ESPY Picks

My 2009 ESPY Picks:



Best Male Athlete: LEBRON JAMES over Kobe Bryant, Michael Phelps, and Jimmie Johnson (where is Alex Ovechkin?)


Best Female Athlete: NATALIE COUGHLIN over Nastia Liukin, Maya Moore, Candace Parker, and Serena Williams


Best Championship Performance: MICHAEL PHELPS over Kobe Bryant, Cole Hamels, and Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh


Best Breakthrough Athlete: DERRICK ROSE over Shawn Johnson, Evan Longoria, and Matt Ryan


Best Record-Breaking Performance: USAIN BOLT over Michael Phelps, Larry Fitzgerald, and Phil Jackson (almost took Phelps again here)

Best Upset: UNITED STATES DEFEATING SPAIN over Mine That Bird, Oregon State defeating USC, and Tampa Bay Rays winning American League

Best Game: SYRACUSE/UCONN 6OT over Federal/Nadal Wimbledon and Steelers/Cardinals Super Bowl

Best Moment: US SWIM TEAM THRILLING FINISH over Tim Tebow's Speech and Helio Castroneves' Indy 500 Victory

Best Play: ROETHLISBERGER TO HOLMES SUPER BOWL WINNING CATCH over Ovechkin's Goal vs. Rangers, Pacquiao KOing Hatton, and Crabtree's Game-Winning Catch

Best Team: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES over Uconn Huskies Women's Basketball, North Carolina Tar Heels Men's Basketball, Los Angeles Lakers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Pittsburgh Steelers (homer pick, should probably be UConn women)

Best International Male Athlete: RAFAEL NADAL over Usain Bolt, Pau Gasol, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo

Best International Female Athlete: YELENA ISINBAYEVA (I guess?) over Marta, Lorena Ochoa, Stephanie Rice, and Dinara Safina

Under Armour All-America Moment: DAVID RENFROE over Jake Bernhardt, Tara Glover, Hannah Werth, and Andre Debose/Russel Shepard (stupid category)

Best Sports Movie: THE WRESTLER over Sugar and The Express

Best Coach/Manager: PHIL JACKSON over Geno Auriemma, Dan Bylsma, Joe Maddon, and Mike Tomlin

Best NFL Player: LARRY FITZGERALD over James Harrison, Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson, and Kurt Warner

Best Baseball Player: RYAN HOWARD over Roy Halladay, Dustin Pedroia, Albert Pujols, Francisco Rodriguez (I don't know how I feel about Manny being kept off this list. Without the allegations he's a clear nominee and probably the winner, but I guess he deserves the snub.)

Best NHL Player: ALEXANDER OVECHKIN over Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, and Evgeni Malkin

Best Driver: JIMMIE JOHNSON over Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Lewis Hamilton, and Tony Schumacher

Best NBA Player: KOBE BRYANT over LeBron James, Dwight Howard, and Dwyane Wade (Lebron's the better athlete and more valuable to his team, but Kobe's season was incredible and the championship makes him the best player. How I can possibly pick him as the the NBA's best player and LeBron as the year's best athlete is weird, but it just doesn't feel right snubbing Kobe on three categories.)

Best WNBA Player: Is Lisa Leslie still playing?

Best Fighter: MANNY PACQUIAO over Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and Shane Mosley

Best U.S. Male Olympian: MICHAEL PHELPS over Bryan Clay, LaShawn Merritt, and Angelo Taylor

Best U.S. Female Olympian: NATALIE COUGHLIN over Shawn Johnson, Dawn Harper, and Nastia Liukin

Best Male Golfer: TIGER WOODS over Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington

Best Female Golfer: LORENA OCHOA over Paula Creamer and Suzann Pettersen

Best Male Tennis Player: RAFAEL NADAL over Roger Federer

Best Female Tennis Player: SERENA WILLIAMS over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina

Best Male College Athlete: STEPHEN STRASBURG over Sam Bradford, Matt Gilroy, Blake Griffin, and Tim Tebow

Best Female College Athlete: MAYA MOORE over Kerri Hanks, Courtney Kupets, Danielle Lawrie, and Dana Vollmer

Best Male Action Sport Athlete: SHAUN WHITE over Ryan Sheckler, Kelly Slater, and James Stewart

Best Female Action Sport Athlete: TORAH BRIGHT over Ashley Fiolek, Maya Gabeira and Sarah Burke

Best Jockey: CALVIN BOREL over Garret Gomez and Mike Smith

Best Female Athlete with Disability: JESSICA LONG over Asya Miller, Maureen McKimmon-Tucker, and Ashley Popovich

Best Male Athlete with Disability: WILL GROULX over Jeremy Campbell, Jason Lester, and Oscar Pistorius

Best Bowler: NORM DUKE over Wes Malott and Chris Barnes

Best MLS Player: LANDON DONOVAN over Juan Pablo Angel, Jon Busch, Kenny Cooper, and Guillermo Barros Schelotto (props to ESPN for keeping Beckham off this list)

No Heart

As soon as the horn sounded on the regular season finale between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers, I sent a text message to a guy I used to work with, who happens to be a dedicated Penguins fan: "We just don't have the goaltending. Pens in 6." After calming down and looking a little further into it, I picked Pens in 7 on this blog. Even though it seems I was right about the Pens taking this series, it doesn't hurt any less to see a season with this much promise end the way it did. And it hurt even worse to see that goaltending wasn't the only problem, but heart.

Of the four Philadelphia major sports teams, in my eighteen years on this earth, if you asked me on the whole which franchise was the most dedicated to winning, working hard, and never quitting, I would say the Flyers. Few times in my life as a sports fan have I ever questioned the heart of the Philadelphia Flyers. Today is a rare exception. The first period ended with Philly up 3-0. In the beginning of the second, after Daniel Carcillo beat the living daylights out of Max Talbot, I thought I could safely watch the NFL draft for the remainder of the afternoon. But the Penguins used the fact that Talbot put his body on the line to drop the gloves and rallied behind it, because they wanted to go home with the series clinched. Why? How? Because that's what great teams do, and that's what teams with heart do. Love 'em or hate 'em, and its certainly the latter for me, the Pens have a deadly combination of dedication and talent. But today wasn't really about the Penguins overcoming the three goal lead, but about the Flyers blowing it.

To give up five unanswered goals in any game is embarassing, but in a postseason elimination game, after just scoring three goals and winning one of the most lopsided fights I've seen this season? That's utter humilation, for the players, coaches, and fans. So what's the next move? I think John Stevens is one of the last guys that can be blamed for this end-of-season flameout, but the consensus move in professional sports in this situation is to fire the coach. So I think Stevens is out, probably within the next few days. But that's not the real problem. The real problem is that Marty Biron and Antero Niittymaki are both free agents, and honestly, I don't think it makes sense to bring either of them back. Take that money and go get a stud goalie. I'd rather a stud goalie and a shaky backup than two mediocre players between the pipes. If there's one silver lining in this post, its that the Flyers are never afraid to go out and get that impact player.

But honestly, it's way too early to even think about it.

Rest in Peace, Harry Kalas

I don't have a whole lot to say. My friend Dan did about as good of a job honoring Harry Kalas as anybody could, and all the things he said hold true with how I feel too. Simply put, baseball will never sound the same.

Rest in peace, Harry Kalas.

Oops

I forgot I made a blog. It happens. But as fate would have it, I remembered that I had a blog on the same day that the NHL regular season concluded. Coincidence? Probably. Anyway, here are my picks for the NHL Playoffs this year.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

8. Anaheim Ducks vs. 1. San Jose Sharks
Not only are the Sharks a much better team than the Ducks, but I feel in most ecosystems that if a duck would swim over to where a shark who just had a bad day was lurking, the ensuing battle would be pretty one-sided. But seriously, I know the Sharks have been the top seed before, and it hasn't recently resulted in even an appearance in the Stanley Cup, but this is one they should win. The only concern is that the Ducks were able to muster two solid wins against the sharks, one of which in the Shark Tank, by a combined score of 9-2. But, I still like the Sharks. These guys have the pieces on offense, the leadership in Joe Thornton, and a freak in goal. No upset here.
SEASON SERIES: Sharks 4-2
THE PICK: Sharks in 4

7. Columbus Blue Jackets vs. 2. Detroit Red Wings
The defending champions have been questionable as of late, especially after losing two to Chicago in a home-and-home to close out the series. They are 3-6-1 in their last ten, and Chris Osgood continues to scare Hockeytown with his inconsistency. In addition, as dominant as it seems the Red Wings have been this year, the season series between the Wings and the Jackets is knotted at 3 apiece. The key is, though, that each team only surrendered one home game to the other during the season, and I think Detroit's home ice advantage is the deciding factor in this one. This will be closer than you think.
SEASON SERIES: Tied 3-3
THE PICK: Red Wings in 6

6. St. Louis Blues vs. Vancouver Canucks
I'm officially on the Blues bandwagon. This team is surging and firing on all cylinders, gaining at least a point in 9 out of their last 10 contests. Brad Boyes and David Backes are quietly having good years with 30+ goal seasons. However, things could get tough with questionable goaltending for St. Louie and Mats Sundin's playoff experience could provide an x-factor for Vancouver that the Blues don't have an answer for. This one's gonna be as close as they come, but in the end, my gut feels like the Blues will pull off the upset.
SEASON SERIES: Tied 2-2
THE PICK: Blues in 7

5. Calgary Flames vs. 4. Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks are finishing up Act 3 of their season. Act 1 was the first half of the season, where it seemed that they were truly "back" in all senses of the word, and so was their fanbase. They were free from one of the worst owners in professional sports history, and guys like Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews were so fun to watch. The next part of their season was a bit of a downnote, going 6-7-2 in the month of March. However, the Hawks have finished strong, gaining points in all 7 of their games in April, including two impressive victories over Detroit. Calgary's a perennial contender these days, and this is untrodden ground for Chicago, but lets not forget that Nikolai Khabibulin is the same goaltender that led the Lightning to a championship 5 years ago. And while he's not who he once was, his experience is invaluable. It is also impossible to ignore that Chicago swept the season series against Calgary, with an aggregate score of 19-7.
SEASON SERIES: Blackhawks 4-0
THE PICK: Blackhawks in 5

EASTERN CONFERENCE
8. Montreal Canadiens vs. 1. Boston Bruins
One of my favorite non-Philadelphia rivalries. This is a cool role-reversal from last year's playoffs where it took the top-seeded Habs 7 games to knock off Boston. I don't expect this one to be quite as close, especially considering the dysfunctional state of the Canadiens right now. After they fired Guy Carbonneau midseason, I even thought Florida or Buffalo would end up in the 8 spot over Montreal. Either way, if Tim Thomas and the Bruins get spoiled this year, it won't be by the Canadiens.
SEASON SERIES: Bruins 5-1
THE PICK: Bruins in 5

7. New York Rangers vs. 2. Washington Capitals
Rangers = new swagger, new attitude, and essentially a new team. I don't think Torts was the difference, but it seems to be a taboo subject to talk about the real difference maker on this team, Sean Avery. Love him or hate him, his attitude is exactly what a playoff team needs. As good as the Caps are, I don't see them built for a playoff run. Alex Ovechkin IS the best player in the NHL, and he LOVES the big stage, but I question the rest of the team. Is Theodore going to get it done in net against the likes of Dubinsky and Gomez? While I think the series will go the distance, my answer is no.
SEASON SERIES: Capitals 3-1
THE PICK: Rangers in 7

6. Carolina Hurricanes vs. 3. New Jersey Devils
For those that think this a cakewalk for Jersey, think harder. Not only is Carolina three years removed from a Championship, but the veteran leadership in Rod Brind'Amour, Eric Staal, and Cam Ward make this team talented and experienced. Not to mention this team wasn't totally in the playoff picture until the last leg of the season, where they surged and were a victory away from a 4 seed in the East. And as good as New Jersey has been this season, the season series was 3-0 Carolina until the last game of the season where Jersey was able to avoid the season sweep. For those that will reference Jersey's perennial 'manning up' in the playoffs, it might surprise you to learn that this is the fourth time this decade that Jersey and the Canes met in the playoffs. So far, the series is 2-1 Carolina. However, the true telling stat is that in all three of those series, the team with the home ice advantage has come away victorious. Besides, Marty's a boss in net.
SEASON SERIES: Hurricanes 3-1
THE PICK: Devils in 6

5. Philadelphia Flyers vs. 4. Pittsburgh Penguins
This is the toughest series to pick in my opinion. When you get two division rivals that despise eachother, not to mention as a rematch of last year's East finals, anything can really happen. But, as much as it hurts me, I gotta pick the Pens here. I love this Flyers team, and this offense has honestly been the most fun to watch in recent memory for me, but the holes in defense and the question marks in goal are too much for me. Philly's goalscoring alone will get them 2-3 victories in this series, but I find it hard to believe that they'll win this series. I don't see a real answer for Staal and Malkin up the middle. Combined with Crosby's playmaking, this should mean an early exit for the Flyers. With the knowledge of last years defeat, and a much healthier squad, Philadelphia could rally behind Marty Biron if he takes that extra step this year as he did last year. But I wouldn't bet on it.
SEASON SERIES: Penguins 4-2
THE PICK: Penguins in 7

Just for kicks, here's my march madness style picks for the rest of the NHL postseason. I'll have more detailed selections each round.

WEST
SHARKS over Blues in 5
RED WINGS over Blackhawks in 6
RED WINGS over Sharks in 6

EAST
BRUINS over Rangers in 6
DEVILS over Penguins in 5
DEVILS over Bruins in 7

STANLEY CUP
DEVILS over Red Wings in 7

Chalk

Since the conclusion of the first two rounds of the NCAA men's tournament, ESPN and other sports outlets have been criticizing this year's tournament for having "too much chalk." They say that the lack of a "Cinderella team" has hurt the Big Dance. But is that really so? Let's take a look.

Of the 32 first round games, 10, nearly a third, ended with the lower seed upending the higher seed. While some of these 8/9 or 7/10 matchups may not be considered true upsets, the 10 upsets in the first round can be compared to the 8 in 2008 and only 5 in 2007. I admit that this tournament will probably lack the low-seed making it to the Elite Eight or Final Four like Davidson last year or George Mason in 2006, but isn't 12 seeded Arizona still in this tournament? Maybe we should wait until their game against Louisville is over, because I guarantee you, it will be close. Plus, 12 seeded Western Kentucky nearly beat Gonzaga last weekend. We were 0.9 seconds and one missed last-ditch layup away from possibly not even having this conversation. So let's just wait this one out. With that being said, I'm running out of time before the games start, so here are my sweet 16 picks:

CONNECTICUT over Purdue
Purdue is a good team. The Boilermakers have had a nice little run, holding off a determined Northern Iowa squad, and upsetting a 4-seeded Washington Huskies team. But that run ends here.

There's reasons to doubt UConn. Before the tournament started, the Huskies lost their regular-season finale against in Pittsburgh, and then dropped their first game of the Big East Tournament in New York to Syracuse, in that epic six-overtime thriller. But Hasheem Thabeet and his fellow Huskies were 2-0 in the regular season against Big Ten opponents, handily defeating Wisconsin and Michigan by a combined margin of 27 points. With the Huskies fresh off of two blowouts against Chattanooga and Texas A&M, they should be able to down Purdue without a single bitten fingernail of the UConn faithful.

PITTSBURGH over Xavier
Not only did I have Florida State playing this game against Pitt, I had Portland State upsetting Xavier in the first round in my bracket. This proves two things, I think. 1) I'm and idiot, and 2) Maybe Xavier's a little better than I thought. When I did my research to fill out what would turn out to be a terrible bracket, I looked at Xavier's schedule and didn't really see any standout wins. Memphis and Missouri were decent victories, depending on who you ask, but both of those came in November. So I switched into "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" mode and saw those ugly losses to Dayton, Duquesne, Charlotte, Richmond, and Temple, and pounced on the opportunity to pick a bold upset. However, looking closer, this is a talented team. BJ Raymond, Derrick Brown, and CJ Anderson are all averaging 10+ pts a game. They'll need all three to show up to have a prayer against the Panthers, and in the end, I think Pitt will hold on. But, especially if Blair finds himself in foul trouble, this might be closer than most think.

MEMPHIS over Missouri
I hate Memphis. I really do. I've preached that they are overrated all season, playing that Conference USA schedule, with no wins against ranked teams. None. However I'm still not sold on Missouri. The Big 12 isn't very strong either. Plus, with losses to Baylor, Nebraska, and Kansas State, Missouri looks pretty beatable. And while I HATE Memphis, they can shoot all day, which is how they salvaged that game against Cal State Northridge. You might say Memphis is good and I'm just stubborn. You might be right.

VILLANOVA over Duke
I picked Duke over Nova in my bracket, but the more I look at this matchup, the more I like the Wildcats. It really depends on which Villanova shows up. At this point in the season, we've come to expect what Duke's gonna give us. Singler, Henderson, and Scheyer are relatively consistent from the field and from behind the arc. But Nova is just so streaky. When they are on, and when Scottie Reynolds is producing, the Wildcats are a top tier team and can run with anyone. But if they go cold, they are terrible. Just painful to watch. They've shown the capability to beat the best when they beat Pitt as the number one team in the nation, but this is a tough call. In the end, I think Nova shows up and takes it.

LOUISVILLE over Arizona
Another top seed scare in this one, I think. Arizona is dangerous, and Jordan Hill is a beast. If you're a Bill Simmons reader, Arizona is chock full of "Nobody Believed in Us" potential. The message is the same to L'ville as it is to Pitt: be careful. But I do love Louisville, and it's weird that looking back on my bracket there's so many games that I think I must have been writing in left-handed, with the right hand holding my crack pipe, yet I still love my UNC over Louisville championship pick. And yes, this is the part where Zona and Zaga take both their opponents and whatever dignity I have left.

KANSAS over Michigan State
I changed this pick about 35 times before hitting the publish button. This is tough, I think of any Big Ten team, the Spartans are the closest any of them get to being the real deal. Michigan State has looked incredible at times. Sometimes I think Kalin Lucas is just a star, and can take down a team like the defending champ Jayhawks. In the end though, I think the confidence and athleticism of Kansas will be what gets them to the Elite Eight. This is the pick I feel least confident about.

NORTH CAROLINA over Gonzaga
UNC is still my champion. As much as I dislike them, this team, Lawson and Hansbrough specifically, is on a mission. That final four loss to Kansas last year didn't sit well with the Tar Heels, and their experience, tenacity and skill will get them there this year. Gonzaga can be frisky at times, but I doubt they have what it takes to run with this team, at least as a second half winds down. Love UNC here.

SYRACUSE over Oklahoma
This shouldn't count as an upset, I think Cuse is the favorite here. They've been conditioned well this season in what I now think can be safely called college basketball's toughest conference. Sure that six-OT game against UConn was tiring, but wasn't it the ultimate gut check? If they can run with the big boys that long, and do what they did in the SIXTH overtime, especially with the shallow bench they're working with, what can't they do? They have leadership from Jonny Flynn, and decent shooting from Dievendorf and Rautins. I love the orange here, and if it plays out this way, I'll be nervous for these guys to nail the coffin shut on my bracket by possibly upending North Carolina.

I love March Madness.