Arenas to take some time off

It looks like everybody’s favourite zero is going to have plenty of time to work on his blog instead of playing in the NBA playoffs. Agent Zero, Gilbert Arenas, sprained his knee and tearing his meniscus in last night’s game against the Charlotte Bobcats. Arenas will be forced to miss 2-3 months and his earliest possible return could be during the NBA finals, but with Caron Butler out of the Wizards line up as well, don’t bank on seeing Gil back this season. On a side note, which team in the East doesn’t want to play the depleted Wizards now?

Notes from the MLB

Barry Bonds took another step forward in his chase to become the all-time home run king, hitting one out against Chris Young of the San Diego Padres. One down, 21 to go. As long he stays healthy and pitchers like Young are dumb enough to throw him strikes, Bonds will certainly break Aaron’s record and Bud Selig may have a dilemma on his hands. How would you like an internationally hated man holding one of, if not the most, sacred record of your sport?

A.J. Burnett joined this season’s list of starters to get rocked in the early going. The Tigers lit him up for the better part of their eight-run third earning when he was pulled from the game. The Jays mounted a late comeback attempt by scoring seven runs in the eighth inning but ultimately fell 10-9.

The Mets completed their sweep of the defending champion Cardinals which isn’t really too much of a surprise when you consider the team that St. Louis fielded this year. Moving a former closer into the rotation and reassembling the Angels middle infield combo of Kennedy and Eckstein aren’t the best off-season moves you can make. Their fans should be happy that management didn’t take the Florida Marlins approach to winning though.

Dice-K debuts today so run out to your local bookie and throw down some money on Boston today. Is there really a possibility that Boston will open their season by losing a series to the lowly Royals? Especially with Daisuke Matsuzaka’s regular season debut today, it doesn’t seem likely. This is also assuming that “wonder-kid” Alex Gordon of Kansas City also continues his pace to go hitless on the year after being touted as a rookie of the year candidate. He’s showing his critics what he can truly do.

Predictions for the MLB Season!

Since the most note-worthy event in sports yesterday happened to be the University of Tennessee’s basketball team winning the NCAA women’s championship, I’ll quickly throw down some predictions for the MLB this season (something I probably should have done earlier this week if there wasn’t a ton of news).

The East divisions: It’s hard to go against the New York teams even though their competition is getting better every year. Boston and Philadelphia will give them some runs but a) do you really think the Yanks won’t make the playoffs and b) do you really think Philly has what it takes to knock off the Mets? The Jays have an outside chance of sneaking in but don’t count on it. Florida and the Braves aren’t close to contending yet and as for Baltimore, Washington and Tampa Bay, see you next year boys.
Pick: New York Yankees, New York Mets

The Central divisions: The AL Central is looking like it will be the toughest in baseball this year while its NL counterpart looks like it’s going to be tough because of the lack of superior teams. In the AL, only the Royals don’t realistically have a chance but the Twins don’t have enough good arms to carry them the whole way. Cleveland stank up the joint last year but have too much talent to stay down. The White Sox are on a decline since their World Series win but still are a top-notch team and the Tigers only upgraded their AL championship team. As for the NL, it’s a sad state of affairs when Milwaukee has a shot at contention. Last year the Cardinals won the World Series with the worst record for a champ ever; their team has only declined as well. Houston looks strong but still isn’t very strong despite adding Carlos Lee to their outfield. The Cubs ballooned their payroll but they’re still the Cubs. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh: forget about it.
Pick: Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs.

The West divisions: The only reason anybody will care about the NL west this season is because Barry Bonds will break the home run record, like it or not. Los Angeles looks like the top team here but San Diego will be right there with them. Out in the AL, Seattle will be an improved team and Texas still doesn’t have the pitching which leaves the Angels and the A’s. These two will slug it out but it really comes down to if the Angels make a huge deadline deal or not. Since it doesn’t look seem like AROD will be moved mid-season, the A’s should take it.
Pick: Los Angeles, Oakland

The Wildcards: Always the toughest races to call but it’s hard to not see the Red Sox in the playoffs, if only for the inevitable Yanks-Sox showdown. Look for Toronto, Cleveland and Chicago to have a go at it too though. If Houston’s bats can overcome their pitching, specifically Brad Lidge, who’s turned into the worst closer in baseball, they can steal the wildcard away for the Cards and Phillies.
Pick: Boston, Houston

Florida repeats! Now what?

Despite Greg Oden’s best efforts and best game of the tournament, Florida’s all-around team play carried them to their second NCAA title in a row. Another factor in the loss that became glaringly obvious towards the end of the game was Thad Matta’s horrendous coaching job of Ohio. With Florida’s big men in foul trouble and Oden clearly dominating down low, the Buckeyes continually threw up ill-fated three point attempts instead of capitalizing on the single coverage and foul situations down low. If the phenom Oden had been able to draw four more fouls, there wouldn’t have been anybody left who could guard him down low while eliminating Al Horford and Joakim Noah on the offensive end. It was a sloppy job in my opinion.

The questions will now start coming up about whether or not college stars will enter the draft for NBA money or if they’ll stick around for an education. Florida could hypothetically bring back four of their starters again and bring a third straight title home. Oden, who admittedly likes going to school, may stay in college because he knows the money will always be waiting for him. Kevin Durant may stay at Texas to help the Longhorns get deeper in the tournament next year. These decisions will have a huge impact on the draft and must have lottery teams like Memphis and Boston, who have blatantly tanked games, praying that the young guns declare.

Baseball’s Back Baby!

While yesterday may have been officially opening day, the bulk of teams kick off their seasons today. Every team will usually trot out their staff aces but somehow the Yankees are left with Carl Pavano on the hill. Oh how the mighty have fallen; best team money can buy my ass. When your opponents the Devil Rays are starting a better pitcher than you (Scott Kazmir), you might be in trouble.

The Jays will start Doc Halladay against the Tigers Jeremy Bonderman in the premier match up of the day; well unless you want to call Kevin Millwood vs. John Lackey a premier match up.

It all comes down to this

65 teams entered the tournament a bit over two weeks ago and after some tough games, thrilling comebacks and a few (very few make that) surprises, only two teams remain. Tonight it is Ohio State vs. the defending champion Florida Gators. There are a ton of storylines in this game, more than there usually is actually, but that’s hard to say because I know for a fact that journalist can be crafty.

For one, Florida defeated Ohio State at college football’s national championship game. It’s a fairly good bet that Ohio’s basketball team can put up more than the 14 points that their football counterparts did in their loss.

Also, no team has won consecutive NCAA tournaments since Duke accomplished the feat back in the ‘91-92 tournaments. With all of their starters returning from last season, it’s still a good bet Florida can do it.

This could be phenom Greg Oden’s final college game as well as his last chance to show his abilities in a big game. Oden has frequently gotten into foul trouble throughout the tourney and has had his playing time limited because of it. Going up against Jo-Noah and Al Horford will be a challenge to the big man and it wouldn’t be a bad bet to say he racks up a couple of fouls quickly.

And since both of our brackets a done, the Intern and I have decided to bet since we no longer of bias or loyalty to our previous picks.

Dan: Florida 72, Ohio State 60

The Intern: Ohio State 76, Florida 67