A Storm is Brewing at Madison Square Garden

Ladies and gentlemen, quality basketball is back at the world’s most famous arena. That’s right, MSG is rockin’ once again. Oh, you thought I meant Amare and the Knicks? No, for the first time this decade the St. John’s Red Storm are legitimate NCAA tournament contenders.

St. John’s, after tonight’s win against #4 Pittsburgh, are 17-9 and 9-5 in the Big East, the nation’s toughest conference. The Red Storm have quality wins against West Virginia, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Duke, UConn, Cincinnati, and Marquette. They have the 17^th ranked RPI and the 2^nd ranked strength of schedule. This team is for real.

When Steve Lavin left the set of ESPN to take over the head-coaching job for the Johnies I thought this was a major demotion for Lavin. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Lavin was the new, hot coach. At UCLA, he won Rookie Coach of the Year in 1997, led the Bruins to the Final Four in 1998, and won the Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 2001. However, after a very disappointing 2002-2003 season, Lavin was fired. In 2010, he returned to coaching and undertook the arduous task of bringing St. John’s back to big time basketball.

For those (like me) who don’t remember, St. John’s was once a proud basketball program. The Red Storm have made twenty-seven NCAA tournament appearances and reached two Final Fours. Fran Fraschilla and Mike Jarvis led them to much success in the 1990s and early 2000s. However, by 2003, the program was in shambles.

In steps Lavin in 2010 to save the program. The Red Storm are beating good teams this year and more importantly Lavin has them believing that they can go deep into March. This team has some real talent: Bronx-native Dwight Hardy leads the team averaging 17.1 points per game and Justin Browlee is averaging almost 13 points per game.

While this year’s St. John’s team is poised to make a run, Lavin, a recruiting wizard, has done a fantastic job with his first recruiting class at St. John’s. Seven recruits with ratings higher than 90 from ESPNU will be heading to New York to play for Coach Lavin next year. This class includes Dom Pointer, #34 in ESPNU’s top 100, Jakaar Sampson, #35 in ESPNU’s top 100, Maurice Harkless, #41, D’Angelo Harrison, #62, and Norvell Pelle, #75.

Don’t expect St. Johns to cut down the nets at this year’s Final Four in Houston. However, relevant college basketball is once again being played at The Garden and don’t be surprised if Coach Lavin, with his famous gelled back hair and all, has the Johnies dancing deep into the tournament this year.

The Most Charisma You've Ever Seen out of KG

Kevin Garnett has been known as a lot of things during his successful career in the NBA, but a funny guy has never been one of them.  Except for one fateful night in February 2009 when KG really took offense to an outfit chosen by HTGHGB Staff favorite, Craig Sager, and he really let him know about it. Sager has always been know for his ridiculous suits and colorful dress, but according to the 13-time NBA All Star, he took it a little to far on this evening.

OUCH. Garnett goes as far to even tell Sager to burn the red socks that America can't see, sparing no detail. I must say, I agree with KG on this one. Many of Sager's outfits have been fantastic, but this one is just ridiculous. The all red look from the waste down is not a viable option. Sorry Craig.

NFL Sunday Roundup - An Sad Return to the States

Greetings all.  First let me apologize for the lack of new posts on the site lately.  I pulled an Amar'e Stoudemire and have been getting in touch with my roots in Israel for the past two weeks and have been unable to provide witty commentary on the most happening sports events of late. Fret not, followers. All is about to return to normal.

Let's start with a quick recap of what we learned in today's NFL Conference Championship Matchups

1) It's tough to come back from down 24-0. At halftime, the Steelers had more points than Jets had plays run on offense. The Jets dug themselves into a big hole in this game and still almost managed to come back, but it was too little too late. Mark Sanchez was excellent today, posting a 102.2 QB rating, but it just wasn't enough. For the first time all season, the Jets were helpless at stopping the run and the defense couldn't get off the field. As a Jets fan, I respect the effort, and had we gotten a couple of breaks we could have easily came out on top, but once again the season ends one game short of the Super Bowl.

2) The things that Ben Roethlisberger does that makes him so good do not show up in the box score. I've always been a fan of Big Ben, but he really took it to another level today. Playing very banged up with a bum ankle and vicious charlie horse courtesy of Calvin Pace in the first quarter, he still showed great mobility in the pocket and the ability to evade the rush to extend plays that Brady was unable to do last week. How long ago does all the rape allegation and negative image stuff seem now? We all know he can win big games and I wouldn't be shocked to see him win a 3rd ring, but that being said...

3) The Packers are going to win the Super Bowl. As a predicted earlier this year, the team from Green Bay is the best in the league and will hoist the Lombardi Trophy in 2 weeks. The Packers won today because of their defense, which shows their versatility as a team. Rodgers had 0 TD's and 2 INT's in this game and that sure won't happen again next week against a very beatable Steelers secondary, so I just don't see how the Packers finish the game with less points than the Steelers.

4) BJ Raji might become the best defensive linemen this league has seen in a long time. BJ and N'damukong Suh will battle for the title of best DL in the league for years to come and it's a competition I am excited to see develop.  Raji is so good at collapsing the pocket by consistently pressuring the QB up the middle, making him a terror both in the passing and running game. His pick 6 today just went even further to show how good of an athlete he is and if I were a Packers fan, Raji's #90 is the jersey I would want to get.

5) Brian Schottenheimer is worse at his job than any other human in the universe is at theirs. If I called him just the worst offensive coordinator in football, it would be the understatement of the century. For the past few seasons I have time and time again questioned his play calling, and today's goal line effort with the Jets down 24-10 was just the icing on the cake. There's not another coordinator (or sane person) who would throw consecutively on 2nd & goal and 3rd & goal from the 1 yard line in that situation while the Jets running game was finally clicking. Attention Mike Tannenbaum - FIRE BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER.

More posts to come soon, including some hilarious video's, outrageous athlete tweets, the latest fad in pro sports, and a Super Bowl preview. In the meantime, Lil Silly signing off.

HOW 'BOUT IT

They said that the Patriots were unbeatable at home...

They said that we did too much talking...

They said we couldn't stop Brady and Patriots' historic passing offense...

They said that Rex couldn't keep up with Belichick...

They said that Sanchez wouldn't get it done...

They said having Revis wasn't enough...

They said we couldn't muster a pass rush...

...WELL WHAT NOW?

Are Da Bears For Real?

As I sit on the couch watching the Chicago Bears steamroll their way into the NFC Championship they certainly look like a Super Bowl team. I am writing this midway through the second quarter and Chicago appears poised to make a Super Bowl run ala the Super Bowl Shuffle Bears team in 1985. However, in the illustrious words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend.” Here are some important factors to keep in mind before you hop on the Bears bandwagon:

· The Bears are not playoff tested

The Seahawks utilized the best home field advantage in football to beat a banged up Saints squad in the first round of the playoffs. However, that win was an abberation. The Seahawks should not be a playoff team. The Bears, while running away from the Seahawks, have not played a meaningful game in weeks. The Packers have momentum after wins over the Eagles and Falcons (both teams that are much better than Seattle).

· The Bears lack consistency

During the regular season a three-point loss to Seattle, a loss to the Giants, Redskins, Patriots, and Packers (three playoff teams) show that the Bears are have holes. However, the Bears also had good wins over the Packers, Eagles, and Jets. Quarterback Jay Cutler is extremely inconsistent and even this blowout win against the Seahawks exemplifies that he is mistake prone (two missed interceptions in the first quarter).

· The being said, the Bears are really good

Robby Gould is a playoff-tested kicker. The Bears defense is great (three two words: Peppers and Urlacher). They have a great running game (Matt Forte is the first Bear since Walter Peyton to rush for over a thousand yards and receive for over 500 yards in a season). Lovie Smith is a great coach. It is impossible to argue that the Bears are not unequivocally a very solid playoff team.

The bottom line is I will be picking against the Bears when they play the Packers and then again if they make the Super Bowl. However, stranger things have happened. The Bears certainly have holes (as do all the teams in the league this year). So, are Da Bears for real? We have to wait and see. In the words of famous Brown University alum, Chris Berman, “That’s why you play the game.”

Michigan Hires Brady Hoke to Replace Rodriguez

Brady Hoke, the former football coach at Ball State and San Diego State, has been named the University of Michigan's new head football coach. Rumors had been circulating that the Mad Hatter, Les Miles, would leave LSU to take over at Michigan. However, Dave Brandon, Michigan's AD, announced today that the position would in fact be filled by Hoke. 

This isn't the flashy hire that I'm sure the Michigan boosters wanted, but after the Rich Rodriguez debacle I do think this is a good hire (Hoke is the antithesis of Rodriguez). Hoke completely turned around Ball State's football program, taking them from 4-8 in 2003 to 12-1 in 2007. He then led San Diego State to a five win turnaround from 2009 to 2010. Hoke worked on Lloyd Carr's staff at Michigan and knows what the winning culture of the maize and blue should be like in Ann Harbor. It is going to take time, Michigan fans, but rest assured that the Hoke hire is at least a move in the right direction.

BCS National Title LIVE BLOG

NFL Wildcard Roundup Quick Hits

Amazing weekend of football. Three road teams and a huge home underdog come out victorious. I always say the the Divisional Round is the best weekend of NFL Football there is so I am very excited for next week, but before we move on to analyzing those match ups let's take a quick look back at what we learned this week.

1) Aaron Rodgers is amazing. And while we're at it, so are Clay Matthews and Tramon Williams. Great team effort by the Packers. Really tough game on the road next week at Atlanta but if they can win that one they will be big favorite against either opponent in the NFC Championship.

2) Baltimore is going to be a tough out. They really looked dominant out there today. Admittedly, I am not the biggest Joe Flacco fan but it is hard to not admire what he was able to do against a good KC defense. The Ravens dominated the Chiefs on both sides of the ball and delivered the only blowout of the weekend.  This is a confident team headed into Pittsburgh next week.

3) Seattle isn't a joke. They beat the defending Super Bowl champions at home and Pete Carroll had his team really playing with energy. The haters who gave the Seahawks "literally no chance" to win in the first round have shut up a little bit and they probably still believe Seattle doesn't have a shot to win another game. All I say to the people picking the Bears next week, just remember that Seattle has already won at Soldier Field this season.

4) The Jets can win even without Mark Sanchez playing well. That was nice for Jets fans that they were able to beat the Colts without a strong showing from their QB, but one week from tonight if we are saying again that Mark Sanchez didn't play well, then the Jets playoff life will be over. That team won't go into New England and win unless the play the perfect game which involves Sanchez being sharp.  However, if the Jets can run the ball like they did against the Colts and dominate the clock, anything is possible.

5) LT looks fresh again. So Rex Ryan might have known what he was doing when he decreased LaDainian's role during the dog days of the regular season. LT had his most carries since week 10 of the regular season on Sunday and the results were obvious. Tomlinson looked quick and elusive running the ball and if healthy, he will be a big factor in the rest of the playoffs.

6) Michael Vick's progression as a quarterback might have been a bit overstated. If you look at the year Vick had holistically, his numbers were quite good but there was a big problem with his game that the stats don't account for - Vick was inconsistent all season. His season can be characterized by spurts of greatness and stretches of ineffectiveness. Sometime's Vick tried to do too much and wound up making mistakes. Many will disagree with me here because he put up huge fantasy numbers week in and week out and only threw 6 interceptions, but there were a number times this season the Eagle's offense was stagnant for quarters at a time because of Vick's mediocre passing accuracy and that fault falls on the QB.

7) Losing your #1 and #2 running backs the week before a playoff game is crippling. Example for this is the 2010-2011 New Orleans Saints. Brees has been so effective the last two years because of the emergence of Pierre Thomas, Chris Ivory, and the running game in New Orleans. Now this year with only Julius Jones and Reggie Bush as healthy ball carriers in the playoffs, the lack of balance on offense came back to bite the Saints. Yes, they were able to score points without running the football, but they weren't able to dominate time of possession and let the Seahawks offense spend a lot of time on the field.

8) Marshawn Lynch is still beast mode

9) Darrelle Revis is better than you even knew. "Reggie Wayne? Reggie? Where did you go? I thought you were on the Colts? I haven't heard your name at all today, so I guess you got traded or something." The NFL's best defensive player shadowed the man who many consider among the best two or three wide receivers in the NFL on Saturday for the entire game and allowed 1 catch for 1 yard total, and that was on a 3rd down and 15. Revis simply dominated the matchup and made Peyton look elsewhere all day which really hurt the Colts ability to up points. Revis will be a big part of containing Brady next week, as his leadership and impact to the Jets defense is invaluable. Meanwhile, despite the 0 total interceptions all year by Revis because QB's just don't throw at him, the All-Pro corner hasn't lost a step and reaffirmed to the NFL why his preseason holdout was a big deal.

Bow Down to Marshawn

'












There's really not much to say about this one except WOW!!!! Congratulations to Pete Carroll and the Seahawks for a huge win today. Not gonna toot my own horn too much, but I did call this upset. What a great way to kick off the NFL playoffs.

p.s. Hey Tracey Porter... Ouch.

Holding Us Over

With the start of baseball over two months away and the college football season winding down on Monday we are preparing to enter the Dark Ages of Sports (expect of course, that little thing called the Super Bowl). To be honest, the New Years hangover usually transitions into depressed few months for me that persist until the hope that springs eternal with the reporting of pitchers and catchers. However, take heart sports fans, here are some events (other than the NFL), which can tide us over until baseball:

· Daytona 500- February 20

The Super Bowl of NASCAR. I know, I know you’re saying, “NASCAR, really?” People, if you haven’t seen the Daytona 500, watch it! Especially the last fifty laps are filled with tight racing, big crashes, and lots of strategy

Phi Beta Entertainment Value: ***

· NHL All-Star Game- January 30

This is actually a pretty cool event. It is usually much higher scoring than the average NHL game (low scoring is the American sports fan’s number one complaint about regular hockey). Furthermore, this year’s game features a new format where the captains of each team will pick the rosters from a pool of players selected by the fans and league offices. This game is worth turning on in the background.

Phi Beta Entertainment Value: **

· Manchester United v. Manchester City- February 12

English Premier League soccer in general is a great sport to follow while the American sports world isn’t at its peak. This game between the top two teams in the EPL features perennial powerhouse, Man U, taking on an upstart Man City in a match that both squads desperately 

want (read in a British accent for full effect).

Phi Beta Entertainment Value: ****

· Omega Dubai Desert Classic- February 10-13

True golf fans, such as myself, will be watching a lot of golf this winter jealously watching the players in sunny, warm Hawaii and California. However, I have to admit that for the average sports fan these earlier tournaments can be tough to watch. The Dubai Desert Classic, however, is a tournament everyone can appreciate: it is Tiger Woods much anticipated 2011 debut. If he comes out of the gate strong in 2011, there may be no slowing him down this year.

Phi Beta Entertainment Value: ****

· Australian Open- January 17-30

I am not a huge tennis fan, but the Grand Slams are always entertaining. Can Roger Federer and Serena Williams defend their titles? Probably, but it will be fun to see the drama unfold down under.

Phi Beta Entertainment Value: *****

The bottom line is the NFL will do its best to satiate use until baseball starts again, but there is little we can do to alleviate the winter doldrums. However, these suggestions are some entertaining alternatives to simply Halo Reach and Beirut in the mean time. Enjoy!

Predicting 2011 - The Year of the Tiger, Dark Horse in the NFL, and more!

2010 is in the books. Boom. Finished. As Jay-Z once said, "On to the next one." I have big plans and bigger expectations for 2011. But seeing as this is an odd numbered year, we will have no World Cup or Olympics. That lowers the ceiling for sports greatness, but the beauty of a new year is that we get a new class of professional sports champions. Some team is going to win the Lombardi Trophy in February. Another golfer is going to win the green jacket in Augusta. Without a doubt, countless more historic sports memories will be made this year and I can't wait to witness all of them. The beauty of sports is that at any given second or on any given play anything can happen. Greatness can occur at any moment.

At the end of this year I am going to look back on the predictions I'm about to make and either say, "Wow. I really know a lot about sports. I did a great job. The sports world gains luster by my life. Right on, Adam!" or "Wow. I literally predicted not one thing correctly. How did I justify creating sports blog? Why would anyone benefit from reading my opinions?". Let's hope it's the former.

Prediction #1 - The Oregon Ducks will win the BCS National Championship and hand Cam Newton his first loss. The Ducks play with an offensive tempo that energizes the team on both sides of the ball. Oregon is ready to make a statement on the national level and bring a championship back to Eugene. They also have the sickest jerseys in college football.

Prediction #2 - The Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots to win Super Bowl XLV. Yup, that's right. I'm picking a Wildcard team. With Aaron Rodgers and that defense, they have the ability to go on the road in the NFC and make it all the way to the Super Bowl. Once you get there, anything can happen in one game.  I think the Pats are beatable.  Their secondary can be picked apart by great QBs.

Prediction #3 - The Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. This one's not a huge stretch, but I'm officially on the Heat bandwagon and ready to crown them favorites to win the title.  The Lakers I think run a similar path to the Celtics of last year as they will enter the playoffs as sort of underdogs and wind up rounding into form when it matters. That being said, I think the Heat will prove too tough for any team in the NBA to match up with for seven games.

Prediction #4 - The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Red Sox to win the World Series. How do you not pick the team with Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee? Boston seems to be for real this year too. Both of these teams are deep enough to survive injuries and are destined for October.

Prediction #5 - The Vancouver Canucks win the Stanley Cup over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sid's team makes it to the finals but run into a juggernaut with the Sedin's and Luongo in goal. It's Vancouver's year.

Prediction #6 - Tiger Woods wins the Masters. That's going to be quite the moment when Tiger finally wins another Major. He'll be able to exhale for the first time in a while. I bet his wins will come in bunches once he gets the first one, too.

Prediction #7 - The Duke Blue Devils beat the Pitt Panthers to win the NCAA Mens Basketball Championship.  With another stacked team, Coach K gets a repeat championship. Jamie Dixon finally leads Pitt to the Finals out of the stacked Big East, but they come up just a little short.

Prediction #8 - Jimmie Johnson wins the Daytona 500. Well, this prediction isn't really that bold at all. I don't know much about NASCAR, but I've picked up on the trend by now that JJ is pretty good.

Prediction #9 - Manchester United wins the English Premier League Title. With Chelsea in free fall down the fixture, it looks like one of the two clubs from Manchester could very will wind up winning the EPL this season. Manchester United and Manchester City are both very close with 44 and 42 points each, respectively, right now. They face off on February 12th in what should be a very telling game and set the tone for the rest of the season.

Prediction #10 - The NFL Players Association and the Owners come to an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and avoid a lockout. If there was no football in 2011, I would cry. Sundays during the NFL season are among the best days of the year and I don't know what I would do without them. Also look for an 18 game schedule (which I am not a fan of) and a decreased rookie contract system in the new CBA.

Prediction #11 - The NBA will have a lockout, but then it gets resolved quickly. It was one thing when we had an NHL lockout because most people don't care about hockey, but as soon as the NBA season is really not starting in October, people will freak out enough that they will figure it out.

Prediction #12 - Josh McDaniels and Kyle Orton move together from Denver to Minnesota. Orton would be a great fit for the Vikings, simply because he isn't Brett Favre or Joe Webb. No one questions the Vikings running game and their defense has playmakers, so a solid QB could shoot this team back to relevance.

Prediction #13 - Carmelo Anthony will be wearing a New York Knicks jersey by the end of 2011. I don't know if it will happen via trade or free agency, but if there hasn't been any sort of transaction involving Melo by now, he's destined to be a Knick.

Prediction #14 - Facebook buys Skype and takes over the internet. So this is off topic but what better platform to make a bold business prediction? Facebook will buy the internet voice calling company and integrate with their chat application, making the world even more connected that anyone would have imagined 5 years ago and putting phone home companies out of business.

According to Mega Millions, it's not Sayid or Jack

So last night at 10:30 PM EST the Mega Millions lottery announced the winning numbers to their $355 million drawing. These numbers were;

4 8 15 25 47 42

Remind you of anything, LOST fans? Oh right, the infamous numbers from that show are 4-8-15-16-23-42. That's 4 out of the 6 exactly the same and in the right position! Normally, if someone gets 4 correct numbers including the Mega Million Bonus number, they get a pretty substantial pay day.  But this time around, because 25,587 different people played the exact LOST numbers, the prize for 4 correct numbers was only $150 per ticket. So close... yet so far. Hurley would have only won $150 this time around.

Congrats to the two random people in Washington state and Idaho who will split the $355 million dollar prize. What possessed you to almost pick the LOST numbers but then throw in a couple slight alterations? I'm not sure what good deeds you've done in your life to earn this karma, but if you've just won the lotto, read this blog, and have more money than you know what to do with, my email address is adam_engel@brown.edu and I would be happy to help you spend some.

Another Reason I Love Me Some Shaq Daddy

Shaq Diesel has to be the most entertaining sports celebrity there is. He only arrived in New England this year, but now he is really embracing that good Boston life.  After inviting people via twitter to hang out in Harvard Square, pretending he was a statue in Harvard Square, and asking Harvard students where he could find the Microphysics Laboratory, Shaq decided to set his sites on something greater. The 7'1", 325 lb landmark decided he wanted to conduct the Boston Pops Orchestra as a celebrity conductor and it didn't take long for his dream to become a reality.

The big man is hilarious in this video. His facial expressions while conducting are priceless. It's perks like this that make the lives of athletes so cool. I only wish I could have scored myself a ticket to the orchestra on this night, would have been one to remember.

Football at its Finest

This weekend the NFL playoffs start. What a great time of the year to be a sports fan. You get to see the best and most important match ups of the season and surely, some historic moments will occur during these games. Unfortunately, no matter how unbelievable of a play there is in the NFL, it will never compare to this.

This, my friends, is why women should be more encouraged to play football. Nothing gets juices flowing in people quite like throwing around the pig skin and nothing gets men more interested in anything than watching women fight. Hey Commissioner Goodell, if the NFLPA and the Owners can't reach an agreement on a new CBA and you are faced with a lockout, maybe a professional powder puff league can fill the void?

Athlete Rap Battles: Round 1

I came across this crazy music video of a Deion Sanders rap video yesterday, and I was inspired to put his lyrics to test against some other notable athlete rappers (naturally). I chose Shaq Daddy's Kobe diss to test Neon Deion's "Must Be the Money" in Round One. Swagger vs. Style. Who do you think wins this contest?

VS.