NFL Week 2 Fantasy Picks

Not every week, but most weeks, I plan on doing a Fantasy Overview previewing the top performers of the month. Anyway, here it goes.

QB - Tom Brady - New England Patriots

Brady and the 'Pats' are up against the Arizona Cardinals. Obviously, there is no doubt that Tom Brady will have few issues against the Cardinals' defence, especially because the Patriots won the last meeting between the teams, 47 to 7.

RB - Brandon Jacobs - New York Giants

Brandon Jacobs has become better and better over the years, and he isn't too far from the stardom of Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson. Jacobs and the Giants will host the Tampa Bay Bucs', who have an average rush defence at best. Jacobs should be able to blow up the stats, and dispel any possible losing streak.

WR - Dez Bryant - Dallas Cowboys

Bryant, despite having some recent issues, could possibly blossom in the Week Two match up against the Seattle Seahawks. The Cowboys have had a very good rhythm in their passing game, through tight end Jason Witten, and wide receivers Miles Austin and Dez Bryant. Bryant could get in a touchdown or two this weekend.

TE - Jimmy Graham - New Orleans Saints

The Saints are looking to rebound after a bad loss to the Washington Redskins. Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham will head off to Charlotte to play the Carolina Panthers in Week Two. While the panthers have a moderate offence, their defence isn't the best. I expect Jimmy Graham to get some quality passes to make him a chart-topper in week two.

Defence -  Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens are going up against a Philadelphia Eagles team, who can be good, but not spectacular. The Ravens are definitely a force to be reckoned with, and they will give Michael Vick and the Eagles lots of pain.  

Premier League Preview

Nick United

Commentary for Soccer, Futbol, or whatever you call it!

It's been awhile since my last post, and ironically enough, it's already time for the greatest league on Earth to rebut: The Barclays Premier League. Many moves have been made, money traded, and squads trained. It's time to hit the pitch and get down to business.

1. Manchester United

ManU is a truly elite squad: virtually the New York Yankess of association football. I think they have the talent (i.e. Fletcher, Nani, Rooney, Ferdinand) to go a long way. I think that last season was just inches short of triumph, and United has come a long way to not gain themselves a title. Manchester has made few changes, but the edition of van Persie will definitely make the Manchester United midfielder corps a lot much better. 

2. Chelsea

While the word on the street is that Wayne Rooney is the Premier League's best striker, thou could also make a case for Fernando Torres of Spain. Torres has an entire stockpile of morale after the Spaniards' Euro championship. However, Torres isn't Chelsea's only phenomenon, opposing strikers have Ashley Cole and John Terry to deal with, not to mention Frank Lampard and Juan Mata in midfield. Chelsea won't be any more than three points behind the title, and ManUtd should definitely watch out for the blues.

3. Tottenham Hotspur

The boys of White Hart Lane aren't necessarily filled with superstars like the teams named above, but the squad chemistry and management division are superb. Footballers such as Scott Parker, Luka Mordic, and Michael Dawson aren't the big all-stars we commonly association with being 'great', but they are all team players nonetheless. Heck, eleven men could beat out a solo Pelé any day.

4. Manchester City

Who's the top dog in Manchester now? Well, ManCity for now. The squad of Manchester city strikes me as 'overrated' and 'ego-induced, with the exception of Joe Hart. The "Why always me"-ism of Mario Ballotelli can, at times can make me want to puke, and at other times, make me want to burst out laughing. He also seems to contradict himself, because he a) gets himself benched multiple times after blowing a goal by showing off with a fancy shot, then b) boast that he doesn't celebrate goals because its his 'job'. However, City does have talent, and a top five finish is in order.

5. Arsenal

Arsenal is a lot like Spurs in the sense the the Gunners lack in stardom, but are big on team players and teamwork. There's not a lot to be said about Arsenal, besides that they have excellent side chemistry. Expect the Gunners to poke their heads into the top five, and might even soar a spot or two higher.

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That's about all for now, I am looking forward to the season of many domestic leagues.

Sports that should (and shouldn’t) be in the Olympics

The list of Olympic Sports goes on and on. Athletics, Archery, Swimming, etc.; it almost never ends. However, there are some sports that I believe should, and shouldn’t be in the Olympiad. Here are my opinions.

For the I.O.C. (International Olympic Committee) to admit a sport into either the winter or summer Olympics, the sport must be compliant with the Olympic Charter, be administrated by an Internation Federation, be widely played world-wide and be approved by the I.O.C.  There are some sports that will be a part of the 2016 Rio de Janero Olympiad, that weren’t part of the London Games. These sports are Golf and Rugby Union. I am perplexed by golf, because, it should have been a part of the games a long time ago, which it was, but then taken off. Golf is pretty widely played worldwide, thank you to an international Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour. Most Americans are wondering how Rugby, but not American Football, is going to make the games, but actually, Rugby Union, is very wide spread. It’s played a lot in Canada, and believe it or not, Rugby Sevens is somewhat of a major thing in NCAA. And, of course, Rugby is huge in Europe, and a little bit of Asia.

Well, there are only a few Olympic sports I think should be added. Baseball has a decent international base. It’s played in America and Canada, much of the Carribean, and South Africa, and last but not least, it’s huge in Japan, which is why all most all of the gloves I’ve ever owned have been Mizouno. Of course, the main agreement against, what I am saying is, “Only men play baseball.” Well, true, in a way, but you see, there is always softball. Softball may be seen as a totally different game, but you can also look at it as a modification of baseball. Ice Hockey is a good example to help my case. Womens’ Hockey is non-contact, which may seem minor, but the lack of contact is totally alien to the mens’ version. Also, many other sports, such as Swimming and Track have abbreviated distances for women. I really don’t see why not to add Baseball/Softball to the list of Olympic Sports.

The one sport I think should be removed from the roster of Olympic Sports is Table Tennis. Table Tennis, or simply, ping-pong, doesn’t really strike me as a sport any more than poker or billards. Maybe it is just my personal bias, and I will be the first to admit, that it very well does fit the criteria set by the I.O.C. I guess it is very opinionated to say such a thing, but it is just my personal judgments and you can disagree with me if you like, just saying.

London 2012 has been very entertaining, and it can only get more exciting from here!

Source(s):

• International Olympic Committee Website

Joe Paterno: A Fractured Legacy

Joe Paterno’s Legacy, is a confused mess of triumph, greatness, and disgust. Paterno was one of the best college football coaches, if not the best football coach, period, of nearly all time. How do you judge Paterno’s legacy? Should his statue be removed? Finally, does the football program of Penn State deserve to be dismantled?

Joe Paterno was a great coach, and is an intriguing story of a life. Joe Paterno, the leader of men, who apparently was able to build fine football players, excelling students, and complete men. But, when push came to shove, and the results of the so-called Freeh Report, reported what to me seemed obvious, Joe Paterno, and other administrators, covered up Jerry Sandusky’s heinous sins. The fact is, Paterno, broke a law. If you know of Child Abuse you are legally obliged to report it to authorities, or you can be charged and tried in the criminal court of law. So, did he (Paterno) did all he possibly could to stop the malicious abuse of children? No. Plain and Simple. It was Paterno and other administrators who thought they could deal with the problem themselves and ultimately prevent a colleague from being arrested. In the end, Paterno might have done a lot of good things for Penn State and college football, but after what he has done, I find it morally hard to accept him as a great man, but I can buy him as a legendary football coach.

The status of the statue is a very sensitive subject. I honestly do not believe that Paterno deserves to have such a grand and embellishing statue outside of the stadium. At the same time, I do not think that he deserves no credit to how much he has contributed to the on the field success of the football program. Instead of a statue, I can see and approve of a mural of Paterno, maybe of him being carried off the field by a championship team, and a plaque on the mural reading “JOE PATERNO 1926-2012”. I think that wouldn’t be so heroizing (New word!) but would still recognize him for coaching such a good team.

The biggest issue of this everlasting scandal, which seems to add a new chapter to the saga every month, is what will happen to the football program itself. I have heard different reports about different opinions and demands. I have heard/read about people calling for the football program itself, to be eternally terminated. I am not sure about that, but that is why you pay the people in the position to lead, the big bucks. You, as a work place superior to someone like Joe Paterno or the head of the Penn State Athletics Department, would hope that the people in charge would do the right thing. Thus, when you are a leader, and you screw up, you make your organization suffer as well. An argument countering argument to the permanent death penalty of Penn State football is, “What about the players?”. The thing is, if a football player is good enough to go to play, as a non-walk-on, for somewhere with as much reputation as Penn State, he could probably play anywhere else. But, as a program itself, I do not believe that the football program being taken away, is the right choice. I think that Penn State should ban themselves from playing in bowl games.

There are also a lot of other interesting opinions across the web. The most intriguing one is a Fox Sports rticle about how things would have turned out differently if there was a female in charge of some part of the athletics department.

Anyways, those are my opinions, and it was announced yesterday that the statue would come down, and it has, and NCAA fined the football program $60 Million, and all their wins since 1998, and suspended the program from any bowl games for the next four years.

Switching Around

The NBA offseason is heating up, and almost every team is running around, trying to pick up some new talent. There's been a lot of talk, but so far, few things have happened. The primary big name transfer was Steve Nash going to the Lakers. However, many other possible traders are in the works. Ray Allen wants to move to Miami, Jeremy Lin is contemplating going to the Rockets, and Dwight Howard, well, he could go just about anywhere now.

I am going to start off my commentary, with Nash and the Lakers. I think, Nash will offer a lot of leadership and teamwork to the Lakers. Steve Nash works very hard, and has a great attitude that will have a positive effect on the team. I think that, while the Miami Heat has a great group of forwards, the LA Lakers have the NBA's most elite, point guard-shooting guard match up with Nash and Kobe Bryant. I don't see why the Lakers can't go a long way in the 2013 playoffs.

Now, we have Dwight Howard in the middle of talks with the Orlando Magic. I find the Saga to be really long, and bland. Basically, the Magic can't make Howard happy enough to be able to resign him. So, there are a million other places he could end up. I have seen articles on the internet stating that there a rumors he could go to Houston or the Lakers, but really, it is impossible to tell. The fatal flaw of sports writing, is predicting what's going to happen, whether it's who wins a game, or which free agent ends up where. Honestly, I couldn't see him playing for anyone else, but the Magic. Eventually, Howard and the Orlando Magic will be able to strike a deal.

Jeremy Lin signed an offer sheet with the Houston Rockets, so the deal is almost half done. But, what does an offer sheet do? An offer sheet basically states, that an offer has been made to a player, and the team who the player belongs to, has 72 hours to make a counter offer to keep their player. I think Lin will fit right in with the Rockets, and even if the Knicks decide to counter, Lin would like the center stage of Houston a lot more.

Finally, we have Ray Allen and him wanting to go to the Heat. Why? Don't ask me that: you already know. Obviously, he wants to win a championship, which obviously isn't possible via the Celtics and hard work. That's probably his view, which I don't really understand. And honestly, how much more stacked can the Miami Heat get. Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and even Shane Battier would be a star if he wasn't over shadowed by these goons. So much for the CBA. However, if the Heat have the room to sign him, there is no question that they will. But, I doubt he will ever get down to South Beach, probably at the end of it all, he will find himself in Boston, which isn't a bad thing. In my opinion, winning a title with the Celtics isn't all that hard.

Well, it looks like the NBA will have itself a hectic offseason. Perhaps, this post-lockout after shock will be just makes this offseason more busy to make up for all the inactivity last summer due to the lockout. The one thing I always remember is, every offseason is a soap opera.