... and I am a Sportsaholic

2011-01-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

One year ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves would have lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder by double digits and it would not have been close. Last night, the Wolves showed that they have improved greatly since then...not quiet enough, and I am ok with that. Yes the Wolves are still one of the worst in the league with a record of 10-35; but again, still ok with that for now. I have watched or reviewed most of the Wolves games this year and there is only a few that have been really bad blowouts. Last year, pretty much ever loss was a blowout. The wolves are staying close in games this year and will win more games then last years total of 15.

However, with signs of improvement also come the areas that still need improvement. This is a young team that has not been together long enough to see their full potential. They are close, but not quite there. Their late game defense and closing abilities are their weakest points. They showed they could close in last nights game, however, they showed they could not stop Durant when they needed too. Now I know stopping Durant is no easy thing to do, but good teams have that one big time stopper on D that gets that one big turnover, block or bad shot attempt. While the Wolves have Corey Brewer who has shown signs he can be that guy, he needs to improve and so does the team.

Last night is a game the Wolves have to win if they want to start to turn the corner and get back to being a legit NBA team. For now, we have to endure these games and stick with this team and the core of players the Wolves need to keep around. In my mind, those players are Love, Beasley, Wes Johnson, Milicic and possibly Brewer and Flynn. One must remember, that we still have the rights to Rubio, and he is another young piece that can complete this puzzle of a team.

I truly feel this team is close to breaking off a 5-6-7 game winning streak and and playing spoiler down the streak run of the season. This team was hard to watch last year; this year they are a lot of fun to watch.

They are close. Almost there.

Remember Me?

2009-10-28T13:19:00.001-07:00

Hello all and welcome back! I hope I didn't lose to many of my readers... if even had any.

The title of this blog has two meanings behind it, the first being me. Here is why.

1. Since I last posted I was diagnosed with the beginning stages of the H1N1. I took a week of from most communication from the world.

2. I moved out of the ghetto part of Hopkins and into a really nice part of St Louis Park.

3. The finally reason, I didn't have internet access for a great portion of the month off. This is the primary reason why there have been no post for the last month.

So with all that said I have got some catching up to do.

Its obvious that I have missed a few weeks of the NFL season. I can't go back and say that I would have picked certain teams to win or lose. My over-all record will just reflect the picks that I have made this season.

Lets take a look at how I did in week three.

Not to shabby that week, went 12-4 coming off a 9-7 week 2. I did get my upset pick wrong with the Jets falling to the Pats. Overall record on the season, 35-13. Not to bad if I say so my self. Better then Dan Cook did on College Picks from last week... ZINGER!

Alight, lets get to the meat of this bologna-sandwich.

WEEK 8 NFL PICKS

*Changing the format*

Home team on bottom, winning still in caps

DENVER
Baltimore (-3.5)

HOUSTON
Buffalo (+3.5)

Cleveland
CHICAGO (-13.5)

SEATTLE **UP SET SPECIAL!**
Dallas (-9.5)

ST LOUIS

Detroit (-3.5

MINNESOTA
Green Bay (-2.5)

San Francisco
INDIANAPOLIS (-11.5)

Miami
NY JETS (-3.5)

Oakland
SAN DIEGO (-16.5)

JACKSONVILLE
Tennessee (-2.5)

Carolina
ARIZONA (-8.5

NY GIANTS
Philadelphia (-2.5)

Atlanta
NEW ORLEANS (-9.5)

There you have it folks, week...uh, 8 of the NFL picks.

Since game time is just a few hours away, gotta go and get this posted. Have fun this week and GO VIKINGS!!

Review and Picks

2009-09-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Back again for another week review in the NFL and my week three picks.

Not as good in week two as I was in week one. I went 9-7. Then again, I want to see someone who did pick week two and have a good record with some of the upsets. Cincy over Green Bay, Jets over Pats, Texans over Titans and, just to name a few.

So I will take my two games over .500 for the week and sit at 23-9 overall on the season.

Before I get into this weeks picks, I need to review a few observations I made after my picks last week.

1. I picked half of the road teams to win... and half of the road teams won.... just not all the ones I actually picked

2. I said the Bears would fall to 0-2 and the Broncos would be 2-0... half right, Cutler didn't look that bad.

3. I said Jags will be 0-2... they are and waiting for Tebow.

4. I said the Panthers would be 0-2 and I wanted to take back them beating us late in the season... they are 0-2 and I still want to take back us losing to them late in the season

So I didn't do to bad on my Observations; two correct, two half correct.

Alright, time to get into the meat of this here outfit.

Week Three NFL Picks!!!

I have decided to pick an upset of the week starting this week, so enjoy and/or ridicule.

Home team first, winner in CAPS

VIKES vs 49ers

Rams vs PACKERS

Pats vs FALCONS = *UPSET PICK*

Seahawks vs BEARS

JETS vs Titans

Bucks vs GIANTS

EAGLES vs Chiefs

TEXANS vs Jags

Lions vs SKINS

RAVENS vs Browns

Bills vs SAINTS

CHARGERS vs Dolphins

Raiders vs BRONCOS

Bengals vs STEELERS

Cards vs COLTS

COWBOY vs Panthers

Week Three Observations

1. Jets will be 3-0, alone in First Place in the AFC EAST, and have a REALLY nice QB in Sanchez

2. A team started off last season going 10-0 but this season starts off 0-3 so far... and I picked them as the 2nd Wild Card team... they are the Titans... hopefully they can turn it around after this week.

3. The Broncos will move to 3-0 after they looked like they might not win more then a few games after the off-season... again, Cutler who?

There you have it, week three NFL picks. Lets hope I can do better then 9-7 this week, but as long as I stay above .500, I guess I'll be happy.

One non-NFL tid-bit I wanted to touch on. The Twins are only 2.5 back of the Tigers with 10 games left, 4 against the Tigers. Well, I didn't see this coming, although I probably should have. The Twins always seem to do this to us. Lets see if they can make magic again. It will be tough though, with 4 in Detroit and I think I heard we get Cy Young to be Greinke twice in the last 10... ouch.

Thats all for now folks, until next time.

King

Review and New NFL Picks

2009-09-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

Howdy again folks. That's right, I said it and I am not deleting it. You are going to have to live with the fact that I opened this post with, what some might call, a southern accent. Although, since this is a blog, how do you know that it was said in a southern accent when it wasn't said at all.

Ok, that is a weird start to this blog, lets get into this shall we, before the whole things goes down the crapper.

Week one of the NFL season has some pretty entertaining games. I actually flipped the channel from the Vikings game to see the miraculous catch and play in the Denver/Cincy game. I was stunned. And it actually helped me out, since I had Denver winning that game. My overall record for week one was 14-2... not to shabby. The two that I picked wrong were Arizona and Houston winning.

Oh well, can't get them all right all the time. Lets see if I can't back up a strong week one performance with a similar if not stronger week two. Here we go!

Again, home team is listed first and CAPS team is my winner.

Lions vs VIKINGS

Jets vs PATS

PACKERS vs Bengals

Bears vs STEELERS

REDSKINS vs Rams

TITANS vs Texans

Eagles vs SAINTS

CHIEFS vs Raiders

Jaguars vs CARDS

FALCONS vs Panthers

49er's vs SEAHAWKS

BILLS vs Bucks

CHARGERS vs Ravens

BRONCOS vs Browns

Cowboys vs GIANTS

Dolphins vs COLTS

Few observations for Week two, if all things go according to my picks:

1. I am picking half of the road teams to win

2. Bears will fall to 0-2 while the Broncos will move to 2-0... Cutler who?

3. Jags will be 0-2 and well on their way to forfeiting the season for Tebow

4. Panthers also fall to 0-2 and I REALLY want to take back picking the Vikings to lose @ Carolina

I will recap these observations sometime next week and see how close they are to being true.

Well, thats all for today folks, until next time, stay classy Minneapolis.

King

NFL Predictions and Picks

2009-09-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

Hello all and welcome back. Holy Toledo! I posted two post in two days!! Don't expect this too much, I just need to get caught up on some important topics.

Todays important topics are:

1. NFL Season and Post-Season predictions

2. My Week 1 picks.

Now, I am just going to clear this right now. The PREDICTIONS are based off right now and my picks may not reflect that later in the season. You see, there could be injuries, teams over achieving, underachieving, or many other reasons that may change throughout the year. I don't want to hear any complaining when I am picking against a team late in the year when I had them winning a division or playoff games or even the Super Bowl, things change.

Now that I have that all cleared away, here are my season ending predictions.

NFC East = GIANTS (#1 Bye)

NFC North = VIKINGS (#2 Bye)

NFC South = SAINTS (#3)

NFC West = SEAHAWKS (#4)

Wild Cards = EAGLES(#5) and BEARS(#6)

AFC North = STEELERS (#1 Bye)

AFC South = COLTS (#2 Bye)

AFC East = PATRIOTS (#3)

AFC West = CHARGERS(#4)

Wild Cards = RAVENS (#5) and TITANS(#6)

WILD CARD ROUND

SAINTS over BEARS and EAGLES over SEAHAWKS

PATS over TITANS and CHARGERS over RAVENS

DIVISIONAL ROUND

GIANTS over EALGES and VIKINGS over SAINTS

STEELERS over CHARGERS and COLTS over PATS

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND

VIKINGS OVER GIANTS

STEELERS over COLTS

SUPER BOWL

VIKINGS over STEELERS Old School Style 13-10

Now, I may get a lot of people saying that this is a homer pick and it may just be that. I just feel that the Vikings have all the right STAR players in the right position to make a run at this. We will see how it goes.

Time now for my weekly picks. I will try to do this every Wednesday or the day before the first game of that week. The team in CAPS is my winner and the HOME teams is listed first.

WEEK ONE

PITT vs Titans

RAVENS vs Chiefs

Panthers vs EAGLES

Browns vs VIKINGS

FALCONS vs Dolphins

SAINTS vs Lions

COLTS vs Jags

Bengals vs BRONCOS

Bucs vs COWBOYS

TEXANS vs Jets

SEAHWAKS vs Rams

GIANTS vs Redskins

CARDS vs 49'ers

PACKERS vs Bears

PATS vs Bills

Raiders vs CHARGERS

There you have it folks, the season predictions and Week One Picks. Hope you enjoyed!

Until next time, have a good one!

King

Number 4... Super Bowl Homeboy!!!

2009-09-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hello all and welcome again to the Sportsaholic. I can finally and hopefully get into the blogging thing on a regular basis. The last few weeks have been hectic with the great MN get together and all.... got bags? One positive thing from the fair this year for me is that I got to see my favorite comedian, Jeff Dunham. He rocked last night.

No more fair stuff, one sentence is enough for that. Its time for me to take a look at the Vikings season and give my predictions as to how they are going to fair... and away we go!

Week One @ Cleveland: WIN

Come on Mangini, keeping the starting QB a secret isn't going to affect how the Vikes game plan... they are going to sack and beat up WHOEVER you put out there.

Week Two @ Lions: WIN

Quick research, only lost to them once since 2003, enough said. ( didn't look back any farther)

Week Three vs 49ers WIN

We are better then them, just saying is all.

Week Four vs Packers WIN

Oh my, I cannot wait for this game. Favre torches former team for a blow out win! (More then likely at tight game with a game winning field goal as time expires... i'll take either)

Week Five @ Rams WIN

This one could sneak up on the Vikes but the Rams D is soooo bad that we should win this game if it comes to a shoot-out. Need to stop Steven Jackson to win and thats no easy task if he is healthy.

Week Six vs Baltimore WIN

Thought about this one long and hard... two great D's, two good running games, we can probably throw better then them now and we are at home, that's why we win this game... going to be a tough one though.

Week Seven @ Steelers LOSS

First lose of the year come at Pittsburgh and I am totally fine with that. I just hope that Favre can come out of this game alive the way the Steelers D works. Should be low scoring with Pitt on top.

Week Eight @ Packers LOSS

Thank you to whoever put this schedule together. I am both happy and mad at this game. Happy because we don't play GB late in Dec, but mad that we go back to back on the road against Pitt and Pack. Not a good combo. I'm not going to be a rube here and pick the Vikes and Favre to win in GB... just don't have a good feeling about this game, that's all I can call it, a bad feeling... Vikes lose.

BYE WEEK 6-2

So the bye week comes at a great time with the Vikings playing three tough teams and only going 1-2 in those games. But another thanks to the NFL Schedule committee for giving us the Lions right out the week off.

Week Ten vs Lions WIN

Look at week two

Week Eleven vs Seahawks WIN

This team will be better than last year but their O-line is banged up and you don't want that against the Vikes front 7... long day for Hasselholf.

Week Twelve vs Bears WIN

Our first look at Cutler and the bears isn't until week 11 and the end of November... but we still get the win here. Since '03, only one loss at home to the Bears. (didn't look past '03)

Week Thirteen @ Cards WIN

Whether its like that game last year or a bit closer in the final score, we are just better the the Cards and will beat them again... sorry Fitzy.

Week Fourteen vs Bengals WIN

This is another BAD team that we will handle at home.. should be fun to watch Ocho Cinco though.

Week Fifteen @ Carolina LOSS

The start of a tough 3 games to end the season, and they won't start it off right against the Panthers. They have a good running and throwing combo if Delhomme can stay healthy. Vikes Lose this one.

Week Sixteen @ Bears LOSS

Cutler and Forte get the best of us this week on their home turf for the Vikes fourth lose of the year.

Week Seventeen vs Giants PUSH

Second year in a row that the Vikings end the season against the G-men. I haven't gone through any other teams schedule so I don't know if the Giants and/or the Vikes will have anything wrapped up at this point. I have a feeling one of them will and so this game might not mean anything. I am going to put a PUSH on this game for that reason only. I still think the Vikes will win so I will put that in the Final Record, but we will see when this game arrives if it means a whole lot.

So there you have it, the Vikings will go 12-4 this year. Now they could for 11-5 and I could still be right because of that last game being a PUSH in my mind. Again, we will have to wait and see.

Thats all for now, the next post will have my NFL Season Predictions including Playoffs and Super Bowl predictions.

Have a good one!

p.s. I know that I lied and said that this post would talk about the Twins... but this was more fun... Twins are probably dead.

King

Should be 3 but lets call it 4 FEVER!!

2009-08-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all and welcome back.

Ok, so I know that it has been way to long since my last post. You can thank my colleague and fellow blogger Dan Cook ( his blog is here) for pushing me to "get back to writing", every time that I saw him. So, DAN, here you go... and the rest of you too.

Todays topic, Vikings pre-season game #2

Brett Favre in a Vikings uniform looks very much photo shopped.

That was the first thing that I said when I saw the highlights from the game last Friday. I was almost in denial that he was actually here, that he was actually taking the snap and handing off to AP. Then, after that first initial shock wore off and just had a big grin on my face.

Now I know that he was only 1-4 for 4 yards but the man had only 2 days of practice, so there is probably still some rust to be shaken off. His real test will come on Monday when he plays the first half, which by the ways scares me a bit, more on that in a sec.

Main observation on Fridays pre-season game not Favre related, our D looked pretty good again. Got a feeling we will be top 3 for the year and here is why.

We get a healthy E.J. Henderson and Madieu Williams, knock on wood, for a complete season.

Ray Edwards will wake up and have a break out season with around 10 sacks

We will have more INT's then last year, dont ask me how and from whom... just another one of those feelings.

Now, because of those three factors, I beleive that we will have a top 3 D in the NFL. Throughout the season and at the end of the season I will bring these three factors up and see how my "feelings" are doing.

Ok, now back to Favre starting for an entire half in the Vikings next game on Monday in Houston and I will make this brief. Don't know why but I just have a bad feeling about him starting for that half. Don't know what it is but I just have this feeling that he will throw like 3 picks or get hurt. Now I hope %100 percent that I am wrong, but its just a feeling. I would like to see that game played like it is his 2nd pre-season game, which it is, and have him play most, maybe all, of just the 1st quarter. But I am not the coach so I just hope Chilly knows what he is doing.

Ok, enough of my feelings for one night, hope you all enjoyed this and I promise I will keep it updated more often. If I don't, I will hear it from Cookie... good man.

Next post: Twins related

Super Bowl Home-Boy!

Number 2... not dirty

2009-07-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

Back again after a wonderful 4th of July weekend. Well, actually, I worked on the 4th and on the 5th.... but at least I got to see some sweet fireworks a the Stone Arch Bridge. 2nd year in a row and great both times.

Now, on to the meat of this blog.... sports. First off, the Twins are starting to come around. They are winning series and some key players are emerging as game changers. Very nice performance by Blackburn on Sunday, to bad he didn't get the Complete Game Shutout... well, I was glad he didn't. You see, I have Inge on my Fantasy Team and my opponent had Blackburn... so when the HR was launch to take away the CG Shutout, it was a big enough point swing for me to win by about 15 points. The joy of fantasy baseball, sometimes you cheer against your favorite 9. Back to the Twins, big 6 games to finish off the home-stand against the Yankers and the White Sox... two teams I HATE the most. Looking for 4-2 record the next 6, that would be a nice way to seal up the first half and go into the All Star break. Tonight will be tough against Blubber Butt Sabathia, but should be fun.

Onto the Wolves. I didn't talk about them at all my first post so I suppose I can touch on them in this one. First off, loved the outcome of the draft. We had to take Rubio when he fell to us. Great bargaining chip and we hold his rights for EVER or until we trade him. Either way, he will change this Franchise for the better. Flynn will be fun to watch and Ellington will replace Miller with a younger body and more upside. Should be fun to watch the wolves again with a line-up of Flynn-Brewer-Ellington-Love-Jefferson. Can't wait! Now we just need to find a damn coach.

Final thought:

The official announcement of #4 coming to the Vikes might be delayed this week because of the McNair thing, sad way to remember a good QB with a Murder/Suicide. May still happen this week, but wouldn't be surprised if it happen next Monday or week as well.

Thats all for now, until next time.

Mike Kinghorn

First One

2009-07-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

So I decided to give this blogging thing a whirl. It will be mostly all about sports and mainly Minnesota sports but don't be surprised if some national sports stories get in here or maybe even some non-sports stuff.

So for this first post I will talk about the one big sports story that is dominating the MN scene, and that is the Minnesota Wild losing Marian Gaborik but gaining Martin Havlat. Not sure how to feel about this, there is some mixed emotions. First off, Gaborik was the final player from the original Wild team when they first came into the league and he is the teams All-Time leading scorer. But he is also the teams All-Time biggest headache when it came to injuries... the guy just couldn't stay healthy. While he was very fun to watch in the game, he wasn't fun to watch on the bench or in a suite. So in closing on Marian, it was fun while it lasted, but you were just hurt to much. I just hope that he isn't the next David Ortiz for MN teams... that would not be fun to watch. Moving on. When I first head the news from a fellow blogger, Dan Cook, that the Wild were going to sign Havlat, I was VERY giddy. An actual BIG name coming to the Wild via Free Agency. I then decided to look at his sats over his career and while the were impressive, I noticed one thing... he is also injury prone. While its not as big of a stand out as Gaborik's was, its still there. I can only sit back and wait if he stays healthy. If he can, he will be just as exciting and good if not better then Gaborik. In all, I am very happy that the Wild signed him. Next on the table, lets hope the Wild can make one more BIG signing because all us WIld fans know that we deserve it from this organization.

Thats all for now, until next time, thanks for reading.

Mike Kinghorn

p.s. Sorry if there are grammar issues, not the best at that.