December 2011 Archives

Welcome to the first installment of 'Pick n Pop,' a weekly/bi-weekly look at all things hardwood! A back-door pass of basketball coverage spanning, local NBA, College and other NBA news all brought to yours truly by Dr. Gonzo and The DC Sports Page. Lace up your sneaks, pound the floor and get ready for some up-tempo full court trapping coverage of the Wiz, Terps and everything else NBA.

Opening tip: The Wizards began their 66-game season this past Monday with a new red, white and blue jerseys and a brand new motto 'New Traditions.' Only someone forgot to tell the team that they had changed their motto, instead the Wiz blew a 21 point lead and fell to the underwhelming New Jersey Nets 90-84.

I was in attendance for this game and was hyped up after having a couple happy hour beers and half price apps at Bar Louie. From my perch in the 400 section, I had a great view spanning the entire stadium. After a spirited player introduction I was ready to start the season, ready for something fresh, ready for something to cheer about, and then it happened. Andre Blatche grabbed the mic before tip-off and thanked the fans in attendance and said that he was the Wizards new captain. WHAT? That was no typo. Is model citizen Andre Blatche is finally getting the respect he deserves?

After the Wiz choked away a sure thing, Blatche showed his real colors and blamed everyone but himself complaining about the play calling and the fact that he isn't getting the ball on the block enough. Great, one game in, already one collapse and the so-called 'Captain' was already creating problems. Are we in the twilight zone here? Can we just bring Gil back; at least he made game-winners.

John Wall must have been relived that Blatche spouted off. If not most of the focus would have been on the poor defense Wall played against Derron Williams and his decision to drive on four Nets in the final minute instead of feeding a wide-open Jordan Crawford for a three. Even more concerning is the fact that this Wizards team appear to have no one to go to when they needed any easy basket, Nick Young made some nice shots down the stretch, but you never felt like he could take over. Crowd favorite Kris Humphries, made matters worse by embarrassing the Wizards front court while registering 21 points and a game high 16 rebounds.

It seems that for now we're looking at the same ole same ole in Chinatown!

The Wizards get a chance to make good on their 'New Traditions' motto tonight as they take on the Hawks in Atlanta. Tip-off 7:30.

The Sports Freak and Big Money Tony discuss the Nationals acquisition of Gio Gonzalez and some DC Boxing.

You can find our podcast on iTunes. All the episodes are there and new ones will be published there regularly. Subscribe so you automatically get it by clicking on the iTunes button on the top right. Please rate us in iTunes.

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Three days and counting until the best Christmas present of all time!! No it's not a cabbage patch doll, not a tickle-me-Elmo, no Beanie Babies and not even a Furby. We're getting a giant package filled with a day of jam-packed NBA action. The NBA is back baby, its back! In the immortal words of Steve Buckhantz, 'How do you like that?"
Well Buck, I LOVE IT!

To jump start the season, I've decided to take a different approach to a season preview. I'm getting out ahead of ESPN and all the TV pundits to answer everyone's favorite hypothetical, What if the playoffs started today? Preposterous I know, but nothing about this season is conventional so deal with it.

We'll start with the East and run down the Top Eight Teams, and a few on the-Cusp teams:
1.) Miami - A 66 game season will really help the Heat, not to mention during the offseason they improved their bench. Battier is a solid addition, Haslem is back and healthy and LeBron has a new and improved post game, scary. The X-Factor here, will the Heat rest guys for the playoff run? If so they may swap Chicago for the two spot, but no lower.

2.) Chicago - The Bulls made two solid moves so far, 1.) Signing Rose to an extension and 2.) The signing of Rip Hamilton. Let us not forget that Chicago was a beast of a defensive team last year, but when it came down to crunch time and they needed a basket, they had nothing. They were too easy to stop when Rose was their only option, now they have a knock down scorer with a championship pedigree.

3.) Knicks - So the Knicks were trying to get Chris Paul, amnestied Chauncey Billups, signed Tyson Chandler and Baron Davis. Chandler will help out on defense and allow Amare to focus even less on defending the basket. The big question mark is the point guard spot. May be the New York spotlight will rejuvenate Davis, but can he last? The Knicks aren't a deep team and D'Antoni loves to run his teams in to the ground, but they do have Melo.

4.) Indiana - This is my big surprise team of the season. The Pacers snuck in to the playoffs last year as an 8 seed and gave the Bulls fits. In the offseason they signed David West and looked poised to make the jump to actual contender. I was hesitant to pick the Knicks ahead of the Pacers, but the Pacers lack that superstar. Granger is great, but he's not Melo. Look for the Pacers to hustle hard, play smart and actually try for the entire 66 games.

5.) Boston - Old, decaying, decrepit on life support. Not sold on this Celtics team, plus an injury to KG, Pierce or Allen could be catastrophic. The Celts lost Big Baby to Orlando, Jeff Green is out for the season with heart problems and they really have no depth at all. This could be a really long season for the Celts.

6.) Orlando - The Magic are skating on thin ice, if Dwight does get traded at any point this season, then you can take them out of the 6 spot and put them on the couch for the playoffs.

7.) Atlanta - The Hawks lost Crawford and replaced him with Tracy Magrady. Tisk, Tisk. Also Josh Howard is good trade bait.

8.) Philadelphia - The Sixers made the playoffs last season and have a great young team. If Brand stays healthy, that gives the Sixers a legit post presence and Evan Turner was impressive last season as a rookie.

On the Cusp:
ALERT, ALERT, ALERT....HOMER PICK: 9.) Washington - I was at the first pre-season game and I saw the Wiz take it on the chin, and I know that Nick Young is our best scorer. Man that last part was scary to write. If Wall can improve and Javale McGee finally comes around (Contract year) may be we get in as an eight, but I doubt it.

10.) Bucks - I don't know a lot about the Bucks, but they have a great point guard in Brandon Jennings, sorry. Fear the deer?
I'm dusting off my floppy disk and taking the Oregon Trail over to the West to pick my top 8.

The Sports Freak and Stu discuss the perfect NFL season for Green Bay, Tim Tebow, P. Manning's return, NFL playoff picture, and Dan Marino's record.

You can find our podcast on iTunes. All the episodes are there and new ones will be published there regularly. Subscribe so you automatically get it by clicking on the iTunes button on the top right. Please rate us in iTunes.

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The Sports Freak and Big Money Tony talk about the Packers potential undefeated season, the Redskins suspended players & alleged potheads, NHL realignment, and MLB & Nationals offseason.

You can find our podcast on iTunes. All the episodes are there and new ones will be published there regularly. Subscribe so you automatically get it by clicking on the iTunes button on the top right. Please rate us in iTunes.

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The Sports Freak and Q record an unorthodox podcast for the Capitals vs. Penguins game on 12/1/11.

We share our thoughts on the metro ride to Verizon Center before the game, a brief try at recording during both intermissions to provide a period by period analysis during the game, and then provide a post game wrap up after the metro ride back before we jumped back into our cars and went home.

The intermission analysis appears after the end of the podcast due to additional background level noise in the arena.

You can find our podcast on iTunes. All the episodes are there and new ones will be published there. Subscribe so you automatically get it by clicking on the iTunes button on the top right. Please rate us in iTunes.

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The Sports Freak and Big Money Tony are joined by Dr Gonzo to discuss the Capitals new regime, the Terps abysmal football season, and the return of the NBA.

You can find our podcast on iTunes. All the episodes are there and new ones will be published there. Subscribe so you automatically get it by clicking on the iTunes button on the top right. Please rate us in iTunes.

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A vast majority of the Sporting fan landscape is dotted with miserable lemmings who are forced in to an inherited fandom. Not one of choice, because like myself, most of us are born in to our rooting interests. We latch on to the team that our fathers followed or the team that we grew up around. During one of our most naïve periods of life, we make a choice or a choice is made for us and the rest is history.

Growing up, and to this day, I'm a diehard Redskins, Terps (Hoops), Wizards and DC United fan. I love the Caps, but my family wasn't a hockey family, so to claim to be a fan of the Capitals leaves me feeling a little off. Baseball was a little more difficult, my father hated the Orioles. Something to do with the Senators moving away and the Orioles being the only show in town, this somehow made him a full-fledged Orioles hater. As you may have guessed, innocent, sponge like me soaked up this hatred and wanted nothing to do with anything from Baltimore (That hatred has spawned to include the Ravens).

Left without a baseball team to root for, a young impressionable seven year old me (Imaging shorter, but same large head, and a bowl cut) did what most misguided fans do, I picked a winner! The winners at the time were the Toronto Blue Jays, and I was hooked. I watched all of their playoff games, then World Series number one. I memorized the lineup from top to bottom, I knew the pitching staff like the inside of my catcher's mitt and I was there, well on my couch anyway, when Joe Carter snuck a World Series winning homer over the left-field wall. That was me, future Red Sox fan, unaware of the fandom laws I was breaking as I ran around my living room fist pumping in stride with Joe.

After a few season of bad Toronto baseball I began to forget about my love for our neighbors to the North. So having only one other option since proximity was out, I chose to follow my father's team once again, I became a fan of Red Sox nation in 1995.
From my early days as a Blue Jay junkie, up until 2003, I started to get burnt out on the games I loved as a child. It had to do with consuming the same type of stats, seeing the same type of highlights every night and being that I was starting College at the time, I craved a new experience. Enter the 'Beautiful Game.'

I must be attracted to blue or teams from outside the USA because I was once again enthralled with a winning team in blue, but this time it was a soccer team, Chelsea FC. Over the past eight years I denounced my pledge to Chelsea FC and moved across London to my beloved Gunners of Arsenal. I also follow Ajax FC of Amsterdam. (Took a trip to Amsterdam after College, fell in love with the City)