I'm Back!!

After a much needed hiatus, I am proud to say Sportaholic is back!! I needed to take some time off to clear my head and in doing so missed out on a lot of happenings in the sports world. There was the Melo mega deal that never went down, big time college football and NFL games, and even some division clinching victories in baseball. So without further interruption and not concentrating on what I missed, let's jump back into this thing.

NFL Quick Hits - The best match up of this weekend has to be Philly vs. Washington. The way Vick is going got me thinking that maybe jail is just what he needed to obtain the focus that it takes to perfect the Quarterback position. His pocket presence is now evident and you can tell he is the leader of the team. Kevin Kolb looks as if he is supporting Vick, but I know deep down inside this has to be killing him. As for Washington, they have to be disappointed with last weeks performance against the lowly Rams. Add the spice of Donovan McNabb returning to the city that hated him in the nicest way and you have all the makings of a great game.



Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore - Pittsburgh's defense has been looking like the steel curtain of the 70's here lately. Its crazy how everyone one of the experts had them going at best 2-2 without Big Ben at the helm. As you can tell now, Troy Polamalu is the most valuable player on this team. With him they are a Super Bowl caliber defense and without him the don't even make the playoffs as proven last year. Charlie Batch has more lives than new born cat but he delivers just what the Steelers need. The Ravens finally got off the schenid offensively with a good showing last week. Anquan Boldin and Joe Flacco looked to have chemistry. Now if they could just get that run game with Ray Rice going, then you would be talking. The Ravens defense is not what it use to be which is understandable with the rash of injuries and age starting to catch up with them. At the same token, don't get it twisted they will hit you in the mouth. As long as Ray Lewis is patrolling that side of the ball for them, this will be the case. This should a hard-hitting affair.



New England vs. New York Jets - I wish Tom Brady would cut that damn Justin Bieber looking hair of his (Just had to get that out) but this will be a fun one too. You know there is no love lost between these two teams, and remember Brady was quoted as saying the reason he didn't watch the hard knocks series this year was because he hates the Jets. I would hate them to if they about to take the division for the second straight year. And I just don't trust the D in Pats land. Mark Sanchez all of a sudden looks comfortable in the pocket and is delivering the ball in stride with his receivers. I like what ever he and OC Schottenheimer have come up with. As long as Sexy Rexy can keep the D playing at a high level they should win this game.



NBA news

Miami Heat report to camp - Why do I get the feeling that coverage on this team is going to just get out of control ? I know they have Lebron, D-wade and Bosh (or Bosh Spice as he likes to be called) but the Lakers are the two time defending champs and they never had ESPN covering them like this. If this is what the power team of Lebron marketing wanted, then they got it. What is also funny is the way D-wade is already taking up for his new teammate (Makes me think of the moment T.O had about his Cowboys quarterback) and attacking of all people Charles Barkley. That is going to make for some weird moments on the set of those T-mobile commercials. The point that needs to be made here is that all the hype and publicity aside, this team has not won a game yet. They can talk and defend each other all they want but I'm ready to see how this is going to work. At some point ego's will be hurt and emotions will flair. Its just a matter of time before D-wade goes off for 45 and Lebron only scores 15 or vice versa and one of the two has objection about the others shot selection, mark my words. One thing I can say is that it is going to make for great T.V watching this pan out.

Carmelo, where is your heart? - This is going to end ugly. You get the sense that Melo is going to say all the right things until he does get traded. I mean this guy basically forces the Nuggets hand and doesn't seem to care what the city thinks of him. The New Jersey deal seems like it didn't sit well with him. I never thought it would be a good fit for him. He needs a team with a good point guard to get him the ball and in the process of trading for Melo the Nets would have lost Devin Harris. I just get this feeling that somehow or some way, Donnie Walsh is going to pull a rabbit out his hat and land him for the Knicks. We will have to see how this ends up but don't count on style points from Melo as he exits Denver stage left.