#NerdsUnite: Play on playa! (Breaking down the world of sports so you don't have to!)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Derek - I met him when I was professor for a day at CSF. Really rad dude, and he wants to come on board to help explain to us nerdy folk the wild world of sports. Smart dude, and knows his shizzy shiznat. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT DEREK!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @DerekJ_AllDay

Hey folks! Sorry everyone, this will probably come up a day late. I mixed up my routine now that school is out and lost track of the days. I'm already in summer mode! Anyways, nothing much has been going on in the sports world that I would like to discuss other than a couple points. So today's post is going to be a wrap-up of this week in sports, and then just a short blurb on the newest game I got, Diablo 3. I know I'm not the game writer, it will only be a paragraph or so. For the Heavens!

Well, it's been a dark couple months in southern California. Where should I begin...the Angels sign the biggest player since Barry Bonds, and in the first 2 months of his contract he is hitting .212 with 3 HR and 18 RBIs while being paid 24 million dollars (on average per year over course of  10 year contract) this year. The Angels are 18-25 and dead last in their division to start the season after much conversation about them being World Series favorites during the off-season. To be fair, other notable players such as Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar and Dan Haren aren't exactly pulling their weight either, but we aren't paying them 240 million dollars for the next ten years. In short, good fans such as myself are trying to be patient, but with Texas holding a 26-17 record and 8 games up on us, we can see the time ticking away.

Next disappointment? The Lakers. Ok let’s take a step back, how much of a disappointment can they be? The biggest reason I ask that is the organization knew they were close but did not have enough to win a championship this year, so in the off-season they pulled the trigger and completed a trade with the Hornets for Chris Paul. Paul is young and plays point guard, a position LA desperately needed to fill. Well, it was complete for everyone besides NBA commissioner David Stern. As I have written before in other posts, Stern vetoed the trade for no significant reason and then allowed a less favorable trade (for the Hornets) to pass so that Paul would land on the LA Clippers and much drama would be created between the LA-LA rivalry. Well Stern, now you fucked up!

(watch it, hilarious and you’ll get the reference. Be warned, a lot of cursing.)

In the end, the Clippers and the Lakers both ended up being middle of the road teams who didn't go far in the playoffs. Both unremarkable, and both in a state of flux now that the season has ended. Neither knowing how they are going to become competitors over the next couple of months. Stern is more overpaid than Pujols.

It was a dark night...a cold night....I was beaten down by the Angels and thrown into the Lakers of doom. A light was shining, but distant. Twas faint and sure to die, but the light kept burning and never went out. Then I heard with a harsh cold shout, we are the Kings of LA and fans should have no doubt! For we slay the Blues with a 4 game sweep, and now a 4^th win is what we seek. Against Phoenix who has one win against us, but fans stay determined and nothing will prevent us. From defeating our foes and reaching up, to play for our dreams and win the Stanley Cup!

Any poets or writers out there? Send me some poems on twitter @DerekJ_AllDay about anything that has to do with #TNTML subjects and the best ones (if any, ha) will be in my next post! Random, but it seemed like a fun idea. I went first, your turn!

If you were wondering, all of that was just random inspiration from the Kings. I love hockey although for some reason I don't watch it enough, and I am just happy that a So Cal team is actually playing well and for a championship. They are one win away from going to play for the Stanley Cup and they are also leading their current series 3 games to 1.

Don't get me wrong, I am still a Ducks fan for life.

Finally, Diablo 3. What an awesome game! I beat it on Normal difficulty with my barbarian and now I am almost done with Nightmare with the same character. The story is epic and probably better than D2, and all the classes and multiplayer systems are perfect. The “re-play value” of this game is the best of any game out there and you could be playing this as your favorite game for a long long time. It's perfectly simplistic and also very challenging with a lot of enemies and great combat. If you like computer games you should check out game play videos on Youtube and what not, you won't regret it. If any of you have the game already and want to play with me, tweet me @DerekJ_AllDay and we'll trade D3 info.

Thanks again guys, see you on Twitter!

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Derek on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Play on playa! (Breaking down the world of sports so you don't have to!)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Derek - I met him when I was professor for a day at CSUF. Really rad dude, and he wants to come on board to help explain to us nerdy folk the wild world of sports. Smart dude, and knows his shizzy shiznat. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT DEREK!!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @DerekJ_AllDay

Welcome back! This week in sports one again includes quite a few very interesting stories. The lead story in my mind is the NBA playoffs. As a Lakers fan it hasn’t been the best postseason, but outside of that the playoffs have certainly entertained us again this year. I am always excited about baseball, so I’m going to have to mix that into my post, especially after the huge day in baseball (and for my fantasy team) on Sunday. Last, but not least, I have to show love to my soccer fans (considering I am one) and talk about the epic conclusion of the English Premier League.

The Western playoffs proved to be much more dramatic than most people probably anticipated. In what would seem like a boring series that concluded in a 4 games to zero sweep, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. It isn’t a surprise that OKC won, but that they mopped the floor with them. Quite opposite to that series the Lakers were expected to take down the kid’s meal Denver Chicken Nuggets in 5 games at the most. Unfortunately for the Lakers and I, the Nuggets pushed us to seven games and even made the seventh game very interesting before LA finally won. Now, LA must face off against the younger, faster, but less experienced Thunder. Go Lakers! The very professional and dangerous San Antonio Spurs beat up on the lowly Utah Jazz, and will now try to slow down the inspired LA Clippers. On paper the Spurs are strong favorites and should win, but the Clippers are back in the playoffs for the first time since the Civil War and something in my gut tells me they won’t be dismantled quite as easily as the Jazz were.

Unfortunately, the East has not proven to be as dramatic. The oncoming showdown between the two elite teams, the Bulls and Heat, was ruined by an ACL injury to Bull’s superstar Derrick Rose. To make things worse, their center Joakim Noah was also injured during the series and out. Chicago lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in round 1, and will now have to look for a way to temporarily replace Rose heading into next season. The other half of that story, the Heat, did what they were supposed to do and defeated the Knicks four games to one. Two other teams advanced, the Boston Celtics after beating the very talented Atlanta Hawks, and the Indiana Pacers who beat up on a Dwight Howard-less Orlando Magic. The Heat seem to have an easy road to the finals at this point, and it looks as if only a team in the West will be able to vanquish them. Man, a Thunder vs. Heat final would be fun.

The baseball season marches on, so I’m not going to get too excited, but every year we see certain days that are just amazing. When these days happen to help my fantasy team they are even better! Going into Sunday I was tied 5-5 in my match-up against my good friend Christian. Realistically, it looked like I could only win 1 other category and I could sneak out of there with a modest 6-4 victory…until Votto and Cruz said NAY! My team has been slumping, and I was too far behind in home runs and RBIs to have a chance. My squad includes the previously slumping Joey Votto and Nelson Cruz. Sunday afternoon, Joey Votto hit 3 home runs including a walk-off grand slam, and collected 6 RBIs along with 4 runs. Moments later Nelson Cruz hit a home run, brought me 4 RBIs and 3 runs. Those familiar with ESPN fantasy baseball or baseball in general know that this is insane! In the end, I came back thanks to this big day and ended up winning 8-2. Keep it going boys!

Side note, anyone interested in playing fantasy baseball with my friends and I just tweet me @DerekJ_AllDay.

Finally, I have to entertain the masses (considering the whole globe loves soccer) and talk about the English Premier League’s epic finale! It came down to two teams, Manchester City and Manchester United (no relation). Besides the in city rivalry, the stress was even higher because both were playing two other teams with the first place finish in their league on the line. Man City knew one thing, win and you’re in. Considering they were playing fourth to last QPR, that shouldn’t be a problem. QPR had other things in mind. They pushed Man City all game and even though City had chances, the pressure was clearly present and they could not find the back of the net more than once. Man City also had to overcome a huge mental gaffe from a defender that handed a goal to their opponents. The scene was set, City was losing 2-1 and the game had just reached its 90^th minute. For you yanks, there’s 90 minutes in a game and then a certain amount of extra time allotted by the referee. As this was happening, Manchester United was beating a weak Sunderland team and in the end no miracle was found for Sunderland, all of those went to Man City. The extra time ticked on, 5 minutes, and City decided that nothing was going to stop them. In that five minutes they scored not one goal, but two goals to win 3-2 and take home the English Premier League championship. Unbelieeevvaaabblleee!!! *in an English accent* In a sport where last minute goals are so few and far between, Man City found two miracles in one game and I for one still can’t believe it.

Just took my accounting final this morning and I’m pretty sure I whooped its ass! Hope you are all feeling the same way!

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Derek on Twitter!

#NerdsUnite: Play on playa! (Breaking down the world of sports so you don't have to!)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Derek - I met him when I was professor for a day at CSUF. Really rad dude, and he wants to come on board to help explain to us nerdy folk the wild world of sports. Smart dude, and knows his shizzy shiznat. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT DEREK!!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @DerekJ_AllDay

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my sports corner, and thanks for reading! Good luck to everyone participating in their fantasy football championship games over these next two weeks. I lost my league and my bragging rights against all my friends, but I am also playing to win the title for a pay league on ESPN.com. So all is not lost! 

The shit has hit the fan for Major League Baseball. The iconic Milwaukee Brewer, Ryan Braun, recently tested positive for the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs. Braun won the Nation League Most Valuable Player award last year and lead his team to an NL Central division win. He brings everything to the table as a player and is one of the best in all of baseball. 

This isn't the first time that baseball has had an issue with the use of steroids. Most think of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa battling it out for the home run crown in 1998. McGwire eventually won putting up 70 home runs and setting the single season record. Later we all found out that McGwire set the record while using performance enhancing steroids. Barry Bonds came around a few years after McGwire and again set the single season home run record; all under the use of steroids. Since then the league has greatly increased their drug testing program, and many players have been given 50 game suspensions when testing positive. More importantly, when you test positive you are put under more scrutiny than most people are capable of handling. 

Steroids have been a serious stigma in baseball since I became a fan, and quite frankly nothing really surprises me anymore. Although, I will say that this is probably the most surprising positive test we have dealt with. Since Braun came into the league he has always been a poster boy of good behavior for the league. He put up phenomenal numbers and the fans in Milwaukee go absolutely bat shit crazy for this guy. He had that charm, and that seemingly good nature that told you he would never betray the game or his fans by using steroids. 

There is a slight glimmer of hope revolving around the Ryan Braun situation, and that is because he is appealing his positive test and the 50 game suspension the subsequently follows. There is a slight possibility that his test was a false positive, or that the test could have shown a positive result due to the use of certain medications; which is what Braun claims. Rumors have spread on the internet that the positive test was due to increased testosterone caused by herpes medication, but this has not been proven and likely came from a source as reliable as TMZ. No player has ever had a successful appeal so it is hard to really take him seriously, but there is a first time for everything. 

As a fan of the game of baseball I hate seeing these clowns ruin the integrity of the league for all of the other athletes who are competing under fair circumstances. Although, there is no doubt at all that the league has cleaned up its act quite a bit more since 1998 when I first became a fan so there is most certainly hope for MLB to completely clean up the game. A lot less people are using steroids, and if they are using they seem to all be getting caught. Steroids in sports, and especially baseball, is an extremely hot button issue and has really been one of the longer controversies in sports of my generation.  

We can all take consolation in the fact that mega superstars like Albert Pujols, Jim Thome, Jose Reyes, Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver and so on have never turned up with a positive steroid test and many other super stars can be added to the list with them. Is the game really as tainted as the media makes it appear?

Tweet your thoughts @DerekJ_AllDay and give me your opinion on the steroids situation in baseball. Brewers fans I'm looking at you!!

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Derek on Twitter!