Archive for April, 2010
NBA Playoff Matchups in the East
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
Cleveland has secured the top spot in the East for quite some time. As for the rest, here they are.
The matchups in the East for the 2010 NBA playoffs are finally… um… finalized and while the Cleveland Cavaliers have secured the top playoff spot in the conference a few weeks ago, the remaining few seeds were not determined until the final few days of the season.
As it turned out, the no.1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers will be taking on the no.8 seed Chicago Bulls, who secured the last playoff spot in the East after beating the playoff-pound Charlotte Bobcats, hence denying the Toronto Raptors of postseason play for the second straight year.
Kudos to coach Vinny Del Negro and the rest of the Chicago Bulls for overcoming a late-season injury to Joakim Noah and the publicized rift between coach Del Negro and team manager John Paxson. Congratulations guys, you’re in the playoffs.
Your reward? LeBron James. (I don’t know if the Bulls would still be happy about that in a few days…)
The Orlando Magic will be this year’s no.2 seed as they look to make a return to the NBA Finals when they take on no.7 seed, Charlotte Bobcats. Thanks to some key additions to the Magic roster, more specifically the addition of Vince Carter, the Magic have become an even bigger threat in the East.
And since the Magic will have the Charlotte Bobcats, a team that will be making their very first appearance in the playoffs, there should be no problem for Orlando to get past the first round. Who do the Bobcats have to guard Dwight Howard anyway?
Probably the most surprising team in the East this season is the Atlanta Hawks, who have secured the no.3 seed in the East this season. Yup, those high-flying Hawks are now one of the East’s three kings, supplanting the Celtics in the food chain to join the Cavs and the Magic.
They have the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round…
Kevin Kolb will start for the Eagles
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
At least that’s what Eagles coach Andy Reid feels.
Yes, Kevin Kolb will be starting for the Philadelphia Eagles once the 2010 NFL football season gets here. That’s right, Kolb will finally get the opportunity to show Eagles fans why their team drafted him three years ago.
And as far as Kevin Kolb is concerned, he’s ready for the challenge ahead. Andy Reid has already talked about how much confidence he has in Kolb and the command his young quarterback has over the Philadelphia Eagles offense. Kolb feels it’s his time to show the rest of the world that he is a star in the NFL.
”Everything I’ve done in my life has led to this,” Kevin Kolb said. ”I’m ready to roll and lead this team.”
”I didn’t even blink when Andy told me. I really didn’t,” Kolb said, referring to him being promoted to the starting role. ”I’m excited about it. I’m sure it will have a little drama, but it will be a fun ride. I truly have that outlook on it. I think this team will surprise some people.”
”I trusted the organization, I trusted Andy to get me here one day,” Kolb added. ”The times last year when I started that I felt I was ready, but the team wasn’t ready, maybe the city wasn’t ready. I knew Andy would put me in the situation to be the starter.”
Of course, you can’t blame some people who feel Kolb shouldn’t be a starter yet, especially when you still have a guy like Michael Vick on your team.
When Michael Vick was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles, almost every single football fan from the City of Brotherly Love thought he and Donovan McNabb will be one formidable one-two punch together. Instead, it was Kolb who played McNabb’s backup and Vick was relegated to a gadget player.
Now that McNabb is out of the picture…
Alonso plays down Red Bull this season
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Yes, Fernando Alonso is making new enemies again after only three races into the 2010 F1 season. In case you didn’t know, he kicked off the new season for his new teammates from Ferrari with a win in Bahrain but after failing to get a podium finish in the last two races, Alonso is back to what he does best, talking.
You read it, Fernando Alonso is talking again, only this time, he’s not talking about how much he hates Lewis Hamilton or how pathetic he thinks Renault is. This time, he’s talking about team Red Bull and how insignificant he thinks Red Bull’s one-two finish in Malaysia is.
It was indeed a one-two finish for team Red Bull in Sepang where Sebastian Vettel, starting from the three spot on the grid, went on to score his first win of the season. He was followed by Mark Webber who, despite having secured pole position in Malaysia, finished just 4 seconds behind his Red bull teammate.
STILL, it was a one-two finish for Red Bull as they close in on McLaren for the second spot in the race for this year’s constructor’s title. But as far as Fernando Alonso is concerned, Red Bull got the one-two not because of their drivers but because of the mistakes he and his team made during qualifying.
”They have three pole positions, but the three wins I’m not sure, because we were very quick in Bahrain and we were maybe quicker than them in Australia,” Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso said.
”Here it was a strange race, too easy for them because we made a mistake in qualifying. We are not too worried at the moment. It’s a very long championship and we are capable of improving the car a lot. We know in which areas we need to improve the car, so I’m more or less confident that we can have the best car in the next few races.”
”As always you need the consistency to be…”
Frankie Edgar challenges BJ Penn
Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Edgar takes on Penn this Saturday.
Once again, BJ Penn is putting his UFC lightweight title up for grabs as he defends his belt again this time against Frankie Edgar in UFC 112. However, there are rumors that claim Penn is gearing up for another run at the welterweight title, leading most to believe that the reigning lightweight champ is not taking his challenger seriously.
However, while BJ Penn hasn’t denied the rumors of him moving up to welterweight, he says he’s not looking past Frankie Edgar. He knows how good of a fighter Edgar is and he can’t afford to take a guy of Edgar’s caliber lightly.
”Yeah, I think there is a possibility of that,” BJ Penn said in an interview, referring to a possible move to the welterweight division.
”I don’t in no way want to look past Frankie Edgar, he’s a good fighter. You never know what could happen. But if I go back to welterweight, maybe I’ll try to give it a run, maybe fight a couple of fights there, we’ll see how it goes.”
Oh yeah, and just when he said in his interview that he’s in no way looking past Frankie Edgar, he immediately went on about his chances against the large 170-pound fighters in the welterweight division like Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch.
”I think I could do good against some of the top welterweights,” Penn said. ”Yeah, pretty big guys, but you gotta live some times, you gotta step up sometime, huh?”
Penn also talked about a possible rematch with former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, depending of course on the outcome of Hughes’ match with Renzo Gracie, also scheduled for UFC 112 this Saturday.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out…
Silva – Maia in UFC 112
Saturday, April 10th, 2010
The Spider will be in action again.
For the first time in history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, MMA athletes will slug it out in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, on April 10 as UFC 112: Invincible features middleweight title holder Anderson ”The Spider” Silva facing off against Demian Maia.
Middleweight champion Anderson Silva is 25-4 with 19 wins by TKO. He is a striker and has a dangerous jiu jitsu game. He is arguably the best fighter on the planet and has the resume to prove it. Silva is a perfect 10-0 in the UFC, including a successful title defense over Thales Leites last April before again moving up to 205 pounds to beat Forrest Griffin in August.
His opponent, Demian Maia, replaced an injured Vitor Belfort to get a shot at Silva. Maia (12-1) returned to action back in UFC 109, rebounding from his first career loss, a 21-second knockout to Nate Marquardt in August, with a unanimous decision over Dan Miller, which improved his UFC record to 6-1, including a previous victory over top 185-pound contender Chael Sonnen.
A left eyelid cut prompted the Nevada State Athletic Commission to medically suspended Maia until August, but he was not suspended from training and will apparently be healed and cleared to fight Silva this Saturday.
”It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White in a press release.
Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so Demian Maia stepped in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion and a five-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion. He is 12-1 in MMA and is coming off a win over Dan Miller in UFC 109.
The Anderson Silva – Demian Maia fight will be…
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