http://www.yardbarker.com/users/Whatifsports Recent Yardbarker Articles: Whatifsports en-us The 2008 pre-season power rankings have the New England Patriots in the lead. The Colts are no. 2, and the Cowboys are no. 3. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:32:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294377 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294377 The 2008 pre-season power rankings have the Ohio State Buckeyes in first place, followed by Georgia. The Oklahoma Sooners come in third. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:05:48 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294367 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294367 This week's power rankings place Boston at no. 1. Cubs come in at no. 2. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:43:53 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293326 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293326 The Vikings make it to the Super Bowl with Favre on hand in this WIS look at Favre's potential "un-retirement." Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:59:50 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292214 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292214 Though the two will team up to play for Team USA in the 2008 Olympics, the battle over superiority between Cleveland's King James and Lakers legend Kobe Bryant remains fervent. WIS says James conquers. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:28:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291160 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291160 The Chicago Cubs jump two slots to lead the MLB. Boston maintains the # 2 slot; the Rays fall to # 3. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:22:26 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290196 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290196 The league that wins the All-Star game will "earn" homefield advantage in the World Series. This means that four of the seven playoff games, including the first two and last two (if necessary) are played in the ballpark with the winning All-Star team. This gives fans a means by which they can help their favorite teams (if the team has a chance at the World Series). Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:11:33 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290189 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290189 Our writer thinks so. The newest trend in Personal Seat Licenses (PSL) has the Super Bowl champs asking their loyal fans to pay between $1,000 to $20,000 for the RIGHT to buy tickets. The Whatifsports Playbook is a collection of articles of unique content written by different authors that varies from our typical predictions and simulations. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:44:48 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290145 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290145 A commentary on the role of race in sports. The Playbook is a collection of articles of unique content written by different authors that varies from our typical predictions and simulations. A grave injustice occurs in the NBA, and I have the perfect plan to fix it. I propose that, before any player is chosen in the draft on June 26, every team must first workout, interview and consider at least five "white" players. Failure to meet these demands would result in a fine and possible loss of future draft picks. This plan must go into effect to combat a "racial" travesty in professional basketball. Quite possibly no other occupation is so misrepresentative of the "racial" and ethnic backgrounds of the American population. Click the link to read the rest of the article! Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:20:59 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288932 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288932 Should the Nuggets trade Carmelo Anthony? He's a proven scorer and a team leader of the U.S. Olympic team. But he has had maturity issues and personal problems off the court. Adam Hoff of NBA blog Section F Sports argues that Denver should trade 'Melo, but not for the reasons you think. The Whatifsports Playbook is a collection of articles of unique content written by different authors that varies from our typical predictions and simulations. Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:43:49 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/287824 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/287824 The Tampa Bay Rays hold on to the top spot in our last power rankings before the All-Star break, followed by the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, but watch out for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who jumped 7 spots to No. 4, the highest they have been all season. The New York Yankees, on the other hand, drop 6 spots to No. 14. See where your favorite team ranks. To come up with the rankings, using only their statistical performance to date this season, each team is simulated against every other team 100 times. – 50 at home and 50 at the opposing ballpark so that all five pitchers in the current rotation start ten times at each location. After substituting CC Sabathia into the Milwaukee Brewers' rotation, they move up four spots to No. 10, while the Indians take a corresponding hit, dropping five spots to No. 24. Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:37:07 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/287760 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/287760 Introducing the Playbook, a collection of sports articles by authors in the Whatifsports community. Here you will find unique content that varies from our typical predictions and hypothetical matchups. Our first installment has our new writer telling us why sports is so important in our culture. Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:37:27 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/286167 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/286167 The Rays and Red Sox swap places at the top of Whatifsports' Power Rankings, similar to the real-life standings. The Phillies, Cubs and A's all inch up the rankings. The see-saw Blue Jays, who dropped 9 spots last week, climb back up 11 spots to #9, while the D-Backs drop 6 spots to #16 after being ranked #1 earlier this season. See where your team ranks! WhatIfSports.com utilizes its award-winning baseball simulation engine to present the most comprehensive and unbiased ranking possible of all 30 teams in baseball each Monday during the regular season. To come up with the rankings, using only their statistical performance to date this season, each team is simulated against every other team 100 times – 50 at home and 50 at the opposing ballpark so that all five pitchers in the current rotation start ten times at each location. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:48:47 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284270 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284270 With the conclusion of the NBA Finals this June and the 2008 Summer Olympics looming on the horizon, we here at WhatIfSports have had basketball on the brain. We weren't alone in this mindset, however, as internet bloggers over at BrewHoop.com also began to theorize about the great basketball queries of today- namely, who would win between the 2008 Men's Olympic Basketball Team and the 07-08 Boston Celtics Championship squad. This competition was made even more intriguing by our recent calculations which determined the 07-08 Celtics to be the 3rd greatest NBA Championship team of all time. (Article Available on Askmen.com next month.) Being devoted sportsfans ourselves, we decided to once again call on our super computer to create a real life solution for this fantasy problem, and the results were much like you would expect. Using 1,000 separate simulations of a seven-game "NBA Championship"-esque series, we determined the most common result to be a Team USA victory in five games. This outcome occurred 85% of the time, with an average 14 point margin of victory. Our game summaries also revealed that LeBron James (40%) and Kobe Bryant (35%) were the most frequent recipients of Player of the Game honors with superstars Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, and surprisingly Rajon Rondo also being mentioned many times. Click below to see projected boxscores, play-by-play descriptions, and stats for each game in the series. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:10:29 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283073 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283073 The classic Windy City debate, which franchise is better? Not just this year, but of all time? Whatifsports tries to settle the debate by simulating a 7-game series of all-time greats 1,000 times. Ernie Banks, Sosa, Sandberg, Maddux, Mordecai Brown, Sutter against Shoeless Joe, Big Hurt, Robin Ventura, Eddie Collins, Fisk...and other players who had great years in Chicago. Who wins??? Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:52:03 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283034 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/283034