Sean Comerford’s Kick Arse Blog

Last year I picked…. err, as Mark McGwire said, I’m not here to talk about the past.

A long, brutal winter is finally loosening it’s grip here in the northeast and baseball season is here. Here’s how it’s going to go down once the temps warm up and the games go down.

AL East

1. Red Sux – Crawford and Gonzalez give them the best lineup in the majors, Ellsbury, Lackey & Beckett will rebound from rough seasons
2. Yankees – Still plenty of offense but their rotation looks like Sabathia and “pray for rain” – Hughes 2nd half struggle wasn’t bad luck
3. Rays – They’ve lost too much talent to contend in this division
4. Orioles – young pitching and some nice bats… wouldn’t be shocked if they made a run at .500
5. Blue Jays – The rebuild is under way and it could be long

AL Central

1. White Sox – Dunn could hit 50+ thanks to the Cell. Tons of offense and solid pitching.
2. Tigers – If VMart is healthy and productive, they could win the division or maybe even steal the wild card from the Yankees
3. Twins – Minny’s run is over… Mauer & Morneau can’t stay healthy. on the bright side, they don’t have to worry about getting swept by the Yankees again
4. Royals – Getting better but still a loooong way off
5. Indians – Even Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn and Pedro Cerrano’s voodoo can’t save this team from last place

AL West

1. Rangers – losing Lee hurts big time but they still have enough to win a week West
2. A’s – they once again having a great young pitching staff and added a few pieces to their anemic offense
3. Angels – they knew they needed to make a big splash in the off season… but they ended up with Vernon Wells’ contract
4. Mariners – Felix, Ichiro and a whole lotta nuttin

NL East

1. Phillies – With their pitching, if Rollins, Utley and Howard start hitting again… look out
2. Braves – They are on the rise again… they’ll stay closer to Phils than you might think
3. Marlins – they’ll be competitive but not great… somewhere in the 80-85 win range
4. Nationals – Much improved offense… unfortunately they still have no pitchers until Straasburg returns
5. Mets – Madoff investors must be happy to know some of their lost money is going to pay Bobby Bonilla and Oliver Perez

NL Central

1. Brewers – Bolstered the pitching with Greinke and Marcum… good enough to take a weak central
2. Reds – all their young talent makes them trendy pick but something tells me they won’t be as good as last year
3. Cardinals – losing Wainwright hurts… losing Pujols after not even making the playoffs will hurt even more
4. Cubs – not much improved from a team that won 75 last year
5. Astros – Their pitching is solid but they don’t have much offense
6. Pirates – could this team even win in AAA?

NL West

1. Giants – arguably their pitching and offense will both be better this year
2. Rockies – a distant 2nd
3. Dodgers – this team wasn’t in great shape before the Mccourt took over the tabloids
4. Diamondbacks – seems like 30 years ago they won the series
5. Padres – AGonz is a-gone and last year was a fluke

AL Playoffs
Red Sux over Rangers
White Sox over Yankees
Red Sux over White Sox

NL Playoffs
Phillies over Brewers
Giants over Braves
Giants over Phillies

World Series – after knocking off the “unbeatable” Philly 4some, the “underdog” defending champs, with an improved offense and even better pitching, upset the Red Sux… Yankees fans delight that their team isn’t the only one who can spend a billion dollars and still lose

Football is back and the Jets are actually in the Super Bowl contender conversation… surely a 6-10 season awaits!

2009 marked the 2nd straight season in which both of my predicted Super Bowl teams failed to even make the playoffs. So hopefully I avoid becoming a kiss of death this year.

NFC
East = Cowboys (11-5), Giants (9-7), Eagles (7-9), Redskins (7-9)
North = Packers (12-4), Vikings (10-6), Bears (9-7), Lions (6-10)
South = Saints (12-4), Falcons (9-7), Panthers (5-11), Bucaneers (3-13)
West = 49ers (10-6), Cardinals (7-9), Rams (5-11), Seahawks (3-13)

AFC
East = Dolphins (10-6), Jets (9-7), Belicheats (9-7), Bills (5-11)
North = Ravens (11-5), Bengals (9-7), Steelers (8-8), Browns (7-9)
South = Colts (13-3), Texans (10-6), Titans (7-9), Jaguars (5-11)
West = Chargers (10-6), Chiefs (8-8), Raiders (7-9), Broncos (3-13)

Playoffs
Wild card round = Cowboys over Falcons, Vikings over 49ers, Jets over Dolphins, Texans over Chargers
Divisional round = Saints over Vikings, Packers over Cowboys, Colts over Jets, Texans over Ravens
Conference Championships = Packers over Vikings, Colts over Texans

Super Bowl
Green Bay has enough to defense to go with what looks like the NFL’s best offense while Peyton comes up short again… Packers 31, Colts 24

Cheat to get into the World Cup? Check!

Star players frequent under age prostitutes? Check!

Send a top player home from the World Cup for being a douche then have players refuse to practice in protest which leads to a coach quitting the team mid tourney? Check, check and check!

Go winless in the world cup? Check!

After all that and being officially eliminated, coach refuses to shake hands with opposing coach after the game? Check!

Yeah, yeah… this is a few weeks late but been busy. And after pretty much nailing it last year (ARod didn’t hit a walk off but he was big for once) I’m giving myself a little leeway.

AL East
Yankees – Won’t be quite as good as last but still the team to beat in AL
Rays – After a step back last year, two steps forward and a wild card
Red Sux – The old guard of Varitek, Lowell, Pedro, Manny is all but gone… replace by JD Drew, Mike Camoron and Adrian Beltre?
Blue Jays – Better pitching than people are giving them credit for and enough bats to avoid the basement
Orioles – Some good young players but too green

AL Central
Twins – Another division title, another first round playoff exit
White Sox – Somebody’s gotta finish 2nd in this awful division and BO’s team has ok pitching
Royals – Dare I say a .500 season for KC?
Tigers – No hit, questionable pitching
Indians – No hit, no pitch… glorified minor league team

AL West
Rangers – As long as Josh Hamilton and Ron Washington stop hanging out after games, this team will step forward and surprise.
Angels – Their pitching is nowhere near as good as people are saying it is and they’re overdue for a down year IMO.
Mariners – Figgins and Cliff Lee are nice signings but Milton Bradley and Griffey are the heart of their order… scaring only the beat reporters Bradley will inevitably choke
Athletics – How’s that money bal working out these days Billy?

NL East
Phillies – Signing Yankees killer Doc Hallady pretty much ensures a 3rd straight WS appearance
Marlins – Florida is back on the upswing part of their champs to firesale cycle
Braves – No happy ending for Bobby Cox in his last run
Mets – Last place is only out of the question because…
Nationals – Washington is still realllly bad

NL Central
Cardinals – Carpenter, Wainwright and of course King Albert more than enough here
Brewers – If they had any kind of pitching, it wouldn’t be hard to like the Brew crew but until they’ll just lose a lot of 8-7 games and finish a little above .500
Cubs – If Lee, Soriano, Zambrano and ARam stay healthy, they could win the division… but that’s not happening.
Reds – Getting better but very slowly
Pirates – Some nice little moves like Iwamura will at least get them in the 70+ win range
Astros – Their stars are getting long in the tooth and there isn’t a whole lot of young talent to get excited about

NL West
Rockies – Colorado will take the west as the most balanced team
Giants – They’ll surpise and hit enough to best their tinsel town rivals
Dodgers – Last year Ortiz showed us what happens w/o the Juice, this year it will be Manny
Diamond Backs – A sleeper… made some nice moves like Kelly Johnson, Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy
Padres – We know San Diego is finishing last… the only question is where Adrian Gonzalez gets traded to?

AL Playoffs
Yankees over Rangers
Rays over Twins
Yankees over Rays

NL Playoffs
Phillies over Cardinals
Rockies over Marlins
Phillies over Rockies

World Series – Halladay move pays off, Phillies win the rematch

Warmer weather is ok but everyone knows the best part of spring is the NHL playoffs.

And while my call of a Red Wings repeat last year came up just short, that’s not going to deter me from tabbing the Penguins to repeat this year.

Places your bets ladies….

Round 1

• Caps walk all over Habs in a no contest sweep
• Devils outslug the Flyers in 6
• The toughest series to call: Sabres vs Bruins… I’m thinking Boston doesn’t have enough scoring to beat Miller… Boston in 6
• Pens will have no trouble with Ottawa… Pitt in 5
• Sharks have no problem with Avs in a sweep
• Blackhawks only need 5 to dispatch Predators
• Canucks struggle in the playoffs as usual but sneak by Kings in 7
• Tough break for Phoenix drawind Detroit…. Wings over yotes in 6

Round 2

• NHL gets its wish with Sid vs Ovie again in the playoffs. I’d like to see the Caps advance but they won’t… Pitt in 6
• Devils-Sabres will be the kind of defensive battle that make some people call the NHL soccer on skates and real fans will love it… Devils in 7
• The ultimate regular season team vs the most post season savvy… another year, another disappointing end in San Jose. Wings in 6
• Blackhawks have too much horse power to be stopped by a struggling Loungo and Vancouver… Hawks in 6

Round 3

• Jersey will give Pitt a scare but the Devils just can’t match Pitt’s star power. Pengiuns in 6
• Blackhawks take the next step in this old school rivalry beating the Wings in 7

Stanley Cup Finals
So it’s Pittsburgh vs Chicago… and everyone knows that the young team needs to lose before they can learn to win it all. Pens repeat by beating Chicago in 5 as the Hawks youth + lack of goaltending finally catches up with them.

While it was painful to watch, I would like to commend Team USA for “doing the right thing” and allowing Canada to win the gold in men’s and women’s hockey.

Let’s face it, even without the debacle that was the first 2 weeks of the Vancouver Olympics (not being able to light the torch properly at the opening ceremonies AFTER actually trotting Bryan Adams out there to perform; building a sliding track so fast it killed someone and a women’s downhill course so hard it produced at least a dozen spectacular falls; having to take back 20,000 tickets; etc etc), Canada as a country really couldn’t have survived losing at its own precious game.

A Team USA victory would have resulted in a Canadian mass suicide that made Jonestown look like a tea party. I’m guessing “Hockey Place” probably started switching the Molson taps out for the “special” purple Koolaid ones as soon as the US tied it with 20 seconds left in regulation… so let’s all just thank the lord they didn’t have to start serving it up.

And an especially noble move by Ryan Miller letting that whiny punk Crosby get the “winner”. I honestly expected Crosby in his post game interview to say “Thank god we scored and I’m not going to get lynched by an angry Vancouver mob tonight” and then complain that he was getting slashed / tripped / held and the refs wouldn’t call it and that the US players were “really mean men”.

The end of summer is always bittersweet… September always leaves me wishing I’d had more time to enjoy summer (especially since it rained half the summer this year) but taking solace in the return of football Sundays and 12 hours on the couch.

I totally bombed my NFL predictions last year picking the Cowboys over Jags… neither made the playoffs.

But this year will be better… I can feel it. Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets.

NFC
East = Giants (11-5), Eagles (9-7), Redskins (7-9), Cowboys (7-9)
North = Bears (11-5), Vikings (9-7), Packers (8-8), Lions (2-14)
South = Panthers (12-4), Saints (11-5), Falcons (9-7), Bucs (4-12)
West = Cardinals (9-7), Seahawks (8-8), 49ers (6-10), Rams (3-13)

AFC
East = Patriots (11-5), Dolphins (7-9), Jets (7-9), Bills (6-10)
North = Steelers (14-2), Ravens (8-8), Browns (8-8), Bengals (6-10)
South = Colts (12-4), Titans (11-5), Texans (9-7), Jaguars (6-10)
West = Chargers (11-5), Raiders (6-10), Broncos (4-12), Chiefs (4-12)

Playoffs
Bears over Saints in NFC championship, Steelers over Colts in AFC

Super Bowl
Hate to say it but Pittsburgh repeats… Steelers 23 Bears 13

Just a great, great song if you haven’t already seen…

Boston Trophy Party

So my Islanders haven’t had a decent scoring threat since the days of the mighty mini Ziggy Palffy. They’ve been last and 2nd to last in goals scored the last two years. Their scoring leader in ‘09 netted a whopping 18. Now they own the #1 overall pick in a draft that features, among others, a guy who has been a phenom pretty much his whole life, broke Wayne Gretzky’s OHL scoring record as a 16 year old and continues to impress both in juniors and international play – John Tavares.

What am I missing? Don’t be dumb or overthink things… just take Tavares for the love of all things holy.

While I’m on the subject of potential dumb moves by the Isles, I took a few minutes to put together a list of their “all time hits”. At various points during the fire sale days, the Islanders swapped: Zdeno Chara, Jason Spezza, Olli Jokinen, Roberto Luongo, Brian McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi and Dany Heatley for Alexei Yashin, Mark Parrish, Oleg Kvasha, Trevor Lindor and Rick DiPietro. Think about that…  a still in its prime starting forward line of Spezza-Jokinen-Heatley with Chara+McCabe on D and Luongo in net for a can’t stay healthy DiPietro and a bunch of bums.

If they don’t take Tavares, it just might be the last straw for me.

Here’s how it’s going to go down:

First Round:

Bruins over Habs in 5

Caps over Rag$ in 6

Canes over Devils in 6

Pens over Flyers in 6

Sharks over Ducks in 7

Wings sweep Jackets

Canucks over Blues in 5

Hawks over Flames in 7

Second Round:

Bruins over Canes in 6

Caps over Pens in 7 game classic

Sharks over Hawks in 6

Wings over Canucks in 5

Semi-finals:

Caps over Bruins in 5

Wings over Sharks in 6

Finals:

For the 2nd straight year, the Wings school a wet behind the ears young team, beating the Caps in 5