LeBron in the Twitter Universe

In case you've been under a log, PHSports is on Twitter.
Worry not, we're not in it for followers (clearly). Instead, it's a place to rant and rave and react to this ever-expanding medium.

Of course, the LeBron story (now somehow titled, "The Decision") has officially trumped anything else in the sporting world as of late.

Peak-a-boo! I'm going to...Miami. To dilute my brand and always be #2 in Wade County.
Credit: DrewLiftTV

Here are a few twitter highlights (aka "top tweets) you may have missed in the last 24 hours...

The Tweet That May Have Said it ALL:
Chris_Broussard Sources with knowledge of the situation indeed saying LeBron will join Wade and Bosh in Miami, barring a late change of heart

Funniest Tweet:
WaterWarren BREAKING NEWS! #Apple is releasing a special edition Lebron James iPhone. Problem is, it only vibrates b/c it doesn't have a RING.

More Desperate for Attention that even Tweeting can HELP:
chrisbosh Good morning. Waking up to more speculation. This makes tonight's show more interesting.

Seeking More and More Attention Tweet:
KingJames Good Morning! It's your chance to ask me a question about my decision, use #lebrondecision to submit and I'll answer them tonight.

Sense from the Seemingly Senseless Tweets:
OGOchoCinco I dont even know why the **** i am talking i dont have no d@mn rings myself,i am doing the best i can with the cards i was dealt #BENGALS

OGOchoCinco nickname is #KingJames, Kings lead with the help of an army (supporting cast on team) a lead dog doesn't join supastars to make it easy

OGOchoCinco Kobe-Magic-Jordan-Bird all created legacies on their own teams, they didn't join together to make winning a ring easy #Lebronwilldodasame

Average New York Fans Giving Up Tweets:
BrandonTierney when LBJ says "Miami" tonight, I will officially pray for a lifetime of 4th Q "back-rims" and "short" for the duration of his playoff life

NYSportzNut @KingJames if you sign with Miami tonight - you will forever become Scottie Pippen to Dwayne Wade's Jordan. Your (cont) http://tl.gd/2ci1bb

AnthonyMSG Can't he find a Boys and Girls club in Florida!

Brnyd15 @AnthonyMSG Lebron to Miami I guess. If true, I want us to be the 8th seed and them the #1 in the playoffs. The irony....

New Yorkers trying to Hold On:
knicksbuzztap Bleacher Report >> The King James Saga: Believe None Of What You See; Half Of What You Hear http://buzztap.com/-7APLbU

AnthonyMSG If LeBron comes into our backyard and says he's going to play For The Heat!!!!! Come on!!!

Living on a 3am Prayer Tweet:
jadande Part of me thinks LeBron's camp is just floating this Miami thing to gauge the reaction. And what I've seen has not been positive.

Ramblings of an Idiot Tweets:

PHSports Peak-a-boo. http://tiny.cc/lbjcry I'm going to...Miami. To dilute my brand and always be #2 in Miami-Wade County. Call him Prince Harry. #2.

PHSports @AnthonyMSG His "circle" hadn't let anything slip - to this degree potentially - until now. So why now? Seems somewhat likely it's a decoy. 10 minutes ago via web
PHSports @AnthonyMSG I guess the "hope" in Cleveland and NYC is that LeBron had one of his inner circle put out the Miami rumor to distract people.

Daily Tweet

Don't worry, we won't be announcing ever little "tweet" our new PHSports Twitter site will have.

http://twitter.com/PHSports

However, as the site's first foray into the newest form of online interaction takes foot, we (the royal we, meaning "I") believe it's a good idea to get as many people involved as possible, via posts directly on the blog...for the first week or two, at least, to our (hopefully) daily tweets.

Pay's most recent 2-round NBA mock draft can be found HERE, mine (1-round) HERE, and now we play the waiting game for Pay's latest entry. I'll return this weekend as well, likely with another 1-rounder (as of now). As for next week, you'll just have to wait and see (tribe). I doubt anyone just got that last Scrubs reference. Pay? Any chance?

http://twitter.com/PHSports

Today's topic...


Interested who's in and who's out. Thanks!

Comments welcome and encouraged!!!

Clement's Weekly Picks and Prognostications...Week 1

If you're in a haze from the plethora of football posts you've seen here as of late...check out Pay's latest work (posted yesterday).

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Well look who’s back!

I’d love to pretend you’ve missed these weekly NFL picks and fantasy “insights”; however, I’m far from that gullible.

Instead of buttering you up to start of this first-of-the-season post, I’m getting down to the nitty gritty just as quickly as I can.

Take that 5,000 word posts!

Only the late, great Hunter S. Thompson can ramble like ME!

Credit: Sam Seder Show

NFL Picks: [0-0-0] Wipe the slate clean!!!
…all spreads are courtesy of Yahoo! Sports...

Seattle @ Buffalo (-1)
If this game were in Seattle, I gotta think the spread might be up to 5.5 in their favor. While Buffalo has a healthy Marshawn Lynch and has tried to revamp the lines, Seattle’s offense seems a total unknown with Julius Jones and Nate Burleson the only skill players I recognize right now. Even so, this will be a big road win for the NFC and one of its favorites, the Hawks.

Dallas @ Cleveland (+5.5)
I don’t buy Cleveland winning a weak NFC North. I do buy Dallas winning their first playoff game in forever (96?) and then LOSING before the Super Bowl again. Maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself though. Dallas covers this...easier than you think. I hope K2 doesn’t break his leg like he did in their last meeting.

Tampa Bay @ New Orleans (-3)
Normally most “experts” don’t touch tricky divisional openers with a pesky spread. Not me! I’m calling a PUSH (lame!), which means the ‘Aints win a pivotal Week 1 divisional game behind the leg of their kicker (whomever that is).

Saints fans are all but desperate for Bush to return to his high-flying antics of his rookie season.

Credit:NFL.com

Carolina @ San Diego (-9)
A certain staff writer loves him some Panthers, although I gotta believe he had this as one of their four losses. I’m on board too (at least on that accord); however, don’t forget how effective a healthy Jake Delhomme can be. Whoops, Steve Smith is still suspended. Chargers in a romp, in what might be Merriman’s only game of 2008.

***Upset Special***
Minnesota @ Green Bay (-2.5)
While I highly doubt Tarvaris Jackson cares the Vikes wanted Favre on their side for this matchup, I do favor the Cheeseheads in this emotional opener, I think. In the end, after flipping a coin and losing it somewhere on my office floor, I’m deciding to stick by the team with a healthy Adrian Peterson (but for how long Pay?). Take the Vikes outright for the MNF upset. Oh yeah, avoid the other MNF stinker too.


3 Must Starts and Must Sits

…START…
1) Donte Stallworth burned the Big D secondary last season up the middle for a big-time TD…and he’ll do it again this season (albeit in a different uniform). Betting against Cowboys FS Roy Williams is a wise move in fantasy football.
2) Dwayne Bowe might pile up 100+-garbage yards or more when his team is down forty to the Patsies, especially sans Assante Samuel this season.
3) Matt Ryan might not be the worst start in a 2 starting-QB league (who doesn’t do this yet?). The rookie played in a smart system at BC and has the right type of opponent for me to smell a potential “ugly” shootout.

Ummmm...yeah.

Credit: Yahoo! Sports

…SIT…

1) Larry Johnson is too high of a pick for most to risk sitting (even against the Patriots). As for his counterpart Laurence Maroney, search for better options. Brady wants to prove that (whichever) foot is just fine and Belicheat knows how lethal Touchdown Tom is inside the 10…or anywhere for that matter.
2) I’m not buying the pre-season hype for Calvin Johnson to supplant Roy Williams in Detroit as their go-to-guy. I foresee a quiet afternoon for CJ. TD-less for sure. Prove me wrong Calvin.
3) Owen Daniels and Tony Scheffler are flash in the pan picks in fantasy at tight end. I don’t like either of them until they start producing more often than once every 6 weeks.

2 Guys to WATCH Intently

Kevin Smith may be the new (RB) man in Detroit…for now; yet, I’m wondering if Coach Marinelli might become a little too infatuated with (the slow and rusted) recently acquired Rudi Johnson. While Detroit is unlikely to make any significant noise in the standings, it’s two backs (sorry Tatum) may have a fantasy word or two worth checking in on early on.

Introducing...the Tatum Bell collection.

Credit: Travel Now

Trying to be as productive as possible…so I cut out all the useless jibber-jabber.
Well, some of it.
You happy?

Enjoy opening weekend, NFL and fantasy-wise.

Hopefully neither of your teams are out of it after this week.
(Gulp)

Until next time…

2008 Season NFL Predictions

Last year I began what I hoped would become an annual tradition. Making my NFL regular season and playoff predictions by going through and picking a winner in each of the 256 games played during the regular season. Following that, I determine which teams make the playoffs by handling all tie-breakers according to NFL rules. And unlike many other "professional" sports writers, I held myself accountable before the next season, taking myself to task when I f'd up, and patting myself on the back for the few correct things (like picking the Chiefs to go 4-12).

Without further ado, here are my predictions for the 2008-2009 NFL Season, berate them as you must:

NFC
NFC East *Dallas 13-3 **Philadelphia 10-6 NY Giants 8-8 Washington 6-10 Dallas is clearly the class of this division. The high powered offense plus the mean defense means another dominant season for Jerry Jones’ squad. Meanwhile, the Iggles should be back behind D-McNabb and Westbrook. The Giants defense is too banged up to be able to drag the offense into the playoffs again. And the Redskins will have growing pains under first year coach Jim Zorn.	NFC North *Minnesota 12-4 Green Bay 8-8 Chicago 5-11 Detroit 4-12 Minnesota should do very well this season, despite having Tarvaris Jackson at the helm. But if he plays the “Trent Dilfer” role, then the Vikes will be atop the Norris division again. Green Bay will perform decently as Aaron Rodgers gets used to leading the team, but they’ll be better next year. Chicago is slightly less abysmal with Orton at QB. Detroit … well, Matt Millen will somehow avoid being fired.
NFC South *Carolina 11-5 **New Orleans 10-6 Tampa Bay 7-9 Atlanta 4-12 Carolina will work out some early season kinks and Delhomme will find his touch just in time to guide the Panthers well. The Saints will also be back in the mix of things with their high-powered offense and average defense. Tampa will try a few different QBs and stumble their way through a sub-par season. Atlanta may finish with the same record as last year, but they’ll be a stronger team as Matt Ryan gets his NFL education.	NFC West *Seattle 12-4 San Francisco 6-10 Arizona 6-10 St. Louis 5-11 A piss poor division to say the least. Seattle is a solid team surrounded by mediocrity. The Hawks will follow their defense and a running back by committee routine to the top of the division. San Fran will have a steady hand in J.T. O’Sullivan, but will have enough troubles to avoid achieving success. The Cardinals are still mired in their QB controversy, and I don’t see it going away. The Rams … well, they need an overhaul at WR and QB.
Tie breaker note: MIN gets the 2-seed due to a better in-conference record than SEA; NO gets the 5-seed by virtue of a better won-lost-tied percentage than PHI in common games.
AFC
AFC East *New England 13-3 NY Jets 9-7 Buffalo 5-11 Miami 5-11 The Pats will not finish undefeated again, an aging defense will stop that from happening. However, they’re still atop the AFC and will dominate the East. The Jets will bounce back from the garbage they fed their fans last year, but the vanilla offense led by Favre will be figured out by teams as the season goes on. Buffalo and Miami are both better than their records suggest, but each still has some bugs to work out before they can crack an 8-8 season.	AFC North *Pittsburgh 10-6 Cleveland 8-8 Cincinnati 5-11 Baltimore 4-12 Pittsburgh wins this division, almost by default. Even with a diminished offensive line, they should win out here. Cleveland isn’t as bad as their 8-8 finish, but they won’t be in contention for the playoffs this year. Anderson’s magical ride will start to turn sour and we’ll see the rise of Brady Quinn. Cincy may or may not have Chad Ocho Cinco, depending on his torn labrum, but even with him, the defense is too weak to have much success in the AFC. The Ravens are too green on the offense and too old on the defense.
AFC South *Indianapolis 12-4 **Jacksonville 11-5 Tennessee 9-7 Houston 7-9 The Colts have a nice strangle-hold on the South … even though they’re in the Midwest. Peyton has plenty of targets, and he’ll make use of all of them. The Jaguars like what they have on the offense, and Matt Jones may finally emerge as a solid receiver. The Titans need Vince Young to learn to throw the ball before they become a truly serious threat. Houston will need to solve its running back quartet before they can truly expect to compete for a playoff spot in the AFC.	AFC West *San Diego 13-3 **Denver 11-5 Oakland 4-12 Kansas City 3-13 Norv Turner may just have a heart attack. Poor guy isn’t used to this success thing, but when L.T. leads your team, it’s hard not to find it. I expect Denver to have a solid season with Jay Cutler having his diabetes under control and finding rhythm with both Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler. Oakland’s record is tied to the health of Darren McFadden and the use of outlet receivers by JaMarcus Russell. Kansas City is just bad. Barring a return to glory by L.J., they’ll be worse than last year.
Tie breaker note: NE gets the 1 seed by virtue of a head-to-head win over SD. JAC gets the 5-seed due to a head-to-head win over DEN.

Wildcard Playoffs (winner in Italics)

Philadelphia at Seattle – Seattle has had an awesome home advantage in the playoffs in recent history. That continues against the more talented Philly team.

New Orleans at Carolina – Carolina let the Saints win the regular season finale since that really wouldn’t affect their playoff stance. However, the real Carolina team shows up this time.

Denver at Indianapolis – Cutler performs remarkably throughout the season, and gives Peyton a run for his money in this match-up. Ultimately, however, the Colts are a far more complete team than the Broncos.

Jacksonville at Pittsburgh – Garrard and MoJoDro lead the way as the Steelers don’t even put up a real fight.

Divisional Playoffs

Carolina at Dallas – Another year, another playoff disappointment for Tony Romo. Marion Barber, III plays his heart out, but in the end it’ll be the two-headed rushing attack of Carolina that’ll leave T.O. in tears again.

Seattle at Minnesota – Seattle’s defensive line will put way too much pressure on Tarvaris Jackson to allow the mediocre QB to do anything other than hand the ball off. The lack of a passing game will be enough to allow Seattle to squeak by the Vikes.

Jacksonville at New England – Wow. This AFC Divisional round looks kinda similar, no? The result of this portion will look similar as well, with Tom Brady looking picture perfect in a nail-biter against the talented Jags.

Indianapolis at San Diego – This half of the AFC Divisional round, however, won’t be a repeat. Indy romps the Bolts in San Diego, setting up football’s equivalent of Nadal vs. Federer in the AFC Championship game.

Conference Finals

Seattle at Carolina – The Panthers return to the Super Bowl, this time following the lead of Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams. Delhomme likes having more than one option at WR, and guides his team past a stingy Seattle defense.

Indianapolis at New England – Tom Brady has one thing on his mind … another Super Bowl ring. Joe Cool, Jr. is up to the task and directs his less talented team to a nice victory in the frigid Massachusetts weather.

Super Bowl

Carolina vs. New England – I don’t like predicting repeats of recent Super Bowls (especially if there’s no chance of a repeated wardrobe malfunction), but I guess I’m really high on the Panthers this season. On paper, the Panthers should win this one with their strong offense against the aging Pats defense. But that won’t happen. New England makes up for it’s crappy play in the last Super Bowl and wins this one 24-20.

2007 NFL Predictions: Review/Analysis

Last summer, I made my preseason predictions for every NFL team’s final record, the playoff teams and the Super Bowl. Y’all stuck with me as I made three sets of picks: before the draft, after the draft (and once free agency cooled down) and finally just before the start of the regular season. This year, there are just going to be two posts. This post, in which I’ll berate and applaud my 2007 picks (where appropriate), and a post devoted to my 2008 picks, due sometime before September 4.

Just as a reminder, I made these picks by printing out the 2007 NFL regular season schedule and selecting the winner of each of the 256 games. Tiebreakers for playoff spots and seedings were determined based on those selections per the NFL guidelines. No HGH or steroids were taken in making these picks.

NFC
NFC East *Philadelphia 11-5 **Dallas 10-6 Washington 8-8 NY Giants 4-12 Considering that all teams finished 8-8 or higher in this division, I didn’t do so bad … with the exception of the G-Men. Yeah, sorry, screwed the pooch on that one! Who knew that Eli would grow a pair and score the biggest upset in Super Bowl history? I still think I get some minor props for only being 1-game off on the ‘Skins record when peeps mocked me for it.	NFC North *Chicago 13-3 Green Bay 9-7 Detroit 5-11 Minnesota 2-14 Here’s where I should’ve told y’all off and stuck to my 11-5 record for the Pack (from my 1st set of picks). Instead I paid some attention to the bashing by some “anonymous” poster who bashed the number of wins I had for them. And why the hell did I drink the Chicago kool-aid? Did I really trust Grossman/Benson? And, yes Vikes fans … my bad.
NFC South *New Orleans 11-5 Carolina 9-7 Tampa Bay 5-11 Atlanta 4-12 I got the Falcons record dead-on (pat on back). Everything else was pretty crappy. I thought the loss of Simeon Rice would have affected the Bucs negatively … guess I was wrong. Though, I still wonder if the Saints could’ve finished 11-5 if Deuce hadn’t gone down after week 3…	NFC West *Seattle 10-6 **San Francisco 10-6 St. Louis 8-8 Arizona 7-9 Initially I had the Rams at 6-10 … and even that was too good for them! I totally overshot the ‘49ers (d’oh … so much for Alex Smith), but got the Seahawks dead on both in record and place in the division. The Cardinals did just about how I expected in terms of their record … but who knew that they would’ve finished 2nd?
AFC
AFC East *New England 12-4 NY Jets 8-8 Buffalo 5-11 Miami 3-13 Well … I got the top and bottom of this division right, just messed up the placing of the Bills and Jets. In terms of records, I was actually more accurate with the Fins and Bills (2 games off) than the Jets and Pats (4 games off). Though, I would like to point out that Mr. Anonymous (from the GB discussion above) also bashed my New England pick here, claiming the Pats wouldn’t even win a playoff game. Good job, buddy.	AFC North *Baltimore 13-3 **Cincinnati 11-5 Pittsburgh 10-6 Cleveland 4-12 Aside from getting the Steelers record exactly right, I fudged the bucket everywhere else in the AFC North. I had this division pegged as the strongest in the AFC, but was dead wrong … and Brian Billick paid the price (sorry Bri Bri). I finished a whopping 18 games off the pace overall in the AFC North. You may now commence your berating.
AFC South *Indianapolis 12-4 Tennessee 9-7 Jacksonville 6-10 Houston 5-11 I got the easy picks right in the South … Indy first and Houston last. But I underestimated the entire division (primarily thanks to my overestimation of the North … friggin Ravens). Not much else to say here, other than I blew it by blaming the Jaguars for sticking with Garrard. And while I did think that Tennessee would be in the playoff hunt, I didn’t give them enough credit to make the post-season. Shamed again.	AFC West *San Diego 13-3 **Denver 12-4 Kansas City 4-12 Oakland 3-13 The only division that I picked correctly from top to bottom. However, the main thing I’d like to point out is that the Kansas City Chiefs actually finished 4-12. Why is this important? Oh … I’ll tell you why. In my initial picks, I had KC at 4-12, yet “Chris” from “Arrowhead Pride,” opted to be a homer and a dick combined. I think I might just quote him: “the Chiefs will win more than 4 games. I will take a bet on this.” Well Chris, all I can say is … Pay up, biatch! I will gladly take a win here.

Exact Records predictions: Four (Atlanta, Seattle, Pittsburgh and Kansas City (in bold just for Chris)).

Records picks within 2 games: Fourteen (Washington, Detroit, Atlanta, Carolina, Seattle, Arizona, Buffalo, Miami, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Tennessee, San Diego, Kansas City and Oakland).

Exact Division Rank Predicted: Twelve

Playoff Teams Predicted Correctly: Five

Wildcard Playoffs

San Francisco over Seattle – San Fran didn’t make it and Seattle beat Washington decisively in round one.

Dallas over Philadelphia – Philly didn’t make it and Dallas had a first round bye.

New England over Cincinnati – Cincy stayed home and the Pats had a bye.

Indianapolis over Denver – Denver stayed home and Indy had a bye.

Divisional Playoffs

Dallas over Chicago – Chicago … losers. Dallas also earned that title in the Divisional round by losing to the Giants.

San Francisco over New Orleans – umm … yeah …

New England over Baltimore – New England DID win here, but they took out the Jaguars instead (so much for “Anonymous” saying that neither of my Super Bowl teams would win a playoff game … biatch #2).

San Diego over Indianapolis – So I wrote it … so it happened.

Conference Finals

San Francisco over Dallas – Yeah … “Anonymous” can gloat over this one … San Fran was a wasted pick by yours truly, but I did have the balls to take a chance.

New England over San Diego – Again … so I wrote it … so it happened.

Super Bowl

New England over San Francisco – friggin’ Eli.

Once more ... Just for Chris :-)