TUF Recap

Hello everyone! If you haven't seen last weeks episode of TUF you missed a great fight. The two fighters in last weeks episode was Team Cruz's Sam Sicilia vs. Team Faber's Chris Saunders. The fight ended in a Split Decision in favor of Saunders. Watching the fight, I have to agree with Dana White, as I saw that each fighter one a round, and therefore, should have been a third and final round to decide the winner. Saunders and Sicilia both had chances of winning the fight, but by the end of the second round you can tell that both fighters were completely gassed. Sicilia has very strong hands which he showcased throughout the fight as he laid hay makers at the face of Saunders, however, Saunders showed a little more grappling which helped win the judges over.

Saunders go to sleep!

However, at one point, Saunders had a stunning head kick that possibly was a flash knockout, however, Sicilia was able to bounce right back up and continue to fight. Herb Dean was the referee, and he is one of the best refs in this sport. He knows all the signs of when a fighter is incapable of fighting, where during that moment, he jumped in to almost stop the fight. Both fighters showed a lot of heart and did not show signs of quit at any point of the fight.

Saunders trying to create a highlight reel!

There is one more fight this Friday between Andy Ogle of Team Faber vs. Mike Rio of Team Cruz. Which again should be a great fight. If there is one thing I have to say about the popularity of TUF it is because of the fact that these fighters lay it on the line because there is no option B for these fighters. Winning this whole tournament and becoming a UFC fighter is a dream for them. Whereas you watch some of the PPV's and you at points will think to yourself, "Why am I watching this!" Everyone catch TUF this Friday at 10pm on FX! Post any comments that you would like to see in upcoming posts on PRP!

How Horrible is the AL Central?

Before the season if you were asked to come up with what teams you would expect to be good, the AL Central was the only league that you could come up with only one response, the Tigers and that's it (most people would have expected before the season that one of the Giants, Rockies or Dodgers were going to be good this year to go along with the Diamondbacks in the NL West.)  And even worse than that I'm sure a consensus of people would have agreed that the other teams in the division could be simply written off as bad teams.  This is due to happen in any sport, there is always going to be one division that is going to sputter and only produce one good team, if they can even manage one (looking at you 2010 NFC West) so this isn't really anything new to anybody.  But the other day I was watching a Red Sox game and the announcers were talking about the easy schedule they had ahead after their difficult start to the season, most of those teams being from the AL Central, the Twins, White Sox, Royals etc.  A seemingly innocent comment that anybody would not think twice about that caused me to chuckle a little seeing that at the time of that comment, the Chicago White Sox were in a tie with the Detroit Tigers for the lead in the Central, and division leaders, even this early in the season, don't typically lend themselves to being pushovers.  So lets take a look to examine if the AL Central is as bad as everybody makes it out to be.

Accurate standings?  Screw that I'm ad-libbing

Detroit Tigers

Yes, the Tigers are good.  Sure Victor Martinez is currently without knees, Doug Fister can't throw a ball at the moment and their 5 hitter is too busy yelling anti-Semitic insults at nobody in particular, but that really doesn't change the fact they are possibly the best team in the world.  Justin Verlander is lights out as always, Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder will eventually hit a streak that will make Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier's start to the season look like an off week.  As soon as Scherzer and Porcello can remember that their job is to get people out, they will most likely run away with the division as everyone expects them to.  On a lighter note, I hope Doug Fister's return won't change Drew Smyly's place in the rotation as the young man has pitched quite well in 3 starts and I would hate to see one awesome name get kicked out by another awesome name.   

They need to work on their skipping.

Chicago White Sox

I'm admittedly going by no particular order with these teams so maybe they are which ones are the most entertaining to me?  Speaking of entertaining, how about Philip Humber throwing a perfect game the other day and possibly getting a bizarro Jim Joyce call to end it out?  He was pitching pretty well on the season too until he got smacked around by the suddenly hot bats of Boston yesterday.  That's not saying he is the only pitcher who has seen success for them this year, one of my favorite pitchers a few years back, Jake Peavy, has found his groove again and while I'm not saying he will be a Cy Young candidate ever again, it sure is nice to see him finding success.  Throw in some Chris Sale success and a dash of Gavin Floyd's 4 runs of support in his 4 decent starts they have some pitching to go forward.  Unfortunately their offense won't be getting better as the entire squad has been known to let fans down with the exception of Paul Konerko.  They have enjoyed some moderate success to this point in the season but unless that pitching can really kick it into overdrive for a whole season, they are due to fail eventually.

No quip here, it's just a cool picture.

Cleveland Indians

I'm going to say it, the Indians are not a bad team and I don't think their 9-6 start is a fluke.  I think they will finish the season between 3 and 5 games above .500 and that would be a season to be proud of for them going forward.  Between the names Carlos Santana, Shin-Soo Choo, Jason Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera they have some quality offensive talent under the age of 30, and for some reason I think Michael Brantley is better than his numbers make him seem, but I may be very wrong on that point.  Casey Kotchman can play first base defensively, probably putting him just worse than Daric Barton on my list of starting first basemen (hint: it's pretty low on that list) and Travis Hafner probably still has some pop left in his bat, albeit he would be lucky to hit half the homers he put up in his confusingly good 2006 season.  But ultimately it has been their pitching that has failed them to this point with a staff ERA of 4.56 which is not very good.  Their best starter so far is Derek Lowe who they received as a handout from the Braves who wanted no part of that guy anymore, hopefully Ubaldo Jiminez or Justin Masterson can take that crown from him because if things stay like that it will be a bumpy ride.  The Indians are one big trade away from being able to dream about contending for the second Wild Card spot, but not much more than that being the 8th or 9th best team in the AL.

See Grady, you set up for the fly to not get on the DL again.

Kansas City Royals

The Royals have been faring worse than they have been playing, according to baseball-reference.com they are 3 games worse than their Pythagorean record says they should be.  They have lost all 5 of the 1 run games they have been in.  Their offense is basically comprised of young talent that is going to be huge one day (Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas), solid players who can't live up to their talent level (Alex Gordon, Jeff Francouer) and Billy Butler.  Their rotation is also really young with upside except for talented vocalist Bruce Chen (more singing here and here) who has been pitching very well, which I like because he seems like a cool guy.  They seem like a team that would have a lot of fun on the field and would be very fun to watch during a winning season, maybe next year.

They looked so happy!

Minnesota Twins

How can you possibly take a team that has two former MVPs at ages 31 and 29 and call them bad?  Well, two years of injury troubles could help that happen.  Joe Mauer is among my favorite players in the game right now and Justin Morneau is both obscenely talented and Canadian so I like him too.  I really hope they can  both return to form this year, but two good players can't make a team good.  I did praise Josh Willingham in a past article, but in case you didn't pick up on it, the entire piece was written sarcastically.  I really can't find anything else to say about this team other than the fact that they are simply a disappointment.  As much as I would like to see Mauer and Morneau on top of the AL Central, Ron Gardenhire would have to be considered the best manager of all time (see video below) to get this team to the playoffs.  So yes, the Twins are that horrible.

On the whole I think that the AL Central isn't as bad as people make it out to be.  They have some very good players, some good teams, one great team and a good amount of upside for the future.  Having said that, it still is the worse division in the game.  Thanks for reading if you did and feel free to send some comments on anything you would like to read about, otherwise I'm going to keep improvising like this.

Champions League Final Set

My prediction regarding the second leg of Barcelona and Chelsea's tie in the semifinal of the Champions League was dead wrong. I predicted a 4-0 Barcelona victory, but in fact the end result was a 2-2 tie that saw Chelsea advance to the final on an aggregate score of 3-2. There were 4 goals scored, so I had that part down. Barcelona's defeat has been hit with harsh remarks fired at the stars of the squad, mainly Messi for missing a penalty kick that would have made it considerably hard for Chelsea to come back from. Blaming the loss on one player is unfair, no one really knows why Barcelona, allegedly the best team in the history of anything, failed to win. Barcelona's loss just proves how hard it is to maintain such dominant form. Not many teams expect to find themselves victorious in every tournament every year.

Looking at the other side of this semifinal match up, Chelsea has managed to reach the final of the Champions League despite sitting in 6th place in the Premier League and struggling to find good, consistent form. One of the concerns for Chelsea is that they have four players that are ineligible to participate in the final. Three of these people have yellow card accumulation issues and one repulsive man is excluded due to a red card. The yellow card offenders include Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires, and Raul Meireles. There is a movement attempting to allow the yellow card offenders to play in the final, but the important news is that John Terry will not be playing in the final after his attempt to cornhole Alexis Sanchez with his knee, which earned him a red card. Everyone should know that Terry will not be on the field on May 19, 2012, so make sure he is nowhere near your wife or girlfriend. Chelsea will meet Bayern Munich in the final after Bayern's victory over Real Madrid yesterday in a penalty kick shootout.

When both Real Madrid and Barcelona reached the semifinal of the Champions League, there was a great chance to have El Clasico in the final. I actually think that it is good for the soccer world that this is not the case. While Barcelona and Real Madrid are both spectacular teams full of great players and headed by wonderful coaches, I think it is good for there to be some variety in winners. Chelsea versus Bayern Munich might not be the ideal match up, but at least John Terry can't play. Over the past two seasons, since Barcelona has become known as the greatest team ever, since Mourinho went to the helm at Real Madrid, and the battle between CR7 and Messi started, I think many people need a break from these two teams. Bayern Munich is a great team headed by two outstanding wingers in Ribery and Robben, even if one has problems with prostitutes and the other has trouble staying on his feet and not getting injured.

Bayern Munich earned its spot in the final by advancing over Real Madrid in a game that came down to penalties. Manuel Neuer looks like he was worth signing after his tremendous performance in the penalty shootout, and Sergio Ramos' awful attempt at a penalty kick. Advancement looked improbable for Bayern after CR7 scored two quick goals in the early stages of the match, but Robben put them right back in the hunt when he netted a penalty kick (CR7 scored one penalty, too). Bayern continued to fight valiantly and forced the penalty shootout where Neuer came up so big. I hope Oliver Kahn is proud. Hopefully Chelsea doesn't use extremely defensive tactics in an effort to suppress Bayern's attacking style of soccer, similar to how they played in the second leg versus Barcelona. Chelsea should have confidence in their attackers, especially after Torres scored the winning goal against Barcelona.

I see you, Neuer

Fernando Torres has been struggling to put the ball in the back of the net ever since joining Chelsea during last year. Now that he has scored the game winner against mighty Barcelona and stuck the figurative dagger in the players' and fans' heart, he should have some confidence going into the final that Chelsea should look to tap into. There is no doubt that Bayern will come out attacking, that's their style of play. Real Madrid also plays an aggressive attacking style which made the match up between the too so entertaining. There's no telling what Chelsea will do in the final given that they are without Terry and some other players, but Bayern is also missing players due to yellow card accumulation including Luiz Gustavo, David Alaba, and Holger, Badstuber. Neither side will be able to field its strongest team, but the teams will be far from a reserve team match up.

Not many people had Chelsea versus Bayern Munich pegged in the final, but it creates an interesting game. Bayern Munich has played as two different teams throughout the year. Sometimes Bayern plays like the best team in the world and at other times look like an average team. At one point Bayern won a few games in a row by outrageous scorelines, simply obliterating opposition. However, Bayern was unable to win the Bundesliga, with Dortmund taking the domestic title for the second year in a row. Chelsea has been on the decline for a few years, they haven't been terrible, but they used to be a threat to win the Premier League for the last few years, but have struggled as of late. 6th place in the Premier League is struggling by the team's current standards, and Roman Abramovic expectations considering the amount of money he has put into the team.

The final perplexes me, I have no idea what to expect out of this game. If anyone actually reads this, feel free to share your score prediction on the final and any other thoughts you have on the game. I'm going with Bayern Munich taking this one 2-1, and remember, watch out for Terry because he will not, I repeat, will not be on the pitch for this one. One final note, Fernando Torres deserves congratulations for scoring the game winner versus Barcelona. The guy has taken so much heat since joining Chelsea that it must really be taking a toll on him. His teammates might be scumbags, cue John Terry and Ashley Cole (I didn't forget about that clown), but if Chelsea had to advance to the final, I'm glad it was Torres that did it for them. Good signing, Abramovic.

UFC 145 Recap

So this past Saturday's UFC 145 PPV was just like I expected. Both Rashard Evans and Jon Jones fought the full twenty five minutes. Jones being the winner by decision (unanimous), I was not surprised by the results at all. Jones was pressuring Evans pretty hard in the cage and also Evans had more significant shots thrown at him. When it comes to the scorecards, a fighter will get more points based on their striking, aggressiveness, grappling, and octagon control. Jones in every round scored points based off this system. At the end he even got a good take down to secure the fight in his favor.



What gives Jon Jones such a great advantage in the octagon is the fact that his reach is by far the largest of any fighter at 84.5 inches and for his division he is fairly taller than most of his competition at six feet four inches. Having a huge wingspan helps because you can attack without being in the other fighters face and increase your chances of not being hit. Although Evans did come with some good shots, this is the first time we have actually seen Jones get tagged in the manner that he did. However, we also saw that Jones has a strong chin meaning the resistance to being knocked out.

After the event, during the post interview, Dana White announced that Dan "Hendo" Henderson is next in line to challenge Jon Jones, although we do not have a date yet. This fight will possibly be the toughest fight "Bones" has even been involved in. If I could describe Dan Henderson I would say complete MMA competitor. His strength is in his wrestling as we he was an Olympic wrestler, however, he has a great clinch, and heavy hands.

This had to of hurt!

The other fights were amazing, Michael McDonald knocked out former WEC Bantamweight champ Miguel Torres in the first round, and other than the Jones fight, the most exciting fight that I did not think was going to be exciting was the bout between Mark Hominick and Eddie Yagin. Both fighters were equally beat up after the fight was said and done, where each fighter had the chance to stop the fight due to strikes. They were feeding off the excitement from the crowd and that is what made the fight so exciting. There were no slow points in the fight, where these fighters could rest. The slowest points of the fight was when the bells rang for the end of the round. Overall, I'm sure that fight will be a contender for the "Fight of the Year". Please everyone post your comments on how you thought the fights were, and also where did you spend your time watching the fights? I know I watched it with my girlfriend and my good friend at Buffalo Wild Wings. Make sure to read this and other posts on Penultimate Round Pick!

Give golf back to the common man!

Considering this is my first career blog post, I'd appreciate if the fans ease me in with some kind words.  Well, that's enough of that.  Since when has golf become an athletic sport?!?  Golf has always been my retirement plan.  I figure I'm 23 now, so if I play a few times a week that the senior tour can't be too far out of reach.  But, no.  Now we have guys like Tiger and even Phil that look like linebackers.  Seriously, who introduced Phil  Mickelson to a weight room?  And Rory McIlroy has become a sensation at the tender age of 22 (a bit ahead of me in route to the senior tour).  I suppose I'm just living in the past where all it took to be a good golfer was some goofy pants and a fat ass.

You should talk to my neighbor the accountant 

This is why my favorite golfer has to be Keegan Bradley.  In just his second year on the PGA tour, this skinny bastard is off to a nice looking career ahead of him.  In 10 events played this year, he has nine top-25 finishes to go with three top- 10 finishes.  Still looking for his first win of the season, he has settled for a 2nd place finish at the Northern Trust Open and a 4th place finish to begin April at the Shell Houston Open.  The kid is good.  He currently sits at a world rank of 20 which I feel to be quite respectable.  

Sorry, I got off topic there. Let's talk about my round today and how Bubba Watson needs to watch out for this guy! Who on earth named that little dude "Bubba"?  Terrible. At this point, any round that I don't lose a ball goes down as a victory.  I can't figure out how those pros do it.  Maybe we should master mini golf?  That is if you can stand watching 13 year old kids go on their first dates which are always awkward, yet inappropriate at the same time... you know what I mean.  They won't speak to one another for nine holes, then lick each others faces instead of the ice cream mom just paid for.

So can we please get some more slobs like John Daly and Jason Dufner on the tour to give everyone else hope?  Even these golfers seem to defy the barrier of "slump busters".  Every guy on the 18th hole on a Sunday has some babe of a wife watching the last putt.  Even Matt Kemp had to dump Rihanna before he got good.  The PGA tour is living proof that the guys from "The Big Bang Theory" aren't wasting their time after all.

I may smell weird but we did write the karma sutra :)

Using baseball as an example, the only way to break a slump is to hook-up with a lady who weighs more than your current batting average.  Why do you think 90% of the All-Stars are single?  Ryan Braun got Herpes just to ensure another good season. Now that is dedication!  A-Rod and Jeter may be linked to celebrities, but let's be real, they both have fatties lined up like their door mat is made of cake.  

All the peach cobbler you can eat for a hitting streak

Before I close, I feel it might be important to note that NBA players' opinions on women really don't count.  Just ask Lamar Odom.  If Khloe Kardashian and Lamar have a baby, it will come out as an exact replica of Demarcus Cousins. In a nutshell, these new-age golfers really are better than us.  At everything.  So I for one am taking a stand by continuing to suck at golf.  And I hope the rest of you follow my lead.  Not that you have a choice because everyone I have ever met has a slice worse than the one on master shredder's face.  All in all, it has been an exciting golf season thus far and I'm excited to keep watching/playing.

Champions League Shocker

Despite yesterday's match between Chelsea and Barcelona being played in England, the 1-0 Chelsea victory still stands out as a  shocking result. Chelsea has had some rough patches in the Premier League, currently occupying the sixth spot, but has enjoyed success in the Champions League where they now head into the second leg against Barcelona with a goal advantage. This is a good position for Chelsea, but do not forget who they are playing, Barcelona, a team that blows away sliced bread. Barcelona might be trailing Real Madrid in La Liga, but this is only by a deficit of four points, and the end result of the first leg requires attention far beyond the final 1-0 score line.

Chelsea did score the lone goal, which is the most important stat in the game, but they capitalized on one golden opportunity. Throughout the course of the game, Chelsea managed only two shots, one of which was  on target and happened to be the only goal scored, nice job Valdes. Actually , no one can blame Valdes, the guy may as well bring a pillow to every game and take a nap. Barcelona would allow roughly the same amount of goals throughout the course of a season if he did take naps. This game was no different with Barcelona controlling 74% of the possession and probably completing around 1,000 passes. Barcelona managed six shots on target and hit the post twice, generating a total of 23 attempts. By no means were the Spanish Powerhouse slacking or under-performing. In fact, the statistics to this game look very similar to many games Barcelona plays, the goals were the only stat that did not reflect how much they dominated this game. The finishing of Barcelona just wasn't there and when Fabregas directed the ball toward the net, a great defensive play was made to prevent the goal from being scored.

Passing Machine

Going home in a one goal hole is nothing for Barcelona to worry about. Defeating Barcelona at home is extremely difficult, even coming in with an advantage in the aggregate score. Inter Milan knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League in 2010, but that was following a 3-1 win for Inter in their home leg. I'm predicting a 4-0 win for Barcelona in the second leg with Messi scoring two goals and reaping the praise of countless people as the greatest player now and of all eternity. For Chelsea to win this game, Abramovich would need to pay out some serious cash to the referees, which he could probably afford, but that probably still would not be enough to beat Barcelona at home, especially in such an important game. Instead, Abramovich will most likely use that money to purchase another repulsive player so John Terry can mess around with his wife/girlfriend. That's beside the point, though. What deserves recognition in respect to the upcoming second leg between Barcelona and Chelsea is that Barcelona controlled the first game regardless of the score. It is also very doubtful that Chelsea will be able to hold Barcelona to fewer than two goals at the Camp Nou. That would mean that Chelsea would need to score again to hold on to any hope of advancing to the final, which would be very difficult if they generate the same attack as in the first game.

As mentioned earlier, Inter was able to dispose of Barcelona in the Champions League, but that was in the midst of a truly wonderful season in which Jose "The Special One" Mourinho guided his team to the coveted Treble. That Inter team had a spectacular year whether you would like to admit it or not and Jose Mourinho is a master mind coach, again, whether you would like to admit it or not. Chelsea already fired Andre Villas Boas and are under the control of Roberto Di Matteo. Only the most optimistic of Chelsea fans would believe that Di Matteo can find a way to stop the Barcelona onslaught in the second leg.

I think you can expect Barcelona to come out in the second leg doing nothing different than usual. Barcelona will hold possession, thus controlling the game, and harass Chelsea's defense like John Terry does to his teammates wives. Okay, I'll stop with the John Terry jokes, but I still don't like what he does. Barcelona will also accomplish it's most usual result, a victory. Barcelona is a winning team and they do that very well. While the type of soccer Barcelona plays does not cater to everyone, no one can deny that it is a recipe for victory that the club has nearly perfected (because if it was perfected they would never lose, perfect is perfect, no excuses) over the last few years. Without hesitation I'm taking Barcelona to win the second leg decisively and claim a spot in the Champions League final.

Who are these Dodgers?

Like with every other season, the young 2012 baseball season has shown us a few surprises, while most can be written off by small sample sizes (see my last article) some need to stick around.  The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of these early surprises, and they certainly look like they are set to stay.  I'm sure nobody is going to interrupt me now to argue this point, but it is worth it to wonder why they can be considered a surprise at all.  How did the 2011 Dodgers, a team with the NL Cy Young award winner and man who finished second in the MVP balloting manage to win only 82 games and finish 11.5 games out of their division lead?  So lets investigate the changes in personnel from last year to this year.

I don't get the appeal.

Infield

       2011                                                                      2012

C:   Rod Barajas                                                            A.J. Ellis

1B: James Loney                                                          James Loney

2B: Jamey Carroll/ Aaron Miles                                      Mark Ellis

3B: Juan Uribe/ Aaron Miles                                           Juan Uribe

SS: Jamey Carroll/Dee Gordon/Rafael Furcal                   Dee Gordon

Taking a quick look there are two possibilities for inadequacies in the infield for the 2011 Dodgers, they either had injury problems or terribly defines roles.  At three of these positions there were multiple players with very similar games played at that position that I could not allow myself to keep from using the slashes.  But every team is bound to have their changes due to injury, slumps, trades or prospects coming into the league, so who are we to judge the 2011 Dodgers on their flexibility.  Lets look at the players.  Catching is neither team's strong suit trading out a 35 year old catcher who would be proud of a .250 average for a 31 year old who is playing his first full season in the pros, both are a far cry from the days of Mike Piazza (or even Russell Martin.)  James Loney has maintained his spot as the everyday first basemen despite having a good argument for being among the worst everyday first basemen in the league.  I'll give a slight edge to Mark Ellis over the Jamey Carroll/Aaron Miles collective, even though I am not completely sure why.  There is effectively no change at third other than Juan Uribe being a year older and slightly more rotund.  But before you think the Dodgers infield has gotten no better let me direct you to the shortstop position.  Rafael Furcal struggled last year before getting hurt then traded, and while Jamey Carroll held his own at the position for a while, but Dee Gordon (son of former Relief Pitcher Tom "Flash" Gordon) is a clear improvement.  Despite getting called up early in the season and struggling as the starting shortstop for all of June, Gordon was given the starting role again in September.  During that 26 game period Gordon hit .372 with a .398 OBP and scored 21 runs stealing 12 bases, not too shabby for a leadoff hitter.  He also helps me support my belief that a productive leadoff hitter is the most important thing in baseball as the Dodgers got a head-start on this season going 17-9 that month.

VROOOOM!

Outfield

       2011                                                                     2012

LF: Tony Gwynn Jr.                                                      Juan Rivera/Tony Gwynn Jr.

CF: Matt Kemp                                                            Matt Kemp

RF: Andre Ethier                                                          Andre Ethier

I think it is obvious to see that the only change in these two outfields is they are now platooning Juan Rivera and Tony Gwynn Jr.  Both of them seem to be playing to their norms even considering the fact they have only played two weeks worth of games so even there is seemingly no change.  Matt Kemp put up serious numbers last year after breaking it off with notorious career-inconveniencer Rihanna, and nearly won the MVP, his performance thus far has shown that he wants to finish the job this year and perhaps even have a 50 homer 50 steal season, but I am exercising my right to show a reasonable doubt for the latter.  Andre Ethier is a very talented hitter who slugged 60 points below his career mark last year, don't expect him to be so futile this year, but also don't expect him to maintain the .738 slugging percentage he has so far this year.  He will probably let it settle somewhere around the .500 mark, but continue to drive in a ton of runs with Gordon and Kemp ahead of him all season.  

Left: Bad for your career.  Right:Good for driving in runs.

Pitching

       2011                                                                    2012

SP: Clayton Kershaw                                                 Clayton Kershaw

       Chad Billingsley                                                    Chad Billingsley

       Ted Lilly                                                               Ted Lilly

       Hiroki Kuroda                                                      Chris Capuano

       Rubby De La Rosa                                               Aaron Harang

CL: Javy Guerra                                                          Javy Guerra

The relief corps isn't much different so don't blame me for not wanting to type out a bunch of names I'm not going to pay much attention to, just know they still have Matt Guerrier and Kenley Jansen, and are going to use them a lot it seems.  The starting rotation actually looks to have gotten worse after losing Hiroki Kuroda and his 3.07 ERA to the Yankees, but Chad Billingsley has picked up the slack by pitching incredibly well in his 3 starts this year, and living up to the possibilities people thought he had 2 years ago.  Clayton Kershaw has no record on the season, but he is pitching up to par with last year.  The rest of the guys are basically place fillers much like Billingsley, Lily and De La Rosa were last year, they go in there to hope things don't get too out of hand.  Javy Guerra has also started the season pretty well too.

He looks rather content with that pitch.

So actually on the whole, this Dodgers squad is a lot similar to the one from last year with some slight improvements and a few hot players.  So if you really want to pinpoint exactly what is making the Dodgers such a scary force this year you can dive really deep into the numbers or do what I'm gonna do, call it luck and enjoy it.

Patching this on your sleeve can't hurt.

The Ultimate Fighter

If you guys have been watching this season's TUF (The Ultimate Fighter), you are watching possibly one of the best seasons this show has to offer. Currently in its fifteenth season, TUF has showcased up and coming fighters on their quest to get a contract through the UFC. On their journey you meet the "class clowns", jerks, and the most dedicated people that want this more than life itself. Some of these TUF winners have gone on to win UFC championships (Forrest Griffin, Rashard Evans, and Matt Serra). In each season, the coaches of each team are high profile UFC fighters, where this season is the first season where there are Bantamweight coaches (Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz). However, this tournament is being fought in the lightweight division. These fighters weigh in at a max weight of 155 pounds. Also talking about firsts on this season of TUF the fights are completely live, that's right it is live! In previous seasons of the show, the season was pre-taped and was aired. During the time that the show was being aired, the two fighters scheduled to fight for the title of The Ultimate Fighter were training. At this point it is unsure how this will work completely if they will air this season all the way to The Ultimate Finale, or if there is a week or two difference. During the whole season, these fighters are training for a chance to fight on The Ultimate Finale fight card.



Currently this season on TUF we have seen a total of five fights. Where Cruz's team has won two fights and Faber's team has won three fights. The incentive for these coaches is at UFC 148, there will be a title fight between Cruz and Faber for Cruz's Bantamweight title! This will be the rubber match as Faber won the first match between the two fighting in the Featherweight Division. Then at UFC 132, Cruz defended his belt at the Bantamweight division beating Faber unanimous decision.

Everyone catch The Ultimate Fighter Fridays at 10pm on FX! Have a great day and keep fighting my friends!
 

This Guy Kiddin'?

Earlier this week former Brazilian soccer star and legend, Pele, had the audacity to assert that fellow countryman Neymar is a better soccer player than Barcelona's Lionel Messi. Normally the debate on who the best soccer player in the world results in a comparison between Messi and Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7), two well established players with many accolades in their respective careers despite young age. While I am sick of hearing this debate, at least it makes sense. Both Messi and CR7 abuse opposing defenses and rack up goals at an alarming rate while playing for two of the best, if not the two best, club teams in the world. What makes no sense is Pele's comment that Neymar is better than Messi, which by the transitive property also makes him better than CR7. The only acceptable response: this guy kiddin'?

Has Pele seen my trophies?

I don't like Maradona, but I agree with him that Pele's comment was absolutely absurd and erroneous. Let's take a look at how Neymar stacks up to Messi. Both Messi and Neymar have played for the same club teams for the duration of their careers. Messi is part of an immensely successful Barcelona side that is arguably the greatest team in the history of anything. Neymar plays for Santos in the Brazilian league. Santos has a good side, but cannot stack up to many European powers and were decimated by Messi's Barcelona in the 2011 Club World Cup 4-0 in a game where Messi netted two goals. Santos did win the Copa Libertadores to qualify for the tournament while Barcelona won the Champions League to earn its spot. I think it goes without saying that the Champions League is one of the toughest tournaments to win in any sport.

Not only is Barcelona extremely successful, but Messi is the main man. He has won the Fifa Ballon d"Or three consecutive years, awarded to the best player, and produces eye-popping goal totals. Take this year for example, Messi has scored 61 goals in 51 games in all competitions up to this point. The guy is on the verge to break the all-time record for most goals scored in one season by a player in Europe, which is basically the most goals scored in a season ever since Europe has the most competitive leagues. Neymar has  15 goals in 15 club goals this season which is a ridiculous ratio, it's very hard achieve the one goal to every game ratio, even for the most gifted of strikers, but Messi's this season is 1.196 over a much greater sample size. Additionally, Neymar is playing in Brazil's first division which doesn't match up to La Liga or most leagues in Europe. While the Brazilian league is very entertaining and often comes down to an exciting race for the title at the end of the season, most top flight European leagues have better quality teams.

Neymar is still very young and has yet to prove himself in an elite league. I know that is a cliche argument, but it's true. Pele might want Neymar to stay in Santos, like he did, but times have changed. Any soccer player with good talent, especially of the caliber that Neymar possesses, needs to go to Europe. Messi, despite playing out his entire career in Spain has a goal to game ratio of 0.75 (241 goals in 320 games) while Neymar's is 0.548 (96 goals in 175 games). The only argument I could attempt to make in respect to the number of goals that Messi has amassed in such a short amount of time is that Spanish teams don't play the same type of defense as seen in other leagues, such as Italian teams. But then again, it's not Messi's fault that the Spanish teams don't have a bunch of hacks in their defensive line.

We take no prisoners

Internationally, neither have achieved much success and only time will tell if they do. Neymar is still very young and has only just recently been called up for national team duty. Messi has not won anything with Argentina, but all the fault does not rest on his shoulders and he will be back with a talented Argentina side. This is an area between the two that is wide open, neither has the upper hand, but that does very little to sway the argument. Actually, it does nothing, Messi is still superior despite a lack of international success.

Another sign that Pele's claim has no foundation is that I cannot think of anything to mention about Neymar. Neymar is a good striker, but he hasn't accomplished anything near the level of Messi, at least not yet. There are tons of trophies that Messi has won and he scores goals at such an improbable rate that there is no comparison between him and Neymar at this point. Pele probably doesn't want Messi known as the greatest in the world because of the Brazil versus Argentina rivalry. Pele should calm down, Brazil has more World Cup titles than Argentina, which holds a great deal of weight when speaking of national team sides, especially in South America. Again, the World Cup is a more prestigious award than the Copa America, at least in my estimation.

The competition between Pele and Maradona regarding who the greatest football player of all time is one of the most annoying debates alive in sports right now. Both of them should just stop talking about the subject and so should everyone else. Their time has come and gone and it is quite possible that Messi is better than either of them ever were. I also think it is incredibly stupid that many people fail to mention Brazilian Ronaldo, R9, Il Fenomeno, the goalkeeper's worst nightmare, in the conversation. Pele is also famed for his illustrious feat, scoring over 1,000 goals. But this mark is questionable since friendlies were taken into account as well as goals scored in the backyard during pickup games.

This is funny because I don't like Maradona

Pele, we all know you love your country and countrymen, but honestly, there is no basis for proclaiming that Neymar is better than Lionel "the little genius" Messi. This is coming from me, a guy who loves Brazilian soccer players and has a hard time appreciating the dominance that describes Barcelona right now. Messi is better than Neymar right now. I don't know if Neymar can reach Messi's level, but that's sure an incredibly difficult task. The only person currently in soccer that can even be mentioned in the discussion for world's best player with Messi is CR7, and maybe Heskey, but there's no one else.

It's Heskey Time!!!

Baseball Week 1: Time to Look at the Award Races!

I am probably as excited as anybody about the beginning of baseball season, partially because PRP was just launched so I can write all the baseball articles I want without bogging down my personal page. My favorite thing about baseball is the excess of statistical data around it, it is a game of numbers and I am a mathematics student, we play nice.  The obvious benefit of so much data is that it is fairly easy to use the numbers to make your arguments on who is best, especially for the use in deciding awards, so since small sample size is no problem for me here are my early looks at the major end of the season awards.

Ahh!  Its a major award!

AL MVP

Lets look at reigning MVP Justin Verlander first, a judgement of his person would quickly lead most people to conclude "Fuck him he's a pitcher..." but an in depth look at his current stats on the season (0-1, 2.20 ERA, 0.55 WHIP, 14K) instantly changes that conclusion to "Fuck him he's a pitcher with a losing record."  Now that we have Verlander and all other pitchers out of the equation (yeah, we are just going to ignore them), we can look at the important people who hit things with wood.  Miguel Cabrera certainly looks like the early favorite as he is hitting .381 thus far and is on pace for 81 HR and 243 RBI.  I checked, both of those would be single season records.  But before you get too excited about these "perennial candidates" let me direct your attention toward Josh Willingham of the Twins who may be having an even better year.  As of now he is on pace to not only be on a wild home run chase with Cabrera as he is on pace to slug 108 homers, but he is also on pace to be the first person to hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941!  Even though Cabrera may have a temporary lead on him in RBI, Willingham is on pace for a truly historic season so needs to be the clear favorite in the AL MVP race despite being on a 2-4 Twins team.

He is also a fantastic defender!

NL MVP
Since all of Braun's numbers are down from last year we can safely write off the drop in numbers to his drop in testosterone and write him off our ballots.  Last year's playoff hero David Freese apparently agrees with me that small sample size is an excuse made only by turbo-geeks and people who need excuses for not playing like a champion.  He is off to a hot start hitting .429 with 3 HR and 10 RBI, I can only let you think about how awesome those numbers are going to look by the end of the season, but I get the feeling this guy is only going to get better.  But Freese only has a measly .750 slugging percentage which pales in comparison to some absolute BEASTS in the NL, those BEASTS are Corey Hart, Omar Infante and Chris Young who have slugging percentages of .941 .920 and .909 respectively.  While all of those look weak compared to Josh Willingham, they knock Freese out of the race even with his RBI prowess.  So we have a three man race for the NL MVP right now, but I'm putting my money on Infante since he is a 2B and the Marlins are on national TV every other day.

The only way to slow down this BEAST is to punch him in the balls!

AL Cy Young

We already established that Verlander is a loser this year so he is so far down the list I don't even want to speak his name again for the rest of my life.  Lets find some winners, like Minnesota's Jeff Gray!  This dude has 2 wins in 1.2 innings, talk about effeciency!  He has also already pitched in 4 games so he would have 4 wins already if some Twins hitters not named Willingham could hit.  We also have Rookie of the Year Jeremy Hellickson who pitched 8.2 scoreless innings in his debut for the win.  He did get hit in the head with a line drive during batting practice yesterday, but i'm sure that won't slow him down.  So the question is do you prefer to rate pitchers on wins or being a total workhorse?  I love workhorses, so I'll take Hellboy and his potential for a 32-0 record with 277.1 scoreless innings this year.  

Also quite intimidating on the mound.

NL Cy Young

Clayton Kershaw can pitch as well has he wants this year (and he has been pitching rather well), but there is only one headline among all of the pitchers in the NL, the return of Barry Zito!  The 2002 AL Cy Young winner is here to prove us that the only way to do things is to only try every 10 years and reap the benefits.  Now that Zito is actually trying again, he is going to go out there and throw at least 27 complete game shutouts this year and collectively tell hitters "Fuck you, I'm Barry Fucking Zito, look at my 12-6 curve!"  Nobody else is even approaching his level so I won't even bother giving them hope.  

And hes a hunk!

AL Manager of the Year

There are no numbers for managers at all so I'm only left to believe the voting is based entirely on how adequately an old guy can remind us of this Spongebob scene.  My vote is Joe Maddon, he seems to get it every year anyways.

He even has technology!

NL Manager of the Year
Looking for radical old folk?  Look no further than Ozzie Guillen.  He gets bonus points for being controversial, as he is currently suspended 5 games for talking about some Fidel Castro guy, I think he's one of their top minor league prospects or something.  I don't pay much attention to that stuff but, as I already pointed out, the Marlins are on national TV every other day.

Bad fans are also bad at 1st grade!

All joking aside here are my real predictions for the end of the year.
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera (He will be considered the best player in baseball this time next year)
NL MVP: Troy Tulowitzki (He's due and the NL West is winnable)
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander (I know its a popular pick but he is a great pitcher in a weak hitting division)
NL Cy Young: Adam Wainwright (I needed a risky pick, and I love this guy)
AL Manager: Joe Maddon (The man does good work)
NL Manager: Mike Matheny (They love new guys on winning teams)

UFC 145

Are you ready for the upcoming UFC PPV UFC145 Jones vs. Evans? If you say no then your not a human! This has been a fight that has been in the works for many months. Injuries has held this fight back, which would have happened at the end of last year. Now we are ready for a war between two former teammates. For those who are not educated in the world of MMA or Mixed Martial Arts, fighters train in a group, and there is an un-written law that stops themselves from fighting their teammates. This whole thing started over a year ago as Rashard Evans who at one point was the light-heavyweight champion was scheduled to fight "Shogun" for the title. However, Rashard was injured during training and up and comer Jon "Bones" Jones filled in for the fight, where he won in impressive fashion. Ever since then, Bones has been destroying his opponents, with his last fight ending in a submission over Karate/BJJ master Lyoto Machida. Rashard has since fought in January of this year against Phil Davis, another up and comer in the light heavyweight division where he won by unanimous decision. Now presently we are awaiting a brawl of two great collegiate wrestlers, who will look at proving who is the best fighter.

Also on this great card will be Rory MacDonald vs. Che Mills, Brendan Schaub vs. Ben Rothwell, Miguel Torres vs. Michael McDonald, Mark Hominick vs. Eddie Yagin, and to start off the main card will be Mark Bocek vs. John Allessio. Other than the main event and the co-main event, a fight that should be watched will be either the Schaub vs. Rothwell fight or the Torres vs. McDonald fight. Both Brendan Schaub and Ben Rothwell are coming off losses in their previous bouts. For those who are again new to MMA, especially in the UFC which is the biggest promoter of MMA in the world, it is hard to go at a possible two losses and keep your job. The talent especially the talent in the rejuvenated Heavyweight division which is where these fighters are most comfortable at fighting is much better than it was ten years ago. The Torres vs. McDonald fight should also be a very good battle because both of these fighters have something to prove. Miguel Torres was released from the UFC a couple months ago due to a twitter comment that was rather inappropriate, so this is his first fight since Dana White re-signed the former WEC Bantamweight champ. Michael McDonald is coming to take the Bantamweight division by storm since winning his fourth straight WEC/UFC fight beating Alex Soto by way of KO in the first round (56 seconds to be exact).

Everyone, send me your pick as to who is going to win these amazing fights and also how these fights will be won!

Welcome to PRP!

Welcome to Penultimate Round Pick, your source for performance enhancing thoughts! The founders of PRP, avid sports fans for years, have the desire to express a unique view on sports encompassing overlooked facets and popular topics. We want to provide quality entertainment to fans of athletics everywhere while having a good time doing it. The goal of PRP is to deliver a unique view on various sports through expert analysis on elite observations and expansive knowledge mixed with faultless opinion.

This is your brain on PRP!

Penultimate Round Pick has been set into action by three friends, but is likely to expand to cover more sports and provide more depth. Chase Robertson and Toninho, already wildly successful bloggers penning posts on I Sometimes Call Myself Chase Robertson and Sycophantic Laughter respectively, have joined forces with Hector, an aspiring blogger, to bring PRP into existence. This incomparable trio creates angles far too monstrous to contemplate.

There's the story, short and sweet. We hope to provide entertainment and delight, enjoy the beginning of this new adventure!