NHL Playoffs: Conference Finals Predictions

It’s time for the final four teams to show everybody why they’re in the playoffs. It’s time for the four remaining teams to step up to make it to the Stanley Cup Final. Only two of the four teams will make it, and only one of those two teams will go home happy. We’ve had really great games, and the teams left could provide us with more of the same.

- Round 3 Matchups and Predictions:

- Eastern Conference:

- Pittsburgh(2) v. Philadelphia(6)

* Pittsburgh in seven games.

- Western Conference:

- Detroit(1) v. Dallas(5)

* Dallas in six games.

- My Predicted Stanley Cup Final:

* Pittsburgh (Eastern Conference champions) v. Dallas (Western Conference champions)

First All-England Champions League Final

Manchester United and Chelsea advanced from their respective semifinals to set up the very first all-England final in Moscow. Manchester United defeated Barcelona 1-nil on aggregate, and Chelsea defeated Liverpool 4-3 on aggregate. One team was clearly better, but both teams have an equal chance of winning.

Manchester United were the best team in either of the semifinals. They shut down some of the best players, including Lionel Messi, Deco, Thierry Henry, and Xavi. Their defense was outstanding, even without Nemanja Vidic, one of their top defenders. Also, United have not had team captain Gary Neville for many of their recent games in any kind of competition. Patrice Evra has been the best of them all, while Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand and the rest have done very well to give Vidic and Neville plenty of time to get back in the lineup. There are only two games left in the Premier League season, and the Champions League final later this month left on the schedule. Neville should be back for the final at least. Paul Scholes, my favorite United player, made the difference with the only goal of their semifinal with Barca. If you missed it, that’s a shame. It was a real cracker!

Chelsea have finally made it to a final in this competition. They had a pretty good performance against Liverpool, and managed to make it through. The Liverpool matchup brought exciting drama we don’t usually see from these two sides. Both sides had several great chances for even more goals to be scored. Frank Lampard’s penalty, and the second extra-time goal were crucial, since they won the semifinal by one goal. Liverpool made a good comeback to get a goal of their own in extra time to make Chelsea sweat it out and not relax. Chelsea, for the most part, played good defense. They do have to step it up to beat United in Moscow.

3-0 Leads Everywhere You Look

Wow. I wasn’t expecting these series to be so lopsided in terms of wins. Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Detroit have 3-nil leads in their series. There haven’t been many games that were blowouts or anything, it’s just that the same team keeps coming out on top.

Detroit and Colorado have had a couple of one-goal games, and one game that was 5-1 Detroit. The series could easily be 2-1 Colorado, or anything other than 3-0 Detroit. The Red Wings have been the better team, for sure. Johan Franzen is on fire for them. They’ve played some great defense at the most crucial of times. Last night, Colorado had a horrible time getting their goalkeeper to the bench for the extra attacker because of Detroit’s pressure. Detroit is so experienced in playoff play.

San Jose and Dallas have played two overtime games, Dallas obviously winning both of them. Dallas continues to roll over teams, and prove doubters about their playoff possibilities wrong. This has been the closest of the lopsided series. Both teams have had a chance to win each game. The Stars’ leaders and best players are really stepping up to put their team ahead.

Pittsburgh and New York have not had as close of a series as the Stars-Sharks series has been. The Rangers just can’t seem to show up, while the Penguins do everything they can to get wins. They’ve blocked a lot of shots. They score timely goals. They kill penalties like their season is on the line every second. They want to win the series, while the Rangers have only had a few players show up and play hard.

I don’t know what to expect from the remaining games. I know that the three series that are 3-0 are toast. They’re done. Let’s hope the Flyers-Habs series goes seven games so we have something to watch.

Round 1 NHL Playoff Review, and Round 2 Predictions

Round 1 was pretty gosh darn good. Besides the Pittsburgh-Ottawa series, there was nothing but great matchups, and the play was great for an overwhelming majority of the games. There were three series that went the distance of seven games, and a majority of the rest went six. The competition was just fun to see. I think the series will continue to be long, like six or seven games for all of them. I can’t wait to see the next round.

- Really quick Round 1 recap:

- Best player (points): Daniel Briere (Philadelphia)
- Best goalkeeper: Chris Osgood (Detroit)
- Best team: Pittsburgh
- Best series: Calgary v. San Jose (Sharks won series 4-3)

- Round 2 Matchups and Predictions:

- Eastern Conference:

- Montreal(1) v. Philadelphia(6)

* Philadelphia in six games.

- Pittsburgh(2) v. New York Rangers(5)

* Pittsburgh in seven games.

- Western Conference:

- Detroit(1) v. Colorado(6)

* Detroit in seven games.

- San Jose(2) v. Dallas(5)

* Dallas in six games.

+ Let’s hope for great games again!!!

It’s that time again!!! The Masters, A Preview

The Masters, the world’s greatest golf tournament on the world’s greatest golf course, starts today. YAY!!! The biggest news about the tournament this year is not or should not be about Tiger Woods.

“What you talkin’ ’bout, (my name here)?”

“It’s true, trust me. I’ve got nothing new or interesting to say about Tiger anyway. I hear enough from everyone else about him, I’d just be repeating them.”

The biggest story this year is that Gary Player is competing for the 51st. time in The Masters, breaking Arnold Palmer’s(aka The King) record of fifty. Gary Player is a very classy person, and just a great ambassador for golf. He’s won this tournament three times(1961, 1974, 1978), holds the career grand slam(9 titles altogether), and has been the captain multiple times for the International Team in the President’s Cup. He’s one of the best players and people the game has ever known.

Now, on to this year. We’ve got a great field, with a bunch of first-time players in the tournament. Among them are Liang Wen-Chong of China, Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand, and Jeev Milkha Singh of India. These three all received special invites to play in the tournament this year. Drew Weaver is also a first-time participant. He is eligible by being the current British Amateur champion. Weaver was a member of the Virginia Tech golf team.

Here are my five players to watch at the tournament this year:

Drew Weaver (as you know now, it’s his first trip. it won’t be his last.)

Adam Scott (just waiting to break through at a major.)

Tiger Woods (how’s he not one of them? how hot has he been?)

Phil Mickelson (former champion always a threat to win it again.)

Sean O’Hair (very talented, may compete for the title)

Bonus player to watch!

* Gary Player (he won’t play on the weekend, but it’s always great to see a legend in action.)

The Champions League Draw For the Semifinals

As everyone knows, the quarterfinals are over, and the semifinals will be upon us in two weeks. There were some great games in this most current round. Two that come to mind are the Fenerbahce win(2-1) in the first leg over Chelsea, and the Barcelona win(1-0) in the first leg over Schalke. Those games were good because both teams were even throughout except for a few short moments where the winner took the initiative. Instead of rambling on, here’s the draw for the semifinals:

- Chelsea v. Liverpool:

* This is another all-England tie. It is the second English team in a row for Liverpool to deal with. This is a rematch of last year’s semifinal, with Liverpool getting the better of Chelsea last year. Liverpool lost in the final to AC Milan after that, with very pathetic and boring/predictable play throughout most of the game. They’ll need to do MUCH better in order to get to the final, and win if they make it to the final. Chelsea are saying how this isn’t a revenge matchup, that they’re just focused on beating whoever they’re against. Ha! They’d love to get revenge on a team from their own league. Games in the Premier League between the top teams always turn out as expected. If they pretend it’s a Premier League game, I expect this one to be rough and both teams to show up with their best form. They ARE vying for a spot in Europe’s premier club competition, you know.

- Barcelona v. MANCHESTER UNITED:

* This could be a pretty good defensive battle. Neither team lit up the scoreboard last round, but didn’t let their opponents score at all. I see both teams scoring, but not very much. Manchester United have everyone who was injured back and healthy. The problem is that Nemanja Vidic, one of their best defenders, went down with an injury, and he’ll miss the semifinal games. Carlos Tevez has been one of United’s unsung heroes this whole competition. He’s gotten goals in half of their contests. Barca may or may not have Messi, so Thierry Henry’s improving form needs to keep improving to try and score more than once in each of these games. Both teams just need to keep defending as they have been, and sprinkle just a bit more offense on top of that to really make a great two games out of this.

NHL Playoff Predictions and Excitement

I’m so friggin’ pumped up for the playoffs to start this week, even though my Sabres won’t be participants this year. A couple players on the team had great years though. I like some of the matchups, including an Original Six matchup of Montreal and Boston. All of the matchups are decent. It’s gonna be friggin’ sweet watching games from all of the series!

- Matchups and Predictions:

- Eastern Conference:

- Montreal (One) v. Boston (Eight)

* Montreal in five games.

- Pittsburgh (Two) v. Ottawa (Seven)

* Pittsburgh in four games.

- Washington (Three) v. Philadelphia (Six)

* Philadelphia in five games.

- New Jersey (Four) v. New York Rangers (Five)

* New Jersey in six games.

- Western Conference:

- Detroit (One) v. Nashville (Eight)

* Detroit in seven games.

- San Jose (Two) v. Calgary (Seven)

* Calgary in six games.

- Minnesota (Three) v. Colorado (Six)

* Minnesota in five games.

- Anaheim (Four) v. Dallas (Five)

* Anaheim in seven games.

+ Let the games BEGIN!!!

I Thought So!

I thought that Schalke were going to give Barcelona a test. They did, even though they lost by 1-nil. They really turned up the pressure on Valdes, the Barca keeper who’s one of the best around, in the second half. I remember about between ten and twelve okay possessions for Barca the whole half, and a lot of very brief ones you barely had time to react to the fact Barca was in possession.

When Barca had the ball(they had the ball? I don’t remember them having the ball.), the Schalke defense quickly took care of the passer and got the ball to their midfielders. Schalke had a few great looks, with a couple of headers going just off target. They failed to take advantage of their best opportunities, and some of the less prominent ones they did little with as well.

Schalke could’ve easily won this game, and by two or three goals. They played some great crosses into the box, while they also played their strikers through on goal a few times very well. It was a game of missed opportunities.

Now, Barca is the home team for the second leg next week. They are up on aggregate 1-nil, and have an away goal in their pocket. Schalke still has a chance to advance. They’re one goal down, and a 1-nil game in Spain is all they need to pull even. If the game is any draw, Barca would move on. It’s a steep but climbable hill for Schalke with the way they played yesterday. They just need some of their shots to go in.

On the other hand, Barca played outstanding defense, and did help themselves by making things difficult for the Schalke strikers once they got into a position to score. They did pull out an escape as a few of the chances Schalke had were pretty good.

The game between Manchester United and Roma ended 2-nil to Man. United. Roma seemed lost without Francesco Totti, and my fantasy team suffered(thanks a lot, pal!). Striker Mirko Vucinic(who is on my fantasy team) didn’t get nearly the quality opportunities without Totti’s great passing ability.

I’m really looking forward to the games today and all of the ones next week.

Best of the Best: Sports

Here are the Top Ten events in sports:

1. The World Cup:

- What’s better? Nothing. It’s the “Beautiful Game” for goodness sake. More people watch the draw for The World Cup than almost anything else. Imagine how many people watch the actual games. The greats of football, or soccer depending on where you are, bring out their best in this event, and truly make this a really enjoyable competition. It’s definitely the most spectacular event of any kind in the world.

2. The Stanley Cup Playoffs:

- The Stanley Cup Playoffs is the most intense and dramatic thing in sports. The play is usually awesome, and the refs don’t call ticky-tack fake penalties. That makes it better, and all the more worth watching. Especially when watching one of the greats, the Stanley Cup is a grueling contest of grit, skill, and drama. It’s the hardest thing in sports to win.

3. NCAA Basketball Tournament:

- Almost nothing beats “March Madness.” The players on the teams in the tournament seem to actually have something to play for besides the name on the back of their jerseys. The pride, passion, and drama of every game, and not to mention the upsets, makes tuning in during school worth it. So what if I miss my final exam, right? Hahaha.

4. The Masters:

- It’s “a tradition unlike any other,” don’t you know. This is the classic golf tournament on a great course designed by the classic of all golfers, Bobby Jones. Augusta National (as well as St. Andrews, of course) is the Wrigley Field, and Yankee Stadium of golf. This is one of only a handful of things I’ll get out of doing anything to watch. “No, I CAN’T go to Italy. The Masters is on.”

5. The World Series:

- Baseball’s a grand spectacle when it gets to the World Series, especially when a real baseball city like St. Louis, Chicago (best sports city in America, period), or Boston is represented. Some of the most famous moments in sports happen on the diamond in the World Series. Don Larsen’s perfect game, the “Shot Heard ’Round the World,” plus many others.

6. The Super Bowl:

- You used to get more bang for your buck with the Super Bowl. One watched for both the game and the commercials. At least they still have a game.

7. Wimbledon:

- Wimbledon is the best tennis tournament of the year because you get to see tennis more like the way it’s meant to be played. You get a combination of the baseline play along with net play. Some of the greatest athletes ever haven taken the greatest stage in tennis.

8. The Tour de France:

- Wait. You don’t even know what sport The Tour is? Tisk tisk! You’re missing out. Not only do you see great cycling, you see the fantastic French countryside. The Tour is the hardest thing in sports to win besides the Stanley Cup. Did I mention it’s cycling?

9. Summer and Winter Olympics:

- The Olympics aren’t half what they used to be, but still make the list due to the greatness of the athletes who aren’t on anything.

10. BCS National Championship:

- College football’s title game barely makes the list.

The Champions League Draw For the Quarterfinals and Semifinals

Thanks to the Champions League draw occurring in Europe, I’m able to find out the draw at 8 AM this morning. Four English sides, one Spanish side, one German side, one Turkish side, and one Italian side awaited their fate. There were a few potential interesting matchups we could see from this draw.

Here is the draw for the Quarterfinals and Semifinals:

- Quarterfinals:

- Arsenal v. Liverpool:

* This is the all-England tie in the Final 8. These two teams had the most difficult challenges in the previous round. Arsenal had to defeat the defending champions, AC Milan. Liverpool had to go against Inter Milan, a tough task. Both Arsenal and Liverpool have proved they’re worthy of winning this competition with their performances to date. Both have been stellar, and this could be the best matchup of this round.

- Roma v. MANCHESTER UNITED:

* This is a rematch from last year. Roma were embarrassed in the second leg, when Man. U. put up a 7 spot on them. Roma would love to get revenge. Manchester United look so solid, revenge is going to be very hard for Roma. Christiano Ronaldo, the best player in the world, has played like the best player in the world by carrying Man. U. to this point. These two sides have different styles. Roma plays the Italian defense-first style, while Man. U. likes a little bit more offensive approach. I’m looking forward to the two games with these two teams.

- Schalke v. Barcelona:

* Schalke is a sleeper team who have played great in Europe, and have also done well in the German Bundesliga as of late. If any kind of surprising result were to come about in the Final 8, this is where I’m looking. Barcelona’s Messi, the dynamic playmaker, is questionable for this round’s games. That’s gonna be a huge loss if Barca were to not have him. Keep a close eye on this tie.

- Fenerbahce v. Chelsea:

* If Chelsea lose this tie, they should kick themselves. Fenerbahce is a good club, but Chelsea is one of the premier clubs, with the stars to win this competition several times. Plus, they’re on very good form. Their potential matchup with Liverpool in the next round should give them a little motivation to seek revenge from their loss to the Reds last year.

- Semifinals:

- Arsenal/Liverpool v. Fenerbahce/Chelsea

- Roma/MANCHESTER UNITED v. Schalke/Barcelona

+ I’ll have comment on the semifinal matchups after the Final 8 round is over. This should be a couple of great weeks.

The Champions League Final Eight, and the Possible Interesting Matchups

The Champions League Final Eight is set:

- MANCHESTER UNITED (Eng.)
- Fenerbahce (Tur.)
- Shalke (Ger.)
- Roma (Ita.)
- Liverpool (Eng.)
- Chelsea (Eng.)
- Barcelona (Sp.)
- Arsenal (Eng.)

Here are the matchups that we would all like to see when the draw for this round comes out:

- Arsenal v. Barcelona:

* Who wouldn’t want to see two of the brightest young stars, Francesc Fabregas and Lionel Messi, go against each other, provided Messi is healthy? It’s still a matchup of two similar sides. Both teams are on a tear in European competition, as Arsenal dispatched AC Milan, the champions of this competition last year.

- Shalke v. Fenerbahce:

* One of these teams has to survive the English invasion in the Final Eight. These are two teams you don’t hear a lot about, and have been very good to get this far. Both faced tough tests in the last round to get here.

- MANCHESTER UNITED v. Roma:

* I think this matchup will be better this time around. Roma got destroyed 7-1 in the second leg of this encounter last year. Roma have gotten more from their supporting cast around Francesco Totti, the best Italian player in the world. Vucinic has been the best of those supporting players, producing most every game. It would be interesting to watch.

- Liverpool v. Chelsea:

* This would be the second rematch from last year. The two teams went to penalty kicks in the second leg to decide it. There is an intensity to this matchup that brings out the best in both teams when they’re up against each other.
These teams just rolled through the last round. Let’s hope these two meet, since both have played very well, so we can see two great games between these teams.

Will the Sabres Make the Playoffs?

I hope my Sabres can pull off some wins here and sneak into the playoffs. They are in a precarious position right now. It’s tough when you go from number one last year to possibly not making the playoffs this year. They’ve been scoring lately, they just haven’t been winning enough.

The Sabres are in 9th place, one point ahead of Washington, and three points behind Philadelphia. Philadelphia has done well as of late, beating Tampa Bay last night. Jeff Carter and Daniel Briere have carried the team after that terrible cold streak. Washington’s trade deadline aquisitions have contributed, and Ovechkin is showing why he’s the man. The Sabres need to catch one team, and hold the other one off at the moment.

What the Sabres need to do is get better everywhere. Control the puck more, play better defense, and get more scoring from everyone besides Roy, Pominville, and Vanek all the time. They’ve started to get some scoring depth, but it can still be more.

There’s still a relatively good chance the Sabres can get in the playoffs. As long as Philadelphia doesn’t go bonkers and win twelve of their last fourteen or something, we can make a run to get the 8th spot. Play better, win more, and we can do it.

Some Top Teams Look Very Sharp in Champions League Play

Some of the teams that made it to the first knockout stage of the Champions League are on good form, and are poised to go all the way to the title game in Moscow. It’s good to see at least one team from England, Spain, and Italy playing at their best.

England have their big four of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool, with their 2 to nil aggregate lead over Inter Milan, all in great shape for the next round. Liverpool are the only one of these sides that haven’t officially qualified for the second knockout round, the final 8. It’ll take a lot from Inter to deny them a spot in the next round. Christiano Ronaldo, the world’s best player, has been awesome for United the whole duration of Champions League competition. So have Emmanuel Adebayor, Eduardo da Silva, and Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal. People may or may not overlook the contributions of Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie, who have certainly provided good play for Arsenal.

Spain’s Barcelona have been dominant of late on the European stage, pummeling Celtic on their way to the final 8. Their only issue, other than Lionel Messi’s injury, is who their next opponent will be. Barcelona have picked up their game in Europe after not looking their absolutely excellent selves in the group stage.

Italy’s Roma took out a good side in Real Madrid. Totti is still the man, and Roma are happy that’s the case. I don’t know if Totti is underrated, but he’s certainly awesome to me and most everyone else. Mirko Vucinic has been a very key contributer for Roma, and may be their most important player other than Totti.

What to look at for the next round is what the matchups will be after the Liverpool and Inter clash is decided. The best teams right now are Arsenal, Roma, and Barcelona. Without Messi, Barca made it look like they didn’t miss his skills at all during their two clashes with Celtic. (Celtic, obviously, need to go back to the drawing board and do some work on their level of play, particulary when it comes to scoring.) Two hot clubs going at it may produce great quality. A matchup of Arsenal and Roma would be something to see. Let’s hope for good games in the next round and the rest after that.

Alex Ovechkin is the Man

Hold on one cotton-pickin’ minute! Why are so many people unaware of the obvious when it comes to the very best player in the NHL when it’s as obvious as the sky is blue? There is no debate necessary, and it’s a waste of time to do so. Alex Ovechkin is the best player in the NHL, bar none.

“But, dude, what about the Penguins? Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin?”

“Well, Sid the Kid and Malkin are absolutely awesome. But, Ovechkin is something else.”

“Are you kidding me? Sid the Kid does it all! He scores and makes passes to set up teammates.”

“Yes, that’s correct. He’s fantastic. Ovechkin does those things also.”

Now, when comparing Ovechkin and Crosby, it’s the stats you can take a lot from. Crosby has a few less points than Ovechkin, but in fewer games. As of this morning, Crosby has 285 points in 206 games. Ovechkin has 288 points in 240 games. Crosby has the edge here because he has more points in fewer games. This is very misleading because Ovechkin has not had the supporting cast around him until this year. His point total would be much higher than it is if the cast around him was equal to the quality of players Crosby plays with.

Crosby has had great talent on his squad for all of his short career. Ovechkin has really not had the dependable teammates around him until this year. There is a similarity between the two in regards to their supporting cast. Both have Russian scoring machines in Malkin and Alexander Semin (Washington). These guys really rack up goals for themselves and assists for Crosby and Ovechkin from all of those goals.

Don’t get me wrong, people. Sid the Kid is freakin’ phenomenal. He’s the reigning MVP of the league, the first overall pick in the 2005 draft, and was tearing it up before being injured a couple of weeks ago. Both have excellent credentials with the awards they’ve already won. Ovechkin, 2005-2006 Rookie of the Year and first overall pick in the 2004 draft, is a super-talented player who has no equal when it comes to goal-scoring and carrying his team to wins. Alex Ovechkin is the man.

My Outlook On the Yankees This Year

The 2008 season needs to start off with a few thoughts of what to expect from the Yankees this year. Will Alex Rodriguez win the MVP again with another Hall of Fame season, or will the rotation of Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, and Mike Mussina emerge as numero uno in the game? Maybe, maybe not. We do know them and the Red Sox(urk!) will be in a fight like last year for the AL East title and bragging rights.

Let’s look back quickly before analyzing this season. Last year ended in a playoff loss to Cleveland. That’s the tenth straight year of postseason play. That’s consistency that I appreciate. I’m not one of those fans who wants the Yankees to win the title every year. One, it’s not possible. Two, there is a lot of parity in the AL right now with Detroit, Cleveland, Anaheim(not LA!), Seattle, and Boston(urk!) the premier teams along with the Yankees.

There’s no one who can doubt George’s passion for winning a World Series every year with the way he allows Brian Cashman to field the team to bring the title home to the Bronx no matter what the cost. What’s a couple of million to him, anyway (hahaha)?

On to 2008 now. Things look good on most parts for a great season. They have the same everyday starters as last season, and the young pitchers are going to be the surprise of the year. I think early struggles will lead to better things later on in the season. Phil Hughes already impressed last season, and he’ll only be better this time around for his experiences. He handled his first months in the majors very well.

Pitching is something that may be the only concern in Yankeeland, because everybody knows that the second best offense in baseball (second only to Boston(urk!)) will score runs and wear out pitchers a lot. They do have that Rivera guy. He’s pretty good I hear (hahaha). The pitchers have the luxury of knowing offensive outbursts are going to happen, and they’ll have less pressure to throw perfect every time out. That can’t prevent them from doing their best work every fifth day, though. I believe Boston(urk!) has the best chance of winning the division given the personnel of both teams, but I hope I’m wrong.

Here is my probable lineup(not batting order) for Opening Day:

1B Giambi
2B Cano
SS Jeter (el capitan!)
3B Rodriguez
C Posada
LF Damon
CF Cabrera (most improved player)
RF Abreu
DH Matsui
SP Wang

My Keys to Fantasy Baseball Success

Here are my keys to fantasy baseball success:

1. Have at least one dynamo.
- Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols are examples of this. Every fantasy team has to have that one player you can rely on at all times to put up the big numbers.

2. Look for players with consistency.
- Look for players who will not tend to go on hot and cold streaks. You need players who will consistently put up reasonable stats. Someone like Vernon Wells or Adrian Gonzalez don’t put up enormous stats, but they put up stats most every game.

3. Have patience with your team.
- Don’t go trading and cutting players because they’re not getting it done right away. Let the season progress some, and the players will get into the swing of things. There are slow starters who are good fantasy players once they get going. Put them on your bench until they start rolling if you have players who are starting the year off well.

4. Pitching wins fantasy leagues.
- I won my 2007 fantasy league by having great offense and, more importantly, great pitching. You need good offensive numbers, but pitching is what makes your team go. One top closer, like JJ Putz, is necessary. One top starter, like Chris Carpenter, is necessary. Then, you need a mix of decent starters and relievers. Pitchers like a young Greg Maddux are what you’re looking for. These pitchers are consistent and reliable.

5. Ignore stats from last season.
- Don’t get caught up in what a player did last season. Will Alex Rodriguez or Magglio Ordonez put up the same numbers as last year? No. They’ll be good numbers no doubt, but not the huge numbers from last year most likely. Will some top players slump like Derek Jeter did a few seasons ago? No. All of those things are in the past. Let them stay in the past.

I hope this helps you out!

Bernier’s Debut For Sabres? “Excellent!”

My Sabres’ newest member, Steve Bernier, had two goals and an assist in the win yesterday. He scored two goals on his first two shots! Sweet. Being on a new team is going to spark Bernier to impress his new teammates, and to try extra hard to help the team make the playoffs. Having Bernier on the team and competing for a big role in games is going to make all of the other players play harder.

Bernier is a young and improving player, so he’ll turn into a first or second line guy in a short amount of time. Being on another good team will really improve his stats also. We’ll see if he was worth giving up their best defenseman, Brian Campbell, for him (they were going to lose Campbell anyway, so getting anything for him was good in a way).

There’s no doubt the Sabres can score goals, especially when you score 8 goals a couple of times in a season. If they can limit the scoring of other teams more than they are right now, I believe they’ll be able to ease into the playoffs.

Jason Pominville is the most underrated player on the team, and doesn’t get enough credit for the points he’s producing. He’ll probably end up with a career-high points total at the end of the season. Pominville is close to eclipsing his highest mark of 68 points last season with plenty of games left.