NCAA FB Picks for Week 1 by Kyle Butler

Ok, so if you know me, you know my predicting skills usually leave a lot to be desired. I guaranteed Hillary would be the Democrat nominee, assured folks that the Detroit Tigers would win the American League, and was certain the Celtics would choke in the NBA Playoffs.

Yet, I’m not one to shy away from a challenge. So for each week of the college football season, I’ll be selecting 10 games to predict. While I can’t guarantee winners, I can guarantee that the capsules will make you laugh…or cringe…or both simultaneously. Without further ado…here we go.

WEEK 1: BUTLERS PICKS- Kick The Year Off Edition

1- Wake @ Baylor.  The Deacs are ranked to start the year. Baylor is simply rank. The Bears beat a ranked team about as often as Paris Hilton says something intelligent. (2-38 in last 40 gms vs ranked opp)
PICK: Wake 31  Baylor 23

2- NC State @ S Carolina.  The Ol Ball Coach can’t lose to NC State, can he? Unlikely, since Spurrier’s only lost one season opener in his coaching career. That stat is enough to make Pack fans say “Dadgum it!”
PICK: S Carolina 23  NC State 13

3- VA Tech v. ECU.  This game is in Charlotte. If you have a few hours, explain that one to me. The Hokies lost a lot, but I think they pull this one out in the end.
PICK: VA Tech 20  ECU 17

4- USC @ UVA.  Virginia won a lot of close games last year. Unfortunately for the Wahoos, this game will only be close for about 5 minutes.
PICK: USC 38  UVA 20

5- App St @ LSU.  The battle of the national champs! App should put up the points against the Tigers, but the Tigers will put up plenty against the boys from Boone.
PICK: LSU 37  APP ST 24

6- McNeese St @ UNC.  If the Tarheels can’t handle a school that sounds like a sausage biscuit from McDonald’s, then it’s gonna be a long year for Butch Davis.
PICK: UNC 27  McNeese 16

7- James Madison @ Duke. James Madison, our 4th president, was a short, white guy. Sounds like he’d have been a great assistant coach for the Duke bball team. That has nothing to do with anything, but I needed something remotely interesting to write in this spot!
PICK: Duke 31  JMU 30

8- Clemson v. Alabama.  Nick Saban is known for stretchin the truth a bit. I’m surprised he’s at this game, and not at one of the political conventions where he’d fit right in.
PICK: Clemson 23  Bama 17

9- Illinois @ Missouri.  This was the best game everyone forgot about last season. The Tigers won 40-34. This one won’t be quite as close. Mizzou is loaded.
PICK: Missouri 28  Illinois 14

10- Colorado St @ Colorado.  Fascinating rivalry that I usually predict wrong every year. But I actually got it right with the Buffaloes last year, so I’ll see if lightning strikes twice.
PICK: Colorado 27  Colorado State 20

Well, there you have it. Feel free to comment or submit some picks of your own. It should be a tremendous football season, ending when Missouri beats USC to win the national championship. Hey, had to get one last pick in there! Enjoy the games!

The Preview Before The Preview by Kyle Butler

Good afternoon,

I’ll have my first college football picks of the season posted by tomorrow. Until then, here’s a change of pace. My good friend Adam Dunning wrote a fantastic preview of the season himself, and I thought I’d post a few excerpts from it here. Hope you all enjoy it.
———————————————————-

Adam’s Conference Champion Picks:
ACC- Clemson
Big East- South Florida
Big Ten- Ohio State
Big XII- Oklahoma
Pac 10- USC
SEC- Florida

FIVE TO SURPRISE:
1- Texas Tech
2- UCLA
3- Pittsburgh
4- Wisconsin
5- Utah

Predictions for the ACC Big 4 Teams

Duke- The Blue Devil football faithful (all 12 of them) are very excited about new coach David Cutcliffe. But what else do they have to be excited about? QB Thad Lewis returns as the only impact player on the team, and is a run/pass dual threat. If only he had a line to block for him, a RB to hand off to, and WR’s to throw to, he might have had an impressive career. But Cutcliffe has worked with proven QB’s, so Duke improves slightly and wins 2 gms this year, but they will lose to 1-AA power JMU.

North Carolina- Butch Davis came to Carolina with a lot of hype. Most of that hype disappeared as the season progressed. But its been a long offseason and the high hopes have returned. Two excellent recruiting classes have brought the talent to UNC, but Butch needs to put the talent to good use. In a very weak Coastal Division, the opportunity for the Heels to succeed is great. If anyone could knock VT off the top spot, it would be them; especially since the game is in Chapel Hill this year, and since VT is probably overrated and just the easy pick to win the Coastal. If Butch can find a consistent QB, the Heels will compete for the Coastal crown.

NC State- If the injury bug were a true ailment, NC State had injury pneumonia last season. A laundry list of starters were lost for the season, causing Tommy O’s first year in Raleigh to be more difficult than expected. But everyone has healed; especially the RB corps of Baker and Brown. If Evans can finally emerge as the playmaker, this offense can start rolling, and the Pack have the potential to be spoilers in the Atlantic race.

Wake- The Demon Deacons proved last season that the 2006 ACC title wasn’t a fluke; at least, not entirely. They did not repeat as champions, but they put together a 9-win season, tied for the 2nd best in school history. Expectations are higher than ever in Winston-Salem as the Deacs return 9 starters on arguably the best defense in the conference, along with ACC rookie of the year Josh Adams. A thin OL and young talent at WR makes me believe Coach Grobe might favor the running game more this season, like he prefers to do. The Deacs will compete for the Atlantic Division title, but two things must happen to win it:
1) The defense has to continue to win the turnover battle and score points off those TO’s.
2) They have to beat Clemson.

Adam’s BCS Prediction: Ohio State over Oklahoma
——————————————–

Again, be sure to check back in tomorrow for my week one picks. Lots of great opening games, including a battle between the 2 champs: LSU and Appalachian State.  -KB

 

Sedgefield A Success by Kyle Butler

Well, it’s official. I’ve got to tip my cap to the folks in charge of the Wyndham Championship. The decision to move the tournament from Forest Oaks to Sedgefield Country Club was a huge success. I finally got out to the course on Sunday, and…talk about an enormous difference from last year! For one thing, there were actually fans on the course. Last year’s event was deader than John Edwards’ political career. This year, both Saturday and Sunday’s rounds were sellouts. This was particularly evident following John Daly around on Sunday, where the gallery numbers were well into the hundreds.

As for the course itself, sure, it played easy, but I didn’t hear any complaints from the players. It’s likely that they were happy for a break after dealing with the PGA Championship and the monster that was Oakland Hills. I’d expect that next year, Sedgefield will play a bit harder, but not to the point where players become totally frustrated…after all, they want them to come back.

Can the tournament improve? Sure. While there were more big names than in years past, the tournament could use a few more. While Tiger and Phil will probably never make the trip to Greensboro, there’s no reason that other big names like Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, and Jim Furyk couldn’t join the party at Sedgefield. Scott apparently tried to fit Greensboro into his schedule, but missed the deadline date. Getting a few of those guys, and hoping the likes of Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, and fan favorite Daly return will make the Wyndham a can’t miss event for the locals here in the Triad.

All in all, the tournament was definitely a success for the first time in a long while. The players were happy to play the Donald Ross-designed course. The fans were happy to see local favorite Carl Pettersson take home the trophy. And the sponsors were happy to see the event sell out for the first time in decades. There’s still room for improvement, but this year was a definite step in the right direction. The Wyndham was great in 2008!

Welcome Back Sedgefield by Kyle Butler

After 32 years, the PGA stop here in Greensboro is back at the historic Sedgefield Country Club. I can’t do any official previews or predictions of this weekend’s tourney, because it’s already started. That’s a shame, because I was gonna pick Brandt Snedeker to defend his title, and as I write this, he’s tied for the lead at -4. Frustrations!

That aside, it should be interesting to see how successful the tournament is this year. It can’t possibly be worse than last year’s swan song at Forest Oaks. Finding a recognizable name in the field was about as easy as looking for Duke fans who wear Carolina Blue shirts on campus. The fans stayed away in droves and the weather was incredibly hot and humid. In short, 2007 was a disaster.

Fortunately, the signs look far more positive for this year’s event. Sedgefield is a better course with a nice, old-timey feel. While it’s still not a great field, there at least are some names you’ve heard of. Names like Vijay Singh, and John Daly, and two-time champion Davis Love III. And while it’s certainly warm outside, it’s nowhere near stifling, which should help draw bigger crowds, especially on the weekend.

I won’t get out there until Sunday most likely, but am really looking forward to seeing the PGA guys battle it out on this old Donald Ross-designed course. So check out the Wyndham this week, and let’s help this tournament get back to the great event it used to be.

MLB Power Poll 8/5/08 by Kyle Butler

Here’s the latest MLB Power Poll with games played through August 4th, 2008.

AL EAST:

Tampa Bay: (2)  If Rays can hold their own on the road, they’ll actually win this division! Stunning!
Boston: (4)  Manny Ramirez forced Sox to trade him, but did the trade have to be so awful for Boston?
NY Yankees: (8)  Just shy of 40 yrs old, Mike Mussina has a shot at winning 20 games.
Toronto: (16)  If power was lard, Blue Jays wouldn’t grease too big a pan.
Baltimore: (19)  Aubrey Huff (.303-22-73) having the best season that nobody knows about.

AL CENTRAL:

Chicago WS: (7)  Carlos Quentin leads AL with 28 HR’s. Not bad for a guy who had 14 career jacks coming into 2008.
Minnesota: (6)  I give up. I have no idea how the Twins are in contention, much less tied for 1st in the Central.
Detroit: (17)  Trading Pudge for Farnsworth was idiotic move in what’s been a season to forget for Detroit.
Kansas City: (21)  KC isn’t great, but also isn’t a laughingstock for a change. Gotta start somewhere.
Cleveland: (24)  Good news: Cliff Lee is 15-2. Bad news: The rest of the Indians pitchers are 34-60.

AL WEST:

LA Angels: (1)  “K-Rod” on pace for an unthinkable 65 saves. Rotation is so good…he might just get there!
Texas: (11)  Rangers offense is unstoppable. Unfortunately, their pitching can’t stop anyone either.
Oakland: (22)  A’s stupidly gave up on the season in mid-July. Has Beane become a bonehead?
Seattle: (28)  Seattle’s so bad that its most famous psychiatrists (Frasier and Niles Crane) could make the M’s.

NL EAST:

Philadelphia: (5)  Utley, Howard, and Burrell are all on pace for over 40 HR’s for the first place Phils.
Florida: (13)  The Fish hit for a lousy average and can’t really pitch either, but just won’t go away.
NY Mets: (12)  Johan Santana has a 2.59 ERA over his last 10 starts, but only has a 2-3 record to show for it.
Atlanta: (25)  What takes longer to read? War and Peace…or the Braves injury report?
Washington: (30)  The nation’s capital might want to consider giving the team back to Montreal.

NL CENTRAL:

Chi Cubs: (3)  The Billy Goat might be getting a bit nervous. The Cubs are the team to beat in the NL.
Milwaukee: (9)  Prince Fielder restrained yesterday after attacking his pitcher. Who’s he think he is? Steve Smith?
St Louis: (10)  Weekend series in Chicago will determine if Cards focus remains on division or wild card.
Houston: (18)  Astros should borrow Yao Ming from the Rockets and see if he can pitch. Nobody else can.
Cincinnati: (23)  It was nice of the Reds to trade Griffey and give him a shot at the playoffs.
Pittsburgh: (26)  Pirates haven’t had a winning season since Barry Bonds was on the team.

NL WEST:

Arizona: (14)  Micah Owings sent to AAA. You would be too, if you were 0-7 in your last 10 starts with an ERA nearing double digits.
Los Angeles: (15)  Don’t know how well Manny will do in LA, but can’t be worse than Andruw Jones (.161-2-13)
Colorado: (20)  Rockies 7 gms out, but in this division, they can’t be counted out just yet.
San Francisco: (27)  More than 2/3 of the way thru the season, no Giants player has reached double digits in HR’s.
San Diego: (29)  Padre means “Father.” These fathers are playing like bed-ridden geezers.

Something new this month: If Awards were issued today…

AL Manager: Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay
NL Manager: Fredi Gonzalez, Florida
AL Rookie: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay
NL Rookie: Geovany Soto, Chi Cubs
AL Cy Young: Cliff Lee, Cleveland
NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb, Arizona
AL MVP: Justin Morneau, Minnesota
NL MVP: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee

Brains in Baseball Hit New Low by Kyle Butler

The MLB Trading Deadline passed yesterday around 4pm. Granted, as we’ve discovered in the past, baseball really doesn’t have a trading deadline. Guys are still going to get traded after July 31st. (Don’t ask me why…I don’t understand it either) That said, 3 major deals went down over the last 2 days. Each trade had 2 common factors:

1- They involved future Hall of Fame players.
2- They made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Trade 1: Detroit trades catcher Ivan Rodriguez to NY Yankees for pitcher Kyle Farnsworth.

Analysis: I read a number of online articles praising this trade for both teams. Apparently none of those authors want to see Detroit go anywhere this season. This trade is fine for New York, but is a terrible trade for the Tigers. Rodriguez doesn’t have the power he used to, but still hits nearly .300, and along with Derek Jeter will provide great leadership in the Yankee clubhouse. Farnsworth, on the other hand, will do nothing to shore up the Detroit bullpen. The only thing consistent about the hard-throwing right hander is his inconsistency. For Detroit, a team just 6 games out in the AL Central, this move appeared to be more of a surrender than anything resembling a charge.

Trade 2: Cincinnati trades outfielder Ken Griffey Jr to Chicago WS for a pile of junk…er, 2 minor leaguers.

Junior is one of the all-time greats whose career is a mixture of triumph and tragedy. Great personal statistics, but countless injuries derailed his chances at further glories. Well, Griffey is healthy this year, but so what? He’s hitting just .245 at a great hitter’s park in Cincinnati. Plus, the White Sox have no place to put him. At least Griffey gets a shot at the postseason again, but I doubt he’s gonna have much to do with whether the White Sox make it into October or not. Cincy got nothing of value either. This one stinks no matter which way you slice it.

Trade 3: Red Sox trade Manny Ramirez + 7 million dollars to Dodgers. Red Sox trade Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss to Pirates. Dodgers trade 2 prospects to Pirates. Pirates trade Jason Bay to Red Sox.

Ok, so these three team deals can get a bit complicated, but just understand this. Manny Ramirez is a great ballplayer. Manny Ramirez is also an idiot. He forced Boston’s hand by deciding to mouth off to the media, but more importantly, by not hustling in the field and basically refusing to play against the Yankees last weekend. Boston knew they had to ditch this clown, but in their desperation they made a mindblowingly bad deal. The Sox basically traded a future hall of famer, 7 million dollars, and two top prospects for Jason Bay. Huh? They might as well have not made the deal. Sure, their clubhouse would have been wrecked, and the team easily could have gone in the toilet, but they’re likely headin to the toilet anyway after this trade. The Pirates made a terrific deal, which is rare for that franchise. The Dodgers now have some power in the lineup…is it enough? Hard to say.

All in all, it was a weekend big on name recognition, but short on common sense, a quality becoming quite rare in the front offices around baseball these days.