NXT is Great, but WWE Still Needs Indies

One of the smartest things WWE has done in the last decade was to open the WWE Performance Center to cultivate the stars of the future at NXT (formerly known as Florida Championship Wrestling). Dean Ambrose and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins both came from NXT…although one could argue that they would have made it to WWE without NXT.

Dean Ambrose was a star in the indies at places like Combat Zone Wrestling as ‘Jon Moxley’ and Seth Rollins (formerly known as Tyler Black) did fantastic things in Ring of Honor prior to signing with WWE. Both could have made the jump the old school way with an immediate spot on WWE’s main roster.

If you look at the top stars at NXT, most made their name prior to signing with WWE.

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Celebrities That Have Been Shown The Casino Door

Most celebrities are not only used to but expect to be able to do what they want, get what they want and go where they want. With so much money weighing them down coupled with a ‘don’t you know who I am?’ attitude in many cases, these celebrities often experience a short, sharp shock when they cannot get the world to pander to their every need, request and demand. However, despite their fame and fortune, celebrities do find themselves at the receiving end of a tongue lashing now and again and in some cases find that they are shown the door in some of their favourite hangouts such as casinos.

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MLS: Could Columbus vs Orlando City Become a Rivalry?

If you’re a soccer fans and haven’t been paying attention to the MLS, you are missing out.

The league started in 1996 with mixed results, but it has gained steam in North America with each consecutive World Cup. The league now sits at 20 teams with teams in Atlanta, Minnesota and Los Angeles joining over the next three seasons.

Speaking of new teams in the MLS, Orlando City SC are currently playing their inaugural season in the league. They are only 13 games into their first year, but they seem to have ignited a rivalry with the Columbus Crew, one of the handful of original MLS teams left.

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2015 NBA Mock Draft: Early Lottery Edition

The 2015 NBA Draft has been hyped as a two-man draft with the top prizes being Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Duke’s Jahlil Okafor. I believe both big men will go onto have nice NBA careers, but this draft is deeper than most people think.

I believe Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell and Duke’s Justise Winslow could both be future NBA All-Stars…but just like any other player, they need to be in the right situation to develop.

Don’t worry international basketball fans, there’s plenty of overseas talent in this year’s draft. You have Croatian Mario Hezonja and Latvian Kristaps Prozingis as the top talents from Europe. Also, there’s an American high schooler Emmanuel Mudiay who went to China in lieu of going to college.

Here’s our early 2015 NBA mock draft for the NBA lottery selection.

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MLB: Underdogs Against Spread Having Great Start

The Major League Baseball season is roughly two months old and underdogs have been on roll against the spread so far.

Underdogs (home and road) have won in 63% of games this year. It’s not unusual for underdogs to get off to a hot start, but I could see the streak continue well into July.

Minnesota, Houston and the New York Mets all currently have at least a share of their respective divisions. All three teams weren’t expected to contend for their divisions this year (although I predicted a possible Wild-Card spot for the Mets), so they have all helped the underdog winning percentage.

Will these teams hit a wall when they begin to be consistently favored against the spread?

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 36

I’m a self-confessed vintage toy nerd. I collect vintage wrestling action figures from the 80’s & 90’s. I started purchasing some vintage toys out of nostalgia. Well, WWE and Mattel sucked me into their new stuff. I now buy a few figures a month.

Elite Series 33, Elite Series 34 & Elite Series 35 were all home runs (Elite Series 32…not so much). Even though Elite Series 35 just started to hit retail, Mattel’s Elite Series 36 is starting to come out to collectors that put in early pre-orders.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 36 are DDP (Flashback), Bray Wyatt, Bo Dallas, Goldust, Startdust & Dean Ambrose

We give our thoughts on each figure and include some pictures.

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Sweetbob’s Hipster Music Playlist: June 2015

I didn’t post a Hipster Music Playlist last month because I ran into a wall. Not literally, but I just spent way too much time trying to pick 15 songs I enjoyed enough to share with you guys. There’s a trend going on in indie music that I do not enjoy. Many bands are using low-fi recording and mixing on their tracks. I understand if you’re broke and can’t afford quality equipment, but with DIY recording programs being dirt cheap these days, it comes off as disingenuous. I do not enjoy bands trying to fake a grainy sound. Here’s a tip, if your vocalist sounds like they are singing through a late-90’s PC microphone, you’re doing it wrong.

I always keep an ear out for new music. I love discovering new bands/songs, it’s a habit from my days as a music journalist. Even though this is mostly a sports blog, I still add quite a bit of music and pop culture content.

Since I skipped last month, I decided to super-size this month’s Hipster Music Playlist and include five extra songs.

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Several FIFA Executives Arrested in Switzerland

It appears that the United States government is going after many expected to have received bribes during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process. The U.S. asked Swiss police to arrest a number of FIFA executives while they were in Zurich to vote on the next FIFA president.

Switzerland has an extradition pact with the United States when it involves non-tax-related crimes.

The current FIFA president Sepp Blatter wasn’t one of the executives arrested in Zurich…and he isn’t expected to visit the United States any time soon.

Which FIFA executives have been named as those allegedly arrested or detained? We give you a list of those we’ve heard so far.

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MLB Best Early Over Bets

Baseball bettors are a month into the 2015 MLB campaign and if you’re a regular of sportsbook online betting, you’ve noticed these teams lighting up the scoreboard to start the season.

Here are the most outstanding – but still early – MLB Over bets:

Oakland Athletics (11-16 SU, 20-6-1 O/U)

Not all great Over bets are great scoring teams. Some are horrible defensive units. And then you have the perfect storm of great offense and poor defense, such is the Oakland A’s. They’ve been bashing the cover off the ball through the first month of play, averaging 5.11 runs on a .268 BA, but also giving up plenty of runs on the other side of the plate. Oakland’s bullpen is to blame, boasting a chunky 4.93 ERA and five blown saves already. The A’s are a profitable 12-1 O/U in the Bay Area but don’t return home until May 11, facing a pair of Sox – Red and White – for six games.

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Best Players Not Drafted During 2015 NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is seven rounds and you would think teams are scraping the bottom of the barrel in the last rounds, but that is not the case. Quality players like Kurt Warner, Tony Romo, Antonio Gates and Arian Foster all went undrafted out of college.

NFL teams do their due diligence during the pre-draft process. They dig deep into a prospect’s personal life and can sometime do a little too much work. Many players fall through the cracks due to off-the-field issues or a perceived idea that a certain player doesn’t fit a team’s current scheme.

I’ll leave all the draft grades and winners & losers posts for the so-called ‘experts’ that can tell the future. Here is a list of the best college players who didn’t get drafted during the 2015 NFL Draft.

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2015 Projected Major League Baseball Standings

We finished every 2015 MLB team preview this season and now it’s time to show you a condensed version of our projected standings for the 2015 season.

MLB finally got the hint that opening the baseball season in places like Japan or Australia wasn’t the best idea, so this season they decided to nix that horrible idea. The first game of the year takes place April 5th at Wrigley Field when the Cardinals face the Cubs. The rest of the league will begin the following day.

Plenty of big names have changed teams this offseason (Matt Kemp, Jon Lester, Hanley Ramirez) and some big names are coming back from Tommy John surgery (Matt Harvey, Jose Fernandez). There’s plenty of reasons to tune into baseball this year.

The San Francisco Giants won the 2014 World Series. Can they win their fourth ring in six seasons?

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2015 MLB Team Preview: Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals season ended in the NLDS when they were defeated by San Francisco. The Giants was a team of destiny and went on to win the World Series. The early exit doesn’t look as bad when the team that defeated you goes on to win the title…but Washington really needs to get to a World Series while this core group of guys are all in their prime.

Bryce Harper is fun to watch (even if his peers think he’s overrated). He goes all-out on defense and often swings for the fences when he’s at-bat. Unfortunately, his playing style could lead to his early demise. He has missed 108 games the last two seasons due to injuries suffered in the outfield. If he can stay healthy for a full season, he could put up big numbers…but that’s a huge ‘if.’

Stephen Strasburg threw 200+ innings for the first time in his career in 2014. Can do it again this season?

Here is the 2015 MLB season preview for the Washington Nationals.

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