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How was your week

Posted: December 10, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports
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The Oakland Raiders have to be considered one of the surprise teams of this NFL season. While I think most pundits had the Raiders improving on their 7-9 2015 record I don’t remember any of them saying the Raiders would get to double digit wins. Oakland has 10 wins right now and they have three games left in this season. The Raiders where in 1st place coming into Thursday nights game against the Kansas City Chiefs and they went out and had what was probably there worst game of the season. Oakland lost 21-13 to the Chiefs Thursday night and the game brought up some questions about the Raiders. Being that it was a short week; was it just a bad night? Is Kansas City that good? or the more pressing question could be; how hurt is Derek Carr? Carr injured the pinky on his throwing hand in the Raiders 38-24 win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 13. Carr left the game for a short period of time, but returned to lead the Raiders to a victory. Carr had his worst game of the season, but even with that he had the Raiders in position to possible tie the game late in the 4th quarter. Oakland had a 4th and 1 on the Kansas City 14 yard line with 2:06 left in the game. A false start penalty made it 4th and 6 from the Kansas City 19 yard line. Carr tried to connect with Seth Roberts on a possible game tying touchdown, but the pass fell incomplete and the Raiders turned the football over on downs allowing the Chiefs to run out the clock. Carr was 17 of 41 for just 117 yards. He was also sacked 1 time for -8 yards. The loss drops the Raiders into the first wild card spot, but they are three games ahead of the next closet wild card team. Should Carr be rested to allow his pinky time to heal before the Raiders head into the playoffs? or should he try to play through it? Week 15 has the Raiders in San Diego to face the Chargers. Week 16 they’re home against the Indianapolis Colts and they end the season on the road in Week 17 against the Denver Broncos. Now winning the division still isn’t out of the questions as the Chiefs play the Tennessee Titans at home in Week 15. Week 16 they host the Broncos and the Chiefs also end the season on the road as they play in San Diego against the Chargers in Week 17. The Raiders advantage is that the Titans and the Broncos are still in playoff contention and the Chiefs have to face both of them while the Raiders will just see the Broncos. So that makes the quarterback question even tougher. Is winning the division enough of a motive to continue to play Carr or is resting that pinky injury more important? If you’re a Raiders fan; what would you like to see them do with David Carr?

There was an interesting debate this week on which running back either Ezekiel Elliott or David Johnson is he front runner for M.V.P. Elliott is currently the NFL’s leading rusher with 1285 yards and has 12 rushing touchdowns through 13 weeks. Johnson is 3rd in rushing with 1005 yards and has 11 rushing touchdowns. Johnson is more involved in the Arizona passing game than Elliott is for Dallas. Johnson has caught 64 passes for 704 yards and has 4 receiving touchdowns. Elliott has 28 receptions for 322 yards and a touchdown. Of course Elliott’s Cowboys are 11-1 and are the first team to clinch a playoff spot. Johnson’s Cardinals are 5-6-1 and are currently 2 games out of a wild card spot. In most cases a quarterback is the front runner for M.V.P. so it’s a little different to see a couple of running backs being talked about for the award. While I’m still thinking that Tom Brady will end up winning the M.V.P. award, but how would you separate these running backs. I guess it depends on what the word valuable means to you. (Valuable meaning) Is a running back who’s going to be on a playoff team more valuable than a all around running back on a team that looks like it won’t make the playoffs. The Cowboys are touted as having the best offensive line in the NFL. Does that diminish Elliott’s accomplishments? On the other hand the Cardinals have just 5 wins and you have to wonder where they would be if Johnson wasn’t on the team. With three weeks to go will have to see what kind of numbers these two running backs continue to put up and if they can stay even it will be up to the voters to decide. Now if you had a vote who’s your NFL M.V.P.?

The baseball winter meetings wrapped up with two veteran players finding new teams. Fernando Rodney signed a 1-year $2.75 million dollar deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. There are appearance bonuses in Rodney’s contract that could boost it up tp $4 million if he hits them all. Rodney turns 40 next March and split last season between the San Diego Padres and the Miami Marlins. With San Diego Rodney was 0-1 with an E.R.A. of 0.31 with 17 saves. In Miami Rodney went 2-3 with an E.R.A. of 5.89 and 8 saves. Will Rodney be used as a closer in Arizona or will the Diamondbacks find someone else to close with Rodney as the set up guy with closing experience. The other signing saw Dexter Fowler leave the World Series champion Chicago Cubs to join there division rival the St. Louis Cardinals on a 5-year $82.5 million dollar deal. The Cardinals where in the market for an outfielder; preferably a centerfielder; so I’m not surprised they signed Fowler. What is a bit of a surprise to me is the length and the dollars involved with the signing. Fowler hit .276 last season with 13 home runs. Fowler has always been looked at as a lead off type of hitter, but he had just 13 stolen bases last season. Fowler did walk 79 times last season and had an On Base Percentage of .393. Fowler turns 31 next March; so he’ll be in a Cardinals uniform until he’s 36 as his deal also includes a full no trade clause. Do you like Fowler as the Cardinals centerfielder?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com don’t forget that you can also listen to the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

 

Chicago Bulls 95 San Antonio Spurs 91

Posted: December 9, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The San Antonio Spurs cane into The United Center last night having won all 13 of their road games this season. The Chicago Bulls where on a 3 game losing streak coming into the game. Of course that means that the Bulls won the game 95-91 because that’s how things go; I guess.

The score was tied three different times in the 1st quarter and the biggest lead any team built was when the Bulls took a 7 point lead 19-12 after Doug McDermott made a lay up with 2:53 left in the quarter. It was a relatively low scoring 1st quarter, but the Bulls ended it with a 21-17 advantage.

San Antonio cut the leas to 2 points a couple of times early in the 2nd quarter, but the Bulls were able to pull away as the Spurs could manage just 15 points in the quarter. Dwayne Wade hit a 3-pointer with .07 seconds left in the quarter to give the Bulls a 45-32 lead at halftime.

The Bulls where able to get the lead to 15 points before the Spurs started to make up a little ground. San Antonio outscored the Bulls 31 to 27 in the 3rd quarter and ended the quarter on a 11-2 run. The 3rd quarter ended with the Bulls up 9 points 72-63.

The first basket of the 4th quarter was a 3-pointer by Patty Mills to get the Spurs to within 6 points, but that’s as close as they would get. San Antonio did manage to outscore the Bulls again in the 4th quarter 28 to 23, but that wasn’t enough to over come there slow first half and the Bulls ended up with a 95-91 win.

Dwayne Wade led the Bulls in scoring with 20 points. Jimmy Butler was just 4 for 14 from the field while scoring 13 points. Taj Gibson, Robin Lopez and Rajon Rondo all scored 12 points. Rondo just missed a triple-double as he tied for the game high with 10 rebounds and handed out a game high 9 assists.

Kawhi Leonard was the Spurs and the games leading scorer with 24 points. Patty Mils came off the Spurs bench and hit 4 of the 6 3-point sots he took on his way to 16 points. In his return to Chicago Pau Gasol scored 13 points and tied for the game high with 10 rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge also added 10 points for San Antonio.

The win put the Bulls two games over .500 at 12-10. Chicago gets a day off before they host the 7-15 Miami Heat Saturday night. The loss dropped the Spurs to 18-5 on the season and ended there short three game road trip. San Antonio also returns top action Saturday night as they head home to face the 6-15 Brooklyn Nets.

Detroit Pistons 102 Chicago Bulls 91

Posted: December 7, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Detroit Pistons got there fourth win in five games last night as they beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The win gets the Pistons over .500 on the season at 12-11. This was the third loss in a row for the Bulls and there record fell to 11-10.

Is it time to look at the Bulls schedule and question if fatigue is an issue. The Bulls had a solid 7-game west coast road trip going 4-3. That road trip ended November 25th and they got four days off before playing there next game. Then starting with there game November 30th the Bulls will play 10 games in 12 days. While seven of the game at  home there is travel involved. Earlier the Bulls had a the 2nd of a back to back in Dallas. Last nights game was also the 2nd of a back to back and they went from Chicago to Detroit. Now that’s not a terrible travel, but being the 2nd game of a set could be the issue. The Bulls have five games left in this set of games. They end with a set of back to back games against the Milwaukee Bucks on December 15th and 16th.

The Pistons started the game with three 3-point shoots. They made two and Reggie Jackson was fouled on his and made 2 of his 3 free throws to give the Pistons an 8-0 lead to start the game. The Bulls went on a 9-2 run to get right back in the game at 10-9. The Pistons went on to control the rest of the 1st quarter scoring 22 points to the Bulls 11. Detroit took a 32-21 lead after one quarter.

The Pistons built there lead to 17 points with 3:47 left in the 2nd quarter at 51-34 after an Andre Drummond dunk. Drummond’s dunk was the last points the Pistons would score in the quarter as the Bulls did there best to cut down the lead. Chicago scored the final 10 points of the quarter to cut the Detroit lead to 7 points at 51-44 going into halftime.

The Bulls hit the first 6 points of the 3rd quarter and cut the lead to 1-point at 51-50. The Pistons built the lead back to 5-points at 57-52, but then the Bulls went on a 12-5 run to tie the game at 64 all. From there the teams traded the lead seven times in the final 4:11 of the quarter and it was the Bulls that ended up with a 72-71 lead after three quarters.

The Pistons came back at the beginning of the 4th quarter to take the lead at 76-75 and never gave the lead up again. Darrun Hilliard hit a lay up with 5:48 left in the game to extend the Pistons lead to 10 at 89-79. The Bulls never got any closer than 6 points as the Pistons pulled away for a 102-91 win.

Tobias Harris was the Pistons leading scorer with 22 points. Andre Drummond had 15 points and tied for the game high in rebounds with 10. Marcus Morris scored 15 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 12 points. Ish Smith came off the Pistons bench to lead the game in assists with 10.

Jimmy Butler was the Bulls and the games leading scorer with 32 points. Dwayne Wade had 19 points and a team high 7 assists while Taj Gibson had a double-double scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to tie for the game high. Rajon Rondo returned from his one game suspension to add 10 points.

Detroit has to turn around and play again tonight as they’ll travel to Charlotte to face the 12-9 Hornets. The Bulls get a day off before they face one of the top teams in the Western Conference. On Thursday night the Bulls play the 18-4 San Antonio Spurs.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: December 7, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports
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Pretty  much since the 2016 season the talk has been that the Chicago White Sox had to trade Chris Sale and start there rebuilding process. Now just about every team had been rumored to be in on Sale and you can’t blame them. It was looking like the Washington nationals where the front runner to land Sale, but they weren’t willing to give the White Sox two top prospects. In the end the Nationals where left holding the bag as the Boston Red Sox stepped up and gave the White Sox four of their Top 30 prospects for Sale. The Red Sox sent #1 minor league prospect Yoan Moncada, right handed pitchers Michael Kopech and Victor Diaz plus outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe to Chicago for Sale.

Sale was the 13th pick of the 1st round in 2010 by the White Sox. He made his debut that same year. Sale didn’t become a starter until 2012, but has finished in the Top 6 of the Cy Young voting since then. Sale is 70-47 as a starter. Sale has had over 200 strikeouts the last four seasons and led the A.L. in 2015 with 274 strikeouts. Sale led the A.L. in complete games last season with 6. It’s tough to give up a pitcher like Sale as he is a true ace. It will be a few seasons before we know how this trade will be evaluated. Moncada did play in 8 games and got 20 at bats at the major league level last season, but spent most the year in Double-A where he hit .277 with 11 home runs. It appears as though Moncada will play 3rd base, but he spent the majority of his time at 2nd base in the minors. Kopech finished last season at high Class-A where he made 11 starts going 4-1 with an E.R.A. of 2.25. Kopech throws 100 m.p.h. but is still a few seasons away from being a factor in the White Sox rotation. Diaz spent all of last season at Class-A. He pitched in 37 games all in relief and had 10 saves. Diaz record was 2-5 and his E.R.A. was 3.88. Basabe spent most of last season on the same team as Diaz before being moved up to high Class-A for 5 games. Basabe hit .264 combined with 12 home runs and 53 RBI’s. Basabe did steal 25 bases. Moncada is 20, Kopech is 20, Diaz is 22 and Basabe is 20; so while we may see Moncada in a White Sox uniform it will be a while before the other players acquired in this reach the major league level.

Sale will be added to a Red Sox rotation that features 2016 Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello, David Price and it looks like the other two rotation spots are to be decided between Clay Buchholz, Steven Wright, Drew Pomeranz  or Eduardo Rodriquez. Right now it doesn’t look as though the Red Sox other top pitching prospect Henry Owens will be in this battle.

While Sale was the biggest move the Red Sox made it wasn’t the only move they made on Tuesday. Earlier in the day they sent 3rd baseman Travis Shaw and minor leaguers Mauricio Dubon and Josh Pennington to the Milwaukee Brewers for set up man Tyler Thornburg. Shaw can play 3rd and 1st base hit .242 with 16 home runs with 71 RBI’s last season. Dubon is a shortstop who finished the year at Double-A where he hit .339 in 62 games. Pennington made 13 starts in low Class-A last season going 5-3 with a 2.86 E.R.A. Thornburg appeared in 67 games for Milwaukee last season gong 8-5 with an E.R.A. of 2.15. Thornburg did save 13 games, but blew 8 saves last season. Thornburg should serve as the Red Sox main set up guy and he did have 20 holds last season.

The other move the Red Sox made on Tuesday was the signing of Mitch Moreland to a 1-year deal worth $5.5 million. Moreland had spent his entire 7-year career with the Texas Rangers. Moreland had a down year average wise hitting just .233, but did have 22 home runs and drove in 60 runs. Moreland is a left handed hitter who has played mostly 1st base in his career, but he has played 45 games in rightfield. Moreland has a career .996 fielding percentage at 1st base; so it looks as though he may take over in the field and Hanley Ramirez will move into the DH role.

Not to be out done the other Chicago baseball team that just happened to win the World Series appears to have found their closer. With the prices for Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman get up around $20 million a season the Cubs turned to the trade market to get a closer. While it hasn’t been officially announced it’s being reported that the Cubs have agreed to send outfielder Jorge Soler to the Kansas City Royals for Wade Davis. Davis did miss some time last season with a forearm injury, but still converted 27 of 30 save opportunities and had an E.R.A. of 1.87. Soler appeared to be the odd man out in the Cubs outfield; so moving him makes sense. Soler also had some injury issues last season. He played in 86 games, hitting .238 with 12 home runs and 31 RBI’s. While Davis is in the final year of his contract Soler still has 3 years left on a 9-year $30 million dollar deal.

There where a couple of other signings yesterday. Carlos Gomez agreed to return to the Texas Rangers in a 1-year $11.5 million dollar deal. The Rangers acquired Gomez as a free agent on Aug. 20 after he had been released by the Astros. He played in 33 games for the Rangers and hit .284 with eight home runs and 24 RBIs. He had a .362 on-base percentage and a .543 slugging percentage. The other signing saw the Tampa Bay Rays ink catcher Wilson Ramos to a 2-year $12.5 million dollar deal, but the deal includes playing time incentives to make up to $18.25 million over the two years. Ramos is recovering from a torn ACL that he suffered last September; so he has to pass a physical for the deal to be completed.

Here’s how are NFL picks went for Week 13. Mr. Fantasy won another week going 12-3. Schaumburg Stu and I both had 10-5 records for the week while Dan the Man struggled going 8-7. Overall Schaumburg Stu still has the lead at 123-69. It’s looking like Schaumburg Stu is going to be tough to catch. Mr. Fantasy has moved into 2nd place by  a game as he is 118-74 overall with Dan the Man right behind him at 117-75. That of course means I am still in last place. My overall record is 110-82. I guess we’ll see how Week 14 goes for us.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com but you can listen to the podcast anytime you want at TuneIn.com

Don’t forget you can find me n Twitter @Burketime

Portland Trail Blazers 112 Chicago Bulls 110

Posted: December 6, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Chicago Bulls dropped there second game in a row this time a close contest at home to the Portland Trail Blazers 112-110. The Bulls where closing late, but ran out of time. With the loss the Bulls fall to 11-9 on the season. Portland improves there record to 12-10 with the win.

The 1st quarter was tied at five different times and the biggest lead either team had was when the Trail Blazers where ahead 23-16. The Bulls came back to tie the game at 25 and then again at 29 all. Chicago scored the last 3 points of the quarter and took a 32-29 lead at the end of the quarter.

The 2nd quarter was close for a while and the teams found themselves tied on five different occasions. The last tie was 49 all and then the Trail Blazers went on a 12-2 run to take a 61-51 lead. The Bulls managed to knock off a couple of points from the lead and went into halftime trailing 65-57.

The Bulls went on a 10-1 to start the 3rd quarter and after Robin Lopez tip in the Bulls had the lead at 67-66. Chicago was able to get the lead to 5 points a couple of times, but for the most part the lead stayed right around 3 points. After Lopez hit 2 free throws C.J. McCollum hit a 3-pointer to close the quarter and cut the Bulls lead to 1 point at 87-86.

The teams traded baskets and after Dwayne Wade hit a couple of free throws the Bulls had a 93-92 lead with 8:33 left to play. Portland then went on a 11-0 run to take a 103-93 lead and the Trail Blazers never trailed again. The Bulls where able to cut into the lead and with 5 seconds to play they where down 3 points. Damian Lillard was fouled and hit both free throws and even though Jimmy Butler hit his last second shot the Bulls still dropped a 112-110 contest.

Damien Lillard was the Trail Blazers leading scorer with 30 points and handed out a game high 7 assists. C.J. McCollum scored 24 points, Maurice Harkless had 11 points and a team high 8 rebounds while Mason Plumlee added 10 points. Allen Crabbe came off the Portland bench to score 17 points and Evan Turner added 10 points off the bench as well for the Trail Blazers.

Dwayne Wade led the Bulls and was the games high scorer with 34 points. Jimmy Butler had 26 points and a team high 5 assists. Nikola Mirotic (18 points) and Isaiah Cannan (10 points) came off the Bulls bench to score double figures. Robin Lopez scored 7 points and grabbed a game high 14 rebounds.

This was game one of a 5 game road trip for the Trail Blazers. Portland gets a day off before they face the 10-9 Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. The Bulls on the other hand don’t get any time off as they have to turn right around and play the 11-11 Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills tonight.

The Bulls faced the Trail Blazers without starting point guard Rajon Rondo. Rondo was suspended for the game for “Conduct detrimental to the team”. It was reported that Rondo was yelling at the Bulls coaching staff specifically assistant coach Jim Boylin. The report also said that Rondo has apologized to the coaching staff and the team and will play tonight against the Pistons.

Dallas Mavericks 107 Chicago Bulls 82

Posted: December 3, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports
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A day after beating the Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers the Chicago Bulls were blown out by the team with the worst record in the NBA the Dallas Mavericks by 25 points. What can you even look for? It is the 2nd of a back to back or maybe the fact that Dwayne Wade was given the night off. Even though the Bulls are at a weird point of their schedule where they play 10 games in 12 days, but this is just the second game of that schedule. Maybe it was just as simple as they looked past a team that was 3-15 coming into the game. It also didn’t help the Bulls that the Mavericks went 13 of 31 (41.9%) from behind the 3-point line, but anyway it’s a loss and not a good one.

As hard as it might be to believe in today’s NBA, but the Mavericks never trailed in this game. Dallas scored the first 7 points of the game and built the lead to 17 at 23 to 6 before the Bulls knew what hit them. The Bulls did close the 1st quarter on a 12-6 run to cut the Mavericks lead to 11 points 29-18 at the end of the 1st.

The teams played a very even 2nd quarter. The Bulls could only get as close as 6 points and the Mavericks biggest lead they built in the quarter was 13 points. Overall the Mavericks outscored the Bulls 28 to 27 in the 2nd quarter. Going into halftime the Mavericks had a 12 point lead at 57-45.

The Mavericks continued to build on there lead in the 3rd quarter. Dallas grab a 21 point lead on two different occasions. First at 74-53 after a Dwight Powell dunk with 6:01 left in the quarter and then again at 79-58 after a Wesley Matthews 3 pointer with 3:24 left in the quarter. The Bulls cut 6 points off the lead, but still went into the 4th quarter down 82-66.

Down 16 points maybe the Bulls thought the game was pout of hand as their bench played the majority of the 4th quarter. With the bench players on the floor the Bulls scored just 16 points and the Mavericks where able to add to the lead scoring 25 points in the 4th quarter. By outscoring the Bulls by 9 points in the final quarter the Mavericks picked up there 4th win of the season 107-82.

Wesley Matthews had 26 points which tied him for the games high scorer. Matthews did most of his damage from behind the 3 point line going 7 of 11 in the game. Harrison Barnes had 22 points while Dorian Finney-Smith added 11 points. Dwight Powell came off the Dallas bench to score 17 points. Andrew Bogut was the games leading rebounder with 11 and Deron Williams led everyone in assists with 15.

Jimmy Butler was the other player in the game with 26 points as he led the Bulls in scoring. Robin Lopez had  points and Taj Gibson added 11 points. Isaiah Canaan came off the Bulls bench to score  points..

The win improved Dallas to- on the season while the Bulls saw there record drop to 11-8. The Mavericks get a day off before hosting the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night. There is a chance the Mavericks will have Dirk Nowitzi back for that game. The Bulls will also have Sunday off as they head back to Chicago where they’ll host the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.

How was your week

Posted: December 3, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in sports
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What do we have to do to get a well played Thursday Night Football game? This week looked to be the week as we had the Dallas Cowboys coming in on a 10-game winning streak against the Minnesota Vikings who have been struggling, but where still a playoff contender. Even with these two teams we got a terrible 17-15 game that the Cowboys won. Now all I’ve had to listen to is the fact that the referees missed a call on the Vikings 2-point attempt and that cost them the game. Okay Sam Bradford did get hit in the face and there should’ve been a penalty called, but are you really confident that an offense like Minnesota’s would’ve been able to convert another 2-point conversion attempt. Then of course instead of focusing on the football game itself the media turns right to the missed call and played it over and over on highlights; so we know what happened. Now they did miss the call, but we’re talking about very large men moving very fast and calls are going to be missed. Do you think that the referees called every holding or pass interference penalty in the game. Remember it’s been said by many former players and referees as well that they could throw a penalty flag on every play. Do you want to watch that football game? I know I don’t. Now it wasn’t a blatant hit to Bradford’s head as the defensive lineman was trying to block the pass and his momentum carried him into Bradford with his hands up and they got into his face. Again it is still a penalty and it should’ve been called, but it was missed.

Let’s focus on the game itself. This was the first time that Dak Prescott didn’t look that great under center. Prescott only attempted 18 passes in the game and he did complete 12 of them, but for just 139 yards. He did throw a touchdown pass and had some success running the football. Prescott carried the football 6 times for 37 yards, but he had 2 fumbles losing one of them. Minnesota does have a very opportune defense; so the fact that Prescott had just the one turnovers is a plus, but he didn’t look like the quarterback people where in love with. Now I don’t know if you can say Bradford was much better. He did throw 45 passes and completed 32 of them with a touchdown pass, but in true fashion none of the passes where really downfield. Bradford average just under 5 1/2 yards a pass attempt. The Vikings have been having offensive line issues and Bradford is releasing the football very quickly to avoid being sacked, but it’s not producing much yardage. Bradford was sacked 3 times in the game, but with no threat of a downfield passing attack defenses can key on the other things the Vikings offense does well. I don’t know how to fix this, but Minnesota needs to find a way to give Bradford some more time to at least look downfield; so the defense has to respect it.

I need your assistance with this one. I heard someone say that Ezekiel Elliott didn’t have a good game. Elliott carried the football 20 times for 86 yards; so he averaged 4.3 yards per carry and he scored a touchdown. Elliott also caught 4 passes for 19 yards. Was it the fact that Elliott had a 30 yard run in the game and if you take that away from his stats he averages just 2.9 yards a carry? Don’t forget that the Vikings have the 3rd ranked defense overall in the NFL and are #18 against the run. Of course you have to add in that teams are already keying on Elliott and with Prescott having a down game the Vikings where able to look for Elliott even more. Overall Elliott’s game was fine and there are times even the best running backs have to bang the football against a defense to set up a big run. It wasn’t Elliott’s best game, but I think you take the numbers he put up and move on.

Dallas is now 11-1 and on an 11-game winning streak. There’s no doubt they’ll be in the playoffs and should get the #1 seed in the NFC. The Cowboys can clinch a playoff spot if week if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington Redskins lose. It doesn’t matter if it’s this week or not the Cowboys are going to the playoffs. Minnesota who you always have to mention started off the season 5-0 is now .500 at 6-6 and in 2nd place in the NFC North division. With 4 games left the Vikings are fighting for a playoff spot. They’ll face the Jacksonville Jaquars on the road next week. They’ll return home to take on the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15. Then they end the season against two divisional rival; Week 16 they’re on the road against the Green Bay Packers and then they end the season hosting the Chicago Bears in Week 17. The Vikings should be favorite in three of those four games, but will 9-7 get them into the playoffs. Maybe the rumored return of Adrian Peterson helps the Vikings struggling offense down the stretch.

With Wilson Ramos injured and out on the free agent market the Washington Nationals addressed their catching situation by acquiring Derek Norris from the San Diego Padres for minor league pitcher Pedro Avila. Norris will be entering his 6th major league season. He spent the first 3 with the Oakland A’s before being dealt to the Padres where he’s played the last two seasons. Norris was an All-Star in 2014 with the A’s, but struggled with San Diego. Norris hit 14 home runs last season, but his batting average was just .186. Washington does have veteran catcher Jose Lobaton and 23-year old Pedro Severino on the roster. That duo replaced Ramos after he was injured. Lobaton is known for his defense and pitch handling, but is a career .226 hitter over 7 seasons. Severino is the Nationals catcher of the future and with this deal it looks like he’ll catch full time in Triple-A. Severino did hit .321 in 18 games for the Nationals last season. In Washington’s one post season series Severino went 1 for 10 while Lobaton was 2 for 9 in the post season. Now there are conflicting reports on when Ramos will return. When he was first injured it appeared as it would be the 2017 All-Star break before he returned, but now there are some saying that Ramos will be ready a month into this coming season. There is also some talk that Ramos won’t be able to catch full time because of this knee injury. It looks as though the Norris deal means Ramos will be looking for a new team next season.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio live on BlogTalkRadio.com you can also listen to the podcast any tie you’d like at TuneIn.com Don’t forget that you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Chicago Bulls 111 Cleveland Cavaliers 105

Posted: December 2, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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LeBron James paid off his baseball bet to friend Dwayne Wade as he wore a full Chicago Cubs uniform into The United Center for Friday’s game. After the bet was paid Wade and his Chicago Bulls teammates sent James and his Cleveland Cavaliers to there 3rd straight loss 111-105 Friday night.

In the 1st quarter the Cavaliers built 5-point leads on five different occasions, but the Bulls worked there way back into the game every time. The Cavaliers took there first lead of the game at 8-6 and led the rest of the quarter. The bulls cut the lead to 1-point a couple of times, but Iman Shumpert’s lay up with 10 seconds left gave the Cavaliers a 33-30 lead at the end of the quarter.

Cleveland started the 2nd quarter on a 7-2 run to build an 8-point lead at 40-32. The bulls cut into the lead. but the Cavaliers built it back to 8 at 49-41. The Bulls did finally manage to take the lead at 59-58 on a Taj Gibson dunk with 1:23 left in the quarter, but Kevin Love was fouled with 5 seconds left shooting a 3-pointer. Love made two of his three free throws and the Cavaliers held the lead going into halftime 60-59.

The Bulls took the lead early in the 3rd quarter at 63-62. They built the lead to 8-points at 74-66 with 6:58 left in the quarter. After the Cavaliers cut the lead to 5 the Bulls went on a 10-5 run to take a 10 point lead at 88-78. LeBron James got the last basket of the quarter to make the score Chicago 88, Cleveland 80.

The 4th quarter was pretty even, but at one point the Cavaliers cut the Bulls lead to 3-points at 92-89. That was as close as Cleveland could get as the Bulls where able to build the lead back to 8-points at 97-89 after a Rajon Rondo 3-pointer. Chicago managed to keep the lead between 5 and 8 points and after Jimmy Butler made two free throws with 6 seconds left in the game the Bulls had a 111-105 win.

Jimmy Butler was the Bulls leading scorer with 26 points. Dwayne Wade had 24 points while Taj Gibson scored 23 points and tied for the game high in rebounds with 11. Rajon Rondo posted a triple-double as he scored 15 points handed out 12 assists and tied Gibson for the game lead with 11 rebounds. Robin Lopez also hit double figures with 10 points as all the Bulls starters scored in double figures.

LeBron James was the Cavaliers and the games high scorer with 27 points. James also handed out a game high 13 assists. Kyrie Irving had 20 points while Kevin Love had 15 points and a team high 9 rebounds. Tristan Thompson and Channing Frye (off the bench) both hit double figures with 11 points on the night.

With the win the Bulls improve to 11-7 on the season. The loss was the Cavaliers 3rd in a row and fell to 13-5 on the season. Chicago has to turn right around and play Saturday night on the road against the 3-15 Dallas Mavericks. This was the 2nd game of a back to back for the Cavaliers; so they’ll get a couple days off before they go on the road to face the 13-6 Toronto Raptors on Monday night.

Los Angeles Lakers 96 Chicago Bulls 90

Posted: December 1, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Chicago Bulls had their first home game in 16 days Wednesday night as they dropped a 96-90 contest to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Bulls played the Lakers on there recent west coast road trip and beat them on their home court 118-100 on November 17th. The Lakers played Wednesday night without Nick Young a.k.a. Swaggy P. as he’s going to miss 2 to 4 weeks with a right calf injury.

The Lakers scored the first 4 points of the game, but it was really the Bulls who control the 1st quarter. The Lakers actually managed to score just 13 more points in the quarter as the Bulls jumped out to a 11-point lead 28 to 17 after one quarter.

The Lakers began to cut into the Bulls lead right at the start of the 2nd quarter. After a 17 to 7 run by Los Angeles the Bulls lead was down to 1-point at 35 to 34. The Bulls did rebuild there lead to 6 at 42-36, but the Lakers made another run and the game went into halftime tied at 47 apiece.

Through the 3rd quarter the Bulls worked to build a lead. After Nikola Mirotic hit a lay up with 3:21 left in the quarter the Bulls had there biggest lead of the quarter at 65-57. The Lakers spent those final three plus minutes cutting into the Bulls lead outscoring Chicago 13-8 to end the quarter at 73-70 Chicago.

The 4th quarter started with another Mirotic basket to give the Bulls a 5-point lead, but the Lakers scored 8 of the games next 13 points and the game was tied at 78 apiece. The teams traded the lead three times, but then the Bulls where able to take a 3-point lead at 85-82 with 6:24 left to play. The Lakers quickly evened the game and built there own 3-point lead at 90-87, but a Jimmy Butler 3-pointer tied the game at 90. Of course those where the Bulls last points of the game while the Lakers had a field goal and then went 4 of 6 from the free throw line to win the game 96-90.

The Lakers where led in scoring by Jordan Clarkson and louis Williams who each came off the bench to score 18 points. Williams also led the team in assists with 5. Julius Randle scored 13 points and grabbed a game high 20 rebounds. Larry Nance Jr. had a double-double off the Lakers bench scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Former Bull Luol Deng also scored in double figures with 10 points.

The Bulls shot just 32 of 91 (35.2%) from the field which included going 4 for 21 (19%) from behind the 3-point line. Even with a rough shooting night Jimmy Butler was the games high scorer with 22 points. Dwayne Wade had 17 points while Rajon Rondo had 14 points. Wade and Rondo where the game leaders in assists with 6 each Taj Gibson posted a double-double with 11 points and a team high 10 rebounds and Robin Lopez scored 10 points.

The win gets the Lakers back to .500 at 10-10 on the season. This was the 2nd game of a 4 game road trip for the Lakers. They’ll get a day off before going to Toronto to face the 12-6 Raptors. The loss drops the Bulls to 10-7 on the season. The Bulls will also get a day off before they host the Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers (13-3) on Friday night.

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 30, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, fantasy, football, sports
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games last season games last season nd see how we did with our NFL picks for Week 12. It was a good week for everyone, but Mr. Fantasy led the way with a record of 14-2. HIs two losses where the Seattle Seahawks; like I’m sure everyone lost on and he had the Denver Broncos over the Kansas City Chiefs. Dan the Man and I finished a game behind Mr. Fantasy at 13-3 while Schaumburg Stu was well over .500 as well at 11-5, but for a change he ended up last. Overall Schaumburg Stu is still in the lead with a record of 113-64. Dan the Man is in 2nd place at 109-68. Mr. Fantasy gained some ground, but is still in 3rd place at 106-71 and I am still in the cellar with an overall record of 100-77. Will have to see if we can continue to pick this well in Week 13.

Now I’m an avid fantasy player. I play in yearly leagues for the big four sports and would like to think I’m an above average player. I play in yearly leagues and I also play daily fantasy on the FanDuel website. I try to take in my share of fantasy news be it through the television or what I can read online. I’m always interested to see who they think the hot players are going to be and hopefully they’ll give a reason why they’re going with that player. When it came to quarterback for Week 12 it was a lot of the names that you’ll always hear; Eli Manning, Drew Brees and Russell Wilson where three of the guys that most experts liked in Sunday’s games. Now the name I didn’t hear as a hot play for Sunday was Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers. I think most of not all experts had Kaepernick as a below average play against the Miami Dolphins defense. In just one of those odd fantasy twist Kaepernick ended up being the highest scoring fantasy quarterback for Week 12. Kaepernick was 29 of 46 for 296 yards and 3 touchdowns. Kaepernick also ran the football 10 times for 113 yards. Now Kaepernick did throw an interceptions and was sacked 2 times for 14 yards, but in a basic Yahoo Public Fantasy :League Kaepernick was worth 34.14 fantasy points. According to Yahoo Kaepernick is owned in just 24% of their leagues. So the question becomes; is he a good pick up for the final 5 weeks? This week Kaepernick faces a Chicago Bears defense that is missing quite a few players due to injury and suspension. In Week 14 he faces the New York  Jets. Week 15 it’s the Atlanta Falcons. In Week 16 it’s the  Los Angeles Rams and to wrap the season up Kaepernick goes up against the Seattle Seahawks defense. It looks as though you could get some use out of Kaepernick if you’re looking for quarterback help down the stretch.

The Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals 19-14 on Sunday and while it wasn’t that interesting of a game it was the way it ended that has everyone talking. With 1:05 left in the game the Ravens got the football on there own 21 yard line. After three running plays that gained 7 yards total the Ravens where facing 4th down and 3 yards to go with 55 seconds left in the game. The Ravens took a delay of game call to make it 4th and 8 yards to go, but more importantly there was just 11 seconds left in the game. Baltimore sent out Sam Koch to punt, but when the ball was snapped to Koch he started to back up slowly into his own end zone as the clock counted down. Now to give Koch the time he’d need to run out 11 seconds all the blockers on the Ravens punt team held which every Bengals player that was closet to the and in some cases even tackled them. Koch worked his way to the back of the end zone and was able to run the clock out with yellow flags all over the field as I think every referee had throw his flag. What Ravens head coach John Harbaugh knew was that the game could end on an offensive penalty; so why take the chance on punting the football. This way there was no chance of a blocked punt or a punt return and he also took away the Bengals chance to throw a “Hail Mary” and win the game. Now there where quite a few people who didn’t like this play, but the Ravens didn’t do anything wrong. I thought that it was very smart of them to go this route. Just imagine the heat that Harbaugh would be taking if the punt had been either blocked and recovered by Cincinnati for a touchdown or if they would’ve returned that punt for a touchdown and what if they would’ve throw that “Hail Mary” for a game winning touchdown. This could turn out to be a big win for the Ravens as they improved to 6-5 and are tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for 1st place in the AFC North. Baltimore does currently hold the tiebreaker over the Steelers as they won their first head to head meeting, but the teams play again Week 16 in Pittsburgh.

The World Champion Chicago Cubs reached an agreement with free agent outfielder Jon Jay on a 1-year $8 million dollar contract. Jay missed about two months of the 2016 season when he was hit by a pitch and broke his forearm. The injury limited Jay to 90 games last season with the San Diego Padres. Jay hit .291 in those 90 games and has a career batting average of .287. Jay has played 7 seasons in the majors; his first 6 where with the St. Louis Cardinals before playing last season in San Diego. Jay has played all three outfield spots in his career and has a career fielding percentage of .995. It appears as though the signing of Jay ends any chance of Dexter Fowler returning to the Cubs. It looks as though Alberto Almora Jr. will be given a chance to be the everyday centerfielder with Jay serving as a back up to Almora and possible a late inning defensive replacement for leftfielder Kyle Schwarber.

Also on the free agent front one of the top names looks to be off the board as it’s being reported that Yoenis Cespedes as re-signed with the New York Mets on a 4-year $110 million dollar deal. Cespedes will get $22.5 million next season, $29 million in 2018 & 19 then his salary goes to $29.5 million for the 2020 season. The deal also includes a full no trade clause. It’s no surprise that Cespedes re-signed with the Mets as they seemed to be the front runners as soon as he opted out of his deal after last season.

You cam listen to Sports Time Radio live at BlogTalkRadio.com and you can also listen to the podcast any time you’d like at TuneIn.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

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