Monster Week in College Hoops

Right now we stand about a month away from March Madness and that means that these next few weeks will be key to teams like My Hokies, Who are on the Bubble, The Kentucky Wildcats, Who are fighting for that number 1 seed category come tourney time, And probably the biggest letdown of the season thus far, The UNC Tarheels. Who are fighting for the highest seed that they can get. But before we get into March Madness we get a little treat known as Rivalry Week!!  This jam-packed week of College Hoops action kicks off tonight on ESPN at 7 pm with Nova at WVU  here is your week schedule of games:

Big Monday

• Kicking off the week the 2nd ranked Villanova Wildcats  heading into the rowdiest and literally most hostile bunch of hillbillies in Morgan town,West Virginia  which also has the highest acceptance out of all other D-1 schools. Nova is still in GA GA land after they got a sick reality check in DC but I like the Wildcats in this one look for a big night from Scotty Reynolds.

• The other match up has huge implications on the Big 12 with number 10 Texas traveling up north to Lawrence ,Ks to  take on the top ranked Kansas Jayhawks who like Villanova have streaky feel of a loss coming up at any point.   The Horns will Hook ‘Em with help from Damion James and his 29.4 pts a game.

Damion James

SUPER TUESDAY

• In the Big 10 like the hot  7th Purdue Boilermakers going in to face Tom Izzo and the recently stunned number 5  Michigan State Spartans. Without star guard Kalin Lucas the Spartans may have a bit of trouble by on their hands when E’Twaun Moore and Robbie Hummel step on to the court up in East Lansing. I really like the offense that the Boilermakers bring to the table. Look for some upsetting expressions during the white out at MSU.

Robbie Hummel and JaJuan Johnson

• Now to the SEC Where Bruce Pearl and the 14th ranked Vols take on hated instate private school 20th ranked Vanderbilt. The Volunteers haven’t lived up to their expectations coming into this season but are still ranked in the 20 and will have a place waiting come tournament time. On the other side Vandy will try to use the home court in Nashville to their advantage and the Commodores will prevail with the help Jermaine Beal and his 31 pts a game

WACKY WEDNESDAY

• 1st on Wednesday the day of the disappointments begins with UCONN taking on number 5 Syracuse who has just been ELECTRIC thus far. The Huskies have struggled severely with a record of 14- 9 nothing like the UCONN teams of the Past. THEY ARE RANKED 11TH…11TH in the Big East!!!! On the other hand Syracuse is a potential Final Four pick and are tearing it up with junior Forward, Wesley Johnson who leads his team in boards and points per game. I look for UCONN’ s miserable season to continue with a blowout in the Carrier Dome.

Wesley Johnson

• In the primetime slot another dismal vs highly ranked rivalry will take place when Kyle Singler and the 9th ranked Duke Bluedevils travel into Chapel Hill to battle with the terrible North Carolina Tarheels. This rivalry is one of the fiercest in all of sports and will never disappoint no matter how bad the two teams are. Right?…. Until this year!! Duke is going to destroy the tarheels in momentum, rebounding , tempo and most of all on the scoreboard. 
  

FANTASTIC FRIDAY

• West Virginia and Pittsburgh…. A brawl waiting to happen if you ask me!! The Mountaineers who host Nova earlier in the week will look to crush the longtime rival Pitt Panthers. The game will be played in Pittsburgh so there is a slight edge there but in the end as much as I hate to say it… Tho Mountaineers should have no problem with a less talented Pittsburgh Squad.

PHYSCOTIC  SATURDAY

• In the SEC Tennessee looks to stick with number 3 Kentucky and Diaper Dandy John Wall who will likely be one and done after this season. The Vols have a test in Nashville that they must ACE before having a chance in Wildcat Country. I think they pass their exam earlier in the week but have an epic failure when they step foot in the arena this Saturday

John Wall

Enjoy this rivalry week in College hoops it shouldn’t dissapoint!!! Peace Out

New Writer

I am proud to annouce another member to the Sports Haven Writing Community!!!! His name is Chris but Around here he’s known as CHAPPIE. Chappie will be writing about well….. ANYTHING and Everything. Hee has an intrest in the Winter Olympics and his from Wisconson so we will hav more of a varitey on the Sports Haven Venue now. I would also like to say that Mike and I and Chappie if he is interested will be writting about the Upcoming NFL Draft and Give our MLB Season Preview in the coming weeks. So to Chappie I just say welcome and on behalf of Mikey and Myself its good to have you on our crew!!

Johnny Be Gone !

As of two days ago Johnny Damon’s days as a member of the New York Yankees are over with the signing of veteran outfielder Randy Winn. Winn who will probably give the Yankees the amount of production that a 2 Million dollar 1-year deal gets you… NOTHING!!! He will hopefully hit a little better but that still isn’t saying much considering his numbers last year with a Batting average of .262  and 51 RBI’s. Winn whose primary place is out in Right field will be competing with Brett Gardner for the 3rd spot in the outfield. Also the Yankees got another speed demon in prospect Greg Golsen who will likely start the season with the team as a backup outfielder or pinch runner. But the main point of these roster moves is that Johnny Damon is no longer a Yankee.Which is a great thing but also poses its problems. We’ll Start with good news…  The Yankees get younger, Faster and more versatile in the outfield. The Bad news is that Johnny Damon as much as I disliked him still was an extremely valuable piece to the 2009 World Series Championship. Damon who obviously doesn’t like the way that this move has been played out at all says that he expects to be traded to or be signed by the Bronx Bombers in the future. This move puts a projected lineup together for opening day and heres how I think the Bombers will come to plate with in a few months when they square off with THE NATION!!! who have also made some moves this offseason with signing Yankee Killa and allstar John Lackey and bringing in Corner infielder Adrian Beltre from Seattle. Anyway heres the Bombers projected Starting lineup on opening day.

1. SS.Derek Jeter
2. CF Curtis Granderson
3. 1B Mark Texeria
4. 3B Alex Rodriquez
5. DH Nick Johnson
6. 2B Robinson Cano
7. C Jorge Posada
8. RF Nick Swisher
9. LF Randy Winn

And obviously CC Sabathia will be on the hill. I like the Yankees chances up in Boston with them taking 2 out of 3 winning games 1 and 3 over the SAWX 

. Overall I would have to say that this was a very productive offseason for the Yankees because they really didn’t spend much cash but have gained several key players that will be vital to their chances of defending their title. I like their chances in the division and basically the entire league with many AL teams lacking. So from my PC to yours … Peace in the East I’m Audi 3000

He Outta Here!!!

Perry Fewell Named Big Blue’s New D-Coordinator

Hey everyone, today the New York Giants named Perry Fewell as the new Defensive Coordinator. Fewell took the spot of Bill Sheridan who was recently fire after the GIants went 8-8 and giving up four-40 point games this past season. Fewell had the choice of either Chicago or NY and since coaching as the secondary coach under Tom Coughlin four five seasons in Jacksonville, that gave him the edge to coach the G-Men. Perry is 47 years old and this past season he spent with the Buffalo Bills as the defensive coordinator and the interim head coach after Dick Jauron was fired. He went 3-4 with the Buffalo Bills. I think that Fewell is a perfect fit becuase he is young and will give the Giants the spark that they never had this year. I think he will be just like Steve Spagnolo and blitz the house anytime he gets a chance.

Super Bowl Prediction

Hey everyone, I wanted to talk about the 2009 NFL Playoffs and my Super bowl 44 prediction.  Here are the 2009 NFL seeding for the playoffs

            NFC                                                                                                           AFC

1. New Orleans Saints                                                                  1. Indianapolis Colts

2. Minnesota Vikings                                                                    2. San Diego Chargers

3. Dallas Cowboys                                                                         3. New England Patriots

4. Arizona Cardinals                                                                       4. Cincinnati Bengals

5. Green Bay Packers                                                                   5. New York Jets

6. Philadelphia Eagles                                                                   6. Baltimore Ravens

READ EM AND WEEP!!

My Wild Card picks for the NFL Playoffs are:

#5 Green Bay Packers over the #4 Arizona Cardinals-#4 Cincinnati Bengals over #5 New York Jets

#6 Philadelphia Eagles over the #3 Dallas Cowboy-#3 New England Patriots over the #6 Baltimore Ravens

My Divisional picks for the NFL Playoffs are:

#5 Green Bay Packers over #2 Minnesota Vikings-#1 Indianapolis Colts over #4 Cincinnati Bengals

#1 New Orleans Saints over #6 Philadelphia Eagles-#2 San Diego Chargers over #3 New England Pats

My Conference Championship picks are:

#5 Green Bay Packers over #1 New Orleans Saints-#2 San Diego Chargers over #1 Indianapolis Colts

My SUPER BOWL pick is:

#5 Green Bay Packers over #2 San Diego Chargers

Head of the Pack

New York Giants Season Review

Hey everyone, sorry for not having a post in a while. I wanted to talk about the G-Mens season. I think that some major changes should be made for the Giants. First off I think the Giants need to fire their defensive coordinator, Bill Sheridan, but they should put him back as the linebackers coach and they should get rid of Kevin Gilbride the offensive coordinator. I think that the Giants should release their middle linebacker and defensive captain, Antonio Pierce, because they need young talent. They should then trade up in the draft for monster linebacker BRANDON SPIKES. I think that the Giants should release punter Jeff Feagles and kicker Lawrence Tynes. I think the Giants should also draft a d-lineman in the second round like Jared Odrick from Penn State. I don’t think they need to get any secondary because I think their young and they can learn. I don’t think they need any help on offense besides another offense lineman because it can never hurt to draft one. I think the 2010 captains for the New York Giants should be
Offense- #10 Eli Manning and #60 Shaun O’Hara
Defense- #21 Kenny Philips and #91 Justin Tuck
Special Teams- #57 Chase “the beast” Blackburn
Being a Giants season ticket holder, I was very upset on how the Giants played their last game at Giants Stadium but I am looking forward to the 2010 season in the New Meadowlands Stadium! I’m sorry to Matt for not writing a post in a while.

Hokies Year in Review

Happy 2010 everyone hope you all enjoyed 2009 for it was a great year in the sports community and so was the decade of the 2000’s or as some will call it the “UH OH ERA”. But I am here to talk about what happened a half an hour before the books closed on 09 which was the Virginia Tech Hokies capturing their 2nd straight bowl victory behind Ryan Williams who broke the Hokie single season rushing record with a 117 yard night and 2 TD’s which added to his incredible season stats of 21 TD’s and 1655 yds rushing on 293 carries. He averaged over 5 yards a carry and really was the foundation for Va. Tech’s 6th straight 10 win season!!! (only 1 other team has done this… Texas with 9).

Vazquez Comes Home for The Holidays

Javy's a Yankee (again)

 Another week means another move by the defending champion New York Yankees. With this move a fan favorite , Melky  Cabrera has been sent to Atlanta along with minor league prospects : Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino. What the Yankees got in return was a former Yankee in Javier Vazquez and a young Hard Throwing reliever Boone Logan. Vazquez who I kinda dissed in my last post about Nick Johnson about being a “Terrible player” actually isn’t that bad. I did some research and found out he was actually named to the All-Star team during his short stint in pinstripes. But towards the end he lagged behind and wasn’t used consistently by then Manager Joe Torre. Last year with the Braves Javy racked up 219 innings and had 238 K’s. he also had an impressive 2.87 earned run average and got 15 Wins. This trade answers some questions like… Will Hughes or Joba be in the pen? And what will the Rotation look like in 2010? But it also opens up Questions such as .. Will Holliday, Bay or will they wait for 2010 free agents like Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth be playing left? Will we resign Damon? or.. Is this the last move of the Offseason? I really do like this move because to be honest with you Melky just couldn’t hit!! He was clutch in April and was a pretty good defense Center fielder. But let’s be honest here he was bound to be trade bait at some point it is very similar to Juan Rivera or a better example Austin Jackson. He was not a permanent New York Yankees Outfielder it just wasn’t meant to be! The projected rotation would be this the 5th spot is still debatable  

Yankees Rotation  

1. C.C Sabathia
2. A.J. Burnett
3. Andy Pettite
4. Javy Vazquez
5. Chad Gaudin,Alfredo Aceves, Joba Chamberlain

I have Aceves and Gaudin in there because they were both brought up for the hybrid position of “Spot Starter” to give a stud like CC or AJ a rest. But I like Joba their because you could definitely see a different overall pitcher from 2008 to 2009. Plus I really like Phil “Philthy” Hughes in the pen right now as a setup man to Mariano and in the future as maybe THE CLOSER of the greatest franchise in sports history. If you look at his velocity, swagger and overall command have taken a major turn for the BEST. The other plus that the Yanks have received is lefty reliever Boone Logan. Logan will likely be a replacement for LHP Phil Coke. Logan had a 1.74 ERA and recorded 7 strikeouts in 10.1 innings pitched to Lefties last season.However his number do drop dramatically when facing batters in the opposite box. With a dreadful 10.29 ERA and 3 strikeouts vs Righties he will definitely work with Damaso Marte on shutting down sluggers like David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. Yeah I would say that the Bullpen again will be won of the Yankees biggest strength’s.  With a set bridge to Mo and some gun slingers like Hughes, Aceves, Marte , Robertson and now Logan things are looking bright.  Overall I would put this trade ahead of the Nick Johnson signing but not quiet over the Granderson move by impact but it is up there for both now and the future of the New York Yankees. On a scale of 1-10 this deal is about a 8.5. I leave you with that rating. Happy holidays and good luck in 2010. Me and Mikey may have a year/decade in review so look for it in the next 4-5 days. I’m OUTTA HERE!!!

Jolly Old St. Nick

Remember when I wrote about Curtis Granderson coming to the Bombers?…. Well at the End of that post I said that the Yanks weren’t done yet and did I call it or what ! The latest addition to the Yankees Universe is  former Bomber 1B/DH Nick Johnson.  Johnson played in 133 total games last year splitting time with both the Florida Marlins and the Washington Nationals  where he batted .291 had 8 Long Balls and an impressive .429 on base percentage. He was traded in December of 2003 for the Horrific nightmare “Javier Vazquez” who was part of that terrible group of busts that the Bombers took chances on such as Jose Contreas, Carl Pavano , Rondell White, Raul Mondesi and Randy Johnson. Now Johnson has gone full circle since coming up in 2001 he has played for 3 different organizations (4 teams in total :Yanks, Expos, Nationals and Marlins) and is back with the team that drafted him in the 3rd round of the 96 Draft. Johnson who is 31 years old will be the replacement for L.A. bound Hideki Matsui at the Designated Hitter spot. This is a perfect match considering that he has been battling with injuries for most of his career but now for the 1st time in 5 years he has the opportunity to only hit bombs especially a Lefty with some pop in the “Hitter friendly” confines of Yankee Stadium.  What Johnson also brings to the table is a legitimate back up for Teixeira at First base instead of the mediocre job that Nick Swisher would have done fielding balls out of the dirt.

Nick Johnson

This signing not only decided the fate of Nick Johnson but also the fate of Johnny Damon returning for another year in pinstripes. Johnny Damon who’s outfield skills have been just awful in left was in the delusional state of mind that he could make up to $ 13 Million A YEAR!!! That is basically a joke and he definitely played his cards wrong by using Scotty Boras’ “Book of Knowledge” to try and get the best deal possible. To be honest with you all Damon was easily my least favorite Yankee just because of how he was so hyped up and he could never get it done until this year which was not only a contract year for him and Boras but he also got the pleasure of hitting into the Jet stream of the short right field porch which is 314 Feet away from the Batters Box 81 out of his 162  games in 2009.  Overall I like this move because Johnson is basically stepping into a Jason Giambi type of role as a lefty power hitter whose job is to “HIT EM’ HIGH” only he won’t be playing the field as much which will likely help his numbers drastically. I am predicting that Nick Johnson bats over .300 this year and has at least 25 Home Runs in what will be his new favorite park. Overall I like what the Yanks are getting for a 5.5 Million dollar 1 year deal with a Mutual option that they would be stupid not to pick up. So long from my PC to Your ‘ s ADIOS and FELIZ NAVIDAD

My Super Bowl and Pro Bowl plans

Over its many years the National Football League’s biggest game of the year THE SUPER BOWL has always been held at a neutral site. Although this plan has worked I strongly disagree with this idea of always having the game in a warm or dome environment. A little FYI to Roger Godell and the rest of the NFL the game of football isn’t meant to be played in 90 degrees of sunshine!!! It’s meant to be a contest of who the stronger team is and its about Contact and Rough housing and just not a big commotion of weather or not the Fans would go because it isn’t “The Perfect Day”. To me the perfect weather for Football is in 50 degrees at the MOST… With a breeze and maybe a little bit of rain coming down. As a player myself that is my dream game weather wise. Not in Tampa, Miami or Oakland but in the climate that it was created in. After all it is a FALL – WINTER  sport NOT  a summer or spring event. Here is my plan of how to determine the location of the biggest unofficial Holiday……

I would “Kill two birds with one stone” and make the Pro-Bowl mean something as well by making it a week before the Super Bowl or even at the Midway point of the season and make it so the winning conference gets to host the Super Bowl in their teams Stadium. I would also make the game full contact and make it a nationally publicized event like Baseball’s All-Star game or better yet like Basketball’s ALL-STAR WEEKEND. With Throwing, Kicking,Catching and Rushing contests and even throw in an Obstacle Course so we can see how the best all around player is. Back to the full-contact aspect… I would have it so you can hit the QB and have real game like collisions that would make true fans of the game want to watch it. Also I would shrink down the roster size so its like a real NFL Roster with a maximum number of players at each position. The Pro- Bowl wouldn’t be played in Honolulu any more either instead like the All-Star Game in the MLB it would be selected and would alternate year after year as to which conference would host. Also the coaches of the AFC and NFC teams would be the coaches from the previous  Super Bowl would coach their conference in the  game. Thats my plan and I think it would be good and work well but like everything else in today’s world “It would UPSET THE SPONSORS” And you know what they’re right it would but to hell with them its not about the sponsors they aren’t staying up to 11 pm watching their team play on the National Stage or spending $ 15,000 just to request a season ticket to watch a game. Anyway if the fans had a say and a vote I can GUARANTEE that at least 75 % or more of the NFL’s loyal fans would pick yes if given the opportunity to put this through and that is why I am giving you guys the members of SPORTS HAVEN a chance to vote on my system 

Thank you reading Sports Haven and have a Happy Holidays!!!!