thepoweralley

Jake Lloyd The Sports Columnist Sure, I'm located down here on Tobacco Road, where North Carolina and Duke — Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski — dominate the headlines. And, sure, the Tar Heels began this week No. 1 in the national polls. But after watching Kansas decimate Oklahoma Monday night, 85-55, I like Kansas as the best team in college basketball. In case you're curious, I've got UNC No. 2, Memphis No. 3, UCLA fourth and Duke fifth. But the Jayhawks are the best team in the land — by a... Read Full Story

I, like most college football fans, spent most of the season hearing about how incredibly wonderful South Florida linebacker Ben Moffitt is both on and off the football field. Apparently, his wife and mother of their children has a different story to tell us all. Remember earlier in the Fall when Alabama's Nick Saban was quoted as saying he felt USF was enlisting players who would not make the grade elsewhere? Not shocking a college football player allegedly can't write or spell. If Ben's... Read Full Story

I've mentioned previously while being born, bred and still residing in the Philly area all these years...thereby having more than a passing interest in the exploits of our beloved Phils...I do admit to growing up also rooting for the Oakland Athletics even before they made their run of World Championships during my teen years. My favorite player back then was outfielder Rick Monday (whose likely best-known "play" during his career may have been saving an American flag from being destroyed... Read Full Story

Jake Lloyd The Sports Columnist I can't remember the last time there was as big a favorite entering the playoffs as there is this year. New England is a 1-2 favorite to win the Super Bowl. The team with the second-best odds is Indianapolis, which has a 4-1 shot. So, basically, people are pretty high on these Patriots. Guess that's what happens when you go 16-0. But something tells me that these playoffs are going to be the craziest in quite some time. There will be upsets galore. Crazy... Read Full Story

Time to write something about college hoops as football beings to fade away...and gosh, how about some of these "big-time" BCS bowl match-ups? Zzzzzzz..... Anyway...Mike Jensen of the Philly Inquirer noted in a recent blurb the A-10 Conference did a very cool thing this season...especially in light of the fact four of their teams are now sitting within - or knocking upon - the door to the Top 25. They set up tiers for their conference schedule so teams that were considered the top contenders... Read Full Story

Sportsattitude's site stats indicate a lot of folks were hunting down info on New Year's Day regarding the NHL's Winter Classic. I certainly hope all of them took my suggestion and at least tuned in for a look-see. I've always been one drawn towards sports played in challenging weather, adding to the drama of athletes trying to do their thing. Yesterday's Penguins-Sabres outdoor encounter before an NHL-record 71,217 fans certainly fit the bill. Plenty of good stuff about the Pens 2-1 shootout... Read Full Story

Back on June 26th, I offered up what I thought the NFL 2007 regular season records would look like at season's end ...well, here we are headed into 2008 and the playoffs are but days away...so it is time to see how my predictions look against the cold, hard reality...reality is in ( ). NFC East: Dallas 12-4 (13-3)...Philadelphia 8-8 (8-8)...Washington 7-9 (9-7)...New York Giants 6-10 (10-6) Pretty proud of myself for nailing the local team's mark...all of you folks who thought the Eagles were... Read Full Story

The last couple of weeks have seen very few college basketball games, because of schools finals and winter break. The hiatus is over and college basketball resumed today with 20 teams in the top 25 playing. Here is a quick rundown of the action: Wisconsin vs 9 Texas: The best game of the day so far ended with Wisconsin guard Michael Flowers hitting a 3 pointer to give the Badgers the lead with 2 seconds left and then stealing the ensuing inbounds pass. A huge win for Wisconsin whose only two... Read Full Story

Great article by Philly Daily News' columnist Bill Conlin discussing the upcoming "Class of '08" for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He ponders whether balloting from this point forward will ever be the same with the "discovery" of the steroid era of baseball. I also came across a great post whose writer is obviously well-read on all things baseball , providing another good source of opinion/information if you are interested in some of the names "on the bubble" for election to the HOF this year... Read Full Story

Jake Lloyd The Sports Columnist It was a Christmas Day Miracle, really. There were the mighty, high-flying, running-and-gunning Phoenix Suns, the lock this season to win the Western Conference's Pacific Division and roll into the playoffs as one of the top few seeds. But they weren't the miracle. The miracle workers were the guys in yellow jerseys. There was Kobe Bryant , the subject of trade speculation for the past eight months. In May, he said he wanted to be traded — for sure — then... Read Full Story