Coley’s NBA Travashamockery: The Lottery

Posted in NBA by on May 22nd, 2013

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*Starts writing as if he hasn’t taken a hiatus* While you may know The Quarters from our expertise of anything and everything related to the NFL Draft, do not get it twisted. We are not a one trick pony over here. Never have been. Never will be. Which is what I’m here for. You see, throughout the years writers at TSHQ have followed one of two paths. They either: completely fall by the wayside OR get type cast. Stick to one sport – maybe two – and never experience the rest of the Wide World. Well not this guy. No sir. I may pass out in a roadside ditch from time to time, but other than that I’m the Swiss Army Knife of The Quarters. Hockey, College Football, NFL, the Association, maybe even one day I’ll write a baseball article if the mood strikes me. But that’s all for another time. Today we finally know the order of the 2013 NBA Draft. The NBA Draft is unlike any other draft because it uses a lottery system to determine which awful team gets the first overall pick rather than just handing the best player to the worst team in the league. The NHL or MLS may also have lotteries, but I have neither the time nor desire to Google that relatively easy to find information.

As the S.A.K. (Swiss Army Knife for those riding the short bus) of The Quarters, it is my responsibility to handle the assignments no one else can tackle. While Guru Gus Elvin is better suited to actually tell you why these players would fit well with certain teams, he’s far too busy hiding in the bushes at Bristol trying to send me candid Snapchats of Charissa Thompson. We have Nate Jones Cole Zwicker, but he’s too busy holding it down at the Lakers 17th Title Parade which has been going on for months. Also, Cole allocates all of his time into: studying for the bar, calling out Doherty on being a fake southern gentleman, watching Game of Thrones, and flying around the country watching every Memphis Grizzlies game in person, carefully logging every defensive possession. As you can see. the man simply has no time to be writing a mock draft. Since the NFL Draft just ended, Seth Cox has finally seen his family again and has now promised a days worth of undivided attention to each of his immediately family members. We’ll hear from Seth when that endeavor is over in late-November. Bryan Doherty is pre-occupied winning men’s league titles to write articles. And K.M. was once engaged to a woman with the last name “Cock.” That doesn’t have anything to do with anything, but for those who didn’t already know that golden nugget of information: you’re welcome.

Enough shenanigans. Let’s mock.

CBB Podcasts: Draft Prospects & Early Look Ahead to 2013-14

Posted in Big East, College Basketball, NBA, PAC-12 by on May 20th, 2013

 

The NBA draft lottery takes place tomorrow night. Gus Elvin and Bryan Doherty look at some of the early entrants for this year’s class, talk some prospects in this year’s class and start looking ahead to next season with Gus’ #21-25 teams to start next year.

2014 NFL Draft: Prince Shembo

Posted in College Football, NFL by on May 20th, 2013

I came into the 2014 NFL draft season with some pre conceived notions on what certain prospects were, and that’s never a good thing.

I knew that Jadeveon Clowney would draw out some incredible hyperbole from around the web, and that came to fruition early and often already.

The internet would proclaim that this class of quarterbacks was undoubtedly better than the 2013 class, despite not knowing the entire list of prospects that will enter the draft in 2014 as well as not knowing how the 2013 class faired.

The rest?  Well that’s hopefully to come out over the next 11 months as we prepare for the 2014 NFL Draft, by looking at some prospects to get prepped for the 2013 college football season.

Prince Shembo, OLB Notre Dame

6-2 255lbs

Stanley Cup Round 2 Podcast

With Round 2 underway Gus and Bryan take a look at the four series and recap what we’ve seen on the ice. Has their perceptions of any series changed because of the first two-three games, check out the guys Stanley Cup Round 2 Podcast.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2 Preview Podcast

Posted in NHL, Podcasts, Stanley Cup by on May 13th, 2013

 

With Round 2 set to kick off Tuesday Night Gus Elvin and Bryan Doherty look at the four second round matchups and talk some keys to each series as well as give picks. Can either underdog knock off the #1 seed? Also, how do the Sharks keep momentum going after a long layoff? With Boston and New York both coming off tough 7 game series, does either team have an edge?

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Recap Podcast

 

Gus Elvin and Bryan Doherty talk Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After the two Bruins fans recover from the Bs comeback win they talk about just how Boston pulled it off while also looking back at the eight first round series and who were the heroes and goats of the first round.

2013 TSHQ CFB Preseason Top 25: #3 Oregon Ducks

As another off season of College Football material kicks off, this year marks the third year I’ll throw my hat in the ring and look at a number of topics and categories. In the process I’ll look to do everything from predicting next year’s 25 best teams, identify the games of the year, narrow down the Heisman field, identify those replacing 2012′s stars and ultimately make predictions for each league, culminating in a national championship pick. They’ll be many things I’ll be ridiculed for. There will be a number of things that will surprise some people. Ultimately you’ll come away from the next 6 months of material as ready for the college football season as I can possibly make you. While I’ll be sure to miss on things I would like to remind the skeptics I did correctly predict the same number of bowl teams preseason as Phil Steele a year ago as well as top him in BCS Bowl participants predicted before the year. Nonetheless I’m not putting out any magazines soon so keep buying his for the top preseason coverage available.

The key in any top 25 poll is understanding the premise on which the poll is based because not all top 25 polls are built the same way. Some people choose to rank teams 1-25 based on where they think teams will be ranked at year’s end. If they think a team will lose 5 games they won’t rank them. While that may seem logical I’ve never been a proponent of that style of poll and it has never been, nor will ever be, how I choose to do my top 25 polls. My polls reflect the 25 teams entering 2013 who I think are the top 25 teams on a neutral field if the country played a round-robin. If a team is likely to max out at 7 wins that doesn’t give me the urge to rank a nine-win team over them if the nine-win team is from a much weaker league. With that covered, let us continue the top 25 for 2013 as the official kickoff of the off season coverage here at The Sports Headquarters.

*Returning Starters Figures from Phil Steele’s Blog

Teams already ranked:

2013 NFL Draft grades: The Miller Lite Drafts

Posted in NFL by on May 10th, 2013

One of the things that fans of any team must remember about draft “grades” is that they mean absolutely nothing.

I grade on a curve, and the curve is whether I think you had a great draft or not.  If you didn’t have a great draft too me, did you have a good draft and if so why did it fall into the good section in my mind.

The last section is the one that people should pay attention too, because it really means that I just don’t know what to think of the draft your team had.

It wasn’t great or even good on paper, but the games aren’t played on paper, lucky for you and unlucky for all draft analysts.

That’s why I rank it as “Hey, it’s still a draft” because let’s face it, drafts are like beer, and beer is always good, there’s just varying levels of it.

When you get into the “Cheap America Beers” section, which your team unfortunately landed in, it can still lead to a lot of good things, like a night and an 18 pack of Miller Lite… Or can it can leave you reaching for the toilet.

2013 NFL Draft grades: The Miller Lite Drafts

Momentum Could Lead Golden State Warriors To Western Conference Finals

Posted in Golden State Warriors, NBA by on May 9th, 2013

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Influenced by a span of eight games? You’re damn right I am.

This isn’t a long road swing in December, though. This is the NBA Playoffs and the Golden State Warriors are blessed to have the newly-minted Splash Brothers running the back court.

San Antonio Spurs big man Tim Duncan has nearly triple the NBA service time Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson have combined. That hasn’t stopped the Warriors duo from averaging a combined 44 points per-game.

2013 TSHQ CFB Preseason Top 25: #4 Stanford Cardinal

As another off season of College Football material kicks off, this year marks the third year I’ll throw my hat in the ring and look at a number of topics and categories. In the process I’ll look to do everything from predicting next year’s 25 best teams, identify the games of the year, narrow down the Heisman field, identify those replacing 2012′s stars and ultimately make predictions for each league, culminating in a national championship pick. They’ll be many things I’ll be ridiculed for. There will be a number of things that will surprise some people. Ultimately you’ll come away from the next 6 months of material as ready for the college football season as I can possibly make you. While I’ll be sure to miss on things I would like to remind the skeptics I did correctly predict the same number of bowl teams preseason as Phil Steele a year ago as well as top him in BCS Bowl participants predicted before the year. Nonetheless I’m not putting out any magazines soon so keep buying his for the top preseason coverage available.

The key in any top 25 poll is understanding the premise on which the poll is based because not all top 25 polls are built the same way. Some people choose to rank teams 1-25 based on where they think teams will be ranked at year’s end. If they think a team will lose 5 games they won’t rank them. While that may seem logical I’ve never been a proponent of that style of poll and it has never been, nor will ever be, how I choose to do my top 25 polls. My polls reflect the 25 teams entering 2013 who I think are the top 25 teams on a neutral field if the country played a round-robin. If a team is likely to max out at 7 wins that doesn’t give me the urge to rank a nine-win team over them if the nine-win team is from a much weaker league. With that covered, let us continue the top 25 for 2013 as the official kickoff of the off season coverage here at The Sports Headquarters.

*Returning Starters Figures from Phil Steele’s Blog

Teams already ranked:

Interested in Writing For TSHQ?

Contact Bryan Doherty with your name, your sports of interest, and a writing sample from prior work. Highly interested in any Golf or Auto Racing bloggers as well as adding a MLB, College Basketball, and Soccer writer.