Klitscko Does It Again

The big bad Ukrainian has no limits. On Saturday, Wladimir Klitschko who holds the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO belts secured a unanimous points victory over Philadelphia native Bryant Jennings at Madison Square Garden. Jennings entered the fight as a 10-1 underdog and nobody saw him as a real threat to beat Klitschko yet he put up a solid fight and his stock rose even in defeat.

39 –year-old Klitschko wasn’t razor sharp yet did enough to earn the decision. Jennings who came into the fight undefeated and weighted 20lb less that the Ukranian. Jennings was able to move around the ring and have Klitschko stalk him but it just wasn’t enough. He created different angles but just couldn’t hurt the experienced Champion who had more successful title defenses than Jennings had pro fights.

With his longtime girlfriend Hayden Panettiere ringside, Klitschko improved to 64-3 and is now set to fight British Champion Tyson Fury. 26 year old Fury is undefeated with a record of 24-0 and after beating Romania’s Christian hammer said he was ready to face the Ukranian. Whether or not Fury can beat Klitschko is still a bit far-fetched but if Saturday was any indication Wladimir is slowing down … just a bit. 

They Bringing Ugly Back

While the Golden State Warriors swept the Pelicans on Saturday and Stephen Curry was getting all the attention for his magical performance in the past two games, very quietly another team in the West was going about their business. Unlike the Warriors, this team plays a very old school, unsexy brand of Basketball. You won’t see them on the SportsCenter Top 10 plays and their players don’t get a whole lot of recognition but as a team, they can be  a nightmare. Of course, I’m talking about the one and only Memphis Grizzlies who went to Rose Garden and beat the highly overrated yet attention grabbing Portland Trailblazers with a third string Point Guard.

After Mike Conley and Beno Udrih who were both out with injury last night, it was time for former Florida sensation Nick Calathes to shine and did he ever. Calathes who has been a journeyman and played in Russia and Greece over his career has found his place in Memphis and put on a show Saturday night. Calathes finished the night with 13 points as Memphis beat 115-109. Up 3-0 in the series, a meeting with Golden State is just days away and Memphis has been flying under the radar due to the style they play, the Warriors are in for a real test.

The combo of Gasol and Randolph, combined with defensive ability of Tony Allen (watch out Steph) and the playmaking ability of Conley, combined with great role players in Courtney Lee, Calathes and Kosta koufos can ruin anyone's season and just because they don’t get love from the Media, doesn’t mean they should be ignored. The Grizzlies are bringing the ugly back. 

This One's for Daryl

To cap off Saturday’s playoff matchups, the playoff God’s gave us exactly what we wanted. Mark Cuban’s Dallas maverick’s against Daryl Morey’s Houston Rockets. Daryl Who??? Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey might not get much media attention but the feud between Morey and Cuban has been well documented. Morey is a man of analytics, his Rockets don’t shoot any 2 pointers. Houston leads the league in 3 point attempts, makes, and turnovers. They shoot a lot, they run a lot, and they dunk a lot. They have a high offensive efficiency, yet get very little credit for their efforts because nobody believes they can do it when it matters.

Cuban who has never had a good relationship with Morey, put gasoline on fire last off-season when he offered then Rockets Small Forward Chandler Parsons a 3yr/$46 million contract. So outrageous Morey decided to not match the offer. Before the start of the series Cuban said “There’s no more predictable team than the Rockets. You know exactly what they’re gonna do, Because that’s not a very good team over there.” The Rockets promptly responded by beating the Mavericks 118-108. Whether or not Cubans Mavs can come back and win the series is another story but maybe their billionaire owner should limit his talking. If anything is for certain is that Morey, the Billy Bean of NBA knows exactly what he’s doing and if it wasn’t for Patrick Beverly and Donatas Motiejunas out for the season, this blog post wouldn’t even be written since the Rockets would’ve easily handled Cuban’s Mavericks. 

The Truth Hurts

After a long and grueling winter, and NBA season … spring has brought us the exciting and meaningful playoffs and they started with a bang. The pointless Lakers, Timberwolves, Lakers, Knicks, etc games have finally ended and fans can turn to matchups that truly matter.

The playoffs started on Saturday in Toronto. The Raptors, having home court advantage and in the playoffs for a second straight year looked to use the crowd to their advantage. Air Canada Center was buzzing in the buildup and the Jurassic park outdoor viewing party had a world cup theme to it. All the intangibles were going for the Raptors until they had to step on the court and face the TRUTH. Toronto’s most hated man, Paul Pierce was at it again as he took care of the Raptors on and off the court. Pierce said the Raptors didn’t have the “It” factor to make a deep playoff run. With fans constant chant of “Paul Pierce Sucks” the Truth went 7-10 from the field including 3 three pointers for a game high 20 points as DC beat Toronto 93-86 in Overtime.

Playing the perfect villain role in the lead up to the game , Pierce let his performance talk on Saturday. The 37 year old however needs his team-mates to perform better over the series if they hope to take down Toronto. John Wall and Bradley Beal combined to go 11-41 on game 1, and if it wasn’t for Pierce’s heroics in overtime, Toronto could’ve easily won it. Game 2 is on Tuesday night in Canada, with the Raptors hoping to even the series before it comes to the nation’s capital. One game in and the 2015 playoff excitement has already reached boiling point. 

Championship Blueprint

The NBA season is set to come to an end, and with playoffs fast approaching, it seems as though the San Antonio Spurs are once again heating up just when it matters. The defending champions came out of the gate sluggish, struggling to win a lot of games for a variety of reasons. The injury to Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard combined with an aging Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan had many critics write off the Spurs.

As the season progressed, the Spurs slowly got healthier and better. In the absence of the big stars, Coach Popovich relied on his role players to carry him through the season. Players such as Aaron Baynes, and Cory Joseph took advantage of the opportunity and helped the Spurs stay in the hunt in the ultra-competitive western division. As the NBA calendar turned to March, it seems as though the Spurs woke up. Currently riding an impressive 10 game winning streak, the Spurs are a half game out of 2^nd place in the west behind Memphis.

A vastly experienced team with championship pedigree, the Spurs are once again there when it counts and pose a huge threat to any team. The Warriors are class of the West and have had a historic season, yet the favorites in the west during playoff time seem to be the Spurs yet again. The Spurs have a good chance of reaching the promise land once again this year, but more importantly they have showed all NBA teams a blueprint for success in the league. It’s not regular season that counts, it’s all about post season. 

Golf's New Star Rises To The Top

There was Tiger Woods, then there was Rory McIlroy and now it’s time for Jordan Spieth to be the face of Golf. In a sport lacking a true super star and needing diversification badly, 21 year old Spieth might be the best thing that has happened to Golf in the past decade.

Entering the 79^th Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia Golf was not in the best position. Its biggest draw in Tiger Woods had hardly played a full tournament all year. McIlroy had been more in the news for what has happened with his ex-girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki than for his play on the course and ESPN couldn't find anything to muster up a dramatic story line for the weekend. All that changed when Spieth just went off on Thursday and Friday. The Texas native managed to finish Saturday setting a 54 hole record at 16 under par, leading the pack by 4 shots.

Spieth slowed down on Saturday and wasn't as sharp, yet his scintillating performance over the course of the first 36 holes allowed him some wiggle room. The dream of putting the green jersey on is that much closer and whatever happens on Sunday afternoon, one thing is for certain, Spieth is here to stay and Golf now has a big ticket player who can garnish attention to a sport that has been on the downfall over the past years. 

The Magic Number is 5

Real Madrid have been struggling for the past few weeks and after their defeat to Barcelona in the league last time out, manager Carlo Ancelotti’s job seemed to be up in the air as well. Thus, what took place on Sunday wasn't surprising yet it was some extraordinary. Madrid hosted bottom club Granada on Sunday hoping to bounce back, and did they ever. What ensued was 90 minutes that will go down in history books, Granada received a 9-1 drubbing and would have thrown in the towel by halftime if they had the option.

World footballer of the year Cristiano Ronaldo did something on Sunday that was out of this world even by his ridiculous standards. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in an 8 minutes span in the first half, and went on to have 5 goals in the match by himself.  As Frank Isola of New York Times put it, the performance compares to Lebron James putting up 60 or Mike trout blasting 5 Home Runs on a given night. Even though Real have been slipping up lately, Ronaldo has been the one consistent performer for the 10 times European Champions. Ronaldo’s incredible performance took his tally to 36 for the year in La Liga. Ronaldo now has more goals than 53 of the 98 teams in Europe’s top five leagues this season.

Ancelotti was full of praise for his superstar after the game adding “What more can I say. It is the first time he has scored five Madrid, which is good for everyone, for him and for the team in next games. Madrid’s day didn't end perfectly however as Barcelona squeaked out a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo to stay 4 points clear of Real in first place.  

The Team Theo built

The 2015 Major League Baseball season is upon us and what better way to kick start the campaign than a Cubs-Cardinals match up. The perennial powerhouse that is St. Louis seems to somehow be there when it counts every year (super annoying) and for the first time in half a decade, the Cubs won’t be staring down 90 losses. The  Cubbies are supposed to be contending this year, a real dark horse picked by many ( just not any Cubs fans) to at least reach the playoffs and it’s easy to see why.

The Cubs ended last year with 89 losses, but the font office continued to work hard behind the scenes. The mastermind that is Theo Epstein has had his Sam Hinkie (76ers GM) cap on since he took over in 2011. To say the Cubs have been awful on the field is an understatement. They lost 101 games in 2012 and 96 in 2013. While the team was struggling to come up with the goods on the field, Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer went to work of the field. They managed to get rid of deadwood such as Alfonso Soriano, stacked the minor league affiliates like nobody else could and along the way got draft picks that would pay off down the road. Epstein also made some amazing trades to add talent to the organization and slowly rebuilt a franchise that would be consistently good for a decade. While the cornerstone of the franchise was slowly being built, Epstein signed Jon Lester to a 6year/$155 million contract and also grabbed the game’s best manager Joe Madden from the Rays after their GM Andrew Friedman decided to move to the Dodgers Organization.

The Cubs weren't supposed to be good this year, nope they were supposed to lose 80 games instead of 90. The additions of Lester and Madden completely changed the game however. The Cubs then went on and signed Catcher Miguel Montero from the D-Backs. They traded for Dexter Fowler and suddenly the team looked all set to contend. With All-stars in Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro, the Cubs were now ready to compete. Don’t forget that Cubs also have the number 1, 3 and 12 best prospects according to baseball America in Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Jorge Soler respectively. Add the fact that all the aforementioned players are under contract until 2020 and you see why everyone is going crazy about the Chicago Cubs.

Chicago is so stacked and has so much cap room that they could be big time buyers in the market without giving up any of their top rated prospects. The likes of C.J Edwards, Gleyber Torres, Albert Almora, and Jen-Ho Tseng could be used as bargaining chips to bring in a top rated free agent. Sunday night might be start of a special season for Chicago and history could well be in the making, whether or not the Cubs will win the elusive World Series Championship is a topic of its own, one thing we do know is that they are built to be great for the next decade.