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Fantasy Baseball is a popular game. The players involved in this game work towards managing imagining team of baseball. This is totally based on the baseball players’ real life performance. The players in Fantasy Baseball compete against one another using those players’ statistics in order score points. The game is also known to be the oldest form of fantasy sports that exist and also one of the hardest time consuming sport. This is due to the MLB 162 game season as well as the players’ inconsistency.

When it comes to fantasy sports, Fantasy Baseball holds a special place in the category. This is also because baseball is the national’s favorite pastime. It is also very natural for many U.S. nationals to take interest in this game.

For any sport, winning a championship is the primary objective. Fantasy Baseball is no different. The optimum method to start playing this game is to prepare well prior to starting of the season. Here, you need to make yourself aware of all the stats as well as other relevant data related to the players. Thereafter, you must sign up with a public association or start one. You can easily have a live or an automatic draft. It is extremely beneficial to opt for a live draft where you can easily select the players.

If you are a Fantasy Baseball enthusiast and want to win maximum number of games, here are some winning strategies:

a) League settings:

It is very important to be aware of your league settings. This is quite obvious but extremely important too! You need to be clearly aware of your leagues settings and the manner in which this will affect your draft. Ensure whether or not your team is a roto league or a head to head league. Each format requires different players. Consistency is significant in roto league. All you require to focus on is to keep the stats working.

b) Research:

If you are serious about performing well at a fantasy baseball draft, it is important for you to research well. Don’t have an obsessive passion for stats. You just need to have a look at a few of them. A well-conducted research will definitely provide you excellent results.

c) Reach for players:

You should not be afraid to reach for players. Most of the times, people tend to get afraid to reach on players as the owners may criticize him for it. However, experts feel that it is often the individual that reaches for a player who ends up winning the league. So go ahead and reach for players to win.

d) Do not draft a closer too soon:

Never ever make a mistake via spending a fourth round pick on a closer. You can easily find efficient closers later in the draft. You can even find it on the waiver wire. Strictly avoid drafting a closer until late.

e) Consistency draft:

Consistency is more important than one-start studs. It is your efficiency to draft for consistency that makes you a 5 stat threat.

f) Do not focus on one stat:

You need to strictly avoid focusing on one stat. in case, you observe the bottom dwellers closely in a league, and they are great in 1-2 stats and at their worst in the rest. This is because they do not have any clue for the draft and focused only on one specific stat. Guys focusing on speed usually end up being strong in RBIs and HR. However, they don’t show any potential in AVG, SBs and Hits.

g) Don’t be a robot:

You need to think differently from all the other owners. Create a niche for your self and you would be winning maximum number of times.

h) Adjust:

It is important to cultivate an ability to adjust. Try staying focused each time a draft doesn’t go exactly the way you want it to. You must be able to make quick adjustments as you have already researched the players.

i) Think Ahead:

This is a strategy for the invincible. If you are strong at a shallow position, it is easy for you to utilize it as leverage in a trade.

The American League East is arguably the toughest division in Major League Baseball today. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox alone are enough to earn that reputation, but now you can add the pennant winning Tampa Bay Rays to the A.L. East’s competitive teams.

If you’re still not convinced, after a mid-season managerial change, the Toronto Blue Jays finished 10 games above .500 to become the best 4th place team in the wildcard era. As for the Baltimore Orioles…well, someone had to finish last.

The Tamp Bay Rays are young and inexpensive—they have less than $50 million in 2009 commitments. They also have a farm system overflowing with talented prospects, giving the defending A.L. Champs plenty of options to fix weaknesses.

Their biggest weakness is hitting left-handed pitching. With Cliff Floyd and Eric Hinske testing the free agency waters, the Rays will try to add more offense that can improve the league’s third-worst OPS against lefties.

Tampa Bay would like to add depth to the closer position. Current closer Troy Percival is old and injury prone. If the Rays don’t want to promote an arm from within, they will take a long hard look at what’s available on the free agency market.

The Tampa Bay Rays were forced to a Game 7 of the American League Championship Series by a wounded Boston Red Sox squad. Despite being just one game away from returning to the World Series, the Red Sox have already started to close the gap between them and the upstart Rays.

The Red Sox bolstered their bullpen and thinned out a log jam in centerfield by trading Coco Crisp to the Kansas City Royals for right-handed reliever Ramon Ramirez. This makes Jacoby Ellsbury the Red Sox’s starting center fielder.

The Red Sox offered arbitration to catcher Jason Varitek, meaning he’s unlikely to be back with the team next year. To fill the void behind the plate, the Red Sox will likely pursue Taylor Teagarden or Jarrod Saltalamacchia, both with the Texas Rangers.

On January 8th, the Red Sox acquired Rocco Baldelli to add to their outfield.

The Red Sox acquired right handed pitcher Randor Bierd from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for right handed pitcher David Pauley.

Boston also signed Brad Penny and free agent right handed pitcher Takashi Saito to a one-year contract through the 2009 season with a club option for 2010.

Any trade Boston makes will probably involve highly touted pitcher Clay Buchholz. Red Sox can part with pitching prospects since they have a solid four-man rotation.

And the team just signed free agent right handed pitcher John Smoltz to a one-year contract through the 2009 season. So their pitching is starting to look very good.

With Manny Ramirez gone and slugger David Oritz another year older, the Red Sox would have loved to have landed the 29-year-old switch-hitting free agent Mark Teixeira to their lineup. But alas, the New York Yankees snatched him up in a move very similar to how they got A-Rod. The deal is for 8-years and $180 million.

The Yankees have a lot of two things: money and old age. Look for baseball’s richest franchise to spend more of its money to get younger, both at the plate and on the mound. They also got

The Yanks have $75 million in 2008 salaries coming off the books thanks to the free agencies of Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Carl Pavano, Andy Pettitte (although Abreu and Pettitte might be back with the team) and to the retirement of pitcher Mike Mussina.

Besides Teixeira, the Yankees have also been salivating over starting pitcher CC Sabathia. The former Brewer ace wants a nine-figure salary and the Yanks can afford to write that check. And in the end, the Evil Empire signed Sabathia as well for 7 years and $161 million.

The Toronto Blue Jays finished the 2008 season with 86 wins, the league’s best ERA, and the league’s fourth-best run differential—all good enough for fourth place in the division.

So can these birds really compete with the top flyers in the AL East? The answer is probably not.

Last year, the Blue Jays had one of the league’s best four-man rotations with Roy Halladay, Burnett, Jesse Litsch and Shaun Marcum. Two of those four pitchers are already gone for next season. Burnett opted for free agency and Marcum will miss all of 2009 with Tommy John surgery.

The problem with the Blue Jays is they don’t have the Red Sox’s or the Yankees’ money, but are stuck in their division. It might be prudent for Toronto to think beyond 2009 and start preparing now to dump salaries before the trade deadline.

The Baltimore Orioles had the fifth oldest lineup in the majors, only two players were south of 30. The good news for the Birds is most of their veterans are entering the final year of their contracts.

Last off season, the Orioles pillaged the Seattle Mariners of numerous prospects for the hugely disappointing Erik Bedard. Anticipate Oriole GM Andy MacPhail to try and repeat that transaction. While it will be difficult to find a team as stupid as the Mariners were a year ago, it’s not out of the question for MacPhail to make several solid trades that make the Orioles younger and competitive.

2nd Basemen Brian Roberts should be one of the first to go followed by Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora and Ramon Hernandez. In return, Baltimore should aim to improve its pitching staff. In 2009, the Orioles had the league’s worst ERA.

The upcoming 2009 MLB season is going to be very exciting and the A.L. East is going to be extremely competitive. Look for the off-season changes to make a big difference for all of the teams in the A.L. East and expect to see Tampa, New York and Boston battle it out all season long.

At the beginning of 2009, the Western Conference has it all: a very dominant team, parity and a lot of NBA Lottery contestants.

The defending conference champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, have a five game lead. Teams #2 through #9 are separated by only two-and-a-half games.

The remaining six teams are at least 12 games under .500.

As the season creeps towards the mid-way point, the Lakers hope to stay consistent and healthy, while the contenders hope to position themselves for a post All-Star-break run into the playoffs.

The Pacific Division

At 25-5, the Lakers are off to their best start since 1999-2000, a year they won the NBA Title.

The lone downside to their start, with the exception of New Orleans (28), is that no Western Conference team has played fewer games than the Lakers. Meaning L.A. will have more opportunities than others clubs to lose.

Of course, it won’t be easier for the Lakers to rack up a lot of losses, not the way they can score.

The Lakers lead the league in scoring, averaging 107.3 points a game. Kobe Byrant is third in the NBA in scoring with just over 26 points per game. He’s also shooting an impressive 47.3 percent from the field.

The Lakers are deep and talented. And they have a great mix of youth (Andrew Bynum, Trevor Ariza) and veterans (Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom).

Looking up at the Lakers is the rapidly aging, and increasingly surly, Phoenix Suns.

New head coach Terry Porter has been given the unenviable task of bringing an identity to a team that has both Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal-two great players with radically different playing styles.

After a shaky start to the season, Shaq has been playing better. Over his last eight games, O’Neal is averaging 23.3 points.

The Suns’ schedule has been brutal, so an 18-12 record isn’t all that bad.

A team with Nash, Shaq, Richardson, Stoudemire and veteran Grant Hill should make the playoffs.

But age, health and Stoudemire’s anger management issues will probably prohibit the Suns from seriously challenging for the title.

While the Warriors’ problems stem from personnel, the Clippers have some good players.

Point guard Baron Davis, shooting guard Eric Gordon, small forward Al Thornton, power forward Zach Randolph and center Marcus Camby are a formidable starting five (when they are healthy).

The Clippers’ problem is they can’t shoot. Both Davis and Thornton are in major shooting slumps and the team is closing in on the franchise record for worst field-goal shooting percentage in a season.

Not surprisingly, the Clippers are 28th in points per game, next-to-last in three-point field-goal percentage and 26th in free-throw percentage.

The Clippers run a predictable offense that relies heavily on isolation plays. Players seldom cut without the ball and they are also one of the worst screening teams in the West.

To salvage this season, Davis needs to reenergize his game and Randolph, out a couple of weeks with a dislocated shoulder, needs to return to help the Clippers get easy/open looks on pick and rolls, and pick and pops.

Even if all that happens, look for the Clippers to be nothing more than spoilers for teams trying to make the playoffs.

The Sacramento Kings’ best player, Kevin Martin, has already missed 22 games this season due to injury. Entering January, he finally seems healthy and ready to play.

They are one of the league’s worst defensive team, allowing over 105 points a game and the Kings are the worst team in point differential, with nearly a minus 10-point difference between their score and their opponents’.

Amazingly, the Kings have eight wins, but don’t look for that number to get much larger. This is a team preparing for the draft lottery.

The Northwest Division

Earlier this season, the Denver Nuggets made headlines when they traded Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons for point guard, and Denver native, Chauncey Billups.

Since Billups joined the club, the Nuggets have gone 20-9. The Nuggets are also good at home, they’ve started the season 11-4 in Colorado.

The Nuggets play an ugly style basketball except for Carmello Anthony. Mello may be the most complete offensive player in the game today.

Denver’s bench isn’t very good, but their starting five (including center Nene, who is having the best year of his career) should be enough to win this division-especially with the Blazers experiencing growing pains and the Jazz just experiencing pains.

The Portland Trailblazers have just everything you need in a team.

They have a superstar and clutch shooter in Brandon Roy and they have another big-time scorer in LaMarcus Aldridge.

They have size and strength in centers Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla.

And they have depth with Rudy Fernandez and Travis Outlaw coming off the bench.

However, the Blazers need to be more consistent on defense. This young team can score, but they allow too many open looks and too many easy buckets.

If, or when, Portland realizes they need to play championship caliber defense all-the-time, the West will be there’s for the taking.

Before the season started, the Utah Jazz were the obvious pick to win the Pacific division-after all, they’ve won the last two Northwest Division titles.

A third title in-a-row seems nearly impossible now that the Jazz have been ravaged by injuries.

Guard C.J. Miles is the only Jazz player to have logged minutes in every game this season.

Despite the injuries, the Jazz have battled to a 19-14 record. Jerry Sloan has done a tremendous job keeping his team competitive and the Jazz have the good fortunate of having the league’s 6th easiest schedule.

Even if the Jazz get healthy, landing that 8th playoff spot will be difficult. They are an awful road team, currently 7-10 away from Salt Lake City, and the hard part of the schedule is still to come.

While the Blazers and the Nuggets are catchable, the Jazz maybe the good Western Conference team that doesn’t make the playoffs.

It will be a long year for the T-Wolves and unless they show significant improvement, it will also be McHale’s last season as their employee.

As bad as it is for the T-Wolves at least they’re not in last place. That distinction falls to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In the month of December, Kevin Durant averaged 25.6 points and 7.5 boards. He shot a respectable 48 percent from the field and 45 percent from behind the arc.

His performance was good enough to lead his team to a 1-12 record for the month.

In total, you can count all the Thunder’s wins on one hand (4) and still have a digit left over to show your feelings towards owner Clay Bennett.

Chances are the Thunder won’t win enough games to fill up two hands. In fact, they may make more trades than wins.

The Southwest Division

This year Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets hope to improve on last year’s team that finished 56-26 and lost to the Spurs in the conference semi-finals.

Last season, the Hornets started 18-10. This year they started 19-9. That’s good, but what’s cause for concern is the Hornets are 7-6 against teams that made the playoffs last season.

The first month of 2009 will play a large part in whether or not the Hornets can surpass their 2007-2008 results. The Hornets play 16 games in the month of January (nine of those on the road) including four sets of back-to-back games.

If the Hornets can escape January with 10 or more wins, look for them to repeat as Southwest Division champs.

Even the name San Antonio Spurs sounds old.

Age has definitely made the Spurs more vulnerable than they’ve ever been under Gregg Popovich, but it’s only January.

Is this team even out of hibernation?

Spurs don’t even start caring about basketball until March.

Despite suffering injuries (at various points of the season) to Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, the Spurs have still managed to post a 20-11 mark.

The Spurs lost Brent Barry and Robert Horry from last year’s squad, but newcomer Roger Mason and rookie George Hill have been productive and nice additions to the team.

The stars are still shining, Parker is averaging 22 points and 6 assists a game, while Tim Duncan is averaging a double-double a game-20.7 points and 10.3 rebound.

Like you would expect from a veteran team, the Spurs know how to win close ball games. San Antonio is 10-3 in games decided by six points or less, or games decided in overtime-they’ve already won their three double-overtime games.

Staying in Texas, the Houston Rockets are reminiscent of another team from the Lone Star state that plays a different sport. The Rockets, like those \”Boys\” of winter, can win some games but when it comes down to crunch time, they scare no one.

Yes, the addition of Ron Artest is a good one. But even if he’s Mother Teresa off the court, he’s not going to lead the Rockets to the second round of the playoffs by himself-you know after Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady go down with injuries.

McGrady, after a meeting with head coach Rick Adelman and general manager Daryl Morey, said he won’t be playing in the second of back-to-back games.

Seriously?

T-Mac isn’t even 30-years old and he’s already taking games off?

Sure, the Rockets will win some games, make the playoffs and show a few signs of being a legitimate contender, but eventually they will wilt.

You don’t have to be a Dallas Mavericks fan to be sick of hearing about how they shouldn’t have traded Devin Harris to the New Jersey Nets for Jason Kidd.

We get it!

Harris is tearing it up in Jersey and Kidd is playing out the twilight of his career before going to hall of the fame.

As you might imagine, Dirk Nowitzki is a large part of why the Mavs are now headed in the right direction, but some credit should go to reserve guard Jason Terry. He’s the leading candidate for Sixth Man of the Year and is averaging over 21 points per game.

Forward Josh Howard is finally healthy-a sprained left wrist followed by sprained left ankle cost him 11 games.

Guard Jason Terry has been critical of his defense this season (when was the last time you heard a NBA player say that). His tenacious D was part of the reason the Mavs were able to come back and defeat the Timberwolves after falling behind 62-40 at halftime.

Jason Kidd may not be averaging 23 points like Devin Harris, but he still knows how to ball. Kidd is averaging 8.6 assists, 2.6 steals and 6.5 rebounds a game, while turning over the rock less than two-and-half times a game. That’s solid production.

The Mavs are a good team and they are much better than their 19-12 record indicates.

Can someone please put the Memphis Grizzles on television? I want to see O.J. Mayo play.

Can’t TNT broadcast one of his games or do they have to air the dozen Tyler Perry sitcoms?

The rookie guard from USC is averaging 20 points a game. He leads his team in scoring and turnovers. He’s second in steals and third in assists.

Speaking of assists, the Grizzlies are the only team in the league that doesn’t record assists on at least half of their field goals.

This type of selfish play is started to wear on head coach Marc Iavaroni. If it continues, it may cost Iavaroni his job.

Recently, Iavaroni received the kiss of death from his owner, Michael Heisley, who publically stated he’s solidly behind his head coach.

That’s never a good sign for a coach.

If the Grizz can keep Mayo, Marc Gasol, Darrell Arthur and Rudy Gay together, they may have a future.

Conclusion

The Los Angeles Lakers should win this conference and return to the NBA Finals. If they somehow fail to play defense at a championship-level, a slew of teams are ready to pounce and make a move.

The Spurs are probably saving their energy for one last championship run; remember they know how to win.

The Hornets are hungry and in their prime; when it’s all said and done, Chris Paul will be listed as one of the all-time greats.

The Mavs may sneak up and surprise a lot of teams; too many basketball fans are talking about the Kidd-Harris trade and not their solid play.

Denver, Portland, Phoenix and Utah are long shots to catch the Lakers, but they are more than capable of winning a serious or two in the postseason.

To highlight the depth of the Western Conference, one of the following teams will be in the NBA lottery: New Orleans, San Antonio, Denver, Portland, Dallas, Phoenix and Utah.

The Western Conference is tough.

I have been playing golf for 8 years now. What a great game - I love it, and I hate it (at times)! Do you recognise that feeling?

Previously I played football - was a goalkeeper during my active career, but turned to golf when my knees had had enough of soccer and all its unpredictable injuries. So here I am, an amateur golfer with a handicap of 22, and stuck at that level for quite some time now. That explains the title of this article!

On a winter’s day in 2000 a good friend of mine was kind enough to introduce me to golf, and I was ‘hooked’ at once. In no other game do you have the opportunity to enjoy yourself and to get to know yourself better than through golf. You are on your own, competing against yourself in the company of good friends.

There is nothing like a round of golf on a beautiful summer’s day, standing there on the 1st tee ready to drive - and with all your dreams of ‘the perfect round’ intact. What a great feeling every time! Today’s the day when you are going to lower your handicap considerably!

Always those dreams and that feeling on tee no.1, but 5-7 holes later, most of your dreams have usually been shattered to pieces! What went wrong?

I guess this is the question all amateur golfers ask themselves all too often, and so do I. At the end of the day my scorecard usually shows 25-29 stableford points - sometimes less - typically with 12-14 well played holes, but what about the remaining 4-6 holes? Zero points!

So I guess the question \”What went wrong?\” is extremely relevant to most of us amateur golfers, and personally I have decided to examine the problem thoroughly and find help where I can get it to lower that handicap!

After all, as a sportsman throughout my life, results are what I’m after. Enjoying a round of golf in nice weather, on a beautiful course, and in the company of good friends is quite fine, but just isn’t enough. Let’s face it: we DO want to lower that handicap, don’t we?

How, then? (if you cannot manage to spend tons of cash on your local pro). As for my own game, it typically looks like this: 1) I have a fairly nice swing, but: 2) It only works for about 12-14 holes.

Why? Well, there are at least 3 things necessary to succeed in golf:

1. The swing itself.

2. Your ability to focus on each and every shot.

3. Your fitness level in general.

I have come to the conclusion that my own problem is mainly a lack of ability to focus and concentrate for 4-5 hours on end, and that this, in turn, is partly due to a deficient level of general fitness poor habits concerning eating and drinking properly during the round - I simply forget that very often, and when I do eat and drink, it is often too late to make up for lost shots.

The last point should be fairly easy to deal with yourself, whereas you need help on the other points. To be able to play good golf, it is a fact that you have got to have a good, consistent, repeatable swing, that you must be able to focus and concentrate on each and every shot during the round, and that this might very well be achieved by raising your general fitness level.

In my own case I went searching the internet for help on these points and actually managed to find some good programmes which have helped me considerably. To be able to share this information with others like myself, I decided to create my own golf website with tips, tricks, articles etc. in the hope that you might also benefit from some of it.

The site will be revised and improved continually as I come across good ideas to place there, and I also hope that you might be interested in contributing to improving the contents by joining my blog, and exchanging ideas and experiences about golf in general.

Good luck with your own game!

P.S. After all, golf is more pleasure than pain!

The 2008 NFL season is upon us and as always, there is plenty of excitement in almost every NFL city across the country. Every fan is hopeful about their team at the start of the season, but when it comes down to it, the best teams will always end up at the top of the heap. Only 12 teams can make it the playoffs out of 32, so the odds aren’t always on your side. But as the Giants showed the world last year: once you’re in the playoffs, anything can happen and anybody can win the whole thing and go home as Super Bowl Champion.

New Head Coaches

Going into the 2008 NFL season there will be four teams with new head coaches. They are the Atlanta Falcons, Washington Redskins, Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins. The Falcons are coming off their disastrous 2007 campaign, their first without Michael Vick, when first year head coach Bobby Petrino quit with several weeks remaining. The new coach is Mike Smith, formerly the defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

After a long and public search, the Redskins hired Jim Zorn to replace Joe Gibbs. Zorn, who came from the Seahawks organization, was initially hired as the offensive coordinator until another head coach was never found and he got promoted to full head coach status. Across the beltway in Baltimore, the Ravens fired Brian Billick and hired John Harbaugh to come in and lead their time. In Miami, the Dolphins brought in Bill Parcells, but not to be their head coach. Parcells will sit in the offices while his disciple, Tony Sparano coaches the team in a rebound season.

Biggest Off-season Acquisitions

Every off-season, there are free agent signings, draft pickups and trades. Trades have become increasingly more popular in the NFL as teams try to negotiate difficult salary cap restrictions and would rather trade a player they can’t sign and get something in return.

By far, the biggest move in the off-season was the New York Jets trading for Packer icon Brett Favre. Favre began the off-season by retiring but later wanted to come back and play. We all know the saga from there; the Packers were sick of playing that game every summer and so finally found a team they could trade him to, the Jets. The Jets were more than happy to pick him up and in turn cut quarterback Chad Pennington, who immediately signed with the Dolphins. In Green Bay, it’s up to Aaron Rodgers to lead the team now.

The other major headline grabber was the pickup of Adam Jones (“Pacman”) by the Dallas Cowboys, a team renowned for picking up troubled players, including most recently, Tank Johnson and Terrell Owens. Jones is coming off a year long suspension by the NFL and was finally reinstated. Chris Henry, another troubled and suspended player, was let go by the Cincinnati Bengals, but later resigned by the same team.

Jason Taylor, a sack expert and Dancing with the Stars veteran, moved teams to the Washington Redskins. Cornerback Asante Samuel of the New England Patriots signed with the Philadelphia Eagles while former Chargers backup running back Michael Turner will be the starting back with the Falcons.

AFC Favorites

In the AFC, the powerhouses will still remain powerful. The New England Patriots were denied their chance at perfection and immortality, which overshadows the amazing season they had and the depth of talent they have on the team. Tom Brady and Randy Moss broke records last season, and will be even scarier this year after getting to know each other more comfortably.

Their rival, the Indianapolis Colts, also bring back a strong team. Peyton Manning is coming off surgery in the off-season but he hasn’t ever missed a start in his career. Also, Dwight Freeney, stud defensive end, will be returning to the lineup healthy and ready to cause havoc for quarterbacks. These two teams will surely continue the rivalry this year.

Two other favorites from the AFC include the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Diego Chargers. The Jaguars are coming off a surprisingly successful 2007 season with David Garrard at the helm. Garrard proved himself worthy of the starting role and a big contract, while the defensive line is still an imposing force. The Chargers will bring out their usual stars, including Antonio Gates and Ladainian Tomlinson, however Shawne Merriman has injury concerns.

A team that could surprise people in the AFC is the Denver Broncos. Quarterback Jay Cutler is continuing to improve and coach Mike Shanahan rarely has losing seasons, let alone back to back losing seasons. It’s tempting to look at the Jets with Brett Favre and like their chances, however, their team doesn’t have the kind of talent necessary to make them a real contender, even if they are improved.

NFC Favorites

In the NFC, the Super Bowl champion New York Giants are gearing up and considering themselves as being disrespected. In a tough division, many people are picking them to finish third or fourth, and possibly not even make the playoffs. Reasons for this include the retirement of Hall of Fame player Michael Strahan and the loss of Osi Umenyiora in the preseason to injury. The team also traded Pro Bowl player Jeremy Shockey. However, Eli Manning should ride the momentum of his newfound playoff success into a career year and the defense still has many playmakers. They might not be the top pick, but they can certainly make some noise this year.

In their division, the Dallas Cowboys are the most likely Super Bowl candidate. The team is loaded with Pro Bowl talent, setting a record last year with how many players they sent to the Pro Bowl. Quarterback Tony Romo is still improving, and Terrell Owens seems focused on the game. Meanwhile, running back Marion Barber is quietly becoming a star and tight end Jason Witten has quietly already become one.

The Eagles are also expected to have a strong 2008 season. Donovan McNabb should be healthy and ready to lead the team and the defense, as always, should be strong. Brian Westbrook has established himself as one of the best running backs in the league. Another NFC favorite is the Minnesota Vikings, who bring back all world running back Adrian Peterson, after his phenomenal rookie year. They also traded for Pro Bowl defensive end and sack specialist Jarred Allen, to improve their defense. The question is whether or not the quarterback, Tarvaris Jackson, can be successful for a full season.

Nobody is thinking about them, and they like it that way, but the Seattle Seahawks are perennial contenders who are primed for another postseason run. The New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers are two teams coming off disappointing 2007 seasons that can rebound in 2008. The Panthers will have a healthy Jake Delhomme and the Saints will have a healthy Deuce Mcallister, and hope to get off to a quicker start than last year’s 0-4 debacle.

In the NFL, you have to expect the unexpected. Every week brings ups and downs and plenty of excitement, so the 2008 season should continue to do the same. In the AFC, expect more of the same with the Patriots and Colts being the most likely to reach the big game, and in the NFC, expect the Cowboys to finally break through or the Eagles to return and get another shot at a championship.

When I watched the Opening Ceremony, I was entranced. It began with giant footprints in the sky made of fireworks, leading the way to the stadium. The stadium was built specifically for the Olympics in the shape of a bird’s nest, which is considered a lucky symbol in China. Once at the stadium, fire appeared to race around the top edge of the structure before falling to the ground within like a comet. Two large rectangles full of what turned out to be drummers began performing along with a flickering light show that made patterns from the different drums. It was amazing.

The Opening Ceremony traced the history of China, featuring a huge LED screen that unrolled like a scroll upon the stadium floor. The idea of an unrolling LED screen that people could dance and march upon was ingenious. The screen had images and symbols going by as dancers painted on yet another floor screen, creating a landscape in the style of Chinese brush painting. Next, there were many people in flowing, costumes. A large amount of blocks were in place on the LED screen, and we were treated to a patterned dance by the blocks, first moving like ripples in a pond, then forming Chinese characters and the Great Wall. After it was over, people popped up from each block. They must have practiced for weeks to get the choreography right.

One of my favorite parts was the single dancer in the flowing neon costume who danced upon a moving floor carried by many other people in bright green costumes. She had long flowing ribbons that she waved as part of her dance. Many people then came out carrying large oars. They did what looked like the wave while images of ocean waves played on the top scrim in the stadium. The oarsmen eventually formed a boat around the enter LED screen, which showed images of Chinese ships.

The costumes were amazing. They looked like they were made of silk and other fine fabrics. They say there were 15,000 performers in this Opening Ceremony… and they all had marvelous costumes of vibrant colors. The bright dresses and traditional costumes added to the pageantry. The costumes were so detailed, from the perfect pleats to the tiny gold baubles in the dancers’ hair. China has a reputation of being highly populated, and everything they did used masses of people, which helped bring that feeling to mind. The sheer numbers that performed so beautifully is mind-boggling.

The lighted suits were really cool. It was like watching stars running around. They made the shape of a bird, in honor of the usual pigeons that are traditionally released at the Olympic Games. The lights then formed a bird’s nest, echoing the theme of the stadium.

The history of martial arts was honored with the Tai Chi exhibition, and then images of waterfalls covered the upper scrims while ripples of people made their entrance and got into place. Children sat in the middle of the screen. The masses of practitioners performing were amazing.

I think my favorite part was the astronaut portion. The lights looked like stars, and the astronauts floating in the air were really great as planets floated by on the upper scrims. The people running and tumbling around the circumference of the large globe was a great effect. The theme song was beautiful and haunting as images of whales floated by on the ceiling. The sea of faces they showed during the theme song brought tears to my eyes, as it brought individuality of all nationalities to the show.

The fireworks were amazing. So many colors, so many patterns. The usual parade of nations was done according to the number of strokes in the Chinese names for those countries rather than alphabetically, which made if interesting as you didn’t know who was coming next. There were over 200 countries there to compete in the Olympic Games. They slowly filled the center of the stadium with all the athletes who were there to compete. The small child who came out with the China team was so cute, waving a little flag as he marched.

The speeches were nice, but I really preferred the pageantry of the earlier portion of the ceremony. China really set the bar high for anyone hosting future Olympic Games for the Opening Ceremony. I hope we’ll see more imaginative and innovative ceremonies in the future. This one was very entertaining, touching and gave a true flavor of China.

Schedule wise the NFC west draws the very tough NFC East, and somewhat less challenging AFC East as common division foes. We see the non-common foes as having a significant impact in what looks to be a wide open division race.

The Vegas pre-season favorite, Seattle, simply has too many questions on offense to pencil them in as the outright division winner. They’ll be in the hunt because they have the division’s best defense, and surprisingly (at #20 overall in the NFL) the Seahawks had the best rushing offense in the NFC West last season. But the Hawks were able to take the division crown on the strength of their pass attack; and they simply are not going to be as strong over the top this year. Couple that with having to play the hardest schedule in the division and we see them as ripe candidates to take a step back. Arizona and St. Louis have made significant strides this off-season, the Rams in particular look to have several key players returning from injury, while Arizona has steadily improved by rock solid drafting. San Francisco is a mess - the ownership group just doesn’t know football; and we don’t see them at the top of the division so long as the York’s control the football decisions. Outside of the Bay team this division should be a dog fight, up for grabs right up to the last few weeks of the season. However, in the end our bet is the Rams come out on top. Our 2008 NFC west division forecast looks like this:

St. Louis 9-7
Arizona 8-8
Seattle7-9
San Francisco 6-9


St Louis

Vegas has installed a pre-season win total for the Rams to win only 7 games. Our win/loss scorecasting models have St. Louis winning 9 games, and the division in the 2008 regular season.

Last year this offensive line had 4 starters miss games due to injury, including mainstay LT Orlando Pace, who was out for the entire season. The upside is several back-ups on the line gained valuable experience. They have several highly rated free agent linemen coming in who should improve the production of this unit immensely. Pace looks to be fully healed from his season ending shoulder injury - this unit should be one of the teams strengths, if not one of the better units in the NFL. The offense is led by All-Pro caliber QB Mark Bulger, surrounded by future hall of fame WR Torry Holt, and stud RB Steven Jackson. The Rams appear to have the strongest offense in the division, and could be one of the top 10 units in the entire league.

The defense gave up a respectable average of 341 ypg last year, but a whopping 27 ppg. Make no mistake this anomaly was primarily due to the difficulties of the offense moving the ball, and leaving the defense with poor field position. This year the defensive line returns healthy, and will be bolstered by first round DE Chris Long. Long will have an immediate impact on the St Louis pass rush making the entire defense better; he has a lot of moves as a pass rusher which is very unusual in a rookie. A player to keep an eye on is all-pro caliber free safety O.J. Atogwe - this guy can flat out play - in a pass happy division he is one of the better DB’s in the division.

What puts the Rams over the top in what will be a tight division race is their strength of schedule - they have the easiest draw of non-common opponents in the league. They play a last place schedule and will host CHICAGO and travel to ATLANTA in the season finale - both are games they should be favored to win. If St. Louis can win those two games, then at least split their division games, and play .500 ball with the division’s common conference opponents (including MIAMI and the NY JETS) - they’ll have a realistic shot at winning 9 games.

Arizona

Arizona is going to be right there, and we won’t be surprised if they pull out 9 (or more) wins and take the division. On offense they have what should be an improved offensive line, with potential all-pro bookend tackles. The Arizona line did get better last season and will probably improve this season, but James will be 30 at the start of the season and is approaching 3,000 carries, very significant landmarks in the career of most running backs. If QB Leinart improves on his decision making in his 3rd NFL season this could be a solid offense. There is a major question mark at RB, where Edgerrin James just doesn’t have the break away speed anymore to make defenses fear him.

Defensively this unit has major question marks up front on the defensive line - where is the pressure on the QB going to come from? DE Calvin Pace left in free agency, and wasn’t replaced. The linebackers and secondary are solid, but without pressure up front no defense can dominate in this league. It’s a shame, because if the Cardinals had a pass rushing threat we think they make some noise this year. The defense will be bringing in a number of new players that will take some adjustment, and they still lack depth.

Arizona unfortunately draws MINNESOTA and @CAROLINA as non-common opponents - both are games where they’ll have match-up problems, and it looks like they’ll do well to earn a split.

Seattle

Vegas has the over/under on the 2008 Seahawks at 9 games. Take the under and run. Seattle’s time has passed, have no doubt about it their window of opportunity has closed. We’re not Seattle bashers, when many last year were predicting their demise, we went against the flow and correctly picked them to hold on and win the division in 2007. This year things have changed. They no longer have a respected rush attack, No. 1 receiver Deion Branch is coming back from major ACL surgery (an injury he received in the playoffs last year and which typically takes 12-18 months to fully recover from), and they lost their most promising young WR to free agency (DJ Hackett). What was once one of the best run-blocking offensive line units in the league has degenerated into a shadow of its former self. The O-line has declined due to the loss of key players in free agency, and key prospects not fulfilling potential. Rumors from Seattle suggest that they are installing a zone blocking scheme, not that it is hard to learn but changes always require adjustment and Jones didn’t see much of that in Dallas, how well he reads the line will be tested. QB Matt Hasselbeck is a star player, but outside of Engram he’s not going to have anyone to throw to, and he’s not going to last the season lining up to throw behind this unit.

The defense is one of the better on paper in the league. It’s a well disciplined and fast unit. However, the defense is not so good that it can carry a weak offense. When the offense struggles, and we believe that it will, the defense will struggle much the same way the Rams defense of 2007 struggled - they’re not big and will simply wear down from being on the field too long - when that happens they’re going to give up points late in games.

Seattle has never been a good road team, and this year they have several non-division road contests where they’ll likely be installed as dogs (NY Giants, Tampa, and Dallas). We also see them struggling on the road at what should be a much improved Buffalo team in the season opener. The non-common opponent draw is Green Bay and Tampa - Green Bay has always given Holmgren fits and they’ll do very well to earn a split between those two. Combine the obstacles of the tough road schedule, 1st place non-division schedule, improved division teams, with an anemic offense and a lame duck coach and you have the real prospect of a disappointing season.

San Francisco

What is there to like about the Niners? This team is the new version of the penny pinching Bidwell owned Cardinals. They’re a well coached and scrappy team, and we even like to play them in the right spot. But they’re not in contention to win the division. The worst thing that ever happened to the Niner’s was Denise DeBartolo. They could reach 7 wins Vegas has them penciled in for, but it’s probably more likely they’ll falter. The defense is solid, but the offense has the potential to really struggle. Consider that this is a long drop Martz offense, they don’t have the offensive line talent nor receivers to pull it off and you have the recipe for a long season on the Bay. San Francisco is replacing most of their offensive line. Martz requires receivers that run precise routes and have superb timing, a description that applies only to Issac Bruce. (Neither Lelie nor Bryant Johnson make a lot of sense in this offense.) To make things worse Martz minimizes most running backs not named Marshall. The other part of this offense requires that the quarterback makes quick decisions and stand in the pocket and take the hit.

Summary

It will be a tight division race, coming down to St. Louis or Arizona. The value play is on St. Louis, at 6.50 to 1 odds, to win the division (the pre-season number on Arizona is 3.25 to 1 odds to win the division). The better play here is St. Louis to win OVER 6.5 games. Our scorecasting models have the 2008 Rams winning 9 games; a deviation of 2.5 games from the Vegas total - which correlates to a strong betting line play.