Deez' College Basketball Power Rankings

While I am still waiting for my pictures to develop from the heartbreaking Boston Celtic/Orlando Magic game I attended on Sunday, your still going to have to wait on my experience at the game. Another undefeated team went down last night, and that team was Kansas. Kansas who has beaten Kansas State in 24 concecutive games at the Wildcats Arena. Well, the best player in college basketball wasn't having it last night as Michael Beasley scored 25 points mostly during double and triple teams to beat the #2 ranked Jayhawks. This kid is really an unbelievable player and it is really too bad we only get to enjoy him for a year as he is making a chase already as the top rated player for the NBA Draft this year. Well, hopefully for our sake he can carry Kansas State far into March so that we can watch more of his magic. We are a day away from February 1st and that means college basketball is really heating up. Every week til Selection Sunday I will be giving you my top 20 power ranking for the NCAA. Let's get it started....

1. Memphis - Now the only undefeated team, will run the table til the NCAA tourney.
2. Kansas - They lost a rivalry game away to a good team, will still finish with a Big 12 title.
3. Duke - Have played great as of late with a good group of young kids, UNC next Wed.
4. UNC - Has to play better on defense or will continue to fall, Duke will be a big test of their D.
5. UCLA - Has the best big man in the nation in Love, Pac-10 is real deep. Tough road ahead.
6. Tennessee - Watch this team for a whole game at least once before March, very impressive.
7. Gtown - They keep winning the close games down the stretch, that's what good teams do.
8. Wash St. - With the deep Pac-10, starting out 5-2 is a good way to start conference play.
9. Indiana - Lost to UCONN was no fluke just bad day, team still has great size and shooters.
10. Mich St. - This could be a super team in March if they play to their potential every nite.
11. Wisconsin - Only as good as how far Michael Flowers will take them, see last game.
12. Butler - A.J. Graves is still playing college basketball, and playing really well.
13. Xavier - Keep sleeping on the Atlantic 10 and you will get burned. Best team in the A-10.
14. Stanford - Didn't I tell you the Pac-10 is deep. Road games with 6 of the best 7 teams next.
15. Drake - No more sleeping on Mid-Majors, Drake is hands down the best in MVC. 1 loss still.
16. Kansas St. - While Beasley has gotten the pub, Bill Walker has played just as well.
17. UCONN - As much as I hated the Huskies at the start, I cannot deny their resume thus far.
18. Texas - D.J. Augustin is a beast, but they can't afford anymore slip ups in the next weeks.
19. Pitt - Losses vs. Rutgers and Cincinnati hurt bad, but they can make it up vs. UCONN Sat.
20. Baylor - The feel good story this year, will feel even better if they win at Texas Sat.

Minnesota Moves

While the New York Mets pulled off a stunner yesterday and have til 5 o'clock on Friday to finish the deal. Former Cy Young winner Johan Santana will be leaving Minnesota for the Big Apple for centerfielder Carlos Gomez, and pitchers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra a package deal that is being ridiculed by experts as the 4th best offer the Twins have received this off-season. I am not one to ever question the Twins with any of their moves with the way that they bring up the kids from their farm system, but this one really has me scratching my head. Maybe the Twins know something that we don't, Santana did finish the year with a 15-13 record, down from years past. But, the real stat that bothered me was that he has thrown alot of the years without an injury and shockingly at the end of last season Santana got wrapped 4 of his last 5 games with an ERA over five during that stretch. So, is Santana done and the Mets just got used goods, we shall only hope for the Twins sake.

Minnesota has had some questionable decision making moves for all their sports franchises during the years that must drive the Minnesota fans to listen to more Prince. Let's take a look at some of my favorites:

RANDY MOSS TRADED TO THE RAIDERS for Napoleon Harris a 7th round pick and another late rounder obviously not that big of a deal since i couldn't find out who they picks at those spots. This shock wave sent one of the game's best young receivers to the Raiders for absolutely nothing. Harris, who only played for two seasons with the Vikings never recorded more than 60 tackles and 3 sacks in both those seasons. With Moss' actions very questionable at times, it still bothers Vikings fans that they parted with a future Hall of Fame player in Moss. On a personal note I saw Moss' final regular season game with the Vikings live at Washington where he left the field early because he disapproved of the coaches decisions in the 4th quarter.

KEVIN GARNETT TRADED TO THE CELTICS for Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, and a 2009 1st round pick. Back in July last year the Boston Celtics wanted to get back to the play of the old Celtics by acquiring the 10 time all-star and 2004 League MVP. Kevin Mchale, the general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves, will always be remembered if the Celtics win the championship this year as the gm who helped his old team get back to the NBA Finals. Garnett is regarded as one of the best all-around players in the game today. The 12 year veteran is still only 31 years old and I am pretty sure that with the players around him this will be his final stop where he will eventually win a championship.

ROD CAREW TRADED TO THE ANGELS in 1979 was a huge shock to the Twins. Though it ended up being a wash/wash trade, all of Minnesota was up in arms especially when he was sent to Aneheim for 4 no-name players. Carew who was with the Twins since '67 had done so much for that state and winning the batting title 7 times, the AL MVP once, and being the Rookie of the Year were just some of the things that he did in Minnesota. Carew was very upset with the organization when the Twins kept trading their young stars, and the racist comments that were made by owner Calvin Griffith. So the Twins granted the future Hall of Famer a trade surely disappointed Twins fans to see a man that did so much for their team only to watch him hit his 3000 hit against them.

THE RELEASE OF DAVID ORTIZ was something that the Twins weren't too concerned with at that time, despite questioning why they didn't try to get something for him. Ortiz played with the Twins from 1997-2002, his release came 9 days after Christmas. Ortiz has since become a 4 time all-star and holds the Boston Red Sox record with 54 homeruns in a single season. On top of winning the World Series twice and being runner up to the AL MVP Award twice. Will probably go down as the biggest release in MLB history and if Ortiz can keep up his ways will ultimately become a Hall of Fame candidate. On a different note of sort, I won't mention that the Seattle Mariners in 1996 traded him to the Twins for a player to be named later, Ortiz was that player...but remember i never mentioned it.

HERSCHEL WALKER TO THE COWBOYS better known as "the trade" was the largest player trade in the history of the NFL. Involving 18 players and/or draft picks made on October 12, 1989. Walker only stayed with the Vikings for 2 and a half seasons then got moved again to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Viking were hurting for years during and after the trade. The big drafts slots that the Vikings ended up trading to Dallas was 3 first round picks(13th overall in 1993, 11th overall in 1991, and 21st overall in 1990) and 3 second round picks(47th overall in 1990, 38th overall in 1991, and 40th overall in 1992). This trade ultimately was one of the major turning points for the Dallas Cowboys for their rise to the top of the NFL for many years to come thereafter. The picks led to key components Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, and Darren Woodson. So don't ever forget this trade especially when you are approached by a piece of crap Cowboys fan who knows that they won Super Bowls in the 1990s but really they should have gave the Lombardi Trophy to the Vikings for their help.

Greatest Season of All-Time

I am finally back on The Nutz and I am glad to be back, the week for me has started off tough but being Wednesday I figured that nothing would get me in a better mood than to write about sports news today. For now, I am going to continue with my quest for the top 20 of my favorite seasons by an individual ever before 2000. Today I am up to #16 and we are going to go to college football back in 1981.

USC has always come out with outstanding running backs over the years and has totaled 5 Heismans at that position. During his senior season in 1981, Marcus Allen proved that he was the best of the other past RBs. Allen became the first Division 1 player to rush for more than 2000 yards in a single season. In fact, Allen ended up with 2342 yards on the ground, an average of 212.9 a game and totaled 2683 of overall offensive yardage. If you have ever seen his college highlights you would think that it was Reggie Bush's father the way that he ran. He also set a durability record with 403 carries which was just recently passed by Kevin Smith of UCF this season. Another record that he currently still holds is that he rushed for more than 200 yards on 8 different occasions that season, having had 5 games in a row with the over 200 mark. As a team USC finished at 9-3 on the season having lost their finale to Penn State on New Years Day in the Fiesta Bowl. In a game against Washington State that season Allen had his best performance going for 289 yards on the ground with 4 touchdowns. Allen finished his senior year by taking home the Pac-10 Player of the Year Award, the Walter Camp Award, the Maxwell Award, and most importantly the '81 Heisman Trophy. Still to this day Allen is aways remember as one of the best college football players ever as well as being honored with having his #33 retired.

Top 99 Most Desirable Women

Askmen.com the past couple of years has done the top 99 most desirable women and the '08 listing comes out in just a matter of days. It has gotta be hard to decide these women 1 through 99, my list would almost be the same every single year. I recommend all of you to go to this site and give your opinions when the '08 list comes out. Here's just a sneak peak on how my favorites fared in '07...

#77 Rosario Dawson

#64 Vida Guerra

#45 Eva Mendez

#32 Salma Hayek

#31 Roselyn Sanchez

#26 Tyra Banks

#21 Jessica Simpson

#9 Angelina Jolie

#5 Jessica Beil

#1 Beyonce

2008 Golf Preview

With the '08 Golf season already upon us, it would be easy for me to just write down my top 10 golfers this season which would make no sense because we all know that Tiger Woods is the best and the rest will be fighting for second in every event that he is in. Instead here at The Nutz, we will be giving you the top 10 guarantees for this golf season. Without hesitation he it is:

10. Phil Mickelson will change coaches again but this time he will go to the reliable Dr. Phil.
9. Tiger Woods who only entered in 16 events last season will only enter in 8 this year. One before every major and still be the money leader at seasons end.
8. John Daly will win a tournament event this year.
7. John Daly will miss the next 10 cuts after.
6. Rory Sabbatini who was known for his headlines in '07 for calling Tiger Woods "beatable". Will be back in the headlines for calling John Daly "sober". Daly won't be as nice as Woods was.
5. Steve Stricker will finally win a major, but only because he drank a 12 pack of beer that was stashed in his bag, so he could finally LOOSEN HIS ASS UP!
4. Canada will be disappointed by one of their own athletes again as Mike Weir finds out that he was actually born in the United States.
3. Vijah Singh will get caught with possession of marijuana on the 18th green after winning the Players Championship at Sawgrass.
2. Sergio Garcia will finally come out of the closet.
1. While we watch the Masters this year we will get to watch Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus highlights...again!

Greatest Season of All-Time

I am going right along with my top 20 favorite greatest season of all-time. We have gone through a NFL defense men, a woman, and a favorite season that is dated the farthest back. This week we are at #17. This time I will keep it original, #17 is a pitcher and the year was not to long ago.






In 1999, Major League baseball saw the Triple Crown get done by a pitcher. Pedro Martinez recorded what baseball historians like to call the pitchers Triple Crown. Martinez led the league in wins with a 23-4 mark, strikeouts 313, and ERA with a 2.07. In 213 1/3 innings pitched Martinez recorded a strikeout rate of 13.2 per 9 innings an astonishing total. While his playoff season didn't last as long as Red Sox fans had hoped for, he threw 17 scoreless innings in the playoffs including six innings of no-hit ball in relief in the deciding game 5 of the ALDS verses Cleveland. On top of winning the American League Cy Young Award he won the All-Star Game MVP by striking out 5 of the 6 batters he faced. But, what really put a bad taste in his mouth individually was coming up short in the AL MVP Award. Though, he finished in second place, Martinez led in first place votes but still came up 13 points short to the MVP Ivan Rodriguez. Two writers ended up not voting at all for Martinez which ultimately costed him the award, which got Martinez pissed especially when he found out that one of the writers was from New York. Pedro's 1999 season was listed as one of the best pitching performances for a season in league history, his 2.07 ERA was nearly a run and a half lower than the No. 2 man on the list.

Pic of the Week

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in this undated file photo. Nearly 40 years after his assassination in April 1968, after the deaths of his wife and others who knew both the man and what he stood for, some say King is facing the same fate that has befallen many a historical figure - being frozen in a moment in time that ignores the full complexity of the man and his message.(wrote on yahoo)

Greatest Season of All-Time

During the next couple of weeks I will be giving you my top 20 favorite greatest seasons of all-time, something that was done on ESPN. But, here at The Nutz we like to give our own opinions. Today we are at #18 and this one is the oldest of the my top 20 seasons. Enjoy!

In 1930 a man who already received degrees from Georgia Tech and Harvard was looking to pursue a career in law. Instead of going into the his passion he decided to have at it with another season of golf. Bobby Jones did something no golfer had ever done that year, he won all 4 major golf tournaments that were offered at that time as well as bringing home a U.S. Team trophy. Jones captained the U.S. team to a Walker Cup win, then won the British Amateur at St. Andrews. Two weeks later won his 3rd British Open. In Interlacen, he won his 4th U.S. Open then followed 2 months later with the U.S. Amateur in Philadelphia. Several weeks later after completing the "Grand Slam", from which a writer from Atlanta called it, decided to get into his career in law and retired from competitive golf at the age of 28. When he retired he said that winning championships "is something like a cage. First you are expected to get into it and then you are expected to stay there. But of course, nobody can stay there." This amazing man qualified for his first U.S. Open at the age of 18 in 1920. He also totalled 13 Majors Championships in 20 attempts as they were counted at that time. Just imagine what he could have done if he stayed in golf?

2008 Football HOF Finalists

There are other things going on in the NFL that hasn't gotten much publicity as of late. And since we still have a week and a half of Super Bowl talk, I thought that I would mention about the Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists. Seventeen finalists were chosen this past week with two of them in the first year of their eligibility. Wide receiver Cris Carter of the Eagles and Vikings, and corner back Darrell Green of the Redskins. My opinion is both players should be voted in this season on their first try as both were incredible players and both are members of the NFL's all-decade team for the 1990s. The election for the Hall is February 2nd, the day before the Super Bowl, and to be elected a finalist must receive 80% of the 44 votes. The rest of the class is very interesting especially for me, with my favorite player as a kid, WR Art Monk, gets another shot at the Hall. Other notables are: DEs Richard Dent and Fred Dean, LBs Derrick Thomas and Andre Tippett, Gs Russ Grimm and Randall McDaniel, P Ray Guy, T Gary Zimmerman, WR Andre Reed, and former commissioner Paul Tagliabue. If their is going to be a year for Monk to get in this is the year in my book. I find it hard to believe that he will get some votes stolen from him like he has been with Michael Irvin finally getting inducted. My other choices would probably be Derrick Thomas and Gary Zimmerman both were pro-bowlers for years unfortunately for Thomas his life was taken from him alittle to quick.

Below is part one of a 10 minute piece on the push for Art Monk for the Hall of Fame. I will be doing a rant for his push next week. So here's a small preview...
ART MONK - part one

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Upset Saturday

What a day in college basketball yesterday! Upsets, great games, and another weekend where stars shined and teams looking to improve their resume for the NCAA tourney. Five of the top 25 teams in the nation were upset yesterday but none were bigger than #1 ranked North Carolina and #4 UCLA. Gary Williams and his Maryland squad beat the Tarheels to improve their record to 12-7 and handing the best team in the nation their first loss of the season. Williams now has beaten a #1 ranked team 7 times since 1997, an amazing statistic. Also, the highly anticipated Pac-10 game between freshmen studs O.J. Mayo and his USC Trojans verses Kevin Love and his UCLA Bruins was a must see game. To bad most of the nation wasn't able to enjoy it since CBS gave regional coverage to the Ohio State/Tennessee game. USC beat UCLA at Woodens Court 72-63 snapping the Bruins 9 game winning streak and putting a big stamp on their tournament credentials. Stealing the spotlight was another frosh who stole the show for the Trojans, Davon Jefferson scored a career high 25 points while Mayo finished with 16. Love had 18 points and 14 boards for the losers. Other upsets this weekend were Kansas State knocking off Texas A&M, Cincinnati beating Pittsburgh, and Auburn squeaking by Mississippi. But, this is what I have been looking for in college basketball this year, a little bit more parity between big time conference rivals. This season still has about a month and a half left before the conference tournaments and we still have two teams undefeated in Kansas and Memphis. Memphis is more than likely to run the table undefeated til the NCAA tourney, since Conference USA is pretty much a joke as far as I am concerned. My shock of late has been the great play of the Atlantic 10 conference, I heard Hubert Davis yesterday say that he thinks the A-10 will get 5 teams in the tourney. I don't really agree but we still have a lot of basketball to be played and it should be interesting going down the stretch. In case you were wondering on a different note, highly football and basketball recruit Terrelle Pryor was in attendance for the Michigan/Iowa game yesterday. The Wolverines of course lost and it looks to me that Pryor could ultimately start for the both basketball and football teams next season if he decides to commit to the Ann Arbor school. Enjoy the basketball coming up!

Greatest Season of All-Time

Over the next couple of weeks during my free time I will be giving you my top 20 favorite individual season for an athlete before the 21st century. Number 20 was Lawrence Taylor in 1986, who will be the only football defense men to make my list. Number 19 we are going to 1988 and the only woman to make my list.




In 1988 the tennis world witnessed something that can only be done every four years, but if this does happen again at least she was the first. Steffi Graf, who I remember was really unstoppable in her prime won all four Grand Slam titles during the '88 tennis season but that wasn't all, she also won a gold medal in the '88 Olympics in Seoul. I know that this is women's tennis I am writing about, and I might lose the few readers that I have, but really think about it, how dominate Graf really was to do this. She finished the tennis season with a 72-3 record and at one point won 46 straight matches. She also won 11 other singles titles and when she won Wimbledon, she beat Martina Navratilova who had won the previous 6 titles at the famous England club. The only woman to make my list and I feel that it is very well deserved.

Conference Championship Sunday

This is it. Winners moves on to the Super Bowl. Losers wonder the "what ifs" and has to wait 9 months to improve on their title aspirations. One visiting team goes to New England where the Super Bowl title has gone 3 times this decade. While the other visiting team must go to cold Green Bay where they are trying to bring the title back to the storied frozen tundra. Both the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants have a tremendous tasks facing them for a chance to beat heavy favorites and move on to sports biggest game. Let's looks at the match ups:

NEW ENGLAND VS. SAN DIEGO Another game closer to perfection for the 2 touchdown favored Patriots. While the Chargers have a bitter taste when mentioning the Pats, since they lost in the divisional round last year and a butt whooping that was given to them during week 2 this season. Not only do the Chargers have enough to worry about with the potent offensive attack of Tom Brady and the rest of the Pats but they their own worries about whom on their team will play or not. Quarterback Philip Rivers has been playing with a bad knee for more than a month and not practicing this week is a cause for concern as far as timing is concerned. Antonio Gates has been nursing a dislocated left toe the last two weeks and even though he did play last week he wasn't much of a factor during the game with only 3 catches. Finally, Ladainian Tomlinson will be on the field despite a nagging knee injury but with a backup like Michael Turner the run game shouldn't be that effective. But, let's face it. They are still playing the Patriots in Foxborough. As much as I am sick of the Patriots and their winning ways, we are all watching history right before our eyes. I really don't think that this is a very favorable match up especially if back up QB Billy Volek might have to step in for Rivers. Take the 14 points if your a betting man, the Pats will rout!

GREEN BAY VS. NY GIANTS If your a fan of the NFL how can you possibly be routing for the Giants this weekend? Brett Favre after many of us wrote him off last season, is back and is a win away from a Super Bowl appearance with the youngest averaged team in the league. Favre has been so special this year and to have a possibility of a Tom Brady/Brett Favre Super Bowl very close the Green Bay faithful will be loud and Lambeau should be electric. The Giants who have been playing the "underdog" card since getting to the postseason are red hot. They are going to have to keep their hotness Sunday night if they want any chance at a title with the temperatures looking to be in single digits by game time. Both teams will try to run the ball as much as possible with the wind being a factor throughout the game. Ryan Grant has been another feelgood story for the Packers this year and will have some redemption on his mind since he was traded to the Pack from the G-men this season. For the first time ever I feel pretty confident in both home teams this year, the Giants will keep it close but I cannot see Favre's season ending on Sunday night during a, I think, a potential high television rated game.

Greatest Season of All-Time

I am sure that most of you sports fanatics have heard about ESPN posting the greatest season of all time. With all the talk about what a special season Tom Brady is having it is hard to not talk about the greatest season by a single player. As most of my ideas about blogging comes from ESPN, I would like to give you my favorite season by an athlete, any athlete, before the turn of the century. Since in most sports the game has changed dramatically through either rules of the game or just overall athleticism. Over the next couple of weeks when I don't have anything to write about, I will give you my countdown of my 20 favorite individual seasons by athletes before the year 2000. Without further ado, here's number 20-

LAWRENCE TAYLOR - The first real L.T. had such an incredible year for a defense men in 1986. Being a leader of great defensive team in the New York Giants, he accounted for 20.5 sacks that season. On top of that, Taylor recorded 105 tackles, 5 pass deflections, and 2 forced fumbles. As a Washington Redskins fan I couldn't stand L.T. but not once did I ever doubt his talents on the field. The All-American at UNC was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year award that season but also became the first defensive player since Alan Page of the Minnesota Vikings to win the NFL Player of the Year award. Oh, on top of all his individual achievements that season he also helped the Giants win Super Bowl XXI. Taylor was a tremendous defensive player that ultimately changed the way the game was played on the other side of the ball.

Today in the NFL

Well, the Miami Dolphins have their 3rd head coach in 12 months in West Haven native Tony Sparano. Sparano worked under Bill Parcells for a few years and it seemed to me that the hiring of Sparano was done because Parcells trusts him, and knows that he could or should I say will ask the Hall of Fame coach for weekly advice. It is a safe hire for "the fish" and Sparano is young enough where this long process of rebuilding the Dolphins will hopefully work out with time. For those of you not familar with Sparano, he graduated from the University of New Haven having lettered in football for all four years. On top of that he head coached his alma mater for 4 years. Also, had coaching stints with the Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins, Jacksonville Jaguars, and finally 4 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.




After being a good boy all year and having a phenomenal one on top of that, Randy Moss picked the wrong time to get bad news brought to the attention of the media. With the AFC Championship game just days away, Moss was issued a restraining order from a women who said that he committed battery causing serious injury to her on January 6th in her Florida home. Watching him answer questions today Moss seemed furious and denied the allegations to a women that he said was a friend of his for 11 years. A hearing is scheduled for January 28th just 6 days before the Super Bowl. I really don't think that this will be that big of a distraction, but I am sure that the media will keep it one.

The Washington Redskins had their 4th interview with Assistant Head Coach Gregg Williams for the head coaching job today. THE FORTH!!! Come on Dan Snyder, what does else does he need to do. The man I think has earned the right to take over for Joe Gibbs, plus you are keeping the stability in the locker room by keeping him around. You still will have offensive coordinator Al Saunders doing the play calling. Rumor has it that Jim Mora Jr. interviewed for the job today as well. As a Redskin fan we cannot change the coaching staff especially when it looks like the team is finally buying into the defensive and offensive schemes. Do the right thing Dan, for once!

Finally it's never to early to talk NFL Draft, especially when your team is out of the playoffs. Scouts Inc. guru, Todd McShay came out with his mock draft today and it is free (no insider necessary) and you'd be surprised with his selections and reasons for them. Here's a little sample at who he thinks is going where: * denotes still coin flip to determine correct order

1. Miami - Glenn Dorsey DE LSU


2. St. Louis - Chris Long DE Virginia


3. Atlanta* - Matt Ryan QB Boston College


4. Oakland* - Darren McFadden RB Arkansas


5. Kansas City* - Jake Long OT Michigan


6. New York Jets - Vernon Gholston DE Ohio State


7. New England - Mike Jenkins CB South Florida


8. Baltimore - Brian Brohm QB Louisville


9. Cincinnati - Sedrick Ellis DT USC


10. New Orleans - Kentwan Balmer DT UNC
    

For those of you that read this and are curious on what McShay has the Redskins picking it's Limas Sweed WR of Texas, if they were to go wide out for whatever reason I hope that they get that kid from California DeSean Jackson but he probably won't go to pick #20.

Idiot of the Week

Let's see here, the New England Patroits are 17-0 and crushed the San Diego Chargers week 2. So what do you do when you are about to face the same team for the right to go to the Super Bowl? You make a statement like this, "Who are the Patroits? Trust me they are more worried about us! Believe me they know what's up!" This is The Nutz first idiot of the week award in 2008 and it goes to Igor Olshansky, defensive end for the Chargers.

Well It's That Time of the Year

Jones and McFadden

With national high school football signing day closely approaching, it is also that time of the year when the underclassmen from college will be choosing to stay in school or declare for the NFL draft. Being a Michigan fan, for the first time ever I am keeping a close eye on the incoming recruits for next season. Michigan has already lost 2 of their starting wide receivers for the NFL draft in juniors Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington. On top of that the #2 quarterback recruit from last season Ryan Mallett of Michigan has decided to transfer out of Michigan because of the recent coaching change with Rich Rodriguez coming to town. Mallett I think realized that Rodriguez's offense scheme would not fit his style as a quarterback and now Michigan will be looking to get a top recruit to come in. The #4 overall recruit Terrelle Pryor of Pennsylvania looks to be the best fit for Michigan's new spread offense and I as well as all Michigan fans hope that Pryor decides to go to Ann Arbor. Pryor is a ridiculous athlete who might try and play basketball as well for the Big Ten school.

Arkansas also took a huge loss in their backfield today as they lost Heisman runner up Darren McFadden and their other stud back Felix Jones. McFadden could possibly be a #1 pick in this year's draft with Jones looking to impress the scouts at the combine and be at least a 2nd round pick. Forty other underclassmen in college have already declared for the draft. Other notables are RBs Steve Slaton of West Virginia, Kevin Smith of Central Florida, and Ray Rice of Rutgers. Also, DE Vernon Gholston of Ohio State, DE Derek Harvey of Florida, S Kenny Phillips of Miami, and WR Earl Bennent of Vanderbilt.

Signing day is Febuary 6 for high school recruits which is going to be here before these stars of tomorrow will know it. Here's a look at the top 10 left that are undecided and their possible whereabouts:

1. WR Julio Jones of Alabama-(Alabama, Florida, FSU)

2. QB Terrelle Pryor of Pennsylvania-(Michigan, Oregon)

3. RB Darrell Scott of California-(Texas, Colorado, Florida)

4. RB Jamie Harpor of Florida-(Florida, Clemson, Illinois)

5. WR Deandre Brown of Mississippi-(LSU, Florida, Texas Tech)

6. CB T.J. Bryant of Florida-(LSU, FSU, Florida, Alabama)

7. CB Brandon Harris of Florida-(LSU, Florida, Ohio State)

8. DT Omar Hunter of Georgia-(Notre Dame, Florida)

9. DT Brandon Thompson of Georgia-(Clemson, LSU, Tennessee)

10. DE William Green of Alabama-(Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Alabama)

NFL Divisional Round

In my opinion this is by far the best weekend during the NFL season, Divisional play. The top two teams in each conference facing off against teams that are going to have to fight their way to the Super Bowl the hard way. The matchups are set and looks to be a very interesting and fun weekend for the NFL, lets take a look at the games.

INDIANAPOLIS VS. SAN DIEGO The Chargers beat the Colts already this year at San Diego on 6 interceptions by last year's Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning. With the game being in Indy this time around I am really looking for the Colts to establish a running game first and shoot down field to their wideouts and tight ends. Marvin Harrison will be back finally for the Colts after being out of their lineup for more than 10 weeks. While on the other side the Chargers might be without stud tight end Antionio Gates who suffered a serious toe injury. With Gates more than likely out the Chargers and Phillip Rivers will be missing their safety net in the passing game so they will be forced to give a huge workload to Ladianian Tomlinson. I find it hard to believe that this will work out for them and the Colts will move on and make it to the AFC Championship, again.

NEW ENGLAND VS. JACKSONVILLE The energy in northeast Florida is unbelievable right now hoping that their Jaguars will pull off the biggest win in the history of the franchise. Jacksonville defense has been solid all year but with it's biggest test Saturday night stopping the Tom Brady offense they are really going to have their work cut out for them. The biggest key for the Jags tonight will be the 1st quarter. They cannot afford to be down 2 scores right away because that will then take away what they are best at, controlling the ball and keeping the other team's offense off the field. Obviously, I will be routing for my team closest to home but I don't believe that will be able to win in a up and down game which is what the Pats want to do. Jacksonville will cover the 13.5 but I got them losing by 10.

DALLAS VS. NY GIANTS Lots of buzz all week about how great the Giants are and how this whole Tony Romo/Jessica Simpson drama has made me sick. The two teams no matter what will be their and are going to try and win no matter what the experts think. It looks like Terrell Owens will play Sunday, but the real difference maker in this game will be the play of the Dallas O-line and Marion Barber. Eli Manning finally won a playoff game which is good and all but your only as good as how you play in the next game. Lucky for Eli that the game is in Dallas so if he starts of slow he doesn't have to hear the boos from the NY faithful. A road NFC team usually wins in Divisional play and I have to say that I haven't liked the Cowboys for at least 5 weeks. Giants win with a heavy dosage of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs.

GREEN BAY VS. SEATTLE Well, here we go again Brett Favre going against his old coach in Mike Holmgren. All week I have listened to and watched every analyst pick the Packers without hesitation. Seattle is a very good team and if their front 7 puts pressure on Favre like did to Todd Collins last week it could be a long game for the Pack. Undrafted running back Ryan Grant has been outstanding all year and if he starts off well, then that will open things up for the Packers spread passing offense. Besides the Jaguars I'll be routing for the Packers hard the rest of the playoffs and I think, even though it scares me, I stay with the rest of the experts and have Favre moving on to the NFC championship with a chance at another Super Bowl appearance.

My Week Full of Movies

This past Monday I was a bum. Not just any bum, but really the most productive thing I did that day was take a trip to Jacksonville. Even that was exhausting! So I got to J-ville, which by the way has a buzz throughout the city with the big game this weekend, and went to the movies and saw Charlie Wilson's War. Good movie, not great. Hilarious at times, very informative about the rise and fall during the Cold War that many Americans had no idea about, including myself. The acting was absolutely incredible though! Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman were both nothing short of phenomenal. Even Julia Roberts, who I am not that big of a fan of her acting, was pretty impressive. I would recommend everyone to see this film just for the great history lesson that you would get from the film.

So when I got to my brother's place, my bro had Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End saved on his DVR. The third film thus far for this great Pirate movie that has brought great imagination and incredible special effects that has had my attention throughout this awesome trilogy. Johnny Depp put on another great performance as Captain Jack Sparrow and as most of you may or may not know is one of my favorite characters in film making. If you saw the first two movies, do not waste any time to see this one.

Getting back home on Tuesday brought me more joy of doing absolutely nothing for a couple more hours that day. Being a customer of Netflix has given me the ability to see movies that are older, Oscar nominators, Oscar winners, and comedies that I have just never got around to see. Well the next movie that was on my queue, was the ever famous and in some peoples eyes as one of the best films ever...Citizen Kane. Directed by a 26-year-old by the name of Orson Welles back in May of 1941. Yes, I watched a two hour movie that was made in 1941 and you know what the critics were right, this film was excellent. The jumping back and forth to this person's life good and bad for that time in the movie industry was absolutely genius. Most of my readers probably won't see this film, but I'll tell ya you'll be missing out on seeing a great classic!

So that was my weekend Monday and Tuesday, full of great acting and powerful movies that I was happy to see. Everyone needs a day (or two) like that, now I need to run 5 miles because I think that I gained 20 pounds those two days!!!

Joe Gibbs Retires...Again!

A little more than four years ago I was driving a delivery on 95 North when I turned on ESPN radio and I heard the best news that I've heard in years being a Redskin fan. They announced that Joe Gibbs was coming back to coach in Washington for a second time. All I cared about at that point in time was, "Yes! The Redskins are going to be back in the playoffs!" Well, he only got them there twice in four seasons going 1-2 in those playoffs. Gibbs has been taking a lot of heat for his retirement a year earlier than what he signed his contract for. But, I honestly believe that he was brought back to Washington to save a franchise for the gutter that they were in and bring in some stability to a team that was changing head coaches as often as I change my underpants. I really can't fault Gibbs for wanting to leave after this season with the emotional roller coaster ride the team went through with a death of a player, injuries to key starters, and more importantly his a grandson that has suffered all year with leukemia. The first time that Gibbs retired was to spend more time with his family, with his excuse for leaving being the same this go around its hard to argue this time is fine. Having to go through a player's death, and as most athletes will tell you, you are a family when you put in time with your teammates all year. And, he had to see first hand Sean Taylor's girlfriend, mother, father, and other family members mourn a loss and Gibbs I think just thought that being 67, he needs his family more than ever. So good luck with the rest of your life Coach Gibbs you certainly will be missed. You are and always will be Washington Redskin Football.

The College Football Season

What a year it was in college football! Remember this season folks because I really don't think that there will be another like this one. Oh and by the way, Georgia and USC are the hottest teams in football right now. What I wouldn't give to have another week with a couple more games. Playoffs next season? Riiiiiight.

Wild Card Weekend

Listening all week to all the football experts have drawn me to feel blank with my predictions this weekend for the opening of the NFL playoffs. Great matchups on both sides of the ball for all four games. Saturday is going to be great having the Redskins play at 4:30 and hometown team Jacksonville Jaguars play after. Safe to say that I'll be drunk for the night game that is probably going to be the game of the weekend. My pre-season picks at the start of the year were nothing short of terrible, getting 3 out of 6 in the AFC and picking 2 in the NFC. Anyway, enjoy the football this weekend...here's the picks for the weekend.

SAN DIEGO VS. TENNESSEE On Sunday the San Diego Chargers are going to be looking for their first playoff win since 1995, safe to say that they are way overdue. While I am typing this, it was mentioned on ESPN that Vince Young practiced today but Lendale White didn't, and their top receiver Roydell Williams will be missing the postseason. I really can not see the Titans keeping up with the Chargers offense on Sunday so the question is will their defense slow down the league's best running back in Ladainian Tomlinson. I say no and the Chargers move on.

TAMPA BAY VS. NEW YORK My first thought when I heard of this match up was why are the Giants playing their asses off against the Patriots when they are going to have to go to Tampa and do the same thing the following week. This game could might be Eli Manning's signature game, where we look back at the younger Manning's career and how it really started this Sunday. Tampa Bay hasn't played a meaningful game in almost 3 weeks but I really like Jeff Garcia playing at home in the playoffs. It's time for Eli to finally stop being Peyton's brother but I don't think that the G-men will play with the same intensity that they did last week. Everyone likes the Giants in a tight one well, I like the Bucs big!

PITTSBURGH VS. JACKSONVILLE This is what the NFL playoffs are all about, tough run related, smash mouth teams going at to move on. Jacksonville took it to Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago in the snow, and made the Steelers look silly at times. Troy Polamalu is a game-time decision to play this Saturday night, and he in my book is a big, big game changing player. The Steelers defense is 5 times better when Polamalu is in the game. Everyone likes the Jaguars this weekend including Las Vegas, does this bother anyone? I know that a team like Pittsburgh has playoff experience, but can the Jags really beat them twice this season on their home turf. I am going to go and pick the Jags to win only because I would love to see them face the Patriots since the Pats have beaten everyone else that will be left in the AFC.

SEATTLE VS. WASHINGTON My game of the weekend and I get to get it out of the way as it is the first game of Wild Card weekend. How hard is it to win at Seattle? Well, they are 23-4 in the last three seasons including the playoffs. One of their victories was against the Redskins in 2005. The Redskins are the hottest team going into the playoffs, riding on an emotional roller coaster the past month and are in the playoffs after winning the last 4 games. The Seahawks haven't played a playoff team since week 5, while the Redskins had to beat the Giants, Vikings, and Cowboys to get where they are today. The biggest key to the game, is will the Redskins offensive line hold the Seahawks pressure and give Todd Collins time to throw, if that happens I really find it hard that the 'skins will lose. Clinton Portis is the leagues hottest running back and Matt Hasselbeck has been picking apart defenses since their running game has gone south. It'll be loud, it'll be raining, and it'll be great to watch don't miss it as the Redskins keep winning with the real 12th man, Sean Taylor still playing aside them!

Great Start to '08

The 2008 year couldn't start any better for myself. First things first, this past Sunday the Washington Redskins clinched a playoff birth and will play a rematch game this Saturday verses the Seattle Seahawks. It was a great emotional win for the Redskins finishing a tough season which found 7 starters be placed on IR to end their seasons and a Pro-Bowler in Sean Taylor murdered after week 13. For the 'skins to beat their rivals in the Dallas Cowboys by Taylor's number, 21, it was an extremely emotional win and their off to Seattle for a Wild Card game.

Now let's get to the main course! On New Years Day I found myself 11 rows from the field at the Citrus Bowl for the Capital One Bowl with my boys from Michigan facing off 10.5 point favorite Florida Gators. In what ultimately ended up being the greatest sporting event of my life, I got to see Michigan beat Florida in a sell-out crowd stadium which had more than three quarters of them being Gator fans at a Bowl game on New Years Day. I probably could have sold these tickets for $800 dollars a piece from where I was seated. I had parents of the Michigan players in front of me. Junior and Senior recruits near me, alumni all around us, and got to shake hands with former Wolverine, Jay Feeley. It was a day I will never forget on top of getting to share it with my bro. Words really can't express my feeling after the game, with so much at stake, the game being in Florida, seated right there for the action, and the after game ceremony with the rest of the Michigan faithful. Here's just a sample of the great pics I got, yeah I took over 70 pictures!!!

Star running back, who had a tough last game, Mike Hart's mom was literally 7 rows in front of me.

Junior wide receiver Mario Manningham during warmups. This kid is crazy fast!

The pre-game trash talking, later I saw that ESPN ended up showing this. The Gators definitely started the altercation, and Michigan finished it.

Lloyd Carr taking his team out on the field for the final time. It was nice to see him leave Michigan with a great Bowl win upset. If he won a few more of these the past 5 years, I probably wouldn't be writing about his last game.

Mario Mannigham and former Michigan standout Braylon Edwards celebrate on the field after the Wolverine upset.

Michigan Captain and probable top 3 NFL Draft pick this April, Jake Long holds up the Capital One Bowl Trophy after the game. It was a tough year to come back to for Long, but I am sure great ending for an All-American career. Much more success to come for this All-American.

Final score was great but to get this photo with the jumbo-tron having the 4 great seniors on it (from right to left, Chad Henne, Shawn Crable, Jake Long, and Mike Hart) was icing on the cake.