Posts Tagged ‘nascar’

Digital Ticket Is The New Black

Posted: January 7, 2019 by Daniel Kupres in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, NFL picks, sports, Tickets
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On December 28, 2018, an old friend of the show, Al Yellon of Bleed Cubbie Blue wrote “Going to all-digital tickets is a bad idea for the Cubs and here’s why”.  This article details why he is in agreement with Kelsey McKinney from Dead Spin (F^*K Digital Tickets).  Neither is in love with major sports eliminating paper tickets and going digital.  Al, a season ticket holder was informed that they, the season ticket holders will no longer receive hard tickets and if they want them, it could cost up to $150.00.  Both view these tickets as a souvenir that is free, essentially because today the only thing I have personally found below $5 are the team reusable bags in the gift shop, which I by at every game I attended because I generally try to go to a bobblehead game for my “free souvenir.”   

Me personally, I have no issue with it all.  I am all for it.  Sure, I have file cabinet with an overstuffed folder full of old tickets, scorecards and programs but since the evolution of smart phones and apps, having the box score on my phone and being able to upload my pictures from the games I have attended into the Ballpark app, I am as content as can be.  While I have yet to let go of those old tickets, but I have done what all are doing today and Pinned some ideas for a project to display all my tickets in a framed sort of way.  Time will tell when or if I ever get around to it.   

Years ago, I started traveling to see the Cubs play at different ballparks across the country but to be honest the last Hard Copy tickets I have received was back in 2006 for a Cubs/Cards game.  But since then it has been all Print-at-Home tickets.  Sitting 1st row in front of the tarp and being able to interact with Andrew McCutchen in his rookie season before the Cubs beat them was a cool experience or when I stuck my hat out to catch his fly ball during batting practice at Wrigley only to have hit smack my wrist and bounce down to Francisco Liriano are memories that I will always have. 

One complaint that both have are about the scanners that the teams use to check your digital tickets and what if they go down.  What I think they have forgotten is that whether it is a digital ticket, print-at-home or a hard copy, they all get scanned at the gates now.  So, no matter what ticket you have, lets hope those scanners do not go down or lose power.   

Al gives us reasons why the Cubs want to go to an all-digital ticket system which pretty much aligns with why the NFL went to an all-digital ticket.  Basically, it allows the Cubs to track every ticket and who the season ticket holders are selling them to and how many and if they are violating any agreements between the team and season ticket holder.  The Cubs of course package it must nicer 

While Al and Kelsey, which I do encourage you to read their articles, may not be excited about digital tickets, I seriously doubt either will stop attending games because of this.  If they do, it sounds just like my Uncle Bob – he stopped attending Cubs games when they started the presale of bleacher tickets but of course, since they won the World Series, he’s back on the wagon.   

When I used to blow my entire tax returns on Cubs tickets while I was living with my parents, it was never about the hard copy tickets, it was about the game and experience.  I embrace the digital ticket and encourage you to download the Ballpark App.  However, I do not understand why the other major sports leagues have not created this type of app.  

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Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: April 22, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, Boxing, football, hockey, NASCAR, sports
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Last Sunday at Bristol motor speedway NASCAR held the Food City 500 in support of Steve Byrnes and Stand up to Cancer. On Sunday morning Chris Olmstead from www.BeyondtheFlag.com was on the Sports Time Radio podcast to preview the race. I always make Chris select 3 drivers who might end up in victory lane at the end of the race. Chris mentioned pay close attention to the drivers from Joe Gibbs racing (JGR) ans sure enough Matt Kenseth in the #20 car who started on the pole won the race. By the way Kenseth drives for JGR. Chris will be back on the podcast Friday with Dan the Man and I to preview the Toyota Owners 400 at the Richmond International Raceway this Saturday. Chris has been on a role picking winners on the podcast; so who will he go with for Saturday’s race.

Sadly for NASCAR Steve Byrnes passed away on Tuesday at the age of 56, but at least they were able to put his name on a race and pay tribute to the announcer. Due to his Illness Byrnes was unable to attend the race, but it was reported that he watched on television and even tweeted during the race.  During Sunday’s race, crewmen from every team stood on the pit wall with signs from the Stand Up To Cancer organization that read “I stand up for Steve.” Byrnes took a leave of absence from Fox Sports October of 2014 to focus on his treatment.  From 2001 until 2014, he was a pit reporter for NASCAR on Fox. Byrnes served as a fill-in studio host and lap-by-lap announcer for NASCAR on Fox whenever Chris Myers or Mike Joy, respectively, were not available. As of 2014, Byrnes was the co-host of Fox Sports 1‘s NASCAR Race Hub, and was expected to be the lead announcer for the Camping World Truck Series in 2015.

We’re about a week and a half away from the boxing match that everyone has been waiting for. Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather get in the ring to box on May 2nd and yesterday it was announced that Kenny Bayless would referee the fight. The 64-year-old Nevada native, who has refereed five of Mayweather’s bouts and seven of Pacquiao’s and has officiated 100 title fights. The  Nevada State Athletic Commission also announced the 3 judges for the fight. Dave Moretti and Burt Clements of Nevada and Glenn Feldman of Connecticut had been appointed for the fight. Mayweather and Pacquiao have been considered the best pound-for-pound boxers of their generation but a host of issues — including differences over drug testing protocols as well as revenue splits and broadcaster conflicts — have stopped the two meeting in the ring. Both are coming to the end of their careers and have established interests elsewhere. According to Forbes, Mayweather, 38, is the highest paid athlete in world sport. While Pacquiao, who is 36, has run for political office in his native Philippines. Who do you have winning this fight?

While it’s still very, very early in the baseball season did you have the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and New York Mets getting out of the gate at 11-3. Maybe you had the Milwaukee Brewers going 2-12 at this point, but did you have the Miami Marlins just 1 game ahead of them at 3-11. Of course it’s way, way too early to panic it is fun to say that the Houston Astros are in 1st place in the American League West. Remember when the Seattle Mariners signed Nelson Cruz and the experts said his home run total would go down. Well he has 8 home runs through 14 games. Joey Votto looks a lot like the Joey Vottto of old as he has 6 home runs. Cruz and Adam Jones each have 16 RBI’s to lead major league baseball. Jones and Adrian Gonzalez are both hitting .442 while Billy Hamilton has 8 stolen bases and Dee Gordon is just 1 steal behind him with 7. Just like the standings it’s just too early to go nuts over these stats, but they’re always fun to look at and if you’re a fantasy baseball player they’re relevant to you. Looking back I realized that I forgot to name a fantasy player and pitcher of the week in Saturday’s blog. I believe I would’ve went with Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles as my fantasy player of the week and I’m going to go with Hector Santiago of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as the pitcher of the week.

Yesterday was the official release of the NFL schedule and I don’t understand why it’s such a huge deal. There where two specials on the schedule. Now we’ve known who was going to play who we just didn’t know the dates of these games and now we do. The New England Patriots open the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I did find it kind of funny that the Tennessee Titans are actually playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1. In Week 2 the Seattle Seahawks play the Green Bay Packers in a playoff rematch. In Week 12 we’ll get what might be our last Peyton Manning/ Tom Brady match up when Brady’s Patriots go to Denver to play Manning’s Broncos. There are 4 teams the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaquars all have 3 game road trips scheduled. To be fait though Atlanta’s 3 game road trip has them facing  the Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers and the Jaquars. A lot of people are point out that none of the three teams that could potentially relocate to Los Angeles in 2016 will play at home on the final Sunday of the regular season. These same people also think that this is no accident that the San Diego Chargers, Si. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders will be spared the possibility of awkward goodbyes as lame-duck teams.. What kind of schedule draw did your favorite team get?

The NHL and NBA playoffs are just getting into the 1st round games; so we’ll look at those a little more in Saturday’s blog. There is a chance we might have a series over with by then. Well I should say an NHL series might be over as with the way the NBA playoff schedule is there’s a 0% chance a series will be done.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Listen to Sports Time Radio on http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: March 25, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, hockey, sports
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I was a little surprised when I heard the mainstream media reporting that Brock Lesnar had chosen to re-sign with World Wrestling Entertainment instead of making a return to the UFC. Normally the mainstream media stays clear of professional wrestling unless the story is negative. It’s no real shock that Lesnar chose WWE over UFC. In case you don’t remember Lesnar has only had 8 fights in the UFC and his last two fights ended in 1st round KO/TKO losses. Lesnar lost to Alistair Overeem on December 30th of 2011 and before that he lost to Cain Velasquez on October 23rd of 2010. Lesnar only had eight total fights in the UFC and his record was 5 – 3. Lesnar is a former UFC Heavyweight champion and did defend his title successfully a couple of times. While there where no salary numbers disclosed I’m sure the figures where pretty close and maybe even favored the WWE a little. After losing C.M. Punk to the UFC last year I guess they can look at this as a win by being able to keep Lesnar. Brad Keselowski made a last lap pass on Kurt Busch to win Sunday’s Auto Club 400. It was the only lap that Keselowski led and it wasn’t even a full lap, but it was the most important lap; the last lap. In trying to hold off Keselowski Busch touched the wall and fell to 3rd place. So who ended up finishing 2nd you ask. Well of course it was Kevin Harvick. So in five NASCAR races this season Harvick has two wins and three 2nd place finishes. Harvick did lead 34 laps on Sunday and was a contender to win the race before the 2nd green, white, checker finish and a big Keselowski run to the front. Paul Menard took 4th and Ryan Newman rounded out the top 5. The NASCAR circuit heads to Martinsville this Sunday for the STP 500. Let’s see if Harvick can get another top 2 finish. I never put a lot of stock into early spring training stats. I always look at what a guy has done the last week or ten days of spring training and see if that player can take it into the regular season. So when I started looking at stats there were a few names most baseball fans would know or at least had heard of at the top of the stat lists. Mike Trout has been hitting this spring with an average of .462 and stayed at .500 for quite a while. Jose Abreu is 2nd in batting average to Trout at .459. Kris Bryant is leading everyone in home runs with 9 this spring, but he’s still headed to Triple A, Iowa; so the Cubs can get that extra year of control. After Bryant it’s Michael Cuddyer of the New York Mets, J.D. Martinez of the Detroit Tigers and Steven Pearce of the Baltimore Orioles all tied with 5 home runs. Bryant also leads everyone in RBI’s with 15. Michael Morse of the Miami Marlins and Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox each have 14 RBI’s. Spring training pitching can be even tougher to judge than spring training hitting and you can pretty much throw all pitching stats out when the regular season starts. I’ll look for strikeout totals and it’s Collin McHugh of the Houston Astros and Drew Pomeranz of the Oakland A’s who are leading spring training with 19 strikeouts. I’ll also look at walk totals and it’s Rubby De La Rosa of the Ariznoa Diamondbacks is leading pitchers in walks with 10 so far. While Bud Norris of the Baltimore Orioles and Juan Jaime of the Atlanta Braves each have 9 walks. Norris along with Trevor Bauer of the Cleveland Indians and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers have given up 5 home runs each this spring. Of course this all goes out the window on April 5th for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs and then on April 6th for everyone else as the baseball season gets rolling. Are the defending champion Los Angeles Kings going to miss the chance to defend the Stanley Cup and not make the NHL playoffs? With nine games remaining this season the Kings are tied with the Calgary Flames at 86 points and are two points behind the Minnesota Wild who have 88 points. Calgary also has nine games left in their season and Minnesota has  eight games left. Calgary has to play both Minnesota and Los Angeles, but the Kings and the Wild don’t play each other. It’s three teams for two playoff spots and there is a chance that the defending champion will be at home watching when the playoffs start.

Follow me on Twitter @Burketime and listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: February 25, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, sports
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So it was a bad week to be a Busch brother. Saturday in the first  Xfinity Series race of the season Kyle Busch crashed late in the race and suffered a broken right leg and a broken left foot. He was transferred from Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, to a Charlotte-area hospital for treatment. Matt Crafton filled in for Busch in the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) car for the Daytona 500 on Sunday and finished 19th. There has been no timetable set for Busch’s return. For now veteran David Ragan will take over the #18 ride for Busch and  JGR development driver Erik Jones will replace Busch in the # 54 Xfinity Series car this weekend, with a replacement for future races in that series still to be determined. Ragan has two career Cup wins in 291 career starts. He spent his first five seasons at Roush Fenway Racing. He has driven for the underfunded Front Row Motorsports since 2012. Jones, a JGR development driver who competes in the Camping World Truck Series for Busch and also was scheduled to compete in several Xfinity races for JGR this year, has four wins in 18 career truck starts and a career best of sixth in four Xfinity starts. Toyota sponsors Jones’ truck and thinks highly of the driver, who doesn’t turn 19 until May. Busch hired Jones to drive his truck part-time two years ago after Jones held off Busch to win the late-model showcase Snowball Derby in December 2012. Jones competed in both the truck and Xfinity races at Daytona, finishing second in the trucks and 18th in the Xfinity race after being involved in the same accident in which Busch suffered his injury.

In the case of Kyle’s brother Kurt Busch he was suspended indefinitely Friday after a Delaware judge said the 2004 champion almost surely choked and beat his former girlfriend, Patty Driscoll, last fall at Dover International Speedway. A three-judge panel denied his first appeal Saturday. He had one final chance to plead his case to Moss, who is in his first year as NASCAR’S final appeals officer. Then a final appeals officer upheld NASCAR’s suspension Saturday night. Gulfstream President Bryan Moss made the decision, ending Busch’s already-slim hopes of racing Sunday in the season opener. Busch represented himself in the first appeals hearing at NASCAR headquarters, located across the street from Daytona International Speedway. Jim Cassidy, senior vice president of racing operations, represented NASCAR. The panelists were former NASCAR executive Paul Brooks, former driver Lyn St. James and Kevin Whitaker, operator of Greenville Pickens Speedway in South Carolina. Regan Smith filled in for Busch in the Stewart/Haas Racing (SHR) owned #41 at the Daytona 500 finishing 16th. It’s unclear what SHR will do beyond Daytona. Busch’s car is funded out-of-pocket by team co-owner Gene Haas, who hand-picked the former champion to drive a car adorned with Haas’ machine tools building company. He wanted Busch because he believed Busch could get the car to victory lane. Haas has not commented since the Friday suspension, and he may not be willing to pay for the car if Busch is not behind the wheel. Smith drove co-owner Tony Stewart’s No. 14 car last season at Watkins Glen after Stewart hit and killed a fellow driver who got out of his car in a short-track race. Smith, who has one Cup victory, also filled in two races in 2012 while Dale Earnhardt Jr. recovered from a concussion.

It’s almost time for the baseball regular season to get rolling and your fantasy drafts have to be just around the corner. We’re looking for some players to fill out our 20 team standard snake style league. It’s a free league that we run through Yahoo. All we ask is that you play the entire season. If you’re interested in signing up you can use this link to do so.  Hope to see you in the league.

I play in three fantasy baseball leagues. There’s the league above that I invited you into then there’s a 20 team auction league that I play in and finally there’s a 14 or sometimes 15 team money league where Mr. Fantasy and I co-manage a team. This money league draft is March 8th which is very, very early for us this season. Mr. Fantasy and I are picking 8th and we’re starting to look at who might be available when it gets to us. For some reason outfielders don’t get any respect in this league, but Mike Trout should be long gone by the time our pick comes up. There is a chance that players like Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates or Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins might be sitting there when the pick gets to us. I’d like to think that we’d grab one of these two players very quickly and move along to the 2nd round. Now if the draft flows in a regular type of order there’s a chance that we’re looking at a player like  Carlos Gómez of the Milwaukee Brewers; who by the way Mr. Fantasy loves. We might be looking at  José Abreu of the Chicago White Sox, Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles or Jose  Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays. Would you take one of those players or would you look at a pitcher like Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners or Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox. There is a chance we could actually land two of these players if the draft falls right and we make the correct 1st round pick. The early part of this draft doesn’t concern me all that much; it’s the later rounds. With a draft this early there are quite a few questions still out about players and if you miss your season is done early and no one wants to have that type of season. Last year Mr. Fantasy and I where able to select Tom Koehler of the Miami Marlins. Now it’s not a flashy pick, but it’s the kind of pick late in a draft tat can get your team into the playoffs. Koehler made 32 starts posting a 10-10 record with a 3.81 ERA. He struck out 153 batters while walking 71. Now it’s not a Cy Young winning season, but Koehler is the kind of guy you need to fill in when a starter goes down or if he just has a great match up. What I’m wondering for Mr. Fantasy and I this season is who is this seasons Tom Koehler?

Just so everyone knows we don’t let Schaumburg Stu play in the fantasy baseball leagues because he draft all Chicago Cubs players. Of course this season that might not be the worst strategy.

About 5:30 p.m. tonight Phil Watson from DairylandExpress.com will join the podcast to talk about the Wisconsin sports scene. You can listen to the Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week?

Posted: January 24, 2015 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, sports
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1/24/15

Sad news last night for Chicago Cubs fans as “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks passed away at the age of 83. Banks’ catch phrase “Let’s play two” suggesting a doubleheader was always better than just a single game in one day; showed his love for the game of baseball. Banks started his career in the Negro League playing with the Kansas City Monarchs before being signed by the Cubs as a free agent in 1953. Banks got into 10 games for the Cubs in that 1953 season and after that spent the next 18 seasons in a Cubs uniform. Banks won the National League MVP award in back to back season, 1958 and 1959. He also finished in the Top 10 of M.V.P. voting in three other seasons. Banks was also an 11 time All-Star and won the Gold Glove at shortstop for the 1960 season. Banks is a member of the 500 home run club; with 512 home runs for his career. He led the N.L. in home runs with 47 in 1958 and then again with 41 in 1960. Banks had a career batting average of .274 with an on base percentage of .330 and a .500 slugging percentage. Banks totaled 2583 hits in his career with 407 doubles, 90 triples and added 50 stolen bases all with the Cubs. Banks ended his 19 year Cubs career on September 26th 1971 going 1 for 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 5-1 Cubs loss. In 1977 Banks received 83.8% of the votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America and was enshrined in the baseball Hall of Fame. In 1982, Banks had his No. 14 jersey retired, the first Cubs player to receive such an honor. In 2008, the Cubs unveiled a statue outside Wrigley Field that honored him. Then in November 2013, Banks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, joining the likes of Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Stan Musial in gaining this honor. With his out going personality and the obvious love for baseball that Banks had he became an ambassador for the Cubs fans and the game of baseball itself after his playing career ended. While it may be January in Chicagoland, but “Let’s play two”.

While I’m looking forward to the Super Bowl featuring the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots I’m already tired of the side stories coming into the game. It’s to the point here I don’t care if New England deflated the football in their game against the Indianapolis Colts. Would a fully inflated football have changed the outcome of the game; I seriously doubt it. Even if the Patriots are guilty of this do you think Tom Brady or Bill Belichick where the guys taking the air out of the football. On the Seattle side is there any chance the mainstream media will leave Marshawn Lynch alone this week. Everyone knows that Lynch isn’t a big fan of talking to the media which will put a huge target on his back for every moron who’ll want to be the one that thinks they can get a quote from Lynch. Believe it or not there are players that don’t want to be media superstars; I know that’s hard to believe, but Lynch seems to be one of these guys. While I fully agree with Lynch being fined for his crotch grab end zone celebration I don’t think he should be forced to speak to the media. I’m not a big fan if what the NFL calls media week and the game can’t get here soon enough for me.

I really hope you’ve been listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast. Just last night (Friday) alone we had three interviews. Now these aren’t the type of interviews you’ll hear on your radio where the person is on for five minutes and they answer two or three questions. We keep guys up to 30 minutes; so they can answer all of the questions that need to be answered. Starting off the Friday night show we had Ian St. Clair from PredominatlyOrange.com to talk Denver Broncos football. After that it was Nick Hjeltness from GoldenGateSports.com joining us to discuss the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders. We ended the podcast by having Mike Marteny from FantasyCPR.com to talk about early fantasy baseball rankings along with who to look out for this upcoming season. Next week is shaping up as another big interview week for Sports Time Radio as will have guest on every show and even three more interviews on Friday the 30th show. Starting off with the January 26th show (Monday) we’ll have Eric Huysman from ClimbingTalsHill.com to talk about what the Houston Astros will look like in the 2015 baseball season.

Jeff Gordon’s 23rd season in NASCAR will be his last full-time season. Gordon is 3rd all time with 92 wins, has made 689 consecutive starts and is a four-time champion, but at 43 he’ll step away from his full-time ride #24 with Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon won’t use the word retire as he plans to stay involved with NASCAR and may even get behind the wheel at selected races; just not full-time. Hendrick Motorsports hasn’t made any announcements on who might take over Gordon’s ride for the 2016 NASCAR season, but it appears that Chase Elliot will be their choice.

You could say Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors had a night with 52 points in 126-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings, but to be more specific he had a quarter. In the 3rd quarter alone Thompson went 13 for 13 from the floor including a NBA record nine 3-point shots in the quarter. The 37 points Thompson ut up in the quarter was an NBA record as well. Thompson surpassed the 33-point mark set by George Gervin in 1978 and matched by Carmelo Anthony in 2008 for the most points in a quarter. Michael Redd and Joe Johnson shared the previous mark for most 3-point shots made in a quarter with eight. Thompson scored 19 consecutive points during one stretch, which ended with him making a left-handed pass to Draymond Green for a lay up. Thompson helped make sure the Warriors equaled the franchise’s highest win total before the All-Star game. The defending champion 1975-76 Warriors went 35-13 before the break and finished with a team-best record of 59-23.

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

So how was your week?

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 12, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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11-12-14

Schaumburg Stu and Dan the Man tied for the best record in Week 10 of our picks at 10-3. Mr. Fantasy was a game behind at 9-4 while I finished last for the week at 8-5. For the season I have the lead at 94-51-1, Schaumburg Stu is two games back at 92-53-1, Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy are four games off the lead at 90-55-1. We’ll see what Week 11 brings.

For Week 10 Mr. Fantasy and Greg both went with the same quarterback; Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers and it worked out for them as Rodgers was the highest scoring quarterback of the week. At running back Mr. Fantasy went with Matt Forte of the Chicago Bears while Greg chose Andre Ellington of the Arizona Cardinals. Forte finished 17th among running backs with 15.85 points while Ellington scored 18.45 points and finished 13th among running backs for the week. At wide receiver Mr. Fantasy picked Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brown scored 10.79 points and was 33rd among wide receivers for the week. Greg;s wide receiver pick was Demaryius Thomas of the Denver Broncos. Thomas scored 19.30 points and finished 14th among receivers for the week. At tight end Mr. Fantasy took Julius Thomas pf the Denver Broncos while Greg went with Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints. Thomas finished 2nd at 24.05 points while Graham finished 1st with 27.10 points for the week; so they nailed the top two tight ends for Week 10. For kickers this week Mr. Fantasy picked Cody Parkey of the Philadelphia eagles while Greg went with Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens. Parkey scored 9.75 points and finished 9th among kickers while Tucker scored 3 points and finished tied for 21st for the week. I what I thought was a bit f a surprise both Mr. Fantasy and Greg picked tight ends for their sleeper picks. Mr. Fantasy went with Chicago Bears tight end Dante Rosario who had 1 catch for 3 yards and scored 1.05 points in Week 10. Greg picked Seattle Seahawks tight end Luke Wilson. Wilson injured his ankle in the 2nd quarter of the Seahawks game Sunday. Wilson didn’t have any catches before he was hurt and scored 0 points for the week. It looks like it was another close week between these two, but I think Week 10 goes to Greg. I use the scoring system from our Yahoo league titled Next Year is Here 13.

On the Sports Time Radio podcast you might have heard us talk about our different fantasy football teams and leagues. We have the league above that I mentioned and then we have a Sports Time Radio named league that was done with an auction draft format. Mr. Fantasy and I have what we describe as a money league team with some of his friends. In this league the player who owns Adrian Peterson was looking to trade him. The deal that was kicked around was T.Y. Hilton the wide receiver from the Indianapolis Colts for Peterson straight up. The Peterson owner actually told us he could get a lot better player than Hilton for Peterson. As I look at the league scoring totals for the season Hilton sits 6th among wide receivers. Here are the players in front of him 1 through 5. Demaryius Thomas, Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Calvin Johnson and Jordy Nelson. So he’s going to get a better wide receiver than Hilton; interesting. Would you give up any of these wide receivers for Peterson?

Sunday in Homestead Florida after the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway NASCAR will crown a 1st time champion. Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman will have a 400 mile shoot out for the Sprint Cup championship. Which ever driver has the best finish wins the title. I don’t know if there’s a favorite among these drivers. Newman hasn’t won a race all season, but with solid finishes and let’s call it moving Kyle Larson out of his way last weekend he finds himself with a chance to win it all. Harvick maybe the driver on the best roll going into this race, but Logano has been strong all season. Hamlin may be a bit of a wild card in the race. It will be interesting to see how aggressive these drivers will be early in the race and it would be great if they where all in the Top 10 with about 5 laps to go. Did you like the new format for The Chase this season?

It looks like Major League Baseball is going to investigate the Chicago Cubs hiring of Joe Maddon. There had been rumors and reports that the Tampa Bay Rays thought that the Cubs had spoken with Maddon and that’s why he opted out of his contract with the Rays. The Cubs insist everything was by the book — that they even checked with the Commissioner’s Office before contacting Maddon — but the Rays weren’t so sure, and MLB at the very least is giving the complaint due diligence. It’s hard to blame the Cubs for jumping at the chance to land Maddon — he’s the type of manager who could not only bring a new personality to a team, but energize a fan base too. The question is whether the Cubs were a little too eager to secure Maddon. We know, for example, they had no problem doing Rick Renteria dirty. If it is proven that the Cubs tampered with Maddon Tampa Bay could receive compensation. That compensation could come in the form of players, draft picks or money. Also if Cubs officials lied to MLB investigators there could be some type of suspensions involved. This will be a very difficult charge to prove; so don’t be surprised at all if nothing comes from this, but MLB has to look into it.

Did you have the New York Mets signing the first free agent? They agreed to a two-year contract with outfielder Michael Cuddyer. The 35-year-old is a two-time All-Star and was the NL batting champion in 2013 with the Colorado Rockies. Cuddyer hit .332 with 10 home runs and 31 RBIs (Runs Batted In) this year in a season interrupted by injuries. He was limited to 49 games and was on the disabled list three times because of a strained left shoulder and a strained left hamstring. Cuddyer signs a two-year, $21 million deal and with this signing the Mets lose their 1st round draft pick this June which was #15 overall.

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

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 5, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports
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11/5/14

Are you watching the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup? They started with 16 drivers in the Challenger round. After 3 races they cut 4 drivers and entered the Contender round. 3 more races and 4 more drivers eliminated to get to the Eliminator round which comes to an end this Sunday in at Phoenix International Raceway. Then 4 drivers will advance to the final race and the Championship round of the Chase on November 16th at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin are tied at the top of the Chase standings going into Phoenix while Ryan Newman sits in 3rd. Right now Jeff Gordon has the 4th spot in the Chase, but he holds just a 1 point lead over Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards a 5 point lead over Brad Keslowski and a 6 point lead over Kevin Harvick. None of these 8 drivers have gotten a win in the Eliminator round that would automatically advance them to the Championship. This new Chase set up seems to have made winning more important, but it also seems to have brought out a lot of anger in these drivers. Keslowski seems to be the guy that has taken that bad boy role as he’s had issues with Kenseth earlier in the Chase and then just last week after the race Keslowski and his crew had a large brawl with Gordon and his crew. Late in the race after a caution Gordon was starting on the front row with teammate Jimmy Johnson to his inside while Keslowski was lined up right behind Johnson. In the 1st turn after the restart Gordon’s car went up the track a little and Keslowski was able to move into that opening. As Gordon went back down to block Keslowski and get his car back in line, Keslowski had his car to far in the opening and the touched. The incident caused Gordon to have a tire go down and end up finishing 29th and dropping 3 spots in the Chase standings. This is what got the altercation started on pit road after the race. While the drivers avoided penalties from NASCAR their crew chiefs and crew members weren’t. Here’s the penalties from NASCAR. Three Hendrick crew members for six races for being “involved in a post-race physical altercation” and fined them each $25,000. A fourth Hendrick crew member was fined $10,000 and suspended for three races for the same offense. Gordon’s crew chief Alan Gustafson and Kasey Kahne crew chief Kenny Francis were each fined $50,000 and placed on probation for six races because “the crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of his team members.” according to NASCAR. Also suspended for six races and fined $25,000 were: Jeremy Fuller, the Kahne crew member who came from behind the scrum and threw several punches toward Keselowski, as well as Gordon crew members Dwayne Doucette and Jason Ingle; Dean Mozingo, another Gordon crew member, was fined $10,000 and suspended three races. Hendrick Motorsports said it would not appeal, and the punished team members would not face further sanctions from the organization. There’s still a couple of races left in the NASCAR season; so maybe you should start watching.

In our picks for Week 9 in the NFL I was able to come out on top with a 10-3 record. Mr. Fantasy finished 2nd with a record of 8-5 while Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu both ended the week at 7-6. For the season I am hanging onto the lead with a record of 86-46-1. Schaumburg Stu is 4 games behind with a record of 82-50-1. Mr. Fantasy is in 3rd with a record of 81-51-1 while Dan the Man is a game behind him with an overall record of 80-52-1. You can hear our picks on the Sunday morning podcast of Sports Time Radio from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. .

We’re in the 3rd week of our players challenge with Mr. Fantasy and Greg. The first two weeks where pretty even; so let’s see how the 3rd week went. At quarterback Mr. Fantasy went with Seattle Seahawk Russell Wilson while Greg went with Denver Bronco Peyton Manning. Wilson was 22nd among quarterbacks with 8.18 points while Manning was 7th with 18.06 points. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was the high point scorer for Week 9 with 39.90 points. At running back both guys went with Arian Foster of the Houston Texans. Foster finished with 23.15 points and 8th place among running backs. Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks was the highest scoring running back for Week 9 with 35.30 points. At wide receiver Mr. Fantasy took Jeremy Maclin of the Philadelphia Eagles while Greg selected Emmanuel Sanders of the Denver Broncos. Maclin finished as the #1 scoring wide receiver of Week 9 with 32.55. Sanders scored 24.36 points and was in 7th place among wide receiver’s. At tight end Mr. Fantasy went with Rob Gronkowski (again) of the New England Patriots while Greg choose Antonio Gates of the San Diego Chargers. Gronkowski was the #1 scoring tight end for Week 9 with 23.50 points. Gates scored 5.05 points and finished in 20th place among tight ends for Week 9. At kicker Mr. Fantasy picked Chandler Catanzaro of the Arizona Cardinals while Greg went with Phil Dawson of the San Francisco 49ers. Both kickers scored 4 points and finished tied for 11th place for Week 9 among kickers. For their Week 9 sleeper picks Mr. Fantasy went with running back Charles Sims of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while Greg selected Oakland raiders wide receiver Brice Butler. Sims scored 0 points in Week 9 and for the season as well while Butler scored 9.50 points for the Raiders in Week 9. This match up may be to close to call. Who do you think got the players challenge win this week?

Major League Baseball handed out it’s Gold Gloves for the 2014 baseball season. Here are the winners. Catcher: AL, Salvador Perez, Royals; NL, Yadier Molina, Cardinals. First base: AL, Eric Hosmer, Royals; NL, Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers. Second base: AL, Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox; NL, DJ LeMahieu, Rockies. Third base: AL, Kyle Seager, Mariners; NL, Nolan Arenado, Rockies. Shortstop: AL, J.J. Hardy, Orioles; NL, Andrelton Simmons, Braves. Left field: AL, Alex Gordon, Royals; NL, Christian Yelich, Marlins. Center field: AL, Adam Jones, Orioles; NL, Juan Lagares, Mets. Right field: AL, Nick Markakis, Orioles; NL, Jason Heyward, Braves. Pitcher: AL, Dallas Keuchel, Astros; NL, Zack Greinke, Dodgers. 3 Royals, 3 Orioles, 2 Dodgers and 2 Rockies claimed awards. Did they get it right? How did your favorite team do?

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

8/20/14 Let’s call it Wednesday.

Posted: August 20, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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What I’ve noticed when I turn on a highlight show no matter what network it is they have three stories that are always on the show. They mention Tony Stewart and the incident he had about three weeks ago. There’s a story in the show on little league player Mo’ne Davis. They also have an update on Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel. So here’s pretty much my take on these three stories.

On August 8th at Canandaigua Motorsports Park Tony Stewart was racing in the Empire Super Sprints series in upstate New York. As you all know during the race Stewart’s car collided with a car being driven by Kevin Ward Jr. Ward’s car was forced into the wall and he was out of the race. Ward Jr. proceeded to get out of his wrecked race car and started walking in the on coming cars looking for Stewart. I’m sure you’ve seen and or heard what happens from here. Stewart’s car hits Ward Jr. killing him. Stewart hasn’t raced in a NASCAR or any event since the incident. At first Stewart was going to race two weeks ago on the road course at Watkins Glen, but put out a statement on what happen with Ward Jr. and decided not to race. Stewart also missed Sunday’s NASCAR race in Michigan and there’s no time-table as to when he may return to the track. A lot of reports are really going after Stewart for not coming out and doing an interview or making a full statement. Let’s tell the truth here; they don’t care about Stewart or anything like that they’re just looking for a story. They seem to forget that this is an actual ongoing legal investigation and Stewart make have been advised by a lawyer to not comment until the investigation is over. While this is a horrible situation it’s in Stewart’s best interest to wait to talk about the incident. I think what’s worse than anything is that reporter have hounded the Ward family to get them to comment on the accident. I’ve seen comments from Ward Jr’s father and sister and it’s sad that they weren’t even given time to grieve before they were accosted by reporters looking for a quote. The investigation is close to being wrapped up and will see what they find and if Stewart will make a statement. I know the other thing that reporters are going after Stewart for is racing at Canandaigua Motorsports Park that night or at any non NASCAR event. NASCAR is a sport where guys don’t forget where they started off at and a lot of drivers go back to these tracks where they cut their teeth at. It’s also a big deal for whoever owns that certain track a NASCAR guy is going to race at. How many extra fans went out that night just to see Stewart. Of course hindsight is 20/20.

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t watched much of the Little League World Series. There is a local team in the tournament still; so I’ve been checking in on them from time to time, but that’s really about it for me. Of course by the coverage it’s gotten you wouldn’t realize that there is more than one team even playing in this tournament. It seems that all of the attention has been focused on a 13-year-old pitcher from Philadelphia Mo’ne Davis. For whatever reason the first thing that popped into my mind was if she’s 13 years old why is she even in this tournament. The division she is playing in is for ages 10-12, but I know if you turn 13 after a certain date you play at the lower level. It’s weird that I remember that, but when I played in Little League I had to play with the ids a year older than me because I have a July birthday. Since they’re pushing the fact that she’s 13 I’m guessing her age is fine. There are so many issues with this story it’s not even funny and it was announce yesterday that Davis will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. As the competition gets tougher what happens if she goes out and has a bad outing on the mound. It’s not like they can go out there and rip her performance; she’s just a kid. Is she the first girl to play in the Little League World Series? A girl being a talented little league player isn’t new to me at all. When I was playing one of the top players every year I played was a girl by the name of Cathy Wold. It’s been a long time and I hope I got her last name correct. Davis herself has handled all of this new-found fame well. She’s even said that she’d like to play college basketball at the University of Connecticut and play point guard for Geno Auriemma. I believe Davis and her team the Taney Dragons of Philadelphia who represent the Mid-Atlantic region in this tournament play tonight (Wednesday) against the Las Vegas team.

The player who dominates the sports news every time you turn on a major sports only network is Johnny Manziel. If Manziel isn’t living it up and posting photos of himself and some other famous person to his Instagram account he might be flipping off the team he’s playing. With all the so-called outside distractions that reporters love to comment on when it comes to Manziel he’s shown on the field that he’s as good if not better than any other quarterback that was drafted in May. Even though the Cleveland Browns named Brian Hoyer the starting quarterback for Week 1 Manziel made his case on the field and the Browns could’ve easily went with Johnny Football. Manziel completed 63.6 % of his passes this pre-season and rushed for 27 yards on 6 carries and his quarterback rating was a 79. If you look at the stats Manziel outplayed Hoyer, but remember these stats were put up against 2nd team players. Right now Hoyer is the best choice as starting quarterback for the Browns. Cleveland’s first three games would be rough for a player like Manziel and Hoyer’s experience should help them. The Browns open Week 1 in Pittsburgh against the Steelers. They’re home Week 2 and Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints and then the Baltimore Ravens before they get a Bye in Week 4. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if come Week 5 in Tennessee that Manziel isn’t under center against the Titans.

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

How was your Week 6/28/14

Posted: June 28, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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While we don’t talk a lot of NASCAR on the show I have to say I like this new “win and you’re in format” for the Chase they have set up. Wins should be important and I don’t have to hear a driver interview at the end of a race where he’s talking about it “was a good points day”. While you can still get into the Chase on points a win pretty much gets you in. Right now Matt Kenseth is the first driver without a win; he’s in 11th place at this point of the season. They also bumped the number of driver in the Chase from 12 (twelve) to 16 (sixteen) drivers. Just that 1 (one) win is so important to a driver that I think the drivers without a win are going to really start pressing for a win as the regular season schedule winds down. There are 10 (ten) races left before the Chase starts. It’s a Saturday night race tonight for the drivers in Kentucky; so will see if a driver without a win can get one and a spot in the Chase.

Both the NBA and NHL drafts were held this week. The difference being when your favorite NBA team drafts a player he’s pretty much expected to come in and contribute right away. When your favorite NHL team drafts a player there’s a chance you may not see him for two (2), three (3) or even four (4) seasons. Top draft picks can and have come in and contribute to the team that selects them right away. The Florida Panthers are hoping this is the case with defenseman Aaron Ekblad. Ekblad was the #1 overall pick in the draft by the Panthers. With the 2nd pick the Buffalo Sabres took centerman Sam Reinhart. At #3 the Edmonton Oilers picked another center Leon Draisaitl. With the 4th pick the Calgary Flames took another center Sam Bennett and rounding out the top 5 (five) the New York Islanders picked left winger Michael Dal Colle. By position there where 9 (nine) centers, 9 (nine) right wingers, 7 (seven) left wingers and 5 (five) defenseman were drafted in the 1st round. No goalies; 0 (zero) where drafted in the 1st round. Does it surprise you that no goalies where drafted in round 1?

We covered the NBA draft in Wednesday’s blog; the day before it happened. I don’t think there where any really surprises maybe with the exception of the Orlando Magic making Aaron Gordon the 4th pick in the draft. Did any of the 1st round picks surprise you? We discussed the draft one yesterday’s show with Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man. Dan was explaining how he dislikes the way trades our made during the draft and didn’t think it made sense. He didn’t understand and I don’t think myself or Mr. Fantasy did either. Why can’t a team who make the trade for that spot make the pick? Here’s an example; with the 10th pick the Philadelphia 76ers took point guard Elfrid Payton. There was a lot of discussion among the panel of experts covering the draft before one of them finally mentioned that their might be a trade. They even had an interview on the draft show with current 76ers point guard Michael Carter-Williams; who actually questioned of he’d still be with the 76ers. Interesting comments by Carter-Williams and if you’re a 76ers fan you couldn’t have been too happy with the way he was talking. Of course all of this was for nothing in the end. With the 12th pick the Orlando Magic took power forward Dario Saric. It was then announced that the Magic and the 76ers had agreed to trade Payton for Saric. Now if this was done before the 10th pick was made why couldn’t have Orlando of made that pick? I would love to say that they where trying to get a story out of Carter-Williams, but I really don’t think that’s what it was. I think they just caught a break their with his reaction. Their where a couple of trades during the draft and they where all handled this way. I don’t get it; can you explain it to me.

So Edwin Encarnacion of the Toronto Blue Jays, Nelson Cruz of the Baltimore Orioles and Jose Abreu are all tied for the American League lead in home runs with 25. Would you like to see these three (3) players compete for the American League in the Home Run Derby? How about on the National League side. Do you want Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton on your team? how about Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds. I know they’ve changed to a bracket format for the home run derby, but it still doesn’t make me want to watch it. I know Major League Baseball (MLB) is trying to make this interesting, but it’s just to long for me. I can remember watching the old Home Run Derby; in black and white. It had two (2) players facing off against each other and they got three (3) outs per inning. With as many players involved in the Home Rune Derby now I’m not sure they could use that format, but for me they need to find a way to make it shorter. I understand it’s done for television and I’ll check in on it to see what’s happening, but I just can’t sit down and watch the entire thing all the way through. Can you watch it from start to finish?

So, How was your week?

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

9/14/13 How was your Week?

Posted: September 14, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Uncategorized
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The Chase for the Sprint Cup starts Sunday in Joliet Illinois. On a side note the track isn’t to far from where Dan the Man lives but sadly he’s not going to the race. NASCAR added Jeff Gordon as the 13th driver to the Chase; there are normally only 12. Gordon was added because of some controversies between Joey Logano and David Gilliland. It seems as if Gilliland was going to give Logano a position on the race track that would’ve allowed Logano to qualify for the Chase; knocking Gordon out. There was also the issue earlier in the week with Michael Waltrip Racing (M.R.I.). Clint Bowyer (Dan the Man’s favorite driver) spun towards the end of the race with Ryan Newman leading. The caution flag came out and after pit stops Bowyer’s teammate Martin Truex Jr. was ahead of Newman and at the end of the race was one of the 12 drivers who made the Chase for the Sprint Cup. After the race NASCAR reviewed the radio communication between Bowyer and his pit crew and it was decided that Bowyer’s spin was intentional; so Truex would have a chance to get into the Chase. All three M. R. I. drivers (Bowyer, Truex and Brian Vickers) were penalized 50 points and put on probation. The penalty knocked Truex out of the Chase and gave Newman the last spot in the Chase. Gordon was also in the running for a spot in the Chase when all this stuff went on and after a review of the Logano/Gilliland situation Gordon was added as the 13th driver in the Chase. I think NASCAR handled the situation correctly and Gordon should’ve been allowed to compete for the championship. Once the Chase gets started a lot of these issues will go away and they’ll be back to racing.

The National League wild card race seems to be heating up and every expert I’ve heard talk about it is on the Washington Nationals band wagon. I believe the Nationals where 5 games behind the Cincinnati Reds coming into play today (Saturday). 5 games are a lot to make up with just about 15 games to go, but they’ve been the hottest team all month and have given themselves a chance. The American League wild card is an even bigger mess. It looks like either the Texas Rangers or the Oakland A’s will take one of the wild card spots, but the second spot is up for grab. You could take 4 or 5 teams and throw their name in a hat for that second spot. The Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and even the Kansas City Royals are trying to find a way to take the second wild card spot. It should make the final couple of weeks of the baseball season fun to watch.

We’re doing an NFL preview show on Sunday mornings from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. central standard time. You can find it on Blog Talk Radio and the name of the show is NFL Preview Week 2. Just like last season we;re making picks on the games and last week went like this; Mr. Fantasy and I went 10 – 5 and Dan the Man was 9 – 6. Week 2 started Thursday night with the New England Patriots beating the New York Jets 13 – 10. If you want to know if we think your favorite team will win listen in. Will also talk about injuries, fantasy advise and anything else we think of that might affect the game.

We don’t talk a lot about the PGA tour on the show, but last night (Friday) I had to mentioned that Jim Furyk shot a 59 Friday at the BMW championship in Lake Forest Illinois. This is the 6th time in PGA history that a 59 has been carded. Furyk need a birdie on the 18th hole to get to 59 and he hit his second shot out of the fairway to just a few feet of the hole. Of course he made the putt to get around in 59. It’s not a huge sports topic but I thought it was something that deserves mentioning.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime