Archive for the ‘basketball’ Category

How was your Week?

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

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

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

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

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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

Let’s call it Wednesday

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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

NBA Awards

Posted: April 21, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports
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Here we go with the Sports Time Radio NBA Awards. Now the guys only had to pick and MVP and a Rookie of the Year. We used the same set up we always do; Schaumburg Stu, Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy were sent stats for 6 players with no names attached and were asked to ranked them from best season to worse season. Not that any of these where bad seasons; just in comparison to the guys they were up against. A player got 6 points for a 1st place vote, 5 points for a 2nd place vote and so on down to 1 point for a 6th place vote. To help break ties a player was giving .5 of a point.for a 1st place vote. Here’s what we got.

Russell Westbrook (15.5) of the Oklahoma City Thunder is the Sports Time Radio NBA MVP. Westbrook played in 67 games and led the NBA in scoring with 28.1 points per game. Westbrook also handed out 8.6 assists per game, grabbed 7.3 rebounds per game and 2.1 steals per game this season. Here are the other player who received votes with their point totals next to their name in parenthesis. Anthony Davis (14.5) New Orleans Pelicans. James Harden (11.5) Houston Rockets. Stephen Curry (11) Golden State Warriors. LeBron James (9) Cleveland Cavaliers. DeMarcus Cousins (3) Sacramento Kings.

Andrew Wiggins (19.5) of the Minnesota Timberwolves was the unanimous as Rookie of the Year. Wiigins played in all 82 games for the Timberwolves. He averaged 16.9 points per game, grabbed 4.6 rebounds per game and handed out 2.1 assists per game while getting 1.0 steals per game. Here are the other player who received votes. Nikola Mirotic (13) Chicago Bulls. Efrid Payton (12) Orlando Magic. Langston Galloway (10) New York Knicks. There was a tie between Nerleans Noel (5) of the Philadelphia 76ers and Zach LaVine (5) of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

If you agree or disagree feel free to leave your comments or find me on Twitter @Burketime. It would be interesting to get your picks. You can also listen to Sports Time Radio at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week

Posted: April 18, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports
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The baseball season is only a couple of weeks old and while it’s my favorite sport there are a couple of trends that have bothered me even this early in the season. The first one is hitting a power type of guy in the 2nd spot in the batting order. I understand that in the new sabermetric era of baseball the stolen base doesn’t mean as much and strike outs don’t mean anything at all. Now I’m not saying you need a 100 stolen base a year guy at the top of your batting order like Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson and Maury Wills were, but you at least need a little bit of a speed threat at the top. Now it’s tough to get your running game going when the guy behind him in the batting order is a low contact high strikeout guy. You also wouldn’t want to get a guy thrown out at 2nd base when the guy in the batters box could get you 2 runs with one swing of the bat. Growing up watching baseball the 2nd hitter in your line up was always a guy who could handle the bat. He could hit with 2 strikes on him and would take pitches to see if the runner in front of him could steal a base. If a bunt was needed to move the runner over he could do that or he could hit behind the base runner if needed. Not to mention that he would be one of if not the best defensive player on your team. Do these type of baseball players still exist? and could they help a team win games? I can understand a team like the Cincinnati Reds putting Joey Votto in the two-hole. While he’ll hit his share of home runs, he’ll take pitches, he makes contact and doesn’t strikeout a lot. Now teams like the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs are going with higher strikeout guys in the 2nd spot of their batting order. With Jose Altuve coming off of a career year in 2014 you’d think the Astros would like a guy hitting behind him who could give him a chance to steal a base or get himself in scoring position another way. It’s George Springer who’s hitting 2nd in the Astros batting order. In 10 games this season Springer is hitting .135 with 16 strikeouts and is tied for the most strikeouts. The Cubs have Dexter Fowler in the lead off spot and while he’s not a big stolen base guy he can easily get to 30 steals a season. Jorge Soler has been hitting behind Fowler quite a bit early in the season and while his batting average is good (.294) he’s struck out 11 time in 9 games. I’ve heard the reasoning of getting the guy a few extra at bats, but wouldn’t it be more important to score runs and win games over getting extra at bats for a guy. The other trend that is driving me crazy this season is hitting the pitcher in the 8th spot. There are pretty much only two reason this happens. The first one is because your manager has no confidence at all in your starting pitcher and he wants him a spot up in the batting order so he can get him out of the game an inning earlier. The second reason would be because your manager is looking for cheap attention from the media. There are always questions for a manager when the pitcher isn’t hitting 9th and the only one who can answer them is the manager; so he gets the media attention he’s looking for. Even this early in the season I’ve seen this come back to hurt teams, Now if there are runner on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs they would probably walk the 8th place hitter to get to the pitchers spot anyway, but on a couple of occasions the pitcher has come up with the bases loaded and 2 outs. If this was an actual 8th place hitter there would be a chance for the team to score some runs, but with the pitcher up; he’s as close to an automatic out as there is in baseball. There are 3 pitchers with 3 hits so far this season, but would you rather have them at the plate or your regular 8th place hitter. Here’s hoping these teams wake up and stop trying to re-invent baseball and concentrate more on putting there teams in better positions to win.

The NBA playoffs get started this afternoon with the 1st of 4 games on the schedule today. The Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors kick things off today. They are followed by the New Orleans Pelicans against the Golden State Warriors. The 3rd game on the schedule today is the Milwaukee Bucks against the Chicago Bulls and the night wraps up with the Dallas Mavericks against the Houston Rockets. The other 8 playoff teams get started on Sunday and their schedule looks like this. It’s the Boston Celtics vs. The Cleveland Cavaliers to start the day. That game is followed by the Brooklyn Nets taking on the Atlanta Hawks. The 3rd game on Sunday is the Portland Trailblazers vs. The Memphis Grizzlies and the final game is the San Antonio Spurs against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Now I saw the odds that Las Vegas has put up on who will win the NBA title and they didn’t give the best odds to either of the #1 seeds in the conferences. It’s the Cavaliers who open as the 9 to 4 favorite to win the title. The Warriors are 2nd at 5-2 with the defending champion Spurs next at 4-1. The team with the best record in the Eastern conference Atlanta is 12-1 while the Bulls, Clippers and Rockets are all 14-1 odds. The Grizzlies are 25-1 odds while the Raptors and Trailblazers are 50-1 odds and the Mavericks and Wizards landing at 60-1 odds. If you like a long shot how about the Pelicans at 100-1 or at 200-1 you can have the Bucks, Celtics or Nets to win it all. So with the betting odds posted I figured I’d get Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu along with myself to make our picks on who will win. Here’s what we came up with. Dan the Man has both of the #1 seeds going to the finals; so it’s Atlanta and Golden State for Dan with Golden State winning. Schaumburg Stu went with Cleveland out of the East and Golden State out of the West with Golden State winning the title. I like the Cavaliers to get to the finals out of the East and the Spurs to get to the finals out of the West with the Spurs repeating as NBA champions. Who do you have?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 15, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports
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The NFL draft is just 15 days away. Remember it starts on Thursday now and runs through Sunday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the #1 pick and they should take a quarterback. It still appears that they’re leaning towards Jameis Winston the former Florida State quarterback. There has been a couple of reports that Tampa Bay may go with the Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota over Winston, but I think they’ll take Winston #1. While there is no question at all that Tampa Bay is keeping and using there pick the same can’t be said about the #2 pick in the draft. That #2 pick belongs to the Tennessee Titans and the  rumors are beginning to fly on who wants that pick and what they might give up to get it. Let’s just work our way down the draft order and try to cover who might move up to #2. The New York Jets have the #6 pick and I heard a report that the Jets would deal that pick along with a 2nd rounder and a couple of their defensive players to move up to the 2nd pick. The Chicago Bears have the #7 pick and there have been reports that the Bears would trade that pick along with quarterback Jay Cutler and a 3rd round draft pick to move up to the 2nd pick. The St. Louis Rams have been mentioned, but I haven’t seen any reports on what the Rams might have to give up to move up to #2 in the draft. The Rams own the #10 pick in the 1st round, but did acquire Nick Foles from the Philadelphia Eagles this off season; so I don’t know why they’d be interested in moving up to #2. The Cleveland Browns have two 1st round picks; the 12th and the 19th pick. I heard a report that the Browns might be willing to deal those two 1st round picks plus a 2nd round pick in 2016 too move up to #2. The San Diego Chargers have the 17th pick in the 1st round and I heard yesterday that Phillip Rivers may be on the trading block. You’d guess the Chargers would have to send Rivers, the 17th pick and maybe another draft pick to Tennessee if they wanted to move up to #2. Then we get to the Eagles who have the 20th pick in the 1st round, but I heard a report that Chip Kelly may be willing to give up 3 1st round draft picks to move up to #2. That’s quite a few rumors and if Tennessee is interested in trading the #2 pick it doesn’t look like they’ll have any trouble finding a trade partner. I guess the question would then become are Winston or Mariota worth that price tag and would they turn into the franchise quarterback that a team would be moving up to get. There is good reason not to be sold on either of these guys; so I’m not at all sure why a team would give up that abundance of picks to move up to get one of these guys. Instead of dealing away a boat load of draft picks to move up teams might be better off sitting tight and see if a quarterback like Brett Hundley from UCLA, Bryce Petty from Baylor, or Garrett Grayson from Colorado State is your draft board come the 2nd or 3rd round. I’ve even heard some draft experts say that Sean Mannion out of Oregon State may turn into a good pro quarterback and he should be on the most teams draft boards in the 4th or 5th round. I guess if your advanced scouting has Winston and Mariota as franchise type quarterbacks then it would make sense to give up the draft picks you’d have to give up to move up in the draft and get your guy. I actually think the team that doesn’t make that deal might be just as well off drafting a quarterback in one of the later rounds. Whatever happens come April 30th the big winner here is Tennessee.

There are 14 games on the NBA schedule tonight and it’s also the last day of the regular season. Now 14 of the 16 playoff spots are locked up, but there are 4 teams in contention for those last 2 playoff spots. In the Eastern conference the Indiana Pacers are 38-43 and hold a 1 game lead over the Brooklyn Nets who are 37-44. Indiana won 99-95 over the Washington Wizards last night in double overtime and now they have to turn around and play Memphis Grizzlies. The Nets have an earlier game against the Orlando Magic; so the Pacers will know that outcome before they take the court tonight. Of course the team that ends up with the 8th seed draws the Atlanta hawks in the 1st round of the playoffs. Over in the Western conference it’s the New Orleans Pelicans who are holding onto the 8th spot right now. New Orleans and the Oklahoma City Thunder have the same record of 44-37, but New Orleans owns the tiebreaker and would take the 8th seed if both teams end the season with the same record. Oklahoma City is playing the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight. The Timberwolves have the worst record in the NBA at 16-66; so it’s a game Oklahoma City should win. New Orleans on the other hand is matched up against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs tonight. San Antonio is currently in the 3rd spot in the Western conference and you have to wonder if it is important to them to even move up to the 2nd spot. There is a chance that San Antonio will rest it’s starters and just get ready for the playoffs. The Oklahoma City and New Orleans games tip off at the same time; so neither team will know the outcome of the others game until they’re done. Should make for an interesting night of basketball for some NBA teams.

The NHL playoffs get started tonight (Wednesday) with 4 games on the ice. Here’s the match ups for tonight it’s the  Montreal Canadiens vs. the Ottawa Senators. The New York Islanders vs. the Washington Capitals. The Chicago Blackhawks vs. the Nashville Predators and the Calgary Flames vs. the Vancouver Canucks. The rest of the series get started tomorrow (Thursday with the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the New York Rangers. The Detroit Red Wings vs. the Tampa Bay Lighting. The Winnipeg Jets vs. the Anaheim Ducks and the Minnesota Wild vs. the St. Louis Blues. The NHL always seems to have some upsets in the 1st round; so which top seeds may fall? While my predictions haven’t been all that great as of late I’m going to give it another shot here. I’ll take the Tampa Bay Lighting in the Eastern conference and even though it’s a huge homer pick I’ll take the Chicago Blackhawks out of the Western conference. Who’s going to hoist Lord Stanley’s cup at the end of the playoffs well I have to go with the Blackhawks to bring the cup bacl to Chicago.

I’m the Big Jack and you can follow me on Twitter @burketime

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How was your Week?

Posted: March 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports
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With the Oklahoma City Thunder hanging on to the 8th and final playoff seed in the Western Conference it was announced that last seasons M.V.P. Kevin Durant will miss the rest of the season. Durant has missed large chunks of the year after having “Jones fracture” surgery back in October, and the latest operation will see him sidelined for another four-to-six months. Durant returned to action in early December, but by the middle of February he started to feel pain again, and had a minor procedure to replace a screw that was rubbing against another bone. Durant consulted with multiple specialist and the decision was made that he will have bone graft surgery. This surgery is needed in five to eight percent of Jones fracture surgeries that do not initially have success or experience setbacks sometime within the recovery period. This latest operation will see Durant sidelined for another 4 to 6 months. Durant’s 2014-15 season saw him play in 27 games averaging 25.4 PPG, 6.6 RPG and 4.1 APG while shooting 51% from the field and 40.3% from behind the 3-point line. Durant will be entering the final year of his contract next season and the Thunder will have a big decision to make. Oklahoma City will have a year to decide if Durant is a max contract player or if they’ll actually let him walk away as a free agent. The Thunder have given themselves a little bit of a lead for that 8th playoff spot. They are 3 games ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans and 3 1/2 games ahead of the Phoenix Suns. Oklahoma City has 10 games left while the Pelicans have 9 games left and Phoenix has 8 games left in the regular season. In Durant’s absence Russell Westbrook has played at an M.V.P. type level, but going into the playoffs as the 8th seed the Thunder will match up with the Golden State Warriors. When there was a chance that Durant might return this season there was a lot of talk that the Thunder might ne able to upset the Warriors in the 1st round, but with just Westbrook what are the Thunder’s chances of that still happening. Is it time to start wondering that if your name isn’t LeBron James it’s a curse to win the M.V.P. award. Since 2008-09 James has won the M.V.P. award 4 times. Derrick Rose won the award in 2010-11 and Durant won it last season. Rose has pretty much had injury issues ever since and now Durant has a foot problem; just saying.

With Oklahoma City looking to have grabbed the last playoff spot in the Western conference teams can get ready for the playoff to start, but over in the Eastern conference there are 5 teams looking for those last 2 playoff spots. The Miami Heat gave the 7th playoff seed right now and the Boston Celtics are holding on to the 8th playoff seed. The Brooklyn Nets are 1/2 a game out of the 8th spot and 1 1/2 games out of the 7th spot. The Indiana Pacers are 1 game out of the 8th spot and 2 games out of the 7th spot and the Charlotte Hornets are still in the playoff hunt. The Hornets find themselves just 2 1/2 games out of the 7th spot and 1 1/2 games out of the 8th playoff spot. Even the Detroit Pistons haven’t officially been eliminated, but they are 4 games behind the Celtics and things would have to fall just right for the Pistons to find there way into the 8th seed. Do you think it would be better to finish 8th and play the Atlanta Hawks in the 1st round of the playoffs or finish 7th and draw the Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening playoff series?

On the Sports Time Radio podcast last night (Friday) we previewed to American League Central teams. We talked with Nick Dudukovich from FactoryofSadness.com about the Cleveland Indians upcoming 2015 season then Tony Fischer from DetroitJockCity.com came back on the podcast to preview the Detroit Tigers 2015 season. While both teams seem to have their everyday line ups ready to go both teams have pitching questions coming into the season. The Indians have Corey Kluber last seasons Cy Young award winner to anchor the starting rotation. Carlos Carrasco looks to be the #2 starter, but after that they’re filling the rotation with young talent. Trevor Bauer and lefty T.J. House look to be in the rotation and the last spot should come down to a choice between Josh Tomlin and Zach McAllister. Most experts had Danny Salazar penciled in as the 5th starter, but the Indians demoted him yesterday after a difficult spring. If Salazar can get righted quickly in the minors he’ll be back and in the rotation for Cleveland. The Tigers starting rotation is set and ready to go for the season. David Price gets the opening day start with Justin Verlander behind him. Verlander left his spring start yesterday, but it’s being reported that there are long injury concerns and he’ll be ready for his 1st start of the season. Anibal Sanchez is #3 with newcomers Alfredo Simon and Shane Greene filling the #4 and #5 spots. The Tigers have a good rotation the problem will be who makes a start if there’s an injury. The Tigers would look to 24 year old Kyle Lobstein or 23 year old Buck Farmer. While it looks like the Tigers are in a little better shape in the rotation the Indians may hold the advantage in the bullpen. Detroit is looking for Joe Nathan to return to the form that made him one of the games best closers. Nathan has a 5.79 ERA over 9 1/3rd spring training innings. How quickly would the Tigers turn to Joakim Soria if Nathan struggles early in the season. Or would they turn to Bruce Rondon. Rondon was considered in 2013, but had control issues. He’s only walked 2 guys in 6 1/3 rd innings this spring; so could he be the next in line to close games in Nathan has issues. The Indians bullpen and their roles look set to open the season. Cody Allen will close with Brian Shaw, Scott Atchison and lefty specialist Marc Rzepczynski in front of him. Can these 3 relievers repeat their performances from last season and will the fact that they made a combined 223 appearances affect them at all. As both the Indians and the Tigers go into the season both of our guests last night had their teams right at the 91-92 win area; so will they both compete for the A.L. Central title?

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

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: March 21, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports
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We’ve spent some time here looking at the NBA top teams and how the playoff match ups might go. Let’s turn our attention to the other end of the standings and teams that will be in the draft lottery. I started thinking about this after I heard some experts on television debating if the Boston Celtics should “tank” the rest of the season to get back into the draft lottery. The Celtics currently hold the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern conference. So your team gets into the draft lottery and by chance they win the #1 overall selection; great right. Not so fast; do you know the last #1 overall pick to win a NBA championship was LeBron (more…)

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 18, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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How many more injuries can the Oklahoma City Thunder take this season. Kevin Durant missed games early in the season recovering from his foot surgery and now he’s out because they had to go in and adjust the screws in the plate they put in that foot.  Russell Westbrook suffered facial fractures had surgery to repair them and didn’t miss too many games, but is playing with a protective mask on. Now Serge Ibaka injured his knee and is out four to six weeks. Ibaka had  successful arthroscopic surgery yesterday and would be back for the playoffs if the Thunder makes the playoffs. Westbrook has been keeping the Thunder in the playoff hunt while making a case for himself as the MVP, but with the New Orleans Pelicans victory last night Oklahoma City finds themselves 1/2 a game out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western conference. Oklahoma City has 15 games left starting tonight (Wednesday) against the Boston Celtics to get past the Pelicans and into the NBA playoffs. If the Thunder can find a way to pass the Pelicans and grab that 8th seed they’d  get a 1st round match up with the Golden State Warriors. You’d think the Thunder would have to go into that opening round match up without Ibaka, but Golden State doesn’t really feature their big men. If Oklahoma City can get a healthy Durant back playing with the MVP candidate Westbrook against Golden State’s “Splash Brothers” Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry in just the 1st round of the playoffs. Would a Durant return be enough for Oklahoma City to shock a team like Golden State?

The NCAA tournament goes into full swing tomorrow as the official 1st round starts. We don’t cover much college basketball on the podcast, but I always fill out a tournament bracket just for the fun of it. While I’m not going to go game by game through my picks, but here’s my Final Four teams. Out of the Midwest region I have who else, but Kentucky. I have the Wisconsin Badgers coming out of the West region and they’ll play Kentucky in the Final Four. In the South region I have the Gonzaga Bulldogs going to the Final Four to play the winner of the East region which I have as Northern Iowa; with Gonzaga going to the championship game. So my finals match up is Gonzaga vs. Kentucky and I have Kentucky winning it all with a 70 – 61 victory in the tournament final.

At just 24 years of age and with just one season of professional football under his belt San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland retired because he is concerned about head injuries. Now I have no issues with Borland deciding to walk away from the NFL but the mainstream media has handled this story very, very poorly. I’ve heard Borland called everything from a hero to a quitter and I don’t believe he’s either. To me he’s just a guy who no longer wanted to play football. When you’re an athlete you have this fire or love inside you for the sport you play; it’s what keeps you going when you think you can’t go on. I’m guessing that Borland didn’t have a love for football or the NFL and just decided to move on with his life. Of course the media jumped all over this story and started predicting the end of the NFL Just because Chris Borland didn’t want to play football anymore doesn’t mean there aren’t players lining up to find their way into the NFL Is it possible that you’ll receive an injury that might affect your long-term healthy; yes. Are you paid very, very well to take that chance and play professional football; yes. Let’s not turn Borland into the poster boy for leaving the NFL because of head trauma. I don’t believe he has or received a serious head injury; he may have had a concussion last season, but I don’t think he missed any games because of it. Borland is a guy who accessed the risk of playing in the NFL to what he’d like to do with the rest of his life and decided to leave the sport. Don’t expect the mass exodus that the media is predicting now that one player has done it. I’m interested to see if any other players go this route.

While the NASCAR season is only four weeks old with the way it’s started can anyone stop defending champion Kevin Harvick? Harvick started his season by finishing 2nd to Joey Logano at the Daytona 500. The next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway Harvick finished 2nd again; this time to Jimmie Johnson at the Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500. Week 3 in Las Vegas Harvick led 142 on his way to his 1st victory of the season at the Kolbalt 400. Then last week at the Phoenix International Raceway Harvick led 224 of the 312 laps and easily won the CampingWorld.com 500. So in four weeks of racing Harvick has two 2nd place finishes and two victories. This week NASCAR moves to Fontana California for the Auto Club 400 at the Auto Club Speedway. Will Harvick get his 3rd win in a row or can another driver find his or her way to victory lane. I guess the question if someone else does win the race will Harvick finish 2nd?

I’ll be the first person to say that I can’t stand the way Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and the Chicago Cubs are handling the Kris Bryant situation. To tell you the truth though I’m not really that upset with the way they’re handling his situation this spring training. The Cubs front office is making a business decision not a baseball decision to send Bryant to Triple A Iowa to start the 2015 season. In case you don’t know if Bryant goes to Triple A and spends 12 days there the Cubs gain and extra year of salary control with him. I can deal with him just going to Triple A for 12 days. The issue I actually have is this shouldn’t even be an issue as Bryant should’ve been in the major leagues last season and we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Imagine if Bryant had a years worth of big league experience under his belt going into this season and wouldn’t have to learn on the fly at the major league level. Major league pitching is tough and it’s a lot more difficult to adjust to than Triple A pitching is. That would all be out-of-the-way had the Cubs just looked ahead and brought Bryant up last season. This is just part of the reasons why the Cubs don’t win. Poor front office decisions lead to poor on field results and the Chicago Cubs are living proof of that. Now the Cubs look better than they have in a long time and might have an outside shot at making the playoffs. How much more help would a Kris Bryant with one year of major league at bats be compared to a Kris Bryant who’s a rookie and learning major league pitchers be?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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

Vs. Series (Rightfield)

Posted: March 17, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, sports
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We’re on our last spot in the outfield; rightfield. In Chicago it’s a look at two players with limited experience; while in New York it’s two veterans in the position. We’ll start in Chicago today.

Jorge Soler is the Chicago Cubs rightfielder and in a small sample size last season he proved he could hit. Soler played in just 24 games, but he out up a .292 batting average. Soler had 8 doubles, 5 home runs and had 25 RBI’s last season. Like a lot of the young Cubs Soler will strikeout. Soler averaged 1 strikeout per game last season; which isn’t bad compared to some of his teammates. Soler committed 2 errors in rightfield last season, but did have 2 assists and posted a fielding percentage of .958. Soler is reported to have a strong throwing arm; so we’ll have to see if it pays off on the defensive ends for the Cubs in 2015. Soler may not be the first rookie mentioned when people start to talk about the Cubs, but at the end of the 2015 season don’t be surprised if he’s a frontrunner for National League Rookie of the Year  in 2015.

The Chicago White Sox are hoping to get a full season out of Avisail Garcia in rightfield in 2015. Due to injuries Garcia played in just 46 games last season. Garcia struggled at the plate as well; putting up a batting average of .244 much lower than his career batting average of .272. Garcia did hit 7 home runs; added 8 doubles and had 29 R.B.I.’s in 2015. Garcia has never played more than 72 games in a season; so it will be interesting to see what kind of offensive numbers Garcia can out up in a full season. Garcia did have a good fielding percentage of .978; committing just 2 errors and picking up 4 assists in 2014. Garcia is just 23 years old, but did get 23 post season at bats with the Detroit Tigers in 2012 where he put up a respectable .261 batting average. Garcia is another player who will be interesting to watch and see what kind of offensive numbers he might out up in a full 2015 season.

This is another position that is very difficult to pick. It’s two up and coming 23-year-old baseball players. I’m picking Soler at this position. While the players are very even I picked Soler over Garcia based on injury history.

In December of 2013 the New York Mets signed Curtis Granderson to a four year $60 million dollar contract after four season with the New York Yankees. Granderson did play in 155 games last season, but hit just .227. He did hit 20 home runs and had 66 RBI’s adding 27 doubles and 2 triples. In 2007 and 2008 Granderson led the American League in triples with 23 in 2007 and 13 in 2008 he was with the Detroit Tigers then, but in 2011 with the Yankees he led the AL in R.B.I.’s with 119 and runs scored with 136. At 34 I doubt he’ll be leading the N.L. in triples any time soon, but a closer return to form at the plate would be a big plus for the Mets. Granderson is a career .257 and I’m sure the Mets and their fans would take a 30 point improvement in batting average this season. Granderson is a good defender and posted a .994 fielding percentage in 2014 committing just 2 errors in the outfield while picking up 8 assists and being involved in a double play; his career field percentage is exactly what he posted last season .994. Granderson still has power, but he needs to get his batting average closer to his career numbers as the Mets look for a playoff spot in 2015.

Carlos Beltran hit a career low .233 yesterday in 109 games with the New York Yankees. Injuries have limited the number of games Beltran has been able to play in 5 of the last 8 seasons. The Yankees need a full season out of Beltran if they want to contend in the A.L. East. Beltran did hit 15 home runs and had 49 R.B.I.’s adding 23 doubles. Beltran has been an All-Star 8 times, won the R.o.Y. in 1999 and was a candidate for MVP and got votes for the award in 7 seasons. Beltran is a 3 time Gold Glove winner, but posted a career low in fielding percentage last season at .946. Beltran had 3 errors in rightfield last season with 2 assists, but did have a double play last season. Beltran will turn 38 years old a few weeks into the 2015 season and is in the 2nd year of a 3 year $45 million dollar deal. The Yankees need a healthy season and solid numbers out of Beltran to compete, but can a soon to be 38-year-old with a long injury history do that for them.

A tough pick between two veterans, but I’m going with the aging Beltran over the declining Granderson. If Beltran can stay healthy he has a shot to put up numbers, but Granderson’s number have been falling the last few seasons and not because of injury.

The Vs. Series is off tomorrow for the regular Let’s call it Wednesday blog, but it will be back on Thursday to break down the catching position for our four shared city teams.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: March 11, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports
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The NFL 2015 officially opened yesterday with a flurry of free agent signings some trades and even a couple of retirements. Now some of these moves had already been announced, but they couldn’t become official until March 10th. I think the transactions that surprised me the most were the trades that were made. The Detroit Lions acquired Haloti Ngata and a 7th round draft pick for a 4th and 5th round draft picks. Since Ndamukong Suh has agreed to terms with the Miami Dolphins the Lions need someone to fill his spot and they got Ngata to do that and it didn’t cost them a ton to do that. Most experts will tell you that the Seattle Seahawks need a threat in the receiving game. I think most experts thought it would be a wide receiver, but would they settle for one of the top tight ends in the NFL Seattle sent center Max Unger and their 2015 1st round draft choice to the New Orleans Saints for Graham  I’m not quite sure what the Philadelphia Eagles were thinking when they sent Nick Foles plus a 4th round pick in the 2015 draft and a 2nd round pick in 2016 for Sam Bradford and a 2015 5th round pick. Are the Eagles under the impression that Bradford will stay healthy with them. It had been reported that San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis was going to announce his retirement, but it was a bit of a surprise when Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker and Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds also announced their retirements yesterday. There where a bunch of free agent signings announced and I’m not going to go through and list them all for you. There will be a lot more to come as things move forward. It’s just interesting to me that with spring training moving along in baseball and both the NBA and NHL teams making playoff pushes the NFL found a way to rule the day in their off-season. Is the NFL the #1 sports league in America?

Would you believe that the hottest team in the NBA Eastern conference are the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are on a six game winning streak and have moved into the #7 playoff seed. The Pacers put their winning streak on the line tomorrow (Thursday) when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks are currently in the #6 playoff seed and are four games ahead of the Pacers in the standings. I’m not sure if anyone had the Pacers making the playoffs this season when Paul George suffered that horrific injury playing for Team USA and there are rumors that George may return before the season ends. While I’m not sure if a return would be in George’s or the teams best interest, but it would be an emotionally lift for this team. Right now the Charlotte Hornets are holding on to the #8 seed in the Eastern conference and are one game behind the Pacers. The Miami Heat are the team on the outside looking in at the moment, but are just a half of a game behind Charlotte and a game and a half behind the Pacers. With a little over a month left in the NBA season these final two playoff spots look to be up for grabs between these three teams.

In the Western conference the team rolling along on a six game winning streak are the San Antonio Spurs. Are you surprised that at this time of the season the Spurs seem to be playing better? The Spurs also out their winning streak on the line Thursday night as they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Spurs currently hold the #7 playoff seed in the Western conference, but they are just one game behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the #6 seed. San Antonio has a five game lead on the Oklahoma City Thunder who hold that 8th and final playoff spot. The Spurs are also just three games behind the Houston Rockets and if they catch them they could move up to a 4th or 5th playoff seed. The Spurs have had a very San Antonio type of season. They’ve had their share of injuries and of course Gregg Popovich has rested his veteran players when he thought they’ve needed it. Would you be surprised if San Antonio ends up in the Western conference finals or even the NBA finals when it’s all said and done.

Over in the NHL it looks like the Eastern conference might have it’s eight playoff team set. The top three in the Atlantic division Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lighting and Detroit Red Wings are in. The top three in the  Metropolitan division the New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins are in. The two wild card spots look like they’ll go to the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins unless the Florida Panthers who are currently six points behind the Bruins or the Ottawa Senators who are seven points behind the Bruins can get on a roll the Eastern conference is all set.

Over in the Western conference there are still playoff spots up for grabs. While it looks like the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues will get into the playoff out of the Central division, but the final division spot and the wild card position have three teams looking to fill those two spots. The Chicago Blackhawks hold the 3rd division spot right now with the Minnesota Wild as the wild card team. It’s the Winnipeg Jets who are 3 points behind the Wild and six points behind the Blackhawks are hanging onto the 2nd wild card spot, but just by one point over the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are actually tied with the Calgary Flames for the 3rd playoff spot in the Pacific division, but the Flames own the tiebreaker. The San Jose Sharks are still hanging around looking for a wild card spot. The Sharks are three points behind the Kings and Flames, 4 four points behind the Jets and seven points behind the Wild. The Vancouver Canucks hold the 2nd spot in the Pacific division, but they only have a three point lead over the Flames and Kings. It looks like the only team safe in the Pacific division are the Anaheim Ducks who have an 11 point lead over the Canucks. We should be headed for quite a finish. With all these teams having about 15 games left any opportunity to pick up two points will be huge.

We’re doing are baseball previews on Sports Time Radio and today (Wednesday) at 5:00 pm Tim Kelly from Section215.com will join the podcast to preview the 2015 Philadelphia Phillies. The at 5:30 pm Matt Gajtka from CityofChampionsSports.com will come on the podcast to preview the Pittsburgh Pirates 2015 season.

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

You can follow me on Twitter @BurkeTime

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