When I first thought of my topic for this article, my biggest surprise was that I haven't already written about it because I've spent that past 1-2 years ranting about it on twitter. With that being said, I'm about to rant again on how the NCAA has made a mockery of non-conference scheduling and strength of schedule.

On that beloved Sunday every March when the NCAA Basketball Tournament brackets are revealed, one of the biggest statistics taken into account for seedings is Strength of Schedule (SOS), which is mostly based on non-conference scheduling.

So when that day came around last March, I had already done my breakdown on where each team should probably be ranked mostly based upon their record and SOS. Everyone knew there were a good 15-20 teams with a legitimate chance to win it all because the field was that wide open, so the biggest seeding question was, who gets the number 1 seeds? Louisville and Kansas were locks. That left Duke, Gonzaga, Indiana, and Miami to fight over the 2 remaining slots. Gonzaga easily had the best record of those 4 teams, however they played the weakest schedule. Indiana, Duke, and Miami all finished with 27 wins, Duke finished with 1 less loss than the other 2. Duke had by far the toughest schedule in the country and went 4-0 against top 5 teams in the nation, including wins over Miami, the overall #1 seed Louisville, and the B1G Champion Ohio State Buckeyes.

Out of everything I just stated, I think I made a case, bias or unbias, for Duke to get one of those 2 remaining number 1 seeds. In reality, Gonzaga and Indiana picked up the 2 spots. Gonzaga was the team I really took offense too. They had one of the weakest schedules in the nation, played in one of the weakest conferences in the country, and if you looked at their non conference schedule, you'd probably need Google to find out where their opponents were.

Of course I'm not in those meeting rooms when they put the bracket together, but what I will say is the NCAA and the Committee has to stop advertising SOS and non-conference scheduling as part as the criteria when seeding schools for the most anticipated event in all of college sports every year.

We're currently 2 months away from March Madness and I just hope the committee doesn't do anything to trigger another year long temper tantrum when they put this year's bracket together. Based on the rankings so far this year, I'm on my way to another long year of complaining.

I posted my NFL Preview 3 weeks before Week 1, I'm typing this just over 24 hours before tip-off tomorrow night. It took me a whole 3 weeks to finish going back and forth between who was going to the playoffs or not, but 3 days ago I finally got my answer so let's get going.


WESTERN CONFERENCE PREVIEW
I think it's fair to say the Western Conference got better this offseason. The obvious move was Dwight Howard joining James Harden in Houston. We must not forget Andre Iguodala surprising us all and taking his talents to the Bay Area to join the Splash Brothers. Doc Rivers on the Clippers sideline was the biggest coaching move this offseason, and quite honestly a Nate Robinson-Ty Lawson backcourt in the Mile High City could be dangerous. When Russell Westbrook gets back to 100%, OKC will do OKC things, I think last year proved how important he is. The Spurs still have Parker, Duncan, and Ginobili; who only seem to get more experienced every year instead of older. There's also this guy who goes by "Pop" that's still coaching that San Antonio team and this isn't the year I'm about to start doubting him. The West has alot of potential this year, so it should be interesting to watch.

WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF TEAMS

1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Golden State Warriors
4. Houston Rockets
5. Los Angeles Clippers
6. Denver Nuggets
7. Minnesota Timberwolves
8. Dallas Mavericks

EASTERN CONFERENCE PREVIEW
Where to start in the National Basketball Association's Eastern Conference? We know about Miami, oh and they added Michael Beasley and Greg Oden. Indiana gets Danny Granger back and until he is traded, he's still there, can we talk about their improved bench depth too please? Derrick Rose is actually gonna play this year, and the improvement of Cleveland and Detroit had better not be ignored. I think the Brooklyn Nets are the most interesting project in the league maybe since the Big 3 in Miami and you really can't help but root for those old guys. In my intro I said it took me until last Friday to decide my playoff teams, in reality, I had 15/16 teams locked and decided 3 weeks ago. And that leads me to my team, my Washington Wizards. It took me until the Marcin Gortat trade to confidently put my Wizards over the Toronto Raptors and into the playoffs. While I would have like to have seen Washington keep the Shannon Brown piece of that trade, I think John Wall is on a mission this year that won't be stopped. The East is easily the superior conference in the league this season and if the pieces align correctly in the years to come, the Miami Heat/Indiana Pacers playoff rivalry has the potential to be in the conversation of rivalries like the Los Angeles Lakers/Sacramento Kings in the early 2000's.


EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF TEAMS

1. Miami Heat
2. Indiana Pacers
3. Chicago Bulls
4. Brooklyn Nets
5. New York Knicks
6. Cleveland Cavaliers
7. Detroit Pistons
8. Washington Wizards

TEAMS FROM LAST POSTSEASON THAT WON'T MAKE IT THIS SEASON


Atlanta Hawks- This is one of those teams that week look at every April and say "how did they pull off a playoff berth," and they always validate our question with a first round exit. Well this time around they don't have a Josh Smith to quietly do work in the regular season and I don't think anyone has Al Horford leading an Atlanta team to the playoff that's the deepest it has been in over a decade.

Boston Celtics- Instead of asking who Boston left last year, let's just skip to  who's actually left for the Celtics. We know the Big 3 is fully gone, The Jet was shipped out after one season, oh and that Doc Rivers guy is coaching this team in L.A. now. And how could I forget, Rajon Rondo is rehabbing a torn ACL, and is showing signs that he might take a page out of Derrick Rose's book and sit the whole season. To provide a bright side for Celtics fans, chew on this food for thought: Rondo sits all season, calls up the almost guaranteed free agent Carmelo Anthony next summer, and Melo is wearing green this time next year.......just simmer on that.

Los Angeles Lakers- Dwight is gone, Steve Nash is one year older, Mike D'Antoni is still the coach, and I don't even know if Kobe knows when he's coming back from his achilles tear. Don't get me wrong, I expect Kobe to do work when he gets back, he's obviously got some doubters to take care of, but it simply won't be enough to make the Lakers the 8th best team in the West.

Memphis Grizzlies- First of all Mike Conley Jr, Z-Bo, and Marc Gasol deserve to be respected as a Big 3. So why don't I have them in the playoffs? Simple, for one, this is their first full season without Rudy Gay, they'll realize they lost that trade very quickly this season. Secondly, and more importantly, the front office of Memphis severely underestimated Lionel Hollins as their head coach and with him out, they will be out of the playoffs.

Milwaukee Bucks- We all couldn't help but laugh at the Heat/Bucks first round series last year. It was even funnier that Brandon Jennings said the Bucks would win in 6. Well Jennings is in Detroit now and Monta Ellis is in Dallas. I rest my case. I mean they did acquire OJ Mayo, Brandon Knight and a couple other solid pieces, but let's be serious about this, they only reason Milwaukee got to call themselves a playoff team is because the NBA said the East had to put in 8 teams and the rest of the conference was that bad.


REGULAR SEASON MVP
Lebron James- The MVP continues to go to the best player in the league instead of the player that is the "most valuable" to his team. Therefore until someone proves to be better than Lebron, it's hard to argue against him winning his 5th MVP award. If the Lakers prove me wrong and make the playoffs, expect Kobe to win the award for the 2nd time in his career, hey it's not like I've never been wrong before.

NBA FINALS PREDICTION
Miami Heat over San Antonio Spurs
I could have shed tears typing that because of how much I love Pop as a coach, but I predicted Wade to retire after this season and after winning another ring, which means Miami would have to complete the 3-peat. Why over the Spurs, Pop knows how to rest his older guys and his genius can't be denied. I really want to see KD come out of the West but I think next year is more likely as opposed to this season.

We all know the Constitution of our country gives us the right to a freedom of speech, however I think it's fair to say a whole new list of amendments needs to be written up for our beloved sports world.

Athletes and TV personalities don't exactly get the whole "freedom of speech" right, specifically on social networks.

I write this as I listen to the His and Hers podcast from this past Monday and both Michael Smith and Jemele Hill have made statements, whether in a column or on twitter that could have been career threatening if not handled with the proper PR actions. Personally, I don't believe either action was extremely offensive, at the same time, the hardest thing to remember as a journalist is that if its offensive to one person, it's offensive.

When the Trayvon Martin verdict came down earlier this summer, many athletes and other celebrities took to twitter to express the opinion on the situation. While it seems as if the opinions of many actors, actresses, and others in that field, went unaddressed, almost every athlete who tweeted after the verdict became a topic of discussion in the following 24-48 hours.

I've always thought twitter was a platform that athletes could use to connect to the public and their fans, so when they express an opinion on an issue that is far beyond sports, why are they attacked?

I completely understand the whole concept of being a role model and watching what you say in the public eye.

In fact, even in my position, being weeks away from 21, still a college student, and keeping up with this blog that I hope blows up one day, I have told myself of numerous occasions that its time for me to stop cursing on my social networking sites. I'm nowhere near where I want to be in this field but I do understand that if someone were to look at my tweets from the past 24 hours alone, I'd probably lose endless opportunities. I have thought about opening a whole new account as my "professional" twitter to promote, but I think that'd be a cop out personally. I simply need to discipline myself and censor myself because when I finally do make it, I've seen to many careers in my field ended by clicking send one too many times.

I totally digressed from the route I wanted to take in this post, but I hope the point I was trying to make got across.

I started this post of with bringing up freedom of speech. While not getting too political, I think it's fair to say athletes and alot of many others in the journalism world don't get to fully live out that freedom, especially in the public eye.

We're exactly 2 weeks away from NFL Kickoff weekend, which means we have 2 more weeks of preseason to go through. Now I know it's been debated every year, but this is the first year I have this platform to express my opinion on so here it goes.

For 2 weeks, it's purposeful, the other 2 weeks are pointless (title. opinion. clever huh?). Now when that Hall of Fame game came on, every football fan around the country was ecstatic simply because we had our football back. Regardless of the teams, the location, or the meaningfulness of the game; we were watching because since February it was the first thing available to satisfy our fix.

Most of us sat and watched week 2 of preseason as well. Some for the same reasons as week 1, but also because now it's time to start evaluating our team on the field and set realistic expectations for the season.

However tonight was the beginning of preseason week 3 and as much as I love any type of football, I'm exhausted of the meaningless football. I'm ready for the stats to start sticking. I'm ready for the records to be worth something, and quite honestly, I'm ready for fantasy season. These next 2 weeks of preseason are pointless to me in many different ways.

Let us first begin with injuries. While some have the belief that if you're going to get hurt, it's just going to happen, I'm under the impression that more can be done to prevent it. We're still 2 weeks away from the season and the record for number of ACL's torn during training camp and games have already been shattered, let alone the number of other season ending injuries that have occurred. I fully understand that injures are part of the game, but why must players be subjected to more high risk, low reward situations if there really is no reward to preseason?

But who am I? I'm just a guy aspiring to be a journalist and broadcaster. I don't know that the coaches and players need to last 2 weeks to fight for and evaluate their jobs. Some players and coaches would say these last 2 weeks are the most important 2 weeks. My rebuttal would then be, what have you really been doing since camp opened up in mid-late July? By now you should know if a player has it or doesn't have what it takes to make your team.

In my proposal for the new schedule, I'm removing these last 2 weeks of preseason, beginning the regular season next weekend (the last week of August and same weekend that college football kicks off), and opening training camps the week of July 15th. Teams may even add up to as many as 3 scrimmages to their schedule if they so choose.

This still provides 2 games to knock off the rust, a month of training camp to practice and really get into the flow of schemes, and less pointless injury opportunities.

I understand its not that simple, but that's why I love this blog, who said anything had to be simple?

It's finally that time of year again and I'm very excited to get into this post so I'm going to go ahead and cut the intro short this time. These predictions will simply consist of final division standings and reasonings, playoff teams, and my Super Bowl prediction.





AFC EAST

1. New England Patriots
2. Miami Dolphins
3. Buffalo Bills
4. New York Jets

There isn't much to explain here. The Patriots runaway with this division and might have it locked up around Thanksgiving. EJ Manuel outplays Mark Sanchez and despite Geno Smith taking over, Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez will no longer be Jets after this season.



AFC NORTH

1. Baltimore Ravens
2. Cincinnati Bengals
3. Pittsburgh Steelers
4. Cleveland Browns

Call me bias or don't, but for as much as the Ravens lost this offseason, they gained some solid players as well. I'm a firm believer in to be the champ, you have to beat the champ and while the Bengals will make this division race in late December, I don't think they're ready to get over the hump. The Steelers went 8-8 last season and I simply didn't see much this offseason from them to convince me they'll do too much better this season.



AFC SOUTH

1. Indianapolis Colts
2. Houston Texans 
3. Tennessee Titans
4. Jacksonville Jaguars

I actually had to debate myself on the top 2 teams in this division and the make my explanation simple, Andrew Luck won't hit a sophomore slump and will in fact improve this season, while Matt Schaub will once again prove that he can not perform under pressure, in fact, I would not be surprised if CJ2K ran his Titans into second place in this division. Schaub and coach Gary Kubiak could be on the hot seat come midseason.




AFC WEST

1. Denver Broncos
2. Kansas City Chiefs
3. San Diego Chargers
4. Oakland Raiders

I fully expect Denver to runaway with this division in the same manner as the Patriots will in the East. With a new coach, a solid new quarterback (in my opinion), a beast of a running back, and a top 10 receiver, I see the Chiefs finishing 2nd here. Now.......FOR YEARS, I've tried my best to defend Phillip Rivers no matter how poor he has performed, but I've run out of things to say to defend him. If he finishes this season with more touchdowns than turnovers, I will be surprised. Rivers is on his way out in San Diego. You guys aren't gonna make me address the Raiders right?






NFC EAST

1. Washington Redskins 
2. Philadelphia Eagles
3. New York Giants
4. Dallas Cowboys

As much as I'm cringing at giving this satisfaction to Redskins fans, I'm a huge RGIII fan and he's proven he can get it done, health pending. Now for number 2, while I DO BELIEVE IN ELI, I also believe in Chip Kelly and his high paced offense, and as long as his offensive line keeps him upright, Michael Vick is the perfect quarterback to run the offense. Riley Cooper has to step up to replace Maclin, but Shady McCoy will also help pick up some of the slack. The Giants pick up the 3rd seed by default, because once again Tony Romo will drive "America's Team" into the ground. I will continue to say this until he proves me wrong.




NFC NORTH

1. Green Bay Packers
2. Chicago Bears
3. Minnesota Vikings
4. Detroit Lions

Maybe the most underrated division in the league. Any of the teams under Green Bay can finish anywhere between 2-4 here. Jay Cutler is in the same boat as Phillip Rivers in my eyes, I'm simply running out of excuses to make for him. Their biggest difference, Rivers doesn't have a Brandon Marshall to throw to or a Matt Forte to hand the ball off to. AD, All Day, Adrian Peterson, MVP. I'm sure he has a couple more nicknames I could throw out, and they picked up a number 1 receiver in Greg Jennings, but I don't exactly believe in that Christian Ponder guy under center throwing the ball, maybe he proves me wrong, but I doubt it. I feel bad for putting Megatron in the basement but someone has to be there and the North is too tough.




NFC SOUTH

1. New Orleans Saints
2. Atlanta Falcons
3. Carolina Panthers
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I know I got some Falcons fans reading this and are sick to their stomachs right now but allow me to explain even though I still don't expect you to agree. Before I get into it, if the NFC North isn't the most underrated division in the NFL then this division takes the cake. Now, maybe the best duo in the NFL is back together. I'm talking about Sean Payton and Drew Brees. Points will be scored and that offense will be explosive again. I understand their defense is questionable, and rightly so, but if you're scoring 35-50 points a game, I think you can afford to have a somewhat shaky defense. Okay Falcons fans, I love your team, I really do. White, Jackson, and I'd give up almost anyone for Julio Jones. I think we can agree that your defense shows up on a week to week basis. And now for the name you've been waiting on me to mention, the $58 million man, Matty Ice Cold Ryan. I'll make it simple, he was picked ahead of Joe Flacco in the same draft, it's time for him to get it done. I really want better for Cam Newton in Carolina but he's in the same position as Megatron in Detroit, the division is simply too tough.




NFC WEST

1. San Francisco 49ers
2. Seattle Seahawks
3. Arizona Cardinals
4. St. Louis Rams

For every move that Seattle made this offseason, San Francisco made one to match and stay up top. The top 2 teams here have gotten alot of conversation this summer for all the moves they made, but the simple reasoning I gave above is why I have the teams ranked where they are, exactly where they were last season. However, I would like to add that I am one of the biggest Russell Wilson fans you will know. The only other thing I have to say about this division is, I'm interested to watch Honey Badger and Patrick Peterson in the Cardinals secondary.






AFC PLAYOFF TEAMS

1. Denver Broncos
2. New England Patriots
3. Baltimore Ravens
4. Indianapolis Colts
5. Cincinnati Bengals
6. Houston Texans

NFC PLAYOFF TEAMS

1. San Francisco 49ers
2. Green Bay Packers
3. New Orleans Saints
4. Washington Redskins
5. Atlanta Falcons
6. Seattle Seahawks

SUPER BOWL


San Francisco 49ers over Denver Broncos

I last posted an article the day before game 7 of the NBA Finals. Needless to say, slacking isn't even the right word to describe how I've kept up, but never fear, this post is here. Alot has happened in the past month in sports and I'm about to touch on about as much of it as I can from game 7, to NBA free agency, to the start of NFL training camps, and how could I forget about Johnny Football.

Starting off with game 7, there isn't too much to say. While I never picked Miami to win the series, I'm happy for them winning. They completed what they sat out to do and left the critics absolutely nothing else to complain about. They simply handled business, pretty or ugly.

About a week after game 7 was the draft and while I, like many others yelled "WOW" when Anthony Bennett's name was called first, he is a good player and deserving of the honor. I personally still would've picked Victor Olandipo or Ben McLemore first and I think many teams will regret letting McLemore drop as far as he did. Speaking of dropping in the draft, allow me to say I was so very very happy that Alex Len and Nerlens Noel dropped to the 5th and 6th picks respectively. Many of you know by now, I did not feel they were NBA ready and there was no way I'm using a top pick on someone who hasn't played a second since tearing his ACL. It was good to see that some of the guys who scout for a living shared my opinion.

To finish my roundup on the NBA, there's nothing better to talk about than free agency. You know I got an opinion on Dwight but I'll come back to it. I wanna talk about next offseason for a sec. Melo, Wade, Lebron, and Bosh will be free agents and the rumor is that Lakers will be throwing everything on the table to get Lebron and Melo. Let me be very clear with this, KOBE WILL HAVE NONE OF IT. Kobe is 34, coming off of a torn achilles, with 2 years left on his contract to match Jordan and get a 6th ring. You think he's going to tolerate sharing the ball with Lebron and/or Melo in the final year of his contract and possibly career for that ring? PLEASE!!!! If Miami 3-peats, which I don't think they will but that's another topic for another day, Wade will retire. In turn, Lebron will return to Cleveland, yes I said it, Cleveland. Melo will go anywhere he can for the quickest ring, as he should. Let's not sugar coat it, he's going into his 11th season with no rings and no MVP awards. What would we do to Lebron if that were him right now. Of course these are nothing more than opinions and predictions but you're reading it because you feel it has some type of validity right?

Now back to Dwight Howard. I felt for the majority of the time he would remain a Laker. I just had this sense that he would want Kobe as a mentor to learn how to become a champion and become another legendary Lakers big man. When D12 did make it official that he was going to Houston after that 5 hour media fiasco on July 5th, I had lost respect for him. This changed after watching his interview with Stephen A. Smith on his decision and reasoning. I do understand the move and his mentality now. However, I have a huge problem with him saying rings don't define him as a champion, is there another way to be called a champion in the NBA, I'll wait.

FINALLY, it's that time of year again. It's football season. I'm writing this on the last Sunday without football until the second Sunday in February. It's kinda funny how we look down on preseason football but towards the end of the long offseason we can't wait for it. Training camp only started 4 days ago and 3 players have already suffered season-ending injuries. 2 ACL's and a broken hip. Hopefully this isn't a sign for the rest of camp and season. With the Hall of Fame inductions next Saturday and the Hall of Fame game next Sunday, it's finally time to ask, are you ready for some football?

It's been awhile since I got really serious in a post but I wanna address the whole Aaron Hernandez case briefly. While we all know all the evidence is leading to his guilt, and it's seeming virtually inevitable that he's about to see more murder charges come his way, I can't help but to ask why. Most of the professional athletes live what seems to be a very enjoyable life. From the money, to the cars, and homes, and girls. So why do they throw it away so quickly? My only answer is that maybe behind the scenes, being a professional athlete isn't all that it seems.

I saved this topic for last because I feel I relate to it the most. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Heisman winning quarterback, I'm no topic on sports shows every morning, but I am a 20 year old college kid who wants to enjoy life while I can. Johnny Manziel has taken endless criticism over the past couple months for his partying ways and such activities. I, as Johnny Football, don't believe in self-incrimination, so if I did sleep in at the Manning Passing Academy because I was hungover, what right of yours is it to know. Michael Smith from ESPN share the same opinion that he stated on the His and Hers podcast (DOWNLOAD IT) on this situation. While I am still 20 for a couple more months, I look up to Manziel in a sense, he's living the life that is supposed to be lived at this age. If this was a 20 year old starting quarterback from the University of Arizona, no one would care. But no, this is Johnny Manziel, first freshman to ever win the Heisman, starting quarterback at Texas A&M. Before you continue to crucify this kid just remember he didn't ask for this pedestal, the media gave it to him by awarding a 20 year old freshman the most prestigious award in college football. Let the kid live.

I'm sure I missed a topic or 2 and if I think of it and have something significant to write about it, you'll see it, but rest assured you won't see another month-plus drought from me.

As fans, we ridicule referees more than anyone else involved with the game but half the time we're being hypocritical or don't know what we even want with our criticism.

For most of us, if a game is close at the end, and a call could be called or not called, that ref better swallow his whistle and let the game play on. Unless its absolutely blatant, we don't wanna hear any type of stoppage, unless its a timeout, in the last 2 minutes.......except for when your a fan of the team that doesn't benefit from the non-call.

For example, if you're a Spurs fan, rooting for the Spurs, or have money on the Spurs in the Finals, you were on twitter along with myself last night complaining that Manu didnt get to shoot free throws with 5 seconds left in overtime and that Danny Green didn't get 3 free throws after the Bosh closeout at the end of overtime. At the end of the day, if that call would've been made with 5 minutes left in the 1st quarter, you should call it now. Be consistent right?

On the other side of the spectrum, if you are a Ravens fan like myself, you would've crucified the refs for making that possible pass interference call on 4th down in the end zone with 30 seconds left. In that situation the refs better say play on and let it slide because we'll be damned if the refs decide the game in a situation like that.

So the question is, what do we want? Do we want the consistent officiating where a call in the beginning is the same call at the end? Or do we want the circumstantial officiating that allows more than the normal in what I like to call "clutch time"?

Both have their positives and negatives and as fans we have to have someone to blame when the result isn't in our favor. Whether we realize it or not, we are the most hypocritical individuals involved with the game because of this issue. From now on maybe we should decide what we really want first and once we make that decision, we can't be mad if a call is made at the end of the game based on those guidelines whether it's in your favor or not.

By at least Thursday the NBA Finals will be complete at which point in time, sports will be over in the eyes of, to put it bluntly, most black people, until probably the FIBA Championship later this summer.

In actuality, baseball will be in full swing, hockey is finishing up with the Stanley Cup Finals, and soccer teams around the world are fighting to qualify for the World Cup to be held next summer. Personally, I'm looking forward to every one of those events coming up, in fact, I'm watching Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals as we speak. I call myself a sports fanatic and I'm quick to tell you that sports is my passion. Golf, soccer, hockey, NASCAR, baseball, you name it and I watch it, hell I played and coached lacrosse, a sport that used to be known as the whitest to exist.

My biggest question for the majority of the black community is why. Why is it that unless its basketball, football, or a Mayweather or Pacquaio fight, you don't pay any attention to sports but you can easily turn around and actually call yourself a sports fan? I mean unless you watch something that involves more than Floyd or Manny, I can't even respectfully call you a boxing fan.

Now don't get me wrong, I completely understand that I am in a significant minority by watching just about every sport out there, however, what's wrong with boxing other than Mayweather and Pacman. Hockey and Lacrosse have just as much physical contact as football, I mean really, you can fight in hockey without getting in trouble. As far as soccer goes, I've noticed that the interest is growing within my peers and I hope one day it's close to the top. Baseball is the one sport you have to have the most patience to watch because it can be such a slow game but it you haven't tried watching it, sit down one summer evening and just give it a shot.

That's really my message for all of the sports. Instead of sitting around whining and waiting for the NFL season to kickoff in September, give other sports a chance. Try baseball, support our national soccer teams as they try to qualify for the World Cup next summer, lacrosse has 2 professional leagues, watch at least one.

Believe it or not, the is only one day every year that doesn't have a baseball, football, hockey, or basketball related event. It's the 2nd Wednesday of every July, the day after the MLB All-Star Game. It's okay to still come home to football and basketball but expand your horizon and become a true sports fan if you choose to call yourself one.

Here we are, the last series of the playoffs and the season. No more basketball until October after one of these teams get 4 more wins. Okay I'm done with the depressing part.

I'd like to thank the Miami Heat for forcing me to wait til the last minute to finally be able to break everything down in this series, nonetheless, we're here so here it goes.


WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: SAN ANTONIO SPURS vs
EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: MIAMI HEAT

I'm going to do things a little differently this time. Normally I breakdown the series and then tell you who I'm picking. This time I'll give you my pick first, and then break it down and tell you why.

The San Antonio Spurs will win the Larry O'Brien trophy and NBA Championship in 7 games.

STAR POWER:
Tony Parker is probably playing at the highest level on either roster, and that's with multiple lagging injuries. Tim Duncan is still the fundamentalist and is still providing 15 points and 10 rebounds a game in the playoffs AT AGE 36!!!! Manu Ginobili is playing his worst basketball of his postseason career and he is doing so on a torn hamstring.

Lebron James is Lebron James, there's nothing else that needs to be said regarding the 4-time reigning MVP. Despite having an overall abysmal series in the Eastern Conference Finals, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade decided to show up in Game 7 when it absolutely mattered most.

Notice I've only brought up 3 players on each team, oh yeah the Spurs have a big 3 too. So who's big 3 will prevail in this series? The Spurs are older and will have had 10 days off by time tipoff arrives Thursday night. After 10 days off, it's hard to imagine that Parker and Ginobili aren't 100% now. Aside from that point, the banged up Spurs have been more consistent than the quicker and younger Miami superstars. With Lebron admitting revenge for 07 is on his mind, I'm afraid he might forget he has 2 other superstars on his team and go to Cleveland mode. He got swept in Cleveland.
Advantage: San Antonio

BENCH PLAYERS:
Another instance of a lack of consistency coming from Miami. You never know what you're going to get offensively from Ray Allen and Shane Battier. One night they can come out and hit a combined 8-9 3's and the next night they'll be lucky to score a combined 8-9 points. Norris Cole, Mike Miller and Birdman have been 3 relatively consistent role players off the bench for Miami. Cole has an opportunity to win the starting job from Mario Chalmers next season if he proves worthy in this series as he will see alot of time aganist Tony Parker. Miller is going to come in and drain as many 3's as you ask him to. His stamina and defense however are suspect due to whatever injury may be bothering him that particular night. Let's face it, Chris Andersen isn't going to put up the same remarkable FG percentage that he did in the last round. At the same he does give Miami what they always need; energy, rebounding, and a defensive presence in the paint.

San Antonio has a guy named Boris Diaw coming off the bench who came into the league as a PG and is now a built power forward who knows his role and plays it on offense and defense. They also have the RED MAMBA who can drain any shot outside of 22 feet with his eyes closed if he wanted. The Heat better not leave Matt Bonner open at all during this series. If Pop took notes from Indiana in the East Finals, he learned that Miami doesn't like physicality down low; cue Dejuan Blair.

Both benches are very respectable and filled with experience. This aspect is going to come down to Miami's 3 ball vs San Antonio's defense.
Advantage: Draw

COACHING:
I really feel bad and as if I'm insulting Gregg Popovich by comparing him to Erik Spolestra so I'll make this quick. 4 rings to 1. 4-0 finals record to 1-1. Proven history and respected league wide. I could go on and on talking about how great Pop is, and it's no disrespect to Spo, but he just doesn't compare.
Advantage: San Antonio


Those are the main factors that I feel will determine the outcome of this series. Just a couple extra stats if you somehow still aren't excited enough.

Teams coming of a conference finals sweep vs teams coming off a 7 game conference finals series are 4-2. Teams that have 66 regular season win and reach the finals are 9-2. Personally, I'm undefeated when not picking against Pop.

Starting tonight at 9, something's gotta give.

As I start this post, I have exactly 20 minutes until the Conference Finals get under way and I'm afraid to even pick anything anymore since both of my finals predictions were eliminated in the last round, but without further ado......


EASTERN CONFERENCE
(1) Miami Heat vs (3) Indiana Pacers
We all expected Miami to be here, however I expected them to be knocked out in this round by the Knicks. Well, the Pacers crushed those hopes and dreams for me. The Heat looked like an unstoppable train against Chicago after giving up game 1 on their home court and while Indiana looked impressive while eliminating the New York Knicks, they're too young and not experienced enough to handle the pressure on this stage. I expect Lebron to prove to us all why he's the MVP again and Birdman should get some extended minutes throughout this series to help defend against Roy Hibbert. We'll have a repeat Eastern Conference Champions this year. Miami in 6.


WESTERN CONFERENCE
(2) San Antonio Spurs vs (5) Memphis Grizzles
I don't think anyone had Memphis here over OKC when the playoffs started in April, however, injuries happen in sports and the Thunder didn't have their star PG against Memphis and the Grizzles did what they were supposed to do and handled their business, so respect is given where it's due.
ALOT of people picked and expected Steph Curry and the Warriors to knock off the older Spurs team, I wasn't one of them. While I did expect OKC to be the Spurs in this round, that scenario doesn't exist and you won't catch me going against Pop against Memphis. I expect and epic NBA Finals series this year. San Antonio in 6.