Random Updates

Hey guys I am back again with my opinions on the goings on in some of the major sports and a little bit about my life now.
NFL: Big Ben got suspended 4-6 games and while this may seem harsh I think it was appropriate as Goodell must send a message to the rest of the players in the NFL that this type of behavior is unacceptable. In terms of the Draft teams who I loved what they did so far are the Seattle Seahawks (Okung, Thomas, Tate) and the Baltimore Ravens (Kindle, Cody, Dickson) because both teams filled key needs with great values. Teams I did not like are the Jacksonville Jaguars who reached big time for Tyson Alualu out of California and the Denver Broncos who made so many trades wound up taking Demarius Thomas over Dez Bryant and Tim Tebow in the first round.
MLB: We are two weeks in and while it is still very early, All star Ballots are out so I decided to give a look at early suprises and Disappointments and at teams who are on the right path to the World Series. In terms of suprises you have the Blue Jays who are 10-7 without Roy Halladay and Aaron Hill, the A's who are 10-6 and leading the AL West, and most of all the San Diego Padres who are also 10-6 and tied for the best record in the NL and leading their division. Disappointments include the Texas Rangers who are 7-9 and last in their division, the LA Dodgers who have gone from baack to back NLCS to 7-9 and tied for last in their division as well as the Boston Red Sox who's lack of hitting has led them to a 7-10 record and 5 GB in the East. The top 5 teams right now are the Rays, Cards, Twins, Yankees, and Phillies with the Rays and Twins tied for the best record in Baseball, yes the Twins and Rays.
My Life: Well after a long roller-coaster ordeal I am now officially Towson Hillel Vice President for the 2010-2011 school year and it feels great. While I can't control how others on board perform and that does concern me I know that I will do everything in my power to make Hillel as strong as possible by working as hard as possible and hoping that effort is passed on to the rest of people on board. Also, the fact that I almost lost this position will make me more hungry and value this position even more. I would like to thank all my friends and family who supported me during this process, you do not know how much it means to me to have your support.

NBA Playoff Preview 2010

Yeah I know this is a day late but I was extremly busy yesterday and did not have the time to do an NBA playoff preview so here are my predictions for every round as well as major regular season awards.
AWARDS:
MVP-Lebron James
COY-Scott Brooks OKC
ROY-Tyreke Evans Kings
DPOY-Dwight Howard Magic
Sixth Man-Jamal Crawford Hawks
POSTSEASON
1st round (EAST)
1. Cavs over 8. Bulls in 4- Lebron, Jamison, and company too much for overmatched Bulls
2. Magic over 7. Bobcats in 6- Magic overcome challenge from young hungry Bobcats to win in 6
3. Hawks over 6. Bucks in 5- Without Bogut Bucks momentum stopped by Hawks
4. Celts over 5. Heat in 7- Wade does not get enough help to beat Celtics in Boston in Game 7
WEST
1. Lakers over Thunder in 5- Durant and young Thunder too inexperienced to beat the Lakers
7. Spurs over 2. Mavs in 7- A classic rivalry gets another chapter as Manu, Spurs shock Mavs
3. Suns over 6. Blazers in 6- Without Brandon Roy Blazers struggle against Suns
5. Jazz over 4. Nuggets in 7- Without Karl, Nuggets outcoached, eliminated by Jazz in 7
2nd round
1. Cavs over 4. Celtics in 5- Old Celtics Window Closed by Lebron and the younger faster Cavs
2. Magic over 3. Hawks in 6- Magic's size, depth, experience lead them to victory over Hawks
WEST
1. Lakers over 5. Jazz in 7- A classic Home dominated Series goes that way in Game 7
7. Spurs over 3. Suns in 6- Spurs eliminate the Suns from the Playoffs once again this time in 6
CONFERENCE FINALS
EAST
2. Magic over 1. Cavs in 6- A rematch of last year's finals goes the same way as Magic win again
1. Lakers over 7. Spurs in 7- Best Series of the Playoffs goes the Lakers way in 7
NBA FINALS
2. Magic over 1. Lakers in 6- Home Court, hunger, depth Help Magic get 1st title and revenge against the Lakers in a rematch of last year's NBA Finals, Finals MVP: Dwight Howard

Lessons of the past week

Hey guys I am back and instead of talking about sports for this blog I am going to talk about lessons I have learned over the past few months and weeks.
Over Spring Break I went down to Miami and did a community service project at a lower class school and park which taught me a lot. First of all I learned a greater appreciation of what I have and the opportunities I have been presented in my life as some of the kids that I worked with are in much worse situations then I have ever been. Going along with that I was able to put things in perspective and realize that my lows are nothing compared to how some people live 24-7 365. This is especially helpful now as I just lost in an election for Hillel Vice President to a person who has not put in about a 25th of the amount of time, effort, and hard work as I have and is no where near as qualified as I was. However after going to Miami I realize that I still have friends and family who love me and care for me, my health, a roof over my head, and the opportunity to get a college degree in a field that I want which I saw is not the case for many people in Miami and worldwide.
Another lesson Miami taught me is how quickly community service can bond you to complete strangers as I made 50 friends in Miami after only knowing them for a week. Furthermore, it reinforced the fact that community service is a great way to bring your spirits up and relieve stress and just get away. The next lesson I learned is how much impact you can make on a person and their life by spending a couple of hours with them for a few days, which we did at a local elementary school where we each mentored 1 or 2 kids. The last lesson I learned is how good it feels to work hard, plan, and execute a successful event from scratch after I planned and ran a trip to a Miami Heat Game for me and a couple of friends. These lessons came in handy this week when on wednesday we were without water which is a harsh reality for many people around the world on a daily basis, now I realize how much i take stuff for granted and how much I actually have.
As I mentioned earlier I lost the election for VP but from this I learned who my true friends are as there were people who consoled me and offered their support and to them I am extremly thankful for their friendship and kindness. After this election I felt like there was something wrong with me and how I carry myself which is in a very respectful, kind way in which I do what is right even if it inconviences me. However after reflecting on this I realize that I am fine just the way I am and I now have the chance to prove everyone who voted for me wrong and make them realize that they made a mistake and should have voted for me. In closing I have learned a lot of valuable lessons that I can use for the rest of my life and I am very thankful for that.

2010 MLB Season Preview

We are 9 hours away from the start of the 2010 baseball season So I have decided to give my predictions on each division, the major awards, and my postseason predictions. (Note: this is before the innevitable trading of Adrian Gonzalez by the San Diego Padres, he will greatly impact these standings especially if he comes to Boston)

AL EAST:
1. Yankees (#1 seed)
2. Red Sox (WC #4 seed)
3. Rays
4. O's (70 wins)
5. Jays

AL Central
1. Twins (#3 seed)
2. Tigers
3. White Sox
4. Royals
5. Indians

AL West
1. Seattle (# 2 seed)
2. Angels
3. Rangers
4. A's



NL EAST
1. Phillies (#2 seed)
2. Marlins (WC #4 seed)
3. Braves
4. Mets
5. Nats

NL CENTRAL
1. Cardinals (#1 seed, 1st to clinch)
2. Cubs
3. Reds
4. Brewers
5. Astros
6. Pirates

NL West
1. Giants (#3 seed)
2. Rockies
3. Dodgers
4. D Backs
5. Padres

AWARDS

AL MVP: Joe Mauer (C, Twins)
NL MVP: Albert Pujols (1B, Cardinals)
AL CY: Felix Hernandez (Mariners)
NL CY: Roy Halladay (Phillies)
AL ROY: Austin Jackson (OF, Tigers)
NL ROY: Jason Heyward (OF, Braves)
AL MOY: Don Wakamatsu (Mariners)
NL MOY: Freddy Gonzalez (Marlins)

POSTSEASON

Divisional Round
AL: Yanks over Twins in 4- Yanks too much again for the Joe Nathanless Twins
Mariners over Red Sox in 5- Lee and Hernandez pitch 3 times, win 3 times

NL: Cards over Marlins in 4- Cards pitching and experience take down young Marlins
Phillies over Giants in 5- Phillies Manage to split 4 games Lincecum and Cain pitch and win game 5 at home.

LCS

AL: Mariners over Yanks in 6- Cliff Lee steals game 2 in Yankee, Mariners win games 3 and 5 in Seattle (thanks to Felix) and Lee wins Game 6 for Seattle sending them to their first world series
MVP: Cliff Lee (2 wins in Yankee Stadium)

NL: Cardinals over Phillies in 7- Halladay and Hamels vs. Wainwright and Carp is split 2-2 but Brad Penny wins games 3 and 7 over JA Happ ending the Phillies 2 year reign as NL Champs
MVP: Matt Holliday (Phillies wont let Pujols beat them Holliday does)

WORLD SERIES
Cardinals over Mariners in 6- The Cardinals experience and power in the middle of the order win the franchises 11th title in yet another series where each teams top two pitchers cancel each other out.
MVP: Albert Pujols

Final Four Preview/Expanding the Tournament?

Well it is that time of year again, Final Four time, and this year I did not do well (1 out of 4- WVU) but I am going to still preview these games and pick a national champion and then discuss the almost certain move to 96 teams from 65 teams.
Butler vs. Michigan State: This is a classic matchup of david vs. Goliath as Butler playing in their first final four faces a team who has been there 6 times in 12 years in Michigan State and Tom Izzo. Butler is playing six miles from their campus and is coming off of upsets of Syracuse and Kansas State while Michigan State has overcome the loss of Star and multi-time Big Ten Player of the Year to beat Giant Killer Northern Iowa and Tennessee. I see Tom Izzo's massive coaching experience edge 0ver Butler's Brad Stevens, who looks like he is 12, deciding the game as Michigan State wins 81-74.

West Virginia vs. Duke: The featured game of the national semi-finals features two conference tournament champs and top 8 teams as the only remaining 1 seed Duke faces the team that many people feel should have been a 1 seed in Big East Tournament Champion West Virginia. This game is filled with stars both on the sidelines as Coach K faces WVU's Bob Huggins and on the court as Duke's John Schyer faces West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler. West Virginia is playing so well right now and has seemed to have not missed a beat when their PG Truck Bryant went out with an injury so I see them continuing their run to the finals as the beat Duke 79-74.

West Virginia vs. Michigan State- A great matchup for the National Title as Michigan State gets the chance to avenge last year's embarassing loss to UNC in the national title game in their home state by facing WVU in this year's final. Again a great coaching matchup exists as Tom Izzo faces Bob Huggins in this matchup. I see Michigan States depth and desire not to repeat last year being the difference in this classic final which ends with Michigan State cutting down the nets in Indy for the 2nd time in 11 years as the beat West Virginia 84-80.

EXPANSION: As many of you know the tournament is likely going to expand to 96 teams which will lead to the top 8 teams in each region getting a first round bye. The NCAA will also try to fit this tournament, which will absorb the 32 team NIT, into the same 3 week time frame that the current tourney fits into. I think there are some things that Have to be done to make this work the first is the conference's regular season champion must be ensured a bid. Also I would say if you did not finish in the top 3/5 of your conference you should not be eligible because otherwise the Big East could get 11-12 teams in. In my opinion this expansion was going to happen at some point but I would have just expanded it to 68 and have 4 play in games for the final 4 at-large births rather then the current format where two conference tourney champs from small conferences play for the right to get absolutly destroyed by a #1 seed three days later.