Fortress BMO?

Tough times at once proud Red Star Belgrade, where players don't have money for food or rent and are getting evicted...it'll be a different looking Toronto FC as they host FC Dallas today at BMO Field, which will be under decidedly better weather. And by "different", it appears that pylon named Kevin Harmse is out of the lineup...in addition to today's Man United pick, I'm playing the Chicago Cubs for PTP purposes to get us back to one-a-day for the year. They're -1.5 +126 on the run line. Also liking CC Sabathia to bounce back and taking the New York Yankees on the run line -1.5 -118 at Kansas City. The Royals have scored 7 runs this year in four games...hands up, who had Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry leading half way through The Masters?...where else but Philadelphia would there be fights during a team's ring ceremony, like there was on Tuesday night when the Phillies collected their rings?...set aside some time on Tuesday, the NFL schedule is out that day which means instant analysis for fans everywhere of key games, and how many your squad will win...have a great Saturday. May the winners be ours!!

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 - How Swede It Is!

The NHLPA should be filing a grievance over the Atlanta Thrashers third jersey. Clearly, the Thrashers are not trying to grow revenues with that abomination. Yes, I used "Thrashers" and "revenues" in the same sentence. A first!...over 150 Major League Baseball players remain free agents. Expect the action to get hot and heavy soon as we're barely a month ahead of pitchers and catchers reporting, and the logjam started to break yesterday with Pat Burrell landing in Tampa Bay and Milton Bradley joining the Chicago Cubs. Expect a lot of bargains out there as teams are paring back on giving average players huge deals. Translation: you'll be lucky to get half the four years and $40 million you're after, Jason Varitek...with each Ottawa Senators loss, and Pat Quinn looking cozy with Sens owner Eugene Melnyk, you have to start thinking Quinn might want to start house hunting in Ottawa as he could be a great fit to coach and or manage that team. Frankly, it is a shock Quinn has been out of the league this long with his resume...I don't know who should be the highest paid left back in the soccer world, but I know it shouldn't be Wayne Bridge, who just moved to Manchester City. He's not even the best left back in Manchester. That title belongs to Patrice Evra...here are the records of the NBA teams since replacing their coaches during this season: Minnesota is 2-10 under Kevin McHale. Sacramento is 2-7 under Kenny Natt, Washington is 5-14 under Ed Tapscott; Oklahoma City is 3-17 under Scott Brooks and Toronto is 5-12 under Jay Triano. Only Philadelphia has gone at least .500 since changing coaches, with Tony DiLeo at 4-4 since taking over...LaDanian Tomlinson looks like he'll be out for the Bolts game at Pittsburgh this weekend. The way Darren Sproles went off on Saturday, this is likely a good thing for the Chargers...Canada played fantastic against Sweden in the gold medal game at the World Junior Hockey Championships and were well worth the 5-1 score. Canuck goalie Dustin Tokarski was far more stable than the past couple games and made a big difference, though Sweden preferring to shoot with their asses against the wall tended to help. Two things. One, don't tell me that fighting is part of the game. There were no fights at this tourney despite it being "part of the game" and the hockey blew away anything the NHL produced of late. Two, hate to break it to the puckheads reading here, but diving is very much a "part of the game" right now. The Swedish goalie led the parade, but he was by no means alone...as an added bonus, Canada covered the -1 and that's now 4-1 on the year for Prime Time Picks. This pace keeps up and I may be asking that you chip off 10%. Tonight, we're playing our first NBA pick of the year and taking the New York Knicks - no, that isn't a typo - to cover the 2 (-105) at Oklahoma City...had I seen HBO's "Hard Knocks" on the Dallas Cowboys training camp earlier this year instead of yesterday, I might've been spared a lot of heartache. Said coach Wade Phillips: "if last year was a cupcake camp, this year is a marshmallow" on how he focuses on keeping players healthy but not allowing too much contact in camp. You reap what you sow, Wade. That's why your team was so mentally soft and shunned tackling as often as not...have a great Tuesday.

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

I know Mike Tyson is on Zoloft to keep him from killing us all, but I'm guessing it has some pretty obvious side effects, one being he's starting to look like King Hippo from Punchout...Minnesota T-Wolves coach and GM Kevin McHale says bloggers are to blame for the rash of early firings in the first two months of the season. While I'd love to claim credit for Sam Mitchell's ouster in Toronto, the fact is that losing costs jobs, not bloggers. If the latter had that kind of stroke, George W. Bush wouldn't have made a second term, nevermind through it...Tony Romo is 5-6 in the month of December for his career, and an incredible 22-4 in all other months. He's going to need to go over .500 on that first stat and fast...why Canada is better than the U.S.: Canadian Idol has been cancelled for 2009...word from Real Madrid is they've got a deal in place to purchase Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United next summer. The way his form's been up and down this year - he's got no goals away from home - United will do well to get the big bucks discussed this past off-season...the Toronto Raptors are now 7-14 since their 3-0 start to the year. They're more likely heading towards the draft lottery than the playoffs at this point. Memo to Rogers Digital: if you promise not to add TSN2, I'll be glad to move over from ExpressVu so I don't have to watch this garbage squad..Cris Collinsworth tells Bill Simmons - The Sports Guy - he thinks that the Dallas Cowboys are the New York Giants of last season, right down to predicting Dallas knocks the Giants out in the playoffs. I like the sounds of that. Another prediction: if that prediction is right, me and TS are gonna have one fantasic Super Bowl Sunday...San Diego Padre Brian Giles is being sued for $10 million by an ex-girlfriend who he allegedly beat while pregnant and there's video of what appears to be the girlfiend hitting the ground after Giles smacked her. Most inappropriate but hilarious response: so Giles can hit...proof it is December: Peter Forsberg is talking about coming back...tonight, Prime Time Picks shoots for 19-12 and the play is on Jacksonville at +6.5. While the Colts are seemingly the easy play, they historically struggle against the Jags and have played a pile of close games this year. 6.5 points on the road is a lot of lumber. Do the Colts win? Likely. Cover? I'm saying no, and maybe there's even an upset in store...if you had bet the New York Yankees to win the World Series 10 days ago, you'd have got 6-1 odds, putting them behind the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, each at 5-1. Today, the Yankees are 3-1...have a great Thursday.

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

The New York Yankees are about to offer AJ Burnett a five year deal worth $80 million. Seems a lot of money to offer a guy whose best year would be in 2014 but then again, when he's sliding into Andy Pettitte's salary slot, tough to argue against it too much. Mix in that possible deal, talk of $140 million to CC Sabathia for six years and $30 million to Derek Lowe for two years and you've got $250 million for three arms. Mix in Chien Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain and that there is a playoff lock, and leaves plenty of time to develop Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, or move them as necessary... Didier Drogba picked up a three game suspension for firing a coin into the stands. Seems more than a little light, no?...it was a fairly weak field overall in the American League's MVP voting, but I think Boston Red Sock Dustin Pedroia was the right choice for 2008. That said, I'd also bet - a lot - he never wins again...a mere 40 point night for Toronto Raptors all-world star Chris Bosh, albeit in a losing effort. More and more, I think the odds of him staying beyond his current contract are decreasing, and how does that franchise survive losing that guy if it ends up that way?...the Toronto Maple Leafs are now going where everyone assumed they would be in chasing Brian Burke. One question, how do the Leafs spin it if they don't get Burke? It'll take one hell of a name to not sour people on whomever ends up getting the gig...tie-breakers 7 through 11 in the NFL all are impacted negatively for the Pittsburgh Steelers by Sunday's non-touchdown call. One Vegas sportsbook operator even says the NFL should get it right and call the score 17-10...now that Mark Cuban has had charges pressed against him, he ought to be front of the line for NHL franchise ownership...Lebron James was booed at home a couple nights ago because rather than jacking up a shot to break 100 points - which would give everyone a free Taco Bell Chalupa - he ran the clock out in a Cleveland Cavalier win. For his part, James was none too impressed and said he'd have no problem signing with the New York Knicks when his contract runs out. Okay, I'm making up the part about the Knicks, but he did say ""I can't believe people who buy season tickets get worked up over a goddamn $1 (expletive) taco"....Ryan Dempster nailed down the first big contract of the baseball free agent season, $52 million over four years to stay with the Chicago Cubs...have a great Wednesday.

Friday, October 31st, 2008

The World Series is now over, and the next baseball season is upon us: Free Agency Season. Mark Teixera, Ben Sheets and Manny Ramirez wasted no time in filing and no doubt, will soon be joined by CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and loads, loads more. Even for this Yankee fan, it was a great season where it was hard not to be impressed by the Tampa Bay Rays and their boat load of talent, the plotlines that followed Manny Ramirez, the annual collapse of the New York Mets, the Chicago Cubs remaining losers, the Philadelphia Phillies are champions. It's a long way til February 14th though, when pitchers and catchers report to camp...got a few million to burn? Looking for a place in New York? Alex Rodriguez has a place for sale that might fit the bill...check out this Philadelphia Philly fan celebrating on top of a lamp post. Well, at least til another fan lobbed an empty bottle at him...I'm hardly a fan of NASCAR or Formula 1 racing, but those guys pull some seriously hot ladies. Here are one man's Top 10...it's been years since the NHL added the OTL column to their standings, and it is just as lame now as it was when first conceived...it is official, as of January 7th, David Beckham will be in AC Milan colours. Somebody alert Adidas to get their jersey production into overdrive...cannot believe how quickly the Ottawa Senators have become a bad, bad hockey team...Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark was fined by the NFL for paying tribute to his late friend Sean Taylor by "radically" altering his uniform, or at least that is how the league viewed him etching the number 21 in his eye black. Some days, the NFL makes accountants and the Tax Man look easy going...Bud Selig got booed worse in Philly than Apollo Creed back in the day...with that beard he's rocking, San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich looks a lot like Donald Sutherland, no?...Derek Jeter talks. Derek Jeter says nothing. Again...the New York Rangers opened in Europe and a month in, have played at least two games more than anyone else in the NHL at 13, and six more than the Phoenix Coyotes who have only played seven. What was the schedule maker doing when he came up with that? Despite that, they've picked up 21 points. Giving up fewer than two goals a game will help that...have a great Friday.