I love this game

For the first time in about 7 years I find myself really excited about the start of an NBA season. I don't know what it is. Maybe the Raptors finally having a good young team with a lot of depth has something to do with it. Maybe it is the East finally being pretty deep. I think Boston is good....but not great. Depth is gonna be a problem for them if one of the big 3 goes down but they'll coast to the playoffs. I see them running into some problems in the playoffs because of the lack of depth on the roster. I really do believe we are going to see a new team emerge in the West this year. Year after year the Spurs coast through the regular season giving Duncan his rest. I see them not getting home court this year and possibly running into a tough first round match up. With that in mind here are my predictions for this season.

Regular Season

1) Chicago
2) Toronto
3) Boston
4) Orlando
5) Cleveland
6) Detroit
7) New Jersey
8) Washington

1) Dallas
2) Phoenix
3) Denver
4) Houston
5) San Antonio
6) Utah
7) Golden State
8) New Orleans Hornets

Playoffs

First Round:

Chicago over Washington
Orlando over Cleveland
Toronto over New Jersey
Boston over Detroit

Dallas over New Orleans
Houston over San Antonio
Phoenix over Golden State
Denver over Utah

Second Round:

Chicago over Orlando
Toronto over Boston

Houston over Dallas
Phoenix over Denver

Conference Finals:

Toronto over Chicago

Houston over Phoenix

NBA Finals:

Houston over Toronto

What is your outlook on the 07-08 season?

Rutgers Football - Great for College Football

The year hasn't exactly gone as fans of RU football had hoped it would. The Thursday night win against Louisville last year has given a new mindset to college football fans in New Jersey. The win last night against South Florida was a much needed one. The team needed some credibility and last night provided that. As tough as losing to Maryland and Cincinnati was, last night we forgot about that. I have lived in New Jersey for 7 years and have never seen this kind of excitement for the Devils or Nets.....ever. Doesn't matter where you go in the area, New Jersey has Scarlet Fever.
A record crowd of 44,627 including among others David Wright, Michael Strahan, Jason Kidd (missed the Nets game because of an "injury") and Kevin James. ESPN at times tries too hard to make it seem like RU is New York's team. All you see on the broadcasts are the Empire State Building and the rest of the NYC skyline like it's just a couple of blocks from the stadium. The strategy is brilliant. As big as college football is one thing it has missed is a strong presence in the biggest media market of them all....New York City. Rutgers is the answer to that. Granted we need a couple more years of consistency to get to that level but this team is well on its way.
Schiano has done a good job spreading the "State of Rutgers" as he calls it. Reaching out into NYC and Philadelphia gives him another recruiting base and also builds the fanbase in those two cities. The fan base that exists already (including the bandwagon fans) has been phenomenal. The atmosphere in and out of the stadium is electric.