NFC Preseason Predictions

With the 4th week of the preseason wrapped up, it's time for another year of The Sports Vibe's annual NFL Preseason Predictions. Today, we'll predict the results of the NFC:

NFC East:

1. Washington Redskins

2. New York Giants

3. Philadelphia Eagles

4. Dallas Cowboys

In one of the tightest divisons to predict, I chose the Redskins. Honestly, you could make a case for any of these teams, but I'm picking the 'Skins in the hopes that RGIII avoids a sophomore slump. If his knee recovers in time and he remains healthy, the Redskins will probably win the division. Otherwise, the experienced Giants will be nipping at their heels. 

The Beard in Dodger Blue

Oh no. No way. This can't be happening. Brian Wilson to the Dodgers?!?!?!

Our beloved Beard. The one who won us the first World Series in San Francisco history. The closer who won over the hearts of fans everywhere with his quirky, charismatic personality. Even when he wasn't playing, he still kept us entertained and made our Giants fun to watch.

And now he's with the enemy, in that hideous Dodger Blue. Giants fans everywhere, myself included, have no idea how we're going to root against him. But we will. We did it to Juan Uribe and we'll do it to Brian Wilson. We have no choice. He's a Dodger now.

I don't blame him of course for switching sides. It makes sense. The Dodgers are in the playoff hunt. The Giants are not. I'm sure anybody would choose to sign with the Dodgers in this situation.

But it still hurts to see a fan favorite switch allegiances like that. We as Giants fans have so many memories of this guy. I remember his strange spandex suit at the ESPYs. And his shoes controversy where he had to color his shoes with a Sharpie. And that 2010 Giants slogan, "Fear the Beard."

It'll be tough to see Wilson as a Dodger. But at least we can remember all the memories he gave us as Giants fans and not hate him too much. Go Giants!

Sellers

The All-Star break is nearing, and many believe it ridiculous that the last-place Giants have 3 All-Stars in the game. What's more ridiculous? The Giants' belief that they should be buyers at the trade deadline. They should not.

Let's start with the obvious. The Gants suck right now. They just got swept by the 4th place Mets. They've lost 16 of their last 19 games. Brandon Belt can't hit, Matt Cain can't pitch, and Jeremy Affeldt just admitted that right now, he stinks. Injuries have caused this team to crumble. Ever since Ryan Vogelsong went down, it's been a spiral of injuries, with extended absences from Angel Pagan and Pablo Sandoval as well. Right now, the team we're putting out on the field feels very much like a minor league team, having seen the likes of Juan Perez, Cole Gillespie, Jake Dunning, Mike Kickham, Nick Noonan, and Tony Abreu all get significant playing time as the starters succumb to the injury bug. The Giants are in reverse right now, and there's no stopping it until Sandoval, Pence, and Belt get out of their slumps and Zito, Lincecum, and Cain get back on track. By the time everything starts clicking again, the Giants will probably be out of the running for the NL West crown. Which is why I'm advocating selling.

Dwight to Golden State? No Thanks!

It's been ages since I posted, but I did promise that the blog would be back up by summer, so here we go.

And I have the perfect topic for The Sports Vibe's return: the Dwight Howard Saga 2013.

After a disappointing season with the Lakers (some would say he tore the team apart), Howard is once again a free agent. And once again, there is significant interest from several teams. The favorites are the Houston Rockets (the most likely destination), Dallas Mavericks (who always like their veterans), Atlanta Hawks (Howard's hometown team, but one with literally no fan base), and the Los Angeles Lakers (absolutely no idea why he'd want to return to that disaster...or why they'd want him).

But wait, this just in, there's one more suitor: THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS.

That's right, the same Warriors who overpaid David Lee in 2010 - and then watched as he blossomed into an All-Star in 2013 before getting hurt in the playoffs and watching the Warriors play better in his absence. The same Warriors who struggled through Andris Biedrins as their starting center for the better part of the last decade and then chose to amnesty Charlie Bell instead of him in 2011, leaving the Warriors burdened by the Biedrins contract. The same Warriors who traded franchise icon Monta Ellis to Milwaukee for Andrew Bogut, a player so adept at appearing as if he has never played basketball in his life that when he dunks, the crowd goes wild. Alright, that one was unfair, but you get the point.

Ode to Kaep

I haven't posted in a long while, so I apologize. I've been extremely busy, and the blog will definitely return to full swing by this summer.

But, regardless of how busy I am, there is no way I can ignore the performance that Colin Kaepernick put up on Saturday against the Packers. It was simply phenomenal.

From the start, when Jim Harbaugh switched QBs, I was a Kaepernick skeptic. I honestly preferred Alex Smith. I preferred his cautiousness and consistency over Kaepernick's daring and volatility. Alex Smith is not a bad quarterback. He can make the necessary throws, and occasionally can even scramble effectively.But now, my eyes have been opened: Kaep can do all that - and more.

Colin's performance last Saturday was powerful, to say the least. I remember the beginning, when he threw that ill-advised interception to Sam Shields. I was watching the end of the Ravens-Broncos game while keeping an eye on the start of the Niners' game. And as soon as he threw that pick, my immediate reaction was, "Alex Smith wouldn't do that." I was worried.

Getting the Job Done

Congratulations to the Giants and the A's for winning Game 3. After watching the games today, I feel like they both actually have a shot to win their respective series.

The Giants have Game 4 tomorrow. Barry Zito's starting, and although most fans grimace when they hear that Barry Zito is starting, Zito has been pretty good this season. The Giants have won the last 11 games he's started, which is pretty impressive. Some of that has to be attributed to luck, but Zito has been better than his average Giants self. Plus, the Reds do not even know who's pitching tomorrow. Cueto's injury still looms large, Latos is ill, Bailey and Arroyo can't pitch on such short rest, and bringing in Mike Leake would cause Cueto to not be able to play in the next series. The Reds could very likely send a reliever or an ill Mat Latos out to start tomorrow, which would definitely give the Giants the edge. The Giants have to take this one game at a time and produce. Today's game wasn't production: we won the game on an error. Tomorrow, we need some offensive production. Winning Game 4 is of the utmost importance. It's win or go home.

The A's are in a good spot as well. AJ Griffin is starting tomorrow against Detroit's Max Scherzer. Griffin has dazzled this season and this will be his most important start of his young career. The A's need to continue to master the subtle facets of the game to win. They need good defense and good pitching and the offense will come naturally. They need to ride the raucous Coliseum crowd to a victory. There's not much else to say. They're at home and they quite simply need to win.

Both our teams gave us a scare after the weekend, but they're both in a good spot for tomorrow. And if both can pull of a victory tomorrow, we're looking at the possibility of both of them advancing. Bay Area baseball is at its finest right now.

And we need our teams to WIN!

Home-Field Advantage?

Unfortunately, I have been super busy the last few weeks and haven't been able to post frequently. But now, the NFL season is well into gear and the MLB Playoffs are underway. Stay tuned for frequent posts.

Now, for the real reason behind this post: why on earth do the lower seeded teams in the MLB Playoffs get the first 2 games of the division series at home!?!?!?!?!?!? It makes no sense. The team with the higher record is supposed to "home-field advantage." This year, it's more like home field disadvantage!!!

The Giants got lucky. As the 3rd seed in the NL, they get to play the first two games of the series at home, which if your team plays at AT&T Park, is definitely an advantage. However, after losing last night's game, the series is going to be very tough to win.

The Cardinal Rule (over USC)

On a day in which, mostly anyway, the teams that were supposed to win won, the Stanford Cardinal pulled off the biggest upset, over #2 ranked USC. The game was by no means a fun game to watch. Neither offense was very productive and it was a defensive slugfest throughout. Stanford QB Josh Nunes struggled mightily at times, bu the defense kept the Cardinal in the game and gave Nunes a chance to deliver when it mattered. And the result was absolutely spectacular.

The star of the game was undoubtedly Stepfan Taylor. His magnificent 1st half touchdown run in which he juked several would-be tacklers and took it to the house was a thing of beauty. His nimbleness and vision were on display for the entire game. And when Nunes struggled to make throws, Taylor was the one who kept the offense chugging along.

The defense played great as well. In fact, they were the star of the show until Nunes's heroics toward the end of the game. DE Ben Gardner was a terror in the pass rush, sacking Trojan quarterback and Heisman hopeful Matt Barkley on several occasions. DB Terrence Brown kept his composure despite several pass interference calls that went against him and kept the USC receivers, including starts Marqise Lee and Robert Woods, in check for much of the game. Overall, the linebackers wreaked havoc in the pass rush and in short yardage coverage, which helped the Cardinal force Barkley to throw the long ball on many occasions. Although the defense inexplicably gave up a first down conversion on a 4th and 19 that might have crushed the Cardinal's chance of winning, they held tight for the rest of the game to keep alive the upset-in-the-making.

Super Bowl Prediction

So, in my last two posts, I broke down the NFC and AFC and predicted the division standings for each division this season. And, my predictions came down to the Broncos and 49ers in the Super Bowl.

This would be a fascinating matchup if it actually came to fruition. Peyton Manning versus one of the other finalists that desperately wanted him to be their quarterback, the 49ers. I know that the Niners deny reports that they wanted Manning last offseason, but everyone knows that they did.

And if these two teams did indeed meet up, not only would it make a fantastic storyline, but also it would be a great game. The Niners' defense would try to neutralize the Broncos' offense and the Broncos' defense would try to stop the Niners' much improved offense. It would definitely be a defensive battle, and if you like that kind of game, you would be in for a treat.

The game would most definitely come to down to the execution of the offenses. And, in my humble opinion, despite the 49ers' offseason acquisitions, the Broncos' offense is slightly better than the Niners'. Therefore, the Broncos are my pick to win the Super Bowl this year.

That's right, I am picking the Broncos to win the Super Bowl. As long as they can sneak into the playoffs, they have a great shot at winning the whole thing, with their talented defense and their elite quarterback.

Have a great 2012 NFL season and keep visiting the Sports Vibe for opinions on the 49ers, Giants, and the rest of the Bay Area teams.

NFC Preseason Predictions

And I'm back, this time with predictions for the NFC. Here we go:

NFC East:
1. Dallas Cowboys (4)
2. Philadelphia Eagles (5)
3. New York Giants
4. Washington Redskins

In what is probably the toughest division in all of football, I see the Giants falling flat after their Super Bowl season last year. I think the Cowboys will finally be America's darling after a return to form of Tony Romo and the addition of key members to the secondary (Brandon Carr, Morris Claiborne). The Eagles will live up to their considerably lesser "Dream Team" hype this season, but Vick's injuries will prevent them from winning the division. The Giants will suffer from Super Bowl hangover and struggle, especially after the losses of Mario Manningham, Brandon Jacobs, and other key players. Finally, I think the Redskins actually have the potential to surprise some pundits this year but they unfortunately play in a stacked division.

AFC Preseason Predictions

The NFL season is less than a week away so it definitely is time for my annual prediction of NFL division winners. Let's cut straight to the chase:

AFC East: 
1. New England Patriots (1)
2. Buffalo Bills
3. New York Jets
4. Miami Dolphins

We have grown accustomed to seeing the Pats at the top of the division and nothing should change here as their team actually got better in the offseason. The Bills are on the upswing and could be a surprise contender this season in their division and in the wild card. I really like what they've done this offseason, signing Mario Williams, keeping Stevie Johnson, and adding Stephon Gilmore in the draft. The Jets have all kinds of problems at multiple positions bu the most important question for them is at the quarterback position, where Mark Sanchez needs to step it up. Finally, the Dolphins have a young quarterback in Ryan Tannehill who has tremendous bust potential in my mind. The Fins will be at the bottom of the division.

Dodger's Trade: Season-Ender for Giants?

After the Dodgers completed their blockbuster trade with the Red Sox yesterday, acquiring Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Nick Punto, many have immediately stated the Dodgers would win the West. I'm here to say, hold your horses folks.

Yes, the Dodgers got three star players and Nick Punto, and yes, Adrian Gonzalez did make an immediate impact with his 3-run homer in his first Dodger at-bat, but the Dodgers are by no means suddenly guaranteed to win the West. Things don't happen like that in baseball, where a single player is not that much better than those around him.

Remember that, according to the statistic WAR, Wins Above Replacement, even star players are likely only worth about 4 wins per season above a replacement player. And since the Dodgers have acquired Gonzalez, Beckett, and Crawford well after the halfway point of the season, they can't be worth much more than 1 extra win each. In fact, based on my calculations, since Gonzalez has averaged a WAR of 4.7 over the last two seasons and Crawford has averaged a WAR of 0.3 according to FanGraphs, and since the Dodgers have 34 games left to play this season, which constitutes about 20% of their season remaining, these two players combined will provide a boost of....wait for it...wait for it...1.05 wins. Hooray!

Sweeping the Dodgers

If (when?) the Giants win the NL West at the end of this season, I will look back at the three game sweep of the Dodgers that took place Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week as the turning point of their season. The Giants just won what probably have been the most important games they've played this season up to this point. I say this for two reasons: 1) it happened against the Dodgers, which increased their lead to 2.5 games in the NL West, and 2) they did it after the suspension of star player Melky Cabrera, when many had written off the Giants for good.

The sweep couldn't have come at a better time. After losing their best player all season and reeling for a couple games afterwards, which cost them the division lead by 1/2 a game, the Giants beat up the Dodgers like a team with something to prove. Backed by three consecutive dominant outings, by Bumgarner, Lincecum, and Cain, and a stellar series by the top of the order (Pagan, Scutaro [who's been a terrific acquisition], and Sandoval [who's stepped in to replace Melky in the #3 spot]), the Giants came in to the Dodger's house and shut them down, allowing only 6 runs in total over the course of three games while scoring 14.

Don't Cry Over Spilled Melk

I'm pretty sure every fan went through the five stages of grief when they heard of Melky Cabrera's suspension.

1. Denial - "NO WAY!! Melky could not have taken PEDs."
2. Anger - "C'mon, Melky! Get your head in the game."
3. Bargaining - "Say it ain't so, Melky."; Appeal the suspension please!!"
4. Depression - "The Giants are screwed."; "There goes our season."
5. Acceptance - "Well, we can't cry over spilled Melk. The Giants will just have to take care of this without him."

And that 5th stage is where most Giants fans are at right now. The simple fact of the matter is that the Giants are gonna have to move on without Melky. The pressing question is, how on earth will they be able to do it?

Priority #1: Make sure the pitching doesn't falter. Literally, there is no room for error. Every single starter has to be rock solid. For Lincecum, that means continuing his ascent back to the typical Timmy. For Bumgarner, that means remaining as one of the top lefties in the league. For Cain, that means returning to his pre All-Star Game form after a couple shaky outings. For Vogelsong, that means keeping hishead up after the Nationals game and going out there with a vengeance. For Zito, that means trying to keep up with the rest of the rotation and maybe, just maybe, finding that bit of magic that he had in his first start of the season against the Rockies.

Dear Melky Cabrera,

You let us down. Big time. You were the heart and soul of this team for literally every game this season.

You captured the hearts of Giants fans everywhere. We changed your first name into all sorts of nicknames in your praise. We dressed up as Melk Men in honor of you. We cheered you on for every game, every at-bat, every moment. We repeatedly checked the stats to make sure your batting average and hits total were still among the league leaders.

We watched as you created many memories for us this season. Most hits in the month of May for a San Francisco Giant. The homer in the All-Star Game that gave you the All-Star Game MVP and capped a historic San Francisco Giant All-Star performance. The numerous multi-hit games that you gave us, day in and day out.

You were the MVP of our team for 117 games. And now, we will miss you for the remaining 45.

The Other Sports

The Oympics is unique in that it is the only sporting event in which Americans will ever get the chance to watch sports on TV other than baseball, basketball, football, ice hockey, and soccer. So, I've really embraced this chance to get to watch the other sports, the sports we never get to watch other than during the Olympics. And below, I've compiled a list of some of my favorite (and least favorite sports) that have come up in the Olympics that I'd never previously seen. Hopefully you get a chance to watch some of my favorites. Seize this chance during the Olympics, because you will never get a chance to see these sports until Rio 2016.

Favorite: HANDBALL
I've already expressed my love for this sport in another earlier post, but it's time to praise it once more. The game is absolutely enthralling, yet it seems as if anyone could play it. The objective is simple, throw a ball in a goal, but from what I've deduced, players cannot hold the ball for longer than 2 or 3 seconds and can't enter a 2 meter radius crease in front of the goal, so the game features fast-paced movement and throws from players who are airborne with wildly contorted bodies. While watching it, I can't help but think that if the US played this sport, we would completely dominate. If only it was popular in this country. But it's not, so the Olympics are your only chance to get a glimpse of this sport on TV. Seize it.

Trade Deadline Verdict

The MLB trade deadline officially came to a close today, marking the end of a frenzied period of wheeling and dealing that took over baseball for the last week and a half. And it's time to determine which NL West rival, Giants or Dodgers, made the better moves.

The Dodgers certainly made the bigger splash, acquiring 3B/SS Hanley Ramirez, OF Shane Victorino, and P Brandon League. League is an excellent addition to their bullpen, an area that has been mediocre as far as the Dodgers games that I've seen. Hanley is an excellent upgrade for the left side of the infield, where the Dodgers had not been getting much production out of. And Victorino is a good outfielder, although he's past his prime.

The Giants did not make as big a splash but they did acquire OF Hunter Pence and INF Marco Scutaro. Scutaro represents a nice substitute for Sandoval during Panda's current DL stint. And then, when Pablo returns, Scutaro and Crawford can alternate depending on whether the pitcher is a righty or lefty. Furthermore, Scutaro could be the answer in the leadoff spot, where Blanco and Pagan have struggled to get on base.

10 Things I've Learned from the First Weekend of the Olympics

The Olympics got underway in the wee morning hours of Saturday, so we're a full 3 days into the swing of things and it's been a lot of fun to watch. I've been watching sports that otherwise I would never be able to see, including handball, archery, and field hockey. Here are 10 things that I've learned from the first weekend of the Olympics:

1. Archery is surprisingly entertaining. You would never think that watching people shoot at targets would be fun, but it actually is, especially in the team competitions. In the men's team archery competition final, the US and Italy were neck and neck for much of the match, the US finally losing by one point. I was on my heels, praying that the last Italian would get an 8, which would have given the US the victory. It was compelling.
2. All gymnastics events are not created equal. The women's floor exercise is by far the least interesting and the uneven bars is by far the most. On the men's side, parallel bars is the most painful to watch because they keep bruising up their arms. I feel like telling them to stop hurting themselves. The rings are a display of pure strength and it is truly spectacular to see the men hold themselves up in that manner, with no rigid supports.

Introducing the Golden State Oracles...

After originally hearing about the idea that was floating around the NBA that would allow teams to have corporate sponsors advertise directly on team jerseys, my thought was, Yeah right, they'd never do that. But the truth is that the measure has been approved and we could be seeing sponsorships on NBA jerseys within the next couple of years. What's more, jerseys manufactured for retail to customers would also host this patch.

This is terrible news. Yes, sports is a business, but allowing corporate logos on jerseys is flat out desperation for revenue. It totally destroys the purity of a sports jerseys. It is utterly disgusting.

The patch itself is unobtrusive, but this small development in jersey sponsorships will undoubtedly lead toward jerseys without the team name, but rather the sponsor name, just like soccer. To those who've seen the Manchester City jersey before, nowhere on the jersey is the club name, only the name of the sponsor, Etihad. NBA team identity will vanish.

And then there's the issue of overhauling history. There have been so many great players on the Lakers and Celtics, all wearing iconic yellow-and-purple and green-and-white jerseys, and now you're telling me that Kobe Bryant will be wearing a jersey with Budweiser on the front and a tiny Lakers logo in the corner instead of vice-versa?! C'mon NBA!

Go All In, A's

The Giants-A's rivalry has always been a friendly one, unlike the Cubs-White Sox or Angels-Dodgers rivalries, which are full of enmity and hatred between fans of the opposing teams. Therefore, most Giants fans do not hate the Athletics. In fact, lately, in light of the A's recent struggles and the stagnant pace at which their move to San Jose is progressing, Giants fans kind of feel sorry for the A's and their fans.

I am not, of course, totally oblivious to the A's position this season. They are actually sort of good. In a competitive AL wild card race, they're only 1.0 game back for the second wild card spot. Not bad for this point in the season.

So, Yesterday, I thought I'd take a look to see what the A's were all about. I watched the last couple of innings of the A's-Rangers game yesterday. And the A's emerged with a win, capped off by a walkoff homer by Brandon Hicks. Pretty nice, right?