As we prepare for today’s Kentucky Derby, it is important to realize that the Fastest Two Minutes in Sports actually happened earlier this year as Rick Pitino celebrated the Louisville Cardinals. If one of the favorites to win the Derby wins the race traditionally referred to by the Fastest Two Minutes moniker, then Pitino may just end up having another celebration.
A horse co-owned by Pitino, Goldencents, drew post 8 and was installed as one top favorites to win the 139th running of the Derby at 5-1. Revolutionary, who is starting from the 3rd post and is jockeyed by Calvin Borel, is also a 5-1 favorite. They jumped ahead of the opening odds favorites, Orb at post 16 (6-1) and Verrazano at post 14 (11-1). Read More…
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
Even though this season started with the same contenders poised to make a run at the Western Conference title, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and the Lakers, a funny thing happened on the way to crowning the challenger for the villainous Heat from the East.
The Lakers never seemed to get right and barely made it into the playoffs and teams like Denver, Memphis, Golden State and the other LA all had great seasons and really muddied the Western Conference picture. Read More…
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
Now that the NBA’s second preseason is over, it’s time to get to what everything has been waiting for.
Is there anybody in the Eastern Conference who can unseat the Miami Heat?
Holy heck, if the 2 through 8 seeds put together an All-Star team of their best players, I am pretty sure the Miami Heat would win a 7 game series against them. But that is a column for another time. Read More…
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
We break down the chances of each Final Four team to capture the National Title. Here are the odds according to Bovada.lv.
Louisville #1 -150
Michigan #4 +325
Syracuse #4 +400
Wichita State #9 +1200
Louisville vs Wichita State tips off Saturday at 6:05 PM and Michigan vs Syracuse follows them 8:49 PM.
The Championship game will be decided Monday, April 8th. Read More…
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
The Houston Astros were the worst team in major league baseball last year.
Their reward? They get to move to one of the toughest divisions in baseball in the tougher of the two leagues. Read More…
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
Detroit Tigers Third Baseman Miguel Cabrera won the American League Triple Crown last season on his way to the Most Valuable Player.
I bet more than one person reading this had to Google the fact that he won the Triple Crown.
Maybe the feat doesn’t mean that much anymore (it should) or maybe all the attention was focused on Mike Trout of the Angels, but Cabrera’s numbers were sick by any standard and were a major reason why the Tigers made it to the World Series. He is also the biggest reason why they will be considered one of the favorites to win the American League again.
The Tigers are the runaway pick to win the AL Central at -200 (Chicago and Kansas City are next closest at +600) and only the revamped Blue Jays (15/4) have better odds to win the World Series (Detroit is 17/4). With two very bad squads (Minnesota and Cleveland) as fodder, they have a very good shot of winning 100 games this season.
Cabrera leads a potent lineup that also features Prince Fielder and recently acquired Torii Hunter. The Hunter pick up is key because he slides well into the 2 hole behind Austin Jackson and in front of the two sluggers. DH Victor Martinez is coming back from an injury that saw him miss all of last season and he should slide into the 6th slot.
The amazing thing about the Tigers is that they have the reigning AL MVP and Triple Crown winner, and it is actually debatable if he is even their best player. It is easy to make a case for staff ace Justin Verlander, considering he also did the MVP/Pitching Triple Crown double dip the season before Cabrera as well as adding the Cy Young.
Verlander is probably the most dominant pitcher in baseball right now and there doesn’t seem to be any signs of letting up. He leads a rotation which could end up being one of the best in baseball. Doug Fister and Max Scherzer make a solid 2/3 combo and both are seemingly getting better. They also resigned mid-season acquisition Anibal Sanchez to solidify the back end.
It will be tough to unseat the Tigers, so it will probably be a race for one of the Wild Cards for and despite their long stretch of futility, I actually like the Kansas City Royals to make a playoff push. For years they have been a farm system for other teams, but this year they made an unexpected move, dealing their top prospect to the Rays for James Shields and Wade Davis.
The duo from Tampa Bay came at a heavy price. The Royals gave up Minor League Player of the Year Wil Myers and top pitching prospect Jake Odorizzi. Shields is a legit top of the rotation guy and could develop into an ace if the team backs him up offensively. Davis is a good back of the rotation guy along with another acquisition, Ervin Santana of the Angels. If veteran Jeremy Guthrie can actually keep a record above .500 and an ERA under 4.00 as the 2nd starter, KC could surprise some people.
Billy Butler is the key to the offense, but the Royals will need some of their other pieces to step up. Catcher Salvador Perez hit .301 after missing the first half of the season. Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar also hit near .300 and could set the table at the top of the lineup and first baseman Eric Hosmer needs to bounce back from a sophomore slump hitting in front of Butler.
The Chicago White Sox are the only other team in the division with a legit shot at the playoffs. They have a solid lineup led by Paul Konerko and Alex Rios and Chris Sale had a great season at the top of the rotation. If guys like Dayan Viciedo, Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham can all click, they have a shot of competing for the wild card.
Minnesota and Cleveland? They have some talent, but will both be battling to avoid losing 100 games. A real shame considering between them they have 2 recent AL MVP’s (Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau) and a guy who was a contender for the 2010 Cy Young after starting the season 15-1 in Colorado (Ubaldo Jimenez)
Prediction:
The Detroit Tigers will run away with this division. They have superior pitching and hitting and should be the favorites to win the American League pennant. Verlander should compete for the Cy Young again this season, especially if he is pitching angry after allegedly breaking up with Kate Upton, and unless Miguel Cabrera gets too fat to run around the bases, he should have another monster season.
My surprise pick to make a playoff push is the Kansas City Royals. It will be tough, considering the East and West are stacked, but they could pick up cheap wins within the division and surprise people. At +600 to win the division, why not take a shot.
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
There are teams in every sport that whose misery fans seem to enjoy. The Lakers horrible start to the season was as enjoyable to non-Lakers fans as it was painful to Lakers fans. Watching Duke getting bounced by Lehigh in last year’s tournament was worth seeing your bracket getting totally busted. Other teams that elicit that kind of reaction are the Alabama Crimson Tide in college football and the New York Yankees. Also, based on recent results, you can include the whole city of Boston based on the success of the Patriots, Celtics and Red Sox. Read More…
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
Spending an insane amount of money on free agents and players acquired via trade is the ultimate crap shoot in sports. The logic is simple, good players are paid big money, so if you are spending big money you must be spending it on good players. Sometimes, like in the case of the Miami Heat, the bet pays off. Of course, after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the finals, it looked like they might have crapped out. A year and a half later they are starting to creep into the discussion of the most dominant teams in NBA History. Read More…
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
I must preface this column by saying that I have been a Chicago Cubs fan since I was six years old. So you should take my prediction of the Cubs winning the World Series this year for what it’s worth. I have been wrong 30 years in a row and considering they are predicted by most experts to lose over 100 games this season, I will probably be wrong again. Read More…
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
The teams of the National League East are a lot like the Kardashian sisters. You have three that most people know and the rest are too young and not famous enough to really take them seriously. The obvious Kim of the group is the Washington Nationals, a team with serious assets that has everybody drooling. The Atlanta Braves are Kourtney Kardashian. Solid #2, but anybody who picks her over Kim is just doing it to be a contrarian. The Phillies are Khloe, {insert Ryan Howard joke here}. That leaves the Mets and Marlins as the other two sisters, whose names I don’t really know and are only known by the most hardcore of fans. Read More…
Patrick
Patrick Sicher is a sportswriter based out of Miami, Florida.Constantly looking at sports from all angles, he brings a wealth of sports knowledge to provide you with information and insight. He is currently Senior Writer and Staff Editor for BlackSportsOnline.com Follow Him on Twitter @PSicher
