Another disappointing year for the Sharks who ended the NHL regular season with the best record, only to lose in the first round to the 8th seeded Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks have never won the Stanley Cup and many people believed (including me) that this was the year they were going to go the distance. Too bad they lost by a wide margin in only 6 games.

The remaining teams that seem to be playing the best hockey are the Boston Bruins, Detroit Redwings, and the Vancouver Canucks. My money (after losing most of it on the Sharks) would be on the Redwings, a team with vast playoff experience that knows what it takes to win it all.

Today the New Orleans Hornets received the biggest beat-down ever recorded in NBA playoffs losing to the Denver Nuggets by a score of 121-63, a 58 point deficit. The worst part about it was that it happened on the Hornets come court in front of thousands of spectators. If I attended that game I would definitely be asking for a refund! Now the Nuggets hold a 3-1 lead over New Orleans and look to end the series on home court come Wednesday.

In other news, the Lakers finish off the Jazz with a 4-1 series, and the Cleveland Cavaliers sweep the Detroit Pistons.

The votes are in and the awards for the 2009 nba players have been distributed, all except the most coveted, the most valuable player (MVP) award. Taking home the Coach of the year award was Mike Brown, thanks to his stalwart Calves who ended the regular season with the best record in the NBA (66-16), only losing twice at home.

The rookie of the year award no doubtedly went to none other than Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls. Almost everybody saw that one coming and there seemed to be little competition for that award.

Dwight Howard was able to take home the defensive player of the year award, leading the league in blocked shots with 231. In pursuit of that award was Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul, who led the league in steals (216 & 173). All that remains is the MVP award, which won’t be announced for another week or two. Most people believe it will go to LeBron James, although Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade remain in the runnings.

Surprisingly there have already been 4 of 8 possible upsets already and who knows how many more are on the way. Most people would not have foreseen these upsets, except for maybe the Rockets beating the Trailblazers (but not by 27 points). Check out this list of upsets so far:

• Bulls over Celtics – [105-103]
• Mavericks over Spurs [105-97]
• 76ers over Magic [100-98]
• Rockets over Trailblazers [108-81]

As far as the series go with these upsets, I would still bet money that the celtics, magic, and rockets all win these rounds. I could see the Spurs falling to the Mavericks, since they are an older team with injured key players (Manu Ginobili). Lakers will take down the Jazz easy, Denver should beat the Hornets, Cleveland will sweep Detroit, and the Hawks will probably overpower the young Heat team, even though I’m pulling for my man D-Wade.

Male Athletes                                                                     Female Athletes

1. Tiger Woods – $115 million                                    1. Maria Sharapova – $26 million

2. David Beckham – $50 million                                  2. Serena Williams – $14 million

3. Michael Jordan – $45 million                                   3. Venus Williams – $13 million

4. Phil Mickelson – $45 million                                    4. Justine Henin – $12.5 million

5. Kimi Raikkonen – $44 million                                  5. Michelle Wie -$12 million

6. Kobe Bryant – $39 million                                       6. Annika Sorenstam – $11 million

7. LeBron James – $38 million                                    7. Lorena Ochoa – $10 million

8. Ronaldinho – $37 million                                         8. Danica Patrick – $8 million

9. Valentino Rossi – $35 million                                  9. Ana Ivanovic – $6 million

10. Roger Federer – $35 million                                 10. Paula Creamer – $6 million

Not Bad for a years worth of playing your favorite pastime sport in front of millions of viewers. I wouldn’t mind trading salaries with any of these athletes for a couple of years. Hell, I’d be down to do it for even a couple of weeks!

With Stanley Cup playoffs just 5 days away, these 5 teams have dominated the season with the stellar performances, and sheer determination:

1. San Jose Sharks – 117 points
2. Boston Bruins – 114
3. Detroit Redwings – 112
4. Washington Capitols – 108
5. New Jersey Devils – 104

Predictions for the 2009 Stanley Cup winner? I’m going to have to go with the Sharks on this one. They have been close the past several years, making the quarter finals, only to fall short against the Redwings. I think this is their year, one they have been waiting for a long time, especially since they have never won it all before (more fuel for the fire).

*I must also note that I am a San Jose native – go sharks!

For the second time this year, both in championship matches, North Carolina easily sweeps past Michigan State by a score of 89-72 for the National Championship. North Carolina jumped ahead by 20 points in the first 10 minutes of play, and never looked back. Michigan tried hard to make the game more exciting by coming within 13 in the final 5 minutes, but it just wasn’t enough.

This marks North Carolina’s 5th national championship which ties Indiana for 3rd overall and trails behind Kentucky and UCLA for most championships (UCLA leads with 11, Kentucky 7). Despite having a record number of spectators, this years final match was nothing compared to last years, where Kansas mounted an unbelievable comeback to take down #1 seeded Memphis in overtime.

Is this the end of the line for the heroic Super Bowl champ? Only hours ago the Giants administration decided that it was in the team’s best interest to cut the pro-bowl veteran. Reasons as to why he was let go are still being discussed by most people agree that the incident where he shot him self in the foot with an illegal handgun had something to do with it, if not everything. The Giants just don’t want to be another Dallas Cowboys team who  constantly faced media uproad from diva Terrell Owens.

Personally, I don’t think this was a good idea on the Giants part – dumping your #1 receiver rarely leads to an improvement. Perhaps the Giants owners have a trick up their sleeve and know of an excellent draft replacement. Now Plaxico may turn into a deep threat, were Plaxico to sign with another team. As far as teams looking for receivers, Philadelphia, Miami, and Detroit should all be interested.

Jay Cutler is now an official Chicago Bear, as his wish to be traded was granted this Thursday. In return for the pro-bowl quarterback, Chicago gave up their QB Kyle Orton, 2 first round picks, and a 3rd round selection for this year.

Who benefited the most from this trade? I would have to go with Chicago, a team founded on solid defensive principles, who has been lacking a decent QB for years. Now they just might have the complete arsenal to get back in the Superbowl races. Even though Denver got stuck with a lesser rated QB, at least they can move on from the ‘Cutler Crisis’ and begin the rebuilding process.

After last weeks stellar comeback from being down 2 goals versus El Salvador, the US looked to get things back on track. And that’s exactly what they did as they trounced the team at the bottom of the North America division three to zero. Jozy Altidore was the hero of this game, scoring all three goals and being one of few to ever score a hat-trick in a World Cup qualifying match. All three assists came from veteran Landon Donnovan, who placed all three balls perfectly for Altidore to “put the bow on” and take care of business. Check out his goals below.



The United States lead their division with 7 points, competing against talented teams, such as Costa Rica and bitter-rival Mexico, who they face this coming August.Things look promising for the red, white, and blue as there are only 7 games left for qualifications.

In other Soccer news, Argentina gets ANNIHILATED by Bolivia 6-1. Check out the beat-down below and remember that money can be made on soccer games via Europa league bets.