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NBA Needs Division Playoffs

The NBA needs to adopt the NFL playoff format. There I said it. Some of you might like the first round of the playoffs and having more teams, but I don't see the point in it. Did we really need to see the Miami Heat play the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round last year? We all knew how that was going to end (unless you're delusional). There's just too much disparity in the NBA for a lot of the first round playoff series to be competitive. In the last three years there have just been seven lower seeds to beat a higher seed in the playoffs and four of those are a five seed beating a four seed. Granted, there have been two eight seeds beating a one seed, but one of those was also the Chicago Bulls without Derrick Rose so that one is pretty understandable.

Just to compare, in the last three years in the NHL there have been eleven lower seeded teams to beat a higher seeded team in the first round of the playoffs, and of twenty-four first round playoff series sixteen have gone to six or seven games (10 of which went to seven). In the same three years, the NBA has had fourteen series go to six or seven games, however, only three of those went to seven games.

I think that those statistics show just how much more competitive the NHL is than the NBA and shows that a sixteen team playoff works much better for the NHL. Now I present to you, what the NBA playoffs could have looked like last year. Trust me, it looks a lot better.

Eastern Conference
Division Winners:
New York, Indiana, Miami
Wild Card(s):
Brooklyn, Chicago


Western Conference
Division Winners:
Oklahoma City, LA Clippers, San Antonio
Wild Card(s)
Denver, Memphis

The second wildcard team may or may not be there. It would depend on if the NBA wants to do what the MLB now does and have a wildcard playoff to determine who the fourth team is, or if they just want to give it to the next best team.

Regardless of if you use the second wild card team or not, doesn't this look like a much more competitive and a much better NBA playoffs than what we normally have? Only the best teams would be there, and it would be pretty hard to pick an obvious choice to lose a series. Unlike when Miami gets to play an eighth seed first round.

FIFA World Cup prediction.

Since we're very quickly discovering how good I am at making predictions I'll try and redeem myself by making predictions for the FIFA World Cup. I don't know international soccer as well as some sports, so that's my excuse if I have some weird predictions.


Group A
Brazil
Mexico
Croatia
Cameroon

Brazil is the easy choice to win group A. I expect a fairly tight battle between Mexico and Croatia to get the second spot, but in the end I think Mexico takes it.

Group B
Spain
Netherlands
Chile
Australia

A pretty tough group. Two really good teams, one good team, and a not so strong team. A lot of people expect Chile to surprise and maybe sneak into the second spot ahead of the Netherlands or Spain. I don't see it, but I do expect Chile to give it a good fight.

Group C
Greece
Colombia
Japan
Cote d'Ivoire

This is a wide open group. I'm thinking Greece will definitely be in,but among the other three it's a dog fight. This could be a really interesting group to watch come World Cup time. I think Colombia beats out the other two, but really this is anyone's pool

Group D
Uruguay
England
Costa Rica
Italy

This is a very tough pool to be in. I think Uruguay is the obvious choice to win this pool. You can never count England out of anything, so I'm thinking they'll be the second team in. Costa Rica could do something, but I think that's a bit of an outside chance and even thought they're a decent team, I think Italy is just plain over matched in this pool.

Group E
Switzerland
France
Honduras
Ecuador

One of the weaker groups in the World Cup this year. I think the Swiss should easily be the front runners here with their only major competition being France. Honduras and Ecuador can probably put up a fight, but I doubt they do well enough.

Group F
Argentina
Iran
Nigeria
Bosnia and Herzgovina

This is Argentina's pool to lose. They really don't have much competition here. I pick Iran to finish second, but realistically Argentina is the only team in this pool to have a chance of going anywhere.

Group G
Germany
Portugal
USA
Ghana

This years group of death. I take Germany to win the group and Portugal to finish a close second. However, in this group it's really hard to predict what will happen. Both the USA and Ghana have the potential to come and knock out Germany or Portugal. However, personally, I don't think it will happen.

Group H
Belgium
Russia
Algeria
Korea Republic

A middle of the road group difficulty, but also really hard to predict. However, I take Belgium and Russia because their soccer programs I think have shown the most progress over the years. Algeria and Korea will be some competition, but I don't think they'll be enough.


Round of 16
Brazil vs. Netherlands (49)
This will be an extremely interesting match up which could go either way. It would be extremely heart breaking for either of these teams to go out early. Just to let you know I don't really have a bias towards the Netherlands (or anyone in international soccer. Except Team Canada who does nothing). I think Brazil is just too good though. I pick Brazil

Greece vs. England (50)
One of the weaker round of 16 match ups. Greece is still up and coming and England isn't the powerhouse they once were. At the same time though I don't think you can ever count out England. I'll take England to win this one.

Switzerland vs. Iran (53)
Is there really any question here? Switzerland gets a huge mismatch here and should win fairly easily.

Germany vs. Russia (54)
An interesting match up for the Germans. Russia has made good improvements to their soccer team over the years, and they are getting ready to host in 2018. If they do anything this tournament that will be their biggest motivation. Despite this I still don't see it. I'm taking a strong German team to win.

Spain vs. Mexico (51)
Another mismatch. Mexico is a decently strong team, but I really don't see a way that they overcome Spain. I think they'll at least keep the game interesting, but they won't be able to win. Spain takes it.

Uruguay vs. Colombia (52)
It seems like the knockout stage creates either an extremely tough match up or a complete mismatch. This I think is another mismatch. I don't really see any way of Colombia winning this one. I'll take Uruguay.

Argentina vs. France (55)
I think France is a bit better than what they get credit for internationally. However, are they good enough to beat Argentina? The answer is no. Argentina wins this one and advances.

Belgium vs. Portugal (56)
Belgium has also made some pretty decent improvements to their squad. I don't see it being good enough to beat Portugal though. Portugal wins.

Quarterfinals
Switzerland vs. Germany (58)
This would be where Switzerland's run ends. They're a pretty good team, but I think Germany is a real team to watch out for this year and will compete with the best of them. I take Germany.

Brazil vs. England (57)
This for me is another fairly easy decision. England is a mediocre team this year and up to this point had a relatively easy path. They'll hang around with Brazil but won't be a serious threat, Brazil wins.

Argentina vs. Portugal (60)
This would be an extremely competitive game to watch. These are two teams both hoping to go deep to prove themselves among the powerhouses. I think Portugal has a bit more skill and depth than Argentina and I take them to win a thriller.

Spain vs. Uruguay (59)
This will be a really good game for Uruguay to see where they're at as a soccer team. If they can keep up with Spain they know they're headed in the right direction. I think Uruguay is able to win this game, but I don't think they will. It will be a tightly contested game with Spain coming up with it in the end.

Semifinals
Brazil vs. Germany (61)
A huge game. I think Germany is definitely a team to watch this year. It's quite possible Germany pulls off an upset and goes to the finals, but I don't think they will. I think Brazil wins and books their trip to the finals in Brazil.

Spain vs. Portugal (62)
I guess both these games are huge games to go to the finals. Portugal is a very strong soccer club, but I don't see them beating out Spain. This game will be another thriller, but I see Spain taking it in the end and playing Brazil in the finals.

Third Place
Germany vs. Portugal
Third place is nothing to sneeze at and for these teams to play for third will be huge for them. I think on paper Portugal is a stronger team than Germany. But I think Germany will be very determined to finish in a podium spot. I'll take Germany to win.

Finals
Brazil vs. Spain
Brazil is at home, but Spain is the defending champions. This would be a very tough match up if it were played in a neutral stadium. However, it won't be in a neutral stadium, it will be in Brazil. Obviously being the finals it will be a really good game, but I'm taking Brazil to win it at home.

If you care at all how the format works you can see it here, it will also explain why there's numbers beside some of the games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup#Knockout_stage

What Could Have Been

For this post, I have found fifteen athletes whose careers were cut short by injuries. I'll examine what they did in their careers, and what they could have done, you will see that we potentially  missed out on some big things when these players went down.

1. Tracy McGrady
In 16 injury plagued seasons McGrady only played 938 games he mainly had back problems, but he also had knee and shoulder injuries. However, the games he was in he was almost always one of the best players on the court. For his career he only averaged 19.6 PPG . He did though have a stretch of eight seasons in his career where he averaged 26.1 PPG and a 62 point game. In that eight season stretch, he missed 99 games, so how much more impressive would his numbers have been in those seasons? Had he kept up that pace that would've been another 2584 points to his career total. Not only in that eight season stretch either. If he had been healthy he might not have deteriorated as soon as he did and would have been able to keep putting up extremely impressive numbers for another 3-5 seasons, maybe even more. Had he been healthy he could easily have challenged some of the people in the middle of the all time NBA points list.

2. Eric Lindros
Eight concussions, a bum left shoulder, and a few other minor injuries sum up Lindros' history fairly well. It's such a shame he had all that because he should be in the hall of fame as it is, but without even some of the injuries he sustained he's definitely in it by now. In 760 games Lindros put up 372 goals and 493 assists for 865 points, and who knows where those numbers could have gone. In thirteen NHL seasons Lindros missed  a whopping 306 games. If you take the points he averaged per game, that's about 348 points missing from his career. Granted, almost no one is healthy all season every season, but it gives you an idea of what we missed out on from Eric Lindros. It's not just the time he missed in those seasons either. Had he not been hurt so much maybe he could've played for another few years adding even more missing points from that total.

3. Lou Gehrig
While 17 seasons in any pro league is quite the feat and is usually considered a long career, I think Lou Gehrig could've had a lot more to give. His career totals are a .340 batting average, 493 homeruns, an OPS of 1.080, and 1,995 RBIs, oh yeah and he played in 2,130 straight games. Those are extremely good numbers and they got him inducted into the hall of fame in 1939. When you look at his stats though, you can already see the numbers decline in 1938, and I think most people reading this know why. Lou Gehrig had Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as ALS. Briefly for those who don't know, ALS breaks down the nerve cells which control voluntary muscle movements, and the affected individual loses the strength and ability to do these voluntary movements. It didn't affect him too badly in 1938, he still put up very good numbers, but in 1939 the disease kept Lou to just eight games and he only batted .143. Had he not had the disease he could have done so much more. Maybe though, the awareness of the disease and it's debilitating effects that have been built through him is more important than a few more years of a great baseball career.

4. Troy Aikman
Troy Aikman missed 28 games over eleven seasons, which in the NFL isn't horrible, but Aikman isn't one who could've been great because he missed time during seasons, his career was cut short. He finished his career with 32,942 total passing yards, he completed 61.5% of his career passes and threw 165TDs. He isn't that high up all time for any of his QB stats, but he is in the hall of fame. His career was cut short by ten concussions, he probably could've kept on playing for more seasons, and who knows how high up he'd be all time in stats?

5. Bo Jackson
Bo is a bit of a trickier athlete to do. He was a very talented multi-sport athlete playing in both the NFL and the MLB. We'll start with his NFL career. In four seasons as an NFL running back Bo rushed for 2,782 yards and averaged an astonishing 5.4 yards per carry. However, in a 1990 playoff game Bo suffered a fairly serious hip injury which ended his NFL career and did damage to his MLB career. Bo had a fairly solid MLB career, and I wouldn't say the injury affected his batting numbers horribly he did have a down year the season after the injury but bounced back fairly well, but it did do damage to his running and his play in the outfield wasn't the same again. It's hard to say if his batting numbers would've been much better with or without the injury, but there's no doubt an NFL great was lost when he went down. Those are some really good numbers he put up and it's too bad he couldn't do it for more than four seasons.

6. Mario Lemieux
915 GP, 690 G, 1,033 A, 1,723 P. I think that paints a pretty good picture of what Mario Lemieux did. Probably one of the most unfortunate careers to be cut short. In 17 seasons Lemieux missed 479 games due to many things, one of the things he's known for is battling back from cancer. He also battled hip and back injuries, and also had an irregular heart beat. Lets say Lemieux had been healthy most of his career. If he had kept up his pace and been healthy most of his career he'd easily have over 2000 points and been around the 2,500 point mark. Second only to Gretzky. Maybe he also could have stuck around a couple years longer and taken a run at Gretzky's record. What I think is also one of the greatest losses. Imagine if he sticks around for a couple years longer, Pittsburgh would have had Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby consistently on the same team, if not the same line for two or more seasons, how incredible would that have been to watch?

7. Bobby Orr
More impressive hockey numbers. 915 points in 657 games played. Oh yeah, and he was a defense man. Bobby Orr is widely regarded as the best defense man to ever play the game. Like most of the people in this list Orr missed a lot of games due to injury. 327 of them to be exact. Using the same method I have before that is about 455 points missing from his career total had he been healthy for every game. That would have put him 3rd place all time for defense men. Also like so many others on this list Orr could have maybe been top all time in defense men for points because he probably could have played multiple seasons after than he did without an injury.

8. J.R. Richard
In ten seasons Richard pitched 1606 innings and had an ERA of 3.15. Which is really incredible. However, his career was cut quite short in 1980 due to a more unusual injury in pro sports. Richard suffered a stroke. In 1981 he tried a rehab program to get back to playing baseball, however he could never quite make it back and in 1983 underwent surgery on his leg. It was then decided that despite almost making a come back it was too risky for him to continue playing and he had to quit. It's hard to say how long he would have continued, but one thing we do know for sure, this was a career cut way too short.

9. Sandy Koufax
Probably one of the stranger injuries to cut a career short is what happened to Sandy Koufax. During the 1965 spring training, Sandy woke up and his arm was black and blue due to hemorrhaging. The doctor he visit told him he'd eventually lose full use of that arm and in 1966, the doctor told him it was time to stop pitching and that his arm couldn't take it anymore. However, Sandy went on to throw 323.0 innings and post an ERA of a very dominant 1.73 that season, and would win World Series MVP. Sandy would then retire at the end of that season. He finished his much too short career with 2324.1 innings pitched with a very low ERA of 2.76. That was in eleven seasons, only six of his seasons were dominant, and unfortunately he was forced to leave in the prime of his career. He could have pitched for a long, long time.

10. Gilbert Arenas
For three seasons Arenas averaged more than 25 points per game, however it was only for three seasons. However, over 11 seasons he missed 350 games. This really hurt his numbers the rest of his career, aside from those three seasons his high was about 23 points per game. His biggest injuries were knee and back problems, and this is what cut many seasons short and even probably cut his career short. Since he only had three really good seasons, it's hard to tell how good he could've been. Would he have been dominant for more years? Or other than those years is mediocrity what his career would've been anyways? It's really hard to say, but we may have missed out on a great with Gilbert Areanas.


11. Rick Dipietro
Signed to a huge contract early in his career, and now his NHL career is likely over. Dipietro showed so much promise for an NHL goalie. However, he has been bit by the injury bug more than most players get it. He's been injured more games than he's played and never even got a chance to show off what he could've done in the NHL. Such a bad loss for both the New York Islanders and the NHL.

There are others who had good careers cut short, but who I'm not going to go into detail. Just in passing here's a few names. Jermaine O'Neal, Yao Ming, Keith Primeau, and Joe Theismann.