It's Time To Re-Hype Ourselves for the NBA's All-Star Weekend

Last year's All-Star weekend was such a travesty for the NBA that I completely abandoned the idea of a blog post with the sole focus of this 3-day event. As it turns out, I made the right decision since it was filled with confusion and an underwhelmed audience. The Dunk Contest had a team winner instead of the annual individual winner (John Wall was voted Dunker of the Night but, there was only one trophy for his 3-man team), the Shooting Stars Challenge was quicker with less racks to shoot from and the Skills Competition had four pairings instead of the typical four players dribbling up and down the court. All things considered, the night was a failure of epic proportions and we as NBA fans had no clear person to blame with David Stern on the way out and Adam Silver on the way in as commissioner.

Thankfully, the NBA has gotten the wake-up call they needed after last year's harsh reaction to the woeful 2014 All-Star Weekend festivities and they really stepped up their game with some big names and some future big names participating in Saturday night's events that you should be getting pretty hyped about. They also re-structured the layout of the dunk contest back to it's two-round format.

Rising Stars Challenge
Format change! It's USA v. World in the annual Rookie-Sophomore game and this should be a fun game to get everyone excited about the league's future.

I'm definitely picking the International team for victory but how might these lineups look? Let me take a guess...

USA
Aaron Gordon
Marcus Smart
Elfrid Payton
Doug McDermott
Zach LaVine
K.J. McDaniels
Victor Oladipo
Nerlens Noel
Michael Carter-Williams
Shabazz Muhammad
Mason Plumlee
Tim Hardaway Jr.

International
Andrew Wiggins
Dante Exum
Nik Stauskas
Jusuf Nurkic'
Anthony Bennett
Alex Len
Steven Adams
Kelly Olynyk
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Dennis Schroder
Gorgui Dieng
Rudy Gobert

Note: The event hasn't had twelve-man rosters in the past so, imagine some of these names (1-3) will be cut from the lineup.

Shooting Stars Challenge

Photo Credit: Jesse D. Garrabrant
Can Dominique Wilkins, Chris Bosh and Swin Cash pull off the first ever three-peat?

Although the NBA has yet to confirm any names or cities represented in this competition, I'm picking Team New York (if they're going back to the city/team format) because you bet they'll want this more than any other team considering where the weekend is located (New York) and with how much of hot mess the Knicks have been all year, it'd be nice to take away ANYTHING from the 2014-15 NBA Season other than a lottery pick.

Skills Competition

Kyrie is my pick even if he hasn't put his name in yet

We don't even know the format, let alone any participants, but my metaphorical money is on Kyrie Irving. He always shows up for All-Star Weekend.

3-Point Shootout

In a lineup where Wesley Matthews is the worst shooter, that's a damn good lineup.

The Participants: Kyle Korver, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, J.J. Redick, Wesley Matthews, one unknown (according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports).

My guess is that the unknown participant is definitely Marco Belinelli if he is healthy enough to go. If not, I expect Ray Allen to come out of the stands and audition for the Cavaliers. This is easily the best 3-point lineup the NBA has had since the original Larry Bird years. Curry & Thompson are tearing up the league nightly and are must-watch material every time they touch a basketball. Kyle Korver is right on the verge of being an All-Star for the first time in his career because, nobody fills the long-distance-shooter-and-nothing-else role quite as efficiently as Korver has this season. Redick and Matthews are tremendous shooters as well with Redick being a cult-legend at Duke for his shooting sessions in practice.

My pick: Korver.

Slam Dunk Contest

David Manning-USA TODAY Sports
Magic 2nd-year pro Victor Oladipo should put on quite a show win or lose.

The Participants: Victor Oladipo, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Zach LaVine, Mason Plumlee

Thank god we don't have to deal with the mess that was last year's competition again. Granted, the names could be better as there aren't any current All-Stars participating but, we have some very intriguing, so-far so-good talent in the contest. Andrew Wiggins was rumored to be participating but, I'd take Oladipo, the Greek Freak, LaVine's vertical, and a Plumlee borther over anything this contest had from 2011-2013. I think the contest will win us back a little bit with (hopefully) more props. PS: If you're an anti-prop person, just get away from anything All-Star related because you are a person who does not appreciate fun and the fact that the target audience for events like this are the kids. Also, I find people who are anti-props in the Dunk Contest to be the Pete Prisco's of the NBA. What do I mean by that? Pete Prisco is an NFL analyst for CBS who is strictly all about the prototypical pocket-passer. He would rather have Andy Dalton than Russell Wilson despite Wilson's two Super Bowl appearances and is quite frankly, a doofus.

My pick: LaVine.

The Actual All-Star Game
The All-Star Game isn't super competitive anymore but, it gives fans a chance to see the best players in the league play together and get the Twitterverse all excited about possibly recruiting each other behind closed doors. The game is filled with some of the smoothest in-game play you'll ever see with flawless, effortless alley-oops and players like Kyrie Irving crossing over some of the league's best.

Here are this year's Starting Lineups

East - John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Lebron James, Pau Gasol, Carmelo Anthony
West - Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant (to be replaced due to season-ending injury), Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol, Blake Griffin

I agree with 7/10 picks for the starting lineups and that's better than most years. I would have personally liked to see James Harden over Kobe and both Blake and Melo could have sat on the bench but, it's an All-Star Game, nothing important.

Here are my choices for the benches to be revealed at 7 PM ET on TNT...

East - Jeff Teague, Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Chris Bosh, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Korver, Nikola Vucevic'
West - Klay Thompson (will replace Kobe in lineup because the team is coached by Steve Kerr), James Harden, Dwight Howard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, DeMarcus Cousins, Damian Lillard (Going with five Guards? Steve Kerr can make it work!)

These aren't "predictions", these are my personal preferences on who deserves to be an All-Star this season.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports 
It's unlikely that Nikola Vucevic' actually makes the Eastern Conference's roster but, there are very few deserving players in the East. 

So, enjoy the All-Star festivities coming up from February 15th through February 17th and remember, don't get too excited for the Dunk Contest but, don't be a cynic throughout the whole process and things will go much better.

NFL's Conference Championships To Be.... Confrontational?

This week the NFL announced a new off-season program called the Veteran's Combine. At first, I thought this had something to do with veterans of war because I am not a bright individual. After reading an article on this combine, I was sold on the whole thing. The event is basically another show for football fans to watch in the off-season that the NFL can bank in more cash from viewers and we, the audience, get a chance to see players like Ben Tate and maybe (hopefully because everyone would totally watch if it did happen) Tim Tebow. The participants get a $400 check at the end of the day and potentially a real NFL contract with a real NFL team if they impress in the same drills that the rookie classes cooperate in ahead of being drafted annually.

Here are my Conference Championship predictions and mini-previews...

Seahawks 27 - Packers 17

Al Bello/Getty Images
If Green Bay wins, it'll be a result of Davante Adams uprising since not being a factor in their first match-up versus Seattle.

What has changed since week one? Seattle lost Defensive Tackle Brandon Mebane and Tight End Zach Miller for the season but, Tony McDaniel/Kevin Williams and Luke Willson have stepped up and the team has not missed a beat at those two positions. Seattle also traded away Percy Harvin, who was a huge player for one game this season and that game was in week one against the Packers. Green Bay has not changed much. They won't lose Tackle Bryan Bulaga (hopefully for entertainment's sake) for the second half and the team has guaranteed we won't see Derek Sherrod, who was one of the worst offensive linemen in football whenever he stepped onto the field. Green Bay's odds are quite better without Sherrod, with Clay Matthews moving to Inside Linebacker and without Percy Harvin being the ultimate wildcard. 

Live look-in at Percy Harvin.

Gimpy Aaron Rodgers is better than no Aaron Rodgers (AKA: Matt Flynn) and the Seahawks will still have to cover the pass despite Eddie Lacy running probably being the more effective game-plan for Mike McCarthy. Speaking of defense, Green Bay's has not allowed more than 21 points (outside of the fluky Atlanta Monday night game) since week eight. It's not like Green Bay's defense is made out of the same material as their hats....

Cheese. I'm talking about cheese.

I don't expect this game to be wildly different from week one except it should be closer as a result of Seattle's loss of Percy Harvin and Green Bay's emergence of Davante Adams.

Patriots 45 - Colts 27

AP Photo/Elise Amendola
"Super Bowl Media Day should be a blast." stated Bill Belichick... probably.

Patriots' Center Bryan Stork is OUT with a knee injury because, someone has to deliver the babies. Realistically, this could hamper New England's offense a little bit but, expect the team to have already thought three steps ahead of everyone else and look perfectly fine (as they always do). This is the Belichick/Brady combo's ninth conference championship game in fifteen years together and those two know what they're doing and have faced more worthy opponents than this year's Colts squad. 

AP Photo
"Thanks for the torch of losing to New England in the playoffs, horsebro."

Andrew Luck has been one unlucky Quarterback against the Patriots so far in his three years in the NFL.

November 18th, 2012: Lost 24-59
January 11th, 2014 (Divisional Playoffs): Lost 22-43
November 16th, 2014: Lost 20-42

While Indianapolis's defense has slowly gotten better, they have to get over the hump that is New England's offense. After giving up the second-best rushing performance in 2014 to now-hardly active RB Jonas Gray, the Colts defense is likely to try defending the run when they should be defending the pass as it is still Tom Brady on the other side and he will torch your defense if you show up unprepared. Two major changes on both sides since their week 11 battle are at the Running Back position. LeGarrette Blount has replaced Jonas Gray (not really an upgrade or a downgrade) and the Colts' combination (Trent Richardson and Ahmad Bradshaw) that went for three yards on fourteen carries is now OUT for Daniel "Boom" Herron and Zurlon Tipton (an upgrade but still... yuck). Don't expect anything to have changed between these two teams yet, New England is still miles ahead.

So, enjoy the Conference Championships even if they turn into blowouts and don't blame me for picking against your team and that result becoming true.

2014-15 Bowl Game Pick Results

I suck.

New Orleans Bowl: Louisiana-Lafayette over Nevada 16-3.

I was: WRONG

Thank you, Cody Fajardo for nothing.

New Mexico Bowl: Utah State over UTEP 21-6.

I was: CORRECT

Las Vegas Bowl: Utah over Colorado State 45-10.

I was: CORRECT

I did NOT see the blowout coming.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Air Force over Western Michigan 38-24.

I was: CORRECT

Camellia Bowl: Bowling Green over South Alabama 33-28.

I was: CORRECT

Miami Beach Bowl: Memphis over Brigham Young 55-48 in Double OT

I was: WRONG

Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo
The Fighting Mormons of BYU.

Boca Raton Bowl: Marshall over Northern Illinois 52-23.

I was: WRONG

Poinsettia Bowl: Navy over San Diego State 17-16.

I was: CORRECT

Bahamas Bowl: Western Kentucky over Central Michigan 49-48.

I was: CORRECT

This was the greatest of all the bowl games and it was the inaugural Bahamas Bowl. 34-point comeback? Big deal. Try throwing something other than a fade pass on your why-not-let-it-fly?  two-point conversion.

Hawaii Bowl: Rice over Fresno State 30-6.

I was: WRONG

This was the worst of all bowl games.

Heart of Dallas Bowl: Louisiana Tech over Illinois 35-18.

I was: CORRECT

QB Cody Sokol was an average, non-integral part of Louisiana Tech's win and now, Florida's QB Jeff Driskel will transfer to the school this off-season.

Quick Lane Bowl: Rutgers over North Carolina 40-21.

I was: WRONG

St. Petersburg Bowl: NC State over Central Florida 34-27.

I was: WRONG

Military Bowl: Virginia Tech over Cincinnati 33-17.

I was: WRONG

Congratulations to Virginia Tech on winning one of the flukiest games in recent memory over Ohio State earlier this season.

Sun Bowl: Arizona State over Duke 36-31.

I was: CORRECT

Duke almost always plays entertaining football and this close afternoon match-up was no different.

Independence Bowl: South Carolina over Miami (FL) 24-21.

I was: CORRECT

Pinstripe Bowl: Penn State over Boston College 31-30 in OT.

I was: WRONG

Thanks to a missed extra point, this game only lasted one overtime when it felt like it could have gone on for much longer and the viewers would have been just fine with that.

Holiday Bowl: USC over Nebraska 45-42.

I was: CORRECT

Jake Roth - USA TODAY Sports
Interim Coach Barney Cotton did a fine job of coaching but, apparently nothing could save the Cornhusker defense.

Liberty Bowl: Texas A&M over West Virginia 45-37.

I was: WRONG

Another wild, high-scoring fun-fest that ended Kenny Hill's career at TAMU as he now transfers to back up Trevone Boykin at TCU.

Russell Athletic Bowl: Clemson over Oklahoma 40-6.

I was: WRONG

The most surprising bowl game. Oklahoma did not show up at all and Clemson never had their typical Clemson late-game screw-ups.

Texas Bowl: Arkansas over Texas 31-7.

I was: WRONG

Why did I pick Texas? What made me do that?

Music City Bowl: Notre Dame over LSU 31-28.

I was: WRONG

After the monstrous collapse of Everett Golson, the Golson/Malik Zaire Quarterbacking handcuff worked swimmingly for Head Coach Brian Kelly. A last-second field goal was the big determining factor in this entertaining (Although, not quite musical enough) bowl game.

Belk Bowl: Georgia over Louisville 37-14.

I was: CORRECT

Ending my long streak of incorrectly chosen winners, RB Nick Chubb saved myself and Georgia in a thorough beating of Bobby Petrino in his first bowl game of his second tenure coaching at Louisville.

Foster Farms Bowl: Stanford over Maryland 45-21.

I was: CORRECT

Maryland needs to start playing some real defense if they want to be taken seriously any time soon.

Peach Bowl: TCU downright murdered Ole Miss 42-3.

I was: CORRECT

I'm not one to laugh at other people's failures (considering I have my own) but... Bo Wallace. wow. Just... wow.

Not sure what you think you're doing there, Bo but, you should probably stop considering it.

Fiesta Bowl: Boise State over Arizona 38-30.

I was: WRONG

Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech over Mississippi State 49-34.

I was: WRONG

Another real surprise, the triple-option offense might just be a strategy that teams like Texas, LSU, and Wisconsin might want to consider with lingering QB issues.

Outback Bowl: Wisconsin over Auburn 34-31 in OT.

I was: WRONG

I was under the impression that this was a toss-up so... at least I wasn't wrong about everything.

Cotton Bowl: Michigan State over Baylor 42-41.

I was: WRONG

An epic collapse ends Bryce Petty's career at Baylor and just leaves more questions about the playoff committee's final rankings,

Citrus Bowl: Missouri over Minnesota 33-17.

I was: CORRECT

Rose Bowl: Oregon over Florida State 59-20.

I was: WRONG

AP Photo/Doug Benc
"This play helped Oregon." stated Perd Hapley of Pawnee, Indiana.

Sugar Bowl: Ohio State over Alabama 42-35.

I was: WRONG

Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer
Ezekiel Elliott quite literally hurdled his way into 2015 Heisman discussions with his playoff run.

Armed Forces Bowl: Houston over Pittsburgh 35-34.

I was: WRONG

TaxSlayer Bowl: Tennessee over Iowa 45-28.

I was: CORRECT

Iowa's two Quarterbacks did not work out anywhere near as well as Notre Dame's two Quarterbacks and neither C.J. Beathard nor, Jake Rudock could get in rhythm.

Alamo Bowl: UCLA over Kansas State 40-35.

I was: WRONG

Cactus Bowl: Oklahoma State over Washington 30-22.

I was: CORRECT

Birmingham Bowl: Florida over East Carolina 28-20.

I was: CORRECT

Shane Carden's draft value took a hit after he threw a mindless interception on the last-minute drive.

GoDaddy.com Bowl: Toledo over Arkansas State 63-44.

I was: CORRECT

Toledo's run game was unstoppable and there might be a prospect hiding on this o-line or in this backfield somewhere.

National Championship: Ohio State over Oregon 42-20.

I was: CORRECT (in a way. When I picked the game, it was listed as winner of Alabama/Ohio St. or winner of Oregon/Florida State. I chose Alabama/Ohio St. thinking it would be Alabama winning.)

We just witnessed the birth of a legend. Welcome aboard the Cardale Jones Reality Tour, where we ain't come to play school and Wisconsin, 'Bama and Oregon are no match for THE Cardale Jones.

Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports
One of the greatest college coaches ever out-coached Larry Coker Jr. in the most watched cable program ever.

19/39 on picks. That's not even 50%. I sucked.

NFL's Divisional Round To Be... Divisive

At what point does one take down their Christmas tree? Is New Year's too soon? If so, why? How long can one keep the holiday spirit alive simply by keeping their Christmas tree up? I found myself wondering this as my tree is still up as of this weekend, two weeks post-Christmas, and nobody is going to do anything about it since we live in Wisconsin and --duh-- we'll be watching the home-state professional team and get too caught up in other playoff football games. So, how long will the tree be up? Until the Pro Bowl? Super Bowl? St. Patrick's Day? Your guess is as good as mine but, I can almost guarantee that it won't happen during this action-packed weekend.


Here are my Divisional Round picks...

Patriots 27 - Ravens 10

Photo via: Matt West
It'll be hard for Joe Flacco to find many open receivers with Darrelle Revis on the field.

The Baltimore Ravens just took care of #1 rival Pittsburgh in the first round and now, they travel up to snowy, 15-degree Foxboro, Massachusetts to face their second-biggest rivals in the New England Patriots. New England is everyone's favorite to take the AFC since they've made it to the Super Bowl five times with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. One of the teams that has gotten in their way twice are the Baltimore Ravens. Joe Flacco is a playoff miracle-worker no matter who his receivers are and the combination of one the leagues best pass-rushing defenses versus one of the weakest offensive lines Tom Brady has ever had have caused some people to raise their eyebrows when looking at this match-up. It all comes down to who is playing in the secondary (Lardarius Webb, Rashaan Melvin, bad Matt Elam, Antoine Cason and Darian Stewart versus Darrelle Revis, Logan Ryan, Brandon Browner, Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung) and Baltimore's is a rotting carcass while New England's is almost as good as it was in 2004.

Seahawks 23 - Panthers 13

John Clark/The Gazette
This catch counted for 51 of Kelvin Benjamin's 94 yards on 4 catches in Seattle's 13-9 win over Carolina in October.

Last year's Super Bowl champs have had struggles recently when facing the Carolina Panthers. Seattle's won each of the previous three match-ups late in the fourth quarter (16-12 in 2012, 12-7 in 2013 and 13-9 in 2014) but, something tells me that streak is going to end this Saturday evening in Seattle. The Panthers defense is coming around at the right time and Luke Kuechly is still Luke Kuechly BUT the Seahawks defense has only allowed three touchdowns since their November 16th loss to Kansas City. Not to mention, Carolina's offense looked wildly inconsistent (in bad conditions) last Saturday. It could get ugly but, Carolina's defense will show up and keep this game reasonably competitive.

Cowboys 31 - Packers 27

Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Romo and Witten have another 4th down conversion in their future.

This game is a total toss-up. Both teams went 12-4, had the two best QB's in the league in terms of QB Rating, have great Running Backs and fringe defenses that nobody can tell whether they are good or not. To put it simply, Dallas does not deserve to play in this game and because of that, they will totally win. Nothing would please the media more than to continue trashing GM Jerry Jones and Tony Romo but, something weird will happen in this game. There probably won't be an inexplicably picked-up flag but, with an Aaron Rodgers torn calf and a Tony Romo awful back... anything is possible in this one (Matt Flynn v. Brandon Weeden? That's the game I want to watch. So bad, it'd be great). Green Bay doesn't have a great defensive back anymore (2010 was Tramon Williams' lone season) and this game will be a wild shootout.

Broncos 37 - Colts 29

The Broncos have the most underrated defense in the league but against Andrew Luck, that might not matter.

Peyton Manning's noodle arm is a nice story and all but, Denver is still a great team and Peyton Manning's smarts have not been affected by any injury. Denver will get up big early (like turn-off-your-TV-and-go-outside big) but, Andrew Luck is the Quarterback in football who I trust the most after Aaron Rodgers and Indy will make a strong comeback attempt in this game (emphasis on the word "attempt"). Indianapolis will fall short because of Denver's all-pro-filled defense and with DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller destroying a weak offensive line, Luck will be running for his life most of the late afternoon game. Both running games will have their moments but, Luck versus Manning will be the prevailing story-line and Manning gets one last nod over his former team.

So, enjoy the Divisional Round and don't blame me for picking against your team and that result becoming true.

Did I get Breaking Bad on DVD for Christmas? You're goddamn right I did.

Bold Predictions About 2015 Certain To Go Wrong

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NFL's Wildcard Round To Be... Wild

Welcome to 2015 everyone, the college football playoff is real and it's spectacular. Ohio State versus Oregon? Yes please. There was so much energy and talk around the college football bowl season that the NFL's wildcard round is sort of sneaking up on us. I'm glad this is the case since we're coming off of the worst NFL season in terms of entertainment and respectability value in a long, long time. Yet, even though Roger Goodell still has the commissioning job a whopping five months after the second Ray Rice video was released, the playoffs are enough for everyone to kind of chill out and watch football again as we make our way through the most depressing month. 

Here are my Wildcard picks...

Carolina 45 - Arizona 10

There's going to be plenty of this happening in a home game that Carolina doesn't deserve.

The playoff format needs some tweaking. The Panthers earned the playoff spot, no doubt BUT... they don't deserve this home game. Thankfully for the Panthers, Arizona's Quarterback is Ryan Lindley, #1 Running Back is a Kerwynn Williams/Stepfan Taylor committee and the team's star defensive player (Patrick Peterson) has become the most overrated corner in the NFL and is the third best at his own position on the team. Arizona is practically dust at this point in time. Enjoy your win, Panthers.

Ravens 23 - Steelers 20

Josh Harris: Guy.

I don't really want to see either of these teams in the second round of the playoffs but, that's a problem considering these two AFC North teams face each other and each playoff game needs a winner. Neither team is good enough to make the conference championship with Pittsburgh's ancient defense and Baltimore's defensive backfield is made up of guys who were quite possibly Home Depot employees in 2014. Luckily for Baltimore, Pittsburgh's RB LeVeon Bell is out with a hyper-extended knee and un-drafted Wake Forest alumnus Josh Harris is starting despite only carrying the ball six times for twelve yards. Give me the team with a healthy offense and the better front seven, Baltimore.

Colts 41 - Bengals 20

Vontae Davis will likely only have to cover Mohamed Sanu.

Everyone and their mother is happy to see the Bengals in the playoffs because they are the easiest team to bet against in the playoffs. Andy Dalton in a playoff game? Good luck with that. He might not have A.J. Green either? Oh, this is a disaster for Cincinnati. I feel bad for Bengals' fans because it does not matter how many first round exits Marvin Lewis has on his record, he will never lose his job. Indy shut them out once, they should be fine Sunday afternoon.

Cowboys 34 - Lions 24

Can Dallas's defense match Detroit's playoff-ready D?

I'll take Tony Romo over Matthew Stafford every time. One of these teams has to win despite their recent playoff failures. Detroit does have Ndamukong Suh but, with Nick Fairley out at Defensive Tackle, the overachieving defense is not at 100%. Speaking of overachieving defenses, Dallas was supposed to be one of the worst defensive units in the history of the NFL. Instead, they were solid while never astonishing anyone. The key to this game is "who shall cover Dez Bryant?" and frankly, nobody on Detroit can.

So, enjoy the Wildcard round and don't blame me for picking against your team and that result becoming true.