Experts

Source: ESPN.com Screenshot

I just have to laugh at these things. It was the same way with the last series vs. Golden State. No one gives us much credit. We win titles.. we contend every single season for the last ... 19 seasons? Nine of these seasons we've been in the conference finals. C'mon, man! And Magic was saying the other night (just before our game-3 win, when ESPN thought of nothing better than to allow these guys to ponder when the Spurs were going to retire.. when they'll be done..), "All these young teams are gonna take over the Spurs next year..."

We're all used to it though.. All the media bias. All the lack of respect. All I have to say to them is "Expert this!"


Source / Via

My Perfect Week

I've only done it one other time in 17 years of NFL picks. Yeah it's pretty rare. I don't remember many perfect pick 'em weeks happening, although I suspect there were probably several for this week-7. Kudos to me!

ESPN's "Expert" Picks - Western Conference Finals

Source

I'll just give everyone a few days to take all of this in..

For now, here is a good synopsis of my opinion of Israel Gutierrez, written by Big50 at Pounding the rock dot com. (By the way he was the only one of these "experts" who picked the Lakers to beat the Thunder, but he also picked Heat over Pacers in 5, Celtics over 76ers in 5, Spurs over Clippers in 7, and (gulp) Spurs over Jazz in 7).

I'll be back with more..

My Picks

Spurs over Jazz in 5.
Grizzlies over Clippers in 6.
Thunder over Mavs in 6.
Lakers over Nuggets in 6.

Bulls over 76ers in 6.
Celtics over Hawks in 7.
Heat over Knicks in 6.
Pacers over Magic in 5.

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Spurs over Grizzlies in 4.
Thunder over Lakers in 6.

Celtics over Bulls in 7.
Heat over Pacers in 5.

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Spurs over Thunder in 5.
Heat over Celtics in 6.

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Spurs over Heat in 5.


Championship #5 for my Spurs.

NCAA Tournament

Image Source

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days - It's NCAA Tournament time, and I've spent a bunch of my free time creating my brackets. I think I've done 10 of them the last 36 hours. And I plan to win.

As a consensus of all my brackets so far, I like Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Louisville/Missouri, and North Carolina for my final four. Florida State, Kansas, and Baylor, are gonna make it interestingly tough, though.

San Antonio Spurs Recent Draft History

(and who we could've gotten over the years..) - Long post.


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2011: Cory Joseph (Texas) #29. Passed on: Kyle Singler (Duke) Detroit pick #33, Jon Leuer (Wisconsin) Milwaukee pick #40.

Ádám Hanga (Hungary) #59. Passed on: Isaiah Thomas, Jr. (Washington) Sacramento pick #60.


2010: James Anderson (Oklahoma St.) #20. Passed on: Jordan Crawford (Xavier) NJ Nets pick #27, Dexter Pittman (Texas) Miami pick #32, Landry Fields (Stanford) NY Knicks pick #39.

Ryan Richards (United Kingdom) #49. Passed on: Jeremy Evans (W.Kentucky) Utah pick #55.


2009: DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh) #37. Passed on: Jodie Meeks (Kentucky) Milwaukee pick #41, Marcus Thornton (LSU) Miami pick #43 (to Sacramento), Danny Green (North Carolina) Cleveland pick #46.

Jack McClinton (Miami) #51.
Nando de Colo (France) #53.


2008: George Hill (UIPUI) #26. Passed on: Darrell Arthur (Kansas) New Orleans pick #27 (to Memphis), Donte Green (Syracuse) Memphis pick #28 (to Sacramento), Nikola Peković (Montenegro) Minnesota pick #31, DeAndre Jordan (Texas A&M) LAC pick #35.

Goran Dragić (Slovenia) #45 (traded to Phoenix).
James Gist (Maryland) #57.


2007: Tiago Splitter (Brazil) #28. Passed on: Carl Landry (Purdue) Seattle pick #31 (to Houston).

Marcus Williams (Arizona) #33. Passed on: Marc Gasol (Spain) LA Lakers pick #48 (to Memphis)


2006: Damir Markota (Croatia) #59.


2005: Ian Mahinmi (France) #28. Passed on: David Lee (Florida) NYK pick #30, Brandon Bass (LSU) New Orleans pick #33 (to Dallas), CJ Miles (Skyline HS, Dallas) Utah pick #34, Monta Ellis (Lanier HS, MS) Golden State pick #40, Andray Blatche (S.Kent Prep) Washington pick #49, Marcin Gortat (Poland) Phoenix pick #57 (to Orlando - to Phoenix)

(Today I am reminded Andrew Bogut was the #1 overall pick in 2005.)


2004: Beno Udrih (Slovenia) #28. Passed on: Anderson Varejão (Brazil) Orlando pick #31, Trevor Ariza (UCLA) NY Knicks pick #44.

Sergei Karaulov (Uzbekistan) #58. Ehh..


2003: Leandro Barbosa (Brazil) #28. Passed on: Josh Howard (Wake Forest) Dallas pick #29, Matt Bonner (Florida) Chicago pick #45 (to Toronto), Mo Williams (Alabama) Utah pick #47, James Jones (Miami) Indiana pick #49, Kyle Korver (Creighton) NJ Nets pick #51 (to Philly), and undrafted players Marquis Daniels (Auburn), and José Calderón (Spain).


2002: John Salmons (Miami) #26 (to Philly). Passed on: Carlos Boozer (Duke) Cleveland pick #35, Matt Barnes (UCLA) Memphis pick #46, Rasual Butler (La Salle) Miami pick #53.

Luis Scola (Argentina) #56 (rights traded to Houston 2 years later). Passed on: Devin Brown (UTSA), Reggie Evans (Iowa), Udonis Haslem (Florida) - all 3 undrafted.


2001: Tony Parker (France) #28. Passed on: Gilbert Arenas (Arizona) Golden State pick #30, Mehmet Okur (Turkey) Detroit pick #37, Earl Watson (UCLA) Seattle pick #39, and undrafted players Carlos Arroyo (Florida Int'l), Maurice Evans (Texas), Jamario Moon (Meridian CC), Andres Nocioni (Argentina).


2000: Chris Carrawell (Duke) #41. Passed on: Michael Redd (Ohio St.) Milwaukee pick #43.

Cory Hightower (Indian Hills CC) #54 (to LA Lakers). Passed on: Malik Allen (Villanova), Ime Udoka (Portland St.) - both undrafted.

(Today I learned Kenyon Martin was the #1 overall pick in 2000.)


1999: Leon Smith (MLK HS, Chicago) #29. Passed on: Gordan Giriček (Croatia) Dallas pick #40.
Manu Ginobili (Argentina) #57. Passed on: Chris Andersen (Blinn), Raja Bell (Florida Int'l) - both undrafted.


1998: Felipe López (St. John's) #24. Passed on: Al Harrington (St.Patrick's HS, NJ) Indiana pick #25, Rashard Lewis (Alief Elsik HS, Houston) Seattle pick #32

Derrick Dial (E.Michigan) #52. Passed on: Brad Miller (Purdue), Earl Boykins (E.Michigan), Anthony Carter (Hawaii) - all 3 undrafted.


1997: Tim Duncan (Wake Forest) #1. Passed on: Everybody else. If you need to see who could've been better in this case, you shouldn't be reading this, but here you go.


1996: NONE


1995: Cory Alexander (Virginia) #29. Passed on: Tyus Edney (UCLA) Sacramento pick #47.


1994: Bill Curley (Boston College) #22. Passed on: Wesley Person (Auburn) Phoenix pick #23, Monty Williams (Notre Dame) NY Knicks pick #24, Greg Minor (Louisville) LA Clippers pick #25, Charlie Ward (Florida St.) NY Knicks pick #26, Voshon Lenard (Minnesota) Milwaukee pick #46.


1993: Chris Whitney (Clemson) #47. Passed on: Bruce Bowen (Cal St.-Fullerton), Bo Outlaw (Houston) - both undrafted.


1992: Tracy Murray (UCLA) #18 (traded to Milwaukee). Passed on: Latrell Sprewell (Alabama) Golden St. pick #24, PJ Brown (Louisiana Tech) NJ Nets pick #29, Popeye Jones (Murray St.) Houston pick #41

Henry Williams (UNC-Charlotte) #44. Passed on: David Wesley (Baylor) undrafted.


1991: Greg Sutton (Oral Roberts) #49. Passed on: Darrell Armstrong (Fayetteville State), David Benoit (Alabama) - both undrafted.


1990: Dwayne Schintzius (Florida) #24. Passed on: Lance Blanks (Texas) Detroit pick #26, Elden Campbell (Clemson) LA Lakers pick #27, Toni Kukoč (Yugoslavia) Chicago pick #29.

Tony Massenburg (Maryland) #43. Passed on: Antonio Davis (UTEP) Indiana pick #45, Cedric Ceballos (Cal St.-Fullerton) Phoenix pick #48.

Sean Higgins (Michigan) #54.


1989: Sean Elliott (Arizona) #3. Passed on: Glen Rice (Michigan) Miami pick #4, JR Reid (North Carolina) Charlotte pick #5, Stacey King (Oklahoma) Chicago Bulls pick #6, Nick Anderson (Illinois) Orlando pick #11, Mookie Blaylock (Oklahoma) NJ Nets pick #12, Tim Hardaway (UTEP) Golden St. pick #14, Dana Barros (Boston College) Seattle pick #16, Shawn Kemp (Trinity Valley CC) Seattle pick #17, BJ Armstrong (Iowa) Chicago pick #18, Vlade Divac (Yugoslavia) LA Lakers pick #26, Cliff Robinson (UConn) Portland pick #36.


1988: Willie Anderson (Georgia) #10. Passed on: Will Perdue (Vanderbilt) Chicago pick #11, Harvey Grant (Oklahoma) Washington pick #12, Dan Majerle (Central Michigan) Phoenix pick #14, Brian Shaw (UC-Santa Barbara) Boston pick #24.

Shelton Jones (St. John's) #27. Passed on: Vinny Del Negro (NC St.) Sacramento pick #29, Vernon Maxwell (Florida) Denver pick #47, Steve Kerr (Arizona) Phoenix pick #50, Anthony Mason (Tennessee St.) Portland pick #53.

Barry Sumter (Austin Peay St.) #56.

Archie Marshall (Kansas) #75. Passed on: Avery Johnson (Southern), Tim Legler (La Salle) - both undrafted.


1987: David Robinson (Navy) #1. Passed on: Everybody else! Notables: Scotty Pippen, Kenny Smith, Kevin Johnson, Horace Grant, Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson, Reggie Lewis.

Greg Anderson (Houston) #23.


1986: Johnny Dawkins (Duke) #10. Passed on: John Salley (Georgia Tech) Detroit pick #11, Del Curry (Virginia Tech) Utah pick #13, Scott Skiles (Michigan St.) Milwaukee pick #22, Arvydas Sabonis (USSR) Portland pick #24, Mark Price (Georgia Tech) Dallas pick #25 (to Cleveland), Dennis Rodman (SE Oklahoma St.) Detroit pick #27.

Kevin Duckworth (E.Illinois) #33. Passed on: David Wingate (Georgetown) Philly pick #44, Jeff Hornacek (Iowa St.) Phoenix pick #46.


1985: Alfredrick Hughes (Loyola) #14. Passed on: Joe Dumars (McNeese St.) Detroit pick #18, AC Green (Oregon St.) LA Lakers pick #23, Terry Porter (Wisc.-Stevens Pt.) Portland pick #24.

Mike Brittain (South Carolina) #29. Passed on: Manute Bol (Sudan) Washington pick #31.

Tyrone Corbin (DePaul) #35. Passed on: Michael Adams (Boston College) Sacramento pick #66, Mario Elie (American Int'l) Milwaukee pick #160 (wow).


1984: Alvin Robertson (Arkansas) #7. Passed on: Otis Thorpe (Providence) KC Kings pick #9, Kevin Willis (Michigan St.) Atlanta pick #11, John Stockton (Gonzaga) Utah pick #16, Jerome Kersey (Longwood) Portland pick #46.

Joe Binion (NC A&T) #57. Passed on: Rick Carlisle (Virginia) Boston pick #70.

Ozell Jones (Cal St.-Fullerton) #90.


1983: John Paxson (Notre Dame) #19.

I stop here because, well our franchise was frankly very young. Not only that, but only Gene Banks and a handful of players were decent noteworthy picks from the first 6 seasons. We all know about the Iceman, George Gervin, but the details of how we acquired the Hall of Famer from the Virginia Squires is still very sketchy.

Sources: Basketball-Reference.com, and Wikipedia's yearly "NBA draft [year]" pages.

Well I Made it to the Leaderboard

...but then I missed my next pick to go to 16-straight. So close, but yet so far.


Click to enlarge!

My previous best was 12 (twice). Started out being really picky, and then when the streak gets longer & longer, you can't help but be even more picky. Then you get towards the end of the month, when the contest ends, and realize you're gonna run out of days. So on a day in which I didn't feel very confident in any of the possible props, I decided to go with "Syracuse winning margin" over "Connecticut 3-pointers made". The Orange won by 2, but UConn had 6 threes. Sigh! I was pretty confident they'd win by 10-15 or so. Oh well..

ESPN's Streak for the Cash challenge, in case you want to play..

Must Be A Cardinals Fan

Via

My PGA Championship Foursome

Ernie Els (Source)
Steve Stricker (Source)
Bubba Watson (Source)
Justin Leonard (Source)

My Final Four Picks

One of the Greatest Inventions Ever

These were included in the complimentary bathroom items on our last cruise. I love 'em!



* Unique design features 76 soft rubber bristles.
* Flexible bristles slide between teeth to remove plaque and food particles.
* Massages and stimulates gums.
* Promotes blood circulation for healthy, firm gum tissue.
* Extremely soft and comfortable between teeth and along gums.
* Tapered to fit between small spaces.
* Convenient travel case included for on-the-go use.
* Sold in Package of 40 Picks.

The main Sunstar Americas, Inc. website