The 2013 NFL Draft is finally upon us as we are five hours away from the start of the event. The Kansas City Chiefs hold the all important number one pick and it is almost a certainty that they will take an offensive tackle. Consensus says they’ll take Texas A&M tackle Luke Joeckle, but the last two days there has been rumblings that they may take Central Michigan tackle Eric Fisher. Unless the Chiefs trade the number one pick, which is a possibility, it looks like they’ll be taking an offensive tackle to protect their new quarterback, Alex Smith. After that pick, the draft is completely wide open and anything can happen. Many experts, NFL reporters, and NFL general managers are saying that this will be the most unpredictable NFL draft in a very long time, and for some, in their whole careers. Their not many prospects at all that people are absolutely crazy about and that’s why this draft is so unpredictable. There may well be a lot of trades tonight with some teams trying to move up and some teams trying to move back. There are more teams interested in moving back, then up. The New York Jets, St.Louis Rams, and Minnesota Vikings each hold two first round picks, and those three teams very well could be the three most likely teams to trade down. With this draft so wide open and no concrete plans yet for any picks, expect a lot of “WOW!” moments and quite a bit of trades. This draft is heavy on the offensive and defensive lines, and not so much at the skill positions, especially running back and quarterback a little bit, depending on how you view this years quarterbacks, and if you’re me, you’re not too impressed with this year’s crop of quarterbacks.

In this mock draft I enlisted the help of two friends, Joe and Kevin, who both know their stuff when it comes to football and the draft, to make this a more fun and interactive mock draft, rather than me doing it all by myself. You can follow Joe on twitter at @JoeyReg14. I’d add Kevin’s twitter handle, but he isn’t involved in any social media sites, so you can’t follow him anywhere. We did not inflict any trades in this mock as that is way too unpredictable and not needed at this point. If you have any questions or points you want to make to us about this mock draft, feel free to tweet us, you can also find me on twitter at @ScoreboardSteve. Enjoy our mock draft and enjoy the 2013 NFL Draft tonight!

1.Kansas City Chiefs – Luke Joeckle, OT, Texas A&M
2.Jacksonville Jaguars – Eric Fisher, OT, Central Michigan
3.Oakland Raiders – Sheriff Floyd, DT, Florida
4.Philadelphia Eagles – Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia
5.Detroit Lions – Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma
6.Cleveland Browns – Dion Jordan, OLB/DE, Oregon
7.Arizona Cardinals – D.J. Fluker, OT, Alabama
8.Buffalo Bills – Ryan Nassib, QB, Syracuse
9.New York Jets – Barkevious Mingo, OLB, LSU
10.Tennessee Titans – Chance Warmack, G, Alabama
11.San Diego Chargers – Jonathan Cooper, G, UNC
12.Miami Dolphins – Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama
13.New York Jets – Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia
14.Carolina Panthers – Star Lotulelei, DT, Utah
15.New Orleans Saints – Jarvis Jones, OLB, Georgia
16.St.Louis Rams – Kenny Vaccaro, S, Texas
17.Pittsburgh Steelers – Sheldon Richardson, DT, Missouri
18.Dallas Cowboys – Sylvester Williams, DT, UNC
19.New York Giants – Xavier Rhodes, CB, Florida State
20.Chicago Bears – Alec Ogletree, ILB, Georgia
21.Cincinnati Bengals – Tyler Eifert, TE, Notre Dame
22.St.Louis Rams -Tank Carradine, DE, Florida State
23.Minnesota Vikings – Manti Te’o, ILB, Notre Dame
24.Indianapolis Colts – Eddie Lacy, RB, Alabama
25.Minnesota Vikings – Cordarrelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee
26.Green Bay Packers – Ezekial Ansah, DE, BYU
27.Houston Texans – Justin Hunter, WR, Tennessee
28.Denver Broncos – D.J. Hayden, CB, Houston
29.New England Patriots – DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Clemson
30.Atlanta Falcons – Desmond Trufant, CB, Washington
31.San Francisco 49ers – Zack Ertz, TE, Stanford
32.Baltimore Ravens – Kevin Minter, ILB, LSU

The 2013 NBA playoffs are finally upon us and that means it’s time to make my predictions. We had a great regular season as we saw a lot of long winning streaks, including the Miami Heat winning 27 straight (good for the second longest all time behind the 1971-1972 Lakers who won 33 straight), the Los Angeles Clippers won 17 straight games, the Denver Nuggets won 15 straight games, and the New York Knicks won 13 straight games. The Chicago Bulls happened to snap both the Heat and Knicks’ win streaks within a three-week span at the end of the season.

We also saw Lakers SG Kobe Bryant score his 30,000th point, but we also saw the future NBA hall of famer go down with a torn achilles at the end of the season. LeBron James became the youngest player to reach the 20,000 point plateau. The most unfortunate and sad news of the season came on February 18th, when Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss passed away from kidney failure. Buss had been battling cancer since 2012 and hadn’t attended a single Lakers game the whole season due to being hospitalized for months. Jerry Buss was 80 years old when he passed away.

Now let’s get to my NBA first round playoff picks.

Eastern Conference:
(1) Miami Heat over (8) Milwaukee Bucks 4-0. MVP: LeBron James.
(2) New York Knicks over (7) Boston Celtics 4-2. MVP: Carmelo Anthony.
(3) Indiana Pacers over (6) Atlanta Hawks 4-2. MVP: Paul George.
(4) Brooklyn Nets over (5) Chicago Bulls 4-3. MVP: Joe Johnson.

Western Conference:
(1) Oklahoma City Thunder over (8) Houston Rockets 4-1. MVP: Kevin Durant.
(2) San Antonio Spurs over (7) Los Angeles Lakers 4-2. MVP: Tony Parker.
(3) Denver Nuggets over (6) Golden State Warriors 4-2. MVP: Wilson Chandler.
(4) Los Angeles Clippers over (5) Memphis Grizzlies 4-3. MVP: Chris Paul.

I’m keeping my preseason NBA Finals prediction and going with the Miami Heat over Oklahoma City Thunder in six games, 4-2.

WrestleMania 29 is in the books and after having a few days to re-watch the matches and think about how it fared, I can finally write my review and let you know if the biggest sports spectacular was a stud or dud. WrestleMania itself has always been a huge deal every year and the WWE always tries to make it bigger than the previous years event.

Now let me add that this years WrestleMania did not have a good build up and almost had no build at all. Part of this has to do with having part-time stars in some of their biggest matches. The Rock recently had his new “G.I. Joe” movie come out and wasn’t on every Monday Night Raw to hype and build his WWE title match against John Cena. Brock Lesnar also has limited dates in his contract, so he can’t make every show, although he was there more than The Rock, but his match buildup against Triple H wasn’t handled too well either. The best buildup was easily the CM Punk vs The Undertaker match, with Punk mocking ‘Takers late manager Paul Bearer, who passed away in early March. Punk stole his sacred urn and played mind games after mind games with the Undertaker and eventually beating ‘Taker down on an episode of RAW with the urn and pouring ashes out of the urn onto Undertakers beat down body. Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger for the World Heavyweight Championship had a very solid build but it felt like Swagger and his manager Zeb Colter were more interested in getting all immigrants out of the USA, rather than focusing squarely on Del Rio and his title. With the lower card, Chris Jericho vs Fandango had a solid short build, Ryback vs Mark Henry didn’t have a great build at all, Team Hell No vs Dolph Ziggler and Big E Lankston didn’t have a good build either, and The Shield vs Sheamus, Randy Orton, and The Big Show actually had a pretty solid build. Let’s get to the review of each match now.

1.The Shield defeats Sheamus, Randy Orton, and The Big Show: I saw many people question the decision to open the show with this match but it was a well paced match and delivered. There were some cool spots in this match including when Randy Orton caught Seth Rollins in mid-air with an RKO after he jumped off the top rope. Roman Reigns would immediately spear Orton after that RKO and Dean Ambrose, the legal man, would cover Orton for the win. Another cool spot was when The Shield put Sheamus up for the triple powerbomb and Big Show would spear all three members to save Sheamus. Very good match and all six men delivered.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

2.Mark Henry defeats Ryback: I said this before the match started and I’ll repeat what I had said, this match had more of a chance to be a big stinker, rather than a WrestleMania classic. Once the match ended, I was proven right. This was a very slow-paced match and had a horrible ending. The ending came when Ryback would pick Mark Henry up for his finisher, Shell Shocked, only to have Henry grab the ropes and collapse right on top of Ryback for the win. The biggest head scratching  thing was after Henry won, Ryback would perform Shell Shocked on him, so a very weird ending.
Rating: 2 out of 10.

3. Team Hell No defeats Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship: This was a solid match and you got everything you expected. Big E Langston looked impressive in his first career match and the veterans Kane, Bryan, and Ziggler did what they always do, and delivered a good tag team match. A nice ending as well when Kane chokeslammed Ziggler and tagged in Bryan for a top rope splash to win the match.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

4.Fandango defeats Chris Jericho: I actually liked this match more than a lot of other people. Both guys kept the match well paced and gave it all they got, even in the short amount of time they were given. A very solid technical match and we finally got to see Fandango in the rind and he impressed. This was an underrated match at WrestleMania.
Rating: 7 out of 10.

5.Albert Del Rio defeats Jack Swagger to retain the World Heavyweight Championship: A weird beginning to this match as Jack Swagger’s entrance wasn’t even shown to the pay-per-view audience. This match was okay all around, but it never seemed to fully click to me. They got about 10 minutes for the match, but I would’ve preferred a longer match. Anyways, it was your typical match and was okay at best, which is unfortunate because I was really looking forward to this match.
Rating: 5 out of 10.

6.The Undertaker defeats CM Punk:  This was the match of the night and an all world display by ‘Taker and Punk. Both guys put it all on the line and put their bodies through hell to give the audience what they wanted to see. There were some awesome spots in this match, like CM Punk delivering a diving elbow from the top rope as Undertaker layed on the spanish announce table, although the table didn’t break, I don’t know if that was a screw up or it really wasn’t supposed to break. Another nice spot was Undertaker reversing out of a GTS by Punk and turning it into a tombstone to win the match. The match of the night and a great display by arguably the greatest ever and the best in the world right now.
Rating: 10 out of 10.

7.Triple H defeats Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred Match: A lot of people didn’t like the fact that these two were having a rematch of their Summerslam match, because that match didn’t live up to the expectations. Well, their rematch at WrestleMania was fantastic and delivered on all accounts. This was a very brutal physical match up and both guys put their bodies on the line so the fans could see a great match up. Chairs, steel steps, a sledgehammer and the spanish announce table were used in this match to batter and bruise each guy and boy was each guy battered. There was barely any blood at all, thanks to this PG era that the WWE is in, so it took away from the intensity of the match. Outside of that, this match delivered and had a good ending with HHH locking in the kimura lock on Lesnar a few times, DDT’ing Lesnar into the steel steps, blasting him with a sledgehammer, and pedigreeing Lesnar onto the steel steps for the win. Very, very good match.
Rating: 9 out of 10.

8.John Cena defeats The Rock to win the WWE Championship: A lot of people, including myself, weren’t so happy about The Rock and John Cena having a WrestleMania rematch, let alone a rematch that involved the WWE Championship. Although it wasn’t surprising, we had to deal with it and enjoy it as best we can. This match seemed very similar to their original match at WrestleMania 28 in Miami, although I give this match a tad bit better of a performance. As usual, The Rock seemed as if he couldn’t keep up with Cena in this match due to poor cardio, but he still gave it his all and delivered a very solid match. The crowd was really into this match and although we all knew Cena was going to win, there was a moment or two that I really thought The Rock would retain the title. A solid ending when Rock and Cena would literally keep reversing out of multiple “Rock Bottoms” and “AA’s”, until Cena could finally plant an AA onto The Rock for the victory and to get the WWE title back around his waist.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

WrestleMania 29 Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Welcome back to ScoreboardSteve.com! Yes, it’s been awhile since I’ve written any articles and posted on here. To be exact, I haven’t written since the Super Bowl, nearly two months ago. Well I’m back now and we are just two minutes away from the first pitch of the 2013 MLB regular season!

Baseball has always been my favorite sport and will always be my number one sport, so I decided to get back on the horse and start writing again. And come on, did you not expect me to pick my 2013 MLB division winners, World Series champion, and awards winners? If you seriously thought I wouldn’t, than shame on you. I’ve always been a big fan of making predictions and picks, so there was no way I was going to miss out on it with my favorite sport this year.

Now last year, my World Series pick was the Los Angeles Angels over San Francisco Giants, and I wound up being dead wrong and not even close when the Angels didn’t even make the playoffs. I got half of it right, sort of, as the Giants did end up making the World Series, and they won the World series for the second time in three years after they swept the Detroit Tigers. My AL and NL MVP’s were Albert Pujols of the Angels and Matt Kemp of the Dodgers, respectively. Both of those picks were again, way off, although Kemp started off the year scorching hot but got the injury bug throughout the season and Pujols would start the year very slow but end on a good note. Another really bad pick of mine was choosing the Miami Marlins to go 92-70, win the NL East, and make the NLCS vs the Giants, boy was I once again completely off. How about we have ourselves a better year this year and get going with my picks? Lets do it.

AL East:
1.Toronto Blue Jays (94-68)
2.Tampa Bay Rays (91-71)*
3.Baltimore Orioles (86-76)
4.New York Yankees (85-77)
5.Boston Redsox (78-84)

AL Central:
1.Detroit Tigers (95-67)
2.Kansas City Royals (83-79)
3.Chicago Whitesox (81-81)
4.Cleveland Indians (77-85)
5.Minnesota Twins (68-94)

AL West:
1.Los Angeles Angels (93-69)
2.Oakland A’s (89-73)*
3.Texas Rangers (85-77)
4.Seattle Mariners (80-82)
5.Houston Astros (57-105)

Wild Card Play In Game: Tampa Bay Rays over Oakland A’s

ALDS: Toronto Blue Jays over Tampa Bay Rays 3-2
ALDS: Detroit Tigers over Los Angeles Angels 3-2

ALCS: Detroit Tigers over Toronto Blue Jays 4-2

NL East:
1.Washington Nationals (98-64)
2.Atlanta Braves (92-70)*
3.Philadelphia Phillies (79-83)
4.New York Mets (73-89)
5.Miami Marlins (61-101)

NL Central:
1.Cincinnati Reds (91-71)
2.St.Louis Cardinals (86-76)
3.Milwaukee Brewers (83-79)
4.Pittsburgh Pirates (76-86)
5.Chicago Cubs (69-93)

NL West:
1.San Francisco Giants (93-69)
2.Los Angeles Dodgers (92-70)*
3.Arizona Diamondbacks (85-77)
4.San Diego Padres (74-88)
5.Colorado Rockies (70-92)

NL Wild Card Play In Game: Los Angeles Dodgers over Atlanta Braves

NLDS: Washington Nationals over Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2
NLDS: San Francisco Giants over Cincinnati Reds 3-1

NLCS: Washington Nationals over San Francisco Giants 4-2

World Series: Detroit Tigers over Washington Nationals 4-3

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, 3B, Detroit Tigers
Top Five: Evan Longoria, 3B, Rays – Jose Bautista, OF, Blue Jays – Mike Trout, OF, Angels – Yoenis Cespedes, OF, A’s
NL MVP: Joey Votto, 1B, Cincinnati Reds
Top Five: Bryce Harper, OF, Nationals – Ryan Braun, OF, Brewers – Justin Upton, OF, Braves – Buster Posey, C, Giants/Matt Kemp, OF, Dodgers

AL CY Young: Josh Johnson, Toronto Blue Jays
Top Five: Justin Verlander, Tigers – Max Scherzer, Tigers – David Price, Rays – Felix Hernandez, Mariners
NL CY Young: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
Top Five: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals – Madison Bumgarner, Giants – Cole Hamels, Phillies – Gio Gonzalez, Nationals

AL R.O.Y: Wil Myers, OF, Tampa Bay Rays
NL R.O.Y: Hyun-Jin Ryu, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers

AL Comeback Player: Victor Martinez, C/1B/DH, Detroit Tigers
NL Comeback Player: Ryan Howard, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies

AL Manager: Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays.
NL Manager: Bruce Bochy, San Francisco Giants.

AL Home Run Champ: Jose Bautista, OF, Toronto Blue Jays
NL Home Run Champ: Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Miami Marlins

AL Sleeper Team: Kansas City Royals
NL Sleeper Team: Milwaukee Brewers

AL Bust Team: Texas Rangers
NL Bust Team: St.Louis Cardinals

Play Ball!

Finally, Super Bowl 47 has arrived! It’s actually been a quick two-week absence without football, in my opinion. Although most people didn’t want this match up because of the arrogant Harbaugh brothers and the always way too emotional Ray Lewis grabbing headlines, I have to say that these two weeks weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. Kudos to the media by not blowing this thing up more than it should be. I like this game a lot as we have two hard-nosed defenses and hot offenses going head-to-head with each other. Both teams are very well coached with top five coaches at the helms. The fact that both these teams have great defenses, it’s going to be very interesting how both quarterbacks adjust for this game. Joe Flacco is arguably the hottest player coming into this game, having thrown for 10 touchdown passes and only one interception in his last five games. We also have Colin Kaepernick, who can’t be stopped whether he’s throwing the football or running the football, which makes it all the more tougher for defenses to contain him, but you better believe that this veteran Ravens defense has a plan to stop Kaepernick during the big game.

Now although the 49ers have a really good run game I think if the Ravens can control Colin Kaepernick in this game, then they will win this game because the 49ers will just be so limited and need to rely on the defense even more. I feel confident that if the 49ers can control Joe Flacco’s game, that the Ravens could still win on the legs of Ray Rice and their defense. I’m not taking anything away from the 49ers run game and defense, but I just have a feeling because of how explosive and important Kaepernick is. So I believe the key in this game for the Ravens is to slow down and take control of Colin Kaepernick. The key to the game for the 49ers is to make sure they contain Ray Rice in the run game and once again put all the pressure on Flacco and make him beat you. You can say well he did beat Indianapolis, Denver, and New England but only one of those teams has what you could call a tough defense. San Francisco has a better defense then all three of those, a defense that Joe Flacco has not seen yet and that’s why he might look flustered or rattled if the Niners have is back up against the wall. So those are my keys to game, and I think if either team capitalizes on those keys, they have a damn great chance of hoisting the Lombardi trophy by the end of the night.

Last but not least, during the 2011 season these two teams met in Baltimore on Thanksgiving night where the Ravens beat the 49ers, 16-6. Don’t forget though, the 49ers weren’t starting Colin Kaepernick at that point and their receiving corps wasn’t as good as it is now. And you can only think that the 49ers have revenge on their mind and will do everything they can to avenge that loss and Jim Harbaugh will do his best to make sure he doesn’t go down 2-0 to his brother when they go head-to-head. So now that I got through what I had to say, let’s get to my pick.

San Francisco 49ers 27 Baltimore Ravens 24
Super Bowl MVP: Colin Kaepernick, QB, San Francisco 49ers.

Pick Against The Spread:
Baltimore Ravens (+4) vs San Francisco 49ers – OVER 47.5

Conference championship Sunday is tomorrow and that means it’s time for my picks. Last week we saw the most exciting and high scoring divisional weekend in NFL history since the current playoff format was put into place. On Saturday afternoon, the Baltimore Ravens shocked the world and went to Denver and upset the #1 seeded Denver Broncos, 38-35 in double overtime. It would end up being the first ever double overtime game in NFL history also. In the Saturday nightcap, we would see a fun first half between the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers before the Niners would pull away and handle the Packers 45-31. In the first game on Sunday we had what many people, including I, are calling the best game of the weekend, as we saw the Atlanta Falcons squeak by the Seattle Seahawks 30-28, after blowing a 27-7 lead all in the fourth quarter to go down 28-27 with :57 seconds remaining, only to watch Matt Ryan drive the Falcons down to around the 30 yard line and see Matt Bryant blast a perfect 49 yard field goal for the game winner and push the Falcons into their first ever NFC Championship game in the Georgia Dome. When everyone saw the score was 27-7 in favor of the Falcons entering the fourth quarter, a lot of people moved on from the game but immediately came back when the Seahawks were inside the red zone, down 27-21 with under 2:00 minutes remaining. What a fine game it was. Finally, in the fourth and final game from divisional weekend, we saw a less competitive game as the Patriots would handle their business and pound the Texans for the second time this season with the final score this time being 41-28, although the score doesn’t indicate how much the Pats dominated.

So the conference title games were set. In the NFC, the #1 seeded Atlanta Falcons will host the #2 seeded San Francisco 49ers. In the AFC, the #2 seeded New England Patriots will host the #4 seeded Baltimore Ravens. In week 3 of the regular season the Ravens beat the Patriots in Baltimore, 31-30. This is also a rematch of last years AFC Title game in which the Pats would win it 23-20 as former Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff would miss a 32 yard field goal wide left with :11 seconds remaining. It broke the hearts of Ravens fans everywhere to see their kicker miss a relatively short game tying field goal that would’ve sent the game to overtime with a birth to the Super Bowl on the line. The heartbreak would ease a bit two weeks later when the Ravens and their fans would watch the Patriots fall to the Giants in the Super Bowl for the second time in two years, 21-17. Now that we have recapped everything, let’s get to my picks.

NFC Championship Game: San Francisco 49ers 34 Atlanta Falcons 30 – The Falcons run game is bad and the 49ers run defense is top-notch and that’ll be the difference. There’s only so much Matt Ryan can do in the passing game before this 49ers top passing defense begins to stop him. Colin Kaepernick will also confuse this Falcons defense and make the plays needed to win this game. I say the Niners pull away in the second half like last week against the Packers but get a scare at the end when the Falcons try to pull of the comeback win but just fall short. I’m more excited for this game then the AFC Championship game.

AFC Championship Game: Baltimore Ravens 27 New England Patriots 24 – The Ravens are suddenly hot after shocking the Broncos in Denver and man handling the Colts in Baltimore in the Wildcard round. In week three the Ravens beat the Pats 31-30 down in Baltimore but the Pats beat the Ravens in last years AFC Title game 23-20. Is it the Patriots turn to win this time? I don’t think so. Although Joe Flacco had a great game last week in Denver, I really think Flacco has his huge coming out party this week and leads his team to the Super Bowl. I think Flacco does what Matt Schaub couldn’t and throws all over the Patriots defense as Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin have big games. Ray Rice ran for 101 yards and a touchdown in the teams’ first meeting this year and I think he repeats that. As always, I think Tom Brady is Tom Brady and throws for lots of yards and a couple touchdowns. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if Brady coughs up a costly turnover at some point. This Ravens team is on point, motivated, and will make sure Ray Lewis ends his career with a ring. Like the first time around, I think the Pats run game is contained, putting all the pressure on Brady. Tom Brady is an all time great quarterback but the Ravens defense is the toughest defense for him.This is going to be a fantastic rematch.

Picks Against The Spread:
Atlanta Falcons (+4) vs San Francisco 49ers – OVER 48.5.
Baltimore Ravens (+7.5) @ New England Patriots – UNDER 51.5.
LOCK IT UP!: RAVENS +7.5.

Is there a bigger joke in the NFL then the New York Jets? Of course not. We’re talking about a team that made a trade for the former mile high messiah in Tim Tebow to be their backup quarterback/wildcat formation leader in their offense. This is also a team that would make no additions to the offense to make them a better contender. When the season began, Tebow was used very sparingly by the coaching staff and Tebow didn’t like it. As the season went on, it got worse, and the team got worse with season ending injuries to their best offensive and defensive players, a horrible run game, and a very shaky offensive line. Eventually the team would suffer an embarrassing loss on Thanksgiving night to the arch rival New England Patriots, where starting QB Mark Sanchez would run the ball and end up literally running into his own teammates ass and fumbling the ball and allowing the Pats to pick it up and run it in for another touchdown. Sanchez would even lay on the ground motionless for a moment like his teammates ass had knocked him out before hopping right up and walking off the field. That was the lowest point of the Jets season. They were the laughing-stock of the NFL. It somehow got worse though, when Tim Tebow would be diagnosed with broken ribs he suffered in Seattle and would be inactive in early December against the Arizona Cardinals when Sanchez had one of his worst games and the Jets would FINALLY turn to their backup to go into the game, but since Tebow was inactive the backup that week was Greg McElroy, the second year player out of Alabama. McElroy would throw for the only touchdown in the game and win the game for the Jets, 7-6. Once Tebow was active though, Sanchez would continue starting until week 16 when coach Rex Ryan chose Greg McElroy to start against the San Diego Chargers over the backup Tim Tebow. Well, McElroy would be the victim of a devastating Chargers pass rush that sacked him 11 times, yes ELEVEN times. McElroy was slated to start the finale in week 17 in Buffalo but during the middle of the week McElroy was diagnosed with a concussion and ruled out for the finale, prompting Rex Ryan to select Sanchez to start over Tebow, only creating more of a mess. Sanchez would have yet another miserable game and the Jets would lose, finishing the season 6-10. After the season Rex would say that if he thought Tebow could help them win, he would’ve played him. Rex also passed on a lot of Tebow questions, easily indicating that he never wanted Tebow here, had no used for him, knew he stinks, and that the trade was made by owner Woody Johnson to get the spotlight on the Jets and sell more tickets. Now that is the disgrace of the NFL. On to baseball.

Well, hey, here are the New York Mets, who share the same town with the Jets. With the news that has come across this off-season for the Mets, they are starting to become the “jokes”, the “circus”, a “disgrace” in baseball. First off, I will give them props for extending the contract of star third baseman David Wright for seven more years. Although, all they really did was add years, and a few million each year to what he was already being payed, so that wasn’t and shouldn’t have been so hard for a team with money problems. Now, they had under contract the reigning NL CY Young Award winner in R.A. Dickey, who just had a 20 win season, had a less than 2.75 era, struck out over 225+ batters, and threw two straight one hitters in June. They also had him for another year at only $5 million. They wanted to extend him, but with him being 38 years old and throwing a knuckleball, the Mets were iffy on giving him the two-year, $26 million he wanted, and reportedly would only go as high as two years, $21 million. The tension grew during contract negotiations and it made the Mets look into trades. Eventually, on December 18th, the Mets struck a deal with the Toronto Blue Jays to send Dickey, catchers Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas to the Jays in exchange for top catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud, one of the top pitching prospects in Noah Syndergaard, and two smaller prospects. Were the Mets really that worried about giving Dickey $13 million a year at his age or were they just being cheap and didn’t have the money? I ask because it’s not that often when a team trades their reigning CY Young award winner right after he wins the award. Yes, I know that the Mets had to replenish their farm system and get help for other positions, but you had an ACE for the rotation, a mentor to your young pitchers, and a guy who although is 38 years old, doesn’t have many miles on him.

Now onto more news. It was reported today by MetsBlog.com that Scott Hairston is seeking a two-year, $8 million contract to return to the Mets. Now before you say yes or no for if you would re-sign Hairston to that deal, lets look at his numbers last season: 32 years old, 377 at bats, .263 AVG, 20 HR’s (led team), 57 RBI’s, 52 runs, 8 stolen bases, 25 doubles, 3 triples, .504 slugging %, .803 OPS, 1.5 WAR, with one error in the field of play all year. Now does that seem like the numbers of a guy you’d be okay with paying four million a year for only two years to? I say that’s absolutely okay with me! Unfortunately, I don’t own the Mets or run them. Along with that reporting by Metsblog.com, they say that the Mets made a counter-offer to Hairston. Now get ready for this, because this will blow your mind. Their counter-offer to Hairston is ONE year, $2 MILLION! Are they seriously low balling their home run leader from last year, a guy who beasted against left handing pitching, was a great bat off the bench, played solid defense, and is a good clubhouse guy, with a TWO MILLION dollar offer?! That is ridiculous to say the least, the guy isn’t look for four years, $60 million, all he wants is two years, $8 million, what’s so crazy about that? That’s a really good deal to me. Then again, their the Mets and they got involved with a Ponzi scheme and lost a lot of money and had to ask the MLB to loan them money a couple of years ago. Do the Mets really think Hairston isn’t worth what he’s asking for or do they seriously not have any money to spend? They remain the ONLY TEAM to not sign a single player to a major league contract since the World Series ended as well. How embarrassing is that?

Another piece of news is that they worked out former San Francisco Giants closer Brian Wilson at UCLA last week and we’re “not impressed” with the workout and don’t want to give him a major league deal. When healthy, this guy is one of the best closers in baseball. Key word though is “healthy” because Wilson made two appearances last season before hurting his elbow and undergoing Tommy John surgery. That’s the thing though, he underwent Tommy John surgery last year, could the Mets possibly think that he’d be 100% during his workout? Tommy John surgery is one of the most precious surgeries for a baseball player and yet the Mets workout a pitcher who’s NINE months removed from TJ surgery and “aren’t impressed” with Wilson. ARE YOU NOT SURPRISED THAT HE MAY NOT HAVE LOOKED PERFECT?! The guy still needs time to recover and regain strength. Give the guy a one year deal and roll the dice on him, he couldn’t possibly cost that much of major surgery. If he doesn’t pan out, than oh well, no one expects huge things from the team anyway. Also, your current closer is FRANK FRANCISCO. Enough said. How can you not want to take a shot on Wilson and maybe get good production and push Francisco out of the closer spot, because god knows how shaky he is and how much the fans do not like him and are reminded of Armando Benitez when he comes into the game in a save situation. Is this team seriously okay with Francisco as the closer and just gonna forget about Wilson? If so, this team is a complete utter joke. I’m a lifelong fan of this team, but it’s so embarrassing rooting for them and seeing them be a penny-pinching team. You’re in the biggest market in the world, spend money and try to improve this team because it needs lots of improvements. Stop penny-pinching and get this team help because the bullpen needs help, especially at closer, and the outfield needs a major makeover because it is also a disgrace. This team should never get a pass, but this is the last off-season that this team can get a pass for not spending. Even COO Jeff Wilpon said that next season with the contracts of departed outfielder Jason Bay and SP Johan Santana off the books and a fresh, young, hungry team on the horizon, that they will be spending again. If that’s true, lets enjoy this upcoming season as much as we can, and then see if they stay true to their word and spend next winter on areas of need. No more excuses Mets. Being in New York and not having money to spend and operating as a small market team is a disgrace in itself, but if this keeps going on, someone has to step in and find new owners for the club. I’ve had enough already.

The NFL Wildcard round of the playoffs are over and I think we’re all glad because we saw three lackluster games and another game that was fun but also ugly. In game one we saw Houston and Cincinnati in a defensive battle that saw the Texans escape with a 19-13 win and advance to New England this week. In game two we saw Minnesota starting QB Christian Ponder be inactive as he had an elbow injury that wouldn’t allow him to throw well. So Minnesota backup QB Joe Webb would start and get pounded by the Packers defense as Green Bay would smash the Vikings at Lambeau Field 24-10 and advance to San Francisco this week. In game three we saw either the possible beginning of the Andrew Luck playoff run or the end of Ray Lewis’ career as the Colts and Ravens would do battle in Baltimore. Well what was seen as a special game that could be a classic, we saw a Ravens beat-down of the Colts, 24-9 to advance to Denver and keep Ray Lewis’ career alive. And finally in game four, we actually saw an exciting game as the Seattle Seahawks went into Fedex Field and controlled the Redskins after allowing two quick touchdowns in the first quarter, en route to a 24-14 win and a date with the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday. During that Washington-Seattle game, we saw Redskins rookie of the year candidate and franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III re-injure his knee and end up tearing his LCL and ACL and undergoing reconstructive knee surgery and not being able to play football for 6-8 months. It was an ugly game in the sense that RG3 was limping all game, being apart of ugly QB scrambles, and seeing RG3 take one last blow as he twisted his knee in a really awkward and ugly way, fumbled the ball, and would lay motionless on the field for a moment. It was an exciting game in the sense that we saw Seattle come back from down 14-0 and put up 24 unanswered points to pull off a HUGE win and play some smash-mouth power running and defense. And boy, I cannot wait for that Seahawks-Falcons game in Atlanta on Sunday.

As for this weeks games, I can guarantee that we will get a better four games than last week. In game one we will see Ray Lewis in his last game possibly and Peyton Manning in his first playoff game since his fourth neck surgery. The Ravens go to Denver for a second meeting this season as the Broncos went to Baltimore in week 15 and beat down the Ravens 34-17. In game two we see another rematch as the Green Bay Packers go into San Francisco to take on arguably the best defense in the NFL in the 49ers. These two teams met in week one at Lambeau Field as the 49ers embarrassed the Packers 30-22. The score doesn’t indicate how great the Niners took care of the Packers, so don’t let it fool you. In game three we happen to have the only non-rematch from the regular season on divisional weekend as the Seattle Seahawks fly back east to take on the Falcons in the Georgia Dome in what many people are saying is a bad match up for the Falcons as they are under lots of pressure to get their first playoff win in the Mike Smith-Matt Ryan era as they lost to Arizona 30-24 in the 2008-2009 playoffs, lost to Green Bay 48-21 in the 2010-2011 playoffs, and lost to the New York Giants 24-2 last year. All three games were Atlanta’s first games in the playoffs, so Smith and Ryan have started their head coaching/quarterback careers with three one and done playoff spurts. So the pressure is really on Ryan and Smith to stop the Seahawks and advance to the NFC Title game. And finally in game four we have another rematch as the Houston Texans go back to Foxborough, Massacusetts to take on the New England Patriots in a rematch from their week 14 total mismatch as we saw the Pats destroy the Texans 42-14 on Monday night football. I do think that this game will be a lot tighter though. Anyway, let’s get to my divisional round picks.

In the Wildcard round I went 3-1 on my picks, with my only loss coming when the Colts couldn’t knock off the Ravens on the road. I went 1-3 on my four picks against the spread as the only game I hit was the Seahawks -3 against the Redskins. Lets hope I can do better this time around.

Denver Broncos 31 Baltimore Ravens 23
San Francisco 49ers 27 Green Bay Packers 24
Seattle Seahawks 28 Atlanta Falcons 27
New England Patriots 24 Houston Texans 20

Picks Against The Spread:
Baltimore Ravens (+9) @ Denver Broncos – OVER 46.
Green Bay Packers (+3) @ San Francisco 49ers – OVER 45.
Seattle Seahawks (+2.5) @ Atlanta Falcons – OVER 46.
Houston Texans (+9.5) @ New England Patriots – UNDER 48.5.

I know most of you reading this will disagree with my hall of fame ballot, as this is the biggest ballot that baseball writers have been faced with because of accused steroid users and players from the steroid era but whether you like it or not, MLB did go through a steroid era and many players did take steroids. Do i support taking steroids? No. Do I think players should under any circumstance take steroids? No. That doesn’t eliminate the fact that players did and achieved many milestones with help from those banned substances. Look at Barry Bonds, yes he took steroids, but he’s also the all time home run leader with 762 homers. If Bonds didn’t juice, does he get in? You bet he does. We have to face the fact that Bonds got caught and his records are now tainted. Some players definitely didn’t get caught though, but how can we know which players those were? We never will, which is why we will never know whether a player took a banned substance when voting for him to enter the hall of fame. Mike Piazza was never caught but how do we know he never took something while playing? I’m not saying he did or I think he did, but just using that as an example. If the current home run king doesn’t get into the Hall of Fame, no one should. Anyway, whether you like it or not, here is my 2013 top five MLB hall of fame ballot, complete with stats and records.

1.Barry Bonds, LF: 762 Home Runs, .298 AVG, 1,996 RBI’s 2,935 hits, 514 SB’s, 7 Time NL MVP, 14 Time All Star, 8 Time Gold Glove Award Winner, 12 Time Silver Slugger Award Winner, 3 Time NL Hank Aaron Award Winner, Walks In a Single Season (232 in 2004), Only Member of the 500-500 Club (762 HR’s & 514 SB’s), One Of Only Four Members in the 40-40 Club (Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, & Jose Canseco). (Pittsburgh Pirates 1986-1992, San Francisco Giants 1993-2007)

2.Roger Clemens, SP: 354-184, 3.12 ERA, 4,672 K’s, 1.17 WHIP, 118 Complete Games, 46 Shutouts, 7 Time CY Young Award Winner (6 AL & 1 NL), 1986 AL MVP, 11 Time All Star, 2 Time World Series Champion (1999-2000), 6 World Series Appearances (1986, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005), 1986 All Star Game MVP, Two Pitching Triple Crowns, Eight 200 K Seasons, Led AL In K’s Five Times, 6 Time 20 Game Winner, Led League in Wins Four Times, 7 Time ERA Leader, Under 2.00 ERA Twice, 12-8 Postseason Record, 3.75 Record, 173 K’s, 3-0 World Series Record, 2.37 ERA, 49 K’s, Made World Series 6 Times. (Boston Redsox 1984-1996, Toronto Blue Jays 1997-1998, New York Yankees 1999-2003 & 2007, Houston Astros 2004-2006)

3.Mike Piazza, C: .308 AVG, 427 HR’s, 1,335 RBI’s, 2,127 Hits, 1,048 Runs, 12 Time All Star, 1993 Rookie Of The Year, 10 Time Silver Slugger Award Winner, 1996 All Star Game MVP, 7 Top 10 MVP Finishes, 4 Top 5 MVP Finishes, Nine 30 HR Seasons, Two 40 HR Seasons, Most HR’s By A Catcher In MLB History (396), One World Series Appearance (2000). (Los Angeles Dodgers 1992-1998, Florida Marlins 1998, New York Mets 1999-2005, San Diego Padres 2006, Oakland A’s 2007)

4.Craig Biggio, 2B: .281 AVG, 291 HR’s, 1,175 RBI’s, 3,060 Hits, 1,844 Runs, 414 SB’s, 7 Time All Star, 5 Time Silver Slugger Award Winner, 4 Time Gold Glove Award Winner, 3 Top 10 MVP Finishes, Eight 20 HR Seasons, Four 120 Runs Scored Seasons, One World Series Appearance (2005). (Houston Astros 1988-2007)

5.Curt Schilling, SP: 216-146, 3.46 ERA, 3,116 K’s, 1.13 WHIP, 83 Complete Games, 20 Shutouts, 6 Time All Star, 3 Time World Series Champion (2001, 2004, 2007), Two Top 10 MVP Finishes, Three CY Young Runner Up Finishes, Three 300 K Seasons, Three 20 Win Seasons, Co-World Series MVP in 2001, NLCS MVP in 1993, Four World Series Appearances (1993, 2001, 2004, 2007), 11-2 Postseason Record, 2.23 ERA, 120 K’s, 4-1 World Series Record, 2.06 ERA, 43 K’s. (Baltimore Orioles 1988-1990, Houston Astros 1991, Philadelphia Phillies 1992-2000, Arizona Diamondbacks 2000-2003, Boston Redsox 2004-2007)

At about 5:00 AM on this Sunday morning a tentative agreement was reached between the NHL and NHLPA on a new CBA to end the 2012-2013 lockout and end 16 hours of negotiations. The news broke when Adrian Datar of the Denver Post tweeted “Deal is done! per@denverpost.com”. After that, many media outlets would go on to report that an agreement was reached, confirming Datar’s report. Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Pierre LeBrun of ESPN, and Bob McKenzie of TSN would quickly follow-up with details on the new CBA.

The new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is for 10 years with an opt out after eight years. The 2013-2014 salary cap will be $64.3 million and the floor will be $44 million. There will be max contracts at seven years and eight years for teams own players.

At 5:45 AM a press conference was held between NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr. Bettman would go on to confirm everything by saying “Framework of a deal has been agreed upon”. He would also go on to say “I want to thank Don Fehr. We went through a tough period, but its good to be at this point”. Ron Hainsey, a Winnipeg Jets defensive player was also present at the press conference and said the NHL will hold a 48 to 50 game season, but that a start date was not set. Hainsey would also add that the pension language was “not final” and that pension is the centerpiece of the deal for the players. Phoenix Coyotes right-wing, Shane Doan, who also appeared at the press conference had this to say, “Everyone’s obviously relieved that it’s over and done with” and that he thought this was the best available deal. Doan also said he’d heard suggestions of locking everyone in a room, “The mediator kind of did that”. A statement from the federal mediation service on the mediator Scot Beckenbaugh said “herculean assistance of the highest caliber”.

The new CBA needs signatures of course and needs to be ratified. Some work is still to be done but there is a verbal agreement on the major points. The last thing we need now is for this new CBA not to be ratified and all hope is lost again. Lets not think about that though and just be glad that both sides have an agreement on a new deal to bring hockey back.