Champions League Final

Tomorrow is essentially the Super Bowl of club soccer. The best part is that both teams have players that even the ordinary U.S. sports fan can recognize. On one side you have Barcelona FC with Leonell Messi and on the other you have Manchester United with Wayne Rooney. Both of these clubs are very historic and have had massive amounts of success. Barcelona FC is the defending champion of the Spanish Premier league and has about half of the Spanish national team (or so I could swear). Manchester United just claimed their 19th English Premier League title and has half of the English National team.  Both teams also possess a god of the current soccer world. Man U has the powerful and bullish Rooney, who amazes people with his pure brute force. Barca has the speedy and agile Messi, who has been named the FIFA Player of the year.

Overall, I feel that Man U is the better team. With better strikers and goalkeeping, they will please the home fans with a championship. (For the record: English teams are 2-0 when the sight of the Final is in England.)

For the Champions League Final, this is what will happen:

Man U-2 Barca-1


I don't have too much experience in picking soccer games or how a team stands up against another, but I know for sure this will be a great game. So I encourage you to watch this game and get into soccer. Soccer is the World's sport, but the States don't seem to care. Be a part of the soccer revolution and catch this game tomorrow!

NHL and NBA Conference Final Picks

We are down to the Conference Finals in both the NHL and NBA. I was a combined 7-1 last round, so not bad! This is how I think this round will go

NBA

East

Heat over Bulls in 6 - Too much big three, so sadly LBJ, D-Wade and Bosh will make it to the Finals their first year.

West

Mavericks over Thunder in 6 - Dirk shuts down the Thunder as Terry makes it rain threes all day.

NHL

East

Lightning over Bruins in 7 - Lightning have to fight in the round again. Goal keeping puts them over the top.

West

Canucks over Sharks in 6 - Luongo > Niemi. Once again the goal keeper is crucial. Plus, the sharks are exhausted from their bout with the Red Wings.

Thanks for reading!

The Lacking Lakers

There will be a changing of the guard in the NBA this year. Two nights ago, the Dallas Mavericks gave a crushing defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers in an unsettling sweep. Thank goodness because to me there isn’t enough variety in the NBA. All the same teams going on methodical, dynamic dynasty runs. The Lakers got swept up. Let me say that again, they go swept. Why do I need to repeat that? Because it rarely happens! This is the only time under the Phil Jackson era in which the Lakeshow have gotten broomed!

Los Angeles looked scared in the first three games and as a result, they would founder in the waning minutes of all three. Dirk Nowitzki was able to shut down the dynamic Pau Gasol and there just didn’t seem to be enough Kobe to make it all better for the Lakers. The Mavs helped their cause with some absolute ridiculous 3-point shooting from Jason Terry and Peja Stojakovic. Sadly, I feel that most of the publicity will be made about the Lakers losing than the Mavs winning. In the final seconds of the deflating game four, the Lakers pride looked to be bleeding out after every Terry/Stojakovic three. The hope of a comeback was fleeting and the drive to send Jackson out on a good note was demolished.

Phil Jackson will probably retire and finish out his Hall of Fame life known as one of the NBA’s Lords of the rings (He currently owns 13 total!). This sweep doesn’t tarnish any part of his legacy; it only sours the ending of a storied coaching career. He should truly feel blessed for being able to work with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in both of their primes. The two would bring Jackson a combined 11 rings! I don’t think you will ever be able to find a luckier coach. Phil Jackson may be known to some as the best coach in history, but it will always be tough to argue for him with Red Auerbach and John Wooden in the conversation.

Los Angeles will be left with a gaping hole in their coaching staff. The Zen Master will certainly be missed, but that won’t be the only problem they will have. This off season will be filled with what the Lakers need to do to get back to the Promised Land. I am sure that the rumors of Dwight Howard and Chris Paul will surface. If you keep it between us, they would be a great fit. The Lakers need post presence and Dwight is the best in the league. Chris Paul could be the young guard they need to energize their franchise. It would defiantly make the Lakers the best team in the West and could possibly lead to a Lakers, Heat Finals (Oh God Please!). Whatever the outcome, I expect the Lakers to be rejuvenated and ready to redeem themselves for this terrible loss. Does Kobe ever get his 6^th ring and tie Jordan? Well, we’ll have to see about that one.

As for the rest of the NBA Playoffs, they are looking better than this series. Memphis looks like they could possibly upset the young Thunder and go to their first Conference Finals ever. Miami looks poised to finally take out the defending Eastern Champions. The one seeded Bulls still look ho-hum and are depending on the MVP Rose way too much.

More NBA Playoff action this month, so watch it! Thanks for reading!

My Over-Due Baseball Predictions

Sorry that i can't give more details sports fans, but baseball has just been covered up by all this playoff action.So without further adieu, my baseball predictions for the 2011 season (this was how I saw it before the season):

AL EAST

1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees * Wild Card*
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Toronto Blue Jays

AL CENTRAL

1. Minnesota Twins
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Cleveland Indians
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Kansas City Royals

AL WEST
1. Texas Rangers
2. Los Angeles Angels
3. Oakland A's
4. Seattle Mariners

NL EAST

1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Atlanta Braves
3. New York Mets
4. Florida Marlins
5. Washington Nationals

NL CENTRAL

1. Cincinnati Reds
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Milwaukee Brewers
4. Pittsburgh Pirates
5. Chicago Cubs
6. Houston Astros

NL WEST
1. Colorado Rockies
2. San Francisco Giants * Wild Card*
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San Diego Padres

PLAYOFFS

NL
Giants over Phillies in 5 * Best of five*
Reds over Rockies in 5 * Best of five*

Reds over Giants in 6

AL

Red Sox over Yankees in 4 *Best of five*
Twins over Rangers in 5 *Best of  five*

Red Sox over Twins in 6

World Series

Red Sox over Reds in 7

NBA Conference Semis

Sorry for the lateness once again, but here is how I had the NBA Semis before they started!

West

Thunder Over Grizzlies in 5- Upstart Thunder see that they are close to the Finals and break the Griz's glass slipper.

Lakers over Mavericks in 6- Lakers keep the drive alive and shut down Dirk.

East

Bulls Over Hawks in 6 - Bulls and Rose still look shaky as the favorites, but are able to out preform the Hawks in the final games

Heat over Celtics in 6 - Lebron and Wade use youth to defeat the older Celtics.

There we go! Watch the NBA Playoffs NOW! It's great television and the NBA at its best!

NHL Playoffs: Conference Semis

Welcome to the Elite Eight of hockey! I did pretty good in the first round! How 'bout the second round!

East

Lightning over Capitals in 6 - Ovi continues to fail in the playoffs and the plot thickens in DC.

Bruins over Flyers in 7- Bean town gets revenge for the Flyers remarkable comeback last year.

West

Canucks over Predators in 6- Nashville proves to be a test, but Luongo shows improvement and shuts the door.

Sharks over Redwings in 6 - Overall series is close, but goal tending will get teams far in the second season. Niemi Shows strength and puts the team on his back.

Baseball is here!

Yes, I know baseball has been in full swing for months! I was hoping to get this out earlier, but it never happened! So you can call me a cheat or whatever you want, but all of these predictions were formulated before the season! So here is the first of my division by division coverage of the MLB!

AL East - Once again this will be one heck of a division. There are so many great teams, there will defiantly be two teams coming out of this division in October.

1. Boston Red Sox – With plenty of off season signings, the Sox will be tops this year. Good pitching and hitting will be around the entire year. Watch for them to lead the race for most of the year if not all of it.

2. New York Yankees – In any other division they would be a division champion. Derick Jeter and the older Yankees won’t be able to hold off the Sox. They will also lose some games to the up and coming Jays, Rays, and O’s. The Yankees will be contenders all throughout the season.

3. Tampa Bay Rays – They lost key players and replaced them with Johnny Damon but they are still a major force in the baseball world. With so many young players, they will outpace the Yankees for a bit but will fall late in the season.

4. Baltimore Orioles – With new manager Buck Showalter, the O’s are a new team. It showed in the later parts of the season. Still, it is the AL East. The Orioles will get a few wins this season, but will still be trailing the major teams by quite a few games.

5. Toronto Jays- They would be a threat in any other division. They just don’t have the firepower on either side of the ball to hang with the big dogs in the East.