Pick of the day 11/14

Tonight is the much anticipated match up in the Mountain West Conference. The 9-0 TCU Horned Frogs will host the 8-1 Utes of Utah. As the Frogs are near the end of the season with high hopes for the BCS, Utah looks to destroy those dreams as they nearly had the same thing happen to them a year ago in this game. Last year Utah was undefeated going into the game against TCU when they were evenly matched only to edge out the Frogs with a 4th quarter touchdown to keep the record in tact. The Utes went on to face Alabama who they blew out of the water in a BCS bowl game. The rolls are now reversed, and I think for all the right reasons. TCU has been outstanding to this point in the year. Although there records seem to be very close all of the advantages fall with the Frogs at there home field tonight where they are expecting to sell out for the first time since 2006. TCU has the 3rd ranked defense in the nation as they have won 7 of 9 games by at least 16 points holding opponents to 11 points a game. Their offense is 8th in the nation as they score 34.4 points a game compared to the much more concervative Utes who only score 16.6 points a game.
Utah although their record seems to be quite good has only faced 2 quality opponents this year losing to one of them. They had an early season loss to Oregon and an overtime win agains the Air Force Academy. Aside from those 2 games Utah has not faced opponents worth talking about and the wins they do have are not too convincing.
TCU on the other hand has wins against Virginia, Clemson, and BYU who was an early favorite in the MWC. Both Virginia and BYU were handled with TCU blowouts. The Frogs are lead by a confident QB Andy Dalton who has only 3 int's compared to his 16 TD passes. His receivers are spread out as they have 3 with over 22 catched on the season and multiple others with good performances thus far.
Utah will be looking to slow down this high powered offense by slowing the game down and limiting turnovers. If the Utes can stay on the field with long drives and convert when they have the chance they could hang with TCU as they have a strong defense. Utah has allowed less than 20 points in it's last 6 games. Unfortunately for the Utes TCU is going to have the sellout crowd along with ESPN gameday behind them to get themselves going. As weird as this sounds with 2 ranked teams in the same conference the line for this game is nearly 3 TD's, and it's obvious why when you look past the record and the ranking of the Utah Utes. Look for TCU to win this game easily. I think the Utes will keep it interesting for a while but in order for them to actually win they may need every possible break you can imagine. TCU should win and they will demand the attention of the nation if they can run away with this game. If they can get an early lead at all look for them to press and make this game look lopsided as it should be.

Question of the day 11/2

Today's question is regarding the NFL. At this point in the season what teams do you anticipate making it deep into the playoffs? Also, do you think it's possible for the Colts or the Saints to go undefeated in the regular season, if so who has the better chance?

Pick of the day 11/2

Tonight is going to be a fun night in New Orleans if you are lucky enough to have tickets to the Monday night game. New Orleans is hosting the 4-2 Falcons who are emerging as a playoff contender as their youthful yet confident QB Matt Ryan is working on another strong year. Tonight is going to be a tough night for the Falcons though. They are faced with a high power offense lead by Drew Brees who is having a break out year. The Saints have yet to lose this season as they have scored 45 or more points in each of their six games so far. I definitely think that this game will be entertaining but I highly doubt Matt Ryan's ablility to keep up with the offense of the Saints. It will likely be a shoot out knowing that even with the large point totals the Saints have put up they have also not shown an outstanding defense. Part of that is because they score so quickly that the defense hardly gets off the field. Look for the Saints to put up another big number tonight as they continue their undefeated streak and beat the Falcons 41-23. If you have Drew Brees in fantasy I don't think I have to tell you this but don't ever trade him and more importantly don't ever give him a week off.

Pick of the day 10/29

Tonight is a huge night for the Yankees. On the mound for game 2 of the World Series is AJ Burnett for the Yanks and the most hated player in Yankee stadium Pedro Martinez for the Phillies. The Phillies are certainly taking a risk pitching Pedro at this point in the Series, since he hasn't hardly pitched in the last month. Pedro is past his prime but they are hoping that his experience in not only the playoffs but the playoffs in the New York atmosphere will help him guide the Phillies to a 2-0 start to the series. Unfortunately for the Phillies this is not going to happen. Burnett has shown that he is on top of his game late this season. He didn't have a great outing in his last game against the Angels, but then again that's only going to light the fire under him to get it done tonight. The Yankees will win game 2 to even the series going into 3 games in Philadelphia starting Saturday. Although they would have liked to take both games at home before the travel day they are going to have to make due with a series split. The Yankees are going to bring out all of the fire power tonight. They will likely score at least 5 runs and probably more. Pedro will do some good things tonight and show his expertise in these types of games but I think the Yanks will get to him before he is able to go out on a positive note. Look for a high scoring win for the Yanks. Burnett will take it into the later innings possibly past the 6th or even 7th. The interesting part of this series will not happen tonight it will happen when the Yankees have to deal with winning on the road.

Pick of the day

Celtics vs Cavs in regular season game 1. For these two teams last year was nothing but a disappointment. Yeah they both made the playoffs and had great seasons up to that point but neither team was able to make it to the big show and for these elite teams that is how they are measured. Who will be able to come back from the painful playoff losses to have another great season and make their way back to the playoffs where they can redeem themselves. I think both teams stand a legitimate chance to make it to the post season again this year. Obviously the Cavs still have the MVP of the league in Lebron James and they have given him back up ammunition with Shaq. On the other side you have Kevin Garnett back from his season ending injury that likely kept them from making too far in the playoffs last year. They still have the big 3 in KG, Allen, and Pierce. This team has one of the great young point guards in the league in Rondo although if you ask me he still hasn't won me over completely. As for tonight when these 2 teams square off I think the edge will definitely go with the Cavs. Unfortunately for the Celtics they have some things going on off the court that may pre-occupy them tonight. Glen Davis is out due to a broken thumb which will also call for a suspension due to his off court actions Sunday night where he got into a scuffle. Also Rondo and the team have yet to come up with a deal to keep him from becoming a free agent at the end of the year so that could be on his mind tonight as the deadline for a deal is later this week. Without complete focus on the game you hardly stand a shot against Lebron and company. Lebron led the Cavs to the best record in the league last year with an almost flawless home record. Look for him to lead the team again tonight as they put a hurting on the Celtics.

Question of the day 10/27

What is up with the lopsided NFL? Is it just a coincidence that there have been so many blowouts this year so far and that there are still so many unbeaten teams or is the league showing some weakness? Will the NFL do something about this right away or will they wait, and what can they do to change the competition level between the teams? This question comes after multiple games decided by more than 4 touchdowns this past weekend.

Pick of the day 10/25

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!! Well for all you football fans out there I'm going to break down week 7 for you even though it's kind of a pointless week seeing how my Denver Broncos have a bye. I think bye weekends for your favorite team is like Columbus day. I mean yeah great you have the day off from work, but there is just nothing to look forward too.  Ok that's a little bit of an exaggeration because I still look forward to watching all football games on Sunday, but it's just not quite the same. For me personally if Denver isn't playing I like to just jump on the bandwagon for whoever is playing Dallas. This week I'm a huge Atlanta Falcon fanatic. Not really, I'm only joking but it's hard not to root against the Cowgirls. Anyway, on to my pick of the day, which is going to come from the Minnesota at Pittsburgh game. When choosing the game I tried to stay away from the Indianapolis game where they are playing the winless Rams. I thought it was just too obvious how the Rams would end the Colts streak. No, instead I picked a game where although Pittsburgh is just 4-2, they are actually a favorite as they play at home against the undefeated Vikings. These two teams don't meet often as they have only played 2 times since the 2001 season. Here's my question though, how are the Steelers a 6 point favorite to win this game. Yeah they are at home, yeah they are the defending champs, yeah they have the best defensive threat in the league back from an injury, but really 6 point favorite over the team who hasn't lost yet this year. Lets not forget the first 3 games Pittsburgh played this year. They beat Tennessee in overtime 13-10 at home. Tennessee!!!!, who hasn't won yet this year. Tennessee!!! who just got beat by New England 59-0. Next, they went to the Windy City and got beat. Chicago looks like a decent team this year, but then again it's not like they are undefeated like the Vikings. Week 3 the Steelers lost again, this time to Cincinnati who yes also looks like an much better team this year but still, nothing stunning about their season to this point. What I'm saying is the Steelers come into this game 4-2, so far this season the experts are getting them all wrong. Pittsburg has only been the victor in 1 spread this year. They are the favorite every week and I understand why they have been with the opponents they have had, but why this week? I understand the 3 points for home field advantage but why 6 it doesn't add up. Not only do I think the Steelers should not have this much respect but I think that Minnesota is going to move to 7-0 after this game. The Steelers play great at home and they rely mostly on their defense to win games, but this week they are going to have to stop both the pass and run. The Vikings will score points. They average over 30 a game. The question will be if the Steelers can keep up on offense. They have only scored 30 or more points in 1 game this year, and I just don't see them being able to have their offense on the field long enough to get that done. Look for Favre to continue doing a great job setting himself up with the running of AP. If the Steelers don't stop the run early and often they are going to get crushed. I can see this game staying close as long as Pittsburgh converts on offense and forces a couple turnovers, but they are going to have to play better than they have in any game all year to win this game. I will say this, if Pittsburgh somehow wins this game it could change my mind about their season in a hurry. This to me could be the start of another great season for the Steelers, but I would not count on it.