Archive for the ‘basketball’ Category

Let’s call it Wednesday!

Posted: December 3, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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12/3/14

For Week 13 Mr. Fantasy was the winner in picking games at 11-5. Dan the Man and I ended the week tied at 10-6 while Schaumburg Stu was 9-7 for the week. Overall I have a one game lead on Mr. Fantasy. I am 124-66-1 so that makes Mr. Fantasy 123-67-1. Schaumburg Stu is holding onto 3rd place by a game with an overall record of 120-70-1. Dan the Man is still in the basement with a record of 117-71-1. Now it’s on to Week 14.

Since there where three games on Thanksgiving I allowed Greg and Mr. Fantasy to use those players in their head to head match up. So here’s how it broke down for Week 13. At quarterback Mr. Fantasy went with Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions while Greg took Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Stafford finished 11th among quarterbacks for the week with 18.05 points. Romo finished with -1.87 points for the week and was behind quarterbacks Tom Savage of the Houston Texans and Jake Locker of the Tennessee Titans. Not the best week for Romo. Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Houston Texans and his six touchdown passes led all quarterbacks for Week 13 with 4.66 points. At running back Mr. Fantasy and Greg both went with Jamaal Charles of the Kansas City Chiefs. Charles scored 17.40 points and finished 14th among running backs for the week. Le’Veon Bell of the Pittsburgh Steelers led all running backs for the week with 42.90 points. Mr. Fantasy’s choice at wide receiver for Week 13 was Charles Johnson of the Detroit Lions. Greg went with Dez Bryant of the Dallas Cowboys. Johnson ended up as the 2nd highest scoring wide receiver of the week with 35.10 points. Bryant scored 10.30 points and finished 43rd among wide receivers for the week. DeAndre Hopkins of the Houston Texans was the only wide receiver to score more points than Johnson in week 13. Hopkins ended the week with 42.80 points. At tight end Mr. Fantasy picked Delanie Walker of the Tennessee Titans. Greg’s choice was Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboys. Walker scored 1.35 points for the week and finished 47th among tight ends for Week 13. Witten wasn’t a whole lot better finishing 44th among tight ends with 1.55 points for the week. Coby Fleener of the Indianapolis Colts was the tight end to have in Week 13 as he topped all scores with 27.95 points in Week 13. Everybody needs a kicker so Mr. Fantasy choose “The Leg” Greg Zuerlein of the St. Louis Rams while Greg went with the Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker. While the Rams put up 52 points in their Week 13 game Zuerlein got just one field goal attempt in the game, but did kick seven extra points and totaled 10.00 fantasy points for the week. Zuerlein finished 7th for the week among kickers. Tucker put up 15.00 fantasy points for the week and tied for 3rd among kickers for Week 13. It looks like Greg’s strategy of going with the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving didn’t work out for him. It looks like Week 13 goes to Mr. Fantasy.

The Tampa Bay Lighting are leading the Atlantic division and the Eastern Conference with 37 points. The Montréal Canadiens trail the Lighting by just one point with 36 on the season. In the Metropolitan both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Islanders have 36 points and are tied for the division lead. In the Western Conference the Vancouver Canucks and the Anaheim Ducks are tied for the lead in the Pacific division and the conference point lead with 35 points. The Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues are just one point behind with 34 points on the season and are tied for the lead on the Central division. The Islanders have the most wins in the National Hockey League at this point with 18. On the other end of the NHL standings the Columbus Blue jackets and the Edmonton Oilers have totaled 16 points on the season and are tied for the most losses in the NHL with 15. Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins leads the NHL in points with 33 and assists with 24 while Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars leads the league in goals with 18. Filip Forsberg of the Nashville Predators is the leagues plus/minus (+/-) leader with a +21. Michael Hutchinson of the Winnipeg Jets leads all goaltenders in Goals Against Average (G.A.A.) at 1.56 and Save Percentage with .947. Pekka Rinna of the Nashville Predators leads the league in wins with 16 while Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has 5 shutouts to lead all goaltenders. The NHL season is only about 30 games old, but I always enjoy looking at who’s leading what category. I just hope if you’re a fantasy hockey player you saw some players names that where on your team.

In sad NHL news, former Montreal Canadiens great Jean Beliveau passed away at 83. Beliveau spent 18 full seasons with the Canadiens from 1953-71. In 1,125 games, he scored 507 goals, set up 712 others and finished with 1,219 points. He played in 14 NHL All-Star Games, won the Hart Trophy as League MVP twice (1956 and 1964), the Art Ross Trophy as top scorer in 1956, and the inaugural Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 1965. Dwarfing those accomplishments, however, is that Beliveau was a member of 10 Stanley Cup-winning teams as a player and seven more as an executive with Montreal. His name has been engraved on the Stanley Cup 17 times, more than any individual. Beliveau is second all-time in Canadiens history in points and assists, third in goals, and fourth in games played. He became the fourth player in NHL history to reach 500 goals when he scored on Feb. 11, 1971, and was the second player in League history to score 1,000 points, joining Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings in that exclusive club on March 3, 1968, in his 911th game.

While I don’t agree with this move, but it will make Mr. Fantasy happy the Cleveland Browns are sticking with Bryan Hoyer as their starting quarterback against the Indianapolis Colts this week. Hoyer was 18 for 30 against the Buffalo Bills in Week 13 for 192 yards and two interceptions. Hoyer has thrown six interceptions in his last three games. Johnny Manziel relived Hoyer against the Bills and led Cleveland on their only touchdown drive of the game. Cleveland is 7-5 and trying to hang around in the AFC playoff race; so maybe they think staying with the veteran Hoyer is the better choice. While Hoyer is a solid if not spectacular quarterback he’s throwing to many interceptions and Manziel might be able to provide a spark to the Browns. If the Browns drop this weeks game to the Colts will it finally be “Johnny Football” time in Cleveland?

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

I need to thank NHL.com for the stats and awards that Jean Beliveau won during his career. Without that site I wouldn’t have been able to tell you much about Beliveau.

Let’s call it Wednesday; before Thanksgiving.

Posted: November 26, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports
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Week 12 was a bounce back week for all of us making our picks. Mr. Fantasy won the week at 13-2. I finished one game behind him at 12-3. Schaumburg Stu took the 3rd spot with a record of 11-4 while Dan the Man finished one game behind him at 10-5. For the season I’m still holding onto the lead at 114-60-1. Mr. Fantasy has taken over 2nd place with a record of 112-62-1. Schaumburg Stu fell to 3rd just a game behind Mr. Fantasy with a record of 111-63-1. Dan the Man is at the bottom of the standings through 12 weeks with a record of 109-65-1. With 3 games tomorrow we’ll see if someone can het off to a fast start for Week 13.

Let’s take a look at our head to head fantasy challenge between Mr. Fantasy and Greg. At quarterback Mr. Fantasy went with Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears while Greg selected Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. Cutler scored 5.10 points and finished 22nd among quarterbacks for the week. Brady scored 16.98 points and finished 9th among quarterbacks for the week. I’m still trying to figure out if Brady was an allowable choice. It was decided that they would no longer be able to pick player who were among the Top 5 scorers for the season. I believe Brady was on that list, but I need to double-check. At running back Mr. Fantasy went with Denard Robinson of the Jacksonville Jaquars while Greg’s choice was C.J. Anderson of the Denver Broncos. Robinson scored 11.70 points and tied for 28th among running backs for the week. Anderson had a very good week scoring 35.25 points and finishing 2nd out of all the running backs for Week 12. On a side note Justin Forsett was the leading scorer for running backs with 38 points. At the wide receiver position Mr. Fantasy picked T.Y. Hilton of the Indianapolis Colts while Greg went with Randall Cobb of the Green Bay Packers. Hilton was 6th among wide receivers with 23.20 points while Cobb scored 8.86 points and finished 49th among wide receivers for the week. At tight end both Mr. Fantasy and Greg decided that Colby Fleener of the Indianapolis Colts was the choice this week. Fleener finished 30th among tight ends scoring 4.30 points in Week 12. For kickers this week Mr. Fantasy went with Matt Bryant of the Atlanta Falcons while Greg decided that Phil Dawson of the San Francisco 49ers would be the best kicker for the week. Bryant scored 9 points and tied for 8th place for the week. Dawson scored 6 points and tied for 12th place for the week. Believe it or not Mr. Fantasy tried to use Josh Gordon the returning wide receiver of the Cleveland Browns as his sleeper pick, but I shot that pick down. Instead Mr. Fantasy went with Ben Tate now of the Minnesota Vikings while Greg’s picked was Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray. Tate didn’t get a carry and I’m not even sure if he saw the field on Sunday; so he scored 0 points. Murray on the other hand put up 25.93 points for the week on only 4 carries and finished 6th among running backs for the week. Even with the possible Brady error it looks like this week went Greg’s way. Let’s see if Mr. Fantasy can bounce back in Week 13.

If you where listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast yesterday you heard that we’re going to try to make Tuesday’s, Fantasy Tuesday. We’re going to see if we cam focus on hockey and basketball during their seasons. I thought we got through basketball alright, but we struggled with hockey. I think it was mostly on me as I tried to force too much information into what we where talking about and I don’t think it came across on air. Our hockey fantasy league is a category league. We use goals, assists, plus/minus (+/-), penalty minutes, power play points, short-handed points, game winning goals, faceoffs won, hits and blocked shots. For the goaltenders their categories are wins, losses, goals against average, save percentage and shutouts. Winning a category is the equivalent of winning a game. For the last week Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers was ranked as the top offensive player. One of the stats that pushed Giroux to the top spot was he won 74 faceoffs for the week. Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche was ranked 2nd on offense. MacKinnon had 6 assists and was +5 for the week. Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars was ranked as the 3rd best offensive player for the week. Benn had a well-rounded week scoring 2 goals adding 3 assists he was a +2 had a power play point and just for the heck of it had 9 hits. The top goaltender of the week was Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens. Price had 2 wins a 0.50 goals against average a .985 save percentage and 1 shutout. Price barely beat out Jaroslav Halak of the New York Islanders. Halak had 2 wins a 0.48 goals against average a .980 save percentage and 1 shutout. Calvin Pickard of the Colorado Avalanche picked up 2 wins during the week as he didn’t allow a goal on 42 shots in relief this week. Hopefully next Tuesday I’ll do a better job of breaking down the hockey stats for the listeners.

The Boston Red Sox made a big splash in free agency this week as they signed both Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez and have been reported to have offered Jon Lester a deal and are also interested in acquiring Cole Hamels from the Philadelphia Phillies. Sandoval will earn a guaranteed $95 million over five years, with a club option for a sixth season. Sandoval will receive a $3 million dollar bonus, then earn $17 million annually over 2015-17 before taking home an $18 million salary in both 2018 and 2019. The club option is for $17 million and comes with a $5 million dollar buyout. Ramirez will reportedly earn $88 million over those four years, and his contract contains a $22 million vesting option for a fifth year. The contract calls for a $3 million dollar signing bonus, a $19 million salary in 2015 and a $22 million salary from 2016-18. Lester has met with the Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves and is scheduled to meet with the St. Louis Cardinals next week. It’s also being reported that the Chicago Cubs have offered Lester a 6 year deal worth a reported $135 million dollars. Other reports have said that Lester would like to make a decision by the end of next week. The Chicago White Sox added 1st baseman Adam LaRoche signing him to a 2 year deal worth $25 million dollars. While the Seattle Mariners locked up their 3rd baseman Kyle Seager for 7 years with a $100 million dollar deal. It should be fun to see what moves teams make and where these free agents end up playing next season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

How was your Week?

Posted: November 22, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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11/22/14

Last week we took a look at some fantasy player who have been disappointing so far this football season. So after 11 weeks let’s take a look at players who have been surprises or have out performed were they were ranked to start the season. I’m using the pre-seasons rankings from our Yahoo! fantasy football league entitled Next Year is Here 13. At quarterback Philip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers was ranked at 100 to start the season. Going into Week 12 Rivers is ranked in the 19th position among all NFL players. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was ranked at 94th to start the season and right now Roethlisberger is the 6th rated player in the NFL. As hard as it is to believe Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts was rated as the 59th player coming into the season. Right now Luck is the #1 overall player in our league. Looking at running backs Justin Forsett of the Baltimore Raves was ranked as the 190th player coming into the season. If you took a chance on Forsett it’s paid off for you as he is right now the 32nd ranked player. Chris Ivory was ranked at 134th coming into the season, but has moved into 61st place right now. Denard Robinson wasn’t even the starter for the Jacksonville Jaguars to start the season. Since Robinson was just going to be the 3rd down change of pace back he was ranked at 212nd to start the season. If you drafted him or found him on your waiver wire Robinson has helped your team as going into Week 12 he’s ranked as the 93rd best player. Looking at the wide receivers. Jeremy Maclin was coming off of an injury and you had to wonder if he’d be the guy in the Philadelphia Eagles offense. With some questions coming into the 2014 season Macklin was rated at 68th overall. Macklin has stayed healthy and is rated in the 18th spot right now. Mohamed Sanu of the Cincinnati Bengals wouldn’t be considered the top wide receiver on his team; that would be A.J. Green, but Sanu is still a quality fantasy player. Sanu started the season ranked at 178th, but has moved himself into the 53rd overall spot. A lot of fantasy players stayed away from Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. thinking he might not have much left. Smith started the season ranked at 149th and even though he has cooled off a little bit the last couple weeks he’s still ranked at 62nd though Week 11. There are few elite tight ends in fantasy football and if you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you know that the league I’m using for rankings is also the league where we have to start 2 tight ends a week. While Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots is the highest ranked tight end at 20th you could’ve found some guys to help out your fantasy team. Larry Donnell of the New York Giants started the season being ranked in the 203rd position. Going into Week 12, Donnell has moved into the 75th spot for the season. Coby Fleener of the Indianapolis Colts started the season 2 spots behind Donnell in the 205th spot and Fleener is also in a 2 tight end system with Dwayne Allen. Fleener is now ranked 84th and with Allen out injured and possible missing some games Fleener’s ranking could continue to go up. It can be tough to invest in any Oakland Raiders when it comes to fantasy football but tight end Mychal Rivera has been solid. Rivera started the season with a ranking of 246th but he’s been coming on in the last few weeks and is now ranked at 144th. I don’t know if you can be surprised by a kicker n fantasy football but there are some guys who have moved up in the rankings from where they started. Stephen Gostkowski of the New England Patriots started the season ranked 196th, but has moved up to 79th in the rankings. Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts started the season ranked 202nd and is now ranked 91st. Shaun Suisham of the Pittsburgh Steelers started the season ranked 235th and is now ranked at 145th. When it comes to Defense?Special Teams there are a few that have moved up the rankings from where they started out. The Philadelphia Eagles started the season ranked at 191st overall, but have moved up to 54th overall with the season they’ve had. The Miami Dolphins where in the 194th position overall to start the season and right now the Dolphins are 81st overall. The Arizona Cardinals were ranked in the 200th spot to start off the season. Going into Week 12 Arizona is ranked at 109th. Hopefully you where able to draft these guys or trade for them or even find them on your waiver wire, but they’re some of the biggest movers up from where they started the season. We’ll see where they all end up by the end of the season.

Are you buying the Toronto Raptors? The Raptors are off to a 10-2 start to this NBA season after making the playoffs last season. DeMar DeRozan is averaging 20 points a game to lead the Raptors in scoring while Kyle Lowry is handing out 5.8 assists per game and adding 18.4 points per game. Jonas Valanciunas is the Raptors leading rebounder averaging 8.1 boards a game and is adding 11.4 points per game. Guard Lou Williams is also scoring 11.5 points per game for Toronto. The Raptors defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 124-83 on Friday night in the first game of back to back games for them, Tonight; Saturday they have a match up with the Cleveland Cavaliers (5-6); in Cleveland. Obviously 12 games into a season is too early to tell where a team will end up, but there are times where a hot start can carry a team through a season even an 82 game season like the NBA. With the NBA’s Eastern conference like it is would it be a big surprise if Toronto re[resents the Eastern conference in the NBA finals.

Is tonight the night for the Philadelphia 76ers to get their first win of the NBA season? The 76ers are 0-12 after losing 122-96 to the Phoenix Suns last night (Friday) at home. Tonight the 76ers go to New York to play the 3-10 and struggling Knicks. On Thursday’s podcast you might have heard Jerry Hoover mention how upset he’d be if the Knicks lose this game. Dan the Man also has a rooting interest in the Knicks but this could be the 76ers shot to get that 1st win. If the 76ers don’t get that win tonight then when. After tonight’s game against the Knicks the 76ers have the Portland Trails Blazers (9-3) on November 24th. The Brooklyn Nets (5-7) on November 26th. The Dallas Mavericks (10-3) on November 26th. The San Antonio Spurs (8-4) on December 1st and the Minnesota Timberwolves (3-8) on December 3rd. Even on the road the 76ers have a chance tonight against the Knicks and if you’re a 76ers fan you have to ask yourself; if not tonight then when?

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

So how was your week?

How was your Week?

Posted: November 8, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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11/2/14

A couple of week into the NBA season there are three teams still unbeaten and two teams looking for their first win. The Houston Rockets at 6-0, the Memphis Grizzlies at 6-0 and the Golden State Warriors 4-0, while the Philadelphia 76ers 0-6 and the Los Angeles Lakers 0-5 are still trying to get that first win. One of the unbeaten teams will lose tonight (Saturday) as Golden State travels to Houston to play the Rockets. Memphis will also put its undefeated season on the line tonight against the 2-4 Milwaukee Bucks in Milwaukee. Of course the big story these first few weeks of the NBA season is the 2-3 start by the Cleveland Cavaliers. With LeBron James returning to Cleveland and the trade for Kevin Love you had to think it might take a little time for this team to gel, but I don’t believe people thought it would start like this season has. Cleveland did get a 110-101 victory over the Denver Nuggets Friday night with James leading the team in scoring with 22 points as well as leading the team in assists with 11. Love had 19 points and a team high 8 rebounds. Kyrie Irving (12 points) and Dion Waiters (17 points) took a combined 25 shots after possible taking a few too many shots in the Cleveland losses. Early in the season James seems content to let the younger players try to take over games and use these moments to teach. Love is still looking for the place where he fits with this team and Irving and Waiters have to learn when to give way to their superstar. It’s very early in the NBA season and there’s a lot of time for this Cleveland team to come together. If you thought they where going to come out of the gates firing on all cylinders you where fooling yourself. If they’re still having these issues or other after the All-Star break then you can worry about the Cavaliers.

It was the battle of Ohio on Thursday Night Football this week as the Cleveland Browns went into Cincinnati and beat the Bengals pretty easily 24-3. Andy Dalton 10 of 33 for 86 yards while throwing 3 interceptions and ending up with a quarterback rating (RTG) of 2.0 had a lot of issues with the wind. Brian Hoyer 15 of 23 for 198 yards and a RTG of 92.3, was able to beat the weather and lead the Browns to the win. The Cleveland running backs took turns putting the football in the end zone. Ben Tate started the Browns scoring with a 4 yard touchdown run in the 1st quarter giving Cleveland a 7-0 lead. Cincinnati answered with a 43 yard Mike Nugent field goal to make the score 7-3, but who knew those would be the only points for the Bengals. Isaiah Crowell got the Browns next rushing touchdown; a 2 yard run in the 2nd quarter making the score 14-3 Cleveland. A Billy Cundiff field goal put Cleveland up 17-3 going into halftime. Terrance West got the final touchdown of the night for Cleveland. A 1 yard run in the 3rd quarter to make it 24-3 in favor of Cleveland. West got 26 carries and 94 yards along with his touchdown to lead the Browns rushing attack, Crowell had 12 carries for 41 yards and his touchdown while Tate had 10 carries for 34 yards and his touchdown. Jeremy Hill was averaging 4.6 yards per carry for Cincinnati, but with his team down only got 12 carries for 55 yards. Miles Austin had 5 catches for 48 yards for Cleveland to lead all receivers while it was Jermaine Gresham with 3 catches for 29 yards that led the Bengals. Fantasy wise if you started a Cleveland running back you at least got a touchdown out of him, but receiving wise there wasn’t a lot of help for you. A.J. Green had 3 catches for 23 yards while Mohamed Sanu caught 2 passes for 20 yards; ouch. With Browns tight end Jordan Cameron out dealing with a concussion Gary Barnidge filled in at tight end picked up a few fantasy points for you catching 2 passes for 46 yards. If you have a league where defensive players count the Bengals had three players get some good tackle numbers. Linebacker Emmanuel Lamur led Cincinnati with 11 tackles while two other linebackers Nico Johnson and Vincent Rey getting 10 tackles each. Buster Skrine picked off 2 Dalton passes and Craig Robertson got the other Cleveland interception.

It looks like it’s Jon Lester, James Shields and Max Scherzer who are at the top of everyone’s fee agent lists this off-season. You can never have enough starting pitching and there’s been a lot of predictions on where these three pitchers will end up. Most people see Lester ending up with the Chicago Cubs, but I have a feeling he’ll end up back with the Boston Red Sox. Shields has been predicted to stay with the Kansas City Royals and there’s a very good chance that will happen unless a team throws a lot of money at him. Scherzer is a tough call. He’s a Scott Boras client; so that means he’ll be one of the last players to sign with a team. Scherzer turned down a 7 year $144 million dollar deal before the 2013 season from the Detroit Tigers. This sounds like a signing for the New York Yankees, but would a team like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim jump in and sign Scherzer. If your team doesn’t land one of the top three pitchers the next level of pitchers features Ervin Santana, Brandon McCarthy, Francisco Liriano and Kenta Maeda the 27-year-old Japanese pitcher who the Hiroshima Carp are expected to post. How would you feel if your team signed a Justin Masterson, Jason Hammel or Jake Peavy. This seasons playoffs and World Series proved that you need good arms in your bullpen and in this years free agent crop it looks like closer David Robertson is the best reliever on the free agent market. Andrew Miller the left-handed set up specialist is also available along with another set up guy Luke Gregerson. The closers who are free agents after Robertson look like Rafael Soriano, Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod) and Sergio Rome. Is your favorite team looking for pitching? Are these some of the names you’re looking for your team to sign?

As the baseball off-season gets started will try to look at the free agents out there and see where they might end up or if they’re a good fit for your favorite team.

We featured some good interviews this week on Sports Time Radio this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday Mark O’Neil from Around the Foghorn joined us to talk San Francisco Giants baseball. On Thursday we had Al Yellen from Bleed Cubbie Blue with us to talk Joe Maddon and possible Cubs free agent targets as well as which young prospects should be on the team in 2015. You can go into the archives at Sports Time Radio and listen to these podcasts.

So how was your week?

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

How was your Week? 11/1/14

Posted: November 1, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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The San Francisco Giants won their 3rd World Series title in 5 tears with a 3-2 Game 7 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Jeremy Affeldt came out of the Giants bullpen first and had the longest outing of the season pitching 2 1/3rd innings before turning it over to Madison Bumgarner who pitched the final 5 innings of the game. Affeldt was credited with the win while Bumgarner picked up a save. Bumgarner threw 21 innings in 2 starts and 1 relief appearance with an Earned Run Average (E.R.A.) of 0.43. He allowed 9 hits and 1 walk while striking out 17. While Bumgarner dominated on the mound and was awarded the World Series Most Valuable Player (M.V.P.) Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval led the Giants hitting attack. Pence hit .444 getting 12 hits with 1 home run and 5 Runs Batted In (R.B.I.) adding 3 doubles. Sandoval also had 12 hits in the World Series batting .429 with 3 doubles and 4 R.B.I.’s. As the question start for the Giants on if the can repeat on the Royals side the questions become can they get back. The Royals had a big playoff run; not losing a game until the World Series and while the Royals may not be here next season their future is bright. Under the bright World Series lights rookie pitcher Yordano Ventura came through and looks like he’ll turn into a quality starting pitcher. Ventura threw 12 innings in the World Series in his 2 starts. While he did give up 11 hits and walked 5 matters in those 12 innings his E.R.A. was just 1.46; so he was able to get himself out of trouble. Ventura added 6 strikeouts as well. At the plate Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez led the team with a .333 batting average. Perez totaled 8 hits with a double and a home run for the Royals.

With the World Series over the baseball off-season begins and the Chicago Cubs didn’t waste any time getting their off-season started. The Cubs fired manager Rich Rentaria after just one season and on Monday will officially announce Joe Maddon formerly of the Tampa Bay Rays as their new manager. While there haven’t been any terms to Maddon’s deal released yet there is a report that the Rays are either going to or have asked Major League Baseball (MLB) to investigate the Cubs for tampering with Maddon. There was a report out that the reason Maddon opted out of his Rays contract was because he had contact with the Cubs and he knew he had a job waiting. The report is also saying that the Rays would look for player compensation in the form of Addison Russell or Javier Baez.

If you’re a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder or just a fantasy basketball player you have to start thinking this team is cursed. They start the season with their best player Kevin Durant out with a foot injury and then in the 2nd game of the season their other star player Russell Westbrook goes out with what turns out to be a broken hand. Westbrook should miss about 4-6 weeks for the Thunder. Westbrook did out up 38 points in the Thunder’s opening game 106-89 loss to the Portland Trailblazers. On Thursday night the Thunder dropped their 2nd game of the season to the Los Angeles Clippers 93-90. It looks like Serge Ibaka will have to try to keep the Thunder hanging around in the Western conference until Durant and Westbrook can return. Another National Basketball Association injury that happened last night was Derrick Rose spraining his ankle and having to leave the Chicago Bulls 114-108 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday night. Rose finished with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes of action and the injury is being reported as minor.

Dan the Man and I have gotten off to good starts in the Sports Time Radio fantasy hockey league. It’s early in the season, but Dan;s team is the #1 rated team in our league which is 18 teams. Dan’s team has four 4 goal scorers leading his team; Tyler Bozak of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nick Bonino of the Vancouver Canucks, Damon Severson of the New Jersey Devils and Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks. Tyler Johnson of the Tampa Bay Lighting has 11 assists to lead Dan’s team. Besides Goals and assists we have some interesting categories for our league. Plus/minus, penalty minutes, power play points, short-handed points, game winning goals, shots on goal, faceoffs won, hits and blocks. Of course you must have goaltenders on out team and Dan has a good one in Frederik Andersen of the Anaheim Ducks who is off to a 7-1 start and a Goals Against Average (G.A.A) of 1.60. Besides wins, losses and goals against the other two goalie categories are save percentage and shutouts. There are times a hot start can propel a team through the season, but since I’m in this league against Dan I’m hoping his team comes back to the pack.

I mentioned Anaheim earlier and behind Andersen play they have the best record in the National Hockey League (NHL) at 9-3 and 18 points. The Montreal Canadiens are right behind then at 8-2-1 with 17 points. On the other end of the standings the Carolina Hurricanes are still looking for their first win of the season. Through 8 games the Hurricanes are 0-6-2 with just 2 points so far this season. Anaheim’s Corey Perry leads the NHL with 10 goals while the New York Rangers Rick Nash is one goal behind at 9. Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers leads the league in assists with 12 while Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings, Tyler Johnson of the Tampa bay Lighting and Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers all have 11 assists. Voracek is tied for the league lead in points with Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Each guy has 15 points for the season.

I know, I know there was a Thursday night football game. Schaumburg Stu was the only one of us smart enough to pick the New Orleans Saints to beat the Carolina Panthers. The Saints (4-4) piled up 375 yards to snap a seven-game losing streak on the road that dated back to last November. Brees finished 24 of 34 for 297 yards and Mark Ingram turned in another solid performance with 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Brees threw an interception and fumbled in the first quarter before settling down late in the second quarter and leading touchdown drives on four out of five possessions. The Saints’ defense sacked Cam Newton four times and forced two turnovers. Newton, who spent much of the night under heavy duress playing behind an offensive line without three of its regular starters, was limited to 151 yards passing. The Saints won 28-10 to take the lead in the NFC South division.

So how was your week?

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

Let’s call it Wednesday. 10/29/14

Posted: October 29, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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We’re going to have a World Series Game 7 in Kansas City tonight and the Royals made sure of that last night with a 10-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants last night (Tuesday) in Game 6. Kansas City jumped on Giants starter Jake Peavey early last night and never looked back. Peavey lasted just 1 1/3rd innings last night. Peavey was charged with giving up 5 earned runs on 6 hits while walking 1 and striking out 2. Yusmeiro Petit came in to finish the 2nd inning and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits as the Royals put up a 7 run 2nd inning. Yordano Ventura gave the Royals the strong starting pitching performance they needed. Ventura did walk 5 in his 7 innings, but didn’t give up any runs while striking out 4 and only allowing San Francisco 2 hits. Like you’d expect the Royals bullpen came in the final 2 innings to wrap up the game, but this time it was Jason Frasor in the 8th and Tim Collins in the 9th. Kansas City got 15 hits on the game with Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, Mike Moustakas and Omar Infante all had 2 hits apiece. Both of Moustakas went for extra bases; a double off of Peavey in the big 2nd inning and then a 7th inning home run off of Giants reliever Hunter Strickland. Cain also drove in 3 runs. The starting pitcher are Tim Hudson for the Giants and Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals. Of course being that it’s a Game 7 you’d have to think that everyone pitcher from both teams would be available except for maybe Ventura. The first pitching questions that comes up is will we see Madison Bumgarner out of the San Francisco bullpen. You have to wonder what kind of game it will be tonight as only one of these World Series games have been close. Game 3 was decided by was a 3-2 Royals victory. Will we get a classic tight Game 7? or will we get a game like we’ve been getting in this World Series; an easy victory for one of these teams. Who are you picking to win tonight?

After a couple of rough weeks making NFL picks Dan the Man bounced back to take Week 8 with a 11-3 record. Schaumburg Stu and I tied a game behind Dan at 10-4 while Mr. Fantasy struggled through an 8-6 week. For the season I still hold a one game lead on Schaumburg Stu. I am 76-43-1 with Schaumburg Stu at 75-44-1. Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy are tied after Week 8 with an overall record of 73-46-1. There are 6 teams on bye during Week 9; so will see if this helps us make better picks.

Mr. Fantasy either figured out or found out that I had put him into a challenge with my friend Greg. Greg got the better of Mr. Fantasy last week; so let’s look and see how their picks for highest scoring players at each position did. They did pick the same player at running back, wide receiver and tight end, but will get to those picks in a minute. Will start at quarterback. Mr. Fantasy picked Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers while Greg’s pick was Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints. Brees was the 5th highest scoring quarterback of Week 8 with 24.07 points. Rodgers picked up an injury in his game, but still finished 11th among quarterbacks for the week with 18,46 points. Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger at 47.59 points was the highest scoring quarterback of the week. At running back they both went with Matt Forte of the Chicago Bears. Forte was the 2nd highest scoring running back of the week scoring 34.05 points. Houston Texans running back Arian Foster and his 43.30 points was the only player who stood in between Forte and the top scoring running back spot. At the wide receiver position Jordy Nelson of the Green Bay Packers was Mr. Fantasy and Greg’s choice. Nelson had 3 catches for 25 yards and a total of 4.75 fantasy points and 74th place among wide receivers. Ouch! Jeremy Maclin of the Philadelphia Eagles led all wide receivers with 42.95 points. They both liked New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. Gronkowski was a very good pick as “Gronk” was the highest scoring tight end of the week with 39.90 points. Mr. Fantasy dislikes having to pick a kicker, but he went with Mason Crosby of the Green Bay Packers. I don’t know how Greg feels about picking a kicker each week, but he went with Dan Bailey of the Dallas Cowboys. With 12 points Crosby finished 8th among kickers in Week 8. Bailey had 5 points and tied for 24th place among kickers. For sleeper picks Mr. Fantasy chose Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Donte Moncrief. Moncrief had 7 catches for 113 yards and a touchdown while scoring 22.80 points for the week. Greg went with Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger who was making his first NFL start. Mettenberger threw for 299 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Mettenberger also had a rushing attempt for -1 yards was sacked twice and lost a fumble. Mettenberger totaled 13.13 fantasy points for Week 8. This looks like it’s close to call, but it might be Mr. Fantasy by a nose here.

The NBA opened their season last night with 3 games on the schedule; 2 early starts and 1 late start time. The San Antonio Spurs got their ring hung their banner and then got a 1 point win, 101-100 over the Dallas Mavericks. The other early game had the New Orleans Pelicans beating the Orlando Magic 101-84. The night-cap had the Houston Rockets getting a win over the Los Angeles Lakers 108-90. James harden of the Houston Rockets was the high scorer of the night with 32 points. Nikola Vucevic the center for the Magic grabbed 23 rebounds to led all players last night. Magic rookie point guard Elfrid Payton had 7 assists to led all players in last nights games. There was also a Dwight Howard elbow to Kobe Bryant that Howard was accessed a flagrant foul on. Injury wise Lakers rookie forward Julius Randle, the team’s top draft choice in June, broke his right leg midway through the fourth quarter. The stat line of the night has to go to Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis. Davis had 26 points, 17 rebounds, 9 blocked shots just missing a triple double. Davis also added 3 steals and 2 assists on the night.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

This Old Stub: Miami!

Posted: October 27, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports
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It has been a long time since I did one of these, you remember, This Old Stub. Obviously, I took that from good ole Bob Villa, i’m sure I just dated myself with that reference. Either way like all great tales, it starts with a reflection…Christmas 2013. The months preceding, my wife would periodically text me questions about sports but the one that stood out was when she asked me, what my favorite teams were and players on that team. So, in true Fanatic tradition, I threw out there: Carmelo Anthony, Joakim Noah, Brandon Marshall, Adrian Peterson, Adrian Gonzalez, Buster Posey, Patrick Kane and even Jonathan Quick. Christmas Eve comes and she decided to let me open my gift…I tear through the jingle bell paper and rip the top off the box, through the white tissue paper I see black and what looks to be red and orange? Confused I pull out a Dwayne Wade T-shirt and a snapback. If you read my previous blog from a couple years ago, Fitted Hats are bettter than Snapbacks, you’d know, I do not wear snapbacks at all, ever. She then looks at me, “There’s more.” I pull out an envelope with a homemade ticket that says Heat vs Pistons but we live in Chicago. That is when I discover that my gift is seeing the Miami Heat live and in color in Miami! To top it off it’s a work trip for her so am I going solo? Nope her 19 year old nephew is meeting us in Miami and going with me. Flash forward, we arrive in Miami and are put up in a plush resort with two pools and a private beach. Oh yeah, and golfing. Apparently, Dan Marino was at this resort once for a golf outing. It is Super Bowl Sunday and her company threw a Super Bowl Party! Yeah!!! Yea I wasnt all that excited about it because you know how those things go. Nobody is there to watch the game…Theyre just their for the food and social aspect. Me, I’m there to watch Peyton Manning win a Super Bowl. Not only that, here at Sports Time Radio, we make predictions each year on who will the Super Bowl. I chose Denver to go all the way, while Big Jack picked Seattle. I really wanted to see Denver win so that the Big Jack would have to buy me a Tshirt. Mind you, my wife made me buy her a Seahawks T because she likes their colors better. Once the game was over and the party wound down, I snatched up as many of the pennants I could off the tables to take as “souvenirs.”

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Monday morning, my wife is gone for work and my nephew, Justin and I go to the mall for lunch and hit the beach. Which if I had known, we’d be by a mall I would have waited to get my New Era 5950 Miami Heat Fitted Cap size 7 & 5/8 (In case you want to send me one). She returned the snapback because I would not ever ever ever wear it. Back to the hotel to shower and change, the concierge clapped for a taxi and $50 later we were in Miami, for $150 i could have had a car pick us up and wait for us but I saved the $50 for Heat merchandise. As we walk up to the American Airlines Arena, we see a bus pull into the garage, from what Justin could make out it was the Pistons but we were too late plus security wouldnt let us approach the bus. So, we take our pics in front of the stadium and wait out front for the doors to open. As we people watch, all walks of life are here to see the Heat and some of these people are very interesting like the 2 grown men in matching Addias polyester jump suits. We even met a die hard Seahawks fan from Canada, Eh. He really said Eh.

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Finally, the doors are open, as we get passed security, we are handed little mini poms, which Justin turned down…never turn down a free gift with no catch! Plus I love free gifts. Our tickets were up top, where the real fans sit. I say that because before attending this game, I did not know that it is Miami tradition to show up late and leave early. I can’t imagine what season tickets cost but I would want to get my money’s worth. When I got home, the first thing Big Jack asked me was, “Did the Heat fans show up late and leave early?” Hence, when I learned of this “tradition.” From where we sat, you could see all the action and as a plus we were on the stationery camera for TV, so the introductions were done facing us. Even though we were all the up top, you could still feel the Heat from the fire they used during the Heat’s introductions. Entertaining as it was designed to be as well as the whole experience surrounding the game. They had a DJ, which I thought was unique. He played music through the breaks which included a dance by the Heat Girls. This is where I discovered the “referee’s timeout.” But hey if a referee’s timeout is just going to bring out the Heat dancers, I’m not objecting. My favorite part was towards the end of the game, the hype crew came up to our section. These are generally the same guys that were warming up with the Heat before the game. They brought up the Big LeBron head and the letters H E A T. I was write by the T. They are the ones that get the crowd chanting “Let’s Go Heat!” & “Defense!” I have to be honest I turned into a little kid. If I was on TV or not, I don’t know but It was for lack of a better word, AWESOME! As I write this, LeBron has left for Cleveland, seemingly taking the Heat out the finals, I still recommend going to see the Heat at the American Airlines Arena. If you’re in Miami, just go there for any event. That place is amazing. Miami is truly an international city and it showed from the food they served. Now I am not sure if your ticket restricts you to your level but I saw everything from hot dogs to a Hibachi Grill. We ended up with the cheapest thing we could find $15 Sirloin Burgers, We spent so much time looking at everything, we ended up there. There were tons of different souvenirs, I settled on a Back to Back Championship T-shirt. How can you go wrong with Championship anything. If I lived in Miami, I may have wasted my money on the giant heads of the different players.

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Basketball is such a fast paced game, it’s difficult to break it down like you can with the MLB. The game went as any game does and being in Miami, there were some calls that went the Heat’s way. Big Jack and I have discussed how NBA refs can determine the outcome of the game with there calls by their mood. It’s not right but it happens and to be fair, Ive seen calls against the Heat on the road because it was the Heat. It was a great time, the Heat won, I was given a free pom pom from the Heat, got a championship Tshirt. It was a great time, I would definitely go back, and with Pat Riley I don’t think the Heat are out of the West just yet. Now, I’d really like to see them win, with out James. If you’re in Miami, Go! but for the next time I’m there it will be at Marlins game. I have to see that crazy bright green stadium.

10/25/14 How was your Week?

Posted: October 25, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Game 3 of the World Series went to the Kansas City Royals 3-2 giving them a 2 games to 1 lead in the series with Game 4 tonight in San Francisco. After games that were won by 5 runs and 6 runs Game 3 was more of the style the Royals have played through the playoffs. Alcides Escobar doubled to left field to lead off the game against Giants starter Tim Hudson. A ground out by Alex Gordon moved Escobar to 3rd and another ground out by Lorenzo Cain gave the Royals a 1-0 lead. With 1 out in the top of the 6th inning Escobar singled, Gordon followed that with a double and Escobar scored for a 2-0 Royals lead. Cain ground to 3rd for the 2nd out of the inning and that was it for Hudson. Giants left hander Javier Lopez was brought into the game to face Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer. Hosmer singled to center off of Lopez scoring Gordon as the Royals took a 3-0 lead. The Giants cam back in the bottom of the 6th inning off of Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie. Brandon Crawford singled, Mike Morse pinch hit for Lopez and doubled Crawford home for the Giants 1st run. Morse’s double ended Guthrie’s night as the Royals went to their bullpen for Kelvin Herrera. Herrera walked Gregor Blanco to put Giants on 1st and 2nd. Joe Panik grounded out moving the runners to 2nd and 3rd then a ground out by Buster Posey scored Morse as Blanco went to 3rd. Pablo Sandoval ground out to end the Giants half of the 6th and the scoring for the night at 3-2. Guthrie got the win for Kansas City pitching 5 innings giving up 4 hits and 2 runs. Out of the Royals bullpen Herrera pitched 1 1/3rd innings, Brandon Finnegan pitched 2/3rd of an inning, Wade Davis pitched and inning and Greg Holland pitched the 9th inning for the save. In their 4 innings the Kansas City bullpen didn’t give up a hit and struck out 4 batters. Hudson took the loss for San Francisco pitching 5 2/3rd innings giving up 3 runs and 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 2. Lopez pitched a 1/3rd of an inning out of the San Francisco bullpen followed by Sergio Romo for an 1 1/3rd innings, Jeremy Affeldt for 1 1/3rd innings and Santiago Casilla for a 1/3rd of an inning. The San Francisco bullpen didn’t give up any runs just 2 hits while striking out 5 Royals. Game 4 is tonight at 7:00 p.m. weather permitting. There is some rain forecast for the San Francisco area tonight. Jason Vargas is the scheduled starter for Kansas City While Ryan Vogelsong is listed as the San Francisco starter.

Thursday night football had an AFC West battle as the Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers 35-21. Denver improved to 6-1 while San Diego fell to 5-3. At halftime Denver was up 14-7, but out up 2 touchdowns in the 3rd quarter to take a 28-7 lead before San Diego got on the board in the 3rd to make it 28-14 going into the 4th quarter. Denver scored first in the 4th quarter to go ahead 35-14 before San Diego got the final touchdown making the score 35-21. Luckily for us we had all picked Denver to win the game.

Fantasy wise it’s always a good play to have your Broncos in your line up. Peyton Manning was 25 for 35 for 286 yards and 3 touchdowns. All 3 of Manning passing touchdowns went to Emmanuel Sanders. Sanders also had 9 catches for 120 yards to go with those 3 touchdowns. Demaryius Thomas also had 8 catches going for 105 yards. Ronnie Hillman put up 109 yards on the ground carrying the football 20 times and adding 3 catches for 29 yards. Juwan Thompson only had 7 carries for 29 yards, but 2 of those carries went for touchdowns. For San Diego Phillip Rivers was 30 of 41 for 252 yards with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Keenan Allen had 9 catches for 73 yards and a touchdown while Antonio gates had 5 catches for 54 yards and 2 touchdowns. Malcolm Floyd also added 4 catches for 58 yards. The San Diego ground game didn’t get much going Thursday night. Branden Oliver led the Chargers in rushing with 13 carries for 36 yards, but Oliver did add 7 receptions for 27 yards. If you’re in a PPR (Point Per Reception) league those catches Oliver got will help a lot. If you’re in a league that scores defensive players Brandon Marshall got in on 10 tackles for the Broncos with 2 going for losses while Chris Harris and Rahim Moore had the Broncos interceptions. For the Chargers Eric Weddle totaled 11 tackles with 9 of them being solo tackles.

Tonight (Saturday) is our Sports Time Radio fantasy league NBA draft. There are some injured players that will have to figure out how we’re going to handle. Steve Nash of the Los Angeles Lakers is out for the season; so of course you don’t want him on your team, but here are some more players will have to think about. While Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder is out of his cast and in a walking boot he’s still a long way away from returning to the court. The earliest Durant might return is the end of November, but it will probably be later than that. It looked like the Thunder’s free agent signing Anthony Morrow would get more minutes in Durant’s absence, but Morrow is also injured and will be out until November as well. The Thunder also lost 1st round draft pick Mitch McGary in pre-season to a foot injury and he’s doubtful for the start of the season. For the Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo out indefinitely with facial fracture. Also for the Magic 3 point shooting big man Channing Frye is expected to be out for the start of the season with a knee injury. Philadelphia 76ers star point guard Michael Carter-Williams will be out until November with a shoulder injury. The 76ers also maybe without their 1st round draft pick Joel Embiid who may miss the start of the season with back problems. Kawhi Leonard made a name for himself in the NBA finals, but the San Antonio Spurs guard is having some eye issues and may miss the start of the season. I was looking for a big season out of Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beals, but he’s out until November with a wrist injury. New Orleans Pelicans point guard Tyreke Evans may miss the start of the season with a knee injury. While the Milwaukee Bucks may not win a lot of games this season their center Larry Sanders is a valuable fantasy player if he can stay on the court. Sanders has had personal and injury issues and may not start the 2014-15 season because of t=what the Bucks are calling an undisclosed injury. Like I mentioned we know the Steve Nash is done for the Lakers, but Nick Young (Swaggy P.) is doubtful for the start of the season with a thumb injury. We all saw the horrible injury Indiana Pacers forward Paul George sustained playing for Team USA this summer. George has said he may be back for the end of the season and the playoffs and while it would be great for him to make it back he won’t be much help to fantasy players. Pacers power forward David West is also dealing with an ankle injury and may miss the start of the season. Shaun Livingston who is now playing for the Golden State warriors looks like he’ll miss the start of the season because of a toe injury. The Denver Nuggets look like they might be missing three players to start the season. Point guard Nate Robinson (knee) and Forward/center JaVale McGee (leg) might miss the start of the season and J.J. Hickson has a banged up knee as well as having to serve a 5 game suspension to start the season. Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls has a thumb injury and may miss the start of the season. Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets is having a foot issue and may miss the start of the season. Kevin Garnett, Brook Lopez and Deron Williams of the Brooklyn Nets are all dealing with injury issues and may miss the start of the season. Rajon Rondo the Boston Celtics point guard may miss the start of the season with a hand injury. These are just some of the players will have to decide what to do with tonight. While I’m sure some of them will play opening night for their teams some of w=them will miss games and playing time. making the right choice in a draft can make or break your fantasy basketball season from the opening tip.

So how was your week?

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

How was your Week? 10/18/14

Posted: October 18, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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I realized right after I posted the Wednesday blog that I forgot to include how Mr. Fantasy did with his picks for highest scoring position player for Week 6. So let’s starts off this blog with getting caught up on who he picked and how they did. At quarterback Mr. Fantasy went with Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears. Cutler was the 12th highest scoring quarterback of the week with 16.52 points. Cam Newton led all quarterbacks in Week 6 with 36.63 points. Mr. Fantasy’s running back choice was Giovani Bernard of the Cincinnati Bengals. Bernard finished 4th among running backs with 29.20 points. Matt Forte was the highest scoring running back in Week 6 with 39.45 points. T.Y. Hilton of the Indianapolis Colts put up some big numbers for wide receivers against the Houston Texans two Thursday’s ago (10/9/14) scoring 35.30 points. Mr. Fantasy went with Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons to be th highest scoring wide receiver from Sunday’s and Monday’s game. Jones ended the week 38th among wide receivers with 11.40 points. Andre Holmes of the Oakland Raiders was the highest scoring wide receiver on Sunday with 27.35 points. For his tight end Mr. Fantasy picked Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers. Olson was the 5th highest scoring tight end of the week while Jace Amaro of the New York Jets led all Week 6 tight ends with 20.30 points. Every fantasy team needs a kicker and for Week 6 Mr. Fantasy’s team went with Mike Nugent of the Cincinnati Bengals. Nugent was the 3rd highest scoring kicker of the week with 15 points. The New England Patriots Stephen Gostkowski was the Week 6 leader for kickers with 18 points. In Week 6 Mr. Fantasy took Storm Johnson of the Jacksonville Jaquars as his Week 6 sleeper pick. While Johnson didn’t put up great numbers he did find his way into the end zone and ended the week with 14.65 points. Johnson had 14 carries for 48 yards with that rushing touchdown. He also caught 1 pass, but it went for -4 yards. As far as running backs go I don’t think Johnson would’ve been too much help to your fantasy team, but he had a solid week. Will see how Mr. Fantasy’s Week 7 picks do.

The World Series is set and will begin Tuesday October 21st in Kansas City as the Kansas City Royals host the San Francisco Giants. The Royals swept the Baltimore Orioles to get into the World Series while the Giants took 5 game to beat the St. Louis Cardinals. I was a little surprised to see that the Giants are going to bring back Madison Bumgarner to start Game 1. I thought Tim Hudson might get the Game 1 call to give Bumgarner an extra day of rest. The Royals will go with James Shields as their Game 1 starter. There’s been a lot of talk about the Royals bullpen and with good reason. Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland have been lights out this post season. Herrera’s appeared in 7 post season games covering 8 1/3rd innings. Herrera has 10 strikeouts and has given up 1 run for an ERA of 1.08. Davis has appeared in 8 post season games covering 9 1/3rd innings giving up 1 run while striking out 10 for an E.R.A. of 0.96. Holland closes games for the Royals and has appeared in 8 post season games saving 6 of them. Holland has pitched 8 innings striking out 10 with an ERA of 1.13. While those are great numbers for the Royals bullpen don’t sleep on the Giants bullpen. While not as heralded this post season the Giants group of Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo and closer Santiago Casilla have been very good as well. You could also add left-handed specialist Javier Lopez who’s appeared in 6 games, but has only pitched 2 innings and hasn’t given up a run. Affeldt has appeared in 7 post season games covering 6 1/3rd innings and hasn’t given up a run. Romo was the Giants closer early in the season, but is now the set up guy. He’s pitched in 7 post season games, but has only thrown 4 2/3rd innings. Romo has 4 holds and an ERA of 1.93. Casilla has appeared in 7 post season games and has pitched 6 2/3rd innings and also hasn’t given up a run. You’d have to think will see a lot of these pitchers in the World Series and this may turn out to be the key. Which ever bullpen can continue the run that they’re on may end up winning it all. Her are two bullpen pitchers; one from each team to keep an eye on besides the main relievers. Yusmeiro Petit of the Giants. While Petit has only been in 2 post season games they cover 9 innings. Petit may be the guy the Giants call on if a starter gets in trouble early in a game. If games don’t go as planned for the Royals Jason Frasor may become a pitcher to look for out of their bullpen. Frasor has made 4 post season appearances getting 2 wins and not giving up any runs. There always seems to be a guy or two you don’t expect to pitch in and help his team and these maybe be a couple of names you’ll see.

Big names normally don’t get traded during the season in the National Football League. Last season Trent Richardson went from the Cleveland Browns to the Indianapolis Colts for a 1st round draft pick. Yesterday Percy Harvin was traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the New York Jets. Seattle will receive a conditional draft pick in 2015, which will range from a 2nd to 4th round selection. This move came as a surprised to most people, but then a report came out that the Seahawks had been listening to trade offers for Harvin for a few weeks now. When Seattle acquired Harvin from the Minnesota Vikings they gave up a 1st, 3rd and 7th round draft picks to get him. Right after the trade was made stories came out about Harvin not being a good locker room guy and that the team had grown tired of the receiver’s act, believing he had become too much of a destructive force in the locker room. In addition, two team sources said Harvin had physical confrontations in the locker room with teammates, especially on the offensive side of the ball. While Harvin is a weapon on offense and returning kicks he’s had problems staying healthy, but if he can stay healthy he’ll be part of a top wide receiver pairing with Eric Decker who was signed last off-season as a free agent. It doesn’t look like to big of a risk for the 1-6 Jets as only this season of Harvin’s contract is guaranteed meaning if things don’t go well the rest of the season they can let him go with no salary cap hit. It should make the Jets offense interesting to watch the rest of the season.

If you’re a fantasy basketball player we have our league set up and we’re looking for players. We’re at 14 teams right now and we’re hoping to get to 20 teams. It’s an auction style draft and it’s run through the Yahoo fantasy sports site and did I mention it’s free to play. If you’re interested here’s the link to join. It’s “Sports Time Radio” the draft is a week from today.

So how was your week?

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

Let’s call it Wednesday 11/15/14

Posted: October 15, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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Schaumburg Stu won Week 6 with a record of 11-3-1. Mr. Fantasy and I finished a game behind at 10-4-1. Dan the Man had an 8-6-1 record and went from 1st overall on the season to last with a record of 53-37-1 for the year. Mr. Fantasy took over 1st place and has a record of 55-35-1. Mr. Fantasy has a 1 game lead over Schaumburg Stu and I. We have records of 54-36-1. Will see what Week 7 brings us.

While I’d have to say that picking games went well; if you are a fantasy football player it might not have been such a good week. Just to start off Week 6 in the NFL the top two wide receivers in the game Cincinnati Bengals A.J. Green and Detroit Lions Calvin Johnson where inactive. Johnson teammate running back Reggie Bush was also inactive for Week 6. Bush was added to a list with 5 other starting running backs that wouldn’t play in Week 6. Rashad Jennings of the New York Giants, Monte Ball of the Denver Broncos, DeAngelo Williams of the Carolina Panthers, Toby Gerhart of the Jacksonville Jaquars and Donald Brown of the San Diego Chargers. Brown was actually filling in for 2 other injured Chargers running backs; Ryan Matthews and Danny Woodhead. If you’re in a deeper league you may have had to work around injuries to Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jarrett Boykin and Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Harry Douglass. While Boykin and Douglass aren’t the main targets on their teams they both do see a lot of time on the field as the third receiver in three receiver sets that their teams use. All of these players where out going into the Week 6 games. During Week 6 fantasy owners lost a couple of running back and a top wide receiver. Victor Cruz of the New York Giants is done for the season with a torn patellar tendon during which he got the 3rd quarter of the Giants game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Stevan Ridley of the New England Patriots both his ACL and MCL against the Buffalo Bills and is done for the season. Knowson Moreno just came back from an elbow injury and Moreno on Tuesday as he was put on season-ending injured reserve with a knee injury. He has been bothered by injuries all season and played in just three games. We can also add Darren Sproles, Philadelphia Eagles running back. Sproles has a medial collateral ligament sprain and the timetable for his return is 1 to 3 weeks. As I’ve mentioned on Sports Time Radio and here a time or two we have two 20 team leagues where you start 2 running backs. So at a minimum 60 running backs were drafted and now if you own one of these players out for the season you have to try to fill that roster spot. you can add in suspend running backs Adrian Petersen and Ray Rice who were both drafted in our leagues.

Let’s jump from fantasy football to fantasy basketball since we have a draft coming up in about 10 days. How much would you pay for an injured Kevin Durant? Durant has been diagnosed with a Jones fracture in his right foot that could sideline the 2013-14 MVP for six-to-eight weeks. I also heard a report that this injury could keep Durant out 12 weeks. Durant is the #1 rated player in Yahoo’s pre-season rankings. We used an auction format for our league and you have to figure out what Durant would be worth to you if he doesn’t come back to play until the middle of February. I never thought I would say or write something like this, but I think it might be a good year to pass on Durant and save your auction money for other players. Even when Durant gets back he’ll have to get into game shape and back into the flow of the Oklahoma City Thunder offense. While I’ll be the first to admit that basketball isn’t my best fantasy sport and it may even be my worst, but I think I’ll stay away from Durant this season and that’s tough to say and or write.

Be honest; who had the Kansas City Royals up 3 games to 0 in their American League championship series against the Baltimore Orioles. A 2-1 win last night (Tuesday) gave the Royals their 3-0 lead in the series. Hopefully the game will start in about an hour depending on how the weather is in Kansas City. Miguel Gonzalez is the starting pitcher for the Orioles today with their season on the line. Jason Vargas takes the mound for the Royals looking to close out the Orioles. Even if Kansas City does sweep the Orioles out of the playoffs this has still been a very good series.

In the National League championship series the San Francisco Giants took a 2 games to 1 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals with a 5-4 win in 10 innings yesterday (Tuesday). The Giants won on a Randy Choate throwing error in the bottom of the 10th inning. I had never seen a playoff game end on a throwing error before. The Cardinals try to even up the series tonight with Shelby Miller as the starting pitcher. Miller is opposed on the Giants side by Ryan Vogelsong. While he’s only missed one game will have to see if the Yader Molina injury has a big effect on the series.

You can find Sports Time Radio on BlogTalk Radio and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime.

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