First Round Draft Recap

Vacation in Kihei
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

Winners in round 1: - New Orleans - Cameron Jordan could have gone top 15 - Mark Ingram very nice pick as well I think New England should have kept the pick and taken him

Jake Locker - for getting taken that high - basically will only cost himself 10-15 mill rather than about 45-50 mill by staying at UW

Cleveland: Got a crapload for that #6 pick . . . we will see what they do with those picks this year and next . . .

Baltimore: Jimmy Smith could prove to be the steal of the draft

NY Jets - awesome pick I think to get the kid from Temple at that pick - awesome motor they may have snagged a long term start with por bowl upside at pick #30 . . . that's a hell of a pick . . .

Detroit - Fairly and Suh playing next to eachother in a 4-3 scheme - that is scary no one will be running inside on the Lions for the next decade . . . Fairly has a rap for taking plays off and being dirty but i am okay with a DT being dirty as it is the league (he just needs to watch himself on way after the ball hits or he is gonna have people diving at his knees . . . )

Losers: Titans - Why not just keep Vince Young if you are going to invest a pick that high in Jake freaking Locker? I mean they are basically the same guy except Locker isn't a character risk - guys who throw for such low completion percentages I just don't see being long term successful in the NFL . . .

Dquan Bowers: Evidently he basically has the same medical condition as DeJuan Blair however Bowers according to some teams needs micro-fracture surgery - Bowers with a clean bill of health probably goes at worst 5th . . .

Minnesota - I actually kind of like Ponder - very smart kid, can make NFL throws but clearly the Vikes wanted to get him later but couldn't trade down - however wear they are picking today odds seem quite good that one of Mallet or Dalton will available - Minnesota could have gone dtackle there which is gonna be a huge need position as they are ancient there . . .


The jury is out:

Von Miller is a beast but clearly more suited for the 3-4 than the 4-3 - Dareus might have been the better choice for Denver if they are gong with a 4-3 defense - I think Denver and Buffalo could have swapped picks and both teams would have been better off . . .

Newton - I am not calling this pick a loser yet but i give it a 90% chance of being one - the franchise is pretty moribund and needed to placate the fans with a sexy pick but the fact that Newton has only made 50 throws inside the pocket makes me think he is light years away from being a pro-set qb . . .

New England - tough to doubt Bellichek but he didn't get a pass rusher in the first round and passed on Ingram as well - Solder's tape from the senior bowl made we kind of skeptical - dude has a weird body almost too tall . . . looks more like a power forward than a left tackle

looking forward to round 2 and 3 tonight . . .

Final Four

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

I like Kentucky to defeat Butler in the champ game. Looking forward to Saturday hopefully we get two more close games, the tournament has been quite exciting despite the low quality of play we have seen.

The Big Island

Whale Watching
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

Emily and I thinking about going to the Big Island in September without the kids. Does anyone have any advice on what to see and do there. I obviously want to go to see the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park but realize that it is a really long drive from Kona where we would be flying in to and likely staying.

Sweet 16 Picks

Soccer Practice
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

First week of the tourney was a lot of fun but not "great basketball". I think folks need to accept that college basketball is not the NBA and that the level of play we saw in say the mid 80's isn't coming back. The NCAA Tournament is simply a fun event with all sorts of twists and unexpected moments. Here are my picks for the Sweet Sixteen Winners:

Ohio State over Kentucky
UNC over Marquette
Duke over Arizona
UConn over SDSU
Kansas over Richmond
FSU over VCU
Butler over Wisconsin
Florida over BYU

Chalk?

Luau at the Grand Wailea
Originally uploaded by pete4ducks.

First thoughts on the brackets (taken from someone who has not watched much hoops this year). Could this year be like 2009 when you see 4 #1's in the Final Four again? I think the crop of 2's is really weak and the 3's have very good chances for early knockouts (Cuse, Uconn and Wisconsin). I can't get too worked up about it but UAB should not have gotten in and USC was a weird pick as well. I'd have taken Colorado and St Mary's - the WCC was down a bit but SMC played about as hard of a OCC schedule as they could have possibly gotten but they had some bad losses (USD for one and losing to UP by 17). I think there is going to be a lot of seed upsets in the 6-11 , 7-0 and 8-9 games but these are not upsets in all reality. Almost all of these games are pickems or 1-2 point spreads. When the dog wins those they aren't upsets. As for real first round upsets watch Belmont and Bucknell - I think at least one of them wins and wouldn't surprise if either did. I hate going chalk for four one seeds but it is tempting - I do like K-State as a possible Final Four team but the record for 5's going to the Final Four is really spotty. Utah State will give them a tough game but the Aggies have a terrible habit of playing just well enough to lose in the First Round (er Second Round now) of the tourney. As a final note good luck to Oregon in the CBI. Normally I'd pass on playing in something like that but any chance of getting Altman some more time to work with his kids is a positive in my book . . . Weber State has 6 road wins this year which is solid but they are missing their top scorer.