SimonOnSports

Here's a newsflash to all the Yankee haters out there that have been killing the Yankees rotation this season and saying that it will be the downfall of there season, the Yankees rotation is better this year than last. Same Assets Different Year Here are the constants of the Yankees rotation, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettite and Chien-Ming Wang. If you make the case that Mike Mussina blows I can understand that. He does blow. But he did last season as well. Why is it any different this year? Pettitte had an ERA around 4, no reason to expect worse this season. And Wang had an ERA of 3.70, really no reason to think he will be much different this season either. 2007 Scraps and Steroid Users People will point to the loss of Roger Clemens and say that is the major difference between the 2007 Yanks and the 2008 Yanks but really is it that big of a loss? Last season Clemens finished with only 6 wins. 6 Wins, that's not much. His era of 4.18 was good but not extraordinary. And he did...

MVP - Miguel Cabrera, He already has a home run. Congrats to me for waiting until after the first pitch to put this in. But regardless he'll have a monster season and has as good a chance as any to come home with the MVP award at seasons end. His bonus is that people really give an added benefit of the doubt to new team additions when it comes to MVP award, because they make the team "different" from the previous year. Cy Young - Erik Bedard, 2 for 2 on the chalk Cy Young picks. And guess what both will be right... Maybe. Coach of the Year - John McClaren, The Mariners aren't much of a sleeper if you talk to an ESPN personality but amongst the teams I have making the playoffs they will be the most surprising. And thus their manager will be most likely to win the Coach of the Year. Rookie of the Year - Clay Bucholz, A spot in the starting rotation for amongst the best teams in baseball will certainly give Bucholz a big advantage over the competition. If he could...

Just a reminder that I did absolutely miserable with these predictions last year. But alas we shall predict err make an educated guess at these things. MVP - Aramis Ramirez, Why? Fuck if I know. I just wanted to be out there. And wanted to pick someone on a team that I think will do good. Ramirez is surrounded by great hitters and if he stays healthy could hit 40 homers and hit .310 with 120 rbis. Sure there's no speed and his glove isn't the greatest but if he puts up great numbers and the Cubs win the division, he'll have a chance. Plus, last year one of my keepers Rollins won, so perhaps Cy Young - Johan Santana, Way to go out a limb on this one. But come on his team has a solid offense and he'll end up with about 240 strikeouts and an era at worse in the low 3s. He's a safe bet here and much like mike chalktastic bracket sometimes you just have to go with the common senser. Coach of the Year - Lou Piniella, Again the Cubs have a big season and the a...

I've been slacking on getting these out, but here's a waste edition based on the tournament only. 1. Bruce Pearl - Apparently Bruce Pearl is target #1 for Indiana. I guess they didn't watch his undisciplined team play in the Sweet 16. The Vols looked like a schoolyard team for the vast majority of the game, throwing balls out of bounds, offering no help defense, gunning up covered three, and driving recklessly to the basket. The Vols played like a team that had no coach. 2. Duke - The Dukies were just 1 point away from making history and joining the past #2 seeds to be eliminated in the first round. Regardless it didn't take the Blue Devils much longer to exit the tournament as everyones favorite team to hate got slugged by an ok West Virginia team. 3. Pool Braggers - I'm not talking about anyone who is necessarily leading your bracket, I am talking about if someone like me or Clark Kellogg bragged about picking the correct final four. You didn't do anyth...

Before the tournament started I filled out a bunch of brackets on ESPN.com. One of which I filled out as a test to see how a mindless bracket would work out, a bracket involving one single thought and one decision maker. If the team has a lower seed than they win. Thus the 1 seed makes the final four, the 2 seed makes the elite 8, the 3 and 4 seeds make the sweet 16, etc. Well after two weeks, this is my best bracket and chances are good that its better than your bracket as well. As of the end of the elite 8, after all #1 seeds made history, the 100% Chalk Bracket currently sits at the 96th percentile of all brackets. After 4 rounds the bracket has only gotten 16 games wrong, eight in the first round, five in the second, and three in the sweet 16. Would this bracket win your pool? In a massive pool of thousands, most likely not. In the Deadspin pool of 3472 it sits in 85th place, so chances are someone will finish above the picks. But in a pool with 50 or so participants this ...

Updated Playoff Predictions as of October 1st Honestly I don't feel like writing right now but want to get out my predictions before the weekend. So here. Overall Record Predictions American League Team Wins Losses Win % 1 Detroit 96 66 0.5925926 2 Boston 94 68 0.5802469 3 N.Y. Yankees 93 69 0.5740741 4 Cleveland 91 71 0.5617284 5 Seattle 91 71 0.5617284 6 L.A. Angels 90 72 0.5555556 7 Toronto 82 80 0.5061728 8 Chi. White Sox 80 82 0.4938272 9 Tampa Bay 79 83 0.4876543 10 Minnesota 73 89 0.4506173 11 Kansas City 71 91 0.4382716 12 Texas 70 92 0.4320988 13 Oakland 68 94 0.4197531 14 Baltimore 59 103 0.3641975 National League Team Wins Losses Win % 1 N.Y. Mets 94 68 0.5802469 2 Chi. Cubs 90 72 0.5555556 3 Arizona 89 73 0.5493827 4 Philadelphia 89 73 0.5493827 5 Milwaukee 89 73 0.5493827 6 Colorado 88 74 0.5432099 7 L.A. Dodgers 88 74 0.5432099 8 Atlanta 87 75 0.537037 9 San Diego 85 77 0.5246914 10 St. Louis 76 86 0.4691358 11 Houston 77 85 0.4753086 12 Florida 75 87 0.462963 13 Cinc...

Everyone needs something to keep them occupied on Friday afternoons so the Friday Video Blowout was born. Spend your next few minutes, laughing, crying of laughter, pissing your self, whatever, but mostly wasting your companies time. Videos In Order Courtesy of Fanhouse , Mirtle , Real Clear Sports , Kurtenblog , AA , Who Ate All the Pies , Fanhouse 2 , AA * 2 , Everybody Way to make it uncomfortable dick. That's loserific. Umm ok Chuck. They are the best team in New York. Hmm Patrick's son is badass. Where were the Cheese Doodles? John is the man. Hmm dunks are fun. Typical Dukie scum. People like Bogut.

This is a first, I have gotten access and found a few of Bruce Pearl's most secretive plays. He used these a lot last night so they may be out, but still to have them on paper is a thing of beauty. Defense Uncontested Lay Up Play The Vols ran this play to perfection often last night. First the man guarding the ball has to get burnt. In fact sometimes you don't even need some one guarding the ball. Then next step is for every other defender to not get in the way of the ball handler. This could either be done by simply not moving, or waving half assedly at the ball, or you could even pretend to not see the ball handler. The final step is to watch the player hopefully make a wide open dunk or layup. Typically this play works 95% of the time. The Easy Pass for a Layup Another one of Bruce Pearl's ingenious plays. The way this works is that first the man covering the ball has to get burnt. It's a consistent theme in Pearl's plays but an essential one. The next s...

And to the AL East, the division that truly matters. This year might be the deepest that the division has been in years. Obviously the Sox and Yanks haven't left, but the Blue Jays should be dangerous again this year, and even Devil Rays have potential. One could put together a good argument that this division is actually better than the AL Central and will be the best division in baseball at years end. Oh the Orioles are gonna suck though. 1. Boston Red Sox The Red Sox currently lead the league in losses, but I think it's safe to say they should be able to recover. The question that may haunt Theo and the Sox is if they end up with an Asian hangover. The two opening months for the Sox are essential. If they get off to a typical Red Sox start than there is no doubt that they should make a run to the postseason. However, if they come back from Japan and get off to the horrendous start that other teams in the past have they may end up finding it difficult to fight through an ...

The NL East was certainly a lot more interesting in late September than it looked all season long. The Mets with the addition of Johan have once again risen to the favorite of the division. 1. New York Mets Trading for Johan Santana give the Mets the piece they have been missing the past two seasons. An absolute stud at the top of their rotation. But was it a year too late? Will the age and injuries to the Carlos's, Alou, etc. hinder what should be the National League favorite. Key Player: Pedro Martinez, The key player for the Mets this season is definitely Pedro. If Pedro can stay healthy for the entire season than the Mets have 4 dynamic starters with the potential of 5 if El Duque can ever be healthy. If Pedro comes down with an injury than are they really head and shoulders better than they were last season? Maybe not. Player to Eye: John Maine, I've never been a big believer of John Maine but maybe I'm worng. Last season Maine had a solid season and this sprin...

Last year the AL Central was arguably the best division in baseball, this year it should get a run for its money from the AL East, but they certainly have two teams to match any other division in MLB. 1. Detroit Tigers Apparently Detroit is becoming a big market team. After a a World Series trip the Tigers missed out on the postseason due in part to some key injuries. So what does a big market team do in the offseason? They reload. They trade their best prospects (Maybin, Miller, Jurjjens) to restock with All Stars (Cabrera, Willis, Renteria). Now the Tigers have arguably the best lineup in baseball. Key Player: Jeremy Bonderman, The Tigers really need someone to emerge as their #2 starter behind Verlander. Last season Bonderman appeared to be on the verge of a breakout season. On July 13th Bonderman moved his record to 10-1 and his ERA to 3.50, after that it was kaboom to the point where he finished the season 11-9 with a 5.01 era before being shelved. The Tigers really need Bon...

In honor of Brandon Jennings busting out a money hairstyle , I bring you great moments in Flat Top / Hi-Top Fade History. Sure my memory could probably use a refresher when it comes to finding the best of the best, but here's essentially the best of what I remember. So feel free to email away any additions. Fab Five Flat Top Yesterday CWebb retired so of course the Fab Five is going to be on my mind. And no one quite rocked a flat top in the NCAA Finals quite like Juwan Howard. Back to Back Flat Tops I certainly hate Duke, but the Hill boys always rocked out a solid flat top during their dominant days at Duke. Flat Top Dream Team Why were they the dream team? The flat top of course. Patrick Ewing, Scottie Pippen, Chris Mulling, and the Admiral all rocked out flat tops. That's a high powered flat top squad. Other Members of the All Flat Top Team Kendell Gill always rocked out a solid flat top. Detlef Schrempf adds to the contigent of white flat tops. White guys really do lo...

Last night I left ESPN on after the C's game and found out by accident that the McDonald's All America game was on. I left it on for a bit and really there was only one thing of note. Arizona PG recruit Brandon Jennings has an enormous Kid N' Play like Flat Top. It was phenomenal and I pray that Flat Tops / Hi-Top Fades are coming back in style. FLAT TOPS HELP IMPROVE THE JORDAN POSE (Do Not Actually Improve Dunking Ability) YOU CAN CARRY THE BALL WITH A FLAT TOP (Ref's Are Blinded by the Hair) FLAT TOPS GIVE YOU WINGS (Red Bull Not Included) Check out GREAT MOMENTS IN HOOPS FLAT TOP HISTORY

The ACC is often regarded as the #1 basketball conference in the country and this year the RPI rankings reflected that. Yet, the ACC mysteriously only received 4 invitations to the Big Dance. Well after a week and a half it's pretty evident that the ACC might have been a touch overrated this season. Why? Because after a week and a half there's only one team left and the conference has a combined 9-7 record. NCAA Tourney ELIMINATED (2-3) Clemson 0-1: Dumped in the first round to the last at large team in the dance is pretty poor. Especially when a win would have lined the Tigers up against Siena. Duke 1-1: Barely avoided historic levels of ineptitude when they won by 1 over Belmont. Than pretty much got thumped by WVU. Miami 1-1: Knocked off St. Mary's woooo in the first round and then closed the gap but lost to Texas in the second round. No real shame in a 7 seed losing to a 2. NIT ELIMINATED (3-3) Florida St. 0-1: Florida St. got dumped at home against Akron in the ...

It's been a very long time since Max Kellerman quit Around the Horn to move onto his unsuccessful show IMax, but today he said something on his radio show on 1050 ESPN Radio that I found humurous. Basically when Bob Ryan was on the show, which wasn't that often, he would just agree with all of the arguments Ryan presented and intentionally placed him in the finals to piss off the other contestants. He said he would usually pit Ryan against Woody and have Ryan win, just so he could annoy the other guys. I bet Jay Mariotti went home daily crying like a little girl. "Max doesn't like me, wah wah. Why doesn't he like me?"

Reseeding is stupid. Let me explain why... My original tournament bracket had Bradley vs. Virginia in the finals of the CBI tournament and UVA taking it home. Well come semifinals time the CBI decides that it wants to recede teams based on some criteria that nobody knows (aka I don't care to find out) and they decided to throw my bracket for a loop and make Bradley and UVA face each other in the semifinals. So do you repick at this point? Do you leave the bracket as is? I have no idea, plus I'm lazy so I left the bracket as is. Well Bradley beat UVA, so now my champion is obviously wrong, but do I get credit for Bradley in the finals. I had them there, but I had them losing to UVA. Who knows. If you can't even do a March Madness bracket with it than why should anyone care about shit teams facing each other?

I obviously wasn't going to get the UMass trip to MSG given I had them losing to FSU long ago, but still going into last night I had 1 of 2 'Final Four' teams. And then the bracket came to an abrupt halt. VaTech had to choke on some large dong at home against Ole Miss. Sure Ole Miss has a better record, but I figured home court, playing in a better conference, plus the ability to almost beat the best team in the country would give them the ability to proclaim themselves the 66th best team in the country. Nope they got pounded in the last few minutes and my bracket was shattered. And then of course to put salt in the wounds Ohio State has to do basically the same thing to Dayton and pull away in the second half. Stupid NIT.

An odd division in which the Cubs are the odds on favorite because of their cash. The Cardinals and Astros seemingly have garnered a bunch of roster holes while the Brewers need their pitching to stay healthy and their youth to lead them over the hump they couldn't quite get to last year. 1. Chicago Cubs Another year another failure for the 2007 Cubs. This year after the addition of Fuku and the possible return of Kerry Wood to the pitching staff the Cubs will once again be amongst the National League favorites. Key Player: Carlos Zambrano, Big Z guaranteed a Cy Young award last year. That didn't quite pan out. This year I haven't heard much from Big Z which is probably a good thing. Shut up, go on the mound every 5th day and dominate. Your team needs it. Player to Eye: Kosuke Fukudome, I always have fun watching Japanese imports because they are such a crap shoot. They could turn into Ichiro and become superstars or Matsui and become a good player or Kazuo 'Ana...