Weekly Random Thoughts: 4/30/10

1. A nightmare on Elm Street opens up today. I expect it to dominate the box office with a $40mm weekend gross, but expect it to fall quickly and be out of theaters in a month.

2. Next weekend is Iron Man 2. A.K.A. the start of the summer movie season. I can’t wait. And I don’t have to…I got tickets to an early showing on Tuesday night. Lucky me.

3. Big weekend series for the Mets as they face off against the defending NL Champs, Philadelphia. Mets are a half game up in first place and this series will either put to rest all the talk of them being back or reinforce all the talk that they are contenders once again. As a Met fan, all I want is for them to win one game and not get swept. And that’s how sad of a state the Mets fans are in.

4. NBA playoffs have been pretty good so far:
a. The Spurs put down a favored Dallas team with relative ease (becoming only the sixth #7 seed to beat a #2 since the seven game first round series format). Typical San Antonio – coast through the regular season, then turn it on for the playoffs. And another failed season for Nowitzki and Kid.
b. Milwaukee has Atlanta on the ropes without its best big man and behind a rookie PG. John Salmons was a great pickup.
c. Miami failed to even scare Boston, but DWade really showed up in game 4 (otherwise, it would have been a sweep). I expect Wade to leave next year and hope he goes to a contending team that will help him get back to the finals. The guy is my favorite player.
d. OKC is giving the Lakers a difficult time advancing. Lakers will still win in six, but Durant has a chance to be a top two player for years to come and Westbrook is putting himself in the Derrick Rose level of talented, up-and-coming PG’s.
e. Speaking of the Bulls, they just couldn’t keep up with the Lebron Cavaliers. But you can’t fault Rose (or Noah). Both guys really showed up and would make for outstanding compliments to a stud free agent pickup (say Wade or Bosh). If that happens, watch out for the Bulls next year.
f. Jazz are surprising everyone out West and could make it to another finals behind Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer. This series has shown me two things: Jazz only can’t lose Deron – the rest (Okur, Kirilenko) are replaceable. And George Karl is missed dearly on the Nuggets sideline.
g. Suns put down a scrappy Portland team and now are looking at a rematch with the hated Spurs. Who would have thought Jason Richardson was the key to the Suns playoff success.
h. Orlando defeated Charlotte in the most boring first round series. I still don’t see Orlando beating Cleveland if Carter is the go to guy (they miss Turkoglu). And curious to see how Micheal Jordan deals with mediocrity in Charlotte, because sadly only the old MJ could save that team.

5. Looking forward to round two matchups (assuming Atlanta comes back, Utah wins at home, and Lakers put away OKC – and yes I am predicting Atlanta being the only 7 game series in round one).
a. Lakers vs. Jazz: Lakers in six. Deron will keep Utah in it, but won’t have enough help. Kobe will pick his spots and Gasol will outplay Boozer.
b. Spurs vs. Suns: Suns get revenge as Nash and Co. take out their anger over the last time these two teams met (when Robert Horry body checked Nash and got Amare suspended).
c. Cavs vs. Celtics: Cavs put away a feisty Celtics team in seven. Look for a few classic games. Lebron wins a few by himself. Pierce and Ray win a couple on buzzer beaters. But Lebron overcomes the elbow injury and moves full steam ahead to the finals.
d. Hawks vs. Magic: Hawks are too tired after a grueling seven game series. Howard breaks out of his mini-funk with a couple of 20-20 games.

6. Fantasy baseball is almost a month of the way done. Here are my surprises so far:
a. Kelly Johnson and Robinson Cano – The two best fantasy 2B in the game.
b. Paul Konerko – Leading both leagues in homers.
c. Francisco Liriano and Ubaldo Jimenez – the early front runners for the AL and NL Cy Young awards.
d. Matt Capps and Jon Rauch – further proof that you never pay too much for saves.
e. Vernon Wells and Barry Zito – finally playing up to their enormous contracts.
f. Mike Pelfrey and Jorge Cantu – possibly headed for career years.
g. Alex Rodriguez and Hanley Ramirez – both off to slow starts.
h. Matt Weiters and Tommy Hanson – why you never over pay for hyped youngsters.

7. Mini NFL draft fantasy recap:
a. Ryan Matthews – coming into best fantasy situation. Could have a Jonathan Stewart like season.
b. CJ Spiller – most hyped rookie RB comes into the worst fantasy situation. So bad that he could become undervalued. Bills will get rid of Lynch (or even Fred Jackson). And speed combined with skill does have a way of making a fantasy impact (see Chris Johnson, DeSean Jackson, and Devin Hester). Expect a few long TD scores.
c. Jahvid Best – could be similar to Chris Johnson’s rookie season. I could see Kevin Smith playing the part of goal line carrier and limiting Best’s carries. If so, I could see Best excelling as a speed threat with pass catching ability.
d. Dez Bryant – If Roy Williams is cut, then I think Bryant will break the rookie WR curse and have a 1,000 yard and 8 TD season. The difference will be Tony Romo throwing him the ball.
e. Demaryius Thomas – a WR project who won’t make a huge impact this year. He’ll be given the chance to learn and will be good one day. Just not this year.
f. Sam Bradford – Will have his moments, but expect to see final stats along the lines of Matthew Stafford. However, in three or four years we will be looking at a star.
g. Tim Tebow – will score a few TD’s with special offensive packages, but not enough snaps to justify a draft pick.
h. Jermain Gresham – the top rookie TE will have his moments next year (similar to Brandon Pettigrew), but in a couple of years he will become a top tier fantasy TE.

8. Is anybody following some little horror movie called, “The Human Centipede”? Well I don’t want to follow it, but I can’t help it. It’s like watching a train wreck as its happening; I just can’t keep my eyes away. The movie is so sick and twisted, yet it’s also so original. I honestly don’t think I could make myself watch the movie, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to check it out just for curiosity sake.

9. Question? If you are in the bathroom stall at work (doing a #2) and somebody in the stall (also doing a #2) next to you sneezes…do you say, “Bless you”?

10. It’s really hard to think of things to write when you have no general theme. Yet, I’m still making it work.