Friday, December 14, 2012

David Rudolph - Observations in the Sports World

By David Rudolph
 
Observations in Sports - 12/14/12

MLB - It is so strange when the Yankees and Red Sox seem to be worried about luxury tax and not wanting to give out long term contracts while across the country both LA teams are spending money like it's printed out there! Perennial losers Pittsburgh and Kansas City seem to have formed semi-competitive teams, but my really early pick for best team in baseball is definitely the Cincinnati Reds. Barring injuries, I think they lead the majors in wins next fall. Adding Shin Soo Choo was a great move IMO. He is the perfect candidate for needing a change of scenery, and they got the light hitting Drew Stubbs out of town, classic case of addition by subtraction.

NFL- Football, being the king of all sports, is coming to its end, and I for one don't want it to! With only three weeks left there is still plenty to be decided, and this week’s slate of games might be the best all year. Up and down the schedule there are monster positioning match-ups but none bigger than Sunday night. Frisco goes to Foxborough in a possible Superbowl preview with Tom Brady. It's classic Offense versus Defense, but with a twist. Since Harbaugh went to Kaepernick a few weeks back, he's completely changed the way teams prepare for them. I think this weekend’s game is the very reason he made the move. New England ranks right behind the Niners in many rush defense categories, so if you're going to beat them at their place, you better have more than what Alex Smith gives you, and now they do.

NBA- The tale of two coast's. The New York Knicks fresh off their win versus Kobe and company are now 2 games better than anyone else in the East, including the Heat, whom they've already beaten twice by twenty points each time. Everything I've heard this morning is positive about Carmelo's injury last night, and as long as he's there, they should continue their winning ways. The left coast however has a team named the Lakers that is in 12th place in the western Conference standings. I'm not sure even the mighty Steve Nash can save this mess. They are not a deep team. They are not an unselfish team. They obviously aren't a winning team. The addition of Nash seems to be a key to a possible turn around, but I remember him running a very stagnant offense with two big men in Phoenix after they traded for Shaq, that Mike D'antoni couldn't figure out back then and most likely won't figure out now. They have to trade Gasol for some shooters, and fast. All I've heard is they want to wait it out to see how the team plays after they're all together and healthy, but I think that's a waste of precious time.

NHL- I hear the two sides are getting together and the talks are heating up, but as the old adage goes, "If a tree falls in the forest .." I'm pretty sure this is what they are always talking about with that 1% reference, but I don't even think it's that high of a percentage of sports fans who care about hockey. From a betting standpoint, I would love to have it back, but I'll never lose a wink of sleep if we miss the whole year. Millionaires versus Billionaires, blah, blah...

Free pick quick hitter: I know they're banged up, but I'm going with the Toronto Raptors at home catching five from Dallas. There are a multitude of reasons, but I'm only giving the fact that Jose Calderon is a very capable backup to the injured Demar Derozan, in fact he dished out 15 assists against the Nets the other night. Okay, one more, Andrea Bargnani is having a putrid year, they literally might be better without him on the court tonight!
 
p.s. I hape you have sigened up for free plays from ChuckEdel.com! Last night Belmont -2 was a winner!
 
 
 
 
 
 

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