Which university will have more players drafted in the first three rounds? Who will the St. Louis Rams go with as the No. 2 pick overall? Who will be the second QB drafted overall? So many questions, so little time left before the 2008 NFL Draft gets underway this weekend in New York!
Sportsbooks like Bodoglife.com have some pretty cool NFL Draft betting props up right now. Anyway, here are the (predicted) Top 100 NFL Draft picks:
1. Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU
Height: 6-1 1/2; Weight: 297
2. Vernon Gholston, DE, Ohio State
Height: 6-3; Weight: 266
3. Chris Long, DE, Virginia
Height: 6-3; Weight: 272
4. Jake Long, T, Michigan
Height: 6-7; Weight: 313
5. Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
Height: 6-1 1/4; Weight: 211
6. Sedrick Ellis, DT, Southern Cal
Height: 6-0 1/2; Weight: 309
7. Keith Rivers, LB, Southern Cal
Height: 6-2 1/4; Weight: 241
8. Jonathan Stewart, RB, Oregon
Height: 5-10 1/4; Weight: 235
9. Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Illinois
Height: 5-10 1/8; Weight: 225
10. Brian Brohm, QB, Louisville
Height: 6-2 7/8; Weight: 230
(more…)
Boston fans, take heart. Kevin Garnett won’t be named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player this year. But he’ll take home a more significant piece of hardware: the NBA Finals Award.
It’s within the realm of possibility that the Boston Celtics won’t win the NBA title. Their football brethren honked the Super Bowl after going 18-0, and there are sharks in the Western Conference waters. But at 5-4 odds (down from 3-2 at the start of the playoffs), the Celtics have a stranglehold on the championship futures market.
Garnett is Boston’s main man, respected in the press and the player most likely to get the Finals MVP vote. His main competition will come from his own teammates: Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. However, Boston’s scoring load has been evenly distributed all season, especially in the first round versus the Atlanta Hawks. If it stays that way, the Big Ticket won’t have to worry about split votes.
It’s no big secret that Miami is picking Michigan tackle Jake Long to be the No. 1 selection. The deal is done. But who will the St. Louis Rams pick as the No. 2 selection? The thinking is that the Rams will go with one of three options: LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, Virginia defensive end Chris Long or they’ll trade for someone further down the field.
Who do you think will be the No. 2 selection? Sportsbooks everywhere have their NFL Draft betting props ready for the picking. Here’s the order for Round One:
1 Miami Dolphins
2 St. Louis Rams
3 Atlanta Falcons
4 Oakland Raiders
5 Kansas City Chiefs
6 New York Jets
7 New England Patriots
8 Baltimore Ravens
9 Cincinnati Bengals
10 New Orleans Saints
11 Buffalo Bills
12 Denver Broncos
13 Carolina Panthers
14 Chicago Bears
15 Detroit Lions
16 Arizona Cardinals
17 Kansas City Chiefs
18 Houston Texans
19 Philadelphia Eagles
20 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
21 Washington Redskins
22 Dallas Cowboys
23 Pittsburgh Steelers
24 Tennessee Titans
25 Seattle Seahawks
26 Jacksonville Jaguars
27 San Diego Chargers
28 Dallas Cowboys
29 San Francisco 49ers
30 Green Bay Packers
31 New York Giants
Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander is rumored to be looking for a new home for the upcoming NFL football season. According to a report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Seahawks are set to release Alexander as soon as his injured wrist has been cleared by doctors.
While many Hawks fans will be sad to see the popular player go, others will be relieved.
During the 2005 season Alexander earned the NFL MVP award for his numerous achievements on the year: In 2005 broke the franchise record for the most rushing yards in the Seattle Seahawks’ history. On November 13, 2005, scoring 3 touchdowns, Alexander became the first running back in NFL history to record 15 or more touchdowns in five consecutive seasons. Then on November 20, 2005, in San Francisco, Alexander became the first player in NFL History to score 19 rushing or receiving TDs in only 10 games. This feat eventually led to him breaking Priest Holmes record of 27 total touchdowns set in 2002, and his 27 rushing touchdowns also tied Holmes for the most in a single season. (Wikipedia)
But then it was all downhill from there.
After signing an 8-year $62 million contract (and scoring the cover of Madden NFL 07, a hugely popular video game), Alexander sustained a fractured wrist, then twisted his knee, then his ankle and then suffered a concussion.
It is being called the triathlon of a new generation, The Ultimate Boarder. Being the first of its kind, this one week competition in
“This event is all about providing a venue were we can showcase and discover a unique and truly gifted athlete,” said Founder & CEO Tim Hoover. “An individual who possesses balance, skill, athleticism and endurance in three of the top board sports in the world.”
So who is the first annual winner of the Ultimate Boarder? Aaron Astorga and for his talent he received a $30,000 check, along with a one of a kind Soul Ryde longboard with gold, silver and bronze Revenge Trucks embellished with custom spinner wheels. Second place went to Todd Richards and third was kiwi Kristian Phillipp.
“It was an amazing event and everyone had a great time,” said Ultimate Boarder™ champion, Aaron Astorga. “The contest organizers did an unbelievable job of bringing all of the surfers, skaters and snowboarders together and I know a lot of us are already looking forward to next year’s contest.”
Everyone here at the office plays fantasy baseball – it’s fun, especially when you’re winning. You’re probably having a lot of fun if you drafted MVP candidates Hanley Ramirez (.375 BA, three HR, 11 RBI) and David Wright (.306 BA, four HR, 15 RBI).
On the mound, the usual suspects are cleaning up: Brandon Webb (four wins, 1.86 ERA, 0.79 WHIP), Jake Peavy (three wins, 1.64 ERA, 0.91 WHIP) and to a lesser extent, Johan Santana (one win, 3.05 ERA, 0.97 WHIP). Other pitchers have been pleasant surprises, none more pleasant than Zack Grienke (three wins, 0.75 ERA, 0.92 WHIP).
The Mets’ bullpen isn’t doing Santana owners any favors. But it could be worse – you could be a Roy Oswalt owner. The usually reliable Oswalt says his mechanics are off, which would explain his 6.65 ERA and 1.70 WHIP. And we’re still waiting on David Ortiz: one home run in 60 at-bats and last in the majors at .399 OPS.
Ian Poulter (photo) hits a hole-in-one
Even after the fog cleared, the best that Tiger Woods could do on the first day at the 2008 Masters was break even.
“I didn’t get anything going my way. I thought I played a lot better than my score indicates,” Woods said. “At 13 I hit a sweet approach shot that I thought was perfect, then I ended up with the worst place you could have put it. At 15, it was an easy little chip uphill - just had to make sure it carried enough. But the way the course plays now, you don’t really shoot low scores round here. You just kind of plod along. It plays more like a US Open than a Masters.”
England’s Justin Rose, meanwhile, shot a 4-under-par 68 to grab a share of the opening-round lead. Ian Poulter also had a good day, hitting a hole-in-one at Augusta National’s par-3 16th hole.
Tiger Woods is the 1/1 odds on favorite to win the 2008 Masters. Justin Rose is at 33/1 odds to win; and Ian Poulter is at 125/1 odds to win.
If you’re one of the intrepid bracket wizards who penciled in all four No. 1 seeds to make the Final Four, well done. But where did you go from here?
To isolate what makes a champion, you can look at all the ones who came before and try to pick out common elements. Peter Tiernan, who blogs over at Bracket Science, says 21 of the 23 college basketball champions in the 64/65 Tournament format meet the following three criteria:
Seeded No. 4 or higher
Scored at least 76 points per game
Victory margin of 10 or more points
All four teams meet the first requirement. Here are the points for and against, for each team.
North Carolina: 88.7-72.7
Kansas: 81.5-61.6
Memphis: 79.7-60.6
UCLA: 74.1-59.1
Too bad for the Bruins. Otherwise, we still have three qualifying teams. This is where the Tar Heels may have the trump card in coach Roy Williams, the two-time AP Coach of the Year.
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