that they will be ready enough to face as fast and smart of a team as the Lakers.

If Tayshaun Prince has to guard Kobe, then Kobe will jus pull out his bag of tricks like he did in Game 1 of the West Finals, scoring only 2 in the first half, and exploding in the 3rd and 4th quarters, scoring 25. You can bank on something similar from him and the rest of the Lakers if they have to play Detroit.

Lakers in 5.

Thanks for reading! Take care! GO LAKERS!!!

-Mike Greenspire

Since the race has already started, and is pretty close to being over, I see only one thing to watch, and that is Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, being held in San Antonio, where the visting Los Angeles Lakers are set to take on the defending NBA Champs, the Spurs.

Should be a good one! I have the Lakers winning it. Enjoy your Memorial Day!

-Mike Greenspire

Top 12

1. New England Patriots

2. San Diego Chargers

3. Seattle Seahawks

4. Jacksonville Jaguars

5. New York Giants

6. Indianapolis Colts

7. Dallas Cowboys

8. Pittsburgh Steelers

9. Cleveland Browns

10. Green Bay Packers

11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

12. New Orleans Saints

“Bubble” Teams

13. Tennessee Titans

14. Oakland Raiders

15. Carolina Panthers

16. Minnesota Vikings

Entire List

17. Philadelphia Eagles

18. Arizona Cardinals

19. Baltimore Ravens

20. Houston Texans

21. Chicago Bears

22. Denver Broncos

23. Buffalo Bills

24. Washington Redskins

25. San Francisco 49ers

26. Atlanta Falcons

27. New York Jets

28. Kansas City Chiefs

29. Miami Dolphins

30. Cincinnati Bengals

31. St. Louis Rams

32. Detroit Lions

Let me know where I’m right and where I’m wrong!

-Mike Greenspire

This is probably the most excitment the city of New Orleans, the Big Easy, has gotten in a long time, and I say “Well, it’s about time!”

They definitely deserve it, what with having to put up with the NFC favorite, Saints blowing it big-time last year, and this could go back through history as well. I doubt that thye ever won a championship at anything.

I believe that the Saints are one of the very few teams to have never made it to the Super Bowl, and the Hornets have never gotten farther than where they are now.

The Spurs have been the best team in the past decade, probably in any sport. Yes, I believe that the Spurs are better at what they do then the Patriots are at what they do. Why? Because Greg Popovich didn’t have to rely on cheating to win 4 titles.

Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, and Robert Horry have got to be one of the Top 5 starting line-ups in recent memory in the NBA.

Chris Paul, Peja Stojakovic, and Tyson Chandler don’t exactly measure up to those four, in my opinion.

But, like I said in my previous blog, the best team doesn’t always win.

So, having said that, I pick the Hornets to win tonight, and handily. I see them running away with this one at the end of the 3rd/beginning of the 4th.

Remember, the Spurs have lost in New Orleans by 19, 18, and 22 points. That avrages out to about 19.7 points back per game. Why should the Hornets not win by 19.7? I should say 20. Yeah, why will the Spurs not lose? I can’t think of a reason. Just another example of that crazy road playoff thing again. We’ve heard it before, and this won’t be the last time we hear about it.

 

So, now the Lakers (according to my prediction) must play the Hornets. The Hornets, I think, could win a road game in LA if they really tried. I absolutely can see the Hornets winning one in the Staples Center of the first 2. Not saying it will happen, just saying it’s a very real possibility.

So, say, hypothetically, that the Lakers and Hornets are tied 1-1. Could LA win at least 1 game back in the Big Easy? Positive. They could win both, in fact, that’s more possible than you’d expect. The Spurs have slacked off on defense, and taken too, too many 3-point shots. If the Lakers stick to what they know, and drive it like they stole it, all the way to the rim, then the games in New Orleans are more than within reach, their a very “there” idea for the Lakers.

Lakers in 5 vs. the Hornets
Lakers in 6 vs. the Spurs (if tonight’s prediction is false)

 

Turning now to the Eastern Conference Finals, where we already know that the match-up is Boston/Detroit. I do believe that the Pistons have the upper hand in this series. They won in Boston in their first meeting in the regular season, implying that they should win Game 1 @ Boston, which is what I see happening. I see Boston attempting a rebound on their home floor, and just barely pulling it off, then heading back to Detroit, and losing both games.

If the Pistons went up 3-1 on the Celtics, Doc Rivers should be really really really worried. His team now must win on the road, in this hypothetical situation, and I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever that they could beat Detroit on the road if they can’t even beat Cleveland, let alone Atlanta on their home courts.

Detroit in 6 is my prediction.

Check back in several days for my Stanley Cup Finals Blog!

-Mike Greenspire

Is the Detroit vs. Boston match-up in the Eastern Conference Finals the one we, the sports fans, have been hoping for all year long? Is this the best possible series you could get out of the East?

In my opinion, it is. I mean, there is no Eastern Finals series math-up we would sanely rather see.

When you think about, I’m right. I mean, who really wants to watch a suck-fest between Washington and Philadelphia, or Toronto and Atlanta? Jeez.

Orlando and Cleveland would have been decent, but not even nearly as entertaining as Celtics/Pistons. By the way, the Celtics won the season series 2-1, losing the first meeting in Boston 87-85, winning the second meeting in Detroit 92-85, and winning the third meeting in Boston 90-78.

I’m sure the Pistons are living this thing up as much as me, because, in all seriousness, either this year or next year will eb Detroit’s last serious year in contention for an NBA title while working with the core as Chauncey, ‘Sheed, Rip, and Tayshaun. If they wanna fit in one more ring, this is the year to do it.

In my opinion, Boston is a better team than Detroit, but the better team doesn’t always win. Example: this p[ast February, Super Bowl XLII. I don’t think that there’s a doubt in anyone’s mind that the Patriots were better than the Giants. But, on that day, the Giants decided to play beter than the Patriots. See?

I could go on, but that would stray too far from the point of this story… ooh, cookies!

The Celtics techinaclly DON’T have to win on the road to win an NBA title, because of their having the best overall record in the league, guranteeing them 4 home games each round. They haven’t lost at home this post-season yet.

The Pistons are 5-1 at home and 3-2 on the road. By that statistic, you would think that they’d rather have played Cleveland, but I doubt that Flip Saunders and all of them are disappointed that they have to play Boston.

In my opinion, after the Pistons defeated the Magic in Game 4 from Orlando, it didn’t matter who won the other series, it was irrelevant. I knew right then and there that Detroit was the team to beat.

They will take this series in 6 games, winning games 1, 3, 4, and 6.

So, now I ask you, is this the series in the East we’ve been hoping for since November?

-Mike Greenspire

Oh well.

I am a HUGE Pittsburgh Pirates fan, and literally, for the last 15 years of my life have had to endure losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season after losing season, and I am getting a little tired.

The guys running my Buccos could take over a candy store and screw up somehow. We could pay what the Yankees pay, and still find a way to blow it.

But, this year is different. Despite the title giving away today’s final score, and the Pirates dropping to 20-22, well, at least we have 20 wins!!! That’s better than 9 teams around the majors, including the World Series favorite, Detroit Tigers.

Now, c’mon, that’s gotta count for something, right? No? It doesn’t, well, then I’m just gonna point out some things here:

We got Doug Mientkiewicz back from the Red Sox on Thursday, and he is good, and he proved it in his first agme back with the Bucs. He caught two line-drives, and recorded, I believe 5 outs?

And our pitching is starting to come alive. Tom Gorzelanny (Gorzo) Zack Duke, and Paul Maholm are two really good young pitchers, my favorite kind. We will rebound, and even though we may not win the NL central this year, we are a team to beware.

You don’t agree. Fine, come October, we will take a look back at my prediction of an 88-win Pirates team, and we’ll really see who’s right, and who’s wrong.

Take care!

Note: Homerism may be present in preceding blog. However, it is not proven as of yet. If you are curious as to see if this blog has homerism in it, please keep checking throughout the season.

-Mike Greenspire

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend! Enjoy all the sports, nice weather, cookouts, etc.!

Take care!

-Mike Greenspire

Well, as you most likely have heard, the Boston Herald fed us some story about how they were sorry that they ever brought up Spygate before Super Bowl 42.

Blah, blah, blah. What I really wanna know is: Why would you wanna do that to your home-town team, days prior to the biggest game of many of their lives?

In my opinion, looking back on it, the distraction of Randy Moss’s domestic disturbance allegations were in no way partial to the outcome. Perhaps, just perhaps, the Boston Herald report regarding the Rams’ walk-through before Super Bowl 36 got inside the head of one of the greatest QBs of all-time, Tom Brady. Maybe it messed up his confidence that he would be able to win without stealing signals? Maybe it messed up Mike Vrabel or Teddy Bruschi’s concentration on the game? Who knows?

In my opinion, the report had to have some sort of effect on how the Patriots players performed, because when you beat superior teams to the New York Giants like the Indianapolis Colts, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Diego Chargers, or the Jacksonville Jaguars all year long, you don’t get to the biggest dream of any NFL players dream and lose to them by 3.

Just my thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, the Giants played incredible, and deserved that trophy, and those rings and those hats, and those shirts, and those headlines, and those jerseys, and those kudos, more than the Patriots did on February 3, 2008.

If the Patriots are disappointed, it should definitely be disappointment in themselves, but also some disappointment in the Boston Herald reporter who wrote this. Perhaps that certain man or woman was a Jets fan? Just kidding.

Thanks you for reading! Take care!

-Mike Greeenspire