Posts Tagged ‘nba’

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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How was your week

Posted: January 2, 2016 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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I’m sure you know that we’re not huge college football fans at Sports Time Radio, but it seems as though the bowl season has been disappointing. New Years Eve had the Final 4 match ups and both games ended up being blowouts. The first game was Clemson vs. Oklahoma. Oklahoma actually led this game 17-16 going into halftime and then didn’t score again in the game as Clemson cruised to a 37-17 victory. The second game; if you can even call it a game was Alabama vs. Michigan State. Neither team scored in the first quarter. After that Alabama went on to score 38 straight points while not giving up any points as they easily advanced to the title game with a 38-0 victory. I only saw a little bit of each of these games, but unless you are a fan of these teams was there a reason for you to stay with the game after they became blowouts. Here’ hoping the Clemson vs. Alabama championship game will be better than these semi-final match ups turned out to be.

If you’re still interested in college football the last 4 bowl are are on the schedule for today. It starts off with the Taxslayer Bowl featuring Penn State vs. Georgia. Then there’s the Liberty Bowl with Kansas State vs. Arkansas. The Alamo Bowl is the 3rd bowl game on the schedule with Oregon vs. TCU. The night wraps up with the Cactus Bowl which has West Virginia vs. Arizona State. I’m sure I’ll flip over to check the score a time or two in these games, but I won’t watch more than a minute or two at a time. There are just way too many bowl games for me,but give me your reason for watching one of these or all of these games.

It’s the last week of the regular season in the NFL and the league is doing the best they can to make sure teams don’t know if they can rest their players. Originally the Carolina Panthers where suppose to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Noon on Sunday. While Schaumburg Stu and I where doing the Thursday podcast I notice that the Panthers/Buccaneers game had been moved to a 3:25 p.m. start time. This game was moved because the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Arizona Cardinals game was scheduled at 3:25 p.m. all along. If Carolina and Tampa Bay had played early and Carolina had won the game they would claim the #1 seed in the NFC. Once Carolina had won that game the Cardinals would be able to rest their players because they would be the #2 seed no matter if they won or lost their game with Seattle. I like this move by the NFL; I’m not sure how it will work out, but will see if any teams will try and get their players some rest during Week 17.

There where reports all week that the Indianapolis Colts won’t be bringing back there head coach Chuck Pagano. This isn’t really a big surprise. This was the last year on Pagano’s contract and after the Colts offered him just a 1 year extension you had to think there where some issues between coach and front office.  The Colts are a very disappointing 7-8 this season and while there still is a chance for them too find there way into the playoffs I wouldn’t count on that happening. This is Pagano’s 4th season as Colts head coach. In Pagano’s first 3 season with the Colts they finished 11-5 every season and made the playoffs. The Colts where a trendy Super Bowl pick at the start of the season, but with the u=injury to starting quarterback Andrew Luck the Colts have struggled to get to 7-8. There was another report that came out this week that said Pagano and General Manager Ryan Grigson don’t even speak to each other. That sounds like a difficult way to run an NFL team when the guy coaching the players and the guy picking the players don’t talk. Pagano has no say in personnel decisions as Grigson handles all of that. This is a big rif for any NFL team to deal with and someone has to go and since Pagano is in the last year of his deal it appears as he’s the one who will be leaving Indianapolis.

The Miami Dolphins where the first team t let there coach go this season. Then the Tennessee Titans fired their head coach. The Philadelphia Eagles made that same move this week letting Chip Kelly go. If the Colts do let Pagano go there are 3 head coaching openings, but what other teams may try to change coaches. It’s been reported that the Cleveland Browns will be joining this list after the season.  Will the San Diego Chargers, New York Giants and Detroit Lions be looking for new head coaches as well. What are the chances that the New Orleans Saints or Dallas Cowboys look to change head coaches. In the Saints case it may be a head coach leaving as Sean Payton seems to be linked to every NFL opening. Minus the Cowboys and the Saints; which opening would be the best one for a new head coach? Would you lean to taking the Colts job where a healthy Andrew Luck could get you right back into the playoffs. Maybe the Lions job looks good to you with a quarterback in place and a couple of capable wide receivers. The Chargers and Giants also have veteran starting quarterbacks in place. Maybe you would lean to taking a team with a young quarterback you could develop; like Marcus Mariotta in Tennessee. If you had the choice what job would you take? and how would you rank these teams if the jobs become open?

There are 11 games on the NBA schedule today with 2 of those games being carried on NBA-TV. The Phoenix Suns vs. the Sacramento Kings start the NBA-TV coverage at 4:00 p.m. The second game on NBA-TV is the Houston Rockets vs. the San Antonio Spurs at 7:30 p.m.

After featuring the outdoor game yesterday which the Montreal Canadiens won 5-1 over the Boston Bruins the NHL has 23 games on the schedule today. While there are a lot of NHL games today the only one I could find on national television is the New York Rangers vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins on the NHL Network at 6:00 p.m.

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

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Let’s call it Christmas Eve

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

You can follow on Twitter @Burketime

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

How was your Week? 11/1/14

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

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

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

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

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

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

So how was your week?

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

How was Your Week? 5/3/14

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

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

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

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

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

So how was your week?

How was your Week? 4/5/14

Posted: April 5, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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So the baseball season is underway and as I like to do I’ve been enjoying my free preview of the MLB Extra Innings package. I like being able to go from game to game and see how all the games are going. I just enjoy watching the teams from the different markets that I won’t see much of as the season moves on. I also enjoy listening to which ever teams announcers are doing the game. Dan the Man is so jealous that I was able to watch all of these games while he had to work.

Some of the surprises I caught while checking out all of these games. The Houston Astros winning their opening series against the New York Yankees. The Seattle Mariners sweeping the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I saw Aaron Harang and Matt Garza pitch against each other and have dueling no hitters for 6 2/3 innings. The Chicago Cubs Emilio Bonifacio tied a 100-year-old major league record by getting nine hits in the Cubs first two games this season. Bonifacio is 11 for 19 this season as is Miami Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria. Bonifacio also has four stolen bases to start his season. Did you have Brandon Belt or Alejandro De Aza hitting three home runs this week? While You wouldn’t expect these players to end up at the top of these hitting categories by the end of the season I did have a good time watching Colorado Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon go 6 for 6 yesterday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Blackmon had three doubles and a home run among his six hits in the Rockies 12 – 2 win.

While I was watching baseball game after baseball game Kevin Durant was tying Michael Jordan’s record by scoring 25 points in a game for the 40th straight time. Durant’s team the Oklahoma City Thunder ended the San Antonio Spurs 19 game winning streak during the week. Even with the win the Thunder are still 3 1/2 games behind the Spurs for the #1 playoff spot in the Western conference. The battle in the West will be for the 6th, 7th and 8th spots. Right now the Golden State Warriors are in 6th; the Dallas Mavericks are in 7th and the Memphis Grizzlies are holding the 8th spot. The Phoenix Suns are the odd team out right now, but have the same record (45 – 31) as Memphis. Dallas is only one game ahead of them in 7th; while Golden State is two games ahead of them in 6th. Even a 5th seed isn’t out of these teams reach as the Portland Trailblazers are just four games ahead of the 8th seed. While a team with a winning record will miss the playoff in the Western conference a couple of teams at or below .500 will make the playoffs in the Eastern conference. The Charlotte Bobcats hold the 7th Eastern conference playoff spot and are 38 – 38. The Atlanta Hawks are in the last playoff spot right now, but the New York Knicks are just a game behind the Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers hanging around just three games back of the 8th playoff spot. With only a couple of weeks left in the regular season the race for these last couple of playoff spots will make things interesting.

The NHL regular season is coming to a close as well and they have a couple of good playoff battles going on. In the Eastern conference it looks like 5 teams are going to battle it out for just 2 wild card playoff spots. The Detroit Red Wings (88 points) and the Columbus Blue Jackets (85) hold those wild card spots, but the Toronto Maple Leafs (84) are just one point out of a wild card spot. The New Jersey Devils (82) and the Washington Capitals (81) are still trying to grab a wild card spot. In the Western conference 6 of the 8 playoff spots have been locked up; it’s just the two wild card spots that are up for grabs. It looks like the Minnesota Wild are going to take one (1) of those wild card spots with 90 points this season and a four (4) point lead in the wild card standings. Right now the Phoenix Coyotes (86) hold the other wild card spot, but have just a one point lead over the Dallas Stars (85).

You can follow me on Twitter @ BurkeTime. You can find the show archives for Sports Time Radio at http://www.blogtalkradio.com

So how was your week?

03/15/14 How was your Week?

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

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

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

So how was your week?

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

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

2/1/14 How was your Week?

Posted: January 31, 2014 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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Tomorrow is the Super Bowl; the Denver Broncos vs. the Seattle Seahawks. Most of the experts I’ve heard make picks are going with Denver. Even Mr. Fantasy and Dan the Man are picking Denver to win this game. I guess I am out on my own here going with the Seahawks to win. It’s the best offense (Denver) in the NFL against the best defense (Seattle) in the NFL. If you can believe it or not and with the way we make picks sometimes it might be tough. At the beginning of the season Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy picked Denver and I actually picked Seattle to win it all. Mr. Fantasy had Denver facing Atlanta while Dan the Man had them playing New Orleans. I had Seattle facing New England in the Super Bowl. Who was your pick?

Kevin Durant’s 30 plus points a game scoring streak came to an end last night. It wasn’t a great defensive effort on someone’s part. The streak actually ended because the Oklahoma City Thunder had such a big lead that Durant sat out the entire 4th quarter. Durant scored 26 points in 30 minutes last night as the Thunder beat the Brooklyn Nets 120 – 95. Durant is making his case for Most Valuable Player and with the absence of Russell Westbrook, due to injury has kept the Thunder 1st place in the Northwest division. LeBron James and LaMarcus Aldridge have also made strong cases for MVP but right now the award belongs to Kevin Durant. I remember that when I first started watching the NBA the finals where on tape delay. Then in 1984 David Stern was appointed commissioner now 30 years later the NBA is a world-wide league. I could’ve spent the entire blog today writing about what Stern has done to make the NBA the league it is today. He did have some help as Larry Bird and Ervin “Magic” Johnson where already playing in the league and then a player by the name of Michael Jordan was drafted. While it’s a players league and they where the faces that people saw Stern knew how to work behind the scenes and kept the league growing globally. Today is Stern’s last day as NBA commissioner. Starting tomorrow Adam Silver will be the commissioner of the NBA.

The NHL is getting close to going on a two week break for the Olympics. The Anaheim Ducks have pulled away from the pack a little with an 85 point total right now. The Chicago Blackhawks are next at 79 points while the Pittsburgh Penguins are right behind with 78 points. The St, Louis Blues are also right there with 77 points. The Penguins Sidney Crosby is leading the NHL in points with 75 and assists with 48. Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is the NHL’s leading goal scorer with 39. Matt Niskanen of the Penguins is the leader in the plus minus category with a plus 30. I don’t want to forget about the goaltenders.Josh Harding (Minnesota Wild) is the NHL leader in Goals Against Average. at 1.66. Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins) leads all goalies in wins with 29. Ben Scrivens (Edmonton Oilers) is the leader in save percentage at .937. Tuukka Rask (Boston Bruins) has the most shutouts for goaltenders with 5.

As always I have to ask you; how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your Week? (12/28/13)

Posted: December 28, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Uncategorized
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So how many NBA games did you watch on Christmas day? I watched all of the Chicago Bulls win over the Brooklyn Nets. I also watched all of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s win over the New York Knicks. I only made it about half way through the Miami Heat victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. I managed to catch a total of about half of the game where the Houston Rockets defeated the San Antonio Spurs. I was unable to see any of the last game a Golden State Warriors win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The teams also wore jerseys with sleeves. Most of the people I heard talk about the jerseys didn’t like them but I actually did. I’d have to guess that the NBA referees didn’t like the jerseys since there where no numbers on the back and they had to search for the players number to make foul calls. It will be interesting to see if the NBA will pull these jerseys out again this season or if we’ve seen the last of them for now?

It’s week 17 in the NFL and there are two win and you’re in the playoffs games. Aaron Rodgers returns for the Green Bay Packers as they take on the Chicago Bears Sunday at 3:25 p.m. The winner of this game wins the NFC North and gets a playoff spot. While the Packers have Rodgers back, Clay Matthews had surgery on his thumb and is ruled out for this game. The Bears are a slight favorite in this game and a lot of the experts are picking Chicago to win this game and claim a playoff spot. It’s the best rivalry in the NFL in the last week of the regular season with a playoff spot on the line. What more could you ask for? The other win and you’re in-game is for the NFC East division title. The Philadelphia Eagles play the Dallas Cowboys in the Sunday night game for what will be the only playoff spot left by the time this game kicks off. After some game playing by the Cowboys, quarterback Tony Romo had back surgery on Friday and is out of this game. The Cowboys tried to string everyone along during the week and tried to make it seemed like Romo might play in this game. I don’t think anyone believed that at all but I think they where just trying to give the Eagles something to think about. Kyle Orton takes over as quarterback for the Cowboys; they signed Jon Kitna to be his back up. It’s a lot of pressure for Orton to step into but he’s a veteran quarterback and as long as the Cowboys game plan correctly for his skill set he’ll be fine. Now I’m not saying Dallas will win this game just that Orton has a chance to play well. If you want to know who we think is going to win these games listen tomorrow (Sunday) morning (December 29th) at 11:00 a.m. on Sports Time Radio to hear who we’re going with in these two games and all the other NFL week 17 match ups.

Dion Phanuef is in talks with the Toronto Maple Leafs on a seven year deal. The money that I heard was $7 million but I would think for a player like Phanuef it would be much higher. Phanuef is the Maple Leafs leader in minutes played and plus/minus and he does this against the other teams top line most of the time. In 38 games this season Phanuef has 3 goals and 11 assists with a plus minus rating of +10 while racking up 48 penalty minutes.

In the Eastern conference the Boston Bruins in leading the way with 54 points. The Pittsburgh Penguins are on top in the Metropolitan division with 57 points. In the Western Conference the Chicago Blackhawks lead the Central division with 60 points. The Anaheim Ducks lead the Pacific division with 59 points. Sidney Crosby leads the NHL in points with 50 while Patrick Kane is 2nd with 50 points. Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals with 30 while Alexander Steen is 2nd with 24. Joe Thornton leads the NHL in assists with 37 while Nicholas Backstrom and Sidney Crosby are tied for 2nd with 34. Hampus Lindholm is a +22 to lead the NHL in plus minus rating. Tuukka Rask has 4 shutouts to lead all goalies in that category.

Masahiro Tanaka was posted by his Japanese team the Rakuten Golden Eagles on Christmas day. The rumor is Tanaka wants $17 million dollars a season to pitch in the majors. Once a team signs Tanaka his Japanese team will receive $20 million dollar from the team that signs Tanaka. Tanaka was 24 – 0 with a 1.27 era, last season. Tanaka did lose a game in the Japanese World Series but did come back the very next day to close out the championship. There are a long, long list of major league baseball teams looking to sign Tanaka; so now they have 30 days to get his signature on a contract. Let the bidding war start.

So how was your week?

You can follow me on Twitter @burketime

12/21/13 How was your Week?

Posted: December 21, 2013 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, sports, Uncategorized
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Yesterday (Friday) the Baltimore Orioles voided their two $15 million dollar contract offer to free agent closer Grant Balfour. The Orioles reported that there was a shoulder issue that came up during Balfour’s physical. Now there are reports coming out this morning (Saturday) that physician’s from the Cincinnati Reds and the Tampa Bay Rays didn’t agree with the Orioles diagnosis. Balfour has released a statement saying he feels disrespected by the Orioles but it looks like he’ll be back out on the free agent market.

I mentioned on the show last night (Friday) that I’ve always been a fan of Kobe Bryant. So as you can guess I was disappointed to see him go down with a fracture knee cap in his left knee. It just happens to be the same leg that he suffered the torn Achilles last season. Bryant is scheduled to be out for six weeks and told reporters that “Only an idiot would” doubt his resolve to return to the Lakers. Bryant is 35 and is starting to have these injury issues pop up. Last season with the Achilles and now this injury happened just six games into Bryant’s season. Bryant was playing a little over 29 minutes in those six games he got to play in. He was averaging 13.8 points a game, shooting 42.5% from the field. Bryant had recently been giving the duty of handling the basketball more; so his assists where up to an average of 6.3 a game but with the extra ball handling duties his turnovers where up as well. He was averaging 5.7 turnovers a game. Being a fan I have no doubt that Bryant will be back but what kind of impact can he have on this Lakers team this season?

There are two months left until the NBA trade deadline but the name that was out right away with a lot of noise was Houston Rockets Center Omer Asik. Some of the rumors had Asik going to the New Orleans Pelicans for Ryan Anderson. Another rumor had him going to Philadelphia for Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes. One more rumor being reported had Asik headed to Boston for Brandon Bass, Courtney Lee and a low-end first rounder from Boston. The Rockets have said that they’re going to hang on to Asik for nowbut will see how this plays out and where he ends up.

Let’s stick with the NBA here and talk a little about what has to be considered the biggest surprise team early this season, the Portland Trailblazers. 27 games into the season the Trailblazers are 22 – 5 going 10 – 2 at home during these games. The Trailblazers have four players averaging double-digit scoring for them this season. LaMarcus Aldridge leads the way with 23.3 points a game but Damian Lillard is right behind him at 21.3. Wesley Matthews at 16.2 points per game and Nicolas Batum at 14.1 points per game are the other two Trailblazers averaging double figures. Aldridge is also leading the team in rebounds per game at 11.1. Robin Lopez is 2nd on the team averaging 8.4 rebounds per game. Lopez also has the best shooting percentage on the team at just under 54%. Lillard leads the team in assists per game with 5.9. Batum is second on the team at 5.2 assists per game and Mo Williams is handing out 4.5 assists per game. I actually heard a sports writer explain that Portland doesn’t get a lot of coverage because sports writers and televised games don’t want to go to Portland because it’s not as exciting as an New York or Los Angeles. More or less saying that there’s nothing they like or want to do in Portland after a game. Sadly I didn’t know that part of being a good team meant having to have places for people to go after your games. Who knows how the Trailblazers will end up this season, but it’s a nice early season story and you never know they might be able to roll this good start into some type of playoff run. I guess then everyone would have to go to Portland.

@Burketime

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