Inside the head of a sports fanatic

Greetings everyone! It has been almost two weeks since my last entry. Life gets busy sometimes, especially when you're a restaurant general manager and a single father taking care of a three and a half year old that thinks he's seven. Anyways I thought it would be fun for everyone to take a dive into my brain and see what it's like viewing life through the eyes of a sports obsessed guy. So here goes...

So much time so little to do! Wait... strike that, reverse it! Tiger apologies. My opinion: he has a really, really good PR team writing for him. Like I've told people before, in this day and age, all famous need to do is apologize on TV, completely throw themselves at the mercy of the public, shoulder all the blame, and ask for forgiveness and support. I especially like when took a stand against the paparazzi and told them to leave his family alone. Very powerful stuff, and it will go a long way with people everywhere. I expect Woods to return sometime around June, three more months of training for the most colossal heckling he's about to receive should do it. Seriously though, you think college students are bad at sporting events? drunk 38 year old men at NFL games? Think again. We will see a whole new low of fan taunting when Woods returns to the PGA Tour. And my belief is most people will react with: that's so terrible, the man apologized give him a second chance. Yet they will keep their TV on and read every article about the jeers and jokes directed Tiger's way.

College basketball is really starting to heat up. Lots of great games left and right. Pitt defeated West Virginia in a triple overtime classic recently. UConn went into Villanova and handed the Cats their first home loss of the season. The Orangemen lost at home to Louisville. I'm telling you this will be one memorable March. The conference tourneys will be intense and the big dance is going to turn your world upside down. Selection Sunday is three weeks from Sunday, one of my favorite days of the year. I was checking out my boy Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology predictions and low and behold he has Purdue as the 4th number 1 seed. Anyone care to go back to my last article and see one of my darkhorse favorites for the Final Four is.... Purdue? Nuff said, my sports knowledge is unreal and unfair.

Spring Training is upon us. Pitchers and catchers reported 2 days ago, position players report on Monday and first official workout is scheduled for Wednesday the 24th, that is the schedule for my beloved BoSox at least. I really don't get too pumped for baseball for another month. The start of MLB 2010 regular season takes place at the greatest venue in sports - Fenway Park. Fate would have it that the Sox open and close their season in Beantown against a familiar foe, our bitter rivals, the defending champion Yankees. Personally, this is the smartest thing major league baseball has done in years. Start and end the season with the most intense rivalry in sports. Anytime the Sox n Yanks meet up it's an epic clash of titans. In one month's time I will extremely juiced up (sorry Canseco for stealing your line) for baseball and we'll breakdown the upcoming season for Boston and NY. Till then let's just sleep on beautiful thoughts such as A-rod striking out on three pitches in the ninth inning with the Fenway faithful going bonkers in the background. Now that's what I'm talking bout!

The NBA trade system needs some revamping and retooling. It's absolutely absurd to me that Cleveland can retrieve one of the essential players in 30 days that they just gave away in a trade. Just makes the entire trade a joke. Go ahead, ask Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers. They'll give spirited responses. With that said, I think the Cavs made a big mistake. Reports throughout all-star weekend had Amare heading to Cleveland to pair with King James and form an unstoppable tandem. Instead they chose Antwan Jamison. This move could prove deadly on two counts: 1 - it could cause them a championship. Stoudemire was the missing piece to the puzzle. Now they will have to rely on an aging Shaq, who is a shell of his former self. I for one can't wait to see how he performs in the playoffs. Jamison is 33 years old and has never played for a team with such huge expectations. Undoubtedly the Cavs will head into the playoffs for the 2nd consecutive year as the favorite to represent the East in the Finals. We all saw what happened last year when the world penciled in Kobe and Lebron to meet up, my boys, the Magic, spoiled the party. I have good reason to believe the same thing could happen this year. Orlando has one of the deepest teams in the league, next to the Lakers. And last time I checked, LA plays in the Western Conference. Case in point, watch an NBA game this Sunday. The Magic host the Cavs in what should be a great game and most likey a preview of the Eastern Conf. Finals. Cleveland won the most recent matchup but that was in the friendly confines of Ohio. Best thing to remember about the NBA is that the real season starts in April, when the playoffs begin. Till then enjoy some dunks here and there and the occasional nail-biter between two powerhouse teams.

Lastly, the NFL Draft is on the horizon. It's amazing that the NFL has become so damn popular that people get so amped up for an event where no live sport takes place. It's astounding. And just think, we might not have football in the fall of 2011! Unbelieveable? yes. Preposterous? absolutely. Impossible? unfortunately not. Personally, I'm preparing myself for a lockout. The owners and players are both stuck on their sides of the spectrum and neither appears like they will budge any time soon. I know we have a whole season to go but the comments we are hearing from players high up in the union are extremely discouraging. Here's an interesting point of view on this situation: 1) The NFL is a multi-BILLION dollar business for starters but let's pretend it's a regular business. Imagine an employee telling their boss, "hey I want to see all the paperwork from 2009 on income, profits, losses, etc." What would the boss say? Imagine if a boss went to an employee and said "Hey can you take a slight paycut so we can enhance our facilities to ensure our growth in the future?" Interesting questions right? Well the first question is what the players are asking of the owners. The second question is what the owners aren't asking, they are demanding of the players. Owners say too many teams have lost money in recent years and the costs of new stadiums are ballooning at an exponential rate. Players feel they are being misled by the owners and want to see the proof of these losses, requesting to see financial statements for each team. I just can't believe a business that creates BILLIONS of dollars annually can't look at the harsh reality of today: we make a lot of money, more than a lot of money, people love our product, the demand for our product is at an all-time high, we can't risk our image and lose the faith of our fans, let's compromise and find a happy medium for the sake of this long-time American sport and the desire of our die-hard fans. Sadly, I believe the rich just want to get richer and once greed sets in there's not a whole that can be done. What happened to the fat cat CEOs on Wall Street when the housing market crashed? Now I'm not saying the NFL will crash, but if football does not take place in the fall of 2011 it will take a serious hit. We are a year and a half away from this devastating, possible catastrophe. For now, let's just enjoy the draft and try to understand exactly what the hell is going to happen in this "uncapped" season.

That's enough for now. Gotta get ready for work and the lil guy is tearing my house apart. Hopefully the next article will come sooner than two weeks. Till then, enjoy college basketball Saturday. Lots of good games today, upset special to watch for: Vandy over Kentucky. UK has been on a roll, especially with the likes of John Wall flying all over the court. Something just tells me to expect a big home win for the Commodores. Happy basketball season everyone! The countdown for March Madness is on!

Super Sunday and my top ten debuts

It's been a while since my last blog, I apologize for my hiatus. Today is one of my favorite days of the year: SuperBowl Sunday! The best and worst day. It's the greatest because we get to watch two teams fight for NFL supremacy, but extremely sad due to the fact that we won't have any meaningful football games until September, damn that hurts just saying that out loud. But let's focus on the positive. I thought I would discuss the top 10 things on my mind lately, and let you get into the head of a sports fanatic! SuperBowl pick lies ahead. Let's dive in...

10) Golf without Tiger Woods is really boring: I have a hard time getting into golf already. Actually in all honesty I can't stand when people come to my restaurant and request golf on tv. However with Tiger at least there's someone who can capture your interest in only the way truly special athletes are able to. It will be very interesting to see how the public reacts when he finally resurfaces. I predict we will get an on camera apology in the next month, followed by a mediocore performance at the first tournament he participates in, but be cautious. Does anyone remember what A-Rod did went through controversy? He only went on to the Yanks back to the promiseland and win his first championship. People will be very critical and judgemental of Tiger at first, but don't forget this is the 2010 version of America. We love drama. We enjoy watching someone fall and fall hard Tiger did no doubt about that. Yet we also admire those who pick themselves back up and rise to the occasion to achieve greatness. Should be a wild, fun ride watching Tiger on the PGA Tour in 2010, just sayin.

9) Lannnnnne Kiffin, it's time, you got that right: I personally found it amusing how angry and upset the people of Tennessee got when they lost this snake. I'm not particularly fond of Kiffin, especially after the way he went after Gator coach Urban Meyer with false accusations almost immediately upon his arrival in Volunteer state. Funny that Kiffin was the one the NCAA ended up investigating isn't it? He left Tenn high and dry and that the most crucial part of the year, the week before signing day. The Vols survived and USC got their man. Who is else is rooting for a USC/Tenn bowl game in December? Talk about some good drama!

8) Scott Brown pulls the upset of the decade at the final hour: you all know I'm not one for politics. I just couldn't help but like the way Brown approached the situation. Apparently Kennedy's widow kept saying over and over again in publications, "we need everyone's help to save Kennedy's seat". Upon hearing this Brown fired up enough massholes to vote in his direction with a strong a statement as any, "It's not the Kennedy seat, it's the peoples' seat!" Should be quite interesting to see how this affects the world of politics this year and next!

7) Beware the ides of March: As football winds down, basketball is in full bloom. Pro ball won't be interesting until late April when the playoffs begin. Till then we will have plenty of exciting college basketball to keep us entertained, especially when rivalry games are played. There's already been a ton of upsets and don't see it stopping anytime soon. March Madness will hopefully be extra mad this year causing bracketbusters all around the country. Nothng beats days one and two of the tournament. 32 games in 2 days! Sounds like heaven to me! If I had to give you my Final Four favs right now I would go with: Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky, and Michigan State. However, darkhorse favorites have to be West Virginia and even Purdue.

6) NFL 2011 season... cancelled: WHAT THE $#&*#$@!?!? Ok take a deep breath everyone. That statement is not true... at least not yet. The looming war between players and owners has already begun. The owners say the players are getting too much of the pie right now. Players know they have a great thing going for them right now. The sport produces over $8 BILLION!!! Can you believe that? What a crazy amount of money! Don't point a finger at anyone though, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We created this beast and now must deal with the idea of losing it for a short period of time. The players say the owners want a lockout. Sources say the NFL owners would still get $5 Billion from tv contracts even if no football is played in 2011. This situation needs to be monitored closely. The first domino to fall will be on March 5 when the 2010 season will officially be a uncapped year if no deal is in place. With no salary cap there is no floor or ceiling. No player mininum or maximum. There will be certain restrictions on free agents. Basically chaos will slowly begin. Don't worry I'll keep an eye on all this for you.

5) NBA superstar sweepstakes is only 4 months away: Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Dirk Nowitzki just to name a few. All of these incredible players will be on the free agent market able to sign with any team they like. Lebron and Wade figure to be at the top of the class. Many believe King James is on his way out of Cleveland. I think he'll test the waters and ultimately end up back in Ohio. The craziest rumors I heard is that Bron n Bosh are trying to go to the same city. Now that's an idea. Either way, this summer figures to be filled with lots of breaking news updates on ESPN with where Lebron's private jet landed, who had dinner with, etc etc. I'll be watching Mr. Wade to see if he leaves Miami for oh I don't know, say Dallas?

4) College football needs a playoff system, says Mr. Prez: Now we all know how important the spots world is to me. I tell people all the time that I don't watch CNN. I watch the real news, ESPN. After all that being said, what the heck is our president doing focusing on bringing a playoff system to college football? Didn't we elect him to handle all that politics garbage so we can focus on the good stuff - sports?! I appreciate his efforts but c'mon Obama get this country going in the right direction and leave the pigskin problems to men like Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, Mel Kiper Jr., hell even Lee Corso! Would I love to see a playoff system for college football? Absolutely. Do I expect to see it in the next 5-7 years? Not a chance. The current system is setup perfectly to handle all the money brought in by college football. I understand the situation and how it affects the sport. The regular season is one giant playoff tournament. Like it or hate it, it is what it is. I just think our president should leave sports to us and focus on creating more jobs, fixing our economy or even fixing the mortgage situation so people like me can live with just a regualar amount of stress in life instead of the current super-stress environment that is currently engulfing our nation. Ok that's all. How did I get back to politics? No more, I promise.

3) As Favre's world turns begins its next season in March: It's almost that time of the year where we start guessing what America's favorite gunslinger will do. My guess is he finally hangs up his pads. Anyone happen to see his last game? Sure he hates his last throw of the game, a back-breaking interception that sealed the Vikings fate in regulation and gave the Saints new life in overtime. What felt like moments later, Favre sat on his bench and could only watch the New Orleans players and fans rejoiced together as the Saints clinched their first-ever berth in the NFL's big dance. But more importantly did you see how badly the Saints D beat up the 40 year old QB. Brett took some vicious hits that would have sidelined many a player. But the notoriously tough Favre played the entire game and fought through all his teammates fumbles, coming up just 3 points short of achieving his goal of making SuperBowl XLIV. Now what does he do? Come back for one more year to try and lead the Vikes to the big show? My first instinct tells me he retires due to the punishment his body took this season, particularly his last game. However, my gut tells me Favre's competitve juices are still flowing and maybe even stronger than ever. Don't be suprised to hear in July that he's flying on a jet to Minnesota, and that same day we see that old, familiar face on tv, grey beard and all, coming back for 'one more year'. As I said - As Favre's world turns!

2) World Cup 2010 is almost here: To be honest with you I don't know a lot about soccer. I wish I knew more. I really never used to get into the World Cup until 2006. I thoroughly enjoyed cheering for Italy and loved watching them hoist the trophy at the tourney's end. (I actually was running through the kitchen at Truffles yelling "VIVA ITALIA!!" much to the dislike of the cooks.) I wish I could tell you who the favorite is this year, but I can't even tell you that. Obviously Brazil is always a contender but beyond that your guess is as good as mine. As we closer to this worldwide event, more info will come. Till then you know who I'll be rooting for at least: VIVA ITALIA!

1) Superbowl XLIV: This game could have been one for the ages. Just imagine for a minute if both Jim Caldwell and Sean Payton had the same brass cockiness and swagger that Bill Belichick had in 2007 and pushed their teams in the final weeks instead of resting them. We could have had a meeting of two 18-0 teams, talk about a super matchup. And if that's not enough, the game is taking place in the home of the only undefeated team in the history of football: Miami. What an unbelievable scene. The 72 Dolphins remain the only team ever to start and finish a season unblemished. Truly, this game really could have been the greatest game ever played. We would have been guaranteed the first 19-0 team in the history of the league. Instead we'll just have to deal with watching the two hottest offenses in the league go back and forth. I'm just hoping it's not a blowout. Understand I am pulling for the Saints 100% but that doesn't mean I believe they'll win. Unfortunately for the city of New Orleans, Archie's oldest son is playing the best football of his career right now. Watching Peyton Manning on the field right now is like watching Jordan in the final minute of a game, Michael Phelps on the last leg of a race or Lance Armstrong in the mountains. These athletes have the incredible rare ability to rise above all others in their sport and perform at a level very few reach. Manning truly is in a class of his own. Personally, I don't like the Colts and I can't stand Peyton as he leads my team's rival. But regardless of if you love him or hate him, you have to respect him. I believe the Saints will learn this by the end of Sunday night. Dwight Freeney's injury could be devastating to the Colts defense but the game's most important player will play. Manning's experience combined with his physical and mental dominance should lead the Colts to a win. I love the story of WHO DAT nation but I just don't see the Saints D getting critical stops when they need to. Darren Sharper needs to make big plays throughout the game and Brees must lead his team to touchdowns every time they touch the football. I envision the Colts flying out of the gate on their way to a double digit lead. Initially the Saints might struggle with the big stage but the game will be won in the 4th quarter. Both the Colts and Saints played games on this field earlier in the season. Indy only scored 13 points through the first three quarters, but torched the Miami D for two late TDs to win the game by 4. The Saints on the other hand were getting massacred by the Dolphins, trailing by 21 at one point in the first half. However, Brees led a furious rally, outscoring Miami 36-10 in the 2nd half, including 22 points in the fourth quarter alone. I believe we might see a similar New Orleans rally late but Peyton is too good right now with the game on the line and the ball in his hands. I mean, c'mon the guy calls his own plays for crying out loud!!! Let's look forward to a high-scoring, competitive game but in the end Indy wins by a score of 38-33, winning their 2nd championship in four years. And so the debates will begin about who is the better QB: Brady or Manning. Let's leave that one for another day shall we? I'm already having a hard enough time dealing with the Colts' success this season. No need to throw salt in my wounds right? Happy SuperBowl Sunday everyone!