Well after a wild and crazy first 2 rounds, especially in the NHL, both the NBA and NHL are down to the final four teams. In the NBA we have 4 teams, none of which are truly suprising (orlando, LAL, Suns, and celtics) but in the NHL we have 2 teams you expect to be there (Sharks and Blackhaws) and 2 that nobody expected to be there (Flyers and Habs). So I am going to break down each conference final in both sports and give my prediction for the champion in both sports.
NHL: Western Conference Finals- #2 blackhawks @ #1 Sharks.
This series is going to be a classic between the two best teams in the West all year. The Sharks, led by their big 4 (thorton, Heatly, Marleau, and Pavelski) have shaken off past playoff let downs to make it here by beating the team of the 2000's in the Red Wings last round. While the Blackhawks led by their 2 young guns (Jonathan Toewes and Patrick Kane) are in their second conference finals in a row seeking to end a 40+ year cup drought for the franchise. I see this series going 7 with Chicago continuing the trend by winning a game 7 on the road (5th time this playoffs) thanks to their defensemen like Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith containing the big 4.
Eastern Conference Finals- #8 Montreal @ #7 Flyers
This series involves two teams who had to struggle to get in the playoffs, the Flyers needed a shootout on the last day to get here. Then both teams defied the odds once they made the postseason, Montreal eliminating the two biggest stars in the NHL (Ovechkin and Crosby), the Presidents Cup winners (Capitals) and defending Cup champs (penguins) by overcoming 3-1 and 3-2 leads to win game 7s on the road. While the Flyers became only the 4th team in major north american pro sports to win a series after being down 3-0 beating the Bruins in game 7 in Boston. This series will come down to goaltending where Jaroslav Halak gives the Habs the edge and the series, Habs in 6.
Stanley Cup Finals- Habs at Blackhawks A matchup of 2 original 6 teams both trying to end cup droughts, in a david vs. goliath matchup. I see the Blackhawks fire power and defense being too much for the Habs and ending their cinderella run by winning in 6. Conn Smythe: Kane
NBA Conference Finals broken down position by position
Western Conference Finals #3 Suns at #1 Lakers (both teams coming off sweeps)
PG: Steve Nash vs. Derek Fisher- Edge: suns
SG: Jason Richardson vs. Kobe-Edge: Lakers
SF: Grant Hill vs. Ron Artest- Edge: Lakers
PF: Amare vs. Pau Gasol- Edge: Suns
C: Jarron collins vs. Andrew bynum- Edge: LA
Bench: Dragic, Dudley, Frye, Barbosa vs. Farmar, Odom, Walton, Brown- Edge: Suns
Coaching: Alvin Gentry vs. Phil Jackson- Edge: Lakers
Intangibles: Homecourt and experience give Lakers the Edge
Prediction: Kobe and company too much for Suns (lakers in 6)
Eastern Conference Finals: #4 Celtics at #2 Magic (rematch of 7 game thriller a year ago)
PG: Rajon Rondo vs. Jameer Nelson- Edge- push
SG: Ray Allen vs. Vince Carter- Edge: Magic
SF: Paul Pierce vs. Matt Barnes- Edge: Celtics
PF: Kevin Garnett vs. Rashard Lewis- Edge: push
C: Kendrick Perkins vs. Dwight Howard- Edge: Magic
Bench: Wallace, Robinson, T. Allen, Davis vs. Pietrus, Williams, Gortat, Anderson- Edge: Magic
Coach: Doc Rivers vs. Stan Van Gundy- Edge- Celtics
Intangibles: home court and momentum vs. experience- Edge- Magic
Prediction: homecourt, rest, momentum, depth carry the Magic (magic in 7)
NBA Finals: Lakers at Magic (magic have homecourt 2-3-2 format, rematch of last year)
PG: Edge- Magic, SG: Edge- Lakers, SF- Edge- Lakers, PF- Edge: Push, C- Edge- Magic, Bench- Edge: Magic, Coach- Edge: Lakers, Intangibles: Edge- magic (hunger, homecourt, depth) Prediction: Magic use homecourt, depth, new additions (vc), health of Nelson, to get revenge for last year Magic in 6 MVP Dwight Howard.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Reflections on Masculinity project
I am back once again but this time my blog will not be about sports, it will be instead about a project I have been working on for the past couple of weeks for my honors college seminar on Masculinity. For our final project we were asked to challenge a prevailing stereotype of Masculinity. I chose to examine the stereotype of the typical Frat boy as a arrogant and usually athletic guy who only cares about drinking, partying, and hooking up with as many girls as possible. I chose this stereotype for obvious reasons, I am currently in a fraternity (AEPI) and I was a little tired of hearing that certain actions or decisions were the typical frat boy thing to do. For my project I used 4 different 8 open ended question surveys each designed for a different group of people (Frat boy, sorority girl, non-fraternity boy, and non-sorority girl) which I sent out to my friends via Facebook.
This project has taught me a lot about myself, the stereotype of the frat boy, masculinity, and society in general. First of all, I have learned that pretty much everyone I interviewed felt like the media had a lot to do with the way fraternity men are stereotyped and that the stereotype is sometimes reinforced in real life and thus has some validity while not being entirely true. Also, my responses showed a clear divide between guys in fraternities and people not in fraternities, guys or girls. Fraternity men while acknowledging that the stereotype existed and that some frat boys do reinforce the stereotype focused more on the positive aspects of fraternity life such as friendship, brotherhood, and philanthropy work. While the rest of the respondants, while acknowledging that the stereotypical frat boy was not all encompassing and that there are some people in fraternities who completly go against that stereotype, seemed to say that most frat boys do fit the stereotype. This showed me that there are times where being a member of a specific group gives you a perspective and view point that people who are not part of that group don't have or can't understand.
Another thing I learned through this project is that in most cases people do buy into stereotypes but at the same time will take the time to get to know every member of the group being stereotyped and judge them on an individual basis rather then lump them as another member of the group. Furthermore I now see that the stereotypical fraternity boy does have some validity to it but I can't let it bother me and I just need to live my life and do my part to represent fraternity men in a positive way. Another thing I learned from this project and the class in general is that masculinity has a much wider definition and scope then most people, including myself before this class, think and I hope more people do what I did thanks to this class and expand their definition of what it means to be a masculine man instead of stereotyping and fitting men into categories. since this is part of a project I welcome comments on this topic and masculinity as a whole.
This project has taught me a lot about myself, the stereotype of the frat boy, masculinity, and society in general. First of all, I have learned that pretty much everyone I interviewed felt like the media had a lot to do with the way fraternity men are stereotyped and that the stereotype is sometimes reinforced in real life and thus has some validity while not being entirely true. Also, my responses showed a clear divide between guys in fraternities and people not in fraternities, guys or girls. Fraternity men while acknowledging that the stereotype existed and that some frat boys do reinforce the stereotype focused more on the positive aspects of fraternity life such as friendship, brotherhood, and philanthropy work. While the rest of the respondants, while acknowledging that the stereotypical frat boy was not all encompassing and that there are some people in fraternities who completly go against that stereotype, seemed to say that most frat boys do fit the stereotype. This showed me that there are times where being a member of a specific group gives you a perspective and view point that people who are not part of that group don't have or can't understand.
Another thing I learned through this project is that in most cases people do buy into stereotypes but at the same time will take the time to get to know every member of the group being stereotyped and judge them on an individual basis rather then lump them as another member of the group. Furthermore I now see that the stereotypical fraternity boy does have some validity to it but I can't let it bother me and I just need to live my life and do my part to represent fraternity men in a positive way. Another thing I learned from this project and the class in general is that masculinity has a much wider definition and scope then most people, including myself before this class, think and I hope more people do what I did thanks to this class and expand their definition of what it means to be a masculine man instead of stereotyping and fitting men into categories. since this is part of a project I welcome comments on this topic and masculinity as a whole.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
MMA vs. Boxing 2 and Caps Disappoint
It has been a while since I did my last blog on MMA vs. Boxing and I thought I would see how this issue has changed in the past 6 months or so. The reason I am doing this today is because Mayweather vs. Mosley is tonight and the UFC has 2 big events this month including one next week.
As I said in my previous blog about this topic I said that the major difference between MMA and Boxing is the depth of the sports boxing has 2 or 3 big cards a year that rely on 1 big fight with a weak undercard while the UFC has 10-15 big time cards every year with 3-4 great fights per card. Also boxing relies on a few stars like Mayweather Mosley and Pacquiao to make their sport while the UFC has tons of stars including BJ Penn, Kenny Florian, Rashad Evans, Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva, and 2 time Canadian athlete of the year and Under Armour spokesperson Georges St. Pierre. The UFC is also expanding itself to new markets where it is insanely popular, such as Australia, Abu Dhabi, Vancouver, and Boston, while Boxing is not expanding at all. In fact in Vancouver the UFC sold out a weak card by UFC standards in thirty minutes. Another difference between the two is that UFC puts great cards on free TV and is on TV weekly with the reality show the Ultimate Fighter, boxing rarely has any great fights on free TV. If you want to see how fast MMA is growing the most popular weekly chat on ESPN.com is MMA live host Jon Anik's chat. Also MMA Live in the less two years went from a experimental internet show to a weekly mega hit to a part of the ESPN 2 weekly line up starting this thursday.
Now there has been a lot of discussion about MMA and how mainstream it can get after the Strikeforce: Nashville debacle where there was a melee after the main event. Let me make it clear to people this is not true MMA, Strikeforce is a second rate promotion that has maybe 10 fighters who could compete in the UFC and one of their best fighters, Jake Shields, is about to be in the UFC. They are just the next victim in a line of promotions that tried to challenge the UFC and failed (Elite XC, Affliction). While some of the fights on that card and fighters in that promotion are great they are mismanaged horribly. If you wanted to see true MMA you should try and watch the Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung fight from WEC 48 or the Jose Aldo performance from that same card. If the UFC ever gets a network TV deal with a network like CBS people will get a true feel for what MMA is actually like.
Also this week many people in this area had their hearts broken once again by the Washington Capitals who choked away a 3-1 lead and a President's Trophy winning regular season to lose to the 8 seed Montreal Canadians in 7 games, game 7 was at home. This marks this teams 3rd game 7 home loss in the past 3 years, in that time they have only one 1 series. This team needs to change they need get tougher, they need strengthen their defense, and they need to settle on a goaltender. My idea is to trade either Semin or Backstrom for a strong defensive defenseman and either get a top flight goalie or let Theodore walk and give Varlimov the reigns. Another option is a coaching change as the Habs wanted it a lot more then we did they blocked 4x as many shots in game 7, got to most of the loose pucks, and were more willing to get dirty and rough then the Caps. When the Caps finally showed some heart, passion, and urgency they scored an ugly goal, their 1st of the game. This team needs to make some big changes or they will become the Suns of the NHL. Now that the Caps are out my hope is anyone but Pittsburgh or Philly wins the Cup.
As I said in my previous blog about this topic I said that the major difference between MMA and Boxing is the depth of the sports boxing has 2 or 3 big cards a year that rely on 1 big fight with a weak undercard while the UFC has 10-15 big time cards every year with 3-4 great fights per card. Also boxing relies on a few stars like Mayweather Mosley and Pacquiao to make their sport while the UFC has tons of stars including BJ Penn, Kenny Florian, Rashad Evans, Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva, and 2 time Canadian athlete of the year and Under Armour spokesperson Georges St. Pierre. The UFC is also expanding itself to new markets where it is insanely popular, such as Australia, Abu Dhabi, Vancouver, and Boston, while Boxing is not expanding at all. In fact in Vancouver the UFC sold out a weak card by UFC standards in thirty minutes. Another difference between the two is that UFC puts great cards on free TV and is on TV weekly with the reality show the Ultimate Fighter, boxing rarely has any great fights on free TV. If you want to see how fast MMA is growing the most popular weekly chat on ESPN.com is MMA live host Jon Anik's chat. Also MMA Live in the less two years went from a experimental internet show to a weekly mega hit to a part of the ESPN 2 weekly line up starting this thursday.
Now there has been a lot of discussion about MMA and how mainstream it can get after the Strikeforce: Nashville debacle where there was a melee after the main event. Let me make it clear to people this is not true MMA, Strikeforce is a second rate promotion that has maybe 10 fighters who could compete in the UFC and one of their best fighters, Jake Shields, is about to be in the UFC. They are just the next victim in a line of promotions that tried to challenge the UFC and failed (Elite XC, Affliction). While some of the fights on that card and fighters in that promotion are great they are mismanaged horribly. If you wanted to see true MMA you should try and watch the Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung fight from WEC 48 or the Jose Aldo performance from that same card. If the UFC ever gets a network TV deal with a network like CBS people will get a true feel for what MMA is actually like.
Also this week many people in this area had their hearts broken once again by the Washington Capitals who choked away a 3-1 lead and a President's Trophy winning regular season to lose to the 8 seed Montreal Canadians in 7 games, game 7 was at home. This marks this teams 3rd game 7 home loss in the past 3 years, in that time they have only one 1 series. This team needs to change they need get tougher, they need strengthen their defense, and they need to settle on a goaltender. My idea is to trade either Semin or Backstrom for a strong defensive defenseman and either get a top flight goalie or let Theodore walk and give Varlimov the reigns. Another option is a coaching change as the Habs wanted it a lot more then we did they blocked 4x as many shots in game 7, got to most of the loose pucks, and were more willing to get dirty and rough then the Caps. When the Caps finally showed some heart, passion, and urgency they scored an ugly goal, their 1st of the game. This team needs to make some big changes or they will become the Suns of the NHL. Now that the Caps are out my hope is anyone but Pittsburgh or Philly wins the Cup.
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