The most boring week in sports

The week after the conference championship games, otherwise known as the first week of Super Bowl hype, is arguably the worst sports week of the year. There is no football of any type this weekend for the first time since July. Baseball is still a month away from spring training. And no one gives two shits about hockey. Except for Canadians. And I’ve never gotten a comment on one of my posts from someone named Jean-Luc, so I’m not going to start discussing the advantages of the dump-and-chase strategy. No one cares.

So, since there is nothing to talk about in football or baseball, I thought I would revisit my NBA predictions from November and pick out some particularly interesting passages.

In some cases, it seems I really know my hoops. For instance:

• Cleveland: I love LeBron. What he did in the postseason last year was very Jordanish. But I see a letdown for him and the Cavs this year. Its quite a burden to have to carry a team game in and game out, and after 100-plus games in 2006-07, I think the lack of depth will take its toll this year……..Not bad. At this point, the Cavs are struggling near .500 even with LeBron’s MVP-caliber campaign.
• Portland: This is my big surprise. How can the worst team in the league a year ago, a team who lost number one pick Greg Oden for the season, improve this drastically? I really like Brandon Roy. I feel LaMarcus Aldridge will have an improved second season. And finally, the Blazers have decent depth and size. They could win 40-45 games and contend for the eighth playoff slot……It turns out the Blazers are even better than that to this point; they have been the hottest team in the league for over a month and currently stand one-half game out of first in their division.
• The Atlantic division: I predicted the finish to go Boston, Toronto, New Jersey, Philadelphia, New York. That is exactly how it stands at this point.

In other cases, I’m a total moron who knows nothing about basketball:

• New Orleans: I’ll tell you what, this might be the worst team in the league. Yes, they were close to a playoff spot in 2007, but I really don’t think the Hornets are very talented……Great call on this one. 29-12, good enough for the second-best record in the West. Yeah, and this team has no talent. That Chris Paul is really overrated. And Tyson Chandler will never put two good seasons together, back to back. Idiot.
• Miami: The Diesel is pretty much finished, but he’s got enough in the tank to play 40 or so games and combine with a healthy D-Wade to contend for a top four spot in the conference….Wow, is this a bad pick. 2nd in the division and 4-5 for the conference? Ew. In case you’re not following the association this year, the Heat are 8-32 and losers of their last 14 games.
• Chicago: I think the Bulls will put it together this year en route to 53-57 wins, which should be good enough to win this division. Luol Deng is ready to make the leap to one of the 10 best players in the East. If Tyrus Thomas can overcome rumors that he is in Scott Skiles’ doghouse and be a force off the bench, Chicago would be the deepest team in the division…….Oh lord. Did I really write that? I won’t go too in-depth here, because the abortion this Bulls season has become is a whole ‘nother entry in itself, but could I have been more off? This is a team that I claim to follow. I have season tickets for Christs sake! 55-57 wins huh? Try 17-24 at the halfway point.

So, there ya go. A little something to chew on. I’ll be back with a hot chick tomorrow and Super Bowl talk next week. Any suggestions for the FHC, throw them to me in the comments.