Archive for the ‘Auto Racing’ Category

How was your week

Posted: May 7, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, golf, NASCAR, sports, Uncategorized
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MLB

The Chicago Cubs have won the first two games in their four game series against the Washington Nationals to improve their record to a Major League best 22-6. When the season was getting under way most if not all of the media expected the Cubs to be good and they haven’t disappointed. At first the Cubs winning was viewed as nothing but positive since it’s the Cubs and everyone knows the story. No World Series win since 1908. Then as odd as it might seem as the Cubs continued to win these early season games the media started to question if the Cubs where that good or if it was there schedule that has been allowing them to put up this type of record; so this four game series against the Nationals was seen as a big test for the Cubs.

The Cubs opened the 2016 season with an odd 2-game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Behind the starting pitching of Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester the Angels didn’t score in either game and the Cubs started off the season 2-0. The Angels are currently 13-16 and weren’t the challenge the media thought they’d be for the Cubs. The Cubs stayed out West for a 4-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks looked to have won the off season, but that didn’t translate into this series as the Cubs took 3 of 4. Arizona is currently 13-18 and in last place in the National League West; so they apparently weren’t the match up the experts where looking for the Cubs to face either. After their  trip out West, the Cubs came home for their home opener and a 3-game series against the Cincinnati Reds, which the Cubs swept. While it’s difficult to sweep a team this wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone. The Reds did get of to a good start to the season, but are now 13-17. After the Reds, the Colorado Rockies came to Chicago for a 3-game series and the Cubs hit their first speed bump of the season as the Rockies took 2 of 3 in this series. Colorado is one game under .500 at 14-15, but the N.L. West is so close that they’re just one game of of 1st place. After losing there first series of the year the Cubs went back on the road to face there rivals the St. Louis Cardinals in a 3-game series. This was looked at as the Cubs first test of the season and they appeared to pass as they took 2 of 3 games in St. Louis. The Cardinals have struggled a little bit and since they’re just .500 at 15-15 this series win wasn’t good enough for the Cubs. The Cubs then went to Cincinnati for a 4-game series against the Reds; which they where expected to win and they took 3 of the 4 games. It was back to Chicago for the Cubs and another N.L. Central match up; this time against the Milwaukee Brewers. Because of rain the series ended up being just 2 games and the Cubs won both. This was another expected outcome as the Brewers are in rebuild mode. Milwaukee is 11-18 and currently in last place in the N.L. Central. The Atlanta Braves where the next team on the schedule as they came to Chicago for a 3-game series, but more rain allowed just 2 games to be played and the teams split the shortened series. Was this the chink in the Cubs armor experts where looking for? The Braves are also rebuilding and have the worst record in baseball right now at 7-21, but look out they won a game in Chicago. The Cubs headed back out on the road and jumped back into N.L. Central play as they faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 3-game series. This was suppose to be another test for the Cubs as the Pirates where and still are in 2nd place in the N.L. Central. This appears to be another test the Cubs passed as they swept the Pirates. Pittsburgh is 16-13 on the season. This brings us to where we are now with the Cubs facing the Nationals.

You’ve seen the schedule the Cubs have played and are they just a creation of the teams they faced or are they a serious contender. I hope you’re leaning towards contender and you’re not looking to make excuses for the tams success. I’ve also been trying to figure out how the schedule is the Cubs fault. I believe the schedule was set by Major League Baseball  and the Cubs or any other team don’t have anything to do with the scheduling of games. Will the Cubs continue to win games at a clip of .786 like they are now; probably not. While the Cubs are on a 5-game winning streak right now and they haven’t lost back to back games there will probably be some times when they lose multiple games in a row. Will that be the test the media needs, to see how they bounce back from a losing streak or is it something else. While it’s still too early in the season to hand the Cubs the World Series trophy they look like a team that might be in the mix for it at the end of the season.

NASCAR

The Sprint Cup series is going racing tonight in the GoBowling 400 at Kansas Speedway. Chris Olmstead usually joins the Sports Time Radio podcast on Sunday mornings to preview the race and give his Top 3 drives he thinks has h the best chance to end up in victory lane. Well with the race being on Saturday night Chris has sent us his picks for tonight’s race. Chris is going with Kevin Harvick; who’s starting 26th, Chase Elliott who’s starting 13th and Kyle Busch who’s starting 6th. Martin Truex Jr. took the pole with an average speed of 190.921 miles per hour. Matt Kenseth starts 2nd with his teammate Denny Hamlin starting 3rd. Kurt Busch will start the race 4th and last weeks winner Brad Keslowski rounds out the Top 5 starting 5th. Hopefully Chris will be able to join The Big Jack and Mr. Fantasy on Sports Time Radio tomorrow (Sunday) to review the race.

PGA

Zac Blair is a professional golfer and yesterday he was disqualified from the Wells Fargo Championship on Friday for using a bent putter. Now how did Blair’s putter get bent? Well Blair missed a putt on the 5th hole of his round on Friday and proceeded to hit himself in the head with his putter and bent it. Everything would’ve been fine if Blair hadn’t use the putter, but Rule 4-3b states that you can’t use a non-conforming club and by bending his club in anger Blair had a non-conforming club. Blair could have tapped in with a wedge and played the rest of the round without a putter. The Rules of Golf allow you to replace a damaged club during a round but not if the damage was done in anger. Blair  approached a rules official on the sixth tee and explained the situation, which resulted in disqualification. Blair was 4 over par at the time and in danger of missing the 36-hole cut. In case you’re wondering Andrew Loupe is leading the tournament at -8 going into Saturday’s round.

Listen to The Podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: May 4, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, football, NASCAR, sports
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NASCAR

Last weekend the NASCAR series was at the Talladega Superspeedway for the Geico 500. Now there are plenty of people out there who watch NASCAR just for the accidents.If you happen to be one of those people this race did not disappoint you. Only 21 out of the 40 cars that started finished on the lead lap. Some of the top drivers got themselves caught up in accidents and in the cases of Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. they got caught up in two accidents. If you haven’t seen the video yet you should look for the one where Earnhardt Jr, is involved in his second accident of the race. As he’s driving his steering wheel comes off in his hands and he has to grab the connecting rod to try and steer the car. This second accident took Earhardt Jr. out of the race and he ended up finishing 40th. Now Talladega races can get wild as they are restrictor plate races and the cars run together in big group at or around 200 miles per hour.So that normally means when one car starts to crash they take quite a few cars with them. It can also work out to your advantage if you’re in the right place at the right time when these accidents take place. Brad Keslowski ended up in the best plat at Talladega as he led 46 laps and won the race. Kyle Busch cane home 2nd with Austin Dillon in 3rd, Jamie McMurray in 4th and  Chase Elliott who started the race on the pole came home 5th. Tony Stewart was credited with a 6th place finish, but got out of the car at the first caution and Ty Dillon spent most of the race in the car. According to NASCAR rules the driver that starts the race gets credit for where it finishes. Stewart just returned from a back injury and his doctor advise him to get out of the car and allow Dillon to substitute. Dillon did qualify the car and it was set up for him. Stewart ended up running about 50 laps before giving way to Dillon. Matt Kenseth’s run of bad luck continued. He led 39 laps and look to have a car that could contend, but he got caught up in an accident with Danica Patrick and had to settle for a 23rd place finish. On the Sunday Sports Time Radio podcast Chris Olmstead gave us his 3 drivers to look for in victory lane. He did take Earnhardt Jr, but being that it was a restrictor plate race just about everyone would’ve pick him. He did netter with his other two drivers as Kyle Busch came home 2nd for him and his other choice was Chase Elliott who finished 5th. The Sprint Cup series heads to Kansas Speedway for the Go Bowling 400 on Saturday night.

NFL

I thought this was a bit of an odd story. The National Football Leagu has warned it’s players that if they’re traveling to China or Mexico they have to be careful about any meat they might eat. Any meat produced in China or Mexico may potentially contains Clenbuterol, which is banned under the league’s performance enhancing substance policy.  The independent administrator of the NFL’s drug testing program sent out a memo to players warning them of this possibility. Clenbuterol is a muscle-building and weight-loss stimulant. Oddly the NFL has scheduled a Monday Night Football game in Mexico City on November 21st. The Oakland raiders will take on the Houston Texans in that game. The Raiders also hosted a fan fest as part of the NFL draft this past Saturday in Mexico City. Last season Houston’s left tackle Duane Brown tested positive for Clenbuterol after he took a trip to Mexico on the Texans bye week and ate Mexican beef. After a month long process, Brown was finally cleared in April, sources said, allowing him to avoid what would have been a 10 game suspension. Hopefully NFL players take notice and don;t have t go though the same situation as Brown did. Now this just isn’t an issue that the NFL is dealing with. In 2011, five players on Mexico’s national soccer team tested positive for Clenbuterol, and the country’s federation ruled the positive tests were caused by contaminated meat. Then again at the 2011 Under-17 World Cup held in Mexico, FIFA found a majority of all players tested had traces of Clenbuterol in their system. Mexican cattle ranchers are banned from using Clenbuterol as a growth enhancer, but reports suggest that it is still used widely.

MLB

What if anything will the New York Yankees do. General Manager Brian Cashman mentioned yesterday in the New York papers that things had to change with this team, but what. After last nights 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles the Yankees are 8-16 and in last place in the American League East. Now it is still very early in the season, but the Yankees find themselves 6 1/2 games out of 1st place. Now of course you can always make a change at manager, but is this really Joe Girardi’s fault. I’m sure you’ve heard the term; you can’t fire the players; so Girardi may end up being the fall guy for the Yankees. Maybe the Yankees record has more to do with the fact that only Masahiro Tanaka has an ERA under 3.00 at 2.87 in the starting rotation. The other starters C.C. Sabathia (5.06), Nathan Eovaldi (5.46), Luis Severino (6.31) and Michael Pineda (6.33) round out the Yankees rotation. Also no Yankees starting pitcher has more than 1 win. While the bullpen will get some help soon as Aroldis Chapman will be returning from suspension. Of course the back end of the Yankees bullpen has been good. Delin Betances has appeared in 12 games covering 11 2/3rd innings. He has 5 holds, 24 strikeouts, a WHIP of 0.94 and an ERA of 3.09. Andrew Miller has been handling closer duties while Chapman is out. Miller has appeared in 10 games pitching 10 innings. He has 5 saves, 16 strikeouts, a WHIP of 0.40 and an ERA of 0.00; so he hasn’t given up an earned run. Stat wise the hitting looks to be pretty solid. Chase Headley does appear to be struggling hitting just .147. Alex Rodriquez (A-Rod) isn’t hitting for a high average (.194), but does lead the team in home runs with 5 and is tied for the team lead in RBI’s with Starlin Castro at 12. Of course A-Rod strained a hamstring last night running out a ground ball and looks like he’ll end up on the disabled list. Now the Yankees are an older team with a lot of high salary guys coming to the end of their contracts. Can you fix this team? or do you just hope they come around as the weather warms up.

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com you can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: April 30, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, basketball, NASCAR, sports
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During the 1st round of the NHL playoffs they gave us two quality Game 7’s. After last night it’s the NBA’s turn to try and give us two quality Game 7’s. There where three NBA playoff series played last night that all could’ve ended. Two of them are going to a Game 7 on Sunday while just one of them came to a conclusion.

NBA

Game 1 featured the Toronto Raptors trying to close out the Indiana Pacers. It was a tight game early on. Toronto had a 2 point lead after the 1st quarter 22-20 and was able to extend that lead to 4 points going into half time at 44-40. The 2nd half belong to the Pacers. Indiana outscored Toronto 31-20 in the 3rd quarter to take a 71-64 lead. There was no 4th quarter comeback by the Raptors like in Game 5 as the Pacers kept the pressure on and put up 30 points in the 4th quarter to just 19 points for Toronto yo get us t the 101-83 final and force a Game 7 Sunday in Toronto Air Canada Centre.

Every starter for the Pacers scored put up double digit points led by Paul George with 21. George also led the Pacers in rebounds with 11 and assists in 6. Myles Turner had 15 points, Monta Ellis scored 14 points while George Hill and Ian Mahinmi each scored 12 points for Indiana. DeMarre Carroll and Corey Joseph (off the bench) led Toronto in scoring with 15 points apiece. Jonas Valanciunas with 14 points and Kyle Lowry with 10 points where the other two Raptors to score in double figures. Lowry also led Toronto with 10 assists while Bismack Biyombo came off the Toronto bench to lead the team with 10 rebounds.

In the 2nd game of the night it was the Miami Heat’s turn to force a Game 7 as they  picked up a 97-90 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. Now the series returns to Miami’s American Airlines Arena for Sunday’s Game 7. It was a tight game most of the way as Miami managed to take a 3 point lead 27-24 after the 1st quarter. They where able to extend the lead to 59-50 going into halftime by outscoring Charlotte 32-26 in the 2nd quarter. The Hornets where able to cut into the Miami lead in the 3rd quarter by 4 points. Charlotte outscored Miami 20-16 in the 3rd quarter and went into the 4th quarter trailing 75-70. The Heat went on to use a 22-20 scoring advantage in the 4th quarter to pull out the 97-90 victory and force that Game 7.

All of Miami’s starters scored in double figures led by Dwayne Wade wit 23 points. Wade also led the Heat in assists with 4. Luol Deng had 21 points, Goran Dragic had 14 points, Hasan Whiteside had 12 points and Joe Johnson added 11 points for Miami. Whiteside, Dragic and Udonis Haslem (off the bench) each grabbed 7 rebounds to tie for the team lead. Whiteside also blocked 4 shots in the game. Only three Hornets players scored in double figures in the game. Kemba Walker had a team high and game high 37 points and added a team leading 5 assists. Al Jefferson added 18 points and a team leading 9 rebounds while Cody Zeller came off the Hornets bench to add 12 points.

The Charlotte/Miami is scheduled to tip off Sunday’s NBA action at Noon while the Indiana/Toronto game is the third game of the night and is schedule t tip off at 7:00 p.m. While these 1st round series are wrapping up a couple of 2nd round series will be getting underway. The Oklahoma City Thunder visit the San Antonio Spurs to start Round 2 of the playoffs and on Sunday the Portland Trail Blazers are at the Golden State Warriors (Sunday at 2:30 pm) to get their series started.

Speaking of the Trail Blazers. They had a hard fought 106-103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs. Even missing there top two players the Clippers held tough. The game was tied at 24 after the 1st quarter and at the half Portland had just a 2 point lead 50-48. It was the Clippers who came out in the 3rd quarter and took the lead outscoring the Trail Blazers 34-30 and went into the 4th quarter with there own 2 point lead 82-80. The Trail Blazers appeared to pull away when C.J. McCollum’s 3-pointer made it 98-91 with 4:49 left, but the Clippers came back. Los Angeles had cut the lead to 98-95 before McCollum hit another 3-pointer to make it 101-95 with about 2 minutes to play. The Clippers again came back and tied the game on a pair of Jamal Crawford free throws at 103. It was Mason Plumlee putting the game away for the Trail Blazers hitting 3 of the 4 free throws he took and when a 42 foot Austin Rivers last second shot was off the mark Portland was leaded to the 2nd round.

Damian Lillard led Portland in scoring with 28 points and a team high 7 assists while McCollum added 20 points. Three other Trail Blazers scored in double digits. Maurice Harkless had 14 points, Allen Crabbe came off the bench t add 13 points and Al-Farouq Aminu added 10 points. Plumlee not only hit those late free throws, but he grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the team. Jamal Crawford showed everyone why he was the NBA’s 6th man of the year as he had a game high 32 points off the bench to lead the Clippers. Austin Rivers scored 21 points and had a team high 8 assists. J.J. Reddick and DeAndre Jordan added 15 points with Jordan grabbing a game high 20 rebounds before spraining his ankle and having to leave the game. Jeff Green also scored 11 points for the Clippers.

MLB

Dee Gordon was suspended 80 games this week for testing positive for multiple performance enhancing drugs. Gordon tested positive for two anabolic steroids, exogenous testosterone and clostebol. This is known as a “Stack” but these two drugs aren’t commonly used in a “Stack”. Clostebol is described as a simple testosterone derivative, adding one molecule to the standard hormone, so rather than adding different properties in, it’s essentially doubling the dose. The testosterone that Gordon had in his system was cypionate. You may have actually seen that name before in the ads for “Low T” as it’s the commonly prescribed drug for that. It seems odd looking at Gordon’s body type that he would test positive for PED’s.  He issued a statement apologizing for the positive test while going on to say he didn’t knowingly ingest the banned substances. Knowingly or not the positive test is going to cost Gordon 80 games away from the 11-11 Miami Marlins and it will also cost him about $1.3 million dollars this season.

NASCAR

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series moves the the Talladega Superspeedway for the Geico 500 on Sunday. Qualifying will be held today for the pole position. Chris Olmstead from Beyond the Flag will join the Sunday podcast to preview the race. Every week Chris will also give you his 3 drivers to look for in victory lane. Last week Chris went with Matt Kenseth (7th), Joey Logano (8th) and Chase Elliott (12th); who does Chris have this week? Tune in tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and listen to The Podcast to hear Chris and find out who he’s picking.

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

 

 

How was your week

Posted: April 16, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, football, NASCAR, sports
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NFL

The 1st round of the NFL draft is 12 days away. This week the Tennessee Titans traded the #1 overall pick in the draft to the Los Angeles Rams. What did the Titans get for that pick? Tennessee got the Rams 1st round pick this season which is the 15th pick. Tennessee also got two 2nd round picks; the 43rd and 45th pick of this draft as well as a 3rd round pick; 76th pick in this draft. Wait there’s more as Tennessee will also receive the Rams 1st round draft pick in the 2017 draft along with a 2nd rd round pick in next years draft. Besides the #1 overall pick the Rams will also receive the Titans 4th round pick; at 113th and Tennessee’s 6th round pick which is 177th pick in this years draft. So Tennessee gave up 3 draft picks and moved back 14 spots in the 1st round while Los Angeles gave up 6 draft picks to move up to the top spot in the draft. Was it too much for Los Angeles to give up?

It appears as though the Rams made the trade so they could select their franchise quarterback be it Jared Goff or Carson Wentz. There was even a report saying the Rams wanted to make this deal as early as they did so they would have the time to decide between the two quarterbacks. It’s doubtful that the Rams could’ve stayed at pick #15 and been able to draft one of these two quarterbacks; so if they wanted one they had to move up. Did they have to move up to #1 is the question. Now all off season long the experts have been saying there not sure if there’s a franchise quarterback in this draft. Do the Rams see something in Goff or Wentz that makes them think that they’ll be that franchise guy or was Tennessee the only team they could work out a trade with pre-draft?

Just a few seasons ago in 2012 the Rams where on the opposite end of a deal similar to this. In 2012 the Rams sent the #2 pick in the draft to the Washington Redskins in return for 4 draft picks. The Rams received Washington’s 1st round pick in 2012 which was 6th overall as well as a 2012 2nd round pick which was the 39th pick. The Rams also received the Redskins 1st round picks in 2013 and 2014. Washington traded up to select a quarterback as well. They took Robert  Griffin III with that 2nd pick. The Rams drafted Morris Claireborne at #6 and Janoris Jenkins at #39 in 2012. The 2013 1st round pick they aqcuired ended up in another trade as it was sent with a 2015 7th round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for 3 draft picks. The Rams picked up the Falcons 2013 1st round pick which was #30 and they selected Alec Ogletree. The other 2 draft picks the Rams got where a 3rd rounder (#92) and a 6th (#198) in the 2013 draft.The other 1st round draft pick the Rams got from the Redskins ended up being the #2 pick in the 2014 draft and the Rams used it to select offensive lineman Greg Robinson. Now that the Rams are the team giving up multiple draft picks it will be interesting to see who Tennessee ends up drafting with them.

The NFL also released it’s schedule for the upcoming 2016 season. As they like to do the opening Thursday night game is a Super Bowl rematch as the Denver Broncos host the Carolina Panthers. If you’re interested in looking at the NFL schedule here’s a link for you to check it out. 

NBS

The first round of the NBA playoffs start today (Saturday) with 4 games. There are two Eastern Conference match ups and two Western Conference match ups on the schedule. The 7th seeded Indiana Pacers  at the 2nd seeded Toronto Raptors  tip-off their Game 1 at 11:30 a.m. Central Standard Time (cst) that’s followed by the 8th seeded Houston Rockets  at the #1 seeded Golden State Warriors are at 2:30 c.s.t. The third game of the day has the 5th seeded Boston Celtics at the 4th seeded Atlanta Hawks and the night wraps up with the 6th seeded Dallas Mavericks at the 3rd seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.  On Sunday the NBA action tips off at 2:00 p.m. cst with the 8th seeded Detroit Pistons taking on the #1 seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. Game two has the 6th seeded Charlotte Hornets facing off against the 3rd seeded Miami Heat. Game 3 has the 7th seeded Memphis Grizzlies at the #2 seeded San Antonio Spurs and the night cap has the 5th seeded Portland Trail Blazers at the 4th seeded Los Angeles Clippers.

On yesterday’s Sports Time Radio podcast Dan the Man made his picks for the series winners in the NBA. Starting in the Eastern Conference he has the #1 Cleveland Cavaliers over the #8 Detroit Pistons. Dan likes the #7 Indiana Paces over the #2 Toronto Raptors. He went with the #3 Miami heat over the Charlotte Hornets and Dan also likes the #5 Boston Celtics over the #4 Atlanta Hawks. Over in the Western Conference Dan has the #1 Golden State Warriors over the #8 Houston Rockets. Dan also mentioned that he thins this series will be a sweep for the Warriors. Dan likes #2 San Antonio Spurs over the #7 Memphis Grizzlies. He also likes #3 Oklahoma City Thunder over the #6 Dallas Mavericks and he also has the #5 Portland Trail Blazers over the #4 Los Angeles Clippers. Feel free to leave your picks here in the comments or reach out to Dan on Twitter @SportsTimeRadio or @DanZeeeMan and let him know what you think about his picks.

NASCAR

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is at Bristol Motor Speedway this week for the Food City 500 and Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) started off the weekend about as good as you can. Not only did JGR driver Carl Edwards win the pole with a speed of 127.997 mph but 4 of the Top 5 starting spots in the race went to JGR drivers. Edwards teammate Matt Kenseth will start next to Edwards in 2nd while JGR’s Denny Hamlin starts 4th and final JGR driver in the race Kyle Busch goes off 5th. The only non-JGR driver in the Top is Joey Logano from Penske Motorsports. Will qualifying success lead to victory lane you never know, but it’s better to start up front at Bristol than in the rear. Just a side note Dan the Man’s favorite driver Clint Bowyer will start 36th for Sunday’s race.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 13, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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NBA

The NBA wraps up there regular season tonight and there are still a couple things to be decided. The big story is the Golden State Warriors going for the 73rd win tonight. That would set a new record for wins in a season if they get it. The Warriors play host to the Memphis Grizzlies tonight. Memphis is currently the 7th seed in the Western Conference, but record wise they are tied with the Dallas Mavericks; so a win might be the difference between the Grizzlies opening the playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs (which they would as the 7th seed) or the Oklahoma City Thunder. It will be a difficult game for the Grizzlies to win as Golden State is 38-2 at Oracle Arena this season. Memphis has had it’s share of injuries this season as leading scorer Marc Gasol to a foot injury that ended his season after 52 games. Point guard Mike Conley hasn’t played since March 6th and it doesn’t appear that he’ll play tonight against Golden State. Memphis does still have Zack Randolph (Z-Bo) and Lance Stephenson has played better in Memphis than he has in his stops with the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers. No one expected Golden State to lose to the Boston Celtics or the Minnesota Timberwolves at home, but you have to wonder if Memphis has enough quality healthy players to make this a game. It would be a bit of a surprise if they could and you have to expect that the Warriors will cruise to their 73rd victory and a new NBA record.

Tonight is also the last game in the great career of Kobe Bryant. Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers host the Utah Jazz. Not only is it an important game because Bryant is ending his 20 year NBA career, but the Jazz find themselves tied for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Utah is tied with the Houston Rockets for that final playoff spot and the Rockets hold the tiebreaker over the Jazz. Houston is hosting the Sacramento Kings tonight and if they win they’ll claim that final Western Conference playoff spot, but if the lose they’ll open the door for the Jazz to grab it. I don’t think I can say anything about Bryant that hasn’t already been said. Bryant is an 18 time All-Star and won the MVP of that game 4 times. Bryant has won 5 NBA Championships and was voted finals MVP in 2 of those 5 finals. Surprisingly Bryant won just 1 league MVP Bryant is the 3rd highest scorer in NBA history with 33,583 points trailing only Karl Malone who is 2nd and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the career scoring leader. Bryant has had his injury issues the last few seasons, but tonight will be his 66th game of the season. He is averaging 16.9 points per game to go along with an average of 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. It’s been a down year for the Lakers as they are 16-65 entering tonight’s game. Since it’s looking like it’s a must have game for the Jazz can Bryant’s teammates send him off with one more win?

NHL

The NHL playoffs start tonight with 3 of the 8 opening round series getting started. On this evenings'(Wednesday) podcast of Sports Time Radio Dan the Man will give you his predictions for the opening round. Not only will he be picking which team he thinks will win the series, but how many games that series will go. Tonight starts with the Detroit Red Wings at the Tampa Bay Lighting followed by the New York Rangers at the Pittsburgh Penquins and the nightcap is the Chicago Blackhawks at the St. Louis Blues. Thursday night start with the Philadelphia Flyers at the Washington Capitals. I can guarantee you that Dan will be taking the Capitals to win this series since they where his pre-season pick to win the Stanley Cup. Then it’s the New York Islanders at the Florida Panthers after that we’ll get the Minnesota Wild at the Dallas Stars with the nightcap being the San Jose Sharks at the Los Angeles Kings. Now the Kings where my pre-season pick to win the Stanley Cup; so will see if Dan picks them to advance. There is one series that won’t open until Friday night as the Nashville Predators are at the Anaheim Ducks for their Game 1 while the other teams that play tonight will be playing their Game 2. I haven’t heard why the Nashville/Anaheim series is starting later than the other ones, but I guess they’ll all even out down the line. Since you’ll be able to get Dan’s picks tonight; who do you have winning the Stanley Cup?

NASCAR

Kyle Busch took the win Saturday night in the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. With the win Busch joined Jimmie Johnson as the only drivers with 2 victories this season. Busch got the win with Dale Earnhardt Jr. finishing 2nd, Joey Logano who was the pole sitter finished 3rd, Johnson came home 4th and rookie Chase Elliott rounded out the Top 5 in 5th place. The Sprint cup drivers are headed to Bristol Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Food City 500. Can Busch or Johnson be the first guy to get his 3rd win this season or might we see someone new get their 1st win of the season and qualify for The Chase. Of course we might also see Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin or Brad Keslowski get their 2nd victory of the season.

Tony Stewart was awarded the Major General Thomas Sadler Award while the Sprint Cup series was at Texas Motor Speedway. Stewart received the award for his charitable contributions to the Texas chapter of the Speedway Children’s Charities organization. During Stewart’s acceptance speech fans had hoped that he might reveal when he would return to the #14 car. However Stewart did give any timetable for his return. He suffered a serious back injury in an all-terrain vehicle accident just prior to the start of the season and has been out of the driver’s seat recovering. Stewart made it clear in his speech that he looked forward to being back in the car competing alongside those active drivers. He has been doing rehabilitation work for his back injury. The thought was that Stewart would return right around the time of the All-Star race, but right now no one knows for sure.

 

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

 

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: April 9, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, golf, sports, Uncategorized
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MLB

After last night I’m sure a lot of people are asking, who is Ross Stripling? As you know by now Stripling is a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers who had a no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants last night for 7 1/3rd innings, but was removed from the game because he was on a pitch count. Stripling is 26 years old and played college baseball at Texas A&M. He was originally drafted in the 9th round of 2011 amateur draft by the Colorado Rockies. Stripling didn’t sign with the Rockies and after spending another season in college the Dodgers selected him in the 5th round of the 2012 amateur draft. Stripling is a right handed pitcher who has spent the last 3 seasons working his way through the Dodgers minor league system. Stripling has made 48 minor league starts and has appeared in 55 minor league games before this season. His minor league record was 12-10 with an ERA of 2.83 over 235 1/3rd innings. He had 1 complete game in the minors and also recorded 1 save. The Dodgers have had their share of injuries to starting pitchers and they where looking for a 5th starter to open the season with. Stripling was able to land that 5th starter spot with his spring training performances. Overall this spring Stripling made just 1 start, but appeared in 4 games covering 11 innings overall this spring. Stripling was 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA but did average a strikeout an inning during spring training. The Dodgers saw enough in Stripling to give him the 5th starters job and for 7 1/3rd innings last night it paid off. While it was a great outing for Stripling sadly he ended up with a no decision and the Dodgers ended up with a loss in extra innings last night. Stripling’s official line was 7 1/3 rd innings 0 hits, 1 run allowed, 4 walks and 4 strikeouts. The Dodgers gave Stripling a 2-run lead in the 5th inning as A,J, Ellis and Corey Seager each singled in the inning to drive in runs. After Stripling walked Angel Pagan Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went to the bullpen for Chris Hatcher. The first Giants batter Hatcher faced was catcher Trevor Brown who greeted him with a 2-run home run to tie the game at 2-2. The game stayed tied at 2 into the bottom of the 10th inning. Joe Blanton came out of the Dodgers bullpen to pitch the 10th inning. Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford was the first batter Blanton faced and Crawford hit the 2nd pitch he saw over the left field fence for a walk off home run. Sadly Stripling’s great outing went for nothing as the Giants ended up taking Game 1 of the series 3-2 in 10 innings. The teams meet again on Saturday and it will be  it will be Clayton Kershaw against Madison Bumgarner in their first match up of 2016. The ace lefties are each 1-0 in 2016 and matched up four times in 2015. This will be the eighth overall meeting between them.

The Chicago Cubs lost their first game of the 2016 season last night 3-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, but really the first loss this season for the Cubs happen before the game started when it was announced that outfielder Kyle Schwarber will miss the entire 2016 season with a knee injury. Schwarber collided with centerfielder Dexter Fowler in Thursday night 14-6 victory as they where going for a fly ball in the left centerfield gap. Schwarber had to be carted off the field and an MRI showed that Schwarber suffered full tears to the ACL and LCL in his left knee. Schwarber also suffered a severely sprained ankle in the collision with Fowler.  Schwarber is expected to have surgery in one to three weeks and will remain at the Cubs’ spring training facility in Mesa, Arizona, until he is ready to travel back to Chicago. The Cubs hope that Schwarber can return for spring training next year, but with damage to two ligaments, they aren’t sure of the timetable. Munenori Kawasaki will be recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take Schwarber’s roster spot.Jorge Soler played left field in Friday nights game at Arizona. The Cubs have some depth and you may see Tommy La Stella get some playing time in Schwarber’s place, with third baseman Kris Bryant being another option in left field. The Cubs also have Matt Szczur to insert into the outfield rotation. Schwarber was a catcher by trade and is still in the learning process in leftfield. While the injury will take playing time away from Schwarber he’ll have the opportunity to watch and learn the position this season. If he’s able to return for the start of the 2017 season he may end up being a better defensive outfielder.

 GOLF

We don’t talk a lot of golf on the Sports Time Radio podcasts, but this is Master’s weekend and I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least look at who’s leading the tournament going into today’s round. Defending champion Jordan Spieth is leading the tournament at -4 under par. Spieth has tied Arnold Palmer’s record by being in the lead at the Master’s for 6 consecutive rounds. Rory McIlroy is one shot behind at -3 under. Danny Lee and Scott Piercy are tied at -2 under and then there are three golfers; Brandt Snedeker, Soren Kjeldsen and Hideki Matsuyama tied at -1 under. Spieth is trying to be the first golfer to repeat as Master’s champion since Tiger Woods won back to back in 2001 and 2002.

 NASCAR

The NASCAR car Sprint cup series takes the track tonight (Saturday) at Texas Motor Speedway for the Duck Commander 500. Carl Edwards took the pole with a s qualifying speed of 194.609. Joey Logano is starting 2nd with Martin Truex Jr. 3rd. Chase Elliot (4th) and Rickey Stenhouse Jr. (5th) round out the Top 5. None of these five drivers have a win; so they’ll be looking to use there good starting spot to get that win and lock themselves into the Chase. Chris Olmstead from BeyondtheFlag.com will join the Sports Time Radio podcast on Sunday morning as usual, but instead of his normal preview he’ll do a review of tonight’s race. As I’m writing this I don’t have Chris’ picks for his three drivers to look for in victory lane. If I can get them before the race starts maybe I’ll be able to tweet them out and let you know who he’s going with. 

I’m on Twitter @Burketime.

 Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your week

Posted: March 19, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, basketball, College Basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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How’s your NCAA tournament bracket? Mine actually went alright with one major exception. My tournament winner was Michigan State who loss in the 1st round to Middle Tennessee State. I know that #15 seeds have beaten #2 seeds before, but I really thought that wouldn’t happen to Michigan State. I thought a team with Denzel Valentine as their best player and coached by Tom Izzo would get through the first round against a much lower seeded team. Valentine struggled going 5 of 13 from the field including going 3 of 8 from behind the 3-point line. Oddly Valentine didn’t find his way to the free throw line and as a team Michigan State only shot 15 free throws in the entire game. Valentine ended up with a scoring line of 13 points, 6 rebounds and a tam high 12 assist. Middle Tennessee used pretty much just 5 players in the game as their bench as a whole played just 19 minutes and scored 9 points. Reggie Upshaw led the way for Middle Tennessee State with 21 points while playing 38 minutes. Giddy Potts had 19 points in 39 minutes. Perrin Buford and Darnell Harris each had 15 points. Buford also played 39 minutes while Harris played 28 minutes. Jaqawn Raymond also scored in double figures putting up 11 points in 37 minutes of action. Perrin also led the Blue Raiders in rebounding with 7 and assists wit 6. While Michigan State season and pretty much my tournament bracket are done for the season Middle Tennessee moves on to the 2nd round where they’ll face the #10 seeded Syracuse who beat Dayton (#7) 70-61 last night to advance. As a whole I didn’t do horrible picking the 1st round of the tournament. I lost 9 games total and I’m actually in the 84% of the contest I’m in. Of course with my tournament champion already eliminated my percentage will drop with the automatic losses I’ll take. Here’s hoping your 1st round went better than mine did.

Remember Chris Olmstead from Beyond the Flag will join me on the Sports Time Radio podcast tomorrow (Sunday) right around 10:00 a.m. to preview the NASCAR race at Auto Club Speedway. Austin Dillion won the pole position for the Auto Club 400 with an average speed of 188.482. Last weeks winner Kevin Harvick qualified 2nd with an average speed of 188.329. Denny Hamlin starts 3rd, Ryan Newman is starting 4th and Carl Edwards who was just nudge out by Harvick last week rounds out the Top 5 starting off 5th. It was another good qualifying set for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) with Hamlin 3rd, Edwards 5th as well as Kyle Busch starting 6th. The fourth JGR driver Matt Kenseth had a solid qualifying run as well and will start the race 20th on Sunday. Chris did very well with his picks last week; so you’ll want to know which 3 drivers he thinks have the best chance to end up in victory lane.

The Portland Trail Blazers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 117-112 last night, but the story from the game will be the clothesline Kendrick Perkins of the Pelicans center gave to Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard. Perkins hit Lillard in the chin or neck area as Lillard was attempting to score. Perkins was accessed a Flagrant foul 2; a call that was upheld after the video review. Trail Blazers center Mason Plumlee immediately took exception to the foul and stepped up to defend Lillard. Plumlee and Perkins had to be separated by the other players on the court. The play started with Perkins who was initially guarding Plumlee but, a screen switched him onto Lillard at the top of the key. The the much faster Lillard quickly drove past the 6-foot-10, 270-pound center, who then hit him as he prepared to go up with a shot from inside the free throw line. Perkins was ejected for the Flagrant 2 foul as Lillard went on to score 33 points grab 8 rebounds and hand out 6 assists in the Trail Blazers victory.

It’s another top notch match up for the NBA this Saturday night as the Golden State Warriors are at the San Antonio Spurs. They are the Top 2 teams in the NBA right now and are expected to be meeting in the Western Conference finals for the right to play for and as most people expect to win the NBA title. Golden State has the best record in the NBA at 62-6. San Antonio has the 2nd best record in the NBA at 58-10 and are a perfect 34-0 this season on there home court. As we’ve seen San Antonio’s head coach Gregg Popovich has rested his star player in these marquee type of match ups; so we’ll have to wait and see if any Spurs players are given the night off, but you’d think with a perfect home record on the line everyone one who’s healthy enough to play will play. San Antonio had the night off Friday night, but Golden State faced the Dallas Mavericks. Golden State picked up a 130-112 victory over the Mavericks, but 4 of the Warriors starters logged over 30 minutes in the game. Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes each played 36 minutes while Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both played 34 minutes. Fatigue shouldn’t be a factor for Golden State as they’re an up tempo team and while San Antonio does play a faster paced game it’s not the same speed the Warriors play at. On yesterday’s (Friday)Sports Time Radio podcast Dan the Man picked San Antonio to win the game and stay undefeated at home. Do you agree or disagree with Dan’s pick?

We had another significant injury in spring training this week. The Tampa Bay Rays lost their closer Brad Boxberger for at least 8 weeks when he need abdominal muscle surgery to repair what was described as a core muscle injury. Last season the 27 year old Boxberger had 41 saves in 47 opportunities. He went 4-10 with a 3.71 ERA and was an All-Star for the first time. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash didn’t name a replacement at closer, but has quite a few choices. Look for Tampa Bay to use Alex Colome, Ryan Webb, Xavier Cedeno, Danny Farquhar and Steven Geltz in that closer role as they try to find a way to fill the void until Boxberger can return.

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 16, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, College Basketball, football, NASCAR, sports, Uncategorized
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Last Sunday the NASCAR series was at the Phoenix International Speedway for the Good Sam 500. On Sunday morning Chris Olmstead from Beyond the Flag joined the Sports Time Radio podcast to preview the race. As Chris is wrapping up his preview we have him select three drivers that he thinks have the best chance to end up in victory lane. For the Phoenix race he went with Jimmie Johnson who finished 11th as one of his choices. His other two choices where Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick who ended up finishing 1st and 2nd. Harvick edged out Edwards by 9/100th of a second. Edwards had actually found his way past Harvick on the last lap, but Harvick was able to pull up side by side with Edwards and after some contact it was Harvick who was able to narrowly pull out the victory. The win of course puts Harvick in the Chase along with Denny Hamlin, Johnson and Brad Keslowski. The Sprint Cup series continues the west coast swing as they go to Fontana California for the Auto Club 400 at the Auto Club Speedway. Chris will join us on the podcast a little after 10:00 a.m. to preview the race and make his picks. Tune in to hear if Chris can pick back to back winners.

Now I don’t watch much if any college basketball, but you know that I filled out a tournament bracket. Pretty much all I know about the college basketball season is the highlights I’ve seen on the various sportscasts I watch. Anyway here’s what I managed to come up with for my Final Four. I have Villanova coming out of the South bracket; facing Texas A&M out of the West bracket. Villanova wins this match up and goes to the championship game. I have North Carolina coming out of the East bracket to face Michigan State who wins the Midwest bracket. I have Michigan state winning this game and advancing to the Championship game. So my finals match up has Villanova vs. Michigan State and I have Michigan State winning the NCAA championship. So my Final Four is actually Villanova, Texas A&M, North Carolina and Michigan State. I guess will have to see how this goes for me.

I was a little surprised when the report came out that the Denver Broncos matched the contract offer made to running back C.J. Anderson by the Miami Dolphins. The contract has a  a guaranteed $5.25 million signing bonus, and his base salary of $675,000 is also guaranteed. In addition, $1.7 million of his $2.9 million base salary in 2017 is guaranteed. Anderson’s base salary of $4.5 million in 2018 and 2019 are not guaranteed. He will have to be on the Broncos’ roster to earn his base salary in those years. Anderson was tendered at a one-year, $1.671 million deal, with the Broncos holding right of first refusal on the restricted free agent. That meant the Broncos could match any offer, but it also meant they would not have received any compensation from the Dolphins if Anderson had signed there.With Anderson back in the fold it will give the Broncos one less thing to worry about as they try to figure out their quarterback position. Denver did acquire Mark Sanchez from the Philadelphia Eagles, but they’ve said all along he won;t be the only quarterback in camp. Denver has shown some interest in Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers as well as free agent quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The New England Patriots made a couple of moves yesterday. First they sent defensive end Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals for guard Jonathan Cooper and a 2nd round draft choice. Jones is entering the last year of his contract, but is coming off a career high 12 1/2 sacks last season. In 4 years with the Patriots Jones had 36 sacks. Cooper was the 7th overall pick in the 2013 draft. He played in 14 games last season starting 9 for Arizona, but has had some injury issues. The 2nd round pick is a plus for New England. Remember they lost their 1st round draft pick as a penalty for deflate gate. Even without Jones New England was still deep along the defensive line, but that didn’t stop them from adding one more as they signed free agent Chris Long to a one year deal. Long formerly of the St. Louis now Los Angeles Rams is coming off a couple of injury plagued seasons. He played in just 6 games in 2014, but came back to play 12 games last season recording 3 sacks. Long was the 2nd overall pick of the 2008 draft and had 54 1/2 sacks in 8 seasons with the Rams.

The Oakland Raiders have made quite a splash in free agency this off season. They brought in pass rusher Bruce Irvin as well as signing the best offensive lineman on the market in Kelechi Osemele. Not it’s being reported that the Raiders will offensive tackle Donald Penn. Bringing Penn back means that Osemele will play guard for sure. It also means that quarterback Derek Carr will have a very large offensive line in front of him. Penn goes 6’5 and 305 pounds, Osemele goes 6’5 and 333 pounds along with the other starters Rodney Hudson at 6’2 and 291 pounds, Gabe Jackson 6’3 and 336 pounds and Austin Howard 6’7 333 pounds. If it’s not the biggest offensive line on the National Football League it has to be right at the top.

Another signing took place yesterday as Mike Wallace agreed to a deal with the Baltimore Ravens. Wallace spent last season with the Minnesota Vikings and on his way out the door took some shots at his now former quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. After being released by the Minnesota Vikings in a salary cap move there was some talk Wallace would resign with Minnesota, but Wallace didn’t feel this way saying “When this process started, I knew I wasn’t going back to Minnesota. I was like, ‘I need a good quarterback,'” Wallace said. “I need a quarterback who is proven and can get things done. [Ravens Quarterback Joe] Flacco has always been that guy.” In his one season with the Vikings Wallace caught 39 passes for 473 yards and 2 touchdowns. The 39 catches tied for Wallace’s career low. He also had 39 catches as a rookie with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In Baltimore Wallace will team with the returning Steve Smith and hopefully Breshad Perriman. Perriman lost his rookie season last year to injury, but if he can contribute the Ravens could have a solid receiving core.

Listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week.

Posted: March 12, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, basketball, College Basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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It’s starting to look like shortstop will be the big injury position this season. The St. Louis Cardinals lost their shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a wrist injury last week. Peralta did end up having surgery on his injured wrist and is expected to be out until about mid-season. Then yesterday the New York Mets announced that shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera has been diagnosed with a strained patellar tendon in his left knee and appears likely to open the season on the disabled list. Cabrera will be inactive for at least two weeks. He;ll be allowed to resume some baseball activities if he is comfortable. The Mets Cabrera flew to New York on Friday to undergo platelet-rich plasma therapy at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. With only 23 days until the Mets open the season against the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals on ESPN’s Sunday night baseball; it would be difficult for Cabrera to be ready for that game. Cabrera was part of the Mets off season reworking of their middle infield. He was signed to a two year $18.5 million dollar deal to play shortstop alongside new second baseman Neil Walker who the Mets acquired by sending left handed pitcher Jon Niese to the Pittsburgh Pirates this off season. With Cabrera and Walker brought in former starters Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada moved to backup infield roles. Now Flores and Tejada should go back to handling the shortstop duties until Cabrera is returns. There was some talk that the Mets might be looking to deal Tejada and with a salary of just $3 million for this season there where some teams interested. One of the teams that where interested in Tejada was the Cardinals who looked at him as a fill in for the inured Peralta. Of course with the injury to Cabrera it seems that Tejada is far more likely to stick with the Mets for Opening Day.

Tomorrow (Sunday) the NCAA will announce the tournament field for the men’s basketball championship. With the play in games and everything there is 68 teams; I think that have a chance to win the championship. I don’t watch college basketball and we don’t spend much time of any talking about it on Sports Time Radio. At least I do catch the highlights on whatever sports recap show I happen to be watching at that time. Of course with all this being said I still plan on entering a bracket into whatever championship pool I can find. Sometimes it seems as knowing less can actually be helpful, but I’m wondering how I should pick my bracket.I know there have been multiple teams that have held the #1 ranking in the polls only to be knocked off the top. That should mean the tournament is wide open, but could a mid-major team actually go all the way? I’ve heard over and over that you need good guard play to advance in the tournament. So who’s the best guard in college basketball? or do you need a pair of gourds in your back court to have tournament success. I’ve heard that Ben Simmons of Louisiana State University (LSU) is the best player in college basketball, but there’s a chance that his team might not even make the tournament. Of course then the question becomes; how far can the best player take a team? As you can tell I really have no clue who’s going to win this thing; so I’m asking for your help. Let me know who you think will win the title or even get to the Final Four. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The NASCAR series is staying out west as they’re at the Phoenix International Speedway for the Good Sam 500. Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) showed it’s muscle in qualifying as Kyle Busch took the pole position with a speed of 138.387. Busch’s teammate Carl Edwards took the 2nd spot with a speed of 137.515 and another JGR and this seasons Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin will start 3rd and had a qualifying speed of 137.426. Rounding out the Top 5 is Kurt Busch; Kyle’s brother starting 4th and Jimmie Johnson starting 5th. The only JGR driver not in the Top 5 is Matt Kenseth who will be starting 6th on Sunday. Chris Olmstead from Beyond the Flag will join us Sunday morning to preview the race. Not only will Chris preview the race with us, but he’ll let us know which three drivers he thinks has the best chance to wind up in victory lane. Last week Chris had Joey Logano; who finished 2nd and Jimmie Johnson who finished 3rd. His third choice was Kenseth who got caught up in an accident and ended up finishing 37th. Chris should join the Sports Time Radio podcast a little after 10:00 a.m.

The NBA has another one of there marquee match up Saturday night games as the Oklahoma City Thunder are at the San Antonio Spurs. Oklahoma City is in 3rd place in the Western Conference with a record of 44-21. San Antonio is the team ahead of the Thunder in the Western Conference standings as they are 55-10 in 2nd place. Now it’s difficult to go into San Antonio and win as the Spurs are 31-0 at home this season. Oklahoma City is 6 games over .500 on the road this season at 18-12, but can they go into San Antonio and beat a team like the Spurs? If Oklahoma City could find a way to win this game it could be a statement that they’re a team to watch in the playoffs. If the Western Conference plays out like it should Oklahoma City would have to play San Antonio in a playoff series and they’d need to be able to win a game on the Spurs home court to advance. It looks like Oklahoma City will be playing without Dion Waiters who is away from the team because of a death in his family. Andre Roberson is battling a left ankle injury and it hasn’t been announced yet if he will play tonight. Of course with San Antonio you never know who is going to be getting a night off. Tony Parker does have a toe injury, but should be go to go for tonight’s game. Parker along with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili all sat out Tuesday nights game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. You would think these three players where rested so they’d be ready to play tonight against Oklahoma City, but you never know with the Spurs. On Friday’s podcast Dan the Man took San Antonio to stay undefeated at home. Do you agree with Dan or do you have Oklahoma City winning tonight?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: March 5, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in Auto Racing, baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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With the start of the baseball season less than a month away spring training is up and running at full speed. This week 3 teams suffered their first injuries where players will miss regular season time. The defending champion Kansas City Royals lost outfielder Jarrod Dyson for 6 weeks with a Grade 2 strain of his right oblique. Dyson is going into his 7th season with the Royals, but has been used mostly as a defensive replacement and pinch runner. This season the Royals where hoping that Dyson would be part of there right field platoon with Paulo Orlando. With Dyson out Travis Snider might be given the first chance to fill his role at the start of the season. Snider was signed as a free agent this off season. The Detroit Tigers also lost and outfielder as Cameron Maybin was hit by a pitch and suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left wrist and is expected to miss the first couple of weeks of the regular season. After struggling through most of his career Maybin seemed to find something with the Atlanta Braves last season hitting .267 with 10 home runs while stealing 23 bases in 141 games. The Tigers sent 2 pitchers Gabe Speier and Ian Kroll to the Braves this off season for Maybin so he could compete with Anthony Gose for playing time in center field. Gose should be the full time center fielder while Maybin tries to recover from his wrist injury. The first pitcher to go down with a serious injury was Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Brett Anderson. Anderson was found to have a bulging disc in his lower back that will require surgery. The time frame for Anderson return has been set between 3 and 5 months. Anderson has had various injuries tough his career, but stayed healthy during the 2015 season making 31 starts. Anderson went 10-9 with a 3.69 Earner Run Average (ERA) last season. Even with Anderson out and Brandon McCarthy not scheduled to return from his injury until the All-Star break the Dodgers still have some depth in there staring rotation. Of course Clayton Kershaw is at the top of the rotation. Hyun-jin Ryu is returning from injury and looks like he’ll be ready to go for the start of the season. The Dodgers signed Scott Kazmir as a free agent as well as Japanese free agent and Kenta Maeda this off season. The Dodgers also have Alex Wood and Mike Bolsinger as 5th starter options. Will have to see which pitcher ends up filling Anderson’s rotation spot. There are always injuries in spring training you just have to hope that it’s not a key player who gets hurt or that your team has a player who can fill his role on the team.

Have there been two more disappointing teams this NBA season than the Houston Rockets and the Chicago Bulls? The Rockets are 30-31, but are holding onto the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Bulls are 30-30 , but are 1/2 game behind the Detroit Pistons for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. As the schedule would have it these two disappointing teams are the marquee match up for NBA Saturday night. What are we going to get on a national telecast with these two teams playing. Each team has shown flashes of the team people thought they might be at the beginning of the season, but haven’t shown enough to make people think they could be a factor in the playoffs. At this point right now if both of these teams end up as the #8 seeds in their conferences do you think they’d have a shot at all of beating the #1 seed. They better question might be would they even win a game in that series or would they just be swept out of the playoffs.  The Rockets where so bad at the start of the season that there head coach Kevin McHale lost his job. The coaching change hasn’t made a whole lot of difference with the Rockets. The Rockets feature James Harden along with Dwight Howard. Harden leads the team in scoring with 28.7 points per game and dominates the basketball. Harden does also lead the team in assists averaging 7 a game. Howard is the team leader in rebounds grabbing an average of 12 a game. Howard can still block shots; he’ll block 1.5 per game on average. Howard is also averaging 14.9 points per game. Harden and Howard are the Rockets top two scorers. The Bulls had been a playoff team under defensive minded head coach Tom Thibodeau, but the front office wanted to go another and replaced Thibodeau with a more offensive minded coach in Fred Hoiberg. As the Bulls attempt t adjust to a new system the defense hasn’t been what it was and the offense isn’t where it’s suppose to be. The Bulls are fighting some injuries, but there’s a chance that their best player Jimmy Butler will return tonight. Butler is the Bulls leading scorer averaging 22.4 points per game. Pau Gasol has shown he can still play offense averaging 16.9 points per game and is the tam leader in rebounding at 10.9 rebounds per game. Derrick Rose has played more this season, but still misses games with injuries that wouldn’t keep other players out. Rose is the Bulls 3rd leading scorer at 16.5 points per game, but does lead the team in assists averaging 4.8 assists per game. Rose and Butler have had some issues working together on the court, but it seems as though one of them has always been out injured; so that hasn’t been a huge issue yet. Will we get a good game tonight or we will get a game where two disappointing teams show up.

Just a reminder Chris Olmstead from http://www.BeyondtheFlag.com will join the Sports Time Radio podcast to preview The Kobalt 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kurt Busch won the pole in qualifying with a speed of 196.328 miles per hour. Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keslowski and Austin Dillion round out the Top 5 qualifiers. Will one of these drivers be in Chris’ 3 drivers to look for in victory lane? You’ll have to listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com to find out who Chris is going with.

Listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

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