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How was your Week?

Posted: May 16, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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So Troy Tulowitzki met with his agent this week to decide if he would ask the Colorado Rockies for a trade. I don’t know when this meeting took place, but I saw a crawler headline on “Yahoo Sports” that Tulowitzki has decided not to ask to be traded. Now if you;re the Rockies; what do you do with Tulowitzki? He’s the biggest name on your team, sorry Carlos Gonzalez and people buy tickets to Rockies games to see him. If you decided that you’re going to try to deal him; what can you get for an injury prone shortstop who when healthy can be on of the best players in major league baseball. Tulowitzki has appeared in every Rockies game this season (32), but has played in just 264 games from 2012 – 2014. Tulowitzki is off to a solid start; he’s hitting .284 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI’s along with 13 doubles. Now if the Rockies make the tough decision and feel it’s in their best interest to trade Tulowitzki what could they get for him and where might he end up. Now every team in baseball could use a healthy Tulowitzki, but I’ve narrowed it down to 4 possible good landing spots.

Let’s start with the New York Mets. There was quite a bit of talk last off season that these two teams were trying to work out a deal for Tulowitzki, but they couldn’t come to terms. Now that the Mets have come back to the pack in the NL East and are currently on a 5 game losing streak I think it’s time to revisit this deal. While Wilmer Flores has shown some power early this season with 5 home runs he is still hitting .240 and  Tulowitzki would be a huge upgrade at shortstop. Part of the snag in the off season deal was the Mets didn’t want to give up pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard. I’m sure the Mets would still like to hang onto Syndergaard, but they have other pitching prospects they could include in a deal for Tulowitzki. If the Mets where to package Steven Matz, Marcos Molina and Flores in a deal would that be enough for Colorado to give them Tulowitzki. Remember Tulowitzki is signed until 2020 with an option for 2021. If the option on his contract was picked up the total value left on Tulowitzki’s deal is $109 million. That would be a lot of money for a team to take on along with dealing multiple prospects. Would 2 Mets pitching prospects and someone to fill in at shortstop be good enough for Colorado.

How about Tulowitzki to the Houston Astros. The Astros are off to a better start than anyone thought and they are currently in 1st place in the AL West. The Astros are 23-13 and have a 4 1/2 game lead in the division. Now Houston did just promote their top prospect Carlos Correra to Triple A and there is a chance he’ll be brought up to the majors in June. If the Astros were to pick up Tulowitzki and Correra was to come up in June there’s no reason Tulowitzki couldn’t move over to 3rd base in place of Luis Valbuena. There could also be some at bats at Designated Hitter for Tulowitzki. The Astros did sign Jed Lowrie in the off season and he is injured right now. Lowrie has been a utility player before and shouldn’t have any problems going back into that role if the Astros acquired  Tulowitzki. I’d be surprised if the Astros would deal Correra or Mark Appel for Tulowitzki, but could pitching prospects Vincent Velasquez, Michael Feliz, Jandel Gustave and someone like Jonathan Vyllar be enough for Colrado to move Tulowitzki to Houston. If the Astros are ready to contend this season adding a player of Tulowitzki talent level might be what puts them over the top.

Even though they are only in the 4th year of their 5 year plan the Chicago Cubs find themselves in 2nd place in the NL Central with a 20-15 record and 4 games behind the 1st place St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals will be tough to unseat at the top of the NL Central because they’re the Cardinals and they always seem to contend, but adding a player like Tulowitzki could make the Cubs a threat if not to win the NL Central then to grab a Wild Card spot. The Cubs would have to include Starling Castro in a deal for Tulowitzki, but Castro has a decent contract to deal. Castro is signed until 2019 with an option for 2020 and if the contract was player out he would make a little under $41 million. I seriously doubt the Rockies would swap Tulowitzki for Castro straight up, but what if the Cubs added minor league prospect Javier Baez to the deal. It’s believed that the Rockies would be looking for young pitching in any deal for Tulowitzki, but I don’t think the Cubs would part with top pitching prospect C.J. Edwards. Would Colorado accept a deal that had Castro and a couple of the Cubs other pitching prospects say Duane Underwood and Pierce Johnson.

Now there are always dark horse teams that pop up when these type of deals take place. I think a team that might be able to be that dark horse team in any Tulowitzki deal could be the team across town from the Cubs; the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox have struggled out of the gate. They are 15-17 right now and 6 games out of 1st place, but a deal for Tulowitzki could change that quickly. The Mets and White Sox talked about a deal involving Alexei Ramirez during spring training and he could go to Colorado in a Tulowitzki deal. Now it’s being reported that the Rockies would like to get young pitching in any type of deal involving Tulowitzki. So would Ramirez and a couple of the White Sox young pitching prospects not named Carlos Rodon be enough to get Tulowitzki. Would top White Sox pitching prospects like Francelis Montas, Spencer Adams or Tyler Danish along with Ramirez be enough to get Colorado to send Tulowitzki to the South side of Chicago. The White Sox have always found ways to make these type of deals; so I wouldn’t count them out of a Tulowitzki trade.

I thought it would be fun for Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I to do a 5 round fantasy draft of pitchers and use their hitting stats. Of course with us this took a lot longer than of should’ve, but we got it done. Here’s how are teams turned out. Dan the Man has Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants, Travis Wood, Chicago Cubs, Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies and Jorge De La Rosa, Colorado Rockies. Mr. Fantasy drafted Jason Hammel, Chicago Cubs, Josh Collmenter, Arizona Diamondbacks, Andrew Cashner, San Diego Padres, Shelby Miller, Atlanta Braves and Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds. My 5 pitchers are Kyle Kendrick, Colorado Rockies, Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Leake, Cincinnati Reds, Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals and Matt Harvey, New York Mets. We’re going to use Batting Average, Home Runs, RBI’s and Strikeouts. I’ll try to keep you updated as the season moves along and will see who’s team of hitting pitchers does the best at the end of the season. 

The 2nd race of the Triple Crown is today; the Preakness. While none of us picked the winner for the Kentucky derby Dan the Man’s picked did finish in 2nd place. Here’s who we’re going with to win the Preakness. Dan the Man is staying with his Kentucky Derby horse and has Firing Line to win today. Schaumburg Stu Likes the favorite American Pharoah to win. If he does he’ll have won the first 2 races of the Triple Crown. Mr. Fantasy likes the horse with Mr. in his name; that would be Mr. Z and I’m going with Divining Rod to get the Preakness win.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: May 13, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, hockey, NASCAR, sports
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We’ve been picking a fantasy players of the week this season for baseball. 1 hitter and 1 pitcher win the award every week.  I keep forgetting to post them; so I’m going to catch you up and cover who we’ve picked through 5 weeks of the season. Week 1 Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers and  Aroldis Chapman Cincinnati Reds. Week 2 Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles and Hector Santiego Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Week 3 Mark Teixeira New York Yankees and Gerrit Cole Pittsburgh Pirates. Week 4 Jose Altuve Houston Astros and David Price Detroit Tigers. Week 5 Bryce Harper Washington Nationals and Shelby Miller Atlanta Braves. You’re all caught up and now you can go back and look at the stats and see if you agree with us. We’ll pick our Fantasy players of the week on the Sunday podcast 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

What is going on with the scheduling for the NHL conference finals. The Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks don’t have a date for Game 1 of their series in Anaheim even though both teams wrapped up their series last week. There is a Game 7 tonight between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals, but that’s an Eastern conference game and shouldn’t have any affect on when the Blackhawks/Ducks series should start. The Tampa bay Lighting eliminated the Montreal Canadiens last night (Tuesday) 4-1 to win the series 4 games to 2. Tampa Bay gets the winner of the Rangers/Capitals game in the Eastern conference finals. I’m not saying that the Ducks/Blackhawks series should’ve started, but they could’ve played 1 game by now. I guess the NHL is waiting for all of the series to finish to announce the schedule for the conference finals. Tyler Johnson of Tampa Bay has scored the most goals in the playoffs with 8. Corey Perry of Anaheim has the most points with 15. While Lighting goalie Ben Bishop has won the most playoffs games with 8. Anaheim has had the best power play so far in the playoffs scoring 31% of the time they have a man advantage. At 3.89 goals a game Anaheim is averaging the most goals in a game as well. The Rangers have the best goals against average at 1.73. Of course the Rangers goals against will go up or down depending on how their game goes tonight.

Kyle Busch is having a good week. First it was announced that Busch would be returning for this Saturday’s All-Star race.  Busch received medical clearance from his doctors and NASCAR on Monday, but he has yet to make a start this season after suffering a compound fracture in his right leg and a broken left foot in the Feb. 21 season-opening XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway. The shorter All-Star race and its segment-and-break format should help Busch in his return. There was more good news for Busch because on Wednesday, NASCAR granted a waiver to the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver who will return to racing in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Despite missing the season’s first 11 races, NASCAR has waived the Chase requirement for Busch. Should he win one of the remaining 15 regular-season points races and make the top 30 in points or earn a spot based on his position in the points standings, he would be one of the 16 drivers in this year’s Chase field. Similar situations have come up before — three other drivers have been granted waivers since NASCAR re-tooled the Chase format before the start of the 2014 season. Tony Stewart, out for three races last summer after his involvement in an on-track fatality in a non-NASCAR sanctioned event, was given the all clear to pursue a Chase spot upon his return. Unlike Hamlin, Stewart was unable to qualify for the 10-race program. Before the start of the 2015 season, NASCAR announced driver Brian Vickers would be eligible for a Chase spot after missing this season’s first two races due to health issues. Kurt Busch was suspended for the first three races of the season as a result of domestic violence allegations made by former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. A Kent County (Delaware) family judge granted Driscoll a protective order, however the State Attorney General declined to file charges against the driver. Busch was reinstated and granted a Chase waiver. Last month, he won at Richmond and is currently in the provisional playoff field with the victory and a 14th-place points position. Last year, Denny Hamlin missed one race (at Auto Club Speedway), won one race (at Talladega Superspeedway) and was awarded one of the 16 Chase starting positions, and this year, Kyle Larson missed a race in March at Martinsville Speedway, but both drivers took part in Coors Light Pole Qualifying to remain Chase-eligible. I thought it was only fair on NASCAR’s part to give Busch the waiver and a shot at making the Chase. Now it’s up to Busch and his JGR racing team to win a race and get into the Chase.

I saw an odd quote from Chicago Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer and I’m disappointed that I was unable to find it for this blog. Hoyer mentioned something to the affect that the Cubs and the New York Mets have some matching pieces, but they hadn’t come to any kind of deal yet. I did see a report that the Mets inquired about Addison Russell, but I’d be surprised if the Cubs would deal him. It does appear that the Mets may be looking for a shortstop. Does that mean Starling Castro is headed to New York. I actually thought he’d be the guy to take Derek Jeter’s spot for the other New York team, but I was wrong. Castro has a very friendly contract, but if the Cubs move him what do they get in return. The Mets do have some quality pitching prospects in their minor league system, but aren’t the Cubs suppose to be on the verge of winning according to the Theo Epstein plan. If Castro is traded Russell would have no issues moving over to shortstop, but then who takes Russell place at 2nd base. Did  Arismendy Alcantara show you enough in the games he played with the Cubs to handle the everyday job at 2nd base. Alcantara was on the opening day roster and has since been demoted to Triple A Iowa. There’s also Javier Baez. Just imagine the strikeout total Baez could put up playing everyday. Looking at a deal like this I’m not sure what Hoyer meant by match up.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: May 9, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, NASCAR, sports
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Derrick Rose banked in a 3-pointer to give the Chicago Bulls a 99-96 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of their 2nd round playoff series. On the radio there was just as much talk after the game about a couple of other plays as there was Rose’s game winner. Late in the 3rd quarter LeBron James drove to the basket and was clearly tied up by Jimmy Butler for what should’ve been a jump ball. The referees saw it differently and called Butler for a foul. Then on the play right before Rose hit the game winning shot James ran at Rose banged into him and luckily for the Bulls the basketball ended up going out of bounds. I get it; there where 3 seconds left and no referee in the NBA is going to call a foul on the best player in the league in that situation. Fans rooting against the Cavaliers forget how much pull James seems to have. Remember 2 seasons ago he complained that the All-Star break wasn’t long enough and this season they magically had a couple of extra days added to All-Star weekend. Any referee who likes his job and wants to keep it is going to swallow his whistle when it comes to a play like that and James is involved. Was the first play a jump ball; yes. Was the second play a foul; yes. Was either play called correctly; no and they won’t be. I was a little surprised by the Bulls fans being as upset as they were with these two blatantly missed calls. I guess they forgot how the Bulls used to benefit from this same situation when Michael Jordan was wearing a Chicago uniform.

Rose led all scorers with 30 points and finally got to the free throw line in the series making 9 of 10 free throws. Rose was 10 of 26 from the field and 1 of 3 from behind the 3-point line. That means the only 3-pointer Rose hit was the last second bank shot to win the game. Butler had 20 points, Mike Dunleavy scored 16 points and Nikola Mirotic added 12 points off the bench. Pau Gasol was injured and played just a little under 22 minutes in Game 3. James led the Cavaliers with 27 points. James was 8 of 25 from the field and made just 1 of his 7 3-points attempts on the night. Kyrie Irving went 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point line, but those where the only 3 shots he made from the field going 3 for 13 while scoring 11 points. Tristan Thompson was the other Cavaliers starter to score double digit points with 10 while J.R. Smith scored 14 point off the bench included the late 3-pointer that tied the game at 96, .Matthew Dellavedova also came off the cavaliers bench to score 10 points. Game 3 is Sunday afternoon in Chicago with the Bulls holding a 2-1 series lead.

In the late game last night (Friday) the Los Angeles Clippers took a 2 games to 1 lead over the Houston Rockets in their Western conference 2nd round series by winning Game 3 124-99. J.J. Reddick went 5 of 6 from behind the 3-point line and 11 of 14 from the field overall for a game high 31 points. Austin Rivers scored 25 points and Blake Griffin added 20 points as the Clippers shot 55.4% from the field and 44.8% from behind the 3-point line in their win. The Rockets were led by James Harden with 25 points, but shot 39.8% from the field and 33.3% from behind the 3-point line in the game. Harden did hand out 11 assists and Dwight Howard had a double-double 14 each points and rebounds. In true Howard fashion he went 4 of 11 from the free throw line and as a team the Rockets where 18 of 31 (58.1%) from the free throw line. Chris Paul did return for the Clippers and played a little over 23 minutes. Game 3 is Sunday for these two teams in Los Angeles.

Have you ever thought that your favorite NFL team might be cursed or jinxed or something along those lines. If you’re a fan of the Jacksonville Jaquars and I know there are some of you out there you have to be wondering about this. Jacksonville had the 3rd pick in the draft last weekend and they decided to go with a pass rusher to help their defense instead of taking the player that most if not all experts thought was the best player in the draft;; Leonard Williams a defensive lineman. Since Jacksonville wanted a true edge rusher they drafted Dante Fowler Jr. a linebacker/defensive end with the 3rd pick. Well on the 1st day of rookie mini camp Fowler torn the ACL ligament in his left knee and will miss the 2015 season. Fowler was already talked about as a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate. It was report that Fowler’s left knee bent awkwardly during 11 on 11 drills and he had to be carted off of the field. Fowler was set to play Jacksonville’s “Leo” position in their defense. The Jaquars where also hoping a “high motor” player like Fowler would add to their young defense that finished 6th in the NFL last season with 45 sacks. Even though he;s out of college it looks like Fowler will be taking a red shirt year instead of rushing quarterbacks in the NFL.

The NASCAR circuit heads to the Kansas Speedway for The Spomgebob Squarepants 400 tonight. Joey Logano won the pole in qualifying yesterday  with a speed of 192.397 M.P.H. Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Carl Edwards round out the Top 5 qualifiers for the race. Dan the Man’s favorite driver Clint Bowyer starts 21st. This is the first race where Erik Jones will take over the #18 Jo Gibbs Racing (JGR) car from David Ragan who was filling in for an inured Kyle Busch. Ragan is now driving the #55 car for Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) for what looks like the rest of the race season. Brian Vickers started the season in the #55 car, but has been out with blood clots and there hasn’t been a timetable set for his return. Jeff Gordon is the defending champion and could use a win to lock down a spot in The Chase. Chris Olmstead from BeyondtheFlag.com was unable to join us on the podcast Friday to preview the race and give us his picks, but he will be joining us tomorrow to recap the race. We did receive Chris’s picks via e-mail. Here’s what he said ” I think there is going to be another different winner this weekend so I am going to go with Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon or Kasey Kahne”

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: May 6, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports
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If your favorite team plays in the NL Central and they’re not the St. Louis Cardinals is the best outcome you can hope for 2nd place already this season. When the Cardinals lost Adam Wainwright for the season with a torn Achilles I actually thought they might fall back to the other teams in the NL Central. Instead St. Louis is looking like the best team in baseball. They have the best record in baseball at 20-6 and are currently on an 8 game winning streak. Last night (Tuesday) St. Louis won a game started by Tyler Lyons. Lyons has 13 career starts; he is 2-8 with an ERA of 4.69 over 94 career innings. Now by no means was Lyons great last night against the Chicago Cubs he did keep the game close enough for the Cardinals to find a way to win the game. Lyons pitched 4 1/3rd innings giving up 6 hits, 4 runs 3 of which were earned. Lyons did strikeout 7 Cubs while walking 2 and did throw a wild pitch. Not the starting pitcher stat line you’d want every game for your team, but it was good enough last night. Of course it helps that the bullpen came through with 4 2/3rd scoreless innings. Mitch Harris picked up the win, Kevin Siegrist and Miguel Socolovich each qualified for a hold and Trevor Rosenthal close the game out to get his 9th save of the season. Down the road the Cardinals will have to find someone to be that 5th starter. Before Lyons, Tim Cooney got a start that didn’t go so well. Cooney lasted just 2 1/3rd innings giving up 7 hits, 3 runs all earned while walking 1 striking out 3 and giving up a home run. Will that 5th spot go to Marco Gonzales who almost won the spot out of spring training or will Jamie Garcia step back into the rotation once he recovers from injury. Garcia threw 70 pitches in an extended Spring Training game on Tuesday and is set to go out on a rehab assignment early next week. Gonzales has made 3 starts for Triple A Memphis this season. In 16 innings his ERA is 4.50 giving up 20 hits and 8 runs while walking 3 and striking out 13. Those are a couple of the options St. Louis might use as a 5th starter. There’s also a chance they’ll go out and make a trade a little later in the season, but St. Louis always seems to be able to fill these spots from within their  organization.

On the other end of the standings from the Cardinals, but in the NL East are the Philadelphia Phillies. Philadelphia is 10-18 through this early part of the season, but they still have the best trade piece on their roster. That begs the question; why is Cole Hamels still in a Phillies uniform? Is Philadelphia;s asking price still to high for Hamels? There have been some rumors that the Los Angeles Dodgers have kicked the tires on a deal involving Hamels. The report is that the Phillies asked for two of the three Dodgers top prospects plus. That would mean the Dodgers would have to move two of these three Joc Pedersen, Corey Seager or Julio Urias plus whatever you might have to toss in to fill out the deal. Is Hamels worth that? Don’t forget Hamels is signed through 2018 with an option for 2019. He’ll make $23.5 million every season and the 2019 option is for $20 million. Their is an option that will make his 2019 salary $24 million if it’s reached and there is also a $6 million buy out if his team doesn’t want to pick up that option. That sounds like a lot to ask for a pitcher who in 6 starts is 1-3 with an ERA of 4.14.

How much do the Cleveland Cavaliers miss Kevin Love? The Cavaliers dropped Game 1 of their 2nd round series to the Chicago Bulls at home 99-92. Cleveland will try to even up the series tonight. The Bulls where 10 of 18 (55.6%) from behind the 3-point line and 40 for 80 (50%) from the field. Can just a little better defense from Cleveland or a worse shooting night from the Bulls even this series up. The Bulls about rebounded the Cavaliers 42-39. If Love was healthy would he have altered this total. Love averaged 9.7 rebounds a game during the regular season and 7 per game in the 1st round playoff series. Or is all the Cavaliers need is J.R. Smith to return to the lineup. Smith was serving a suspension from the Cavaliers 1st round series and missed Game 1. Maybe if LeBron James just shoots better the Cavaliers will even this series. James was 9 for 22 (40.9%) from the field and didn’t make any of the his 3-point attempts; he took 3 in the game. James did have 15 rebounds and 9 assists in Game 1. Love injury is tough to factor into this series as it seemed like he never truly fit into the system. Is Cleveland having the best player in the NBA enough to get them past the Bulls in Round 2?

The other game tonight has the Los Angeles Clippers vs. the Houston Rockets. The Clippers took Game 1 of this series on the road 117-101. The other two series are tied at 1-1 as the Atlanta Hawks handed the Washington Wizards their first playoff loss 106-90 in Tuesday’s first game. In the nightcap the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Golden State Warriors 97-90 to give the Warriors their first playoff loss. I’ve never liked the way the NBA handles their playoff scheduling and this is one of the reasons why. The Hawks/Wizards series and the Warriors/Grizzlies series are off until Saturday. So all 4 teams played on Tuesday night and then they’re giving a 3 day break while the Bulls/Cavaliers series and the Rockets/Clippers series come back to play on Friday and then on Sunday. It just seems odd to me that two of the four series play every other day and the other two series manage to get a three day break in between  games 3 and 4. Of course this is part of the reason that the NBA playoffs run so long and by the time they actually crown a champion most of the casual fans no longer care who wins.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: May 2, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, Boxing, football, hockey, sports
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The 1st round of the NBA playoffs will wrap up tonight when the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers play Game 7 of their series tonight in Los Angeles. This has been the only interesting series of the first round. Even though the Milwaukee Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets found ways to win a couple games against their higher seeded opponents there was never any real doubt who would win those series. Even though the Washington Wizards where the #5 seed in their series against the Toronto Raptors; Washington was playing better basketball coming into the playoffs and it showed when they swept the series. The majority of these series were boring and uninteresting with the exception of the Spurs/Clippers series. As the NBA playoffs start the 2nd round let’s hope the games get better and more interesting.

Now the NHL has started the 2nd round of their playoffs and 3 out of the 4 games were great to start these series off. The Anaheim Ducks did have an easy time in Game 1 against the Calgary Flames winning 6-2. The Washington Capitals won Game 1 of their series against the New York rangers by scoring a goal in the final seconds of the 3rd period to steal a 2-1 victory. It took double overtime to settle Game 1 of the Montreal Canadiens/Tampa Bay Lighting series.. Nikita Kucherov scored in the 2nd overtime to win the game for Tampa Bay 2-1. The Chicago Blackhawks jumped out to a 3 goal lead in Game 1 of their series against the Minnesota Wild and looked like they would cruise to a victory. Minnesota turned around and scored the next 3 goals to even the game, but the Blackhawks managed to out 1 more puck in the net and take Game 1, 4-3. The 2nd round of the NHL playoffs got off to a great start and hopefully they’ll carry it on through these series.

I’ve always enjoyed watching the NFL draft, but this may be the last season I take the time to do that. I’ve tried watching the coverage on ESPN and the NFL Network and they both stink. They’ve spent way too much time just doing nothing. The picks get backed up 3 or 4 teams and it’s like neither network has never covered a draft before. Now I have no issue when things slow down to salute the military or have someone from a charity the NFL works with come out. It’s nice to see a former player like Jim Kelly or Rick Upchurch get the applause from the crowd for the battles they’re fighting. It’s even funny to see Ickey Woods announce a Cincinnati Bengals draft pick and “Shuffle” for the fans, but the NFL and the networks need to find a way to speed up the announcement of the picks. Rounds 4-7 start in about 4 hours and they are outside today, but luckily they’re going to get some good weather in Chicago for it. They also mentioned that the picks will be announced from the teams war rooms; so I’m interested to see how this works out and if it might speed things up a little.

On the Sports Time Radio podcast yesterday (Friday) we had Zach Alapi from http://www.TheLivingDaylights.co on with us to talk about the Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao boxing match that takes place tonight. Zach has Mayweather winning this fight by decision, but his staff was split on who would win. 3 of the writers on his website had Mayweather winning, but there where 2 writers who picked Pacquiao to win. On the podcast Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I all have Mayweather winning tonight and just like Zach we see the fight going to distance. On one of the sports networks I get they were actually announcing which celebrities were sitting ringside and all I could fins myself asking was; who cares. This is a fight boxing fans have been waiting for and why does it matter at all who’s sitting ringside. With the price of tickets who else did they think would be in those seats.

The other big event happening today is the Kentucky Derby. It’s the first race in the Triple Crown from Churchhill Downs. I made my pick on Wednesday and I’m sticking with Mubtaahji. Mr. Fantasy likes Danzig Moon and Dan the Man has Firing Line to win. I will caution people not to take our advise on horse racing as we know little to nothing about the sport and I’m pretty sure we all just took a name we liked. I actually do watch the derby, but I’m just interested in the actual race and I can do without all of the pre-race stuff. There are some experts who will tell you that horse racing and boxing are dying sports. Isn’t it interesting that they both ended up having huge events on the same day.

Last night in Fenway Park Alex Rodriguez tied Willie Mays on the all-time home run list with hitting his 660th home run. While this should be a celebrated event for baseball I could care less about it. There’s a pretty good chance that Rodriguez has been using some type of performance enhancing drug his entire baseball career and there were even some reports about him using P.E.D.’s in high school. The high school rumors were never proven, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. 660 home runs is a great accomplishment for a player who didn’t cheat the game. Is there anyone out there who even cares about this that’s not a New York Yankees fan. It was no real surprise that the Boston Red Sox fans booed Rodriguez when he was announced as a pinch hitter. Mike Shuster is the Red Sox fan who was sitting on top of the Green monster and caught Rodriguez’s 660th home run. Shuster has told the New York Post that he won’t be giving the baseball to Rodriguez. It is being reported to “stay tuned” to this story as Shuster might have a price. A Hall of Fame spokesman said they would accept Rodriquez’s 660th home run ball or “milestone” as the spokesman put it. Maybe they could put a side note on the ball explaining how Rodriguez got to this number, but I doubt they actually would.

Listen to Sports Time Radio on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

S.T.R. 1st round grades.

Posted: May 1, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in football, sports
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#1 Jameis Winston, Quarterback, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Is Winston a franchise quarterback? and will he be under center for the Buccaneers for the next 10-15 seasons? Off field issues are there as well; a lot of questions with this pick. C-

#2 Marcus Mariota, Quarterback, Tennessee Titans. A bit of a surprise here especially after seeing what they where offered to trade out of this spot. Hasn’t taken a snap from under center in quite a few years. He’ll need some time to adjust to the pro game. C

#3 Dante Fowler Jr. Defensive Line, Jacksonville Jaquars. They needed help rushing the quarterback and Fowler should help in that area. He’s a high motor guy who’ll have to be better against the run at the pro level. B

#4 Amari Cooper, Wide Receiver, Oakland Raiders. Derek Carr needs weapons and Cooper was the best receiver in the draft. He can be the #1 receiver the Raiders don’t currently have on their roster. B+

#5 Brandon Scherff, Offensive Line, Washington Redskins. They needed to protect their quarterback; so they drafted the best offensive lineman. A pick like this might help keep Robert Griffin III healthy and that’s a key for this team. B

#6 Leonard Williams, Defensive Line, New York Jets. I doubt the Jets would’ve believed that the best defensive player would be their for them with this pick. While it wasn’t the biggest need they had’ he was to good to pass up. Maybe they’ll deal one of their veteran defensive lineman. B

#7 Kevin White, Wide Receiver, Chicago Bears. A team with one of the worst defenses in the NFL took a receiver; interesting. White was a big hit at the scouting combine, but that doesn’t always translate to the pro level. D

#8 Vic Beasley, Defensive Line, Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta did just what they needed to do. They looked at their draft board and took the best defensive player they had on it. They’ll have to decide if Beasley will be a linebacker or a pass rush end in the pros. B-

#9 Ereck Flowers, Offensive Line, New York Giants. The Giants have weapons on offense; so it was a good move on their part to try and find a guy to help protect Eli Manning. Some experts had Flowers as the top offensive lineman in this draft. B

#10 Todd Gurley, Running Back, St. Louis Rams. This was the first real surprise for me. I thought Tre Mason had proved himself last season, but the Rams felt different. Gurley was injury prone in college and will have to hope that trend doesn’t follow him into the NFL. C-

#11 Tre Waynes, Defensive Back, Minnesota Vikings. This was the only cornerback compared to Darrelle Revis and Richard Sherman. He was left in man to man situations in college against the other teams best receiver. To good of a player to pass up on here. A

#12 Danny Shelton, Defensive Line, Cleveland Browns. Cleveland hung on to their two 1st round picks and used this one to address their defensive line. Shelton is a big, big man and should fit well as a nose tackle in a 3-4 system. B-

#13 Andrus Peat, Offensive Line. New Orleans Saints. Drew Brees is getting older and it’s never a bad pick to get him more protection. Peat could develop into a left tackle for the Saints for many, many years. B

#14 DeVante Parker, Wide Receiver, Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins have revamped their receiving core this off season and Parker is the next piece to that. Parker did miss some time last season with a knee injury, but was a good choice here for Miami. B

#15 Melvin Gordon, Running Back, San Diego Chargers. San Diego gave up the #17 pick along with the #117th pick (4th round) along with a 2016 5th round pick to move up 2 spots to draft Gordon. With Gurley gone San Diego felt the need to move up and get their guy, but they gave up quite a bit to do that. C

#16 Kevin Johnson, Cornerback, Houston Texans. Johnson is a taller defensive back and that’s a trend NFL teams look for. A solid cover guy with good speed and it fit the Texans need with some rumor that they may be looking to deal one of their veteran defensive backs. C+

#17 Arik Armstead, Defensive Line, San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers moved back two spots and still got the defensive lineman they wanted. It was a good deal for the 49ers and this pick should add to their defense that was weakened by retirements. B+

#18 Marcus Peters, Defensive Back, Kansas City Chiefs. Was this pick some insurance if Eric Berry isn;t ready to go at the start of the season. I think everyone had the Chiefs taking a wide receiver here, but instead the shore up the defensive backfield. C

#19 Cameron Erving, Offensive Line, Cleveland Browns. It was the defensive line help with the first #1 now the Browns add to the offensive line here. Erving is the utility man of offensive lineman as he can play any position along the line. B-

#20 Nelson Agholor, Wide Receiver, Philadelphia Eagles. Since the Eagles couldn’t trade up to get Mariota they selected a replacement for the wide receiver they lost in free agency. They could’ve went defense here, but this pick fits a need for them. C

#21 Cedric Ogbuehi, Offensive Line, Cincinnati Bengals. Another team that was thought to be going wide receiver, but instead decided to help protect their quarterback. Ogbuehi had a knee injury last season and as long as he’s over that he has a chance to be  in the NFL a long time. C+

#22 Bud Dupree, Linebacker, Pittsburgh Steelers. Some experts had Dupree as the best pass rushing linebacker in this draft and I bet the Steelers where thrilled when he was there when their pick came up. They need defensive help and they found it. A

#23 Shane Ray, Linebacker, Denver Broncos. Denver traded the 28th pick, the 143rd pick (5th round) in this draft. A 5th round pick in 2016 and veteran offensive lineman Manny Ramirez to move up 5 spots to draft Ray. I’ve heard Ray being compared to Von Miller, but remember he couldn’t get on the field in college as a junior because of Michael Sam. C

#24 D.J. Humphries, Offensive Line, Arizona Cardinals. Arizona’s downward spiral stared when Carson Palmer got hurt. They added a player to help protect him, but there is some question if they took the best offensive lineman on the board. D+

#25 Shaq Thompson, Linebacker, Carolina Panthers. This may have been the first reach in the 1st round. Thompson has shown to be a great athlete, but could Carolina have gotten him in the 2nd round. He does however fit their defensive system. C-

#26 Breshad Perriman, Wide Receiver, Baltimore Ravens. With Torrey Smith gone in free agency this was the pick a lot of experts expected Baltimore to make. Perriman did have some issues with dropped balls last season, but he’ll get to work with Steve Smith as he develops. C

#27 Byron Jones, Defensive Back, Dallas Cowboys. You have to think the Cowboys were hoping that one of the running backs would fall to this pick, but they did a smart thing and filled a need here. The Cowboys defense was better than expected last season and Jones will have to help them continue that this season. C+

#28 Laken Tomlinson, Offensive Line, Detroit Lions. The Lions may have been another team looking for a running back to fall and it was a bit of a surprise they took a offensive lineman after they got one in the deal to move back to this pick. There was a lot of talk they would take a defensive lineman here, but they didn’t. B

#29 Phillip Dorsett, Wide Receiver, Indianapolis Colts. I’m guessing no one had this pick right. Dorsett will factor into the return game right away and if he struggles as a receiver the Colts can give him time to learn. He is a true speed, stretch the field receiver. C-

#30 Damarious Randall, Defensive Back, Green Bay Packers. You could almost call Randall a cover safety. He was left to play quite a bit of man to man in college and that will be a big plus at the pro level. The Packers lost a lot in the defensive backfield this off season; so this was a logical pick. B

#31 Stephone Anthony, Linebacker, New Orleans Saints. This was the first inside linebacker to come off the board. This was also the Saints second 1st round pick. This is the pick they acquired in the Jimmy Graham trade. Anthony is a faster then most players at his position and should help the Saints defense right out of the gate. B

#32 Malcom Brown, Defensive Line, New England Patriots. I’m always surprised when the Patriots keep a 1st round pick; especially when it’s the last one of the round. They have to find a way to replace Vince Wolfork and Brown has the size New England likes to play that spot. B+

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: April 29, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports
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Max Scherzer signed a gigantic free agent contract this off season with the Washington Nationals and then must’ve forgotten that they where in the National League. Scherzer thinks the fans would like to see the DH in the National League instead of a pitcher swing a “wet newspaper” and that “both leagues need to be on the same set of rules.”. Then after San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner took Scherzer to task for his comments Scherzer took to his Twitter account and said that his comments were “In jest” and “taken out of context” in order to fit “a story with a specific agenda.”. I’m not sure I’m buying Scherzer’s defense here especially since these comments came out after he had to miss a start because he injured a thumb while batting. While Scherzer may have been the only player who mentioned he’d like to see the DH through out baseball there where quite a few experts and analyst who’d like to see this happen as well. All the DH talk really got rolling after St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright got injured in the batter’s box in his last start. St. Louis announced yesterday that Adam Wainwright would miss the rest of the season due to a torn Achilles in his left foot. Wainwright will have surgery this week, and is expected to miss between 9-12 months. I’ve seen the highlight of the at bat Wainwright got injured in and my question was did he get hurt hitting or did he get hurt as he was trying to run out of the batters box? For obvious reasons this hasn’t been mentioned by anyone who wants to see the DH adopted by the National League, but if Wainwright had a weak Achilles as it was would this injury had happened the next inning when he took the mound? While the injury occurred while he was hitting it’s easy to point fingers and say that’s why it happened and maybe it did, but there’s also a chance he injured it pushing off trying to run to 1st base. Of course if there was a DH in the National League the only way this injury would’ve happened to Wainwright was if it did happen while he was pitching because he wouldn’t of been near the batters box.

For me baseball was the first sports I ever played. There where no youth football leagues or basketball leagues when I was growing up; now there were a few hockey leagues, but they were very expensive not only to join the league, but to buy the equipment for as well. Of course there was Little League; which I only needed my baseball glove and a bat if my parents would buy one for me. Little League supplied the teams with bats, helmets and of course baseballs along with uniforms. Which I wore to my teams first practice game even though we weren’t suppose to. Now as I got older and learned more and more about the other sports what I liked about baseball was each league didn’t play each other and had a one different rule. Now in the NFL the AFC and NFC play by the same set of rules. In the NBA and the NHL the have an Eastern and Western conference, but they use the same set of rules. Then there was baseball were in the American League the pitcher didn’t hit, but in the National League just like my Little League team the pitcher batted. Now if you’re a little older than I am you will remember the pitchers hitting all the time; since the DH wasn’t adopted by the American League until 1973. Oddly though while playing Little League and moving through that system and into high school and college baseball the pitcher was always one of if not the best hitter on the team. I’m guessing since the DH is used through almost every minor league system a pitcher doesn’t work on his hitting at all while working his way top the big leagues. I’m sure there are some leagues that don’t use the DH, but the only other league I can think of that people might know that doesn’t use a DH is the .Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League in Japan.

I understand that baseball wants a younger demographic and they believe that offense will bring in a younger group; so I fully expect to see the DH used in both leagues very soon, but I hope they don’t do it. Baseball already took some of the luster off of the World Series for me by doing inter-league play. I didn’t mind inter-league play at first, but now with an inter-league series every week it ruined it for me very quickly. I’m really hoping that baseball sees that having a DH in just one league makes them interesting and different from any other professional sport, but sadly I think I’m on the losing end of that argument.

Are you ready for the NFL draft to start tomorrow? The draft is now a 3 days event as just the 1st round will tale place on Thursday..Rounds 2 and 3 take place Friday night and then rounds 4 through 7 are done on Saturday afternoon. Now there are a ton of smoke and mirrors going on with teams right now as they try to hide their interest in certain players. That’s why I was a little surprised when Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman came out and said the Vikings were more than interested in trading the 11th pick in the 1st round. Of course trades happen all the time during the draft with teams looking to move up or down to get their guy, but nomally a general manager doesn’t advertise it like Speilman did. Then I’m sure not to be out done Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones came out and said he expects the Cowboys to trade their 1st round pick. I’m sure no one is surprised at all that Jones found a way to get some press.

We have quite a interesting sports weekend coming up. There’s the NFL draft and baseball as I wrote about above, but there is also the NBA and the NHL playoffs going on; which may be in the 2nd round. There has been some talk about this Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather boxing match, but don’t forget the Kentucky Derby is also this Saturday. I’ll be the first to tell you I know nothing about horse racing, but if I was betting on the race I’d be putting my money on  Mubtaahij to win the Derby. .

NFL Draft 2010!

Posted: April 27, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in sports, football
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The NFL draft is Thursday and we always take a look back 5 years to see who teams selected then. You’ll hear coaches and front office people say it takes 5 years to know if a draft was good; so let’s look and see who’s good and who’s not.

The St. Louis Rams had the 1st pick and they took Sam Bradford, Quarterback, Oklahoma. I think it’s safe to say this pick was a bust for the Rams. In 5 seasons with the Rams Bradford only played in 49 games because of injuries. He went 18-30-1 in those games and the Rams dealt him this off season to the Philadelphia Eagles.

With the 2nd pick the Detroit Lions took Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska. Suh has made 4 Pro Bowls and 3 first team All-Pro selections in his 5 seasons. He has 36 career sacks and 181 tackles. While those aren’t huge numbers remember that he’s a defensive tackle not a push rushing end. Suh is the best defensive tackle in the NFL and the Miami Dolphins pais him like that this off season. Suh signed for 6 years and $114,375,000 million dollars with almost $60 million dollars guaranteed.

At #3 the Tampa bay Buccaneers selected Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma. McCoy has been voted to 3 Pro Bowls and 1 All-Pro team so far. He has missed a few games with injury issues, but still has 27 career sacks and 117 tackles. McCoy has been a good pick for Tampa Bay and he needs to stay healthy for them.

With the 4th pick the Washington Redskins picked Trent Williams, OT, Oklahoma. Williams was the 3rd Oklahoma player taken in the first 4 picks. Williams has been voted to the Pro Bowl the last 3 seasons. Williams has made 70 out of a possible 80 starts since being drafted. Left tackles always go high in drafts and Williams has been solid for Washington.

The Kansas City Chiefs had the 5th pick and took Eric Berry, Safety, Tennessee. Even though Berry has missed quite a bit of time with injuries and last season dealing with Hodgkin lymphoma he has still contributed when he’s on the field. Berry has played in 54 games and is a 3 time Pro Bowler and has made 1 All-Pro team. Berry has 8 career interceptions and has returned 3 for touchdowns. He has 5 1/2 career sacks and 250 tackles.

At #6 the Seattle Seahawks selected Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State. Due to injuries Okung has never played a full season for Seattle. He’s played in and started 59 out of a possible 80 games over 5 seasons. Okung has been voted to 1 Pro Bowl. Another building block left tackle who needs to stay healthy for his team.

With the 7th pick the Cleveland Browns took Joe Haden, Cornerback, Florida. Haden has made back to back Pro Bowl teams in 2013 and 14. He has 16 career interceptions and has returned 1 for a touchdown plus 2 sacks and 244 tackles. Haden has played in 72 career games and has started 63 of them. Haden is considered a shutdown corner for the Browns.

The Oakland Raiders had the 8th pick and selected Rolando McClain, Linebacker, Alabama. This pick didn’t work out for the Raiders and McClain actually missed the entire 2013 season because he was retired. He did return in 2014 with the Dallas Cowboys. McClain has 7 1/2 career sacks and 242 tackles along with 3 career interceptions. McClain was resigned by the Cowboys; so we’ll see how he does in 2015.

At #9 the Buffalo Bills took the first running back by selecting C.J. Spiller from Clemson. Spiller did make a Pro Bowl for the Bills, but never did turn into the elite type of running back Buffalo had hoped for. Spiller played in 70 games, but only started 36 of them. He did average 5.0 yards per carry and caught 204 passes for Buffalo. Spiller has 20 career touchdowns, 12 rushing, 6 receiving and 2 on kickoff returns. Spiller signed with the New Orleans Saints this off season.

With the 10th pick the Jacksonville Jaquars selected Tyson Alualu, DT, California. Since being drafted Alualu has played in all 80 games for Jacksonville and until last season had started everyone. He has 13 career sacks and 131 tackles and has played both defensive end spots and inside at defensive tackle for the Jaquars.

The San Francisco 49ers had the 11th pick and used it to take Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers. Since being drafted Davis has been San Francisco’s right tackle. Until he was injured last season Davis had started every game since being drafted. Davis missed 9 games last season due to injury, but has started the other 71 games for San Francisco.

At #12 the San Diego Chargers selected Ryan Matthews, Running Back, Fresno State. Matthews has pretty much been the poster boy for injury prone in his career. Matthews has played in 63 games out of a possible 80 and has started 53 of them. Matthews had two 1000 yards seasons and made 1 Pro Bowl. He has 4061 career rushing yards and 23 touchdowns along with 146 receptions, 1110 yards and 1 touchdown. Matthews signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent this off season.

With the 13th pick the Philadelphia Eagles took Brandon Graham, DE, Michigan. Graham’s career started off with some injuries, but he has played in every game the last 3 seasons. Graham is considered a pass rush specialist and has 17 career sacks to go along with 99 tackles. As a stand up outside linebacker last season he tied his career high in sacks with 5 1/2.

The Seattle Seahawks had the 14th pick; their 2nd of this round and took Earl Thomas, Safety, Texas. Thomas is a 4 time Pro Bowler and 3 time All-Pro pick so far. He is considered one of the top Safeties in the game. Thomas has played in and started all 80 games since being drafted. Thomas has 16 career interceptions and has returned 1 for a touchdown. Thomas also has 341 career tackles.

At #15 the New York Giants selected Jason Pierre-Paul, DE, South Florida. Pierre-Paul has played in 75 out of a possible 80 games since being drafted and has started 49 games. He has 42 career sacks with a career high of 16 1/2 coming in 2011. Pierre-Paul also has 2 interceptions and they’ve both been returned for touchdowns. He is a 2 time Pro Bowl and has made 1 All-Pro team.

With the 16th pick the Tennessee Titans took Derrick Morgan, DE, Georgia Tech. The Titans where hoping for a double digit sack guy when they drafted Morgan and while he’s never had that many sacks in a season he did tie his carrer high last season getting 6 1/2 sacks. He has 23 career sacks and 132 career tackles. Morgan has played in 66 games for Tennessee starting 56 of them.

 The San Francisco 49ers had the 17th pick and selected Mike Iupati, OG, Idaho. This was the 49ers second 1st round pick and also their second offensive lineman drafted. Iupati has been to 3 Pro Bowls and has made 1 All-Pro team. Iupati has played in and started 75 out of a possible 80 games for San Francisco since being drafted. 

At #18 the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Maurkice Pouncey, C, Florida. Pouncey has made 4 Pro Bowls and has been voted to 2 All-Pro teams. His only non Pro Bowl season was 2013 when he only played in 1 game due to injury. Pouncey has played in and started 62 games since being drafted by Pittsburgh.

With the 19th pick the Atlanta falcons picked Sean Weatherspoon, Linebacker, Missouri. Weatherspoon has played in just 47 games since being drafted due to injuries. He did start 41 of those games, but he didn’t play all last season because he was injured. Weatherspoon has 8 career sacks and 216 tackles; he also has 2 career interceptions and returned 1 for a touchdown.

The Houston Texans had the 20th pick and they took Kareem Jackson, Conerback, Alabama. Jackson has played in 74 games for Houston starting 71 of them. He has 10 career interceptions with 1 being returned for a touchdown. Jackson also has 241 career tackles. 

At #21 the Cincinnati Bengals selected Jermaine Gresham, Tight End, Oklahoma. Gresham has made 2 Pro Bowls, but I’m not sure he’s turned into the type of game breaking tight end the Bengals thought he would. Gresham has played in 74 games; starting 67 of them. He has 280 career receptions and has caught 24 touchdown passes. 

With the 22nd pick the Denver Broncos took Demaryius Thomas, Wide Receiver, Georgia Tech. Thomas has made the last 3 Pro Bowls and has turned into one of the top receiving threats in the NFL. He had his first 100 catch season last season grabbing 111 passes. He has also caught double digit touchdown passes the last 3 seasons along with going over 1000 yards receiving. Thomas has 351 career receptions, 5317 career yards and 41 career touchdowns.

The Green Bay Packers had the 23rd pick and they selected  Bryan Bulaga, OT, Iowa. Bulaga has battled injuries his entire career and hasn’t played a full season since his rookie year. He missed all of the 2013 season due to injury. Bulaga has played in just 52 out of a possible 80 games since being drafted and has started 48 of those games.

At #24 the Dallas Cowboys picked Dez Bryant, Wide Receiver, Oklahoma State. There where some issues with Bryant coming out of college; so he fell in this draft and the Cowboys where the team that benefited from that. Bryant has been a very good pro making the Pro Bowl and last 2 seasons and the All-Pro team last season. Bryant led the NFL in receiving touchdowns last season with 16. Bryant has 381 career receptions, 5424 career yards and 56 career touchdowns. Bryant also returned 2 kickoffs for touchdowns as a rookie.

With the 25th pick the Denver Broncos selected Tim Tebow, Quarterback, Florida. What can you say about Tebow. He started 16 games in his NFL career; so far. Remember he was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles this off season to a 1 year deal. He threw 17 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions in his career. Tebow did rush for 12 touchdowns during his career and even took the Broncos to the playoffs in 2011.

The Arizona Cardinals used the 26th pick on Dan Williams, DT, Tennessee. Williams didn’t turn into the run stopper the Cardinals had hoped he would, but he does have 113 career tackles and 2 sacks. Williams has missed some time due to injuries as he’s played in 70 of a possible 80 games and has started 40 of those games.

At #27 the New England Patriots selected Devin McCourty, Conerback, Rutgers. McCourty made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and even though he hasn’t been back he’s still a important member of the Super Bowl champions defense. McCourty has played in and started 77 out of 80 games since New England drafted him. He has 17 career interceptions, 303 career tackles and 1 career sack.

With the 28th pick the Miami Dolphins picked  Jared Odrick, DT, Penn State. Odrick has played in 65 games for the Dolphins starting 41 of them. He was their starter for all 16 games last season. He has a career 16 1/2 sacks and 104 tackles and even has 1 interception. Odrick has played 3 different spots for the Dolphins. He’s been inside at Defensive tackle, on the outside as an end and even played some linebacker for Miami.

The New York Jets had the 29th pick and they used it to take Kyle Wilson, Conerback, Boise State. Wilson has played in all 80 games since being drafted, but he’s started just 28 of those games. Wilson has been used mostly in nickel and dime coverage. He has 3 career interceptions to go along with 139 tackles and even recorded his 1st career sack last season.

At #30 the Detroit Lions selected Jahvid Best, Running Back, California. Best only played in 22 games because of concussion issues. He had 945 career rushing yards with 6 touchdowns as well as 85 career receptions for 774 yards and 3 receiving touchdowns. 

With the 31st pick the Indianapolis Colts selected Jerry Hughes, DE, TCU. Hughes spent just 3 seasons with the Colts before moving to the Buffalo Bills. Hughes has had back to back seasons of 10 sacks and has 25 for his career. Sadly for Indianapolis those numbers cane with the Bills. Hughes has played in 72 games; starting 24 of them and again sadly for the Colts 16 of those starts came with Buffalo last season.

The New Orleans Saints had the 32nd and last pick of the 1st round. New Orleans used that pick to take Patrick Robinson, Conerback, Florida State. Robinson has played in 58 of 80 games in his career; starting 33 of those games. He has 9 career interceptions with 1 being returned for a touchdown. Robinson has made 150 career tackles and has 1 sack in his career.

Here are some other names you might know from this draft. In the 6th round with pick #195 the Steelers took Antonio Brown. Also in the 6th round the Carolina Panthers used pick #175 on Greg Hardy. In the 5th round with pick #133 the Seahawks took  Kam Chancellor. Also in the 5th round the Bengals found Geno Atkins with the 120th pick.

How did your team ed up doing in the 2010 draft?

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com and follow me on Twitter @burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: April 25, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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The NBA is in the 1st round of it’s playoffs and most series have played 2 or 3 games and a few teams have chances to close out their series today. There is just 1 series where each teams has won a basketball game. That series is the San Antonio Spurs vs. the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers won Game 1 of the series by 15 points, 107-92 and there were quite a few experts saying that the Spurs were done after just 1 game. They seemed to have forgotten that the Spurs were one of the hotter teams heading into the playoffs and the only reason they were facing the Clippers was because the Western conference standings were so tight that when they lost their last game of the season they feel from the 2nd or 3rd seed down to the 6th seed. So with the Spurs being declared out of the series after 1 game they turned around and took home court advantage in the series by winning Game 2 111-107. Game 3 was last night (Friday) in San Antonio and if you would’ve told me that one of these teams would win this game by 27 points I would’ve thought you were crazy. Kawhi Leonard scored 32 points and the Spurs beat the Clippers 100-73 to go up 2 game to 1 in the series. Besides Leonard only 2 other Spurs players scored in double figures and neither of them was named Tim Duncan, Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili. It was Boris Diaw (15) and Danny Green (11) would scored double digit points in San Antonio’s win. The Clippers shot 34.1% from the field and 6-23 from behind the 3-point line. Blake Griffin going 6-15 from the floor and 2-3 from the free throw line and led the Clippers in scoring with 14 points. Chris Paul struggled from the field going 3-11 and Jamal Crawford had a horrible shooting night going just 1-11 from the floor. Austin Rivers scored 11 points and DeAndre Jordan had 10 points; as the only other Clippers who scored in double figures. San Antonio has found different ways to win Game 2 and Game 3 and with Game 4 Sunday in San Antonio do the Spurs have a 3rd different way to win a game in this series. Does Game 3 become a must win for the Clippers or would they have a shot at winning the series if they went back to Los Angeles down 3 games to 1.

Now when the NBA playoffs started there was a lot of complaining that there were teams that finished the regular season under .500 that made the Eastern conference playoffs. With the way the 1st round of the playoffs have went is that the biggest problem or could the issue be that there are too many teams in the playoffs. Besides San Antonio the Washington Wizards are the only other lower seeded team to win a playoff game. The Wizards went into the playoffs as a #5 seed and were matched up against the Toronto Raptors. It’s not a huge surprise that the Wizards are winning this series as there’s not a lot of difference between a #4 and #5 seed, but the Raptors really struggled down the final stretch of the regular season. If the playoffs went from 16 teams to 12 teams no under .500 teams would’ve made it. The Milwaukee Bucks where 41-41 and are the 6th seed in the Eastern conference. Now lowering the number of playoff teams will never happen, but when the 1st round plays out like this doesn’t it take some of the excitement out of it. Now the Memphis Grizzlies/Portland Trailblazers series has just played 2 games; so maybe something will happen their with Memphis up 2 games to 0 and Game 3 today. The Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets have only played 2 games with Atlanta winning both of them, but does anyone think Brooklyn will win a game in this series. Atlanta is the eastern conferences #1 seed while Brooklyn barely found it’s way into the playoffs. While there has been a game here or there that has been exciting I’m not sure this is the 1st round the NBA had hoped for.

I took a chance last season on my fantasy teams and late in both drafts I managed to get Yordano Ventura of the Kansas City Royals. He had a very good rookie season going 14-10 with a 3.20 E.R.A, in 30 regular season starts and was one of the big reasons the Royals found themselves playing Game 7 of the World Series last season. In the off season the Royals decided not to re-sign James Shields and allow Ventura to become the ace of the pitching staff. So this season Ventura has made 4 starts; he is 2-1 with a 4.09 E.R.A. over 22 innings so far. In what may be some kind of record in his last 3 starts the benches have cleared and he’s been right in the middle of it. Now when this happened in his start against the Oakland A’s in understood it. Ventura hit Brett Lawrie who had taken out the Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar with a slide into 2nd base the game before. The pitch hit Lawrie low and even Lawrie acted like he knew it was coming and just went to 1st base. Ventura  escalated the situation by barking at Lawrie who was going up the 1st base line while Ventura was leaving the game. That didn’t bother me too much as Ventura was just defending a teammate. In Ventura’s start before that against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim/ After Mike Trout scored a run and with Ventura was backing up home plate they started to exchange words over something and this led to the benches emptying. Then in his last start against the Chicago White Sox Adam Eaton hit a ball back up the middle that Ventutra fielded. While Eaton was running the ball out Ventura started barking at him more or less because he hit the ball back up the middle which is something I heard Ventura doesn’t like when hitters do. This led to yet another bench clearing for the Royals and there where even some punches thrown. There have also been reports that White Sox pitcher Chris Sale tried to get in the Royals clubhouse to find Ventura and continue the fight. Now I understand that pitchers are going to throw at batters and there’s going to be times when players get upset and it will lead to on field fights, but in your last 3 starts. Kansas City looks like they have a very good team again and may have a shot to get into the playoffs, but can they do that with their best pitcher starting fights every time he takes the mound. Then you also have to wonder how many more times are Royals hitters going to be understanding about getting drilled because of something Ventura did or said. Is it time for major league baseball to step in and suspend or fine Ventura for his actions or will the Royals be able to police themselves and get their ace under control.

Now the 1st round of the NHL playoffs are also going on and 2 of their series have already ended. The Anaheim Ducks swept the Winnipeg Jets 4 games to 0 and the New York Rangers closed out the Pittsburgh Penguins 4 games to 1 last  night. I was a little disappointed to see Sidney Crosby go out of the playoffs in the 1st round and his team not even out up much of a fight. There is a chance that 3 more series will come to an end tonight. The Washington Capitals have a chance to close out the New York Islanders. The Chicago Blackhawks can eliminate the Nashville Predators and the Calgary Flames can send the Vancouver Canucks home with a win. The Tampa Bay Lighting hist the Detroit Red Wings as well today, but that series is tied at 2 games apiece.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 22, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, Boxing, football, hockey, NASCAR, sports
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Last Sunday at Bristol motor speedway NASCAR held the Food City 500 in support of Steve Byrnes and Stand up to Cancer. On Sunday morning Chris Olmstead from www.BeyondtheFlag.com was on the Sports Time Radio podcast to preview the race. I always make Chris select 3 drivers who might end up in victory lane at the end of the race. Chris mentioned pay close attention to the drivers from Joe Gibbs racing (JGR) ans sure enough Matt Kenseth in the #20 car who started on the pole won the race. By the way Kenseth drives for JGR. Chris will be back on the podcast Friday with Dan the Man and I to preview the Toyota Owners 400 at the Richmond International Raceway this Saturday. Chris has been on a role picking winners on the podcast; so who will he go with for Saturday’s race.

Sadly for NASCAR Steve Byrnes passed away on Tuesday at the age of 56, but at least they were able to put his name on a race and pay tribute to the announcer. Due to his Illness Byrnes was unable to attend the race, but it was reported that he watched on television and even tweeted during the race.  During Sunday’s race, crewmen from every team stood on the pit wall with signs from the Stand Up To Cancer organization that read “I stand up for Steve.” Byrnes took a leave of absence from Fox Sports October of 2014 to focus on his treatment.  From 2001 until 2014, he was a pit reporter for NASCAR on Fox. Byrnes served as a fill-in studio host and lap-by-lap announcer for NASCAR on Fox whenever Chris Myers or Mike Joy, respectively, were not available. As of 2014, Byrnes was the co-host of Fox Sports 1‘s NASCAR Race Hub, and was expected to be the lead announcer for the Camping World Truck Series in 2015.

We’re about a week and a half away from the boxing match that everyone has been waiting for. Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather get in the ring to box on May 2nd and yesterday it was announced that Kenny Bayless would referee the fight. The 64-year-old Nevada native, who has refereed five of Mayweather’s bouts and seven of Pacquiao’s and has officiated 100 title fights. The  Nevada State Athletic Commission also announced the 3 judges for the fight. Dave Moretti and Burt Clements of Nevada and Glenn Feldman of Connecticut had been appointed for the fight. Mayweather and Pacquiao have been considered the best pound-for-pound boxers of their generation but a host of issues — including differences over drug testing protocols as well as revenue splits and broadcaster conflicts — have stopped the two meeting in the ring. Both are coming to the end of their careers and have established interests elsewhere. According to Forbes, Mayweather, 38, is the highest paid athlete in world sport. While Pacquiao, who is 36, has run for political office in his native Philippines. Who do you have winning this fight?

While it’s still very, very early in the baseball season did you have the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and New York Mets getting out of the gate at 11-3. Maybe you had the Milwaukee Brewers going 2-12 at this point, but did you have the Miami Marlins just 1 game ahead of them at 3-11. Of course it’s way, way too early to panic it is fun to say that the Houston Astros are in 1st place in the American League West. Remember when the Seattle Mariners signed Nelson Cruz and the experts said his home run total would go down. Well he has 8 home runs through 14 games. Joey Votto looks a lot like the Joey Vottto of old as he has 6 home runs. Cruz and Adam Jones each have 16 RBI’s to lead major league baseball. Jones and Adrian Gonzalez are both hitting .442 while Billy Hamilton has 8 stolen bases and Dee Gordon is just 1 steal behind him with 7. Just like the standings it’s just too early to go nuts over these stats, but they’re always fun to look at and if you’re a fantasy baseball player they’re relevant to you. Looking back I realized that I forgot to name a fantasy player and pitcher of the week in Saturday’s blog. I believe I would’ve went with Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles as my fantasy player of the week and I’m going to go with Hector Santiago of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as the pitcher of the week.

Yesterday was the official release of the NFL schedule and I don’t understand why it’s such a huge deal. There where two specials on the schedule. Now we’ve known who was going to play who we just didn’t know the dates of these games and now we do. The New England Patriots open the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I did find it kind of funny that the Tennessee Titans are actually playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1. In Week 2 the Seattle Seahawks play the Green Bay Packers in a playoff rematch. In Week 12 we’ll get what might be our last Peyton Manning/ Tom Brady match up when Brady’s Patriots go to Denver to play Manning’s Broncos. There are 4 teams the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaquars all have 3 game road trips scheduled. To be fait though Atlanta’s 3 game road trip has them facing  the Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers and the Jaquars. A lot of people are point out that none of the three teams that could potentially relocate to Los Angeles in 2016 will play at home on the final Sunday of the regular season. These same people also think that this is no accident that the San Diego Chargers, Si. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders will be spared the possibility of awkward goodbyes as lame-duck teams.. What kind of schedule draw did your favorite team get?

The NHL and NBA playoffs are just getting into the 1st round games; so we’ll look at those a little more in Saturday’s blog. There is a chance we might have a series over with by then. Well I should say an NHL series might be over as with the way the NBA playoff schedule is there’s a 0% chance a series will be done.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

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