Big Ten Week Five Picks

I went 12-2 in Picking Big Ten games last week, and 1-2 outside of it, putting me at 46-9 and 6-6 through the first four weeks of the season. Of course picking non conference games is pretty easy, as most games are against cupcakes. Now the challenge begins this week, as the Conference Slate begins.

Army @ Penn St: Pick: Penn St
Purdue @ Michigan St: Pick: Michigan St
Minnesota @ Northwestern: Pick: Northwestern
Iowa @ Wisconsin: Pick: Wisconsin
Nebraska @ Illinois: Pick: Nebraska
Ohio St @ Indiana: Pick: Ohio St
Michigan @ Maryland: Pick: Michigan

Outside the Big Ten
Alabama @ Georgia: Pick: Georgia
Notre Dame @ Clemson: Pick: Clemson
West Virginia @ Oklahoma: Pick: Oklahoma

NCAA Week Four Picks

I went 11-2 in Picking Big Ten games this year, and started off the year 1-0 in inner conference games. I went 1-2 outside the Big Ten. I stand 34-7 in picking Big Ten games and 5-4 outside of it.

Kansas @ Rutgers: Pick: Rutgers
BYU @ Michigan: Pick: BYU
Central Michigan @ Michigan St: Pick: Michigan St
Southern Mississippi St @ Nebraska: Pick: Nebraska
Bowling Green @ Purdue: Pick: Bowling Green
Indiana @ Wake Forest: Pick: Indiana
Maryland @ West Virginia: Pick: West Virginia
North Texas @ Iowa: Pick: Iowa
Ohio @ Minnesota: Pick: Minnesota
Western Michigan @ Ohio St: Pick: Ohio St
San Diego St @ Penn St: Pick: Penn St
Middle Tennessee @ Illinois: Pick: Middle Tennessee
Ball St @ Northwestern: Pick: Northwestern
Hawaii @ Wisconsin: Pick: Wisconsin

Outside the Big Ten
UCLA @ Arizona: Pick: UCLA
Utah @ Oregon: Pick: Oregon
USC @ Arizona St: Pick: Arizona St

NCAA Week Three Picks

I went 12-2 picking big ten games and 2-1 outside it this past week, putting me at 23-5 in the big ten and 4-2 outside it after two weeks.

Illinois @ North Carolina: Pick: North Carolina
South Florida @ Maryland: Pick: Maryland
UNLV @ Michigan: Pick: Michigan
Air Force @ Michigan St: Pick: Michigan St
Kent St @ Minnesota: Pick: Minnesota
Northwestern @ Duke: Pick: Northwestern
Nebraska @ Miami: Pick: Nebraska
Northern Illinois @ Ohio St: Pick: Ohio St
Troy @ Wisconsin: Pick: Wisconsin
Virginia Tech @ Purdue: Pick: Virginia Tech
Western Kentucky @ Indiana: Pick: Western Kentucky
Rutgers @ Penn St: Pick: Penn St
Pittsburgh @ Iowa: Pick: Iowa

Outside the Big Ten
Auburn @ LSU: Pick: LSU
Georgia Tech @ Notre Dame: Pick: Georgia Tech
Ole Miss @ Alabama: Pick: Alabama

NCAA Week Two Picks

How good was it to have a college football Saturday last week? Even if there werent any really great games, besides the amazing finish between Nebraska and BYU, it was still fun to have an old friend back. I went 11-3 in picking big ten games last week, and 2-1 outside the Big Ten. Week two brings us the potential nonconference game of the year in Michigan St-Oregon. Lets get to it.

Miami (OH) @ Wisconsin: Pick: Wisconsin
Oregon St @ Michigan: Pick: Michigan
Western Illinois @ Illinois: Pick: Illinois
Bowling Green @ Maryland: Pick: Maryland
Buffalo @ Penn St: Pick: Penn St
Indiana St @ Purdue: Pick: Purdue
Hawaii @ Ohio St: Pick: Ohio St
Washington St @ Rutgers: Pick: Rutgers
Minnesota @ Colorado St: Pick: Minnesota
Eastern Illinois @ Northwestern: Pick: Northwestern
Iowa @ Iowa St: Pick: Iowa
Oregon @ Michigan St: Pick: Michigan St
South Alabama @ Nebraska: Pick: Nebraska
Florida International @ Indiana: Pick: Indiana

Outside the Big Ten
Oklahoma @ Tennessee: Pick: Oklahoma
LSU @ Mississippi St: Pick: LSU
Boise St @ BYU: Pick: Boise St

Remembering the beginning of the two year Anniversary of a magic Red Sox run.

9/3-913 2013. 11 Days. 10 Games. An 8-2 record with all 8 wins coming in spectacular fashion. There is something special about the day to day machinations of baseball that make it different than any other sport. When your team plays every single day it can turn a string of games into one long magical ride, compared to others sports where games are spread out more making each game its own unique identity completely independent of one another. When a baseball team goes on a five game winning streak, it goes so fast it feels like all the games blended together and it adds an extra dose of fun to it. When a hockey team goes on a five game winning streak its spread out over a 10-14 day course, and when a football team goes on a five game winning streak its spread out over more than a month. The point is baseball is different, and two years ago, over an 11 day span the Red Sox played a ten game stretch that will likely never be duplicated. Harry Potter himself couldnt produce as many magical moments as the Sox produced over those 11 days.

The run started September 3rd, two years ago today. The Sox came into the game with a small 3.5 game division lead over Tampa, still very much a tight race. That night the Sox were going up against Max Scherzer, who touted a historic 21-1 record so far on the season. Will Middlebrooks laced a two run single in the sixth inning of a great pitchers duel and the Sox handed Scherzer just his second  loss of the season in a 2-1 win. The run began

Night Two: An offensive barrage rarely ever seen occurred in which the Sox scored 20 runs and belted out 8 home runs, including David Ortiz's 2000th career hit.

Night Three: Ninth inning magic as Mike Napoli tied the game for the Sox with two outs in the 9th inning against the great Mariano Rivera, and Shane Victorino gave the Sox the lead in the 10th inning in a wild 10-9 victory. 10 runs gave the Sox 32 runs scored in two games.

Night Four: Trailing 6-0 the Sox came storming back including a grand slam from Mike Napoli that literally went over the fence by an inch. The Sox would end up winning 12-8, making it 44 runs in 3 games

Night Five: Just another offensive barrage, including the first career home run from future superstar Xander Bogaerts in a 13-9 win against the Yankees. This gave the Sox 57 runs in 4 games, and 37 in 3 games against the Yankees, an all time record for the Sox in a 3 game stretch against the Yankees, a history that includes over 2,000 games!

Night Six and Seven: Night Six was one of the two losses during this run, a walk off win for the Yankees. Day Seven was the lone off day.

Night Eight: Resume the magic. Facing another nearly unbeatable ace in David Price the Sox grinded through another pitchers duel in a heartstopping 2-1 win.

Night Nine: With a tie game in the 10th inning Mike Carp belted a two out grand slam to give the Sox another incredible late inning victory.

Night Ten: The second loss in this stretch.

Night Eleven: With a tie game in the 8th inning, yet another Sox grand slam, this time from Jarrod Saltalamacchia, to defeat the Yankees.

The Sox would end up winning the next two night as well, but they way they won was mundane compared to this stretch of thrilling games. By the end of this run the Red Sox lead in the division had swelled to 8.5 games, insurmountable, and of course propelled them to a world Series victory.

NCAA Week One Picks

Its the most wonderful time of the year! This will be my 4th year making college football picks on this blog and whenever I get to making week one picks I always mention how this is far and away my favorite two month span of the year. I literally feel like the other ten months are just filler for the incredible months of September and October. Footballs back, pumpkin flavored foods line the shelves, cooler weather finally starts to creep in, and of course, HHN is back! Horror movies are a nightly staple, and the long days of summer give way to earlier beautiful fall sunsets. Is there anything that isnt perfect about this time of year? I just love picking college football games as well, which is what this blog is for. As every year, I will pick every Big Ten game and the top 3 non big ten games of the week. A fresh slate, 0-0 record presents endless opportunity. My playoff pick for the year is

Ohio State, Arizona State, LSU, and TCU. Lets get to it!

Big Ten Picks
Michigan @ Utah: Pick: Utah
TCU @ Minnesota: Pick: TCU
Michigan St @ Western Michigan: Pick: Michigan St
Kent State @ Illinois: Pick: Illinois
Wisconsin Vs Alabama: Pick: Alabama
Stanford @ Northwestern: Pick: Stanford
Illinois State @ Iowa: Pick: Iowa
Richmond @ Maryland: Pick: Maryland
Norfolk State @ Rutgers: Pick: Rutgers
Penn St @ Temple: Pick: Penn St
BYU @ Nebraska: Pick: Nebraska
Southern Illinois @ Indiana: Pick: Indiana
Purdue @ Marshall: Pick: Marshall
Ohio St @ Virginia Tech: Pick: Ohio St

Outside the Big Ten
Louisville Vs Auburn: Pick: Auburn
Arizona St Vs Texas A&M: Pick: Arizona St
Texas @ Notre Dame: Pick: Notre Dame

Game on!!!

Go Bolts!

This video is beautiful, and I have to admit I teared up a little bit watching it. It reminded me of how much this team has meant to me over the past 15 years of my life. I became a Lightning fan basically by accident as my dad took me to a game randomly and out of that grew a deep love for the Bolts. Over those 15 years since then I have been to more Lightning games than all my other teams combined. Win or lose in the finals this year I don't think I have ever been more excited about the future of one of my teams. General Manager Steve Yzerman and owner Jeff Vikik both came in in 2011 and have turned this franchise around into one of the best in all of professional sports that looks like it will be competing for championships every year for the next 5+ years. I plan on watching this video many more times over the next couple weeks, Go Bolts! Bring the cup to Tampa!

http://video.lightning.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=1050&id=826621&lang=en