Part 2 (Sports Stories)

Well, here's what we've been up to since April. On May 19, I ran the Ogden City Half marathon. And I really enjoyed it. The course starts up Ogden Canyon and runs around Pine view reservoir and down Ogden Canyon into the city. Most of the course is downhill and the weather was perfect. So much so, that Rachelle and I are planning to assemble a team for the marathon relay next May. So if you'd be interested, let me know. We need 3-4 more people to complete our team. I know the picture shows me finishing at 2 hours 15 minutes, but my actual time (as clocked my my ankle band) was 2 hours 11 minutes.

(Me finishing the half marathon)
Then, a week later Rachelle and I were able to attend a Western Conference Finals game between Utah and San Antonio. Man! I never knew Utah fans had that much venom in them. We heared things ranging from Spurs suck, to get your A** back to Texas, to you wanna fight and see who a better fan? It was funny because, as you can see below, Rachelle was decked out in her Spurs gear. I was wearing a black and white shirt that said adidas, but had no Spurs logo on me anywhere. However, that happened to be game 3 which was the first game in utah. So the arena gave out these horrible power blue shirts which said "True Blue" with a jazz logo on them. So we caught a lot of heat for refusing to put them on. I think the funniest thing about going to the game was that it was the only game Utah won in the series. That brings our total to 7 Spurs-Jazz games attended. And after an 18 game winning streak for SA going into that first game, Utah has won 6 of the 7 we've attended. So Rachelle was campaigning for Utah fans to buy her tickets to game 4, on the basis that she is a back luck charm for the Spurs. Obviously, SA went on to win the NBA championship so she was okay with the loss later on.
(Rachelle at the 2007 Western Finals Game 3)
Finally, what looks like it may be the best part of our season this year; Rachelle, Pk, Amy, Natty, and I went to the Utah vs. UCLA football game on September 15th. The game, which saw the then #11 ranked UCLA team get destroyed 44-6 by the then 0-2 Utes. It was one of the most exciting football games I have ever attended. That beat down dropped UCLA out of the top 25 rankings all together. However, Utah failed to capitalize on that win by getting hammered by UNLV last saturday. Utah has been decimated by injuries this year. And with tough games still remaining at Louisville, TCU, and BYU; and with Wyoming still to come at home 6-7 wins could be tough to come by. But then again, maybe they will rediscover that team which rolled a very good UCLA team when they play the Cardinals, Horned Frogs, Cowboys, and Cougars. And then they could still have a shot at extending their bowl game winning streak (currently second in the nation at 6, behind only Boston College who's at 7 in a row).
(Rachelle and I watching Utah crush UCLA)
And I couldn't leave you without commenting on our fantasy sports league and the current pro-sports leagues. In my April 1 post, I mentioned my predicitons for our basketball our baseball leagues. I was 50% in the basketball leagues. I was right calling Trogdor to win the WCBL, but I gave Rachelle's team too much credit in the "All Cross-Over League" and I beat her to win that league as well. Then, I led the Windy City Billy Goats to the #1 record in the regular season. So what happens? The sleeping Giant that is the Iowa Wifflers sneek in and beat me in the highest scoring game of the season. So he's now battling it out against the Bronx Bombers for the league title while I am playing against the KB Droolers (and loosing quite baddly) for 3rd place. The Fenway Fanatics (one of my pre-season picks) had a tough year and should finish 5th. We're also underway in fantasy football and hockey. I have two teams in each sport. One football team looks to have a long year while the other one looks to be a strong contender. Hockey starts next week so we'll have to see how that plays out.
Speaking of hockey starting, it's my favorite time of the year. Baseball is in the playoff drive, football is getting into full swing (college and pro), and hockey and basketball are getting started. So here are my predictions on what will happen in each of the "big four" sports.
Baseball
Boston (AL East Champs) over Los Angeles (AL West Champs)
Cleveland (AL Central Champs) over New York (Wild Card)
Boston over Cleveland in the ALCS
New York (NL East Champs) over Colorado (Wild Card)
Chicago (NL Central Champs) over Arizona (NL West Champs)
Chicago over New York in the NLCS
Chicago over Boston in the WS: This may be more of wishful thinking. San Diego is just as likely to get the wild card as is Colorado. But I like Chicago's pitching and if they get to the WS, I don't think there's any team that's gonna stop them. (Just like Boston when they won it a few years ago)
Football
DAL (NFC East Champs), Carolina (NFC South Champs), Green Bay (NFC North Champs), San Fransisco (NFC West Champs), Philadelphia (Wild Card), and Minnesota (Wild Card)
Carolina upsetting Dallas in the NFC title game
New England (AFC East Champs), Indianapolis (AFC South Champs), Pittsburgh (AFC North Champs), Denver (AFC West Champs), San Diego (Wild Card), and Baltimore (Wild Card)
New England over Pittsburgh in the AFC title game
New England over Carolina in the Super Bowl
Hockey
San Jose, Detroit, Colorado, Vancouver, Anaheim, Calgary, Minnesota, and St. Louis
Colorado over San Jose in the West
Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Atlanta, New York Rangers, Carolina, New Jersey, Toronto, and Washington
Pittsburgh over Ottawa in the East
Colorado over Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Finals
Basketball
Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Denver, Houston, Utah, Los Angeles Lakers, and New Orleans
San Antonio over Dallas in the West
Detroit, Boston, Miami, Cleveland, Chicago, Orlando, New Jersey, and Toronto
Chicago over Detroit in the East
San Antonio over Chicago in the NBA Finals