The HEAT is on!!

Rashard Lewis & Ray Allen team up with the BIG 3

The NBA season is back!

The defending World Champion Miami Heat tip off in a matter of hours against their arch rivals, the Boston Celtics.

LeBron gets his ring.

D-Wade comes back with a healthy knee. 

Ray Allen faces his former team. 

Kevin Garnett is a angry man.

Lets keep this short and sweet today, I'm getting ready to throw a few back and get comfortable as I watch big time basketball in October. I'll be back periodically to weigh in on important games and topics which I'm sure will be Skip Bayless saying how LeBron is still not "clutch". In the words of Stephen A Smith, "stop being so DISRESPECTFUL!!"

The season will be sprinkled with a lot of cool moments and teams with aspirations for a title. Too bad only 9 teams have won a title in 33 years. So its kinda predictable who's going to be there in the end.

LeBron edges Kevin Durant for league MVP...again

The usual suspects make it to the conference finals: Heat over the Celtics in 6 and the Lakers in 7 against the Thunder.

Heat with home court close out the Lakers in 6. Book it said the Grizz...

Sunday Fundays are BACK

Sunday Night Football was capped by Von Miller
sending a shout out to an ex teammate  with a "Tebow"

If you didn't know, yesterday was a unofficial, "official national holiday".

That can only mean one thing, the NFL season has begun! No disrespect to the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys who played on Wednesday night, with the Boys pulling off the upset on the champs 24-17, but the season REALLY kicks off on a Sunday with a slew of games.

If you weren't at a stadium tailgating, grillin, pounding some brewskis with your friends, then you were probably doing just that at some bar or house.

There's just something about Sundays and Football.

Not to mention if you have the NFL RedZone channel, you're in FOOTBALL HEAVEN. Fantasy Football Heaven that is!

Tim who? Peyton Manning reminded everyone in Denver
 what a real quarterback looks like.

The most anticipated start of this young season took place last night in Denver.

Peyton Manning showed everyone, including the team that cut him, the Indianapolis Colts, he still had something left in the tank. The 36 year old Manning didn't look like a player that missed all of last season, in fact he looked like he hadn't missed a beat. Manning went 19 of 26, 253 yards and 2 touchdowns in win against one of the leagues best defenses. Manning's Broncos beat the Steelers 31-19, capped off by Tracy Porter's 43 yard, pick six of Ben Roethlesberger. Must have been nice for Manning to have Porter on his side on this pick six.

Manning recorded his 400th and 401st touchdowns of his career in the game. He becomes only the third quarterback in NFL history to join the 400 touchdown club, joining the likes of Dan Marino and Brett Favre.

The humble Manning even said in the post-game interview that he doesn't even think he belongs with such greats of the game.

Trust me Peyton when I say this and I'm sure anyone with even a little bit of football knowledge can attest to. 

YOU BELONG IN THAT SENTENCE.

David Akers, shocked that he was able to kick a
NFL record tying field goal of 63 yards

On paper it was pegged as the game of the day.

The San Francisco 49ers came to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers with an upset in mind.

The 49ers showed the NFL world that last year was no fluke. They harassed Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the Packers with their relentless defense. Rodgers looked like he had some rust and never played up to his MVP-caliber self. His team took the defeat at the hands of the 49ers, 30-22, snapping a 15 game regular season home winning streak. But if you count the post season, that now 2 losses in a row for the Pack 

Alex Smith looked as if HE was the MVP of the league last year, completing 77% of his passes, throwing 2 touchdowns and had a 125.6 quarterback rating. There was also a Randy Moss sighting, with the veteran receiver catching his first touchdown in almost 2 years. With their defense picking up right where they left off, a lot of new weapons on offense and Smith finally becoming the quarterback he was suppose to be after being drafted first overall in 2005, this team looks poised to get back to the NFC title game and then some.

RGIII celebrating his 1st career touchdown pass in the NFL

There was 5 quarterbacks that started in the NFL yesterday. By far the most ever since the merger. They all came up on the losing sided, except one.

Robert Griffin the 3rd, or as the kids like to call him, RGIII.

In the most unlikely of outcomes, RGIII led his Washington Redskins to a 40-32 victory over the emotional New Orleans Saints in THEIR house. 

RGIII was sensational for the Skins. He completed 73% of his passes for 320 yards, 2 TD's, ZERO picks and amassed a QB rating of 140! That stat line is the first of its kind for a rookie starting his first game. And you thought it couldn't get better than Cam Newton in years opener.

The Saints on the other hand looked like a team missing their Super Bowl winning head coach. 

Drew Brees ended up with his yards and TD's but he finished with a QB rating close to 71 and two 4th quarter INT's. The loss was the first at home for the Saints since the 2010 finale.

Andre Johnson doing what he and the Houston Texans do best:
ABUSE THE MIAMI DOLPHINS. 

As for my 2 Super Bowl favorites, the Houston Texans improved to a lifetime record against the Miami Dolphins of 7-0 after crushing them 30-10. Arian Foster and Andre Johnson had their usual great days at the office.

The Philadelphia Eagles on the other hand needed a late TD from Michael Vick to beat the upset-minded Cleveland Browns 17-16. Luckily for all fantasy owners that drafted Vick, including myself in 2 leagues, he ended up staying HEALTHY.

Michael Vick was picked off 4 times, but kept his cool in
 leading the Eagles back to a win over the Browns

Here's the rest of yesterdays Week 1's scores:

Chicago Bears beat the Indianapolis Colts 41-21 ruining Andrew Lucks debut.

Detroit Lions came back to beat the St. Louis Rams 27-23 to avoid the upset.

Minnesota Vikings won in OT against the Jacksonville Jaguars 26-23 with the help of a healthy Adrian Peterson.

Atlanta Falcons cruised past the Kansas City Chiefs 40-24 behind a monster game from Matt Ryan.

New York Jets crushed the Buffalo Bills 48-28 and woke up their offense in the process.

New England Patriots beat down the Tennessee Titans 34-13 in a workman effort from Tom Brady and the rest of the Pats.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers slowed down the Carolina Panthers and Cam Newton for a 16-10 win.

Arizona Cardinals won a close one 20-16 against the Russel Wilson led Seattle Seahawks.


Monday Night Football double header:

Cincinnati Bengals at the Baltimore Ravens

San Diego Chargers at the Oakland Raiders

NFL Preview & Predictions

The New York Giants start the defense of their title
tonight against the Dallas Cowboys

The Grizz is BACK!!

It's been two & half months since my last post. You remember that one right? MIAMI HEAT WORLD CHAMPS. Just in case you guys forgot, doubt that you would OR could. Then it was off to hibernation for this grizzly bear. Most bears usually hibernate during the cold, long winters. Summer baseball does the trick for me. But alas, fall is almost here and the smell of pigskin is in the air.

FOOTBALL has returned!!!

If Ryan Tannehill can score ON the field as good as he does OFF it,
the Dolphins might have just found their franchise QB

***DISCLAIMER***  I'm a Miami Dolphins fan

Before I get into what I think will happen this year in the NFL, I must talk about my team. My Dolphins. 

Where do I start???

A first time head coach. Trading away a former first round corner. Releasing a once great receiver who's turned in to a caricature of himself. A locker room split on said receiver getting cut. A general manger who is on the hot seat, especially with the die hard fans in the 305. The whole country watching this fiasco on HBO's Hard Knocks.

All decent starting points, but I'll go with the obvious one to me. Ryan Tannehill. 

This organization has had 16 quarterbacks start at least one game in the 13 years since Dan Marino retired. Let that marinate for a second. 16 quarterbacks! That is just pathetic. So the Dolphins drafted Ryan Tannehill with the number 8 pick in this years draft to try and change that stat. The only positive in this scenario as of right now is that Marino and Bob Griese were the only other quarterbacks selected by the Dolphins in the first round and they had HOF careers. Not going to make that stretch with Tannehill, but if his decision making is as good calling plays as it is with the selection of his wife, we're off to a good start in his young career.

Seriously though I wanna see what the new coach has planned out for this terrible offense. Joe Philbin is suppose to be one of the gurus behind Aaron Rodger and Green Bay's prolific offense. With the lack of talent, beside Reggie Bush, I don't see how this team is going to win consistently this year. The offensive line is sub-par, the receivers are probably the worst in the league and you got a rookie under center. Oh and you start your season on the road against the Houston Texans. Good Luck.

Peyton Manning makes his return Sunday night
 at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers

The biggest story of this off season was Peyton Manning being released by the Indianapolis Colts and then signing with the Denver Broncos. Which subsequently Mr. Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets. I'll get into that next. 

The Broncos are betting heavily on a healthy Manning to come back to his 4 time MVP form. I think if he's at 80% of that, it's still good enough for a division win and long playoff run. He has more talent on offense than he did the last couple of years in Indy. With Von Miler and the rest of that solid defense, Manning has a chance to come back better than ever.

Tim Tebow & Mark Sanchez. The circus is in town.

Now on to the show that is the New York Jets. What a band of misfits. Darrelle Revis is the only guy you take off that team without blinking an eye. You can have the rest thank you very much. The fact that I can't stand the Jets because my allegiance to the Dolphins doesn't change how I feel about this team. It could be the Minnesota Vikings and I would still kill them. But since it is the Jets, it will be even sweeter(insert happy face). 

The hype that Tebow gets is amazing to me. To think ESPN had people camped out for a week to follow the dynamic of these two quarterbacks when they opened up training camp. You got the defending SuperBowl champs raining from the same city and they go completely under the radar because of the Tebow. It's laughable to me. I have a whole lot I got to say about him but i'll leave that for down the road in another post.

The best of all is Rex Ryan. This guy is a class act. I do like him as a defensive minded coach and he has excellent schemes but dude SHUT UP. Just yesterday he's speech about being a great coach and going on to coach another ten plus years, it gets old and FAST. If you keep having 8-8 seasons and your team unravels at the end of them, you can take the zero off that ten and you can do the math.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8339524

Who's going to be playing here in Super Bowl 47?

My predictions for the season:

AFC EAST                                          NFC EAST

New England Patriots   13-3          Philadelphia Eagles         11-5

Buffalo Bills                  9-7          New York Giants            10-6

Miami Dolphins            6-10          Dallas Cowboys              7-9

New York Jets            5-11          Washington Redskins       6-10

AFC NORTH                                     NFC NORTH

Pittsburgh Steelers      12-4          Green Bay Packers         12-4

Cincinnati Bengals       11-5          Chicago Bears                10-6

Baltimore Ravens        8-8            Detroit Lions                   8-8

Cleveland Browns        5-11           Minnesota Vikings           2-14

AFC SOUTH                                     NFC SOUTH

Houston Texans          12-4          New Orleans Saints         11-5

Tennessee Titans          9-7         Carolina Panthers             9-7

Indianapolis Colts        6-10          Atlanta Falcons              8-8

Jacksonville Jaguars     3-13         Tampa Bay Buccaneers    2-14

AFC WEST                                       NFC WEST

Denver Broncos          10-6         San Francisco 49ers         11-5

San Diego Chargers     9-7          Seattle Seahawks              10-6

Oakland Raiders          8-8          Arizona Cardinals              5-11

Kansas City Chiefs      4-12         St. Louis Rams                 4-12

PLAYOFFS

WILD CARDS

Texans over Bills

Bengals over Broncos 

49ers over Giants

Saints over Bears

DIVISIONAL

Texans over Steelers

Patriots over Bengals
Eagles over 49ers
Packers over Saints


AFC CHAMPIONSHIP

Texans over Patriots


NFC CHAMPIONSHIP

Eagles over Packers


SUPERBOWL XLVII

Eagles over Texans

Miami Heat are World Champs

The Miami Heat celebrating their 2nd title in franchise history

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh got together two summers ago with one thing on their mind.

Win an NBA Championship.

They were two wins away from accomplishing that in their first year of the "big 3" era, but came up short to Dallas in the finals. They had to watch another team celebrate on their home floor.

Not this year.

They dismantled the Oklahoma City Thunder, 121-106, in game 5 of the NBA Finals. They won 4 straight to finish them off 4-1, this after losing the first game of the series. A theme that became the norm, becoming the ONLY team in NBA history to win a championship after trailing in 3 series. They were 9-0 after being down in each of those series.

NBA Finals MVP LeBron James posing with some nice hardware

I gotta be real here. The fan in me caused me not to write anymore after my last article last month after game 1 of the Pacer series. I had to stop and just enjoy this ride, plus I didn't want to jinx my team.

I mean I have yet to sleep, going to the famous bird road in southwest Miami-Dade and take part in a massive after party in the streets, pots and pans in hand. Seeing all of Miami, young and old, reacting like never before and understanding the togetherness of sports. It's like nothing else.

I watched a replay of game 5 and soaked it all in AGAIN. Now here I am writing the emotions going through my head while getting ready to escape to the Keys for the weekend.

Couldn't have asked for anything better

LeBron averaged 28.6 ppg, 10 rpg & 7.4 apg to seal his first Finals MVP

Watching LeBron play some of the best basketball EVER during this post season run will be forever eched in my mind. The guy closed out his first title with a triple double! Something that only five players have ever done.

All of the critics can shut the hell up. I know he won't say that, but I will. Especially the leader of the hit squad, Skip Bayless. All year long I've heard he can't "close". Who gives a crap? The guy is a physical beast. He has all the tools you would want in a basketball player. He's an elite defender. When you have the caliber of a player in Dwyane Wade you don't have to be the guy that hits the last shot.

So Skip do us all a favor and shut it. Don't tell me Kevin Durant is the best player in the league. Don't tell me he's the frozen one. Or that his name is Prince James.

It's King James buddy and the guy just closed the deal.

Dwade celebrating after a grueling post season on AND off the court

It's great to see Dwyane get his second title.

There have been some trying times this year. He hasn't been 100% healthy. He's given the reins to the team over to LeBron. He's had a lot of personal issues to deal with, especially during one of the most important times in his career.

Yet through it all he is a champion. Again.


Listening to an interview after the game with Shaq, that both he and LeBron were doing, I loved that he compared when Shaq told him in 06' to "go get it young fella" to how he's told LeBron to take this team and lead them to a title. It's a sign of maturity and knowing how hard it was to get that first title in his third year.

We wondered if they could play together. We wonder now if what LeBron said two years ago of  "not 1, not 2" and so on will become a reality.

Check this awesome 2 1/2 minutes of the ending of that interview with Shaq and Barkley. I found it to be very entertaining.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiP8zgbMY64&feature=youtu.be

The forgotten member of the big 3, Chris Bosh, showed how instrumental he really was 

When this team was first assembled two years ago, I told anyone who I talked about the Heat that Chris Bosh would be the key to them winning a title. The man knows his place on this team. He's a model of professionalism. He could very well be the number one option on half of the team in this league, but he joined forces with two of the games greats.

All I heard from friends and fans were "We shoulda got Stoudemire". I kept saying watch and see how Bosh will pay dividends for us. Amare would have NEVER fit on this team. Bosh is a better rebounder, passer, free throw shooter, has a better outside game and most of all is humble to the fact he was going to be the third option on the Heat. Amare could handle being number two in New York.

The Heat ended up getting a world champion big man, New York got a guy who sliced his hand by breaking  the glass of a fire extinguisher.

I think we know who got the better deal.

Whatever it takes.

Mike Miller was just one of many role players to step up big in this title run

Something that signified how this title was closed last night, Mike Miller, who was often injured this season and post season, was in a zone unlike any I've seen in years. He made seven threes, almost like he was shooting them alone in the gym. Broken Mike Miller poured in 23 huge points.

But it wasn't just Miller providing unexpected results this series from Miami's "others". Mario Chalmers balled out in game 4 with 25 points. Norris "Kid" Cole tossed in 8 crucial points in the same game.

Shane Battier shot 75% on his three point shots the first 3 games of the series.

Pat Riley the architect; Udonis Haslem the glue; Together champions yet again

This was a total team effort to beat a team that is scary good for their age. Kevin Durant is an amazing scorer and Russel Westbrook is freakishly athletic.

But the NBA is the one sport where experience really pays off. Where losing makes you stronger down the road. The Thunder have felt what the heat felt just one year ago. I have no doubt they will be back.

I also have no doubt to whom their opponent will be when they get back there.

The World Champion Miami Heat.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade dominate but lose Chris Bosh in the process

Dwyade Wade sends a half court alley-oop to LeBron James early in the first

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade put on a show yesterday in the second half of game 1 of their 95-86 win over the Indiana Pacers. The newly crowned MVP had 32 points and 15 rebounds. He had 26 of those points in the second half. LeBron even matched the Pacers point total of the forth with 16. 

D-wade had a bad shooting night from the floor but still managed to put 29 up. Timely baskets and 13 of his points coming from the line, helped the Heat outscore the Pacers 54-38 after being down by six at the half.

This was LeBron's first 30-15 game in his career during the playoffs. He's also led his team in 3 categories during a playoff game for the twenty first time, by far the most in NBA history.

It was an amazing 1-2 punch. They're going to need more of that for the rest of this series, now with Chris Bosh likely out indefinitely.

Chris Bosh suffered an abdominal strain after this second quarter slam

It happened in the final minute of the second quarter. Bosh drove down the lane for a dunk and got fouled for the and one. In doing so he strained an abdominal muscle. After making the free throw and playing one more series of defense, it was evident that he was in plenty of pain. He came out of the game and never came back.

That wasn't a problem for LeBron and D-wade.

Together they outscored the Pacers in the second half and showed why one of them has won 3 of the last 4 MVP's and the other is considered a top 5 player in the league.

In listening to First Take this morning, I'm in total agreement with Stephen A. Smith of ESPN that this might be a challenge for LeBron to show why he is the MVP. Also if any two players can lift there game up and carry a team, its these guys.

The pressure will actually be off LeBron since he was doubted to win a title with this team fully intact. He can play free and I think that's what we've been seeing during the final quarter of each game of these playoffs.

It will be hard to win without Bosh no doubt, but I still take my chances with LeBron and D-Wade.

LeBron Wins 3rd MVP, Joins an Elite Class

LeBron receiving his 3rd MVP trophy

             

"Heat nation, we have a bigger goal. This is very overwhelming to me as an individual award. But this is not the award I want, ultimately. I want that championship. That's all that matters to me."

That is what the 3-time MVP, LeBron James, had to say in closing during his speech this afternoon at the Triple A. 

Another MVP award is great, but this man has a title in sight.

LeBron in his ninth year is reaching the prime of his career

LeBron had one of the most efficient seasons in NBA history. With numbers like 27 points, 8 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals , a block and shooting 53% from the floor per game. That's a stat line that hasn't been seen since the days of Michael Jordan in the eighties. This guy does it all. Not to mention LeBron should have also won the defensive player of the year. He covers all five positions on the floor. As the young kids say, HE'S SICK!

But once again, all of that means NOTHING without hoisting the title come June. 

By winning his third MVP in four years, LeBron has joined an exclusive group of NBA greatness. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar(6), Michael Jordan(5), Bill Russell(5), Wilt Chamberlain(4), Magic Johnson(3), Larry Bird(3) and Moses Malone(3)

The one thing separating LeBron from these icons of the game is that elusive title. The one silver lining here is  that Wilt and Moses both won their first title after winning their third MVP. 

The chase for that title continues Sunday when they open up the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs at home against the Indiana Pacers.


LeBron James acceptance speech: http://www.nba.com/video/

Source: nba.com  

LeBron, Heat finish off broken Knicks

LeBron James has never lost in the first round of the playoffs(7-0)

Four of the first five picks of the 2003 draft were center stage for the Heat-Knicks first round match-up this year. The problem for the Knicks was they had one to the Heat's three. LeBron James had 29 points, 8 boards and 7 helpers to lead the Heat to a 106-94, series closing win over Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks.

Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade both had 19 points in the clincher.

The Knicks were suppose to give the Heat a serious challenge in this series, but that wasn't to be. Injuries to both Iman Shumpert and Baron Davis during the first four games, not to mention losing Jeremy Lin at the beginning of April, left the Knicks undermanned against a Heat team focused on getting back to the NBA finals.

Let's not also forget Amare Stoudemire's bone head decision to take out his frustrations on a fire extinguisher after game 2.

LeBron got the best of Melo in their first ever playoff meeting

I would like to write some more things about this game and or this series, but to be completely honest, this match up was a joke. The Heat outscored the Knicks by 18 points in their 4 wins and lost by only 2 on the road in game 4.

The only reason the series got as much pub as it did was because of the cities involved. This was nowhere close to the battles these two teams had in the late nineties, with all four previous meetings going the distance.

So I'll leave you with some fun facts about the departing New York Knicks.

-In 29 playoff games against the Miami Heat, they have yet to score a 100 points in a game.

-It's been 4,373 days(12 years) since the Knicks won a playoff series(2000 East semifinals against the Heat)

-Before they won their first game in 11 years last Sunday, breaking an NBA record 13 straight games lost in the playoffs, the Brooklyn Nets(former New Jersey) had won 43 playoff games in that span.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat%E2%80%93Knicks_rivalry