Baseball Fast & Slow Starts: Celebrate or Pack It In?

We’re now a little more than a week into the baseball season, and every team has had a chance to play through a few series, see which players got off to a hot start, send a few players to the injured list and start to take inventory of how their season will shake out. A few teams are performing as expected, while some are performing well above or below expectations. Let’s break down three teams doing well and three teams doing poorly, and whether or not you fans should celebrate or hit the panic button.

FAST STARTS

Seattle Mariners
Taking three out of four against the Red Sox to open the season was impressive, but rolling over the Angels, White Sox and Royals was expected. The Mariners will play Houston in a few days and go on the road in May to the Indians, Yankees and Red Sox. A fast start was important for a team that shed large contracts, but their pitching has allowed more than 60 runs to this point, and the best pitching staffs are averaging less than half of that through the first few weeks. We hate to say it, but this start is no reason to celebrate in Seattle unless they can control the Astros all season.

Milwaukee Brewers

Photo credit: Chris Kohley / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Christian Yelich picked up exactly where he left off and crushed plenty of home runs to start the season, and the Brewers dominated NL Central rivals in the Cardinals and Cubs. They are more or less even in runs allowed and runs scored, but the real test is the teams that can grind out the close wins. Milwaukee has the clutch hitting and pitching to do just that. Brewer fans, go ahead and celebrate this start. You’re on your way to the postseason again.

Tampa Bay Rays
They may be tops in the division, but they’re not scoring a lot of runs against inferior pitching staffs. Always a feel-good story in baseball, the Rays likely won’t be able to maintain this momentum once they face potent offenses in the heart of the season. Unless some major injuries befall the Red Sox and Yankees, we can’t say the Rays should go ahead and celebrate their fast start.

SLOW STARTS

Chicago Cubs 
You can’t win baseball games if your pitching staff can’t hold leads. After an Opening Day slugfest, the Cubs lost six straight games despite scoring the third most runs in both leagues. Granted, three of those losses were to the postseason-contending Atlanta Braves, but another two came to the lowly Texas Rangers that don’t expect to contend this year. If Chicago can’t get seven or eight innings out of every starter this year (and they won’t), then the middle relievers need to be trusted in tight situations. We say there’s slight reason to be worried, especially considering the danger lingering in the Brewers and Cardinals. The Cubs could be in for a rude awakening this year.

Boston Red Sox
Maybe it’s the hangover from winning another championship, but the boys from Beantown just don’t look like themselves. Their pitching staff has been hit hard to the tune of 72 runs allowed through 11 games. That’s tops in the league. On the plus side, the Tampa Bay Rays can’t possibly continue their fast start once they get into the bulk of divisional play. We say no reason to throw in the towel. The Sox will be fine and back in contention in short order.

Colorado Rockies

Photo credit: milehighsports.com

Back-to-back years in the postseason have fans believing the Rockies’ core can get it done, but giving up lots of runs to the always-dangerous Los Angeles Dodgers and following it up with series against the Braves, resurgent Padres, Phillies, Nationals and Brewers spells a very tough stretch for the Rockies before the bulk of the May calendar. It’ll depend heavily on how they fare in those close games, but we think there’s a bit of a reason to worry if the Rockies don’t come out of this April gauntlet intact.

The beauty of baseball is the season is long and full of ups and downs, so there are plenty of chances for teams to rebound from rough patches. What do you think of our expert analysis of these six overachievers and underachievers? Share your comments below, and enjoy the rest of the season. Play ball!

The Next Possible College Basketball Cinderella Teams

Upset secured, from Kinfay Moroti at news-press.com

The calendar has turned to March, which means college basketball is entering its final month of regular season competition before 68 of the best teams in the country battle it out for the ultimate crown. Every year, it seems there are a number of small teams that unexpectedly make it deep into the tournament. Last year, 11th seeded Loyola-Chicago made it all the way to the national semifinals in the men’s tournament, while 11th seeded Buffalo made it to the regional quarterfinals in the women’s bracket. Which will be this year’s surprise teams? We have a few predictions.

Ja Morant, courtesy of si.com

Murray State
The men’s team has been a low-seeded regular in the national tournament, but they’ve been taking their Ohio Valley Conference by storm. Smaller teams usually need to go on a near-perfect regular season run to be able to tango with the bigger schools, and Murray State could be just that team. They also have Ja Morant on their team, who’s been one of the more complete, under-the-radar players in the men’s game this year.

Florida Gulf Coast
The women’s team pulled a huge first-round upset last year as a 15th seed, and they could very well do it again this year. The team is performing better than it did in 2018 and is projected to slot in at a 14th seed, giving it a slightly more favorable matchup. A 3rd-seeded team is no slouch, but FGCU is a basketball program known for working its magic when the cards are stacked against it.

Dukes celebrating, from jmu.edu

South Dakota State
The men’s Jackrabbit squad is no stranger to the postseason, having been in the tournament five of the past seven years. They’ve faced very tough competition in every round but put up good fights against some of the best in men’s college basketball. Could this be the year they finally break through into the second round?

James Madison
The Dukes have appeared in the women’s tournament or just missed being included seemingly every year for the last few decades. Having made the National Invitational Tournament the last few years after back-to-back-to-back appearances in the national title postseason, we think 2019 is the year JMU breaks through. They’re first in their conference and are beating most of the competition by wide, convincing margins. Look for the Dukes to be around 11 in the seeding, giving them a favorable matchup with a 6th-seeded squad.

The great thing about postseason college basketball is you can never plan for the impossible, last-second plays that swing a game one way or another. However it happens, we’re bound to see a couple surprise teams ride a wave of nail-biting wins into the national conversation. Which teams do you think will be this year’s Cinderella squads? Let us know in the comments below, and enjoy the rest of the regular season!

The Use of Brown in Sports Uniforms

The San Diego Padres recently announced the team will be changing their uniforms ahead of the 2020 season, returning to the team’s beloved brown-and-yellow color scheme last regularly worn in the 1980s. The move has been met with a lot of positive buzz, as the Padres have struggled to find a consistent and unique uniform since those days. While brown isn’t a color we see too much of in sports on any level, it has its loyal users. Let’s look back on the color and some other instances of its use in sports uniforms past and present.

Cleveland Browns

Photo credit: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

This is an easy and obvious one. Since their inaugural 1946 season in the All-America Football Conference, the Browns have sported brown in some portion of their uniform. Named after their first coach, Paul Brown, the team relocated to Baltimore in the 1990s before returning as an expansion team in 1999 and sporting their same familiar orange, brown and white uniforms in a simple, logoless design. The team has since undergone some uniform tweaks that haven’t been well-received, but word is they are looking to possibly change back to a traditional look. We’re fans of the clean and simple look sported here by former running back Peyton Hillis.

St. Louis Browns

Photo credit: seamheads.com

The who? You wouldn’t be blamed for not knowing this past chapter of the current Baltimore Orioles. They started in Milwaukee as the Brewers in the late 1800s, and ended up relocating to St. Louis after the 1901 season and changing their name to the Browns. You’ll notice an orange-and-brown color scheme similar to the Cleveland football team, but we can’t confirm if Paul Brown’s squad took a page out of St. Louis’s book for their color choice. The Browns experienced lots of success throughout their run but eventually fell into a prolonged period of losing, and ownership couldn’t compete with the cross-town Cardinals. The team eventually packed up and moved to Baltimore in 1953.

Wyoming Cowboys
Jumping back to current sports, the University of Wyoming has proudly worn brown as their main color since inception. Legend has it the color scheme took root during an alumni banquet in the late 1800s, when brown-eyed Susan flowers decorated a banquet hall. Across all varsity sports, the color has an instantly recognizable association with Wyoming, and it just works.

Photo credit: fanatics.com

Bowling Green State
The Falcons emphasize orange more than they do brown, but you can find alternate uniforms in brown across most of their varsity sports, especially baseball and softball. As the only university sporting this color combination, Bowling Green has owned the look at the collegiate level as much as the Cleveland Browns have in professional football.

Photo credit: bgsufalcons.com

Lehigh University
Lehigh has proudly sported brown since the 1860s. Brown is paired with a classic, shiny gold that reminds us of other colleges such as Boston College, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, West Point and the Naval Academy. It’s a clean, simple look the college has worn well over the years.

Photo credit: lehighvalleylive.com

Valparaiso University

Photo credit: valposoftballclinics.com

Depending on which sport you’re watching, the Crusaders could be yellow-clad with brown as a trim color or sporting their brown uniforms proudly. The story goes that a former university president, Henry Baker Brown, and his VP, O.P. Kinsley, helped usher in the school colors. Brown chose the color brown because of his last time, while his VP had blonde hair, hence the use of yellow.

Some other teams sporting brown include Western Michigan and Brown University, but that’s a well-rounded list of the color being used in sports uniforms past and present. With San Diego set to reintroduce the color next year, perhaps brown will finally get the mainstream respect it deserves. What do you think of sports teams wearing brown? Is it cool and unique or garish and gross? Let us know in the comments below!

Our NFL Championship Predictions

Photo credit: Jake Roth, USA Today Sports

The table has been set and the final four teams are ready to battle it out for the NFL’s highest prize. After our poor showing on Wild Card weekend, three out of four correct picks in the divisional round isn’t bad! With just three games left to play this season, it’s time for us to make our final predictions for conference and league champions.

Chiefs vs. Patriots
Despite going 11-5 and winning their division yet again, the New England Patriots were a completely different team away from home. An unblemished home record was counterbalanced by a 3-5 record on the road, with notable losses against the Titans, Lions and Jaguars. Tom Brady doesn’t have a good playoff record on the road (he’s 0-3) and the Chiefs didn’t have a great run defense this year, so the Patriots will likely lean on their young running game behind Sony Michel to pick up the slack.

The Pats may have won their one 2018 meeting against Kansas City in a shootout that was decided by a last-second field goal, but the Chiefs have grown leaps and bounds since that game, and the receiving corps is clicking with Patrick Mahomes. That being said, this won’t be a high-scoring affair. The Chiefs will survive a late push by the ageless wonder that is Tom Brady and get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1970.

Saints vs. Rams

Photo credit: Sean Gardner, Getty Images

Another ageless wonder in Drew Brees goes up against a young upstart team in the Los Angeles Rams. It’s actually quite interesting how both of these games represent a changing of the guard in the NFL, but we don’t see the Rams emerging victorious in this one. The Saints have one of the best run defenses in the league, and if they can control the Rams running game then they make the team more predictable and one-dimensional. All of L.A.’s fancy audibles and adjustments might be hard to hear at the line of scrimmage in the Superdome, where Saints fans get louder than anywhere else in the league.

On the flip side, the Saints will be going against a Rams secondary that’s healthy and includes Aqib Talib. As long as they play good deep coverage, Drew Brees likely won’t be able to pick them apart like he did the last time these two teams met. That means more time waiting in the pocket for an open receiver and more time for Aaron Donald to get a sack.

The Big Game
If our predictions hold true, that leads us to a Saints vs. Chiefs championship where anything could happen. How that hypothetical game turns out would be completely dependent on Drew Brees. If he has time to find receivers, he’ll make the Chiefs look confused and disorganized. If he doesn’t and the Saints have to punt more than five times in the game, look for the Chiefs to take advantage. All that being said, it’s been a crazy year where anything can happen. We’ll pick the Saints to win the game in the last minute or so on a very long, very tense field goal.

Who do you think will win the next few games? How close are we to getting our picks right? Let us know in the comments below and enjoy the rest of the playoffs!

Our Picks for NFL Divisional Weekend

Photo credit: si.com

We made it through Wild Card Weekend and came out defeated, going 1-3 in our picks for the weekend’s winners. In our defense, a few of those games came down to the wire and could have gone the other way with a few lucky plays, but that’s football for you. We’re dusting ourselves off and getting ready for an even bigger weekend of divisional football, and we’ve got more predictions for you.

Colts vs. Chiefs
This one is probably even harder to pick than last week. The Colts are undoubtedly the hottest team in the playoffs, having won 10 of their past 11 games to qualify for - and advance to - the divisional round. How will that success and their talented, young offensive line pair up against a punishing 3-4 Kansas City defense that can keep Andrew Luck guessing with its coverage packages? Let’s not forget their gunslinging offense and Patrick Mahomes lighting up the scoreboard. It will be a close game for a few quarters, but the Chiefs will pull away late and win comfortably.

Cowboys vs. Rams
The Cowboys have followed a similar path to the Colts with eight wins in their last nine games to reach the divisional round. They eked out a tough victory against a Seattle team whose defense isn’t as lights out as it once was, but how will Dallas fare against a balanced Rams team that features Aaron Donald up front and a talented secondary? How this game turns out likely falls to sudden wunderkind Jared Goff, but we think the Rams will handle the Cowboys by a touchdown and some change.

Chargers vs. Patriots

Photo credit: bettingsports.com

Is this finally the year that Philip Rivers and the Chargers put it all together? A couple late drives by the Ravens made last week’s game look much closer than it was, as a suffocating defense kept Lamar Jackson in check. The Chargers won’t be able to settle for field goals against the Patriots, but they know that already. New England is only in the divisional round because of late-season falters by the Texans, so their first-round bye is a bit misleading. This could be the biggest toss-up of the weekend, as Tom Brady will be going against a capable quarterback with a capable offense. In a close one, we see the Chargers getting past the Patriots in the fourth quarter.

Eagles vs. Saints
We should’ve known better than to bet against the Eagles and Nick Foles. With some very, very late-game magic and a bit of luck from a goalpost, Philadelphia beat Chicago to make it to this matchup with New Orleans. The Saints, and Drew Brees in particular, look like a rejuvenated squad. They dominated through most of the season, and “just enough” from the Eagles won’t be enough to beat an offense with proven veterans. New Orleans will make it back to the NFC title game after last year’s last-second blunder against the Vikings.

We felt confident with our picks last week, but this time we really mean it. There’s no way these picks could come back to bite us, right? Who do you think will win the divisional round and move on to the conference championship weekend? Let us know in the comments below, and enjoy the game!

Our NFL Wild Card Predictions

Photo credit: TexansPR/Twitter

It’s finally time for professional playoff football! Analysts argue the Wild Card weekend is not as exciting as the divisional rounds that follow, but we’d beg to differ this year. Across the board, there are some exciting matchups featuring fresh faces in the playoff tournament. Without further adieu, here is our super-expert-can’t-be-argued-against predictions for this weekend’s matchups.

Colts vs. Texans

Photo credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images

One more time for these AFC South rivals to decide who should be crowned the division’s best. It’s hard to pick one here. On one hand you have a resurgent Colts offense behind a healthy Andrew Luck, and on the other hand you have a Texans team that rattled off nine straight wins after a lackluster start and came out about even toward the end of the season. We’ll give it to Houston in a toss-up.

Seahawks vs. Cowboys
Your guess is as good as ours in this one. The Cowboys didn’t play lights out against an admittedly weaker NFC East division this year, winning (or losing) by narrow margins each time. Jason Garrett has been known to be a conservative play caller, and the Seahawks have been here before. Plus, they beat the Cowboys early in the season. Seattle eeks by in a stressful contest.

Chargers vs. Ravens
Philip Rivers and the Chargers were dominant at some points and just good enough at others, but they beat good teams when it was important, and they’ve earned their first place standing in the two-team AFC West. Baltimore may have beaten Los Angeles this year, but they’re riding the rookie wave of Lamar Jackson and it can’t possibly succeed in the playoffs. The Chargers win this one.

Eagles vs. Bears
Does Nick Foles even know what he’s doing? Yet again, the Eagles have limped into the playoffs on the back of their backup quarterback after an injury to Carson Wentz. Three straight confidence-boosting wins will do you a lot in any sport, but not when you have to face a juggernaut of a team that looks nasty on defense and surprisingly potent on offense. In a head-turning game, it’ll be Trubisky and the Bears offense that put their stamp on this game rather than the loaded Chicago defense.

Photo credit: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

If all of our predictions pan out, the Texans would move on to play New England, the Chargers would play Kansas City, the Bears would play the Rams, and the Seahawks would play New Orleans. Any of those matchups make for good T.V., and we’ll be back with another prediction next week. Have a good time watching the games, and let us know who you think will win in the comments below!

The 5 Best Student Sections in College Basketball

College basketball is now in full swing, and it won’t be long before we start talking about tournament-bound teams and those that need a little push to get into the postseason discussion. What better way to get that push than with a rowdy, supportive student section at your back? College basketball has always been known for its passionate student fans, so here are five of our favorites.

1. Duke Blue Devils - Known as the Cameron Crazies, the student section of Cameron Indoor Stadium has long been the envy of many college basketball teams. The arena itself is small and cozy enough that fans are right on top of the floor, and the student section starts just above floor level. Opposing players even have to inbound the ball with students lingering inches away!

Blue Devils fans reaching out, courtesy of tarheelblog.com

2. Pittsburgh Panthers - The student section for the Panthers is known as the Oakland Zoo, and the rowdiness of the fans certainly makes it feel like a zoo. They’re loud all game long and make sure the opposition knows they’re there. Just try making a free throw when facing the Oakland Zoo. We dare you.

theblacksheeponline.com's view of the Oakland Zoo

3. Iowa State Cyclones - What’s worse than one student section to deal with half the game? The answer is two student sections on either side of the court. Iowa State has positioned two sets of bleachers under either hoop and filled them with over 2,500 screaming Cyclone fans to make sure the opposition never gets comfortable driving to the basket.

Wikipedia.org's view of Cyclone fans at either hoop

4. Michigan State Spartans - There’s nothing more cozy and inviting than a 360-degree view of screaming basketball fans trying to disrupt your focus. Lovingly call the Izzone after men’s head coach Tom Izzo, the student section in East Lansing wraps entirely around the floor, making for an intimidating atmosphere.

Welcome to the Izzone, courtesy of aubzim.wordpress

5. Arizona State Sun Devils - ASU gets all the credit for having the most creative approach to disrupting the other team. The student section in Tucson features the famed Curtain of Distraction, where students step out in colorful and hilarious outfits to distract the opposing team while they attempt free throws. It’s located right under the hoop and celebrities regularly get in on the fun!

sportsonearth.com's view of what's behind the Curtain of Distraction

We’re bound to see plenty of passionate and loud student sections this season, and we certainly didn’t hit on all the great student sections in college basketball. Be sure to leave us a comment and vouch for your school’s fanbase!