BSB #14: Combine and More

     Hello and welcome to BSB #14. In this post I'm going to talk about the NFL Combine a bit which starts on Saturday and last until Tuesday. I will also point out some players to keep an eye on leading into the NFL Draft in late April. Yet before I get to any of that I want to mention my Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are now 13-0-3 on the season and the only team that hasn't lost a game in regulation yet. This has lead the Hawks to 16 straight games without a regulation loss, tying an NHL record set by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2006-07 season. The Ducks would win the Stanley Cup that season. The Blackhawks can break the record tonight against the San Jose Sharks for the third and final meeting this season.

   
     So for those of you who don't know how the Combine works I will explain. The Combine takes place over four days where the NFL invites some of the best College football players to Indianapolis to show off their skills to the 32 NFL teams. The players are divided into groups based on their position: RB, QB, DE, etc. This year the schedule for position is as follows: Saturday (tight ends, offensive linemen, and special teams), Sunday (quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers), Monday (defensive linemen, linebackers), and Tuesday (defensive backs). The players run through position specific drills and drills that every player does. Now some players might not do every drill and wait to do those during their pro days which lead us up   to the NFL Draft. The 40 yard dash is the drill almost everyone knows about but there is also the long jump, vertical, bench press, and three cone drill. The players also have to take the Wonderlic Test used to determine player aptitude. A 50 is a perfect score and the only player known to do that was Pat McInally who a Punter and Wide Receiver for the Bengals from 1976 to 1985. Offensive tackles average the highest score on the test with a score of 26. Quarterbacks average 24 and most teams look for a score of at least 21.

     Players to Watch:
     Saturday: My player to watch at Tight End is Notre Dame's Tyler Eifert. He is by far the best option at the position in this years draft. The 6'5" 250 lb Eifert is a big red zone threat who can line up at the receiver position. His numbers were down a little this year but he didn't have Michael Floyd to take pressure off of him. Look for the Atlanta Falcons to make a strong push for him on draft day. Another Option: Travis Kelce, Cincinnati.
     As for offensive lineman many think the Kansas City Chiefs will take Texas A&M's Luke Joeckel first overall but my player to watch is Alabama's Barrett Jones. Jones at 6'4" 306 can play ever position on the O line and has performed well on the biggest stage winning multiple National Championships. I think he will be a mid to late first round pick in the draft.

     Sunday: This is one of the weakest QB classes we have seen in several years and one of it's stars, USC's Matt Barkley wont be throwing at the Combine due to the injury he suffered late in the season. I actually have two QB's to watch. The first is Oklahoma's Landry Jones. Jones has played well the last to season for Bob Stoops. My other pick is Tyler Bray out of Tennessee. He is a 6'6" big armed QB but he does enter the Combine with questions about his durability. Yet he did break a few of Peyton Manning's records while at Tennessee. Look for Bray to be a day 2 pick to a team like Houston or Arizona.
     For the running back position I'm looking at Wisconsin's Montee Ball. The kid is a workhorse and he came pretty darn close to Barry Sanders' record for touchdowns in a season from the 1988 season. I think it makes perfect sense for him to go to Green Bay but then again it made perfect sense for Steve Alford to go to the Pacers in the 1987 NBA draft but that didn't happen. Also keep an eye out for Ray Graham from Pittsburgh.
     For wide receiver look no further that Robert Woods out of USC. Woods at 6'0" 201 has good speed and hands. He can also get behind defenders for deep balls. I see him as a mid to late 2nd, early 3rd round pick when the draft comes in April.

     Monday: This will be an interesting day because of the linebackers. Manti Te'o will get a lot of attention and it's not only for the whole girlfriend issue. Te'o didn't show up in the National Title and that has some scouts worried about him in big game situations. Yet anyone who watched the ND vs. Oklahoma game knows Te'o made a key interception late in the game that sealed the deal. Te'o will slip to the end of the first round and I think he will fall right into the Baltimore Ravens lap. Also keep an eye on the two Georgia linebackers Jarvis Jones and Alec Ogletree.

     Tuesday: The defensive backs are the last to go on Tuesday and everyone is talking about Dee Milliner from Alabama and they should, but I'm not going to because his presence is obvious. I say keep an eye on Jamoris Slaughter the safety from Notre Dame. Even if he doesn't partake since he missed most of the season due to an injury the guy will get a chance somewhere even if he goes undrafted. Many forget ND played most of this past season with only one of their original starters in the secondary. Slaughter by far was their best DB and I think if he comes back right from his achilles tendon injury he could land somewhere this season but not on draft day.

     Well that should do it for this edition of the Bach's Sports Box. I wont do an extended ending since this post was a bit longer than the last couple. So the last thing I will say is thank you to all who actually take the time to read my posts every week.

BSB #13: Sport Roulette

     Welcome everyone to the Bach's Sports Box post number lucky 13. As you can probably guess by the title of the post I'm going to be jumping all over everything sports for this post because I fell like it. First thing that I'm going to knock out right now is if your looking for something to watch Sunday afternoon in place of football you can check out PBA League Bowling at 3 pm on ESPN. Now for those of you who are asking yourself PBA? Just look back to the end of BSB #12. Also speaking of Sunday Mr. Air Jordan himself is turning the big 50. Yet if you watch ESPN on a regular basis like some people who write a certain blog you would already know this. I believe this Sunday ESPN is going to show Michel Jordan's top 50 plays of his career.

     Now talking about MJ helps me transition into baseball, well I wont inevitably go back to basketball wearing a different number in this post. The MLB season is rapidly approaching and the team that is favored to win the World Series is a shocker. The freakin' Toronto Blue Jays are the favorites to win the Series! Are you kidding me? They favored a team that is in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox. Oh and don't let me forget the Rays and a much improved Athletics team. I guess we will see what happens come October.

     As far as news for the NFL it's just the usual off-season stuff. Players getting released, traded, and signing contract extensions. The newest piece of news as far as I can see was Green Bay released Charles Woodson which hurts me a little but lets move on. 

     When I said move on I actually meant that it's time to wrap this edition of the BSB. I was little random and all over the place for this post but that's better than no post. So until next weekend, I hope you enjoyed this look into my box and Happy Birthday Micheal!

  

BSB #12: The Aftermath and Seasons End

       Hello and welcome to The Bach's Sports Box and post number 12. For those of you who are reading this I'm sure you were aware that the Super Bowl was last weekend. I thought I would take a quick moment to pat myself on the back for some spot on predictions...not that I'm gloating or anything. I guessed the winner (Baltimore Ravens) and MVP (Joe Flacco) correctly and I was only off by a few points of the score. The final was 34-31 when I predicted it to be 38-28. Now to the part were I share my thoughts on the game. I'm just going to say straight up that if the power doesn't go out we might have seen the biggest blowout in Super Bowl history. At 28-6 with just over 13 minutes to go in the third quarter the Ravens were rolling in every phase of the game and Kaepernick and the 49ers offense couldn't find a rhythm. After sitting of the bench for 84 minutes it's not surprise that the Ravens offense seemed flat. The game also saw an officiating crew seemed to leave their yellow flags at home. I saw several occasions for both teams where players where jumping offside and nothing was called. In my mind though that was the circle coming round on an overall shitty season for the NFL officials.

  
       As a fan of the NFL I was glad to see Ray Lewis go out on top and perhaps Ed Reed. I know Reed has said he plans on returning but who knows what could happen during the off-season. Also speaking of the off-season, we have officially reached it. This is the point of the year where I start to get depressed until I remember that it's about time for Baseball Season!! I'll save the baseball talk for future posts though. What I will say is that I can't wait until the end of April when the NFL Draft will take place.

       Well that's it for this edition of the BSB. Now I know what "Oh no the football season is over he isn't going to post every week." That's not the case, I will talk about the freakin PBA if I have to just to put up a post weekly. The last thing I wanted to say is that I thought the commercials were a bit lacking this year and although I thought Beyonce did a good job during halftime, her performance seemed short compared to previous years. That being said I think my favorite commercial was Audi's prom night commercial.

BSB #11: The Super Bowl Cometh

       Welcome to the eleventh edition of the Bach Sports Box. We are now officially less than 48 hours away from Super Bowl XLVII or for those of you who don't read Roman Numerals that's Super Bowl 47. This year for the first time ever the coaches of the two teams are brothers. This has lead to many different names for the game such as The Harbowl and the Superbaugh. Which ever name you decide to call the game it doesn't change that fact that it is being held in New Orleans for the tenth time in NFL history. The last time it was in New Orleans was 2002 when the Patriots beat the Rams for their first championship in franchise history.

       Going into Sunday's game the Ravens and the 49ers have a combined 6-0 Super Bowl record. The 49ers' last championship came in 1995 against the Chargers. With five championships the 49ers could tie the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history if they win on Sunday. The Ravens won in their only Super Bowl appearance back in 2001 against the NY Giants. They will be looking to send Ray Lewis out on top with another championship, that is if he still plans to retire.

       Now for what I'm sure you all have been waiting for. It's time for me to make my pick and predictions for the game. I am going with the Baltimore Ravens to beat the San Francisco 49ers. I think the game will be close until the 4th quarter and that the final score will be 38-28. Joe Flacco will be the game's MVP finally showing the NFL that he should be right on the cusp of being considered an elite quarterback. And finally in the end the lack of experience is finally going to get to Colin Kaepernick as well as the Ravens defense.

       Well I hope you enjoyed this weeks look into my sports box. Until next weekend keep sporting.