I am deeply entrenched in the madness and chaos that is Berkeley Finals week, but thankfully I have a little bit of time on my hands. A lot has happened since the last time we spoke. The NBA lockout ended abruptly with a new exciting Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is entirely confusing. The MLB has more issues than ever before with PEDs as 2010-2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun failed the mandatory testing and faces a huge suspension. The BSC once again sparked controversy as it becomes more and more obvious that a college football playoff is sorely needed. And the NFL has slowly crept along towards the playoffs, with the Texans, 49ers, and Packers all clinching their divisions, and the Saints clinching a spot (with the division coming shortly). But most importantly, my beloved San Diego Chargers have clawed their way back into playoff contention and don't you dare tell me they aren't because I will not give up hope until we are mathematically eliminated.
I don't have as much time as I would like, but I'm gonna give you 4 quick paragraphs covering the four leagues mentioned above (I just don't know enough about the NHL).
NBA: Well I'm glad they agreed to a deal. I, along with most of the country, thought we wouldn't see NBA basketball until the next presidential election. But they worked it out and salvaged a 66 game season starting on Christmas Day. This is ridiculous, by the way. I assumed if a deal was made this late they would have to shorten the season to 50 games, but they just decided to schedule back to back to back games every week. No biggie. If you listen real hard, you can just barely hear Kobe's ACL screaming. Speaking of people who won't be playing for the lakers (he's like 60 years old, you think he's gonna hold up through this season?), this whole Chris Paul ordeal is simply a mess. I understand that the the NBA owns the Hornets (and has the power to reject any trade, regardless) but you HAVE to handle this better if you're David Stern. I get that you have to protect small market teams, that was the whole point of the lockout. But you basically screwed the Hornets and Lakers (who now have angry players who won't show up to training camp) and anyone who used cap space thinking CP3 was unavailable. What do you expect to happen? Paul's gonna play 66 games in New Orleans and just love it so much he'll want to come back next year? Who are you kidding Stern? You either needed to tell the Hornets ahead of time that they couldn't trade Paul (and at least keep everyone else from getting PO'd) or you needed to grow a pair and let the trade go through. It wasn't an unfair trade, the Hornets were getting A LOT of talent. Just because the other 28 owners whined that the Lakers would be too powerful, is not a reason to reject a trade. As much as I dislike the Lakers, this is absolutely ridiculous. Let's just give Miami the trophy now.
MLB: All of a sudden the Los Angeles Angels of Downtown Upper West Side Manhattan Lake Michigan Anaheim are a force to be reckoned with. Newly acquired Albert Pujols comes in to rejuvenate an offense that was middle of the pack (or worse) in most major offensive categories. They also picked up pitcher C.J. Howard, although I swear he lost all four World Series games against the Cardinals last year, am I making that up? The even bigger story though is that Ryan Braun, who next to Prince Fielder looks like a stick, tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Not a bright day for the game of baseball when you screw Matt Kemp (a guy who was 1 homer away from the 40/40 club and finished first in the NL in HR, batting average, and RBI) out of the MVP and give it to a guy on steroids (who still couldn't match Kemp's numbers). I was shocked that of all people, it was Ryan Braun who got caught juicing, but don't be surprised if we see a lot more big names getting hit with suspensions in the next few years.
NCAAF: At least they got the championship game right this year. LSU and Alabama were clearly the best two teams in the country. I understand the desire to see Oklahoma State in there because, let's face it, we're probably gonna get a score like 12-7 out of the all-SEC showdown, but OK State shouldn't have lost to the Iowa State Cyclones. When Alabama's only lost all year was by 3 points in OT to the unanimous number 1 team in the land, that'a a pretty obvious number 2. Regardless, we still need to implement some sort of playoff here. I have heard several ideas for a college football playoff, many of them bringing into account computer rankings and conferences and coaches polls and BLAH BLAH BLAH. I don't understand why we can't just make it simple. Look there is always going to be a cutoff point, and whoever lands outside is going to throw a fit. But why not just take the top 8 teams and play a tourney? Instead of dividing them into Bowls of varying importance and prestige? Using the standings from this year, we would generate first round matchups of Kansas State @ LSU, Boise State @ Alabama, Arkansas @ Oklahoma State, and Oregon @ Stanford. Tell me you don't want to see that. And you can still have the rest of the bowls if you want, although I'm not going to be devastated if you do away with the Beef O' Brady's Bowl. Just saying.
NFL: Maybe you think I'm joking about the Chargers playoff chances. Let me paint the playoff picture for you. Through week 14, the top 5 seeds in the AFC are all but set. In some order the Texans, Patriots, Steelers/Ravens will be the 1, 2, and 3 seeds (with the loser of the Steelers/Ravens race taking the 5). And unless the Broncos lose out (which is not completely impossible because whatever the hell is happening in Denver is going to end at some point, whether it be next week or in the first round of the playoffs) they will be the 4. Then we have a log jam for the last playoff spot. The Jets have control right now with an 8-5 record, with the Raiders, Bengals, and Titans one game behind, and the Chargers hanging around at 6-7. Now, the Chargers do have to go 3-0 (vs Baltimore, @ Detroit, @ Oakland) but the hardest game left is a home game, and if they play the way they did the past 2 weeks, I think they can compete with anyone. So humor me and we'll put the Chargers at 9-7 to finish the season. The free-falling Raiders play vs Detroit, @ Kansas City, vs San Diego and if we have the Chargers winning out, the Raiders can only go 2-1 at best (and that's even pushing it). The Bengals play @ St. Louis, vs Arizona, vs Baltimore. That sounds like 2-1 to me. The Titans play @ Indy, vs Jacksonville, @ Houston. The Texans will probably be playing for a first round bye in that game so I think the Titans go 2-1 also. The Jets have to play @ Philly, vs NYG, @ Miami. That could easily be 1-2. So now we have all 5 teams at 9-7 (and maybe the Raiders at 8-8), and for some inexplicable reason San Diego has the tiebreaker over all of them. I think if the Chargers can get past the Ravens next week, they have a pretty decent shot. One small caveat however, if it ends up as a tie JUST between SD and NYJ, the Jets would win the tiebreak because they beat the Chargers earlier this year. But as long as one other team is 9-7, that tiebreaker goes away and the Chargers would win. Savvy?
I know I haven't posted picks in awhile, and I apologize. I have had a lot on my plate. I had a very strong week, going 11-5 (as the Seahawks just emerged victorious over the Rams 30-13), and my overall record for the entire year is 105-103 (according to ESPN's Pigskin Pick'em). I will be done with finals this Friday so hopefully I'll be able to post more often in the coming weeks.
One last thing. PLEASE send me some emails at blakeeaton20@gmail.com, they can be about ANYTHING. I am dying to do a mail bag but I'm gonna feel like such a loser if I have to make up all the questions myself. Help a brotha out.
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