Tag Archives: sports

2014 NBA Draft Analysis – First Round

My favorite night of the year has arrived!

I love the anticipation and the speed of the NBA Draft. You don’t have fifteen minutes in-between picks like the NFL and you actually know these players, unlike the NHL and MLB.

If you can stomach two-three hours of Bill Simmons, it will be a fun night.

We give analysis for every pick in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft.

1. Cleveland Cavaliers: Andrew Wiggins (Kansas) – No surprise here. Cleveland is looking to rebuild and they don’t need a player like Jabari Parker to be an instant boost. They loved Embiid, but they couldn’t risk a #1 overall pick on a player who is a major injury risk.

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76ers Unveil New Secondary Ben Franklin Logo

Look at that glorious logo!

I’m not a Logophile, but the Philadelphia 76ers unveiled a good looking logo. The NBA should go back to the goofy logos that filled the ABA.

This new Sixers logo is said to be their ‘secondary’ logo, which doesn’t mean it will appear on any official jerseys. I’m an Indiana Pacers fan, but I would consider buying some Sixers gear if this dribbling Ben Franklin logo was featured.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the Sixers will be using this logo.

*teardrop*

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Can Detroit Win AL Central With Verlander Struggling?

Justin Verlander has been in the running for the Cy Young award in nearly every season for the better part of a decade. In the span of his career, the Detroit Tigers have went from worst to first in the AL Central. They couldn’t have done it without his dominant pitching.

Things aren’t going so well for Verlander this season. He currently has a record of 6-7 with a 4.98 ERA. Detroit is only leading Kansas City by a half game in the AL Central. While the official MLB Futures betting lines have the Detroit Tigers in contention to take the AL Central Division, I am no longer comfortable with their position in the top spot as the Royals look to make their move on them.

Matthew Leach of MLB.com wrote an in-depth article breaking down Verlander’s problems this season. Leach opines that he shouldn’t be breaking down at 31 years old. As a power pitcher, he should actually be firmly in his prime. His velocity has taken a hit and he’s even having issues against players the second and third time through the order. This is new territory for Verlander.

What’s going on with Detroit? What should we expect from them going down the stretch?

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2014 NBA Mock Draft: Who Will be #1?

Now that the NBA season is over, let’s focus on the NBA Draft. I personally think the NBA Draft is the best draft in any major sport. There’s usually more trades, the impact of these rookies is usually felt immediately and it doesn’t go on and on like the NFL Draft.

You will begin to hear a lot of rumors about what’s wrong with these prospects. You rarely hear anything positive until a day or two before the draft. Teams know how to leak information to attempt to hurt a player’s draft stock. It’s all smoke and mirrors at this point.

I try to forge through the piles of trash out there and give you where I think the player will be drafted. I personally wouldn’t draft a few of these players in the lottery, but it’s the NBA and there are a lot of bad General Managers in the league.

Here is my 2014 NBA Mock Draft for the first round.

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Chicago Cubs: Trade Candidates

We are a quarter into the 2014 MLB season and the Chicago Cubs are already playing for the 2016 season (yes, not even 2015).

Their farm system is deep, but lacks pitching. They have bats for days (Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Jorge Soler) and have used their high draft picks on position players. I assume they will draft a starting pitcher with the #4 overall pick in the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft, since they desperately need a future ace.

The Cubs currently have a handful of players that contenders would love to have down the stretch.

There is one player specifically that has been the focus of nearly ever Cubs trade rumor, Jeff Samardzija.

Which Cubs players are currently on the trading block? We will list the most likely trade candidates and any players the Cubs have their eye on in return.

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Sports Crush: Sydney Leroux

We’ve written a handful of ‘Sports Crush’ posts since we launched Americas White Boy a few years ago. We’ve spotlighted sportscasters, female MMA fighters, WWE Divas, and my favorite U.S. Women’s soccer player, Alex Morgan. We decided to profile another player on the team, the lovely Sydney Leroux.

Leroux currently plays for the Seattle Reign in the National Women’s Soccer League and is a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team. She will be playing in the 2015 World Cup in Canada.

Hope Solo and Alex Morgan gets most of the love, but that will change during the World Cup. Leroux is a stunner who, in the past, was romantically-linked to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (I hope that rumor isn’t true).

We are crushing on Sydney Leroux and once you look at our photo gallery, you will understand why.

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The 50 Best Sports Movies of All-Time

I’m a sucker for a great sports movie. I watch every one that comes out and have been disappointed by so many. It’s because I hold such movies as ‘Hoosiers’ and ‘Field of Dreams’ in such high regard. The bar is set really high.

I brainstormed some blog ideas and realized I’ve never written about the best sports movies of all-time. I spent most of this morning making the list of the top 50 sports movies of all-time.

I didn’t include any documentaries or this list would be loaded (I’ll save them for a future post). So if you’re asking yourself why ‘Hoop Dreams’ didn’t make the cut, now you know. Also, I only listed movie franchises once and only ranked the first movie in the series…’Rocky IV’ and ‘Might Ducks 2’ would have definitely made the list.

Here is our list of the 50 best sports movies of all-time.

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Los Angeles, A Tale of Two Owners

Most of you are already aware of the professional basketball’s recent fiasco, so we won’t exhaust that topic any more than we have to in this space. In a nutshell, NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned 80-year-old L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling from all team and NBA-related events for life. This happened after celebrity news site TMZ released a private phone conversation between Sterling and his ex-mistress. In the convo, Sterling can be heard making insensitive remarks about African-Americans. Now, the question is not whether or not, but when Sterling is going to relinquish his ownership of the team.

At the center of this scandal was a picture of Sterling’s ex-mistress standing next to legendary L.A. Laker point guard Magic Johnson. “Don’t put him [Johnson] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games,” Sterling told his ex-mistress. When Magic found out about Sterling’s racist remarks, the 5-time NBA Champion called for Sterling’s removal and vowed to never attend a Clippers game again as long as Sterling was still the owner. When Sterling was banned, Magic sent out a celebratory tweet.

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Could NFL Now Force Daniel Snyder to Change Redskins Name?

Now that the NBA has set an example on how to handle owner racism, will the other major sports follow suit?

The NBA banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life for recorded remarks he made in private. They are pushing for the owners to vote to force Sterling to sell the team. They need 3/4ths of the owners to vote ‘yes’ in order for that to happen.

Now that the NBA has opened the ‘let’s vote an owner out of the league’ Pandora’s box, this seems like the perfect opportunity for the NFL to this as leverage to force Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change his team’s name.

Does the NFL have similar language in their bylaws to force Snyder out as owner?

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Sports Crush: WWE Diva – Lana

We’ve written a handful of ‘Sports Crush’ posts since we launched Americas White Boy a few years ago. We’ve spotlighted sportscasters, female MMA fighters, Olympians and WWE Divas Summer Rae, A.J. Lee, Paige & The Bella Twins. The response was so great, we decided to profile one of the newest WWE Divas, Lana.

Many people may recognize Lana from her previous work. Her real name is C.J. Perry (Catherine Joy Perry). She was in the movie ‘Pitch Perfect’ and was one of the infamous Florida State Cowgirls with Jenn Sterger.

She has only been under contract with the WWE for less than a year. She was signed after they had tryouts for female talent. Since she’s so new, you will not see her in the ring, but she landed a cushy job as the valet for the Bulgarian Brute, Alexander Rusev.

We are crushing on the ‘Ravishing Russian’ Lana and once you look at our photo gallery of the WWE Diva, you will understand why. We also added a very nice .gif for your enjoyment.

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Will Cowboys Trade Up to Draft Johnny Manziel?

NFL Draft rumors are swirling more than a Panhandle Twister. Teams are trying to gain any leverage they can by putting out false rumors. It’s difficult to trust anything you hear from now until the 2014 NFL Draft on May 8th.

The latest rumor getting traction is the Dallas Cowboys would do ‘anything’ to trade up to draft Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel.

It would be the quintessential ‘Jerry Jones’ move. Johnny Football is everything Jones wants in a quarterback. He’s talented, fun to watch and very marketable. Jones would love to have Manziel play for the Cowboys.

Is there any truth to this rumor?

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Review: “Wooden: A Coach’s Life” by Seth Davis

I was sent “Wooden: A Coach’s Life” two months ago and it took me quite awhile to finish the 608-page behemoth. I usually avoid books this length, not because I hate reading, but I often read a few books at a time. I thought this would be a pain to read due to its length, but I found myself really looking forward to my time with the book.

John Wooden is the best basketball coach of all-time. Not just the best college basketball coach, but I believe he is the best basketball coach at any level. His X’s & O’s were great, but he made boys into young men. His ‘Pyramid of Success’ is more about life than it is about basketball.

CBS Sports college basketball analyst Seth Davis really made a work of art. He was able to get inside the mind of Wooden. He’s a talented author and this book is on par or better than his great Larry Bird/Magic Johnson book, “When March Went Mad”.

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