Singing the Blues...

Round 2 of the NHL hockey playoffs has started and how has the series gone for the #2 overall seed in the playoffs, the St. Louis Blues?

Answer: Not good. The Blues lost both games against the Kings at home. Ouch. And speaking of ouch, the game last night was a mega ouch. Blues lost 5-2. The Blues seemed rattled ever since key defensemen Alex Pietrangelo got hit badly in Game 1. The Kings were penalized for the hit but it was shortly after that hit that the Kings scored their 2nd goal in Game 1 and they were never able to get catch up.

I don't claim to be an expert in hockey, I'm not. I enjoy attending and watching games but I don't follow hockey as closely as baseball and football. So I can't really begin to explain what's going on with the Blues but I can tell you this, it's not pretty going down 0-2 and having to play the next game away from home. But it's not impossible. They have until Thursday to regroup and who knows, maybe they will come to LA and win 2 in a row. 

Phoenix has also taken a 2-0 lead against Nashville, while the other 2 matchups between NY-WSH and NJ-PHI are tied up at 1-1. There's a lot of games left to be played still. Because, after all. It's the NHL playoffs. It's takes a whole month just to finish a round.

Speaking of "the blues," it seems that a former King of Baseball is certainly singing them. I am speaking of course of Albert Pujols.

Going to go on a bit of a tangent here but it's relevant, I promise. I've lived in LA for over 2 years now and have gotten a good feel for sports loyalties and the local fans.

If there is one key thing that I've learned it's this: LA fans love the Dodgers and the Lakers. Very passionately too. I've met quite a few Dodger fans that are definitely true fans. They love them regardless of whether they are good or bad. 

The Angels and the Clippers appear to be less popular than the Dodgers and the Lakers. The Angels have larger popularity in the OC and surrounding areas, but if you're in LA proper, it's Dodger blue all the way.

The Clippers are more popular now because they have a good team that's in the playoffs. But they do not appear to be as popular as the Lakers.

Plus, there is an inner-city rivalry with these teams. If you're a Dodgers fan, you can't like the Angels, and vice versa. Same seems to apply for the Lakers-Clippers.

It's like a lot of cities that have two teams in different leagues. If you're a Yankees fan, do you root also for the Mets? Nope. If you're a Cubs fan (and if you are, I'm sorry) do you also root for the White Sox? Typically no. 

That said, there is a King of Baseball in this town, and his initials are not AP. This city simply cannot get enough of Matt Kemp.

Matt Kemp is certainly doing his best to prove why he is MVP quality. He leads the league in HR's and his average was over .400 for all of April. On top of that the Dodgers are sitting at the top of the NL right now with 17 wins. (Although my Cardinals are right at their heels in 2nd with 15. Just sayin').

Albert Pujols is struggling. He still has yet to hit a single home run and his average currently sits at .217, the worst start of his career I think, but can't quote that for sure. His last 10 games? .105 average. Oi.

I've heard all of the national sports talk peeps talking about Albert and what's the deal and can he turn it around. I know that he can turn it around because he's had seasons before with the Cardinals where it took awhile for him to get hot. 

But...this is why the Cardinals organization was unwilling to pay big dollars and sign him to a 10 year contract. They just weren't willing to take that gamble and drain the available dollars to sign good players to create a better all around team. 

I do think Albert will hit his stride and have a few good seasons with the Angels. But he isn't going to be the savior of the team, and if any Angel fan thought so, well, you shouldn't have.

Baseball is not a sport where one person can bury the load and lead the team to greatness. You can have that in the NBA. 1 or 2 great players can make a HUGE difference. But in baseball, you can have great hitting but if your pitching staff is subpar, you're not going to win a championship. In baseball, you need that balance of good solid pitching AND good solid hitting. 

I heard SO many people say "oh, the Cardinals are toast without Albert." It's only April, but the Cardinals are at the top of their division and 2nd in the NL overall. Doesn't sound like they are crumbling after Albert's departure.

One player does not = winning formula. 

I hope for Albert's sake he turns it around and has a good season. He's a talented player and I'd hate to see him continue on this declining path. It's too early for that.

The NBA playoffs have begun and despite Metta World's Mishap, which lead to a 7 game suspension for Mr. World Peace, the Lakers are doing all right and have jumped to a 2-0 lead on the Nuggets. San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and Miami are also sitting at 2-0 leads. There's been a lot of love for LeBron lately in the national media. Can't say I can argue with them. LeBron and Kobe are 2 of the best, if not THE best players in the league, hands down.

The rest of the NBA matchups sit at 1-1, with the Clippers at a 1-0 start as they don't play game 2 until tomorrow. The NBA playoffs are similar to the NHL playoffs as they last forever and never seem to end. We're only in round 1 of the NBA playoffs. We won't have a champion until June. 

That's all I have for today. More posts soon!

Blues Win!

There's a lot of good things going on right now if you're a St. Louis sports fan. The Cardinals are continuing their hot streak winning series after series, and the St. Louis Blues just won their first playoff series since 2002. Not only that, since Vancouver was knocked out of the playoffs, the Blues now have home field advantage throughout the playoffs as they are the #2 seed.

The Blues will face the LA Kings next, which is quite convenient for me, since they will air the games on local TV here and though it's a long shot, might be able to snag some tickets to a game, which would be super fun. I actually like the Kings, but the Blues are my team. I really have liked what I've seen from the Blues this season and hope that they go all the way to the championship. It would be so much fun to watch, and fun for Blues fans who have not seen a Blues team this good in a very, very long time.

It's only April, but am definitely liking what I'm seeing from the Cardinals so far, for the most part. It's comforting to see them continuing to win and so so without their top ace pitchers. Carpenter is still out, and Wainwright is struggling to get his control back after recovering from Tommy John surgery. I am sure Wainwright will continue to get better and be the ace we know he is but wow, it's been a rough April for him so far.

The Cardinals still have a star in Carpenter though, Matt Carpenter that is. Lance Berkman has been fighting injury so Matt Carpenter was brought in to start at 1st. This kid is exciting. He is now 2nd in RBI's for the team behind David Freese.

It seems to me that this Cardinals team is just solid. There is something about this team, I can't figure it out. But it feels really good. Am looking forward to see how the season goes. #12 in 12!

The Cardinals aren't the only team that's hot though. The Rangers have been super good so far and so have the Dodgers. Now that the Dodgers have all of the Frank McCourt drama behind them perhaps they can turn this season into something really exciting. The Yankees are also doing pretty well, but they're kind of expected to, right?

How about the Angels? Well...it's been a slow start for them. Albert Pujols has yet to hit a home run and after today he is hitting just under .250. Ouch. Karma's a bitch, right? I kid, I kid. Pujols had a rough start last year at this time with the Cardinals and he picked it up and became the guy we all know and love. He'll get there. Once he gets into his stride there will be no turning back.

The NBA season is almost over and it got ugly today between the Lakers and the Thunder. Not only was the game tough going into OT with the Lakers finally winning, but Metta World Peace smacked Thunder player James Harden with his elbow after celebrating making a basket. It's hard to tell from the footage if it was intentional or not but one has to wonder how could he NOT know that Harden was standing right there?

Check out the video below for yourself and decide for yourself. Looks suspicious to me.

This wouldn't be anything new for Mr. World Peace, aka formerly known as Ron Artest. Artest made quite a big name for himself during the infamous brawl between the Pacers and the Pistons. I still remember walking around Indianapolis at that time and seeing someone wearing a "Free Artest" shirt (as he was hit with quite a hefty suspension after that debacle).

Thought he had learned from that and changed a lot (and I do think he has). But his actions tonight definitely stirred up some memories. I would guess that Metta will likely be suspended through the first playoff series, but we'll see.

If you haven't seen the epic Pacers-Pistons brawl, you have to check it out. Not the best quality, but you get the idea.

Finally, the NFL Draft is this week. It feels like we've been talking about the draft for years and now it's finally almost here and we can be done talking about it. Don't get me wrong, I love the NFL. But the draft has never really excited me all that much, at least all of the speculation beforehand. And you really have no clue how these guys are going to pan out. Andrew Luck could be the next Peyton Manning, or the next Ryan Leaf. I doubt he will be a Leaf but the fact is, we don't really know how most of these guys are going to be until they have the chance to play an NFL game.

We all know that college football is so different from the NFL. You can be awesome and top notch in college but utterly fail at the NFL. We've seen this over and over throughout the years. So, I guess what I'm saying is, I'm interested in the draft as I want to know who my teams pick, but beyond that, I just can't get into the whole speculation talk.

But, I can say this with certainly. The Colts are going to pick Andrew Luck. The Redskins are going to pick RGIII. The rest we will all know by the end of next week. And then we will wait until September to see how everyone's choices pan out for their teams.

I think that is all I have for this week. We're entering that period of time where both the NHL and NBA playoffs are going on, which won't end for another 10 years. Or at least it feels like it. It took almost the whole month of April just to get through round 1 of the NHL playoffs. Even the MLB manages to get through their playoffs and the World Series in about a month give or take a week or two. The NHL and NBA finals won't happen until June. Longest. Playoffs. Ever.

All right, that's it for me sports fans! More updates in the exciting world of sports coming your way soon,

Baseball is Back!

What does Carlos Beltran, David Freese, Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday and Shane Robinson have in common?

They all have at least one homerun (Freese, Beltran, Holliday & Molina have 2), which is one more than Albert Pujols has. Albert's first at bat as an Angel? Hit into a double play, which I couldn't help it, I laughed.

Albert won't be like that all season, he'll get back into true Albert form. But, part of the reason why the Cardinals lead the league in double plays last season was due to Albert. So it was a bit of poetic justice to see him hit into a DP after bailing on the Cards to join the Angels.

I know, as a Cardinals fan, I shouldn't really care about Albert. And I don't, really. However, it is nice to see that the Cardinals are doing just fine without him so far, and proving to the critics that this team is good and will do just fine without Albert.

The Cardinals have looked fantastic so far, sitting at the top of the NL Central at 4-1. Hitting, starting pitching and defense have all been solid. And this is without Carpenter and Craig. This is good news. Granted, it is still very early in the season and things will change. You never know what will happen with injuries, players get into slumps, etc.

I'm going to make a bold prediction here. This team reminds me a lot of the 2004 Cardinals so far, only this team seems to almost have a better vibe overall as far as the players getting along, working together and having fun. So, with that said...I think this team will get 100 wins. I think they win the NL Central but it will be a close race with the Brewers.

Really excited about the season and can't wait to see how things turn out this fall.

This week starts the NHL playoffs, which lasts about a millenia. At least it feels like it. The NHL playoffs lasts at least 2 months. Round 1 starts Wednesday and doesn't end until April 25th. Then there's 2 more rounds before the Stanley Cup. Baseball and Football both manage to get the playoffs done in about a month. The NBA is just as bad as the NHL when it comes to playoffs.

Oh well. The Blues have a a solid chance at making it far into the playoffs. They are the #2 seed and will face The Sharks, which won't be easy but they have home field advantage and hopefully get their first playoff win since...I think I heard 101 ESPN say this morning since 2002. Wow. That's a 10 year drought. Time to break that trend boys.

The NBA season is winding down too, and soon we'll be knee deep in NBA playoffs as well. The big talk seems to be about the Bulls, the Heat and the Thunder, but odds are the Lakers will make it to the playoffs and could be a potential contender. Both the Lakers and the Clippers are neck and neck right now. Should be interesting to see how it all turns out.

At least they aren't Charlotte, who I saw has only won 7 games. OUCH. Sometimes it's easy to take for granted what you have. The Lakers may not win a title this season, but fans still saw a lot of good basketball. If you live in Charlotte, or New Orleans for that matter, you probably aren't buying tickets to basketball games unless LeBron or Kobe is in town and you want to watch them, because the hometown team isn't going to do squat.

And that's all I have for now. Very excited about baseball. It's so nice to be able to listen and watch games again.

Is It Baseball Season Yet?

Seriously. Opening day cannot come soon enough for me. Good thing I only have to wait until Wednesday! While I'm disappointed in the news about Carpenter for my Cardinals, I still am very excited about their season. And baseball in general.

Speaking of which, congratulations to Guggenheim Partners, or as everyone in LA keeps referring to it, Magic Johnson's group, on winning the bid on buying the LA Dodgers. Now that the sale is done, they can focus on the team and making it the franchise that it should be.

No, I'm not becoming a Dodgers fan. But this whole debacle with Frank McCourt - the divorce, the bankruptcy...it hasn't allowed for good development and growth for the Dodgers franchise. I may be a Cardinals fan, but at the core I love good baseball. It's good to have competition in the league. If there's no competition and the same team keeps winning and winning over and over again, people lose interest.

So hope the Dodgers are able to overcome this and I look forward to seeing the Dodgers-Cardinals matchup live at Dodger Stadium this season.

NCAA Final Four was this weekend and the only real surprise? Kansas upset Ohio State by coming back from behind at the half to win by 2 points. I guess I understand now why Mizzou had problems beating KU this season. They are one tough team.

Kentucky beat Louisville, so that means tomorrow night's championship game is Kentucky vs Kansas. As a Mizzou fan, I just find it so difficult to root for KU, even if they are in the Big 12. Kentucky's been the #1 since the beginning of the tourney, so KU's the underdog. I think I may just have to say this: I look forward to watching a good game.

The Tebow-Sanchez drama has really gotten...well for lack of better words, quite ridiculous. Every sports pundit is reporting on their thoughts about whether this was a good move for the Jets, whether Sanchez should feel like his job is on the line, and so forth.

Okay, yes. The move brings up a lot of questions. But it's April. NFL season doesn't start until September. The draft hasn't even happened yet. A lot of things will change between now and then. I don't have any clue what the reasoning is for the Jets picking up Tebow but Tebow doesn't seem to sound like he's going to be a back-up. He clearly wants to fight for the starting QB job. Well, I guess one thing's for certain. Hard Knocks shouldn't even question what team to choose for their show this season.

In NBA news...honestly, other than Jeremy Lin being out for the season with injury, I haven't kept up with it much. I told you, the NBA is not my forte. Kobe had a rough week this week, but he's Kobe. He's picked it up and in today's game was the leading scorer.

In NHL news my St. Louis Blues clinched the Central Division Title, albeit not exactly in the fashion that they had hoped as they lost to the Blue Jackets 5-2 last night. As the NHL season starts to wind down, it'll be interesting to see how the playoff picture turns out. None of the national sports peeps (at least in LA) seem to care about hockey, but I imagine once the playoffs come around it'll be "oh, did you hear about this?"

Growing up in St. Louis, had no clue how little respect the NHL gets on a national scale. Now that I'm in LA, who has 2 NHL hockey teams? Wow, yeah I get it. The NHL gets such little coverage on a national scale. In LA, when it comes to sports talk on the radio in the morning, I have Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, or the San Diego sports station. It is uncanny how often Dan and Colin are talking about the same thing...at the same time!

If I had to guess, I think that most national sports coverage focuses on the following primarily: NFL, MLB and NBA. Everything beyond that is included because it's topical. We aren't hearing much news about NCAA football, are we? Nope. We're hearing about NCAA basketball because the tourney is still going on. But what about after? No.

The NHL should get more coverage, but they don't. It's a shame. I'm not just saying that because The Blues are doing well. The LA Kings are doing well too, and no one out here seems to care. It's sad.

And...that's all I've got for tonight folks. More updates soon on my thoughts on the world of sports.

Manning's a Bronco, Tebow's a Jet, NCAA Brackets Bust

I know I'm a little behind on all the juicy sports news from this week, but better late than ever!

Peyton Manning is officially the new quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Wasn't surprised by this choice, I had a feeling it would be the Broncos or Tennessee. While there was a bit of speculation that he could end up on the Niners I had a feeling Peyton would stick to an AFC team. Peyton doesn't want to have to go up against his brother Eli any more than he has to, and plus Peyton knows the AFC a lot better than the NFC.

Plus it seems that Elway and Peyton are a good match. Elway is a former quarterback, and he must have reassured Peyton that he would accommodate the team to play Peyton's way of football. That meant of course, that Tebow would not be sticking around Denver.

Pretty much knew that Tebow would be traded if Peyton went to the Bronocs. Tebow can't really be a back-up to the type of football Peyton plays. The offense would have to completely switch gears if Tebow were to take over should Peyton be out, and that's not good.

So, immediately after Manning mania ended, Tebow mania started. Fortunately for us watching at home, it didn't last long. And now we can look forward to Tebow's future as...a New York Jet?

This move had many scratching their heads. The Jets had just signed QB Mark Sanchez to a 3 year extension. Does this mean Sanchez is in the hot seat? Will Tebow just be used for certain plays, or is the quarterback job up for grabs? The drama that is the New York Jets continues, and it will certainly be interesting to see how it all plays out.

As for this Peyton fan, well...it was so awkward to see them roll out that bright orange #18 jersey, I admit. I will always prefer Peyton in Colts blue, but what's done is done and Peyton has a chance to start over and maybe win another championship. Good for him. I will continue to root for Peyton and I suppose be a temporary Bronco fan (as long as they aren't playing the Rams). As for the Colts...I was always a Peyton fan first. The Rams are my home team and I was a Rams fan LONG before I ever became a Colts fan. If Peyton hadn't been a Colt I might not have become a fan of the team, and it's the honest truth. The Colts have to win me over again with their rebuilding to remain my AFC team of choice.

The NCAA tourney did what it always does...feature surprising upsets and bracket busters. I had picked Missouri, Florida State, Georgetown and Kentucky in the final 4. Well, got 1 right. Even the president had Missouri in his final four. No one expected them to lose in the first round to Norfolk State. But that's the NCAA tourney. I will say I was impressed with the St. Louis Billikens. They played a very close and tough game against Michigan State but it ran away from them in the end. Hope this means good things in the future for them going forward and we'll see them in the tourney again next year.

This year's final four will be: Louisville, Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio State. It's a Midwest thang, y'all. This final four really shouldn't surprise anyone. These are schools that have consistently had excellent basketball programs and are no strangers to the NCAA tourney. As to who wins? I honestly have no idea. These are going to be 2 excellent games and an excellent championship game. I cannot find it in me to root for Kansas as a Mizzou fan, so maybe I'll root for Louisville. They're the underdog of the 4 so I guess I can go for that.

Congratulations to the St. Louis Blues to being the first team in the NHL to secure a playoff spot! Due to Manning-Tebow-NCAA madness I don't think this got much coverage outside of St. Louis sports. Other teams have since secured spots as well but it's quite an impressive year the Blues have had. I will look forward to following them in the playoffs, as long as baseball doesn't occupy most of my time.

Baseball. We are getting closer to opening day and I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to this season and getting the chance to go to some games. The Cardinals received a bit of bad news with pitching ace Chris Carpenter. He seems to be suffering from not only a bulging disk, but nerve issues. Not good. He is out indefinitely, no one can say for sure. Only good news is, he doesn't seem to need surgery. But he could be out for weeks or months, we just don't know.

Is it too much to ask to have Wainwright and Carpenter healthy together for a season? Please? Despite this set-up the Cardinals rotation seems to be doing pretty well in spring training. Wainwright has been stellar, and Lohse, Garcia, Lynn and Westbrook seem to be doing well also. I feel confident that it will be a good season for the Cardinals. They still have every bit of a chance to win the NL Central. Of course if Carp were in the mix that would make that chance just a little stronger but it's a long season. It's so hard to predict what teams will make it to the playoffs at the beginning of the season. Last August, no one thought the Cardinals would make it and they shocked everyone by gaining momentum at the end of the season to comeback and make the playoffs and eventually win the World Series. So, anything can happen.

I'm also kind of interested to see how Albert Pujols does with the Angels. I don't have any ill will towards him, I'm disappointed he couldn't stay a Cardinal but that doesn't mean that I wish bad things. It will be interesting to see how Angel fans embrace him and how he does this year. There are very high expectations for the Angels this season with all of the changes the organization made in the off season.

Well, that's it for this week's wrap up. More on my thoughts in the world of sports coming soon!

NCAA & Peyton Madness, MLB Spring Training

Hello sports fans!

I have not posted recently and I apologize. I will admit that the time period after the Super Bowl until the beginning of March Madness is what I consider the worst period in sports for me. I enjoy a good NBA game but it's not a big passion for me, there's no football, no baseball and hockey...I probably follow it more than the NBA because of the St. Louis Blues but it's not a big passion for me.

Lots of things have happened since my last post and there's no way that I'm going to address them all here.

First off, the Colts opted to release Peyton Manning and not pay him the $28 million bonus he was due last week. This should not have been a surprise to anyone, but it still...well for lack of better words, sucks. I understand the position Jim Irsay is in. How can he pass up the chance to draft Andrew Luck? And could he really afford to draft Luck, pay Manning and build a team that had a chance at competing? Probably not.

Both Irsay and Manning were tearful during the joint press conference held last week officially announcing the news. As much as I hate the thought of Peyton in a non-Colts uniform, it's probably the best thing that could happen to him.

The Colts are rebuilding. They have a brand new coaching and management staff. They have cleaned house with releasing players such as Dallas Clark, Joseph Addai and Melvin Bullitt, to name a few. The Colts are starting over.

Peyton doesn't have time to lead a starting over team. If Peyton is healthy and able to play at the level we all know and love he's got about 3-4 years best. The Colts may not reach elite status again for 3-4 years, based on the restructuring process. By then Peyton would be looking at retirement.

So Peyton has the chance to shop around and attempt to find another team that he can lead to greatness. The lead contenders seem to be the Broncos, the Cardinals and the Dolphins. Seattle and KC wanted to talk to Manning and he said, "not interested." Ouch. But I don't blame him on that. Seattle has been a total train wreck in recent years and KC has some stars like Dwayne Bowe, but KC is in the same division as Denver and the Broncos are better built to be a winning team at this moment with Manning at QB than KC. So I get it.

So where will he end up? I have some thoughts but who really knows? We all thought Albert Pujols was going to re-sign with the Cardinals until at the final hour the Angels came in and blew us all away with their offer. There could be several dark horse teams that throw out an offer last minute and when Peyton finally makes that announcement we'll all go "huh? Didn't see that one coming!"

I originally thought Miami, because Peyton already has a home there, they have decent offensive weapons and a relatively good defense, and adding him to the mix could help them win. However, if you think about it if you're in Miami, you're in the same division as the Patriots. Which means you have to play better than them to win your division and if you don't, you better hope you're good enough for the wild card. If you're Peyton, that's risky.

That's why at this point, I think it's between Denver and Arizona. Denver has a strong defense, and they do have some decent offensive weapons that Peyton could throw to. They are in a weak division that Tebow lead to victory last season and would certainly have a shot at the playoffs.

Arizona is about on the same level, except I don't think their defense is as strong as Denver. But they have Larry Fitzgerald, and as a fan of both Peyton and Larry, it would be fun to watch them play together. And the NFC Worst, I mean West is a weak division. Except for that whole 49'er effect.

As a Rams fan though, I'm praying Peyton ends up in Denver or Miami, not Arizona. I don't want the Rams to face Peyton twice a season and ruin the Rams' chances at a playoff run (laugh all you want, but the Rams could find themselves there soon).

All shall be revealed soon.

In other madness, it's March Madness, and the NCAA tourney is set. Both the Missouri Tigers and the St. Louis Bilikens made the tourney, which is nice representation for my home state. However, although Mizzou was 30-4 on the season, they did not receive a #1 seed. This after winning their conference tournament and teams like North Carolina lost theirs.

Strength of schedule seems to be the big factor here. Okay sure, I get it. Michigan State lost 7 games but their schedule was tougher. The NCAA is hard to figure out some times, but I'm not incredibly unhappy with the results. Mizzou ended up as the #2 seed in the West, and they have a VERY good shot at making the Final Four. I believe they are a better team than Michigan State and can beat them.

But the NCAA tourney is always interesting. You never know what's going to happen. People seem to think that Kentucky, the #1 overall seed, is a lock. I don't think so. It's a tournament. Everyone is vulnerable. Is a 15-16 seed going to win overall? Probably not. But if Butler could make it to the Final Four 2 years in a row? Anything is possible.

Finally, Spring Training is upon us for MLB. Hard to believe, but we are less than a month from opening day. That's...kind of scary actually.

Albert Pujols did well in his Spring Training debut with the Angels, despite his disgust with the billboards the Angels put up around LA featuring his #5 Angel uniform and the words "El Hombre." Albert has vehemently stated that he is not "The Man," as that is Stan Musial and doesn't want to be associated as "El Hombre." Guess the Angels didn't do their research as anyone in Cardinal Nation would know that going that route for promos was not a good one.

But enough about Albert. He's not a Cardinal anymore so I don't care.

The Cardinals biggest concern right now is Chris Carpenter. He was having some discomfort so they had him checked out and he has a bulging disk in his neck. Sounds pleasant, doesn't it? Good news is that it isn't a nerve problem, which he has had in the past. But a bulging disk is not good by any means. There's no easy cure for a bulging disk. You learn how to live through the pain.

He won't be ready for opening day, so Adam Wainwright will likely take over the starting role. Not sure how long it will take Carpenter to get back to starting position but it could take awhile. This is not good news to Cardinals fans, who were hoping for the ace duo of Carpenter and Wainwright to lead the Cards to their 12th championship title.

It remains to be seen. The Cards could try to sign Oswalt. Things will start to unfold shortly as opening day creeps closer.

And...that's it for now. Guess I better go fill out my bracket!

A Sports Update

Hello all!

So, I feel awful that I haven't posted a blog about the Super Bowl yet. My parents were in town visiting and I just didn't get a chance to post an update and now here we are almost 2 weeks past the Super Bowl.

I won't dwell on the big game much since well, it's way over. I did predict the winner though, the Giants, and I predicted them to win before the playoffs started. Do I expect a reward? Ahhh no. It was complete luck.

And the game wasn't a landslide by any means, it was a close game. That safety in the first quarter of the game really made a big difference. Some speculated that it was a bad call, I don't think so. Brady was in the endzone, he waited, he avoided getting potentially sacked by Justin Tuck and threw the ball down the middle to no one. Yes, you could argue that someone didn't run the right route but how much time did Brady have before throwing the ball? It was the right call, just a weird one. Congrats to the dude who made the bet on the Giants to score first via safety in Vegas. He made some mega money.

The NFL season is over, which makes me sad. Football is probably my favorite sport though baseball is a close second. Fortunately baseball will be back soon. Spring training will start shortly and then the "how will the Cardinals do without Albert?" chat will begin.

The Cardinals will be fine. I said it before, he alone did not carry that team, especially last season. When you look at who the main play makers were in that playoff run, they were Carpenter, Garcia, Freese, Berkman, Craig...Albert had one big game in the NLCS, and that game was pretty much won regardless.

I'm not saying he won't be missed He will. He had a leadership role that will be hard to replace. But if there's one thing the 2011 Cardinals team showed me, it was a desire to never give up. And most of that same team remains. And they get ace Wainwright back. So do I think the Cardinals are a shoe in for the World Series? No. Do they still have a shot at getting there? Absolutely.

Jeremy Lin. Harvard grad. No name. Steps in for the Knicks after a player goes down with injuryand all of a sudden Linsanity begins.

I'm the first to admit I don't follow the NBA as closely as the MLB and NFL. But you gotta love this story. Some have called him the Tebow of the NBA but I disagree. Tebow was expected to be great. He was a great college QB. He won the Heisman Trophy.

A month ago, who knew about Jeremy Lin? This kid reminds me more of Kurt Warner. Before the 1999 season, who knew who Kurt Warner was? He was an arena football guy from Iowa who was working at a grocery store. Signed by the Rams as a backup. Trent Green goes down with an injury, Kurt Warner starts and leads the greatest show on turf to a Super Bowl win.

Does that mean I think the Knicks are going to win the NBA championship? No. But Lin is one of those great stories, like Warner that you just can't help but root the guy on. I hope Lin continues to succeed because it's nice to hear these stories.

Because let's face it. If you want to be a star in the NBA, you don't go to Harvard. Just like if you want to be an NFL football player you don't go to say, my alma mater, DePauw University (though DPU alum Butler basketball coach Brad Stevens is doing pretty well for himself). They go to a division 1 school where they have a chance at winning.

So seeing someone make it big who chose to go to a school like Harvard? It's just great to see them make it in the big leagues.

We'll see where it goes. So far, the Knicks keep winning with Lin. But there are a lot of games left to play.

There is news, rumors, etc. about Peyton Manning. I could address them here, but frankly, until a decision is made I just don't know what to say. I want Peyton to be a Colt for life. I don't think that happens if he doesn't retire. And if he isn't a Colt, I really don't want him in the NFC West, because I'm a Rams fan.

And the other options? The Jets, Dolphins, Redskins? Ugh. I just don't like it.

I hope Manning heals and is able to play but I have my doubts. If he has to retire, it's not like he hasn't had an amazing career. He will make the HOF for sure.

No one really knows what's going on, but in a couple of weeks we will know since Peyton is due his $28 million dollar bonus. So we wait, and see.

A final quick note, go Mizzou! Currently ranked #3. Can't wait for the NCAA tournament. It's going to be fun.

More in the world of sports soon, I promise.