Friday, February 16, 2007

The IKTS WRR #2

I have a confession to make. I can be a very lazy person, I put things off, I find reasons not to do things and I procrastinate like nobody you know. This is probably why it took me so long to ever start trying something like this, and is definitely why I went a week without writing anything. But if you (and by you I mean that guy from Hunter River who may or may not have been here more than once) can forgive me I will continue onward.

It was a big and imposing week for the Raptors. Four games against four good teams heading into the All-Star break. Win and they can keep the momentum they've had and, hopefully, roll on into the playoffs. But if they struggled doubts could begin to creep in. Are we really this good? Why can't we beat the good teams? Long story short, it was a very big test for the Raptors and they came through with flying colors.

RAPTORS 96 over LAKERS 92
The first part of the test for the Raptors was the suddenly much improved Lakers. Kobe is playing better team basketball, and Andrew Bynum is emerging as a rare true center in the NBA. The Lakers were coming in off a beat down style loss to the Pistons, so the game could go one of two ways. Either they come out strong and determined, or flat and depressed.

The Lakers chose the latter, but so to did the Raptors. I had wondered what would happen when the Raptors finally switched back to T.J. starting, Jose coming off the bench, and this was the game. They came out completely flat, took too many jumpers and scored 16 points in the 1st quarter. The Raptors seemed to find their way after that, and had a 9 point lead when Ford came in for Calderon in the 4th. That lead evaporated quickly, the game got close, but the Raptors pulled it out down the stretch.

PISTONS 98 over RAPTORS 92
This was a rare Saturday night Raptors game, which translated into me not seeing it because I was "busy". It was a tough game for the Raptors, a back to backer, on the road, against probably the best team in the East. If they won this one they could definitely consider themselves among the leagues elite. But in losing as closely they did the Raps shouldn't really get too down. Detroit is a great team, rested, at home, and the Raps took them to the wire.

Looking at the stats, Rasheed Wallace had a great game (28 and 7) while Bosh struggled (5-15 FG's). The Pistons were quoted as saying that they used their veteran sense to help them pull out the win at the end. Hopefully in 2-3 years we'll hear the Raptors saying the same thing after winning a game after pulling out a win in the 4th.

RAPTORS 112 over BULLS 111
This was an interesting game for me to watch. I had taped the game, knowing I was going out, but while out I accidently saw the score. I still watched the game the next day, but knowing that the Raptors would win let me focus less on cheering and more on just watching parts of the game. Not that I learned anything especially interesting, it was just a different way to watch.

The Raptors always struggle against the Bulls, I can't find the number but I think its something like 15 in a row that the Bulls have won coming in to this one. But tonight was a different story, tonight the Raptors played their quality basketball, and tonight when it came down to it the Raptors pulled out the victory. All this in while Luol Deng and Ben Gordon put on an absolute clinic on the way to play midrange basketball (they combined for 56 points with only 2 3's). All this despite T.J., again, struggling down the stretch in the 4th (see the Laker game and probably the Piston game too) blowing a 12 point lead. It was a win against a good team, and it guaranteed a split on the 4 tough games before the All-Star break.

RAPTORS 120 over NETS 109
Now that we got to the game, this Nets game no longer looked nearly as tough as it had earlier in the week. Jason Kidd went down with back problems, and with Richard Jefferson already out it left Vince as the only 1 of the big 3 playing. The Raptors doubled Vince, and made the other Nets try to beat them. For a while it looked like they'd make a game of it with Bostjan Nachbar and Eddie House making seemingly every shot they took, but they would slow down and the Raptors won it with ease.

Offensively the Raptors played the fantastic, beautiful team basketball that they've been showing glimpses of lately. The ball moved where it's supposed to, they made the open shots, and everyone was involved. Seven players finished in double figures, including 6 with 15+. Defensively they could have done a better job on Nachbar/House, but overall they put the game away and left for the break knowing they had just beat down their closest competitor in the Atlantic.

RANDOM THOUGHTS
  • Enough with the MVP chants for Bosh. I love Chris Bosh, but he's not an MVP calibre player yet and there's nothing wrong with that. It just feels stupid to hear fans cheering for an award we don't deserve.
  • The Raptors held Kobe to 56 points less than the last time he was in Toronto.
  • The Bulls just need a big who can give them something on the offensive end to be really good.
  • There is nothing more fun as a Raptors fan, than watching Vince Carter sulk around as he loses a game.

Friday, February 9, 2007

New Feature - The IKTS WRR

As I mentioned it the last post its becoming hard to come up with idea's to write about. And then it struck me like sledgehammer to the pinkie toe (only less painfully), why not start a weekly themed column? On what I asked myself? While, why not your favorite teams? You could have 2 running columns, one on the Leafs and one on the Raptors. Genius I said to myself, pure genius. So without further ado I give you the inagural Ike Krizzule Talks Sports Weekly Raptor Report (or the IKTS WRR).

So for the purposes of this week I'll try and contain the main portion of my discussion to the week that was February 1st to the 8th, and contained the Hawks, Clippers and Magic games. In the future, now that I've planned out the idea of this column, I'll have better analysis of the games and whatnot. Right now its just me looking back and trying to remember, the future is in note taking during the games I see.

TORONTO 103 over ATLANTA 91
I managed to catch the 1st half of this game, then it was a Friday night and I went out to do Friday night type things. I wasn't worried about the game, though, the Raptors were up 63-46 and were clearly overpowering the Hawks. The Raptors have come together as a team over the past 1-2 months, while the Hawks continue to be a group of mismatched parts.

It looks like the Raptors eased of the accelerator in the 2nd Half, but that 1st Half was what I was waiting for them to do in the past in games against teams like the Celtics and the Hornets (w/o Chris Paul). They put the hammer down, they let the Hawks know early that they were outmatched, and they coasted to an easy win.

TORONTO 122 over LOS ANGELES (C) 110
Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of this one live (although I did watch the game in an hour), due to it being Sunday morning and me sleeping like a baby (that had to much to drink). From what I remember from the game in an hour, and what the box score tells me, the Raptors continued to run their unselfish offense (6 guys in double figures) and the Clippers didn't play enough defense. Both teams were on fire from 3, but the Raptors shot it much better from the field and the foul line to control the game. Still give these new Raptors credit, the Raptors of last year would have let the Clippers back into it in the 4th, and then struggled to close the game out or lost. These Raptors confidently made shots all game, responded to any Clippers run, and did what they had to do to get the W.

TORONTO 113 over ORLANDO 103
Finally a game I watched, start to finish, in regular time. This was a meeting of 2 very talented young big men, Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard (more on this later), but also a meeting of 2 teams who look to be taking steps forward this year. In Orlando's defense they were without 4 regulars (Grant Hill, Tony Battie, Kenyon Dooling and Trevor Ariza. In Toronto's defense the only 1 of those 4 who might have made a difference is Hill, and if Orlando's banking on Hill to be healthy they are in big trouble.

It was one of those game the Raptors have been having lately where the other team hangs around, but the whole time you feel confident the Raptors are going to pull it out. The Raptors lead never got too big, and they rarely trailed, but you just felt that come the 4th quarter they'd put something together and win the game. It's a completely different feel than Raptors fans are used to, and I like it. The Magic hung around all game, Howard was a beast and other guys made shots, but the Raptors won the 4th by 9 and took the game easily.

Now like I said, it was a battle between 2 of the best young big guys in the world ... and they put on a show. Howard had a career high 32 points, on 13-14 shooting, to go with 9 boards. Bosh had a career high 41, to go with 8 boards. In terms of net results it looks like this one easily goes to Bosh, but its tough to say. Bosh had 2 fantastic point guards feeding him the ball (Ford and Calderon each finished with 11 assists) and a team that understood to keep feeding him the ball in the 4th. Howard had a team somehow unanaware that he was making every shot he took, and had to work much harder for many of his points. They are 2 different players, with different skill sets, so its difficult to compare them against each other. For me its much more fun to imagine what they could do on the court together.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:
  • That Josh Smith is one heck of a player for Atlanta, he's better every time I see him play.
  • Somethings wrong with the Clippers. I don't know what it is, but they don't look like the same team that almost beat the Suns in the playoffs last year.
  • Darko Milicic could be a player if he could get some minutes somewhere. He's a RFA this summer, could be interesting to see if he can finally go somewhere that will use him.
  • Garbojosa's jumper looks much improved lately. Its got more arc, and just looks better coming out. I still think he might shoot a bit too much, but at least I'm not yelling at him through the T.V. every time he shoots now.
  • The Raptors are getting some exceptional PG play by sharing time with Calderon and Ford. It'll be interesting to see what happens when T.J.'s ankle is feeling 100%

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

My Big Mouth

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We're entering the slow news portion of the sports year. The NFL season just ended and the baseball season is still a couple months away with most offseason transactions having being completed. What we (and by we I mean me, you might be following some other stuff) are left with is the NHL, NBA, and a little college basketball. What I'm trying to do is give an excuse for why I'm having trouble coming up with something to write on. What I've come up with is a quick post on some goofy NBA happenings. What the writing handbook would suggest is that you don't begin 4 straight sentences with "What", but I'm a wild and crazy against the grain writer so deal with it.

Tyrus Thomas, the 6'9" jump out of the gym athletic freak rookie from the Chicago Bulls, was selected to be 1 of 4 players to participate in this years dunk contest. When asked if he was excited to rub shoulders with the greats of the league Tyrus responded, "I'm just into the free money. That's it. I'll just do whatever when I get out there." Probably not the best thing for the 20 year old rookie to say, but he's young and he's telling the truth.

John Paxson, Bulls GM, didn't like what Thomas had to say and fined him $10,000 for the remarks which he considered, "a poor reflection on the Bulls organization". In the end Thomas will still recieve some free money, third- and fourth-place finishers in the Dunk Contest get $16,125 each, with second getting $22,500 and the winner getting $35,000. So he's in line for about $6000-$25000, along with a $10000 lesson to think before you say anything and never say what you really think. May be he learns from this, and tightens up his media quotes, but if so the league gets a little more boring and a little less honest. Just my opinion.

LINK

UPDATE: It was just a random post, but after Henry Abbott (the name in NBA blogs) of TrueHoop wrote a very similar article I feel very validated in my writing.

Monday, February 5, 2007

How Peyton and Prince Ruined My Super Bowl

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I had every intention of writing a pre-Super Bowl article, discussing the game and trying to reason out an excuse to pick Chicago to win due to my previously mentioned dislike of the Colts and Peyton Manning. Then, the next thing I knew, it was the weekend and from Friday - Sunday I wouldn't see the inside of my appartment or the trusty computer I use to write poorly thought out articles that I'm not entirely sure anyone reads. To make things simpler I got too caught up in the glamorous lifestyle of drinking and sleeping on other peoples couches to get around to it.

But, like all good weekends, things wound down on Sunday and I watched the Super Bowl with some friends. I went into the game cheering for the Bears, hoping the Bears could win, and dreaming of throwing yet another loss in my Colts friends face (BTW, there's nothing mean hearted about this. He'd do the same thing to me, its just the nature of our relationship).

Unfortunately, deep down inside I didn't like the Bears chances (really nobody out there did). There are 2 things you need to do to beat the Colts. You need to put up a bunch of points, because regardless of how good your defense is this Colts team puts up points. So to beat them your team needs to be able to match them, and I worried that the conservative Bears offense would struggle to put up points. And you need to win the turnover/big play battle. This one was a toss up, some games the Bears dominate the opposition with takeaways and kick returns, others Rexy and friends play hot potato with the football. Unfortunately for the Bears this was a hot potato game.

Things started off great, opening kick off ... touchdown. The Colts respond, but the Bears come right back and everythings looking good (14-6). That was probably my high point of the game. From there the Colts start clogging up the run, Rex starts fumbling snaps (it was raining like crazy), and all the wall Manning and the Colts are adding on points. Now Rex needs to start pushing a bit on offense, and when he pushed tonight the wheels came off. Two absolutely terribly thrown balls lead to 2 Colts INT's and this ball game is over.

Peyton Manning won another playoff game without being amazing. He had good stats (25-38, 247 yards, 1TD, 1INT), but they weren't great. Peyton didn't pick the team up and carry it on its shoulders to a Championship, the Colts won by playing great team football throughout this game and the playoffs. Their running game, both running backs and blocking, combined with much improved defensive play led this championship run. Peyton had a couple decent-good games (this one and New England) and a couple bad-average games (K.C. and Baltimore), but the Colts won games. May be they've finally figured things out down there in Indy, and that's a scary thought for me and for the rest of the league.

I dislike the Colts, but I do respect them. They are a very scary team, on both sides of the ball, and could be for years to come. I'm not looking forward to the brag it up call or email from my Colts fan friend, I'm not looking forward to the next 6 months of Peyton love (and the 20-30 commercials he will make) that are about follow, but most of all I'm not looking forward to the idea that I could have this same feeling again in 12 months. Enjoy it while it lasts Colts fans, as someone who enjoys the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, CIS Football and NCAA Basketball and Football and hasn't watched their favorite team win since '94 I understand the pain of a drought. Sometime soon you will to, nothing lasts forever.

P.S. And to cover the Prince part of the title, Prince sucks. He is in no way shape or form any good, and nobody likes him anymore. Whoever chose him to be the Halftime Show should be kicked in the balls. And that's all I got to say about that.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

In Defence of Raycroft

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Its been one calendar month, and almost one complete actual month into my blogging career, and I still haven't written about what is probably my favorite sport or about what is probably my favorite team ... hockey and the Toronto Maple Leafs. So with January almost over (its after midnight, but I measure days by sleeps not meaningless places on the clock), I figured its time for lucky post #13 and some Leafs talk.

Many who have followed the Leafs this season see fit to place a large majority of the blame on one Mr. Andrew Raycroft. Such is the life of a goalie in Toronto, made into a god when things are going well and crucified when things go badly. But is that really fair?

By the numbers this season Raycroft doesn't look good. He has a GAA of 2.94 and a save percentage of .898, ranking him 27th and 31st in the league. Numbers like that sure don't seem like they deserve defending, but here I am trying to do just that.

What the numbers don't tell you is that in 8 of 42 games this year Raycroft has had a GAA at 6+. Sometimes this Leaf team just doesn't come to play, sometimes offensive juggernauts like Ottawa and Buffalo run up the score, and a GAA average that would be about 2.57 goes to 2.94. I know all the numbers count, and other goalies have games like this affecting their numbers too, but I also know that whether the Leafs lose 8-2 or 3-2 they go down the same way in the standings. And I know that Raycroft is now 23-16-4 for the Leafs this year, while his backups are a combined 2-5-2. Extrapolate Raycrofts record (and isn't that what really counts) over 82 games and you get 44-30-8, 92 points and a probable playoff spot. Extrapolate the backups and you get 18-46-18, 54 points and a decision on who to take first overall in the draft this summer.

Leafs fans feel the urge to attack Raycroft because of what we gave up, 1st Round prospect Tukka Rask. Rask looked really good at a couple World Juniors (although pretty bad at this years), and people had him annointed as the next big thing. But the key word to be used when describing Rask (and also Justin Pogge, the Leafs other goaltending prospect) is potential. Craig Hillier, Francis Laviree, Jean-Francois Damphous, Jean-Marc Pelletier, Evan Lindsay, Patrick Dovigi, Patrick DesRochers, Matheiu Chouinard, Jomar Cruz ... recognize any of those names? They're a list of goalies drafted in the 1st 2 rounds between 1996-1998, and none of them ever became anything in the NHL. Goaltending prospects are tricky to judge at best, and even when the goalie is good it takes years before you see the results at the NHL level. It is highly unlikely that you will see Tukka Rask contribute anything in the NHL for 2-3 seasons, if in fact he ever does, but somehow that potential helped turn fans against Raycroft.

I'm not trying to say that Andrew Raycroft has been great this year. Even taking out those bad games you are still left with a GAA that is average-slightly above average. I write this to say he's not as bad as some people think, and that given the chance he might help lead this team to the playoffs. He's still a relatively young for a goalie (26) and who knows what he'll turn into ... if the weight of the pressure from being a Leafs goalie doesn't ruin whatever that is.

UPDATE: Raycroft has since dropped his GAA to 2.87 and raised his Save Percentage to .900, carrying the Leafs to a 5th straight win tonight.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Things That Leave Steve Nash Scratching His Head

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Its been a while, I've been a bit lazy and without NFL football this week I've actually had to come up with an idea on what to write on. Its not as easy as you'd think. Eventually I settled on this, a mini-rant about how the NBA isn't properly selecting the All-Star game starters.

Every year the NBA gives the fans the chance to select who starts in the All-Star game through fan voting. They allow fans to vote for 1 Center, 2 Forwards and 2 Guards. Now I'm not sure how or when they came up with this, but its not the way most teams (NBA or otherwise) come up with their starting line up.

When constructing a lineup the standard configuration is 1 point guard, 2 wing type players and 2 post type players. The distinction between power forward and center, for most teams without true centers, is blurred beyond recognition. They call players like Tim Duncan, Chris Bosh or Kevin Garnett forwards, but on many nights they will have stretches where they are the teams tallest player, best post defender and rebounder. That, by definition, is the center position, but in reality they are just the tallest post-type player on the court at that time. The same goes for wing type players, from Kobe Bryant to Tracy McGrady or Vince Carter, the distinction on whether they are small forwards or shooting guards really just depends on who else is on the court with them. They are wing players, and for the most part, teams go with 2 wing players.

But the one constant among most all NBA teams is they all play with a point guard. Looking across the NBA you won't find many teams without a starting lineup containing someone they call the point guard. But the NBA fails to recognize this in their voting structure, and this year neither teams starting line up will contain a point guard (Gilbert Arenas is not a point, no matter what Washington claims). Two time defending NBA MVP Steve Nash wasn't voted to start the game, instead 2 wing players (Bryant and McGrady) were selected.

This years lineups are:
WEST: McGrady, Bryant, Duncan, Garnett, Yao
EAST: Arenas, Wade, James, Bosh, O'Neal

In the end it won't really matter, substitutions will happen and point guards will get into the lineup. Combine that with the fact that All-Star games don't really matter (in any sport) and are just for fun, and it seems silly that this bothers me. But it does, I like watching really good point guards play and it pisses me off that the NBA refuses to recognize it as its on position, and that the fans get pulled in by the high flying wing players and ignore the PG's.

**END RANT**

Now there's been some more visitors since my last update. Someone fron Delisle has come 4 times, hopefully because they enjoyed something they read. Also Yorkton, Jasper, Woodford and London have stopped by at various times. But still nobody has commented, and so I'm still not entirely sure that anyone has read anything (although repeat visits from Delisle, and previously Italy, made me assume someone did). So, I've decided to offer a reward. The first person to comment on anything can request a topic for me to write something on.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

10 Years for a B.J?!

I don't really do this, but if someone somehow stumbles here and not onto ESPN they should definitely read this story. It is a trajedy of justice gone wrong in Georgia that needs to be read to be believed.

ESPN E-Ticket - Outrageous Injustice

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Reflecting on Babcock

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We had another first over the weekend that I managed to miss until recently. Our friend from Italy became the first return visitor to Ike Krizzule Talks Sports. That, combined with the visitors we've had clicking on the link from my signature in my posts over on RaptorBlog (a site with well done articles, and good discussion), has made me think may be its time for another Raptor post. So here it is:

The Toronto Raptors are starting to take huge steps forward this season, and after years of struggling may finally be a playoff team again. Now much of the recognition will go to new GM Bryan Colangelo, and rightly so he's done a fantastic job, but I maintain that the work of Rob Babcock helped set the team up to make these moves.

Shortly after Babcock took the job it became apparent that he didn't really have room to do anything. The Raps, under the Grunwald era, had mispent their way to being up against the cap with little to show for it. When Vince Carter made his trade demands, after dogging it for months, it became clear to me that Babcock would probably be fired before he ever got a chance to prove his worth. Now looking back at his moves, I'll attempt to show that while he might not have been the best GM in the world he wasn't the laughingstock that some would make him out to be.

1. Drafting Rafael Araujo
This is the one that gets Babcock in some trouble. Araujo never did (and probably never will) develop into a good NBA player. But, in Babcocks defense:
a) the 2004 draft was probably one of the weakest in recent memory
b) the Raptors had Carter, Jalen Rose and Morris Peterson at the SG/SF positions, but only Donyell Marshall and a young Chris Bosh in the post. The 2004 draft (outside of the top 2 Dwight Howard and Emeka Okafor) was even weaker when it came to big men. Al Jefferson and Andris Biedrins would have been better picks, but both were 18 at the time and the Raptors needed someone to play minutes immediately.
c) Babcock was hired shortly before the draft and didn't have the kind of time other GM's had to prepare for the draft.
Colangelo moved Araujo for Kris Humphries, another 2004 draftee, who has become a bottom end rotation big man for the Raptors

2. Signing Rafer Alston
The Raptor also needed a point guard, and with the little money they did have Babcock found one in Rafer Alston ($4M/season). Alston had his problems, he seemed to be a bit of a headcase and clashed with coach Sam Mitchell, but did provide decent play at the point. He averaged 14 points and 6 assists, about average for an NBA point guard.
Babcock moved Alston after his first year for Mike James

3. The Carter trade
Early into Babcock's first year it was clear that Vince Carter wanted out of Toronto. After playing poorly enough to destroy his trade value, and convince everyone that his knees might never allow him to play at the level we had been accustomed to seeing him, Vince demanded a trade. Other NBA GM's, like sharks smelling blood, waited out trying to steal Vince from this 1st year GM. Eventually Babcock took the best offer he recieved and trade Vince to the Nets for Eric Williams, Aaron Williams, Alonzo Mourning, and 2 1st Round picks. Not the greatest return, but when a star player demands to be traded and has tanked for the past year or 2 its impossible to get market value (see the Sixers/Nuggets Iverson trade). Most of the Babcock criticism comes from this trade, but to the critics I say you'll never win a title with a player of Vince Carter's character, so good ridance to him.
Eric Williams never played to his ablities with Toronto and was included in the Rasho Nesterovich trade
Aaron Williams gave some big man minutes and was traded for a 2nd Rounder
Alonzo Mourning refused to report to Toronto, but was bought out saving cap space
Joey Graham was the net of 1 of the 1st rounders, the other was traded to the Knicks with Jalen Rose to clear cap space

4. Drafting Charlie Villanueva
Much criticized at the time of the pick, because criticizing Babcock was the thing to do, Charlie-V went on to have a great rookie year (finishing 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting). It was a good draft but Villanueva was definitely a very good selection at #7.
Charlie was since traded to the Bucks for T.J. Ford

5. Drafting Joey Graham
Joey shows flashes of brilliance, but hasn't been able to break out yet. He's currently a good solid rotation player for the Raptors, with the potential to develop into a decent starter if he's ever able to get it all together. Looking back at the draft Joey was a good (not great, but not bad) pick at #16.

6. Signing Jose Calderon
Babcock saw something he liked in Spainard Jose Calderon and signed him relatively cheap (I can't find the information, but I seem to remember something like $1.5M/year). Jose struggled a bit adjusting to the NBA game, and the English language, his 1st season. Now, in his 2nd year, he looks much more confident on the court and gives the Raptors one of the best back up PG's in the league. He may even challenge T.J. Ford for starter minutes as the season progresses.

7. Trading Alston for James
Alston and Mitchell didn't seem like they could co-exist any longer. Babcock was able to move Alston for Mike James, who provided the Raptors with a season of career numbers before bolting for greener pastures. A good trade by Babcock, getting something of value for something he needed to get rid of.

There were more in there (Matt Bonner, Loren Woods, etc.), but I think I've typed more than long enough for now. In my analysis of Babcock I would say that he made 2 bad, although defensible, moves that led to all criticism (Araujo and Carter), 2 really good moves (Villanueva and Calderon), and 3 O.K moves (Graham and Alston --> James). He also helped clear the cap space that Colangelo was able to come in and use (Jorge Garbojosa, Anthony Parker and Fred Jones) to improve the team's overall depth. I won't argue that we aren't better off with Colangelo now, I think he's the best GM in the league. I just wanted to try to show that Babcock didn't deserved to be considered terrible either. His performance was about average, and there's plenty of teams out there who have a whole lot worse than average at that position right now.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Weekend Recap

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I meant to write this last night, but got a call from my Colts fan friend and had to be graceful in defeat (at least for one more week). I meant to write it this afternoon, but spent my time reading what everyone else had to say. I meant to write it earlier this evening, but would out watching the Raptor, Heroes and 24. These are excuses or explanations, whichever you prefer. I thought about skipping it, but it seems important to write and with 5 new visitors since my last post (Salt Lake City, Montreal, Markham, McLean and Hunter River bringing the total to 9) what kind of blogger would I be if I slacked off on this.

I was fortunate enough to have a lazy Sunday to myself yesterday, where I enjoyed 2 pretty good NFL football games. The first (Bears/Saints) had its moments, but victory was all but assured for the Bears early in the 4th quarter. The second (Colts/Pats) was a back and forth prizefight between the 2 best teams of the 2000's: one of whom I hate, the other I sorta like. I enjoyed the first one, I loved (even considering the result) the second one.

The closer it got to Bears/Saints gametime the more worried I started to be about my pick. The Bears D hadn't been playing great lately, and the Saints are a really good team with a story that people like to hear. Then, while watching a pregame show, I heard Saints coach Sean Payton say that they had practiced all week in a dome. Being Canadian I know how bad weather affects football games, suddenly I felt much better about my pick. It snowed, the Bears D came to play, and the Saints committed 4 turnovers. Rex Grossman had another solid playoff game, and that's all the Bears needed to win the NFC ... the SuperBowl could be a different story.

For some reason I've always disliked Peyton Manning. It's tough to say why, but I'm a guy who has to watch a game and cheer. I'll watch random colleg bowl games, with in 5 minutes pick a team, and root for them the rest of the game. I've been rooting for whoever's playing Peyton for a while now and I've been coming away happy every year, usually thanks to the Patriots. So I kinda like the Patriots. I'm not a bandwagoner, my team's the 49er's from when I started watching football and Jerry Rice caught my eye, but I appreciate that the Patriots have been kind enough to let me cheer some of their wins while my Niners get things back together.

Yesterday looked like it was gonna be another one of those days. The Patriots jumped out to an early 21-3 lead, and had it 21-6 at the half. But for some reason, this time, Peyton Manning decided to not lay down. The Colts fought back and helped deliver one exceptionally exciting half of football. The Patriots didn't back down, at least their offense didn't, and it was a Stand in Front of the T.V. exciting finish. I give all credit to the Colts, they were the better team (although there were some calls I wasn't a huge fan of) and they won the game.

Now it all rests on the Chicago Bears to save me one more year, and keep my friend (who is a bandwagoner) from celebrating in my face. You're our only hoped Chicago.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Good News and the Picks

The good news just keeps flowing at Ike Krizzule Talks Sports. I started this blog because I am currently in between jobs, but this week I found out that won't be for much longer. I still plan to continue to write, its actually been pretty fun, just giving an excuse as to why I've seemed kind of lazy.

More good news followed this week, as I've had 3 more people stumble onto the site. In addition to last weeks visit from Sacramento, we added visits from Honolulu, Vancouver and Aulla (which I think is in Italy). I'm just guessing, but I think the Honolulu visit was in relation to the Michelle Wie piece and the Vancouver and Aulla visits might have been related to the Toronto Raptors and mention of Bargnani. Sure would be nice to know, if only they left comments (hint, hint)

And now its Friday, and Friday means football picks (or so I've decreed). So without further adieu here are the picks.

BEARS over Saints
Its going to be another week where the Bears rely on Rex Grossman to manage the game, limit his mistakes, and make about 3-4 really big plays that lead to scores. He wasn't perfect last week against Seattle, but he did enough to win. If the Bears can get that kind of effort or better from him, combined with a solid running game and their usual solid defense, they should win this game.

Everyone seems to want to rally behind the Saints due to the recent struggles in New Orleans, and I do feel for the people of Louisiana, but when I feel like something like this is shoved down my throats I tend to get angry and go the other way. They could definitely win this game, and that woudl be great for their city, but I don't see it happening. The city of Chicago has been waiting for their Bears to break through for a while now, and this is the year.
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Patriots over COLTS
"In the end I just think history shows when in doubt take the Patriots". I wrote that last week, and I think I've gotta stand by it again. The Patriots have earned the respect over the past few years that I think they are my favorites until they lose. Especially when its against the team they've haunted in playoffs past. Especially when its against the player I love to hate in Peyton Manning.

When you look at them talent-wise and statistically it really does seem like the Colts should be able to beat them easily (and maybe they will), but that's how it always looks with the Patriots until they pull out another win nobody thought they'd get. This could be the year they get stripped of too many pieces, suffer injuries to guys they need, and Peyton finally pulls one out. But until I watch it with my 2 eyes glued to a television on Sunday, I'm taking what history has taught me and I'm taking the Patriots.
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Will the Raps Heart Go On in the Titanic Division or Is This Just A Stupid Long Title

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No real current news that I feel like talking about so it must be time to write a random article about my favorite basketball team and their chances of playing into the playoffs for the first time since 2002. The Raptors currently sit tied with the New Jersey Nets (although ahead on winning percentage) in the Atlantic Division. So they could make the playoffs if they manage to hold on to the Atlantic lead or if they play well enough (.500 should do it) that they pick up one of the 8 spots in the East.

The Atlantic is wide open this year, with 2 teams basically out of the race already. The Sixers have traded away Iverson, bought out Webber, and are basically doing everything but take out full page ads in the paper explaining to their fans that they're tanking in hopes of winning the Greg Oden lottery. The Celtics are struggling, and will be without Paul Pierce for the next few weeks. Expect them to fall back in the standings, and the fact that they aren't very good should keep them from coming within 10 games of .500 for the rest of the season.

Somehow, someway, Isiah Thomas has the Knicks playing better basketball this season. They currently sit 17-22, and only 1 game back of the Raptors in the Atlantic. Eddie Curry is playing the best basketball of his life, David Lee is a great rebounding roleplayer, and Isiah seems to have worked out roles for everyone. But, this is still (mostly) the same team that went 23-59 last season. Eventually Curry will get lazy, Marbury and Crawford will start chucking, and guys will start complaining about minutes. The Raptors can take them.

Lastly there's the Nets, everyones pre-season pick to take the Atlantic. And rightly so, they've won the Atlantic for the last 5 seasons and returned the same cast as last season. But the Nets hit a major setback when Nenad Krstic, their best post player, tore his ACL. Vince Carter continues to score (his knees got miraculously better when tradeed from Toronto), but Richard Jefferson's stats have taken a huge dive at a time when his team needs him the most. Right now Jason Kidd is holding the team together, but will a potentially messy divorce hurt his play or lead to a trade?

So why not the Raptors? Their play has gotten better as the season goes on. Chris Bosh is devoloping into a fantastic rebounder, to go along with his other exceptional talents. The newcomers from the Euro-League (Bargnani, Garbojosa and Parker) are learning the NBA game and what they can do over here. And, after struggling with a tough early schedule (they had played the most road games out of anyone), they're finally coming home and playing easier opponents. If the Raptors can continue to play the way they have since Bosh's return from injury (5-3, with 2 close loses to Phoenix and Dallas) there's no reason they can't finish around 45 wins. The Atlantic division and/or a playoff spot are there for the taking Toronto, so go out and catch that beautiful butterfly.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Weekend Recap

The good news, I went 3-1 on my picks. Not bad in a weekend where any game could have gone either way. The bad news is that our friend from Sacramento hasn't been back, nor have any other random passer-by's. But I continue to blog on with a recap of the football weekend that was.

The first game of the weekend, Indy at Baltimore, was by far the least entertaining. And I'm not just saying that because I got the pick wrong and my least favorite player in the NFL won the game. Any game whose only scoring is 8 field goals is probably not a great game to watch and this one wasn't. Fortunately it was the only clunker of the weekend. Peyton had another bad game in the playoffs, but somehow Indy will advance to the conference finals. My theory about Baltimore finally having some offense with McNair proved to be way off, and the Colts D was able to do enough to win the game.

Next came the big play extravaganza in New Orleans. The game featured 14 plays of 18+ yards, was tightly contested the whole way, and in the end "America's Team" won the game. Good times had by all ... except the poor suffering fans of Philly. Garcia played good but not great, and somewhere Donovan McNabb is smiling knowing his job and his reputation are safe for another year. Its was the running backs that won it for New Orleans. Deuce McAllister was the stud power back, plowing away at the line, and Reggie Bush recovered from one of the biggest hits ever to make several nice plays.

And the excitement continued into Sunday with the Bears and the Seahawks, which turned into a much better game than I thought it would be. Seattle was able to score on the Bears D, and Alexander looked much better than he did the week before. In the end it came down to Rex Grossman making enough big plays to cancel out his 2 turnovers, and the Bears coming up big enough in OT to win the game.

The pick the Patriots until they aren't around to pick anymore theory works again. I don't know how a team with a player as good as LT can lose a game, but it probably has something to do with passing more than it runs when it has a 1st year starter and a lead for most of the game. Tom Brady wasn't good at all for most of the game, especially the 1st Half, but when it counted he led the Pats on the drives they needed to win the game.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Milestone Moment and The Weekend Picks

First off, the good news. Yesterday the first person, other than myself, saw Ike Krizzule Talks Sports. How do I know this you ask? While, being the exceptionally curious person I am, I wondered if anyone would ever look at my blog so I signed up for this thing called Google Analytics. It records the number of visits, and where the person is looking from. So now I know that someone from Sacramento was on this page, for however brief of a time, and may of may not have read anything I had to say. Not much, but it is a step in the right direction, and for some reason has me really excited.

And there's more good news, seeing as how its a Friday of the NFL Playoffs I've decided I don't really have to think up a column. There's no bigger story for this weekend, and I'm sure the lovely person from Sacramento (or anyone else who stumbles there way here) is dying to know who I'm picking. All picks will ignore the spread, which exists only for the consideration of degenerate gamblers and alcoholics. Of which I am neither, or so I'll have you believe for the credibility of this rapidly spreading blog.

RAVENS over Colts
First of the disclaimer, I hate Peyton Manning. In fact I hate all the Mannings, just something about them I can't explain. But in the Ike Krizzule Wide World of Sports games are much more interesting when I have a rooting interest, and the Mannings are kind enough to give me that every time. I will cheer for any and every team playing a Manning, and when its Peyton .v. Eli I change the channel.

Disclaimer aside, I really do think that the Ravens will win (or is that my bias talking, I'll really never know). I remember watching a Ravens/Colts MNF game last year (I think, could have been 2 years), and the Ravens were terrible at the time. They had no offense whatsoever, people were hurt, Anthony Wright might have been playing QB, and they stuck with the Colts the whole way, keeping it something like 3-0 until the 4th. The point is that if that Ravens team could stay with the Colts, then adding an actual offense should put them over the top.

And on the fact that its in Baltimore, the weather report says cold and raining, Peyton chokes every year in the playoffs, and I could probably run for 100 yards against that Colts D, and the choice is obvious.
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SAINTS over Eagles

I'd love to pick the Eagles, Canadians feel compelled to cheer for ex-CFL players who manage to make it in the NFL. For years I hated Jeff Garcia for being so damn good and beating the crap out of my Roughriders, but when he went to the NFL its like a switch flips and he represents Canadian football and everything I love about it. It was the same thing with Doug Flutie. But I can't pick a banged up Eagles team, that barely beat the dysfunctional Giants group, against "America's Team".

The Saints are good, the Saints are rested, the Saints have weapons on offense, and if there's a questionable call don't think the NFL won't try to right the wrongs of FEMA by giving New Orleans the benefit of the doubt.
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BEARS over Seahawks
The Seahawks got a gift last week with poor Tony Romo's meltdown, but it won't happen again. The Bears are too good on defense to give up anything to the Seahawks, especially with Shawn Alexander running around with half a leg (or foot, or whatever's hurt). The only thing that could kill the Bears is if Sexi-Rexi (Rex Grossman) goes crazy and throws about 4 picks with 2 fumbles while Lovie Smith decides to, "stick with his guy." I don't see it happening, so the pick is 'Da Bears.
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Patriots over CHARGERS
Really weird game, you've got:
- the coaching match up, Belichick's playoff success over Schottenheimers playoff failures
- the QB match up, best clutch QB in the world Tom Brady over 1st year starter Phillip Rivers
- the RB match up, Tomlinson's best RB season ever over the duo of Dillon and Maroney

It could go either way in a blowout, or be a tight game the whole way through. There really is no way of knowing what's going to happen in this game. In the end I just think history shows when in doubt take the Patriots, but if they lose by 20 I won't really be surprised.
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So there you go, its longer than I planned so even if somebody finds it who knows if they'll read it, but those are the Ike Krizzule Locks of the Week.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

An Open Letter To Michelle Wie

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Dear Ms. Wie,

Stop it already. Enough is enough, you can't compete against men at golf, at least not at this point in your career. Stop trying!

You gave it a shot, people found it interesting ... for a while. Now its just getting annoying. To quote the late great Adrian Balboa, "Don't you get it, you can't win." In fact you can't even come close to winning, todays 78 ended a 3 round streak of scores in the 80's. Everytime you step onto the golf course against me you make yourself look worse.

If you're really commited to doing this then take the time to get better first. Start playing against some women, and as a crazy idea may be actually win a tournament. Focus on your game, going to Stanford for 4 years and learning about Greek Philosophy and Microeconomics will not make you a better golfer. You might make some friends, but as a girl with millions surrounded by poor college students good luck sorting out the good from the bad.

May be you just want some time away from your parents, some independance. What 17 year old isn't looking for those things? But you've got some important decisions to make about your future, and if you ever want to be good enough to compete with the boys its gonna take some hard work.

Sincerely,
Ike Krizzule

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

But Does McGwire Belong in the Hall?

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So, assuming the media eventually gets past the great steroid debate, the question becomes is Mark McGwire a Hall of Famer? At first I didn't even consider that to be an issue, but while flipping channels I stumbled onto an interesting feature on The Score (a Canadian sports channel) claiming that McGwire didn't really have Hall-worthy numbers.

Now before I get into the numbers I should probably clarify thinking when it comes to the Hall of Fame. To me, the Hall of Fame should be reserved for those who dominated the sport the played and who would have been considered (one of) the elite player at their position. To put this into baseball perspective, a shortstop who hits .280 with 30 HR's a year is more valuable than a 1B with the same stats. In fact a shortstop who hits .260 with 25 HR's is more valuable than a 1B who goes .280 and 30, because shortstops who can hit are that much more rare. Shortstops (and other light hitting positions like 2B and catchers) who can put up numbers are much more difficult to find and should be treated differently than players from offense oriented positions (1B, OF, DH). So, to simplify, it doesn't make sense to compare the numbers of McGwire to those of Ripken.

The argument on The Score was that McGwire didn't really do much besides hit homers. McGwire finished with 583 HR's, leaving him 7th All-Time. But the rest of the numbers really don't say Hall of Famer. He had only 1626 hits, barely half of the 3000 benchmark that is used for so many players. His 1414 RBI's rank him 60th, he struck out more than all but 22 other players, and he never won an MVP finishing in the Top 5 only 3 times in his 16 year career. He was only a 3-time recipient of the Silver Slugger Award given to the top hitting 1B in each league. Other 3-time 1B winners include Fred McGriff, Cecil Cooper and Don Mattingly, all fine players but probably not Hall-of-Famers.

So are the homers enough to get McGwire in or will his other less than impressive numbers, coupled with the steroid cloud, keep him out. Do his 4 dominate seasons of 245 HR's and his All-Time best AB/HR make him an automatic entry or will he be held back due to the era he played in and the assumptions about him.

This quote from McGwire (when taken out of context) defines that era and baseballs attitude towards steroids, "Do you really want to know the cold, cruel truth... or do you wanna see me slug a few dingers?". Dingers were the order of the day, and McGwire delivered them.

Baseball Reference - Mark McGwire

The McGwire Debate

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Does Mark McGwire belong in the Hall of Fame? Its a complicated question, and one we're going to be hearing for a long time until he either gets it or enough time passes that the topic goes away. Unfortunately, if he doesn't get in, that's going to be a long time. Jim Rice, Bert Blyleven, Goose Gossage and the gang all get brought up every year around this time, and until he gets in McGwire's going to be right there with them. And pretty soon you'll be able to add Bonds, Sosa, and any other slugger that looked big in the '90's and crushed balls into space.

The problem isn't going to go away, and its going to be interesting to see what the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America), who vote on the Hall, decide to do. Its complicated because there's no real proof that any of them, outside of the ever-honest Jose Canseco, were on anything. Most people (myself included) assume that McGwire was juiced, and are 99.9% sure Bonds and Giambi were BALCO'ing it up. But the problem will be, you don't know who else was.

Could Cal Ripken have used some sort of enhansor to play 2632 consecutive games? Maybe, with lack of testing there's no real way of knowing anything about the players from that era. Albert Belle, Juan Gonzalez, Matt Williams, Cecil Fielder, Jim Thome, etc. and that's just the hitters. Going thinking was steroids wouldn't help pitchers, but then they start testing and a guy like Ryan Franklin (journeyman pitcher who would struggles to hit 90 on the radar) tests positive. So now you've gotta look at guys like Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, etc. again and wonder.

Unfortunately there's really no way of knowing, so how can baseball just pick out the most obvious targets (McGwire, Bonds, Sosa, etc.) and exclude them from the Hall, when they played at a time when we don't know who else was doing exactly what we think they were doing. That's why I hope that the good ol' boys at the BBWAA are trying to send a message, and in a few years begin to consider McGwire (and the others) on their performance on the field.

Coming next ... Was McGwire's Performance on the Field Good Enough?

Welcome

Welcome to Ike Krizzule Talks Sports (its a working title, as in I'll be working on a better one). I've never really written anything like this before, but I've seen enought out there and disagreed with enough opinions that I feel like having a place to say what I think.

I'm gonna write about whatever interests me, mostly sports related, in a way I hope that is interesting. Hopefully people will find this and read it, but if they don't (and I really don't know how you go about finding something like this) then I won't be too upset..

I'll try and pick a random topic to discuss and go from there.