My Two Cents: The Islander Narrative

We have a new feature on the Random Musings blog: My Two Cents. This feature is a series of blog posts that will serve as quick reactions to topical sports news. The blog posts will be quick bursts of thought of under 500 words, meant to give you my opinion quickly instead of waiting for the next Sports With The StatMan show. Sometimes, it will be a reaction to a sports column or a reaction to something that happens on or off the field. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to leave a comment after this post to let me know what you think.

The Story: As we are heading into NHL training camp, Kevin Allen of USA Today wrote a nice article about Matt Moulson and the adversity he has faced in his career.  Moulson has become a fixture with the Islanders and has quietly created a tandem with John Tavares to rival the best in the league.  But, he referred to the Islanders as looking for back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since the 1990s, which is not true, and furthers the narrative of the losing on Long Island.

My Two Cents:
I love Kevin Allen.  He writes for more casual fans than any other hockey writer.  But, writing to casual fans who do not pay much attention to details, it can easily further the narrative of a team largely ignored otherwise.  I’m sure this is an oversight, but how did this get through in Kevin's Friday article on Matt Moulson?

Today, Moulson, 29, is a three-time NHL 30-goal scorer and a key player as the Islanders seek back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since the early 1990s.

I know that, as Moulson was quoted in the article, the Islanders do not get a lot of media on the island, but how could anyone fact-checking this article not see that the Islanders made the playoffs three straight years (2001-04)?  It would've taken five seconds.  This is the type of lazy things sportswriters write about the Islanders.  Because it is easy.  Because fact-checking is overrated.  Maybe Kevin is mailing it in from a nice vacation spot right before he works every day for six months.

Yes, we get the point that the Islanders have not had a good run in 20 years, reaching the Semis in 1993.  And, yes, they haven't WON a playoff series in 20 years.  But, it is another log on the fire for Islander fans who have seen their team dragged through the mud, sometimes unnecessarily and you can tell it is a sensitive subject.

The Isles have given plenty of fodder for naysayers and critics for 20 years and most of the time it has been warranted.  But, inaccuracies help further the narrative of the "hapless" New York Islanders.

Good thing the Islanders are turning this around in the right way for long-term success.  Good thing they are moving to Brooklyn soon so they will get more media coverage.  We can finally put this tired narrative to bed and the media may start to pay a little more attention to the team on the ice.

NFL 2013: Week 2 Picks

We got off to a rough start to the 2013 season.  Only our 9-7 showing in picking the games straight up could be termed “mildly successful”.  Here were the failures: knocked out in the Knockout Pool after Week 1, 6-10 against the spread, 0-4 picking local games against the spread, and losing 137-100 in our Start ‘Em/Anti Start ‘Em game.  Just awful.

You have heard some of our picks on the Sports With The StatMan Saturday morning show, “This Week in Fantasy Sports”, but here are all of our picks for the week.

JOIN US!

It is never too late to join and see how you measure up against me and other listeners who participate.  You can enter your picks and join the groups I created for the show.  The winner will be touted on the Saturday show and, if you top the charts, you could even call in to give me your picks!  Here is how:

Game	Goal	Where to Play	Group to Join
Eliminator Challenge	Pick 1 winner per week, no repeat picks (a.k.a. Knockout Pool)	ESPN.com	Sports With The StatMan
Pigskin Pick’Em (Straight Up)	Pick a winner for each game, every week	ESPN.com	Sports w/the StatMan-Str
Pigskin Pick’Em (Against the Spread)	Pick a winner against the point spread for each game, every week	ESPN.com	Sports w/the StatMan-ATS
NFL Gridiron Challenge	Pick a team of players with a $50 million salary cap	ESPN.com	Sports With The StatMan

KNOCKOUT POOL/ESPN.com ELIMINATOR CHALLENGE

It is a new year and definitely different luck this time around.  Tampa Bay, admittedly a questionable pick, was done in by a personal foul penalty to put the Jets into field goal range.  Nick Folk made the kick and the Jets pulled off an improbable 18-17 opening week win.

This week’s pick: Cincinnati defeating Pittsburgh

The Bengals are on the way up and the Steelers are on their way down.  Ben Roethlisberger is still on the team, but the rest of the team is not as easy to recognize.  The biggest issue for Pittsburgh is their lack of a running game, as Isaac Redman is the head of a committee that includes the released-then-re-signed Jonathan Dwyer.  I am going with the Bengals on Monday night to even their record and push Pittsburgh to 0-2.

PAST PICKS

Week 1: Tampa Bay (L at NYJ)

GAME PICKS/ESPN.com PIGSKIN PICK ‘EM

Here are the game picks for this week.  We talk about the local games and the three of the other most important games, our “Big Games”, on our weekly This Week in Fantasy Sports segment on Saturdays, but we pick every game, every week here on the blog.  New this year is the listing of our preseason pick we made for our NFL Preview series on the show.  This will give you an idea on what I thought of each team before the season and what I am thinking of each team during the season.

LOCAL GAMES

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Week 1	1-3	0-4	2-2
WEEK 2 LOCAL GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
N.Y. Jets at New England (Thursday night)	NE	NE (-12.5)	NE
San Diego at Philadelphia (Sunday 1pm)	PHL	PHL (-7.5)	PHL
Denver at N.Y. Giants (Sunday 4pm)	DEN	DEN (-5.5)	DEN

BIG GAMES

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Week 1	2-1	1-2	2-1
WEEK 2 BIG GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Dallas at Kansas City (Sunday 1pm)	DAL	DAL (+2.5)	DAL
San Francisco at Seattle (Sunday night)	SFO	SFO (+2.5)	SEA
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (Monday nght)	CIN	CIN (-7.5)	PIT

OTHER GAMES

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Week 2	6-3	5-4	8-1
WEEK 1 OTHER GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
St. Louis at Atlanta (Sunday 1pm)	ATL	ATL (-7.5)	ATL
Carolina at Buffalo (Sunday 1pm)	BUF	BUF (+2.5)	CAR
Minnesota at Chicago (Sunday 1pm)	CHI	MIN (+6.5)	CHI
Cleveland at Baltimore (Sunday 1pm)	BAL	BAL (-6.5)	BAL
Washington at Green Bay (Sunday 1pm)	GBY	GBY (-7.5)	GBY
Tennessee at Houston (Sunday 1pm)	HOU	TEN (+9.5)	HOU
Miami at Indianapolis (Sunday 1pm)	IND	IND (-3.5)	IND
Detroit at Arizona (Sunday 4pm)	DET	DET (-0.5)	ARZ
New Orleans at Tampa Bay (Sunday 4pm)	NO	NO (-3.5)	NO
Jacksonville at Oakland (Sunday 4pm)	OAK	JAX (+6.5)	OAK

START ‘EM/ANTI-START ‘EM/ESPN.com GRIDIRON CHALLENGE

We are participating in the ESPN Gridiron Challenge on ESPN.com.  The object is to pick the best team possible with a $50 million salary cap.  However, we have added another wrinkle.  The object of the ESPN.com is to buy low and sell high and the more you accomplish that, the more money you get in your salary cap.  My goal is to put together a nine-man unit (2 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF) that is better than another nine-man unit at a similar price.

Week 1 did not go all that well overall and the Gridiron Challenge was no different.  We scored 100 as a “team”, but the anti-start team, the team that I thought would perform worse than our “team”, scored 137 points.  If you look at each lineup slot, the start team only outperformed the anti-start team two out of nine times.

WEEK 1: Head-to-Head – L, 100-137; By Position: 2-7

Here is the Week 2 entry in the Gridrion Challenge, our “Start ‘Em” team, along with our comparable “Anti-Start ‘Em” team, which is our “opponent” for the week.

 (all dollar figures in millions)

Start ‘Em Team	POS	Anti-Start ‘Em Team
Eli Manning NYG (vs. DEN) ($6.2)	QB	Robert Griffin III WSH (at GBY) ($6.3)
Alex Smith KCY (vs. DAL) ($5.3)	QB	Carson Palmer ARZ (vs. DET) ($5.7)
LeSean McCoy PHL (vs. SDG) ($6.0)	RB	Trent Richardson CLE (at BAL) ($5.9)
DeAngelo Williams CAR (at BUF) ($5.2)	RB	Fred Jackson BUF (vs. CAR) ($5.1)
Victor Cruz NYG (vs. DEN) ($5.6)	WR	Reggie Wayne IND (vs. MIA) ($5.5)
Miles Austin DAL (at KCY) ($5.0)	WR	Steve Johnson BUF (vs. CAR) ($5.1)
Jared Cook STL (at ATL) ($4.9)	TE	Greg Olsen CAR (at BUF) ($5.0)
Randy Bullock HOU (vs. TEN) ($4.2)	K	Rian Lindell TBY (vs. NO) ($3.9)
Cincinnati Bengals CIN (vs. PIT) ($4.9)	DEF	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs. NO) ($4.8)
$47.3 million	TOTAL	$47.3 million

Catch me on "Sports With The StatMan" on Wednesdays at 11pm ET and Saturdays at 11am ET. We'll break down these picks and look ahead to next week on our This Week in Fantasy Sports segment, Saturday morning at 11am ET.

Sports With The StatMan: 2013 Football Games

JOIN US!

It is never too late to join and see how you measure up against me and other listeners who participate in our Football Games this season.  You can enter your picks and join the groups I created for the show.  The winner will be touted on the Saturday show and, if you top the charts, you could even call in to give me your picks!  Here is how:

Game	Goal	Where to Play	Group to Join
Eliminator Challenge	Pick 1 winner per week, no repeat picks (a.k.a. Knockout Pool)	ESPN.com	Sports With The StatMan
Pigskin Pick’Em (Straight Up)	Pick a winner for each game, every week	ESPN.com	Sports w/the StatMan-Str
Pigskin Pick’Em (Against the Spread)	Pick a winner against the point spread for each game, every week	ESPN.com	Sports w/the StatMan-ATS
NFL Gridiron Challenge	Pick a team of players with a $50 million salary cap	ESPN.com	Sports With The StatMan

Catch me on "Sports With The StatMan" on Wednesdays at 11pm ET and Saturdays at 11am ET. We'll break down these picks and look ahead to next week on our This Week in Fantasy Sports segment, Saturday morning at 11am ET.

NFL 2013: Week 1 Picks

Welcome to the 2013 NFL season!  We are back with our weekly picks, which you can hear on the Sports With The StatMan Saturday morning show, “This Week in Fantasy Sports”.

JOIN US!

It is never too late to join and see how you measure up against me and other listeners who participate.  You can enter your picks and join the groups I created for the show.  The winner will be touted on the Saturday show and, if you top the charts, you could even call in to give me your picks!  Here is how:

Game	Goal	Where to Play	Group to Join
Eliminator Challenge	Pick 1 winner per week, no repeat picks (a.k.a. Knockout Pool)	ESPN.com	Sports With The StatMan
Pigskin Pick’Em (Straight Up)	Pick a winner for each game, every week	ESPN.com	Sports w/the StatMan-Str
Pigskin Pick’Em (Against the Spread)	Pick a winner against the point spread for each game, every week	ESPN.com	Sports w/the StatMan-ATS
NFL Gridiron Challenge	Pick a team of players with a $50 million salary cap	ESPN.com	Sports With The StatMan

KNOCKOUT POOL/ESPN.com ELIMINATOR CHALLENGE

Last year, a Week 14 loss kept us from a perfect season.  I know the adage of never picking a road team in the Knockout Pool, but when the home team is the Jets, and the road team has one of its few “gimmes” on the schedule, you pick them because you may not get a chance to pick them again.

This week’s pick: Tampa Bay defeating N.Y. Jets

What was my one loss in the Knockout Pool last year?  It was the Buccaneers against the Eagles, and it was a last-minute Eagles come-from-behind win.  So, what better a way to start this year than to pick the Buccaneers?  I am trying to right a wrong this week, so I am going with the Buccaneers to stop the Jets and rookie QB Geno Smith, as well as use last year’s super rookie, Doug Martin, to control the clock and the game.

GAME PICKS/ESPN.com PIGSKIN PICK ‘EM

Here are the game picks for this week.  We talk about the local games and the three of the other most important games, our “Big Games”, on our weekly This Week in Fantasy Sports segment on Saturdays, but we pick every game, every week here on the blog.  Here they are:

LOCAL GAMES

Last Season: 39-21 straight up, 30-29-1 against the spread

WEEK 1 LOCAL GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
New England at Buffalo (Sunday 1pm)	NE	NE (-6.5)	NE
Tampa Bay at N.Y. Jets (Sunday 1pm)	TBY	TBY (-1.5)	NYJ
N.Y. Giants at Dallas (Sunday night)	NYG	NYG (+2.5)	NYG
Philadelphia at Washington (Monday 7pm)	WSH	WSH (-4.5)	WSH

BIG GAMES

Last Season: 38-14 straight up, 30-22 against the spread

WEEK 1 BIG GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Atlanta at New Orleans (Sunday 1pm)	ATL	ATL (+2.5)	NO
Cincinnati at Chicago (Sunday 1pm)	CHI	CHI (-3.5)	CIN
Green Bay at San Francisco (Sunday 4pm)	SFO	SFO (-4.5)	SFO

OTHER GAMES

Last Week: 93-51 straight up, 74-70 against the spread

WEEK 1 OTHER GAME PICKS	Straight Up	Against the Spread	Preseason Pick
Baltimore at Denver (Thursday night)	DEN	BAL (+8.5)	DEN
Miami at Cleveland (Sunday 1pm)	CLE	CLE (+0.5)	MIA
Minnesota at Detroit (Sunday 1pm)	MIN	MIN (+3.5)	DET
Tennessee at Pittsburgh (Sunday 1pm)	PIT	TEN (+6.5)	TEN
Oakland at Indianapolis (Sunday 1pm)	IND	IND (-6.5)	IND
Kansas City at Jacksonville (Sunday 1pm)	KCY	KCY (-2.5)	KCY
Seattle at Carolina (Sunday 1pm)	SEA	SEA (-2.5)	SEA
Arizona at St. Louis (Sunday 4pm)	STL	ARZ (+5.5)	ARZ
Houston at San Diego (Monday 10pm)	HOU	HOU (-2.5)	HOU

START ‘EM/ANTI-START ‘EM/ESPN.com GRIDIRON CHALLENGE

We are participating in the ESPN Gridiron Challenge on ESPN.com.  The object is to pick the best team possible with a $50 million salary cap.  However, we have added another wrinkle.  The object of the ESPN.com is to buy low and sell high and the more you accomplish that, the more money you get in your salary cap.  My goal is to put together a nine-man unit (2 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF) that is better than another nine-man unit at a similar price.

Here is the Week 1 entry in the Gridrion Challenge, our “Start ‘Em” team, along with our comparable “Anti-Start ‘Em” team, which is our opponent for the week:

TOTALS: W-L: 9-7-1, PF: 1677, PA: 1511, By Position: 73-72-8 (.503)

(all dollar figures in millions)

Start ‘Em Team	POS	Anti-Start ‘Em Team
Matt Ryan ATL at NO ($6.2)	QB	Michael Vick PHL at WSH ($5.8)
Carson Palmer at STL ARZ ($5.6)	QB	Philip Rivers SDG vs HOU ($5.5)
C.J. Spiller BUF vs NE ($5.8)	RB	Arian Foster HOU at SDG ($6.9)
David Wilson NYG at DAL ($5.5)	RB	Matt Forte CHI vs CIN ($5.6)
Julio Jones ATL at NO ($5.7)	WR	Randall Cobb GBY at SFO ($5.4)
Miles Austin DAL vs NYG ($5.0)	WR	Steve Smith CAR vs SEA ($5.2)
Jared Cook STL vs ARZ ($4.9)	TE	Jermichael Finley GBY at SFO ($4.9)
Randy Bullock HOU at SDG ($4.2)	K	Matt Bryant ATL at NO ($4.5)
Cincinnati Bengals CIN at CHI ($4.9)	DEF	New York Giants NYG at DAL ($4.8)
$47.8 million	TOTAL	$48.6 million

Catch me on "Sports With The StatMan" on Wednesdays at 11pm ET and Saturdays at 11am ET. We'll break down these picks and look ahead to next week on our This Week in Fantasy Sports segment, Saturday morning at 11am ET.