Articles from April 2011
NBA Playoffs: Round 2, Ding!
April 28th, 2011Anyone who has ever watched soccer has experienced the frustration formally known as flop. Formerly known as acting.
I just finished watching the Champions League semi-final between the two best teams in Spanish Premier League, Barcelona and Real Madrid, and I can safely say soccer is a different animal than basketball. In basketball, there exists a legitimate strategy called Hack-A-Shaq. In soccer, you clutch your face in agony, the opponent gets a red card, and you've won the match for your team.
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How to Beat Barcelona
April 28th, 2011Is it fair to say Barcelona's excitement rating is low because they are so much better than every opponent? Is it fair to say the problem with Barcelona is that they're just too good? Is being too good a problem? If you're on the other team it's a problem. A big problem.
The question for the teams still standing in the Champions League is how to solve that problem? How do you beat Barcelona? The question for the rest of us: can anybody?
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NBA Playoff Checkup: The Doctor Is In
April 21st, 2011Dr. Wiley is not a medical doctor. Dr. Wiley does not sugar coat his diagnoses. Dr. Wiley refers to himself in the third person because Dr. Wiley imagines that's how hot-shot surgeons show off to their nurses. Dr. Wiley sneaks lolly-pops when the nurses aren't looking.
He also has the solution for every struggling playoff team, and it's not an apple a day. Dwight Howard eats a whole orchard for breakfast. Chris Paul has trouble fitting them in his mouth. It's not as simple as vitamin C.
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NBA Playoff Matchup Breakdown
April 14th, 2011EASTERN CONFERENCE
#1 Chicago Bulls - #8 Indiana Pacers
The Bulls won 3 out of 4 during the regular season. Derrick Rose averaged 25 pts, 8 assists per game, and if he's anything like Jordan, he will score twice as much in the playoffs. Jordan averaged 37 in 1990, and then 35 in both 1992 and 1993. The Pacers went 37-45 in the regular season. Need I even provide a prediction?
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The EPL Gets Thuuzed
April 14th, 2011It's hard to know if this season in the EPL is different from past seasons. It's hard to quantify if the bottom third of the league, the 7 worst teams, are collectively better this year than they have been in past years. They appear better. At least to me, they appear better. Take a team like West Ham, bottom of the barrel all the way. And yet, I think they're pretty good. I think there are a whole group of players on West Ham that even the best teams in the EPL might covet. Really, you say. Such as who?
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The Butlers and Connecticuts of the NBA
April 11th, 2011If Butler had shot 28%, they would have beat Connecticut. On average, they shoot 45%. Their 18% field goal percentage on Monday was one of the 50 worst shooting performances against a D-1 team in the last 15 years (source). Their two leading scorers, Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack, missed all 11 of their two-point shots.
As a team, they went 2-31 from two-point land. Two for thirty-one. Nope, just as pathetic even when I spell it out. 6.5%. Nope, still the percent of bulldog owners who turned their pets in for Llaso Apso's after Monday's embarrassment.
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EPL Trade Fantasies
April 11th, 2011A few weeks ago, my compadre Wiley told us all about the trades completed in the NBA just prior to the trade deadline. Now I can't tell you about the trades completed before the EPL trade deadline, can I? There is no trade deadline in soccer, and for that matter, there is no trading.
What I can tell you about is a few EPL trades (trades, not transfers) I dreamt up one night. Why was I dreaming about trades in a no trade league? Well, that has to do with figuring out if Arsenal could ever win an important game again. Why Arsenal? Well, that has to do with my son the Arsenal fan.
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Thuuz Excitement Monitor for the NBA and NHL Playoffs and MLB
April 6th, 2011Get your Thuuz Excitement Monitor for baseball and the upcoming basketball and hockey playoffs.
In February we announced the launch of the Thuuz Excitement Monitor embeddable widget.
Different sports and leagues are accessible from the drop down menu and the tracker is configurable to default to a specific team or league.
For help customizing a widget for your website, please contact us at: partners@thuuz.com.
Excitement Monitor with Default to MLB Baseball
Cut and paste the following code into your website:
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March Sadness
April 1st, 2011Start the funereal procession. R.I.P. Jimmer. R.I.P Ohio State. Quick, Shaka Smart chant the right words to bring all my favorite teams and players back to life. It all happened so fast. Can somebody tell me where to poke my Jimmer doll to turn back time so I can re-watch the Sweet 16?
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USA vs. Argentina Recap
April 1st, 2011The USA vs. Argentina?
Gulp.
I know It was just a friendly but how can I ignore the game between the USA and Argentina? To begin with I thought it was an intriguing game, didn't you? Sure, if you're a big Argentina fan you probably didn't find it all that intriguing. You probably thought Argentina could have and should have scored at least a couple more goals and taken all the intrigue out of it. But for fans like me, fans of the mortal teams (not Spain or Holland or Brazil or Argentina or maybe Germany) this game was a lot of fun.
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