Tuesday, April 14, 2009
MY 2009 NHL PLAYOFF PREDICTION DISASTER
I don't talk much about hockey on this site, for a couple reasons. One, my team, the Avalanche, sucks. Only two teams had fewer points this season. And two, I really don't know much about hockey, turthfully. ESPN lost its contract with the NHL a couple years ago and games are not as available on cable as they used to be. There are probably a dozen teams in the NHL that I can not identify one player on these days. But the hockey playoffs are still awesome, and I'll be into them over the next couple of months until the champion is crowned. So without further ado, I present to you, my Incredibly Uninformed NHL Playoff Predictions:
I say, come on. NBA teams have 24 seconds to shoot or they turn the ball over. The rules say the players have to shoot! What do you want them to do? This is the NBA. Ticket prices are not cheap. People want to watch the best basketball players in the country play hard, not run the clock out. Play hard for 48 minutes. I think it's way more insulting to the other team to quit playing hard because you feel you have the game wrapped up than it is to run up the score. You never know when a team might come back from 20 points in the last six minutes. You just never know.
By the way, Kings, if any of you are upset, remember: If you were better at basketball last night, the Nuggets wouldn't have been in a position to run up the score.
Phil Jackson, Whiner: Before the recent Blazers-Lakers game in Portland, the Blazers replayed Trevor Ariza's move on Rudy Fernandez which sent Rudy to the hospital in an effort to, I suppose, rile up the crowd and get them into the game. Apparently it's against NBA rules to do things like this. And Lakers coach Phil Jackson took exception, saying, "That's something that they try to prevent in the spirit of good sportsmanship, but Portland has been like that."
Excuse me? Portland has been like that? Showing bad sportsmanship? Who, the team? The fans? I've always felt that over the years Blazers fans have been far from unsportsmanlike, to the point of almost being too soft. I don't know who Jackson is complaining about, but I don't buy into his idea. Plus, Jackson didn't even show up for the game, saying he was injured or something. I don't know; I'm thinking he's tired of taking blame for not being able to figure out how to win in Portland these last few years and wanted someone else to deal with it this time.
And anyway, let's get back to the play, if we're talking bad sportsmanship: Rudy was going in for an uncontested lay-up in the closing seconds of the third quarter in a game the Blazers were absolutely destroying the Lakers. Ariza, instead of just letting Rudy score without incident, took a swipe at Rudy, hitting him on the head and knocking him to the floor. Now, I don't know how intentional or unintentional it was, but Ariza showed no remorse at all. He didn't go over to check on Rudy as he was lying on the floor in obvious pain. I don't think I want to hear a complaint about bad sportsmanship from the Lakers right now. (To be fair, L.A.'s Jordan Farmar immediately went over to Rudy to check on him, so I'll give him credit for that.)
Here's something a Laker fan did recently. I was at the Stockpot at one end of the bar, and at the other end sat a Laker fan, and we got into a conversation about who would win a series between L.A. and Portland. I said that since the home team wins almost every game in this head-to-head rivalry over the last few years (to be more exact, in last four seasons, the Blazers have won only once in L.A. and the the Lakers have won precisely zero times in the Rose Garden), that would naturally lead to the conclusion that the Lakers would win that series in seven games, since they would have home court for four of the seven, including Game 7. This Laker fan said I was crazy and said the Lakers would win in five. I think "fucking crazy" was what he said. And I had just said his team would beat us! I tried to explain my logic, which was, well, logical, but he stuck with his take which was based on LakerFan-itis, and then he insulted me personally. People had to intervene. Nice work, Laker fan. Talk about bad sportsmanship.
Eastern Conference: In the first round, the series winners will be #1 Boston over #8 Montreal, #2 Washington defeating #7 N.Y. Rangers, #6 Carolina upsetting #3 New Jersey, and #4 Pittsburgh outlasting #5 Philadelphia. In the second round, Boston will defeat Carolina and Washington will beat Pittsburgh. And in the East final, Washington will take down Boston.Running Up The Score?: Some people are upset with the Denver Nuggets' J.R. Smith, who fired up seven three-point attempts in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter last night with his team leading the Sacramento Kings by a bunch.
Western Conference: The first round series will result as follows: #1 San Jose will beat #8 Anaheim, #2 Detroit dispatching #7 Columbus, #6 St. Louis with the upset over #3 Vancouver, and #5 Calgary getting by #4 Chicago. San Jose will then defeat St. Louis in the second round, and Calgary will upset Detroit. In the West championship, we will see San Jose advance to its first Stanley Cup Finals by beating Calgary.
Stanley Cup Final: It's going to be the San Jose Sharks beating the Washington Capitals. Keep in mind that I know almost nothing about hockey.
I say, come on. NBA teams have 24 seconds to shoot or they turn the ball over. The rules say the players have to shoot! What do you want them to do? This is the NBA. Ticket prices are not cheap. People want to watch the best basketball players in the country play hard, not run the clock out. Play hard for 48 minutes. I think it's way more insulting to the other team to quit playing hard because you feel you have the game wrapped up than it is to run up the score. You never know when a team might come back from 20 points in the last six minutes. You just never know.
By the way, Kings, if any of you are upset, remember: If you were better at basketball last night, the Nuggets wouldn't have been in a position to run up the score.
Phil Jackson, Whiner: Before the recent Blazers-Lakers game in Portland, the Blazers replayed Trevor Ariza's move on Rudy Fernandez which sent Rudy to the hospital in an effort to, I suppose, rile up the crowd and get them into the game. Apparently it's against NBA rules to do things like this. And Lakers coach Phil Jackson took exception, saying, "That's something that they try to prevent in the spirit of good sportsmanship, but Portland has been like that."
Excuse me? Portland has been like that? Showing bad sportsmanship? Who, the team? The fans? I've always felt that over the years Blazers fans have been far from unsportsmanlike, to the point of almost being too soft. I don't know who Jackson is complaining about, but I don't buy into his idea. Plus, Jackson didn't even show up for the game, saying he was injured or something. I don't know; I'm thinking he's tired of taking blame for not being able to figure out how to win in Portland these last few years and wanted someone else to deal with it this time.
And anyway, let's get back to the play, if we're talking bad sportsmanship: Rudy was going in for an uncontested lay-up in the closing seconds of the third quarter in a game the Blazers were absolutely destroying the Lakers. Ariza, instead of just letting Rudy score without incident, took a swipe at Rudy, hitting him on the head and knocking him to the floor. Now, I don't know how intentional or unintentional it was, but Ariza showed no remorse at all. He didn't go over to check on Rudy as he was lying on the floor in obvious pain. I don't think I want to hear a complaint about bad sportsmanship from the Lakers right now. (To be fair, L.A.'s Jordan Farmar immediately went over to Rudy to check on him, so I'll give him credit for that.)
Here's something a Laker fan did recently. I was at the Stockpot at one end of the bar, and at the other end sat a Laker fan, and we got into a conversation about who would win a series between L.A. and Portland. I said that since the home team wins almost every game in this head-to-head rivalry over the last few years (to be more exact, in last four seasons, the Blazers have won only once in L.A. and the the Lakers have won precisely zero times in the Rose Garden), that would naturally lead to the conclusion that the Lakers would win that series in seven games, since they would have home court for four of the seven, including Game 7. This Laker fan said I was crazy and said the Lakers would win in five. I think "fucking crazy" was what he said. And I had just said his team would beat us! I tried to explain my logic, which was, well, logical, but he stuck with his take which was based on LakerFan-itis, and then he insulted me personally. People had to intervene. Nice work, Laker fan. Talk about bad sportsmanship.
