Champions Leauge and Bayern

Playing soccer since I was 4 years old, I have had many favorites in the soccer world. In about 2009, I started following Bayern Munich after they acquired one of my favorite players Arjen Robben, a dutch football player.

Facing Real Madrid in the semi-finals, Bayern has some hard competition in-order to claim the trophy, but they have already shown their power and should not be underestimated. In an interview with Phil Taylor, the 15-time world champion was convinced that Bayern Munich will edge Jose Mourinho's side (Real Madrid) in their semi-final tie and book a place in the final against Barcelona at their Allianz Arena home on May 19. 


Taylor went on and admired Bayern for their class, and singled out several individuals for special mention, Robben especially. He was quoted saying "I love to watch Bayern Munich," he said. "Toni Kroos is very good. I like Arjen Robben, I think he's a great player. Franck Ribery ... I think they're all great. They are a great team." 

On the other side, Barcelona faces off against Chelsea and most analysts foresee a Barcelona victory, which shall make for an electrifying final if Bayern can beat out Madrid. 

 

The Stanley Cup Playoffs: Conference Finals and Cup Finals (continued)

With this last post I will take you to the end of my predictions, all the way to which team I think is going to win the cup.  Let's begin!

Western Conference:  Finals

In the Western Conference the final match up will be between the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators.  This series is where the President Trophy jynx will kick in.  For those of you who don't know, the President's Trophy jynx is basically the inability of the top team of the regular season the win the Stanley Cup.  This curse will likely display itself through Vancouver's goaltending, just like it did last year.  These two teams met in the second round of last year's playoffs, and Vancouver took that series.  This will not be the case.  With revenge on their mind, the Predators will eliminate the Canucks, leaving Vancouver disappointed once again.

Easern Conference:  Finals

In the Eastern Conference the match up will be between the neighboring states of New Jersey and New York.  Although the hockey interest isn't as extreme in those locations as compared to here in Canada, this will prove to be an exciting series.  After looking at their regular season games and their rosters,  I've decided to give the advantage to New York.  Once again it comes down to depth on the New York roster.  Both teams have a stellar top two lines, but when matching up the third and fourth lines, the advantage lies with the Rangers.  Also, New York has the advantage in net.  Their goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, is at the prime of his career, while Martin Brodeur is passed his.

The Stanley Cup Finals

Everything previously posted has led us up to this point.  If you have been following, this mean that the New York Rangers and the Nashville Predators are the two teams remaining.  First of all I looked at the offensive power each team has.  New York has a handful of star forwards and the depth to back them up.  Nashville has a solid four lines of forwards, but no big names or star players.  I decided to give the offensive advantage to New York.  Secondly, I looked at the defensive match up.  Nashville's roster contains some of the best defense in the NHL, all topped by team captain and NHL All Star Shea Webber.  In this category New York can't compete.  Thirdly I looked at goal tending.  Judging from NHL experience, stats and playing style, I have no choice but to give the advantage to New York's goaltender, Lundqvist.  With all of this noted, my predicted outcome is that the New York Rangers will be hoisting the Stanley Cup at the end of the regular season!

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Second Round Predictions (Continued)

Here we go again, as a continuation of my last post, here's more predictions.  If my predictions turned out to be accurate, this is how I believe it would continue.

Before I do continue though, in response to comments on the last post I have only this to say:  One game does not determine the outcome of a series.

Western Conference: Second Round

First we have the Vancouver Canucks hosting the Chicago Blackhawks.  As much as it pains me to say this, the series will likely end up how it did last year.  Expect Vancouver to barely win in a full seven game tilt.

In the other west series, we have the St. Louis Blues taking on the Nashville Predators.  I've been very torn on this series, but I am sticking with my gut feeling that Nashville has something special this year.  I also think that they want their chance to get revenge on the Canucks.  If I was a betting man, I'd say Nashville in six games.

Eastern Conference: Second Round

First up, we have the New York Rangers against the Washington Capitals.  This series will be all about revenge for the Rangers.  New York will knock off the Capitals in five games, just like how the Capitals knocked off the Rangers in five games last season.  This is because the Rangers will be facing a Capitals team that has been fairly roughed up by the bruins.

In the other east series we have the Pittsburgh Penguins taking on the New Jersey Devils.  After the Penguins barely escape the Flyers in the first series, expect them to fall short to the Devils.  The Devils will be in good condition after their first series, the Penguins, not so much.

Insanity Part 2

It has been one month since I last talked about my insanity experience. Since that time I have not been able to do the workouts day by day, but I have seen several promising results. Over this time the quality of my workouts has increase dramatically, I am more prepared to perform during the sessions and I really notice the importance that yoga and stretching play in everyday life.

Because I have been unable to consistently do this 60 day workout, once school ends I plan to go from May till July as much as possible and see what happens. I also did some research on the new Insanity that Shaun T has produced called "Insanity : The Asylum" which now claim it will take you from average to elite in just 30 days. It uses professional athlete workouts and allows average people to experience a professional level of training.  

Insanity Asylum

Retrieved from: http://insanityasylumreview.net/

The Ugly Duckling

Although they are fellow "Canadians", it seems like people will never accept the Vancouver Canucks as a Canadian team. Over the years, people tend to cheer for all the American teams to beat them out of the playoffs, even though I feel as do many others that the Canucks are Canada's only hope of bringing the cup north back to where it belongs. Many skeptics believe that the Bertuzzi incident really gave the entire Canucks franchise a horrible reputation. Bertuzzi hit Colorado's player, Steve Moore from behind in retaliation for an earlier hit by Moore against Bertuzzi teammate Markus Naslund.

Bertuzzi hit on Moore
 

The Vancouver riots made it worse to some extent, it was a public disturbance that broke out in the downtown core of Vancouver on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. The riots happened immediately after the conclusion of the Boston Bruins' win over the Vancouver Canucks in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. This was a repeat of the 1994 riot where a riot arose after Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals in which the Vancouver Canucks lost to the New York Rangers. Even with all these events, people should still cheer for our best hope. In this season disappointments have come from Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and the Montreal teams who all failed to deliver this season. Although Ottawa has its chances, analysts and sports enthusiast will agree that the Nuck's are our best hope of bring the cup north.   

Another problem comes with the nationality of some of the players, and the twins who play for the team. Although their are barley any actual "Canadians" of the roster, they are still a CANADIAN team and without them, we can expect another American team to win, sine we haven't seen the cup since 1993.

In the end, we must support our fellow teams and join them in the road to the cup.

Retrieved from: http://canucksarmy.com/2011/5/11/12-questions-after-2-rounds-2

Joe Sakic

Joe Sakic is a former NHL player who played from 1988-2009 (I think he had a few more years in him if it wasn’t due to the freak accident) and spent majority of his career as the captain of the Colorado Avalanche. Sakic began his career after being drafted 15^th overall in 1987 by the Quebec Nordiques and stayed with the franchise when the team moved to Denver. Over his career Sakic was feared for his wrist shot which was considered one of the best in the game and at the conclusion of 2008-2009 moved up to 8^th in overall all time points as well as 14^th in all time goals.

In his is 20 year tenure, Sakic has:

-          Won Two Stanley cups

-          14 NHL awards

-          13 appearances in NHL All star games

-          Helped Team Canada in 2002 to first gold medal in 50 years

Joe Sakic also has set Franchise records in Colorado including all scoring records, assists and points and has several notable records in the NHL:

-          1^st in All Star game assists (16)

-          11^th In regular season assists (1016)

-          9^th In  regular season points (1641)

-          2^nd In single playoff season goals (18)

After battling a few injuries including herniated disk and breaking three fingers in a snow blower accident, Sakic decided to retire in on July 9, 2009. On Oct 1, 2009 at the Pepsi Centre, Colorado retired his jersey number with the “C” still on his jersey. Since his retirement Sakic has been hired by the Avalanche to work as the Executive Advisor in hockey related matters and represent the team at board of governor meetings. 

Golf Balls

Golf has become a popular sport in many countries and like other sports that have revolutionized their equipment so has Golf. Golf balls in particular have had huge overhauls in the way they are designed and have a huge impact on the sport.  The evolution of the golf ball is a timeline that spans decades, with continual technological advances in materials, construction and aerodynamics. The goal of all manufacturers today is to make a ball that best fits a golfer’s individual game, and that will allow golfers to maximize their abilities to hit long drives and work the ball with a great measure of feel and control. Golf ball performance can be broken down into 4 primary categories: launch conditions, aerodynamics, durability and feel.

Launch Conditions

Launch conditions are post impact from a golf club and affect the distance, launch angle, backspin and side spin.  Golf ball speed is the most important factor in determining distance and higher ball speed directly relates to increased distance. All shots usually have backspin which helps around the green for added control.

Aerodynamics

During flight, the launch conditions of the golf ball interact with the aerodynamics of flight to determine the golf balls overall trajectory. The two primary aspects of aerodynamics are lift and drag. The lift is the force that acts in the vertical plane. The lift must be optimised in order to produce the desired trajectory since too much or too little can lead to loss of distance. Drag is the force that opposes the golf balls motion.

Durability and Feel

New technological advancements have made golf balls feels soft and responsive during impact but still durable to increase speed and distance. Two major categories are cover and core of the ball. The core is more dominate in long shorts to increase range and speed whereas the cover is more influential on putts and shorter shots.