Monthly Archives: July 2012

Kris takes his own shots at Kanye

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If you havent heard Kanye West – Way Too Cold, he takes direct shoots at the fact that he is now dating Kim and she is no longer with Kris. In his verse he confesses his love for Kim and when he fell in love with her. Then Kanye takes his verse even further and speaks about Jay-Z associates with the Brooklyn Net which just so happens to be the team that employees Kris, saying along the lines he should tell Jay to drop Kris from the team. Well Kris is still employed and he wanted to inform Kanye of his situation through a tweet.

Even though 3 way triangles happen everyday in real life, seems like they escalate when it happens to be celebrities in the spotlight. The drama behind it also switches another gear when fans and media get involved. Luckily this little triangle has not gotten physical like the Drake and Chris Brown situation, which brought in the casualty of people not even involved in the triangle. The real question is should they continue to make these situation public and are the females in these situation really females in the eyes of the males or trophies? In my opinion it makes a good soap opera, but where the respect for the privacy of the females in this situation. In the public eyes they seem to not mind whats going on, but it seems like the males are degrading their character and their personal choices in life. Either way at the end of the day it looks like a big high school drama fest.

ILL’s Pre Preseason Predictions

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When it comes to this season of NFL football, one can say that the landscape has changed due to many new X Factors. Those X Factors include new coaches, new draft picks, free agency pick ups, scandals, and potential emerging stars. I took all of this into consideration when I looked over the NFL schedule to determine the final standings at the end of the year. Since I am a Buccaneers fan, lets look at the landscape of the NFC South first.

The biggest deal in the NFC south this year is the Saints Bounty Scandal and Drew Brees still not signing his contact. Taking this into considerations I do believe that the Saints will have a rough start this season, but them being the Saints they will recover about mid season. With all that said I look at this schedule going the following

Saints (9 – 7) (3-3)
Redskins (L)
At Panthers (L)
Chiefs (W)
At Packers (L)
Chargers (L)
Bye
At Buccaneers (W)
At Broncos (W)
Eagles (W)
Falcons (L)
At Raiders (W)
49ers (W)
At Falcons (W)
At Giants (L)
Buccaneers (W)
At Cowboys (W)
Panthers (L)

As stated in my statement they will have a rough start but will recover just in time for the bye week.

Now the Buccaneers, they have a new coach that is installing the missing disciplined that was missing last year, along with a couple new weapons both on offense and defense. Even though they have the right pieces in place, they are going to have a tough first couple games. This mean the testing of their team’s chemistry is going be like an advance placement test.

Buccaneers (9 – 7)(1 – 5)
Panthers (L)
At Giants (L)
At Cowboys (L)
Redskins (W)
Bye
Chiefs (W)
Saints (L)
Vikings (W)
At Raiders (W)
Chargers (W)
At Panthers (L)
Falcons (W)
At Broncos (W)
Eagles (W)
At Saints (L)
Rams (W)
At Falcons (L)

The Panthers are my pick to win this division, they benefit by their first couple games being two teams that will be in repair mode. Plus they plugged in missing pieces in their defense that will transition in the production level of their offense. Seeing that their offense is lead by a rising star like Cam Newton, it can potentially slow down the game for him and produce less mistakes. Seeing that last year, interceptions basically equaled to lost games last year, Cam making less mistakes can be a very good thing.

Panthers (14 – 2) (4 – 2)
At Buccaneers (W)
Saints (W)
Giants (W)
At Falcons (L)
Seahawks (W)
Bye
Cowboys (W)
At Bears (W)
At Redskins (W)
Broncos (W)
Buccaneers (L)
At Eagles (W)
At Chiefs (W)
Falcons (W)
At Chargers (W)
Raiders (W)
at Saints (W)

As for the Falcons, due to the fact they gave up so much to get Juilo Jones last year, their offseason was not filled with too many improvements. The couple changes that did happened, gave them an offensive coordinator that plans to  make them a pass happy offense. The couple games that they tried these tactics proved to be a negative outcome also the first couple games are not with teams one should experiment with. With this said I saw the Falcons schedule

Falcons (6 – 10) (3 -3)
At Chiefs (W)
Broncos (L)
At Chargers (L)
Panthers (W)
At Redskins (L)
Raiders (W)
Bye
At Eagles (L)
Cowboys (L)
At Saints (W)
Cardinals (W)
At Buccaneers (L)
Saints (L)
At Panthers (L)
Giants (L)
At Lions (L)
Buccaneers (W)

Final Standings

  1. Panthers
  2. Saints
  3. Buccaneers
  4. Falcons
Even though I am not doing the playoff picture in this blog, I feel the NFC Champions are coming out of the NFC West which should let ya know that I Pick the 49ers. The NFC West most the teams are still trying to find their selves or sort out their QB situation. With that said I do not really have to break down each team, but I will provide the records.
  1. 49ers (14 -2) (6 – 0)
  2. Seahawks ( 5 – 11) (3 -3)
  3. Rams (2 – 13) (2 – 4)
  4. Cardinals (2 – 13) (1 – 5)
Moving on to one of the toughest division in the NFC, being the NFC North. They have two teams that are known for their defense, one known for their offense and another that is trying to find their identity again. But even with the Lions off season issues, I feel they will emerge into their full potential this year. They just have to be able keep their defensive line healthy as they already have a good rotation  at that position, plus the first 3 our of four games should be easy for them and the NFC North faces off with the NFC West. With that said I really not going break down each team individually but here are the final standing.
  1. Lions (12 – 4) (3 – 3)
  2. Bears (11-5) (4-2)
  3. Packers (11 – 5) (3 – 3)
  4. Vikings (3 -16) (0-6)
Now the NFC East competition went up a notch with the addition of RGIII. Even though I do not believe that the Redskins will win the division, I feel will surprise a couple people and make teams adjust to him. They also benefit by their first game playing a team who is going be recovering from an up and down off season the saints, followed by a couple easy teams that from last year might not be prepared for the surprise that RGIII might deliver to the league. With that said I see the Redskins schedule like this
Redskins (9-7) (2 – 4)
At Saints (W)

At Rams (W)
Bengals (W)
At Buccaneers (L)
Falcons (W)
Vikings (W)
At Giants (L)
At Steelers (L)
Panthers (L)
Bye
Eagles (W)
At Cowboys (W)
Giants (L)
Ravens (W)
At Browns (W)
At Eagles (L)
Cowboys (L)

The Eagles having a full off season together can really benefit them, plus Vick is said to have been working hard in the weight room to improve his durability. If this proves to work out, the Eagles can become the dangerous team they were suppose to be last year. They will have a couple tough battles but in the end Vick staying healthy will always make him an X Factor in ever game and this is their schedule.

Eagles (10 -6) (5 – 1)
At Browns (W)
Ravens (L)
At Cardinals (W)
Giants (W)
At Steelers (W)
Lions (L)
Bye
Falcons (W)
At Saints (L)
Cowboys (W)
At Redskins (L)
Panthers (L)
At Cowboys (W)
At Buccaneers (L)
Bengals (W)
Redskins (W)
At Giants (W)

Even though I have the Giants winning their first 2 out of four games I believe they will be tough battles, a well as their whole season. With the strength of their schedule I feel some games maybe overwhelming to them, seeing that they are an up and down team.. With that said the schedule looks like

Giants (10 – 6) (3 – 3)
Cowboys (W)
Buccaneers (W)
At Panthers (L)
At Eagles (L)
Browns (W)
At 49ers (L)
Redskins (W)
At Cowboys (L)
Steelers (W)
At Bengals (W)
Bye
Packers (W)
At Redskin (W)
Saints (W)
At Falcons (W)
At Ravens (L)
Eagles (L)

Even though this seems like a must win season for the Cowboys, I think the pressure will get to them leaving them at .500 this season

Cowboys (8-8) (2-4)
At Giants (L)
At Seahawks (W)
Buccaneers (W)
Bears (L)
Bye
At Ravens (L)
At Panthers (L)
Giants (W)
At Falcons (W)
At Eagles (L)
Browns (W)
Redskins (L)
Eagles (L)
At Bengals (W)
Steelers (L)
Saints (W)
At Redskin (W)

final standing

  1. Eagles
  2. Giants
  3. Redskins
  4. Cowboys

Now looking at the AFC east, I know a lot of people are looking at the patriots schedule and thinking easy schedule and looking at the Jets and think chaos, well not me. And I actually pick the Jets to win the Division this year. Surprised? Well even though people are thinking that the whole Tebow and Sanchez is going back fire, I feel this situation will create an offensive situation that can be hard to deal with. Even though it seems very easy, thinking that can have them overlook opponents and also they could drop the ball. This has me having the AFC East standing looking like this

  1. Jets (10-6) (4-2)
  2. Patriots (9- 7) (4-2)
  3. Buffalo Bills ( 8-8) ( 2-4)
  4. Dolphins (6-10) ( 0-6)
The AFC North is the black and blue division of the NFL and I have the Ravens winning out this division and the Bengals regressing from last years surprising performance. Even though I feel they will still produce a strong performance the Steelers and Ravens will still will dominate this division. The Browns are still in a rebuilding stage, even though they got a new running back and what might be a battle at the QB position, the landscape of the ranking looks like this.
  1. Ravens (11-5) (5-1)
  2. Steelers (10 – 6) (3 – 3)
  3. Bengals (7-10) (3-3)
  4. Browns (3 – 13) (2 – 4)
Out of the AFC division I have the Texans winning it all, so how will the AFC south play out with the new addition of Luck. I feel like Luck will have a rough welcoming into the league but will produce better results for the colts than they had last year. With that said I feel the final results of the AFC South will be
  1. Texans (14 – 2) (5-1)
  2. Colts (9 – 7) (3-3)
  3. Titans (4 – 12) (2-4)
  4. Jaguars (3 – 13) (2 – 4)
The Landscape of the AFC West depends on whether or not Manning does not get happy feet once real football player are coming at his in real football speed. In the end I see the Broncos having a solid season but believe that the Chargers will top the west.
  1. Chargers (13 – 3) (5-1)
  2. Broncos (12-4) (5-1)
  3. Raiders (5 – 11) (2 – 4)
  4. Chiefs (3 – 13) (1 – 5)

 

Athletes vs. Media vs. Fans

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In the world of sports, there is a thin line between the athlete, the media, and the fan. Let me take that back. The line is not thin, that line is gone. In many sports conversations, debates, and even heated arguments, the part takers of the topic often put themselves in mind of a journalist, the athlete, and since they are already fans, the opinions will be raw and unscripted. In a world of 24 hour coverage of sports, nobody will ever miss a moment to have a conversation about something. Nevertheless, I will breakdown the ultimate triple threat match that is, quite honestly, no clear winner.

 

1. The Athlete

Many of us, in some form, have played organized sports in their lifetime. Some have been fortunate to be apart of championship teams and had success of some sort in their sport. So when it comes to a topic about sports, it would be expected of certain people to know what they are talking about because they had first hand experience. Me personally, I was a three-sport athlete in high school. Football, Wrestling, Track and Field(shot put), even was apart of a boys and girls club basketball team that was southeastern regional champions. Being involved with these sports would warrant me to have an intelligent conversation about the respective sports. Even not having an prolific high school career, mostly with myself to blame for not keeping the grades up, I would have a different understanding of game situations compared to the average person watching or commentating on the game because of my knowledge is more in depth.

 

2. The Media

Its not a secret, there is a good percentage of people, fans and athlete alike, hates the media. It is understandable to know why they would. Many media outlets seem to have a bit of a biased opinion in certain situations. The media are paid to paint the picture for the fan that can’t see the action for themselves, and also put the athlete in the light that is favorable to the public. The never-ending battle for many media types is this, many of them never played the game they cover. This is forever an uphill battle for media figures. Then again, they invite the heat that is brought upon them. No disrespect to those who put in decades of dedicated work in their craft, but their knowledge of the sport on what they cover is based on what they have seen by being at the game. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

3. The Fan

If you take a survey of 100 people of what is the most spirited conversation to have, sports will one of the right answers. As we all know though, when their are sports, their are fans. Comparing fans to anything else, we care about what we watch. I say we because I am a passionate fan to a degree. When it comes to the Celtics, Red Sox, Falcons, UGA Bulldogs, and Braves, I’m admittedly insane. My opinions about are just as raw and uncut as any other passionate fan about their team. When we look at games live or on TV, we know in our minds we can do the jobs better than the coaches that is making the bad calls or the athletes that making the horrible plays. When it comes to media, either they are talking good about our respective teams or they need to be fired. Between the athletes and media, many fans like myself would consider athletes the lesser of two evils. Many of those fans like myself would like to think that our opinions matter just as much as the ones who are getting paid to write about it.  

 

 

In conclusion, it all boils down to this: athletes, media, fans are share the same likelihood of passion but in different forms. At some point of time, there are some athletes who hates media and carry a real heavy disliking for some of their fans. At some point of time, there are some media figures who dislike certain athletes and cares less about some of the fans that follows them. At some point of time, fans have a problem with athletes from opposing teams and have an even more disliking for the media type that cover a team we don’t like and even go as far as favor them. Its a love/hate thing. One minute, its a perfect world where everybody is satisfied with each other. The next second, everybody is ready to write each other off. Everybody loves to hate something, and that’s the beauty of sports.