2013 NBA All-Star Game Recap

The 2013 NBA All-Star Game was held in Houston. This is the third time Houston has hosted the All-Star game. Houston also hosted it in 1989 and 2006. The West Conference won for the third straight time winning143 -138. Chris Paul toke home his first All-Star Game MVP in 6 games. He scored 20 points, 15 assists and 4 steals. Paul joins Magic Johnson in 1985 and Isiah Thomas to have 20+ points and 15+ assists in an All-Star game. Kevin Durant also had 30 points to lead the West All-Stars. Durant became the first player in NBA All-Star game history to have 3 straight All-Star games with 30+ points. Carmelo Anthony led the East All-Stars with 26 points. He also had a double-double with 12 rebounds. LeBron also set the All-Star career record for three pointers. Both teams also set an All-Star game record with most three pointers attempted at 71 combined between the two teams. The game was very close for the first 3 quarters. The West led 31-26 after the 1st quarter. The West led 69-65 after the 2nd quarter. The West led 108-104 after the 3rd quarter. No team went up by more than 8 points in the first three quarter at any time. The West took control of the game near the end of the 4th quarter and led by 10 the largest lead of the game with 2:33 left in the game. The East to cut the lead down but failed to complete the comeback.The West won the game by 5 points; 143 to 138. The this was also interesting to watch since there was 7 first time All-Stars. This game was very fun to watch I can't wait for the All-Star game next year in New Orleans, LA.

Ray Lewis is Retiring After 17 Seasons

Ray Lewis said at the start of the NFL playoffs he would retire after the Ravens were eliminated.   The Ravens went on a run having to win in upset fashion three times in 4 games. They shocked the world and won Super Bowl XLVII. If Ray Lewis doesn't comeback to the NFL that is one of the greatest ways to end your career, winning a Super Bowl. Ray Lewis is one of the top linebackers. In my opinion he is the greatest linebacker in NFL history. He played 17 seasons all with the Baltimore Ravens. He has played with the Ravens as long as they have existed. During his career he recorded 2061 tackles, 41.5 sacks and 31 interceptions. He has the most games played and season played by an inside/middle linebacker at 227 games and 17 seasons. He has the most interception return yards by an inside/middle linebacker with 503 yards. He is the quickest player to reach the 20 sack/20 interception club, reaching it in 113 games. He is also the quickest player to reach the 30 sack/30 interception club, reaching it in 204 games. He is amazing also the only person to reach the 40 sack/30 interception club. For awards he was 13-time Pro Bowler (inside/middle linebacker record), 10-time All-Pro selection (inside/middle linebacker record), 2-time Super Bowl Champion, 1-time Super Bowl MVP, 2-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and a 3-time AFC Defensive Player of the Year. He was a great help in the success the Ravens had during the his time there. He helped the Ravens make 9 playoff appearances. The Ravens also won the AFC North four times in 2003, 2006, 2011 and 2012. He picked a great time to retire in my opinion going out on top of the NFL. Ray Lewis is one of the best NFL linebacker of all-time and should make the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 5 years with no problem. 

Recap of the 2012 NFL Awards

The NFL Awards came out a week ago yesterday. I will be writing about the awards giving my opinion and explaining if I agree or disagree with the award choose. I will talk about the MVP, Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year. 

MVP & Offensive Player of the Year: Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings won these awards. There were many choices of this award like Peterson, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, J.J. Watt and some others. Peterson came back after tearing his ACL at the end of last season. Also he helped the Vikings who wasn't supposed to be any good win 10 games. They earned a wild card spot and lost in the Wild Card Round to the Packers. For his stats he became 7th Player in NFL history to record 2000 rushing yards in one season. Peterson had 2097 receiving yards in this season.  He came up just 8 yards short of Eric Dickerson's season rushing yard record at 2105 rushing yards. Despite the great season he only had 12 touchdowns on the year. He had 100 or more rushing yards in 10 of the 16 games this year. On the season he also averaged 6.0 yards per rush attempt. Peyton Manning was definitely 2nd in my opinion after he missed all of last season. He became the first Vikings since Fran Tarkenton in 1975 to win both of these awards. 


Defensive Player of the Year: J.J. Watt of the Houston Texas won this award. I agree with this award choice. Watt had 20.5 sacks  which was 1st in the NFL. Watts forced 4 fumbles and recovered 2 of them. Watt had 81 tackles. Watt averaged 6.8 yards per sack. He also had 16 pass defended. Watt had a very great season and even had a chance to break the NFL season for sacks. His team went 12-4 and helped his team win their second straight AFC South Titles. He also helped his team make the AFC Divisional Round. He is the first Texan ever to win this award. 

Rookie of the Year: Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks won this award. Along with Wilson, Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck all put up great season to try to win this award. One reason Luck won neither of the two awards is probably because of his one-dimensional game. While Wilson and Griffin are both great dual threats. I agree with this award choice because all three rookie made the playoffs but only Wilson made the Divisional. Luck lost to Baltimore in the Wild Card Round. Griffin lost to Wilson and the Seahawks in the Wild Card Round. Luck passed for many more yards than Wilson and Griffin. Luck had 4374 passing yards (7th in the NFL), Griffin had 3200 passing yards (22nd in the NFL) and Wilson had 3118 passing yards (23rd in the NFL). Wilson had 26 passing touchdowns (tied for 9th in the NFL), Luck had 23 passing touchdowns (14th in the NFL) and Griffin had 20 passing touchdowns (tied for 19th in the NFL). Griffin did have far less interceptions with only 5, Wilson had 10 and Luck had 18. Griffin had 815 rushing yards and 7 rushing touchdowns. Wilson had 489 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns. I think the big thing that helped Wilson win this award was he was drafted in the 3rd round with the 75th pick overall while Luck was the 1st pick and Griffin was the 2nd. He is the first Seahawk to win this award.

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins won this award. Even though I thought Wilson should have won Rookie of the Year I also agree with this award choice because offensive Robert Griffin was better. Griffin had 3200 passing yards (22nd in the NFL) and Wilson had 3118 passing yards (23rd in the NFL). Wilson had 26 passing touchdowns (tied for 9th in the NFL) and Griffin had 20 passing touchdowns (tied for 19th in the NFL). Griffin did have far less interceptions with only 5 and Wilson had 10. Griffin had 815 rushing yards and 7 rushing touchdowns. Wilson had 489 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns. He is the first Redskin since Mike Thomas in 1975 to win this award.

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Luke Kuechly of the Carolina Panthers won this award. I agree with this award. Kuechly helping the Panthers defense which was very bad this year improve quite a bit. He had just 1.0 sacks this season. He had 164 tackles which led the NFL. He also had 3 fumbles recovered and 2 interceptions. He also had 8 pass defended. He is the first Panther since Julius Peppers in 2002 this win this award.

Baltimore Ravens are the Super Bowl XLVII Champions.

The Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 Sunday to win Super Bowl XLVII. The Ravens won their 2nd Super Bowl in 2 tries. 49ers drop to 5-1 in Super Bowls. Joe Flacco was 22 for 33 (.667) with 287 passing yards and 3 TDs and 0 INTs. He won his 1st Super Bowl MVP. The game started out with the Ravens scoring a touchdown to go up 7-0. San Francisco kicked a field goal to make the score 7-3. Then the Ravens toke control of the game. Ravens scored two straight TDs to go up 21-3. San Francisco did get a little closer when they kicked a field goal to make the score 21-6 at half. To start the 2nd half Jacoby Jones tied a NFL record with a 108 yard kickoff return to extend the lead. Then short after that half the half the lights went out in the stadium and there was a 34 minute delay. After that delay everything changed. San Francisco scored 2 straight touchdowns and a field goal. The score after 3 quarters was 28 to 23 Baltimore. Ravens added a field goal to go up 8 points but San Francisco responded with a touchdown to make it 31 to 29 Baltimore after a failed 2 point conversion. Ravens added another field goal to make the score 34 to 29. The final score was 34 to 31 after the Ravens toke a safety to less the time San Francisco had at the very end. Both teams had great seasons. I expect to see the Ravens win the AFC North again. Assuming they resign Joe Flacco they will probably be one of the best in the AFC and have another chance for Super Bowl again. It will be tough without Ray Lewis who probably won't be on the team next year since he plans to retire. The 49ers will probably win the NFC West but they have to watch at for Seattle who will be hungry next year. It will be interested to see if Kaepernick can keep doing what he did at the end of this year.

Previw of Super Bowl XLVII: San Francisco 49ers vs. Baltimore Ravens

The San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravnes will face off for Super Bowl XLVII. Both teams lost in the Conference Championships last season and they were able to come back this season and make the big jump and to make the Super Bowl.

The San Francisco 49ers went 11-4-1 in the regular season winning the NFC West and clinched the NFC #2 seed. They beat the Green Bay Packers 45-31 in Divisional Round. Then San Francisco beat Atlanta Falcons 28-24 to win the NFC. They rallied from 17 points down to win and capped the second greatest Conference Championship comeback in history. This the 49ers' 6th Super Bowl. They have won all 5 Super Bowls they have played in. They have won Super Bowl XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV and XXIX.They will look to tie the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl Championships.

The Baltimore Ravens went 10-6 in the regular season winning the AFC North and clinched the AFC #4 seed. They beat the Indianapolis 24-9 in the Wild Card round. Then they went to Denver, they were able to upset the Broncos 38-35 in 2OT. In the AFC Championship they went to New England to play the Patriots which was a rematch of last year's AFC Championship game which the Patriots won. They were able to upset the Patriots winning 28-13. This is the Ravens' 2nd Super Bowl. They won their only other Super Bowl in Super Bowl XXXV. Joe Flacco has won at least one playoff game each of his first five seasons.

My Prediction: Both teams in this game have great defenses but also have very talented quarterbacks. Flacco had 3817 passing yards and 22 passing touchdowns. Colin Kaepernick was not the original starter this season but has emerged after Alex Smith got hurt. During his time as the starter Kaepernick threw for 1814 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also ran for 415 yards and 5 touchdowns. Both teams also have very good running backs. Ray Rice for Baltimore had 1143 rushing yards and 9 rushing touchdowns. Frank Gore for San Francisco had 1214 rushing yards and 8 rushing touchdowns. This game is probably one of the closest Super Bowls I have seen in a while. This game is definitely a pick-um game. It could also be the first Super Bowl to go into overtime. It seems that any teams could easily win this game. This game also could be Ray Lewis finally NFL game. He was the Super Bowl XXXV MVP. He has announced he would like to retire following this game. One other fun fact is both head coaches for the two teams are brothers. This the first time in a Super Bowl to see whether John and Baltimore or Jim and San Francisco come out on top. I going to pick San Francisco in the game. My main reason is Colin Kaepernick is just a more mobile QB and I think he will be tough to stop in this game. I think San Francisco wins their their 6th Super Bowl and improves to 6-0 in Super Bowls. 

San Francisco 24, Baltimore 23.  
San Francisco 49ers are Super Bowl XLVII Champions.  
Colin Kaepernick is Super Bowl XLVII MVP. 13 for 20 (.650), 210 passing yards, 2 TDs, 1 INTs, 75 rushing yards and 1 rushing TD.