NBA 2009-2010 Pre-Season Predictions

Here are my predictions solely based on how the teams and league is formed BEFORE the season!

FINAL DRAFT!

Teams in BLUE qualify for playoffs, seeds are listed after season records.
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division:
1. Boston Celtics (61-21) 1
2. Philadelphia 76ers (47-39) 5
3. Toronto Raptors (45-37) 7
4. New York Knicks (40-42)
5. New Jersey Nets (32-51)

Central Division:
1. Cleveland Cavaliers (58-24) 3
2. Chicago Bulls (41-41)
3. Detroit Pistons (38-44)
4. Indiana Pacers (36-46)
5. Milwaukee Bucks (35-47)

Southeast Division:
1. Orlando Magic (60-22) 2
2. Washington Wizards (50-32) 4
3. Atlanta Hawks (48-34) 6
4. Miami Heat (42-40) 8
5. Charlotte Bobcats (34-48)

Teams in RED qualify for playoffs, seeds are listed after season records.

Western Conference
Northwest Division:
1. Denver Nuggets (52-30) 3
2. Portland Trailblazers (51-31) 5
3. Utah Jazz (47-39) 7
4. Oklahoma City Thunder (31-51)
5. Minnesota Timberwolves (25-57)

Pacific Division:
1. Los Angeles Lakers (62-20) 1
2. Phoenix Suns (43-39)
3. Los Angeles Clippers (32-50)
4. Golden State Warriors (28-54)
5. Sacramento Kings (22-60)

Southwest Division:
1. San Antonio Spurs (56-26) 2
2. Dallas Mavericks (54-28) 4
3. New Orleans Hornets (50-32) 6
4. Houston Rockets (45-37) 8
5. Memphis Grizzlies (35-47)

Buc'd by the Bills

Wow, well let me say I haven't watched a Tampa Bay game for the season yet. No, not because I don't want to but work has saved me from witnessing the horrific football that's being played by them. Week two, in Buffalo against the Bills and what do the Bucs do? Something similar to last game! I'm surprised the Bucs are putting up 20 points a game but the bad part? Allowing 30 or more. You can assume this starts with the defensive job being played on Tampa's side. A team known for their grueling defense over the years are truly missing Monte Kiffin and some of his defensive schemes.

Looking at a 4 min highlight clip the minor miscues the Bucs made is what cost them a good chance of winning the game. The defense got some nice interceptions but missed tackles and coverage. The offense looked pretty solid for the most part and Leftwich made some pretty good passes. If the Bucs can get it together they could do better than I expect them to. Week three brings the red hot Giants and Eli to Raymond James Stadium though, we'll see how that goes.

Terrible Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

So it's one week into the NFL season and I really don't give a damn about it! I will admit it has something to do with my Magic being a top team in the NBA, but that doesn't mean I should neglect my Buccaneers in rebuilding mode.

I honestly didn't have high expectations for the Bucs. I mean who can blame me when you release Derrick Brooks (One of my favorite Buccaneers of all time) and then overthrow the coaching staff after last season's horrific ending. The Bucs have not seen a franchise Quarterback in years, which produced one Super Bowl victory at the least.

I didn't get a chance to see week one against Dallas, but from what I heard and saw was that Romo tore up the secondary while Leftwich was sub-par and the running game was the best part the Bucs had all game.

I'm not really giving up on my team, as I'll root for them all season long, but it's going to be a long season and one I really will dare myself to watch. I say the Bucs will win 5 games max, not being a sell-out but sometimes you've got to be real about your team.

As for my NFL predictions I'll have to get back on those soon!

GO BUCS :/

Jay-Z: Blueprint 3

HOV! He's back as the messiah of the Hip-Hop game. Nothing better than installing a 3rd (and FINAL?) edition to the Blueprint series. Now I'll be honest here, I didn't really dig this CD until about the 3rd-4th listen. I first felt the CD would be over hyped as people claimed Jay-Z would come as his classic top hit albums. I can't really say where this album is on the list of his overall productions but that's another discussion!

Production wise I loved "Empire State of Mind", "On to the Next One", "Hate" and "Already Home". Those songs caught on to me faster than others did. Lyrically Hov did it again, there is no question in that of course. I wasn't a big fan of D.O.A. really, I thought it was too much of a gimmick and something he wanted to sell records with. As I always say lead the way don't bitch about the game! Besides D.O.A. I can't really complain although I would of liked to hear Lupe Fiasco and Nas featured, and was surprised Drake got a feature (Although not a verse). The second single "Run this Town" sort of got me interested in hearing the album although I also took a while to get into the song.

"A Star is Born" is one hell of a song. I'm feeling Jay on this one all the way. Giving "shout-outs" to those successful in the rap game from their respective areas. "On to the Next One" had some dope lines from Jigga, and it's a bit similar to the next track "Off That".

Overall I'd give a solid 9/10 and it will probably recognized heavily through the next few months and year with different awards. Much love to Hov and his accomplishments, and I will never believe this guy will retire...

Kanye's Stunt and the Upcoming NBA Season!

Ok so this is a pretty big 'hot topic' that is even receiving comments from our very own President Obama. My views are solely based on the fact that MTV is crap, not Taylor Swift or Kanye West.

I really have no interest in any award show that MTV puts out there really. I mean did you see how some of these people come in dressed? I agree that artists and celebs should at least have an informal fun type of award show here and there but recently MTV has become worthless. That is just my feel on them.

So with that said I feel like Kanye WAS wrong for what he did but at the end of the day, the VMAs and controversy from past shows simply made this little incident another one for the books. It was overblown and a one day thing that probably didn't need to reach the President's office.

When it's all said and done: Taylor Swift is rich and has fans, Kanye West...the SAME! Do I feel for both of them? Not really but Ye is still one of my favorite artists.

NBA 40 DAYS AWAY! (From Sept. 17th, 2009)

Well last season was hella exciting for me. My Orlando Magic went through the whole Eastern Conference to only LOSE in the Finals :(

I'm counting down the days slowly, but I do have some predictions I'll share on this blog and see how I do later...so here we go:

1. Washington Wizards will be the 4th best team out East. I think they are serious this year and long over due. Especially with Arenas, Jamison, and Butler finally healthy once again they'll be hungry enough to lead this team. Their supporting cast is pretty decent and Coach Flip Saunders should be a big key to improving them this season.

2. REVISED: Since Tracy McGrady is expected to be 100% healthy by the Preseason start, the Rockets will make the playoffs but hold on to the 8th seed. All of the teams that made the playoffs in the West will make it again this year with different positions on the seeding.

3. Blake Griffin wins Rookie of the Year. Obvious, but I think he's got this one locked up pending injury. I saw his footwork, shooting touch and overall game and I was impressed. I don't think any rookie will come close to the numbers he puts up.

4. The race in the East from 5th seed and beyond is going to be a bit tough. The Raptors and Wizards will make the playoffs which means two teams from last year won't. I'm going with Detroit and Miami not making the playoffs. Detroit may struggle with a thin frontline and Miami will be the odd one left as Toronto takes their spot.

5. Trade deadline blockbuster: Amare Stoutamire is out if he doesn't produce like the Suns want him to.

That's all I have for now but as the season draws closer I will have more to discuss about the 2009-2010 NBA season. Again I can't wait!

Summer Movies 2009

Well I am back after a few months of not blogging. Honestly I haven't been too hyped to write, or maybe because all I've been doing is work, sleep, and watching movies with the NBA season on break. So anyways lets get to the point, I'm here to discuss my thoughts on the movies I did see this summer!

Terminator Salvation- This was probably the first movie I saw in theaters, and I didn't really think it was all that, I mean damn I remember the first set of Terminators with Arnold growing up. I wasn't into it really felt like I wasted money so I give it a 2 out 5 stars.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine- Well this movie was leaked of course, and without unfinished editing if you watched it on your computer. I thought it was pretty decent overall and the end left you kind of hanging, but I don't know the whole X-Men story. 3 out of 5

Up-Pretty good story here, it was more of a heart warming movie with a better storyline than half of these movies that come out today. I enjoyed it and it's a Pixar success. 4 out of 5

The Hangover- Hilarious! What more can I say? I haven't heard one person who saw this movie say they didn't like it. I was lucky enough to get access to a pre-screening for the movie the Tuesday before it came out. This is probably the best comedy of the summer and possibly the year. I enjoyed every moment and looking forward to this rumor of "The Hangover 2" 5 out of 5

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen-Over hyped! That's right, and lets face it the only reason most of the male population enjoyed this movie is because of Megan Fox. They made the whole movie the same concept as the first one and then made some complicated storyline to make it seem different. I can't believe the responses the first night from my peers really, Dark Knight was 10 times better and sold a shitload more but didn't get that opening response! I watched Dark Knight 3 times this summer and it's been a year, I won't be watching Transformers 2 more than once. 3 out of 5 (Megan Fox contributes to that)

Bruno-Let me say first off that I am straight, but this movie was hilarious, some of the gay stereotypes in this movie were just too damn funny. The thing about this movie is that 75% of it is in real life and not staged except for the character Bruno. If you have a sense of humor and not immature about seeing a gay be made fun of then go see it. 4 out of 5

Now...before I get to these last three, and I left them for the end on purpose. All 3 of them are Romantic Comedies that came out this summer. Ghosts of Past Girlfriends, The Proposal, and The Ugly Truth. All 3 of them had the same damn theme, and all 3 of them are so damn predictable!

Ghosts of Past Girlfriends-the lead male character played by Matthew McConaughey is a pimp and stud, pretty funny. Jennifer Garner played the lead female role who was the first and only love of the lead male's. She disliked him during the course of the movie, but guess what in the end? PREDICTABLE! 3 out of 5

The Proposal-The lead male character was played by Ryan Reynolds and he was more of a sophisticated guy, but his sarcastic jokes towards the female lead Sandra Bullock were funny, no lie. Not going to spoil the story line but he can't stand her and she needs him for a favor (she is his boss), but guess what in the end? PREDICTABLE! 3 out of 5

The Ugly Truth-Lead male role is played by Gerald Butler, now this guy is hilarious and the jokes are a bit more funny than in the other two movies. He's a local TV hit and his producer is none other than lead female role...Katherine Heigl. She DISLIKES him especially on her show, but guess what in the end? PREDICTABLE! 3 out of 5

Besides the Ghosts of Past Girlfriends, the lead female roles were attractive to me, the male roles in Ghosts and Ugly Truth were straight studs and deemed as assholes by ONE woman in the movie but loved by many others (although that would change), and they all three had a similar ending. I ask this, does this mean that women and men connect through in-differences? That's sure as hell the way it seems through these movies...

So the best movie I saw this Summer? Probably Hangover BUT I have not seen Harry Potter, Public Enemies or Funny People yet. I will update though, I have a feeling they could top Hangover.

The Secret to Success?

Ok, so I probably don't write as much unless I have something bothering me or I've seen something that has inspired me. Today I have an aspiration of some sort. In class today we watched this movie called "The Secret" and as my last blog was about following your dreams this transitions well into that subject. Before the video I can say that I've sort of believed in the concept of visioning the things you want in life will help you achieve them. However my general concept is that you have to work for it and not expect them to come right at you while you sit around waiting for it.

Law of Attraction:
For those of you who have never heard or seen the movie, it is based on a general concept of the "Law of Attraction". If you don't know what that means then check this out: Wiki's definition

Basically what you surround your thinking and everyday life with is how you will live and how the universe will respond to you. Maybe another analogy is you play how you practice. Do you think about your mistakes all the time and dwell upon them or do you move on and become better than you were before? It really has no religious promises or anti-religion practices at all but I think a religion involves these basic concepts too. I believe a lot of us today surround ourselves with negativity and focus on how bad we failed and what we cannot do. I highly disagree with that as I'm a person who likes to surround myself with positive things from my family, friends, and activities I take part in. What is the point of living life around negativity that only makes you feel less appreciated and pointless?

I can honestly say that I like to envision myself in a nice car, nice home, well paying job that I enjoy, with a beaufitul loving wife at home. I feel there is nothing wrong with that all, of course I can't predict the future nor can I make magic but I'd rather focus on what I want than what I don't want, so I won't even mention those. I'm only lost on one thing and thats how it happens, but according to "the secret" it will soon appear to you just keep visioning. So it's a crazy idea but maybe I'll try it out, I mean afterall I do sit back and imagine myself living real nice.

So lets put this to the test, I'm going to list somethings that I want in life. I will visit this blog daily or maybe every other day and look at this list of things. I really have no clue if this is too practical or just right under the secret.

Thousands...No, Millions of Dollars

I want to own a sexy looking black Ferrari


I want to own property like this


I want to own a Lexus IS

Too artificial so far?

A Better Job This Summer

The Woman of My Dreams


A Happy Family


Ok so these are things I think of everyday and I think more can come as time passes but I honestly have no clue who, what, how and where these things will happen but I'll be sure to update this along as it happens no matter how long it takes!