June 30, 2014

MA Golf League- June 2014



June Golf League is in the books. We only got 3 rounds in, a total of 27 holes. June sucked- We had a rain out, and low overall  participation.  Adam and I both scored higher in June than we did in May. We tied June in raw score.




Week 6- 6/6/14- Right Course 
James 44
Adam 46
Beck 48
Dan 55




(This round was so disgusting we forgot to take a picture)
Week 7- 6/20/14- Middle Course 
James 49
Adam 50




Week 8- 6/27/14- Right Course 
Adam 41
James 44
Dan 46



Here are the JUNE stats. Just 3 matches, 27 holes total.







And here are the OVERALL stats for 2014. 8 matches, 72 holes total.










June 25, 2014

Bergeron, Crosby, Avalanche clean up 2014 NHL Awards


NHL Awards show in Vegas last night... here are the 2014 winners




Selke: Patrice Bergeron

Stud City. Bergy's 2nd time winning this award (2012) AND he won by a large margin. 112 out of the 137 first place votes went to Patrice. Anze Kopitar finished a distant second and Jonathan Toews finished 3rd. It's very refreshing to see these results. I'm happy people are recognizing Bergy's value, he doesn't score like those other two but this award, like Barry Melrose and Kevin Weekes alluded to last night, is now given to the best overall forward in the game. (Editors note: After publishing this, I actually noticed that Bergeron led this group in goals this year, which is kind of shocking. Point totals: Bergy (30G, 32A) Kopitar (29G, 41A) Toews (28G, 40A))  The nominees from the past 3 years:

2014: Bergeron, Kopitar, Toews
2013: Toews, Bergeron, Datsyuk
2012: Bergeron, Datsyuk, Backes

Is that good?  Anyway Bergy won again this year for many reasons. He finished with the 3rd best faceoff percentage in the league. Reached the 30 goal/30 assist plateau. He was 2nd in the league with a +38. And according to CORSI he was the #1 forward in the league this year.


Bergeron also beat out PK Subban to be on the Cover of NHL15!!! So awesome. Suck it Montreal.



Lastly, his 3rd win of the night, Bergeron also took home the NHL Foundation Award, which is given to the player "who applies the core values of (ice) hockey commitment, perseverance and teamwork to enrich the lives of people in his community."





Vezina: Tuukka Rask

Rask won his first Vezina last night, in a close race with Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov. This award is extra special because it is voted on by the GM's across the NHL.  Tuukka finished with 16 out of a possible 30 first-place votes and 113 voting points. Varlamov had eight first-place votes and 90 points. Rask won this award because he  allowed two or fewer goals in 37 of 58 starts and was first in the NHL in shutouts (seven), second in save percentage (.930), fourth in goals-against average (2.04) and fifth in wins.


MVP: Sidney Crosby

Well deserved, pretty unbelievable that all it takes is a healthy season from Crosby for his 2nd MVP. He had 17 points more than the next player this year (104 for Crosby, 87 for Getzlaf) which means he won another Art Ross trophy.  Crosby also won the Ted Lindsay Award which is the MVP as voted on by the players. He beat out Getzlaf and Giroux for both awards.




ROY: Nathan Mackinnon 
Jack Adams: Patrick Roy
Lady Byng: Ryan O'Reilly

Colorado Avalanche City. Add in the fact that Varlamov almost stole the Vezina and you have one of the night's biggest winners, the Avalanche. PS- O'Reilly played in 80 games and only had one minor penalty called on him all year. It was for playing with a broken stick, not even a real penalty. You would think anyone who never takes penalties isn't that great, whether it's from limited ice time or just playing timid. However, this year O'Reilly led the Avalanche with a career-best 28 goals and was first in the NHL with 83 takeaways. O'Reilly finsihed with 110 of 131 first-place votes and 1,181 voting points crushing annual favorite Martin St. Louis.



Norris: Duncan Keith

Chara came in a distant 2nd in the voting for this, as expected. You know you are good when you have a mediocre year and you're still a Norris candidate.


Other award winners:

King Clancy Memorial: Andrew Ference
Mark Messier Leadership: Dustin Brown
Bill Masterton Trophy: Dominic Moore
GM of the year: Bob Murray from the Ducks
Maurice Richard award: Alex Oveckin
William Jennings Award: Jon Quick


June 20, 2014

June Sports (Jon) Quick Hitters


See what I did there.... Anyway, I've been busy and haven't posted in a while. Last year, June was my best month of the year (blogging wise, both with posts and traffic) largely due to the Bruins Stanley Cup run. So, to make up for all the recent big stories, here are my fire flame hot takes on each one:



Kings Win the Stanley Cup

This came as no surprise to anyone, after the Kings dethroned the Blackhawks they were heavy favorites to beat the Rangers and win the Cup.  It only took 5 games, and I'll always remember this series for:

-the first 2 games going to OT and LA winning both
-Jon Quick's Game 3 shutout which basically clinched the series
-Ms. Nobody Wins on The Blue getting a migraine during Game 5 and causing me to miss the DOUBLE OT CUP WINNING goal. No biggie. 

Also I need to note this is NOT a dynasty. I heard that word being floated last week. No. 

Last thing, Mr Game 7 won the Conn Smythe trophy. Kinda sucks cuz now its cool to like Justin Williams and I've been a big fan for 10+ years. There's no doubt he was NOT the most valuable player for the Kings (Doughty, Quick, Kopitar, Gaborik,) but he WAS the most clutch and reps this resilient team very well. 






World Cup Mania

World Cup has been solid so far, the Americans winning the first game was great, keeping the hype alive. Their red jerseys are straight FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still get annoyed about 100x every Soccer game match I watch, but that doesn't change the excitment surrounding this Global tourney. It's pretty awesome. I mostly hope USA wins because the rest of the world is so insulted that our soccer team is even allowed to play. I heard an English fan swear up and down abot what an insult it was to compare their team to USA. Calm down bro. We don't care about Soccer. If we did, we would easily win. 





Martin Kaymer dominated the US Open 


After the low score in both Round 1 and Round 2, Kaymer played solid on the weekend and never looked back on his way to his 2nd major victory. He was a beast on this course, finishing with the 3rd lowest total (-9) in modern US Open history. The only other players under par were Rickie Fowler and Eric Compton who finished -1. No one was even par.  4th place went to a slew of players tied at  +1.

As for our fantasy challenge, Jeremy ran away with this one. Another first time major winner for our group. Here are the final standings and the reverse draft order for next month's British Open:

1. Jeremy +4
2. Adam +20 
3. Paul +25
4. Beckerman +26
5. Bill +29
6. Dan +29
7. Abe+34
8. James +36
9. Sean +44
10. Campbell +46

AND.... this one is for Dan because he says I don't keep stats for things I'm not good at.... here is the OVERALL LEADER BOARD from the past 4 majors (all the golf fantasy challenges that all 10 people have participated): 

Adam +73
Jeremy +76
Paul +93
Campbell +104
James +116
Beckerman +116
Sean +118
Dan +122
Abe +135
Bill +154


And for the OG Fantasy Golfers, here is the SUPER overall score from all 6 tourneys:

Adam +130
Paul +145
James +171
Abe +171
Dan +174
Bill +215





June 11, 2014

2014 US Open Fantasy Challange




It's Major golf time...The 114th US Open  This year's national championship is held at Pinehurst #2 in North Carolina, a course that has hosted the open before: 2005 when Michael Campbell (Even) held off a charging Tiger Woods (+2) and 1999 when Payne Stewart (-1) outlasted Phil Mickelson (Even) and Woods (+1). The course has had MAJOR renovations between then and now. What do I mean by major? They removed all the rough. That's right, removed all the rough on the course and replaced it with natural "high grass." The course looks much different.






From what I've read, most of the rest of the course remained unchanged. This is another Donald Ross design, who by the way is a very interesting person. Maybe I'll blog about him another day. This course has wider fairways unless the drive is going over 300, where the fairway pinches and becomes narrow. These guy's can easily hit the fairway if they keep the driver in the bag, but that would make for some very hard approach shots to what are some of the toughest greens in America.




As for the players and competitors, Justin Rose is the defending Champ. Tiger Woods is again excluded from the field due to injury, and world #1 Adam Scott is ready to rock. Phil Mickelson will be looking to play well again here, and Bubba Watson will be gunning for Major #2. Young players Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth also look like contenders this week.



BILL won the 2013 US Open fantasy Challenge. This time around we will be using the reverse standings from this year's Masters Challenge for our draft order. The winner will be owed Chipotle from all other 9 people in the Challenge.

For the record, here are the winners of the fantasy challenges from the past. Yet to have a repeat winner.

2014 Masters: Campbell
2013 PGA: Adam
2013 British Open: Paul 
2013 US Open : Bill
2013 Masters: Abe


Rules:

The final score of all the players on each team will be added up and the lowest cume score wins. Each team will have 4 golfers.

+8 will be added to any players score who misses the cut

-8 will be deducted from the score of the team who picks the Champion

If there is a WD, that player will be given a score of the worst round from that day. And then a one time penalty of +8 (the same penalty a player who misses the cut would get.)



THE DRAFT

Round 1
Paul- Adam Scott
James- Rory McIlroy
Bill- Matt Kuchar
Dan- Phil Mickelson
Beck- Jason Day
Jeremy- Bubba Watson
Abe- Luke Donald
Adam- Jordan Spieth
Sean- Jim Furyk
C Bunny- Sergio Garcia


Round 2
C Bunny- Lee Westwood
Sean- Justin Rose
Adam- Henrik Stenson
Abe- Ricky Fowler
Jeremy- Dustin Johnson
Beck- Zach Johnson
Dan- Jason Dufner
Bill- Webb Simpson
James- Graham McDowell
Paul- Ernie Els


Round 3
Paul- Keegan Bradley
James- Hideki Matsuyama
Bill- Charl Schwartzel
Dan- Brandt Snedeker
Beck- Steve Stricker
Jeremy- Martin Kaymer
Abe-Chris Kirk
Adam- Louis Oosthuizen
Sean- Jonas Blixt
C Bunny- Miguel Angel Jimenez


Round 4
C Bunny- Bill Haas
Sean- Graham Delaet
Adam-Thorbjorn Olesen  Francesco Molinari
Abe- Hunter Mahan
Jeremy- Ian Poulter
Beck- Ryan Moore
Dan- Billy Horschel
Bill- Jimmy Walker
James- John Senden
Paul- Angel Cabrera


Team Rosters:

Free* not Free-Bubba, Dusty, Kaymer, Poulter

Team Finna- McIlroy, McDowell, Matsuyama, Senden

The Godchildren- Donald, Fowler, Kirk, Mahan

Team K Cup- Spieth, Stenson, Oost, Molinari

Team Mosey- Day, ZJ, Stricker, Moore

Team Zeitgeist- Mickelson, Dufner, Sneds, Horschel

Team EDM- Furyk, Rose, Blixt, Delaet

Team Hardo- Scott, Els, Bradley, Cabrera

#DeutscheBill- Kooch, Simpson, Schwartzel, Walker

Bunny Team- Garcia, Westwood, Jimenez, Haas











June 5, 2014

MA Golf League- May 2014




MAGL was established in the Summer of 2011. That first Summer, Adam, Bill, Donny, and I played every Wednesday night at Stone-E-Lea golf course. Little did we know what kind of tradition we were starting....

In 2012 we moved Golf League to Friday night's and its current home:  Ponkapoag Golf Course in Canton. Ponky is relatively easy, isn't in the best condition (they just installed sprinklers this offseason- what?!?!) but the price is right... $12 for twilight golf. This in a Donald Ross course and used to be a premier spot in the area, and hopefully will return to glory soon. There are currently 27 holes open at Ponky, For Golf League we try to evenly rotate playing each of the three tracks.

This year we decided to keep stats. I think it makes the most sense to post these stats once a month and by the end of October we will be able to definitively see who the "MVG" of 2014 is/was. Adam and I are the only two consistent players at MAGL each week (and the only real competitors for MVG), Bill WAS a regular/competitor up until this year, but still we have a steady stream of friends who join in when they can.




Week 1- 5/2/14- Middle Course 
James 44
Adam 45
Dan 46




Week 2- 5/9/14- Back 9/ Left Course
Adam 41
James 42
Dan 48




Week 3- 5/16/14- Middle Course
James 40
Adam 51





Week 4- 5/23/14- Back 9/ Left Course 
James 43
Adam 44
Abe 55





Week 5- 5/30/14- Back 9/ Left Course
Adam 42
James 46




Full  May 2014 MAGL stats:

James- 45 holes (5 rounds)
Adam- 45 holes (5 rounds)
Dan- 18 holes (2 rounds)
Abe- 9 holes (1 round)











If you are wondering why these pie charts above don't have "Birdie" it's because we are terrible and NO ONE HAS GOTTEN A BIRDIE AT GL YET THIS YEAR. Sucks to suck.




















and the only stat that matters:

3 wins for James
2 wins for Adam





June 4, 2014

Late to the game, but here's my All-Time NHL starting 6





I saw this on-line a couple weeks ago, but I was too depressed to post it and talk hockey after the Bruins Game 7 home ice loss to the Canadiens.

BUT since random people ares still texting me about this asking for my team... here it is for the world to see (I know this graphic says $18 budget but I've mostly been seeing people do this with $20)


I'll start with the d-men because it's basically a no brainer:





Bobby Orr- $5
Zdeno Chara- $1

What a pair. Granted I never saw Orr play, but when people can make a case for the guy being the best overall hockey player of all time, it's pretty easy to confidently pick him. Bobby Orr was  both the best offensive AND defensive D-Man in the NHL during his playing career. Some of his accolades:

Calder trophy winner in 1967(Rookie of the year)

Norris trophy winner (Best overall D-Man in the league) in 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1975. That's 8 straight years.

Art Ross trophy winner (Most points in the league) in 1970 and 1975.

Hart Memorial winner (MVP of the league) in 1970, 1971, and 1972. 3 straight years as league MVP.

Conn Smythe winner (Playoff MVP) in 1970 and 1972

2 time Stanley Cup Champion (1970 and 1972)

Sooooo yea. Easy choice for me. especially when I can pair this guy up with Zdeno Chara, who has been the premier shutdown Defenseman for... 12 years now? He's been a top 3 Norris finalist 8 times...and still going. For $1 ? Yes please. Perfect guy to pair with Orr. All-Bruins blue line. Love it.






Right Wing- Jaromir Jagr $3
Left Wing- Alex Ovechkin $3
Center-Mario Lemieux $4


Lemieux was a stud. I really don't like the guy, but his size, speed, and play making ability cannot be denied. Guy ran the NHL in the late 80s and early 90s, and a case can be made for him as the best player to ever play the game. He played later than Gretzky, but is/was basically the next best forward of all time.

Ovechkin doesn't play defense, I know, but look at my team. I don't need Ovechkin to play D. I need him to score goals, and for $3 Ill take this pure goal scorer any day. Lest we forget his goal totals from the past:

2006: 52 goals
2007: 46 goals
2008: 65 goals
2009: 56 goals
2010: 50 goals

Pure insanity. And the cherry on top is his ability on the PP. Him and Stamkos are the two most dominant PowerPlay players I've ever watched play.

Jagr rounds out my group of forwards, and really it was another pretty easy choice. First, Jagr was a dominant teammate with Lemieux in the early 90s. Secondly, the guy is just so smooth. Yes he is a goal scorer but he will make the right play. He'll make that slick pass over to AO for the one timer. Jagr dominated the NHL, left for the KHL for a few years, and came BACK to the NHL and has scored over 60 goals in the past few years. As an old man. (I'm choosing to forget about his 2013 playoff run with the Bruins where he scored 0 goals in 22 games.)





Goalie- Martin Brodeur- $3 

That's $16 and leaves me with $4 for a goalie. Basically comes down to Hasek vs. Brodeur. Ken Dryden I never saw play and don't know enough about him, and Belfour seems like a step down from both Hasek and Brodeur.

Ultimately, I view Brodeur as the safer, better, more consistent option. Hasek probably dominated harder for stretches of his career, but no one can match Marty in consistency, which is what I want in my goalie for this hypothetical team.