Sports

Thursday Night 12/4
NFL- 8:15 NFL Network NFL Oakland @ San Diego (-9.5)
-Both teams are finishing up disappointing seasons. Tune into this one if you have absolutely nothing else to do.

College BB – 9:00 ESPN 2 (9) UCLA @ (8) Texas
-This is a match up of two of the top programs in the country and two of best guards in the country. UCLA’s senior point guard Darren Collison will go head to head with Texas senior guard A.J. Abrams in Austin.

Friday Night: 12/5
NBA-8:00 ESPN Portland @ Boston:
-The Trailblazers come into Bean Town riding a 6 game winning streak while the Celtics haven’t lost a game in their last 10.

It’s a pretty simple question and I think the answer is “No.” What I’m talking about relates to handguns (not rifles and shotguns) and athletes who carry concealed weapons because they’re afraid of being jacked.

Some claim that if Sean Taylor had a gun at his house that he would still be alive today. Really? How can one be so sure? What if that just made the situation worse and his wife and/or kid were harmed as well? Now I’m not going to get into too many what-ifs as it relates to this because Taylor should rest in peace. I’m simply using the situation as an example.

Steve Smith on the Giants was held up in his driveway last week. Does anyone think that if he was carrying a gun that he wouldn’t have been jacked? Having a gun on you might give you the sense that you’re protected but in essence I think it usually acts as a catalyst for getting beat down or even killed.

Can you believe it? The 2008 fantasy football playoffs starts next week. (most leagues) Here’s a list of players that may propel you to the championship title:

While the season is still young, the results from the members of team USA have been impressive. For the brief period when USA was not on top of the basketball world, the reasons were debated by everyone. They said that we needed to go back to college players. We needed to have the team practice harder. We needed to build a team, not an All-Star team.

But one of the real reasons that USA suffered was because the key players in the NBA did not want to give up their summer to play more basketball and risk injury. Many teams also did not want their athletes to play because of the risk of injury.

Last week

http://fantasysportsmatrix.com/blogs/sportsnut/fantasy_basketball_www4#

I noted potential waiver pickups based on the big Knicks-Warriors-Clippers related trades. As expected, Harrington and Lee ended up in the starting lineup for the Knicks, while the Warriors rotation is still a mess outside of Crawford, Jax and Biedrens. As for Clipper land, Kaman got injured shortly after the trade, so Z-Bo and Camby should see upticks as long as Caveman is out.

Although there was no notable trade activity last week, there are, of course, some new waiver gems that have emerged.

As a Pittsburgh Steeler fan, i saw the young and immature Plaxico Burress during his first couple of years in the league. I saw him spike a ball before being ruled tackled and I saw him skip practice because he said he had to be at home for mother’s day. However, I thought these things would be a thing of the past when he moved to New York and really cemented himself as a certified NFL wide receiver. I thought a wife and two kids were also a sign that the immaturity was gone, but on both accounts i was wrong.

Atlanta (10-6) – After a hot start the buzz in A Town has cooled off going just 4-6 since. With a mix of young stars (Al Horford, Marvin Williams) solid vets (Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans, Flip Murray) and one of the best scorers in the NBA (Joe Johnson) you have yourself a top tier Eastern Conference squad.

Boston (16-2) – This team may be better than last year’s championship team. No Posey, No Problem. The supporting cast hasn’t stopped improving since the beginning of last year. Needless to say this is the team to beat in the East.

Charlotte (5-11) – Larry Brown’s latest team is dead last in scoring and third to last in overall defense. This team is as bad as those orange uniforms.

Every year the BCS screws someone. This year it is the Texas Longhorns who are the deserving team to be left out of championship contention. There are several reasons why Texas should be playing in the Big 12 Title game and not Oklahoma.

1) First and foremost, it beat Oklahoma on a neutral field by double digits. Yes, I know that OU beat Tech, Tech beat Texas, and Texas beat OU. BUT, Texas was the only one of those 3 teams to achieve its victory away from home (the game was played in Dallas).

2) Its loss to Texas Tech came down to one play. If that Crabtree play where he broke free to score with :01 left on the clock had gone differently, Texas wins. In Tech’s loss against Oklahoma and Oklahoma’s loss against Texas, the wins were convincing. In other words, Texas came the closest to winning among these 3 teams’ losses.

Is your NBA team, not performing up to par? Alternating wins and loses got you down? Don’t fret. In the beginning of the season it is difficult to gauge where your team will end up. Whether its inconsistency or injury, your team might be winning games, but not in the fashion that you want or are used to. But do not worry, your team might be on the rise soon. Here are some teams that should improve over the season and end up right where they want to be:

Its that time of the week again. BCS rankings have just come out and controversy has muddled everything. Oklahoma jumped Texas to take over #2 and the Sooners are now headed to the Big XII Championship game. Oregon State lost, all but ensuring USC will be heading to Pasedena, and what about Boise State? Without further adieu…

National Championship: Oklahoma (BCS #1) v. Florida (BCS #2) – Everything worked out for OU. Even though they lost to Texas in October, the Sooners are still headed to Kansas City to play a Missouri team that just lost to unranked Kansas. Florida locked up the SEC East a couple weeks ago and looked just plain dominant against Florida State. They will be tested against Alabama, but the Gators look pretty unbeatable right now.

Some interesting rule changes will be implemented coming into this year’s 2008 NFL season. Curious as to what you guys think of these new changes made. The following rule changes were passed at the league’s annual owners meeting in Palm Beach, Florida during the week of March 31.

Oftentimes in the news we hear things that make us shake our heads and go “huh”? You know…random things like Dennis Rodman wearing a bridal outfit to a book signing or Roseanne Barr being considered a “wise” choice to let sing a National Anthem during a game. Oftentimes teams or individual star players make decisions or act in a way that just leave you wondering “what in the world were they smoking” as their tactics or decisions seem to backfire in their faces.

Here are three such events in particular that got me saying “whaa?”

1) Shawne Merriman Opting to Play the Entire 2008 NFL Season Without Surgery

As you no doubt have heard, Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers has chosen to forgo surgery on his left knee in order to play football this season. He has two torn ligaments: the posterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments, and four separate doctors have advised him to pack it in for the season and have surgery, otherwise he risks career-ending damage to the knee. Merriman says his decision comes from a pact he made, a goal to compete at the highest level and help the Chargers win the Superbowl this season. I admire his courage, but as someone who has personally torn two ligaments in his left knee I want to tell Merriman that he is an idiot.

With two weeks left in the regular season, there are plenty of intriguing stories in the NL West: Manny in Los Angeles, the sudden Diamondback collapse, and the recent surge by the Giants (winning 8 of 9 before their recent sweep at the hands of the DBacks), to name a few.

Very nice stories, but I have my eye on the bittersweet Padres. San Diego currently has the second worst record in Major League Baseball, percentage points behind the Seattle Mariners. They currently are on pace to finish no worse than the Washington Nationals.

What’s the relevance? The Padres are preparing to open up a three game set in DC. As a fan, I can’t bear the thought of my beloved Friars falling to the sorry Nationals. I’d love nothing more than for my San Diego squad to tear through their last nine games, taking momentum into the offseason, perhaps convincing the front office that this team isn’t nearly as bad as its record would indicate. But…

This is going to be a very interesting NLDS series because of two players: the Phillies’ slugger Ryan Howard and Milwaukee ace CC Sabathia. Both are arguably the hottest players at their positions right now over the last month, with Howard has 11 home runs, 32 RBI’s and a ridiculous .851 slugging percentage for the month of september, and Sabathia is 11-2 for the Brewers with a slick 1.61 ERA. It is unlikely that Sabathia will be used in game 1 because he would be pitching on two days rest, but game 2 is almost a given because the Brewers plan is to run him in game 5 if it goes that far.

With the conclusion(???) of the Brett Favre-Green Bay Packers soap opera the other night and his official press conference for new team NY Jets, I find myself wondering why I was exposed to a sportswriters’ cornucopia of status updates on everything that went down. Clearly, someone on either the broadcasting or receiving end likes to follow Favre like a Facebook stalker or tabloid journal reader. Frankly, it annoyed me more than any sports-related saga this year like the Branjolina or Bennifer articles I was forced to observe at every grocery checkout stand I visited during that episode. America is sick with star-obsession and seems determined to live their lives through reality television shows and the latest sporting melodramas. This General Hospital: Green Bay was frustrating, but does it earn a spot atop my list of most annoying sports stories?

I’ve rounded up some links for you all to watch this fight, both on SopCast and on live streaming through Windows Media Player. All you need is a relatively fast connection and you’ll be watching these fights free! You won’t want to miss tonight’s UFC 86 card that features light heavyweight champ Quentin “Rampage” Jackson taking on #4 contender in the UFC, Forrest Griffin!

Here’s how to watch on SopCast

1. Download Sopcast player if you haven’t already: (www.sopcast.org)

2. Cut, paste the following link, which will open your sopcast player:

sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/24267

Alternatively, watch on Windows Media Player (although typically not as good quality as SopCast). Try the following links til you get a good one, as service is sometimes spotty:

One of the best MMA cards all year will be on tap this Saturday, August 9th brought to you by UFC. The fights start at 10 PM EST/7 PM PST. Check out this main card:

• Welterweight Championship bout: Jon Fitch vs. Georges St. Pierre*
• Lightweight bout: Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta*
• Heavyweight bout: Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring*
• Lightweight bout: Manny Gamburyan vs. Rob Emerson*
• Middleweight bout: Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia*

Loaded, right? Yes, I thought you’d agree! Here’s how to watch.

On sopcast (download the player and watch, usually better quality than streaming links). Download the player here: http://sopcast.org/download

Great card on for tonight as it’s BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk for the lightweight title. Also in action are Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine and Lyoto Machida vs. Tito Ortiz. Don’t miss it! The card begins at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST.

You can watch generally in one of two ways: 1) live stream on Windows Media Player or 2) through a peer-to-peer application such as SopCast (download Sopcast at sopcast.org).

Here are some Media Player links that might work:
www.justin.tv/ufc_fan
www.justin.tv/mmatv

SopCast links:

After downloading sopcast, tune it to channel 24267 or just go here:
sop://broker1.sopcast.com:3912/24267

I’ll check back later to make any updates or edits to this information! Enjoy the fights, all!

If you want to watch WWE: No Way Out, please check back later. I’ll have to confirm if the channel is right or not and I’ll post it. Cross your fingers! I’ll be back.

This will be one tremendous fight! Dubbed “The Battle” it pits undefeated welterweight champ Miguel Cotto against the Mexican warrior Antonio Margarito. It’s one of the most anticipated welterweight fights in recent history. The action starts at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST. Here’s where you can watch online (try the links and see which one works best for you):

MMA Fans w/o PPV, you can still enjoy UFC