Droppin

Its not too often you will see me post something about baseball on Droppin.com unless it involves the Yankees (and no I refuse to discuss the debacle that was the Red Sox series last weekend.  Lets just say I never thought I would feel scared to see Rivera enter the game but I’m actually to that point now.  Lets not talk about this anymore its too depressing) but I feel like I just have to comment on the strange resurgence we are seeing this season from the likes of Sosa & Bonds.  I think everyone expected Bonds to hang around long enough to squeak out the last few home runs needed to get the record but did anyone expect he would do it like he is?  Is 40 or 50 home runs unthinkable for him this season?  Better question would that wash away any of the steroid haze surrounding this?  And Sosa, talked about your washed up has beens but the guy is going out and proving everyone wrong.  It’s like they each found some new undetectable substance that has allowed them to play at the level of their former greatness again.  Wonder when McGuire and Canseco are coming back.  Errr I mean….

While we are on the subject of baseball, can anyone tell me why it is that pitchers are dropping like flies in baseball these days.  I don’t think I have seen a day go by yet this season that someone wasn’t getting put on the DL or having season ending surgery for some arm ailment.  I don’t ever recall this happening as much in my youth.  Freakin Nolan Ryan was out there throwing the heat till he was old enough to collect social security and yet we have guys with their arms falling off now at the age of 28.  Are these guys just wussies or what?  I have always thought baseball injuries were strange.  You would never see an NFL guy sit out a game with some of the ailments that bother these guys and they sit or stand without moving nearly all game.  Maybe I just don’t get it…

Note from Seven: This was meant to be posted last Thursday however yours truly forgot to actually publish the post.  I would have just let it go, after all its just Sanjaya but I felt obligated to share this link with the world.  So read on:

Yes I do from time to time catch an episode of American Idol and while I’m not the worlds biggest diehard fan I had found myself caught up in the SANJAYA-MANIA that has swept our fair nation. (by caught up I mean making as much fun of it as humanly possible) And now it all comes to a close as SANJAYA has finally found himself voted off. All good things must come to an end…and so too must the bad things. And now, to say goodbye, I give you…THE HOUSE OF SANJAYA!!!

For the last 20 years we have heard rumblings about the 1985 NBA draft being rigged in order to allow the New York Knicks to get the first pick and with it Patrick Ewing.  Speculation has been tossed around about the method possibly used with the “frozen envelope” method being the most popular.  Its always been kind of an inside joke where everyone said Stern rigged the lottery for NY but I don’t think anyone ever really believe it…until now.  Thanks to the power of Youtube some brave soul has found and posted an unedited version of the 1985 draft lottery.  In it you can clearly see that the guy who places the envelops in the giant spinning glass basketball hopper places each envelope gently in, except for one in the middle which he inexplicably slams hard against the side of the hopper creating a huge crease/dent in the corner of the envelop.  Then when Stern pulls out the envelope for the first pick he grabs three and then looks down into the hopper at the envelopes before selecting the one that would have the first pick.  For every other envelope he doesn’t look down, he doesn’t even look at the envelope after picking it.  Could this conspiracy of all conspiracies actually be true?  Take a look at the video evidence and decide for yourself…

YouTube – NBA on CBS 1985 NBA Draft Lottery – COMPLETE VERSION

Just like the title says, I’m a day late and a dollar short but here are my predicitions for the playoffs:

First round:

Mavs over the Warriors in 7

Rockets over the Jazz in 5

Phoenix over the Lakers in 5 unless Nash gets hurt, then Kobe…er I mean the Lakers in 6

Spurs over the Nuggets in 6

Pistons over the Magic in 5

Bulls over the Heat in 6

Nets over the Raptors in 7

Cavs over the Wizards in 4

Semi Finals

Mavs over the Rockets in 6

Suns over the Spurs in 6

Bulls over the Pistons in 7

Cavs over the Nets in 5

Conference Finals

Suns over the Mavs in 7

Bulls over the Cavs in 6

Finals

Suns over the Bulls in 6

Not real thrilled with my pick of the Suns but the Mavs seem like they could get beat by anyone in a 7 game series including the Warriors, the Spurs seam too advanced at this point to throw into that extra playoff gear and I just don’t trust anyone from the east to play throughout the playoffs with any sort of consistency.  If Lebron had more talent around him I would say that this would be his year to break through in the east but I just don’t see that happening.  That leaves me with the Suns who are one injury to Nash away from being a lottery team.  Without him they are nothing so he better be taking his vitamins and saying his prayers.

If the stars were to align I could see anyone of 6 teams (Mavs, Spurs, Suns, Bulls, Rockets, Pistons and perhaps even the Cavs) hoisting the trophy and on the same hand I would not be shocked to see the Mavs, Spurs or Rockets get bumped in the first round.  That would leave teams like the Warriors, Nuggets or Jazz in the mix and at that point all bets are off.  Should make for an interesting playoffs.

Side note (does anyone realize that with the Bulls getting the Knicks pick in the next draft thanks to the tub o goo trade that we could very well be on the verge of another Bulls dynasty?  Look at that roster.  Talented and young and an ownership that is not afraid of speding money.  Thomas is starting to come on strong w/ the nucleus of Deng, Gordon & Hinrich.  What happens if you add Durrant or Oden to this team?  Or even one of the other top players in the draft?  Look out for the Bulls.

Yes I still watch Survivor each week.  I know its a shocker to me to.  I’m compelled once again to write a little something about the show after last weeks phenomenal episode.

That was one of the most entertaining episodes of the show I have seen in a long long time and that doesn’t just include this season.  Who would have thunk my favorite part would be the moments leading up to tribal council and tribal council itself?  Those are usually my two least favorite portions of the show but nothing is more entertaining then watching a guy who thinks he has the game in his back pocket (Alex) get the carpet yanked out from under him.  I do feel bad for Dre (aka Dreamz but I refuse to call him that) though as he basically sacrificed himself and was rewarded by having his new alliance throw him under the bus by leaving his vote for Mookie.  The smart play would have been to have Dre vote for Cassandra with the other guys since Stacy and Boo gave them more then enough votes to take out Edgardo.  That way they wouldn’t have had to worry about switching the vote on Dre and not telling him, basically saying they don’t trust him and it would have kept Dre hidden as the traitor.  Now he is painted into a corner as Alex and Mookie are going to hate him but he knows the other side still doesn’t fully trust him (although they should now).

I do have one problem however.  And that is Earl and Yao Man thinking that the brilliant move last night was their doing.  Plain and simple they got lucky when Dre decided to spill everything to them and they got even luckier when Stacy decided to jump for no apparent reason.  Not sure what her flip flop was all about.  Even more strange though is that Boo is sticking with Earl and Yao Man.  Why wouldn’t he jump back to Alex & Edgardo when he got the first chance to do so?  Color me confused.

Anyway I am honestly left wondering where the game will go from here.  There are way to many roosters in the hen house at the moment as an alliance of 6 cannot survive and we have seen enough flip flopping (Dre, Stacy I’m looking at you) to know that once they realize they are on the outside looking in at the final 3 or four they will jump to do something desperate again and likely blow everything up.  I want Yao Man to win it all more then just about any Survivor in the history of the show but I just don’t see how anybody will allow themselves to go to the final two with him because he is so likable and has played the game so well.  So I highly doubt that will happen except for the fact that he has proven himself as a solid competitor again and again so I wouldn’t put it past him to win immunity for himself and stay in the game  That’s more then I can say for Earl.  What the heck has he ever won…

That said I’d like to toss my hat into the world of Survivor Predictions by Breaking down your final 8.  So without further adu here is my one and only bootlist for Survivor Fiji

• Alex
• Mookie
• Boo
• Stacy
• Yao Man
• Cassandra
• Dre (dreamz if you must)
• Earl

And there you have it!

Hey Seven, I did not factor the Madden cover into our Bush vs Young debate.  This isn’t fair!  Now his career is over.

ESPN.com – VIDEOGAMES – Titans’ Young nabs Madden NFL 08 cover

Very good news for Heels fans.  The biggest question on the table, what will Wright do?

Hansbrough, Lawson To Return To Carolina In 2007-08 :: The duo announced their intentions on Tuesday night at the teams awards ceremony.

Milestones in human speed:

• May 6, 1954: Roger Bannister runs a mile in under four minutes.
• June 14, 2005: Asafa Powell runs 100 meters in 9.77 seconds.
• April 5, 2007: ESPN reveals Devin Hester will have a speed rating of 100 in Madden NFL ’08.

Showtime is usually the Madden guy around here but thos story is so big I couldn’t hold off. For Madden 08 EA sports will be giving out the first ever perfect 100 rating on an attribute to Devin Hester who can apparently take home the title now as faster player to ever play in the NFL according to EA. Check out Joystiq for the full story

For Madden speed, it dont get bester than Hester – Joystiq

A day late and a dollar short but I’ve been out of town this last week so all due apologies.  In case you missed it be sure to check out the cover reveal for Deathly Hallows.

Mugglenet – Deathly Hallows

Ever wanted to buy the house of celebrity stylist to the starts Jonathan Antin? Well now you can as his Los Angeles house has been put up on the market. For just 1.7 Million you too can stand in the very shower where Jonathan poured bottle water over himself and gave us all the epic bangin hair! Call your real estate agent STAT!

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