2013-2014 NBA Preview

It’s time for some basketball! Opening tip-off is tomorrow night, and it’s the start of an 8-month journey to crown a champion. A lot of pressing questions are going to be answered. Will the Heat three-peat? Will Derrick Rose return to MVP form with the Bulls? Can the Spurs bounce back from their devastating loss in the 2013 NBA Finals? When will Kobe return? Do the Clippers make the jump under new head coach Doc Rivers?

I don’t have answers to these questions just yet, but what I can do is offer my power rankings, from 30 to 1. I’ve also taken the opportunity to throw in some of my favourite GIFs from last season. Here we go.

Rebuild Mode

30) Philadelphia 76ers; 29) Phoenix Suns; 28) Orlando Magic; 27) Boston Celtics; 26) Sacramento Kings; 25) Utah Jazz; 24) Charlotte Bobcats.

This is the Riggin’ for Wiggins group, probably as crowded of a group of “rebuilding” teams as we’ve seen in recent memory. That’s probably due to the strength of the 2014 draft, which is being hyped as one of the best in the past decade. Along with Andrew Wiggins, there are up to 8 potential future all-stars according to ESPN insider Chad Ford.

Besides the lottery, it’ll be interesting to see which players from this group are traded. Guys like Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green in Boston, Spencer Hawes in Philly, Emeka Okafor in Phoenix (who was just acquired from Washington) and Aaron Afflalo in Orlando are all players to keep an eye on. Otherwise, not much to look forward to for this group in 2013-2014. Except maybe Kris Humphries becoming the first player to be rejected by a referee with two different teams, now that he’s in Bean-town.

Outside Looking In

23) Los Angeles Lakers

This is one of the biggest wildcard rankings, because it depends a lot on Kobe Bryant. I mean, it usually does anyway, but right now the Black Mamba is recovering from his torn achilles, and we’re still not sure when he’ll be back. He could come back in mid-October, just like he could come back in December. But even with Kobe, there isn’t much talent after him and Pau Gasol. Plus, Mike d’Antoni is still the coach somehow. I can’t see them making the playoffs either way.

What do you think about this upcoming season, Kobe?

22) Milwaukee Bucks

21) Toronto Raptors

I’ve written about this before, but I really think the Raptors are attacking this season with the wrong mindset. This isn’t a team that can contend, far from it. Best case scenario, they make the playoffs with the 7th or 8th seed and get swept in the 1st round by the Heat, Pacers or Bulls. Worst case scenario, they finish 9th, don’t make the trades they need to (cough Rudy Gay cough), get a mid-round draft pick and stay mediocre for years to come. I think Jonas Valanciunas is going to be one of the best centers in the league eventually, just not right now. Toronto should take its lumps this year, pick up some important pieces, and go for it in the future. But the way the team is set up right now, I’m scared that the Raps are headed for the worst case 9th-place finish.

20) New Orleans Pelicans, 19) Washington Wizards, 18)  Portland Trail Blazers

This is an interesting little trio of teams, all relatively young squads that have shown flashes of being good. They also each have a young soon-to-be star (Anthony Davis with the Pelicans, John Wall with the Wizards, Damien Lillard with the Blazers) who could make a big jump this year. If they do, it wouldn’t be surprising to see any of these teams in the playoffs.

17) Dallas Mavericks

We could be in store for a big year from Dirk after a year in which he struggled with injuries. If that’s the case, watch out, the Mavs might just be a lot better than some people think. The trio of Jose Calderon, Monta Ellis and Nowitzki could actually be very good (on offense anyway).

Playoff bound

16) Atlanta Hawks

15) Cleveland Cavaliers; 14) Minnesota Timberwolves 13) Detroit Pistons

Three teams on the upswing here. For Cleveland, a lot will depend on what they can get from Andrew Bynum. We know Kyrie Irving is a stud, but that’s a young lineup that could use some big minutes from a guy who’s already been there (say what you will, but Bynum was part of 2 Lakers championships). In Minnesota, the key thing will be keeping Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love together healthy, whereas Detroit’s big question is how the frontcourt of Greg Monroe, Andre Drummond and Josh Smith will work.

12) Denver Nuggets

11) New York Knicks

10) Memphis Grizzlies

On the other hand, these are three teams that could take a slight step back from last year. Denver lost Andre Iguodala to the Warriors and will be without one of their best scorers in Danilo Gallinari for a while as he’s recovering from a torn ACL, not to mention they lost last year’s Coach of the year (George Karl) to retirement and Executive of the year (Masai Ujiri) who left for Toronto. But the Nuggets are fun, and they have great celebrations, like this Italian one!

And this one, where Javale McGee is cooking something delicious.

In New York, the Knicks lineup doesn’t look like it’ll be able to get very many stops, especially if they decide to play Amar’e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani together. Teams like the Bulls, Cavs, Wizards and Pistons have all improved, so that’s going to take wins away from New York.

Similar idea in the West, the top teams improved, while the Grizzlies haven’t done anything to shore up the lack of scoring aside from Zach Randolf and Marc Gasol.

True contenders

9) Golden State Warriors

One of the funnest teams in the league. Steph Curry is ready to become a superstar, Andrew Bogut is healthy, and Andre Iguodala adds much-needed perimeter defence. Plus, the whole yellow thing in the arena is awesome. They’re fun to watch on many levels. Hopefully Steph will give more love to his teammates this year though.

8) Brooklyn Nets; 7) Houston Rockets

Two of the big movers in the offseason, both in terms of actual players and title hopes. The Nets, of course, made a big splash at the trade deadline, landing Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in a massive trade, making their starting lineup one of the highest-paid in NBA history. (The NBA would be so much fun if every team was owned by a Russian billionaire who didn’t care how many millions he had to pay in luxury taxes).

Houston, on the other hand, landed the biggest fish in the free agent pond when they lured Dwight Howard away from the Lakers (although, admittedly, it didn’t take much convincing to get Howard out of LA). Getting the best center in the league to play with the best 2-guard in the league in James Harden (until Kobe Bryant gets back at least) suddenly makes the Rockets a nice bet to compete for the West title.

6) Oklahoma City Thunder; 5) San Antonio Spurs; 4) Indiana Pacers; 3) Chicago Bulls

All of these teams have a very legitimate shot of winning the title. They all have their weaknesses, but their strengths are too great to ignore. Kevin Durant is the best pure scorer in the league, but the questions for OKC are Russell Westbrook’s health and depth scoring. For the Spurs, it’s always tough to bet against Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Gregg Popovich, but age and mileage might start to take their toll on the club. Plus, who knows what effect the devastating loss to Miami will have on the team’s psyche. No matter how strong you are mentally, it’s tough to get this out of your head.

Over in the East, the Pacers showed they can keep up with the Heat last year, and they’ve improved that team for this year with the acquisition of Luis Scola and the return of Danny Granger. The Bulls are getting Derrick Rose back, and they have as good a five-man defensive unit as any in the league. But the question for both Chicago and Indiana is finding a way to contain LeBron, because nobody in the East has been able to in the past 3 years. Nobody is questioning either team’s physicality, however.

2) Los Angeles Clippers

Take one of the most explosive, high-tempo offenses in the league, add in some good shooters and you have what should be the best scoring unit in the league. As Grantland writer Zach Lowe explains in this column, “they’ve got killer shooting in J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley to dot the floor around Chris Paul–Griffin pick-and-rolls, and above Griffin post-ups.” Deadly. Matt Barnes is a solid defender, but they should add another by trading away Jamal Crawford. Otherwise, they might be exposed once again in the playoffs.

Oh, and they’re always good for a few spectacular dunks every game. And not just Blake Griffin.

1) Miami Heat

It’s just too hard to bet against LeBron James. Dwyane Wade looks like he’s getting a bit more healthy, and they still have most of the same pieces that helped them win two consecutive titles. And look for Greg Oden to rejuvenate his career with the Heat; Miami already kind of did the same with the Birdman, Chris Andersen, so why not Oden? If there’s one team that can do just that, it’s the defending champions.

And even if Oden doesn’t pan out, LeBron can will a championship by himself. He knows what a three-peat would mean to his legacy. He’s always comparing himself to MJ, and a three-peat is a big part of that. Don’t forget that all 3 guys from the Big-3 are in contract years this year; that’s a big deal.

That’s why I see the Heat three-peating, beating the Clippers in 7 games and winning the 2014 NBA Finals.

Which, of course, means more of my favourite version of LeBron: the “go ahead and hate, I’m the King” Lebron.

NHL : Early Surprise Team/No-Surprise Team Awards

Don’t look now, but we’re already three weeks into the NHL season. How did that happen?! Seems like just yesterday that we were arguing about whether hybrid icing was a good idea or not. Oh, right, that’s because we’re still arguing about it.

But we’ve seen some pretty good stuff so far. Sidney Crosby, to nobody’s surprise, has played outstanding, already taking a stranglehold on the Art Ross trophy, the Hart trophy, the Lester B. Pearson Trophy, the Vezina trophy, the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, and the Nobel Peace Prize.

And equally to nobody’s surprise, Patrick Roy took exactly one game to flip out at an opposing coach. ‘Nother day at the office.

(Note to Pepsi Center arena crew – replace the duct tape that was holding that window pane in place).

And as we’re already used to we’re still trying to get used to seeing a section of nhl.com devoted to the wildcard standings, we’re starting to get a bit of intel on teams. Some good, some bad. Some things we expected, some we didn’t.

It’s with that mindset that I’ve devoted this post to looking at three teams that have had a surprising start (either good or bad), which I’ve named the Patrick award candidates, and three teams that are who we thought they were (either good or bad), which I’ve named the Dennis Green award candidates.

Before I continue, I’ll let you click on this link so that you can fully grasp the meaning of the Patrick awards, and then this link so that you can fully grasp the meaning of the Dennis Green Awards.

(Waiting).

(Waiting).

(Still waiting).

Ok, good. Here we go.

Patrick Awards

Calgary Flames (4-2-2)

They’re 6th out of 7 teams in the Pacific Division, but at 4-2-2, they probably already have at least 3 more wins than most people thought they would at this point. When you look at their depth chart, you don’t really see a team that’s going to score a 6th-best 3.25 goals per game, but that’s exactly what they’ve done so far. Sean Monahan’s making a pretty strong case to stay in the NHL with 9 points in 8 games, and with only one game left in the standard rookie 9-game audition, it’ll be tough for Calgary to send him down. Hopefully, if they decide to keep him, his mental game won’t be affected by the Flames inevitable cool-down.

New York Rangers (2-5-0)

It’s not just that they’ve been losing, it’s how they’ve been losing. At 2-5-0, the Rangers have been outscored by a league-worst 18 goals. Welcome to the Big Apple, Alain Vigneault. Heck, they were so bad in their 9-2 loss to the Sharks that they pushed Marty Biron to retirement. Ok, not exactly, he did appear in another game after that. But I’ve created a parallel universe in which this Tomas Hertl goal is the last Biron ever allowed – you’re more than welcome to join me in said universe.

But come on. They’re a better team than 2-5-0. Just Henrik Lundqvist by himself should be able to get them to five-hundred. I expect them to turn things around in the not-too-distant future.

Colorado Avalanche (8-1-0)

When Patrick Roy isn’t pushing flimsily-held window panes at Bruce Boudreau, he’s leading his team to the best record in the Central division. The Avs have been really good thanks to great goaltending, solid defensively play, and the resurgence of Matt Duchene. 2013 first overall pick Nathan Mackinnon has been pretty good too, and suddenly Colorado looks to have a very promising future.

I just didn’t think they would be able to turn it around so quickly, but having watched them a few times now, I think they’re legit. Of the three teams in this category, I expect the Avalanche to be the ones with the best chance of carrying their surprise start; maybe they don’t win the Central, but they could make a run at the playoffs.

The Dennis Green Awards

St. Louis Blues (5-1-1)

Sure, they’ve played 5 of their first 7 at home, but the Blues are a good team and it should come to nobody’s surprise that they sport an early 5-1-1 record. One of the league’s quiet studs so far this year has been Alexander Steen, who is tied for 3rd with 11 points and does it all for Ken Hitchcock. I liked this team from the start of the year and nothing has changed my opinion so far. I really think they’re a Cup contender.

Pittsburgh Penguins (7-2-0)

Despite dealing with some key injuries (James Neal, Kris Letang), the Pens have been their usual high-flying selves, scoring an East-best 31 goals. It helps when you have Crosby and Malkin. Even Marc-André Fleury has been solid, recording an early 1.74 GAA and .930 save percentage. And in case you think the fact that Fleury has been so good should make me take the Pens out of this category, that’s not going to happen. Fleury is usually very good in the regular season, nothing new there. Just wait for the playoffs.

Buffalo Sabres (1-8-1)

A tough division and a lack of depth spelled a difficult season from the start for the Sabres, so this isn’t shocking. I don’t necessarily think they’ll keep a pace of one win for every 10 games throughout the season, but I don’t think they’ll get too far out of the basement either. If nothing else, this means even more Ryan Miler trade rumours. Too bad Edmonton’s on his no-trade list, because that’s the only spot that makes sense in the West, and it has potential to be a really good trade for both teams. I’m sure there’s interest among the Islanders, Lightning or Flyers, but I doubt Buffalo is trading him within their conference.

The Steve Bartman Fallout

Exactly 10 years ago today, an innocent fan was watching a baseball game. Just like everyone else at that stadium, he was cheering on his childhood team. They were winning and were about to make it to the World Series for the first time in almost 60 years.

That man was Steve Bartman. That team was the Chicago Cubs, playing the Florida Marlins in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS.

The rest is history. In the top of the 8th, with 1 out and the Cubs up 3-0, a foul ball was hit along the left field line, right in the area where Bartman was sitting. The fan reached out to catch the ball, interfering with Moises Alou, who was trying to make the second out of the inning. Alou wasn’t able to, and immediately reacted angrily to Bartman’s interference.

Bartman never got to see the rest of the game because security feared trouble. They got him out of the stadium while fans yelled and cursed at him. He wouldn’t have liked what he saw anyway, because the Marlins went on to score 8 runs that inning. The Cubs lost the game 8-3, lost again in Game 7, and were eliminated from the playoffs. The curse of the Billy Goat persisted.

If you’ve gotten the chance to see ESPN’s documentary on this whole incident (and if you haven’t, you should), then you’ll know that Steve Bartman’s life has never been the same since that night. He released one statement to the media following the game to apologize for his actions, but has never done any interviews since. He’s received countless death threats from Cubs fans who, just like him, were hoping to see the “lovable losers” move on to the World Series on that faithful night.

When you sit down to think about it, you realize the insanity of all this. Sports can capture some of the best emotions that we as humans are capable of experiencing. That’s the beauty of sports – the ability to link strangers into one common ideal. When people talk about sports as a religion, you can’t help but seeing the link, because religion, at its foundation, is based on the oncept of connectinon. (Religion comes from the latin word “religare” which means “to bind”). This is not meant to be an essay on sports and religion, but it’s difficult to ignore some of the resemblances.

But just like they can connect us, sports (and religion) can tear us apart. On October 14th, 2003, thousands of fans turned on one human being whose innocent attempt to grab a foul ball became the representation of a century-long suffering. If you’ve ever been at a baseball game, you’ve surely tried to catch one too. But because he unfortunately picked the wrong time and the wrong situation, Steve Bartman became the scapegoat for a whole organization’s failure.

Just put yourself in his position for a few moments and try not feel bad for him. Bartman wasn’t the right scapegoat, as explained in this ESPN article, but he was the convenient scapegoat.

Don’t blame the Cubs for not being able to get refocused (as real professionals athletes should) and forget the incident, blame Steve Bartman. Don’t blame the Cubs for allowing 8 runs for the rest of inning, blame Steve Bartman. Don’t blame the Cubs for not being able to put a championship team on the field since 1908, blame Steve Bartman.

Seriously?

There’s a fine line between passion and pure stupidity, and this incident definitely reflected the latter. Professional sports don’t work without fans. There’s no doubt about it. But that doesn’t mean that fans are absolved from acting like human beings. Let’s not be animals.

I say this because we still see examples of this barbarism almost every day. Just yesterday, as Texans quarterback Matt Schaub was lying injured on the ground, Houston fans were cheering. Sure, Schaub hasn’t played well this season, but cheering for your home-team quarterback because he’s injured is terrible. In a way, it’s unfair to link the Schaub incident with the Bartman incident because those are two different fan-bases, and, consequently, not the same people. But the fact that we continue to see it means that we’re not really getting any better.

True fans support their teams not only when things go well, but also when things go bad. That doesn’t mean blindly accepting failure; it sometimes means being critical of your team with success as the endgame. But placing an entire century of failure on one man’s shoulders is a sad indictment of everything that can be bad with sports. Don’t be that fan. Don’t be an animal. Be the true fan that supports its team the right way. Cubs fans will say that the hate towards Bartman was just a product of the disappointment and frustration of years of losing, but that doesn’t excuse it.

Maybe change is too much to ask for. Just look at the Cubs themselves, who finished last in the NL Central this year and are coming off their 4th straight losing season. Some things never change. Even more sad is the fact that they haven’t won a playoff game since 2003.

Must be Steve Bartman’s fault.

MLB Playoffs : Who to Cheer For?

So apparently Moneyball can get you to the playoffs, but it takes money to make it past the first round. In the LDS matchups, we had the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 12th lowest payrolls all battling in separate series. That’s impressive considering that contracts keep getting more ridiculous by the minute, making it harder for small-market teams to compete. Unfortunately, those four teams were the Atlanta Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays respectively, teams who all lost their series.

Now we’re left with the Cardinals and Dodgers in the NL, and the Red Sox and Tigers in the AL. Those teams have the 2nd (L.A.), 4th (Boston), 5th (Detroit) and 11th (St. Louis) highest payrolls in the league respectively – almost the exact opposite of the teams that lost.

So who are we supposed to cheer for, we fans whose teams are no longer relevant? There aren’t really any feel-good teams left – they all lost in the 1st round. The remaining teams all spend a lot of money, so it’s not like we can go for the small-market teams that are winning against all odds – again those were the teams that lost in the 1st round. So what do we do? Well, maybe I can help you out. I’ve ranked the teams, not in order of how good they are, but how interesting their storylines are. Here they are, from 4th to 1st.

4. St. Louis Cardinals

This is unfair to St. Louis, but then again life is unfair. Now, I don’t watch Survivor anymore, but when I was younger, I followed the first few seasons fairly closely. In the 1st season of survivor, the three left were Richard, Rudy and Kelly. Rudy was the fan favorite, everyone knew this. So when Kelly won the immunity challenge, she knew she couldn’t beat Rudy in the finals, so she eliminated him and brought Richard with her to the finals. Sadly, she was doomed either way, because the jury was mad at her for getting rid of Rudy. They voted Richard as the winner, and the rest is history.

In this case, the Cards are kind of like Kelly in the 1st season – because they eliminated the fan-favorite Pirates, St. Louis is immediately the villain. They won’t get any sympathy votes from the jury.

The Pittsburgh story was great;  it was the first time they made the playoffs since 1992, they had a lot of momentum, won the wildcard game and were battling St. Louis pretty good. They were a small-market team that was holding its own with the big boys. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for them, so now St. Louis has to pay for it. That may not be fair, but such is life. Plus, the Cards already won in 2011 and 2006, so it’s not like we’re talking about a fan base starving for a championship.

That being said, the organization is personified class and is the model franchise for baseball. Draft, develop, win. You can’t hate them like you hate the Yankees who just bully everybody with their money. St. Louis has built a perennial contender through its farm system, and they deserve a lot of credit for it.

Just look at how they staved off elimination in Game 4 against the Pirates : rookie Michael Wacha pitches 7+ innings of one-hit ball, rookie Carlos Martinez kept the door shut in the 8th, and rookie Trevor Rosenthal got the save in the 9th. This is a team that lost its best run producer, Allen Craig (97 RBI) due to injury, replaced him with a rookie, Matt Adams, and somehow hasn’t missed a beat. Just incredible work by that whole organization and definitely a nice storyline. But they beat the lovable Pirates and they already have enough World Series wins for a while, so they can’t rank any higher.

3. Detroit Tigers

Have the Detroit Tigers become the San Jose Sharks of baseball? I think so. This is now three straight LCS appearances for the Tigers and 4 in their last 7, which, in the MLB world, is pretty impressive. Of course, they have a grand total of zero World Series wins in that time, their last being in 1984. Just like the Sharks, they’ve turned into a perennial contender in recent years, but just like the Sharks, they’ve come up short every time. The fact that (like the Sharks) they aren’t really an iconic losing franchise like the Red Sox, Cubs or Dodgers takes away the pity-bandwagoners, even though they were horrible in the early 2000s and probably should have some part of that vote.

They have some fun players for sure. The starting rotation is kind of fantastic – the Tigers sent out Anibal Sanchez, the AL leader in ERA, to pitch Game 3 of the ALDS (behind wins-leader Max Scherzer in Game 1 and 2011 Cy Young and MVP winner Justin Verlander in Game 2). The 3-5 spots in the lineup are made up of the guy who might end up being the best pure hitter of all time (Miguel Cabrera), the guy who might have the most homerun-influenced swing of all time (Prince Fielder), and the guy who helped win thousands of fantasy pools because he put up DH numbers while still maintaining catcher eligibility (Victor Martinez).

But Detroit has become kind of boring. Winning championships isn’t boring, but being pretty good and never quite making it all work is boring. We’ve pretty much come to expect Detroit to make it to the playoffs (or at least to be competitive) every year, but we’ve also come to expect them to fall short of winning the whole thing. That’s boring in my books. Do something spectacular, one way or another, and I’ll change my opinion. Until they get out of VeryGoodButNotGreatville, they’re not ranking higher on this list.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers

Money-wise, the Dodgers are basically the Yankees of the NL. That’s not usually good in the eyes of fans of every team besides said team. Nobody likes a bully. But, as we’ve already established, every team left spends a lot of money; maybe not quite as much as the Dodgers (LA spends almost twice as much as St. Louis despite being only 10 spots aheadthem on the list), but it’s not like we’re comparing a 1st world country to a 3rd world country or anything.

There a bunch of cool aspects of this team. Clayton Kershaw is probably the best pitcher in baseball, and anytime you get to watch him pitch, it’s a good thing. Yasiel Puig is an awesome story; he was called up in early June and absolutely took the league by storm, tying the mark for second-most hits all-time in his first 15 games (27) and hits in a month as a rookie (44). He became the first player ever to win both the NL rookie of the month and player of the month for the same month. He cooled off a bit, but still finished the season with a .319 average and 19 HRs in 102 games. Plus, he’s a five-tool player that seemingly pulls off at least one amazing play per game, like when he threw out a guy at first from the warning track to end the game. And it may not matter at this point, because all games will be nationally televised, but Vin Scully, the play-by-play guy for the Dodgers, is legendarily good at what he does (and has been doing for 64 years), so that adds a few points for them.

But the most interesting thing about the Dodgers is how they turned around their season that looked like it was going nowhere early on. After starting the season 31-42, Los Angeles reeled off an amazing 46-10 streak from June 22nd to August 23rd, an amazing feat that was the best 56-game stretch in franchise history.

The #Dodgers 46-10 (.821) mark is the best 56-game run in franchise history and the best stretch for a @MLB team since the 1998 #Yankees.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 24, 2013

That streak was not at all unrelated to Puig, as the young Cuban’s fantastic play was the spark that led the Dodgers to that amazing stretch. From the time he was called up up until August 23rd, Puig ranked among the leaders in runs (50), batting average (.342), on-base percentage (.401) and slugging, as noted in this Boston Globe article.

Come on, that’s pretty cool. As a Blue Jays fan, I envy a team that was able to turn around a bad start to a season. They’re the cool team left in the NL in my opinion.

1. Boston Red Sox

I think I can trust you, my reader, so I’m coming out today: I’m a closet Red Sox fan. I’ve been one for over 10 years now. Don’t get me wrong, when they play the Jays, I want no part of Boston winning. But unfortunately, Toronto hasn’t been in the playoffs since I’ve been old enough to consciously remember anything, so I’ve usually needed to find another team to cheer for in October.

I know for sure that this closet-fandom started no later than 2003 when Boston lost to the Yankees in the ALCS on that Aaron Boone homerun. It was then that I became aware of the curse, and being a Toronto sports fans, I could understand the pain and suffering of that fanbase, so I began rooting for them. However, it was next year when they completed that epic comeback against those same Bronx Bombers that I was sold. I mean, that was a magical run that was hard to cheer against, unless of course you were pro-pinstripes.

The best part of that 2004 team was the whole “bunch of idiots” thing they had going for them; they were the lovable losers that turned into lovable winners, but they kept being lovable because they were just so fun (I urge you to watch ESPN’s 30-for-30 on that run, 4 Days in October, if you think about disagreeing with me). They were the anti-Yankee in every sense; if New York was the military that whipped you into shape to get results out of you, Boston was the college where you kind of did your own thing, sometimes to a fault, but came out better for it.

The reason I bring this up is because I feel like this year’s version of the Red Sox is much like the one we saw in 2004. A bunch of guys with too much facial-hair on their faces, too much dirt on their jerseys and too much fun playing the game to really be dislikable. Of course, for Blue Jays fans, the fact that John Farrell left Toronto for his dream job in Boston last year was kind of a slap in the face. The fact that he’s turned the Sox around from last to first in the AL East, especially when it was Toronto who was supposed to make that big jump this year? That’s a shot right in the R.A. Dickey.

But besides that, it’s hard to dislike these Sox. Against all odds, they’ve found a way to gel and become a team, not a bunch of individuals on a team.

One last thing…

This is completely by chance (honestly), but I have (and have had since the start of the playoffs) the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series Title over the Los Angeles Dodgers. It just so happens that they rank 1 and 2 in my list of teams to cheer for. (If you’re wondering, Pittsburgh and Oakland would both have ranked ahead of the Sox and the Dodgers had they won their series, but I still would’ve gone with the same World Series prediction).

Happy cheering!

What We’ve Learnt From the First Month of the NFL Season

Peyton Manning is a good QB, but we already knew that. So what have we actually learnt from the first month of the NFL season?

We’ve heard it before : “it’s not a marathon, it’s a sprint”. Trying to make affirmative statements after a few weeks of NFL action is usually misguided; case in point, the Arizona Cardinals were 4-0 after Week 4 last year before coming down to earth (very hard) to eventually finish 5-11.

That being said, 4 games (or 3, or 5 in a few cases) is still a reasonable sample in football given the fact that teams only have 16 games to put it together for the playoffs. You can’t make the playoffs after 4 weeks, but you can ruin your chances if you dig yourself a big hole, just like the 0-4 teams have done. NFL teams tend to evaluate their outlook after every month, so I’m going to do the same.

For this exercise, I’m looking at what we’ve learnt from every NFL team after the first month. They can’t be things we (should) already know. We haven’t learnt that Peyton Manning is a good QB after 4 weeks because we already knew that. We didn’t learn that the Jaguars are a bad football team because we already knew that too. Maybe we didn’t know that Manning would do this well or that Jacksonville would do this badly, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone.

So with that in mind, here is one thing we’ve learnt from all 32 NFL teams thus far (I’ll also use the opportunity to give my updated Power Rankings).

1. Denver Broncos (4-0) 

Losing Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil (among others) isn’t as disastrous as it might’ve been. It definitely helps when your quarterback has thrown a record 16 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in the first month, but the Broncos defense is doing just fine without last year’s standouts Elvis Dumervil (who signed with the Ravens as a free agent) and Von Miller (who is serving a 6-game suspension). The defense has looked good and should get even better when Miller comes back. Again, it helps when you don’t spend too much time on the field.

2. Seattle Seahawks (4-0)

The Seahawks play in the world’s loudest stadium atmosphere. We already knew it was loud, but we weren’t sure if it was the loudest. But now we do. Guinness measured the noise in Seattle’s September 15th game against San Francisco at a record-breaking peak level of 136.6 decibels. You can’t blame the fans for being excited; Seattle has a dominant defense that is already creating Super Bowl buzz.

3. New Orleans Saints (4-0)

The Saints can play defense, too. We know Drew Brees and that New Orleans offense is deadly, but last year the defense was deadly too, deadly as in lock them up because they’ll murder any chance the Saints have of making the playoffs. But now that they’ve brought back Sean Payton from his questionable suspension and that they’ve brought in defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, the Saints are becoming a complete team. They haven’t allowed more than 17 points this year after allowing the second-most points per game last season (28.4).

4. New England Patriots (4-0)

Tom Brady can’t turn everything into gold immediately. Nobody doubts the abilities of Terrific Tom, but this is a tall task, even for him. No Gronk, no Hernandez, no Amendola. He’s led his team to an undefeated start, but that includes a nail-biting, last-minute come-from-behind win against Buffalo and a sloppy (apparently frustrating) victory against the Jets. He’s already starting to figure out, as exemplified by his excellence this past Sunday against Atlanta, but it’s not going to be easy for these Patriots.

5. Kansas City Chiefs (4-0)

Andy Reid is still a good coach. The players kind of gave up on him in Philly, but Andy Reid can still coach, and he’s turned the Chiefs around on a dime. Alex Smith deserves some credit too at QB, but Reid has Kansas City playing well on both sides of the ball. The Chiefs have outscored opponents 102-41 and have already doubled last year’s win total.

6. Miami Dolphins (3-1)

Ryan Tannehill might actually be the answer at QB for Miami. They added some pieces to help Tannehill out, and so far he has generally delivered. He may be one of the less talked-about sophomore QBs, but he has progressed from last year. His completion percentage is up from 58.3% in 2012 to 65.5% so far this year, good for 8th-best in the NFL. He’s still prone to making a few bad decisions here and there, but with that pretty good defense, it looks like he’ll be good enough to get Miami in (or close to) the playoffs.

7. Chicago Bears (3-1)

Marc Trestman can coach in the NFL too. He’s been good for QB Jay Cutler and the Bears are looking pretty good because of it. The defense is still boss at creating turnovers, and now Trestman has been able to get the offense to translate some of those TO’s into points. Second-most points, to be exact (127).

8. Detroit Lions (3-1)

The Lions are a competitive team when they have an actual running game. Playing in 3 of the 4 games this season, running back Reggie Bush is 6th in the NFL with 84.7 rush yards per game. The Lions have averaged 31.6 points in those three games. Add in that already powerful pass offense with a rejuvenated defense, and Detroit is already making some noise in the NFC North.

9. San Francisco 49ers (2-2)

Colin Kaepernick doesn’t have everything figured out just yet. “What’s that you say? Who? Oh Alex Smith? Yeah, no he’s gone to the Chiefs now.” I think San Francisco will figure it out. The defense is too good, the offensive line is too powerful and Colin Kaepernick is too skilled to let this season crash and burn. But seeing back-to-back weak performances from Kaep in crazy-loud Seattle and then at home to the Colts must’ve been slightly unsettling for the 49ers.

10. Indianapolis Colts (3-1) 

The Colts are serious about contending this year. Trading for former 3rd overall pick Trent Richardson is an affirmation that Indy thinks its a legit playoff contender. They’re kind of a weird team: they beat the Raiders, lost at home to the Dolphins, caught the 49ers on a weird Aldon Smith week to stun them in San Fran, and then destroyed the Jaguars (who hasn’t). But now it gets tougher though. Of their next 11 games, 9 are against teams with records of 2-2 or better.

11. Tennessee Titans (3-1) 

Jake Locker is a legit #1 starter in the NFL. Unfortunately, he’s out for 4-6 weeks with a hip injury. But before his injury, he was able to post a 62.2% completion rating, a 99.0 QB rating, and is the only QB besides Peyton Manning to have thrown at least 5 TD’s an no interceptions. We’ll see how their pretty good defense will hold up in his absence.

12. Houston Texans (2-2)

Matt Schaub might be bad enough to keep Houston out of the playoffs. This could be devastating, because it limits the possibility of seeing more of the somehow-even-more-scarier-than-usual version of JJ Watt that we got to see this past Sunday. Also seen in that game, though, was a brutal Matt Schaub pass that was turned into a game-tying pick-6 by Richard Sherman, setting up Seattle’s come-from-behind win in Houston. It would be a shame for Houston not to make the playoffs with all the talent they have on that team, especially on defense.

13. Cincinnati Bengals (2-2)

Amazing reality TV doesn’t necessarily translate into amazing football TV. Ok, I may be overselling Hard Knocks a bit, but I don’t think I’m underselling the Bengals inconsistency. Lots of quality players on both sides of the ball, and that was evident in their wins against Pittsburgh and Green Bay. But road losses to Chicago and especially Cleveland were less than inspiring. The AFC North is theirs for the taking if they can clean things up.

14. Green Bay Packers (1-2)

The Packers should try to skip Week 3 from now on. Maybe it’s a curse. They’ve now lost three of their past four Week 3 games (yes, this is what I spend my time doing) despite having only 14 total losses since the start of 2010. They lost to Cincy in Week 3 this year in a game that they should’ve won, sending them to their bye on a losing record. Same start last year, thanks to the infamous Fail Mary game that ended up being the proverbial straw on the camel’s back for NFL replacement refs. They have an important divisional matchup this week at home to Detroit, and I think they bounce back.

15. San Diego Chargers (2-2)

Philip Rivers isn’t done just yet. I’d say Rivers has been the most surprising QB so far this season. A lot of people thought he was on his last legs, but so far he hasn’t shown it. If it weren’t for Peyton Manning, we’d all be talking about Rivers right now. as the best QB in the league. His 118.8 QB rating and 11 passing TD’s both rank second in the NFL to Manning. The Chargers are really just a few plays from being 4-0; both their losses were field-goal games.

16. Atlanta Falcons 

WR Roddy White is actually a huge part of their offense. Unfortunately, he’s been very limited up to this point with an ankle injury. He’s doing a bit more every week, but right now teams are making sure Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez are well covered, so Matt Ryan hasn’t been able to get the offense going as well as last year. Losing RB Steven Jackson hurts too, but Atlanta doesn’t depend that much on their running game anyway. Keep in mind that their 3 losses have come to teams with a combined 11-1 record, so I wouldn’t call them a bad team just yet.

17. Baltimore Ravens (2-2)

Joe Flacco definitely played over his head during Baltimore’s 2013 SuperBowl run. I mentionned in my NFL preview blog that we would probably be saying this eventually, but it’s only taken 4 weeks to make a strong argument for it. Only Eli Manning has a worse QB rating among passers with at least 150 attempts. That’s not a good sign for a team that has the 28th ranked running game (64.0 yards/game). They can play better, but they’re not among the elite.

18. Dallas Cowboys (2-2)

The Boys are who we thought they were. Nothing too surprising with Dallas so far. We know they have talent on the offensive side with Tony Romo, Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray, but they’re not going to play well for the full 60 minutes every time out. That’s just who they are. Their 2-2 record is reasonable; they beat the Rams and the Giants and lost to the (surprising) Chargers and undefeated Chiefs. After 4 weeks, they’re probably where they should be. Luckily for them, the NFC East is brutal, so 8-8 could take it.

19. Cleveland Browns (3-2)

They’re actually not tanking after all. This is a shocking development. After they traded former first-round pick Trent Richardson to the Colts, everyone and their dog thought the Browns were throwing the season to make a run for Teddy Bridgewater or JaDaveon Clowney. Not so fast. They’ve reeled off three consecutive wins against the Ravens, Bengals and Bills. Obviously TE Jordan Cameron has been a beast in those games, but the return of WR Josh Gordon from a drug violation suspension has been an equally important factor to their success.

20. Arizona Cardinals (2-2)

Tyrann Mathieu can keep up with the big boys. The rookie out of LSU has been all over the field, recording 29 combined tackles (tied for 6th among all safeties), adding one interception and one forced fumble. Along with the superstar that is Patrick Peterson, the Cardinals secondary is pretty good. Arizona beat Tampa and squeaked out a win against a pretty good Detroit team to sit .500 after 4 games. Still a tough road to make the playoffs though.

21. Philadelphia Eagles (1-3)

Chip Kelly hasn’t revolutionized the NFL. Besides one impressive half against the Redskins DC’s, the Eagles haven’t been that great on offense. They can put up some points here and there, for sure, but they play so fast that they end up having an ineffective offense in the grand scheme of things. I always thought Kelly’s offense was a weird concept: what 350-pound offensive linemen is going to want to run up and down the field to get to the line of scrimmage 6 seconds after the last play ended? Sure, the pace will tire the opponent’s defense, but over 16 games, don’t think it won’t have some wear and tear on some of the Eagles players too. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have a defense that could make some stops.

22. New York Jets (2-2)

Rex Ryan isn’t about to be fired just yet. At the start of the season, Ryan had 3/2 odds of being the first fired head coach. But what people didn’t realize is that he had tricks up his sleeve: he was able to intentionally injure Mark Sanchez (that’s my theory) to plug in rookie Geno Smith, who has done enough to lead New York to wins over Buffalo and Tampa Bay. Not really impressive wins, but whoever had Ryan getting fired at those odds must be kicking themselves right now.

23. Buffalo Bills (2-3)

The Bills front office is kind of near-sighted. Look, there’s probably a reason the Bills are plunged into a neverending misery, and it starts with the guys wearing suits sitting in the luxury boxes. You have a rookie quarterback in EJ Manuel who, like a lot of the young QBs nowadays, likes to run. He’ll probably get hit, and he might just get hurt. Lo and behold, it happened last night. And it looks like Manuel will be out for at least a few weeks Well, it’s a good thing you have Jeff Tuel, an undrafted rookie who went 4-22 in college, as your backup. Way to plan ahead…

24. Washington Redskins DC’s (1-3)

They don’t have much of an offense if RG3 doesn’t run. Teams aren’t really scared of Griffin’s running dimension right now (because it’s tough to run on one knee), so they’re daring him to throw it. Up to this point, he hasn’t been able to make them pay. Last year, RG3 actually had great numbers as a passer (ranked #1 in DVOA  for QBs with more than 100 attempts). But maybe that was because teams had to load the box to stop him from running. In any case, if Washington can’t run more spread option, the outlook is looking bleak for this season. Especially when the defense can’t stop anybody.

25. Oakland Raiders (1-3)

The Raiders may have finally found a quarterback. Dante Culpepper, Josh McCown, Bruce Gradkowski, Charlie Frye, Jason Campbell, Carson Palmer. Those are the last 6 guys before Terrelle Pryor to have attempted at least 50 passes for the Oakland Raiders. Ouch. Maybe, finally, the Raiders have found themselves a future quartberback. Pryor has been very respectable, completing 67 of 111 passes for 779 yards and 4 TD’s in two-and-a-half games. He’s also added 198 yards on the ground. Too bad he’s playing on a bad team.

26. Carolina Panthers (1-2)

Ron Rivera needs to be let go. In the same vein as Rex Ryan, Rivera was in that list of coaches being favoured to be fired, only Rivera had a much better line at 11/2. Kind of an interesting play. He may have saved himself for a few weeks with a 38-0 shellacking of the New York Giants before Carolina’s bye week, but he’s made countless bad decisions already this year (as he usually does). You’ve got to think that losses to Buffalo and Seattle are more indicative of Carolina’s season than the win over New York; if that’s the case, Rivera has to be on his way out soon.

27. St. Louis Rams (1-3)

The Sam Bradford experiment is over. Seriously. If you watched the Rams game against the 49ers a few Thursdays ago, there’s no way you can disagree. He made some awful throws. The entire Rams offense looked lost. At some point, you have to go in another direction. This is his 4th year, and he doesn’t look to be trending upwards by any means. If you hang onto him too long, all of a sudden you’re out of the playoffs for 8 years, and that’s just unacceptable.

28. Minnesota Vikings (1-3)

Even the best running back in the world can’t make up for how bad the Vikings are. After 4 games, Adrian Peterson has 421 rushing yards, good for 2nd best in the NFL, and a league-best 5 rushing touchdowns. Unfortunately, Minnesota’s defense has given a 4th-worst 30.8 points per game. Add in the mess that is the quarterback situation (where Christian Ponder and Matt Cassell are trying to out-awful each other), and you have a team who doesn’t have much on its resume this season besides a win over the equally hapless Pittsburgh Steelers. You’re welcome, England.

29. New York Giants (0-4)

They’re not a good football team. Pretty simplistic, but a lot of people expected them to be pretty good. They’ve definitely been the surprise awful team this season. They’ve been brutal running the football, which has forced Eli to throw too much, often forcing him to make throws in bad situations. He leads the NFL with 9 interceptions. Overall the Giants have the 30th ranked offense and 32nd ranked defense. Not good.

30. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-4)

It’s time for a rebuild in Steel-town. I didn’t expect them to be good this year, but I didn’t think they’d be this bad either. No running game has translated into a brutal offense overall. If only we could’ve had some way of predicting that Todd Haley wouldn’t have success leading Pittsburgh’s offense. Oh, yeah. He oversaw the 4th worse scoring offense from 2009-2011 as head coach in Kansas City. Right.

31. Tampa Bay Buccanneers (0-4)

Missing the team photo is not a good idea when you’re the starting quarterback. Neither is being voted out of captaincy by your teammates. In two years, Josh Freeman went from being a really good QB, to a bad QB, to a mess, to a free agent. I can’t remember any QB crashing more quickly in recent memory. And with that, the Buccaneers would like to welcome you to along the ride towards the lottery pick.

32. Jackonsville Jaguars (0-4)

TV stations actually need to apologize on the Jags behalf. Jacksonville is awful (to nodbody’s surprise). So awful, in fact, that the CBS-Orlando station actually apologized for having to broadcast Jacksonville’s game against Oakland. Under NFL rules, the station needed to broadcast the game to the Orlando region because it is considered a secondary market for the Jaguars. Pretty sure the Jacksonville Jaguars are the ones who should apologize for being outscored 129-31. In case you can’t count that quick, that’s a point differential of negative 98 points. In 4 games. Yeeeeesh.