Archive for the ‘hockey’ Category

How was your Week?

Posted: March 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports
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The NHL awards the Hart Trophy to its MVP and I thought we’d take a look at some of the contenders to win the award are. Pretty much any MVP conversation can start with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Crosby is 3rd in the NHL with 70 points; 23 goals and 47 assists. The Penguins are 39-18-10 and have 88 points and they are currently 3rd in the Metropolitan division. Crosby is still the best player in the NHL and barring injury he should always be included in any M.V.P. talk. Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks is close to having the best year of his NHL career. Getzlaf has 63 points on the season; 22 goals and 41 assists through 67 games. The Ducks have the most points in the NHL with 93 and a record of 43-20-7. There are some people who think Getzlaf doesn’t belong in the M.V.P. conversation, but the best player on the best team is always a contender to win the award. You’d have to think that New York Islanders Center John Tavares would be in the MVP talk. Tavares leads the NHL in points with 72; 33 goals and 39 assists. The Islanders have 90 points with a record of 43-23-4 and are in 2nd place in the Metropolitan division, but are just one point out of 1st.  Being the leagues leading point getter will get you votes and your team going to the playoffs doesn’t hurt either; so look for Tavares to get some MVP votes. How about Washington Capitals Left Wing  Alex Ovechkin for MVP Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals with 45 and has added 26 assists for a season total of 71 points just one behind Tavares for the league lead. While Ovechkin may not have the name value that Crosby does, but he’s a name people will recognize. Ovechkin has had a couple of down seasons; well down for him and has bounced back this season. Washington is holding on to one of the Eastern conference wild card spots and you have to wonder if the Capitals don’t make the playoffs if voters would consider Ovechkin for MVP Let’s look at one more MVP candidate and it’s a Goalie. There are people who think goalies shouldn’t win this award, but I have to tell you if I had a vote it would go to Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. Rinne did miss a little time with an injury, but he’s 36-14-3 in the net with a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 2.09 a Save Percentage of .927 and has three shutouts. The Predators are 42-20-7 and tied for 1st place in the Central division of the Western conference with 91 points. I think Rinne should get some votes because I’m not sure the Predators are a playoff team with him. Here’s five more players that should be in the MVP conversation and might pick up some votes for the award. 1) Rick Nash, New York Rangers. 2) Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens. 3) Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals. 4) Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia Flyers. 5) let’s throw out another goaltender; Carey Price, Montréal Canadiens. As the N.H.L. regular season comes to an end will one of these players set up and win this award or will someone who’s not even mentioned here surprise voters and find a way to become MVP

Now I understand when you’re running a NFL organization you have a salary cap to deal with, but if you’re a fan of the New Orleans Saints are you wondering what their team is doing. Your off-season starts off by bringing Mark Ingram back; you’d think that’s a good start. They add a defensive lineman in Tyrunn Walker; solid move the defense needs help. Linebacker Curtis Lofton is released. I think they said failed physical, but there were salary cap reasons involved. They also terminated the contract of running back Pierre Thomas. While they released a couple of players that had some service time with them not anything earth shattering. Then they send Jimmy Graham and a 4th round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Max Unger and Seattle’s #1 pick which is 31st in the upcoming draft. While they got a quality player back in Unger; he did have some injury issues and picking at #31 doesn’t guarantee you’ll land a star player. You gave up one of the top tight ends in the NFL It’s clear that Graham and Rob Gronkowski have separated themselves from the other tight ends in the NFL Did they get enough in return for Graham besides moving his salary. The next move saw the Saints send two time Pro Bowl guard Ben Grubbs to the Kansas City Chief for a 2015 5th round draft pick. Grubbs did have a down year in 2014 and the Saints wanted him to take a pay cut, but when they couldn’t agree he was dealt. In another deal the Saints sent wide receiver Kenny Stills to the Miami Dolphins for linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and a 2015 third-round pick. Then the Saints added a free agent as they signed running back C.J. Spiller to a four year $18 million dollar deal. Spiller is a former 1st round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills who at times showed flashes of brilliance, but never turned into the every down back the Bills had hoped he would. He’s battled some injuries throughout his career, but the Saints offense looks like it should be a good fit for him. So it looks like the Saints are going to rely on the running game  Ingram, Spiller and Khiry Robinson working in the backfield together, but who is Drew Brees throwing the football to. Marques Colston and Brandin Cooks look to be the top receivers on the roster. Will Nick Toon get a look as the 3rd wideout or is there a free agent out their the Saints might try to sign. Josh Hill and Benjamin Watson are the tight ends on the roster, but they are down grades from Graham. Brees is 35 years old and you have to wonder how many more seasons he’ll have as an elite quarterback. The Saints added some draft picks and may have saved some money or made some salary cap room, but did they improve is the question.

Most experts have already picked the Washington Nationals as the best team in Major League Baseball even though we’re only a week plus into spring training. With their returning roster and the addition of big time pitching free agent Max Schrezer the Nationals look great on paper, but remember they don’t play the games on paper. What;s the one thing that can derail a teams World Series dreams very quickly? Injuries and the Nationals are piling them up. Here’s what the nationals are dealing with right now; Anthony Rendon’s sprained left medial collateral ligament and Drew Storen’s hamate bone joined Yunel Escobar’s strained oblique, Jayson Werth’s surgically repaired right shoulder and Denard Span’s recently repaired core. Is this just a fluke or they way the Nationals season will go.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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

Let’s call it Wednesday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can follow me on Twitter @BurkeTime

How was your Week?

Posted: February 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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It was a bit of a tough week to be a hockey or basketball fan in Chicago. On Tuesday the Chicago Blackhawks Patrick Kane was crossed checked and fell awkwardly into the boards. He didn’t return to the game and had surgery a couple of days later for what was being reported as a broken clavicle. The NHL doesn’t report what is injured on a player, but here in Chicago they’re reporting broken clavicle and Kane will be out about 12 weeks. The Blackhawks would have to go deep into the playoffs for Kane to return and without him that will be tough for them to do. Kane was being mentioned as a candidate for MVP and was among the top scorers in the NHL Kane has 27 goals and 37 assists for 64 points this season in 61 games for the Blackhawks. The same day Kane’s injury was announced the Chicago Bulls announced that Derrick Rose needed another knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus ligament. Rose had his surgery yesterday (Friday) and at a press conference the Bulls said he’d be out 4 to 6 weeks. I think this is a bit of an accelerated time line for Rose to come back. Russell Westbrook had this same type of surgery and was out 8 weeks. Now most Bulls fans will remember the first time Rose had knee surgery there where reports that he’d be returning and then he wouldn’t. What happens if we get to the Bulls announced 6 week mark and Rose isn’t ready to play. With Rose’s injury history when I heard he was injured again I just figured he was done for the season. If Rose is out the 6 weeks he’ll return with 3 regular season games left. Is that enough time for him to get ready to help the Bulls make a playoff run? Even though both teams have winning records; both teams have been disappointing this season. The Blackhawks are 37-21-5 and in 3rd place in the Central division of the Western conference with 79 points. Even without Kane they should get into the playoffs, but at the beginning of the season this team was considered a Stanley Cup contender and I’m not sure many people think that now.  The Bulls are 37-22 and hold a 1/2 game lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Central Division of the Eastern conference. Even if the Bulls can’t hold off the Cavaliers and win the Central division they’ll still make the playoffs. At the start of the season there was a lot of talk that the Bulls would represent the Eastern conference in the N.B.A. finals and some experts where even picking them to win it all, but right now are they a threat to even get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. I did actually hear a couple of Chicago blaming Tom Thibodeau for Derrick Rose’s injury. Thibodeau appears to be on the hot seat in Chicago as reports have come out that the front office team of Gar Foreman and John Paxson don’t like Thibodeau and his coaching style; so it was looking like he would be fired at the end of the season anyway. If anyone on the Bulls organization is blaming Thibodeau for Rose getting hurt you’d have to figure this is just another nail in his Bulls coaching coffin. Luckily for Chicago fans there’s a lot of hope for the upcoming baseball season. That’s a good thing as I wouldn’t be surprised if both the Bulls and the Blackhawks get knocked out of their respective playoffs very early or even in the 1st round.

If you’re a Bay area sports fan last night (Friday) was a good night to listen to Sports Time Radio. Nick Hjeltness from GoldenGateSports was on the podcast with us. Nick covered everything San Francisco Giants wise and stuck around with us to talk some Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers football. We didn’t get into the Golden State Warriors, but Mr. Fantasy isn’t the biggest basketball fan; so we stayed away from that team. We  have quite a few interviews on the podcast and it’s not like your normal radio interview where the guests answers 2 or 3 questions and then they’re let go. We keep our guests on with us for almost a full 30 minutes and last night Nick stayed on the podcast with us for an hour to cover all the topics we wanted to discuss with him. We’re doing what we can to get someone from all 30 Major League Baseball teams to get previews for the upcoming season. I typed we’re, but it’s actually Dan the Man who schedules all the interviews for Sports Time Radio. If there’s a guest you’d like us to try to get on the podcast e-mail us SportsTimeRadio@Hotmail.com and will see if they’re willing to come on and talk to us.

Are the St. Louis Cardinals losing their grip on the NL Central? Adam Wainwright had to miss a few days of spring training already with what was being reported as an abdominal strain. Wainwright was given a few days off and has resumed his spring training workouts, but don’t forget he is also coming off surgery to clean up his throwing elbow.  Wainwright is the ace of the Cardinals pitching staff and they can’t afford to lose him for any long period of time. You do have to wonder if this abdominal injury will linger into the start of the season and cause issues. Yader Molina also missed quite a few regular season games with a thumb injury. While Molina did return for the playoffs, but went 5 for 22 in 6 playoff games. There are other questions with the Cardinals starting rotation besides Wainwright’s health. Lance Lynn is solid as a #2, but what can the Cardinals expect out of Michael Wacha and John Lackey as their 3rd and 4th starters. Then who gets the 5th spot in the rotation? Jaime Garcia, Marco Gonzales or Carlos Martinez. While I do feel that St. Louis is still the best team in the NL Central I think the gap is starting to close. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been there the last couple of seasons, the Chicago Cubs look like an improved team and remember the Milwaukee Brewers where in 1st place in this division for the better part of 2014. Sorry Cincinnati Reds fans; I think you may end up in the cellar of this division.

So how was your week?

Listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Valentine’s Day?

Posted: February 14, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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2/14/15

If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast or caught some of the blogs here you know I’m not a fan of All-Star games. I do however enjoy some of the events that the NBA has during its All-Star weekend. Last night (Friday) they had two games that I didn’t have a lot of interest in. The Celebrity game kicks off the weekend followed by the Rising Stars Challenge. This year they had the World vs. USA with the World winning 122-112. Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves playing for the World team was the MVP of the game scoring 22 for the World team. There are four events held today (Saturday) starting with the Shooting Challenge. Then it’s the Skills Challenge followed by the 3-point Shooting Contest and ending with the Slam Dunk Contest. The Shooting Challenge features four teams of three players. The teams are; Team Bosh with Captain Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat, Dominique Wilkins is the team Legend and Swim Cash of the New York Liberty is their WNBA player. Team Curry; with Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry as the team captain, his father Dell Curry is their Legend and Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm is their WNBA player. Team Westbrook captained by Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder with Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway as their Legend and Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever as their WNBA player. Team Milsap is captained by Paul Milsap of the Atlanta Hawks. Milsap is replacing the injured Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans. Milsap’s teammates are Legend Scottie Pippen and W.N.B.A. player  Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky. I’ll take Team Curry to win this event. The Skills Challenge features eight NBA players who compete in a bracket-style tournament for the first time. The format calls for two players to compete simultaneously on an identical course with the fastest finisher reaching the next round.  The players will be tested in an obstacle-course competition that tests dribbling, passing, agility and shooting skills. Trey Burke of the Utah Jazz is back to defend last year title and he is joined by Brandon Knight of the Milwaukee Bucks, Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors. Isiah Thomas of the Phoenix Suns, Jeff Teague of the Atlanta Hawks and his teammate Dennis Schroder who is replacing Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls. Elfrid Payton of the Orlando Magic is taking the place of Michael Carter-Williams of the Philadelphia 76ers and Patrick Beverly of the Houston Rockets is taking the place of Washington Wizards guard John Wall. I’ll take Teague to win this competition. A lot of experts think that this will be the best 3-point shooting challenge ever. The eight guys in the 3-point shooting Contest are defending champion  Marco Belinelli of the San Antonio Spurs, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks, Wesley Matthews of the Portland Trailblazers, J.J. Reddick of the Los Angeles Clippers and teammates Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. It seems like most experts think that one of the Golden State players either Thompson or Curry will win this contest, but I’m taking Wesley Matthews to win. The Dunk Contest has lost most of its luster from when it was a must see event, but this season they are returning to their classic format. That means it will be a two-round event in which the four participants can perform any dunk they choose without time limits. The players will have a maximum of three attempts to complete each dunk in both the first round and the final round. Five judges will score every dunk on a scale of 6 to 10, resulting in a high score of 50 and a low score of 30. The four players in the Dunk Contest are Mason Plumlee of the Brooklyn Nets, Victor Oladipo of the Orlando Magic, Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. I’m taking LaVine to win the Dunk Contest. To me these events at least feature players skills while the All-Star game itself is just players watching other players score. Will you watch?

The first interview on the podcast last night had Scott Andes from LasordasLair.com to talk Los Angeles Dodgers baseball we followed that interview with Billy Brost from FriarsonBase,com for some San Diego Padres talk. On the field the Dodgers and Padres are rivals and both play in the NL West. While the Dodgers have had the better of this rivalry for years now the Padres have made a ton of moves this off-season to try to close that gap. There are questions on both sides as teams get ready for spring training to start. The Dodgers will be brand new up the middle with Yasmani Grandal catching, Howie Kendrick at 2nd base, Jimmy Rollins at shortstop and rookie Joc Pederson in centerfield. The Padres will have a new starting outfield with Matt Kemp in rightfield, Will Myers in centerfield and Justin Upton in leftfield as well as Derek Norris catching. Both teams still have some questions though. While Kenley Jansen is a solid major league closer posting 44 saves in 49 chances. The question is who gets the ball to him? Is the biggest question I think the Dodgers have to address. In San Diego the Padres have to decide if Yonder Alonso is the right player at 1st base? The Padres also have a glut of outfielders with  Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin and Will Venable on the 40 man roster. Are the Padres done dealing? With the addition of James Shields the extra outfielders and Philadelphia Phillies General manager Ruben Amaro Jr’s interest in Andrew Cashner could Cole Hamles be on the radar. One of the best things was listening to Scott and Billy’s take on each others team.

The NHL trade deadline is March 2nd; so which players may be switching teams. Will the Ottawa Senators trade Chris Neil? Will the New York Rangers try to deal J.T. Miller and clear some salary cap space? Will the  New Jersey Devils trade Jaromir Jagr? Since the Carolina Hurricanes haven’t been able to reach extensions with forwards Jiri Tlusty and Jay McClement, will they be dealt before the trade deadline? There’s a couple of names that might move before March 2nd for you. Which Stanley Cup contenders need to add what to win it all? We should get some of these answers soon.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: February 11, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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2/11/15

The big story right now is that the little league team from Jackie Robinson West out of  Chicago used players from outside their boundaries and were stripped of their U.S. Little League World Series championship. I spent about 10 years coaching Little League baseball in the town I grew up in and while I didn’t coach at this level I can tell you first hand that this happens all of the time. I coached at what was called at the time the Senior league level which is players 13 to 15 years old. The level this is happened at is called the Major league level which has players from 10 to 12 years old. Now not only did I coach in my time in Little League, but I was also Vice President of the league and had to be acting President on a few occasions when needed. Does it make it right that they did this, no it doesn’t, but the kids themselves probably didn’t have much to do with this. I’m sure if you played Little League there was a kid you knew who used his Aunt’s address so he could play with his friends. When I was in elementary school my parents used the neighbors address so I could go to the school closest to our house. With every Little League World Series game on television now coaches are going to do whatever they can to win. Remember Danny Almonte; he was the pitcher who turned out to be 14 or 15 years old when he pitched in the Little League World Series. That turned out to be his father’s idea. There has always been an issue with either Japan or Korea and the ages of their players. I’m sure this has happened before and the team or teams just got away with it, but you wonder if the reason this is happening is because this team won. It’s too bad for the kids, but I’m sure some of them knew where certain players lived and that they should’ve been on different teams. I’m not sure if there’s a way to fix this now that it’s a featured television event, but remember that its Little League and it’s suppose to be for the kids.

So Alex Rodriquez had a meeting with the New York Yankees to apologize for his disastrous 2013 effort to escape a Biogenesis doping ban, even as team brass told Rodriguez that they did not intend to pay him the millions in marketing bonuses for any home run milestones he might reach in the future. As pitchers and catchers are getting ready to report you have to wonder where does Rodriquez fit in the Yankees plans for the 2015 season. Chase Headley was resigned in the off-season and will play 3rd base. If he’s healthy you have to figure Mark Teixeira will be at 1st base. There’s also the fact that Rodriquez has never played 1st base.  Chris Young finished the season strong for the Yankees and Garrett Jones was signed in the off-season; so even the Designated Hitter role is crowded. The meeting took place at Yankee Stadium and it’s being reported that it lasted about 90 minutes. Rodriquez  did not say whether he would challenge the Yankees on the bonuses, according to the person present. The execs told him they do not consider any records he might set as milestones and will not pay them, and that he was free to challenge them, according to the source. It will be interesting to see what kind of media circus follows Rodriquez around at spring training. On a side note Rodriquez will be the first player I nominate in our fantasy auction draft this season just to see how high the bidding might go.

A hamstring injury will sideline Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy for 4-6 weeks. The Brewers did not specify how Lucroy was hurt. Lucroy should be able to play by the time the Brewers open the regular season on April 6 against the Rockies at Miller Park. But he will miss the bulk of Spring Training, and those lost at-bats could be troublesome.  The Brewers have a quality backup catcher in defensive-minded Martin Maldonado, who signed a two-year contract last month. The other catcher on the 40-man roster is Juan Centeno, who briefly appeared in the big leagues with the New York Mets in 2013 and 2014.  Brewers pitchers and catchers are expected to report to camp on February  20th. The first full-squad workout is scheduled to be held on February 26th.

On the podcast today (Wednesday) we have Tim Kelly from Section215.com scheduled to talk some Philadelphia sports and I’m wondering how he feels about the Philadelphia Flyers playoff chances. The Flyers are one of the hottest teams in the NHL, picking up points in seven straight games after a 2-1 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday gave them a 5-0-2 record since January  20th, when they beat the rival Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 at home. The Flyers are eight points behind the Boston Bruins for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot. For the second season in a row the Flyers got off to a poor start. Last season they were 4-10-1 after 15 games and went 38-20-9 the rest of the way to reach the playoffs. This season the Flyers were 8-13-3 after 24 games but have gone 15-9-6 since to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Having overcome a poor start last season gives the Flyers belief they can do it again, but this is most definitely doing things the hard way. The Flyers announced starting goaltender Steve Mason would be out 2-3 weeks with a lower-body injury. I did see a report yesterday (Tuesday) that Mason will have knee surgery. That was hardly the type of news you want to hear in the middle of a late-season push toward the playoffs, especially considering the difficulties backup Ray Emery has had this season. Emery entered the game against Montreal with a 9-9-1 record, a 3.34 goals-against average and .886 save percentage. But Emery made 39 saves against the Canadiens, withstanding a bombardment over the second half of the game to get his team into overtime and earn the Flyers a point in the standings, one that could have easily been lost were it not for his stellar play.

The national basketball Association is heading towards its All-Star break and I saw that one of the All-Star game activities this season is a fashion show. Yes, you read that right a fashion show. Apparently there will be three different looks per player. At least I think it’s the players who are modeling, but I don’t know for sure. I understand that the dunk contest got boring and not everyone likes three point shooting or skills competition, but a fashion show really. I also believe I heard that LeBron James is a producer or something to that effect on this. All I know is this is one All-Star event I have zero interest in.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio at BlogTalkRadio.com

How was your Week

Posted: February 7, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports
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2/7/15

For the first time last night (Friday) we started the podcast with an interview. Eric Huysman from Climbing Tals Hill came back on Sports Time Radio to discuss some Houston Astros baseball, but mostly to talk about the MLB Networks Top 10 2nd baseman rankings. On Eric’s first visit to the podcast he learned what big fans of Jose Altuve we where and tweeted out that MLB Network had him 6th on their Top 10 list. You have to look at the source of the list and try hard to not take fantasy baseball into consideration when making a list like this. That can make it tough and I try not to be to fantasy bias, but I think 6th is quite low. I’m sure the list had a lot of Sabermetics involved in it and there is some East coast bias. Then add in the fact that the Astros have been bad for a few seasons now and I’m sure those are some of the reasons they held Altuve down. Here’s the MLB Network list:

#1 Robinson Cano Seattle Mariners

#2 Dustin Pedroia Boston Red Sox

#3 Ben Zobrist Oakland A’s

#4 Neil Walker Pittsburgh Pirates

#5 Ian Kinsler Detroit Tigers

#6 Jose Altuve Houston Astros

#7 Howie Kendrick Los Angeles Dodgers

#8 Chase Utley Philadelphia Phillies

#9 Brian Dozier Minnesota Twins

#10 Scooter Gennett Milwaukee Brewers

Besides the error in ranking Altuve; where is Dee Gordon? I have no issues at all with Cano at #1 and I don’t think even Astros fans would argue that ranking. I would’ve had Altuve as the #2 2nd baseman. I like Zobrist at #3 and Gordon would be #4 for me. Give me Kinsler at #5, Walker at #6  with Utley at #7 with Pedroia at #8. Kendrick would be solid at #9 and I would have Jason Kipnis at #10. Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals would’ve been on this list, but he’s playing 3rd base this season.  Am I a little bias towards Altuve; yeah I’m sure I am. If you follow this blog you know that I believe he was the MVP in the American League last season. While Houston was 70-92 in 2014 I think you could make a case that Altuve is just as important to the Astros as Mike Trout is to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Where would the Astros of ended up last season had they not had Altuve. Not only did he win a batting title; which with Sabermetrics doesn’t mean a whole lot, but he also hit clean up at times for the Astros. While Trout is the best player in Major League Baseball, Altuve hung with him stat wise in 2014. Trout scored more runs 115-85, had more triples 9-3, more home runs 36-7, more RBI’s 111-59 and walks 83-36. Altuve led in hits 225-173, doubles 47-39, strikeouts 53-184, stolen bases 56-16 and batting average .341-.287. You can just pick the stats that you like best and run with them. Now if Altuve’s numbers can compare with the best player in baseball and last seasons MVP award winner; how is just the 6th ranked 2nd baseman in M.L.B. for the 2015 season.

We where hoping to have some breaking news on the podcast last night, but it never happened as James Shields is still unsigned. Shields camp was saying that he’d sign with a team by the end of the week. Now depending on what the end of the week is to you maybe he has until tomorrow (Sunday) to sign with a team. Now that Shields contract terms appear to have changed the Chicago Cubs have shown some interest in him according to reports. I found it funny that on Chicago sports radio fans where calling in and complaining about this signing if it happened because Shields has a bad post season record. Did I miss the Cubs repeated trips to the post season and all those World Series titles that they’ve been winning. I guess since the Cubs are the trendy pick this season and in the coming seasons I guess their fans think they can be picky. I would think as a Cubs fan that you’d be excited to add a pitcher of Shields quality. Shields takes the ball every five days as he’s made 31 or more starts every year since 2007. Now at 33 years old I can understand that a team wouldn’t want to go four or five years on a contract with Shields, but you could go three years with him and maybe an option for a 4th depending on how he pitches. I guess we’re still waiting for the “end of the week” to find out where Shields pitches in 2015.

The two best teams in the NBA played last night as the Atlanta Hawks (42-9) defeated the Golden State Warriors (39-9) 124-116 in Atlanta last night. Jeff Teague led the Hawks in scoring with 23 points, but seven Hawks where in double figures. Paul Milsap had 21 points, Kyle Korver and Mike Scott had 17 points, DeMarre Carroll and Al Horford had 12 points while Kent Bazemore added 11 points. Scott and Bazemore came off the bench for the Hawks last night to add scoring. Horford grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the team while Korver had 7 boards. Dennis Schroder tied Teague for the team lead in assists with 7 while Horford also handed out 6 assists. Korver was 5 for 9 from behind the 3-point line while Bazemore and Scott both went 3 for 3 from behind the 3-point arc.  Atlanta shot 55.6% from behind the 3-point line last night going 15 for 27 in the game. Klay Thompson led the warriors in scoring with 29 points, Stephen Curry added 26 points and Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green add 12 points for Golden State. Green also had 20 rebounds and handed out 6 assists as Curry led the Warriors in assists with 9. Thompson was 4 for 8 and Curry was 4 for 9 from behind the 3-point line, but the Warriors shot just 36.4% from behind the arc. The game was tied at 52 all at halftime. The Hawks where able to get a 4 point lead after 3 quarters and outscored the Warriors 35-31 in the 4th quarter for the win. Did we get an NBA finals preview last night; it’s still to early to tell, but we did get a good game. With the win Atlanta now has the best record in the NBA Golden State is in the midst of playing four games in five nights and take on the New York Knicks tonight in New York. The Hawks get a day off before visiting the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

If you’re in a fantasy hockey league like Dan the Man and I are it was a good night to play all of your Columbus Blue Jackets and a bad night to start the St. Louis Blues Brian Elliott in-goal. Elliott gave up four of the seven Blue Jackets goals and was pulled for Jake Allen; who gave up the final three Columbus goals. Nick Foligno was the only Blue Jackets player with multiple goals scoring two to bring his season total to 20. Cam Atkinson, Ryan Johansen, Corey Tropp, Matt Calvert and Scott Hartnell where the other Blue Jackets who put the puck in the back of the net last night. Brandon Dubinsky and Johansen also picked up two assists for Columbus. Paul Stastny was the only Blues player to score a goal. Curtis McElhinney got the win on goal for Columbus stopping 33 of 34 St. Louis shots. The Blue Jackets turn right around and play the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa tonight while St. Louis has a rivalry game with an early Sunday start (11:30 a.m.) against the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and remember you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast at BlogTalkRadio.com

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: January 28, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, sports
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1/28/15

Sadly it looks like it’s time to ask the question is Kobe Bryant’s career over? Bryant is scheduled to have season ending rotator cuff surgery today. Bryant’s 19th NBA season will end with him playing in 35 games. This is coming off a 2013-2014 season where he played in just six games. Bryant almost played the entire season in 2012-2013 appearing in 78 games, but the season before 2011-2012 he was limited to 52 games. The injuries are starting to pile up and you have to wonder if it’s too much for Bryant to over come. He’s bounced back from an Achilles and a knee injury; now we add the rotator cuff to that list.Bryant was averaging 22.3 points per game this season, but that’s down from 27.3 in the 2012-2013 season and he averaged 27.9 in 2011-2012. His field goal percentage this season is .373 down from .463 in 2012-2013 season and his shooting percentage was .430 in the 2011-2012 season. Bryant is also shooting .293 from behind the three point line this season. The Los Angeles Lakers have managed to cut Bryant’s minutes a little this season to 34.5 per game, but is the wear and tear of a long NBA career catching up with him. Bryant has appeared in 16 All-Star games winning the MVP award four times. He won the league MVP award following the 2007-2008 season and also won back to back finals MVP awards in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. Bryant is 3rd among players in career points scored with 32,482. Bryant has proven people wrong before coming back from injury and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him playing next season. What I don’t want to see is Bryant come back next season and not be in a Lakers uniform. While Bryant has been able to live up to the Michael Jordan comparisons I don’t want to see him follow in Jordan’s footsteps and end up finishing his career playing somewhere he shouldn’t be. Bryant turns 37 years old in August and would he come back for a farewell type of tour in 2015-2016. With every team in the NBA playing more than half of their regular season games to this point let’s look at the lower seeded playoff teams and who might get left out. In the Western conference this should be interesting as right now the Oklahoma City Thunder are on the outside looking into the playoffs. The Thunder are 10th right now in the West; three games behind the 8th seeded Phoenix Suns. Phoenix finds itself two games ahead of the 9th seeded New Orleans Pelicans, but just three games behind the 7th seeded and defending champion San Antonio Spurs. The Dallas Mavericks would be seeded 6th, but they are only four games ahead of the Suns and just 1 game ahead of the Spurs. This should make the second half of the season interesting as five teams will try to fit into three playoff spots. Could you imagine the 1st round of the Western conference playoffs without San Antonio, Dallas or Oklahoma City. The bottom seeds in the Eastern conference may shake out the same way just with worse records. The Charlotte Hornets are holding onto the 8th seed, but they are just one game ahead of the Brooklyn Nets and three games ahead of the Boston Celtics. Charlotte also finds itself just one game behind the Miami Heat who are the 7th seed right now. Charlotte is also just four games behind the 6th seeded Milwaukee Bucks. Can Charlotte hold onto a playoff spot with Kemba Walker being out possible for the rest of the season? Walker had surgery on a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee and may be back in six weeks. Walker had been Charlotte’s best player this year, and during the month of January was averaging 23.6 points per game, better than his 18.8 average for the season. So holding onto the 8th seed or even a playoff spot with Walker out might be tough for Charlotte to do. The NHL had its All-Star game on Saturday night where Team Toews beat Team Foligno 17-12; yes that’s right there where 29 combined goals scored. The game didn’t look anything at all like an actual NHL game. There where eight goals scored combined in the 1st period alone. Only two out of the 11 games played last night had eight or more goals scored total. If you’re an NHL goaltender why would you go to the All-Star game if you made the team. It’s not like anyone if going to play any defense in front of you and each team might as well just skate six players a side and leave the goals empty. I didn’t really watch much of the game and just flipped by it a couple of times. These type of All-Star games don’t interest me. The game was played in Columbus and Ryan Johansen of the home town Blue Jackets was the games MVP Johansen did have a good weekend; not only was he the #1 pick in the All-Star fantasy draft he also was in the Breakaway competition during All-Star Saturday night. In the Breakaway Challenge Johansen on his first attempt donned an Ohio State football jersey in honor of the national championship won by the Buckeyes on January 12th. On his next try he brought out 7-year-old Cole Vogt, the son of Blue Jackets trainer Mike Vogt, to score a goal and wrapped up his set with a “Flying V” formation from the Mighty Ducks movies with the help of his teammates. The fantasy draft I enjoy and I thought it was an innovative idea for a league that is considered 4th of the big four sports. The Skills Challenge is fun and interesting to see the players do the different events, but the game itself it terrible. I’m not sure if it’s as bad as the NBA All-Star game or the NFL Pro Bowl, but it’s right up there with them. Sadly there’s no way to change this type of game as star player aren’t going to check and bang with the chance of getting hurt and costing their actual team a chance to win the Stanley Cup. I wonder if moving the game to the end of the season would make it different, but with the NHL season as long as it is that’s not really an answer either. For me though I can’t watch these types of games; can you?

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How was your Week?

Posted: January 17, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports
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1/17/14

With the way the off-season started if you where a fan of the Oakland A’s where you concerned what your team would look like? I’m not even a fan of the A’s, but I couldn’t figure out what Billy Beane was trying to do with the team. There’s still about six weeks before spring training starts and who knows if the A’s are done making moves, but the team looks a lot different from last season. I think most if not all A’s fan realized that Jon Lester wouldn’t be back with the team in 2015. There was a lot of talk that if the A’s couldn’t sign Jeff Samardzija they would trade him, but I think most expert thought it would happen around the trade deadline not at the owners meetings. Even though the Samardzija deal happened a little earlier than people thought it would him and Lester being gone was kind of expected. Then Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss are traded in separate deals. Two of the three catchers from last season; Derek Norris and John Jaso where dealt. They didn’t make an attempt to resign shortstop Jed Lowrie and utility man Nick Punto was let go. Luke Gregerson was also allowed to leave as a free agent. Even though they brought Billy Butler in to be the Designated Hitter and Ike Davis to play 1st base I wasn’t all that sold on the A’s competing in the American League West, but slowly the team has come together. With the two latest deals getting Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar from the Tampa Bay Rays and then turning around and sending Escobar to the Washington Nationals for Tyler Clippard I wouldn’t be surprised to see the A;s contending again. Mr. Fantasy and I discussed the A’s line up last night (Friday) on the Sports Time Radio podcast. I believe he’s actually more sold on them than I am. I think they needed one more power hitting threat in the batting order, but he thinks they’ll get by. Stephen Vogt will get to catch full-time, Brett Lawrie takes over at 3rd base, Zobrist will play 2nd base with Davis at 1st and as long as you’re sold on Marcus Semien as your everyday shortstop the infield is set. The outfield looks like Josh Reddick in right field, Coco Crisp in centerfield and Sam Fuld in left field with Craig Gentry as the 4th outfielder and then Butler in the DH role. The rotation has Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jesse Chavez, Drew Pomeranz and Jesse Hahn possibly set to open the season. Don’t forget they also have A.J. Griffin and Jarrod Parker; both of whom are recovering from Tommy John surgery, but will be back some time during the 2015 season. Clippard should drop right into the set up role in front of closer Sean Doolittle. Ryan Cook will also fit into a set up role in the bullpen. If the A’s are done do you think they can contend with this team? or do they need to make another move or two?

Staying in the Bay area the San Francisco Giants signed outfielder Norichika Aoki to a one year deal worth $4.7 million dollars. The deal includes a club option for 2016, and can max out at $12.5 million over two seasons based on the option and performance bonuses. It appears that Aoki will take over in left field for the Giants and may hit towards the top of the batting order. With the Aoki signing and Casey McGehee being brought in to play 3rd base are the Giants done this off-season? There where some rumors this week that the Giants might have some interest in starting pitcher Dillon Gee of the New York Mets. The Giants did talk to Jon Lester and there might have been some interest in James Shields, but they brought opted to bring Jake Peavey back. With Matt Cain coming off of ankle surgery and some other rotation questions are the Giants looking for another starting pitcher? On the podcast last night (Friday) Mr. Fantasy and I talked everything Giants with Mark O’Neill from www.aroundthefoghorn.com you can hear what Mark thinks the Giants might do with the rest of the off-season at Sports Time Radio.

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand has been suspended for two games, without pay, for slew-footing New York Rangers forward Derick Brassard during their game in Boston on Thursday night. I’m wondering if you had the same question I did; what is slew footing? Here is the NHL definition of slew footing. A dangerous play where a player comes from behind an opposing skater and trips the player unexpectedly by dragging the skate so the victim falls to the ice and quite often hits his head or lands hard due to the sneaky nature of the crime. I’ve seen it done before on the ice, but didn’t know what it was called. It is however considered one of the dirtiest cheap shots a hockey player can do, particularly due to the unexpected sneaky nature of the infraction. Match penalties can be assessed by the referee when a player deliberately takes these kinds of penalties. However, sometimes players can commit the foul by accident when skating up behind a player and attempting to body check them. Even the best players in the game get accused of slew footing; Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby for example in 2009 and 2010 in separate incidents. Although it is considered a severe penalty, there is often debate when slew footing penalties are examined for further suspension. Besides numerous small suspensions, a severe injury or long suspension is rarely seen.

Tomorrow we find out who’s going to the Super Bowl. I had the Seattle Seahawks facing the Indianapolis Colts at the beginning of the season; so I guess you know who I’m picking to win tomorrow’s games. I’ve been trying to get Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man to join me on the Colts bandwagon, but it looks like I don’t have any takers. I have Dan the Man’s picks and he likes New England while Mr. Fantasy hasn’t officially made his picks I believe he’ll go with the Patriots to win as well. I’m still waiting for Schaumburg Stu’s picks for Sunday; so maybe he’ll be the one to join me on that Colts bandwagon.

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: January 10, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports
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1/10/15

On Wednesday I mentioned the Cleveland Cavaliers looking for a big man and talking with the Denver Nuggets about Timofey Mozgov. Well the two teams finally came to an agreement on a deal. Cleveland sent 2 protected 2015 1st round draft picks to Denver for Mozgov. That sounds like it was a lot to give up for a player who’s averaged 8.6 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game, but the Cavaliers needed some size and at 7 feet 1 inch tall and listed at 250 pounds Mozgov has that. With Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and of course LeBron James the Cavaliers weren’t looking for scoring, but someone to try to replace the void created by Anderson Varejao’s season ending Achilles injury.

Is it full rebuild mode for the Boston Celtics? After sending who many considered their best player Rajon Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks the Celtics announced one deal and have been rumored to be making another deal. Brandan Wright who Boston got in the Rondo deal was sent to the Phoenix Suns for a conditional first round draft pick and created a $5 million trade exception in the process. The other deal being reported, but I haven’t heard if it’s official yet has the Memphis Grizziles trading veteran Tayshaun Prince’s expiring $7.7 million contract and future first round draft pick to Boston for forward Jeff Green. After Rondo was dealt many experts looked at Green as the Celtics best player and now it looks like he’s on his way out of Boston. The Celtics lost 107-103 last night (Friday) in overtime to the Indiana Pacers. Green was pulled from the Celtics starting line up because of the trade rumors and Wright was already on his way to join his new team. Avery Bradley led Boston in scoring with 23 points while Brandon Bass added 17 points. If you’re a Celtics fan who are you looking to step up and lead this team; is Marcus Smart that guy?

Jimmy Butler bet on himself in the off-season and it looks like the Chicago Bulls guard made the right choice. The Bulls tried to sign Butler to a contract extension in the off-season, but Butler turned them down choosing to enter free agency after this season. Butler is off to a career year averaging 21.4 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game, 3.2 assists per game and 1.7 steals per game. Butler has always been a good defender, but with his offensive skills coming around this season the Bulls are ready to offer him a “Max deal” this off-season. That would mean a max salary just under $16 million next season and the Bulls would be able to pay him more than $91 million over five years, compared to $67 million over four years by any other team. You’d have to say that Butler made the right choice.

The NHL is at or in some teams cases just a little past the halfway point of the season. Who had the Tampa Bay Lighting or the Nashville Predators leading their divisions with 58 points, The Anaheim Ducks also lead their division with 58 points, but going into the season they looked like contenders. Tampa Bay is led by Tyler Johnson (Center) with 46 points. Steven Stamkos (Center) leads the Lighting in goals with 22 while Johnson’s 28 assists lead in that category. In goal Ben Bishop is 21-6 in 31 starts with two overtime losses and one shutout. In Nashville Filip Forsberg (Center) is leading the Predators in points with 38; he also leads the team in goals with 14. Mike Ribero (Center) leads the team in assists with 27. Pekka Rinne has made 35 starts in-goal going 27-6 with two overtime losses and a 2.00 goals against average and Rinne also has three shutouts this season. Rinne has started in-goal 35 of the Predators 40 games this season. Neither team is running away with their division by any means. Tampa Bay has a four point lead over the Montréal Canadiens in the Atlantic division of the Eastern conference while Nashville’s lead is even smaller. The Predators have a two point lead over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Central division of the Western conference. Will we see a Tampa Bay vs. Nashville Stanley Cup finals; probably not. The NHL playoff road is always has it’s share of upsets; so will these teams be the ones being upset or doing the upsetting.

It’s the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs with two of the game being played (Saturday) today. In the first game it’s the Baltimore Ravens vs. the New England Patriots. The second game has the Carolina Panthers vs. the Seattle Seahawks. We went into quite a bit of detail on these games during last nights podcast, and you can get our thoughts on these games. For the record Mr. Fantasy, Schaumburg Stu, Dan the Man and I picked the same winners in these games, We all have New England winning the first game and Seattle winning the second game. You can also listen to from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. as we preview Sunday’s playoff games and review what happen in Saturday’s games.

It’s being reported that the Pittsburgh Pirates are reportedly close to officially signing Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang to a four year deal. Terms of any deal haven’t been reported yet, but it’s being said that Kang was looking for $5 million a season. While Kang played shortstop for Nexen Heroes in the Korean Baseball Organization it is unclear what position he’d play for the Pirates. He could back up Josh Harrison at third base, Jordy Mercer at shortstop and Neil Walker at second, and he could be a part of the mix at first base. The 27-year-old Kang hit 40 homers and drove in 117 runs in 117 games while batting .356 with a 1.198 OPS last season while playing shortstop.

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

So how was your week?

Let’s call it New Year’s Eve

Posted: December 31, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports
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12/31/14

The NFL regular season has come to and end and sadly so has the Greg vs. Mr. Fantasy challenge. I’m hoping both guys will be willing to do this again next season. I have some ideas that will make it a little tougher for them and much more interesting to fantasy players. Anyway let’s take a look and see how Week 17 worked out for them. At quarterback Greg thought Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers would be the highest scoring while Mr. Fantasy liked Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons. Newton scored 20.38 points and finished 5th among quarterbacks. Ryan scored -0.95 points which was 35th or dead last among all the quarterbacks that played in Week 17. If you played Geno Smith of the New York Jets this week or at all during the season it finally paid off for you. Smith scored 26.96 points and led all quarterbacks in Week 17. For running backs Greg liked Matt Asiata of the Minnesota Vikings while Mr. Fantasy went with C.J. Anderson of the Denver Broncos. Asiata scored 17.67 points which was good for 16th among running backs. Anderson on the other hand scored the most points out of all the running back in Week 17 with 33.45 points. At wide receiver Greg picked Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants while Mr. Fantasy went with Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons. Beckham Jr. finished 2nd in wide receiver scoring for Week 17 with 33.75 points. J. Jones scored 8.80 points which was good for 40th for the week. The only wide receiver to finish ahead of Beckham Jr. was the New York Jets Eric Decker with 35.85 points. At tight end Greg went with Heath Miller of the Pittsburgh Steelers while Mr. Fantasy went with Mychal Rivera of the Oakland Raiders. Miller scored 6.35 points which was good for 22nd among tight ends in Week 17. Rivera scored 4.10 points which ranked 37th among tight ends in Week 17. Coby Fleener of the Indianapolis Colts was the leading scorer in Week 17 for tight ends with 21.35 points. At kicker Greg went with Steven Hauschka of the Seattle Seahawks while Mr. Fantasy went with another Atlanta Falcon; kicker Matt Bryant. Hauschka scored 10 points which was good for a 7th place tie for the week. Bryant scored 3 points which was put him tied for 15th place among kickers. Hopefully you had Connor Barth of the Denver Broncos who led all kickers in scoring with 18 points in Week 17. Greg sleeper pick of the week was New Orleans Saints wide receiver Nick Toon while Mr. Fantasy’s sleeper for Week 17 was Buffalo Bills running back C.J. Spiller. Now you wouldn’t call Spiller a classic sleeper pick, but he’s been injured most of the season and I don’t think anyone was expecting him to put up big numbers; so that slides him into the sleeper pick category. Toon caught one pass for 24 yards and a point total of 3.15 which put him 87th among wide receivers for the week. Spiller carried the football five times for 17 yards and caught one pass for two yards and a point total of 3.90. That point total was good for 69th place among all running backs in Week 17. That wraps up Greg vs. Mr. Fantasy for this season.

As you know Mr. Fantasy, Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu and I have been trying to predict the winners of the NFL games every week with limited success. Mr. Fantasy had a three game lead going into Week 17; did he hang on? Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy tied this week with a record of 12-4. I was 3rd at 10-6 while Dan the Man was 9-7 for the week. So the season totals look like this: Mr. Fantasy finished 1st with a record of 170-84-1, Schaumburg Stu was 2nd with a record of 167-87-1, I ended the season in 3rd place with a record of 164-90-1 and Dan the Man was at the bottom with a record of 159-95-1. We’ll wipe the slate clean and make playoff picks; so we’ll see how that works out.

With all the deals the San Diego Padres made this off-season everyone was wondering what they where going to do with all of those outfielders. Yesterday they dealt outfielder Seth Smith to the Seattle Mariners for right-handed pitcher Brandon Maurer. Smith signed an extension with the Padres last season and I believe they told him he wouldn’t be dealt, but with a new general manager being hired I’m guessing that deal was off. The left-handed hitting Smith is expected to be part of a platoon set up with Justin Ruggiano. Ruggiano was acquired two  weeks ago from the Chicago Cubs. Smith hit .266 with 12 home runs for San Diego last season. Maurer appeared in 38 games for the Mariners last season; starting seven games. His ERA was 4.65 last season over 69 2/3rd innings. There may be more deals coming from the Padres as they still have a couple of extra outfielders they could move if they choose to do so.

The NHL has their Winter Classic game tomorrow in Washington as the host Capitals take on the Chicago Blackhawks. Even if you’re not a fan of the NHL you should take a look at this game. It’s fun to watch these guys play outside like they used to do when they where kids. You’ll also get to see some stars of the NHL. Alex Ovechkin or “The Great 8” has been with the Capitals since the 2005-06 season and has always been considered one of the top players in the NHL. Ovechkin has 17 goals and 13 assists this season. Washington is 18-11-7 good for 43 points and 3rd place in the Metropolitan division. The Blackhawks 25-10-2 good for 52 points and 1st place in the Central division. On the ice you’ll get to see Blackhawks leading scorer Patrick Kane, 18 goals and 22 assists and captain Jonathan Toews 13 goals and 18 assists and don’t forget defenseman and two time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith. Even if you can’t make it through the entire game take a look at it and see some professional hockey players outside on the ice like you could do if you wanted to.

The Cleveland Cavaliers (18-13) lost to the Atlanta Hawks (23-8) 109-101 last night. I’m not sure the loss is as big of news as the fact that LeBron James missed the game with knee soreness. I haven’t seen any reports on this injury; so I don’t know if it will keep James out more than just the one game. James has been one of the high-profile NBA players who’ve complained about the schedule. After the complaints James made about the All-Star scheduling last season the NBA changed it to where the players have almost a full week off. It was also James birthday; so maybe it was just a planned day off, but if you’re a Cavaliers fan; are you worried? Not only did James sit out last nights game, but the talk has started of him leaving Cleveland; again when he can opt out of his contract after next season. It’s a little earlier for that kind of talk to start and I’d like to know more about his health than where he might play a couple of seasons from now.

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

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

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