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      Flowchart of what goes through Kobe Bryant’s head during a game

      March 22, 2010 /

      Black Sports Online found/created this Kobe Bryant flow chart. (Click the picture for a bigger version.)

      Funny? Yes. Fair? Probably not. Kobe averages 5.0 assists per game (#23 in the league), so while he does shoot the ball a lot, he creates for teammates as well. In fact, Jason Richardson, Kevin Martin, Michael Redd, Vince Carter and Ben Gordon are all shooting guards that have a higher shot-to-assist ratio. (Though Jamal Crawford and Ray Allen do not, and that has to be a little scary for Kobe.)

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Pros Go Broke, And So Can You

      March 22, 2010 /

      What do former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, NFL Hall-of-Fame Quarterback, Johnny Unitas and MLB Hall-of-Fame pitcher, Rollie Fingers, all have in common? They went from riches to rags. Our imaginations are staggered by the amount of money professional athletes are paid to play in the big leagues. More mind boggling is that, in spite of the millions of dollars these big names raked in during their rich careers, they have all managed to end up empty-handed.

      Why do we have so many famous athletes who have gone broke? For some of them, the exercising of poor judgment with regards to financial decisions is to blame. Others may have suffered career-ending injuries before they bothered to think about saving any of that fast cash for an early retirement. Still other athletes go through messy divorces and wind up losing lots of their assets to ex-spouses and their children. Even financially solvent athletes still playing in the game today are not beyond the grip of poverty. Some of them are already spending next season’s salary.

      While it may astound us that you can go from the top of the heap to the bottom of the pile so easily, it can also be a lesson from which we mere mortals can learn. If you are making decent money in your job today, you should be saving for the future. Socking away just twenty percent of your monthly paycheck into an interest-bearing fund or CD can ensure that, if your company folds, or if you’re laid off, you will have something to fall back upon.

      It doesn’t matter if you’re a pro-bowler or a pro-janitor, you need to make sound financial decisions now regarding your finances, or you can end up in the same sort of financial mess that so many famous athletes face at the end of their careers. The best way to start planning your finances and find solutions to your debt problems, if any, is by looking up come credit counseling services on the Internet and by getting in touch with them.

      Rumors & Gossip

      Goodell supports change to overtime rules

      March 22, 2010 /

      Per Pro Football Talk…

      Commissioner Roger Goodell, in a press conference held in conjunction with the annual league meetings in Orlando, spoke out in support of the tweak in the overtime rules proposed by the Competition Committee.

      The proposal would prevent the team that receives the kickoff in overtime during a playoff game from winning with only a field goal on the first drive.

      This is definitely a case where the league could let perfect get in the way of better, and while the proposed system is better, it still has its faults. First, there is still a lot of emphasis on the coin flip because the team that gets the ball first in overtime (Team A) would get it first once sudden death starts if Team B were to match Team A’s field goal. There’s also the matter of Team B not getting a chance to match Team A’s touchdown since the game would be over. No matter how you slice it, the loser of the coin flip is at a disadvantage.

      Goodell supports a system that would retain the sudden death format, and I tend to agree with him. That’s why I like the blind bid idea that we’ve discussed at length on another post. It successfully devalues the initial possession (by using poor field position) so that sudden death can proceed as normal. Due to the sheer difficulty that some have in getting their heads around how the bidding process works (and how it devalues possession), I know that this idea will never come to fruition.

      So this proposed change is better than nothing.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      Source: Tournament expansion ‘will happen’

      March 22, 2010 /

      SPORTSbyBROOKS has a source that has confirmed that expansion to 96-teams is pretty much a done deal.

      In the past week I’ve learned from a CBS source that the NCAA has privately informed its current March Madness television partner that 96 teams “will happen.” The change will likely take effect beginning next season. 2012 at the latest.

      Earlier this month, I wrote the following on the subject of expansion:

      Continue reading »

      College Basketball, March Madness

      Previewing the Sweet 16

      March 22, 2010 /

      We lost Kansas and Villanova this weekend, but the other six #1 and #2 seeds are still standing. Bracket-wise, I thought I was dead after losing my overall winner Kansas, but it turns out that if my other FF picks come in — Syracuse, Duke and West Virginia — I can still win. Come on, Mountaineers!

      Jeff Sagarin’s ratings are doing pretty well across the board. In games where the favorite has an advantage of three points or more, they are 23-7. Sagarin is 4-2 in predicting winners where the favorite has a 2-3 point advantage, and is 10-2 in games where the favorite has a 0-2 point advantage. That last part is pretty impressive, and way out of Sagarin’s norm in predicting winners in the last few years.

      Ken Pomeroy’s ratings are 19-4 in picking picks where he gives the winner a 70%+ chance of winning, 4-2 in the 65-70% range, 2-2 in the 60-65% range and 11-4 in the 50-60% range. Basically, the slight favorites have ended up winning a vast majority of the games, and it’s helping Sagarin and Pomeroy’s records in tight matchups.

      Here’s a look ahead at the Sweet 16 games:

      Michigan State vs. Northern Iowa
      Line: MSU -7 (off?)
      Sagarin Line: MSU -2.08
      Pomeroy: MSU (51.0%)
      Even before Kalin Lucas’ Achilles injury, both Sagarin and Pomeroy saw this matchup as a virtual tossup. With Lucas out, I have to think the Panthers are the favorite. They have a nice mix of shooters and big men, and are coming off of a huge win against the top overall seed in the tournament. UNI’s confidence is high and they have all the tools to beat the Spartans, who will have to go without their best player. The game is in St. Louis too, so if the Panther faithful show up, UNI could have the crowd on it side. My pick: Northern Iowa +7 and straight up

      Continue reading »

      College Basketball, March Madness

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