Top 5 Guys Who Should've Been Cast in Con Air Instead of Nicolas Cage

We can all agree that Con Air is entertaining. But I submit that, without Nicolas Cage bringing the movie down with every awful line, it'd have been a great movie, one of the classic action films of all time. So, let's replace him. I'm only picking people who were active actors in 1997, when Con Air came out.

1. Lennie James - "Robert Hawkins" from TV's Jericho. If you know him, you know he'd have been righteous. Just imagine him saying this line: "I'm gonna save the fuckin' day."
   
2. Woody Harrelson - It took Zombieland for me to realize that we should've been watching Harrelson in intense action roles for a decade now. Lesson learned.
   
3. Kiefer Sutherland - If only we knew then what we know now...
4. Bruce Willis - I know he was busy doing The Jackal and The Fifth Element in 1997, but I'm sure we could've made time for him. I'd have waited another year or two for Con Air if it meant Willis instead of that ass clown Nic Cage.
   
5. Adam Baldwin - Would've been a tough sell to bill him as a headliner in a cast with John Malkovich and John Cusack, though.
   

So what do we take away from this list? Only that Nicolas Cage is a movie-ruining monster.

ESPYs

What a load.

The Boss

An era came to an end this morning, as longtime New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died.

I wasn't so lucky to have seen the totality of his time as owner. And even when I first started paying attention to baseball, I was more focused on players and teams than owners. I saw them as peripheral parts of the equation, but Steinbrenner was anything but. His impact on the Yankees, and on baseball, was profound and far-reaching.

It's important on a day like today to realize that history should and will recognize Steinbrenner as a hero. In a time when baseball needed help after the strike that canceled the 1994 World Series (and ruined any hope the Montreal Expos ever had of a title), Steinbrenner was as important as the chase for 61 in revitalizing the sport. Think about your favorite stories, and you'll find they've all got a villain.

Steinbrenner was happy to be a villain for baseball fans in every other city by pouring his heart, soul, and money into the Yankees. My favorite recent memory in baseball is the 2001 World Series between the Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks. I wasn't much of a D'Backs fan, but because of the Yankees' dominance for a decade, I rooted for whoever opposed them. The drama of blown saves, seven games, and two of the most dominant starting pitchers of our time in Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson was great, but everything was accentuated by the fact that it was the Yankees.

As I've come to appreciate baseball, and as the Yankees have encountered more regular disappointment in October, my disdain for them has waned. I've also come to appreciate that the world needs villains. The Celtics need the Lakers, the Colts need the Patriots, the Capitals need the Penguins. Without adversity to overcome, sports is just a bunch of guys running around.

Thank you, George Steinbrenner, for helping baseball when it needed you. Rest in peace, Boss.

Fill In the Blank: LeBron James is a ____.

There are two answers to this question, but let's look at the whole situation for a second first.

First off, money was never going to be an issue for James. He commands a max contract wherever he goes (I mean, Joe Johnson got a max deal in this market), and I imagine he'll get that or close to it in Miami. But he'll likely get at least as much money from endorsements, and possibly a lot more than his basketball salary. Miami, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Cleveland, it wouldn't really matter. James is a nationwide sensation, and between sodas and shoes and razors and fast food and clothing lines and everything else, he'd have garnered serious income regardless of where he played basketball.

If anything, he actually hindered his endorsement brand by going to Miami. He's going to a city that already has an elite basketball talent. The main difference between James and Dwayne Wade is that Wade's already got a ring. And as an elite passer, James is the most likely to find his production drop, specifically with regards to scoring. He'll have to be as good as or better than Magic Johnson to earn more credit than Wade for any future title runs. Not exactly an easy task.

But even still, James was going to make truckloads of cash anywhere he went. So let's get back to the title of this post, and let me give you my first answer.

LeBron James is a child.

I read an article yesterday by Bill Simmons that hearkened back a rumor that went around back in 2008 about LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Chris Paul wanting to work themselves onto the same team. Making a "pact" even. I don't remember hearing the rumor at the time, probably because it sounded so ridiculous, but today it obviously sounds a little more believable. And if it's true, if James' plan all along was to find a way to get on the same team as Bosh and Wade, then he's a child.

He's a child because that would've been impossible with the Cavaliers, and the team and Cleveland deserved to know that right away. This is the city that threw themselves at James, came out in droves to support him, and rooted him on even through playoff loss after playoff loss. James' Cavaliers kept coming up short, but Cavaliers fans were always willing to say, "Next year is our year. Just gotta get rid of ____, or find someone who can ____." If James was always planning on getting together with Wade and Bosh, then he should have used his considerable marketing machine to get the word out that he wouldn't be staying, and he certainly shouldn't have set up last night's ridiculous, narcissistic, anti-climactic ESPN special. There's a way that adults go about things (Michael Jordan's fax saying "I'm back" comes to mind), and LeBron James seems to have gone the other way.

Furthermore, he led on every other team that poured their hearts into every pitch to try to bring James to their town. Wade may have done the same, but everyone in the NBA was 99% sure he'd be back in Miami. So when he announced his intention to stay in Miami, no one was surprised, and realistically, no other NBA team could feel particularly slighted. But the Bulls, Knicks, Nets, and Clippers sent envoys to Ohio to meet with James, to try to sell him on the idea of playing for their franchises. Say what you will about NBA executives, and you can certainly think that the Knicks and Clippers sometimes show some questionable leadership. But these are serious men with serious jobs, and James yanked them around. Wouldn't it have been awesome to hear that Clippers GM Neil Olshey walked out of their meeting a la Al Pacino in Heat (2:40)?

Now, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert didn't exactly act completely mature when he went off about James' "disloyalty," in his open letter to Cavaliers fans. But I do get the sense that he put himself into a better light with a lot of Cleveland basketball fans. And while I think Gilbert is a little bit delusional when he guarantees that Cleveland will win a title before Miami, it's certainly nice to have an owner show that kind of passion. I'd be proud to be a Cavs fan today.

Moving on to answer number two...

LeBron James is a coward.

As I mentioned above, James went to Miami, which regardless of MVP trophies, is Dwayne Wade's team. Wade already has a championship, and Wade figures to be right there with James when it comes to assigning credit for any future championships that the Heat might win. So at most, James will be one of two elite players on an elite team (I don't see Bosh as much more than an All-Star, kind of like Ron Artest or Lamar Odom for the Lakers). And if the team doesn't win, Wade will take nearly as much blame as James.

Cleveland, the only team that anyone thought had a chance to jump in after the Miami rumor gained steam, is also a destination of lessened pressure. While Cleveland fans are rabid, and eager to find a championship team they can embrace, their patience for their native son might have known no bounds. He would have likely benefited from the same hometown mentality that Joe Mauer will get for the Twins, or Cal Ripken for the Orioles (though Ripken did win a championship in his second season). True, the annals of NBA history are defined by champions, but the pressure to win in Cleveland would have been smaller for James.

Look at the other four teams who passionately courted James: the Chicago Bulls, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Knicks and Nets, both of whom will claim New York City as their home soon. Those are three cities with histories of success in sports, and the three biggest media markets in the United States. For comparison, Cleveland and Miami rank 16th and 17th, respectively.

Had James gone to the Clippers, he'd have committed himself to a career-long comparison between himself and Kobe Bryant, a comparison he'd almost surely never win. If James chose to sign with the Bulls, he'd live in the shadow of Michael Jordan, the greatest player of our generation. And had he chosen the Knicks or Nets, he'd be the focal point of basketball in the nation's biggest city, particularly with the Knicks.

And that's exactly why he should've gone to one of those teams. I read a post on Facebook last night that I'll paraphrase here:

We should be happy with LeBron's decision. We're always saying that we wish athletes would just care about winning, and not worry about money or fame or anything else. I say good for him for having his priorities straight.

It was when I read this that I realized that a desire to win isn't what I look for in athletes, at least not on a general level. I didn't like it when Gary Payton and Karl Malone went to the Lakers to try to ride Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant a title. I don't care for athletes who try to latch onto other players to get titles. I like players who say, "I'm the guy other people should be latching onto." James had the opportunity to go to other teams and actually be a king. He had the chance to make his own history, to take his own run at being the best player of all time. Instead, he hitched his wagon to Dwayne Wade's star (and vice versa; they're two of the top five players in basketball).

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a personal interest in James going to New York. I've liked the Knicks since I was young, and I'd have liked to see them return to glory; James was essentially a free pass to 50 wins, and a healthy Amare Stoudemire makes them a force in the East. But I have to think the NBA would've loved for James to go to the Knicks as well. They're perhaps the most religiously followed team in the NBA, the most widely supported, through good times and (as has been the case recently) bad. Having the Knicks become relevant again would be a boon for basketball. Had LeBron James led the Knicks to an NBA championship, he'd have cemented his place in history. Just one championship. In Miami, he'll need four or five.

I'm not a Cavaliers fan. As the Wizards are my home team, the Cavs were something of a nemesis in the middle of the 2000's, bouncing Washington out of the playoffs three straight seasons. But I feel for Cavs fans like my partner Joe Mandi. I don't think I'd say that this is worse than Art Modell stealing the Browns away to Baltimore, but it's worse than any on-field disappointment the city has ever endured. I can't make myself root for the Cavaliers, but you'd better believe I'll be rooting against the Heat.

Lebron to Miami: A First Response

As most of the readers of this blog know, I'm a pretty avid Cleveland fan. Having grown up in Northeast Ohio, my childhood and early adult years were filled with terrible sports teams. I remember vividly being excited for the 1986 Cleveland Indians team...a team that went on to lose 100 games. In the few and far times when Cleveland sports teams have not been terrible, the teams offered hope enough only to cause the Cleveland fans the most pain possible: The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, the 1997 World Series that saw the Indians one out away from a coveted title and the Browns leaving town. In more recent history, the 2007 Indians took a 3-2 advantage into game 6 of the ALCS against Boston before falling flat, the 2002 Browns were one Dennis Northcutt drop away from burying the hated Steelers on the road in a Wild Card matchup and the Cavs were a missed Flip Murray rebound away from sending the former NBA champion Pistons home for the summer. Somehow Lebron leaving is worse than all of these.

Let me set one thing straight before going forward: I don't blame Lebron for leaving. He's got to look out for himself and do what's right for Lebron. I get that.

What I do hate is the disappointment. The disappointment to know that one of the three major Cleveland teams will probably not compete for a championship for a long, long time. The disappointment to know that the Cavs may actually never recover from Lebron leaving (it's not inconceivable that the Cavs could have so little interest in economically strapped Northeast Ohio that they could leave for greener pastures). The disappointment to know that it's looking more and more likely that an entire generation of die hard Cleveland fans may die without knowing the feeling of seeing a team that represents them walk away as champions. The disappointment to get close time and time again, only to fall short every time.

Anyway, like the title says, this is just my first response. I've got more to say, more logical arguments, but I'm really just too bummed to get them straight in my head.

Twi-Night Doubleheader - Week 13 (The 2010 Fantasy All-Star Teams)

Every year, we see the All-Star participants, and it's always fun to talk about who should've made the team, and who didn't deserve to be an All-Star. We don't always have an Omar Infante to talk about, but we always have something to talk about.

This year, for the first time ever (and hopefully, assuming my survival, the first of many times), I'll be creating what I believe to be the fantasy All-Star teams in each league. I'll name two players at each infield position, five outfielders, seven starting pitchers, and three relief pitchers, for a total of twenty-five players. It's smaller than the standard All-Star team, but we're fantasy owners; we don't pay attention to half of the players in baseball anyways.

Without further ado, the teams. Eligibility will be determined simply by position eligibility in Yahoo fantasy baseball.

American League

First Basemen

• Miguel Cabrera (.339, 61 R, 20 HR, 71 RBI, 2 SB)
• Justin Morneau (.344, 51 R, 17 HR, 55 RBI)

Second Basemen

• Robinson Cano (.342, 59 R, 16 HR, 55 RBI, 2 SB)
• Dustin Pedroia (.292, 52 R, 12 HR, 41 RBI, 8 SB)

Third Basemen

• Kevin Youkilis (.299, 66 R, 17 HR, 55 RBI, 2 SB)
• Evan Longoria (.296, 49 R, 12 HR, 60 RBI, 12 SB)

Shortstops

• Elvis Andrus (.290, 56 R, 0 HR, 25 RBI, 22 SB)
• Derek Jeter (.281, 55 R, 8 HR, 39 RBI, 9 SB)

Outfielders

• Josh Hamilton (.340, 55 R, 20 HR, 61 RBI, 6 SB)
• Carl Crawford (.320, 63 R, 7 HR, 42 RBI, 29 SB)
• Alex Rios (.299, 49 R, 13 HR, 45 RBI, 22 SB)
  
• Vladimir Guerrero (.328, 52 R, 18 HR, 70 RBI, 4 SB)
• Shin-Soo Choo (.286, 48 R, 13 HR, 43 RBI, 12 SB)

Starting Pitchers

• Jon Lester (10-3, 118 K, 2.76/1.10)
• Jered Weaver (8-3, 124 K, 2.82/1.06)
• Cliff Lee (8-3, 89 K, 2.34/0.95)
• David Price (11-4, 90 K, 2.42/1.20)
• Andy Pettitte (10-2, 78 K, 2.82/1.15)
• Felix Hernandez (6-5, 122 K, 3.01/1.14)
• Clay Buchholz (10-4, 64 K, 2.45/1.25)

Relief Pitchers

• Mariano Rivera (2-1, 19 SV, 32 K, 1.08/0.66)
• Rafael Soriano (2-0, 22 SV, 28 K, 1.42/0.76)
• Jose Valverde (1-1, 18 SV, 33 K, 1.00/0.81)

National League

First Basemen

• Joey Votto (.318, 56 R, 21 HR, 59 RBI, 7 SB)
• Albert Pujols (.305, 48 R, 20 HR, 60 RBI, 9 SB)
  

Second Basemen

• Brandon Phillips (.307, 64 R, 11 HR, 28 RBI, 10 SB)
• Martin Prado (.331, 57 R, 7 HR, 36 RBI, 4 SB)

Third Basemen

• David Wright (.317, 51 R, 14 HR, 64 RBI, 15 SB)
• Scott Rolen (.301, 43 R, 17 HR, 57 RBI)

Shortstops

• Hanley Ramirez (.297, 48 R, 13 HR, 53 RBI, 15 SB)
• Rafael Furcal (.335, 44 R, 5 HR, 30 RBI, 12 SB)

Outfielders

• Carlos Gonzalez (.295, 49 R, 14 HR, 52 RBI, 12 SB)
• Chris B. Young (.268, 46 R, 15 HR, 57 RBI, 16 SB)
• Ryan Braun (.291, 50 R, 11 HR, 51 RBI, 11 SB)
• Matt Kemp (.265, 56 R, 15 HR, 47 RBI, 11 SB)
• Corey Hart (.288, 42 R, 19 HR, 61 RBI, 4 SB)

Starting Pitchers

• Adam Wainwright (12-5, 123 K, 2.24/1.00)
• Ubaldo Jimenez (14-1, 107 K, 2.27/1.08)
• Josh Johnson (8-3, 115 K, 1.82/0.96)
• Roy Halladay (10-7, 119 K, 2.33/1.08)
• Mat Latos (9-4, 91 K, 2.62/0.96)
• Yovani Gallardo (8-4, 122 K, 2.58/1.26)
• Clayton Kershaw (8-4, 116 K, 3.02/1.23)

Relief Pitchers

• Billy Wagner (5-0, 17 SV, 52 K, 1.35/0.93)
• Heath Bell (4-0, 23 SV, 49 K, 1.72/1.34)
• Jonathan Broxton (3-0, 17 SV, 52 K, 2.02/1.07)

How To Fix Your Fantasy Football League

And trust me, it's broken.

I've played in several fantasy football leagues each year for the past decade or so, and over time, you learn some things. You learn that Priest Holmes is going to burn someone. You learn to trust the elite quarterbacks to stay elite. But more importantly, you learn what makes a league fun, and what makes it frustrating. Right now, I'd like to share with you a few ways that I think your league can be more of the former, and less of the latter.

I figure the first of July should be plenty early to get your league on board with the changes.

Use Fractional Points

I get not using fractions back when fantasy sports were conducted with pencils and paper, but this is 2010. This is the year that every pre-teen science fiction writer used as his setting when I was growing up in the 1980s. Technology allows us to calculate fractions pretty easily, so there's no reason not to use them.

Certainly the advantages of using partial points are obvious. Say you give 1 point for every 25 passing yards. Does the difference between 173 yards and 178 yards really constitute an entire point? Is it unreasonable to think that 222 yards is actually more valuable than 203? The reality is that we have the mechanisms in place to allow yards to be assigned a specific, decimal value. Using those mechanisms will allow us to be maybe just a little more certain that the most deserving team will win on any given Sunday, and that's always an admirable move.

You also almost certainly eliminate ties, which nobody wants. As the old saying goes, ties are like kissing your sister, which unless your sister is Rachel McAdams is pretty gross. I guess it's gross either way, but man, she's gorgeous.

Shorten Your Benches

Losing a player to injury can be a bummer. Losing a player to injury and finding nobody on the waiver wire who even comes close to being startable is brutal. When this happens, chances are it's because your league has too many bench spots on each team. It seems the convention is fifteen roster spots, split up into nine starters (1 QB, 3 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF) and six bench spots. Most teams won't have a bench tight end, kicker, or defense, so you have six bench spots for six starting spots.

Too many. You want to force people into tough decisions, and you want to prevent players from being held just to be held. I'm in favor of having one bench spot for each non-special team position (QB, WR, RB, TE), plus one additional spot for every four total non-special team roster spot. In the case of a standard league, you have seven of those roster spots, so you get one additional bench spot, for a total of five. That keeps the waiver wire populated with the occasional interesting play: a borderline tight end, a slot receiver on a pass-heavy team, a goal-line running back.

Speaking of improving the depth of your waiver wire options...

Use Return Yardage at the Same Rate as Passing Yardage

Default Yahoo leagues don't implement return yardage at all, which borders on criminal. But even when leagues do use return yardage, it's often at an irrelevant pace, something like 40 or 50 yards per point, when rushing/receiving is 10 yards per point, and passing is 25. That means that, in order to match a 100-yard rushing/receiving day, a return man would have to accumulate 400 or 500 return yards.

As a reference, the all-time record for most kickoff return yards in a game is 304, and for punt return yards it's 207. The most prolific return man in 2008 (among startable players in standard leagues; that is, non-defensive players) was Darren Sproles with 1,625 total return yards. Michael Turner and Adrian Peterson had more rushing yards than that, and thirty quarterbacks had more passing yards than that. Certainly we can all agree that big return numbers have a positive impact on a real-life football team. Since fantasy football is supposed to reward players who do positive things for their real-life football teams, it's only fitting that return yards become part of the equation.

Most importantly, giving real value to return yards turns otherwise unstartable players into reasonable quick fix options. Joshua Cribbs is an elite return guy, but in a normal league, he wallows on the waiver wire. Adjust the return yards impact, though, and he becomes a decent option if you're in a bind. And that's really all we're looking to create here, is a little extra depth on the waiver wire for tough situations.

Consider Eliminating Kickers

Now, about a year ago, I was adamant that kickers should be eliminated from my main football league. I didn't (and still don't) like the complete luck that's involved in kickers acquiring points. They're completely reliant on particular offensive sequences to create the opportunities for them to kick field goals, and those sequences are extremely difficult if not impossible to predict. With most other facets of fantasy football already being somewhat unpredictable, why add in what essentially amounts to a roll of the dice for a few extra points?

I've backed off of that stance somewhat, however, as a result of the simple logic of one of my fellow league members. There are kickers in real football, so there should be kickers in fantasy football. It's a simple enough reasoning, but it does make sense. So, while I still think that kickers are unnecessary for a fantasy football league, and I think that removing them will result in the "better" fantasy players doing better in the win-loss columns, I understand keeping kickers. My recommendation here is just to make sure that you're not just keeping kickers because of convention, and that you actually find value in having kickers on your teams.

And Whatever Else...

Listen, I don't know your league. You know what your owners find interesting, and what they don't care about. I personally like assigning .25 to .50 points per reception, and giving 2 points for 100 yard receiving games versus 1 point for 100 yard rushing games, to increase the value of wide receivers versus running backs. But that's not for everyone. My most sincere recommendation is to listen to your league. You're going to find things that bother everyone in your league, and those are the most important things to change.

And the fractional points thing. That's just a no-brainer.

Twi-Night Doubleheader - Week 12

Apologies for the late post. Luckily, I retrieved the information on Monday, so the stats are all correctly from last week. No need to thank me.

Fantasy Players of the Week

• AL Hitter: Chone Figgins, 2B/3B, Mariners (.190, 3 R, 1 RBI, 7 SB) - I know, ridiculous right? Well, I normally go with the most balanced performance, someone who put up good all-around stats, and while that's generally true, it's not much fun. Seven steals in one week is outstanding, so just this once, I'm going to give the award to a one-category player. Sue me. (Please don't sue me, I don't have any money.)
  
• NL Hitter: Rickie Weeks, 2B, Brewers (.435, 7 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI) - It was neck and neck between Weeks and David Wright (.500, 7 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB), so I opted for the 2B over the 3B. I did notice that, if you look out there and compare 2B versus 3B, the overall performance is actually pretty similar. I'll stand by my position that 2B is harder to fill, though.
  
• AL Pitcher: Mariano Rivera, RP, Yankees (2-0, 1 SV, 8 K, 0.00/0.80) - Closers getting wins has often been the bane of my fantasy existence, but there's no denying the value it brings. Getting a pair of wins in just five innings from Rivera this week was a boon for all of his owners. Jon Lester was in the mix with a pair of one-run games and 15 strikeouts, but he wen 1-1, and fantasy owners need those decisions.
  
• NL Pitcher: Jamie Moyer, SP, Phillies (2-0, 12 K, 1.80/0.60) - The news may have been that Moyer gave up his 506th career home run, setting the all-time mark, but just as newsworthy is Moyer's 2010 performance thus far. He's 9-6 with an ERA of 4.30 and a WHIP of 1.05. His strikeouts are low (of course), but with every quality start, he becomes more and more rosterable. Yovani Gallardo's 5-hit, 12-strikeout shutout put him in the conversation as well.
  

At this time, instead of offering some fairly witty but overall boring baseball information, I'm going to recommend all of you check out Grooveshark. You can listen to pretty much whatever music you want, in whatever order you want, without commercials. Some of you who visit my personal blog have already seen Grooveshark in action, but I recommend all of you go to the site, make an account, and see what it's got to offer. It's the second site ever that I've considered paying money to use, despite its free nature (the Sports-Reference suite of sites is the other).

I haven't actually paid for a VIP membership yet. Just saying, it's a sweet site.

Twi-Night Doubleheader - Week 11

Fantasy Players of the Week

• AL Hitter: Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Red Sox (.522, 9 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 4 SB) - It's pretty amazing when a guy like Josh Hamilton can hit .593 (16/27) and not be my pick of the week. The reason is Hamilton only matched Pedroia in home runs, and Pedroia had double the steals. Nice week for both, though.
  
• NL Hitter: Matt Holliday, OF, Cardinals (.435, 6 R, 4 HR, 8 RBI) - Apparently Holliday is much more comfortable playing against Oakland than he was playing for them. He went 8/12 with 4 R, 4 HR, and 8 RBI in this past weekend's series against the Athletics.
  
• AL Pitcher: Neftali Feliz, RP, Rangers (0-0, 4 SV, 7 K, 0.00/0.00) - Four perfect saves is about as much as you can ask for out of a reliever, or any pitcher for that matter. CC Sabathia, Max Scherzer, and Carl Pavano (?!?) received consideration for their 2-win weeks. But I'm giving the nod to the Rangers' elite young closer.
  
• NL Pitcher: Josh Johnson, SP, Marlins (1-0, 16 K, 1.20/0.73) - A pair of dominant performances against a couple of high-caliber offenses (Tampa Bay and Texas) are just the two most recent gems tossed by Johnson. He has quietly been creeping up on Ubaldo Jimenez in this year's NL Cy Young race, and it might not be too long before we've got a real fight on our hands.

Wait, What? (Pitchers)

There are some players out there doing far better than you realize. Most of them are on teams, and you're aware that they're ownable right now, but you probably don't know just how good their numbers are. I'll try to fix that.

• Clay Buchholz, SP, Red Sox (10-4, 62 K, 2.47/1.24) - Buchholz is tied for the AL lead in wins, his ERA is .02 higher than David Price, and his WHIP is .01 higher. But Price has gotten most of the ink thus far. Buchholz may not be the most talented starter in Boston, but he's been at least as productive as anybody else on the Sawx.
• Tim Hudson, SP, Braves (7-2, 41 K, 2.34/1.16) - Hudson is one of the guys that people told you what to expect out of in the preseason, and then you said, "Yeah, if I can get him cheap, I should grab him," but then someone took him a little earlier than you were going to, and you said, "Oh well, he can be their two-strikeout-a-game pitcher." And he is a two-strikeout-a-game pitcher, but he's been awful good. You can't afford to have him, Livan Hernandez, and Carlos Silva on the same team, but they're all worth owning.
• Jose Valverde, RP, Tigers (1-1, 16 SV, 27 K, 0.59/0.73) - Remember when Valverde couldn't find work over the offseason? He didn't get signed until late January, but the Tigers seem to have gotten a steal. And if you, like me, have it in your head that Valverde is a wild card, look at his career stats. Since 2007, he's been a lights out closer.
  

Wait, What? (Hitters)

• Troy Glaus, 1B, Braves (.280, 38 R, 14 HR, 55 RBI) - Guess who's got the most RBI in the NL right now? It's not a difficult question, given that I'm obviously talking about Glaus. He's been a steady source of power for his entire career, so it's not that surprising that he's rediscovered his home run stroke in Atlanta. He is, however, unlikely to keep up the .280 batting average, as he's only hit higher than that once in his 13-year career. He's doing great...sell high if you can.
• Magglio Ordonez, OF, Tigers (.333, 42 R, 9 HR, 47 RBI, 1 SB) - This is twice that Ordonez has scared us with paltry power numbers, only to bounce back with a great batting average and solid pop once again. Maybe the best thing about Ordonez, though, is that getting a .300 average out of him is a lock.
  
• Martin Prado, 1B/2B/3B, Braves (.339, 51 R, 6 HR, 30 RBI, 2 SB) - While he doesn't flash anywhere near elite speed, his ability to get on base and score has made him a reasonable #1 or #2 hitter, where he's spent most of the season in the Braves' lineup. Combine that with his fantastic position eligibility, and he's one of the more valuable waiver-wire-available fantasy commodities so far this season. He's not available on the waiver wire any more. I'm saying he's one of the best guys you could have already picked up off waivers.
• Chris B. Young, OF, Diamondbacks (.278, 35 R, 12 HR, 49 RBI, 12 SB) - After three years of him flashing his power-speed combo with an abysmal batting average, Young seems to have steadied himself a little bit. I still wouldn't ever expect a .300 season, and it's not outrageous to think he'll dip a little bit down to around .260, but if you can get .260 out of a guy who gives you 40-60 combined HR and SB, you take it.
  

Back to Bullets? Not So Fast.

Ted Leonsis recently took formal control of the Washington Wizards, a move that excited many around town, myself included. I've watched the Washington Capitals benefit from the stability of Leonsis' leadership, and his willingness to put his team in the hands of hockey people. He's got two longtime basketball people in place with the Wizards in head coach Flip Saunders and general manager Ernie Grunfeld, and Leonsis has already indicated that he'll be sticking with both of them moving forward.

Leonsis has always been one of the most accessible owners in sports, and his accessibility has provided basketball fans with the opportunity to give input on their favorite team. The issue that most fans have brought to his attention is their desire to return to the old team name and colors, the Bullets. I've hinted at this as well, specifically the use of red in the uniforms to try to generate some synergy with the Capitals. The "Rock the Red" campaign for the Caps has been hugely successful, and making the transition from "hockey fan" to "basketball fan" smoother, even by just a little bit, is always a good thing.

But I don't see the team going back to the Bullets, and in fact I'd oppose such a change. I'll explain.

"Bullets" is the name that longtime Washington basketball fans associate with the town's team. And I can appreciate the history that comes along with the name. But the reason the name was changed was because of the association with gun violence that it had, and because then-owner Abe Pollin did not want his team to have any association with the epidemic of crime that was enveloping Washington, DC. Many sports fans in town thought it was unnecessary, but it was at least a noble gesture by a giant in this city.

Do we really think that Leonsis would be willing to say, "Abe Pollin was wrong. This guy, who helped build the NBA and was a custodian of this city, didn't know what he was talking about. Let's undo what he did." I just don't see it.

Moreover, I think Leonsis has a better mentality than that. Living in the past, particularly with the Wizards/Bullets who haven't been to the NBA finals in 30 years and who've won 2 championships in their 50+ year existence, doesn't offer all that much to get excited about. The idea here should be moving forward.

The name shouldn't be the Wizards, but it shouldn't be the Bullets either. There are tens of thousands of potential names; there's no reason we can't find one that isn't Bullets that still helps us feel better about our team, and gives us an opportunity to change the team colors (which I'm still in favor of). I look forward to a name change. Just not back to the Bullets.

That name ran its course. Straight into the ground.

Twi-Night Doubleheader - Week 10

Fantasy Players of the Week

• AL Hitter: Josh Hamilton, OF, Rangers (.370, 7 R, 4 HR, 13 RBI) - I was shocked to find out that Hamilton is today the 12th-ranked player in Yahoo's fantasy baseball. After a slow April, he ramped up his production in May, and so far in June has just been pulverizing the ball. His lefty-righty splits are still problematic, but he's playing too well right now to even consider benching him, regardless of opponent.
• NL Hitter: Chris B. Young, OF, Diamondbacks (.333, 6 R, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 3 SB) - While Adam Dunn's four home run week deserved consideration, Young's 3/3 week offered more fantasy value. Young is quietly having a resurgence of sorts, hitting .277 with double-digit home runs and stolen bases. He still strikes out too much, but that's not a fantasy category. And he's doing fine in all of those.
• AL Pitcher: Colby Lewis, SP, Rangers (2-0, 15 Ks, 1.80/0.73) - It looks like it's time for the doubters to step up and admit that Lewis might just be a pretty good pitcher. He was abysmal for Oakland in 2007, and it took him two years to get back to the majors. I watched some of his game against the Brewers yesterday, and he's just pitching his ass off.
• NL Pitcher: Stephen Strasburg, SP, Nationals (2-0, 22 Ks, 2.19/0.89) - Ted Lilly had two great starts, including a near no-hitter last night against the White Sox, but Strasburg is my pick. He had double the strikeouts that Lilly did, and double the wins as well. It's a pretty exciting time in Nats Town, whatever the hell that is.

Hard Luck Losers

We all know about Zack Greinke (2-8, 3.94/1.22) and his inability to buy a win. He's given up zero or one run in three different games, and he's 0-2 in those games. But he's not the only guy who's had a good season but has trouble catching W's.

• Doug Fister, Mariners (3-3, 2.45/0.96) - Fister has given up three or fewer runs in all but one of his ten starts this season. He's currently on the DL with shoulder fatigue, but I think "broken heart" might be the real explanation. And it's not just David Aardsma's vendetta; the offense has averaged only 3.6 runs per game in support of Fister. That's what a "defense first" mentality gets you, Seattle.
• Ted Lilly, Cubs (2-5, 2.90/1.00) - Lilly was three outs away from a no-hitter last night, and the Cubs still almost lost the game due to anemic offense (and Carlos Marmol's love-hate relationship with the strike zone). He was fantastic last year, and has actually been better this season. Outside of the wins, of course.
• Jonathan Sanchez, Giants (4-5, 2.82/1.15) - Sanchez's trouble grabbing wins is actually a little more predictable when you know more about him as a pitcher. He tends to walk a lot of hitters, and strike out a lot of hitters, and that gets his pitch count up in a hurry. But here's a number for you: ten. That's the total number of runs given up by Sanchez in his five losses, including a pair of 1-0 losses.
  

The Orioles are Terrible

There's nothing else here. They're just terrible.

3 MLB debuts in 3 days in Baltimore/Washington

The past 3 days in the Baltimore/Washington DC baseball world have offered up 3 pitching debuts. I was lucky enough to attend the Stephen Strasburg debut on Tuesday evening vs. the Pirates. The next night, Brad Lincoln debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Washington Nationals. And last night, Jake Arrieta debuted for the Baltimore Orioles against the New York Yankees. Here are the stats from each of their debuts:

• Stephen Strasburg, 6/8/10 vs. the Pirates: 7.0 IP, 2.57 ERA, 0.57 WHIP (with no walks), 14 Ks. Result: Win
  
• Brad Lincoln, 6/9/10 vs. the Nationals: 6.0 IP, 7.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 3 Ks. Result: Loss
• Jake Arrieta, 6/10/10 vs. the Yankees: 6.0 IP, 4.50 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 6 Ks. Result: Win

So, who preformed the best? Well, let's be honest, Brad Lincoln was just tossed in to make more of a comparison of things. He held up alright, but didn't match what Strasburg or Arrieta did.

A lot of people have been mentioning that Strasburg only faced the Pirates. Arrieta handled the World Series Champion New York Yankees, a pretty insurmountable task for a major league debut. I know the attitude in Baltimore was that he was going to have to face the Yankees eventually; might as well just get it over with.

Strasburg's stats are obviously superior to Arrieta's stats. And despite each pitchers' competition, Strasburg still has the upper hand here. A major league line-up is a major league line-up. If the Pirates can win a major league baseball game, then they should be capable of putting up a good effort against any pitcher. Don't get me wrong, Arrieta put up a valiant effort against MLB's best and getting a win there should give Baltimore more hope than they've had all year, but, based on debuts alone, Strasburg is looking like gold.

Rock Band 3 Setlist....of my Dreams

A friend linked me to this article that outlines some of the new features for Rock Band 3, including the introduction of the keyboard as an instrument, and the use of the harmonized vocals that were featured in The Beatles: Rock Band. Also, they reaffirmed their intention to try to bridge the gap between rhythm games and real instruments, which is a neat idea. There was no mention of incorporating any of the ideas from my Rock Band RPG article from a while ago, but I never really held out much hope for that.

So how about a setlist? The article above named the 22 songs listed below:

Dio - "Rainbow in the Dark"
Huey Lewis and the News - "The Power of Love"
Ida Maria - "Oh My God"
Jane's Addiction - "Been Caught Stealing"
Jimi Hendrix - "Crosstown Traffic"
Joan Jett - "I Love Rock and Roll"
Juanes - "Me Enamora"
Metric - "Combat Baby"
Night Ranger - "Sister Christian"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"
Phoenix - "Lasso"
Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Rilo Kiley - "Portions of Foxes"
Smash Mouth - "Walkin' on the Sun"
Spacehog - "In the Meantime"
Stone Temple Pilots - "Plush"
The Cure - "Just Like Heaven"
The Doors - "Break On Through"
The Vines - "Get Free"
The White Stripes - "The Hardest Button to Button"
Them Crooked Vultures - "Dead End Friends"
Whitesnake - "Here I Go Again"

Definitely some good songs in there, but that's only 22 of a likely 80+ song tracklist. So what will the other 60-odd songs be? Well, ten to fifteen of them will be bogus-ass songs selected by the game designers that nobody's ever heard of (although they've occasionally found some good stuff). Regarding the other 45-50 songs, I don't have any legitimate guesses, but here are my suggestions/wishes/demands.

Please note that I'm aware that many of these songs don't take advantage of the keyboard. Tough. I did what I could to try to include songs with piano or keyboard, and songs with multiple vocal parts, and songs from different eras and genres. But in the end, it is Rock Band. The focus isn't going to be on hip-hop.

Alabama - "Mountain Music"
Big and Rich - "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy"
Bruce Springsteen - "Glory Days"
Clutch - "The Elephant Riders"
Counting Crows - "Hanginaround"
Cracker - "Low"
Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Born on the Bayou"
Dave Matthews Band - "Stay"
David Bowie - "Young Americans"
Deep Purple - "Perfect Strangers"
Dire Straits - "Money For Nothing"
Dishwalla - "Counting Blue Cars"
Doobie Brothers - "Takin' It To The Streets"
Eagles - "Already Gone"
Electric Light Orchestra - "Evil Woman"
Fiona Apple - "Criminal"
Five Finger Death Punch - "Hard To See"
Foreigner - "Cold As Ice"
Hard-Fi - "Gotta Reason"
Hoobastank - "The Reason"
Jackson Browne - "Doctor My Eyes"
Jason Mraz - "I'm Yours"
Jethro Tull - "Locomotive Breath"
Jonny Lang - "Still Rainin'"
Journey - "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Call Me The Breeze"
Maroon 5 - "This Love"
Matthew Good Band - "Indestructible"
Matthew Sweet - "Sick of Myself"
Modest Mouse - "Dashboard"
Muse - "Knights of Cydonia"
New Radicals - "You Get What You Give"
Santana featuring Chad Kroeger - "Into the Night"
School of Fish - "3 Strange Days"
Semisonic - "Closing Time"
Shinedown - "Heroes"
Sponge - "Wax Ecstatic"
Squirrel Nut Zippers - "Hell"
Steve Miller Band - "Jungle Love"
Styx - "Lady"
The Kinks - "Lola"
The Strokes - "Last Nite"
Toto - "Hold The Line"
Train - "Drops of Jupiter"
Van Halen - "Right Now"
Warren Zevon - "Werewolves of London"
Wolfmother - "Colossal"

By the way, Green Day: Rock Band? Really? We couldn't do better than that? What about Dave Matthews Band, or Electric Light Orchestra? Pearl Jam? Maybe pony up the ten million, or whatever it takes to get Led Zeppelin to release their master tracks. Zeppelin is the ultimate rock band of all time. There's got to be some amount at which they'd cave in.

In the words of a great hero of mine, "Everybody's got a price."

Robbie Lawler Faces Off Against Babalu Sobral to Headline Strikeforce Live - by Alexia Krause

With Strikeforce Live only weeks away, the heat is getting turned up for a showdown between two hard-hitting opponents. "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler will take on former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Renato "Babalu" Sobral for a fight that is bound to go beyond the octagon and strike at the hearts of the two fighters. In fact, Sobral was quoted as saying that he has "hate in his heart” leading up to the fight and his trainer is making it clear that his hate will be taken out in the ring against Lawler. This type of bad blood will make the upcoming Strikeforce Live a MMA event to remember. The two will face each off in a 195-pound catch-weight bout on June 16 in Los Angeles.

This is an interesting turn of events, as Sobral wasn't initially slated to fight against Lawler. The main card had originally been Mike "Mayhem" Miller vs. "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler, but after being rebuked by Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, Mayhem was later pulled from the card. Miller is under review for a possible suspension due to the brawl that had broken out following a post-fight interview with Jake Shields at Strikeforce Nashville.

The next Strikeforce event (Wednesday June 16th in Los Angeles) will be the first ever to be scheduled during the middle of the week (in order to correspond with the video game expo, E3, and the subsequent release of EA Sports MMA). Most fans are going to the event to see the main fight between Sobral and Lawler. The main card is bound to set the tone for the evening and possibly the rest of Strikeforce MMA.

"Ruthless" Robbie Lawler is considered by most to be somewhat of a quiet figure outside of the ring, but once inside the octagon he's as merciless as his nickname. Lawler is known for completely annihilating his opponents by means of his all-or-nothing fighting style. This type of intensity will be a large part of his upcoming fight. This 5-foot-11 middleweight may be a reckless fighter inside the cage, but his fans love him for exactly that reason.

Renato "Babalu" Sobral, on the other hand, is a complete technician within the squared circle. Widely known for his amazing grappling and submission moves, Babalu doesn't need to be ruthless in order to dominate. This type of process has helped Sobral rack up victories over such fighters as Kiyoshi Tamura, Mauricio Rua, and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on his way to becoming the light heavyweight champion. It has also made him one of the hardest fighters to defeat in all of Strikeforce MMA.

Many fans seem to think that if Lawler can keep the fight on his feet, he will have the advantage. Robbie Lawler has a history of being smart on his feet, throwing calculated punches. However, if the fight shifts towards more grappling, and Babalu is careful, he could use his superior BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) skills to his advantage. Over half of Sobral's wins have stemmed from his masterful use of submission fighting.

Other matches for the evening feature Marius Zaromskis vs. Evangelista Cyborg and Trevor Prangley vs. Tim Kennedy. Both fights are bound to have their fair share of attention at the event, but nothing will compare to when ruthlessness meets technical dominance via Lawler/Sobral. Then we shall see exactly how much hate is flowing through the veins of these two fighters at Strikeforce Live on the 16th.

Alexia is a self-described sports-nut. She particularly enjoys martial arts. Recently, she joined up with MMA Industries - retailers of highly popular MMA training equipment and shirts. Alexia has been blogging about the latest trends in MMA gear for the past few years, and continues to provide you with the latest news in the MMA universe.

Twi-Night Doubleheader - Week 9

Alright, partly because I think it's time, and partly because I was too distracted by Stephen Strasburg Day (say it with a German accent) to get weekly stats this past week, we're going to do a "Year To Date" evaluation. We'll treat this like an AL/NL fantasy MVP & Cy Young award winners right now. Here goes:

AL MVP: Robinson Cano, 2B, Yankees (.370, 43 R, 12 HR, 45 RBI, 2 SB) - His production is among the best in baseball at any position, but when you add in the fact that he's gotten you all those numbers at second base, Cano gets the nod. Worth mentioning, though, are two Riders: Miguel Cabrera (.344, 17 HR, 52 RBI) and Alex Rios (.317, 38 R, 12 HR, 18 SB). Cabrera's performance is completely predictable; Rios is a nice surprise after a very down year in 2009.

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, 1B, Cardinals (.306, 34 R, 14 HR, 44 RBI, 6 SB) - Honestly, we don't even have to look at numbers any more, do we? Just chalk up another award to Pujols and move on. The NL is actually a lot weaker than the AL right now, and in fact, Pujols probably wouldn't be my pick if Andre Ethier hadn't gotten hurt...because either Ethier or Matt Kemp would likely have the numbers to warrant being picked above Pujols. For now.

AL Cy Young: Phil Hughes, SP, Yankees (8-1, 68 Ks, 2.71/1.09) - Amazingly, the choice was between Hughes and another Rider, Jon Lester (7-2, 81 Ks, 2.73/1.13), but I went with the extra win and the slightly better averages. Additionally, Hughes' strikeout rate is actually almost identical to Lester's. Naturally, despite their 15 combined wins, I've managed to garner only ten of them, and both players have been on my roster all season.

NL Cy Young: Ubaldo Jimenez, SP, Rockies (11-1, 78 Ks, 0.93/0.93) - There's been some great pitching in the National League this season (Roy Halladay's perfect game comes to mind), but no one has been as good as Ubaldo in every single outing. His one loss? A seven inning, one run "debacle" against the Dodgers. Oh, and he also threw a no-hitter.

Quick Thoughts Through The First Two Innings of Stephen Strasburg's First Major League Start

• The kid's got heat. He's been 96+ on every fastball so far, and he tickled 99 once.
• The ump is calling high strikes, not giving low ones.
• Jeff Karstens is not an attractive man.
• Rob Dibble is the worst.
  

LOST Series Finale and Beyond - Part 2

In case you were wondering, yes, I totally forgot about this. But I do remember most of what I was going to say, so let's jump right in. This post will be about the show itself, and not so much the "beyond" part.

I thought the Lost series finale was entertaining. I wouldn't say it was as good as the show's best episodes (mostly first and second season episodes), but it was satisfying, and more than anything else, it gave us a fairly gratifying wrap on the entire series. I did have one idea, though, regarding the "alternate reality" portion, which we ended up learning was a kind of limbo/afterlife deal.

Couldn't that whole storyline have been made into a movie? Certainly Lost has enough viewers to at least justify releasing a full-length feature; you'd get at least ten million people easy, which translates to at least $80 million. Moreover, that whole path was kind of a stand-alone storyline; it didn't depend on anything happening on the island. The value it brought to this final season was in the questions it brought up, the kind of second-season questions we all had about, "What exactly is going on here?" As far as stories go, it could have been just as effective on its own.

In the end, though, I do think it was ultimately necessary to include that storyline alongside the final season. The reason showed up at the end of the final episode; while the bookend of the close-up Jack's eye was a great move by the show, the finale needed emotionally powerful scenes to satisfy long-time viewers. The confrontation between Jack and Samuel (the man-in-black's apparent name) was good, the farewell between Jack and Kate was good, the bestowal of the island's caretaker role to Hurley was good, but for pure emotion, nothing came close to the final meeting between Jack and his father. The finale needed that emotion, so it had to have the other-dimensional sequence.

Are there still questions? Of course. I don't think any of us realistically expected the show to resolve all of our questions. And leaving Hurley's reign on the island open-ended leaves open the possibility for a future movie; we'd all like a little more Lost. In that regard, I think Lost's writers did a great job. You know the old saying...

...always leave them wanting more.

A Whole Mess of #1 Picks

Tonight, the Washington Nationals have the #1 overall pick in the MLB Amateur Draft for the second consecutive year. Last year, they drafted super-prospect Stephen Strasburg, and this year a similarly hyped prospect, Bryce Harper, will likely go number one.

But that's just the beginning of the story when it comes to local #1 picks. The Wizards also have the #1 overall pick in this year's draft, and will likely be drafting Kentucky's John Wall. And the Capitals are led by a #1 overall pick themselves, Alexander Ovechkin. I have to think this is a rare situation in sports, to find four recent #1 overall picks playing in the same city.

And it's exciting. For all the hubbub surrounding the Redskins, I'm more excited about the Capitals than I've been about the 'Skins in a while. I've liked how Ted Leonsis runs his team, and I look forward to him putting his mark on the Wizards. Word around town is that they're looking at changing the uniforms (thank heavens), and specifically re-incorporating red to match the Capitals. I think the whole town should embrace the red, white, and blue color scheme, but people around here are irrationally attached to the burgundy and gold. I'm not sure why...it's not like they've given us anything to cheer about in fifteen years.

Anyways, get excited kids. Strasburg debuts tomorrow, and we'll have two #1 picks in town by the end of the month. And if you absolutely must focus on the Redskins, Donovan McNabb was a pretty high pick as well.

2010 World Cup Brackets/Pools/Picks

Have you read over my previews? Think you'll do a better job picking who comes out of the group stage and who makes it through the knock-out round?

I've created a group on ESPN Soccernet's Bracket Predictor, which is a simple/quick predictor. You pick the top 2 out of each group and, based on those picks, choose your winners through the knock-out round to the championship.

The ESPN Soccernet group is a public group and is located here: http://games.espn.go.com/bpredictor/en-us/group?groupID=29193

The Yahoo! predictor is a lot more intricate. You predict each game result. I've turned off predicted scores to make things a little simpler. These predictions can be changed up to 5 minutes before the predicted games' kick-off. I believe the knock-out predictions will be available after the knock-out round has been finalized.

The Yahoo! Sports World Soccer 2010 group is a public group and is located here: http://us.wc.fantasysports.yahoo.com/world-cup/register/join-private-group-assign-team?GID=18055

Watch me be right!

2010 World Cup Preview - Group G & H

On the last day of the 2010 World Cup Preview, I'll introduce to you Groups G & H. In my opinion, Group G stands out as my "Group of Death," but its not nearly has harsh as previous years. If you're just tuning in, here are the links to the Group A & B, Group C & D, and Group E & F previews.

Group G
Brazil - World Ranking: #1. Everyone's favorite, the "Yankees" of the World Cup is searching for their 6th World Cup Title. Their roster is an all-star list of players including Kaka, Robinho, and Luis Fabiano.

Portugal - World Ranking: #3. Despite Cristiano Ronaldo's goal drought throughout qualifying, I see these guys putting up a fight. I highly recommend watching their matchup with Brazil (for obvious reasons). Ricardo Carvalho will be working the back line, too.

Ivory Coast - World Ranking: #27. A late pick-up of a Sven-Goran Eriksson to manage and hopefully save this team after it has already qualified could be risky. It doesn't help that Didier Drogba has a hernia injury that he won't have operated on until after the World Cup, so Eriksson might have his hands full. Other players that should stand out include Salomon Kalou, striker, and, Emmanuel Eboue in the midfield.

North Korea - World Ranking: #105. This team is a long shot. In this Group, all they have is a prayer. If you end up watching these guys, I assume its really to watch Brazil, Portugal, or Ivory Coast, but Hong Yong-Jo might stick out.

PICKS: Its hard to not have Brazil and Portugal coming out of this group. Brazil #1, Portugal #2, thanks to the goal differential tie-breaker.

Group H
Spain - World Ranking: #2. Despite being ranked #1, this team did lose to the US during semifinals of the Confederations cup last year. Fernando Torres has a nagging knee injury, Cesc Fabregas is also nicked up. I'll probably keep an eye on Xavi feeding crisp passes to David Villa up front.

Switzerland - World Ranking: #24. If the Swiss play their cards right, they could be heading into the knock-out stage. Watch out for midfielder, Tranquillo Barnetta.

Honduras - World Ranking: #38. Nabbing the 3rd spot out of CONCACAF, they'll have a tough time if their star striker, David Suazo, doesn't recover from a muscle injury in his right leg.

Chile - World Ranking: #18. Despite getting hit by a devastating earthquake at the end of February 2010 and a little drama between FIFA and the Chilean league, it looks like they'll be there, though I can't see them going far. Player to watch: Humberto Suazo, Striker.

PICKS: Spain will be the clear front-runner out of Group H. Who follows them is a tough call. I see a lot of the world hoping that Chile makes, but this isn't a fairy tale. The Swiss is my pick. Spain #1, Switzerland #2.