Conference Championship Picks

New Orleans (+3) over CHICAGO

If you think about it this way, when you add up that Dallas should have beaten Seattle who barely lost Chicago, do you think Dallas would have any chance at beating New Orleans? Of course not because we remember what happened when New Orleans walked into Dallas and killed the legend of Tony Romo. So after considering that, is there still a reason why you would pick Chicago this weekend? Their defense isn't as healthy as they need it to be, Devin Hester is a non-factor if you kick the ball away from him and Rex Grossman is, well Rex Grossman.

Also, don't forget that everyone in America outside of the Chicago area is rooting for New Orleans after last year's Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Pick: New Orleans 24, Chicago 13

Patriots (+3) over INDIANAPOLIS

This weekend, we're all lucky enough to witness the nearly annual Pats-Colts playoff game. The worst part about this is the media coverage that has been going overboard on the hype-machine. I also realize the hypocrisy of myself writing about the game, but how else am I supposed to make a pick?

On paper, the Colts look like they have a superior team. New England's linebacker core is as slow as molasses. In their secondary, Rodney Harrison is banged up but will probably play even though he's still nursing shoulder and knee injuries. Their wide receivers may very well be cut if they played on the Colts and Corey Dillon looks like he's moving in slow-motion. Also, don't forget that Adam Vinatieri is on the Colts side of the ball.

So why would I pick the Patriots? Well, first of all, this is going to be a close game, trust me. This game is most likely going to come down to a field goal and while Vinatieri is kicking for the Colts, the Pats rookie kicker Gostkowski has been on the money as of late. Secondly, Belichick and Brady are 12-1 together in the playoffs. Most of the time, it's easy money putting your money behind them. Last but not least, I actually flipped a coin assigning heads to the Colts heads and tails to the Patriots. It came up tails, ergo, I'm taking New England.

Besides, the game will probably come down to a field goal; in that case, everybody ties with a +3 line if Indy kicks the game winner.

Pick: New England 23, Indianapolis 20

As for Alyssa, she's going with New England and New Orleans. Is this good luck or a curse for my picks? We'll see.

Are the Pats turning the difficulty level up?

It's mid-January and the NFL playoffs are in full swing so this must mean one thing: The New England Patriots are on a roll towards the Super Bowl. It seems to happen almost every year now (3 Super Bowl wins over the past 5 seasons) and quite frankly, it's getting a bit tiring. This year it seems they've thrown a wrinkle into their run.

Like most young males, I enjoy playing video games; I mainly endulge in sports games, especially the Madden series. Usually when you start out, you don't want to jump to the hardest difficulty, you start around the lower difficulties until you get your feet under you. Once you feel confident enough to move up levels, you do and the challenges get harder. You keep on moving up levels and there are more and more challenges ahead of you until you've ultimately mastered the game.

What was the point of that last paragraph? Well, it sums up what the Patriots are doing this year. Brady and Belichick have moved up the difficulty level this year to see if they're still up to the challenge. It's happened a few times but I just haven't noticed until now.

Do you remember all of the stories about how Troy Brown is filling in defensive back because of injuries and lack of depth? That would be a challenge to work around. Losing the clutches kicker in NFL history to your rival in free agency? That would be a challenge. Resigning Brady to a massive extension, yet failing to sign a quality wide receiver for him to throw to? Another challenge (and don't tell me that Reche Caldwell would be starting on any other playoff team. Not to mention that the Patriots are several million dollars under the salary cap this isn’t transferable to the next season.

With Belichick being crowned the genius that he is, doesn't it seem more plausible that all these moves were calculated decisions? I think so. There's no other reason why they wouldn't be. Can they beat the Colts this Sunday? That remains to be seen

Some NBA Thoughts

Webber brings it for Detroit

What he brought, I don't know, but it ended in a loss to Utah. Number 84 wound up with an outstanding line of 2-5-3 on 1/5 shooting over 17 minutes. I guess the new Michigan Fab Five aren't going to be nearly as good as the previous incarnation(s). In a related note, He's also on the verge of being cut from my fantasy team.

Huge NBA Trade

Yesterday, Indiana acquired Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy Jr. as part of an eight-player deal that sent all-head case team Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington to Golden State. I'll be honest. I didn't even know Murphy was white until I saw his highlights when I heard the trade. As for Dunleavy, a former top 3 draft pick hasn't lived up to that billing, but then again, the 2002 NBA Draft wasn't the most star studded of all time.

The best part about this trade is the fact that Stephen Jackson has been traded to an area of California known as "The Bay Area." This consists of San Francisco and Oakland. Can you even begin to imagine what kind of trouble someone as insane as Jackson can do in a club in Oak-Town? I'm actually giddy thinking about it.

The Suns Keep On Shining

Shawn Marion and the Phoenix Suns rolled to their 11th straight victory last night with a 100-91 victory over Houston. Bill Simmons of ESPN.com brought to light in his article yesterday that if it weren't for two plays, Nash missing a 3 near the end of regulation against Washington (a game they lost in OT) and Dirk Nowitzki hitting a jumper with less than a second left on the clock, from being on a ridiculous 29-game winning streak. In a new world of sports where parity reigns, it’s becoming surprisingly and increasingly difficult for teams to put together strings like this. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in Washington on the 23rd to judge how long this streak may last.

Finally, remember when Jalen Rose was arguably one of the best players on the Raptors? He now is racking up DNPs on the Suns bench.

The Joyous Season of Arbitration is Upon Us

Every year around this marvelously frosty time, after most of, if not all, the marquee free agents have been signed for too much money, restricted free agents get their chance at the owner's pockets. This year, this is very much to their advantage as they got to see one of the most ludicrous off-seasons in memory. Huge contract extensions were signed, awful starting pitchers cashed in, Boston paid $52.2M for the rights to simply talk to a player. This is definitely a good year to be a free agent of any sort.

Carlos Zambrano made $6.65M last year, this year he wants a raise after being one of the best pitchers in the National League last year, quite understandable given the circumstances. The problem is that he wants $15.5M next year and the Cubs have only offered up roughly $11M for next year. Considering how much cash the Cubs have tossed out this off-season and the fact that Gil Meche finagled a deal worth a similar amount from the Royals, it seems pretty backhanded that Chicago would even offer up a deal that low.

In the twin cities, super kids Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer are both going to arbitration and stand to get quite a raise. After earning near the league minimum last year, Morneau and Mauer are asking for $5M and $4.5M respectively. The always frugal Twinkies countered with $4M and $3.3. Coming off seasons in which one earned the AL MVP (Morneau) while the other won the batting crown (Mauer) and should have easy cases. If (read: when) the arbitrators rule in the players' favour (I don’t see why not), the Twins will still have two young studs on their team at a considerable discount.

All Freddy Sanchez did last year was lead the N.L. in batting average while playing for the sad sack Pirates. Apparently $3.3M is too much for the Pirates to pay out to one of their few bright spots. They've only offered him $2.1M.

Three-time all-star Miguel Cabrera has asked for a raise from less than half a million to $7.4M. The Florida Marlins have offered $6.9M and will probably have to pony up after Cabrera’s third consecutive 110 RBI season.

The most remarkable difference between player and team is that of Alex Escobar vs. the Washington Nationals who are an outstanding $90,000 apart and stand to waste more time and money in arbitration than it's worth. While $90,000 is quite the amount of money for Joe and Jane Everyman, it's nearly nothing in the sports world.