Handling the Bengals and Ocho Cinco.....

This is a video posted on twitter by Nick Barnett (Line backer of the Packers), talking about how he and the packers are preparing to (man)handle Chad Ocho Cinco and the Bengals this weekend...




Ain't that dedication ....... hillarious!!

US Open Mens Finals

Well only 2 of my predicted Semi-Finalists made it to the final four. But, with such depth in men's tennis these days, the only safe bets to predict the last four standing are Federer and Nadal. And that may not be for long. The Men's Finals is about to start in a couple of hours. It did not turn out to be the glamorous Fed-Rafaa finals matchup as many predicted. Its gonna be Federer vying for his record 6th consecutive US Open title against the kid from Argentina, Juan Martin Del Potro.

No doubt Federer is going to be prepared for the big game, as he always is. It will be interesting to see how ready will Del Potro be in his first ever grand slam finals. As I had already mentioned in one of my previous posts, I had high hopes for Del Potro, barely 20 yrs of age, in this tournament and with Murray out of the way, he made his way through Cilic and then the injured Rafaa to reach here. Now that Rafa is not in the finals, I am rooting for the Argentine to unseat the champ out of his throne. His fitness issues may not be a hindrance because of all the rain delays and the short match against Rafa, giving Juan enough rest for the biggest game of his life yet.

Juan has bursted out to the forefront ahead of schedule. His already exciting game has been improving all along, with a better serve now than a few months ago, and his already killer forehand is touted to have an upside (hard to imagine eh?). Even if he fails to beat Roger today, we will see a newer version of Del Potro next season, who will be a legit contender right from the start. So watch out you guys at the top, there's a new threat in the horizon in men's tennis. Its well known he has the talent to beat anyone in men's tennis, but today is his first test of mental strength. Ability is one thing, but to actually execute against Roger at the big stage is another thing. Hope he has a little bit of the Rafa fight inside him.

Prediction:

I know you possibly cannot pick against King Roger. But I'm willing to go out on a limb and pick Del Potro for the upset. The way I see it, Juan is not going to be an underdog for long. I am not gonna miss the chance to pick him as an underdog. But one thing I can be sure of, we are about to witness some fine artistry on the court by Federer and some sweet shot making from Del Potro.

My call: Del Potro beats Roger in 4 sets.

END OF GAME UPDATE:(6:20 pm PST) Well, I was off by a set ....... but i'll take credit. But seriously, what a display of strokes as well as mental resurgence from both players. I was more so impressed by Del Potro considering it was the biggest stage of his life yet and he was clearly shook up and stream-rolled by Federer till the middle of the 2nd set. And it was against Roger.....not too many people can come back from a deficit to beat him especially in a grand slam final. Rafa is the only one to beat Roger in a Grand Slam event the last 4-5 years. Welcome to the Big Boy's club of men's tennis Juan. And Andy Murray needs take a lesson or two from Del Potro on composure at the big stage.

NFL 2009: Week 1 Picks

Here are my picks for week 1. This week I had to post it early because of the season kick-off game on Thursday. So some of my picks for the weekend game may be off because of the lack of injury reports as of now. Moreover, in the NFL, the true strengths and make-up of team will be known only after they play a couple of weeks of meaningful football. Still, I'll get the ball rolling:

Titans at Steelers:
I think it is a toss up. I pick the Steelers as they are at home. An interesting facade to the game is the terrible towel incident of last season, when Keith Bullock and a couple of other Titans stomped on the terrible towel in front of all those Steelers fans. Hope to see an extra physical game because of the sub-plot.
My pick: Steelers

Dolphins at Falcons:
Arguably, the two most surprising teams of last season are at it in Week 1. I think the Falcons have the edge here mainly because of the potentially better QB play of Matt Ryan.
My pick: Falcons

Broncos at Bengals:
This is a tough one to call.... for all the wrong reasons. Both these teams will be trying to get out of the bracket of bottom feeders this season. The upside being Bengals have Carson Palmer at the helm and Josh McDaniels is bringing his successful offensive system from the Patriots to the Broncos. Kyle Orton may be questionable for the game because of his finger injury.
My pick: Bengals

Vikings at Browns:
Brett Favre's debut with the Vikings. I am sure most of the country is going to tune into this one. Love him or hate him ..... Favre makes people watch football. And he opens their season against the lowly Browns.
My pick: Vikings

Jaguars at Colts:
If at all the Colts are gonna stumble, I predict it is this year. And when I say stumble, its just not making the playoffs (they still may end up with a winning record). Peyton has to work his offense under a new head coach and the undersized (yet speedy) Colts defense is always a suspect factor until we actually see them play. The Jaguars would love to bounce back after a losing season last year.
My pick: Jaguars (upset special 1)

Lions at Saints:
Drew Brees vs Lions D. Enough said.
My pick: Saints

Cowboys at Buccaneers:
I am guessing the Cowboys are gonna start on the fast lane as they have the last few years. It is only towards the end that they falter. The Bucs have a new head coach and a new Offensive Coordinator (only days into the job)
My pick: Cowboys

Eagles at Panthers:
No Vick for the first 2 weeks. So Donovan McNaab can play at peace without looking over his shoulders. Jake Delhomme is probably playing for his career with the Panthers this year.
My pick: Eagles

Chiefs at Ravens:
Todd Haley brings his pass-based offense to the Chiefs from the Super bowl runner ups of last year. But Matt Cassel is probably going to miss a week or two. Back to the Croyle-Thigpen days to kick off their season? And I think Joe "the unflappable" Flacco will dodge his sophomore slump to carry the Ravens on offense this year.
My pick: Ravens

Jets at Texans:
The Jets are gonna have a scathing defense that plays as physical as possible under Rex Ryan. But they probably can't go too far with a rookie QB, Mark Sanchez, who started only a year in college, albeit it was at USC. On the other hand, the Texans finally seem to have a team good enough to post a winning season. the caveat being the health of Matt Schaub.
My pick: Texans

Redskins at Giants:
The Giants will walk all over the anaemic Redskins offense. And Eli will try to prove that he is worth that monster contract he signed. No Plexico.... No problemo!!
My pick: Giants

49ers at Cardinals:
This matchup inthe NFC west has always been close the last couple of years in spite of the fact that the 49ers were awful. Now that they are on their way up under Mike Singletary, I predict an upset here. And the Cardinals are going to have that super bowl runner-up hangover that has haunted many a teams.
My pick: 49ers (upset special 2)

Rams at Seahawks:
The Seahawks finally have their QB Matt Hasselback healthy. They finally have their receivers healthy (no more playing with receivers picked up from the streets because receivers no.1 to no.5 are injured at the same time like last year). Saying that the Rams are rebuilding is an understatement. I challenge anyone to name a Rams player not named Stephen Jackson.
My pick: Seahawks

Bills at Patriots:
Brady is back....so let the fireworks at Foxboro begin. The Bills may start off with a loss, but I have high hopes for the Stanford kid Trent Edwards, now that he has TO to stretch the field. Not happening this week though.
My pick: Patriots

Chargers at Raiders:
The Chargers are loaded with players to make a strong push for a championship, but their window is closing this may be their last legit chance for a shot. They hope they don't dig themselves a hole off the gates like last season. The Raiders are a whole different kind. Nobody knows what happens in the black hole. But I like a coach who is ready to get down and dirty leaving behind black eyes (literally).
My pick: Chargers

Bears at Packers:
Now for my game of the week. The typical slug fest that it used to be is about to turn into some areal showcase with Jay Cutler for the Bears and Aaron Rodgers in a pass friendly Packers offense. Do I need to mention this is the oldest .....oldest period..... rivalry in football. I am predicting it takes Cutler a few more weeks to get used to his new offense and teammates, while Aaron has a field day against the aging Bears D.
My pick: Packers (of course)

Season Score: 0-0
Last Week: n/a

Packers 2009 Season Preview

Finally, the 2009 NFL regular season is upon us. In a few days time, on a high energy Thursday night, the NFL season will kick off with the defending champions Steelers taking on the Titans. To be honest I really don't care about the outcome of this game. The season for me starts Sunday evening, Sep 13th, when the Bears kick off against the Packers at Lambeau field. Now that's the Packer homer in me talking.

This post is more of a preview of the upcoming season for the Packers.

The Offense

Coach McCarthy's offensive philosophy is based on the West Coast Offense. It's a system that works best when you have an efficient QB at the helm, who works the ball down the field methodically without too many risks. That's exactly who the Packers have under center, Aaron Rodgers. Last season was Aaron's first full season as a starter. He had a great year statistically, but it did no't really show up in the wins column for the team, which is what ultimately counts. There were a number of reasons for that, the least critical of which was probably Aaron. The knock on him was that he was not able to complete last minute drives to score, losing 5 games by 4 points or less. But to be fair, the porous defense last year let the other team score in the final minutes forcing Aaron to try score one over that in the final seconds. It was probably a tall order for a first year QB. This year he has a better hang of the offense, working a lot even during the off-season.

Talking about the off-season, almost all the core Packers' players were present for OTAs and mini-camps. Its hard to believe but they had a attendance of 97% this off-season, which is unbelievable for a team in a league full of prima donna millionaire players. This had helped the core players to get a better hang of the playbook and they should be ready to play come crunch time.

Aaron also has a bunch of excellent receivers with the veteran Donald Driver and the young phenom Greg Jennings being a formidable 1-2 punch with more than enough support from James Jones and Jordy Nelson. Aaron also has a couple of TEs to throw to, especially Jermicheal Finley. Finley is touted by many to have a break out year in his sophomore season. He's reported to have shown enormous promise during practice and is a big target in goal line and red zone situations. Also on the offensive front, the O line seems stabilized for now. Barring any injuries, they should be able to get even better as the season goes on, with solid protection for Aaron and good run blocking for Ryan Grant and other RBs. And Grant expects himself to be better than last year. He had a 1200+ rushing season last year, but his yards per carry was significantly lesser than the year before. Unlike last year, when he missed the entire off-season / training camp and most of the pre-season due to contract issues, this year he has been a full part of the off-season and pre-season training schedule. So you can expect him to be at an elite level this season, providing a solid ground game in support of the Rodgers areal attack.

The Defense

Coming into this season, the defense had the most question marks about it. The defense as a whole had a bad season last year, which triggered the firing of pretty much the entire defensive coaching staff. After thorough and diligent groundwork, Dom Capers was brought in as the Defensive Coach to install the new 3-4 defensive scheme. This being the first year would probably have a mixture of the new 3-4 scheme and some old 4-3 formations thrown in to ease the transition. Will be interesting to see how they fare in the transition year. If the pre-season performance is any indication (which more often than not is not always the case), the defense could be very dominating with plenty of takeaways for the offing. Apart from the change in the scheme, a few notable changes are that Aaron Kampman, the best DE of the Packers will now play at LB. And Safety play becomes more important in the new scheme, meaning Nick Collins is expected to be the Troy Palamalu of the Packers defense.

The Defensive Line should be deep enough given that the base defense only requires 3 linemen. But Justin Harrell in the IR means one less available body for the position, also re-enforcing the fact that the 2007 first round pick has a long way to come off the bust list. Although, 2009 First round pick, BJ Raji started late because of his hold-out before signing, the Packers would not mind a slow time-table to get him upto speed at Nose Tackle, especially with Ryan Pickett starting at Nose Tackle. Raji can be groomed for coming years at NT. The Linebacker core is pretty deep, but lacks a true superstar status player. Kampman was great at DE, but the jury will be out to grade him at outside LB. AJ Hawk hasn't panned out as the Packers would have liked at LB, but they still say that he is a mainstay of the Defense. We can only hope they mean it, especially with guys like Brandon Chillar, Desmond Bishop and 2009 First Round Draft Pick Clay Mathews Jr. But, I guess that should be a good problem to have with so many guys knocking at the door to start at LB.

The secondary in the defense is key for the 3-4 scheme to work. Given that Capers likes to use a lot of zone blitzing schemes, where very often a DB or Safety is sent out to rush the passer. The Packers have two elite Cornerbacks in Charles Woodson and Al Harris. Typically, Woodson would cover the No.1 Receiver of the opponent, while Al Harris gets to work on the No.2 receiver. They are arguably the best CB tandem in the league. But reputation does not win you games. They must prove it week-in and week-out on the field. Will Blackmon, Tramon Willams and Jarett Bush have shown enough promise to be considered serious candidates for CB when facing 4 or 5 receiver formations. The Safety spot has Nick Collins at the helm. He could be assisted by Atari Bigby or Aaron Rouse. (The real surprise being Anthony Smith didn't make the team).


Special Teams

Although Special teams is a important piece for any good football team. I am going to undermine them just as people usually do. But I have to point out that the Place Kicker, Mason Crosby has to be more consistent than the pre-season has shown us. Some of the reserves on LB, CB and Safety are good special teams coverage guys, including 2 of the 3 fullbacks on the roster, Kuhn and Hall.

Note: Here's a look at the Packers depth chart after the final cuts.

Season Preview

Predicting anything in the NFL before the season starts is a dare, which I am not quite ready to indulge in. So I am just going to stick to a preview of the season as a whole, stopping with just analysis and letting the season play out to see who stands where in the end.

I would love to have the Packers go under the radar. But some of their 1st team dominance in pre-season has not gone unnoticed. The NFC North is going to be a tough one this year. Ironically, the traditional Black and Blue division has 4 Quarterbacks who can showcase an areal spectacle on their day. With Cutler under Center for the Bears and Favre stating for the Vikings, its going to be a race between the 3 teams for the division title. It would not surprise me if any of the 3 teams take the Division and even if all 3 make it to the playoffs.

One factor which can shape this race is something that cannot be anticipated. That is injury. A couple of injuries to key players or players at key positions can ruin the season for the entire team. I hope nothing happens in this division, so that we have a close race going down to the wire with the clinching taking place closer to the final week of the regular season than earlier. The following is the Packers' schedule for 2009:

WK	DATE	OPPONENT	TIME (ET)
1	Sun, Sep 13	Chicago	8:20 PM
2	Sun, Sep 20	Cincinnati	1:00 PM
3	Sun, Sep 27	at St. Louis	1:00 PM
4	Mon, Oct 5	at Minnesota	8:30 PM
6	Sun, Oct 18	Detroit	1:00 PM
7	Sun, Oct 25	at Cleveland	1:00 PM
8	Sun, Nov 1	Minnesota	1:00 PM
9	Sun, Nov 8	at Tampa Bay	1:00 PM
10	Sun, Nov 15	Dallas	4:15 PM
11	Sun, Nov 22	San Francisco	1:00 PM
12	Thu, Nov 26	at Detroit	12:30 PM
13	Mon, Dec 7	Baltimore	8:30 PM
14	Sun, Dec 13	at Chicago	1:00 PM
15	Sun, Dec 20	at Pittsburgh	1:00 PM
16	Sun, Dec 27	Seattle	1:00 PM
17	Sun, Jan 3	at Arizona	4:15 PM

As you may have noticed, it is by no means an easy schedule. With 2 games each against the Vikings and the Bears. Other potential tough ones are Dallas, Baltimore, at Pittsburgh and the regular season Finale at Arizona. The Seattle and Tampa Bay games are no gimmes either.

Here's hoping for an exciting season.......... Go Packers!!

Note: Here on, every Friday or Saturday, I will try post my predictions for the games that weekend. Hope to do that for the rest of the season.

Left-Speech Translator!!

Here's a video of one of the many media hacks (Linda Douglas, formerly of ABC news and currently a WH spokesperson) trying to justify one of Obama's double talks. Someone has taken the time to edit the video adding "translation" in the form of captioned text. Only that the "translation" tells the truth of the whole ordeal rather than the spin the WH spokesperson is trying to hoodwink people with. Check it out:



Doesn't it just crack you up???

US Open 2009 Preview

Not in the last few years has the men's field of grand slam tennis been so deep. You can pick a handful of players (or maybe more) who have a legitimate claim to the Championships at Flushing Meadows this year. Here's a preview of the top contenders (my pick for the 4 semi-finalists) and my predictions of the second week of the tourney.


Roger Federer

Roger is the No.1 seed and the de facto favorite to win the whole thing. It is hard to imagine that only earlier this year up till a couple months after the Australian Open, he seemed to have lost his mojo and was written of by almost everyone to win at the big stage again. Then came Roland Garros and a few lucky breaks (like no Nadal waiting for him at the finals) and he finds himself trying to win his third major in a row. What a turn of events for the 15 time Grand Slam Champion. He and many others must like his chances to pad up that Grand Slam count to untouchable realms (maybe it already is). His quarter in the draw should be no threat for him, with Davydenko or Sordeling being his potential Quarter Fianl opponent. And his Semi-Final opponent will come from Andy Roddick / Djokovic quarter of the draw.




Andy Murray

The No.2 seed this year is the Scott. He has had a good hard court season this year leading up to the US Open, bagging a couple of Masters' trophies en route. He was the runner-up last year, the finals no-show of 2008 probably being due to the first time finalist nervous jitters. But this year he seems to be ready for his big day. He should have smooth sailing through to his quarters, where he might have to face Del Potro or Giles Simon. And a potential Semi Final with Nadal. Murray is my pick to go all the way. But, he may have a few roadblocks to take care of to win the first major of his young career. This kid has what it takes.

Rafa Nadal

Rafa is trying to make his comeback after his rather long injury / rehab break due to his knee tendenitis. He is not yet up to the mark he would want to be, but I would never write him off. This guy is a warrior on court. It is never over till its over with him. If he manages to take the title this year, he would be the second player to complete the career grand slam in 2009 after Roger took the French earlier this year. How historic would that be? But it's a long way before we can think of that. He is the No.3 seed and has a bunch of dark horses in his quarter of the draw - Gasquet, Tsonga, Monfils to name a few. And has a potential semi-final matchup with Murray (who is my favorite to win the whole thing).

Andy Roddick

Roddick is the No. 5 seed this year. But he has a whole lot of momentum flowing with him while attempting to win his 2nd US Open title. His epic Wimbledon finals with Roger is still fresh in the minds of many of us. Never has a grand slam final loss been a good thing for a player before it happened to Andy. He took a lot from his valiant effort at Wimbledon and had a good efficient summer of tennis. If nothing else, he has become a better stronger player after the Wimbledon classic. He is in probably his best physical condition in a long time and has the ability to go deep this time at the US Open. His quarter of the draw has Djokovic, with a potential clash of the 2 in the quarters. If he and I would expect him to get through that, he would have a semi-final matchup with Roger. And wouldn't that be a potential classic; a rematch of their epic final weeks ago?

The above 4 are my picks to make it to the Semi's as of now. The dark horses in my opinion are:

Juan Martin Del Potro

Seeded No.6, this is the new kid on the block. He could be the Andy Murray of last year going deep into the 2nd week, ahead of schedule in his career. He has improved his serve and has tremendous upside to his already flashy game. His forehand is unreal and with a little adjustment can be the best in the game, which is a lot to say with so many big forehands already in the tennis circuit ala Roger, Gonza, Nadal etc. His biggest problem is his fitness, which has improved over the last year, but may not be good enough to last through two entire weeks of grand slam tennis. Moreover, he would have to beat Murray in the Quarters to go deep, which would be a tall ask, but is not out of his reach pending the fitness aspect.

Novak Djokovic

Novak has had a strong hard court summer, but not successful enough to be a threat at the Open. He will bring his usual solid game match after match, but I do not think he has that little extra to topple the other big guns. I do not expect him to come out of his quarter if he meets Roddick in the Quarter-Final as the seeding would draw them.

My Sleepers: Jo Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, Gael Monfils, Tommy Haas, Fernando Gonzales, James Blake


Quarter-Final Predictions

Quarter-Final 1: Roger Fedrer beats Mikhail Youzhny
Quarter-Final 2: Andy Roddick beats Novak Djokovic
Quarter-Final 3: Rafa Nadal beats Fernando Gonazales
Quarter-Final 4: Andy Murray beats Juan Martin Del Potro

Will update or write up a new post come semi-finals time.

Stealth Panda

The Kung Fu Panda celebrates Edgar Renteria during the post-game. Edgar hit a lead changing Grand Slam to bury the Rockies Sunday (08/30/2009).

Here's Edgar getting pied:


Go Giants!!

Live Blogging from AT&T Park

I'm gonna give a shot at LIVE blogging from AT&T park from the Giants Vs Rockies game. We'll see how it works out. :)

Pre-game:
The Giants are 7 games behind the dodgers and 3 games behind the Rockies in the wild card race. Good opportunity for the Giants to catch up on the Rockies especially when they have Lincecum and Cain slated to start for games 1 and 3. Lincecum aka "the freak" has been pitching great. But it doesn't seem to show up in his wins column this last month. That's bound to change for the better and hope it starts tonight. But he has a worthy opponent in Jimenez. We witnessed this same match up in a showdown last Sunday which went down the wire to end with a 2 run rockies win. The Giants would love to return the favor riding on their ace tonight. There are a few injury concerns for the giants though: Molina and Sandoval are questionable for tonight. Hopefully they are ready to start come game time.

7.50 pm: got here at the top of the 2nd. Its still scoreless after 2. But the giants had chances to knock in a run or 2 both innings. But to no vail. Timmy is pitchin good though. So fingers crossed. Injury update: sandoval is playin today...so there's bound to be some offense.

8.10 pm: end of the 4th and its still scoreless. Feels like its gonna be a long night. Rockies had a couple of hits, but no damage so far.

9.05 pm: its the end of the 6th and the giants are up 2-0. The kung fu panda (Sandavol) took Jiminez deep for a HR in the 5th. Velez had a 2 out hit in the 6th to make 2-0. Lincecum has about 100 pitches through 6. Let's see how long he stays in.

9.20pm: Lincecum just pitched his 8th. That's shut out 8 innings. And Uribe just got a lead off triple. but giants fail to score. Its top of the 9th with 2-0 lead and Wilson is out to try get a save.

9.40pm: and that's the ball game :). Brian Wilson got the save without much drama. That's the 17th shutout of the season for the Giants. and Timmy "the freak" has his 13th win of the season...finally. The giants are now 2 games down on the wild card and gained a game over the dodgers. Hopefully they can keep this going and run down the rockies and who knows maybe the dodgers.