College World Series Prediction

Regional play for the field of 64 starts tomorrow and you probably will find it very hard to find a college baseball game on unless you have a team in your area playing or Directv with college baseball stations in the 600s. Well, since I already gave you my predictions for who I think will advance to Omaha. Here's who I think will win. Just so you all know this is the pre-prediction because I will more than likely give you another one when the teams get there, so this one will be short.

Again here's the 8 teams who I have advancing to the CWS:

Miami

South Carolina

Cal State Fullerton

Florida State

North Carolina

LSU

Rice

San Diego

As you can see I am really high on the ACC as is everyone else in the nation, even though the ACC hasn't won a CWS title since 1955. Whenever you get to this point in the tournament you are looking at who will have the stud pitchers to move you on in the winners bracket and how your team performs in stressful situations during the game. 'Cuz let's be honest, these kids during the regular season don't see this many people in the stands like they do when they step on the field at Omaha. The kids from Carolina have been to the Championship game against Oregon State the past two years and I think that they are still good enough to get there again. The Gamecocks from South Carolina are my sleepers because of the power their lineup brings to the table, with 4 of their players hitting more than 15 homers during the season. Rice has a great 3-headed monster in pitchers Ryan Berry, Chris Kelley, and Matt Langwell who combined for a 17-6 with 199 k's; so their chances are pretty good. LSU is riding the nation's longest winning streak in 20 games, and the SEC got 9 teams in the field so somebody thinks that the SEC is a top notch conference this year. More of a reason not to have them win it in my book. San Diego has sure top 5 pick in next month's draft in 3B Victor Sanchez, and fellow Pre-Season All-American pitcher Brian Matusz who went 11-2 this year with a 1.88 ERA. Cal State Fullerton will head into the tourney with the best 1/2 punch with pitchers Jeff Kaplan (11-1) and Cory Arbiso (11-3).

That being all said, I firmly believe that the kids from Miami and North Carolina have the kids to step up and get the job done. If you didn't read my pre season preview for college baseball back in February I posted that Miami would face UNC in the final, so I am going to stick with it. North Carolina has the easiest road to Omaha out of the 8 teams that I posted today. Their pitching has been very suspect down the final stretch of the year, but ace of the staff, Adam Warren is one of the best pitchers in the nation the past two seasons posting a 21-1 career record and could single handily take the Tarheels all the way. But, I liked Miami since the beginning of the year. They are the only team in the nation without a double digit loss during the season. Led by top prospects that I mentioned in my pre season special, Yonder Alonso and Jemile Weeks. This team is very dangerous and fun to watch (if you haven't seen them yet make sure that you do before the CWS) and I firmly believe that if they do not get to the Championship game in Omaha this year the 47-8 Hurricanes will be considered a huge disappointment.

3RD PLACE

SAN DIEGO

2ND PLACE

NORTH CAROLINA

CHAMPS

MIAMI

Greatest Season of All-Time

18 down...2 to go. Back with my newest installment of my favorite greatest season of all-time before the turn of the century. This week's post is a player that I wished I gotten a chance to see just once. I have always been a huge fan of his, and I never got to see him play live. On to number 2!

College basketball never saw this "Pistol" being drawn. Watching the fluidity of his ballhandling, the way he glided on the court and his ability to score, and you can begin to appreciate his mastery of the basketball. Simply put, Pete Maravich is the greatest scorer in college basketball history. In 1969-70, his senior year, he set D-I records for scoring average (44.5) and total points (1,381). Pistol Pete notched 50-plus points 10 times, including three games over 60 points. He scored 69 against Alabama, which stood as a D-I record for 21 years. Maravich's season-low scoring output was 29, which is more than any D-I player averaged in 2006-07. That bested his averages as a junior (44.2 points) and sophomore (43.8). No player has approached any of those marks since. And just imagine what he would have done with a 3-point line. Pete made an average of 13 shots a game from what is now the three-point line; if the three-point line had existed when he played, he would have averaged 57 points a game. Maravich was a first team All-American and was named The Sporting News' player of the year that season, and received the USBWA College Player of the Year and Naismith Award as well. As a team that year, LSU was 20-8 and participated in the NIT, where they were defeated by Marquette 101-79 in the semi-finals. Pete Maravich was classified as one of the greatest players in college basketball history who never played in the NCAA tournament. What is really great about this season is that his statistical output hasn't been close to getting broken. I ask you how many times have you seen a D-I player reach 50 points in a single game? He is and was the greatest college player to step on the court. I normally will just post a picture of him below, but how can I not post his highlights for my readers.

Hottest Women in Sports

Ashley Harleroad is the 61st ranked American tennis player. A female player being that bad can sometimes be profitable, especially if you are one that desperately seeks attention. After losing to Serena Williams in the first round of the French Open Sunday, the 23-year-old tennis player announced that she will appear in the August issue of Playboy. She will be the first professional tennis player ever to pose for the very popular magazine. I am interested to see how she looks in the photo shoot because as of this moment I really don't believe that she is in the top 10 of hot women tennis players. But, with her clothes off it might be a different story.

2008 NCAA Baseball Tournament Bracket (bottom)

After much debate on who I like in the bottom half of the NCAA Tournament sheet, I think that I finally decided who I like to move on. Later on tonight I will give my predictions for the 8 teams I had to advance to the College World Series in Omaha. The top 4 seeded teams of the bottom half of the bracket go as follows: (1) North Carolina, (2) Arizona State, (3) Rice, and (4) LSU.

REGIONALS------SUPER REGIONALS------CWS

(1) North Carolina

(4) Mt. St. Mary's

(3) Elon -------------------UNC

(2) UNC Wilmington

----------------------------------------------------UNC

(1) Coastal Carolina

(4) Columbia

(3) Alabama----------EAST CAROLINA

(2) East Carolina

(1) Nebraska

(4) Eastern Ill.

(3) Oral Roberts---------UC IRVINE

(2) UC Irvine

----------------------------------------------------LSU

(1) LSU

(4) Texas Southern

(3) New Orleans------------LSU

(2) Southern Miss.

(1) Rice

(4) Sam Houston St.

(3) St. John's---------------RICE

(2) Texas

---------------------------------------------------RICE

(1) Texas A&M

(4) Ill.-Chicago

(3) Houston------------TEXAS A&M

(2) Dallas Baptist

(1) Long Beach St.

(4) Fresno St.

(3) California-----------SAN DIEGO

(2) San Diego

------------------------------------------------SAN DIEGO

(1) Arizona St.

(4) Stony Brook

(3) Oklahoma---------ARIZONA ST

(2) Vanderbilt

The bottom half of the bracket has a ton of talent and it portion was much tougher to choose than the top half. LSU has been the hottest team in the nation the past month and a half winning 20 straight games before entering the NCAA tournament. UNC should have no problem in their Regional round nor should they in the Supers so the National Poll's #2 team Tarheels will get to the CWS with relative ease. That was the easiest part of this bracket! Any of the top 2 teams in each Regional can get to the CWS I firmly believe. A couple of great matchups could occur for advancement in Regional play with Rice/Texas, LBS/San Diego, and Nebraska/UC Irvine. My sleeper team in the bottom half is San Diego. If they can find a way to get through the Regionals they have a great chance of upsetting Arizona State in the Supers with their pitching. If you have two great pitchers the chances of advancing in the Supers increases with the best out of 3 play in that round.

2008 NCAA Baseball Tournament Bracket (top)

Many of you may not know this but the field of 64 for the NCAA Baseball Tournament was announced yesterday at 12:30. And, many of you really could care less until the field gets narrowed down to 16 or even the 8 that make it to Omaha for the College World Series. Here at The Nutz we will give you a little preview all day of who got in and who we might think will move on, just so you will have a better understanding of how the tournament works and how the teams get to Omaha. My first blog today, I will give you the top of the bracket for the Regionals with my predictions in color according to the next region, and later on today I will post the bottom, that will eventually get down to the final 8 that moves on to the CWS. The field of 64 is just like in basketball with top seeds making up the balance of each side of the bracket (top and bottom). The Regionals is a double elimination tournament between the 4 teams in that regional and the winner moves on to the Super Regional against the team that moved on in the other regional according to their position in the bracket. The top 4 seeds in the top of the bracket are (1) Miami, (2) Florida State, (3) Cal State Fullerton, and (4) Georgia. If you have any questions on how the tournament goes don't be afraid to ask. Here are the top brackets and my predictions.

REGIONALS ------SUPER REGIONALS -----CWS

(1) Miami

(4) Bethune-Cookman

(3) Mississippi ------- MIAMI

(2) Missouri

--------------------------------------------------MIAMI

(1) Arizona

(4) Eastern Michigan

(3) Kentucky -------- MICHIGAN

(2) Michigan

(1) N.C. State

(4) James Madison

(3) Charlotte --------SOUTH CAROLINA

(2) South Carolina

-----------------------------------------------SO. CAROLINA

(1) Georgia

(4) Lipscomb

(3) Louisville ------------ GEORGIA

(2) Georgia Tech

(1) Cal St Fullerton

(4) Rider

(3) Virginia --------- CAL ST FULLERTON

(2) UCLA

------------------------------------------CAL ST FULLERTON

(1) Stanford

(4) UC Davis

(3) Arkansas ------------STANFORD

(2) Pepperdine

(1) Oklahoma

(4) Western Kentucky

(3) TCU ----------------WICHITA ST

(2) Wichita St.

------------------------------------------------FLORIDA ST

(1) Florida State

(4) Bucknell

(3) Tulane ------------- FLORIDA ST

(2) Florida

I have had a chance this year to see three of the teams in this top half of the bracket live this year (Missouri, Florida, and Eastern Michigan). Miami has been the class of college baseball all year and are heavy favorites to get to the championship game. Florida State which has possibly the number 1 pick in the MLB Draft next month in Catcher Buster Posey looks to erase past fallouts in Regional and Super Regional play. As much as I like Michigan and their 1/2 punch with pitchers Zach Putnam and Chris Fetter, they won't have much of a chance against Miami's highly talented offense. Cal St Fullerton should have no problem getting to the CWS this year with the only challenge I see for them would be Stanford in the Supers. My sleeper team in the top portion of the bracket are the Gamecocks from South Carolina. USC had a tough time in the heavy SEC this year but were 9-5 verses the nation's top 25.

Random Thoughts Today

I know that I usually write my Random Thoughts on Wednesdays but yesterday was a busy day and I knew that I had time to vent today on the world. Without delay...

I still cannot believe that "my" Chicago Bulls won the NBA Lottery on Tuesday night. If I was the Bulls you couldn't ask to be in a better situation. Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley? I really don't think that they could go wrong either way but if I was Mr. Paxson I am going with the 6'4'' point guard from Memphis.

Kobe Bryant brought the Lakers back in last night's Western Conference Final while I was out cold in my bed. Sorry west coast, there is no reason why the game couldn't start at 8:00...NO REASON! Like I told you in yesterday's blog the Spurs were going to be a tired team and from what I heard on the radio, and on PTI today they were exactly that. I know that this still a long series but that loss had to hurt for San Antonio. Not to mention a stat that I heard today...Phil Jackson is 40-0 in playoffs series where he has won game 1. How about that?

After watching the Celtics/Pistons game the other night I really don't think that Chancey Billips is healthy. His turnovers, shooting, and drives to the hole didn't look like the same guy I have been so use to seeing in the playoffs. I hope that he gets better for the Pistons' sake, but not for mine!

I recently watched the extended version of American Gangster and it was worth it. Why on earth this version wasn't in theatres is beyond me. The extended version was only 18 minutes longer. 18 MINUTES! That's how long it takes to cook Tyson chicken in the oven. I could have dealt with that in the theatre.

There must be instant replay in Major League Baseball! I don't care what Tim Kurkjian says. I will go out and buy a television for the umpires. It takes about 30 seconds to see a replay on tv. When the umpires have to huddle up like they did for Alex Rodriguez' "double" last night it took almost 5 minutes. Come on MLB, get with the rest of our generation and establish a instant replay today!

We are getting very close to going to Major League Baseball games without alcohol being served to us. A 25 year old man died last night after falling some 150 feet from club level seating to field level seating at Atlanta's Turner Field. The investigation is pointing toward alcohol being the main factor. If this was the first time this early year I wouldn't be too worried, but there was another fatality at Shea Stadium this year when a man fell 4 stories from the stadium escalator. I know that this is not normal for my blog to have written depressing stories but this is a must. Because of these two incidents we all might be paying for it. No beer at a baseball games is un-American. I wish people could just grow up and enjoy a beer at the game(listen to me?). Seriously, I really wouldn't be surprised if something happens soon after these terrible tragedies.

On a good note for all my snow birds in Connecticut, it finally rained here today after 45 straight sunny days. Man I am spoiled!

Greatest Season of All-Time

I'm back this week with my newest installment of my favorite greatest season of all-time before the turn of the century. The countdown to number is quickly approaching and I have been debating on changing my top 3 with every word that I write. On to #3!!!

Babe Ruth, in 1921 set records at that time with 59 home runs -- eclipsing the totals of eight other teams -- and 177 RBIs. His totals for runs (177), extra-base hits (119), and total bases (457) still stand as records. The Bambino also led the league in on-base percentage (.512), slugging percentage (.846) and walks (145). He hit .378, third in the league, and led the Yankees to their first World Series, where Babe hit .313 despite being limited by injuries. As impressive as Ruth's 1921 numbers were, they could have been more so under modern conditions. Until 1931 in the AL, balls that hit the foul pole were considered ground-rule doubles, and balls that went over the wall in fair territory but hooked foul were ruled foul. Many fields, including Ruth's home Polo Grounds, had exceptionally deep center fields--in the Polo Grounds' case, nearly five hundred feet. Bill Jenkinson, author of the book - The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Homeruns concluded that Ruth would have been credited with 104 home runs in 1921, if modern rules and field dimensions were in place. The Yankees had high expectations when they met the New York Giants in the 1921 World Series, and the Yankees won the first two games with Ruth in the lineup. However, Ruth badly scraped his elbow during Game 2 sliding into third base (he had walked and stolen both second and third). After the game, he was told by the team physician not to play the rest of the series. Although he did play in Games 3, 4 and 5, and pinch-hit in Game 8 of the best-of-9 Series, his productivity was diminished, and the Yankees lost the series. As much as I am a huge baseball fan and baseball historian, I couldn't get myself to put this in the top 2. I have always been a hateful person when there are talks of "The Babe". I hate the fact that mostly everyone (especially Yankee fans) consider him as the greatest baseball player ever. I never got to see him and neither did anyone who reads this blog so until they prove me otherwise he was good but not as good as some other Yankees. That's all I have though in my argument. His career credentials are out of this world, so save your hate for me for someone else. Anyway, this is my blog and I rank Babe Ruth's season of 1921 3rd! Number 2 coming next week!!!

Western Conference Finals

The San Antonio Spurs will renew their rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers tonight in which the Lakers own a 3-0 lead all-time in the Conference Finals against the most dominant team in my opinion this decade. The Spurs are 4-time champs and have the ultimate package of big man (Tim Duncan), small man (Manu Ginobili), and point guard (Tony Parker). They are and have always been the most fundamentally sound team in the playoffs and have had great role players, and great coach, and none of their stars are "look at me" players. For this reason the NBA, media, and somewhat me don't want to see this team in the Finals. To me, the biggest question marks in the series are: Who will guard Tony Parker? and How will Kobe fare with his chance of the Finals without Shaq? I really see the team that gets the most out of their bench and controls the boards to control the series throughout. These two teams have combined for 7 of the last 9 championships but this Lakers team is less experienced than the elder Spurs. You could have expected the Lakers to be the more rested team of the two after finishing off the Utah Jazz Friday. But, not to this extreme...the Spurs were stuck at the New Orleans airport in a plane with mechanical problems because all the hotels in New Orleans were occupied because of a Cable and Telecommunications convention. They ended up staying in the plane sleeping for 6 hours then traveling 4 hours to Texas. To top things off the Spurs didn't practice on Tuesday! So game 1 looks to be in the Lakers favor. Though, it looks to me that there is a good chance of this series going all 7 and if that's the case I gotta go with the home court advantaged team, which is the Lakers. But, like I have done so many times in the past (pick against the Spurs), they will probably screw the NBA again and advance to another Final, hopefully not against Detroit!!!

Rumor of the Week

Mike D'Antoni is changing his mind and leaving the New York Knicks to go and coach the Chicago Bulls. After sitting there at the NBA Lottery and listening to the countdown to the number one selection of the Draft, he decided that he couldn't handle the bad luck in New York especially with them getting the number 6 pick. He was quoted say, "Number 6! This organization is so screwed! Nobody worth while will be there for us, so I am leaving.". Since the Bulls won the lottery and get the number 1 pick, and are still looking for a coach, D'Antoni was their first choice so they decided to take him back. When D'Antoni was asked is he leaving New York for Chicago just to have the chance at coaching Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley he replied, "ABSOLUTELY!".

NBA Lottery

I do not remember the last time that I missed the Draft Lottery. Some say that this is a bad way to determine draft order, others like myself are in favor. I realize that a team can turn around their franchise with one player, but this way is more fun for the fans and can keep teams from dumping at the end of the regular season. This is all that I will blog about on the draft because...I played the mock NBA Lottery on the leader in sports, ESPN's NBA home page and it came up crazy and I wish I was lying when I say that I did this multiple times so I could get what I wanted for the draft order. But I didn't, so sorry Knicks fans this is actually what happened when I was in the lottery room today. Unreal how this came out! Tonight I will be routing hard for either the Bulls, Blazers, or Sonics to hit it big. Go to the NBA page on ESPN and go to the Mock Lottery and see what happens for you. Here's the order along with the player I think will be drafted and the chances of winning the #1 pick. LETS GO BABY BULLS!

1. Seattle Supersonics - Derrick Rose 19.9%

2. Miami Heat - Michael Beasley 25%

3. Chicago Bulls - Kevin Love 1.7%

4. Minnesota Timberwolves - Jerryd Bayless 13.8%

5. Memphis Grizzlies - O.J. Mayo 13.7%

6. New York Knicks - Eric Gordon 7.6%

7. LA Clippers - D.J. Augustin 7.5%

8. Milwaukee Bucks - Russell Westbrook 4.3%

9. Charlotte Bobcats - Brook Lopez 2.8%

10. New Jersey Nets - Anthony Randolph 1.1%

11. Indiana Pacers - Kosta Koufos 0.8%

12. Sacramento Kings - DeAndre Jordan 0.7%

13. Portland TrailBlazers - Danilo Gallinari 0.6%

14. Golden State Warriors - Darrell Arthur 0.5%

NBA Eastern Conference Finals

Well, at least we didn't have to wait long for the start of this series like we had to wait for the game 7s the last two nights. The less tested but more rested Detroit Pistons head to Boston tonight for the Eastern Conference Championship against a Celtic team that has played 14 playoff games in 29 days. Detroit, the only playoff team of the four left to defeat their semi-final opponent in less than seven games, looks to be the favorites in everybody's eyes in this series. Can I ask why? To answer my own question the only answer that keeps coming up is the playoff experience the Pistons have "as a team". The core of the Pistons are playing in their 6th straight conference finals winning only two thus far, think that they are not hungry to get to the finals? Only the Celtics can hope not as much as them. With that being the only answer I can come up with some of you might say, "Deez, your not worried about the way the Celtics have been playing?". I am really not at all worried. The Celtics have had some problems this playoffs, but they have still won their series. One problem has been the lack of wins on the road, which is none. So what?! Yeah, championship teams are suppose to win on the road, but now it is time to prove it. I don't think of this as a really big deal especially with the way they win at home in the playoffs. Now another problem has been the play of Ray Allen. For those of you that watched the E60 episode this past week, Boston columnist, and ESPN reporter Michael Smith reported that Allen has been going through some rough times off the court since the start of the playoffs. His stepfather, a Middletown CT resident, had a murder contract over his head from his ex-wife, and the decision in court of the man accused was at the end of the Atlanta series. The decision in court was guilty and the man, who is the currently the husband of his stepfather's ex received 26 years in prison from a judge that Allen has had a business relationship with in the past. So Ray has been receiving much criticism from the accused family and local media because they are saying that there was "special treatment" in the case because of the judge's relationship with Allen. Here is a video below that the children of the accused sent to Allen.




That being said, you can kindof understand why Allen has been in a funk. Allen has refused to even talk about this subject with the media, hoping that this story just fades away. And now Allen has to read about how he has been stinking the court up throughout the playoffs. It is safe to say the Allen mentally needs one good game to get the enormous monkey off his back and his confidence back in check. If that happens, sooner than later, the Celtics will not be beaten. The NBA needs the Celtics to win, and having the home court advantage in this series I thoroughly expect the C's to return to form and be the 66 win team like they were during the regular season. I hope that it will be a tight 7 game series, but I am going to say that the Celts will finally win a road game and defeat the Pistons in six. This isn't the first time the Celtics and Pistons have faced off in the Conference Finals. Just listen to the video below, one of my favorite calls ever!

Pic of the Week

As frightening as it may sound, I am very happy to post my pic of the week today. Last week my good friends, Maynard Lumbra and Stef Uhlman gave birth to their first child. The child was fortunately for Maynard's sake a boy, Cael Landon. Why on earth God wanted another "Mif" running around on this planet is beyond me. Congratulations you two! Can't wait to see the little guy in a couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday!

If you are going to have a child and you want them to be successful in sports, better start getting busy with your partner in the month of August. The following people are celebrating their Birthdays today, I repeat today...May 15th!!!

Josh Beckett-28

George Brett-55

Desmond Howard-38

Emmitt Smith-39

John Smoltz-41

Among the others who's birthdays are today include:

Don Nelson-68

Omar Vizquel-41

Rod Smith-38

Ray Lewis-33

Dan Patrick-52

Random Thoughts Today

It must be Wednesday because my thoughts are racing after the weekend that was in sports. I am mostly going to concentrate on the NBA Playoffs since I haven't wrote about it nearly as much as I did a year ago. Let's get right to my RTTs!!!

What's going on with the home teams? Is it really that difficult now to win on the road? The home teams in the second round of the NBA playoffs are 17-1 with the lone team, the Detroit Pistons, to win on the road. Subsequently leading to them finishing off the Orlando Magic last night 4 games to 1 and moving on to another Conference Championship Series. I don't know about most of you but I don't ever remember a NBA Playoffs with this kind of trend. It almost feels like now when I watch a game this round that the first team to lose a home game will ultimately lose the series which makes every game almost like a game 7.

The Boston Celtics have been really driving me crazy this post season. As much as I say I don't have an NBA team that I rout for I have found myself routing for this team since the post season began. With the Cavs winning both home games this past weekend, they have tied the series at 2 games apiece and in my opinion have put a ton of pressure on the Celtics going back to Boston for game 5 tonight. I have heard a ton of criticism of Kevin Garnett by so-called "experts" on ESPN this week and I just shake my head. He has been keeping the C's so close on the road. His numbers in points might not be there but his defensive pressure and controlling the boards had been giving their offense chances to come back but they never could. Speaking of their offense, they have been terrible on the offensive end, at some points looking like a team that doesn't belong in the the second round. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen better get the shooting touches starting tonight or I feel that this season could end up being a disappointing one.

Was I the only one routing for Sergio Garcia at the Players Championship this past weekend? Yeah he is a "Spainard", and yeah he was suppose to be the one to challenge Tiger years ago, and yeah he has choked on numerous occasions in the past on the big stage. But, I am just glad that he got this win out of the way. So that we don't have to hear about his close calls every single week like we use to hear about Greg Norman.

Yes...The Tampa Bay "Deez" Rays are back on top of the AL East after defeating the New York Yankees the past two nights. Better get on board the bandwagon!

On pace to destroy every women's professional golf record known, Annika Sorenstam is retiring from the game of golf at season's end at the age of 37. I only know of womens golf because of Annika. She has dominated this sport for years and though most of the United States don't understand this retirement, I kindof can. Women athletes unlike men have to deal with child birth during their career. Many women have taken time off from their professional sports to deal with this situation. I really don't think that this will be the last year we see Annika on the course but we will just have to wait and see.

36 year-old Chipper Jones is still hitting over .400! I never did expect this from Chipper this season and I really hope that he stays healthy enough to keep us talking all year. Currently hitting .415, even if he flirts with .380 Chipper will be making heads turn especially to Hall of Fame voter that don't think that he belongs in...including myself!

This week Sean Taylor's killers found out that they won't face the death penalty because one of the suspects is under the age of 18. But, they can all still get life in prison. Also, news brought in today is that a fifth person has been found in the slaying of Taylor and this one is only 16 years old. I am fine with them all not getting the death penalty but I hope that they do some hard time for many, many years for their part in the death of young man.

Greatest Season of All-Time

Back with my installment of my favorite greatest season of all time before the turn of the century. Number 1 is closing upon us and this week's post could have easily been #1. We are currently at #4 and this week's sport is hockey during the season of 1981-1982.

After winning the Hart Trophy (League MVP) the two previous seasons, Wayne Gretzky had already established himself as the best player in the NHL. With his 1981-82 season, he showed he might just be the best of all time. Gretzky destroyed the record book with 92 goals and 120 assists, as well as points in a season with 212, all were records at the time (Gretzky later broke his own records for assists and points). Most famously, the Great One broke Rocket Richard's record for reaching 50 goals in the fewest games. Gretzky netted five goals on Dec. 30 to reach 50 in the Oilers' 39th game (Richard's record was 50 games). He also had 10 hat tricks that season, setting an NHL record that he would later tie. For this great season, Gretzky became the only NHL player ever selected as well as the first Canadian to be named AP Male Athlete of the Year along with Sports Illustrated's Man of the Year. Still, in a decade in which he dominated, no performance exudes greatness as much as his 1981-82 season. As a 20-year-old, shattering the previous mark of 76 goals in a season set by Phil Esposito is and was unheard of. Gretzky won the scoring title by 65 points, leaving super sniper and runner-up Mike Bossy in his dust. Gretzky grabbed all sorts of postseason hardware (Hart, Pearson, Art Ross), but it was Gretzky's ability with grace and style to bring the game of hockey to the masses that stands out from the 1981-82 season. Number 99's record of 50 goals in 39 games really stands out to me. He was the reason for my involvement in the game of hockey during my youth. If hockey was more popular with me, I easily could have put this #1 at the very least #2.

Hottest Women in Sports

I am going back to my hottest women in sports theme this week with American Gladiator and Mixed Martial Arts specialist Gina Carano a.k.a. Crush. Carano is currently 5-0 as a professional MMA fighter, two wins coming from knockout. I fell for Carano during the first season of American Gladiator and now she is taking MMA by storm. I have a "crush" for Crush!!!

Rumor of the Week

This is the first of my new edition to The Nutz called "Rumor of the Week". How can you not love rumors, especially when it comes to trades, retirements, and whos dating who. Hope that you enjoy!

The NFL found evidence from Matt Walsh that Bill Belichick was also video taping the Carolina Panthers in their shower room. There has been no word on why. But, some say it has to do with Belichick's marital situation.

"Mom, Sit Your Ass Down!"

I am not going to lie. My mom would have done the same thing Gloria James did. And in return I would have done the same thing Lebron did.

The Emergence of Cliff Lee

It is time to talk about the best pitcher thus far in Major League Baseball. Closing in on his 30th birthday in August, Cliff Lee has emerged as one of the top pitchers in the Majors in the first month and a half of the season. Undrafted by most GMs in Fantasy Baseball Leagues, Lee is currently 6-0 with a 0.67 ERA, 44 strikeouts with only 4 walks in 7 starts. Lee, a 4th round pick from the University of Arkansas by the Montreal Expos in 2000, was to be a top prospect but no one was ever expecting this. The Cleveland Indians had been trying to shop the 6'3'' lefty all off season with no bites. Now with this fantastic start, in a contract year, the Indians have some problems ahead of them when the season comes to a close. Lee is making 4 million dollars this season with obviously more to come. Along with Lee, fellow left handed pitcher, C.C. Sabathia is also in a contract year. With most teams considering this a good problem, the Indians won't be because of salary problems already going on in the organization. Before this season, Lee was 54-36. Last season he was 5-8 in 16 starts with a 6.29 ERA, hence the trade talks. After his breakout year in 2005, when he went 18-5 with a 3.79 ERA. Injuries followed the young prospect and thus his numbers started to fall. His 0.67 ERA is obviously the MLB's top. But, to put this stat into prospective, the league ERA average is at an amazing 4.19. If you were lucky enough to grab this kid in your fantasy league congrats, because this kid's stuff is absolutely disgusting. Watch him pitch once and you will agree.

The Trip to Remember

How can I write about a place where it's slogan is, "What ever happens here, stays here!"? How can I write about a place named Sin City? How can I write about things that I saw and did when I have family members that read this blog on the regular? Well, while reading the book, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max, I really have nothing much to hide! Because I was a good boy, I think! Just so that all of my readers know my new nickname is "The Night Train" and I think that you all will know why after reading this.

When you start your Las Vegas trip with the people you haven't seen since Thanksgiving and two of your very good friends are waiting for you at the airport drinking the hell out of the tallest beer mug I have ever seen, I knew the week was going to be great! Chet, Paul, and I started the a walked that felt like 5 miles to just get a taxi to our hotel which was the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. On the way we saw a guy that very closely resembled Wayno Lefort and Chet was flipping out that he had to get a pic. We didn't and Paul ended up being called a loser from then on. After we finally settled into our room we got a crew together and hit up the best buffet I have ever had inside the Flamingo. Stuffing our faces was very pleasurable, but someone got alittle too excited about it and when he stood up to get more something was pointing out of his paints(that's all I will say about that). The longest day of my life then went to a hole in the wall casino next door to ours called Wild Bills(get use to this place). Nobody won, the theme of the night! So we started to relax, start drinking and watch the games on the tube. Before we knew it the "best band in vegas" went on stage in front of us and we ended up being there biggest fans. Since I don't drink as much beer as I use to I knew that I was in for some trouble, and of course the 2 for $4 beers were flowing. At one point I had to say around 1:00 am I had to race to the bathroom and spray all over the toilet. YES! Great first day in Vegas! I ended up pulling a 27 hour day by finally leaving Wild Bills at 3:30 and stumbled to my room.

Day two was another early rising for some strange reason waking up at 7:30. Chet was dead so I decided to take a shower and do some walking around. I got in touch was The Rick and he was already ready to go so we did what any good friend would do...open the shades and get Chet's punk ass out of bed! He wasn't too thrilled with us got together with Jon Fid, Paul, and Kel and hit up another place that you will hear more of O'Shea's bar and Casino that also had a Subway, Burger King, some Mexican place, and another place that I don't remember the name. O'Shea's was great cuz it was small, they had two great bars with tvs, poker room, and tables. Listening to Jon Fid talk in the Subway line was the best. "Yeah....I want the works...yeah I like that...yea that's the good stuff...yea that too!" Hilarious! His grinder was so huge that they didn't even cut the thing for him. After breakfast/lunch they all stayed to play poker and me and Paul went to Wild Bills after finding the best game the night before in Blackjack Switch. Well, our money didn't last for very long and I had about enough of gambling, especially at that hole in the wall where the only thing good there are your 2 for $4 beers and "the best band in vegas". So I looked at Paul and was like, "You wanna just get drunk?". It was noon, but the hell with it we're in VEGAS!!! We went back to O'Shea's hit the bar played video poker for hours and got hammered on cheap rum and cokes. The rest of the day is pretty much a blur. I know that I didn't eat anything the rest of the day went and got changed around midnight to go out to some club and found Chet sleeping in his bed. Went back downstairs met with about 15 of the guys and went to I believe Magrettas and was bumping into everyone in the club especially men that are twice my size. I looked over at Fid and was like, "Yooo...I think I need to leave!". I was walking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Fid brought me to my elevator where I told him that I could make it from here. Well, I did make it after playing bumper cars with the walls. 2 for 2!

Absolutely in pain I woke up to Chet at about 8am! I was like, "Where are you going?" in some strange language and he said for a walk, "LETS GO!!!". We started walking and I was in desperate need of some grease so we hit up that Mexican place at O'Shea's and I ate a bigger burrito than I ever made working at Taco Bell in high school. Killed the the thing and kept walking. Today I was ready, the Kentucky Derby was today, we were going to finally go to a Las Vegas Strip Club, and I was thirsty! Fid thought that it would be a good idea if we went and saw the race at Caesars Palace, sweet we're there. That place was amazing, I really couldn't believe that it was built by a man. Fid was trying to explain to mainly me but Chet and Rick to about how to bet on horses. After a big dilemma(I had no idea who I wanted and what I wanted) I chose Denis of Cork(you can figure out how I called this horse), Colonial (said it different) John, and Smooth Air with a bunch of different cheap trifectas. Like I posted yesterday it was very exciting and we all lost. We ended up going back to our rooms to nap except me! I went to the Parisi's room to keep the party going. I was thinking that since it was Saturday and my last night, why not? We stayed there for a little while and were getting ready for a night at the strip club! About 12 of us hit up this place called Saphire which was very heavenly. A huge room with our own table and when I say hot, I mean hot females everywhere! Since my week was going so well, I figure that I would spend a little money too bad for me that I got left my cash in our room and all I had was $20 on top of that I wasn't getting dressed up, screw that. So Chet helped a brother out and bought drinks for me that night. When we left, former NBA star Gary Payton walked into the club and I was so excited to see him that you know what I did...walked right by him! Nice! As you may guess, we finished our night with our band at Wild Bills. At this point at Bills I was out of my mind. That this poor guy that is pictured with us above got the business. He passed out when the band went off stage and I continued to be the ass that I was and put stuff on top of this poor sleepy man. I went as far as putting fries and cookies on this guy's hat. The band finished at about 3:30 and everyone was hungry but me, because when we left Bills I puked again outside. This time it didn't feel to right and as the guys went to Fat Burger, somewhere I have been wanting to go, I went to the room and made some calls to see if I could get discounts. Lights out! 3 for 3!

The worst day of my life! Woke up to Fid, The Rick, Chet, and Nitch in the room. I wake up feeling good but after packing, showering, and walking around the feeling stopped. I went over to O'Shea's to meet up with everyone else and tried to eat Burger King...bad move! I walked with the guys to Bellagios Hotel and Casino so that they can eat and while I walked around and sat in their sports book and watch some games. When it possible couldn't get any worse for me I saw this women and I thought that she was checking me out so I walked by he and said, "Hey, hows it going?". Her response was classic not only because it happened to me but because it happened to me. She said, "Wanna get out of here?", with a smile. "HUH?" I had to pause for a second and remember where I am. Oh that's right! When could this ever happen unless I am in Las Vegas. I just looked at her smiled and walked away. It was so funny, that I couldn't even ask her for a price. When I told the guys they were in tears! The rest of my time spent with them they called me "The Night Train"! I was starting to get late and the guys' plane flight left at 5:00 so they had to be there for 3:00 so I went with them to see if I could get an earlier flight and just chill at the airport maybe take in a nap. Well, what happened was I couldn't get a flight and I puked for 4 hours in the airport. At one point I remember hearing a guy on the shitter say while I was yackin, "Come on guy?!". I felt bad so every time after that I just warned everybody that was in a stall that I was about to give a last goodbye to Las Vegas. I didn't fly into Orlando until 7:30 in the morning Monday and had to drive an hour and a half home. Still felt like crap for the next two days even after sleeping 12 hours on Tuesday. I am kind of still recovering and staying away from the booze for a little while, I mean I have a wedding that I am in in a month and "The Night Train" needs a break.

Hope that you enjoyed this because I sure did telling it. It was a longer weekend then what I told and I would go there again, but I would do it a little different. I wouldn't gamble at all and stay somber during the day! I am not going to proof read this because the thoughts came to me as I wrote so sorry for the jumping around. I got these random pics from Kel which tells it all. Man, What a Week!!!

R.T.T. (Quick update from the Toe)

SuperHEEL!!



Keep Jumping Tyler, you idiot. It doesn't matter you'll never hack it in the NBA. What is not shown here was injured guard Bobby Frasor was soon to follow. Obviously, your not from Durham. By the way Coach K hired another alumni to the staff in Nate James. James was a solid all around player when he was at Duke. Thats how the rich stay rich.....keep it in the family. And with that said, I wish a goodluck and farewall to Johnny Dawkins who will try to turn Stanford into Duke Western.

Random Thoughts Today

Finally coherent, I wanted to give you my usual Wednesday's Random Thoughts. With a lot of sports topics on my mind I need to get right to it.

Move over Vlad, Ichiro, and Dave Parker there is a knew man that I have love for his throwing arm and that is my man Rick Ankiel. If you didn't see it watch ESPN today and continue to search for it because last night he didn't just amaze me with his arm once but the damn guy did it twice. You have to find it because this will be the last time you see it. Nobody will run on this guy again, period. Two guys trying to reach third, two guys thrown out by absolute seeds from the deep part of center field in Coors Field. Did I forget to mention that he also hit his 6th homer and has upped his batting average to .277. I am going to be the first to give you the vote for Ankiel world tour for the All-Star Game.

What a joke! The Orlando Magic got so jobbed the other night with the clock stopping for Chaunce Billips to nail a three-pointer ending the third quarter and taking all momentum from the Magic going into the 4th. Not to mention that the Magic had to get a letter from the NBA's office that apologized for what happened and that they got hosed on the call the referees decision. The blame is not to be put on the refs for this one, since the NBA still not up to date with their rules, had no choice but to make a call in that situation without having the option of looking at the instant replay. How can the NBA even have this as a rule? In fact if I was the NBA I would be embarrassed to say that this is not a rule. I am not going to talk about the outcome of the game I just don't understand how with all the evolution in this day in age how can the NBA not get this right? Even in college you can go to the clock and determine the time that went off the clock. It was a low point for professional basketball when you had to watch the referees huddle up for 5 minutes and ask each other, "So how much time do you think there was?", "How bout you?"! If matters could get any worse for the Magic on their way back to Orlando after their game, their airplane was having some functional problems and had to stop in Cincinnati and stay there overnight.

Barry Zito is back in the rotation tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This had to be done! Get his confidence up against a lowly team away from San Francisco. Zito's control and strength on his fastball has disappear since signing that ridiculous contract with the Giants a year ago. He is thus far 0-6 with an ERA in the hundreds. Either way the Giants are screwed because you can't put $125 million dollars in the bullpen nor can you have one in your rotation that is not winning games. This could possibly go down in history as the biggest free agent bust in the history of free agents.

Chris Paul didn't win the MVP award yesterday...Kobe Bryant did. And, I can say that even though I have been a Kobe hater in the past, he is much deserving of this award. Kobe won the MVP for the first time in his career and this year he was so on top of his game that I am so done being a hater. He is good. And you know what the more and more I listen to him talk this year he has been friendly, trusting, and to the point in all his conversations. I have gotten to liken Bryant even though I will still be routing for the Jazz tonight. Congrats Kobe on the award, forgetting what happened in Denver which we will never really know, you have had a pretty tough 5 years which has now found you with a personal award in your showcase.

Sitting at Caesars Palace with Chad, Jon Fid, and Ricky getting ready for the most exciting 2 minutes in sports was unbelievable. Not only was it this because of all the different trifectas that we lost on at the Kentucky Derby. But, sitting there at the bar by ourselves for a couple of hours, then about 15 minutes before the race the bar was packed with people. And by the time the bell sounded and the gates opened for the horses I could hear myself think. The excitement of betting on the race being in Las Vegas and cheering my face off was something I will always remember that day. Big Brown is a tremendous horse that will be a huge favorite as he put one leg of the Triple Crown away. What is regrettably sad is that what gambling does to somebody is that while a horse in Eight Belles in laying on the ground in sure pain and about to be put away all at least I could think about was who finished in second and third in the case of hitting on one of our 50 trifectas.

Finally, I have to talk a little Las Vegas and sports odds! I finally understand why Las Vegas wins! They win because they can. I waited two days for them to post a line for the game 7 Celtics/Hawks game, but it never came. NO LINE! Are you kidding me! I was pretty pissed so I was forced to take two other teams with my money and lost. Nice! It is safe to say that I am done gambling after the weekend that I had...until football season. But basketball and baseball are done, all done!!!

My experience in Las Vegas is being carefully done as we speak and should be posted tomorrow.

Greatest Season of All-Time

I'm back with my latest installment of my favorite greatest season before the 20th century. We are finally here to the top 5, after much scrutiny for my number 6 a week ago I am pretty sure that the comment page will start to pick up. This week we will stay with football this time at the collegiate level. Enjoy!

Since the year of 1988, Oklahoma State running back Barry Sanders has remained the standard for running backs, and what he accomplished during his final season with the Cowboys was nothing short of phenomenal. Emerging from the shadows of Thurman Thomas, Sanders had the greatest season in college football history. Counting the bowl game, he rushed for 2,850 yards in 12 games (an average of 237.5 yards per game) and was an easy choice for the Heisman Trophy. In the 62-14 Holiday Bowl win verses Wyoming, Sanders rushed for 222 yards and had 5 touchdowns. Sanders had four 300-plus rushing games that season, more than anyone else has had in a career. He also scored at least two touchdowns in every game and scored three or more nine times. Barry was probably my favorite player to watch at the NFL level and though I was 10 years of age at the time of this achievement you couldn't help but to hear his name and think that greatest was to come to him professionally.

I'm sorry Deez.....this is the last message from the Toe...at least until the summer.

You may not have a blog when you come back from Vegas.

Just a couple things I would like to leave as I part from the nutz.

I love Red Box (save the Michael Scott remark). I mean, a dollar for a new release rental and you don't have to buy a McFlurry, awesome. Finally, I got to see two Oscar nominated films, Atonement and Juno. As far as Atonement goes, I thought it was a good movie. Picture of the Year---I think not. And I guess depressing was 'in' for 2007 because this movie, 'There Will Be Blood' and 'No Country for Old Men' were good and intense, but all pretty depressing. Don't get me wrong Atonement was a good movie and I think I prefer it over the other two just because it didn't waste over 2 and a half hours to give you a depressing and confusing ending. As far a Juno goes, how didn't Ellen Page win an Oscar. I thought she was spectacular and this movie is up there for Best Film of the Year for me. Again, I'm 5 months late in announcing this and you may not want to take my advice because I prefer watching a movie like Beerfest over anything, but you definitely have to see this Movie.

Alright, I think thats enough. For now. Actually, I have to go check my fantasy baseball squad. I really need a complete game. Good thing I have John Smol...I mean Barry Zi.....,,,forget about it....At least I have Micah Owings playing utility.

Take over Marty, I'm....in.....the....bag.

I'm so confused..........

Well, since Deez is away I figured I'd try to pick up the slack. And since I have nothing to talk about. I'm gonna talk about what concerns and confuses me.

1. I'm gonna start with the most recent. 'Mr. Nice Guy/Quiet Guy" Marvin Harrison is questioned in a shooting. But, it's sad to say as soon as I saw the head lines I actually thought when they said 'Harrison involved in shooting', My first thought was this guy played for the Bengals.

2. Let me get this straight Harrison has a 'Sports Club' and a 'Car Wash'. Who are you?!

3. Let's switch gears, literally. Earlier this year the Sox were playing the Yankees, two outs in the ninth, and the Red Sox where up one. Then FOX cut to the start of a NASCAR race. At that moment I knew I was officially in the South.

3. To TV. I don't think at the end of this season of LOST there are going to be any more extras of the Oceanic flight alive. Did I miss something or did 3 walk out of a house and get shot after Sawyer was yelling for people to get inside? How many survivors were there?

4. Are Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey the music equivalent to Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore?

5. Can we stop the split-faced NBA commercials?! Although, I figured out next year's scariest Halloween mask Half McGrady Half Boozer. Not for children's eyes. Even scarier I made my own commercial with Sebastian Janikowski.



Alright, thats enough......If your interested I heard there's a party at the Perrilloux and Howard residence, directions can be found on the web.

Gooooooooaaal!!!!

Now I know its soccer and it's not America's pastime, but if your like me and you enjoy watching the World Cup then you should enjoy watching the Champions League Finals. The past two weeks if you've turned on ESPN at from about 3-5 you've seen soccer on the tube. Now, again I know its 'soccer', but if you want to see some of the best players in the world and some of the best games of the year then you should watch. I dare you to watch a Champions league game then a MLS game. You could just see the difference between the American game and how they play over in Europe. Unfortunately, right now you've missed most of the Champion's League tournament, but don't worry on May 21st, the championship game will be played. Chelsea will face one of the highest player salaries in the world Manchester United. Chelsea features Holland's strikers Didier Drogba, Sweden's Andriy Shevchenko, and England's Frank Lampard who score an emotional take the lead goal in overtime in the semifinals. It was Lampard's first game back after mourning the death of his mother. On the other side of the pitch you have Man U. who features one of the best goalies ever to play the game, the veteran Edwin Van der Sar from Holland. Manchester U. also features England's great Wayne Rooney and Portugal's star Christiano Ronaldo. These are some of the best players in the world right now and if you've got nothing to do the 21st I suggest turning it on and enjoy. After watching the semi-finals my guess is it should be a good one with Chelsea pulling off the upset 2-1 in overtime.