Old Sports News

The Bad Larry Drew comes out again

Here are my bullet points from Game 5: 1. I loved our energy. This was the first time I saw us play a playoff game the way we should every day 2. We battled early and recovered despite their hot shooting. It was good to see us battle back and even briefly take the lead [...]

Will the True Josh Smith Please Stand Up

The Josh Smith we love showed up for the most part. Problem is he still does not get it. I was disappointed in his post game interview. He said the fans do not understand and that he does not care because his teammates believe in him. Does he not understand that he was not in [...]

Ocho & TO

My 3 year is a terror. I love him to death but he can be hard to handle. He is manageable though. There is one scenario where he is not manageable and that is when he is with his best friend. I describe them as a superpower of evil. They basically run around hitting everyone [...]

Why would any team want TO

Terrell Owens, the victim of all victims. He’s no Big Ben he says. He doesn’t understand why he has a bad rap. He was a model citizen in Buffalo. I guess he forgot he started complaining about the offense early. I guess he forgot how he got in the face of Tony Romo in Dallas [...]

Why the Braves will never win (this season)

The 2010 Atlanta Braves are not taught to win. The Braves will never win. I think we have a great lineup and great pitching and we could easily vie for the championship but not the way we play. We are a team of solid players. We don’t have power-hitters, we have a lineup from top [...]

NBA 2012 Round 2 predictions so far and how I did in Round 1

May 18th, 2012

ws_saiff

My round one predictions were as follows with the results after it:
1. Hawks over Celtics (with a prediction of the Hawks losing to the Bulls
in round 2. As we sadly know, the Hawks squandered a golden opportunity to
get all the way to the finals.
2. Heat to sweep NY: I was spot on on this. You know my feelings about
Carmelo and he did not disappoint. Carmelo was happy enough simply to score
well.
3. Bulls sweep the Sixers: I of course did not anticipate Rose going down
so I was thrown off like everybody else. I however did not have the Bulls
winning the whole thing

4. Indiana over Orlando: Got this right. Orlando was dead in the water. I
thought they might win a game or two
5. The Spurs to sweep the Jazz. The Jazz stink, this was an easy call.
6. OKC over Dallas. I thought this would go to 6 or 7 and never thought we
would see a sweep. Dallas gave up 2 key role players in Chandler and Berea
and Odom flaked out so there was no chance to go far
7. Lakers in 6 over the Nuggets. I was calling this loud that the Lakers
would intentionally tank 2 games to take this to 6 so they could get Metta
World Peace back for round 2. I think this is what they did but they did
not anticipate Kobe being sick for game 6 and so it took 7. The lack of
height and really lack of talent prevents them from winning.

8. Memphis over the LAC in 7. I was almost right. I envisioned the games
they played against the Spurs last year where Memphis made everything
anytime but it never materialized.

Now for Round 2, here is what I was predicting prior to Round 2 starting:

1. Spurs over the LAC in 5. The clippers are too banged up and do not have
enough talent to match the Spurs
2. LA Lakers over the OKC Thunder in 6. Too much height and the black mamba
and lingering effects of that last meeting in the regular season where OKC
choked. LA was my call for the championship. I’ll be happy if I am wrong on
this one since I do not like LA.
3. Celtics over Philly in 6 games. Too much experience vs too little
talent
4. Heat over Indy. Too much talent at the top vs inexperience. Not holding
true after Bosh went down. I big blow. Another one I am happy to be wrong
about since I do not like the Heat.

Hawks Playoff Prediction 2012

May 7th, 2012

ws_saiff

The Hawks will be one and done again. This time it is different. That is what they will say. We’ll win round one and we’ll have a hard fought 2nd round. We’ll blame the close 2nd round loss on injuries and say that it would have been different if were at full strength and so therefore we do not need to make any changes to the team. We just need the injuries to heal and then we’ll be better. Let’s examine the truth:

1. Why do our players always get hurt. Simply because we overplay our starters. Our starters never rest and so they get hurt. We overuse our starters and do not allow our young players to grow. So even if our veterans are not hurt, they will get tired and our young players will not have any playing time prior to the playoffs to have the confidence to step up their game. We were lucky last year when Teague filled in and was the 2nd best player.

2. We never groom our young guys. Teague only played last year by default. We if anything, talk in puplic about how our young guys are not ready or need to work harder. Perhaps Drew should praise them in public, but that will never happen. Give our young guys a long leash, not the short one they have. Lets see if Ivan Johnson plays a major role.

3. We have horrible coaching. I’m still waiting for the revolutionary offense Drew designed when he took the job. We did just light it up against the Pistons tonight. I’m also pretty sure he does not know how to make adjustments. Whenever we lose, we will simply be outcoached.

4. Ultimately, our owners stink. It all trickles down. Crappy owners make for crappy management make for crappy coaches, etc

Nonetheless, I’ll be excited in the playoffs and have that false sense of excitement at times when the Hawks look awesome and then it will all come crashing down as it always does.

Hawks playoff prediction 2012

April 19th, 2012

ws_saiff

The Hawks will be one and done again. This time it is different. That is what they will say. We’ll win round one and we’ll have a hard fought 2nd round. We’ll blame the close 2nd round loss on injuries and say that it would have been different if were at full strength and so therefore we do not need to make any changes to the team. We just need the injuries to heal and then we’ll be better.

Let’s examine the truth:

1. Why do our players always get hurt. Simply because we overplay our starters. Our starters never rest and so they get hurt. We overuse our starters and do not allow our young players to grow. So even if our veterans are not hurt, they will get tired and our young players will not have any playing time prior to the playoffs to have the confidence to step up their game. We were lucky last year when Teague filled in and was the 2nd best player.

2. We never groom our young guys. Teague only played last year by default. We if anything, talk in puplic about how our young guys are not ready or need to work harder. Perhaps Drew should praise them in public, but that will never happen. Give our young guys a long leash, not the short one they have. Lets see if Ivan Johnson plays a major role.

3. We have horrible coaching. I’m still waiting for the revolutionary offense Drew designed when he took the job. We did just light it up against the Pistons tonight. I’m also pretty sure he does not know how to make adjustments. Whenever we lose, we will simply be outcoached.

4. Ultimately, our owners stink. It all trickles down. Crappy owners make for crappy management make for crappy coaches, etc

Nonetheless, I’ll be excited in the playoffs and have that false sense of excitement at times when the Hawks look awesome and then it will all come crashing down as it always does.

NBA playoff predictions 2012

April 13th, 2012

ws_saiff

Playing the trends as you know I like to does not give any obvious answers this. Let’s look at the year so far:

1. Superbowl: The favorite New England Patriots lost to the Wild Card underdog New York Giants. Neither team is really hated.

2. NCAA basketball: The favorite University of Kentucky beat the dark horse Kansas. The U of Kentucky wildcats are hated mainly because of their coach (calipari). On the womens side, the favorite Baylor ran the table

3. Australian Open Tennis: The favorites on both the mens and womens side won. Both beat former stars who had to take a backseat.

Common themes: the favorite played in the finals and mostly won. The winners for the most part have a tradition of winning in that sport.

So who does this favor in the NBA. The Heat are the favorite but do not have a rich history of winning. The lakers, celtics and spurs have the tradition of winning unlike OKC or the LA clippers. Based off the tea leaves, I think the lakers beat the heat.

The celtics and spurs are too old and will wither in the playoffs. Chicago is a one trick pony and the pony keeps getting hurt. Okc will find a way to lose. The lakers basically have the same team as the prior years sans Odom but now they have a speedy guard and are flying under the radar. Despite the coaching of Mike Brown, Kobe will lead them to the promise land.

Petrino is a true Georgian

April 11th, 2012

ws_saiff

I knew Bobby Petrino was truly a Georgian. The man who left the state in the middle of the night. The man who was too scared to tell anyone he was leaving with a face to face conversation. The man who would not let grown men talk on a plane. The man who did nothing for the Atlanta Falcons.

Now he follows in the footsteps of our great former University of Georgia athletic director Damon Evans. Both men caught with women. Both men trying to explain their behavior.

Ultimately, who cares. I was happy when Arthur Blank initially hired. The Falcons needed discipline at that time after Jim Mora Jr was fired. Who knew he was the opposite extreme. Who knew he would leave in the middle of night.

I always root against him now and I always will. Partly for the shameful way he left and partly because he coaches the University of Arkansas. Hopefully this affects their recruiting and a couple of his good recruits come to the University of Georgia.