Saturday Morning Ramblings

From Chicago, we have legendary co-poster and fellow fantastic human being RJ, now known as Yinka Are Jota (or the long lost brother to Yinka Dare). When our buddy the "Mexican" started calling him "Are Jota" ("RJ" in Spanish for the bilingual impaired), it got me thinking - can a player be compared as a poor man's Yinka Dare? Can DJ Mbenga be a more athletic Yinka Dare? We need thoughts on this.

A few thoughts:

First, John Kruk's grease mullet - the worst hairstyle currently for a television personality? I will take all suggestions.

Second, the ISB will give A-Rod some well-deserved credit. His first 15 games has been, literally, legendary. .371 Avg, 12 HR, 30 RBI, 20 R, and an obnoxious Bonds-on-HGH-like 1.479 OPS - and the major league record for HR in the 15 games of a season. He has put together a truly special April, with two walk off HR and multiple clutch hits. However, despite his 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 hit performance last night, who wants to bet that NY fans are still pining over him flaring out with one on in the ninth? And come talk to me when he performs in October. Just saying.

Third, now that Oden is officially in the draft, the ISB is bracing for some serious pre-draft discussion in the coming weeks. Get excited - more people who don't know what their talking about giving opinions!!!

Finally, since I didn't have a chance to get to an elaborate draft analysis for the First Round of the NBA playoffs starting in a few hours, here are some quick predictions:

BIG BOY CONFERENCE
Dallas over GS in 6 (by the way, GS beat Dallas 3 times this year....watch this series to see Dallas have to sweat it out in the first round)

Phoenix over LA in 5 (Kobe is good for at least one 55 point game, but LA does not play enough defense to steal more than one game in this series)

SA over Denver in 5 (I don't think this series is as close as people think - too much Timmy and Parker, and great team defensive will keep Melo and AI in check)

Houston over Utah in 6 (great coaching matchup, great defensive teams, but too much Yao and T-Mac)

LEASTERN CONFERENCE
Detroit over Magic in a forfeit (I'm predicting the Magic don't even show up...if they do, it will be over in 4)

Cleveland over the artists formerly known as the Washington Wizards in 4 (this doesn't even count without Agent Zero and Caron Butler)

New Jersey over Toronto in 6 (Toronto is the feel good story, but (1) a less than 100% Bargnani and Jorge Garbajosa hurt; + (2) a hot Nets team; + (3) Vince Carter finally playing like he wants another monster contract = Bostjan Nachbar advancing)

Chicago over Miami in 7 (the best first round series on paper...either team could get hot and sweep the other. There are so many contigencies in this series - how will Wallace play against Shaq, can the Bulls get enough points from their front line to keep Miami's D honest, how will Wade's shoulder hold up, can Kapano and Walker hit enough from the outside to keep Chicago's D honest, etc. Any result in this series will not surprise me, but I am giving the Bulls the benefit of the doubt given an injured Wade...which means bet on the Heat).