Well since we all know the Eastern Conference is inferior to the Western Conference, lets not even bother talking about the race for second place. Instead, lets talk about something more important…
THE ROYAL WEDDING!!!
Ima kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiding. How about this instead?
Let’s look at the East.
Washington Capitals vs Tampa Bay Lightning
This series is a no-brainer. The Capitals showed they are firing on all cylinders when they dismantled the Rangers in the first round. The Caps were able to get significant production from from supporting cast members like Arnott and Knuble in addition to the multiple point put up by Ovechkin and Semin. To make matters worse for the Lightning Michal Neuvirth is coming into this round boasting a 1.38 GAA and 0.936 save percentage. One thing that does need to be said about the Lightning is what an amazing job Steve Yzerman has done. He has turned Tampa Bay around and crafted them into an EASTERN CONFERENCE playoff contender.
Prediction: Capitals in 5
Philadelphia Flyers vs Boston Bruins
This will be the series to watch in the East for competitive, grind it out, physical hockey. Both teams are coming off of hard fought 1st rounds that went to game sevens, so hopefully that intensity carries over. With the goalie carousel going on in Philly and a banged up Pronger, I think Boston has the advantage going into this series. That being said, lets not forget Boston found a away to blow a 3 game lead and let the Canadians take them to the brink.
The focus so far has been the 4 QBs taken in the Top 12 picks, but what jumps out at me is the amount of Linemen selected in the first round of the Draft Friday. 20 of the 32 players taken are will be either attacking or protecting the QB. A lot of teams reached for needs, which allowed a lot of other teams to get great value in their position.
Winners
The Cleveland Browns – The Browns have potential to be the biggest winner in the draft here, as they traded their #6 overall pick to Atlanta for the #27 along with this years 2nd and 4th rounds picks, and next year’s 1st and 4th round picks. Now I wasn’t crazy about them jumping back up later in the first from 27 to 21. They selected Phil Taylor, a DT from Baylor which isn’t a bad pick, but I’m not convinced they couldn’t have stayed put and still gotten him with the 27. We’ll have to see what else Holmgren does in the next few rounds, but so far you gotta be happy in Cleveland.
The Jacksonville Jaguars – The Jags had to trade up to get him, but with the 10th pick they got a Top 5 Projected QB in Blaine Gabbert. I’ve never been a Garrard fan, so to me this is a great value for them, even if they did lose a pick to jump up from 16 to 10, they got their guy. And while Gabbert can’t be happy falling to 10, this seems like a good fit to me.
The Detroit Lions – My beloved Lions. After years of ineptitude by the Millen Regime they seem to finally know what they are doing. DT Nick Fairley out of Auburn was projected as a Top 3 pick a month ago, but fell out of favor because of work ethic questions, much like Ex-Lion Shaun Rodgers. The difference here is, this Lion’s team has guys like Vanden Bosch and Suh, leaders on the D who will push those around them. The first organized player workouts in the NFL, after the lockout started, were those put together by Vanden Bosch. This is a great value at #13 and I think we have the guys to motivate Fairley into becoming a star. The Lions should now have the best D-Line in football.
Well if i knew this series was going to take place a week ago I would say Vancouver in 4, but we all saw how they almost blew a 3 game lead last round. But to be fair, teams 4 thru 8 in the Western Conference were pretty much all the same anyway, so dwelling on Chicago being the #8 seed isn’t completely warranted.
So, with that said this series is going to be decided by Roberto Luongo and Nashville’s Pekka Rinne, both of whom are up for the Vezina Trophy this year.
Prediction: If Luongo gets his head out of his ass, I’d say the Canucks will move on in 5…… or 6 if Rinne stands on his head one night.
Detroit’s Winged Wheels vs the San Jose Sharkies
Once again, these two western conference power houses meet, making this THE SERIES to watch for the second round. Both teams are pretty much dead-evenly matched offensively, with all three lines having consistent, solid production in the first round. Detroit put up at least 4 goals in all four of their first round games, while San Jose was able to orchestrate one of the greatest comebacks of all times in their game #3. The only real difference between the two here is that Detroit put up their 1st round numbers without the help of Henrik Zetterberg who will be returning for the second round.
When it comes to defensive play and goaltending, Detroit has the edge. While to date Jimmy Howard has only proven to be serviceable at best, its who is surrounding him that gives them the edge. Having Nicklas Lidström(one the greatest defensemen of all time) and Pavel Datsyuk(whose up for his 4th straight Selke Trophy) in front of you makes your goaltenders job just a little bit easier.
Dan Boyle is a "Man's man"
As for the Sharkies, Niemi’s first round performance was a hell of a long way away from the 2 shutout, .910 save percent average. and 2.64 goals against average playoff performance he gave Chicago last year. Being pulled twice in three games (with one of the times being in the first 10 minutes of the game), having .864 save percent, and averaging a 4.00 goals against, up against an inferior team in the Kings.
That does not bode well for the Sharks.
To make matters worse, Neimi doesn’t have much support from the defense in front of him, since the San Jose defensemen are really forwards in disguise.
During the day there were a whole bunch of other draft picks that occurred. Let’s start with who will be going to Smackdown!
Smackdown Drafts
Sheamus (United States Champion)
Alex Riley
Tamina
Tyson Kidd
Ted DiBiase
Jey Uso
Natalya
Yoshi Tatsu
William Regal
Alicia Fox
Jimmy Uso
Great Khali
Daniel Bryan
Raw Drafts
Beth Phoenix
Tyler Reks
Kofi Kingston
Chris Masters
Curt Hawkins
Drew McIntyre
JTG
Kelly Kelly
Jack Swagger
It would seem that Raw definitely got the short end of the stick this year in the quantity section but talent wise it would appear they made out okay. They kept Cena, though the talent part and how he was double picked last night makes him not so great a pick. I’m sure people will disagree with me so go for it. They were however, able to acquire the Big Show, Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio. Besides the gorgeous Kelly Kelly coming back to Raw, we will see Kofi Kingston returning and Drew McIntyre coming in to I’m sure stir up some trouble. Oh and also we have Jack Swagger coming back to Raw, because it wasn’t enough to have him there every week with Michael Cole anyways, making an anus of himself in the process. Other than that, we have jobbers like Chris Masters making the trip over. I thought Chris Masters was already back on Raw…
Smackdown was able to get Randy Orton as their headliner now that Edge is retired. They were also able to count the up and comer Sin Cara as part of their roster last night. One notable pick from today would be the United States champion Sheamus, hopefully they can find something for him to do on Smackdown, because on Raw he was getting a little stagnant. Though a total douche, it will be interesting to see Alex Riley off on his own and not being the little monkey boy to the Miz. The pair of them together was really starting to make me nauseous every Monday night.
So what does everyone else think about the draft picks from this afternoon? How about from last night? Check out my review from last night below! And be sure to voice your opinion in the comment section below!
Tonight is the night! Draft night! This week’s Raw starts off with quite a bang: a 20 man Battle Royale is already in full swing to determine whether Raw or Smackdown gets the first draft pick.
Mayhem ensues for about 15 minutes as it boils down to Evan Bourne and Mason Ryan vs Big Show and Kofi Kingston as the final four. In the end, Big Show proves to be too much as he eliminates both Raw wrestlers. Smackdown gets the first pick and the selection is…..
John Cena!
I’m so glad that Cena will be off of Raw. Now Miz just has to get drafted to Smackdown and the most boring rivalry in the history of the WWE can finally be out of my sight. At least until Extreme Rules, at which point I’ll then be rooting for Morrison to win. And I’m not even a Morrison fan.
The first of many assholes in the Raw lineup
Since we’re talking about Morrison, the man who attacked him after a match last week comes out for some heel action. Truth goes on about how the fans can suck it and how they failed him. Apparently Truth rapped and danced just to make the fans happy and not himself. He drives the point home by asking an imaginary boy named “Little Jimmy” a whole bunch of rhetorical questions. It was quite hilarious and then Morrison runs out to shut his face.
R Truth talking to an invisible Little Jimmy. Classic.
Right before commercial we are treated to a preview of next week’s show in Miami, which will feature The Rock’s birthday party… don’t know exactly how I feel about that one. I guess as long as the Rock is there it will be entertaining enough.
The next match is a Diva’s competition that will determine the next draft selection, featuring Eve Torres vs Layla.
Get this girl a title shot… such beauty is wasted otherwise
Michelle McCool joins her down at ringside, and as Smackdown has shown us, Laycool has been having some problems. As the match comes to a close, Michelle talks some shit to Layla and Eve takes advantage to pin her, getting Raw the next pick. That pick for Raw iiiiiiisssss…..
Rey Mysterio
The next match is Kofi Kingston vs Sheamus for a pick. I would assume every match is for a pick at this point. The match seemed brief with Sheamus getting laid out by two head kicks from Kofie and pinned for another Smackdown pick. This was really surpising and I have to say so far Smackdown is doing very well…..
Randy Orton to Smackdown.
Once we get back from commercial we are subjected to yet more Michael Cole nonsense as he squares off against Jim Ross. King is of course in JR’s corner, with Swagger in moron’s corner once more.
This guy might as well suck it.
This is a monumental waste of time for the most part. The only satisfying parts being JR beating up on Cole and making him bleed from his lip pretty good. Swagger of course interferes but it’s Lawler to the rescue as he takes out both Swagger and Cole, Cole getting whacked a few times with a belt from the King. Afterwards the Raw GM declares that the tag match between these four at Extreme Rules will be a Country Whipping Match. That is extreme….
Next we get more verbal vomit from that moron The Miz. Instead of describing the useless shit he said I thought I’d feature some stupid Miz expressions.
The next match is between Dolph Zigler and Randy Orton for two draft picks, Orton freshly picked up by Smackdown. The match itself was pretty entertaining but seemed short lived as Randy Orton breaks out of a quick pin by Zigler and RKO’s him to win two more draft picks for Smackdown. This is getting ridiculous for Raw, but it’s definitely shaking things up which is the point. After a short interruption by CM Punk and a commercial break we get to see the two picks for Smackdown:
Mark Henry and Sin Cara
I was pretty shocked by the Sin Cara pickup because he had such a short stint on Raw. Smackdown is really getting the heavy hitters at this point. Raw needs to win this next battle for two more picks, between Wade Barrett and Rey Mysterio. After another quick yet decent match, Rey seals the win with a 619 and a top rope finisher on Barrett. His victory leads to these next two picks:
The Big Show and Alberto Del Rio
It was good to see Raw pick up a couple of heavy hitters, because losing Orton and Cena was pretty huge. But Raw has one more chance to make one more decent acquisition. The final match of the night is a six man tag match to determine the final pick. For Raw we have the team of Miz, Del Rio and CM Punk.
I can’t help but like this team
For Smackdown is Cena, Mark Henry and Christian. I like this mix up because it’s none too often you see Cena and Del Rio in the same match or CM Punk and Christian. They gave a good physical finale for us that ended with not only another heel turn but a completely stupid last “random” draft pick. Mark Henry is the one who turned heel, taking out Cena and Christian both resulting in The Miz giving Cena the Skull Crushing Finale and the winning pin. As we frantically wonder who will be coming to Raw it turns out to be…..
Cena?
Somehow I feel cheated and disgusted. Thanks Raw. I know the whole thing is scripted but how incredibly random the selection must be if Cena gets picked both first and last. Lame. I can only hope Extreme Rules this Sunday doesn’t follow suit with a dog crap ending. Tune back in tomorrow as more draft picks occur during the day, and comment below to tell us what you think of the new picks from this year’s draft!
The Phillie Phanatic is your mascot of the year, according to a survey done by Forbes. The news came just one day before the Phanatic’s 33rd Birthday celebration as he supplanted the San Diego Chicken for the title.
Well in honor of this prestigious award, might I present Christian Bale to congratulate you Mr. Phanatic:
I hate the Phanatic, because honestly – I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE F–K HE IS!
What does a big green fuzzy dude have to do with Philadelphia? A better question is why am I getting upset about this? Should I care what the Philly Phanatic is, or that he was mascot of the year?
Answer: Hell no!
But it is a really good excuse to post up some pictures of some of the worst and funny mascots around out there.
The Syracuse Orange Man
I don’t know what this little orange bastard is doing but it frightens me. No one wants the shocker, but if I had to take one for the team then it certainly wouldn’t be from this fella. I’m surprised the university took this so well…
Columbus Blue Jackets: Boomer the Cannon
Seems like a valiant effort, but too many people have complained about how he might look like a penis, with testicles and all. Then you have the geriatrics who say it looks like an elderly guy in a wheelchair. Better luck next time Columbus.
San Diego Chargers: Bolt Man
Someone with an apparent fetish for muscles designed this mascot. This is the mid-90’s version of Bolt Man so they’ve moved on to bigger and better things. Personally I think they’d have been better of with a Mega Man boss.
The Rhode Island School of Design: Scrotie
Do I honestly have to say anything? Their mascot is a friggin’ scrotum!
Unknown
He’s obviously a pepper, but from where I don’t know. And his costume is such an epic fail that I had no ambition to research it.
Donald Duck: Being a Scum-Bag
Despite the child abuse going on here, Donald Duck is being true to his character mostly being a piss pot.
Pervert Mascots
Never talk to purple dinosaurs kids!Jeez Mr. Cheese…
Well since we all know the Eastern Conference is inferior to the Western Conference, lets not even bother talking about the race for second place. Instead, lets talk about something more important…
Let’s look at the East.
Washington Capitals vs Tampa Bay Lightning
Philadelphia Flyers vs Boston Bruins
Grizzly Bomb 