Chicago Bulls vs Cleveland Cavaliers

Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls will face off against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight at 7:00 pm in a clash of the the two favorites to come out of the East conference. Chicago improved their roster in the off-season by adding All-Star Pau Gasol and drafting rookies like Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic from Spain. While the Cavaliers landed the best player in the NBA when James decided to come back to his hometown after leaving 4 years ago to join the Miami Heat and also traded for another All-Star in Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Bulls won their season opener in New York blowing out the Knicks by 24 points, while the Cavaliers lost their home opener on Thursday night to the same New York Knicks that the Bulls blew out. The Bulls home opener will be electrifying because Derrick Rose is making his debut after another injury that ended his season last year. This year the Bulls are better than ever and the expectations are higher as well, it's either Championship or bust for them. This will be a battle of the giants and even though it is early in the season both teams want to prove a point and set a statement. At the end of the day both the Bulls and Cavaliers are expected to play for the Eastern Conference title in which a trip to the NBA finals would be up for grabs. 

Giants are World Series Champions!

On Wednesday night the San Francisco Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in game 7 of the World Series, this is the Giants third World Series title in the last five seasons. A big reason for the Giants success was due to the left handed pitcher Madison Bumgarner (pictured above holding the World Series trophy) who pitched a World Series for the ages. Bumgarner went 2-0 in his two starts this World Series and then came out of the bullpen on two days' rest to throw five scoreless innings to secure the title for the Giants. Both teams scored two runs a piece in the second inning, but in the top of the fourth inning Michael Morse drove in Pablo Sandoval on a single which proved to be the game winning run. Bumgarner, the World Series MVP came in at the bottom of the fifth inning and the Royals didn't get a single hit off of him until the bottom of the ninth with one out remaining when Alex Gordon hit a single to center field, which skipped by Gregor Blanco, as a result Gordon ended up at third. The very next hitter Bumgarner got Salvador Perez to foulout to third basemen Pablo Sandoval for the final out of the World Series. Kansas City Royal fans were left in disbelief that they came so close to a World Series title, but came up short. The fans still thanked the Kansas City Royals for a great season in a gesture of chants and cheers, as much as they are disappointed they are still very proud of what they accomplished this season.

NBA 2014-2015 Season Opening Night

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:11777719

The 2014-2015 NBA season is under way tonight when the defending champions the San Antonio Spurs play against the Dallas Mavericks in San Antonio. The Spurs will be getting their Championship rings and raising their banner before today's game. Many sports analysts have the Spurs and the Chicago Bulls as favorites to reach the NBA finals, but San Antonio is in a harder conference which is the Western conference and it is very hard to repeat as champions in the NBA. The link above is about some of the trades that happened during the off-season, in which some teams improved their roster and have a better chance to reach the finals then they did last year. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls are the favorites coming out of the Eastern conference while the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and depending on when Kevin Durant comes back for the Oklahoma City Thunder those are the favorites coming out of the Western conference. The biggest question in the Eastern conference is how well Derrick Rose plays coming off of surgery the past two years, if he plays anything like he did during his MVP season a few years ago the Bulls are favorites over the new and improved Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers added LeBron James in the off-season and also traded for the All-Star Kevin Love from the Timberwolves, on paper these two teams are matched very well against the other but the Bulls have the edge with a deeper bench. The Bulls and Cavaliers play against each other on Friday at the United Center, we'll see how the two favorites play against each other and see if this game is an indication of what's to come this season. Other headlines for this season is whether Kobe Bryant will be the old Kobe after last season's surgery, if the San Antonio Spurs are getting too old and if they have enough gas in the tank after the 82 game season going into the playoffs. Also how Kevin Durant will come back after having surgery in the off-season, if Carmelo Anthony made the right decision in staying with the New York Knicks instead of signing with a contending team. So many questions surrounding teams and their players so the fans have to see how their teams will do this season.

Kobe Bryant's response to Ranking

On Thursday night after the Los Angeles Lakers lost against the Utah Jazz Kobe Bryant was asked what he thought of him being ranked the 40th best player in the NBA by ESPN.com. Bryant's response, "I've known for a long time [that] they're a bunch of idiots," he also called that ranking "silly" and "laughable." Kobe Bryant was questioned during the 2012-2013 season about his Achilles injury that ended his season. In the following season Bryant played just 6 games after suffering a left knee fracture, Bryant turned 36 years young this past August, his age plus his knee and Achilles problem are all reasons why ESPN.com ranked him so low. 

Kobe Bryant is a 5x NBA champion, 2x NBA Finals MVP, 16x NBA All-Star, the list goes on and on. Bryant is well decorated so him being ranked so low is like a slap in the face for him, but he says he is not going to use this year's ranking as motivation. To clarify on his statement Bryant said, "it really doesn't bother me too much. I'm going to do what I do regardless. God willing, I can stay healthy, and if I wind up proving a lot of people wrong in the process, that will just wind up being collateral damage." Kobe Bryant is easily one of the top 10 best players in NBA history and a future hall-of- famer, I'm sure this year he will look to prove all of his critics wrong and knowing Kobe he will remind them at the end of the year.

Royals vs Orioles; Game 1 of ALCS

The American League Championship series begins tonight when the Kansas City Royals travel to Baltimore and face off against the Orioles in a seven game series. There's a lot riding in this series because the last time the Orioles won a World Series title was back in 1983 and for the Royals it was in 1985. Both fan bases have suffered year after year, disappointment after disappointment and this year the Orioles or Royals can finally end the long drought. 

The Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles have gone a combined 60 years since their last World Series title still far less years than the disappointing Chicago Cubs but that's a different topic for a different time. Many people didn't give any of these teams a chance of making it to the playoffs let alone the World Series so that gives each team more motivation to win the ALCS. As much as Royal and Oriole fans are ecstatic to see their team on the verge of going on to the World Series it's sad to think that one fan base will be heart broken at the end of the series. Yes Royal fans and Oriole fans are used to their team mathematically being out of the playoffs in early June, July, or August but losing in October is much more painful. This would be like the Chicago Cubs in 2003 when they were outs away from advancing to the World Series after almost a century of misery, losing year after year and not having much to cheer about. Chicago Cubs fans were devastated myself included, the pain lasted for months even years after that thinking back that we were so close. Of course the infamous Bartman had a thing to do with it and we keep blaming him for the dismantle of game 6. Let's just hope we don't have another Bartman in the Orioles vs Royals series.

Opening Night for NHL

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:11668070

The NHL is officially under way for the 2014-215 season. The reigning champions LA Kings raised their 2013-2014 championship banner on wednesday night when they faced off against the San Jose Sharks. Last year the LA Kings came back from a 3-0 deficit against the Sharks and won it in 7 games in the opening round of the playoffs. That was only the 4th time that an NHL team has came back from a 3-0 deficit and win, the Kings went on to win their second Stanley Cup in three years. 

San Jose didn't forget about that series and they came into Staples Center and defeated the Kings 4-0. As for early predictions for the playoffs many analysts have the Chicago Blackhawks and LA Kings in the Western Conference final, as for the east the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers are the top two teams in their conference. The western conference is without a doubt the hardest conference, according to Barry Melrose the top 5 teams in the NHL are from the western conference. He has the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup this season but they it will pretty hard going through the western conference. We'll just have to wait and see if Melrose was right with his prediction. 

Derrick Rose talks about the Bulls Upcoming Season

The Chicago Bulls held their media day on Monday and Derrick Rose talks about his return from knee surgery and the upcoming Bulls season. Derrick Rose was the 2010-2011 league MVP and led the Bulls to the best record in the NBA. The following season in the first playoff game against the Philadelphia 76ers , Rose tore his ACL and was out for the rest of the playoffs. Every single fan in the arena held their breaths hoping for the best, but the next day the Bulls announced that Derrick Rose tore his ACL and the city of Chicago went numb. An ACL tear usually takes up to a year to comeback from but Rose took the entire 2012-2013 season off because he felt he wasn't 100% mentally ready. Many Bulls fans were mad because they wanted to see their former MVP play. Rose came back for the 2013-2014 season but tore his meniscus on his right knee just a few games into the season. As much as a Bull fan was disappointed to go through another year of Rose not playing they felt bad for Derrick Rose because he just couldn't catch a break. This year Rose says he's healthier then ever, he played in the World FIBA competition with team USA and won the Gold medal. Although Rose didn't have the best tournament he's right were he should be and the clip above Rose talks about his injuries and that he knows those questions will always be there especially this upcoming season. He also talks about how he feels the team is going to do this year and that he is excited because he believes the Bulls are so close to winning a championship soon. As a Bulls fan myself I can't wait to see hoe the Bulls play especially the former MVP, Derrick Rose.

Royals Walk Off In Extra innings

Kansas City Royals Walk Off vs A's

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:11621374

On Tuesday night the Kansas City Royals came back from a 7-3 deficit to defeat the Oakland Athletics at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals had not played in a playoff game in 29 years and it was a hell of game between the Royals and A's. Kansas City took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Hosmer singled in Cain, but the Oakland A's took the lead in the top of the 6th inning scoring 5 runs. It came down to the bottom of the 9th inning when J. Dyson scored on a sacrifice fly by Aoki to tie the game 7-7. In extra innings the A's tallied a run in the top of the 12th making it 8-7, but that lead didn't last long when Kansas City tied it up in the bottom of the inning and eventually winning it in walk-off fashion when Christian Colon scored on a single by Salvador Perez. Kansas City Royal fans waited 29 years to see their team play in a playoff game and it was worth the wait. Not many people gave the Royals a chance to win the Wild Card game against the A's but they proved them wrong and they have their support of their fans. The Royals move on to the next round as they travel to Los Angeles and face the Angels. Can they come up with another upset? We'll have to wait and see as the series begins October 2nd.