NCAA College Basketball: League of Children - Part one

NCAA College Basketball: League of Children - Part one
by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (11-11-13)



TODD:
The college basketball season tipped off just a few days ago. Early season games are being played between ranked teams and November records seem to mean more than ever before. In fact, tomorrow #1 Kentucky faces #2 Michigan State and #4 Duke plays #5 Kansas. Not bad for the first week of the season.

But that is not the story for the start of the year. The story is related to this:

1. Andrew Wiggins
2. Julius Randle
3. Dante Exum
4. Jabari Parker
5. Marcus Smart
6. Joel Embiid
7. Aaron Gordon
8. Andrew Harrison
9. James Young
10. Dario Saric
11. Wayne Selden

Those are the projected top eleven picks in the 2014 NBA Draft according to ESPN draft expert Chad Ford. Nevermind the fact that six of them play for either Kansas or Kentucky. That isn't the story either. (...Well, it kind of is.) Of those eleven men, the BEST eleven pro prospects mind you, only one had played a single second of college basketball prior to this week, and that is Marcus Smart (who is a returning sophomore). The other 10 of 11 prospects are either freshmen or from overseas.

Let's let that sink in for a second.

Need more time?

We good? Okay.

So eight of the best eleven prospects in the world (according to ESPN's Chad Ford) are freshmen who had never played any collegiate basketball before. Two come from overseas and one lone man, who plays his basketball at Oklahoma State, is the only elite prospect with any kind of college experience. This is fascinating; it is unbelievable; it is uncanny and, to be honest, rather embarrassing.

Now I realize many have talked about the famed 2014 draft as possibly the best ever. People were looking ahead and realized this potential a year ago. Truth is, this might be the best that some of these guys ever look. It's possible at least a couple flame out as freshmen and their NBA stock drops a bit, or they return to school (HAHA, yeah right!). But taking this early mock draft at face value, the bottom line is this: the landscape of college basketball is kind of a joke.

Take a look again at those games being played on Tuesday. Kentucky is #1 in the country. Arguably their five best players are all freshmen. Kansas is #5, led by a couple freshmen, and even the Duke Blue Devils have a freshman as their best player. (Hell is freezing over, sell all your stock, buy that fancy car you've always wanted.) So not only are nearly all the top NBA guys freshmen, but many of the top teams are littered with players who will be leaving after just one season. This happens every year, but not like THIS.

Putting the specific 2013-2014 freshmen class aside, doesn't something need to change here for the product that is college basketball? Fix it my brother. Fix the sport.


DAN:
I need more time! Thinking.... thinking.... okay I concede. What's happened to college basketball?

Let me get my annoyed ranting out of the way first, because this NCAA season is both stupid and amazing. Personally, I find college basketball to be down right exciting, especially during tournament time. The holiday tournaments are usually top notch and competition for the top 25 is fierce. Yet the best eleven players are freshmen, unknowns, children with ridiculous amounts of talent and little game tape. I'm calling them children, not because of age, but because of their basketball experience. You need time with a top notch coach (collegiate level or higher) and a competition level rivaling your own to gain the intangibles needed for the NBA. Sure, you can compete and score, but you're still a kid until you've put a couple seasons under your belt.

So we now enter this NCAA basketball season full well knowing that Kansas and Kentucky are odds on favorites to be in the Final Four, if not the title game. Why? Because they own six of the top eleven players and everybody knows you only need one transcendent guy to run the table. They are all freshmen. Seriously! How did college basketball get itself in this position? What has cornered the sport into this inescapable situation? The NBA did this. Its popularity growth, especially overseas, has made college basketball inconsequential. Everyone wants to watch the best players, but they want to see them in a Knicks or Suns uniform (teams picked randomly, most people would probably not pick either of those teams). They want to see the best play the best, in the NBA, not the best clobber other inferior players until they run home crying. This is not actually a problem. Let that sink in.

The best thing about NCAA basketball has always been March Madness. That hasn't changed and knowing your team's best player will only compete in the tournament one time makes every game that much more special. Ultimately the one and done, with freshmen dominating the college game year after year, is great for the sport of basketball overall. It hurts the college game slightly, while boosting the NBA in incredible ways. I'm actually excited to see these eleven players play, knowing they will represent the top eleven in the NBA draft next year.

The NBA is becoming more synonymous with college basketball and vice versa. The college game is the proving ground, more so than ever before, with only a single season to show your worth. College sports is about the team name and logo on the front of the jersey, not on the back. So fans of a university will be excited no matter what. What drives a sport is the casual fan, the guys who want to watch for the top tier talent. And college basketball is going to have a ton of that this season. I say win, win.

I'm going out a limb here and saying you disagree. Yell at me some more and I'll give you your 'fix.'

[Part two - Remaking the game] 

MLB Opening Day Mash up - Part One

MLB Opening Day Mash up - Part One
by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (4-1-13)

DAN:

Its opening day. Woo!!! The Yankees and the rest of the league are back. I kid. I kid. I'm really not that much of a biased baseball fan. Its just that the Yankees are infinitely more fun to watch because they are both my team and the New York Yankees. Let the games begin!

We broke down the AL East a few weeks ago in detail, nailed down this years Orioles and Pirates, the teams who both overachieve but one maintains it and makes the playoffs while the other peters out after the All Star break. What's left? You know what's coming...

AL MVP = ?
NL MVP = ?
Rookie of the Year = ?

I'll stop there as the impossible gets exceedingly impossible. But in all honesty, what's exciting you about the season? What's going to end up a boring news story? Are we in for a predictable year or one that takes the game to a new level?

TODD:

Remember when Stewie Griffin found out he was going to Disney World? That's me when I realized Opening Day was at hand. Woo!

Guessing the MVP and ROY winners is kind of a pointless exercise though. What happened when we tried to pick the March Madness Final Four teams months ago? You picked Texas, who didn't even make the NIT, let alone the big one. Although your Syracuse pick to win it all does have validity.

What isn't pointless is naming what we should be excited for and pay attention to these first few weeks of the season. Such as: how does the Yankees lineup turn out; does the newly acquired Brennan Boesch make the team; will Granderson and Teixeira be ahead of schedule; how will Jeter and Rivera look... oh, oh, I misread what you wrote. We are ditching the biases for this post? My bad.

Here's what we should be on the edge of our seats about in each division:

NL East - Will the Braves have the greatest outfield unit since 2000? Will the Mets have the worst since 1900?

NL Central - Are the Reds a juggernaut ready to vanquish all other National League foes? When will the Cubs start going all Dodgers on us and spend big?

NL West - What type of season can Colorado's offense give us if Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki can stay healthy?

AL East - it's been discussed

AL Central - Are people ready to move on from the Royals if their young hitters don't start off well?

AL West - Did the Astros actually move yet? Really, this already happened? Why has no one said anything? Oh, and Mike Trout.

DAN:

My completely baseless Final Four picks from January aren't that bad... Waiting... Waiting... Fine. Predictions sure to go wrong can be left to Mike and Mike for the start of the MLB season. But I'm not promising a complete ditch of Yankees bias. That's too far.

The main storyline keeping me on the edge of my seat, besides all of the Yankees questions you mentioned (damn its hard to set them aside) is who will be worse, the Mets or Red Sox. Both teams are setting themselves up for complete failure. The Red Sox even went as far as to issue a media plea to their fans in order to rectify the ever growing gap between fan expectations and the overall suckiness of the team on the field. I LOVE this! Who's going to suck worse? That's what I'm excited for this season!

Running down the divisions, let me answer your edge of the seat questions and pose one more:

NL East - The Braves will definitely field a tremendous team, but you knew I'd say this. I picked them to win it all this year. As for the Mets, they won't be as bad as an early 1900s squad, mainly because steroids now exist. What's exciting me about the division? If the Marlins, who literally sold off their entire team in the off season, finish with a better record than the Mets, who still manage to have a ridiculous payroll even with such a poor lineup, can we finally end this stupid money buys success debate? Ownership is the key to success. Money spent poorly (the Mets) will prove to be no different than collecting money (the Marlins).

NL Central - I think the Reds will be good, but great is highly questionable. As for the Cubs, they won't start spending until the curse of the billy goat is lifted. Or the curse of that guy who caught the foul ball and 'ruined' their above average season, Bartman. So never. This division kind of waddles in obscurity and that's how I like it.

NL West - Can the Dodgers live up to the unwarranted expectations the LA fans now have for them? Can they stay above .500 with Hanley Ramirez out for two months?

AL Central - Since when did anyone jump on the Royals bandwagon? I'm intrigued to see whether Justin Verlander can maintain the ridiculous pitching dominance he's had of late. Pitching is so up and down, but not him. Interesting?

AL West - Mike freaking Trout. Also, I did not realize the Astros moved either. What was the point of this? Do the Astros have anyone good?

You can now discuss the Yankees or Fantasy Baseball. I'll allow it.

[MLB Mash up w/ Fantasy - Part Two]

Where has all the Madness Gone? - March Madness Part 2

Where has all the Madness Gone? - March Madness Part 2
by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (3-8-13)

[Part One]

DAN:

Let's see how your Final Four stacks up against my own from January. I will say, I may have jumped the gun a bit on my picks, but there's no going back now! Here they are:

Todd's Final Four - Missouri, Michigan, Ohio State, Syracuse
Dan's Final Four - Duke, Texas, NC State, Syracuse

I have a feeling we both may have missed on Indiana. I also enjoyed listening to Colin Cowherd talk about how overrated the Big 10 is this year. They so are! He made a strong case for St. Louis and Gonzaga as dark horse picks as well, which I love. I'm sticking by my predictions though. Never bet against Duke.

I can't help but feel much of the drama is sucked out of the tournament this season though. Where is the hype? What happened to the anxiety surrounding bubble teams? This years tournament crop is being shunned by ESPN and the like. What gives?

I want so badly to love March Madness, but its getting harder and harder each year as hardly any of the best players from last year are still around to watch. I'm not knocking them for hitting up the NBA, but damn has it hurt the casual fan here. My Boston University Terriers (Go BU! BC Sucks!) barely sniff the tournament, let alone win anything and your Virginia Tech Hokies get their bubble burst annually it seems. Where do we go from here? I want to get excited about it again!

TODD:

I hate listening to Colin Cowherd because everything he says is simply for the sound bite. There's no logic or sense in his words. Really, the Big 10 is overrated? Michigan is undefeated against teams out of their conference this year. Indiana only has one loss to non-Big 10 schools. Illinois and Minnesota were flying high before their Big 10 schedule kicked in; they each have only one out-of-conference loss and are now getting beaten up by their Big 10 peers. This conference probably has seven of the top 30 schools in the country.

And he likes St. Louis and Gonzaga as dark horse teams?? St. Louis garnered 675 votes in the AP poll this week (reported by Sports Illustrated), meaning they are ranked as the 16th best team in the country, AKA a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. If they lost in the first round of the Big Dance, it would be an UPSET! And Gonzaga? Is he serious?? Gonzaga is number one in the nation right now! They are going to get a one seed if everything stays like it is. A ONE SEED!

For the uninitiated, i.e. people who listen to Colin Cowherd, a one seed is favored to make the Final Four. If they do not, someone upset them!

A dark horse team? Really, Colin? Nice picks. My sleeper is Florida; they're way down at 11th this week in the national rankings.

As for your concern about the drama being gone, it really has a lot to do with four-year players being non-existent but also that everyone on top keeps losing this season. The perennial powers are still playing very well (Indiana, Michigan State, the aforementioned Duke) but the elite school (singular) doesn't exist. There is no one for other teams to target on their schedule. No one is running away with the season. No school is separating themselves from the rest of the country to make a huge storyline. Everyone at the top is just kind of playing reasonably well, ho hum. The good thing is that this should make for a wide open and exciting March Madness.

Really the only way to get back to what you once had, where you can be excited about seeing certain players and knowing rosters around the country is to play a simple game: Get to know your Freshmen.

There are a ton of amazing freshmen this season: Marcus Smart, Ben McLemore, Shabazz Muhammad are just a couple that pop into my mind. The game has swung young, kind of like the NBA, since one is a cause of the other. Huge college basketball fans these days follow high school recruiting and Rivals rankings of incoming freshmen. Rather than perusing last year's All-Conference teams to find out who will be good for an upcoming season, it is time to thumb through lists of the best recruiting classes. That is where the game has gone.

DAN:

Colin Cowherd is tremendous and a great prognosticator. Perhaps his excellence at predicting games and outcomes is due in part to his sleepers actually being top teams to begin with, just ones we're talking about a bit less than the others. But his record stands and he is pretty awesome at making picks. Hold your tongue when St. Louis faces the Zags in the Sweet Sixteen. And what makes him great IS that he's polarizing, says what no one wants to hear, and yells at idiots for over played opinions. I could go all day.

Back to the game at hand. What you're saying is that college basketball is becoming more and more like college football. This is definitely a good thing for its overall success and popularity. Getting people interested in recruiting classes and high school standouts is a positive if it works. I'm calling BS. Football is leaps and bounds ahead of basketball in popularity and interest. The NFL draft is amazing to follow even if the show is lackluster. And this all trickles down into college and National Signing Day being a huge deal. I don't know any of those guys, but I now know which teams are on the up and up in the sport. The problem for college basketball starts with the NBA. The NBA draft stinks. It is god awful! Before it even starts you know basically who the top five picks are, and beyond that who cares. Its just a bunch of complimentary players or bench guys. Teams are smaller and its a star driven league. All the stars are in the top five, top ten max in the draft. If I don't care about the draft, then why do I care about college basketball or its equivalent to National Signing Day? I don't, and its hard to imagine a situation where I do care.

The NBA is putting on a great product right now and I think March Madness will be interesting. But as an outsider to the college game, I see no way I garner any interest in a tournament team outside of my Alma-mater. Yes, yes, I can play the simple game of getting to know my freshmen. But that's what the NCAA tournament use to be for. Now they want me to watch regular season college basketball. Not happening. Sorry.

TODD:

The last thing I'll say on Cowherd, because he deserves even less time than we're giving him right now, is that if St. Louis and Gonzaga do meet in the Sweet Sixteen, it won't even be that surprising! They are both top 20 teams! Maybe he just doesn't understand what "sleeper" means.

You're right about the NBA draft. But it seems to me that should help aid your frustrations, not exacerbate them. Only the top five or so guys matter because it is a star driven league, sure. But 80% of those top five guys might be freshmen this season. It is even more paramount that you follow signing day and recruiting classes in basketball because one guy can shift an entire team's fortunes. That usually is not the case in football. So by seeing who nabs the top recruits, you'll have a pretty good idea of what teams might make a leap into contention during the season, and also have an eye on who will go near the top of the NBA draft. The turnaround on that information in football takes two or three years wherein basketball it all happens in one season! This should make it all easier and more exciting to follow. You just have a mental block against college basketball. That's on you. Don't blame the game!

As for the Big Dance, its always exciting just because of the built-in drama. Whether you know any players involved or not, the games are heart-pounding and you learn about stars (both freshmen and small-school seniors) during the tournament games. I guess your real problem is around this time, early March, where the tournament hasn't begun yet but you know nothing about the national teams and cannot dutifully fill out your bracket with any semblance of first hand knowledge. Sucker! This, I am sorry to say, is again, on you. Good luck with your bracket though.  That was sarcasm, just to be clear.

[Part One if you missed it]

The Madness of March is Here! Or is it? - Part One

The Madness of March is Here! Or is it? - Part One
by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (3-4-13)

TODD:

This has been one of the most wild college basketball seasons in my adult life. Top five teams are getting bounced week after week; the rankings have almost become irrelevant or added encouragement for the underdog, depending on how you look at it.

No team is safe with multiple schools having already lost as the number one team in the nation. This would ordinarily spell trouble for fans trying to predict playoff advancement. If even the best teams are constantly falling, who can you rely on?

However, when it comes to March Madness, where upsets are routine and unpredictability is always predictable, this may be to our advantage. When is a better time to ride the top teams than when the public (i.e. stupid squares who lose lots of money all the time in anything they bet) is going to be going hard against them?

With all that being said, which type of Big Dance do you prefer: the upsets straight through, leaving everyone's bracket in shambles or seeing the "best" teams advance through to the Final Four?

DAN:

My favorite type of Big Dance is the one where my picks are right and I chose the champion correctly. That's only happened three times. I picked UConn, North Carolina and Duke correctly over the last decade. Go me! I know, all heavy favorites or top two seeds in the years they won. And if I'm being totally honest, I've chosen the champion correctly three times but definitely have NEVER gotten the majority of my picks correct. I've picked tons of upsets and I've picked next to none. No matter which way I go, I'm rarely over 50% and its because of exactly what you noted. Putting anything over fifty bucks on the tourney is nuts because you'll probably lose that money. Go play video poker instead. Vegas!

As for your question, I'd much rather see the top seeds advance. I like two number one's in the Final Four, a two or three and then one surprise team ranked six to eight. Balance. Then we get exciting games in the later rounds as well as some "Cinderella" drama and the reality that the rankings are not great and we're left with what we expected. Even three number one's in the Final Four is good, but anything less than two and you lost me a round or so ago. I know little to nothing about the Texas A&M's or Louisiana Lafayette's of the world and have no desire to actually watch them play basketball.

My entire March Madness experience hinges on the picks I've made. The upsets should stay in the first weekend and after that I'm all for chalk. It's hard for me, because the tournament has really lost its luster over the last five plus years. All the best college players are one and done to the NBA, so consequently I know no one. I use to know guys from the year before, watching them play in March Madness, but now anyone worth caring about leaves. It makes it tough to care, unless you enjoy following the sport during the regular season. I know you do, so I'm sure you have an opposing view. If not then just give me some picks! I made my Final Four selections back during the first week of January. What do you think now?

TODD:

Even though no one wants to admit it, I think most of America agrees with you. People care about their brackets and upsets in the first or second round. After that, they want the top seeds advancing. The television ratings back this up. The years when George Mason and VCU went way farther than anyone anticipated, the viewership was down for those games. Buzzer beaters are nice in the round of 32. But in the Elite Eight, Americans want the best competing.

As for my tournament outlook, I'm really high on the SEC this year and really low on the ACC. The SEC is pretty awful after their top three teams but I think both Florida and Missouri are awesome and Kentucky can still make waves. I could see either Florida or Mizzou making the Final Four, Missouri's current struggles not withstanding.

The ACC, on the other hand, has a number of top teams but I have little confidence in them. NC State and North Carolina have already shown their true colors; they simply are not as good as we anticipated coming into the year. The opposite can be said about Miami but I would not feel good about backing them for a long tournament run; nor Duke for that matter. Duke always scares me since they can lose to anyone if their shots are not falling.

Outside of those two conferences, the stories are all in the Big 10. As many as five different Big 10 schools are good enough to make the Final Four (Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Minnesota) and I wouldn't be surprised if two of the final four came from that conference.

But enough explaining myself. I know people only care about picks and when picks are wrong so here goes:

The Final Four will consist of Missouri, Michigan, Ohio State and Syracuse.

[Part 2 - Picks, Colin Cowherd and more Madness]

Spitfire and Summary - Sports Predictions 2013

Spitfire and Summary - Sports Predictions 2013

by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (1-11-13)

[Part One]   [Part Two]   [Part Three]

DAN:

Before the summary of all our amazing predictions, any last words?  I know, I know, you already got some right and I already got a lot wrong.

TODD:

Nail on the head.  After thirteen predictions, some ridiculous, mostly the ones said by you, we've reached the end of 2013 and some of my January predictions have already come true.  In the words of my favorite TV personality, Homer Simpson, "I am so smart. S.M.R.T!"

Not to brag but... bragging rules.  Alabama did in fact beat Notre Dame by at least two scores, as I said would happen.  Point for Todd.  Maybe I got carried away with saying some folks would want to put Ohio State number one. That was just the rebel in me.

I also nailed the end of the NHL lockout.  Two points for Todd.  I said the season would start back up before the month was out and it appears as though games will begin on January 19th. "Coincidentally" that is just in time for the nationally televised slate of NBC games to commence. Go figure.  Cue cynicism.

As for the baseball Hall of Fame prediction, we both might have been a little off. Based on the percentages of votes received, it will be a long ass time before either Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens sniffs the Hall. I expected both to fall short for two major factors: voters hate putting people in on the first ballot and voters love punishing steroid era guys. The former probably took place. The latter was seen in spades, even more severely than I was expecting to be honest. It might take a decade or so before enough new blood enters the baseball writers association and guys will begin to treat performance enhancing drugs as just another way to cheat, rather than something seemingly worse. I mean, we already have admitted cheaters in the Hall. It is just a matter of degree at this point.

DAN:

Yeah so I got some wrong and one really, really wrong.  We'll just see who comes out on top when Christmas roles around.  Bring it!


Summary Time! 

(1) BCS Championship Game
TODD:  Alabama handles Notre Damn (Correct!)
DAN:  Notre Dame squeaks out a victory (Wrong...)

(2) MLB Hall of Fame vote
TODD & DAN:  Neither Bonds or Clemens get in (Both Correct!)

(3) NHL Lockout
TODD:  Lockout over and games resume by February (Correct again!)
DAN:  Lockout over by late February with games resuming in March (Wrong...)

(4) NFL Playoffs
TODD:  The 49ers make the Super Bowl
DAN:  The 49ers over the Seahawks in the NFC Championship
           The Patriots over the Colts in the AFC Championship
           The Patriots over the 49ers in the Super Bowl

(5) NCAA Basketball Tournament
TODD:  Zero ACC teams reach the round of 32
DAN:  The Final Four includes Duke, Syracuse, Texas, and NC State with Syracuse over Texas in the finals and Boeheim retires on top

(6) MLB Pre Season
TODD:  Dan is wrong
DAN:  Yankees trade for Evan Longoria and sign a relief pitcher from the Cardinals

(7) NFL Draft
TODD:  Mike Glennen is the first QB selected and none go in the first round
DAN:  Matt Barkley is the first QB drafted with the 12th pick in the first round by the Dallas Cowboys who trade Tony Romo to move up for the pick

(8) MLB Mid Season
TODD:  Curtis Granderson is in the Home Run Derby, representing a team other than the Yankees
DAN:  Unfortunately agrees

(9) NY Jets 2013
TODD: The Jets starting QB in 2013 is not currently on their roster and won't be a rookie
DAN:  Tim Tebow is the starting QB for the Jets in 2013

(10) Golf
TODD:  Zach Johnson wins the green jacket
DAN:  Phil Michelson retires after winning a second green jacket

(11) MLB World Series
TODD:  The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim defeat the Cincinnati Reds
DAN:  The Atlanta Braves defeat the Tampa Bay Rays, only because I couldn't pick the Yankees

(12) NFL 2013 Season
TODD:  The Carolina Panthers have the best record heading into December and make the playoffs
DAN:  The NY Jets bounce back to finish 10-6 and make the playoffs

(13) College Football Season 2013 and the Final BCS Championship
TODD:  Ohio State will face LSU in the BCS Championship
DAN:  Johnny Manziel wins back to back Heisman trophies

[Part One]   [Part Two]   [Part Three]

Thirteen Sports Predictions for 2013 - Part Two

Thirteen Sports Predictions for 2013 - Part Two

by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (1-4-13) 
[Part One]  [Part Three]

TODD:
That was a bitch move, stealing my NFL pick.  And I could not disagree more with your Yankees "predictions." They seemed more like a wish and a prayer than actual predictions. Bush league.

Evan Longoria is not getting traded.  Not getting traded!  He is signed to a pretty reasonable contract and the Rays have done well in controlling their assets in recent years.

As for your college basketball Final Four 'predictions', I agree it is madness to predict March Madness. Hell, it's hard to guess the Final Four even after the bracket comes out, let alone at the beginning of the calendar year.  So... I will just destroy your predictions instead!

(5) Zero ACC schools will make it to the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. 

This conference is way down; other than Duke, the rest of the ACC schools have disappointed thus far on the year. Heading into conference play, I have no confidence in either North Carolina or your NC State Wolfpack. Florida State is nowhere near the team they were last year and no one else has the talent to win a game in the Big Dance, let alone advance past round two. All it will take for this to come to fruition, and it will, is a bad match-up or bad shooting game by Duke and we've seen that happen before in the tournament.

(6) I'll repeat this just to rub the wound.  Evan Longoria is not joining the Yankees. We aren't that desperate a team are we to shoot in the dark?

(7) The rein of rookie quarterbacks in the NFL is over, at least for one year. 

No one in the upcoming draft in April is worthy of a first round pick and even if a couple get selected in round one, no rookie quarterback will be what could be considered a solid starter next year. To make this a littler juicer, I'll even tell you who the first QB off the board will be and you tell me if you can conceive of a scenario where he is leading a team to the playoffs in year one. The man is NC State quarterback Mike Glennon.

(8) Curtis Granderson will be a representative in this year's Home Run Derby for someone other than the New York Yankees. I double dipped on that prediction; call it a two-for-one.  Like those delicious cookie ice-cream sandwiches.

(9) Your beloved New York Jets' starting quarterback for week one of the 2013 NFL season is NOT currently on their roster but he will NOT be a rookie either.

DAN:

Excellent and bold NCAA prediction, albeit dead wrong.  And you got me, my Yankees prediction was definitely a bit out there and a wish list of sorts.  But hey, what good is a prediction if it doesn't benefit your favorite team?  Am I right?

(7)  Mike 'no one outside the ACC has heard of me' Glennon is not leading an NFL team anywhere next season.  But again, you're dead wrong here!  

Glennon won't be the first QB taken in the draft.  That honor goes to Matt Barkley from USC, whose poor season in 2012 will be overshadowed by a tremendous combine and the desperate Dallas Cowboys trade Tony Romo to move up in the draft and grab Barkley with the 12th pick.

-- Side Note -- 

I like how you tried to jump right into the heart of the baseball season without picking an NBA champion.  The NHL I can understand, its in a coma, but the National Basketball Association does not get overlooked.  Too bad you're right to skip this stupid prediction.

(8)  Granderson on a different MLB team other than the Yankees, I wish I could argue with your logic but the Yankees won't sign him long term and should definitely trade him to get value prior to his contract being up.  As a Yankees homer, I only care what we get in return.  What about someone like Micheal Bourne?  I can see them going two years on him and trading Grandy for pitching help.  Anything to make the playoffs this year without crapping the bed.

(9)  Like you know anything about the Jets.  

The Jets practice brute strength negotiations and avoid logic in their decisions at all cost.  If you're wrong about the Jets, which you are, then the only other answer is that Tim Tebow will be the starting QB for the NY Jets in 2013.  He gets the nod before the Super Bowl, they mold the offense around him and hire a OC accordingly, drafting specifically to run his game.  Its the only logical reason both coach and owner have been silent all week... oh wait...they don't use logic.

-- Ugh --

You got me all riled up over the damn Jets! I can barely muster up new predictions.  Damn it.  

(10)  Phil Michelson retires from golf after winning a second green jacket. 

Where am I wrong?  Give me more 'predictions' to destroy!

[Part One]

[Part Three]

Thirteen Sports Predictions for 2013

Thirteen Sports Predictions for 2013

by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (12-31-12)

[Part Two]  [Part Three]

TODD:

In honor of the new year, I have some sports predictions for what 2013 will hold. Rather than being boring and going by sport, I'm taking us month by month.

Here's what is going to happen in January:

(1) Alabama will win the BCS National Championship by more than a touchdown and at least two prominent writers/bloggers will write an article saying that Ohio State deserves to finish number one in the Associated Press rankings.

(2) The voting results for the MLB Hall of Fame will be released and both Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens will get in... by 2015. Sorry, I know I slow-rolled you on that one. Neither guy will receive the required 75% of votes to make it this year but both will be in within the next two votes. I know, I know; it's kind of a long-term prediction but we'll immediately know it's wrong if neither guy comes close to 75% this January.

(3) The NHL lockout will end and the regular season will be under way by the time February rolls around.

(4) The San Francisco 49ers will advance to the Super Bowl, debunking the myth that teams getting hot at the right time always roll through the playoffs.

Tell me where I'm wrong!

DAN:

I love the month to month predictions, but come on! You only made it to February. This can be a three part post, but I'm going the full third of the year here and will take mine into April.

Starting in January works for me:

(1) Notre Dame, not Alabama, will win the National Championship. I'll go one step further and say they win 28 to 24 on a late game TAINT (that's a touchdown after an interception, as well as a male's unmentionables). Ohio State will also be undefeated, but remain relegated to the outside of the championship discussion.

(2) As for the voting results for MLB Hall of Fame, there's what I wish would happen and then what will happen. This is a progressive time, but Bonds and Clemens will have to wait at least one more year. I'm with you, they get snubbed this year out of principle alone. I'm thinking Bonds gets in next season and Clemens needs one more than that.

(3) I'm not as optimistic about the NHL. The lockout ends, but not until late February at best. They get one month of games at most and cut the playoffs in half to make for an unbelievably thrilling end to a sport that is dying as we speak.

(4) Now to the good stuff, the NFL Playoffs. In the NFC we get a Seahawks vs. 49ers championship game, west coast bias all the way baby! I think the Seahawks snap their road woes and march into San Fran as the hot team so to speak. The 49ers get the best of them this time however and do in fact make the Super Bowl.

In the AFC we get the somewhat predictable outcome of Manning falling flat in the postseason and losing to his old team in round two. The Colts meet the Patriots in the AFC championship, and as a Jets fan it stings to say this, but the Patriots are once again going to the Super Bowl.

Patriots 35, 49ers 28 in a redemption game for Brady who is probably the best quarterback ever. For him to have not won a Super Bowl in nearly a decade is incredible, considering he lost two on defensive breakdowns.  I'll toss you a "Go Giants" out of sympathy. 

With football now behind us its time for pitchers and catchers to report. Oh, and there's a little thing called March Madness! I'm putting it out there, its madness to predict the final four on December 31st, but here goes.

 

(5) The NCAA Men's Final Four includes Duke, Syracuse, Texas, and NC State. Syracuse over Texas in the finals and Boeheim retires on top.

(6) On to baseball. I'll make a couple of Yankees predictions as they are the only team worth discussing. Before the season kicks off the Yankees will trade for Evan Longoria. The Rays can't afford to keep him long term and this blockbuster is happening. Oh yeah! They will also snatch a closer from the Cardinals as insurance. That team has a ton of bullpen talent.

Tell me where I'm wrong oh Nostratoddmus, sir.  See what I did there?

[Part Two] 
[Part Three]