Winners In NFL Draft Day One

I think the following teams really helped themselved out in this years 2005 NFL Draft.

Philadephia Eagles - Really got a nice upgrade by selecting Mike Patterson with their first pick. Mike Patterson will be a solid man in the middle who should really push starter Cory Simon for a starter job this fall.

Minnesota Vikings - Troy Williamson from South Carolina should be a good wide receiver to help fill the void now that Randy Moss and left for the Oakland Raiders. Their other pick that I really like is Erasmus James from Wisconsin that I believe will be in the Pro Bowl within 3 years.

Dallas Cowboys - I really like their Defensive choices, Demarcus Ware and Marcus Spears. How they make the change from college to Pro Football will be another story, but if they live up to their expectations, the shoddy defense the Cowboys should really be upgraded.

NBA AllStar 2007 Game In Las Vegas?

It's quite possible.

A owners meeting the day before the NBA playoffs there seemed to be no objections in having the 2007 NBA AllStar game in SinCity. Although the owners spent very little of their time discussing the issue, it is still quite possible that the NBA All Star game which includes many pregame parties leading up to the game could get just a little bit wilder if in fact Las Vegas is able to host the game.

Stay tuned.

Fabien Barthez Goalkeeper Received Six Month Ban

Fabien Barthex received a six-month ban -- three of them suspended after spitting on a referee in a friendly match two months ago. Europe has it right with penalties on sports figures while us Americans gingerly put punishments on our athletes for these actions along with the penalties on using steroids.

If you remember, Baltimore Orioles second basemen Roberto Alomar spit on Umpire John Hirschbeck a few years ago and ONLY received a five game suspension. This is a major joke. Why not set an example and follow Europe's lead and hand out major penalties for these lude acts against officials. Shouldn't an example be set in the major leagues of our professional sports? Don't we want to teach fair play to everyone that watches or pays to watches these games?

NFL Draft Rumors and Thoughts

Looks like Alex Smith the highly touted quarterback from Utah might not be the San Francisco 49ers pick afterall as it seems the reason behind this is signing him to a contract. Smith is their clear choice as their number 1 overall pick, but it seems like the 49ers might be a little cheap in actually wanting to give him a good offer. Aaron Rogers from Cal would love to play for the 49ers and might even take less money, if Aaron Rogers is indeed the #1 pick, a lot of articles will be written on Sunday morning stating that the 49ers went with the pick they could sign at the lower contract offer.

If Alex Smith is indeed their top pick, why not offer up the money and sign this kid, get him into camp and get him familiar with the system. This could be a major regret in 4 to 5 years if Alex Smith is having a great year with another team and Aaron Rogers is struggling to get the 49ers to a 8 and 8 record.

Stay tuned for the NFL draft at noon on ESPN.

UNC TarHeels Losing More Players?

The North Carolina Tar Heels just won the NCAA Basketball National Championship about 3 weeks ago, but with the win comes the fact that they will lose some players to the NBA draft. The two players most recently looking to leave Chapel Hill look to be the powerful big man Sean May and Raymond Felton, their news conference will be Friday at 1pm EST. It's also possible that freshman Marvin Williams could also leave as their is speculation that he has been talking to an agent recently.

If this all plays to be true Roy Williams will begin next season without seven top scorers. By having so many losses, Roy Williams will need to show how brilliant of a coach he is in a very tough ACC conference.

NHL 2005-2006 Might Be Delayed

The news concerning the NHL just seems to get worse each day. Commissioner Gary Bettman said this week that the season will have to be with a new collective bargaining agreement in place -- not with replacement players. Bettman and some team representatives felt that they expect to play next season and anyone that misses hockey this year as much as I do, really hopes that this is a reality. The good news is that both sides have met for the second time in about two months just recently in New York. With the little amount of talks they had after last years season, I'm glad to see that they are communicating now and hopefully early next fall we can turn on the TV and watch some great hockey from the NHL.

Nomar Garciaparra Out 2 to 3 months

The Chicago Cubs were dealt a major blow to their lineup with the bad news that Nomar Garciaparra will be out 2 to 3 months with a torn groin muscle. Nomar got hurt while leaving the batter's box during a game against St. Louis. The Cubs currently at 8-8 will be tested without Nomar at the plate and field, so they will count on Derrek Lee and his .411 batting average to help carry them offensively. With a tough NL central divison, the Cubs will need to really count on Mark Prior to step it up as well as have Kerry Wood mow down a lot of batters to keep the Cubs in tight games these next 8 to 12 weeks.

NBA Playoffs 2005

Looking over the Eastern Confrence playoffs, will anyone be able to beat the Miami Heat? The good news for the New Jersey Nets is that Heat center Shaqille O'Neal is still a little injured with a thigh injury. More good news is that the Nets have been on a tear recently and are probably the most likely out of the lower seeds to give the Miami Heat a challenge. I see this series going 6 games.

My other predictions for the Eastern confrence.

Detroit over Philadelphia in 6 games
Indiana over Boston in 5 games
Chicago over Washington in 5 games

NFL Draft 2005

Who will the 49ers choose in this years draft? The majority of experts seem to think it'll be Alex Smith from the Univeristy of Utah. The 49ers coming off a terrile season will need a new face of the franchise and will most likely go with Alex Smith or Aaron Rodgers of Cal.

Whomever they choose, the 49ers will be rebuilding for years to come because the new quarterback will take 3 years to develop and finally the 49ers don't have any other major offensive threats?

Your thoughts?

College Football Coaching Positions Going Fast

Looks like Notre Dame has signed Charlie Weis to a six year deal to coach the Irish. I really like this choice as it gives Notre Dame an offensive approach to their game and that should really open up a lot of scoring chances. Now all Notre Dame needs now is some players that can play on the offense.

Other coaching positions that appear to be filled are as follows:
Stanford will hand their head coaching position to Walt Harris formerly of Pittsburgh and Tyrone Willingham who was fired last month from Notre Dame will take over at Washington, the same confrence he coached at before he took the Notre Dame position.

Weekly NFL Picks

The last two weeks I've gone 4-2 against the spread. Below are the NFL games I like this week.

Minnesota Vikings -6.5
Playing at home and they can still win their division so they should be ready to come out and win big today.

Carolina Panthers -6
St. Louis is going with a very old back up QB today and the Carolina Panthers have won 4 straight. They should cover and keep their streak alive.

Cleveland Browns +10.5
Buffalo will win this game today, but I find it really hard to believe they can cover 10+ points.

Will The NHL Play?

The NHLPA offered a proposal to the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and the league owners this week that includes a 24-percent salary rollback. Gary Bettman has called this proposal "a significant offer" but he is due along with the owners next week to display their counter offer, but the main sticking point is that the owners want or should I say demand a salary cap. If that is still their number one priority, then I believe this season will be lost as the NHLPA is against this offer. We shall see how things play out by mid week.

Oklahoma Sooners and USC Trojans Dominate Heisman

The top four canidates in my mind come from two colleges, Oklahoma and USC. The interesting point will be to see if Jason White can join Archie Griffin as a two-time winner. Even more interesting, does Jason White have a chance to suit up on Sunday's next fall in the NFL? Lots of questions will be answered, the last question I posed is about 40%/60% that Jason White will be on the sidelines this coming fall. At best Jason White will be carrying a clipboard and will be the 3rd option on the team that drafts him. My predictions for the Heisman Trophy are as follows.

Winner - Matt Leinart
2nd Place - Jason White
3rd Place - Reggie Bush
4th Place - Adrian Peterson

Tune in this Saturday.