What's in a Name?

My generation is a lazy one, thats for sure. You can tell by the way things are for us. We have phones that do everything except wipe our butts, we've replaced face to face contact with facebook and we are incapable of coming up with a great sports nickname. Sure we can blame the younger generation of sports reporters, but when push comes to shove we have become so content with lousy names that we let them invade all our sports!

If you're confused about my point, which is quite understandable, take a look with me at some of the great sports nicknames over the years.
The Sultan of Swat
The Round Mound of Rebound
El Guapo
The Chief
Sweetness
Air Jordan
The Great One
Magic
The Worm 
The Big Diesel
The Human Eraser
And many many more...

How about recently? People have tried to create nicknames for athletes like Flash for Dwayne Wade or Black Mamba for Kobe, but in general its been embarrassing what we've come too. Names like:
LBJ
CP3
D-Wade
Car-Go
A-Rod
K-Rod
Ochocinco ( Yes I realize this is his "real" name still as of now, but it's still more or less a nickname and a bad one... I mean seriously? I wonder if anyone ever told him that's not how you even say eighty-five in spanish? It's just Chad Eight-Five!)
Ovy

It saddens me too little girl... 

Aren't these names lame? You could come up with something better for each of them I'm sure!

LBJ = Lebron James "Joyce gets more fouls called against him"
CP3 = "Excuse me I gotta take a" Chris Paul
D-Wade = Flash ( Already went over this)
Car-Go = Carlos "We just saw his one year brilliance like Luis" Gonzales
A-Rod = "Apparently Cameron Diaz isn't fazed by the affect of steroids on "A rod""...
K-Rod = "How'd You Avoid Jail Rod?"
Chad Ochocinco = Here's a shot in the dark... Johnson? 
Ovy = He's Russian, I don't want a fight.  Ya know what, Ovy is fine. 


These are quick thoughts today just what watching Sportscenter does to me.

Prepare For More Carolina Blues

With the first pick in the 2011 NFL Draft the Carolina Panthers select Cam Newton, the dual-threat Heisman winning quarterback from Auburn, shortly after they began kissing their Superbowl hopes for the next decade goodbye... Maybe I'm the only one who saw it.

You may wonder how I can be so sure this will be the case and I will swiftly respond...History. Sure history can change and if it does I'll eat my words, but this time that will be unlikely. Let's play a game. Off the top of your head can you name one great dual-threat quarterback that won a Superbowl? No? How about if you look through the pages of Superbowl history? Did you find one yet? No you didn't and do you want to know why. That's because since 1966, Superbowl I, it has never happened. A prolific running quarterback has never won a Superbowl, in fact the only time you can say a running quarterback even played in the Superbowl would be if you still considered Donovan Mcnabb one in 2004. I wouldn't, but maybe you would.

Sure they can make it to the conference championships like Michael Vick and they can have winning records in the regular season. They have just never won a championship.

Let's look over the last 15 years just for kicks-
Year              Winning QB            Losing QB
'10                Aaron Rodgers           Ben Roethlisberger
'09                Drew Brees                Peyton Manning
'08                Ben Roethlisberger      Kurt Warner
'07                Eli Manning                 Tom Brady
'06                Peyton Manning          Rex Grossman
'05                Ben Roethlisberger      Matt Hasselbeck
'04                Tom Brady                  Donovan Mcnabb
'03                Tom Brady                  Jake Delhomme
'02                Brad Johnson               Rich Gannon
'01                Tom Brady                   Kurt Warner
'00                Trent Dilfer                   Kerry Collins
'99                 Kurt Warner                Steve Mcnair
'98                 John Elway                  Chris Chandler
'97                 John Elway                   Brett Favre
'96                 Brett Favre                   Drew Bledsoe

See my friends, history doesn't lie and what it is telling us now is that Carolina might have been better off molding Jimmy Clausen. Now instead they must not only hope that Cam Newton is going to be the franchise quarterback, but that he will also be the first of his kind to ever win it all.

All I can say is... Good luck.

March Madness Has Begun!

Spring is right around the corner and with it comes the many aspects we're all familiar with. Flowers blooming, snow melting, and Mid-Major's turning into Cinderella stories. If the last piece doesn't ring a bell then this article may not be for you, but if you're still with me then you understand it's that time of the year again. So let's shape up that bracket! Let's go region by region and see the sleepers, the contenders and the upsets that could be all likely.

East Region

Contenders: Ohio State, Kentucky, Washington
Likely to Disappoint: UNC, Syracuse, Xavier, West Virginia
Sleeper: Washington
Upsets to Look Out For:11 Marquette over 6 Xavier, 12 Clemson/UAB over 5 West Virginia
Players to Watch: Jared Sullinger(OSU), Terrence Jones (UK), Harrison Barnes (UNC), Terrell Holloway(XU), Isaiah Thomas(UW)

I think Ohio State should come out of this region unscathed. Not necessarily because of the lack of other talent, but more due to the fact that they provide way too many match-up problems with the teams in this region. Jared Sullinger will really get his chance to prove his NBA worth.


West Region


Contenders: Duke, Arizona
Likely to Disappoint: UConn, San Diego St, Texas
Sleepers: Temple, Missouri
Upsets to Look Out For: 11 Missouri over 6 Cincinnati, 14 Bucknell over 3 UConn, 13 Oakland over 4 Texas.
Players to Watch: Nolan Smith (Duke), Kemba Walker (UConn), Jordan Hamilton (TEX), Derrick Williams (Ariz)
On paper this looks like one of the easier regions to come out of. That could all change depending on what version of Texas and Connecticut we see. UConn is hot right now, but they were just 9-9 in Big East play this season and though it's a tough conference and they did win the tournament, one bad game by Kemba Walker will lead to a loss
.
Southwest Region


Contenders: Kansas, Notre Dame
Likely to Disappoint: Louisville, Purdue, Vanderbilt
Sleepers: Texas A&M, Richmond
Upsets to Look Out For: 12 Richmond over 5 Vanderbilt, 13 Morehead St. over 4 Louisville
Players to Watch: Ben Hansbrough (ND), Marcus Morris (KU), Jajuan Johnson (Purd), Kenneth Faried(MSU)

This could be the bracket full of upsets. Kansas and Notre Dame stand higher above all though and should come out of this region to face one another. That being said everyone should be watching Richmond and Texas A&M. The best talent in this region also may be on the team that could pull off the biggest upset. Kenneth Faried out of Morehead St. is NBA-ready and could pose some big problems for the Cardinals.


Southeast Region


Contenders: Pittsburgh, Florida
Likely to Disappoint: Wisconsin, BYU,
Sleepers: Utah St., Michigan State, St. John's
Upsets to Look Out For: 10 Michigan St. Over 7 UCLA, 12 Utah St. Over 5 Kansas St., 11 Gonzaga over 6 St. John's.
Players to Watch: Jimmer Fredette(BYU), Jacob Pullen (KSU), Dwight Hardy(SJU), Ashton Gibbs(PITT),  Kalin Lucas (MSU)

This is the region full of questions. Can BYU win without Brandon Davies? Are Pittsburgh and Florida legitimate title contenders? What kind of St. John's team will we see? Is Utah State for real? I am excited to figure out the answers but as things stand this may be the weakest region of them all. Great players tend to stand out during these tournaments. Will Jimmer become a Carmelo Anthony or an Adam Morrison?

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Hey Now You're an All-Star... But No One's Watching

With the NBA All-Star game quickly approaching I noticed that I wasn't as excited as I used to be growing up. The dunk contest isn't really the spectacle it once was, the three point contest was never that exciting, the skills competition is pointless and the game itself is more or less a non-competitive excuse for athletes to run up and down the court showing off their dunks and three point ability anyway. That being said, it's still probably the most exciting all-star weekend of all the major sports, but thats not saying much at all. I'd like to rank the 4 major sports in their attempts at capturing some fun while displaying the best talents.

4. The NFL

They just don't get it. Something is always missing and that something is a reason to watch. There are no skills competitions and therefore no ways to showcase off some of the talents in the NFL. The game isn't that physical and it shouldn't be, but then again what's the point? Why play a game of football no one takes seriously? Especially if no one is watching.

Improvement Idea

Skills competitions! Who wouldn't like to watch Tom Brady and Peyton Manning battle others in an accuracy competition? Or Jay Cutler and Michael Vick bombing the ball as far as they can? Then we could see speed competitions between the people claiming they're the fastest, maybe a little Devin Hester vs. Chris Johnson action? Anyways the point is anything not a game would add to the Pro Bowl weekend and you'd think with the NFL's audience size, something would happen.

3. The NHL

They did a better job this year adding to some of the luster and fun by having the teams pick players in a different style and having some fun with skills competitions. The only issue with the NHL is the fact that it doesn't have as big an audience as the other sports so even if it does attempt to make some fresh changes it can't ever reach the top.

Improvement Idea

Keep it the way it is. Just get more viewers.

2. MLB

Major League Baseball almost gets it. The home-run derby has lost most of its flash and there are no skills competitions besides that, but the one thing they do right in the majors...they make the game worth something. Home-field advantage in the World Series, which could be worth a lot when it comes down to that game 7. This is why baseball gets to be number 2 on this list despite only having a home-run derby.*

Improvement Idea

Maybe a fastball competition or something to do with the pitchers? Or maybe a speed competition? I mean I know baseball players are fragile, but isn't that supposed to change after the steroids are gone?

1. The NBA

This is the most exciting All-Star weekend in major sports. Almost by default. It has flash, popularity and celebrity appeal. The skills competitions are still fun though we'd all still rather see Lebron vs. Dwight rather than Gerald Green vs anyone. The 3-point contest is also the perfect platform for players that won't ever do anything else to have a little bit of glory like Voshon Lenard and superstars to show off like Larry Bird. The game itself can be fun at times and basketball combines physicality and taking it easy enough that it still can be fun at junctures.

Improvement Idea

Make the stars always do the competitions. I want to see superstars dunk! This year we are getting a taste since Blake Griffin is in it, but then he faces no household names, how boring.

These changes will likely never occur but just thinking about some of the possibilities makes you wonder why things aren't different. These athletes get paid a lot of money! More than some people will make in consecutive lifetimes, so they can put on one extra show a year.

* I did not forget about the Future's Game... Just quite frankly who cares?