The Fall of OH-io

In every sport there is a champion and a runner-up. Most of the time the sports cliche of, "Nobody remembers who came in 2nd," is true, but in the year of 2007 it is NOT the case.

If someone asks you who came in 2nd... and it was for the year 2007... all you need to answer is OHIO. I dedicate this post to my friend Courtney... without her bad luck Ohio may have won something this year, and there would be more microwaves in the world.

The Ohio State Buckeyes... also know as "College Football's Team to Beat" for the 2006-2007 season, were one of the greatest disappointments in championship game history. With 33 seniors, including star quarterback in Troy Smith, this team could have been remembered as one for the ages. As a huge Michigan Wolverines fan, I was forced with the decision to cheer for the Big Ten team or hope they are destroyed unmercifully. That night I took a friend to a Sports Bar to watch the game and we decided to make the game more interesting with incorporating the "loser buys the next round" scenario. Being a gentleman, I took the underdog Florida and I let Courtney have her hometown college OSU. When Ohio State started the National Title game with an amazing kickoff return for a touchdown, I about headed to the ATM. But luckily for me, OSU's offense turned into into a group of girl scouts playing dodgeball as they were only able to catch 4 of 14 passes. We all know how the rest of the game went... especially my friend.

The Ohio State Buckeyes Part Two... a team full of young talent that defined the term "Now or Never." With Oden and Conley Jr. prepared to enter the NBA draft this summer, the OSU basketball team realized that this season may be their only time to shine in the near future. Unfortunately for Ohio, Florida is still a college. Filling out my bracket... I of course knocked off Ohio State, thinking their inexperience would fail them (with that in mind... Xavier still won that Round 2 game). I was wrong and they won an impressive 17 in a row down the stretch, receving a #1 seed for the tournament, where they extended that streak to 22 games. Despite Oden and Conley's combined 45 points, the Gators won the Championship with 3-point shooting. Ohio State shot 17.4% from beyond the arc, and Florida shot 55.6% making them the first team in 15 years to repeat as NCAA Basketball National Champions.

The Cleveland Cavaliers... really??? That's the best the Eastern Conference had to offer??? Yeah Yeah they beat my Pistons, but that really isn't saying much. They swept a Washington Wizards team without Gilbert Arenas. They struggled with a New Jersey Nets team that had two stars with no chemistry. And they beat an overrated Pistons team that obviously needs to rebuild their interior game this off-season. One would think that LeBron's superstar role would allow the Cavs offense to atleast execute a play properly. Watching the NBA Finals was like watching the "Inferno 3" on MTV... you don't really care what happens, but if it's on you figure "eh... what the hell, I guess I'll watch." The funny thing about the Cavs is that I took my Ohio friend Courtney to see the Nuggets host the LeBrons earlier this season. The Nuggets killed the Cavs that night. From that point on, she told me that she is cheering for opposing teams to give them the bad luck. She obviously rooted for the Pistons after Game 2 in the Eastern Finals, but I think she may have gone back to rooting for the Cavs for the finals.

SIDE NOTE - I believe in text message Karma... If you send a text message bragging about your team, or ridiculing someone else's team, before the series is over, your team will lose.

Some other honorable mentions for Ohio:

> Cleveland Browns: 4-12 record... drafted Brady Quinn (bad idea)

> Cincinnati Bengals: 8-8 record... botched extra point against Denver to miss playoffs.

> Cincinnati Reds: currently 27-43 and 11.5 games out of first in the NL Central.

> Columbus Blue Jackets: Finished 4th in Central Division (still never made post-season)

> Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball: Lost 16 of last 18 games to finish 2-14 in Big East.

***Cleveland Indians: Currently 1 game ahead of my Tigers, but since it's still the year 2007, I'm sure they will either miss the playoffs or lose in the World Series.***

By: Adam Casinelli

My Rockies Record

I thought it would be fun to see how the Rockies do when I'm in the building... and so far here is how my Coors Field Record has shaped out.

April 16th vs. Giants L (8-0) Overall (0-1)
May 28th vs. Cardinals W (6-2) Overall (1-1)
May 31st vs. Cardinals L (7-3) Overall (1-2)
June 3rd vs. Reds W (10-9) Overall (2-2)*
June 15th vs. Devil Rays W (12-2) Overall (3-2)
June 17th vs. Devil Rays L (7-4) Overall (3-3)
June 19th vs. Yankees W (3-1) Overall (4-3)
June 20th vs. Yankees W (6-1) Overall (5-3)
July 3rd vs. Mets W (11-3) Overall (6-3)
July 6th vs. Phillies W(7-6) Overall (7-3)*
July 7th vs. Phillies W(6-3) Overall (8-3)

July 26th vs. Dodgers L (5-4) Overall (8-4)
August 6th vs. Brewers W (6-2) Overall (9-4)
August 10th vs. Cubs L (6-2) Overall (9-5)
August 11th vs. Cubs W (15-2) Overall (10-5)
August 12th vs. Cubs W (6-3) Overall (11-5)
September 5th vs. Giants L (5-3) Overall (11-6)
September 18th vs. Dodgers W (9-8) Overall (12-6)*
October 1st vs. Padres W (9-8) Overall (13-6)* NL Wild Card
October 6th vs. Phillies W (2-1) Overall (14-6) Won NLDS

* represents a Walk-Off Win

BE AFRAID... BE VERY AFRAID OF ROCK-TOBER.

By: Adam Casinelli

NHL Fantasy Runner-Up for Life

For the past four NHL seasons, 12 friends and myself have created our own fantasy pool for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With hockey being my favorite sport to both watch and play, I take great pride in my picks and my team... the Detroit Red Wings of Hockeytown. "Wait, aren't you from Denver? Why aren't you an Avs fan?" It all started in 1996 when the biggest cheapshot (Claude Lemieux) cross-checked Kris Draper from behind, inevitably mangling his face into the boards. I lived in Michigan from ages 3-13, so that did it for me... I sold my Sakic jersey, bought a "screw lemieux" t-shirt, and swore to myself that I would never cheer for the Avs. But things have settled down over the past decade, and my hatred for them is still there, but at a much lower level. With that being said, I don't mind seeing them miss the playoffs by one point on the second-to-last day of the season.

Getting back on track... So we all sat down on the couches, drew numbers from a hat and started the draft. I got the 4th pick, which isn't necessarily bad, but it's like getting a sloppy joe instead of a burger. You know you're still gonna eat it, but it's just not what you wanted. I started my dream team with the top power-play performer of the regular season Teemu Selanne. At first, I felt it was a solid pick but his inability to score multi-point games was a bummer.

Coming back around for my second pick, I was amazed to see that Chris Drury hadn't been taken. WA-WA-WE-WAW... This was without a doubt the steal of the draft. If only the Sabres could close the deal as a team. I can't believe the Avs traded him. That was the worst franchise decision they've ever made.

The draft continued and I finished up with Henrik Zetterberg & Nick Lidstrom of the Wings, Brian Rafalski from the Devils, but then I was forced with a decision. All my friends had selected goalies early and I was stuck with the leftovers. Ottawa or Nashville? I glanced over at one of my friends who is the biggest (and only) Sharks fan I know. And with a smirk on my face I said, "Um Yeah... I think Nashville's got a better shot at the 2nd round, so I'll take the Preds goalies." Come game 5, when the Sharks closed out the pitiful Preds, I felt like the Detroit Pistons did after passing on Melo & Wade for Darko the Destroyer.

But hey, I was still in this thing. My forwards were scoring, my defense was contributing, but that's when I had a revelation. I would much rather see the Red Wings hoist the Cup than win this hockey pool for $200. Sure the money would be nice, but the bragging rights outweigh the useless ways in which I'd be spending that $200 anyways. So, after a little scare with the Flames in Round 1, the Wings had to face the Sharks, and I had to face my Shark-friend.

Lost game 1... Uh Oh
Won game 2... Thank God
Lost game 3... We better win game 4
Won game 4... Ok, we can do this.
Won game 5... Come on! One More.
Won game 6... brought a Sharks pennant to my friends house and lit it on fire. (Hey, he said he was buying me a broom after game 1... it was well-deserved)

Next stop, the Ducks... only this team had Giguere in net instead of Goldberg. I really wish they had Goldberg. He stole the show, he eliminated my team that out-played them, and he made me stop watching hockey until September. No, I like hockey too much so I watched some of the finals... plus I still had Teemu Selanne trying to score me a nice two hundo. Unfortunately, my brother had Giguere in the pool and I got second place... AGAIN!!! I'm really hating the fact that I voted for the "winner takes all" policy.

Oh well, next year is a new season and another chance for the Wings to return to glory.

Comcast NHL Center Ice Package...... $160
Chelios and Hasek Re-Signing............. $2,200,000
Another Fantasy Playoff Entry........... $25
Seeing the Wings get Cup #11............. Priceless

By: Adam Casinelli

Rising Interest in the MLB

I have always been an avid sports fan, but there was that one sport that never did anything for me... Baseball. All of the delays between pitches, and the fact that out of a three hour long game there was only 20 minutes of action. Then, about four weeks ago, things changed for me. Baseball became exciting because I finally had a team to cheer for. The Colorado Rockies 14 year history includes very few highlights and only one trip to the post-season. A trip that was wiped out quickly by the Dynasty that was the Atlanta Braves. Six consecutive losing seasons have been heart-breaking to watch, but this year could be one of change.

In the off-season, the Rockies dealt ace pitcher Jason Jennings to the Houston Astros for outfielder Willy Taveras, and pitchers Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh. Not many people realize that this deal was supposed to be done with the Chicago White Sox in exchange for their pitcher Jon Garland just five days prior. THANK YOU CHICAGO FOR NOT GETTING THE DEAL DONE RIGHT! These three players that Colorado picked up are constantly contributing to the Rockies success and have their club just one game under .500.

Willy Taveras is currently ranked 5th in stolen bases and 10th in batting average for the National League. Some might wonder how a lead-off hitter is putting up such numbers and the answer is simple: SPEED. Taveras has mastered the art of bunting for a base hit, and it sets up his teammates for some early RBI's. I'm at the point where I'd rather see Willy bunt and beat out a throw, than someone hit a basic single to right field.

When it comes to Hirsh and Buchholz they have both given the Rockies chances to win ball games. Hirsh almost has a 2:1 ratio of strikeouts to walks and Buchholz is sitting pretty with a 3:1 count in that category. The thing that really did it for me was watching how these two handle games on the road. Yesterday the Rocks took down the mighty Red Sox at Fenway 12-2, and it very well may have been the most exciting baseball game I've watched in years. To see the struggling Josh Fogg come in and out-duel Curt Shilling was like watching Barry Bonds get struck out swinging... You just love to see it. And who gave the Rockies some great middle relief? I know it's spelled weird, but you can say it with me... BUCK-HOLT-ZZZ.

Finally, you can't say enough about the "H" crew of Coors Field. Holliday, Helton and Hawpe have been turning it on as of late and all of them are potential all-stars in my mind. They are all batting .300 or higher and Holliday leads the National League. Only two players in the majors have a higher average and if Matt keeps it up, he could be the overall leader heading into the break. I remember the days of the Blake Street Bombers and I can honestly say that the "H" crew takes the cake. I know... it's hard to bump Castilla, Walker and Bichette, but I will give them this: The Bombers' music before they took the plate destroys that of the "H" crew. Sorry fellas, Creed and Nickelback just don't do it for me.

Tonight the Rockies will be playing the Red Sox in the rubber-match of their series at 5:05PM Mountain Time. A win tonight will do many things for the Rocks, but most importantly it will get the team back to an even record. I believe Rockies DH Ryan Spilborghs will have a strong game after last nights struggles, but it will be tough as the Rockies lineup will be facing the undefeated Josh Beckett (9-0). Look for this to be a low scoring affair, as the best pitchers for both teams will face off. The key will be for the Rocks to jump out early like they did last night, and not get behind in the count. If they can do this then the Rockies will win their 4th straight series, and head back home to the Mile High City to face the Devil Rays tomorrow night on a high note.

For all the other Rockies Fans out there, tomorrow is FREE Brad Hawpe Jersey Shirt Night for the first 5,000 fans... and yes I will be one of them.

By: Adam Casinelli