Preview of the AL Central

When it comes to the AL Central the favorite every year seems to be the Minnesota Twins.  The Twins are consistently overlooked as a small market team but every year they are in the hunt for the division crown, and this year should be no different.  The Twins with hopefully a healthy Justin Morneau and a great pitching staff will be back in the postseason this year behind MVP candidate Joe Mauer and Hall of Fame manager Rod Gardinhire.  The Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox should  be in the hunt for the wild card as well.  Both teams making huge additions this off season should be back in the hunt for the division title.  If the pieces come together for Chicago they could be on their way to 95 to 100 wins, and considered by many to be a World Series favorite.  As for the bottom two teams in this division the Royals and Indians, this season will be yet another of rebuilding mode and trying to develop young talent for the future.

Projected Standings:
1. Minnesota
2. Chicago
3. Detroit
4. Kansas City
5. Cleveland

Preview of the AL East

The Yankees and Red Sox have been the giants in this division for the last 15 years or so with both making the playoffs each year except for one in that time span.  This year should be no different.  The Red Sox add Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez to their already powerful offense, and also add former closer Bobby Jenks to their hard throwing bullpen.  There starting rotation needs to improve from last year but the talent is there, and their offense alone will make them the strong favorite to win the division and also the American League pennant. Boston's biggest challenger of course will be their hated rival the New York Yankees.  Although the Yankees missed out on big free agent pitcher Cliff Lee they still have one of the more potent offenses in baseball, the clubs only question will be the back end of the rotation.  Tampa Bay will be the team most likely to challenge these two legendary teams.  The past two years have been great for the once dreadful franchise.  The Rays have lost many key players to free agency this winter but have a group of young players still eager to prove they belong with the big guns.  Coming off a surprising season the Toronto Blue Jays will look to build off last years success.  With MVP candidate Jose Bautista resigned Toronto will look to see if he can reproduce last year, and look for their young pitchers to continue to develop.  Finally the Baltimore Orioles will more than likely bring up the rear in this division.  Look for the O's to be much improved with key offensive additions, as well as another year of experience for its young pitching staff.

Projected Standings:
1. Boston
2. New York
3. Tampa Bay
4. Toronto
5. Baltimore

Cardinals Hurt Early By Injury

It was recently learned that this year the St. Louis Cardinals will be without their best pitcher for the entire 2011 season.  The Cardinals who are regularly in contention for the NL Central crown will now face an uphill battle without Adam Wainwright.  It now seems as if the Cardinals hopes for the upcoming season are now fading as other teams such as the Reds, Brewers, or even the Cubs are ready to take over.  If you take St. Louis out of the picture who do you think will win the NL Central Division, and do you think the Cardinals can still have a successful sesason without their pitching ace?

Here is a link on some injury news about Wainwright and other clubs around baseball: http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?name=olney_buster&id=6260593&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fmlb%2fblog%3fname%3dolney_buster%26id%3d6260593

NCAA March Madness

This Sunday was Selection Sunday for the Men's National Basketball Championship field of 68 teams.  There will be four games on Tuesday to decide the field of 64.  Among the one seeds there were no surprises with Ohio State, Duke, Kansas, and Pittsburgh being named the top team in their regions.  The controversy started like always with the final teams selected into the field.  VCU was selected from the Colonial Athletic Conference despite its eleven losses and poor ending to the season.  Three or four teams from the traditional power conferences were left out of the tournament depite having a better overall season than VCU did.  Colorado beat 5 seed Kansas State three times and 4 seed Texas as well so shouldnt they have been included in the field over small school VCU? Every year the selection committie finds a way to make at least one mistake.

NFL Labor Talks

Im sure you all have heard about the talks between the NFL owners and the players union lately.  They have unitl this Friday at 5 pm to get a new deal done or the current CBA will expire.  Currently the two parties are 750 million dollars apart from a new deal.  Who is to blame for this?  Is it the owners some of which are billionaires and make millions in other areas besides football, and their teams for some are just a hobby? Or is it the players whose careers last for an average of three years and have to deal with injuries years later.  These injuries which they suffered as they made the owners millions.  Now the owners want them to play two more games and take more money.  Paul Allen, the Seattle Seahawks oner has a 114 foot yacht with a basketball court, gym, hot tub, and many other features as well as three houses and two ranches.  Does he need the extra billion? Dont think so:

Here is an artlicle related to the owners and the CBA: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6177574

BYU player dismissed from team

Many of you have probably heard BYU forward Brandon Davies was dismissed from the men's basketball team earlier this week for violating the schools honor code.  This code consists of things such as no premarital sex, no consumption of tea, coffee, alcohol among other things.  Davies was dismissed after he admitted to the school that he admitted to having sexual relations with his girlfriend.  BYU who is ranked third in the nation currently and possibly in line for a number one seed come March is having the best basketball season in their history, and probably will not have one like this ever again.  By dismissing their starting forward who is a key contributor on the team they could have just said goodbye to their dream season.  With many schools in Division I athletics putting performance before morals and rules BYU needs to be commended for standing up for what they believe in by sacrificing performance, and its national title hopes.  That being said, do you think BYU did the right thing? Is their honor code realistic in today's society or is it a thing of the past?

Here is the link to the article if you would like to check it out yourself: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6175090

Heat vs. Knicks Recap

With all the hype surrounding this star filled game it turned out to be as advertised.  While the Heat jumped out to an early lead and led by as many in the first half, the Knicks went on a 16-0 run to end the half.  Throughout the remaining of the game both teams battled back and forth as the game remained close.  With the Heat up by 4 with three minutes to go Chauncey Billups took over the game.  Mr. Big Shot as he is called hit a deep 3 pointer to put the Knicks up for good..  Billups made a steal on the next Heat possession and the Knicks were able to notch their first big win since acquiring Carmelo Anthony, 91-86.

This is the link to the box score and recap of the game: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=310227014.