NFL season preview

I believe that a lot of teams will have a turn-around this season. The Lions for example. I have them going 5-11 in the regular season. This is not a full turn-around but it's a start. The Rams should go 6-10, but you never know. They could have the best season and make the playoffs, or they could just fall apart and never recover. I do like their draft picks though. The 49ers for instance, are a good team now. They have the cornerstones for any good team. A good running back, a future hall of fame middle linebacker in Patrick Willis. The Jacksonville Jaguars have two good starting tackles now so they should have less of a problem with sacks. Plus, they went out and got a go-to receiver, Torry Holt. The Packers have a good team now that they had a good draft. The biggest turn-around team in my mind is the Houston Texans. They have a good defense, a good offensive line, a franchise quarterback, and a running back they can rely on for years to come.

Dan the Sportsman Says: I see the Patriots winning the Super Bowl because they have great talent at almost every position and they have great chemistry.

Lions Draft Day

I believe that the Lions had a metiocre draft. They had some good picks especially early with picks like Matthew Stafford and Louis Delmas who should be good picks come the start of the season. I was skeptical about the Brandan Pettigrew pick because the Lions had a lot of bigger positional needs like middle linebacker, defensive line, and offensive line. Plus Brandan Pettigrew is a run blocking tight end who has the ability to catch some passes in the red-zone. There were a lot of bad picks though in the later rounds, such as Derrick Williams who is a wide-receiver. He is not a bad player, but he is just not what the Lions need right now. Also, They should not have picked two outside linebackers. They shouldn't have even drafted one! The Lions already have good starters at that position. I would rather have them have drafted a better outside linebacker then DeAndre Levy who is not very good. They also drafted a second tight-end in the seventh round which quite frankly is just dumb. That tight end gives them five total! They also drafted a running back for some reason. Not that we don't have three good ones already. I did like the fact that they drafted Sammie Lee Hill out of Stillman. He will add size to our defensive line.

Dan the Sportsman Says: The Lions had a metiocre draft but that didn't make them worse. Their record should be 4-12.

NBA playoffs

I believe that the Pistons have no chance of winning their series. Neither do the Jazz for that matter. The first seeds, Lakers and Cavaliers, are going to destroy them. It is going to be a four-game sweep. The four and five seeded games are going to be tight throughout this first round. I predict that the Hawks will win their 4 vs. 5 series against the Heat. The Hawks just have more good players then the Heat. In the other 4 vs. 5 series between the Blazers and the Rockets, the Rockets will win because they have more experience. In other series, the Nuggets will beat the Hornets, the Mavericks will beat the Spurs in an upset. The Celtics will beat the Bulls and the Magic will beat the 76ers. The only upset I see going on is the Mavericks over the Spurs and the Bulls over the Celtics in seven.
Dan the Sportsman Says: In the long run the Lakers will be NBA champions because of their size and their depth.

NHL Playoffs

I believe that the NHL playoffs is going to be exciting. Anaheim, the eighth seed took down the team with the best record, the San Jose Sharks 2-0 in their first playoff game. The Red Wings won their game against the Colombus Blue Jackets 4-1 in their game yesterday. The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Flames 3-2. The Canucks beat the Blues 2-1 in a mostly defensive game. The Penguins trounced the Flyers 4-1. Martin Brodeur and the Devils won their first game against the Hurricanes. The Rangers nudge the Capitals aside with a score of 4-3. Bruins beat the Chanadiens 4-3 as well.
Dan the Sportsman Says: The Red Wings are going to repeat as Stanley cup champions.

First Week of MLB

I believe that the first week of Major League Baseball got out to a surprising start. The defending champion Phillies have a record. have a metiocre record of 4-3 and their star player Ryan Howard has only one homer run! The big-shot New York Yankees have a losing record of 3-4 and the Red Sox have a record of 2-5. A lot of teams have been a good surprise though. The San Diego Padres, a team who has not been good for a while now has a record of 6-2. The Atlanta Braves have a division-topping 5-1. The Toronto Blue Jays shockingly lead the supposedly best conference in the league with a record of 6-2 with the Baltimore Orioles not far behind with a nice record of 5-2. The other teams in that division are the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays. Last years big league dissapointment, the Detroit Tigers have an OK record of 4-4.
Dan the Sportsman Says: The Phillies should have a turn-around by the end of the month but there are teams like New York that I just don't see coming back.

NFL Mock Draft: First Round

1. Lions---Matthew Stafford/QB/Georgia
2. Rams---Jason Smith/OT/Baylor
3. Chiefs---Aaron Curry/OLB/Wake Forest
4. Seahawks---Eugene Monroe/OT/Virginia
5. Browns---Chris "Beanie" Wells/RB/Ohio State
6. Bengals---B.J. Raji/DT/Boston College
7. Raiders---Michael Crabtree/WR/Texas Tech
8. Jaguars---Andre Smith/OT/Alabama
9. Packers---Brian Orakpo/DE/Texas
10. 49ers---Tyson Jackson/DE/Louisiana State
11. Bills---Michael Oher/OT/Mississippi
12. Broncos---Aaron Maybin/DE/Penn State
13. Redskins---Mark Sanchez/QB/Southern California
14. Saints---Michael Jenkins/CB/Ohio State
15. Texans---Jeremy Maclin/WR/Missouri
16. Chargers---Everette Brown/DE/Florida State
17. Jets---Vontae Davis/CB/Illinois
18. Bears---Percy Harvin/WR/Florida
19. Buccaneers---Knowshon Moreno/RB/Georgia
20. Lions---Rey Maualuga/MLB/Southern California
21. Eagles---Lesean McCoy/RB/Pittsburgh
22. Vikings---Darrius Heyward-Bey/WR/Maryland
23. Patriots---D.J. Moore/CB/Vanderbilt
24. Falcons---Louis Delmas/S/Western Michigan
25. Dolphins---Alphonso Smith/CB/Wake Forest
26. Ravens---James Laurinaitas/MLB/Ohio State
27. Colts---Sean Smith/CB/Utah
28. Eagles---Brian Cushing/OLB/Southern California
29. Giants---Brandon Pettigrew/TE/Oklahoma State
30. Titans---Peria Jerry/DT/Ole Miss
31. Cardinals---Michael Johnson/DE/Georgia Tech
32. Steelers---Duke Robinson/OG/Oklahoma
Dan the Sportsman Says: I'm not so sure about my late picks but I feel confident in my early ones.
Fun Fact: In my mock draft there are four people with the last name "Smith". That's one-eighth

NCAA Championship Game

I believe that I was right, wasn't I? Well, it was a very unsatisfying game. North Carolina scored early. They were up 15-5 in the first four minutes! At one point they were up by a margin in the mid-twenties. In the end NC won by a score of 89-72. Michigan State just didn't show up to play. 72 points is a lot for Michigan State who usually score in the early sixties. Ty Lawson scored 21 points, had six assists, and stole the ball eight times. Also for North Carolina, Tyler Hansborough had eighteen points and seven rebounds. Wayne Ellington scored nineteen points. For Michigan State, Goran Suton had seventeen points and eleven boards, while Kalin Lucas scored fourteen points and had eight assists.

Dan the Sportsman Says: North Carolina is just the better team. Unfortunately, their two best players Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansborough are going to the NBA. Good luck next year Michigan State!

Final Four

I believe that the two best NCAA teams have advanced. If you may recall, I predicated that Michigan State would win their game against Connecticut. They were the winners. I also said that North Carolina was going to win, and they did. The Michigan State versus UCONN game was close the whole way through, except for the end for course. The final score was 82-73. I didn't really watch the North Carolina versus Villanova game but NC had a big win. The final score was 83-69. In that game Ty Lawson scored 22 points with eight assists. In the Michigan State game Kalin Lucas scored 21 points. Hasheem Thabeet for UCONN had 17 points and two blocks.

Dan the Sportsman Says: North Carolina is the best team out there and they will win this one last game.

Lions' Draft Pick

I believe that the Lions should draft Jason Smith with the first pick. I say that they shouldn't pick Matthew Stafford because you could put Peyton Manning in the Lion backfield and he wouldn't have enough time to throw an accurate pass. Therefore, we need to draft offensive line before they can even think about drafting a quarterback. In my opinion, the best way to go is to trade the newly acquired Julian Peterson to the Broncos for Jay Cutler. Lions need a quarterback and the Broncos need an outside linebacker. Plus this would open up a spot to draft Aaron Curry, another outside linebacker. With the twentieth pick they should draft Percy Harvin because we only have one good wide receiver. With the thirty-third pick they should draft Peria Jerry. Because we don't have a defensive line.

Dan the Sportsman Says: The Lions should not trade that number one pick. They desperately need it.

Tigers

I believe that the Detroit Tigers are going to have a disastrous season. They have, in my opinion, the worst pitching in the entire league. They have some fire power behind the plate such as Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Cabrera. In the outfield they have the best fielding outfielder Curtis Granderson. He can also hit fifteen homers per season. They have good defense, especially in the infield. Placido Polanco, Miguel Cabrera, and Carlos Guillen. All with low error rates. The fact that they still have Fernando Rodney, who could blow a game when you are up ten points, is still on the team. Right now the best pitcher on that roster is Armando Galarraga.
Dan the Sportsman Says: The Tigers are looking at 100 losses this season