Fantasy football strategy, rankings, and podcasts

The long awaited court ruling on Tom Brady's suspension finally came in today. And if your league has already had your draft, you probably got him at a steal. Of course the court made the obvious decision to overturn the 4 game suspension. As much as I despise Tom Brady and as guilty as he was, there is no rule in the NFL rulebook that allows a player to be suspended for deflating footballs or interfering with an investigation. The court had to make this decision to uphold the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFLPA and the owners. Roger Goodell knew this ruling would come if the suspension were to be challenged in court and tried to get Brady to admit guilt and take a reduced suspension. I applaud Tom Brady for calling his bluff here and getting the suspension eliminated entirely.

The moment this story was reported it was obvious to me and anyone with half a brain that Brady was involved in deflatting these footballs. A quarterback of Tom Brady's caliber is the lord of the fooball team. Nobody is going to alter the condition of the football without his knowledge. You can't claim lack of evidence, because zero evidence is needed. The savvy thing for Brady to have done, was admit something right away. A simple “I said the balls felt a little firm in warm-ups, can you guys let some air out, I had no idea they would end up below PSI regulations” by Brady would have been the perfect bullshit statement to end the circus before it started. He would only have gotten the mandated $25,000 fine for the violation as stated in the NFL policy book.

So what does this mean going forward? Well the NFL is going to appeal this decision but that won't be ruled on until after the completion of this season. My guess is that Brady never misses a game and pays a small fine and maybe even retires before this whole thing is over. As for the fondling of the balls in the future the NFL really has two choices. The logical one (based on all the comments from players past and current) is to allow each team to alter the balls however they would like. There is also what they will probably do: taking away possession of the balls from team trainers after inspection, prior to taking the field.

So just remember, Tom Brady was guilty just not convicted.

The NHL Stanley Cup Playoff is my favorite sporting event to watch. The intensity level reached in the NHL playoffs is unmatched by any other sport. The beards may still be fresh but this post season has already produced several thrilling games.

The Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks suprizingly has been my favorite series to watch so far this post season. With the late starts some of the games might be hard to stay awake til the end. But if you do muster up the courage you will not be disappointed. This series has been probably the most intense of all with both teams showing genuine hatred towards their counterparts. Two of the Three games in the series have featured 5 on 5 full line third period brawls.

The Chicago Blackhawks struggled at the close of the regular season, losing their last four. But there was promise with news of Patrick Kane returning for the playoffs. Game one started off terribly with Chicago goalie Corey Crawford giving up 3 first period goals and being pulled from the game. In came backup Scott Darling who leads the Hawks to a 4-3 double overtime win on the back of a 42 save shutout performance. After another failed Crawford start in a 6-2 Blackhawks loss in game 2, Darling was named the man going forward and delivered again in a 4-2 game 3 win. Kane looking good and Darling standing on his head has this Diehard Blackhawks fan dreaming of another Stanley Cup.

There may not be any football being played right now, but it is one of the best times of the year to be a sports fan! The Baseball season is fresh and Cubs fans still have that hope that this will be “the year”. We all know that April Baseball isn't worth the effort, so we'll just leave that alone for a few months. Baseball tonight and maybe a random drunk day at the park will suffice until, say.. August? Hockey and Basketball have just begun their playoffs, meaning there are multiple playoff games every night of the week.

Listening to Charles Barkley talk provides enough entertainment to justify the very long NBA Finals. We've got thrilling first round match-ups such as the Portland Trail Blazers and the Memphis Grizzlies! How could you go wrong? As a Chicago fan, I am excited about the Chicago Bulls post season chances. They finally have a healthy Derrick Rose to pair with surprise superstar Jimmy Butler and are poised to make a deep playoff run in a weak Eastern conference. If the Eastern Conference is not represented by the Chicago Bulls or Cleveland Cavaliers it would be a shock.

The Western Conference is a little more difficult to navigate. The San Antonio Spurs are always tough in the post season, no matter how old they get. However the team I am pulling for is number one seed Golden State Warriors. Stephen Curry has had an MVP caliber year and is my favorite player to watch currently. This year he sank 286 3-pointers to beat his previously held record of 272. Hands down he is the best shooter in the NBA today. The Warriors are involved in one of the more intriguing first round match-ups with the New Orleans Pelicans. Golden state has taken care of business in their two home games but lets see what Anthony Davis and the Pelicans can do in front of what is sure to be a raucous home crowd.

Week six in the NFL is full with a tough docket of games.  Expect to see low scores in confidence pools and teams struggling to find production with big name players on the injury report.  When looking over the betting lines there is not much that I like this week, so I will be sitting this week out.  If I were to pick some games to wager on this weekend though, I think the following offer the most promise.  

Denver's high powered offense is going up against a weak Jets' secondary favored by 10 points.  Since the Jets can't put up a lot of points this number is probably realistic, however I don't like such a high number for a road team with their starting running back out.

The New England Patriots are -3 at Buffalo against the Bills.  After looking impressive last week against the Bengals, logic would say they should have an easy time with Kyle Orton and the Bills.  If the Bills get the running game going though, they might be able to keep this one a little too close for comfort.  I feel a little bit better about betting the over in this game at 45 points.  New England put up 43 on a tough Bengals defense last week and might have finally put some things together on offense.

The Ravens and Packers are both favored by 3.5 on the road.  The Packers seam to be gaining momentum, so i would feel ok about taking them against the Dolphins.  The Ravens however are facing a Tampa Bay Bucs team that is playing hard for coach Lovie Smith.  Lovie coached teams always seem to play tight games and spoil bettor's weekends.

The Game I like the most this week would be for the Pittsburgh Steelers to bounce back on the road against the Cleveland Browns.  The Steelers are 1 point dogs and I like them to outright win.  A home team should automatically get 3 points if they are indeed the favorite.  So the Browns only getting one point is a sign that I want to jump on the Steelers.  

Good luck this week betters! I will be sitting on my money this week but maybe I will regret it.