I’m going to come right out and say it. Hell, I did on Thursday night when Miami was getting out played by Boston. Not just out played. But out smarted, out toughed and out hustled too. I’m sick of this Miami experiment. 9 games in, and I’m really pissed off at this whole situation. I wish LeBron stayed in Cleveland. For those of you who know me, you know that saying that is a really tough pill for me to swallow. If you go back to July 8th, I couldn’t have been more excited that LeBron left Lake Erie and took his talents to South Beach. July 9th when Miami introduces the new Big Three to the home crowd, I was thinking about how fun it would be to get to go the victory parade every year after they won the championship. Now we come back to the present, November 11th, and I’m wishing I could have been there when LeBron asked, “What should I do?” Knowing what I know now, this is what I would have told him.
LeBron: What should I do?
Me: Well, if you are looking to make a big mistake, then Miami is your premier choice. Go for it Bron! You want no championships, take your talents to South Beach. You want people to hate you, then Welcome to Miami! I know Miami sounds great. You, D Wade, and Bosh. That’s 3 of the top 15 players. So you think… It turns out Chris Bosh is going to be less effective than Udonis Haslem. Trust me, Bosh is soft, and he WILL disappear in big games. Playing with D Wade could be fun. You guys will have some awesome fast breaks against crappy teams and make a few Sport Center Top 10’s. That isn’t what it is going to be like though. How do you feel about standing in the corner and watching Wade go to work? Sounds like a riot doesn’t it? And then get this, when you feel like taking a turn, he’ll stand in the corner for you. What a teammate! Speaking of teammates, you have Eddie House, Joel Anthony, Carlos Arroyo and James Jones logging big minutes for your squad. Think they would get any minutes for the Lakers, Celtics or Magic? Probably not. They might not get big minutes for the team you should be playing on… the Cleveland Cavaliers. Remember, the team you promised a championship to. And for the last three years when you didn’t bring them one, they still backed you up. They were the best home court advantage in the NBA in quite some time. One hundred times better than the Miami crowd will be. They absolutely loved you. When people called you Queen James, LeChoke and a quitter they still chanted MVP for you. They still rose to their feet and yelled every time you threw the powder into the air. The Cavaliers held Cleveland together. The Heat are a small part of Miami. LeBron, you meant everything to Cleveland. And whether you want to admit it or not, the Cavaliers are your best chance to win a title. The way you play together with those guys, the fun you have, and the way they look up to you. That all goes down the drain if you go to Miami. What I liked the most about the way you played was how much fun you had. All of that fun will disappear. You are going to be an angry and hurt man. Right now you are asking, “What should I do?” If you go to Miami, you will be soon asking yourself “What did I do?” Stay in Cleveland LeBron. Win a title there, and write your name in history as the best ever.
It’s that simple.
Now that I got the angry stuff out of the way, I want to touch on what has transpired in the NFL in the last two weeks. Two weeks ago I did my first NFL power rankings. Well, keeping with the theme of unpredictability, a lot has changed since then. Pittsburgh was number one back then, and that weekend they got beat by New Orleans. The Jets were two, and they lost to the Packers. New England was three, and they got beat by Cleveland (Hey, smile Cleveland!) The moral of the story is that whatever you expect is going to happen, probably isn’t going to happen. Whatever you think is real, isn’t real. In a way, I’m not too upset with my last power rankings though. I don’t have a good track record picking NFL. I was hoping not to bring this up, but I unfortunately picked the Cowboys to go to the Super Bowl this year (gulp). But I’m asking for a redo. Well, really I’m just giving myself a redo. No one can tell me I can’t, considering this is my column on my blog. Here are my new and hopefully improved NFL playoff picks.
Wildcard Round
3. Indianapolis Colts over 6. Tennessee Titans
5. New England Patriots over 4. Kansas City Chiefs
3. Green Bay Packers over 6. New Orleans Saints
5. Philadelphia Eagles over 4. Crappy NFC West Team with an 8-8 record (Arizona for arguments sake)
Divisional Round
1. Pittsburgh Steelers over 5. New England Patriots
2. New York Jets over 3. Indianapolis Colts
1. Atlanta Falcons over 5. Philadelphia Eagles
2. New York Giants over 3. Green Bay Packers
Conference Championship
1. Pittsburgh Steelers over 2. New York Jets
1. Atlanta Falcons over 2. New York Giants
Super Bowl
Pittsburgh Steelers over Atlanta Falcons
It was my Super Bowl matchup last year. What I forgot to mention last year was I was picking for this year. My bad to everyone I told this to, but didn’t elaborate.
Before I get to my picks, I want to let everyone know what my next week’s topic will be about. Last year before the NCAA tournament, I told quite a few people that whoever won the tournament would be my official favorite college basketball team. Well Duke won, and I rescinded my statement. The same stakes are alive this year. Next week I’m going to cover my Elite Eight choices of teams I would love to be a fan of. Plus I will be making my official NCAA Basketball picks. Until next week, here are my football picks.
College Football
Ole Miss over Tennessee
Kansas State over Missouri
Oklahoma over Texas Tech
Virginia Tech over North Carolina
Baylor over Texas A&M
Alabama over Mississippi State
Florida over South Carolina
Oregon over California
Arizona over USC
Florida State over Clemson
NFL
Atlanta over Baltimore (Yeah that’s right, I picked Atlanta)
Detroit over Buffalo
Minnesota over Chicago
New York Jets over Cleveland
Tampa Bay over Carolina
Houston over Jacksonville
Indianapolis over Cincinnati
Tennessee over Miami
Kansas City over Denver
New York Giants over Dallas
Arizona over Seattle
San Francisco over St. Louis
Pittsburgh over New England
Philadelphia over Washington
Current Records
College Football- 44-26 (5-5 last week)
NFL- 63-39 (10-3 last week)
Yahoo! College Football Picks- 105-88 (10-10 last week, 1,614 in the country)
