Expectations

I can't believe it, but its already time for the NBA basketball season to start! It was an interesting off season. Lots of teams made big moves, lots of teams decided to stand pat. Here is my break down of what I think will happen Division by Division this season:

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
Lots of big changes over the summer on the East Coast, but in the long run it probably won't change a whole lot. Boston still looks really good, if K.G. and the rest of the team can stay healthy they should have no problems bringing the Division crown back to Bean Town.

1. Celtics
2. 76ers
3. Raptors
4. Knicks
5. Nets

Central Division
If the Central has one thing its STARS to the ump-teenth power. With the likes of LeBron, Derick Rose, Micheal Redd, and Sheed being joined by Shaq there will be no shortage of great play. The Cavs look good but I wouldn't be too surprised if the Bulls or Pistons made a serious push for 1st place.

1. Cavs
2. Bulls
3. Pistons
4. Bucks
5. Pacers

Southeast Division
If there is a division where ANYTHING can happen, this is it. Orlando will be a contender for the Title again, and D-Wade is hungry for another ring. If the Wizards and Hawks can get their acts together they will be hard to beat. The only easy pick in the Southeast is last place.

1. Magic
2. Heat
3. Hawks
4. Wizards
5. Bobcats

Western Conference

Pacific Division
This is an interesting division. The Lakers are without question the best team, and unless Armageddon occurs they will win the division with no problem. It gets chippy after that. The Suns are good but ageing, the Warriors are fast but lack disipline, The Clippers are Talented but can never put it together, and the Kings can hits 3's all day but have no inside game. Spots 2-5 are up for grabs on the left coast.

1. Lakers
2. Suns
3. Warrior
4. Clippers
5. Kings

Southwest Division
There is no question that its going to be a competitive grind it out type of season for the Southwest. When it comes down to competitive grind it out basketball nobody does it better than the San Antonio Spurs. It will be a close race but in the end Timmy and the boys will edge out the Hornets and Mavs for the #1 spot. Sorry Houston, with Yao out and Artest in Purple and Gold, it might just be best to tank it and see if you can get a good lottery pick

1. Spurs
2. Hornets
3. Mavs
4. Grizzlies
5. Rockets

Northwest Division
Probalby the best division in the NBA this season. I expect it to come right down to the last game for the division championship to be decided. If the Nuggets can gel like they did last year they could win it. The Blazers have a strong backcourt and if Oden comes up big...look out! But if the Jazz avoid injurys and locker room drama, they will be haging another division championship banner in the ESA!

1. Jazz
2. Blazers
3. Nuggets
4. T-Wolves
5. Thunder

Mascots

The other day I was thinking about all these College's and their mascots...and I realized that there are 3 types. There are normal mascots, there are bad mascots, and mascots that make NO SENSE WHATSOEVER!!!!!!!!! Here are some of my favorites:

Virgina Tech Hokies: If you look up the word Hokie in the dictionary wanna know what you'll find? NOTHING!!! It isn't even a word! Va Tech gets and E for E-magination on that one!

TCU Horned Frogs: Yeah they are a real thing that lives in Texas. But there are a lot of other more scary things to choose from like...racoons...cottontail rabbits...and......hillbillies!

St. Louis Billikins: Nobody knows what a Billikin is...but it looks like a cross between the devil, a mouse, and the abominable snowman.

Southern Illinois Salukis The Saluki is actually a great dog to have around...when your hunting mice...probably something that only would happen in southern Illinois.

UAB Blazers: At this point, they might as well just change it to the roaches...or the bong water...

California-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs: this one just makes you ask....why?....is creativity really that important?

Cenetary Gentlemen: Gotta give them credit though...they are very Polite!

Grays Harbor Chokers: I bet these guys hate being in a close game!

Purdue Boilermakers: At least they aren't in denial about why their students go to school there....now pass me another boilermaker!

Rhode Island School of Design Nads: yep...my mind is at the level of a 3rd grader right now.

Syracuse Orange: Why would you name your team after a fruit?

Texas A&M-Galveston Sea Aggies: First of all...whats an Aggie? Second of all...What in the world he doing in the sea?

Ohio State Buckeyes: Why would you name yourselves after a nut? At least its not pecans or walnuts thought.

Indiana Hoosiers: I've always wanted to say this.................HOOOOOOOSIER DADDY?

If you can think of any more to ad to the list Feel free!

It's been a while!

Sorry Folks for not posting in a while! Sometimes life comes at ya fast and things like blogging get pushed to the side a little bit. I'll try to keep things up to date from now on.

Here are the up-dates I gotta blog on

Broncos 5-0- Totally unbelievable! I thought they would go down for sure to the Pats, gotta give the mile high boys props for pulling it out in OT! And you gotta love the Oompa Loompa socks!

Cougars Win Big- All I can say on this one is its about time we blew out a team we were supposed to blow out! Harvey looked mean out there, and Max finally had a 0 Int game (his first in 8 games).

Utes Pull it off...again- Gotta give the boys on the hill koodos for coming back and winning against CSU. I'm sure all you U fans out there are singing praises to Johnson and his 3 picks that saved the game.

Ready for basketball- The Jazz had a two game trip to Europe, they went 1-1. I'm actually kind of excited to have Boozer back cause ya know he is going to play his butt off so he can get his big contract next year. Who knows...maybe he'll make an effort on defense this year.

Peace Out!

4-0...and Who-da known?

At the beginning of the NFL season I was looking a Denver's schedule and asking myself questions like "are they even going to win" and "I wonder if we'll get the #1 pick in the draft." When the Broncos beat the Bengals with that miracle catch in week one I said to myself, "If that's the only win this year, I'll be happy." When we beat the Browns into the ground in week 2 I thought to myself, "wow! 2-0, that's more wins than I was expecting all year." When we pounded the Raiders I was like "Ok, this must be where the glory ride ends." Leading up to Sunday I thought there was no way we would beat the Cowboys... boy, was I wrong. It took a great effort, but they pulled it off! Now I'm saying things to myself like "are the Broncos legit this year" and "we probably only have to win 4 more games to win the division and make the playoffs." I don't know what's going to happen the rest of the season. All I have to say is...HOW 'BOUT THEM BRONCOS?!

Top Play

Maybe I'm just a homer, but there is no way any play could have been better than Brandon Marshall's game winner vs. Dallas. Look at the catch and the moves he puts on! This guy has IT!

Rivalry?

In the state of Utah few sporting events draw more press attention than this one. The headlines are dominated and tensions run high as fans and students from both sides scramble to buy tickets. Yes indeed, this rivalry demands the undivided attention of the entire state. This rivalry is....................

BYU vs. Utah State?

To be honest, I'm not even sure if this can be called a rivalry any more. Before I go any further let me say this. This is not a diss on USU. To tell ya the truth, if I have a second favorite team in the state its USU. I wish them well in every game....except one.

The cold hard fact is this, in the last 28 games the Y has won 25 of them.

Can you really call that a rivalry? Utah State hasn't beat BYU since 1993. BYU's average margin of victory has been more than 3 TDs. In the last three meetings BYU has outscored USU 107-48 (34 of USU's points came in one game).

If you ask the average USU student/fan who their #1 rival is the answer will be BYU every time. Ask a BYU student/fan who their top 4 rivals are and you won't here USU's name. Ask a BYU student/fan who their second favorite team is they will probably say...USU. That's gotta suck for USU's fan base to know that the team they hate the most actually kind of likes them.

I thought it was pretty sad last year when the fans in Romney stadium in logan started chanting "over rated" because BYU was only winning by 20.

They always say that anything can happen in a rivalry. So I guess that means that USU could score its first points in Provo since 2001. Maybe BYU will win by less than 20 points for the first time in 8 years. And maybe...just maybe...USU will win a game against an instate opponent. After all this is a rivalry....right?