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Who is Going to Win the NBA Championship?

Casey Armstrong — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:34:38 +0000

Don't pull a hammy, Ray!

Who is going to win the NBA Championship? Well, I have no clue. Along with myself, Casey Armstrong, I invited two of my NBA gurus in to take a stab, Sean Crafts & Aaron Pedroza.

Aaron:

I’m very skeptical of my Oklahoma City Thunder pick to win it all so I’ve buffered it with a San Anotonio Spurs victory. Basically, I think whoever wins the OKC v. Spurs series in the Western Finals wins it all….unless the Boston Celtics don’t play the Chicago Bulls at any point.

Here are my qualifiers though:

• The Celtics can’t beat the Bulls. They can beat anyone else in the East. If the Bulls fall before they get to Boston, then Boston could win it all.

• A Miami Heat/Bulls series is a coin flip. If the Heat beat the Celtics, then I have no idea who has the advantage. The Bulls are a better team, but the Heat defense is good when it wants to be….. LBJ can slow down Rose, but that matchup could put him in foul trouble early….so again, coin flip.

• The Portland Trail Blazers can beat the Lakers, but won’t. They have enough pieces. Adding Gerald Wallace was huge. Wesley Matthews on Kobe Bryant is intriguing. Could force him into some rough shots. Brandon Roy and Rudy Fernandez off the bench is way more firepower than the Lakers have. The Marcus Camby / Nic Batum tandem can slow down Andrew Bynum. I’d almost take LaMarcus Aldridge over Pau Gasol right now…almost.

• The Denver Nuggets can beat OKC. Best first round matchup by far, but Denver won’t get past the second round, whereas OKC has a great chance to beat elite teams. I’m hoping talent wins out so OKC can make some noise.

• The Spurs or OKC have the pieces to beat the Los Angeles Lakers. They both have speedy point guards that can penetrate (the Lakers’ Achilles’ heel). The big men are very interesting… on the spurs I love that they can throw out Tiago Splitter, DeJuan Blair and Matt Bonner and each does extremely different things. For OKC, I like how Kendrick Perkins can body up someone and let Serge Ibaka wreak weak side havock. Nick Collison is smart and savvy and does things that don’t show up in the box score.

• If Boston makes it to the finals they could beat anyone in the West. If the Heat make it, they will lose to OKC, Lakers or Spurs.

Casey:

I love the deep analysis breakdown. Sean just bet me OKC with Vegas odds versus the field. I still don’t know what the odds are, but I took it. I would love to see a Bulls v. OKC finals, but just not willing to bet on it because of lack of experience. Even with Bynum out, I’d be scared against the Lakers. They are older, but they are pretty solid. I never gave much love to Derrick Rose until post All-Star break this year, but that guy just seems to win.

I think an extremely interesting Finals would be OKC v. Boston. Young v. Old. Plus, Perkins and Jeff Green (with Perkins having much more influence) against their former teams. Also, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are so sick. As for the Heat, I don’t see them winning it. I have only watched about 5-7 games of them this season, but easily the worst team basketball and worst offense I have seen since reffing 2nd grade girls basketball when I was a freshman in high school. Plus, I like to see them lose so I guess they’ve got that going against them…whatever that’s worth.

I am pretty on board with your projections, but the SAS push. I don’t think they have it. Manu Ginobili has balled this year, but I don’t think they can pull it off (yes, I know they had the best record and home court throughout). I do like what their grab bag of 4s bring to the table, but I’m not putting any money when Tiago Splitter and a rich man’s Brian Scalabrine (aka Bonner) are involved. Also, Tim Duncan is going to be exposed worse than [fill in witty comment that I couldn't muster up].

I basically gave no insight or made any bold projections, but this year is crazy. The top-4 in the East (Orlando Magic are on the fringe even though Dwight & Co. have proven it in the Playoffs unlike somebody who took his talents to South Beach…no, I’m not talking about Avatar or Avatar!) and top-6 in the West could all go so deep. I think Portland could compete with most teams and my boy Dirk Nowitzki (note: we don’t actually know each other) is nasty (I hope Steve Nash lands on the Dallas Mavs somehow next year). I like how Denver has made this huge push, but just like you said, no chance at all to get outside the 2nd round. By the way, I’ve always been anti-Carmelo Anthony (don’t get me wrong, but he only scores) and the Nuggets surge made me pretty happy. Plus, I’ve always like George Karl ever since I jumped on the Gary Payton bandwagon back in 1993.

If Bynum is 80%, I got the Lakers. If not, I got the Zombie Sonics and will gladly for over some money to Sean.

PS – Can we get an all Euro team if there is a lock out (I hope I don’t get fined $100k like Phil Jackson)? Think about Dirk, Pau, Manu, Batum, Rudy, Tony Parker, and “Big Z” Ilgauskaus (throwing basketballs off the back of people’s heads, of course), along with some other Euros not named Ricky balling together.

Sean:

I agree with everything with a couple of small changes.

I think Dallas beats Portland. I think the Heat beat Boston (only because of injuries to Boston). And I think OKC blows out Spurs, 4-2, and then goes 7 with Lakers, winning in Game 7.

Also, I am torn on Orlando. I think they might be the Bulls and then the Celtics, but suffice it to say I would go Bulls/ORL in the Finals (ala your OKC/SA call).

CONCLUSION:

Aaron: Oklahoma City Thunder
Casey: Los Angeles Lakers
Sean: Oklahoma City Thunder

May the best man (obviously me) win!

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Who do you think will win the NBA Championship?

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Russell Westbrook for MVP?

Casey Armstrong — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 01:33:28 +0000

Oops. Pow. Surprise. I'm gonna two-hand tomahawk dunk on your face!

After just being named the Western Conference Player of the Week, I think it’s time we strongly consider Russell Westbrook as a contender, if not the front-runner, for the Most Valuable Player Award in the NBA this season.

I want to start off by saying this is not an easy article for me to write. Yes, Westbrook is on my second-place Fantasy Basketball team, but I went to USC and grew up a huge Gary Payton & Seattle Supersonics fan so writing positively about a UCLA Bruin on the Oklahoma City Zombies (errr…Thunder) is not the easiest task.

Anyways, every time I watch this guy, I am in awe over what he does on the basketball court. I believe his biggest strength might be his naïveté because he doesn’t realize that he shouldn’t be able to physically do what he does. This guy shuffles full-speed backwards, jumps four-feet diagonally for a steal, runs full-speed the opposite direction dribbling the ball, then explodes to the rim to dunk on some six-foot-eight athletic specimen with a seven-foot wingspan and four-foot vertical. How is that possible?

Westbrook has lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 14-7 record even though Kevin Durant has missed four games and been hampered by injury most of the season. I love numbers so let’s jump into that world. Westbrook is currently 7th in the NBA in scoring (24.1/game), 6th in assists (8.7), 6th in steals (2.2), and 6th in double-doubles with 12. To top everything off, he is leading the NBA in combined Points + Rebounds + Assists at 38.4/game.

Pretty impressive if you ask me.

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Who are your nominations for MVP so far this year?

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Clay Matthews Continues to Sack Competition

Casey Armstrong — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:03:15 +0000

Half Man/Half Clay: Hide your quarterbacks...

In the embarrassing dismantling of the Minnesota Vikings this past Sunday, which led to Chili’s firing, Clay Matthews picked up another sack. That sack puts him at 11.5 on the season and a 2-sack lead on a surprising star in Cameron Wake. It also puts Matthews on pace to finish with an impressive 18.5 sacks on the year.

This past weekend, Matthews also unveiled his new website, which comes just a few days after he started showing off his Fantapper app, which let’s you follow him around the internet.

On his website, you can check out his biography, Facebook, and Twitter, along with access to the Clay Matthews apparel store with some pretty awesome t-shirts.

In case you don’t, you should follow Clay on Twitter (@ClayMatthews52) and get his Fantapper app (Clay Matthews Fantapper).

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Fantapper will Change How you View Athletes & Celebrities Online

Casey Armstrong — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 02:06:16 +0000

Clay Matthews can kill a full grown Grizzly Bear with his bear hands. Pun intended. Fact.

Today, Brand Affinity Technologies (BAT) continued its push for sports marketing and advertising world domination with the acquisition of Fantapper, which is a leading celebrity mobile application company.

Powered by their netBAT technology, BAT created a browser application (available on Chrome, Firefox & Safari….okay, that piece of crap Internet Explorer as well) that will allow you to follow your favorite athletes and celebrities across the Internet. This app, Fantapper, will allow you to gather information about these athletes and celebrities across their images. Instead of just looking at their pretty faces, with Fantapper you can gather Fantasy Football information over their photo instead of having to leave the site with the built-in Bleacher Report app, you can see what they just Tweeted about with the Twitter app, or even buy those sick shoes they are wearing in that photo with the Amazon app. All of this can be done with Fantapper without even scrolling your mouse, much less leaving the page. Sounds ideal to me. I mean, we all know how lazy everybody is.

The BAT President & CEO, Ryan Steelberg, hits it on the head when he says, “Consumers have an insatiable appetite for celebrity, are continually looking for meaningful engagement, and spend time with content that interests them.” Well, he solved that problem.

Also, don’t forget to follow BAT or Fantapper on Twitter: @BATimpact or @Fantapper

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K-Swiss Signs Kenny Powers

Casey Armstrong — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:23:41 +0000

The Legendary Pro Baller, also known as Kenny Powers, signs with K-Swiss and has quite a list of demands. Better watch the video above to see what he says. He may or may not have a hot chick involved in his demands. He may or may not have a donkey duct taped to a blind Mexican midget in his demands. You will have to venture into the video yourself. It’s like a little Christmas present mid-week meets Halloween. Hide your kids…

You might want to follow him online…or in Mexico: @KfuckingP

Kenny Powers can defeat Chuck Norris. Fact.

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Get Off Reggie’s Back People!

Casey Armstrong — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:39:24 +0000

It's not Reggie's fault he is better than you.

Why does everybody keep hating on Reggie Bush? The NCAA, the media, Kim Kardashian and her huge ass…hell, even USC jumped into the mix. Now, a bunch of false reports that the Heisman Trophy is going to be stripped from him as well? Let’s look at some simple facts. It took the NCAA, who is not governed by anybody other than themselves, five years to come to a conclusion. Tell me another case that took five years. O.J. Simpson’s? Lindsay Lohan’s? How about Former Presidents Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton’s?

I’m waiting…

By the way, you saw that I wrote that it took them five years, right? So ridiculous.

So after Reggie made USC millions and millions of dollars, filled stadiums with fans and Heritage Hall with trophies, while breaking records and ankles along the way mind you, his parents let it go to their head and took advantage of his success and accepted a house from a scumbag sports agent (name omitted on purpose). Shouldn’t we feel sorry for Reggie about the situation his parents and that scumbag put him in?

While he is lining himself up to be a top NFL Draft Pick and sign an eight-figure contract at the age of 21, he is supposed to tell his parents they can’t accept a house (by the way, we are talking about a house in Spring Valley…not Beverly Hills or Laguna Beach)? Could you tell your parents not to upgrade their life? Let me make a ton of money, but don’t try and capitalize on it for yourselves. I am not defending his parents. They were irrational and plain stupid. They should be penalized more that he has been. Be patient and let your son graduate, but everybody needs to relax.

Also, how is USC supposed to govern each player’s parents? I understand that Reggie was not just another player, but where do you draw the line?

Back to the five years it took. “We are gathering the facts.” Bull shit. You are doing a horrible job of putting anything together and letting the USC attorneys kick your ass before they turn their backs on the player they were defending to potentially salvage a few recruits and one unknown Bowl bid.

Think about all the time, energy, and money that was poured into this case. Couldn’t we have put that back into the Los Angeles schools or helping baby puppies or my buy-Casey-a-Duffy-boat fund?

What really motivated me to write this rant was the fact that he really did nothing wrong. Think about what is going on in the world. Not the United States, but the world. This guy, Reggie Bush, let his parents accept a house and took a limo ride to a game. Big whoop. Who gives a shit? USC and the NCAA should have thanked him for only accepting that little. He hurt nobody. He didn’t cheat with steroids or HGH or anything like that. He didn’t payoff opponents. Nothing he did assisted him or his teammates in regards to anything football related.

Lastly, if anything, his involvement with that scumbag agent made him leave USC early. Nothing was done to keep him their longer. Other recruits weren’t given anything. USC was hurt by his actions and involvement. Why penalize kids that were in junior high when Reggie winning Championships? Shouldn’t that scumbag agent suffer instead since he was knowingly breaking the law and putting both Reggie and USC in jeopardy?

Well, I’d continue, but I have some beers to drink while I watch Reggie make some highlights with the New Orleans Saints against the Minnesota Vikings and some douchebag named Brett Favre…

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Troy Polamalu and his One-Million Dollar Hair

Casey Armstrong — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:33:25 +0000

Troy Polamalu and his pretty locks

Just call Troy Polamalu the man with the million dollar hair. This highlight superstar keeps gaining steam in publicity off-the-field. This season, the Steelers hope the Pro Bowler keeps making news on-the-field.

The long, flowing black hair that tumbles out of Polamalu’s helmet and down his back — it’s nearly three feet long — has been insured for $1 million by Head and Shoulders, the shampoo brand that is endorsed by the Pittsburgh Steelers safety.

The insurance was obtained through Lloyd’s of London, which did not reveal what must be done to Polamalu’s hair for anyone to collect on the policy.

Polamalu’s hair has been targeted by an opposing NFL player at least once — the Chiefs’ Larry Johnson tackled Polamalu by the hair during a 49-yard interception return in a 2006 game.

Polamalu, a five-time Pro Bowl player, wears his hair long as a tribute to his Samoan heritage. Troy Polamalu’s commercials have been widely popular and are pretty funny even though he is typically a soft-spoken person.

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Block of the Night

Casey Armstrong — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:14:03 +0000

No surprise to see LeBron James on the NBA highlight reel. Last night, James came out of nowhere to send Rajon Rondo’s fast break layup into the nose bleed section. Enjoy…

Click here to view the embedded video.

I look forward to more of those this season as it seems LBJ chases down somebody every night.

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What is your favorite block of all-time? Feel free to post it below.

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Week 5: Top 5 NFL Stories

Casey Armstrong — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:25:32 +0000

There was not a lot of middle ground in the NFL last week. The Rich got Richer. The Poor got Poorer. If you won, you blew the team out. If you lost, well…you got blown out. If you sucked in the first place and played another team that sucked, you were both embarrassed.

Here are my Top 5 NFL Stories from Week 5. What were yours? As always, click on the links for the hidden gems…

1. Pupil Defeats Master
In a much anticipated match-up, the Denver Broncos and rookie Head Coach Josh McDaniels hosted the New England Patriots and veteran Head Coach Bill Belichick. It was a game that I automatically assumed would finish the Broncos surprising undefeated record. I should have remembered that history has a way of repeating itself.

Several weeks ago, I sat speechless watching the University of Washington upset the University of Southern California in a game that was supposed to be a blowout. In that game, UW coach Steve Sarkisian defeated his former boss & mentor, Pete Carroll. It made sense. Sark had spent the past eight years working his way up the ranks at USC under Carroll and dissecting every aspect of the play book, both offensive & defensive.

Fast forward to the Denver game…McDaniels has spent the past eight years working his way up the ranks in New England under Belichick and dissecting every aspect of the play book, both offensive & defensive. Sound eerily familiar?

Well, this game turned out the same. Despite getting in a 10-0 hole (like UW), Denver kept in the game and pulled off a 20-17 victory in Overtime, improving to 5-0. Kyle Orton had his best game to date throwing for 330 yards & 2 TDs, both to Brandon Marshall.

2. All Remain Undefeated
There were three other teams trying to get to 5-0 and they all accomplished it…handily. The three undefeated teams won by a combined score of 113-26. Yes, you read that correctly. The New York Giants defeated the Oakland Raiders 44-7; the Minnesota Vikings & 40-year old Brett Favre defeated the St. Louis Rams 38-10; and the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Tennessee Titans 31-9. The Raiders, Rams, and Titans now have a combined 1-14 record. Ouch.

3. New North Leader
That sounds like the title my creepy RA gave himself my freshman year of college. My dorm was named New/North, but that is not the point. The AFC North is consistently one of the top divisions in the NFL because of the Pittsburgh Steelers & Baltimore Ravens. Well, the Cincinnati Bengals topped the Steelers in Week 3 and now the Ravens in Week 5 to stand alone at the top of the AFC North. In what seems to be Carson Palmer’s new craze, he once again led the Bengals to a last minute victory with a 20-yard TD pass to Andre Caldwell with 0:22 left in the game. CP finished the game with 271 yards & 1 TD. Chad Ochocinco was responsible for 94 of those yards, while workhorse running back Cedric Bensen had 120 yards & 1 TD on 27 carries against the vaunted Ravens defense.

4. WTF?
Two games that were expected to finish tight got out of hand really quickly. The Seattle Seahawks had dropped their last three games, but pounded the Jacksonville Jaguars 41-0 in Matt Hasselbeck’s return. Hasselbeck threw for 241 yards & 4 TDs. Nate Burleson & TJ Houshmanzedeaheahadaeh each snagged 2 TDs apiece. The other game was between the Atlanta Falcons & San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers followed up their blowout win in Week 4 with a blowout loss to the Falcons 45-10. Michael Turner & Roddy White combined for 307 total yards & 5 TDs. Not a bad day for their Fantasy Owners.

5. WTF 2.0?
Really? That counts as win? This is how I am reporting this game: The Cleveland Browns decided to travel to New York to practice plays and field goals with the Buffalo Bills. Somebody had to leave with a “win” so the Browns were allowed to kick a field goal with 0:23 left in practice to end the scrimmage 6-3. Really! It was that ugly. The Browns “won” even though their QB finished with 2 completions for 23 yards. I am not lying! Look it up yourself!

Get your Pick ‘Em Picks in and I will see you all in Week 6…

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FAIL: Top-10 Premature Sports Celebrations

Casey Armstrong — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:25:40 +0000

Thanks to ESPN, here is a clip of the Top-10 Premature Sports Celebrations.

Number 3, the Bluegrass Miracle, is easily my favorite. The Kentucky Wildcat football players gave their coach a Gatorade Shower with several seconds left on the clock and then they lose by a ridiculous Hail Mary pass from LSU Tigers QB Marcus Randall. Not only did the coach have to suffer a loss, but he has to do it fully dressed & sopping wet.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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