White Sox Preview

As I have mentioned previously on this site, I hate the White Sox and specifically, AJ Pierzynski, but I think the White Sox are for real this year.  I really think they have a good all around team with the exception of Morel at third.  I don't know anything about him, but the Sox do not need him to be good to win this division.  I think the Sox win this division by atleast 5 games and win around 90 games.  They have some pop at the top and some balance. 

Starting Pitching : I think you can pretty much pencil in the numbers for these starters with the exception of Humber/Peavy.  I think the top 4 will all win atleast 13 games and give the Sox quality starts on the reg.  With Buehrle, Floyd, Jackson and Danks this team is primed to make a legitimate run at the Red Sox in the AL.  Danks is my sleeper Cy Young pick for this year.  The Sox need to sign this guy long term before he signs a 15 mil a year deal with the Yankees.    Anyways, if Peavy comes back and is anything like his previous self the Sox may win the division by 10 games.

Relief Pitching : With Thornton Crain Ohman and Pena to lock down the 7th, 8th and 9th this team will not blow many leads.  OH  YEA, and what about Chris Sale who was absolutely dominant last year.  Kid looks like a young Matt Thornton, but better because it didn't take him 7 years to figure it out like Thornton.  I realistically think that this bullpen could be the best in baseball if Thornton has the mentality to close.  If he doesn't Sale, Crain or Pena could step in and give it a try.  All are an upgrade to Jenks in my opinion.  The Sox have some serious power arms in their pen and Ohman who is murder vs. lefties. I need to stop gushing or I'm going to vomit.

Defense : Not too strong in my opinion.  Konerko is average, Beckham and Ramirez up the middle are error prone.  Ramirez is the type of shortstop who makes the great plays and will botch the routine plays.  I have no idea if Morel can dig it at third so I'm not going to pretend I know.  The OF is horrendous with the exception of Rios who is decent.  Pierre may have the weakest arm in baseball, and Quentin is just awful, but Rios is a real leader out there and the OF defense should not really cost the Sox more than a win or two. Some people may take issue that I said the Sox OF is bad and the Cubs is good defensively.  With Fukodome, Colvin and Byrd they are solid and as bad as Soriano can be, atleast he can wing it.  As far as AJ is concerned, I do believe he calls a great game behind the dish, but he is weak sauce defensively.  To be fair though, what he lacks in arm strength and blocking ability, he makes up for it with his game management. 

Offense :  This team will probably lead the majors in HRs.  Adam Dunn is going to hit 40-50 HRs and really excel at the Cell.   He is the prototypical DH.  I do think Konerko will have a bit of a drop in his numbers from last year but not significantly enough to be a reason for concern.  I think Beckham is a big key for this team as well.  He needs to bounce back this year. Last year, I think it was his fault this team didnt make the playoffs.  He was horrendous the first half of the season and I think, like Ramirez on the Northside, cost him team the division.  He did seem to make some adjustments in August and September, but it was just too late.  I think Ramirez and AJ will be steady and solid for this team.   CQ is also a question mark, but again, I do not think he makes or breaks this season for the Sox. If he can hit 25 and drive in 80, it will be all good because he will not be counted on like he was in the  past. 

Sox win 90 and lose in the ALCS. Thats my call.

Opening Day Movie Clip of the Day

AsikAndDestroy

This is all you have to know about last night's game. K-Lo, welcome to Omerica (balldontlie).

The Doldrums of Hollywood

Not a lot going on these days in the land of La-La. Probably why Chuck Sheen got so much action, and still does. Just nothing to report on. Lot TV shows and scripts being bought but nothing worth mentioning. Frankly I think everyone is a little sick of superheros and reality TV. Well maybe not the reality part, I know all you trash Real Housewives and Jersey Shore and then DVR it religiously.

Looking forward we got summer movie season fast approaching. This is the most important time of the year for the industry. All the big tent polls and sure hits get released in the summer. Not even the Christmas movie blitz compares to summer. Couple gems that stand out, and certainly films I will preview for you as I see them.



First up is Thor. That comes out May 6th. Iron Man it is not. This is where Marvel is pushing it a bit. Thor is basically the God of Thunder and controls an all powerful hammer named Mjollnir (myol-neer). Problem is people can't really relate to old Thor. He is in space, no one really knows that comic, and he lacks an everyman attribute. The story is weak but the acting for the most part is good. Nat Portman, Anthony Hopkins and my boy Stellan Skarsgard (we both love bbq) all deliver solid work. The guy playing Thor is an unknown but you can convince the old lady to go see the movie as he is basically running around in a tight t-shirt all movie. The special fx are done well per usual.

I would give this a mild recommend. You can do better but if you are looking to get ramped up for summer action popcorn movies go check it out. Coming in 2012-13 you will see a film with all 4 avengers (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, & Capt. America) and that will be a must see so it you might check out Thor just to stay up on bar trivia questions.

Cubs Preview

As someone who lives and breathes baseball, I am ridiculously excited to get this season started.  As a fan of the Northsiders and objective baseball fan of the other team that resides on the other side of town, I have a good feeling about this season.   I foresee both teams making it to the postseason this year and here is why.

Cubs Breakdown :
Starting Rotation : This rotation is pretty steady 1-4 with Cashner being the wild card.  I know some people might be skeptical of Randy Wells, but I think Wells is going to return to his rookie year numbers and be a steady number 4 starter.  I think if Randy can win 12-14 games this season and post around a 3.75 ERA which I think would be fantastic out of the Cubs number 4 starter. I am expecting much less from Cashner and I would be happy with 20 quality starts out of his 30.  As long as he can keep the Cubs in games I will be happy.  The top 3 I believe need to win 15 games each this year.  If they don't, we are in for a long awful season.  If those guys can do what they have done for the majority of their careers, things will be good and the Cubs will be able to to win around 87 -88 games.

Bullpen : This is the strength of the Cubs in my opinion.  Marshall - Wood - Marmol. Game over.  I love the backend of this Cubs bullpen this year.  Also look out for Marcus Mateo this year.  Kid throws 98 MPH and is another power arm that can help get you to the big boys in the back.  I think Wood will be extremely helpful in bring these kids along.  This bullpen is as deep as it has been in years with probably Shark being the weak link, but who cares because if Shark is getting a lot of action, the season is busted anyways.

Defense : This is the weak link.  I feel the Cubs have strong defensive OF, but the IF needs some work.  Pena will need to save this team a lot of errors like D-Lee did over the years.  Castro and whoever starts at 2B need to be better than they have been in the spring.  They have been awful.  Ramirez is Ramirez. Some good, some bad, but average.  Soto needs to be better behind the dish this year at just about everything.  He couldn't throw anybody out and was horrible at blocking balls in the dirt. This team needs to be able to pick up the ball this year and help their pitchers out. They did not do that last year and it cost them their season. 

Offense : Last year, this offense was dormant until July.  I'm expecting much more this season from this offense.  With Ramirez and Pena in contract years, you have to think their performances will be better. I think Castro is going to have a huge year.  I'm thinking .315, 15 HRs, 75RBIs and an OBP around .370.   I really believe that Quade has a way of motivating players and that this team can make a run behind him.  If the Cubs can get anything out of Soriano and Fukodome then I am even more bulled up on them.  I mean I have no idea who the hell is going to play second base, I'm hoping its Darwin Barney.  Quite possibly the best name in baseball for my money.  Kid wins. kid plays hard. I like him....a lot.  Long story short. Cubs score runs. Cubs win the division. Go Cubs Go.

Up For Debate

In the next week or so, the Associated Press will crown its 2010-2011 NCAA Player of the Year. At this point, every one knows that it is a two horse race between Jimmer and Kemba, with Jimmer being the odds on favorite (according to Bodog) to win the award. Much like Derrick Rose and the NBA MVP, it feels as if this award has already been given to Jimmer and there is little to no room for debate. Although I think D Rose is the NBA MVP and I disagree with that awful article Dan Lebatard wrote (Stinky Cheese), I do think at times the public needs to pump the brakes when it comes to handing out awards before the season is over. With that in mind, let’s take a step back and make the case for both Jimmer and Kemba…

Jimmer: First off, you can’t go wrong picking a guy that has his own adjective. Nothing better than pulling up from 30 feet, seeing the ball go through the net, and then letting the guy guarding you know that he just got “Jimmered”. I wouldn’t know personally but I’ve heard it’s awesome. As far as his credentials go, he led all of Division 1 with 28.9 points per game, which is 4.3 points better than anyone else in the country. He is known as a ball hog but his 4.2 assist per game and 45.6% field goal percentage should be enough to overshadow that faulty reputation. If you watched him through out the season, he never shied away from the spot light and often thrived against good competition. There are a few negatives that voters might hold against him. Like it or not, people are going to say that his numbers are inflated from the conference he plays in. While this NCAA tournament has proven that the top of the MWC can play with anyone, it’s tough to argue that a player doesn’t benefit when his team’s strength of schedule is 37^th, which is the result of playing conference foes like Utah, TCU, and Wyoming. In comparison, Connecticut has the #1 strength of schedule in the country. Another negative is Jimmer’s performance against Florida in the NCAA tournament. Although it’s not fair to judge a player based on one game, it’s safe to say that Jimmer didn’t pass the “eye test” on a national stage in his last game. He did score 32 points but he needed 29 shots to reach that mark and he had more turnovers (6) than assists (5). He constantly struggled and looked flustered when matched with the size and speed of the Florida defense.

Kemba: It’s tough to argue with a guy that has six game winning shots this season, with the most memorable coming against Pittsburgh in the Big East tournament when he crossed up the predator and hit an 18-footer like it was nothing. His stats are second to Jimmer’s, 23.9 ppg/4.5/43.3 FG %, but impressive none the less when you take into consideration their strength of schedule. Although I don’t put much stock in preseason polls, BYU did receive Top 25 votes were as Connecticut was no where to be found and were supposed to be “rebuilding” for the future. Above everything else, Kemba has proven that he is a winner. He helped Connecticut win the Maui Invitational (where they defeated Kentucky 84-67), the Big East Tournament, and now to the Final Four with a realistic chance at winning a national championship. One negative against Kemba is that he has played with more talent around him than Jimmer and has a hall of fame coach who has two national championships under his belt. It’s pretty clear that Jimmer is the only player on BYU with NBA talent where as Kemba is surrounded by Jeremy Lamb who is projected as a future lottery pick and Shabazz Napier who is touted as the next Kemba.

Winner: This race is tough and to be honest, you can't go wrong with either guy. Both are prolific scorers that carried their teams to great seasons. If Chet asked me who he should use his AP vote on, I would have to say Kemba. Why? …Winning. Duh.

It's Opening Day....

Well, its here. Finally.  I freaking love baseball season.  There is nothing like baseball because it consumes your life for pretty much 6 straight months and it is literally everyday.  It can be counted on. It isn't going to leave you high and dry.  I love you baseball.   And I leave you with this.  Here is the speech that epitomizes why baseball is America's past time.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.

Baseball Movie Moment of the Day

Maybe the worst baseball movie ever. Glover McConaghey Danza. Makes sense.

Can't say I was expecting that....

Bulls lose to the Sixers....at the UC? Their streak of 14 straight W's at the friendly confines was broken Monday night by AI, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes. Yeah, that's right, you read that correctly. Spencer. Hawes. The man was draining open mid-range j's and staved off the Bulls late 4th quarter comeback. The Bulls were in a deep hole throughout most of the game, and honestly I thought they would come back. I was watching the much more exciting Hawks game thinking that I could switch back and forth just in time to see DRose turn it up in the 4th. They came close, but couldn't get over the hump. They got too far behind and couldn't comeback this time. DRose had 31 points but also turned the ball over 10 times. He's been stellar the past 2 games and was good on Monday, but not good enough. Boozer had an okay night with 15-9, Noah had 10-13, and Deng chipped in 10.

Thibs said postgame that the team had a bad practice in the morning and it carried into the game. Doesn't seem like Noah is 100% comfortable out there since coming back from injury and Boozer isn't playing at his best either. Looks like he is still trying to get in-sync with Noah. That will come with time, but they only have 9 games left. They need to figure that out before the playoffs. Deng has logged a TON of minutes this year and has been held out of practices to heal a bruised thigh. The wear-and-tear of the NBA season looks like it may be creeping up on him (6 points against the Bucks and 3-10 shooting against Philly, eww). The 2nd team, who has named themselves "The Bench Mob" (gay), was outscored for the first time since December. I know I sound like a Debbie Downer after 1 loss and it may look like I'm reaching for the panic button (Chet). But the reality is that Boston is shitting the bed night in and night out and we need to distance ourselves from them before we play them on April 7th (I don't care about the Heatles). The Bulls have played well coming off a loss and have had 4 back-to-back losses all season (last was mini west-coast swing early Feb). Even though Noah is a game time decision, I like their chances against a Wolves squad sans K-Lo. Thibs will light a fire under the team and DRose will refuse to drop another to a beatable opponent.

NL Preview - Repeat- Too Much Tim

Yesterday I looked at the AL, today it is time to take a look at how I think the NL will shake out.  Let's start out in the NL East.
NL East - Everyone seems to think the Phillies are the favorite in this division.  I believe that this division will be won in the last week of the season by the BRAVES.  I think they will edge out Phillies with a much lower win total than most people may expect. 87 wins.  This Braves team has a great young lineup and pitching staff. They have great leadership in Chipper Jones, and I fully expect this team to make a serious run this year in the postseason.
2.) Phillies- Just too much pitching not to finish second in this division.  This is a lineup that is getting older and more fragile though.  I believe that this team is completely overrated.  Who knows when Utley will be back and Rollins continues to take steps back every single year.  I also see this team getting very little from their OF offensively this year.  85 wins
3.) Fish - Great young pitching and hitting.  I see this division being a two horse race between the Braves and Fish in the years to come.  Just too much beating up on each other this year for a second team to come out of this division.
4.) Mets - Horrible pitching, decent hitting. still better than the Nats
5.) Nats- Bad at everything.  maybe in a few years this team can make some noise.  Werth and Zimmerman don't do anything for me though.

NL Central -
I got this division going to the Brewers. I think their lineup and 3 top of the rotation starters put them in front of the defending division champ reds, the cubs and the cards.  Greinke, Marcum and Gallardo is a pretty good top 3. the 4 and 5 starters are weak, but they will manage.  I know Greinke may miss some starts but, I just see him and Marcum dominating this year.  I think the Brewers could win 90 games this year behind that pitching and Braun and Fielder. Fielder is in a contract year so I'm expecting huge numbers.
2.) Cubs - Wild Card - I think the Cubs sneak into the playoffs this year with 87 wins. I know you probably think I'm a homer, and you're right but I still like their chances this year. They have quality starting pitching and a much more balanced lineup.  I believe this team with Quade in charge will be much more focused and have a lot more fire.
3.) reds - I think they take the step back that I expected them too all of last year. I didn't see it last year and I don't see it this year.  I like what they bring offensively in that ballpark but that pitching still shouldn't scare anybody. 
4.) Cards- Pujols Holiday and a whole lot of nothing other than Chris Carpenter. No Wainwright, no chance
5.) Pirates - Bad.  I do like McCutcheon though.  Dude can stick and plays a great CF. Kevin Correia is starting on opening day.
6.) Astros - Gross.

NL West - Giants-  How can you not pick the defending champs.  Rotation too stacked not to repeat in this division.  Oh yea, and everyone else stinks.
2.) Dodgers.  Consistently average over the past few years.  I love their young OF, but I don't think Kershaw, Billingsley and Lilly are enough to get them passed the Giants
3.) Pads/Diamondbacks - Really bad.  They might as well just not even play the games in this division.

NL Champion - Giants - TOO MUCH DOMINANT PITCHING

Take That Super Best Friends

Well, how about that.  Heat have a chance to get to within a game and a half of the Bulls and the Cavs beat them down like a drum.  Even better than the beat down was the fact that Dan Gilbert did not allow Lebron's entourage access to the Cavs garage.  Pretty petty, but pretty damn awesome if you ask me.  Lebron actually played a great game.  He had a triple double, but the other super best friends did not exactly play up to snuff.  Ryan Hollins got into everyone's head except Lebron.  Chris Bosh got absolutely smothered by the Cavs last night.  I seriously think that guy might be the smallest 6'11 in NBA history.  He plays like such a bitch.  Anyways, Dan Gilbert, your team stinks but atleast you got this one game to hang your hat on.  Maybe if you can somehow draft Kemba Walker, Derrick Williams, Harrison Barnes your team may be able to make the playoffs in 3 years. And Super Best Friends, all of us here at the Cheese still hate you and cannot wait to watch you get bounced by D-Rose and the Bullies.

Baseball Movie Moment of the Day

AL Division Predictions

I will provide Sox and Cubs team outlook articles in the next two days, but I figured I would make some predictions on division winners and what not. So here we go.......
AL East-  Okay, so this one is pretty easy I think, BOSTON BOSTON BOSTON.  They have the best lineup maybe ever.  Outside of having a weak stick at SS, they are stacked.  Not to mention a great pitching staff.  Pending injury, this team wins the division by 5-7 games in my opinion.  I got them winning around 97 games this year and winning this division with ease. 
2.) the yanks.  getting old and taking a step back every year in my opinion.  oh yea, and not enough pitching but I still see them getting that wild card.
3.) orioles. yea thats right. i think this could be a big year for baltimore.  85-87 wins.
4.) Tampa - lost a lot in the offseason but I think they should be alright.
5.) Toronto - just bad. nothing else to say but bad.

AL Central-  THE SOX.  hate to say it but I see them running away with this division.  I'm not going to delve to much more into this because im working on something much bigger, but this team is good and primed to contend.
2.) Tigers -  In a weak sister division, they have enough to make the Sox sweat until about mid-September, but it wont last.  I just don't see the pitching necessary to hang for a whole season with the Sox
3.) Twins - The piranhas are always tough, but I just don't see it this year. I really like their lineup but I just do not think the pitching is nearly competitive enough to hang with the Sox
4.) Cleveland/Kansas City - They both are terrible.  Maybe the Indians can be competitive this year until July with Choo, but just to many question marks.  What ever happened to Grady Sizemore?  This guy used to be somebody, injuries have made him nobody.

AL West - Oakland is back. I love the rotation with Anderson and Braden.  They have some great young arms.  In typical Oakland fashion, they have the makeup to win the division, but not to win in the playoffs.  Losing Cliff Lee will hurt the Rangers significantly, I think Oakland wins this division with wins in the mid 80s. maybe 87 wins takes this division.  I do think this division goes down to the wire, but I think Oakland just squeezes it out by a game or two ahead of Texas and the Angels
2.) Rangers - Great lineup, but after that nada.  Too much pressure on CJ Wilson. Just not enough pitching to compete in my opinion.  That lineup is insanely scary though. 
3.) Angels - They could be tough.  They have some good young pitching with Haren, Weaver and Santana, but they will need to find some pop.  Morales will be back, but it takes time for guys to really get back from nagging injuries like the he had.  We'll see.
4.) Felix Hernandez - Nuff Said

Yankees - Wild Card
AL Champion : Boston

Really Matt Painter....

This is a move I just don't understand.  Why would Painter even think about leaving Purdue when he has had one the best runs during his tenure in Boiler history?  I have no idea, especially to go to a place like Missouri.  Missouri has a decent program, but why would Painter leave the fertile lands of Indiana where there are at least 10 quality recruits per year.  As a Hoosier fan, I think it would be sad to see Painter go because pending who they brought in, the rivalry could take a step back as if it hasn't already since IU is currently stuck in the doldrums.  I think Painter is a great coach and I think it would be great to see both Purdue and IU at the top of their games playing against each other.  I see a changing of the guard occurring in the Big Ten in the next few years and I would love to see Purdue and IU at the top of the league every year battling for a Big Ten Championship.  Now I have to believe this is a power play by Painter so that he can get paid, but this job just doesn't seem to do a whole lot for me.  Basketball in Indiana is king.  In the Big 12, basketball plays second fiddle to football and it definitely does at Mizzou.  Matt, if that's what you want to do, be my guest and surrender the state to the Hoosiers and Brad Stevens, but I think it would be great to see all three competing at the top of their abilities and I do not think Purdue can do that without you.

No you dont.

Grinds My Gears...

As Chet Steadman just pointed out, this NCAA Tournament has been awesome. From Jay Bilas saying VCU doesn't pass the "laugh test" when the brackets came out to Butler making my wallet lighter three games in a row, this tournament is creating memories with each passing game. With that being said, there is one thing that has been grinding my gears... Who the hell thought it was a good idea to add Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller to the CBS coverage of this tournament? First off, I will say that Kenny Smith hasn't done that bad of a job and if anything, he is guilty by association. He seems as if he has done his research and isn't above covering basketball players that probably won't be able to achieve the same amount of personal success that he did by making it to the NBA. With that being said, Barkley has been awful and at times watching him looks like someone is paying him to watch P90X infomercials. Just disinterested and horrendous. At one point during half-time of a game he kept repeating "the better team is going to win" and was saying it as if he just discovered the key to John Wooden's success. Even my slam piece was dumbfounded and said, "Obviously. This guy sounds like a moron. " With that being said, I'm not really sure what CBS expected from Barkley because this is how he always has been since he began covering NBA games for TNT. And I did love the moment when he called the Big East the "Little Big East" and proceeded to rip the conference to Rick Pitino's face coming off of their first round upset to Morehead State.

My real beef comes with adding Reggie Miller to the dream team of Gus Johnson and Len Elmore. I'm just dumbfounded on why you would change something that had achieved near perfection and more importantly hamstring Gus Johnson, who by all accounts, has become synonymous with everything that is awesome about the NCAA Tournament. The man has his own sound board for the love of God (look to the top, right side of this website). There is no denying that at times Gus can go too far with his outrageous claims but Len Elmore was the perfect partner who was able to work with Gus and offer his perspective and analysis as a former All-American player. The addition of a third person has added an undeniable tension amongst the three and has left Gus seemingly flustered and providing us with more head scratching comments and less memorable quotes. Look no farther than when Gus asked if BYU should foul Florida at the end of regulation when the game was tied and Florida was holding for the last shot. Wait what? Fortunately Len and Reggie more or less said "No" and quickly moved on, hoping all of America missed Gus' question. Another example of the tension that exists came when Reggie was arguing with Len about playing post defense. I'll post the transcript below but take in mind that Len made a living playing in the post and Reggie, well he is Reggie Miller...

ELMORE: These are the kinds of fouls that drive a coach nuts. (Replay shows). You got good position right here, now watch him put his hand around his back right here ...

MILLER (interrupting): Oh, come on.

ELMORE: You can't do it.

MILLER: Come on.

ELMORE: You can't do it. You got to call what you see.

MILLER: Come on now Len.

ELMORE: You sit down, spread out, put him on your back. You don't need to reach around like that.

MILLER: That's not a hook. That's him getting position

ELMORE: But that's him putting his hand behind a guy's back.

GUS JOHNSON (interrupting): According to John Adams, a foul is a foul. You call what you see.

ELMORE (repeating): You call what you see.

REGGIE (a few seconds later): Let these kids play. Let them play. Let them decide.

ELMORE: Let them play fundamentally-sound though. That's not fundamentally sound.

This wasn't the only time there was tension in this game, let alone through out the entire tournament. Wondering if others have noticed, I found one commentator saying, "Pairing Gus Johnson with Reggie Miller is like pairing the Mona Lisa with an orange can of paint" and another saying, "This booth is the broadcast equivalent of a Lebron-Joel Anthony pick-and-roll." It'll be interesting to see if CBS is going to make any changes for the next three games because going forward the moments are only going to get bigger and I think we can all admit they will only be made better with the old Len and Gus back in the booth while Reggie disappears back behind Cheryl's shadow were he belongs. Rise and Fire.

And that's what Grinds My Gears.

Baseball Movie Clip of the Day LOLLYGAGGERS

Who Cut The Cheese : Dan Lebatard

Look at this moron.  This is another guy who I cannot believe gets paid to write about sports.  You might say that I shouldn't write about sports either but I don't get paid so I don't care what you think.  Dan Lebatard wrote an article about how Derrick Rose should not be MVP and said essentially that he is overrated. Here is the link to that article if you want to get mad : http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/28/2137216/for-chicago-bulls-derrick-rose.html .  I happened to hear this idiot on the radio today on Waddle and Silvy and he was pretty much trashing Rose and saying the Bulls were horrible on offense and if they didn't have the D they do D-Rose would not even be in consideration.  He also made a point to say that D was not clutch.  Those should be grounds for dismissal by a sports editor in this country right now.  Its idiotic.  Yea thats right, I'm calling for his head. His head on a platter. I want Wilbon to punch him in his face next time he subs for Kornheiser.  I know this dumb POS's article should not matter to me, but I just hate when these guys make these ridiculous arguments about why D-Rose should not be MVP.  Give me a break Lebatard.  Your a hack.  And I would reccommend everyone check out the images of Lebatard when you google him. Dude is a freak and almost always sports the chest hair sammy. 

Final Four - WOW

Count'em. 2 people that submitted brackets through ESPN got this Final 4 right.  That is insane.  I mean Butler vs. VCU.  What the hell is going on?  Butler doing this in back to back years is unbelievable, but thinking about what VCU has accomplished is just insane. 5 games to get the final 4.  First Four to Final Four. Crazy.  And how bout the name of VCU's coach: SHAKA SMART.  That name is just so bad ass.  I mean really, Shaka Smart.  Put that guy at a big school and watch the talent come.  I am basing that all on his name.  If his name was not so cool, I would not say that, but a name like Shaka is going to play in the inner city and he is going to be scooping up kids everywhere.  Question: Who you want to play for? Bill or Shaka.  I think 9 times out of 10 they will play for a guy named Shaka.  I am a Shaka'd that VCU is still playing. I was hating.  Everyone was hating on them and look what they have done.  They have turned the hate into just beating people's asses of all sizes.  Giant killers.

And then there is Brad Stevens.  This is an even better story that Shaka because Brad has done it twice and lost a kid to the NBA Lottery. I mean Shelvin Mack has been insane but, look at who these guys have beat. It is incredible. Pitt, Florida, ODU, and Wisconsin.  This is just a great story for basketball. Brad Stevens has to be considered the best non-major program coach in America for taking a school like Butler to the final four in back to back seasons.  I mean  when he was screaming "THIS IS OUR TIME" at this players on Saturday I was getting chills.  He is such a quiet guy, but he knows how to motivate a team and just acts like he's been doing this forever.  It is awesome.  WHAT A TOURNAMENT.

The race for MVP....

...is all but over. DRose took over the last two games near the end to push his team over the top. On Friday they played a tough Grizz squad who is trying to keep their 8th place playoff spot. The Bulls were down 4 with 6 minutes to go and the man couldn't be stopped. Rose made some clutch plays and hit some big FT's to get the lead with 2 minutes to play. Deng had a big time tip in, Korver hit a big 3, and then DRose made a ridiculous play on Gasol for the hoop and harm. Commence MVP chants followed by a comeback win.

Didn't watch the game on Saturday at the United Center North against the Bucks. Can't be happy when your opponents fan base packs your own home court chanting MVP for one of their players. Instead I watched a Hawks heart breaker against the Ducks. If you watched Squint's video he posted, I learned first hand that you don't fuck with the Ducks or Dawsons Creek. The silver lining was that I was getting texts from people saying how DRose was a monster and took over the game and pretty much made Brandon "Young Money" Jennings his bitch. DRose ended up with 30 points, 17 dimes, 6 MVP chants (scored/assisted the last 16 points) and still wasn't completely happy with the result. In a post game interview he states, "we haven't done shit" and won't be happy until he gets to the 2nd round. Hopefully he just said "2nd round" but really is thinking NBA finals. The man has a desire to get better and will never be complacent with where he's at now. Gotta respect that mindset. Bulls will try to hold their 2 game 1st place lead tonight against the 76ers at home. Hopefully we see more of this...

Who The F Does Carlos Silva Thinks He Is

Put that coffee down Carlos Silva. When did Carlos Silva become Tim Lincecum?  This guy is a total moron.  Who the hell does he think he is bad mouthing everyone in the organization?  This guy is a total bum and is lucky he is even in the major leagues.  Check that, was in the major leagues.  The Cubs cut his fat ass over the weekend and I could not be happier about it.  While I do not know how good Cashner will be, I do know how fat and bad Silva is.  He is a total piece of shit.  At this point, none of us know new pitching coach Mark Riggins, but for Silva to rip into this guy like he is CC Sabathia or Cliff Lee is insane.  The guys has literally had one good two month span over the past 3 years and been absolutely horrendous otherwise.  I know this is just turning into a rant about how much Silva sucks but I just cannot believe this piece of lard would act like he is the second coming of Christ.  I think this is the best thing that the Ricketts' ownership group has done so far as owners.  They ate a lot of cash to get this guy out of town and I could not agree with their decision more.  He was nothing but trouble for Quade and his staff.  And as far as going with Cashner is concerned. Why not. Lets see what the guy has got.  Worst case scenario he goes back to the pen and we bring up Coleman or Russell or something. Whatever. Better than Silva.  Cashner is a young kid and it is much smarter to stretch him out at this point in his career than later.  This guy could be a cornerstone of this franchise so lets find out.  If he goes 10-10 with an ERA around 4.00 I would be ecstatic.  Just throw strikes Cash. Just throw strikes. 

Don't Fuck with the Creek

Yeah I know I havent posted in a week, and yeah this was on Barstool, but I don't care because this video is awesome.

Screw The Books Pick of the Day

I'll tip my cap to BYU for an impressive win against Gonzaga but the Florida Gators are a whole different beast. The matchup between Kenny Boynton and Jimmer Fredette will be a good one and although I fully expect Jimmer to get his points, I wouldn't sleep on Boynton to have a big game himself. For the rest of the matchups, Florida has a distinct advantage where ever you look. In the front court, the Gators have multiple players that are 6'10, 245 lbs and I fully expect them to dominate the middle. On the outside, the Gators feature Chandler Parsons, who is the most NBA-ready player in this game (that includes you Jimmer). Parsons is a 6'10 small forward that runs the Gator half court offense, is silky smooth from the outside, and averages 7.7 rebounds per game. Even if Jimmer wins his matchup with Boynton, there is no one that can even come close to matching up with Parsons so I expect him to have a huge game. Take the Gators -3.

For the second round of games, I'm going to stick with the Badgers who have been good to Jimmy The Greek in their first two games. I said it last week but I am a big fan of Jordan Taylor, who leads the most efficient offense in the country with only 7.6 turnovers per game. Butler as a team only averages 6.0 steals per game which is 218th in the country. Also, Butler is prone to getting in foul trouble, averaging 19.0 fouls per game which is 184th in the country (in contrast, Wisconsin only averages 15.2 fouls per game which is 12th in the country). Wisconsin should be able to take advantage of this discrepancy at the free throw line were they are the best free throw shooting team in the country at 82.3%. In the end this should be a good matchup but I'll take the bigger, more efficient team that can make their free throws. Take Wisconsin -4.5.

For the parlay special, Jimmy The Greek has...

Florida -3, Wisconsin -4.5, San Diego State +2, Arizona +9 and Arizona Under 148.5

How About Them Hoosiers

I know this does not appeal to most readers of the Cheese but the Hoosiers signed Jeremy Hollowell, another 5 star recruit for the class of 2012.  Basketball is almost back in Bloomington. Help is on the way.

Floyd Mayweather Digs D-Rose

Okay, well apparently Floyd Mayweather is afraid to fight Manny Paquiao, but is not afraid to  lay 40G balls on the bulls when they are up by 30 at the half and shot a ridiculous 73% from the field.  Dude has brass balls.  I know 40 Gs is a ton of money to anyone who reads this blog and probably isnt to floyd, but you have to love the idea that floyd would take Bulls +5.5 for the second half which meant the bulls had to win by 24 points on the road.  Last time the Bulls were in ATL they blew a 20 point half time lead and we all know that there was no chance of that happening again, but I do not think that is a bet I would have taken.   What do you think is going through Floyd's head when he makes that bet?  He is one f'd up G and I love it.  Get in the ring with Pac Man Floyd, and keep loading up on the bullies.

Newsflash : Carlos Silva Still Sucks

After doing a draft for our Cubs Season Tickets last night and being extremely happy with my selections, the only thing that I can hope for is that Carlos Silva does not pitch in any of the games that I have tickets to.  I hate the dude. I don't even know why. Maybe its because we got him for Milton Bradley who I despised and then I just started using carlos Silva as my new punching bag.  Well thats what the dude is. A punching bag. He is a terrible pitcher who has not had a good season in 4 years, and that season wasnt even that good.  He just does not do it for me in this starting rotation.  yes I know Cashner isn't all that special right now as the 5th, but he could be.  He actually has a chance to be a solid starting pitcher, and if not we can send him back to the pen, but Silva, I just don't like him.  If you look at his numbers this spring, he is 1-2 with an ERA of 10.5.  W-L record obviously doesnt matter in this case but throwing nothing but batting practice for most of the spring games this year does.  he has gotten shelled in every game prior to yesterdays and now he is acting like he was unhittable all spring in interviews from yesterday.  This guy acts like he is the greatest pitcher in the league and maybe all time.  he feels like things are owed to him.  Just CUT him already or trade him for a bag of balls.  CUT HIM LOOSE.  he brings nothing to the table but lard.   Dude looks like he should be playing for dragons, not starting games for the cubs.

Who CUT the CHEESE? Creepy LT

So today's stinky cheese man is going to go to one the biggest scumbags of the past 25 years.  Just so everyone knows, LT doesn't card the girls he plans on coking up and plans on having sex with after they have completely lost all sense of where the hell they are.  This dude has been a predator since the early 80s and even played a horrendous human being named "Shark" in the movie Any Given Sunday.  LT has pretty much been coked out and trying to kill bitches and QBs for 30 years now, it would seem to me that he should be probably be put in a penitentiary where he could be someone's bitch because yes, unfortunately for the rest of us, there are bigger and scarier people out there than LT's crazy ass.    Today LT pretty much blamed prostitution itself for him having sex with a minor.  Now LT was not only mad that he was sent a minor, but apparently in the past, LT has been sent ugly girls, fat girls and girls of all ages apparently.  If LT had such bad luck with getting quality prostitutes then maybe he should have stopped getting prostitutes. LT, for condemning prostitution for you getting caught with a minor and sounding like an absolute buffoon. Congrats on winning today's stinky cheese man. you stink.

Grinds My Gears...

I'm not sure if this will turn into a daily thing but Jimmy The Greek needs a place to vent and what better forum than The Stinky Cheese. Apparently Geno Auriemma went on another one of his attention grabbing rants last night because he was unhappy that there wasn't a sellout crowd for the Connecticut women's basketball game. My favorite comment was, "Maybe we should offer free parking, more giveaways... We should let some of the fans coach the team, maybe a guest coach every quarter." Now I get the whole Title IX, equal opportunity thing but let's get two things straight. First, it doesn't matter what sporting event you are talking about, when you have an inferior product, you can't complain when people decide not to show up so it would be wise not to criticize the fans you do have. Can the UFL afford to criticize potential fans for preferring to attend and watch NFL games? Do the Schaumburg Flyers have a right to get upset if people prefer to watch games at Wrigley Field over Alexian Field? I don't think so. It's nothing personal but when I sit down to my TV, I would prefer to watch D Rose go off on the Hawks or even Kent State play Colorado in the NIT. If you are a University of Connecticut student on a limited budget, what would you prefer to do... pay $30 (yes that was the price of admission, even for students) to watch the UConn women do a layup drill for two hours or use that $30 at happy hour tomorrow to watch the UConn men play for a trip to the Elite Eight? I think we all know the answer to that question.

Second, the only reason 99.9% of women's athletic programs can financially exist is because they are subsidized by the profitable men's athletic program's. Last night I flipped to ESPN2 (only because the guide said Sportcenter was on) and it was the end of the Georgia's women's basketball game and there was absolutely no one there. I'd argue there are more people that visit this blog than were at that game. What enables this program to continue year after year? I'm sure it has something to do with the 92,000 that show up on Saturday's to watch the football team. This maybe controversial but the facts are facts. Can Michelle Wie hit a golf ball farther than me? Would Holly Mangold (Nick Mangold's sister) dominate me in blue-white? Of course and that's why I don't have a problem with women getting an equal opportunity to play what ever sport they want. What Grinds My Gears is when a coach has the audacity to complain that only 5,000 people were willing to pay $30 per ticket to watch his team play.

Derrick Rose must be reading this blog....

Back-to-back routs on back-to-back nights after back-to-back poor predictions by myself. The Bulls absolutely demolished this Hawks team tonight. Shooting Lights Out + Defensive Lockdown = 33 point victory. Atlanta was out of the game by halftime and were completely dejected throughout the 2nd half. Bogans made Joe Johnson look mediocre. Very happy the Bulls didn't shell out the money for him this summer. Can't believe the Hawks threw $119M at this guy. He takes way too many bad shots and is a liability on the defensive end. He can light it up every once in a while, but he'll throw in some toilet bowl worthy performances and he's a liability on the defensive end. He'll be entering the Vince Carter zone soon. DRose proved me wrong and had another beastly night with 30 points and 10 dimes (6/8 from the land of plenty) and Lt. Deng chipped in 27. They looked good tonight, could be because they only played 3 quarters against the Kings. Grizzlies are next on the menu on Friday night. Hawks tomorrow. It's good to be a sports fan in Chicago....

Who Cut the Cheese? ME

Basically I cut the cheese.  I started this segment and holy shit did I drop the ball.  Not even 2 days in and Chet couldnt even post anything.  Anyways, I dropped the ball today and award myself the Stinky Cheese Man.  Man, do I stink. That's not a question, its a fact.

Publish Post

Sweet Justice

Bruce Pearl. FIRED.  The Cheese has been begging for this guy to be fired since the Cheese started just a couple of weeks ago.  This guy is a cheater and even though he got Tennessee out of the doldrums of basketball mediocrity, he did it through cheating and lying.  Bruce Pearl is a piece of shit, pompous ass.  Next step is getting that AD oustered.  His two biggest hires recently have been Pearl and Lane Kiffin. Both brought nothing but scrutiny to the athletic program and put a black eye on college sports in general.  Way to go Tennessee.  You are like school on Thanksgiving. NO CLASS

Nothing Changed

Could I be any worse at predicting Bulls games? They win their 50th game of the season by 40 points tonight, the crowd had free Big Macs just after the 4th quarter started, and the starters left the game with 10 minutes left in the game. Boozer and TajMahal both played. Tyreke Evans sat out as he was too scared to play DRose. So pretty much everything I said earlier was completely wrong. It was a great balanced game played by the Bulls. They had 8 players in double figures, DRose and Korver lead the team with 18 a piece. Thibs had the guys playing staunch defense as they forced 22 turnovers including 16 steals. Even AsikAndDestroy went 6/6 for 14 points and had some easy dunks during garbage time. The bad news is that the C's were able to win in NY, and therefore nothing really changed in the standings.

Bulls play Atlanta for the 3rd time this month tomorrow night. Glad the starters got a lot of rest tonight as they will be playing a tough game tomorrow against another playoff team. If the Bulls can win tomorrow, they have what look like a bunch of games against teams under .500 so they could really pull away from the C's.

ND and Purdue : The Stink that was the Chicago Regional

I must be basketball stupid because I had no doubt in my mind that ND and Purdue would be playing in the sweet 16.  Not only did these two teams lose, but they got beat down like a damn drum and to be totally honest, I could not be happier. I cannot stand both schools and even though it totally busted my bracket, since I had ND playing in the title vs. OSU, getting to see FSU finish off ND last night after a long day of driving put a cherry on top of an amazingly long and quite entertaining day.  Psycho B did not appear to be able shake the FSU defense, and the excess of athleticism that FSU had killed the Irish.  They shot around 30 percent from the field and even worse from downtown.  Leonard Hamilton's strategy to take away the 3 from the Irish was a thing of beauty. Too big Too Strong Too Fast for the slow Irish.  Purdue on the other hand....I don't even know because I was listening to bits and pieces of it on the drive home.  All I can make of this game is that Purdue got outplayed in every facet. Unlike ND, Purdue has a pretty good mix of stars, glue guys, and bad guys.  I really do not understand how they could get worked like that.  VCU and Shaka Smart have used all the hate to get to the sweet 16. There is nothing like being hated on by everyone that gets a team motivated.  People were pissed they were even in the Tourney and now they have won 3 games.  No one gave them much of a chance in the 1st round. nevermind getting to the sweet 16.  Tough break for Johnson and Moore though.  That would be awful to go out like that after having such great careers at Purdue.....Anyways, because ND and Purdue got spanked, the nation will have the pleasure of watching VCU vs. FSU. 

Inaugural "Who Cut the Cheese?" POST

So i mentioned in my earlier post today the introduction of our second daily reoccurring segment, "Who Cut the Cheese?"  This daily segment will revolve around which person/team who did the stupidest thing or was just the stinkiest player on the floor.  After watching this weekend of basketball, there are an outrageous amount of candidates for this award.  There is ND and Purdont for just laying an egg.  There is the kid on Texas who did not call a time out soon enough, even though that  5 count was questionable. There was Jordan Hamilton who tried to take a charge on Derrick Williams and bailed out so early his manhood had to be questioned. There was Rick Barnes for calling that timeout when Texas got the ball before the  5 second call allowing arizona to set up their defense.  Who else sucks? Well you have to put Henson from Carolina in this category as a possible recipient for almost goaltending the last shot against Washington.  And then of course there was Shelvin Mack of Butler for committing a foul against Pittsburgh with 1.4 seconds left almost costing Butler the game. But the winner of the first "Who Cut the Cheese?" award is Nasir Robinson of Pittsburgh for committing a foul 83 feet from Butler's basket and costing Pittsburgh a chance to win in OT.   Talk about your all time dumbest fouls.  Take a look at it.


I know the video is a little large but I thought I needed to emphasize how stupid this was. I mean if you are Jamie Dixon, you have to start thinking you may be cursed. 7 of the past 10 years Pitt has been a 1 thru 3 seed, one year a 4, one year a 5, and one year a 9. So a pretty high seed for 9 of the last 10 years. 0 final fours in the time and only 1 elite 8 appearance. not bad, but definitely not good by anyone's standards.

But back to Nasir Robinson, I mean he made probably the stupidest foul in the history of the NCAA tournament and pretty much bailed out Shelvin Mack who would have been the winner of this award had Pittsburgh won. What was he thinking? I mean I just do not understand why anyone would do that. If you are not going to get the board then, just back off and let Howard chuck it into the stands. .00000000000000001 percent chance that launch goes in. Just ridiculous. Well Nasir Robinson, you played a great game minus that last second, but you will unfortunately be remembered for that one bonehead play. Thank god your name is not as easy to say as Bill Buckner. I mean Bill Buckner just rolls off the tongue. Nasir Robinson not so much, but Nas, I feel for you and congratulations on winning the first "Who Cut the Cheese" award. Hopefully the stench wears off soon.

It's been a while...

A lot happened in the sports world this weekend other than the NCAA tournament. Namely, Squints and I almost left the cheese after our socialist Chairman treated some of his staff members poorly over the weekend. Don't worry though, we came to an agreement on a new CBA after having a few whiskey drinks and the cheese is still alive (still waiting for that apology on twitter).

Other than that small labor dispute, Chicago sports was all over the place. After the Hawks stunk up the joint against Dallas in a 5-0 schalacking, they showed up in Phoenix last night pulling off a big 2-1 win. Newly acquired defenseman Chris Campoli registered his first goal with the team as he put the Hawks ahead with 6:30 left in the third. The win puts the team into a 3-way tie for 5th place with 86 points (Hawks win the tiebreaker). They are still 3 points behind Phoenix for 4th and 1 point ahead of 8th place Anaheim. If this is the way the rest of the season is gonna go, I'm gonna have a panic attack following this team. Even though they are in 5th, they are still straddling the line of making the playoffs, and it looks like it will be that way until the end. If they have one bad week and lose 2 in a row, the season could be over. Kaner should probably put himself on a self-imposed drinking ban until the season is over because the team needs him to step up. This is more evident than ever because Patrick Sharp left last nights game with a knee injury. Don't know how bad it is or if will be playing this Wednesday against the Panthers.

The Bulls won a tough game in NJ on Thursday night and played in another in Indy on Friday. After being down to Indy by 20 points in the 2nd half, the team battled back behind DRose's 42 points (19 in the 4th quarter) to force an OT period. The Bulls struggled in OT and were unable to get over the top against a thriving Psycho T. The Pacers, who probably have one of the dumbest team names in basketball, are finally cashing in on Psycho T. After being missing during the first 2/3 of the season, he starts to play his way into the line up and put up good numbers for the team. But I'm not at all scared of playing this young and inexperienced team in a 7 game series. The Bulls are now tied for 1st (losing tiebreaker to C's) and play Sacramento tonight. DRose v. Tyreke Evans is no contest. Boozer and TajMahal are day-to-day. Probably gonna be another tough win against a bad team considering all these injuries. Hopefully we can reclaim 1st place tonight as the C's play the Knicks tonight as well.

And finally, here is this weeks installment of AAOTW. The athlete highlighted this week is one who has a very unique skill set. He left a very successful career in a much less important "sport" to chase his dream of representing his country in the Goodwill Games playing Hockey. Of course I'm talking about none other than Kenny Wu. He has the uncanny ability of combining finesse and his graceful skating ability to allude opposing defenders and get open looks at the net. He is an artist with pirouettes and other spins using the ice as his canvas. But don't let his small stature fool you. What he lacks in size and muscle mass, he makes up for in cunning triple axles and heart. He's also a bad ass because he finds himself joining the bash brothers Fulton Reed and Dean Portman later on in his high school hockey career.

WU! WU! WU! KENNY WU!

Armadillos, Hoops, Jimmy the Greek's hot streak and Jackson Wedding

First off, I do not like to talk about my personal life because I do not feel a need to bore you with my real life, but I would like to let everyone know that I drove from Chicago to Jackson,MS and back in the span of 72 hours.  Yea thats right.  24 hours in a vehicle with some interesting spots mixed in.  On the way down, I picked up my co-pilot for the weekend Brian McCue and his gf Natalie at 9pm Thursday night.  You can see Brian's live tweets from the car ride at Bmac9@twitter.com.  There is some pretty good material.  After a night of listening to college hoops, Howard Stern, and some deep cuts from a band that goes by the name Grim Reaper, we arrived in Memphis for Breakfast at 6am.  So from 9pm to 6am, we drove 500 miles, stopped at 4 Pilots, had 3 coffees, and saw 1 armadillo.  Yes, an armadillo. Thing was the size of a dog.  By the way, the state of Arkansas is weak.  Just a real dump.  I would be curious to know what the hell people do there.  Anyways, in Memphis, we stopped at a diner name Blue Plate which was decent.  As far as cleanliness is concerned though, I give it an F.  As soon as I sat down and put my arms on the table I felt like I got slimed.  Just gross, but the omelet was above average and that is all that counts.  From Memphis to Jackson which is around 200 miles, I had the co-pilot take over.  We drove by the largest NISSAN car plant in the country.  Bmac did a little research and the plant employs 5,500 Mississippians and cost 1.3 billion dollars to build.  It apparently pumps out 500k cars a year and is almost a mile in length as far as the size of the plant is concerned.  We arrived in Jackson around 10am and just crashed hard.

Friday saw the first controversy between myself and members of the writing staff here at the cheese. I caved.  Don't even remember what happened and what the disagreement was about but I caved.  Friday also saw the Jimmy the Greek Hot streak.  I hope everyone parlayed the Greeks picks.  Dude was straight up fire.  With one weekend in the books, Greek is 6 for 8.  Pretty impressive.  Saturday the wife arrived and we literally went to the former ambassador to Portugal's house for a wedding day brunch.  The house was filled with pictures of him and W, Reagan and even Princess Di.  He was a typical Southern Gentleman and the house was insane.  Later that night was the wedding on Matt Tyrrell to his lovely bride Ana Maria Echibaru.  It was a great night with top of the line booze.  Tyrrell also managed to have his reception at a place that actually had tvs with the NCAA tournament on so we got to see Matt Howard get fouled 85 feet from the basket and Wisconsin pull off a great win over K-State.  Anyways, the day was top notch.

Sunday at 9AM we left Jackson for the Chi.  We grabbed some coffee at the local Starby's and headed back.  If you also happened to be making a 12 hour journey in a car yesterday then you probably got to hear some of the worst announcing of all time.  Not only could these announcers on Westwood One not be clear about telling you what was going on in the game, but they also hated each other. The wrath these two had for each other was seeping through the car radio.  Needless to say,  listening to what sounded like some amazing basketball was quite frustrating. Anyways, on the way home, stops included such lovely establishments such as Wendy's and a Subway connected to a gas station.  Usually I would never break my rule of not eating at places connected to gas stations, but I had consumed so many burgers and so much fried chicken, that the only horribly unhealthy thing my stomach could handle was a spicy italian from Subway.

The highlight of the trip home had to be our 30 minute stop in Graceland.  Lisa fucking Marie has totally pimped out what remains of her dad's life, possessions and Memphis in general.  She has planted trees and place barricades around everything so you pretty much cant see shit unless you buy a ticket for 35 dollars which gets you on the grounds and in the house, or a 70 dollar ticket which gets you the works.  Needless to say, the 10 dollar parking was all we were prepared to spend.  No chance we were spending that money to catch a glimpse of the King's life.  Needles to say, it was still pretty funny just being there and doing some people watching.  Place was jammed.  Lisa Marie must be making an absolute killing on that damn place.  Anyways, the rest of the trip was pretty easy. Caught a ridiculous lighting storm about 100 miles outside of Chicago and nothing really else eventful occurred. Hope I didn't bore you with this. I'll be back later to talk hoops and introduce a new segment we are calling "Who Cut the CHeese?"  Should be pretty good.  All in all, it was a great trip down to Mississippi and I wouldn't change a thing about it.  Special thanks to my wife, Brian and Natalie for making the trek with me and my notorious jimmy leg.

Screw The Books Pick of the Day

Onions!!! Coming off a 4-0 day, Jimmy The Greek is going to make this a short but sweet post. For today's games, there are two matchups that really stand out to me and that is Gonzaga -1 and Wisconsin -3.

I know everyone is drinking the kool-aid on Jimmer but this team has struggled since Brandon Davies committed the ultimate sin of having pre-marital sex. I fully expect Jimmer to get his 30 points but Gonzaga has too much size inside with Robert Sacre who is a beast at 7'0 and 260 lbs. From the outside, the Bulldogs are led by senior Steven Gray who will be a tough matchup athletically for BYU.

As for Wisconsin, it seems that everyone is hung up on the game against Penn State when they only scored 33 points. Yeah it was ugly but it doesn't reflect the Badgers full body of work which included a regular season win against Ohio State. Led by Jordan Taylor, the Badgers feature the most efficient offense in the country with only 7.6 turnovers per game. Another key to the key game will be free throw percentage were Wisconsin is tops in the country at 82.3% and Kansas State is 278th in the country at 65.4%.

Screw The Books Pick of the Day

Coming off of a 1-1 day, Jimmy The Greek would like to apologize for those that put their trust in Old Dominion. Matt Howard haunted me in my dreams last night as the final play of that game was replaying over and over again in my head. For those that kept the faith in the Greek and took Wisconsin in the late game, all is well and today is a new day. Since our one win was one of my "trend" picks, I will lead with those...



Bet Long Island +17.5
-#2 Seeds are 7-21-4 against the spread when playing opponents that are coming off of a straight up win in their previous game
-#15 seeds are 41-31-4 against the spread versus #2 seeds



Bet Syracuse -11.5, Purdue -14
-#3 Seeds coming off a straight up loss in their previous game are 22-8-1 against the spread, including 6-1 over the last four years


As for my personal pick of the day, I like the Oakland Golden Grizzlies at +10.5. The reason why the mid majors usually struggle against the power conferences is due to their lack of size. That shouldn't be an issue for the Golden Grizzlies as their star player and NBA lottery prospect, Keith Benson (18 ppg and 10.1 rpg), patrols the paint. Oakland is battle tested as their non-conference schedule included games against Tennessee, Ohio State, Purdue, and Michigan State. They are a team that likes to get out and run and can score quickly as they averaged 85.6 ppg, good enough for second in the country. As they did last year, Texas is stumbling into the tournament and this will be a tough matchup for a young team that struggled with the pressures of being highly ranked earlier in the season.

Chet said he would fire me if I didn't post again

What a bitch. How do you even fire someone from a non paying internet blog? Meanwhile, while Chet continues to live the fantasy life by driving from the Chi to Jackson, MS I am stuck sitting here in bed at 8 AM on a Friday with no work and nothing but basketball to be watched. So I guess someone has to pick up the slack and make a post. But just to be clear, I am posting not out of fear of the chairman, but rather the good of the site.

Anyways, obviously a lot has gone on this week so I am going to highlight a few important ones.

-First, you are all welcome for that sweet call on Louisville yesterday. Looks like the only occasion left for Pitino's awful white suit is the post derby formal at the Gaeger RV. (Which I am sure will be nothing but a first class affair) RIGHT SIDE!!.

-What a start to the tourney. Four last second wins in five games, when has that ever happened? Gotta love having all the games staggered and all on tv. Great move by the people at CBS. Next they need to find a way to eliminate all announcers except Gus and Raftery.

-Have to be impressed with the effort the kids from Princeton put in yesterday. You could combine the SAT scores of the starting five at Kentucky and they would not add up to the score of any one player on Princeton. A perfect example of what college athletics should be vs how they are in reality. If only the Tigers had prevailed. Oh and by the way that last second layup for Matt Howard? Right place right time, but still...ONIONS!!!

-Hawks open the biggest two game stretch of the season with an absolute egg. How does that happen? The inconsistency of this team continues to anger many, but I want to know where has the defense gone? Was Brent Sopel really that valuable? I find that hard to beleive...they need to turn it around fast. Brutal closing schedule including three more with Big D. If Toews and D Rose are gonna sweep the MVP trophies Hawks need to string together some more wins, starting in Phoenix.

-I was watching the Bulls game with Ling Ling the BBall king last night and I heard Stacey King say something I never could have even dreamed of. Dudeman compared The Shiek to Magic Johnson. Really? It may be less ridiculous for me to get on here and compare Chairman Chet to Mark Fucking Twain. Love the shiek, but unless he contracted HIV in the past 24 hours, please hold the Magic comparisons Stacey.

-Sources say Cubs are not interested in Michael Young. What is going on with Jim Hendry? A $6-8mm dollar a year performer at the twighlight of his career getting paid $16mm a season...that sounds right up Jimmy's alley. Unless you can find a way to turn Carlos Silva's dead carcas into Young and about $15mm please stay away.

-Soriano projected to hit 7th in Quade's opening day lineup. Aside from the fact that is where he SHOULD be hitting...7th really? The eigthh highest paid player in baseball is now hitting behind your first baseman who finished last year with an average below the mendoza line. All I can really say about Soriano is...FOUR MORE YEARS. FML.

Ok kids that is all the time I have for today. I am about to embark on my journey to the Matthew Patrick Tyrrell nuptials. I could spend an entire post making inapropriate comments about this, so I am just going to leave you with this:

I always knew Tyrrell would make someone happy for the rest of their life...I just thought that person was Bracey Wright.

Movie Review: Battle LA

So saw I saw Battle LA last night or Independence Day 3 (#2 was Skyline, it stunk) and I'll steal a friends description of it. It's kind of like watching someone play Halo for 2 hours and it pretty much is. Entertaining but you are left wanting.

Story goes that this. A bunch of aliens are trying to take over the planet for our water. We are unprepared for their superior technology and get our shit wrecked. So of course a bad ass Sargent with some baggage and a group of marines outnumbered save the day. That's pretty much it. No plot twists to be had. It's good LA watching, lots of local spots but that won't mean much to anyone outside of the area.

They steal pretty heavily from other war movies with some kills (I counted at least 2 stolen from Saving Private Ryan) and 95% of the acting is not good but overall the action is solid and I left feeling like I ate at Chili's, good but it wasn't really a high quality meal I yearn for. I recommend it if you are desperate to kill sometime or going out with the guys to see some action.

Final Rank: Two and half Cushmisters.

Morehead State - Not just a cool hat for high school kids anymore

I have only seen one person make that pick so far.  Pretty impressive.  They go with a 1-4 set with 25 seconds left.  Most teams would go for the shot with around 12 or seconds so they could extend the game if they missed the shot.  The coach of Morehead State, Donnie Tyndall, wound up making a great decision and Morehead prevailed with Louisville failing to get a good shot off. F you Pitino.  Congrats to Demonte Harper and Morehead State on a great win.

yea, we're tweeting.

Yea I hate twitter, but we are doing it anyways. You can follow us at steadmanscheese over at twitter.com

Where is Gus Johnson?!?!?!

The tourney has begun, which means this is the first time I've cared about college basketball all year. I basically filled out my brackets based on schools that I like and teams that have done well in years past. Pretty much easy money for who ever wins the ONE pool that I'm in. I have the Dookies going to the finals against Kansas. I felt good about that one based on what the Greek wrote today. But what ever happens before that is probably not good...

Other than March Madness, big night for the Bulls and Hawks tonight. The Bulls are tied for first because they were idle last night and the C's beat the Pacers (Side note: Are the Pacers better than advertised? Psycho T has been putting up big numbers since the coaching change. Is he a white DeJuan Blair, except with cartilage in his knees? Is Chairman Chet peeing his pants because the Bulls might have to go up against Roy Hibbert? All signs point to yes). Bulls @NJ tonight. Read early reports the Boozer may return from his ankle injury and Noah is over his bong water drinking illness. Rose v. DWill. I think everyone would agree that Rose has past both DWill and CP3 as the best PG in the league. I'm confident that the Platoon of Bigs can lock down Brook Lopez (he's overrated) and Mr. Kim Kardashian (aka Kris Humphries). Bulls back in first after tonight.

In other NBA news, the Durantula and company took down the Heatles last night. The Heat have looked good in the previous 3 games against good competition. They are coming off a 30-point revenge win against the Spurs. OKC had a double digit lead for most of the game, and the Big 3 got them back into it. Bosh has been playing better since he cried last week as he has been averaging 20 points in his past 3 games. But as predicted, the Heat will have difficulties when playing teams with size. I'm sorry, but throwing Joel Anthony and Jamal Magloire against Serge Ibaka (look up his full name on wiki, its ridiculous) and Perk isn't gonna cut it. OKC was able to extend their lead late in the 4th thanks to clutch shooting by the Durantula. News flash, he's good....



Hawks have fallen from 4th to 6th without having played a game. The swings are making me go through an emotional roller coaster. HUGE game against the Stars tonight as they sitting right below the Hawks in 7th, only 2 points behind. Looking for Toews to show up tonight and prove why he deserves the Hart trophy. 5th place Phoenix play tonight against the Oilers (they suck, even though the Hawks have had trouble with them all year). Hopefully the Hawks can get 2 points tonight and have some momentum going into Phoenix this weekend.



Toewser is a beast....