March Madness

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When your calendar reads March 15, people across the nation will be focused on one thing, March Madness and filling out numerous brackets. They will start to pull out their hair as they try to figure out if which teams are going to make it to the Final Four that Key Strategies for a Successful 2009 March Madness Bracket will be played in Detroit. The following things have helped provide me with moderate success past NCAA tournaments and they could prove to be useful with your March Madness brackets.

The Regular Season Can Be Overrated. When it comes to the polls, it is nice for a team to be ranked as one of the best 25 teams in the nation, but by no means is it a solid indicator of where a team truly stands. Te perfect example is LaSalle, who entered the tournament with a 29 - 1 record in 1990 and lost in the second round of the tournament to Clemson. The same goes for those less than stellar teams who gain entry to March Madness by winning their conference tournaments. In 2008, the tournament had their first 20 loss team in the field of 65 when Coppin State earned an automatic bid for winning the MEAC conference tournament.

The First Round is Susceptible to Upsets.

Remember, a # 16 seed has never beaten a # 1 seed since the field was expanded to 64 teams. Do not be the one person in your pool to rest your hopes on College of Charleston being able to upset the University of Connecticut. When it comes to the #15 seed, teams have had very little success as well. Only 4 teams have been able to knock off the # 2 seed in the first round of the tournament.

But by no means does this mean you should ignore lower ranked teams because they are plenty of upsets in the tournament. The lower ranked teams that have the most success in the first round of March Madness have been the #10 through # 12 seeds. On average the lower ranked team has been able to earn a victory against a higher seeded team 35 percent of the time. The chance for an upset continues to decrease as the teams move deeper into the tournament. Remember this when you are filling out the later rounds of your bracket.

Foresight is Key to Success
When it comes to having a successful run with your bracket, it is important to remember to look beyond the excitement of the first round. You need to take a look at what teams you have advancing and what kind of history they have against their potential opponents. If you see a favorable path for a particular team that will help them reach the Elite Eight, by all means select them, no matter what seed they are. Every year there are bracket busters or teams who cause havoc with the field during March Madness. Last year was the first time in the history of the tournament, all four # 1 seeds made it to the Final Four of March Madness. Do not expect the same thing to happen in 2009.

Cinderella Stories Are Meant for Bedtime

Every year college basketball fans are treated to a team that seemingly comes out of nowhere in the tournament and advances to the Sweet Sixteen, sometimes even further. The most recent Cinderella team was in 2008 when Davidson College was able to make it to the Elite Eight before losing a 2 point game to eventual tournament champion, Kansas. That is the beauty of March Madness. The problem is they rarely have any success in the final rounds of the tournament. The last time this happened was in 1985 when Villanova won the championship as a # 8 seed. Three years later, Kansas won the championship as a # 6 seed.


Otherwise every other national championship has been at least a # 4 seed in the brackets.

Keep It Simple Stupid

There is something to be said for simplicity when it comes to filling out your brackets. It is very disheartening to find out the hours and hours you spent researching the field of 64 was all for nothing after the top four teams in your bracket are knocked out in the first round. There have been several times where my most successful March Madness bracket was the one I completed at the last minute and used a coin to help make my decisions.

Remember, March Madness is something to be enjoyed and nothing that should cause you to lose sleep over.

About Steroids

Most people's opinions on steroids are usually negative. I can see why due to so much of it being brought up in the sports world. For example you have Barry Bonds in baseball. The greatest home run hitter ever. It was never proven that he did steroids yet but if you look at what his body looked like back in 1986 when he was a rookie and today you can only wonder what he was taking. This suspicion that will haunt him forever may keep him out of the hall of fame now due to steroids being illegal to take in major league baseball.
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Mark McGwire, another awesome home run hitter is also under suspicion and may keep him out of the hall of fame as well.It is sad that these players had to possibly go to steroids to succeed in thier sport. Now what does steroids do to you or what do people think it does to you? Well people say it causes liver damage, cardiovascular dysfunction and mental disorders on so on. There has not been any recognized medical or scientific person or group that has actually come out and stated that steroids are indeed as dangerous as the media has made them out to be. Why? Because no one is actually willing to go against the grain. Many people today have negative opinions on steroids, particularly government and sports officials, that to dispense truthful opinions on steroids is to encourage scrutiny or stigma from these people. That being the case you can expect that the mostly negative opinions on steroids will persist for quite a while.
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My opinion is that this is one of the worst things that you can put in your body. I say this because the is not supposed to get injected into your body period. In some cases I can see it being used for medical reason and I think that it is used in the medical field,but to use steroids to get an edge in sports in my opinion is just plain wrong and the people who use it for this reason should be ashamed of themselves and I think later in life these people who have been taking steroids are going to be sorry because I think their bodies are going to break down and they will have serious health problems that they will be sorry for. I remember a football player called Lyle Alzado from the 1970's he played on the Oakland Raiders football team and he was a great player but it was found out that he had been using steroids for a long period of time and he eventually died at a young age. People say it was from the steroid use and that is what I thought as well and that was sad.

In conclusion I think I have made valid point on what steroids can do. People will still continue to use it to get an edge no matter what. Some people just never learn.

2009 NFL Player Trades

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The 2009 NFL season is off to a roaring start with lots of player moves in the early offseason. As soon as free agency officially began so did some interesting NFL player signings and trades. Some big names like Julius Peppers, Ray Lewis and T.J. Houshmandzadeh are still with their old teams for now. Please read on to see more on 2009 NFL trades and free agent signings.

The Broncos quietly were trying to shop their quarterback Jay Cutler or he thinks they are at least, according to the Denver Post's Mike Klis. The article says in part that Cutler thinks he was to be traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their first round draft pick. That pick would have then been traded to the New England Patriots for quarterback Matt Cassel. That was made moot when the Patriots traded Cassel to the Kansas City Chiefs.

 

Jay Cutler is a very outspoken player and has been in several heated discussions on and off the field with opponents in the past. He is not taking this trade issue lightly and it will take months to unruffled his feathers.
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Cutler is still a young and I think talented quarterback and I think Denver can win with him at the position. Now that Cassel is out of the running, Denver will probably stick with Cutler. Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel have been traded to the Kansas City Chiefs, for more on that read this article.

The Dallas Cowboys have signed former Atlanta Falcon linebacker Keith Brooking to a contract. I guess they have already forgotten an old slow white linebacker named Thomas. In another move the Dallas Cowboys traded cornerback Anthony Henry to the Detroit Lions for quarterback John Kitna.

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The Cowboys had been interested in Kitna last season to be Tony Romo's backup, but Kitna was injured. The Lions had recently tried to trade for cornerback Ken Lucas from the Carolina Panthers. Lucas nixed the trade despite the fact that he will be released and make less money as a free agent.Former Arizona Cardinal defensive end Antonio Smith has signed with the Houston Texans. This will probably put to rest the rumors of Houston trying to trade for Julius Peppers who wants out of Carolina and has a home in Houston Texas.

 

The Jets under new head coach Rex Ryan are moving and shaking early in the 2009 NFL offseason.
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They apparently made an attempt to sign Baltimore Raven linebacker Ray Lewis who wanted too much coin. Then they got former Raven linebacker Bart Scott. Ryan was the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens before getting the Jets job. The Jets also made a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for disgruntled cornerback Lito Sheppard and signed him to a contract extension. The Eagles have also added former Cincinnati Bengals franchise tagged guard Stacey Andrews. They had been rumored to be interested in Panther tackle Jordan Gross who resigned with Carolina.

That concludes this article about 2009 NFL free agent signings and player trades. Please check my profile for more articles about the sport we all love, the National Football League.

2009 NFL Mock Draft II

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The 2009 NFL Draft will be held April 25th and 26th in New York City. Detroit, you're on the clock...

1. Detroit Lions: Eugene Monroe, OT, Virginia
Look for the Lions to go with the safe pick here in Eugene Monroe and possibly deal their other first round pick (No. 20 overall) for a more experienced quarterback, Anderson or Cassel possibly. Monroe is as close to a sure thing with his great athletic ability and size. Monroe moves to the number one spot after Andre Smith turned teams off with his antics at the combine.

2. St. Louis Rams: Jason Smith, OT, Baylor
The Rams need help protecting QB Marc Bulger. Smith has a lot of upside with his great athletic ability. He started his career at Baylor as a tight end, but has shown incredible blocking skills since moving to OT. The possibilities with this guy are endless.

3. Kansas City Chiefs: Matthew Stafford, QB, Georgia
The Chiefs would be ecstatic for Stafford to fall to them. He has great arm strength and has started in the toughest conference in college football for 3 years.

4. Seattle Seahawks: Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech
Seattle is in desperate need of a WR and Crabtree is far and above the best in the 2009 class. Even with his recent surgery for a stress fracture in his foot, he'll be fine come training camp.

5. Cleveland Browns: Aaron Curry, OLB, Wake Forest
This versatile LB will fit in great in the Brown's 3-4 defense. He can rush the passer as well as fall back into coverage.

6. Cincinnati Bengals: Michael Oher, OT, Ole Miss
I like the Bengals to go safe here with OT Oher. They need a sure thing and with Andre Smith moving down in the draft Oher is the best available OT on the board. They should also be looking into drafting Florida State DE/OLB if they choose to go defense.

7. Oakland Raiders: Jeremy Maclin, WR, Missouri
Maclin is a flat out game-breaker. He'll provide incredible kick/punt return ability and give young QB Russell some help in the passing game.

8. Jacksonville Jaguars: Everette Brown, DE/OLB, Florida State
With the top OTs off the board look for the Jaguars to sure up their already physical defense. Brown is an explosive defender off the edge and can put pressure on the QB as well as help shut down the running game.

9. Green Bay Packers: Malcolm Jenkins, CB, Ohio State
Look for the Packers to snatch the top DB in the draft here with the 9th overall pick. Jenkins can be a shut-down corner as well as move to safety if the Packers need him to. He is a reliable tackler and can help with the Packer's poor run defense.

10. San Francisco 49ers: Andre Smith, OT, Alabama
Andre Smith is the most skilled and NFL ready OT in the draft. He clearly has some issues that need to be worked on, but with the no bull attitude of the 49ers coaching staff they should get that taken care of. San Francisco would like to take QB Mark Sanchez with this pick, but they cannot afford another first round QB bust.

11. Buffalo Bills: Brandon Pettigrew, TE, Oklahoma St.
The clear top TE in the Draft, Pettigrew will help balance out the inconsistent offense of the bills. Pettigrew was not very impressive at the NFL combine; however, he is still the best offensive player in the draft at this point and should translate well into the Bills offensive system.

12. Denver Broncos: B.J. Raji, DT, Boston College
With serious defensive issues, the Broncos must go defense with their first pick and Raji is the best available at this point. Denver would love if Raji fell this far to them. He was very impressive at this year's NFL combine.

13. Washington Redskins: Brian Orakpo, DE, Texas
A possible replacement for the aging Taylor, look for the Redskins to go defense here. Orakpo is an absolute beast and the Redskins should swap him up in a second if he's still available for the 13th overall pick.

14. New Orleans Saints: Vontae Davis, CB, Illinois
A very athletic DB with a nose for the ball, Davis will instantly improve the Saints poor secondary.

15. Houston Texans: Aaron Maybin, DE/OLB, Penn St
Perhaps a steal at this point in the draft, Maybin is as close to a can't miss at this point.

16. San Diego Chargers: Rey Maualuga, ILB, USC
I expect the Chargers to get RB Tomlinson resigned and with the franchising of Sproles, look for them to go with the top ILB in the draft in Maualuga.

17. New York Jets: Mark Sanchez, QB, USC
With his lack of experience in college I think Sanchez will fall to the Jets and they will be happy to snatch him up after QB Favre's retirement, for now.

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18. Chicago Bears: Eben Britton, OT, Arizona
Another possible steal in the draft, Britton is a nice athletic OT for the Bears.

19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Knowshon Moreno, RB, Georgia
Moreno is a quick versatile RB that can hit the hole hard as well as come out of the backfield for some big receptions. Chris "Beanie" Wells actually had a much better combine than Moreno, but I feel that Moreno is the better fit for the Bucs offense.

20. Detroit Lions: Michael Johnson, DE, Georgia Tech
The Lions must sure up their defensive line and Johnson is a great pick here with a lot of upside.

21. Philadelphia Eagles: Chris Wells, RB, Ohio State
The Eagles need a power RB to go with Westbrook and Wells is just that with a great stiff arm and great speed and footwork for a man his size. Wells looked great at the combine and showed that he will one day be the Eagles number one running back.

22. Minnesota Vikings: Percy Harvin, WR, Florida
With the thought process being that the Vikings will go after QB Jeff Garcia, I think they will look to give him a weapon to work with. Harvin is a speed-demon that can be moved all around the field and score any time he touches the ball.

23. New England Patriots: James Laurinaitis, ILB, Ohio State
The Patriots love drafting skilled defensive players and if Laurinaitis falls to them they will surely grab him in a heartbeat.

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24. Atlanta Falcons: William Beatty, OT, Connecticut
The Falcons have a tough choice with the 24th pick, but I think they'll go OT to help protect franchise QB Matt Ryan for years to come instead of opting for a DB.

25. Miami Dolphins: Sean Smith, S/CB, Utah
I think the Dolphins will trust QB Chad Pennington for a couple more years and opt to get a versatile DB with this pick.

26. Baltimore Ravens: Brian Cushing, OLB, USC
The Ravens will be unable to resign all their LBs this offseason so I look for them to go with Cushing here. He has great movement and can get after the QB.

27. Indianapolis Colts: D.J. Moore, CB Vanderbilt
With no good offensive player at this spot in the draft the Colts should sure up their secondary with an exciting player in Moore.

28. Philadelphia Eagles: Clay Matthew, OLB, USC
Again no offensive player to take here, the Eagles will want to add youth and more speed to their defensive attack.

29. New York Giants: Max Unger, Offensive Line, Oregon
Unger is a very versatile lineman who can play any position on the line. This is a nice safe pick for the Giants who have no serious weakness.

30. Tennessee Titans: Peria Jerry, DT, Ole Miss
With Pro Bowl DT Albert Haynesworth all but on his way out of Tennessee, the Titans will need a replacement and Jerry looks to be a good fit right away.

31. Arizona Cardinals: Alex Mack, C, California
Note that this is the choice if and only if the Cardinals can get Dansby, Berry, and Warner to return. If not they will go with OLB/DE Larry English or QB Josh Freeman. Mack can play either center or guard and is a good fit to protect Warner if he returns.

32. Pittsburgh Steelers: Larry English, OLB/DE, Northern Illinois
The Pittsburgh Steelers showed us last year that defense wins championships and once again they'll draft defense here. English will strive in their system as he can move all around the field and is very versatile.

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