Archive for the ‘hockey’ Category

How was your Week?

Posted: December 27, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports
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12/27/14

The NFL is headed into the final week of their regular season and while most of the playoff spots have been locked up there are still a few things to be decided. While both the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions are in the playoffs one of them will win the NFC North and the other will be a wild card. They match up this week at Lambeau Field to see who ends up where. No team in the NFC South is over or at .500, but someone will win the division and the Carolina Panthers will go to Atlanta to play the Falcons and see who wins that division and who goes to the playoffs. Seeding may change if the NFC depending on the outcome of the Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals games. Five of the six playoffs spots in the AFC are set; so that leaves one playoff spot left for four teams to try to squeeze into. The Kansas City Chiefs host the San Diego Chargers and if San Diego wins they’re in. A;ex Smith is out for the Chiefs with an injured spleen; so Chase Daniels will be the starting quarterback. The Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans both need to win their games and then get some help to claim that last playoff spot. The Sunday night game is the Cincinnati Bengals against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The winner takes the AFC North and the loser goes into the playoffs as a wild card team. Every team will tell you that they’re in the playoffs and anything can happen, but home field advantage can be a factor in the NFL. By winning their division either Atlanta or Carolina will get to host a playoff game even though they’ll finish under.500 on the season. New England has clinched the #1 seed in the AFC and won’t have to go on the road. With a win on Sunday Seattle will be the #1 seed in the NFC. Would you want your favorite team to have to play the Seahawks in Seattle?

The National Hockey League has been on a three day Christmas break, but they return to the ice today with 13 games on the schedule. Three of the four division leaders will be in action today. The Metropolitan leading Pittsburgh Penguins host the Washington Capitals. The Central division leading Chicago Blackhawks are on the road taking on the Colorado Avalanche. The Anaheim Ducks are leading the Pacific division and they are also on the road against the Arizona Coyotes. The Atlantic leading Montréal Canadiens are the only division leader not playing today. There is no national coverage of any of the 13 games today; so you’ll either have to just watch your home team or buy the NHL Center Ice package. As for me I’ll stick to my local coverage and watch the Blackhawks vs. the Avalanche tonight.

So the NBA season is just about 30 games old and there are people out there trying to crown a team as the best. Every team has 50 plus games to play and would one team be able to pull far enough away at this point in the season to be pointed out as the best. I’m guessing they got spoiled with the Miami heat for the past four seasons and don’t know how to handle looking at more than just a single team. How do you decide who’s the best right now? Is it by record, than let’s give it to the 23-5 Golden State Warriors even though they’ve lost their last two games. Is the hottest team the best team? The Phoenix Suns and the Chicago Bulls have the longest current winning streaks at five games a piece. How about a team that seem to have surprising records like the Portland Trailblazers at 24-7 and leading the Northwest division right now. Would you even consider putting the very surprising Atlanta Hawks in this conversation since their record is 21-8 and they are leading the Southeast division. Where do teams like the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs fit into these rankings. It’s just to early to tell; teams will go on streaks both good and bad, but I get it the mainstream media needs ways to get you to listen to them. Maybe we can revisit this about the midway point of the season and see which teams might have separated themselves from the field.

Not a lot of baseball moves over Christmas time, but the Minnesota Twins did sign Phil Hughes to a contract extension through 2019. It was announced yesterday that Hiroki Kuroda is returning to the place where he made his name: the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league. Will this out the New York Yankees front and center in the Max Scherzer or James Shields bidding. On the other side of New York the Mets name still comes up any time someone mentions Troy Tulowitzki. As it stands right now the Mets shortstop would be either Wilmer Flores or Ruben Tejada. It looks like they could use an upgrade at shortstop, but is Tulowitzki worth giving up a young pitcher and a prospect or two. The main names that come up on what would be the Mets side of a deal are Zack Wheeler or their top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard. While Tulowitzki is a star he also comes with a long injury history and a big contract. Tulowitzki is scheduled to make $20 million dollars a season for the next five seasons. In 2020 his salary goes down to $14 million dollars for that year and there’s an option for 2021 at $15 million dollars. How much of this contract are the Colorado Rockies going to be willing to pay. Tulowitzki is 30 years old coming into this season and played in 91 games last season because of injuries. Is Tulowitzki the right move for the Mets or could they get by with an Asdrubal Cabrera, Everth Cabrera or maybe even a Stephen Drew at shortstop while their young pitchers are developing. Just because I like him as a player I want to throw in that catcher A.J. Pierzynski got a one year deal from the Atlanta Braves.

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 Christmas Eve

Posted: December 24, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports
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Going into Week 17 Mr. Fantasy has taken a 3 (three) game lead in our Sports Time Radio National Football League (NFL) pick contest. In Week 16 Mr. Fantasy, Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu all went 10-6 while I was at the bottom again at 8-8. For the season Mr. Fantasy is 158-80-1. Schaumburg Stu has moved into 2nd place with an overall record of 155-83-1. I’m hanging onto 3rd place with a record of 154-84-1. While Dan the Man is stuck in the cellar with an overall record of 150-88-1. We’ve got one (1) week left to catch Mr. Fantasy. Can we do it?

Let’s take a look at the Greg vs. Mr. Fantasy challenge for Week 16. Greg liked Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers as the highest scoring quarterback of the week while Mr. Fantasy liked Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons. Roethlisberger scored 10.50 points in Week 16 and ranked 18th among all quarterbacks for the week. Ryan finished the week in 15th place among quarterbacks with 13.64 points. Russell Wilson led all quarterbacks for the week with 34.58 points. Greg liked Fred Jackson of the Buffalo Bills to be the highest scoring running back of the week while Mr. Fantasy went with Joique Bell of the Detroit Lions. Jackson finished with 18.55 points for the week which was good for 19th place among running backs for the week. Bell scored 19.45 points which out him in 16th place among running backs for the week. C.J. Anderson of the Denver Broncos was the highest scoring running back for the week with 30.30 points. Greg liked Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions to be the highest scoring wide receiver of the week while Mr. Fantasy went with Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants. Johnson ended up 23rd among wide receivers with 15.05 points. Beckham Jr. was the highest scoring wide receiver in Week 16 with 33.30 points. At tight end Greg liked Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs to be the highest scoring tight end of the week while Mr. Fantasy thought Julius Thomas of the Denver Broncos would lead all tight ends in scoring. Kelce 6.10 points in Week 16 which was good for 22nd place among tight ends for the week. Thomas finished one spot behind Kelce in 23rd place for the week with 6.05 points. At kicker Greg went with Mason Crosby of the Green Bay Packers to lead in scoring for Week 16 while Mr. Fantasy liked Matt Bryant of the Atlanta Falcons. Crosby scored 9 points for the week which was good for an 8th place tie. Bryant put up 16 points for the week which was good enough for a 2nd place tie in Week 16. Sleeper picks for the week where Lance Dunbar of the Dallas Cowboys for Greg and Houston Texans quarterback Case Keenum. Dunbar scored 3.40 points which was good for 67th place among running backs for the week. Keenum put up 4.60 points which was good for 29th among all quarterbacks for the week. There’s one (1) week of picks left; so who will they go with in Week 17. Remember they’re not allowed to select the Top 5 scorers at any position. That means at quarterback they can’t pick Andrew Luck, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. At running back DeMarco Murray, Le’Veon Bell, Matt Forte, Marshawn Lynch and Arian Foster are off the board. At wide receiver there’s no picking Antonio Brown, Demaryius Thomas, Jordy Nelson, Dez Bryant and Emmanuel Sanders this week. The Top 5 tight ends they can’t pick are Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Greg Olsen, Antonio Gates and Martellus Bennett. They’re not even allowed to touch any of the Top 5 kicker who are Stephen Gostkowski, Cody Parkey, Matt Bryant, Dan Carpenter and Adam Vinatieri.

Has the National Basketball Association (NBA) taken over your Christmas Day? Do you have to try to sneak away from your family like Dan the Man does to check the scores of the game or watch a few minutes of on court action? Hopefully you have a game plan in action for tomorrow as the NBA has 5 (five) games on the schedule for your viewing pleasure. Game one (1) has an 11:00 a.m. start time; that’s Central Standard Time (C.S.T.) and features the Washington Wizards at the New York Knicks. Game two (2) a 1:30 p.m. C.S.T. start time has the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the San Antonio Spurs. Game three (3) a 4:00 p.m. C.S.T. start time has the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. the Miami Heat. Game four (4) a 7:00 p.m. C.S.T. start time has the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Chicago Bulls. The 5th and final NBA game of the of the day is scheduled to tip off at 9:30 p.m. C.S.T. with the Golden State Warriors vs. the Los Angeles Clippers. The first game will be shown on ESPN. The next two (2) games move over to ABC. The final two (2) games will be telecast on TNT and NBA-TV. How do you rank these games 1 (one) through 5 (five)? You’ll be able to watch three (3) of the Top 5 scorers in action tomorrow. LeBron James 2nd in scoring averaging 25.2 Points Per Game (P.P.G.), Kobe Bryant is 3rd with 24.6 P.P.G. and Carmelo Anthony is 5th with 23.7 P.P.G.. Only one (1) of the Top 5 rebounders will be in action tomorrow. Pau Gasol is averaging 11.4 rebounds per game and that’s good for 5th in the NBA. Watch for John Wall, Chris Paul and Stephen Curry to pass the ball tomorrow as they are three (3) of the Top 5 leaders in assists. Wall averages 10.4 assists per game (A.P.G.) which is good for 2nd in the NBA. Paul is 4th handing out 9.7 A.P.G. and Curry is 5th with 7.7 A.P.G. Look for Wall, Curry and Paul to get a couple of steals tomorrow as well since all 3 (three) are in the Top 5 of the category as well. Wall and Curry are tied for 2nd in the NBA in steals averaging 2.1 per game and Paul is right behind them tied for 3rd with 2.0 steals per game.

The National Hockey League is taking a 3 (three) day Christmas break and will be back in action December 27th with 13 (thirteen) games on the ice. While they’re on holiday break let’s look at some of the league leaders. Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers is leading the league in total points with 46, He has a four (four) point lead over Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars who has 42 points on the season. Seguin is leading the NHL in goals with 25. That puts him just 2 (two) goals ahead of Rick Nash of the New York rangers who’s scored 23 goals this season. Vorachek is leading the league in assists with 32, but his Philadelphia Flyers teammate Claude Giroux is just a couple of assists behind at 30 on the season. Filip Forsberg of the Nashville Predators is leading the NHL in plus/minus with a +24. Tyler Johnson of the Tampa Bay Lighting is right behind him at +23. In goal Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators is leading the NHL in wins with 22. Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carey Price of the Montréal Canadiens and Frederik Andersen of the Anaheim Ducks are all tied for 2nd in wins with 19. Fleury leads all goaltenders in shutouts with 6 (six) followed by Henrik Lundqvist who has 5 (five). Michael Hutchinson of the Winnipeg Jets is leading all goaltenders in two (2) categories. Goals Against Average (G.A.A.) with a 1.67 and Save Percentage with .944. Brian Elliott of the St. Louis Blues is 2nd in G.A.A, with 1.82 while Calvin Pickard of the Colorado Avalanche is 2nd in save percentage with .939. Is your favorite player on this list? If not don’t worry there’s still a long way to go in this NHL season.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

You can follow on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio at http://www.blogtalkradio.com

How was your Week?

Posted: December 20, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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12/20/14

Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks went out and got themselves an early Christmas present trading for Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo. The full deal went like this; Boston traded Rajon Rondo and Forward Dwight Powell to Dallas for Guard Jameer Nelson, Forward Jae Crowder, Forward-Center Brandan Wright, a 2015 first-round draft pick and a 2016 second-round draft pick. While this deal may give the Mavericks the best starting five in the NBA it doesn’t guarantee them anything in the tough Western conference. Rondo was entering his 9th season with the Celtics and is coming off of two injury shortened seasons. He played 38 games in the 2012-13 season and then 30 games in the 2013-14 season. Rondo was playing a little under 32 minutes per game for the Celtics this season and has looked like he’s past his injuries. The knock on Rondo has been his shooting. In 22 games this season Rondo is shooting 44% from the field, 25% from behind the three point line and just 33% from the free throw line. Rondo has always been a good rebounder for a guard and some experts believe that he’s the best rebounding point guard in the NBA. Rondo is averaging 7 1/2 rebounds per game along with handing out an average of 10.8 assists per game; which is leading the NBA right now. Rondo is added to the Mavericks starting line up of Dirk Nowitzki, Monta Ellis, Tyson Chandler and Chandler Parsons. While that will be an impressive starting line up with Wright going to New York in the deal the bench has been weaken especially when it comes to big men. Does Charlie Villanueva become the first big man off of the Mavericks bench with Wright being traded? While dealing for Rondo is the kind of move that will make Dallas one of the favorites to come out of the Western conference if they can’t find a solid big man coming off the bench they might not get to the end of the rainbow and win that NBA title.

The wheeling and dealing continues in Major League Baseball with the San Diego Padres being the team that grabbed center stage. The Padres went out and got themselves a new starting outfield as the Matt Kemp trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Will Myers trade with the Tampa Bay Rays where finalized and then making a trade with the Atlanta Braves to acquire Justin Upton. The final deal has Justin Upton and right-handed pitcher Aaron Northcraft going to the Padres for left-hander Max Fried, second baseman/shortstop Jace Peterson, third baseman Dustin Peterson, outfielder Mallex Smith, and international bonus compensation. The Padres then went out and made a deal with the Oakland A’s as catcher Derek Norris, right-hander Seth Streich and an international signing slot are on the way to San Diego. with right-handers Jesse Hahn and R.J. Alvarez going to Oakland. The Padres still weren’t done making deals as they had ab extra catcher in the roster; so they sent catcher Ryan Hanigan to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for third baseman Will Middlebrooks. It looks like the Padres aren’t done dealing as they have a glut of outfielders on the roster right now. Besides Upton, Myers and Kemp they have Will Venable, Seth Smith, Cameron Maybin and the oft injured Carlos Quentin on the roster. It’s possible that one of these players ends up at 1st base as Myers and I believe Venable have played some 1st base at the major league level. We had Billy Brost on Sports Time Radio yesterday (Friday) from Friars On Base and he wrote an article suggesting that Quentin might be the best choice to try to move to 1st base. With his injury history Quentin doesn’t have a whole lot o value on the trade market, but a move to 1st base might help him stay healthy and get another bat in the Padres line up. The Padres may also have some starting pitching to deal as well. With Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross, Ian Kennedy, Odrisamer Despaigne, Robbie Erlin, the recently signed Brandon Morrow and the resigned Josh Johnson looking like candidates for the rotation. There’s even a chance that the Padres trade closer Joaquin Benoit as they have the hard throwing Kevin Quackenbush possibly ready to take over the closer role. You’ll need to keep an eye on San Diego and see what their next move is.

Not to be out done, the Miami Marlins kept their off-season activity going as they made a pair of deals. In the first deal the Marlins traded right-handed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, 1st baseman Garrett Jones and right-handed pitcher Domingo German to New York Yankees for right-handed pitcher David Phelps and Martin Prado. With Prado’s ability to play all over the diamond it looked like Miami might use him as a super utility type of player. That wasn’t the case as Prado will be the Marlins everyday 3rd baseman as last season 3rd baseman Casey McGehee was traded to the World Series champion San Francisco Giants for young righties Kendry Flores and Luis Castillo. McGehee will replace Pablo Sandoval at 3rd base for the Giants. As most of you know by now Sandoval signed with the Boston Red Sox earlier in free agency. McGehee was the National League Comeback Player of the Year last season for the Marlins.

There where also some minor transactions made that will affect your favorite team. A couple of veteran players were released by their teams as the Oakland A’s released infielder Nick Punto and the Dodgers released relief pitcher Brian Wilson. The Kansas City Royals traded 2nd baseman Johnny Giavotella to Los Angeles Angels for right-handed pitcher Brian Broderick. The Chicago Cubs have signed Jon Lester’s personal catcher David Ross to a two-year, $5 million contract. They look like minor moves for teams right now, but you never know how it will affect a team or where some of these guys will end up.

Both mine and Dan the Man’s fantasy hockey teams are off to good starts in the Sports Time Radio league. Dan’s team is the #1 ranked team overall for the season and I am ranked 6th out of the 18 teams. Vladimir Tarasenko the St. Louis Blues right-winger has been a big surprise and is the #1 ranked forward/defenseman in our league right now. Tarasenko was rated as the 157th player starting the season, but with 20 goals, 17 assists and a plus/minus rating of +19 he’s moved to the top of the rankings. Tarasenko is actually the #2 overall ranked player in our league, but the top offensive one. The #1 overall ranked player in the Sports Time Radio league is Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne. Rinne has 20 wins against 6 losses with a Goals Against Average of 1.76, a Save Percentage of .937 and three shutouts so far this season. Sadly neither Dan or I have either of these players, but are teams are doing well just the same.

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 Wednesday!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s call it Wednesday; before Thanksgiving.

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

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

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving!

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

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: November 19, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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11/19/14

Week 11’s picks had Dan the Man, Schaumburg Stu, Mr. Fantasy and I all going 8-6 for the week. For the season I’m in the lead with an overall record of 102-57-1. Schaumburg Stu is 2 games back at 100-59-1 while Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy are tied while an overall record of 99-60-1. Who knows what Week 12 will have in store for us.

In what I guess we’ll call the Fantasy Football Challenge pitting Mr. Fantasy vs. Greg, played out this way. At quarterback Mr. Fantasy went with Tom Brady of the New England Patriots while Greg picked Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins. Brady scored 13.44 points and finished 13th among quarterbacks while Griffin scored 8.74 points and finished 21st among quarterbacks for Week 11. At running back they both agreed that Mark Ingram of the New Orleans Saints was the right choice. Ingram finished 9th among running backs with 20.70 points. At wide receiver Mr. Fantasy went with DeSean Jackson of the Washington Redskins while Greg’s choice was Randall Cobb of the Green Bay Packers. Jackson finished 48th among wide receivers for Week 11 with 6.95 points while Cobb finished with 20.65 points which was good for 10th place among wide receivers. At tight end Mr. Fantasy picked Antonio Gates of the San Diego Chargers while Greg went with Julius Thomas of the Denver Broncos. Gates scored 5.45 points and finished 21st among tight ends while Thomas got hurt in Sunday’s game and scored 1.80 points which put him in 42nd place among tight ends. At kicker Mr. Fantasy picked Stephen Gostkowski of the New England Patriots while Greg’s choice was Nick Novak of the San Diego Chargers. Gostkowski scored 6 points and finished tied for 11th place while Novak scored 10 points and finished tied for 6th place. Sleeper picks for Week 11. Mr. Fantasy went with Cleveland Browns wide receiver Taylor Gabriel while Greg’s choice was Indianapolis Colts running back Trent Richardson. While Richardson might not be a sleeper in name value in production value he would be a sleeper if he had a good week. Gabriel coed 13.37 points and finished 23rd for Week 11. Richardson scored 4.60 points and finished 47th among running backs for Week 11. If you heard the show Sunday morning you have to hear Mr. Fantasy complain about picking the same players over and over. He suggested that they not be allowed to pick the Top 5 scores at each position. I ran the idea by Greg and he was good with it; so starting with Week 12 they will not be allowed to select any of the Top 5 scoring players at each position for the season. As always I use the scoring system from your Yahoo league titled Next Year is Here 13.

If you’ve listened to Sports Time Radio you know that we all live in the Chicago area. If you listen to sports talk radio in Chicago when they’re not firing Marc Trestman or trying to get Jay Cutler traded or released they’ll talk about who the Chicago Cubs will sign from the free agent market this off-season. The team itself had come out and said that Jon Lester was the first free agent that they where interested in, but they’d also like to sign Russell Martin. Now Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu are the resident Cubs fans on the show while Mr. Fantasy roots for the Chicago White Sox. Now we’ve heard this song and dance from the Cubs organization for the past couple of seasons. How they just missed out on this free agent or that free agent and it has started already this off-season. Russell Martin signed a 5 year $82 million dollar deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Cubs of course having to explain losing Martin to Toronto, went with it was too much money. I actually agree it was too much money for Martin, but he was the only top catcher on the free agent market and that’s what someone was going to have to pay to bring him in. There’s strike one on the Cubs. This morning the Cubs have been quoted as saying that they believe that Lester will sign with the Boston Red Sox. So the Cubs put two names up for their fans to look for and now it looks more and more that neither one of these players will be in a Cubs uniform come opening day. While Martin was far and away the best catcher on the free agent market there are still some top of the rotation starting pitchers still out there. Will the Cubs go after a James Shields or a Max Scherzer now that they’re saying Lester is headed to Boston. I doubt they will, but they’ll need to find some new names to put up for their fans to wish for.

If you’re playing fantasy hockey this season like Dan the Man and I are, I hope you had all of your Nashville Predators in your line up last night. The Predators went out and scored 9 goals last night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Taylor Back scored 2 goals while Derek Roy, Eric Nystrom, Mike Ribeiro, Filip Forsberg, Calle Jarnkrok, Roman Josi and Colin Wilson each added a goal. Shea Weber tallied 3 assists while Ryan Ellis, and Paul Gaustad each had 2 assists in the game. Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer gave up 6 of the Predators goals while Jonathan Bernier gave up the other 3 goals and was tagged with the loss. The Montréal Canadiens led the NHL right now with 29 points and an 20-14-5 record. The Tampa Bay Lightning are just 1 point behind at 28 points and an 20-13-5 record. After that it’s the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Anaheim Ducks tied at 27 points.

Kevin Harvick won his 1st Sprint Cup championship and a championship for Stewart-Haas Racing by winning the Ford EcoBoost 400 in Homestead Miami Florida on Sunday. Harvick went from 12th to first over the final 15 laps gave Harvick the championship over Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano. It was Harvick’s first Sprint Cup title in his 14th season of competition.

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

How was your Week? 11/1/14

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

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

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

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

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

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

So how was your week?

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

10/22/14 Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 22, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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The World Series got under way last night in Kansas City as the Royals hosted the San Francisco Giants. The Giants took the 1st game of this World Series 7-1 on the strength of Madison Bumgarner left arm. Bumgarner pitched 7 innings allowing just 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 5. Javier Lopez and Hunter Strickland pitched an inning apiece out of the Giants bullpen to wrap up the Game 1 win. The Giants wasted very little time getting to Royals Game 1 starter James Shields putting together 5 straight hits in the 1st inning highlighted by a Hunter Pence 2 run home run and had a 3-0 lead on the Royals before Kansas City had even batted. Shields lasted just 3 innings giving up 7 hits and 5 runs. San Francisco added 2 more runs in the top of 4th off of Shields and then 2 more runs off of Danny Duffy in the top of the 7th inning. Salvador Perez accounted for the only Royals run with a solo home run in the bottom of the 7th inning. For the Giants, Pence was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s and 2 walks. Pablo Sandoval also added 2 hits for the Giants going 2 for 5 with 2 RBI’s. Game 2 is tonight in Kansas City with Jake Peavey takes the mound looking to give the Giants a 2-0 in the series. The Royals counter with rookie Yordano Ventura as their starting pitcher. While it’s not a must win game for Kansas City tonight you’d have to think they need a win so the series doesn’t go to San Francisco down 2-0.

Week 7 was my week in the picks we do for Sports Time Radio. I went 12-3, Schaumburg Stu finished 2nd with a record of 11-4, Mr. Fantasy was 10-5 in 3rd and Dan the Man was at the bottom last week going 9-6. For the season I have taken a 1 game lead at 66-39-1 over Schaumburg Stu and Mr. Fantasy who are at 65-40-1 while Dan the Man has dropped to the bottom of the standings at 62-37-1. Will make out Week 8 picks on Sunday’s show from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. on www.blogtalkradio.com; so we’ll see how those picks go.

As you know if you’ve listened to the show Mr. Fantasy picks a high scoring player at each position and also makes a sleeper pick for the week as well. What he didn’t know this week was that I had a friend (Greg) who is a long time fantasy player makes picks against him. Neither guy knew who the other would be picking but they only picked one position the same. So let’s see how their picks went. At quarterback they both went with Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts. Luck finished 10th among quarterbacks for Week 7 with 17.38 points. Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks was the highest scoring quarterback of Week 7 with 35.11 points. At running back Mr. Fantasy went with Arian Foster of the Houston Texans while Greg went with DeMarco Murray of the Dallas Cowboys. Murray ended the week in 5th place among running backs while Foster was the 11th highest scoring running back of the week. Murray had 28.20 points while Foster had 23.50 points; Matt Forte led all running backs with 31.65 points in Week 7. At wide receiver Mr. Fantasy selected Steve Smith Sr. of the Baltimore Ravens while Greg took Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Smith finished in 45th place among wide receivers for Week 7 while Brown end the week in 8th place. Demaryius Thomas of the Denver Broncos was the leading scorer at wide receiver with 35.35 points, Brown had 22.23 points while Smith had 8.95 points for Week 7. At the tight end position Mr. Fantasy picked Jordan Reed of the Washington Redskins while Greg picked Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers. Reed finished 17th among tight ends while Olsen was in 2nd place. Reed scored 9.15 points for the week while Olsen had 16.75 points. Gavin Escobar of the Dallas Cowboys scored 20.75 to lead all tight ends in Week 7. At Kicker Mr. Fantasy picked Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens while Greg went with Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts. Nick Folk of the New York Jets led all kickers for Week 7 with 15 points. Tucker scored 9 points and ended the week in 13th place while Vinatieri scored 12 points and finished in 7th place for Week 7. For sleeper picks Mr. fantasy selected Chris Hogan wide receiver of the Buffalo Bills who scored 8.05 points for Week 7 and ranked as the 53rd among wide receivers. Greg selected Daniel Thomas running Miami Dolphins who scored 9 points and finished 37th among the Week 7 running backs. It looks like Greg may have gotten the better of Mr. Fantasy for Week 7. Will have to see how the Week 8 picks work out. Just so everyone knows I use the scoring system that is customized for our Yahoo league.

Early in the NHL season there are only three teams that haven’t lost a game in regulation. The Washington Capitals are 3-0 with 2 games decided in overtime or shoot outs. The Nashville Predators are 4-0 with 2 games being decided in overtime or shoot outs and the Chicago Blackhawks are also 4-0 with 1 game being decided by overtime or in a shoot out. While those teams have yet to lose a game in regulation the Montreal Canadiens with a 6-1 record have the most points at 12. The Anaheim Ducks are 5-1 and are tied with the Predators at 10 points behind the Canadiens. While Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars and John Tavares of the New York Islanders lead the NHL in points with 10 it’s Rick Nash of the New York Rangers leading the NHL in goals with 8. There are four players tied for the league lead in assists with 7; Tavares, Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks, Jason Spezza of the Dallas Stars and Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks are the players that are tied. While it’s very, very early in the season and these stats will change not only from week to week, but from game to game I still enjoy knowing who the league leaders are. I know there’s no real reason for it, but it’s something I’ve enjoyed looking at since I was young and I continue to do it almost on a daily basis. I always want to know who scored and who got assists. Hopefully one of your favorite players is among the league leaders or your favorite team still hasn’t lost a game.

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

10/11/14 How was your Week?

Posted: October 11, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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Another post season extra innings game for the Kansas City Royals is another Royals win. Last night the AL championship series got started last night (Friday) in Baltimore. The Royals broke a 5-5 tie in the top of the 10 inning with a solo home run by Alex Gordon off of Orioles reliever Darren O’Day. Also in the 10th Mike Moustakas added a 2 run home run off of the Orioles Brian Matusz. The Baltimore Orioles were able to get just 1 run back in the bottom of the 10th off of Royals closer Greg Holland, but that wasn’t enough, as the Royals take Game 1, 8-6. If you would’ve told me that the Royals would hit 3 home runs and the Orioles would steal 2 bases I would’ve thought that you had the teams backwards. Alcides Escobar hit the 1st home run for the Royals in the top of the 3rd inning to give them their first run and a 1-0 lead. Gordon doubled with the bases loaded to put the Royals up 4-0. Adam Jones got 1 run back for the Orioles singling in the bottom of the 3rd to make it 4-1. Billy Butler hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the 5th for a 5-1 Kansas City lead. The Orioles got 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th; 1 on a Nelson Cruz double and then 2 runs on a Ryan Flaherty single to cut the lead to 5-4. The Orioles tied the game up at 5-5 in the bottom of the 6th inning on an Alejandro De Aza infield single. The game stayed that way (5-5) until the 10th inning. I’m not sure that either team got the effort they thought would get out of their starting pitchers. Chris Tillman lasted just 4 1/3rd innings for Baltimore while James Shields lasted just 5 full innings for Kansas City. These are two teams with very good bullpens, but in Game 1 both Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis pitched 2 innings for the Royals. You have to wonder if they would go to either guy today. It’s an afternoon game for these teams today with Yordano Ventura and Bud Norris listed as the starting pitchers for each team. The later game is the San Francisco Giants against the St. Louis Cardinals as the National League championship series gets started in St.Louis. Madison Bumgarner is the Game 1 starter for the Giants while Adam Wainwright starts for the Cardinals. If you’re looking for the games on television. The Royals/Orioles game is on TBS while the Giants/Cardinals is on Fox.

It didn’t start off that way, but the critics finally got their close Thursday night football game. The Indianapolis Colts beat the Houston Texans 33-28. The Colts jumped out to a 24-0 lead and it looked like your typical Thursday night blow out. Andrew Luck threw two touchdown passes in the 1st quarter. One to Ahmad Bradshaw and one to Coby Fleener along with a Trent Richardson touchdown run and an Adam Vinatieri all in the 1st quarter gave the Colts that 24-0 lead. The Texans added the next two touchdowns a Ryan Fitzpatrick to Andre Johnson 4 yard pass and an Arian Foster 12 yard run. Vinatieri add a field goal before halftime and the Colts went in with a 27-14 lead. Houston struck first in the 3rd quarter with Foster 2nd touchdown run. This time 2 yard run. Luck cane back and found T.Y. Hilton on a 33 yard pass for the Colts last score. J.J. Watt scored on a 45 yard return of a fumble for the last points of the night. The Texans had some chances in the 4th quarter, but a Johnson fumble ended one drive and a Fitzpatrick fumble ended their last drive and the game.

On the fantasy side of the game Luck put up good numbers for you going 25 of 44 for 370 yards and 3 touchdowns. Luck did throw an interception and fumbled once. Hilton was another big fantasy guy with 9 catches for 223 yards and a touchdown. Bradshaw had 34 yards rushing and 25 yards receiving with a touchdown. Fleener only had 2 catches, but with one being for a touchdown that will look good among tight ends. Indianapolis other tight end Dwayne Allen had 3 catches for 49 yards, but didn’t get into the end zone. Again though he should give you solid numbers for a tight end. Foster was the big fantasy guy for the Texans with 109 yards rushing and those two touchdowns. He also added 3 receptions for 32 yards just for a few extra points. Johnson also had a good night with 7 catches for 99 yards and a touchdown. If your league scores for individual defensive players Houston safety Kendrick Lewis had 10 tackles with 6 of them being solo tackles and of course there’s Watt who not only had the fumble return for a touchdown, but added 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss and 4 quarterback hits. That won’t be a bad fantasy night for a defensive player of your league scores them. While we’re on the fantasy side of football a couple of big players may be out this week. I saw a report that said Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green will not play tomorrow. because of a toe injury. Also Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson is being listed as doubtful because of that ankle injury he’s been dealing with for a few games now. Make sure to check your injury status on these two guys before you set that fantasy line up.

The NHL season got under way on Wednesday night with four games and every team has taken the ice for the 2014-15 season. The Montreal Canadiens Tomas Plekanec, the Anaheim Ducks Corey Perry and Mason Raymond of the Calgary Flames got off to quick starts for their teams scoring 3 goals in these first few games. I know, I know each team has only played two games at the most, but sometimes a hot start for a player can continue though a season. There is a full slate of games tonight and it looks like all of them will be covered by their local broadcast teams. For me that means the Chicago Blackhawks open at home tonight against the Buffalo Sabres.

We have a Sports Time Radio fantasy basketball league set up. If you’re interested in playing e-mail us sportstimeradio@hotmail.com and I’ll send you the link to sign up. It’s free and we run it through Yahoo’s fantasy sports site. So if you’re a fan of the NBA get in contact with us and sign up.

You’ll really want to check out Last Thursday’s show (10/9) We had the President of the Negro Leagues museum Bob Kendrick on. It’s an interview you’ll want to hear.

So how was your week?

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

10/8/14 Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: October 8, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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Week 5 was a better week for us in picking games as everyone had 10 wins or more. I actually won the week at 12-3. Mr. Fantasy and Schaumburg Stu finished a game behind me at 11-4 while Dan the Man was at the bottom for a change at 10-5. In our season totals Mr. Fantasy has caught Dan the Man and they’re tied at 45-31. I am just 1 game behind them with a record of 44-32 while Schaumburg Stu just 2 games off the pace at 43-33. Will see what Week 6 brings for us.

Mr. Fantasy is coming off his best week of picking high scoring players; so let’s see how Week 5 went for him. At quarterback he had Eli Manning of the New York Giants as the highest scoring quarterback, but it was Russell Wilson who was the highest scoring quarterback in Week 5. Eli Manning finished as the 14th highest scoring quarterback. At running back Mr. Fantasy went with Cincinnati Bengals Giovani Bernard. Bernard finished 22nd among running backs in Week 5 as it was San Diego Chargers rookie Branden Oliver who was the highest scoring running back. At wide receiver Mr. Fantasy went with Atlanta Falcons Julio Jones. Jones finished 11th at the wide receiver position for the week. It was the Denver Broncos Demaryius Thomas who had the break out week at wide receiver and led them in scoring. At the tight end position Mr. Fantasy went with his guy and New York Giants Larry Donnell. Donnell didn’t catch a pass and scored 0 points in Week 5. Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers was the highest scoring tight end for the week. At kicker Mr. Fantasy decided to go with Nick Novak of the San Diego Chargers. Novak finished 19th among kickers in Week 5 while it was San Francisco 49ers kicker Phil Dawson who led kickers in scoring. For his sleeper pick Mr. Fantasy went with Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Louis Murphy. Murphy caught 3 passes for 35 yards and 1 touchdown. If you had Murphy in one of our leagues he would’ve scored 11.75 points for you. Murphy was the 32nd highest scoring wide receiver of Week 5; so he would’ve been a solid sleeper pick.

So the championship series are set for Major League Baseball (MLB) and they’ll start on Friday. So the team with the best record in baseball the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were swept out of the playoffs by the Kansas City Royals. The team with the best record in the National League (N.L.) the Washington Nationals were knocked out of the playoffs by the San Francisco Giants 3 games to 1. The St. Louis Cardinals eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 in their series as well. In the other American League (A.L.) series the Baltimore Orioles swept the Detroit Tigers out of the playoffs; even though the Tigers had 3 former Cy Young award winners start for them in the series.

Nelson Cruz of the Orioles led the A.L. in hitting in the division series. Cruz hit .500 going 6 of 12 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI’s for the Orioles. Eric Hosmer was the Royals leading hitter going 4 for 10 (.400) with 2 home runs and 4 R.B.I.’s in their series. On the N.L. side Buster Posey was the Giants leading hitter going 7 for 18 (.389) in the series. I’m not sure if you could guess who the Cardinals leading hitter was, but if you said John Jay you where right. Jay was 5 for 11 (.455) in the series. Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis was the leading N.L. hitter in the division series. Ellis hit .538 going 7 for 13 with a home run and a double for the Dodgers. Mike Trout was 1 for 12 and Josh Hamilton was 0 for 13 for the Angels as Erick Aybar was the Angels leading hitter going 5 for 11 (.455) against the Royals.

We start with the Kansas City Royals at the Baltimore Orioles on Friday. James Shields is starting for Kansas City while the Orioles starter hasn’t been announced yet. Game 2 of this series will be Saturday with Yordano Ventura listed as the starting pitcher for the Royals while again there is no Orioles starter listed. Saturday os also the start of the N.L. series. The San Francisco Giants are at the St. Louis Cardinals. Adam Wainwright is starting Game 1 for the Cardinals and while there’s no listed starter for the Giants it’s being reported that Madison Bumgarner will be the starter for Game 1.

The NHL opens their season tonight and they won’t have to go up against any baseball games on television tonight. The NBC Sports Network has 2 games on tonight. At 6:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST) the Philadelphia Flyer take on the New York Rangers. Then at 10:30 p.m. CST the San Jose Sharks take on the reigning and defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. The two non televised games have the Montreal Canadians at the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks at the Calgary Flames. The Bruins will play tonight without center David Krejci who was placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. The Bruins also placed Marc Savard on long-term injured reserve. There doesn’t appear to be any other significant injuries listed for the other teams playing tonight, but you know how the NHL can be with injuries.

Tonight on Sports Time Radio Schaumburg Stu is Back.

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

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