Cubs favorites over Dodgers

The playoff series between the Cubs and the Dodgers starts tomorrow, with the Cubs being favorites as they have home advantage for the first two games of the series of five.

This will surely be a close series with a Carlos Zambrano vs. Manny Ramirez rivalry that makes it more interesting.

Now, the Cubs haven’t won a world series in 100 years, and this season they are motivated to achieve big things, and they have proved it by making it this far.

Currently, the Cubs are considered the best team at the National league and I think Chicago will beat the Dodgers in 5.

Favre throws 6 touchdowns against Cardinals

Finally the Jets are getting something back for the money they paid the Packers for Brett Favre, as the veteran quarterback finished with 6 touchdowns in the 56-35 victory for New York against the Cardinals on week 4.

This is the first time Favre throws for 6 completions at the same game on his whole NFL career.

Now the Jets are 2-2, same for Arizona.

It seemed like the chemistry between Broadway Brett and wide receiver Laveranues Coles was being built up slowly, but the story was different on week 4, and now we can expect to see better football from the Jets at week 6 (week 5 is their bye week) against the Bengals.

Beavers upset No.1 ranked Trojans

One of the biggest surprises of the present college football season came yesterday when the Beavers upset the Trojans by 27-21. Congrats if you bet Oregon State!

The hero of the night for the Beavers was tailback Jacquizz Rodgers, who ended up carrying the ball 37 times for 186 yards.

This meant a loss against an inferior conference rival for the Trojans, and is leaving Oregon State at 2-2 and USC at 2-1.

This is not the first time that the Beavers ruin the party for USC, as they ended up with the Trojans 38-game winning strike in 2006 on a game which OSU won by 33-31.

It also meant the Beavers second win to the Trojans in their last 3 meetings.

It seems like the Pac-10 is struggling this year, going 0-5 against mountain teams, and OSU beating the number one ranked USC is the best of examples.

Donaghy sentenced

Tim Donaghy had to say goodbye to his freedom yesterday at 13:30 pm, when he reported to the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida, where he is to serve a total of 15 months for the game-fixing federal charges imposed to him for fraud at the NBA.

Along with him, co-conspirators James Batista and Thomas Martino where charged the same amount of time to be served at different penitentiaries.

Donaghy officiate a total of 772 NBA regular season games and 20 playoff games before getting accused of making phone calls to Batista and Martino in order to change the point spread on games he was a referee in.

Red Sox to the postseason, Yankees out

The Indians had 7 victories in a row before their game against the Red Sox last night, and Boston needed a win to make it to the playoffs; so one of the off-season acquisitions, Jason Bay, threw a single against Cy Young award favorite Cliff Lee at the fifth inning to give the Red Sox their pass to the postseason.

Bay, along other two newcomers in Mark Kotsay and Paul Byrd have been essential this season for the Red Sox, as with the departure of some all-stars like Manny Ramirez, Boston needed to fill with new talent those empty spots.

The 5-4 victory for the Red Sox meant something else: The Yankees saying goodbye to the postseason, the first time since 1993. “It feels unfathomable,” said an NY fan.

Trojans vs Beavers

Back on September 13, the Trojans defeated the two-time runner ups Ohio State, and on Saturday, they have another hard task coming: to defeat Oregon State, who now are working with former USC defensive coordinator Mike Riley, a man who knows the Trojans very well.

But even though the Trojans are carrying with a tough schedule this season, guys like linebacker Rey Maualuga and quarterback Mark Sanchez are the hope of USC, and with a 2-0 record and a game less against the 1-2 Beavers, the odds are favoring the Trojans.

Now, apart from Riley’s knowledge of the Trojans defensive playbook, the game will be at Reser Stadium, one of the toughest places for Pac-10 teams to play.

I think the Trojans will win this game, but if you are to bet it, take Oregon State as this might end up being a tight match.

Good defense gave Eagles victory over Steelers

The Philly classic took place yesterday at Lincoln Financial Field and Ben Roethlisberger is still all-bruised from the hits he received by the Eagles defensive line.

Final score was 15-6 with the victory for the Eagles; now the two teams are 2-1.

Roethlisberger received 8 sacks just in this game, which adds it to the 4 he received on previous Houston and Cleveland games.

On 06’, Big Ben received 46 sacks, on 07’ he ended with 47 (which is the highest two-year total in the Steelers history), and just in 3 games this year, he’s at 12 which might be an indication that things will not be better this year for him.

My picks for NFL Week 3

With one more victory, we might start considering the Panthers as favorites to win their division, so I’ll take Carolina at +4 over the Vikings.

Dolphins at Patriots? I take Miami +13

Cowboys at Packers? I pick Dallas at -3

Steelers at Eagles? I pick Philadelphia at -3

These are my top four games for week 3. On the second game, there is no doubt that Chad Pennington is more experienced and an overall better quarterback than Matt Cassel, on the third one, Tony Romo has the ability to throw neat touchdown passes to T.O. or to Pacman Jones while Aaron Rodgers is still lacking the necessary experience to beat teams like Dallas, and on the fourth, the Eagles hold a historically advantage against the Steelers, and with Donovan McNabb being injury-free and Big Ben with a shoulder injury, Philadelphia still are the favorites on this city-rivalry.

NFL week 2 standings

We are two weeks into NFL regular season and with the current standings, here are top 5 teams according to performance (they all are 2-0):

Lets, start with the Cowboys, whom look unbeatable on offense, on second place we have the Steelers whom had played their first two matches against very competent teams and have beat them easily, on third we have the Giants with their known good defense, on fourth the Packers with a new quarterback who is delivering 253 yards and two touchdowns per game, and finally the Broncos whom aren’t ranking higher in the list because they lack defense, but offensively they are just as good as anyone at the NFL.

Week 3 is coming and this rankings might change, check back soon for more updates.

Reliant Stadium damaged by Ike

There were two games set for yesterday’s Monday night football week 2 schedules, one was Cowboys-Eagles, which finished with a 41-37 Dallas victory, and the other was Texans-Ravens, which couldn’t took place as Hurricane Ike seriously damaged Reliant Stadium, the home for the Texans since their inception in the NFL back in 2002

The stadium, which cost it $352 million, suffered critical detriments including 5 missing pieces of its retractable roof and pieces of debris which fell inside the arena.

"The damage is pretty bad; there were roof panels that were gone. And my first question was, 'Where did they go?' A lot of the roof damage just came right down into the stadium." Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the supervisor of the county's hurricane cleanup efforts said.

Texans game against Baltimore got postponed for November 9, a date on which the Texans were set to play against the Bengals, whom are also being affected Cincinnati’s game schedule.

Chargers are 0-2

To see the Chargers going 0-2 is kind of unexpected.

The reason? They are allowing too much yardage during the first half stages and playing outstandingly by the final 30 minutes of the game, which at the end isn’t enough.

“We have to learn how to put four quarters together and not just two like we are doing,” LB Shaun Phillips said.

Before the Chargers, there were only two other teams at 0-2 with playoff chances: Vikings and Jaguars, but San Diego is the only one whom can be considered a Superbowl contender.

Chargers second loss came in the hands of the Broncos (whom are 2-0) by 39-38. Denver’s victory came on the final minute thanks to a 2-point conversion pass from Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler to Eddie Royal with only 24 seconds on the clock.

735 left for Shaq at the NBA

Many are thinking that the time for Shaquille O’Neal to retire has already come, but the Suns Center said that he will wait until the end of his current contract with Phoenix to say goodbye to the NBA for good.

Shaq said that he will retire in 735 days, exactly at the end of the 2009-2010 season.

Money is something Shaq is certainly not concerned about, as he’s currently making $20 million per season, and is considered one of the wealthiest players at the NBA.

Among Shaq’s achievements we can mention 4 NBA championship rings, one season MVP title (2000), rookie of the year (92-93) and 14 NBA All-Star.

When asked what are his plans after retirement, Shaq said: “My basketball career will be over in 735 days, and being an educated man, I’ve always had thing to fall back on. So one of my options is law enforcement.”

Angels win AL West title

This is the fourth time in five years that the Angels clinch the MLB American League West Title, but it surely tastes better as they have been struggling against injuries (including some to key players) all this current season, and they have been forced to use every bit of talent among their 40-man roster in order to remain competitive.

They clinch the title yesterday when they beat the Yankees at Angel stadium by 4-2, and the celebration went on for hours: "Look at these guys, swimming and dancing and going crazy, and it's lasted a long time, these guys don't want to go home” said Torii Hunter, the Angels center fielder referring to his team mates.

With the victory, the Angels clinched a spot for the postseason and are leaving them with plenty of time to prepare for what is coming.

Week 2: Cowboys vs Eagles

With the Colts and Patriots being more vulnerable than last year, chances are that the Cowboys are going to make it to the Superbowl, why? Well because they have the best quarterback after Tom Brady and Payton Manning, and Brett Favre might lead the Jets to a good season, but New York still has a lot to prove in order to become a contender, while the Cowboys are more solid than ever, plus the arrival of Pacman Jones is adding a lot of offensive power to Dallas.

And again, the rivalry between the Eagles who finished last season 8-8, and the Cowboys, who finished last season 13-3 is on again, with Philly having a truly strong offensive also.

So for week 2, this is probably the most interesting game, with both teams coming at 1-0 and playing on Monday, is truly a match not to be missed.

Bears beat Colts 29-13

Lost at first game in new stadium? Yes, starting quarterback not fully recovered for the season? Yes, playoff contender? Not so sure.

The Bears astounded the Colts by 29-13 on the first game at Indianapolis new arena, the Lucas Oil Stadium, and such loss might be an indication that the Colts will not be doing so good this season due to Manning’s vulnerable condition.

This is the first time since 2004 that the Colts would not be starting their regular season schedule 7-0.

The secret for the Bears victory was their defense, with guys like Jason McKie and Lance Briggs performing outstandingly, "we wanted to establish a new line of scrimmage, stop the run, put pressure on Manning. Everyone was flying around all over the place." defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek said.

So the teams with probably the better quarterbacks at the NFL, the Patriots and the Colts would have a tough season with their main guys injured or not in shape to play at their accustomed level, now it seems like the Jaguars are the team to look up at the AFC south.

Who is Ocho Cinco?

Well let’s begin by saying that he born Chad Johnson, but just recently switched his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco in order to wear his moniker at the back of his shirt without claims. Neither Bengals coach nor did team mates seem to like his pay-me-attention attitude.

Now the league, the announcers, the media, and everybody in between would have to refer to Chad Johnson as Ocho Cinco, and websites like ESPN, NFL.com and others have already switched the Johnson for the 85.

But apart from being a little bit self-centered, Ocho Cinco is an outstanding player, he’s being to the Pro-Bowl five times and named an NFL all-pro 3 times.

He began his football career with Oregon State and was recruited by the Bengals at the 2001 NFL draft as the 36^th overall pick, he’s played with Cincinnati for 7 years straight since then.

Ocho Cinco is surely going to help the Bengals a great deal, but I guess he needs more competitive players around him to make Cincinnati a contender.

NFL nicknames

While some NFL players are more than satisfied with their given nicknames like Bengals Chad Johnson, whom officially changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco at Broward County, Florida, in order to have ‘Ocho Cinco’ at the back of his jersey (kinda odd but true), others like Adam Jones, does not want to be reminded of his turbulent past when he was called ‘Pacman’ so the Cowboys corner back asked fans and teammates not to be called that.

Besides Johnson and Jones, here are some of the most famous nicknames at the NFL:

1. Big Ben: Ben Roethlisberger from the Steelers.
2. Iron man of the NFL: Brett Favre from the Jets
3. Bus: Jerome Bettis (former Steelers running back)
4. The Playmaker: Michael Irvin (former Cowboys wide receiver)
5. Ageless wonder: Darrell Green (former Redskins cornerback)

Browns aiming to make it to the playoffs

The Browns had a great season last year finishing with a 10-6 record, but could not make it to the playoffs.

Of course those were just signs of what Cleveland has to offer this current 08/09 NFL season, and coach Romeo Crennel knows that his team has enough potential to compete against the Steelers for the division title, though they know that they are still a bit weak on their defensive end, and will have to correct certain past mistakes in order to make it further this season.

The Browns have a though rival for their first NFL regular season game, as they are playing against the Cowboys a team that is coming with great expectations for this NFL season as they are expected to finish 13-3, but Derek Anderson knows that his chance is coming against Dallas, and if he doesn’t perform as expected, he might be replaced by Brady Quinn, and that might be enough motivation for him to help the Browns to come up with their first victory.

Ewing with the Knicks? Yes, not Sr. but Jr.

Patrick Ewing Jr. just got traded to the Knicks, his father’s former team in exchange for the drafting rights to center Frederic Weis.

Ewing Jr. was first acquired by the Kings from Georgetown on this year’s NBA draft, but was immediately traded to the Rockets on a multi-player deal that included Ron Artest.

Patrick Ewing Jr. shares some interesting facts with his father: they both played for Georgetown in college, and now both are tied to the Knicks, also, Ewing Jr. was with the Rockets, a team that destroyed his father’s chances of wearing an NBA championship ring as Houston beat them in the 1994 series for the title.

"Coming to the Knicks, and hopefully being able to contribute, means a lot to me, it has been my dream to play for this team. My goal is to show the coaches I can play and do all that I can to help the team win some games." Ewing Jr. said.

Before playing at the NBA, Patrick Ewing Jr. was chosen as the top reserve of his college football conference.