Archive for the ‘football’ Category

5/24/14 How was your Week?

Posted: June 2, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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I think that the NHL playoffs have been pretty exciting this season. The problem I’m having now is the scheduling with the Western conference finals. For some reason they went away from the every other day format and now seem to be working with two days off in between games. In a way I guess it’s good for the teams as players get an extra day of rest, but this will stretch out the playoffs until June. By the time the Stanley Cup finals rolls around I’m not going to care who wins the cup. Now that would be sad because like I said the playoffs have been exciting. The Blackhawks/Kings series is tied at 1 game apiece with the series headed back to Los Angeles for Game 3 tonight. The New York Rangers have a 2 games to 1 lead over the Montreal Canadians in the Eastern conference finals with Game 4 tomorrow in New York. In the Rangers/Canadians series the home team hasn’t been able to win a game in the series.

The NBA playoff scheduling is just as bad if not worse than the NHL’s. The Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers played Game 2 of their series Tuesday night. Then the teams were given three days off to travel to Miami for Game 3 tonight. The series is tied at 1 – 1 and the extra rest might help the Pacers more. Paul George got hit in the back of the head by Dwayne Wade in Game 2 and suffered a concussion. Now with the extra rest George has been cleared to play tonight. Even with George playing the Pacers will have a tough time beating the Heat. In the Western conference finals the San Antonio Spurs have looked like the best team in the playoffs. They have a 2 – 0 lead in their series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think everyone thought the loss of Serge Ibaka would be a big issue and the Spurs have taken advantage of this situation. There’s been some reports that Ibaka will be available to play in Game 3 tomorrow. If Ibaka isn’t completely healthy I don’t think he’ll be able to help the Thunder, but just his presence might make a little difference on the mental side for the Thunder. The Spurs/Thunder series resumes Sunday with Game 3 in Oklahoma City.

If you’re a fantasy baseball player injuries are a big concern for you right now. Of course I guess the injuries would be a big concern for major league baseball teams as well. Off the top of my head there where some big name players that ended up on the disabled list (DL) this week. The Cincinnati reds got Jay Bruce back from knee surgery, but Joey Votto went on the DL the day Bruce came off the list. Ryan Braun is on the DL for the 2nd time this season. The Brewers played okay with Braun out the first time, but you can only be without your best player for so long. Prince Fielder went on the DL for the Texas Rangers with season ending surgery on his neck. Fielder has been bothered by a herniated disc in his neck and has opted for surgery to correct the problem. Then just to add to the Rangers injury issues top prospect and projected starting 2nd baseman for this season Jurickson Profar had a set back in his injury rehab and the reports are saying he’ll be out 10 – 12 more weeks. Profar hasn’t even had an at bat this season. Those are just some of the injuries I thought of off the top of my head and I didn’t even get into the injuries pitchers have suffered this season. Just going over the list of pitchers who need Tommy John surgery this season is a long one. Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I are in a couple of large fantasy baseball leagues. One league has 18 teams and the other has 20 teams; this makes injuries tough to deal with. You can’t go out and pick up a star player on the waiver wire when one of your top guys gets injured. To me it makes the leagues fun to play in, but it also will drive a lot of fantasy players away. A lot of fantasy players want the easy smaller leagues to play in where if you lose a player or a guy is having a bad year you just drop him and there’s an all-star out there on waivers waiting for you to pick him up. Dan the Man has told the story on air before where two people he knew got in our 20 team fantasy football league a couple of seasons ago. These guys ended up meeting in the leagues Super Bowl that season. Then the next year neither of them came back to play in the league because 20 teams was too hard and they where looking for easier leagues to play in. This is the first time ever that I’ve been in any type of fantasy league where the top two teams didn’t return the next season. I guess it’s to each his own when it comes to fantasy sports.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

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? 5/17/14

Posted: June 2, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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We’re down to the conference finals in the NHL and the NBA playoffs. Last night, the Los Angeles Kings where the last team to make the conference finals with a 6 – 2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. The Kings advance to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western conference finals. It’s a match up that features the last two Stanley Cup winners. The Eastern conference finals starts this afternoon with the New York Rangers vs. the Montreal Canadians. Chicago and Montreal have home ice advantage for the conference finals series. As you know from listening to the show we live in the Chicago suburbs; so I’d like to see the Blackhawks come out of the West. How about a Chicago/New York Stanley Cup final? I’m sure the NHL would love to see a match up like that with two big market teams in the Stanley Cup finals. In the NBA conference finals I think everyone got the match ups they expected. In the Eastern conference it’s the Miami Heat vs. the Indiana Pacers. Even after all there ups and downs the Pacers got by the Washington Wizards to make the conference finals. Miami has looked like the best team by far in the Eastern conference, but don’t forget the Indiana has the #1 seed and has home court advantage in this series. A lot of experts think home court won’t matter, but you never know and Indiana has it. The Western conference final feature the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder had struggled finding its way to the finals while the Spurs have been by far the best team in the Western conference playoffs. With the way the playoffs have played out so far it looks like more and more we’re going to get a rematch from last season and will see the Heat vs. the Spurs in the NBA finals. I’d like to see the Spurs win one more title before Tim Duncan’s career ends, but Miami is going to be tough to beat for any team. While I don’t like the way that Miami has went about winning their titles you can’t argue with their results. LeBron James seems to be understanding that he needs to take over with Dwayne Wade no longer being the player he once was. Chris Bosh used to be a top NBA player, but since going to Miami he has had big outputs every once in a while he’s not the top player he once was. The Spurs have their fair share of top NBA talent in Duncan and point guard Tony Parker. I’m not sure if Manu Ginobili is still a top NBA player, but he hits big shots and knows how to fill his role in the Spurs offense. Of course there is no guarantee at all that the NBA finals will have the Spurs or the Heat in them, but they look like the best two teams playing right now.

I was happy to see Michael Sam get drafted. He was picked by the St. Louis Rams in the 7th round of the NFL draft. It was a good landing spot for Sam as he played his college football at the University of Missouri and he’ll try to make the jump to the pro’s in the same state. Some people had issues with the fact that Sam and his boyfriend kissed a few times on television after he was drafted. It caught me off guard at first, but then I realized that it’s no different from any other draft pick kissing his girlfriend after he’s selected. The one negative that I had heard was the planned reality show that the Oprah Winfrey Network was going to do. I heard a report late last night that the show has been postponed and I think that’s in Sam’s best interest. The last thing a rookie 7th round pick needs is a camera following him around while he’s trying to make a team. Sam has an uphill battle to just make the team and the last thing he need was a show bases around that.

A lot of baseball talk on yesterday’s show, It Snowed Here Today, with Mr. Fantasy. A player that came up and is off to a hot start is Troy Tulowitzki. With about 25% of the baseball season in the books Tulowitzki leads the national League in batting average at .389, is tied for the league lead in home runs with 11 and is 2nd in RBI’s with 33. Now I’m not saying that Tulowitzki is going to win a triple crown, but I wondering if this is the season he stays healthy and we see the kind of numbers he can put up. I think a lot of baseball people have wondered the same thing. What do you think; is this the year Tulowitzki stays healthy?

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

So how was your week?

5/10/14 How was your Week?

Posted: May 10, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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So the NFL draft has pretty much taken over the sports world with round 1 starting Thursday night and rounds 2 & 3 following up on Friday night. This is the first year that I’ve had the NFL network during a draft, so i was interested to watch it on that channel. I have to tell you I thought their coverage was terrible. I get it that they have more or less 10 minutes to fill between first round picks, but that wasn’t an issue. They almost seemed unprepared to cover the draft and they did a lot of stalling for no real reason. They some how even managed to get behind on picks even though there was the 10 minute gap. Maybe I expected to much, but since it is the network that just covers pro football I thought the coverage would be better.

I think everybody’s mock draft was shot after the Jacksonville Jaguar’s selected quarterback Blake Bortles at #3. I read quite a few mock drafts and no one I read, had Bortles going to Jacksonville. I give Jacksonville a ton of credit for being able to hide their interest in Bortles for this long. I even heard a report that said Jacksonville had been targeting Bortles when they 0 – 8 last season. I’m not going to go over the draft, pick by pick as there will be enough of that from every other blog out there. I was surprised to see the quarterbacks drop like they did, but three did go in the 1st round like most experts thought. Johnny Manziel went #22 to the Cleveland Browns and the Minnesota Vikings traded for the last pick in the 1st round (#32) and took Teddy Bridgewater. No running backs were taken in the 1st round as the position has pretty much been devalued by the new rules favoring throwing the football. There was a run on running backs in the 2nd round as three went in four picks. Rounds 4 through 7 are held today as teams fill out there rosters.

I did find it weird that the NFL draft did better ratings wise than playoff games in the NHL and the NBA. I saw a report that said the only place a playoff game beat out the NFL draft in the ratings was Miami. I know Heat fans arrive late and leave early during Heat games, but they did support their team on television. The NFL draft also beat out all of the baseball games that it was up against, but that’s no surprise as it;s still very early in the baseball season. What did you watch?

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? 5/3/14

Posted: May 3, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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The playoffs are rolling along in the NBA and the NHL. I guess slowly rolling along in the NBA would be the way to put it as they’re still in the 1st round. Not that the NHL is a whole lot faster as they just got their 2nd round started. As much as I enjoy watching playoff games the way they have them schedule is terrible. I believe that there was only one back to back set of games and that was in the NHL. I know they do these schedules for television, but by the time the finals come around I get to the point where I almost don’t car who wins the championship. Now I don’t expect these guys to play seven in seven days or anything like that, but would one set of back to back games hurt a series.

If you like game 7’s you’ll have a few to watch in the NBA. There are three on Saturday for starters. The Indiana Pacers have managed to hang around and take the Atlanta Hawks to a game 7. They’re the first game on television today. That’s followed by the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the Memphis Grizzlies. Of course the Grizzlies will be without one of their top 3 as Zach Randolph has been suspended by the league for this game. Randolph threw a punch at the Thunder’s Stephen Adams. After seeing the video it looked more like a shove to me, but the NBA decided that it was a punch and it will cost Randolph a game and could cost his team the series with him watching. The final game 7 on Saturday has the Golden State Warriors vs. the Los Angeles Clippers. A lot of experts I’ve heard talk about this series have said that they thought it would’ve been over by now if not for the Donald Sterling comments that came to light earlier in the week. I’m not sure about that, but either way the series ends tonight. You’ll have two more game 7’s on Sunday as the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors are the early game with the San Antonio Spurs vs. the Dallas Mavericks as the late afternoon game.

I mentioned the NHL 2nd round of the playoffs kicked off with a great double overtime game. P. K. Subban scored the game winning goal for the Montreal Canadians as they got a win over the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of their series. Sadly a great hockey game was marred by stupid Bruins fans going on social media and making racial comments about Subban. I went into a long. long commentary about this situation on Friday’s show; so I’m not going to go over it all again other to remark how stupid these people are. In some other NHL 2nd round playoff action from last night the New York Rangers got an overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks won game 1 against the Minnesota Wild. The last 2nd round series gets started today featuring the Anaheim Ducks vs. the Los Angeles Kings.

The NFL draft starts this Thursday with the 1st round taking place. I did a sort of kind of mock draft on Friday’s show just for fun. Who knows which players will end up going to which teams, but it’ fun to guess. Who do you want your favorite team to pick? I don’t mind the three day NFL draft television coverage, but now they’ve talked about going to four days. You have to wonder if the NFL is getting greedy and if it will cost them sooner or later. There’s already talk of playing more games on weekdays. Also talk of expanding the playoffs. How long before fans say enough and stop tuning in. How much football could you or would you watch?

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

So how was your week?

4/26/14? How was your Week?

Posted: April 26, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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They call Saturday at The Masters moving day. Well The Masters finished a week ago with Bubba Watson winning his 2nd green jacket. Today is still moving day, but in this case it’s my turn to do the moving. I’m actually moving today and I’m waiting for Mr. Fantasy to come by and help me move my stuff. Sadly Dan the Man didn’t want to assist in my move and Schaumburg Stu turned down my offer to help.

There is so much going on right now with sports that it’s tough to keep up with everything. The baseball regular season is moving along, the NBA and the NHL playoffs are in the 1st round and of course the NFL has found ways to keep their name in the news. I am having a little bit of an issue with the NBA and NHL start times. If you’ve listened to the show you know that we live in the Chicago Illinois area. On a couple of occasion this week both the Blackhawks and the Bulls playoff games started at 8:30 p.m. They had the games scheduled to end by 11:00 p.m. but we all know how long playoff games run. This isn’t including any game that might go into overtime. This becomes a bigger reason for me as I have to be up for my job by 2:30 a.m. and there’s no way I can stay up and watch the entire game. In most cases I was lucky to get through the 1st period of a hockey game or the 1st quarter of a basketball game. Now I have no issues when the teams are on the west coast and we get the 9:00 p.m. start time where I live. I would never expect any league to move up west coast teams just for an earlier start time in another area. Of course this still doesn’t excuse an 8:30 p.m. start time for a local game.

So the NFL is considering making the draft a four day event. I’m starting to think that sooner or later the NFL draft will be a seven day event and they’ll have one round a day. I think the NFL might be a little off here if they decide to do this. The later rounds aren’t all that exciting and no matter which network coverage you’re watching they do a poor job of keeping up with the live picks in the later rounds. How close is the NFL to over exposing itself? They have games on television three days a week (Monday, Thurs day and Sunday) and there’s talk of adding more game days. Will we ever feel that there’s too much NFL on television. There’s also talk of adding two more teams to the playoffs. The league doesn’t think it would water anything down, but I believe if they would’ve used this system last season the 8 – 8 Dallas Cowboys would’ve been a playoff team. Do .500 and under .500 teams deserve playoff spot? If a team wins it’s division like the Seattle Seahawks did a few years ago at 7 – 9 then they should be a playoff team, but to get a wild card spot with a record like that cheapens the playoffs. The NFL hasn’t announced anything as of yet; so will have to keep are eyes open for this and see if the change is made.

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? 4/19/14

Posted: April 19, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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Baseball is coming up on one month into it’s season. The NFL is preparing for the draft. While the NHL playoffs started earlier this week the NBA playoffs get under way today.

The NBA 1st round match ups look like this. In the Eastern conference; #1 Indiana Pacers vs. #8 Atlanta Hawks. #2 Miami Heat vs. #7 Charlotte Bobcats. #3 Toronto Raptors vs. #6 Brooklyn Nets. #4 Chicago Bulls vs. #5 Washington Wizards.

In the Western conference it’s #1 San Antonio Spurs vs. #8 Dallas Mavericks. #2 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #7 Memphis Grizzlies. #3 Los Angeles Clippers vs. #6 Golden State Warriors. #4 Houston Rockets vs. #5 Portland Trailblazers.

There are some good 1st round match ups, but all the talk seems to be centered around the #3 seed vs. the #6 seed in both conferences. A lot of experts think the Nets may have tried to work their way into the #6 seed to get the match up against Toronto. The Nets have been one of the top teams in the NBA since January 1st and there veterans seem healthy and rested for the playoffs. Will they be the surprise team in the East? The talking has started in the Clippers/Warriors series already. Klay Thompson said that Blake Griffin flops and I believe he called him a bull in a china shop as well. The Warriors Andrew Bogut is out for this series and while that provides some inside match ups for the Clippers to take advantage of it will give the Warriors a chance to play small and make it tougher on the Clippers DeAndre Jordan or maybe even limit his minutes.

In the East it’s tough to see any other team except Miami going to the finals. Indiana has such struggles down the stretch you have to wonder if they’ll be able to get ready mentally for the playoffs. The Nets had a great regular season record against the Heat, but that was the regular season. I don’t have the guts to call a Bobcats upset over Miami in the 1st round either. Out West I really think you could put all eight teams names in a hat and pick the winner out of it. I really believe that any of these eight teams could come out of the West, but I think the winner of the Rockets/Trailblazers series might surprise a 2nd round opponent and go to the conference finals. With the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers all missing the playoffs you’d have to think the NBA itself is rooting for the a Miami Heat vs. Oklahoma City Thunder match up for the finals. The best possible outcome for the NBA would be the two best players, LeBron James & Kevin Durant, matching up.

The NHL playoffs got started this week and here are the match ups we’re looking at. In the Eastern conference it’s the Boston Bruins vs. the Detroit Red Wings; Detroit leads the series 1 – 0. Tampa Bay Lighting vs. the Montreal Canadians; Montreal leads the series 2 – 0. The Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets; Pittsburgh leads the series 1 – 0. New York Rangers vs. the Philadelphia Flyers; New York leads the series 1 – 0. In the Western conference it’s the St. Louis Blues vs. the Chicago Blackhawks; St. Louis leads the series 1 – 0. The Colorado Avalanche vs. the Minnesota Wild; Colorado leads the series 1 – 0. The San Jose Sharks vs. the Los Angeles Kings; San Jose leads the series 1 – 0. The Anaheim Ducks vs. the Dallas Stars; the Ducks lead the series 2 – 0.

While these series have started and it’s hard to call upsets and stuff like that Dan the Man and I did talk some hockey on Wednesday’s show. We both like to see the Blackhawks repeat as we live in the Chicago area, but will have to see if they can bounce back from a triple overtime loss in Game 1. I was leaning towards the Wild as kind of my surprise team, but they lost a tough Game 1 to Colorado. I thought Jonathan Quick was going to come up big for the Kings and they would be a Stanley Cup contender, but they dropped Game 1 as well. Pittsburgh had a tougher Game 1 than I thought they would, but they came out of it a winner. Detroit is a tough 1st round match up for anyone and might be able to get past the Bruins in round 1. There’s a long, long way to go in these series; so will see how they play out over this weekend and into next week.

As we get closer and closer to the NFL draft I see more and more mock drafts. I caught one the other day, but I don’t remember which expert it was who out it out, but he had quarterback Teddy Bridgewater dropping all the way to the 1st pick in the 2nd round going to the Houston Texans there. It was an interesting choice of a quarterback who would drop. In most of the experts eyes it’s Johnny Manziel being the quarterback that will drop out of the 1st round. As we all know none of this is a science. I saw a draft a few weeks ago that had Khalil Mack being the 1st player chosen, but then expert released another draft a week later and had Mack just outside the top 10. My guess was, he took out Mack in his #1 spot, so people would talk about his mock draft and it worked; his is one of the drafts I remember. Maybe we can get Dan the Man or Mr. Fantasy to put together the first ever Sports Time Radio mock draft.

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

So how was your week?

3/29/14 How was your Week?

Posted: March 29, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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After floating his name in the trade market the Philadelphia Eagles just decided to release wide receiver DeSean Jackson. The Eagles sited Jackson’s work ethic and attitude along with rumors that he is affiliated to some gang members that have been connected to two homicides since 2010. Jackson released a statement denying he is a gang member and calling the reports “misleading and unfounded.” Jackson had 82 catches, 1332 yards and 9 touchdowns last season for the Eagles. With the re-signing of Jeremy Macklin and Riley Cooper this off-season and the trade for Darren Sproles, you wonder if the Eagles felt Jackson was expendable. There have been some rumors that the Eagles like the crop of wide receivers in this coming May’s draft. A report came out yesterday saying six teams had contacted Jackson 30 minutes after he was released. In March of 2012 the Eagles signed Jackson to a five tear $48 million dollar deal. With the release of Jackson the Eagles will take a $6 million dollar salary cap hit this coming season.

Is it just me or out of the four major sports does it seem like the NFL has more arrests than any other sport. In another example San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver was arrested Friday morning in San Jose California for felony hit and run and weapons possession. According to police reports Culliver hit a person on a bicycle and then fled the scene. As a witness attempted to stop Culliver from leaving the scene he got out of his car with a pair of brass knuckles. Then to add to the matter Culliver hit the witness’s car as he was fleeing the scene of the accident. The 49ers where aware of the situation and released a statement saying “We will remain in contact with Chris and the local authorities as we continue to gather the facts regarding this situation. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we will reserve further comment at this time.” If you’re having trouble remembering who Culliver is; he was the player who made headlines two years ago during Super Bowl week with his anti-gay comments.

Five teams have clinched Stanley Cup playoffs spots so far. The Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern conference and the St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks in the Western conference. only one point separates the Ducks (102) and the Sharks (103) for 1st place in the Pacific division. The Chicago Blackhawks (99), Colorado Avalanche (98) and Los Angeles Kings (92) should lock up playoff spots in the Western conference soon, but the other two spots will be up for grabs. The Eastern conference is much less clear. The Montreal Canadians (91) should clinch a playoff spot, but after that their are seven different teams in the 80 point range. With five playoff spots for these seven teams the race in the Eastern conference will heat up as the regular season gets closer to the end.

With the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers both struggling a little in there last ten games do you give any other team in the Eastern conference a chance to beat either team in a seven game series. The Pacers are 6 – 4 in their last 10 games while the Heat are 5 – 5. The Pacers have a three game lead over the Heat for home court advantage in the East. It’s going to be difficult to get by either of these teams in a seven game series, but would you give the Brooklyn Nets or the Chicago Bulls a chance. How about the Toronto Raptors who look like they’re going to win the Eastern conferences Atlantic division and get the 3rd seed in the playoffs. In the Western conference the San Antonio Spurs are on a 16 game winning streak and our looking like they’ll get the #1 playoff seed in the West. It’s going to be the 8th spot in the Western conference that’s going to be interesting. The Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies are all separated by two games. Plus the Portland Trailblazers are just a couple of games ahead of this group. One of these teams with a record above .500 will miss the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres open the baseball season Sunday night. Yeah I know there where two games played between the Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks in Australia, but that was a stupid idea by major league baseball and I’m not counting that as the start of the season. Clayton Kershaw will miss this start for the Dodgers with back inflammation, but it’s not something that should hold him back from making his next start. Andrew Cashner will be the opening day starter for the Padres. Let’s play ball.

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So how was your week?

03/15/14 How was your Week?

Posted: March 15, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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NFL free agency kicked off this week. Did your team sign a player you wanted them to? I woke up this morning (Saturday) to find out the Julius Peppers signed with the Green Bay Packers. When it comes to the years on these deals they don’t really matter; it’s the guaranteed money that’s important. The Denver Broncos signed the most well-known names this week. They added safety T.J. Ward, cornerback Aqib Talib and linebacker DeMarcus Ware. As Denver tries to build a defense to go with that #1 offense that went to the Super Bowl last season. Cleveland filled Ward’s spot by signing hard-hitting safety Donte Whitner and also added linebacker Karlos Dansby. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and new head coach Lovie Smith made a big splash in free agency this week. The Buccaneers added quarterback Josh McCown, defensive end Michael Johnson, cornerback Alterraun Verner, defensive tackle Clinton McDonald, center Evan Dietrich-Smith, plus tackle Anthony Collins. While Tampa Bay was bringing in all these new free agents they released cornerback Darrelle Revis after one season with the team. Revis went on to sign with the New England Patriots. Don’t panic if your favorite team hasn’t signed a free agent yet; their are still plenty of players on the open market. Does your team need a pass rusher? How about Brian Orakpo. Does your team need some help in the defensive backfield? How about two guys with the same last name. Antonio Cromartie and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie are available. Michael Vick is still a free agent if your team needs a quarterback with a bit of an injury history. Ben Tate is probably the #1 running back on the free agent market, but he comes with an injury history as well. If your team can’t find the player they want in free agency maybe they could make a trade. There where three made this week and the San Francisco 49ers were involved in two of them. The 49ers sent a 6th round draft pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for quarterback Blaine Gabbert and then the 49ers sent a 2015 conditional 7th round draft pick to the Miami Dolphins for Jonathan Martin. Yes that Jonathan Martin; he’s going to play for his old college football coach Jim Harbaugh. Martin won’t be asked to start for the 49ers and Harbaugh should be able to give him some protection from any bullying or any type of locker room hazing that might go on. Martin can play both tackle spots and should be a solid back up for the 49ers. In the other trade this week the Philadelphia Eagles sent a 5th round draft pick to the New Orleans Saints for running back Darren Sproles; who seems to be tailor-made for a Chip Kelly offense. Sproles is a good back up for LeShon McCoy and I’m sure jumped way up all the fantasy boards looking at next season all ready.

It’s getting close to playoff time in the NBA and the Miami Heat seems to be in a bit of a funk. The Heat lost last night (Friday) to the Denver Nuggets and the Heat have dropped five of their last six games. I don’t think Miami cares if they end up with the #1 seed in the Eastern conference. One expert mentioned that the Heat are on “cruise” control. Miami has dropped a couple of games to conference opponents Brooklyn and Chicago. A lot of talk seems to think that Brooklyn is the team if there is one that could get by the Heat in the playoffs. The Nets do have Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, but how much do the veteran players have left fun a playoff run. Garnett has played limited minutes this season and has taken games off just to be ready for the playoffs. Some where lost in all of this are the Indiana Pacers who right now are the #1 seed in the Eastern conference. You’d think the Pacers would be the team to knock off the Heat this season, but they’ve seem to have gone unnoticed these last few weeks. The Pacers where in a bit of a slump, but have seemed to came out of it with victories over Boston and Philadelphia. While the Celtics and the 76ers aren’t playoff teams they’re still on your schedule and you need to win those games. In the end will anyone be surprised if it comes down to the Heat against the Pacers in the Eastern conference finals. In other big NBA news Phil Jackson has agreed to a five year contract to become President of the New York Knicks. Jackson won 2 championships as a player with the Knicks. Jackson was also the head coach for 11 championship teams with the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson has no front office experience; so you have to wonder if he’s the guy to turn the Knicks around. Jackson is scheduled to be introduced by the Knicks on Tuesday and you have to wonder if Mike Woodson’s job is in trouble. Jackson is an advocate of the triangle offense and no one knows if that will suit Carmelo Anthony’s game. Of course even more of a question is will Anthony still be with the Knicks next season. Jackson has his hands full with fixing the Knicks. The Knicks don’t have a 1st round draft pick and they don’t have any money to bring in a top-notch free agent. This will be a monstrous test for Phil Jackson and if he can find a way to turn this Knicks team around or at this point just become a contender he’ll ensure his legacy in New York forever.

Baseball season is getting close. Mr. Fantasy and I have our first fantasy in eight days, but I know there are some people who have already had there drafts. I hope in one of these drafts you didn’t end up with Atlanta Braves pitcher Kris Medlen. Medlen left his spring training start last week with elbow pain and during his examination they found a torn ligament in his pitching elbow. Medlen will under go a 2nd “Tommy John” surgery and be out for the entire 2014 season. That’s one of the reasons I’ve never been a big fan of those early fantasy drafts. Drafting can sometimes be the best part of a fantasy season, but when you do them that early you can lose guys like Medlen before the season even starts. Hopefully soon will get a Mr. Fantasy draft list for you to follow.

So how was your week?

You can listen to Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I on http://www.blogtalkradio.com and http://www.ultimatesportstalk.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was Your Week? 03/08/14

Posted: March 8, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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So if your Mike Woodson how do you feel that the New York Knicks offered their head coaching job to Phil Jackson. Jackson turned the job down, but the Knicks turned right around and offered him a position in the front office. Of course with the situation the Knicks are currently in I don’t know if the Zen Master himself can help them out. Carmelo Anthony is free agent after the season and while I fully expect him to resign with the Knicks, but by bringing Anthony back, will they have any money left to sign any other free agents. I know the Miami Heat have been able to bring players in with Pat Riley in the front office, but they had a better product on the floor then the Knicks have right now. Now Jackson hasn’t accepted any position with the Knicks right now, but the offer is out there.

It’s Mr. Fantasy’s favorite time of year; free agency in the NFL. Teams will start releasing players to get themselves under or close to the salary cap; so they can try to sign free agents. In the last two days the New Orleans Saints have released a couple of veterans. On Thursday it was being reported that after eight seasons with the Saints wide receiver Lance Moore was going to be released and then news broke yesterday that the Saints would also be releasing running back Darren Sproles. If your team is in need of a defensive back there are a few out there to choose from. T.J. Ward of the Cleveland Browns, Alterraun Verner of the Tennessee Titans and Aqib Talib of the New England Patriots are a few of the top defensive backs on the open market. Eric Decker appears to be the top wide receiver in free agency, but maybe your team could use a Hakeen Nicks or a Julian Edelman at receiver. Players can start negotiations with teams on Tuesday.

Spring training is fully up and running for all major league baseball teams. The Kansas City Royals announced that starting pitcher Luke Hochevar will miss the entire 2014 season because he needs to have Tommy John surgery on his pitching arm. In 1974 Dr. Frank Jobe came up with the surgery that took a tendon from pitcher Tommy John’s right forearm and replaced the damaged medial collateral ligament in John’s throwing arm. John went on to pitch 14 more seasons after this surgery. On Thursday Dr. Jobe passed away at 88 years old. They did a study in 2013 that 124 active pitchers have had “Tommy John” surgery. Before Dr. Jobe came up with this surgical procedure this injury was considered career ending. Pitchers like Stephen Strasburg, John Smoltz and now Hochevar will be able to come back and continue their careers because of the procedure Dr. Jobe invented. The baseball Hall of Fame has a wing for people who have contributed to the game. I’d like to see baseball put Dr. Frank Jobe in Hall of Fame for coming up with this surgery and saving countless pitching careers.

You can find Sports Time Radio on http://www.blogtalkradio.com and the show is also available at http://www.ultimatesportstalk.com

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was Your Week? (3/1/14)

Posted: March 1, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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We didn’t talk a lot of Olympics on the show but yesterday (Friday) I made Mr. Fantasy play NHL owner while discussing the Olympics. If you’re the New York Islanders owner or a fan of the team; how are you feeling about NHL player going to play in the Olympics now? The Islanders are 23 -30 – 8 and in last place in the Metropolitan division of the Eastern conference. If you’re an Islanders fan you realize that they’re not going to make the playoffs this season, but you had a reason to go to the games and see one of the top players in the NHL John Taveras. While playing in Sochi for Team Canada in the Olympics Taveras tore the MCL and meniscus in his left knee and will miss the rest of the Islanders season. The 23-year-old Taveras was leading the Islanders with 66 points this season; he has 24 goals and 42 assists. Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit Red Wings), Mats Zuccarello (New York Rangers), Paul Martin (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers) where all also injured playing for their countries in the Olympics. Zetterberg has back issues and most report are saying he’ll miss the rest of the season like Taveras. Zuccarello has a hand issue and is scheduled to miss 3 – 4 weeks. Martin had surgery on his broken right hand and will be out 4 – 6 weeks. These are just some of the injuries that players suffered while playing in the Olympics. Will have to see how this affects the rest of the NHL regular season and if it will cause any of these teams trouble in the playoffs.

The New Orleans Saints put the franchise tag on Jimmy Graham yesterday as a tight end. I’m sure no one was surprised at all that the Saints used their franchise tag on Graham. The question all along would be if he would be tagged as a tight end or a wide receiver. Again it wasn’t a surprise that the Saints tagged Graham as a tight end. He’s been listed as a tight end ever since he’s been on the Saints roster. Of course this is a money issue as the value of the one-year franchise tender for wide receivers is $11.6 million, about $5 million more than the tag value for tight ends. Graham’s agent has already said that they’ll file a grievance on this position issue. Graham is a great player at tight end while being covered by linebackers, but when matched up against defensive backs he doesn’t fair as well. Graham doesn’t line up like a traditional tight end would, but the Saints are careful in getting the match ups they need to make him successful. This will be one of the bigger off-season NFL stories to follow.

Spring training has started for baseball and it’s time to look forward to the start of the regular season. You can never put a lot of stock into your teams won, loss record during the spring. You just have to hope that the players get there work in and that no one suffers any kind of injury. I’d have to think the biggest story starting off spring training was the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim giving Mike Trout a one (1) year deal for $1 million dollars with the hope of signing Trout to a long-term contract. This has brought out some big, big numbers on what a Mike Trout contract might be. I’ve heard numbers between $40 and $50 million dollars a season. WOW! It’s always difficult for me to discuss money when it comes to contracts. I fit in the category of these guys make way, way too much money as it is, but you can never fault someone for getting paid the most they can get. Trout is the best player in the game right now and I’ve said on the show a few times already that I believe that he’ll win the M.V.P. award for the upcoming season. They’ve been trying to give Trout the M.V.P. award for two (2) seasons now and I think this is the year that he’ll win it. I have no idea what Trout will end up getting contract wise or dollar wise, but it will far and away big the biggest deal in major league baseball history. What do you think Trout’s contract will end up being?

Not only can you still find Sports Time Radio on http://www.blogtalkradio.com the show is also available on http://www.ultimatesprotstalk.com

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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