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How was your Week 12/14/13

Posted: December 14, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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The NFL Thursday night games aren’t always the best game of the week, but this week the match up had the San Diego Chargers vs. the Denver Broncos. The Broncos have pretty much wrapped up the AFC West while the Chargers are fighting to get into the playoffs. San Diego upset Denver 27 – 20 on Thursday night. The key to this game and what I’ve heard a lot of experts talking about is; did the Chargers show the rest of the NFL how to beat Peyton Manning and the Broncos? Manning was sacked once and threw a late interception to seal the victory for San Diego. The Chargers running game helped them control the game and keep the high-powered Denver offense on the sidelines watching the game. The Chargers ran 44 times for 177 yards and 1 touchdown. Ryan Matthews led the way for San Diego with 29 carries and 129 yards. Do you think the Chargers showed the rest of the NFL something?

We don’t talk a lot of UFC on the show but yesterday there was a big story concerning the UFC. Welterweight champion George St. – Pierre announced he was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the UFC and was vacating his welterweight championship. St. Pierre has long been talked about as the best pound for pound fighter in the world but a lot of people think he lost his last fight. St. Pierre was awarded a split decision victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 on November 16th. After that fight St. Pierre talked about hanging up his gloves and retiring from UFC. UFC President Dana White talked that there would be a rematch and even said he thought St. Pierre lost the fight. White hasn’t made a statement on this situation yet and I’m interested to see what he has to say. It was announced that Hendricks will fight Robbie Lawler to fill the vacant welterweight title on March 15th 2014 in Dallas, Texas.

While baseballs winter meetings ended this week the Kansas City Royals jumped out and signed 2nd baseman Omar Infante to a four-year deal worth $40 million. It would be difficult to go over ever signing that has happened in the last week; so I’ll just have randomly come up with some of them. A move I found really interesting was the Tigers signing Joba Chamberlain to a one year deal for $2.5 million. This could turn out to be one of the better free agent moves. Chamberlain always had a lot of potential but injuries have really derailed his career and you wonder if a change of scenery will allow him to get back on track. If it does he’ll be a great addition to the Tigers bullpen. Shin – Soo Choo and Nelson Cruz are the two most mentioned names still out on the free agent market. I think I’ve heard Choo’s name linked with just about every team in major league baseball. Cruz hasn’t been has talked about, but once Choo signs Cruz will become more popular on the free agent market. Did your team make a move?

So I have to ask you. How was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @burketime

How was your 11/30/13

Posted: November 30, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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I’ll start out this week by wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you and your family had a good time.

It’s Heisman trophy time in college football and a lot of contenders have fallen by the way side. Marcus Mariota of Oregon has struggled later in the season. Johnny Manziel (Texas A & M) has also had some late season struggles. Jameis Winston (Florida State) has still played well on the field but his off the field issue may prevent people for voting for him. The reports coming out say that the investigation against Winston may not be wrapped up by the time the Heisman voting is due. If there hasn’t been a decision made on if Winston will be charged it might be tough for someone to cast a vote for him. I think that leaves you with a couple of choices. Jordan Lynch quarterback (Northern Illinois) and Andre Williams running back (Boston College) as the top two college football players. I’m guessing that neither of these two will get the award but I think one of them should. Lynch just broke his own record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a game. He had 321 yards against Western Michigan on 11/26. For the season Lynch has 1755 yards with 20 rushing touchdowns and is averaging 7.1 yards per carry. He’s also completed 65% of his passes this season for 2457 yards and 22 touchdowns while throwing just 5 interceptions. Lynch has also led Northern Illinois to a 12 – 0 record this season. I know the knock Lynch gets is that he hasn’t played a big time college football team this season. Northern Illinois best win this season may have been week 1 against Iowa a 30 – 27 win. If Lynch doesn’t win the Heisman he should at least get an invite to New York for the awards ceremony. Breaking into the Heisman race late this season is Andre Williams of Boston College. In his last three games Williams rushed for 295 yards against New Mexico State, 339 yards against North Carolina State and 263 yards against Maryland. For the season Williams has 2073 yards rushing and has 16 touchdowns. Boston College is 7 – 4 this season and is on a four game winning streak as I write this. I did find it odd, looking over Williams stats, that he hasn’t caught a pass this season. This shouldn’t affect the way the voters look at him. Williams breaking into the Heisman talk so late in the season may actually be a plus for him but I don’t know if it will be enough to get him the award. As always the award is supposed to go to the best player in college football but we all know better than that. Lets hope this season some voters see the light and actually try to figure out who that best player is and not cast their vote for the most popular or talked about player.

If you’ve listened to the Sunday shows you know that picking winners in the NFL games hasn’t been our speciality. We did make our picks for the Thanksgiving games and did better than we normally do. Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man went 2 – 1 with Pittsburgh being the only loss for that day. I managed to jump out in front for the day going 3 – 0. Will make the rest of our picks for the week on Sunday mornings show, so will see how we do. For the season Dan the Man is in the lead at 98 – 65 – 1. I’m a couple of games behind Dan the Man at 96 – 67 – 1 while Mr. Fantasy is bringing up the rear at 90 – 73 – 1. Will see how the rest of the season goes for our picks.

The NBA season is about 15 games into it’s run and the Indiana Pacers have the best record at 14 – 1 but there are some teams very close to them record wise. The San Antonio Spurs are 14 – 2. The Portland Trailblazers and the Miami Heat are both 13 – 3, while the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets are 12 – 5. Teams on the other end of the standings are the Utah Jazz at 2 – 15 and the Milwaukee Bucks at 2 – 13. Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder) is leading the league in scoring averaging 28 points per game with Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks) right behind him at 26.5 points per game. Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clippers) leads the league in assists handing out 12.2 per game. John Wall (Washington Wizards) is next at 8.8 assists per game. Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves) leads the league in rebounding averaging 13.9 rebounds per game with 3.9 of the rebounds being on the offensive side. DeAndre Jordan (Los Angeles Clippers) is second in rebounding with 12.9 rebounds per game with 4.4 of those rebounds being on the offensive rebounds.

The NHL is about a quarter of the way through the season and it looks like the Western conference has the better run of it right now but there’s still a long way to go. The defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks are the top point scoring team with 42. The St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks are all right behind the Blackhawks with 39 points. The top team in the Eastern conference is the Boston Bruins with 36 points but the Pittsburgh Penguins only trail them by one point at 35. Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins) is leading the league in points with 36. Alexander Steen (St. Louis Blues) and Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals) are leading the league in goals scored with 20. Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) leads the NHL in assists with 25. Dustin Penner of the Anaheim Ducks in the leagues plus minus leader at plus 18.

So, how was your week?

You can follow me on @Burketime

How was your Week 11/23/13

Posted: November 23, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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A quick apology for not having a show Wednesday this week. There was a scheduling mix up and when I went to get the show set up for Dan the Man and I it was too late. I’m sorry about that.

Alex Rodriguez walked out of his arbitration hearing this week after it was ruled that Bud Selig wouldn’t be called to testify. This was all planned by Rodriguez’s legal team to try to get the public on his side. I could only imagine Rodriguez pounding on the table and getting up and leaving and I had a good laugh about it. Rodriguez is never going to admit that he used P.E.D’s and then lied to everyone about it but I think any real fan knows he did. I found it very interesting that his legal team had a press release ready to go right after the walk out happen. Even more proof that this was a planned event. Rodriguez ended up on the radio at WFAN in New York, but that interview was a huge joke as well. It was Rodriguez blaming Selig for everything and then denying any and all of the accusations that have been made against him. I also found it interesting that Rodriguez and his team wanted Selig to testify at the hearing but Rodriguez wasn’t going to testify at the hearing. Why Selig, but not Rodriguez?

A couple of big trades in major league baseball this week. On Wednesday the Detroit Tigers sent 1st baseman Prince Fielder and $30 million dollars to the Texas Rangers for 2nd baseman Ian Kinsler. This may actually be a trade that ends up helping both teams in the long run. With the trade of Fielder; Miguel Cabrera will move back over to 1st base and prospect Nick Castellanos will get a chance to play 3rd base. Also Kinsler can move into the lead off spot in the Tigers batting order and take some of the pressure off of Austin Jackson. With Fielder’s money off the Tigers book they’ll be able to look into resigning Max Scherzer. Cabrera is also getting close to the end of his contract and you have to figure it’s going to cost between $25 – $30 million a season to keep him in Detroit. On the Texas side of the trade Fielder will add power to the line up. I’d guess he’ll split time at 1st base with Mitch Moreland and also be a designated hitter. Fielder plays as close to everyday as any player in the majors; so the Rangers should get a lot of quality at bats out of him. The other trade happened yesterday when the St. Louis Cardinals sent 3rd baseman David Freese and pitcher Fernando Salas to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for outfielder Peter Bourjos and minor league prospect Randal Grichuk. There where a lot of rumors that the Cardinals where looking to make a trade, but that they where trying to acquire a shortstop. By trading for Bourjos I have to wonder if the Cardinals are out of the Carlos Beltran free agent derby. Looking at the trade you have to wonder if it’s the first move for each teams and that they have another trade in the works.

Last night the Chicago Bulls lost 98 – 95 last night to the Portland Trailblazers. Derrick Rose left this game with is what’s being called a non contact knee injury. Bulls fans went through this last season, but this time it was his right knee. He left the stadium on crutches and there hasn’t been any time-table as to this injury. Rose is schedule to have an M.R.I. in Los Angeles on Saturday. Rose was injured in the 3rd quarter and the Bulls went on to blow a 21 point lead in this loss. Rose had 20 points in about 28 minutes last night before getting injured. There was always talk about the Bulls giving the Miami Heat a run at the Eastern Conference and a spot in the NBA Finals. Without Rose it will start to look more and more like last season when Rose was gone for all of it. I guess Bulls fans will hold their breath until the M.R.I. results are known.

Now you know from listening to the show that Dan the Man and I rail on ESPN quite a bit. In week 1 or 2 of the college football season the network decided that the Heisman trophy would go to Florida State red-shirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston. Now Winston has been accused in a sexual assault case where his DNA has been found. Let me state that there have been no charges filed against Winston as I write this and I’m not hear to decide what the verdict here should be. The reason I bring this up at all is I’m interested to see where and or how ESPN gets themselves out of this. It doesn’t matter how this case plays out it looks this situation will cost Winston any chance at the Heisman trophy. I haven’t watched a lot ESPN as of late, so I don’t know if there running away from their early award. I’m guessing they are. The voting is still a few weeks away and I’ll be interested to see who comes out as the front-runner.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

11/16/13 How was your Week?

Posted: November 16, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in Uncategorized
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So major league baseball handed out their awards for the regular season. They gave out The Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young award and the MVP award. For the most part I think the voting went as it should’ve. Will Myers and Jose Fernandez won the Rookie of the Year awards for their leagues. Fernandez beat out Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Myers main competition was from his teammate Chris Archer and the Detroit Tigers José Iglesias. These where the two players I thought should’ve won the awards. I think the only award that they handed out that I wasn’t in total agreement with was A. L. Manager of the Year. I thought John Farrell of the Boston Red Sox would get this award, but he finished 2nd to Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona. While the Indians had a good season Farrell and the Red Sox went from worst to first and I think he should’ve won this award. There where a lot of good choices in the national League for manager of the Year, but it was Clint Hurdle of the Pittsburgh Pirates who won the award. You could debate about Mike Matheny, Don Mattingly or Fredi González win this award, but I had no issue at all with the choice of Hurdle. Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw won the Cy Young awards for their leagues. Scherzer won 21 games and was the best choice in the American League. I know a lot of the new experts don’t value wins anymore, but 21 is an impressive total. The only other pitchers getting 1st place votes where Chris Sale and Scherzer’s teammate Anibal Sanchez while Yu Darvish finished 2nd in the voting. Kershaw received 29 out of 30 1st place votes on his way to his 2nd Cy young award in three years. The other 1st place vote went to the St. Louis Cardinals Adam Wainwright. Rookie of the Year Jose Fernandez finished 3rd in the voting. Alright the category that drives me crazy M. V. P. Andrew McCutchen won the National League award getting all but two 1st place votes. While I believe McCutchen deserved this award I thought the voting would be much, much closer than it was. Paul Goldschimdt of the Arizona Diamondbacks finished 2nd in the voting and St. Louis cardinals catcher Yader Molina finished 3rd and got the other two 1st place votes. There was a little complaining about Molina’s 1st place votes since they came from two local St. Louis writers. I didn’t think it was all that big of a deal because I believe both writers had McCutchen 2nd on their ballots. Dan the Man mentioned on Friday’s show that Nike already has ads with McCutchen in them running; so I guess they thought he’d win as well. Now in the American League all I can say is here we go again. Miguel Cabrera won the MVP for the second year in a row and he should have. Mike Trout finished 2nd in the voting and I don’t think he should’ve been that high. While I like a lot of experts feel that Trout is the best player in baseball; there’s a difference between best and valuable. Again while Trout is the best; Cabrera is the most valuable. Cabrera got 23 1st place votes while Trout got 5 1st place votes; Chris Davis finished in 3rd place and got one first place vote. While I think Trout will win an M. V. P. award or two he hasn’t deserved to win these last two seasons. I’m glad the voters have been able to see this award the right way the last couple of seasons.

I guess we’re going to see if the Kansas City Chiefs are for real. The Chiefs take their 9 – 0 record to Mile High to take on the 8 – 1 Denver Broncos. More and more it’s looking like one of these teams win the A F C West and the other will claim one of the wild card spots. Denver plays very well at home and the Chiefs will need to use Jamaal Charles running ability to control the ball and keep Peyton Manning and the Denver offense off the field. I do have to wonder if the Dwayne Bowe arrest during the week will be any type of distraction for the Chiefs. There where a couple of drug arrests this week in the NFL as not only Bowe, but Jason Snelling of the Atlanta Falcons was arrested for possession of marijuana. Both players are scheduled to play in their teams games this weekend and you have to wonder if the NFL will step in and administer any type of punishment to either player.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? 11/09/13

Posted: November 10, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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With the World Series over, the baseball off-season starts to heat up. Yesterday on the show, Start of the weekend; Friday Dan the Man and I discussed free agent demands that Ervin Santana and Rickey Nolasco have made. Santana wants a contract worth $100 million and Nolasco is looking for a contract worth $80 million. Now I know this is a down year for free agent pitching but why would a team consider giving either if these pitchers contracts worth anywhere near that amount. Santana made 32 starts last season and had a 9 – 10 record. He pitched 211 innings and had a good ERA 3.24, but does that make him worth a $100 million dollar contract. Nolasco went 13 – 11 overall, but was 8 – 3 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Nolasco made 33 starts and pitched 199 innings total. His ERA with the Dodgers was 3.52, but would that make you want to pay him $80 million dollars over the life of a contract. It will be interesting to see which teams will jump in and negotiation with these two pitchers but I think I’d be very surprised to see either of them get the kind of long-term deals and the kind of money they’re asking for right now. If these two pitchers are worth this kind of money what would a free agent pitcher like Matt Garza would command. Garza is a free agent as well and has always been looked at as a guy with #1 starter type of stuff. I’m not sure the same could be said about either Nolasco or Santana.

The NBA season is getting going and the Indiana Pacers are the only undefeated team at 6 – 0; while the Utah Jazz are the only team that hasn’t picked up a win yet. The Jazz are currently at 0 – 6 as I’m writing this. You’d have to say the biggest surprise to start the NBA season are the 4 – 2 Philadelphia 76ers. While the 76ers may still end up in the draft lottery you can’t say they haven’t gotten off to a surprising start; even getting a win over the Miami Heat. Evan Turner is leading the team in scoring at 22 points a game. While rookie Michael Carter – Williams is averaging 18 points and 7 assists a game. While I’m sure no one is ready to put the 76ers in the NBA finals they are a good story to start the year off.

With the NHL season about a third of the way over the Anaheim Ducks have the most points in the league right now with 29 and lead the Pacific division. The Colorado Avalanche aren’t that far behind with 26 points and are leading the Central division. There is still a long way to go in this NHL season and right now there are 13 teams with 20 points or more and 9 of them are in the Western Conference. The Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby is leading the league in points with 23 while the St. Louis Blues Alexander Steen leads the league with 14 goals; Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks is the league leader in assists with 17.

Tuesday on the show we talked quite a bit about the Jonathan Martin, Richie Incognito situation with the Miami Dolphins. I don’t want to go into all the details about what has went on with these two Dolphin players and at this points it’s a no win situation for both guys. At this point in time I’m wondering if either Jonathan Martin or Richie Incognito will ever play in the NFL again.

So, how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Another special Thursday

Tuesday

Sports Time Radio Pregame Show

11/02/13 How was your Week?

Posted: November 2, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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The Boston Red Sox are World Series champions. I have to tell the truth I thought the St. Louis Cardinals would end up winning that series. In game 6 Michael Wacha showed that he was a rookie with very limited playoff experience. I thought that the Cardinals would break out and start hitting, but the Red Sox pitching shut them down. John Lackey had a big comeback season and series. Lackey has clinched 2 World series for 2 different teams. As a rookie Lackey got the win in the World Series clinching game for the Angels. I don’t know if they where being called The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim yet or if they where still the California Angeles. Sorry I got a little side tracked there. David Ortiz was the M.V.P. of the World Series; while some experts where pushing for Clay Bucholtz to win the award. I believe they made the right choice as Ortiz put up numbers that only 2 people have done better than in a World Series. After the way Ortiz played in the World Series and with winning the M.V.P., talk started on if he will make the baseball Hall of Fame when his career is over. I don’t really know where I stand on this but I’ve heard everything from he’ll be a first ballot hall of famer to he won’t get in because he didn’t play defense. The Red Sox went from worst to first and now the talk starts on if they’ll repeat in 2014.

So which one of you had the Miami Heat starting the season 1 – 2. I know it’s very early in the season but I’m a little surprised the Heat have dropped 2 consecutive games. I really thought the Heat might struggle opening night against the Chicago Bulls but they handled the Bulls easily 107 – 95. They turned around the next night and lost to the Philadelphia 76ers 114 – 110 and then last night lost to the Brooklyn Nets 101 – 100. Now I don’t think anyone would be surprised if at the end of the playoffs in 2014 the Heat are raising the trophy again. It just shows how odd and long the NBA season can be.

Every Sunday morning Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I make are picks for that weeks NFL games and have we had a rough year. We finally had a better week in Week 8. Dan the Man and I where 9 – 3 while Mr. Fantasy went 8 – 4. For the season Dan the Man and I are 70 – 42 while Mr. Fantasy is trailing at 65 – 48. It just seems like it’s been a tough year for us to pick games. We’ll be on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. to make our picks again and talk about the week in fantasy football. I guess will see how this week goes for us.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on @Burketime

How was your Week 10/26/13

Posted: October 26, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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On Friday’s show Dan the Man and I discussed some fantasy football issues and I thought you’d get a kick out of a situation I found one of my teams in this week. Myself, Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man are in 2, 20team leagues together. One of the things I like to do is join another random league that has their draft before yours. I found a 14 team league that was having their draft before ours, so I joined. I was on a good run in this league as my team was undefeated through Week 6 but Week 7 turned out to be my first loss and the remainder of the season may be rough for me. Jay Cutler was my #1 quarterback and he hurt his groin and is expected to miss about a month. My other quarterback was Sam Bradford who torn his ACL and is out for the season. Doug Martin was one of my starting running backs, he has a torn labrum and is out anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. Reggie Wayne was my top wide receiver, he torn his ACL and is out for the season. Jermichael Finley was the starting tight end on this team. He took a hit and suffered a bruised spinal column. There’s no time-table for Finley’s return and his injury may be career threatening. Just to add insult to my injuries we have defensive players in this league and my 2 linebackers are Lance Briggs; who is out 4 to 6 weeks with a shoulder injury . My other linebacker was Brian Cushing, who broke a leg and tore his LCL ligament. I’ve played fantasy football for many seasons now and I’ve never seen so many of my players get injured in the same week. I guess it’s just a string of bad luck.

Tonight is the Sports Time Radio fantasy basketball draft. This is the first time we’ve done a fantasy basketball league. It is set up to be an auction draft, so that always add to the draft. The question is how much is someone willing to pay for the top players in the NBA. I’d have to guess that LeBron James and Kevin Durant will garner the highest bids. Of course since we are based in the Chicago area the Chicago Bulls players always go for more money than what the average price is. Dan the Man and Mr. fantasy prefer the auction style draft where I am a fan of the snake style draft we’ve also used. Either way it should be a good time, but the auction drafts do take some time to do.

The Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals are tied at 1 game apiece with the World Series headed to St. Louis for the next 3 games. While I am a big baseball fan and I enjoy watching the World Series what has interested me is the Cardinals pitching staff. Michael Wacha is 22, Trevor Rosenthal is 21, Carlos Martinez is 21 and Shelby Miller who I don’t believe has pitched in the playoffs for St. Louis is 22. This has to put the rest of the National League Central on notice with young pitching like this. Not to mention staff ace Adam Wainwright is 33 years old. With a pitching staff like that St. Louis could dominate their division and make playoff appearance after playoff appearance.

John Scott of the Buffalo Sabres was suspended indefinitely by the NHL for his hit on the Boston Bruins Loui Eriksson. Scott is what NHL teams might call and enforcer but fans would call a goon. Scott went after Phil Kessel in the exhibition season as well. This resulted in David Clarkson coming in to protect Kessel and getting a 10 game suspension. Scott has one career goal, so you know what he’s on the ice for. With concussion issues at the forefront of every major sport is there a place in the NHL for a player with Scott’s skill set? While Eriksson’s injury happened because of a late check it also brings up the issue, is it time for the NHL to ban fighting?

So, how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? 10/19/13

Posted: October 19, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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The St. Louis Cardinals are headed to the World series after a 9 – 0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. St. Louis won the National League championship series 4-2, to advance to the World Series. Michael Wacha pitched 7 shutout innings striking out 5 and giving up 2 hits. Wacha was named the MVP in the series. In an interesting note, the Cardinals picked Wacha with the compensation draft pick they got when Albert Pujols signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It looked like the Dodgers where in a good position to get even in the series with Clayton Kershaw starting Game 6 for them. Kershaw went 4 innings giving up 10 hits and 7 runs. The Cardinals now wait for the winner of the Boston Red Sox/Detroit Tigers series. The Red Sox are up 3 games to 2 in the series. Boston has a chance to close out the series tonight; starting pitchers are Clay Buchholz for the Red Sox facing Max Scherzer for the Tigers. Even down a game Detroit looks like they might have an advantage in this pitching match up and if the series goes to a seventh game they have Justin Verlander ready to start a game 7. Of course just like last night; they have to play the game on the field.

I’m not sure how many people have noticed, but the NHL season has gotten underway. Early on the San Jose Sharks are the only undefeated team at 6 – 0. There are 4, 1 loss teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche and the Anaheim Ducks. Of course it’s very early in the season but it’s nice to talk a little hockey. To no real surprise Sidney Crosby is leading the league with 14 points right now. It seems like the start of the season snuck up on me and sadly I didn’t even have time to set up the Sports Time radio fantasy hockey league. Hopefully it will be something will be able to play in next season.

Tom Powers a writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote an article suggesting the Minnesota Vikings trade Adrian Petersen. Mr. Fantasy and I covered a little of this story on Friday’s show and it’s an interesting idea. Would the Vikings trade Petersen if they got the same kind of deal they got when they traded Herschel Walker to the Dallas Cowboys. Or how about the trade the Miami Dolphins made to draft Rickey Williams. I’d be shocked if this trade ever happened or has ever been talked about by the Vikings.Petersen is going to end up being the best player in Vikings history as long as he stays healthy. With the way draft picks are paid now teams are more likely to hang on to those 1st round draft picks. That’s why the Trent Richardson trade was a bit of a surprise. It’s fun to consider the possibility of your favorite team trading for Petersen, but I doubt he’ll be playing anywhere except for Minnesota. What should your favorite team give in a trade for Adrian Petersen?

The NBA season is getting ready to start at the end of this month. The big question in and around the Chicago area where myself, Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy are from, is what will Derrick Rose play like. He had some swelling in his surgically repaired knee after a plane ride to Brazil. He did come back and score 32 points last night in pre-season action against the Indiana Pacers last night. He has looked like he might return back to the form that made him an M.V.P. a couple of seasons ago. You have to wonder if the Chicago Bulls will manage Rose’s minutes early in the season to make sure that swelling or any other knee issues don’t occur. Even with Rose I’m not sure the Bulls can get past the Miami Heat in the Eastern conference, but their chances are better with him on the court.

So, how was your week?

You can follow me @Burketime

The Sports Time Radio Baseball Awards; 2013 season

Posted: October 11, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports, Uncategorized
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Dan the Man, Mr. Fantasy and I all submitted lists for this seasons major league baseball awards. Schaumburg Stu sent me 1st place votes; so I used his as tie breakers. If a player got a 1st place vote he was awarded 7 points; 5 points for a 2nd place vote; 3 points for a 3rd place vote; 2 points for a 4th place vote and 1 point for a 5th place vote. Here’s how the voting played out. Point totals will follow the person’s name in parenthesis.

American League Manager of the Year.

1st: John Farrell (14) Boston Red Sox

2nd: Terry Francona (13) Cleveland Indians

3rd: Jim Leyland (10) Detroit Tigers

Other managers receiving votes. Ned Yost (7) Kansas City Royals, Bob Melvin (4) Oakland A’s, Joe Girardi (2) New York Yankees, Joe Maddon (2) Tampa Bay Rays, Bo Porter (1) Houston Astros, Ron Washington (1) Texas Rangers.

National League Manager of the Year.

1st: Clint Hurdle (16) Pittsburgh Pirates

2nd: Don Mattingly (13) Los Angeles Dodgers

3rd: Freddi Gonzalez (13) Atlanta Braves

Other managers receiving votes. Mike Matheny (5) St. Louis Cardinals, Dusty Baker (4) Cincinnati Reds, Kirk Gibson (3) Arizona Diamondbacks.

American League Rookie of the Year

1st: Will Myers (19) Tampa Bay Rays

2nd: Chris Archer (10) Tampa Bay Rays

3rd: Jose Iglesias (8) Detroit Tigers

Other rookies receiving votes. Dan Strailey (6) Oakland A’s, J. B. Shuck (5) Los Angles Angels of Anaheim, Martin Perez (2) Texas Rangers, Brandon Barnes (2) Houston Astros, Conor Gillaspie (1) Chicago White Sox, Oswaldo Arcia (1) Minnesota Twins.

National League Rookie of the Year.

1st: Yasiel Puig (19) Los Angeles Dodgers

2nd: Jose Fernandez (12) Miami Marlins

3rd: Jedd Gyorko (8) San Diego Padres

Other rookies receiving votes. Evan Gattis (5) Atlanta Braves, Shelby Miller (3) St. Louis Cardinals, Hyun-Jin Ryu (2) Los Angeles Dodgers, Nolan Arenado (2) Colorado Rockies, Matt Adams (1) St. Louis Cardinals, Julio Teheran (1) Atlanta Braves, Junior Lake (1) Chicago Cubs.

American League Cy Young Award.

1st: Max Scherzer (21) Detroit Tigers Unanimous

2nd: Bartolo Colon (10) Oakland A’s

3rd: Aníbal Sánchez (6) Detroit Tigers & Chris Sale (6) Chicago White Sox

Other pitchers receiving votes. James Shields (3) Kansas City Royals, Yu Darvish (3) Texas Rangers, Felix Hernandez (2) Seattle Mariners, Hisashi Iwakuma (2) Seattle Mariners, C. J. Wilson (1).

National League Cy Young Award.

1st: Clayton Kershaw (21) Los Angeles Dodgers Unanimous

2nd: Adam Wainwright (8) St. Louis Cardinals

3rd: Zach Greinke (7) Los Angeles Dodgers & Jose Fernandez (7) Miami Marlins

Other pitchers receiving votes. Matt Harvey (6) New York Mets; Jordan Zimmerman (3) Washington Nationals; Francisco Liriano (1) Pittsburgh Pirates.

American League Most Valuable Player (M.V.P.)

1st: Miguel Cabera (21) Detroit Tigers Unanimous

2nd: Mike Trout (13) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

3rd: Chris Davis (8) Baltimore Orioles

Other players receiving votes. Robinson Cano (7) New York Yankees, Adrian Beltre (2) Texas Rangers, David Ortiz (1) Boston Red Sox, Joe Mauer (1) Minnesota Twins, Josh Donaldson (1) Oakland A’s.

National League M.V.P.

1st: Andrew McCutchen (19) Pittsburgh Pirates

2nd: Paul Goldschmidt (17) Arizona Diamondbacks

3rd: Matt Carpenter (5) St. Louis Cardinals

Other players receiving votes. Freddie Freeman (3) Atlanta Braves, Chris Johnson (3) Atlanta Braves, Clayton Kershaw (2) Los Angeles Dodgers. Yader Molina (2) St. Louis Cardinals, Jayson Werth (1) Washington Nationals, Troy Tulowitzki (1) Colorado Rockies.

This is how we voted; how did you see this season?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

9/28/13 How was your Week?

Posted: September 28, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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With a couple of games left in the regular season for major league baseball there is still 1 playoff spot that needs to be decided. The Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers are all playing for that 1 remaining playoff spot. We talked about how a tiebreaker would go on Fridays show if all 3 teams ended up with the same record. I got it really wrong on the air but I believe this is how a 3 way tie would work out. Tampa Bay would play at Cleveland; the winner gets a wild card spot and the loser would go to Texas to play the Rangers the next day with the winner of that game getting the second wild card spot. If these teams did end up tied either Tampa bay or Cleveland could end up playing 164 games this season. Of course this all goes away if Tampa Bay and Cleveland win today (Saturday) and Texas loses. The St. Louis cardinals clinched the National League Central last night (Friday) beating the Chicago Cubs 6 – 0. The National League wild card spots go to the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds. The game looks like it will be played in Pittsburgh and will have Francisco Liriano starting for the Pirates and Mat Latos taking the mound for the Reds.

Bud Selig has announced that he will be retiring from his role as commissioner of baseball following next season. Now Selig has made this type of announcement before and was talked into staying by the owners. This time it looks like Selig will walk away but there is another season to go. Everyone has an opinion on who should be the one to take Selig’s place. I’m just like everyone else and I think the next commissioner of baseball should be Cal Ripken Jr. Ripken Jr. just kind of embodies the game of baseball to me. He was a Hall of Fame player who played every single day. Who’s your choice to replace Bud Selig?

Mariano Rivera played his last game in Yankee stadium this week. I enjoyed the way the Yankees came out and removed Rivera from the game. Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter made the trip to the mound to take Rivera out of the game. It took a minute or two before Rivera broke down and started to cry while hugging Pettitte first and then Jeter. A point came up after this that Rivera would like to play centerfield. Now I’ve heard some reports rip Rivera and the Yankees for this and I don’t understand why. The Yankees aren’t in the playoff race and there playing the Houston Astros this weekend; who also aren’t in the playoff race. If he went out and played just 1 inning in centerfield would it tarnish his career. I don’t think so. Not only do I hope Joe Giradi and the Yankees let Rivera play centerfield, I hope he gets the opportunity to catch a fly ball.

I know it’s a lot of baseball this week, but it is playoff time. The NFL is in Week 4 and college football is in Week 5. Did you have the New York Giants at 0 – 3? Maybe you’re the person taking Mississippi to upset Alabama today. We’re previewing all your NFL games Sunday mornings from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m Central, The Sports Time Radio Pregame Show. We will cover all your fantasy plays and even pick the winners of the games. Picking the winners doesn’t always work out for us but who gets them all right.

So how was your week? You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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