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.

What can I say; my picks were way off this year, unfortunately. Despite my bad picks, this year’s March Madness tournament has proven to be yet another set of exhilarating battles between the best college basketball teams in the nation. With multiple upsets, incredible last second buzzer-beaters, and record-breaking blowouts, its no wonder millions of Americans tune in to watch these athletes give everything they got.

Now that there are only four teams left, be sure to tune in on these final matches, which are set to take place on April 4th and April 6th on CBS.

The biggest change of these new rules is the fact that any defender attempting to sack a quarterback may only do so if they are standing up. Supposedly this new rule was integrated to prevent another Tom Brady incident, where he was tackled by a DE who was crawling on the ground.

To learn more about these new rules, visit this yahoo sports page.

Japan played vs S. Korea in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) championship on Monday night and won in the 10th inning, thanks to Ichiro Suzuki,  who batted in the the go-ahead runs. Ichiro did not hit as well as he usually does (.331) in the MLB, but was the cause for all 5 of the runs Japan scored in the championship match, where they won by a score of 5-3. Japan had to oust the United States in the semi-finals in order to reach their arch rivals, S. Korea. This is the 2nd time Japan has won the WBC (won vs. Cuba last year) and it looks as if they are seeking after a three-peat.

I’ll get straight to it. These are my final four picks:

Semifinals:

Louisville vs. Memphis

North Carolina vs. Pittsburgh

Finals: Louisville vs. Pittsburgh

Winner: Pittsburgh

Things to consider:

Kobe Bryant -  28.1 PPG, 4.9 APG, 5.4 RPG, FT % .868 – Team Record: 52-13

LeBron James – 28.2 PPG, 7.2 APG, 7.5 RPG, FT % .771 – Team Record: 51-13

Dwayne Wade – 29.7 PPG, 7.7 APG, 5.1 RPG, FT % .766- Team Record: 35-29