This is a first for Doin Work as we have never really revisited our predictions. I was reading through them last night, and since we do them for pretty much every sport before the season gets too far along I wanted to check out how we did. We made our MLB predictions one day after the season started, and we made some good calls, and some funny ones that didn’t pan out that well. Now that the season is long over and all the hardware has been handed out it was a good time to look back in our first ever Reviewin Predictions! If you wanted to see all our predictions click here.
AL Central Winner
By: Minnesota Twins – Why? Because Joe Mauer went to Cabo with the Playstation guy!
Dyslecix: Minnesota Twins – Not sold on the White Sox or Detroit the Twins are always there.
AL West Winner
Chappy: Texas Rangers – I don’t want to jinx the A’s before the season even starts, so I’m taking the Rangers rallying behind their drug attic coach and best hitter. I hope Mceezy just picked the Angels to jinx them, but I’m scared he’s probably right…
Mceezy: Anaheim Angels – Because I want to see any other team win this division, the Angels will.
By: Anaheim Angels – For jinxing purposes. Why does the AL West have 4 teams & NL Central have 6?
Manny Paquiao IS boxing right now, and what does he get after he plaster’s (pun intended) Margarito’s face to his glove? Ridicule, that he’s ducking black fighters that fight with an American style. Okay, maybe it was only Bernard Hopkins that said that, but it seems like some agree with his comments, so I’ll assume that’s everyone. It’s funny that a guy who is 52-3 over his career, and owns eight belts that he moved up and down through different weight classes to achieve would be ducking anyone. What more do people want from him? The easy answer to that is seeing him fight Floyd Mayweather. While it doesn’t sound likely it will happen anytime soon, I do think it will happen, unless Floyd keeps ducking it. There’s a couple reasons why I feel like it will happen, and I’ll build my theory through this post, so I can prove I was right when it does go down as the biggest grossing fight ever.
It’s been reported that Manny has outdone Mike Tyson for PPV sales, which was somewhat of a surprising stat to me, but not shocking. I thought Tyson fought more intriguing opponents than Manny, but it seems that people are paying to see Manny just as much, and I don’t blame them, because I love watching him fight. With a growing crowd latching onto every Manny fight, don’t you think Mayweather will notice that he’s not the top grossing fighter without Manny? I think Mayweather will eventually, and since Manny did accept all the terms that Mayweather’s camp requested during the last stale mate, there’s no questioning that Manny wants the fight to happen. Mayweather might hate Bob Arum, but really, who doesn’t? Hopefully he can realize that it’s bigger than Arum, it’s about finding out who is the best, and making a boat load of money.
Now that Manny says he only has three fights/three years left in him (which is understandable), because you don’t want to be in a political office and have your brain turning to mush while making decisions that affect a lot of your fellow countrymen. I honestly have no idea who he will pick for his next opponent, but can guarantee he won’t be fighting Mayweather with the first of his supposed final three fights. My theory is that they don’t fight until Manny’s last fight of his career. Just imagine the kind of money that would pull in. It realistically could be the top grossing fight ever! Another scenario I’ve been kicking around is Manny doesn’t fight Mayweather in his next three fights, and then retires. A couple of months later he comes out of retirement just to fight Mayweather for something to the tune of $200-$300M. How could you pass that up? Boxing is a corrupt sport, and its only fitting Manny is a politician. Politician’s make calculated decisions, and this theory feels like a great decision to me.
Maybe Jared needs to bring back the mullet lines to get Minny their mojo back...
A ho-hum 2-3 week has handed me the feeling that I’ll never figure this year out. Should I quit? Probably, but I’m addicted to losing money! My recent pattern has shown that I will have one good week then one bad week, so the good news is, I should have a good one this weekend. Now that we are past all the bye weeks, there’s a lot more games to pick from, so hopefully picking out the winners won’t be as tough.
I’m so close I can smell it. I’m going with my usual five picks this week, but along with choosing by gut instinct, I’m using deductive reasoning. Well, at least I think I am. I swear I’m better than what my record indicates, but enough talking. Time to show and prove. These next five weeks are going to be killer. Forget above .500, I’m going to the .600 club. Who’s coming with me!?
Week 11 (Chap 2-3, By 3-2) Overall (Chap 24-29-3, By 22-24-4)
Oakland @ Pittsburgh (-7)
Chappy picks Oakland (+7). I’m not overly confident in this pick, especially since I think the Steelers are one of the best teams in the league. I do however like the Raiders coming off their bye week. They are healthy for the first time since week 4, and get back a slew of starters. Most importantly Nnamdi, Zach Miller, Louis Murphy, John Henderson, and Chaz Schillens are all going to be playing. Their best receiver and top targeted tight end should improve the passing game, and the way Brady picked them apart with the two tight end sets, we will need Campbell to have all the weapons possible. Remembering back to last year the game that got us to believe in Gradkowski? Well, if you don’t, it was in Pittsburgh, and they won behind Louis Murphy going off for 128 yards and two TD’s. On the Steelers side of the ball they could be without Hines Ward, which would give Mike Wallace a date with Nnamdi this weekend. I like our chances with that match up. The Raiders are third in the league in sacks, so if the Steelers do win, it will be because of Mendenhall carrying the load. Take the points, seven is a more than generous amount from the oddsmakers.
Green Bay (-3) @ Minnesota
By picks Green Bay (-3). I’m not a big fan of kicking someone when they’re down. Unless that someone is Brett Favre. Listen, I’m not one to pretend I’m unaware of his greatness, but if you’re a egotistical princess, well, I just won’t like you. But, that’s not why I’m picking Aaron Rodgers and the Packers this week. Minnesota is about as dysfunctional as a team can be right now. When players publicly, but anonymously rip their coach apart, you can’t help but think they’re through playing for him. The Vikings might drop this game big, on purpose. I’m just saying.
With the Cam Newton fiasco going on, it made us come up with a new feature and perspective on the blog called What Would Tebow Do? The first installment is about some athlete’s past and present that had accepted money or cheated in one way or another during their collegiate career. Since we aren’t exactly on the up and up ourselves, we thought channeling our inner Tebow to come up with responses or ways these athlete’s should have faced it/done it in the first place. I think this is going to be the first of many What Would Tebow Do posts? Oh, and did I mention that Tim Tebow talks in the third person? Well, now I did.
They sure didn't spend much of the $100K on the church's sign...
Tebow on Cam Newton – Of all the allegations that have flown around over the years, this one is probably my favorite. We’ll assume everything is true since rumors don’t just start from nothing. While I don’t condone him or his dad asking for money, and breaking one of the Ten Commandments, I do condone what he was using it for. Saving a house of the lord that is in shambles is a very forgivable sin, and if I could speak for God (which I can at times), I’d hand him my blessings and move on. The only way Tim Tebow lets this one slide is if Cecile Newton is following the other nine commandments.
Tebow on Reggie Bush – Timmy knows that a lot of people think Reggie took the money from an agent, so his family could buy a house. I doubt that was the case though. I know he really just wanted to tell his WWE Diva, Eve Torres and Kim Kardashian“just throw it in the bag!” You don’t get these kinds of high profile celebrity relationships when you’re just a college player with no money. He needed the cash to get the ladies, and that is something Tebow just can’t stand for! Sex before marriage is a sin, and the money he received didn’t help him towards marriage. What would Tebow have done you may ask? He would have impressed the ladies with his god given abilities!
Tebow on former teammate Maurkice Pouncey – What the hell man?!? I bring this program to the pinnacle, and you go off and get paid by an agent while we are about to go to battle in the biggest game of the season?!? Okay maybe not the biggest, because we lost to Bama, but it was the last game in the most storied college career ever… MINE! Sure you may have helped me to that storied career snapping me the ball and blocking every play. I hope it was worth it, because if you waited until after the game this wouldn’t have mattered at all, plus you were picked seven spots ahead of me, why did you need to get paid early? Did you need lap-band surgery before the game or something!?!
Tebow on suing EA Sports – Lots of former college athletes want some money from EA sports, because they were good college players and EA copied their movements and mannerisms into their video game using everything about them, but only recognizing them by their number. I like video games, and played with myself lots of times while leading my Gators to multiple national championships. I didn’t want money from them though. All I really wanted was for my God given talents to provide for me later in life, and low and behold just after signing with the Broncos I sold the most jerseys in the NFL for any rookie EVER! The moral to the story is, let God show you the way.
**For more what would Tebow do, just buy his book, and you will be able to think like Tebow!
Every Monday it seems like the major sites like to release their power rankings, and since By made his list of top QB’s I figured I should do some rankings myself. I rarely agree with the ones that are on the major sites, so I thought I’d throw up my top 16 teams through the first three weeks of the season…
#1 Los Angeles Lakers (8-2) – It’s nice to see some of those 72 win season talks die down. I didn’t see it happening, and after them losing two straight it’ll thankfully keep it out of the press for a bit. The Lakers have had a pretty easy early schedule with a lot of home games so far. That being said it doesn’t really matter how many games they end up winning, we know they will be in the Western Conference finals regardless… I’m sure those back to back losses are the exception more than the rule.
#2 New Orleans Hornets (8-0) – Wow, I didn’t see them coming on this strong. I guess I should’ve though. They were the #2 seed in the West two short years ago, and now that CP3 is healthy again we remember why we called him the best PG in the league. They look like they are trying to prove that they weren’t just a fluke in 2008. If Okefor can avoid jumping onto the injury report, this team has a chance to do some great things this season.
#3 Boston Celtics (8-2) – Rondo is ridiculous, they are huge on the interior, and they have great outside shooting. What’s that all add up to? The best team in the east! If this team was assembled five years ago when all their former all-stars were in their prime (Jermaine, Shaq, KG, Allen, Pierce) I’d pick this team to win 72 games. When Perkins comes back this team is going to make everyone a jump shooting team (if that wasn’t the case already).
I caught the most recent episode of South Park yesterday, and found Cartman mocking Lebron’s commercial pretty damn funny. For some reason the first clip can’t be embedded, so here it is. He continues to use the “Lebron James technique” throughout the show. Classic stuff if your a SP fan.
Woot woot! 4-1 last week! My best showing of the year as far as I can recall. Too bad I ran out of money on the tables in Vegas to throw bets down on Sunday. Oh well, life goes on. It’s amazing how different this year has been in that, I don’t really care about my fantasy teams or my bets nearly as much as years past. I guess that just goes to show you that when my team (Raiders) are doing well, nothing else matters to me in the football world. I kind of forgot what that felt like, and let me tell you, it’s a sweet feeling I was missing in life! I still like winning money, so I’m going to try to follow up a great week of picks with another one for back to back winners the first time this season!
Congrats to Chappy’s 4-1 last week! As for me, 1-3-1 doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. What sucks the most was that I was extremely confident I would finally top .500 this season with last week’s picks. I guess the only good that came out of it was that my suggestion on taking the Jets to win in Detroit actually helped Chris out. Anyway, it’s back to the drawing board for me. Perhaps I need a trip to Vegas …
Week 9 (Chap 4-1, By 1-3-1) Overall (Chap 22-26-3, By 19-22-4)
Baltimore @ Atlanta (-1)
Chappy picks Baltimore (+1). It’s rare the NFL Network gets a game that’s worthy of watching. Fortunately for them they drew a great one this Thursday when two first place teams meet. Will the Ravens spit on the dirty bird? I think they might, and it’s going to take a lot of loogies to pull out a victory on the road. Neither team has injuries, so this should be a great game with all the starters out there. This is a battle for the future as Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco try to prove who is the better QB of that 2008 draft class. Atlanta is 4-0 at home, but three of those contest came down to the last minute. I don’t see this one being any different except that they will finally be on the losing side of things.
By picks Atlanta (-1): What a dream match up between two title contenders. This could very well be the prequel to the Super Bowl this season. I like Joe Flacco about as much as the next guy, but I’m a big believer of Matt Ryan and his upside. This game is pretty much a straight bet, and so the deciding factor for me comes down to which team has more weapons. With Michael Turner quietly having himself a great year, and with Roddy White not so quietly emerging as the league’s best receiver, I give the edge to the Falcons. Besides, I can’t ride them all year long to jump ship now.
Cincinnati @ Indianapolis (-7)
By picks Indianapolis (-7): I got it half right last week, I knew the Colts would fall in Philly, but I thought Philly would cover the spread. Damn those odd makers, they’re really good. Anyway, give Cincy credit last Monday, as they fought back valiantly to make it interesting against the Steelers. But with Cincy on a short week, and with Peyton fuming from the loss, I predict the Colts make mince meat out of the Bengals in week ten. Colts by 17.
What do you do after you get your $12.5M option picked up by the Red Sox? Duh, you head straight to Vegas to celebrate with Chappy! Okay, okay I don’t really think that was Big Papi’s plan, but that’s the way I remember it, so I’m sticking to that story. It’s funny because I was against going to Pure night club, but was very happy my buddy followed some chicks there or this meeting wouldn’t have been possible. Sure, I might have seen him later on the $10K minimum blackjack tables, but it was much more fun being in the relaxed nightclub scene with some cocktails. What could make me like one of the most likeable guys in baseball more? The fact that he pushed aside his own Maverick Carter wanna-be, and let me chat for a little, and even let me get a picture with him. It’s refreshing in the TMZ age, where I’m sure he gets drunk guys like me bugging him all the time that he took the time to acknowledge my existence. He could’ve easily let his goon push me aside, but being the nice guy he is he pushed his goon aside. Unfortunately, I also found out that he won’t be voiding his contract to take Jack Cust’s spot as the A’s DH anytime soon. That question did get him to chuckle though!
It’s taken me a little while to collect my thoughts on the Raiders game, and I probably wasn’t coherent enough to write about it last night. All I keep thinking is, “I can’t believe they didn’t give up.” The first half was REALLY hard for me to watch, and I honestly thought they were about to get reamed worse than I did on the tables this weekend. It looked like Jamarcus threw on a #8 jersey and led the passing attack to 9 yards, but no, that was Campbell’s first half total. His throws were hitting feet and going over receiver’s heads, which made me think we didn’t have a shot. The refs weren’t helping much either botching calls, and making this game pretty stagnant when they couldn’t even figure out why they threw flags in the first place. The Chiefs first touchdown was the direct result of a pass interference call that the Raiders CB, Chris Johnson nearly intercepted. He had his head turned, beat the receiver to the ball, and for some reason there was still a 37 yard PI called. I’m still mad about that call. There were numerous curious calls in the first half that seemed to go against the Raiders a lot, and they were very fortunate to only be down 10-0 at the half. I thought they’d give up with all the bad luck they had, and would lose some confidence when there were some very questionable play selections like a McFadden pass into triple coverage, and a Rock Cartwright run on a punt fake on a 4th and 6, but they didn’t!
Then the second half started, and so did Jacoby Ford’s breakout party. I remember back when I wrote about the draft I thought he’d be a great return man, and yesterday he showed exactly how great he could be. I have no regrets handing over Kirk Morrison for the draft pick where we grabbed him. I thought he was somewhat one dimensional, but yesterday he showed everyone he might not only be a great kick returner, but he could be their best receiver we have. He sure was yesterday catching 168 of Jason Campbell’s 180 total yards passing including the catches that set up the tie in regulation and win in overtime. I’m not going to expect Ford to put up a performance to match this one anytime soon, but it makes me want to see him on the field A LOT more.
The other great thing about our offense yesterday was Darren McFadden. No, he didn’t have that amazing of a game (17 carries 89 yards), but he looked like a man possessed when he had the ball. I’d never really seen him looking for contact the he was yesterday. Any defender that came close to him he loaded up to either dish a hit or he tossed them aside with a stiff arm. I think all of his yards yesterday might have come after contact, okay, probably not all of them, but I’ll guesstimate over 50% of them.
None of the field goals or great plays by Ford would’ve mattered had it not been for our defense. We didn’t even have the services of the best corner in the league (Nnamdi) who sidelined with a high ankle sprain. We lost middle linebacker Rolando McClain early in the 2nd quarter. We lost starting safety Tyvon Branch early in the third quarter, but none of that mattered as the game progressed. Richard Seymour led the D-line, and completely suffocated the number one rushing offense in the NFL. Our defense also forced two turnovers against a Chiefs team that only has turned the ball over four times all season long with one coming in the redzone, and the other from sure handed Thomas Jones. The bye week couldn’t come at a better time having a few guys get dinged up. Hopefully Gradkowski will be back as well in Week 10. I just find it amazing that I care about this team half way through the year! Even if they don’t win the division, they have already shown that they want to win baby!
Last week I couldn’t quite get all the bad luck out of me before I head to Vegas this weekend. Going 2-3 did get some of that bad luck out, and I was very happy that the Raiders were one of the two wins. The Raiders have their biggest game of the season taking on the division leading Chiefs, but I’ll get to that pick later. Just like the Raiders my bets are a little more meaningful this weekend, because I’ll probably raise the ante on them a little being in Vegas. Unless of course if one of the homies slips a Jeffery into the mix, then I might be rubbing fuzzy wall instead. Although, having Puffy chase us out of Vegas by mind f**ing us would be an ultimate story.
In honor of the World Series champions, San Francisco Giants (Still can’t believe I’m saying that), I went 4-1 last week, tying my season high for wins! Furthermore, I lucked out during one of the toughest weeks in terms of football lines this season! I have to say, I’m pretty impressed by myself! Well enough gloating, as it is time to get down to business. Week 9 is upon us, and I have an opportunity to break .500 this week. I’m feeling more confident than usual, and I expect to hit on at least an 80% clip this week! I guarantee it, Joe Namath style! Or Rasheed Wallace style, what ever floats your boat. Of course, that is, unless a Jeffrey is involved, then all bets are off.
Week 8 (Chap 2-3, By 4-1) Overall (Chap 18-25-3, By 18-19-3)
Chicago (-3) @ Buffalo
By picks Chicago (-3): I’ve been dogging Buffalo all season long and it’s backfired despite the bagel that represents the total amount of wins the Bills have. But like a stubborn mule, I continue to pick against them. My reasoning for this sounds like a broken record, but this team isn’t that good. I know solid showings against the Ravens and the surprise Chiefs should have me thinking they’re better than what their record shows, but nope. I just think the Bills suck this year. Ryan Fitzpatrick to Steve Johnson does make for an intriguing combo, except for Fitzpatrick won’t start next year when the Bills take Andrew Luck #1. Damn Niners, stop winning. I’m not all that impressed with Chicago lately either, but three point dogs only? I have to take my chances with the Bears and hope for a Matt Forte explosion.
New Orleans (-7) @ Carolina
Chappy picks New Orleans (-7). Did the Saints just dominate the Steelers? I didn’t see that one coming. I think their Super Bowl hangover might finally be wearing off. I haven’t seen Brees that sharp since last season, and it was against one of the best defenses in the league. He did what he did with a fourth string running back, and showed that maybe the Steelers secondary isn’t as good as advertised. The Saints defense looked great as well last weekend putting all kinds of pressure on Ben, and stifling Mendenhall and the Pittsburgh offensive line. Darren Sharper should be 100% for this one, so that’s just one more play maker to take the ball away from Matt Moore and the Carolina offense. The Saints only won by two in week 4 against Carolina, but since Carolina is the lowest scoring team in the league (12.1) it’s really easy to pick against them. The Saints look a lot better than they did the first time they met, I see fireworks this time. Take the Saints even if the line goes up to 8 or 9!
I didn’t see this a few days ago when it came out, but since I posted his other ones I figured I may as well throw this one up. It’s funny, but if I got anything out of it, that was just a reminder if why I should be glad the Raiders didn’t want to have a second fling with Randy. STRAIGHT CASH HOMEY!!
Well, as you may or may not know I’m connected with the action sports industry through work and hobbies. I get a lot of discount stuff thrown my way when the holiday season starts to approach. The first one is free shipping on any DC Shoes products, and if you want to use it, click this link here.
The second discount is a friends and family discount for Vans shoes. It’s 30% off on anything besides watches from December 3rd to 5th, but since I’m not sure how to attach the PDF to the post you will have to email us at doinworkstaff@gmail.com, and we will forward you the promo!
Yes, the Oakland Raiders finally can say they’ve won two in a row. It predates Doin Work’s existence, and is the first time that it’s happened since 2008 when Jamarcus made us think he was improving. This time it’s much different though as we are actually in the divisional race. We’ve looked good on both sides of the ball, and I think the guys are finally starting to believe they can win. McFadden finally has decided to be one of those elite backs we were all hoping he would be. Yesterday was the first time we’ve put up 500 yards of offense since 2002 when we had Gannon. It’s also the first time we’ve had fantasy relevant players! Heyward-Bey finally got over the century mark in receiving yards for a game, and scored his second career TD. Our defense has been sacking QB’s at an amazing rate, and already have 24 on the season witch is good enough to tie the Giants for third in the league. They are ranked 9th in defense overall, and getting pressure on the QB has helped the not as good corner opposite Nnamdi look a little better. The offense hasn’t been explosive per say, but just efficient enough, and chewing up enough clock to keep our defense from being tired like they were at the end of every game last year. That has been the biggest difference this year by a long shot. It feels foreign to me to see them actually improving from week to week instead of improving then regressing. I’m happy to say that my prediction for them making the AFC Championship game is still alive 8 weeks in. This weekend we have a huge divisional match up for what could be a factor in deciding the division as they take on the first place Chiefs. Thankfully this match up is at home and is supposedly sold out, so it should be on TV for once! Another thing I’m starting to love about these wins is it’s pissing off Patriots fans because they see their possibilities of having a top ten pick next year dwindle by the week!
Watching lots of NBA action, and I forgot about a team in the West…
Since we are all blessed with the NBA League pass for the first week of the season for free, I ended up seeing quite a few teams that I normally don’t get to see much since they aren’t contenders or in a big market. A few teams impressed me like Indiana, Portland, New Orleans, and Sacramento, but one team made more of an impression on me for some reason was the Memphis Grizzlies. Are they actually a good team? Memphis was nearly .500 last year, but I wasn’t really sure if they were a “good” close to .500 team or a “lucky” close to .500 team, since I didn’t get to see them play much. I watched good portions of them beating Dallas and Minnesota over the weekend, and have to say that this team actually has some solid potential. They got 22 steals against Minnesota, and pretty much dominated them. Dallas they snuck away with a victory, but got the W nonetheless. This team is very young, but they have all their starting spots filled with quality guys that are just entering their 2nd or 3rd seasons. Even though I don’t see any of them being superstars, much like OKC they have a solid core of young talent that likes playing with eachother. Everyone knocks Rudy Gay, but the guy was clutch against Dallas, and if they have a closer, they already have more than some teams. OJ Mayo is a great scorer. He’s not as exciting as I originally thought he’d be coming out of college, but he can fill up the cup. Marc Gasol is improving about as fast as his older brother did. Mike Conley is shockingly better than I thought he’d be when he was playing at Ohio State. Darell Arthur seems to be a great glue guy who you don’t have to run plays for but still finds a way to chip in 15 on any given night, and is filling in admirably for Zach Randolph nursing his tailbone. Their bench isn’t all that exciting, and may hold this team back, but just based off the starting five, they are pretty solid.
World Series Ratings
Yes, we get it, the World Series ratings are extremely low. So what if it means more people would rather watch a regular season matchup of either MIN/NYJ or PIT/NO. Does that influence me to watch those games over the WS? Not really, I still took in the fall classic, because I’m intrigued by the teams and storylines. I think this once again proves that the Eastcoast media bias has too strong of a hold on what were supposed to care about. Just because it’s non-Eastcoast teams we are lead to believe that we aren’t supposed to care about it. If you like baseball, why wouldn’t you be into the WS? I for one find the most important games of a sport that I watched for 7 months more intriguing than football games midway through the regular season… I think the problem with the ratings is more that far more people like football, its just a fact. If baseball had half of the football audience, and everyone didn’t hate listening to Joe Buck, I’m sure they’d have higher ratings. If Lincecum vs. Lee doesn’t get you excited, then you probably aren’t a baseball fan.
I finally had a good week, going 4-2. I didn’t think it was ever going to happen, but I knew the odds had to even out a little eventually. Sad part is I’m not sure what I did right last week, so it might be impossible to duplicate. Either way, I kind of hope I do bad this week to get all the bad luck out of my system, because I’m heading to Vegas next weekend, so I should save all that luck for when I’m there. Here’s to going 0-5 this week, ohh yeaaa!!
I can’t complain much about a .500 weekend in picks, I’ve definitely fared worse. Coming into this week, it still baffles me how the 49ers are considered favorites almost every week. It’s like the odd makers are just giggling in a back room somewhere, saying, “Could we actually get away with this, again?” Fool me once odd makers, and shame on you, but fool me four times! Well, as far as this week is concerned, I’m unsure where to find an edge when making a selection, as the slate of games on tap are tough to say the least. So I’m going straight to the belly, and doing gut feeling picks. Here goes nothing.
Week 7 (Chap 4-2, By 2-2) Overall (Chap 16-22-3, By 14-18-3)
Carolina (+3) @ St. Louis
Chappy picks St Louis (-3). You never really know what you’re going to get from week to week from the Rams. They play well and beat teams like the Chargers and Redskins, but then get blown out by a team like Detroit. Carolina on the other hand just doesn’t show up, and if I played for them, I’d question playing hard too. Why beat yourself up when you know you’re going to lose? The Panthers just make it impossible for me to pick them under any circumstance. The Rams will go into their bye week on a positive note with convincing win!
By picks St. Louis (-3): David Gettis looked like Randy Moss circa 1998 against the 49ers last week, enough so that I swooped him up in one of my fantasy leagues. What I failed to remember is, the 49ers suck. Matt Moore is a decent QB, but I don’t see a repeat performance against the Rams this week. St. Louis isn’t exactly the team to beat in the “NFC Weak” division, but then again, who is? A win here, coupled with a Seattle Seahawks’ loss, and the Rams are in good position. Steven Jackson looks like he’s back, and he’ll be the difference maker in this game. Rams by 10.
Two days into the season we decided to pick our 8 playoff teams from the West. We are probably way off not including Denver or Phoenix, but what can you do!?!
By:
#1 Seattle SuperSonics – This will most likely be the year of the “Durantula”. Winning Gold over the Summer in which the ball was placed squarely in Durant’s hands has me believing that he’s prime to take that next step towards league dominance. It’s like when Neo finally “got it” in the first (and only good) Matrix. I can talk about Durant forever, but it’s not like he’s alone out there in OKC. The maturation of Russell Westbrook has me thinking, Rajon Rondo? Yes, Westbrook can be that good. Plus in order to beat LA, you have to dominate the PG position, and Westbrook had his way with Fisher for the most part. Expect even more improvement from him, as he too benefited from the World Championships’. The pool of young talent doesn’t end there for OKC, as Jeff Green, James Harden and Serge Ibaka round out their core. Each of these players will contribute substantially to the team, with Harden being the most intriguing piece. Harden has looked good in the pre-season, and if he continues to play well, watch out! It’s refreshing to see a team like this built from the ground up. No huge free agent signings, no big trades. Aside from my beloved Warriors, I’ll be rooting for this team to succeed!
#2 LA Lakers – The Lakers may finish second in standings out West by season’s end, but they’re still the best team coming out of the conference. In fact, as much as it pains me to say it, they’re still the best team, period. Only question surrounding the Lakers is health. I’ve said this all Summer long, everyone’s worried about Kobe’s knee, but what they should be worried about is that finger he fractured last season. I don’t think he’s ever fully recovered from it, nor will he ever. Andrew Bynum’s timing on electing to have his knee surgery didn’t please anyone in the Lakers organization, but they’ll hold the fort down without him. Now, can he stay healthy once he returns? They’ll need Bynum out there come money time. This might be the season in which Pau Gasol gets the credit he deserves as being the Lakers’ best player. I still can’t believe the voters robbed him of the Finals MVP last season. Kobe went 6-24 in the biggest game of his career. Just saying. Nothing else to touch upon with this team, it’s Phil’s last ride, will it be off into the sunset? Hope not. Probably will.
#3 Houston Rockets – I’m finishing up these predictions today, which means I got a chance to watch the Rockets in action last night against the Lakers, and I must say, I’m impressed. Primarily by that explosive back court! Aaron Brooks and Kevin “Drake” Martin can light it up in an instance! I still like the combination of Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis a little better, but the Brooks/Martin duo can do some serious damage. Of course the concern for Houston is if Martin can stay healthy. Over the past few seasons, he’s battled Andrew Bynum neck and neck for the title of “Most Fragile”. I’d put Greg Oden in that conversation too, but I feel sorry for the guy. Speaking of injuries, Yao Ming looked solid in his first regular season action in quite some time. He moved around fairly well, and once he shakes off some of that rust, he should be able to resemble his old self. Hopefully he’s healthier than what he’s letting off, and those “set” minutes slowly increase during the course of the season, because he’s a huge asset to the Rockets. Having Luis Scola makes up for a lot though. Ultimately, good coaching, solid role players, and big upside is why I’m high on the Rockets, but I know having them atop the South West division might be a bit of a stretch.
This is a first for Doin Work as we have never really revisited our predictions. I was reading through them last night, and since we do them for pretty much every sport before the season gets too far along I wanted to check out how we did. We made our MLB predictions one day after the season started, and we made some good calls, and some funny ones that didn’t pan out that well. Now that the season is long over and all the hardware has been handed out it was a good time to look back in our first ever Reviewin Predictions! If you wanted to see all our predictions click here.
By: Minnesota Twins – Why? Because Joe Mauer went to Cabo with the Playstation guy!
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 