Miracle #3...Don't count on it

The USA have pulled off two shocking upsets back to back by advancing to the semifinals and then beating the number 1 team in the world. Could they beat Brazil and make it a third miracle. I don't think so. Brazil has already beaten the USA 3-0 and the South Americans are a much more consistent side then Spain. Spain's has only become a world power in recent seasons, but Brazil have been a dominant force since soccer beginning. I expect the USA to be confident and give a good showing, but I don't think they have enough. I expect Brazil to win, 2-0.

Red Sox @ Braves Preview

The pitching matchup in this game is a very interesting one and a very contrasting one at that. Tim Wakefield, a knuckleballer, will be going for the Sox and likely will not throw a pitch above 78 or 79. Javier Vazquez on the other hand is a complete power pitcher who completely relies on the strikeout. He has 117 strikeouts in 99 innings, which puts him 3rd in the majors only behing Tim Lincecum and Justin Verlander for strikeouts. David Ortiz has been very good since getting his eyes checked and having drops recommended. He has hit over .300 and has all but one of his homers since then. I think the Sox offense will bring Vazquez back down to earth a little bit and the Sox will go on to win, 7-4.

Yankees @ Mets Preview

The subway series gets underway tonight with both teams in a tight division race. The Yankees pitching rotation has not been very good so far this year with the exception of C.C. Sabathia, who is going tonight. The Mets have had an unlucky year this far with 3 of their top players landing on the DL. Mike Pelfrey pitches for the Mets and he has either been really good or not good at all so far this year. Personally, I think Pelfrey will not be good tonight against the dynamite offense for the Yankees, and with a very injured starting lineup, Sabathia will dominate the Mets. Yanks win 7-1.

Cubs @ White Sox preview

The second Windy City series starts today, with both teams having greatly underachieved so far this year. Both teams are still in the race but have struggled all year. Today's matchup features Jose Contreras for the Sox and Randy Wells for the Cubs. C0ntreras has been unhittable as of late, and Randy Wells has been a great find for the Cubbies. Expect a low scoring game, but the Cubs will again pull out a late inning victory. Cubs win 3-2.

Comeback Falls Short

Sweden feel short as they were defeated 5-4 in penalty kicks, after coming back from 3 goals down. England went a man down when Frasior Campbell was sent off in Extra Time. They also survived Sweden hitting the crossbar in the extra period. They will face the winner of the Italy Germany match on Monday.

Sweden Back From the Death

I am stunned. At halftime I turned the game off with England seemingly coasting into the Euro Under 21 Championship Finals, as they lead 3-0. I turned the game back on with 10 minutes to go fully expecting England to be up 5 or 6. I was shocked to see that Sweden had come back from out of nowhere to tie it up at 3-3! This is one of the most unlikely come backs I have seen in quite a while. Extra time is now looming and this one could go either way!

Draft Coverage

Hello everyone, I will be taking over for the second half of the 1st round.
16. Chicago- James Johnson. He's got a great upside if he could learn to develop a 15 footer. Good pick for Bulls
17. Philadelphia- Jrue Holliday. Jay Bilas seems convinced that he's got a lot of upside. He hasn't shown me an ability to score. He averaged 8.5 points as a freshman at UCLA last year.
18. Minnesota- Ty Lawson. He is now the 3rd point guard selected by Minnesota.

Minnesota just traded this pick to the Nuggets

19. Atlanta- Jeff Teague. Personally, I like this pick. LOADS of upside.
20. Utah- Eric Maynor. Not a big fan of this pick. Won't get much playing time with D Will there.
21. New Orleans- Darren Collison. Seems like a solid pick to back up CP3.
22. Portland- Victor Claver. 6-11 big man. Likely to take over in Joel Pryzbilla's role.
23. Sacramento- Kings take 6-9 Israeli. I thought they would go for a big time athlete with lots of upside.
24. Dallas- B.J. Mullens- Didn't get a whole lot of playing time last year with just 20 minutes. Very raw talent.
25. Oklahoma City- Rodrigue Beaubois
26. Chicago- Taj Gibson. Fills a bigtime need for a low post scorer for the baby bulls.
27. Memphis- DeMarre Carroll. Seems like a solid, low risk pick for Memphis.
28. Minnesota- Wayne Ellington. Finally, TWolves pick a scorer.
29. LA Lakers- Toney Douglas. Lakers continue to draft undervalued players well.
30. Cleveland- Christian Eyenga.

That's all for tonight unless a big trade occurs in the 2nd round.

Live Draft Coverage

First Round

1. LA Clippers- Blake Griffin. No Shock There.

2. Memphis- Hasheem Thabeet. Griz had to take a big man, but I have questions about his offensive abilities.

3. Oklahoma City- James Harden. First shock. Thunder pass on Rubio.

4. Sacramento- Tyreke Evans. Good pick for the Kings, Evans has a lot of talent.

Back to back coming up for the T'Wolves. Surely Rubio will be next.

Note:The T'Wolves GM is named David Kahn, our Dad's name.

5. Minnesota- Ricky Rubio. Minnesota got their man and didn't need to trade up. 

6. Minnesota- Johny Flynn. I don't know about this pick. A great college player, but I don't know if his skills will translate in the NBA. Neither Rubio or Flynn are great scorers.

Hawks have just acquired Jamal Crawford in a trade.

7. Golden State- Stephon Curry. Warriors go for Curry over Jennings. 

Hometown Knicks now on the clock, boos coming soon:

8. New York- Jordan Hill. 2010 can't come fast enough.

9. Toronto- DeMar DeRozan. A young play with a lot of skills, maybe a hidden star. 

10. Milwaukee- Brandon Jennings. Back to back to Compton kids taken.

11. New Jersey- Terrance Williams. A versatile player, who could prove valuable as a utility man or coming off the bench.

12. Charlotte- Gerald Henderson. Henderson gets to stay in state.

13. Indiana- Tyler Hansbrough. One of the best college players in the history of the ACC, but might be out of his league in the NBA. Hopefully, he won't fight Henderson while on stage.

14. Phoenix- Earl Clark. Who is not here, but Jennings is as he takes the stage. Clark is an odd pick for a franchise going down hill.

15. Detroit-Austin Daye. A tall guy and a good shooter, gives him a good upside.

Alright, my bro is taking over. Have good one!

NBA Draft 2009

Hello Everyone! Tonight is the NBA Draft and we will be blogging live during it. Will let you know all the picks and trades for tonight as well as giving our analysis. I'll be here for the first 15, my brother will get the next 15. We have already had two big trades with the Cavs getting Shaq and the Magic getting Vince. Enjoy!

South Africa

South Africa may have just gone down to defeat against Brazil, but the performance shows real progress. Since the 2002 World Cup, South Africa have gone steadily backwards. They failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup and have not gone far in any of the African Nations Cup. Again, in the qualifying tournament for the African Nations Cup they had a miserable campaign. However, in the Confederations Cup South Africa have shown that they are on a team on the rise. They got to the semifinals and put up a credible performance against Spain along the way. Today, they were desperately unlucky against Brazil as they were beaten on an 88th minute goal. Matthew Booth and Bernard Parker have played incredibly well in the tournament and will be names to remember in a year. South African fans can take pride in this performance and do not have to fear being embarrassed in 2010. 

T'Wolves Surprise Team of 2009

With four picks in the first round, the T'Wolves name will come up more than anyone at Thursday night's draft. The T'Wolves last season had a pitiful record of 24-58. However, there is still some talent to work with, such as in the form of Al Jefferson, the skilled young center. Minnesota fans won't forgot the disappointment of losing KG anytime soon, but Jefferson will help ease some of the pain. With their four picks the T'Wolves will have a great opportunity to capitalize on the young talent that is out there. Granted, this is not as talented a draft, but there is still plenty of talent out there. It might take the T'Wolves time to develop, but with a successful draft Minnesota will have a very exciting young team.  

Baseball Recap-Wednesday

In the first featured game, the Cubs and Tigers, both pitchers had almost identical lines. Each went 5 innings, giving up 2 earned runs. Miguel Cabrera led the Tigers to a 5-3 win with 2 hits, including a home run and a bases loaded walks. The second featured game was a very interesting one. The Yankees offense did not record a hit in the first 5 innings, but once they got that hit, the offense exploded. New York recorded 3 home runs, and 4 runs in 2 innings to pull ahead. Joba Chamberlain went 6 and 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs which was enough for the Yankee offense as they went on to win 8-4. In the final feature game, the Jays dominated the Reds right from the start as they recorded 3 home runs in the 1st inning alone. Scott Richmond went 7 innings giving up just 2 runs and the Jays went on to win 8-2.

Highlight of the Night: The award tonight was a joint effort and goes to all the White Sox position players, who hit half a dozen home runs against the Dodgers and Randy Wolf.

Shocker

Unbelievable! The US has ended the number 1 in the world ranked Spain's 35 game unbeaten streak with a 2-0 victory! I could not be more shocked! I will freely admit (as indicated by the last post) that I thought the USA had no chance. They played incredibly well, though. They defended outstanding for all 90 minutes. Although Spain put the US under constant pressure, they really had no clear cut chances. Granted, Spain were off today, but full credit to the US. Also, what a beast Altidore has become and still has so much potential in him. The goal showed his great strength and finishing ability. As stunning as it was that the US qualified for the semifinals, this was even more shocking. Can they make it 3 in a row on Sunday? The US soccer bandwagon for the 2010 world cup is officially off and running!

Games of the day

Here are our games of the day for today:
Cubs @ Tigers: After a dramatic ending to yesterday's game, this game will have a lot of emotion in it. The inconsistent Rich Harden goes for the Cubbies while the 20 year old Rick Porcello goes for the Tigers. Look for the Cubs bats to feast on Porcello's inexperience in interleague play.

Prediction: Cubs have no trouble and Rich Harden has his best start of the year going 7 inning and striking out 10. Cubs win 7-3

Yankees @ Braves: The Yankees were held scoreless yesterday by young phenom Tommy Hanson. Today's matchup features Joba Chamberlain and Kenshin Kawakimi for the Braves. Although Kawakimi has been good at times, he also has been terrible at times. The Yankee bats will be very active today after being held scoreless yesterday.

Prediction: Yankees win 8-4 and get a "Quality Start" from Joba.

Reds @ Blue Jays: Bronson Arroyo has been very inconsistent this year to the point where you can almost see a pattern. Scott Richmond is coming off his best start in which he went 8 innings and struck out 11 Phillies. Joey Votto, the Reds top position player, is making just his 2nd start back from a DL stint caused by anxiety attacks.

Prediction: Arroyo goes 7 innings, giving up 3 runs and the Reds win 5-3 in a close game.

Confederations Cup Semifinal Preview

Its now just hours away before the start of the United States match up with the top ranked team in the world, Spain. A couple of days ago very people would have expected the US to be in this position, as it took a minor miracle for them to advance. That miracle though will almost assuredly prolong their stay in the tournament for one more game (not counting the consolation game). Spain are far to strong for the US. Torres and Villa have become one of the most potent strike parings in all of soccer. The US has no answer for them. In addition to that Spain has an abundance of great midfielders, such as Xavi and Xabi Alonso who are great distributors of the ball. Fabergas is another lethal midfielder with lots of skill who will cause problems all day for the US. The US is not on the same level as this team, although that is nothing to be ashamed of, because no one is. Spain shouldn't have much difficulty in a 2-0 win and the unbeaten streak will reach 36 games.

Baseball Recap-Tuesday

Tuesday's featured games certainly lived up to the expectations, but not as predicted. In the Philadelphia and Tampa Bay game, Jamie Moyer went 6 innings giving up just one run and 5 hits, while his counterpart young phenom David Price went 4 and 1/3 innings giving up 7 hits and 10 runs. The Dodgers @ White Sox looked like it would be a blow out when LA scored 3 runs in the first 2 innings, but John Danks settled down and pitched very well. Hiroki Kuroda went 8 and 2/3 innings, giving up just 2 runs on 4 hits. LA went on to win 5-2. In the final featured game the Rockies were up 3-2 for most of the game thanks to two Troy Tulowitzki home runs. In the bottom of the eighth the Angels finally broke through on Ubaldo Jimenez for a couple of runs. The Angels would hold on and get a 4-3 win.

Highlight of the night: This was an easy choice tonight as the Ryan Raburn walk off home runs off of Kevin Gregg gave the Tigers a win over the Cubs.

Baseball Coverage

A unique feature of this blog is that we will provide in-depth analysis on all sports. I will be doing previews of the top games going on around baseball each day including previews, predictions, and post-game analysis. Here's our top games for today.

Phillies @ Rays preview: This matchup is a rematch of last years world series and figures to be a great game. Both teams have underachieved so far this year, but are still very much in the playoff race. With Tampa Bay having scored the most runs in baseball, and the Phillies having scored the second most runs in the NL, this figures to be a high scoring game. The pitching matchup of 45 year old Jamie Moyer against 23 year old David Price features two opposite pitchers. Moyer is slow throwing, control type pitcher who featuers 4 or 5 pitches each night. Whereas, David Price on the other hand is a flamethrower with only 3 pitches and not great control. Price features a fastball in between 93-98 MPH.

Prediction: Look for Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton to get on early and often and run like crazy. The Phillies will score some runs, but not enough to overcome the early deficit. Rays win 7-4.

Dodgers @ White Sox preview: This is an interesting matchup, not only because the Dodgers have the best record in baseball, and not because at times the White Sox look like a playoff team, but also because they share the same spring training site at Camelback Ranch. While the Dodgers have struggled recently in interleague play, they have played better as of late, taking two of three from the A's and Angels. The pitching matchup features Hiroki Kuroda and John Danks. Both are quality pitchers, but have had troubles at times this year. The offenses for these teams are almost opposite each other, as the Sox rely on the long ball and the Dodgers try to bunch singles together.

Prediction: Both pitchers will pitch decently well, but the Dodgers have experience in close games and will pull this one out 3-2.

Rockies at Angels preview: The Rockies are the hottest team in the MLB having won 16 of 17 games, and the Angels seem to be in the playoffs every year, making this an interesting game. The hard throwing Ubaldo Jimenez starts for the Rockies, and Sean O' Sullivan, a 21 year old starts for the Angels. Both teams have very good offenses that rarely falter and provide great depth.

Prediction: The Rockies great streak will falter as the Angels win 6-2 and get an unexpected great start from the youngster Sean O' Sullivan

Sports Non-Stop

Hello Everyone!

This is the best sports blog in all of the internet! This blog was created by Nate and Jesse Kahn, who are also the authors of the site. This blog will provide extensive information and analysis from all of the major sporting events around the world. It will also have many other features such as our favorite memories and debates on the most controversial topics in sports from around the globe. We greatly appreciate all of your views and comments. However, we ask you to please keep all comments civil.

Thank You,

Nate and Jesse