MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts. When most people here MMA they automatically think of the UFC, but that should not be the case. Their are many MMA organizations that can offer good fights, if you are into MMA. Strikeforce, Dream, Affliction, M-1 and many other organizations have a solid group of fighters.
The thing is though MMA is battling with the public as to if it is even appropriate for TV.
Many people believe that MMA is two violent and John McCain was even quoted as saying it was "human cockfighting". However the UFC has grown and is not one of the highest grossing PPV events every month. MMA has always been popular in Japan and the USA is not becoming a close second to them, but Canada is struggling to stay with the pack.
MMA is not sanctioned in Ontario and a few other provinces so the whole country seems to be divided. Quebec and BC have both allowed MMA and there are many small organizations that actually run out of Canada. Canada has also produced one of the greatest fighters alive today.
Georges St. Pierre is the UFC Welterweight Champion. (156 -170 pounds) He is considered a top 3 pound for pound fighter and is the first MMA star to sign a sponsorship deal with Gatorade.
MMA is alive and popular in Canada and with there being no serious injuries yet reported from MMA the argument that it is un-safe seems to be off based. With the rapid growth of the sport it is safe to say that MMA is around to stay.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
NHL Playoff predictions- Western Conference
Same deal as the Eastern predictions but from the west.
Match-ups
(1) San Jose Sharks vs (8) Anaheim Ducks
(2) Detroit Red Wings vs (7) Columbus Blue Jackets
(3) Vancouver Canucks vs (6) St.Louis Blues
(4) Chicago Black Hawks vs (5) Calgary Flames
First up- San Jose and Anaheim
Offense- The Sharks have a solid regular season offense. What that means is that the Sharks have looked like a solid team before, but some of their players seem to disappear come playoff time. Most of the time that would not be a big deal, but when it is your two top scorers then well it sucks. Anaheim is young but is full of playoff experience. Getzlaf and Perry have both been here before and Selanne is as solid as they come in the playoffs.
Advantage- Ducks but only if the sharks stars disappear.
Defense- Anaheim. With Scotty N and Chris Pronger on the back end they hard tough to match up against.
Goaltending- Sharks. The Ducks have proven to be inconsistent and Hiller has never played playoff hockey before.
Winner- The Ducks. Even has heavy underdogs they have been here before and i think have a chance to go all the way.
Detroit vs Columbus
Offense- Detroit. Best offense in the league, no team in the league wins this match-up against the wings.
Defense- Detroit. Lindstrom is the best d-man in the league and with his experience sorry Columbus but your run is coming to an end.
Goaltending- The blue jackets can win this one, but Mason is very very young so who knows.
Winner- Detroit in 4.
Vancouver vs St.Louis
Offense- Vancouver has the Sedins who St.Louis has no one to match-up against.
Defense- again Vancouver wins because St.Louis is two inexperienced.
Goaltending- Vancouver is the only team that can compete against the devils.
Winner- Vancouver in 5
Chicago vs Calagary
Offense- Chicago has a young explosive team but they have never been in the playoffs before. Calgary has a solid offense, but are very inexperienced. This is a toss up but I will give it to Calgary.
Defense- Calgary because Chicago is a very lackluster team defense team and Calgary will battle them.
Goaltending- Calgary. Kipper might possibly be the most solid goaltender in the league behind Luonogo and Brodeur.
Winner- Calgary in 6 games.
There are my West predictions. My goal with my predictions is to go 8 for 8 with my predictions.
Match-ups
(1) San Jose Sharks vs (8) Anaheim Ducks
(2) Detroit Red Wings vs (7) Columbus Blue Jackets
(3) Vancouver Canucks vs (6) St.Louis Blues
(4) Chicago Black Hawks vs (5) Calgary Flames
First up- San Jose and Anaheim
Offense- The Sharks have a solid regular season offense. What that means is that the Sharks have looked like a solid team before, but some of their players seem to disappear come playoff time. Most of the time that would not be a big deal, but when it is your two top scorers then well it sucks. Anaheim is young but is full of playoff experience. Getzlaf and Perry have both been here before and Selanne is as solid as they come in the playoffs.
Advantage- Ducks but only if the sharks stars disappear.
Defense- Anaheim. With Scotty N and Chris Pronger on the back end they hard tough to match up against.
Goaltending- Sharks. The Ducks have proven to be inconsistent and Hiller has never played playoff hockey before.
Winner- The Ducks. Even has heavy underdogs they have been here before and i think have a chance to go all the way.
Detroit vs Columbus
Offense- Detroit. Best offense in the league, no team in the league wins this match-up against the wings.
Defense- Detroit. Lindstrom is the best d-man in the league and with his experience sorry Columbus but your run is coming to an end.
Goaltending- The blue jackets can win this one, but Mason is very very young so who knows.
Winner- Detroit in 4.
Vancouver vs St.Louis
Offense- Vancouver has the Sedins who St.Louis has no one to match-up against.
Defense- again Vancouver wins because St.Louis is two inexperienced.
Goaltending- Vancouver is the only team that can compete against the devils.
Winner- Vancouver in 5
Chicago vs Calagary
Offense- Chicago has a young explosive team but they have never been in the playoffs before. Calgary has a solid offense, but are very inexperienced. This is a toss up but I will give it to Calgary.
Defense- Calgary because Chicago is a very lackluster team defense team and Calgary will battle them.
Goaltending- Calgary. Kipper might possibly be the most solid goaltender in the league behind Luonogo and Brodeur.
Winner- Calgary in 6 games.
There are my West predictions. My goal with my predictions is to go 8 for 8 with my predictions.
NHL Playoff predictions- Eastern conference
Another NHL season has come and passed and it is time for the fun to begin. The playoff are set to begin on April 15th and some of the match-ups are very interesting. There is young team, old teams and teams that have surpassed expectations. For this blog I will break down the Eastern conference playoff match-ups by comparing who i think has the edge in offense, defense and goaltending as well as touching on x-factors for the series.
The match-ups are as follows:
*conference rank in brackets
(1) Boston Bruins vs (8) Montreal Canadiens
(2)Washington Capitals vs (7) New York Rangers
(3) New Jersey Devils vs (6) Carolina Hurricanes
(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs (5) Philadelphia Flyers
First off the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia series.
This might be the trickiest series off all to pick in the East. Pittsburgh obviously has an explosive offense with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. They also have players such as Jordan Staal and other contributers. With Crosby as well as Malkin it seems as though they would win in the offense catagory but Philly is balanced. With players like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter Daniel Briere and balanced scoring through their whole line-up its is closer then many people believe.
Advantage in offense- Pittsburgh because Crosby and Malkin are two of the three best players in the league.
Defense wise neither team is very strong. Pittsburgh has Sergei Gonchar who will provide some extra offense but both teams are weak in this aspect.
Advantage in defense- Ill give this to Philly because i believe that Philly is a better team defense team and the penguins offensive stars tend to get lost sometimes.
Goaltending- Pittsburgh by far. Marc-Andrea Fleury is a solid young goaltender that has tremendous athletic ability. Philly's goaltending is very streaky.
Advantage in goaltending- Pittsburgh.
Series winner- Pittsburgh in seven games. I think Crosby and Malkin will be to much for the flyers to handle.
X-factor- If Martin Biron plays like he can be capable of the flyers have a very real chance at winning this series.
Next up- New York Rangers vs Washington Capitals
Offense- Washington wins the offense category simply because of two players, Alexander Ovechkin and Mike Green, who is a defensemen. Ovehckin will tear up New Yorks shoddy defense and will single handed defeat the rangers.
Defense- Again Washington wins this because of Mike Green and solid team defense. The rangers are a very european team whose offense players seem to not know how to backcheck.
Goaltending- This one i will give the edge to New York. King Henrik is a better goaltender then Jose Theodore. Theodore however, does have the chance to be the x-factor if he can get on his game.
Winner- Washington in 5. i do believe that the rangers can win one game, but thats it. This is the most lopsided series in the first round.
Next up- New Jersey Devils vs Carolina Hurricanes.
Offense- This is a very even offensive match-up. Both teams have very balanced scoring but New Jersey has Zach Parise scored 46 goals which is more then any player on Carolina.
Advantage- New Jersey. A balanced attack with a serious threat like Parise makes them tough to match-up against.
Defense- New Jersey wins this. The Devils have always been a defense first team. Their team defense is top in the league and no team can match-up with the defensively.
Goaltending- New Jersey. Martin Brodeur that is all that needs to be said.
Winner- New Jersey in 6 games. The devilsare balanced and have arguably the best goalie in the world between the pipes.
Last up is Montreal vs Boston.
I saved this match-up for last because it is the most intriguing.
Offense- Boston defied the odds this year by finishing first in the Eastern conference when no one expected them to. Their offense is very balanced but is also very young. Montreal is a very european type of team. They will skate around the outside and bury you with their speed, but do not underestimate their ability to play with grit.
Advantage- Montreal, but barely.
Defense- Montreal has suffered from injuries on their defense core and sometimes their offense tends to forget to back check. Boston is a solid team defense team who has an anchor named Zedeno Chara on the back end.
Advantage- Boston
Goaltending- This is the hardest area to pick between the two teams. Carey Price is a young goalie who performed well last year, but has struggled since the all-star break. Tim Thomas has shot onto the scene after being a back-up goaltender for much of his career. I believe however that soon enough Thomas is going to wake up, realize he is Tim Thomas and go back to being the goalie he has always been, solid but not great.
Advantage- Montreal, but only if the real Tim Thomas does stand up
Winner- Montreal is a heavy underdog in this series. Most experts have Boston in this series even as quickly as 4 games. I am picking Montreal in 7. I believe that if Montreal shows up and plays hard in the first two games that Boston will start to think about the previous troubles they have had with the Canadiens and will slowly start to fade.
There you have it my Eastern conference playoff predictions.
The match-ups are as follows:
*conference rank in brackets
(1) Boston Bruins vs (8) Montreal Canadiens
(2)Washington Capitals vs (7) New York Rangers
(3) New Jersey Devils vs (6) Carolina Hurricanes
(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs (5) Philadelphia Flyers
First off the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia series.
This might be the trickiest series off all to pick in the East. Pittsburgh obviously has an explosive offense with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. They also have players such as Jordan Staal and other contributers. With Crosby as well as Malkin it seems as though they would win in the offense catagory but Philly is balanced. With players like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter Daniel Briere and balanced scoring through their whole line-up its is closer then many people believe.
Advantage in offense- Pittsburgh because Crosby and Malkin are two of the three best players in the league.
Defense wise neither team is very strong. Pittsburgh has Sergei Gonchar who will provide some extra offense but both teams are weak in this aspect.
Advantage in defense- Ill give this to Philly because i believe that Philly is a better team defense team and the penguins offensive stars tend to get lost sometimes.
Goaltending- Pittsburgh by far. Marc-Andrea Fleury is a solid young goaltender that has tremendous athletic ability. Philly's goaltending is very streaky.
Advantage in goaltending- Pittsburgh.
Series winner- Pittsburgh in seven games. I think Crosby and Malkin will be to much for the flyers to handle.
X-factor- If Martin Biron plays like he can be capable of the flyers have a very real chance at winning this series.
Next up- New York Rangers vs Washington Capitals
Offense- Washington wins the offense category simply because of two players, Alexander Ovechkin and Mike Green, who is a defensemen. Ovehckin will tear up New Yorks shoddy defense and will single handed defeat the rangers.
Defense- Again Washington wins this because of Mike Green and solid team defense. The rangers are a very european team whose offense players seem to not know how to backcheck.
Goaltending- This one i will give the edge to New York. King Henrik is a better goaltender then Jose Theodore. Theodore however, does have the chance to be the x-factor if he can get on his game.
Winner- Washington in 5. i do believe that the rangers can win one game, but thats it. This is the most lopsided series in the first round.
Next up- New Jersey Devils vs Carolina Hurricanes.
Offense- This is a very even offensive match-up. Both teams have very balanced scoring but New Jersey has Zach Parise scored 46 goals which is more then any player on Carolina.
Advantage- New Jersey. A balanced attack with a serious threat like Parise makes them tough to match-up against.
Defense- New Jersey wins this. The Devils have always been a defense first team. Their team defense is top in the league and no team can match-up with the defensively.
Goaltending- New Jersey. Martin Brodeur that is all that needs to be said.
Winner- New Jersey in 6 games. The devilsare balanced and have arguably the best goalie in the world between the pipes.
Last up is Montreal vs Boston.
I saved this match-up for last because it is the most intriguing.
Offense- Boston defied the odds this year by finishing first in the Eastern conference when no one expected them to. Their offense is very balanced but is also very young. Montreal is a very european type of team. They will skate around the outside and bury you with their speed, but do not underestimate their ability to play with grit.
Advantage- Montreal, but barely.
Defense- Montreal has suffered from injuries on their defense core and sometimes their offense tends to forget to back check. Boston is a solid team defense team who has an anchor named Zedeno Chara on the back end.
Advantage- Boston
Goaltending- This is the hardest area to pick between the two teams. Carey Price is a young goalie who performed well last year, but has struggled since the all-star break. Tim Thomas has shot onto the scene after being a back-up goaltender for much of his career. I believe however that soon enough Thomas is going to wake up, realize he is Tim Thomas and go back to being the goalie he has always been, solid but not great.
Advantage- Montreal, but only if the real Tim Thomas does stand up
Winner- Montreal is a heavy underdog in this series. Most experts have Boston in this series even as quickly as 4 games. I am picking Montreal in 7. I believe that if Montreal shows up and plays hard in the first two games that Boston will start to think about the previous troubles they have had with the Canadiens and will slowly start to fade.
There you have it my Eastern conference playoff predictions.
Jays off to hot start
The 2009 Toronto Blue Jays have started their new season and it has started off alot better then one could have hoped for. The Jays currently hold a record of 6 wins with 2 losses and are tied for top spot in the MLB.
This hot start has many fans jumping at the chance to say that the jay scan compete for a playoff spot, but I would not jump the gun just yet. The Jays, with the exception of Roy "Doc" Halliday, have an extremely young and un-proven starting rotation. David Purcey is in his first full season as a starting pitcher, Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond are both rookie pitchers and Jesse Litsch is in his third season in the bigs but is still very un-proven.
The Jays success is going to be based strongly on how well these kids can handle facing big leauge batters and their ability to control not only their pitches but their emotions as well.
As for the Jays offense it looks strong. with a line-up that has potential from 1-9 to hit for not only contact but power as well. Adam Lind has started the year off with 12 RBI's in the first 7 games, which is tied for the Blue Jays franchise record. Vernon Wells looks to have his swing back and Alexis Rios looks like he fits perfectly in the three hole of the batting line-up. With youngsters such as Aaron Hill, Marco Scutaro and Travis Snider also producing it should take at least some of the pressure off of their young arms.
If the pitching staff can produce and hold teams to 4 or 5 runs a game i believe this jays team will be able to compete for a playoff spot, but that is a big if.
This hot start has many fans jumping at the chance to say that the jay scan compete for a playoff spot, but I would not jump the gun just yet. The Jays, with the exception of Roy "Doc" Halliday, have an extremely young and un-proven starting rotation. David Purcey is in his first full season as a starting pitcher, Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond are both rookie pitchers and Jesse Litsch is in his third season in the bigs but is still very un-proven.
The Jays success is going to be based strongly on how well these kids can handle facing big leauge batters and their ability to control not only their pitches but their emotions as well.
As for the Jays offense it looks strong. with a line-up that has potential from 1-9 to hit for not only contact but power as well. Adam Lind has started the year off with 12 RBI's in the first 7 games, which is tied for the Blue Jays franchise record. Vernon Wells looks to have his swing back and Alexis Rios looks like he fits perfectly in the three hole of the batting line-up. With youngsters such as Aaron Hill, Marco Scutaro and Travis Snider also producing it should take at least some of the pressure off of their young arms.
If the pitching staff can produce and hold teams to 4 or 5 runs a game i believe this jays team will be able to compete for a playoff spot, but that is a big if.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
the logic of being a fan
Well as many people know that my dream job is to be a sports writer. i have wanted to write about sports for years now and this is the one way that i can do this is by blogging.
The title of this blog is the logic of being a fan and what does that mean? it means how come now adays it seems as though if you are a fan of one team you cannot talk about any other team? it seems as though since im a leafs fan that automatically means i know nothing about any other team. it is sports fans like these that give us a bad name.
I pride myself on being a knowledgable fan of sports and not just of one team. if people want to be a knowledgable fan they have to know how to talk about teams they may not be a fan of and be impartial. i am not a montreal canadians fan or an ottawa senators fan but i can converse about them and say something good about them just as easily as i can say something bad about the toronto maple leafs.
basically all i am trying to say is that if you want to call yourself a sports fan please make yourself a logical one
The title of this blog is the logic of being a fan and what does that mean? it means how come now adays it seems as though if you are a fan of one team you cannot talk about any other team? it seems as though since im a leafs fan that automatically means i know nothing about any other team. it is sports fans like these that give us a bad name.
I pride myself on being a knowledgable fan of sports and not just of one team. if people want to be a knowledgable fan they have to know how to talk about teams they may not be a fan of and be impartial. i am not a montreal canadians fan or an ottawa senators fan but i can converse about them and say something good about them just as easily as i can say something bad about the toronto maple leafs.
basically all i am trying to say is that if you want to call yourself a sports fan please make yourself a logical one
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