Remember back when anytime that there was no school (summer vacation, Christmas break ect.) the first half of your day consisted entirely of watching sportscenter re-runs. It would get to the point where by the 11 am re-run you could pinpoint to the very second when Stuart Scott was goi
ng to kiss (super star X of the time period) butt. One particular segment that I watched every year always stood out to me for how stupid it was. ESPN would run a top ten stories of the year show in December, where it did just that-count from ten to one the top stories of that year. My issue is that we were there and we knew all of these stories. A much better angle to take to me is what the top ten stories will be, since we are the experts. Here are the ten most important sport subplots of 2011, with as little of my absurd New York bias as I can contain.
10. Will the Seahawks pull a 2006 St.Louis Cardinals
2006 was a year in which the National League was simply put dreadful. There were scouts who legitimately thought that fourth place teams in the AL were better than division winners in the NL. So naturally the Cardinals defeated the Tigers in the World Series. It gave those dweeb National League "purists" a chance to gloat like their league was even decent, failing to realize the Tigers literally threw away that series. The point of this nonsense?
Everybody blasted the NFC West all year, and with good cause, a 7-9 team made the playoffs. There was enough momentum with the case for not letting teams with below .500 records into the playoffs that it seemed that there could be a rightful change on the horizon. Fast forward to the present and many are saying that the Seahawks validated themselves and the NFC West with that win.
What I would say is Seattle did the sport of football a great injustice by having a good game over the weekend. It is totally unfair that a Saints team who would win four out of five times on a neutral field and twenty (yes twenty) times out of ten at home, had to travel to the West Coast to play a road game in a hostile environment. Yes the Seahawks did a good job, but (especially) if they keep winning then they will have almost killed all momentum to ban sub .500 teams from the playoffs, and somewhere down the road an 8-10 team will sneak into the playoffs over a 11-7 team that finished third in its division.
9. Will the Phillies Super Rotation equal that Ring
Every Phillies fan will now get a glimpse of what it's like to root for the pinstripes. Will they have a staff that is arguably the best ever-yes. They had pretty close to that by the end of last year actually. As amazing as this is to say, the offense is the only real question mark. Losing Werth was huge because of his dominance against left-handed pitching. The Phillies are so left handed that they needed a presence like Werth to keep teams from throwing lefties against them in a short series and shutting them down. Ultimately guys like Utley, Howard and to a degree Rollins are too talented not to take this team to a minimum of a berth in the Fall Classic.
8. Hopefully this is the year MMA Dies
The only kids I know who watch MMA are guys who are in their late 20's that still work part time at Wegmans and have no female contact, and in one case the kids mother walked in on him jerking off while an episode of the Honeymooners was on (true story). Point is, when that's your demographic, I want you to vanish.
7. Do the Young Stars of the NHL=More support
The few hockey purists that I know tell me that right now the NHL has seen an influx of young talent led by Crosby and Ovechkin, that is similar to what LeBron, Melo and Wade infused to the NBA in 2003. Everybody knows that hockey has it's core of fans that are as loyal as any. The big question is if the NHL can grab the casual fan who bounced when 99 hung up his skates. My Dad was a huge Gretzky fan and watched his games for every team that he played for. The current state of my Dad's hockey knowledge? He asked me the other day if Paul Coffey was still the best defensemen in the league (completely true). It's fans like my dad that the NHL needs to get back so they don't have to televise their playoffs on The National Geographic channel this spring. Hopefully these young athletes will get the NHL back to major sport status.
6. Were will Melo Land?
Bill Simmons did a fantastic job stealing my thunder with his column from Wednesday. The interesting part about this whole fiasco is that Melo wont swing anyone's 2011 title hopes unless he got traded to the Mavs. The smart move for Denver would be to get a trade finished now so that they don't end up with nothing. You need to look no further than Tuesdays Cavs-Lakers game for that to be clear. The other big question I have for the reported three team deal involving the Nuggets, Nets, and Pistons-what is Detroit doing? Coming off of the 08-09 season this team had some decent pieces in place and loads of cap room. Fast forward to the present and no team is more pointless than the once proud Pistons. In the proposed deal they allegedly would land Johan Petro,Troy Murphy, a first round pick, and a $50 Best Buy gift card. I don't understand what their plan is. I miss wearing my Defenders shirt. Any scenario that happens will more than likely have a major impact on three franchises, so the fate of this deal will help shape the NBA for the next five years.
5. Will a Contender Emerge?
We are roughly three months into the college basketball season and no team has distinguished itself. As a matter of fact no conference has truly distinguished itself, though the Big East probably is the best/deepest conference. Does anyone else get the feeling that any team in the top twenty right now could win it all. Syracuse is an outside shooter and a Fab Melo basketball I.Q/talent/pair of hands/pair of feet that work from contending. I just can't see Syracuse winning six games in a row in March with Scoop Jardine, Triche, and an occasionally on James Southerland your only shooters. Teams are too smart now to not force Cuse to shoot jumpers. We shall see (I couldn't totally leave out my New York bias)
4. Where will Tom Brady Stand Historically in Four Weeks
Tom Brady could show up to the game and take every snap the wrong way as a score for the Jets and still be a Hall of Famer at the end of the day. With another deep run and title these next couple weeks, Brady would be getting to the point where he could stack his resume up against.any QB all time. People seem to be handing them the title right now, but it wont be nearly as easy as people think. Whatever they do will hinge on Brady playing near flawless football. If he does and they win another title, I think he would have the stats and the rings to be no lower than the fifth best QB EVER. It will be interesting to see if Brady and Mr. Charisma can willl their way to another ring.
3. Will Tiger Woods Bounce Back
It stills kills me every time I think about Tiger hitting on a girl with that geek voice of his. I can just pi
cture him hitting on a waitress at Perkins saying something dumb like "Poppa needs his irons cleaned." Our boy got himself in trouble and subsequently lost his stronghold on the world of golf.
Tiger is the most influential, important athlete in the world. He keeps golf as a sport that isn't banished to T.V hell like hockey. He gave my generation motivation to pick up the game. The African American community also would benefit from having Woods re-establish his game and reputation. I think that Tiger will come roaring back. Last year, aside from the distractions he was changing his swing (which the timing to do something like that is more confusing than the kid I went to college with that thought Jamelski was innocent) and getting back into shape after surgery. I look for this year to be the year he can look up at us like a geek again and proclaim "hello world."
2. The Miami Heat Saga
Everything about this season for Miami has been completely predictable. Inevitably they would lose some games early as the media idealists blasted them. We all knew that they would put a streak together as they all got more comfortable playing together. We just need to see how that translates deep in the playoffs. I for one don't think chemistry will be their downfall. I believe that tired legs and poor defense will.
Inevitably athletes like Wade and James need some kind of rest. If they continue at the pace that their at than I can't imagine three men being nearly fresh enough to maintain a high level of play with so much ware and tare. I believe the only chance they have this year is if after the All Star break Mike Miller plays like its 2006 and gives Spoelstra the opportunity to play the "Big 3" around 30-32 minutes a night. This may leave enough in their tank to be able to carry a team for (by June) eight months straight.
A larger concern for me is that this Miami team is prone to major defensive lapses. There have been way too many quarters like the 44 point quarter the Clippers put up the other night, or the 72 point half Golden State had against them. In May and June they wont be able to come storming back against a team like the Celtics or Lakers who wont give the game back to them. In light of this whole "Decision" nonsense I think that how Miami reacts with the pressure on will be a humongous story.
1. Impending NBA and NFL Work Stoppages
Just remember the Montreal Expos and the NHL. Not the route you want to take
ng to kiss (super star X of the time period) butt. One particular segment that I watched every year always stood out to me for how stupid it was. ESPN would run a top ten stories of the year show in December, where it did just that-count from ten to one the top stories of that year. My issue is that we were there and we knew all of these stories. A much better angle to take to me is what the top ten stories will be, since we are the experts. Here are the ten most important sport subplots of 2011, with as little of my absurd New York bias as I can contain.10. Will the Seahawks pull a 2006 St.Louis Cardinals
2006 was a year in which the National League was simply put dreadful. There were scouts who legitimately thought that fourth place teams in the AL were better than division winners in the NL. So naturally the Cardinals defeated the Tigers in the World Series. It gave those dweeb National League "purists" a chance to gloat like their league was even decent, failing to realize the Tigers literally threw away that series. The point of this nonsense?
Everybody blasted the NFC West all year, and with good cause, a 7-9 team made the playoffs. There was enough momentum with the case for not letting teams with below .500 records into the playoffs that it seemed that there could be a rightful change on the horizon. Fast forward to the present and many are saying that the Seahawks validated themselves and the NFC West with that win.
What I would say is Seattle did the sport of football a great injustice by having a good game over the weekend. It is totally unfair that a Saints team who would win four out of five times on a neutral field and twenty (yes twenty) times out of ten at home, had to travel to the West Coast to play a road game in a hostile environment. Yes the Seahawks did a good job, but (especially) if they keep winning then they will have almost killed all momentum to ban sub .500 teams from the playoffs, and somewhere down the road an 8-10 team will sneak into the playoffs over a 11-7 team that finished third in its division.
9. Will the Phillies Super Rotation equal that Ring
Every Phillies fan will now get a glimpse of what it's like to root for the pinstripes. Will they have a staff that is arguably the best ever-yes. They had pretty close to that by the end of last year actually. As amazing as this is to say, the offense is the only real question mark. Losing Werth was huge because of his dominance against left-handed pitching. The Phillies are so left handed that they needed a presence like Werth to keep teams from throwing lefties against them in a short series and shutting them down. Ultimately guys like Utley, Howard and to a degree Rollins are too talented not to take this team to a minimum of a berth in the Fall Classic.
8. Hopefully this is the year MMA Dies
The only kids I know who watch MMA are guys who are in their late 20's that still work part time at Wegmans and have no female contact, and in one case the kids mother walked in on him jerking off while an episode of the Honeymooners was on (true story). Point is, when that's your demographic, I want you to vanish.
7. Do the Young Stars of the NHL=More support
The few hockey purists that I know tell me that right now the NHL has seen an influx of young talent led by Crosby and Ovechkin, that is similar to what LeBron, Melo and Wade infused to the NBA in 2003. Everybody knows that hockey has it's core of fans that are as loyal as any. The big question is if the NHL can grab the casual fan who bounced when 99 hung up his skates. My Dad was a huge Gretzky fan and watched his games for every team that he played for. The current state of my Dad's hockey knowledge? He asked me the other day if Paul Coffey was still the best defensemen in the league (completely true). It's fans like my dad that the NHL needs to get back so they don't have to televise their playoffs on The National Geographic channel this spring. Hopefully these young athletes will get the NHL back to major sport status.
6. Were will Melo Land?
Bill Simmons did a fantastic job stealing my thunder with his column from Wednesday. The interesting part about this whole fiasco is that Melo wont swing anyone's 2011 title hopes unless he got traded to the Mavs. The smart move for Denver would be to get a trade finished now so that they don't end up with nothing. You need to look no further than Tuesdays Cavs-Lakers game for that to be clear. The other big question I have for the reported three team deal involving the Nuggets, Nets, and Pistons-what is Detroit doing? Coming off of the 08-09 season this team had some decent pieces in place and loads of cap room. Fast forward to the present and no team is more pointless than the once proud Pistons. In the proposed deal they allegedly would land Johan Petro,Troy Murphy, a first round pick, and a $50 Best Buy gift card. I don't understand what their plan is. I miss wearing my Defenders shirt. Any scenario that happens will more than likely have a major impact on three franchises, so the fate of this deal will help shape the NBA for the next five years.
5. Will a Contender Emerge?
We are roughly three months into the college basketball season and no team has distinguished itself. As a matter of fact no conference has truly distinguished itself, though the Big East probably is the best/deepest conference. Does anyone else get the feeling that any team in the top twenty right now could win it all. Syracuse is an outside shooter and a Fab Melo basketball I.Q/talent/pair of hands/pair of feet that work from contending. I just can't see Syracuse winning six games in a row in March with Scoop Jardine, Triche, and an occasionally on James Southerland your only shooters. Teams are too smart now to not force Cuse to shoot jumpers. We shall see (I couldn't totally leave out my New York bias)
4. Where will Tom Brady Stand Historically in Four Weeks
Tom Brady could show up to the game and take every snap the wrong way as a score for the Jets and still be a Hall of Famer at the end of the day. With another deep run and title these next couple weeks, Brady would be getting to the point where he could stack his resume up against.any QB all time. People seem to be handing them the title right now, but it wont be nearly as easy as people think. Whatever they do will hinge on Brady playing near flawless football. If he does and they win another title, I think he would have the stats and the rings to be no lower than the fifth best QB EVER. It will be interesting to see if Brady and Mr. Charisma can willl their way to another ring.
3. Will Tiger Woods Bounce Back
It stills kills me every time I think about Tiger hitting on a girl with that geek voice of his. I can just pi
cture him hitting on a waitress at Perkins saying something dumb like "Poppa needs his irons cleaned." Our boy got himself in trouble and subsequently lost his stronghold on the world of golf.Tiger is the most influential, important athlete in the world. He keeps golf as a sport that isn't banished to T.V hell like hockey. He gave my generation motivation to pick up the game. The African American community also would benefit from having Woods re-establish his game and reputation. I think that Tiger will come roaring back. Last year, aside from the distractions he was changing his swing (which the timing to do something like that is more confusing than the kid I went to college with that thought Jamelski was innocent) and getting back into shape after surgery. I look for this year to be the year he can look up at us like a geek again and proclaim "hello world."
2. The Miami Heat Saga
Everything about this season for Miami has been completely predictable. Inevitably they would lose some games early as the media idealists blasted them. We all knew that they would put a streak together as they all got more comfortable playing together. We just need to see how that translates deep in the playoffs. I for one don't think chemistry will be their downfall. I believe that tired legs and poor defense will.
Inevitably athletes like Wade and James need some kind of rest. If they continue at the pace that their at than I can't imagine three men being nearly fresh enough to maintain a high level of play with so much ware and tare. I believe the only chance they have this year is if after the All Star break Mike Miller plays like its 2006 and gives Spoelstra the opportunity to play the "Big 3" around 30-32 minutes a night. This may leave enough in their tank to be able to carry a team for (by June) eight months straight.
A larger concern for me is that this Miami team is prone to major defensive lapses. There have been way too many quarters like the 44 point quarter the Clippers put up the other night, or the 72 point half Golden State had against them. In May and June they wont be able to come storming back against a team like the Celtics or Lakers who wont give the game back to them. In light of this whole "Decision" nonsense I think that how Miami reacts with the pressure on will be a humongous story.
1. Impending NBA and NFL Work Stoppages
Just remember the Montreal Expos and the NHL. Not the route you want to take
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