Back from the future! Or Past?

Its has been over a year since I have posted and boy have things changed.

Personally, my life is completely different. It has been a stressful and tough road but with love and support of those close to me, I have done well for myself.

PS4 and Xbox One launched and although I own both I must, the selection of games has been disappointing. The future is bright and I'm looking forward to another year of The GAF Madden League. The Vita is slowly being phased out and EA just continues to find ways to keep its top spot of worse company ever.

LeBron went home, Melo cashed in, Falcons imploded, Paul George's leg went left while he went right, Tiger sucks still and Tony Stewart mows down a fellow racer...what an odd year!

Atlanta Falcons Season Preview 2013: Offense

The Atlanta Falcons enter this season with high expectations. Coming a half short of a Super Bowl trip, the Dirty Birds are poised to take the next step with a revamped secondary and a new running back to get those tough yards.

Matt Ryan played extremely well last season and with all due respect, he should have. Weapons like Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez and the explosive Julio Jones, its no wonder why the Falcons were in the top half in the league in passing and points scored.

The inability to get the short yards is what ultimately did the Falcons offense in. Third and short, or goal line situations were return to sender. Jaquizz Rodgers not having enough punch and an out of gad Micheal Turner kept the Falcons from moving the ball and burning out the clock with a lead.  They have signed a replacement for Micheal Turner in Steven Jackson who is a strong power back with some left in the tank and should be able to grind out the yards that Turner left on the field. He is also a great blocker and a very good receiver out of the back field.

The OLine took a hit when we released veteran T Tyson Clabo. The injury to T Mike Johnson puts us in a dire situation upfront which could impact the running game and more importantly the timing and health of newly resigned QB Matt Ryan.

All, in all, the Falcons look to air it out early and often and i'm sure SJAX will get a ton of carries especially in short yardage and to milk the clock. Closing out games in the playoffs was ugly, we got lucky against Seattle and blew it against the Niners.

New Beginings

  My relationship of more than seven years ended two months ago.

I don't know why that sentence was hard to write but there it is.  Roller coaster wouldn't give it justice but we certainly had our ups and downs. I want to say that i regret nothing because everything happens for a reason but i will say there are a lot of things i wish i did different and things i wish she did different.

Here i sit on the computer on her birthday as she celebrates, i also celebrate. I celebrate new beginnings. I celebrate every new day i spend with my girls, i celebrate the new challenges that will surely be placed in my path and i celebrate whatever comes my way because things that come to end signal another to begin and I await what's in store for me.

Knicks Season in review

The Knicks had a very good season. A season i think most would agree was surprising especially the torrid start. Jason Kidd was gelling and create for the Knicks, Felton was back to the Felton of old and even Rasheed Wallace was giving the Knicks some good minutes and some toughness.  

If you would tell me in the preseason the Knicks would finish with the second seed in the east and win 54 games i would have called you crazy. I expected mid 40s and maybe fighting for 4-6 seeds. I wonder if that makes me a pessimistic fan or a realistic one.  How ever you deem the Knicks season the playoffs is where teams really show what they are made of and we folded like a WWE chair :/  Melo played as hard as he could with the help he got, which is to say not much at all. JR Smith is still missing, Felton was stunted and our shooting was nerfed. I won't even mention Jason Kidd's funk which i believe has forced him into retirement. 

The Pacers played great. They played strong, fast and decisive. I don't want to take anything away from them especially the play of Roy Hibbert and Lance Stephenson. The Knicks had no answer and the Pacer shooters made their shots. The Knicks played good to great defense but we just couldn't score. JR didn't get going, Amar'e just couldnt get a roll going due to his limited minutes, Kidd was horrible and Novak didn't even play. The Knicks best players were Prigioni, Melo and Chris Copeland. Tyson Chandler was just abused. 

I hope we can draft well and hope that Kidd retires, Amar'e comes back full strength and Melo comes back healthy. We got close, but we could have played a whole lot better!

New Year, New Hope?

2012. It feels like it was yesterday when i day dreamed of the "future" with flying cars and crazy technology in our planes, trains and video games.

Sadly we have no flying cars, no hover boards and a knockoff version of the auto lacing sneakers from Back to The Future. No amazing energy or fuel breakthroughs. It's kinda sad actually. For everything we move forward in we still still in others.

The loss of life in my family this past week has been very humbling. It gives pause to what matters the most and what doesn't. Unfortunately, this country is guided by a blind passion to be petty. What matter most to people is usually stupid things that usually got blown up to huge fights and next thing you as you recall the stupidity that just happened it just sounded very shallow and baseless.

Lesson? Live to fight another day as today can be enjoyed and tomorrow not promised.

Welcome to NY Iman Shumpert...wait who??

Well, i will say this. I did alot of research going into this draft as to what we needed, what would be available and what i could live with coming away from this draft. One thing i knew for certain, The Knicks would buy another draft pick. I assumed it would be late first round, maybe 30 from Chicago. They did buy a pick and it was a second rounder.

Here was my expectations. Take the best player available at 17. I assumed one of the lottery talents would fall and get snatched up by us...it almost happened.

 F Kawhi Leneard was taken by the Pacers @ 15. My next step was to take one of these four: Nikola Vucevic, Chris Singleton,  Marshon Brooks, Kenneth Faried or Donatas . Vucevic went a pick before, an we had a choice of the rest. Brooks the SG in the Spreewell mold, Faried a rebounding machine, Donatas a 7ft Andrea Bargnani type who would do fantastic in Mike D's system but wouldn't defend a fly, Singleton the best defender in the draft, combo PF/SF and with the 17th pick in NBA draft...The NY Knicks select..... Iman Shumpert?!?!??!

Doing my research, i knew of him. I saw videos, read the scouting reports but with the more " known " targets on the board you didn't expect it. After a day or two of calming down, the pick makes alot of sense. We need defenders, we need athletes. Shumpert is a stud defender, he can guard 1-3. He also is looking to be groomed as a PG. He is ideal size to play the 2 as well. 42" vertical, 6'10" wing span and quickness allows him to be our go to defender against the Kobes, Wades, Westbrook and Lebron's of the world.

We need interior defense also, and Singleton would have fit the bill but the minutes and rotation with Amar'e and Melo would not have saved him many minutes. Shumpert will be in the guard rotation right now.

We bought the 45th pick from the Hornets and got the rights to Josh Harellson, a C with a mean streak. About time! We need a good who will avg more fouls than points and can pick and roll and hustle. Hope he makes the team.

Hope this lockout ends, the Knicks need some big men..i hear Kwame Brown is the target...help me!

One shall rise, and one shall fall..

13 years pushing and grinding and sacrificing all that he is worth...it pays off in ways he could never have imagined. Dirk, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry have achieved their goals, and well deserved as no one had them reaching the second round let alone defeating the defacto champs, Miami heat.

I have always enjoyed watching Dirk play. Something about a seven footer with shooting skills that rival the leagues elite guards. He always played his game, plug him in for 20/9/4 with 50/40/90 shooting %s. He was heading down the path of greatest superstar to never win a championship, that is until this year. He rose to the challenge when others wilted under the pressure.

All praise Dirk, the NBA's savior against the evil empire.