All Sport Report

At the mid-way point of the NHL season, I gave some predictions as to what teams would still be on the ice come playoff time - How did I do? Well two out of the three teams I said it would come down to in the East are still with us while the third has packed their bags, and same goes for the West two for three there as well.

I called for the Phoenix Coyotes to come on strong the second half of the season and be a surprise playoff contender, my wife must have slipped something into my coffee before that prediction because the Coyotes finished dead last in the West.

My pick from the East that didn’t make it was a real shocker to me, the defending Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricaines didn’t make the cut, finishing in eleventh place in the East with only 40 wins.

So, with the final eight set in either conference and the playoffs beginning tomorrow night, here’s what you’re likely to see:

Round on in the East:

Buffalo over the Islanders in five games

Devils over the Lightining in six games

Rangers over Atlanta in six games

Penguins over Senators in five games

Round two in the East:

Buffalo over the Rangers in five games

Penguins over the Devils in seven games

Eastern Conference Finals

Buffallo Sweeps a tired Penguins team to take the Eastern Conference Championship

First Round in the Western Conference:

Detroit over Calgary in four games

Anaheim over Minnesota in five games

Dallas over Vancouver in five games

San Jose over Nashville in four games - that’s right big Joe Thorton breaks out his broom on Peter Forsberg and the Predators

Round two in the West:

Detroit over Dallas in six games

San Jose over the Ducks in six games

Western Conference finals:

San Jose over Detroit in five games

Stanley Cup Finals:

I’m going to stick with my pick from mid-season and say the Sharks beat up on the team with the best record in the NHL in five games. Sorry Sabres but the Cup belongs to Joe Thorton and the Sharks this year!

Matt Serra shocked the world of mixed martial arts Saturday night. In most people’s eyes, the Long Island New York native didn’t stand a snowballs chance in you know where of becoming the UFC Welterweight Champion. St. Pierre is a bigger, stronger and downright scarier fighter, but Serra scored a victory for underdogs everywhere, and he did it convincingly.

The Welterweight Champion came out confident, avoiding punches and throwing kicks. It seemed like everyone was just waiting for St. Pierre to land a powerful shot, put Serra on his back and pound his way to victory. I mean that’s the way we’d seen it so many times before with “Rush”, and this wasn’t even going to be a challenge.

Everyone who knows anything about MMA would have told you last week that this fight was just a workout for St Pierre before he took on a real contender for his title… The problem - no one told Matt Serra that he was a joke, that he was just supposed to lay down for the best welterweight fighter in the world.

Serra took the fight to George St. Pierre, constantly advancing and throwing punches until one hit it’s mark and shook the champion, Serra saw that he’d wounded his prey and went on the offensive landing an endless flurry of powerful punches. Serra ended St. Pierre’s night like “Rush” had ended many other’s nights, early and painfully, but don’t just take my word for it - watch it right here.

All right, the guys at youtube are pretty quick to delete a UFC pay-per-view match, so if you didn’t get it early it’s not here anymore but if you want to see it go to youtube and search for Matt Serra, I’m sure someone else has put the fight up by now and you’ll be able to catch it before it gets deleted again.

UFC, MMA, knockout, George St. Pierre, Matt Serra, ultimate fighting

The time has come again for another jaunt into the world of MMA - UFC 69 “Shootout” is scheduled for Saturday April 7th. The card is full of potentially decent match-ups, but there are three bouts that could end up being wicked in turns of brutality.

The main event pits middleweight champion George “Rush” St Pierre against the Ultimate Fighter reality show winner Matt “the Terror” Serra. Any fight that St Pierre is involved in has the potential to be worth the price of admission alone. “Rush” is an icredible striker with both the hands and feet. Serra is going to be facing a whole different breed of fighter than he’s been accustomed to, I hope he’s done his homework and trained his a$$ off or he’ll be hitting the showers or the emergency room early.

Next on the list of potentially great fights would be another battle of 170 pounders: Diego “Nightmare” Sanches puts his undefeated record on the line against world class wrestler Josh Koscheck. Sanchez has been absolutely mowing down all the top middleweight fighters, but he could be in for a rude awakening against Koscheck. Josh has a ten and one record, and there aren’t many wrestlers in the game as good as “Kos”. The winner of this battle will be in line for a shot at the middleweight title.

Last but certainly not least on the “fights to watch” list is a little jump up in weight to the 185 lb class. Japanese ground and pound specialist Yushin Okami goes toe to toe with Mike “Quick” Swick. Okami, at twenty five years of age, already has an incredible 20-3 record in MMA, but Swick has the power to end a fight with one punch. Swick is known as “Quick” for a reason, he has some of the fastest victories in UFC history including a 22 second knockout of Gideon Ray.

Other fighters one the card that are always capable of putting on a show include: Roger “El Matador” Huerta, Heath “Texas Crazy Horse” Herring, and Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis. You can see the rest of the line up here.

So lay down the loot on Saturday to watch UFC 69 on PPV, but go ahead and check out some free a$$ whooping here first courtesy of the headliner of UFC 69 George “Rush” St Pierre:

Perhaps I’ll be chastised at some point and time for the content of this post, but I really don’t care. I came under a bit of criticism when I questioned all the hub-bub surrounding Reggie Bush and the potential that he accepted gifts while playing college football after I had said I hoped Barry Bonds never broke Hank Aaron’s all time home-run record.

You see comparing the two, for me, is like comparing apples to oranges - sure if Reggie accepted gifts or some cash while he was playing in college he was in direct violation of the rules, but he didn’t hurt anyone and I don’t think “borrowing” a car to use while he was in college gave him an unfair advantage on the playing field.

Barry Bonds, on the other hand… if Barry’s guilty of the accusations against him, he definitely had an unfair advantage on the playing field, I don’t want the history books to be rewritten, I just hope he doesn’t break the record, that’s all. I don’t want to see him thrown out of the game, I don’t want to see him banned from the Hall of Fame, like I said in an earlier entry, Barry is a tremendous baseball player, it’s just a shame that some of his accomplishments will forever be tainted by this whole unfortunate situation, his name would certainly have been in the record books for something without the use of chemical enhancement. But if he did it, in the long run he’s only truly hurting himself, baseball’s reputation will eventually recover after the steroid scandal is over while some of the negative effects of steroids on the body are irreversable and those who abused them will face that burden at some point or another.

I’m also a supporter of Pete Rose, I know that he gambled and he lied about it, but Pete was betting on his own team to win. In my opinion it probably made for some more exciting baseball. In short, he broke the rules and he’s being punished for it, but I think, just like with the Bonds situation, Rose ultimately only hurt himself. Baseball will survive, Pete just lost a lot of money because he was unable to control his habit. Now that he’s done his time I think he should be re-instated and that his amazing accomplishments on the field should be recognized.

If you’ve stuck with me thus far, you may be wondering where I’m going with all this. Well I’m finally going to get to the point -

That’s right - Adam Pacman Jones, professional football’s bad boy is at the epicenter of my point.

There was a recent meeting between Jones and football’s new commissioner Roger Goodell regarding Pacman’s conduct off the field. Rumors abound about the possible length of suspension with lawyers ready to intervene and fight a punishment that they see as too harsh. Unfotunately, we may have to wait as many as ten days, or more before we hear what exactly unfolded during this meeting.

Pacman Jones has only been in the NFL for two seasons, but like the guys mentioned above, he seems to be very talented. That’s where the similarities end. Reggie Bush may have made a mistake and taken something in return for his play during college, Barry Bonds may have made a mistake and taken some performance enhancing drugs during the latter part of his baseball career, and Pete Rose did, admittedly, make a mistake and wager on games while he was still involved in baseball.

Pacman Jones didn’t make a mistake, he’s had more run ins with Police than he’s played games in the NFL. In February, he reportedly incited the situation that resulted in three shootings outside a Las Vegas night club. Pacman Jones isn’t just hurting himself, he isn’t hurting himself at all - he’s hurting others and if this situation isn’t taken care of the NFL’s reputation may not recover. If Goodell let’s Pacman Jones walk away from this type of behavior with a slap on the wrist, what kind of message is that sending to other players. Everyone makes mistakes, only criminals are involved in triple shootings.

Representatives say that Jones is growing up and trying to learn from what he’s done. I hope he is learning, I think he has a great deal of talent and he’s a very entertaining player to watch on the field, but the most recent incident just occurred in February and I would find it hard to believe that Pacman is all grown up already. The commissioner needs to give Pacman the year off without pay, and maybe reccomend some counseling and an evalutaion before he’s allowed to return for the 2009 season. Jones is only twenty three, if he really does get his act together and is able to focus on football on the field and be an upstanding citizen off the field he’ll still have plenty of time for a wonderful career after serving a season on suspension. Maybe, just maybe sending a message of this caliber would help to straighten out some of the NFL’s other player who are headed down the wrong path before it’s too late.

Pacman Jones, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, NFL disciplinary action, Reggie Bush, steroid scandal

April second marked baseball’s opening day for many Major League clubs, and there were some great matchups, some unlikely occurances and even some tears.

The Yankees trampled the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, no surprises there. Jason Giambi knocked in three runs and Alex Rodriguez got his season off to a bang with a two run home run. But the real story here happened before the game got underway. The Yankees paid tribute to Cory Lidle, who died flying his plane in the offseason. Lidle’s family was on hand to throw out the first pitch in a very emotional kick off to the season.

In the National League, the Dodgers, who are picked by many to win the West, were shocked by Milwaukee. Brewers ace Ben Sheets pitched a two hit gem, it was the first opening day complete game in the last decade and a half.

Adam Dunn crushed two homeruns to power the Cincinnati Reds over the new look Cubs.

It took and extra frame, but the Pirates shocked the Houston Astros taking a win by way of Jason Bay’s two run homer in the tenth.

Boston Red Sox ace Curt Schilling had a rough outing, giving up a bases loaded walk in the first and hitting the showers in the fourth. This was the first time Schilling hasn’t made it to the fifth inning in a decade and the Sox take the loss 7-1.

And the biggest opening day shock of all - The Phils lose to the Braves in ten.

Edgar Renteria quickly became the Phils opening day nemesis as he pounded a Brett Myers fastball into the seats in the eighth inning to tie the game at three. As if that weren’t enough, Edgar came up to the plate in the tenth and after failing to lay down a bunt to advance a baserunner, not once, but twice - Renteria pounded a Ryan Madsen curveball into the stands giving the Braves a lead they wouldn’t give up. Myers pitched well, only giving up four hits and striking out nine over eight innings, he made a few mistakes and the Braves capitalized. Braves take the opener 5-3.

My beloved Philadelphia Phillies are currently tied for last place in the National League East with the Washington Nationals, but mark my words, this will be the one and only time this season that the Phils will occupy the basement!

Baesball opening day, Ben Sheets, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Curt Schilling, Edgar Renteria, Brett Myers, Phillies, Braves, Cory Lidle tribute

The most electrifying man in table tennis, German Timo Boll, had one hell of an April fool’s weekend.

It all began in the team competition where Boll, with his teammate Christian Suss dismantled the team of Lucjan Blaszczyk of Poland and Rui Wu Tan of Croatia in just over ninety minutes to win doubles gold at the Europen Table Tennis Championships. The Germans were in control from beginning to end winning 4 sets to 1.

The men’s singles came down to number one ranked Boll against the number two ranked player Vladimir Samsonov from Belarus. Timo Boll was dominant throughout much of the final, his power just too much for Samsonov to handle.

Samsonov did manage one flicker of hope taking the fourth game, and avoiding a sweep, by winning eight straight points, but Boll came back strong to close the final out, winning four games to one.

Timo Boll, table tennis, ping pong, table tennis championships, german gold medal, singles table tennis, doubles table tennis

I had made the mistake early last week before Michael Phelps got on the block for his first race, saying that he would “probably bring home a medal.” God am I an idiot.

Not only did Phelps bring home a gold in that event, he broke a world record.

Then he went on to win six more gold medals, a total of seven. Along the way the twenty-one year old broke five world records. Seven ties the all-time record for Gold medals in one international event set by American Mark Spitz in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Phelps stood a good chance of grabbing hold of a new record eighth gold in the 400 medley relay, but teammate Ian Crocker entered the pool too early and caused the American team to be disqualified.

Phelps super human efforts exploded the Americans past the Chinese, past the Austrailians and past the Russians to the front of the pack at the Worlds with 21 golds and 40 total medals.

So yes, I stand corrected in the prediction that the US swim team needed a boatload of practice to be ready for Beijing in ‘08. Apparently they don’t need any practice, they just need Michael Phelps to race every event and they’ll sweep the golds.

Michael Phelps, FINA, swimming world championships, swimming gold medal, swimming world records