SimonOnSports

You think filling out an NCAA bracket is difficult? Try filling out a CIT bracket where the round 2 opponents aren't lined up or solidified and four of the teams will be chosen after round 1 to get a bye based on some selection criteria. This bracket is gonna be so so wrong. This describes the movement. Red Arrows mean 2nd round byes. Green Arrows mean win and move to the next round. In the end the obvious choice is Iona. They have the smallest name and was the easiest to copy and paste from spot to spot.

Who wants the 2011 College Basketball Invitational Bracket? You do! I am a massive expert of the 2010-2011 college basketball mid majors. So much so that I know that Boise State wears bright blue and bright orange uniforms and that Cobe Karl used to go there. For that reason and that reason alone, they are clearly the favorites of this tournament and as the favorite they will dominate. Duquesne/URI/Davidson meet them in the epic final four with URI falling in the 3 game series due to blinding orange.

BOOM Hokies. I think after 4 years of bubble time for the boys from Hokieland that Delaney and the other seniors will step up and want to leave campus with a good taste in their mouth. The other final 4 teams in MSG are Harvard (for fun), Colorado (snub #2) and Missouri State (uh, don't know why).

Not to brag or anything but I nailed the Stanley Cup finals last year both in its participants and winners. Pure genius on my part, take that hockey analysts. Since I'm quite obviously better at predicting things I know very little about as opposed to sports I pay attention to, perhaps you should take heed and remember these predictions come June... Or not. Your choice. NHL West Standings West Conference Finals Chicago Blackhawks over Vancouver Canucks - The Blackhawks bring back their two studs and that's enough for me to think they can get through the tough Western Conference for the second straight season. NHL East Standings East Conference Finals Washington Capitals over Pittsburgh Penguins - It's time for Ovechkin to put up or shut up and time for him to knock off his nemesis. If the Capitals can't get it done this year then the window might be closing. Stanley Cup Finals Washington Capitals over Chicago Blackhawks It's incredibly difficu...

Division Series Yankees over Twins in 4... The Yankees always beat the Twins and even with their pitching being arguably the worst in the AL CC should pick up two Ws and they will squeak by in one of the Pettitte Hughes starts. Rangers over Rays in 5... I love David Price, but frankly I've seen postseason Cliff Lee and I trust postseason Cliff Lee. In addition Shields has been less then stellar this season and the Rays offense has not hit the ball the past two weeks. Giants over Braves in 4... The West Coast G-Men will have too much starting pitching over the injured Braves offense. The games will likely be like 3-2 showdowns but the Giants should be able to take the series. Phillies over Reds in 4... Frankly I'm being generous giving the Reds a W in this series. The Reds had a great season but the Phillies have set themselves up to dominate a best of 5 series. Championship Series Rangers over Yankees in 7... Perhaps I should have confidence in the Yankees like...

The predictions will be quick, to the point, and in bracket format... I'm going with the favorites of Spain and a whole lot of chalk. I think there's a definitive difference between the #1 and #2s of the groups and lamely picked no upsets in the round of 16. I think France and Portugal will be the lone European powerhouses to not make the Quarters. I also feel that the African squads will have a horrible showing in the their first world cup on home soil. The golden boot will likely go to Messi despite me thinking they get knocked off in the semis, and the player of the tournament will be his Barca teammate Xavi.

Because my preseason predictions in Hockey are named Completely Useless 09-10 NHL Predictions one would think that they are completely useless but apparently not. As of this current moment I am looking solid having predicted a Blackhawk vs. Flyers final with the Blackhawks taking the Stanley Cup back to Chicago for the first time in 50 years. Oh and ignore those silly predictions from last month . I was drunk.

I can't say I get overly excited for the NFL draft unless the Jets have a top 5 pick, but alas here's the annual mock draft which is sure to epically wrong. Here's hoping that Clausen enjoys Aaron Rodgers / Brady Quinn levels of draft happiness.

This post is brought to you by SPORTSBETTING.com. Get best online sports betting bonuses at this sportsbook . With the NHL picks out of the way, we bring a quick bracket of NBA brilliance. Or not... In a shocking maneuver I'm going King James for the win. The Cavs have been the best team in the NBA this season. They should be able to get revenge on the Magic. The Celtics and Lakers are getting old and worse throughout the year and the Mavericks have no one that can stop the King. I desire not to pick the Lakers so the Mavs make it to the finals to watch the crown be put on King James skull making him free to rule any city in the US, including Manhattan or Brooklyn.

Here is my poor attempt to predict the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs... I'm taking the Capitals (big leap) to beat the Blackhawks in the finals. I picked the Blackhawks to win in the preseason but changed my mind, likely foolishly. I have the Bruins upsetting the Sabres just cause and then NHL still does the whole realignment/reseeding thing right? If not this bracket is completely f*cked.

By far my favorite golf tourny of the year. The course is cool, the tradition is phenomenal, I love the quirky way they decide the field and the best players in the World always contend and more often than not you will get a Tiger, VJ, or Phil taking it home instead of a Justin Leonard, Rich Beem, Todd Hamilton, type. Which is much more entertaining. 4 People to Watch to Contend Obvious is Obvious- Tigger Woo - I may have said he isn't going to win, or really be in the running on sunday but for the first three days he'll certainly be interesting. Secondary - Sergio Garcia - I'm just going to leave Sergio in this spot every tournament until he finally wins a major. This means he will be featured here every tournament for the next 8 decades. The CRAZY PANTS - Ian Poulter - Come on Crazy pants, can you finally get it done on the big stage? Darkhorse - Ryo Ishikawa - Why wouldn't an 18 year old Japanese phenom win the Masters?

Time to run down the playoff predictions which are almost certainly going to be terribly wrong. Play-In Games Yep I predicted ties. The first comes in the AL West with the Mariners tied with the Angels. The Angels shall win the division yet again. The next tie is in the NL where I have a three way tie for the Wildcard between the Braves, Mets and Cubs (must have been drunk when I made this prediction). The Braves will play the Mets in the first game and knock them off. Then the Braves will knock off the Cubbies to extend the streak. Wild Card Matchups NL East Philadelphia Phillies vs. NL Central St. Louis Cardinals This is the series I thought we were going to get in the NLCS last year. This season it will happen in the Wild Card round and the Cards will matchup Carpenter & Wainwright against Halladay & Hamels. It should be a duel but the Phillies lineup is deeper than the Cards and will outmatch them in 5. NL Wildcard Atlanta Braves vs. NL West Los Angeles Dod...

And finally on to the big boys. 1. New York Yankees All's right in the world now that the Yankees have won their 27th World Series. This year they've made a surprising amount of offseason changes but they still are the odds on favorite to repeat. Key Player: Mariano Rivera, They may have moved Joba into the bullpen but Mariano Rivera is still the key. If he gets injured the Yankees will blow a bunch of games in the bullpen. Player to Eye: Robinson Cano, Robinson Cano had a easily his best year of his career last year hitting .320 while also belting 25 HRs. With that success comes added responsibility. Robinson Cano is essentially getting a promotion this season from the bottom of the lineup to the #5 spot. Last year he got the opportunity to hit 5th 50 times and in those at bats he performed much worse than when hitting lower in the lineup. The Yanks need him to step up, start hitting with runners in scoring position, and develop just a little bit more if that ...

The AL Central is officially the most boring division in Major League Baseball. I seriously don't find any team exciting in the slightest. I hope to have zero AL Central players on my fantasy roster (well maybe Gordon Beckham). 1. Minnesota Twins Yay the Twins signed Joe Mauer for a boat load of cash for the next decade. Yay, they won't be able to afford any other player for the next decade. The Twins will win this division based on the fact that the division isn't good. They then will be crushed in the first round of the playoffs like always. Key Player: Joe Mauer, Well he's making about 1/3 of the Twins entire payroll so I think it's pretty safe to say that if anything happens to him then the Twins are shit out of luck. Player to Eye: Francisco Liriano, Last year we kind of thought Liriano was going to be back and emerge as a beast once again. Well, we were wrong. Very wrong. Now he's the Twins 5th starter, yet a strong Winter and spring training...

The AL West is a world for holy beings. It shall continue in 2009. t1. Los Angeles Angels Oh the Halos, masters of the AL West. People might be catching up to them but they are still head of the class. Key Player: Jered Weaver, With the departure of John Lackey the Angels need one of the youngsters to step up and emerge as the staff ace. I think that pitcher will be Jered Weaver. After a so so 08 Weaver improved drastically in 09 posting an ERA of 3.74 and picking up 16 wins. Personally I think there might be some improvement possible and we could see Weaver's ERA, K Rate and Win totals all improve in 2010. Player to Eye: Joel Piniero, I've never been a big Joel Piniero fan but he did post a 3.49 ERA last season and the Angels will be leaning on him to be a solid back end of the rotation guy. Will he continue his 2009 stat line or will he regress to his 08 ERA of 5.15? Record Prediction: 84-78

It's the NL East, home to hyper thyroids, terrible medical staffs, the World Series Loser and owners of the 1st MLB Draft pick in 09 and 10. 1. Philadelphia Phillies The Phillies came up just short of a repeat in 2009 so they decided to go out and get the best pitcher in baseball. Key Player: Cole Hamels, Halladay is going to be untouchable, I think we all know this, but the key to the 2010 Phillies is Cole Hamels. Cole had a disappointing 2009 but if the Phillies can get him back to his 08 MVP form than they will again be a difficult out in October/November. Player to Eye: Roy Halladay, Halladay will be interesting to watch strictly due to the AL/NL switch and the result it will have on his already unbelievable stat lines. Record Prediction: 90-72

The NL West still home of two of the worst offenses in baseball in 2010 and quite possibly ever. 1. Los Angeles Dodgers The Dodgers are the big time favorites in the NL West thanks to their advantage in offense over their competition. But with the positives there are possible negatives. The Dodgers do have some question marks in regards with their rotation both at the top (Kershaw & Billingsley) and with its depth. Key Player: Chad Billingsley, Billingsley was supposed to step up in 2009 and be the Dodgers staff ace, unfortunately for the Dodger Blue he did not. His ERA and Ks dipped dramatically and the Dodgers didn't even start him in the playoffs. In 2010 they will need Billingsley to go back to the guy that had a 3.14 ERA in 08 if they want to get past the Phillies in the postseason. Player to Eye: Matt Kemp, Why is Matt Kemp an intriguing player to watch? Well take a look at his splits from last year . Kemp was much more effective when batting near the bottom o...

It's the NL Central, Home of the dominant Pirates of Pittsburgh. 1. St. Louis Cardinals The Cardinals went out and spent some big cash this offseason to keep Matt Holliday around but will that mean success in the postseason? One could argue that their team isn't much improved from 2010 when they were quickly dispatched from the playoffs. Key Player: Albert Pujols, This doesn't change any year for the St. Louis Cardinals. If Albert Pujols were to suffer an injury the Cardinals will not make the playoffs. Even with Ludwick and Holliday and Lopez the Cardinals won't provide enough offense if Pujols is out. Player to Eye: Chris Carpenter, Last year I said Carpenter might be the steal of all fantasy drafts and well, he was. Carpenter should have won the Cy Young award (apparently not losing a game in 4 months is an overrated stat aka Saber-matricians gone too far) but was nonetheless a top NL starter. Will his body hold up for a second consecutive season? The C...

I'll get into the details for each team in my divisional previews over the next two weeks but here are the 2010 Standings predictions. Ridicule as much as you like.

CIT Bracket In order to get off on a really bad footing let's start off with my CIT bracket which was atrocious starting at the opening tip. My final for the tournament consisted of George Mason and Loyola Marymount. Well... both teams lost in the first round so that bracket is officially in major shambles. CBI Bracket And then just to double up in the opening round I chose Oregon State to win the CBI. They won a postseason tournament last year so why not two in a row? Well they got crushed by Boston University in the opening round so that's why. NIT Bracket I picked UConn to beat Illinois which is surprisingly still a possibility. This likely ends tonight given that UConn barely beat Northeastern and plays at Virginia Tech, a team that hasn't played well below expectations all year. NCAA Bracket This years tournament is certainly one where an East Coast bias won't help you at all. In addition making your bracket Chalk-lity makes for disaster as well....