KUJayhawk11

It's been a busy week with no real updates, a lot going on around here. I'm going to update this with picks at least tonight, with analysis hopefully coming tomorrow.

My current record through 2009 stands at 55-21, or 72.4%. That's as good as or better than CBSSports.com's MMA Experts. Nonetheless, some of them have some very good opinions and analysis, and as always, picking fights can be highly unpredictable at times. .

Update: Sorry for the late revision, but the results from my picks, finally, are here.

Bouts:

MAIN EVENT
Diego Sanchez Vs. Clay Guida
Winner: Diego Sanchez

DaMarques Johnson Vs. James Wilks
Winner: James Wilks

Chris Lytle Vs. Kevin Burns
Winner: Chris Lytle

Ross Pearson Vs. Andre Winner
Winner: Ross Pearson

Joe Stevenson Vs. Nate Diaz
Winner: Joe Stevenson

Melvin Guillard Vs. Gleison Tibau
Winner: Melvin Guillard

Brad Blackburn Vs. Edgar Garcia
Winner: Brad Blackburn

Mike Ciesnolevicz Vs. Tomasz Drwal
Winner: Tomasz Drwal

Nick Osipczak Vs. Frank Lester
Winner: Nick Osipczak

Jason Dent Vs. Cameron Dollar
Winner: Jason Dent

Since I started keeping track of UFC picks sometime in the fall of 2008, this has been the worst I've done yet. Not making any excuses, however, but some of the scoring on fights Saturday seemed questionable. I did not see all of the results of the undercard yet, unfortunately, but I plan on getting to that and seeing just how much that played a part. Going 4-for-10, my results for the year now stand at 59-27, or 68.6%.

Chris Lytle and Kevin Burns was a highlight of the show, but people are going to be talking about Sanchez/Guida as the barnburner until something else comes along. I wondered to some fellow friends watching the fights if Guida had steel chin implants seeing the shots that he tookin the first five minutes. Sanchez now moves along as the favorite to fight the B.J. Penn/Kenny Florian winner, and therefore the UFC Lightweight Champion, presumably sometime late in 2009.

I'll be back in about two weeks as far as UFC predictions are concerned for UFC 100, which sports a very solid PPV and undercard.

Cro Cop returned, Velasquez ascended and the Ace handled the Axe, all before the sun went down here in the United States.

Complete with a few controversial endings, UFC's first event in Germany had a handful of exciting televised bouts nonetheless. As expected, Franklin and Silva put on an exciting fight that "Ace" took by unanimous decision, but in which the "Axe Murderer" arguably delivered more damage. Silva hurt Franklin badly in the second round, but the former UFC Middleweight Champion seemed to have Wanderlei's timing down after the first round and was able to weather the flurries of punches that Silva dished out.

We also got a look at what somewhere down the road has to be a formidable opponent for UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, with Cain Velasquez improving his record to 6-0 over Chieck Kongo. You can probably remove the prospect tag off Velasquez, but don't hand him an experienced one just yet either. Velasquez, a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler showed off elite endurance and frequent as well as effortless takedowns and transitions into mount on Kongo that impressed. Kongo, though, seemed to outmatch Velasquez on his feet and did damage with punches, but closed in allowing Velasquez to take him down and control the fight. Velasquez still needs to improve his ability to finish and his submissions, and also showed that while he was beating Kongo with ground and pound, he wasn't severely damaging him the way a fighter like Mark Coleman would. That said, a lot of potential still here.

Another anticipated bout was the return of Mirko Cro-Cop, who unfortunately has his first-round TKO over Mostapha Al Turk diminshed by an eye poke prior to being finished, by Cro-Cop (who, as I recall, didn't throw a kick over the several minutes the fight lasted) still seemed in control of an overmatched Al Turk.

Mike Swick also looked impressive, ending his bout with fellow welterweight Ben Saunders in the second round with punches and moved to 8-1 now in the UFC. Saunders has imposing size for the division, but Swick in his move from 185 to 170 looked much more suited for the weight class. He constantly used combinations and punches in bunches to finally put down Saunders. One has to believe that Swick is getting close to being a top contender in the division.

Another hotly-debated finish was the result of the grudge match between Marcus Davis and Dan Hardy. While Davis seemed to dominate the fight, he ended the final minutes of the bout wiping blood from out of his vision and took more damage. The bout could have been scored 29-28 either way, but Hardy took the split decision.

Overall, some fans are going to be disappointed but viewers on television got a pretty solid show with a mix of decisions and finishes that were worth the money. It's going to be interesting to see what the UFC's heavyweight contender picture looks like after Mir and Lesnar square off at UFC 100 next month. As Silva will move down from the catchweight of 195 that he and Franklin met at to transition from light heavyweight to middleweight, the talk of bad blood between he and former training partner Anderson Silva squaring off is highly unlikely now. Wanderlei will need to string together several impressive victories before that discussion picks up steam again.

Finally, here's a look at my predictions for the fight, with the correct picks in bold, and incorrect picks with a strikethrough.

Bouts:

MAIN EVENT
Rich Franklin v. Wanderlei Silva
Winner: Rich Franklin

Mike Swick v. Ben Saunders
Winner: Mike Swick

Marcus Davis v. Dan Hardy
Winner: Marcus Davis

Dennis Siver v. Dale Hartt
Winner: Dennis Siver

Denis Stojnic v. Stefan Struve
Winner: Denis Stojnic

Spencer Fisher v. Caol Uno
Winner: Spencer Fisher

John Hathaway v. Rick Story
Winner: John Hathaway

Paul Taylor v. Peter Sobotta
Winner: Paul Taylor

Terry Etim v. Justin Buchholz
Winner: Terry Etim

Paul Kelly v. Rolando Delgado
Winner: Paul Kelly

Cheick Kongo v. Cain Velasquez
Winner: Cain Velasquez

Mirko Cro Cop v. Mostapha Al Turk
Winner: Mirko Cro Cop

Things went fairly close to predicted, with 10/12 correctly picked, or 83.3%.

I'll be back with more MMA likely before or after The Ultimate Fighter finale.

How do you know when to start panicking if your fantasy baseball team is lacking? When there's nothing else to pour over.

The NBA and NHL Finals are just one game away from being decided, and it's usually around this time, just over a third into the season, when your team's surpluses and shortcomings start becoming real apparent. If you haven't corrected those categories that you're falling a little behind in, get on it. In a deal that continues to look better and better, I traded Bobby Abreu, Yuniesky Betancourt and Alex Gordon for Alexei Ramirez and Jack Cust to try and gain some power. Clearly this swap was the epitime of the "sell high, buy low" theory. Abreu wasn't that far off from batting twice what Ramirez was, and I thought he might be capable of stealing 30-30 bags. Now Abreu hasn't swiped a base since May 19th, and the deal is looking great.

But not all deals are going to be that good. A majority of us play in fantasy leagues of all sports over the internet, where we don't know most of the owners (or sometimes any of them). So upon the numerous reasons for why it might be hard to make a fair value trade, being able to contact someone and work out a deal even in competitive leagues can be tough.

You always want to be evaluating your team and try to project the categories you're coming up short in, if you can't already tell by the standings. Surpluses of a category, however, can be trickier. In that same league, I have a lead in SB by over 20 with burners like Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton on my team. I don't think my team has any apparent weakness, but several areas I could sure up if I traded a guy like Upton. But the lesson is to be careful; even if you're leading a category by a good amount, trade your surplus too early and you can wind up finding yourself needing more of what you had too much of at one time. Say, for instance, Crawford pulls his hamstring, or otherwise misses time, and I lose his steals. Almost half of my steals came from this guy! Suddenly I'd be missing far over a majority of my production in that category.

You can't be too careful, so really analyze how safe your lead is with any given statistic before you dish it away. Unless you're emphatically stacked, I think that waiting until halfway through the year is a safe gauge.

Speaking of being halfway through, about this time of the season we can start seeing patterns and splits that are meaningful. There'll be a column coming sooner than later on that, but a few in the meantime:

• With all the hoopla made about what a launching pad new Yankee Stadium is, would you believe 9-of-12 Nick Swisher home runs have come on the road ? Supposedly Swisher was gunning for the short porch in right field and was pulling balls a little too much, but has corrected that, as evidenced by his two HRs in the Tampa Bay series. Assuming he stays on pace for his current ABs, I think he's a good bet for about 30 HRs on the year.
• At what point is Jered Weaver going to come down from up there? With a 2.31 ERA coupled with a 1.04 WHIP, Weaver has been a top five starter in the AL so far. What's the difference? Well his home runs haven't gone down, and his near 3-to-1 K/BB is about the same as it was in 2008. Meanwhile his strand rate and BABIP are abnormally low for league averages still, which raises some serious red flags. If you can sell on him now, I think this is the time. I'd be highly surprised if he finishes in the top 10 among AL starters.
• A few years ago, I talked smack to a buddy to had Tim Wakefield and got a mindblowing 17 wins out of him while he sported a 4.76 ERA. That's either some good run support, luck, or a mix of both. Now I'm not going out and saying he wins 20 games this year, but he is on pace with a very solid 8-3 record. And here's another fun fact: despite that some of us who played ball in high school might of seen fastballs with more velocity, guess who's fastball has been the most effective among all Major League starters this year? That's right, Wakefield. His ability to keep hitters guessing coupled with his knuckleball is a big reason why he remains effective. Eat your heart out, Joel Zumaya.

Hopefully everyone checks out the Stanley Cup Finals which concludes tonight. For as much respect as the American sports fan lost after the strike, you owe it to yourself to watch Game 7. The potential dynasty team with the most talent taking on two of the best, youngest superstars in the league has made for a good storyline and a helluva series that all boils down to tonight, where the Red Wings look for their fifth Stanley Cup in 13 seasons. As someone who has had a chance to catch a game or two in Pittsburgh, they're a great team to watch, but here in Detroit, Hockeytown is preparing for another parade.

Look for it in the headlines: nope. Try even the MMA section: Notta. There's no reason for this. Scratch that, no excuse .

With so much attention devoted to the joke that was Jose Canseco's MMA circus-bout this past Tuesday, you'd think that when some legitimate news comes out of the sport, major sports media outlets would jump on the opportunity. Nevertheless, when news broke Thursday via UFC President Dana White that "Sugar" Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson would be coaching the next season of The Ultimate Fighter followed by a long-anticipated fight between the two, the news is quieter than the eye of a hurricane in some places.

Now on the fighter's own merits, this is a newsworthy clash by itself. Evans is an elite wrestler out of Michigan State who was previously undefeated in the UFC until Sunday, when he dropped the UFC Light Heavyweight belt to karate ace Lyoto Machida. Evans won heavyweight division of The Ultimate Fighter 2 , and went on to defeat future UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Lidell, and also holds victories over two other Ultimate Fighter winners, Forrest Griffin and Michael Bisping.

Meanwhile, Jackson, a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion himself, is no stranger to success. He's won eight of his last nine fights, including victories over Liddell, former Pride Middleweight Champion Dan Henderson, and Wanderlei Silva, all top fighters in their divisions at some point in time. He's won Knockout of the Night or Fight of the Night honors in four of his last fight bouts as well, notorious for finishing fights in exciting fashion typically. Jackson is also known for famously powerbombing Ricardo Arona in 2004 during his stint with Pride, something you might see the Undertaker do at Wrestlemania.

On top of that, the two are tremendous personalities in what will make for one of the more exciting seasons of the show. When Jackson beat Keith Jardine earlier this year, one of Evans best friends, the jabber-jawing began. Evans has made gestures during and after his fights that have garnered him a reputation as being cocky, while Jackson is one of the most colorful personalities in the sport. His howl is almost notorious as now is his run in with the law. Last summer, Jackson was arrested and booked on suspicion of felony reckless driving, and felony hit and run, some of which he has not been sentenced for yet and could face jail time. Videos of the high speed chase that culminated in his arrest are floating around the Internet. These two don't lack personalities, and should deliver big time for entertainment.

All of this underlies one of the biggest storylines of all, a card which really hasn't been played yet in MMA history: race. When Tony Dungy became the first African American coach to win the Super Bowl, it was one of the biggest angles taken by the media even before, and then after the game. We're comparing apples to oranges here with the two events, but nevertheless, this is news. Two African American fighters near this caliber have gone toe-to-toe in such an anticipated bout in this sport, one of the driving reasons that White surely put this bout together. This isn't Kimbo Slice, folks. Not only are Jackson and Evans ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the world by Sherdog.com in the most recent light heavyweight rankings, they're in the Top 10 pound-for-pound . Translation: these guys are good.

While ESPN doesn't per say have extensive coverage of MMA, they are connected to Sherdog, the leader and most respected source for MMA news, and you could find the news there. They hold shows now after UFC cards featuring UFC lightweight contender Kenny Florian and a panel of others, and normally you can find winners of big fights run across the ticker. Coverage is getting better.

Here at CBSSports, there is absolutely no sign of the news. Anywhere. To its credit, the site publishes one of the best event previews on the World Wide Web for UFC events and some good opinions. There's no excuse though when a message board is breaking news and hours later there's no trace of this.

The question of race is likely going to come up in an interview of these two fighters, but that won't even be the reason that blood boils between these two leading up to what will be a fight between the two around December. But here's the chance for everyone to pull the race card in a good way. These two are great fighters have and will make history, and someone has a responsibility to broadcast that. So if you haven't heard yet, now you have.

Here in Detroit, just like every other sports city right now with a team still in the playoffs (but out of the economic pandemic, hopefully), we've gotten together to watch the Red Wings here in Hockeytown for games during the postseason.

I've found when talking to Ohio fans that when the tension between the two states is unleashed, hockey is immediately dismissed from the conversation. Why? Well maybe because Detroit dispatched Columbus recently, but that's not all of it. The Cavaliers are, or were, riding high; therefore, there's going to always be a reason to shove hockey under the rug.

This discussion is much greather than just the Detroit and Columbus, though, and I'm not talking about the things that happen to Michigan fans when they leave their cars at Ohio State games. Now with the Pistons barely treading water after being a force in the East for years, fans around these parts, and even national media were clammering about how the NBA Playoffs were predictable this year, and how exciting hockey is. Predictable ?

Now I'm not going to harp on the NHL. There still needs to be changes made, but the respective changes made to rules of the game greatly assisted the sport in its goal to become relevant again, and the style of play has made things exciting. But by the time you're reading this column, the Red Wings may win the series tonight in Detroit, setting up a rematch between Detroit and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Wait, the NBA is predictable? No, these teams weren't the top seeds, but is this really unpredictable? In the playoffs, the cream often rises to the top. Detroit, the franchise of recent dynasties and defending Stanley Cup champion, and Pittsburgh, the team with arguably the most talented player in the league. In a rematch . But totally unpredictable, right?

Meanwhile, while it looked as if David Stern got his wish from Santa and the Lakers and Cavs were going to lock horns in the finals with the league's two biggest stars going head-to-head, things are about to get thrown upside down. In the West, it's anyone's game, and certainly Kobe may end up getting another ring. But Game 5 in the Eastern finals is going to turn out to be must see television. Tivo The Hills because this is going to be what to watch.

Here's hoping that the officials don't ruin this game, and we get to see what LeBron and this team is (or maybe isn't) made of. If King James misses the miracle shot to win the only victory of the season for Cleveland, we're already talking about how James choked against Orlando, how he carried this group of underachievers this far and how impressive it was. And we're probably going to be talking about that this weekend, anyhow. While it's not the league, or even many fans or my preferred ending, these Conference Finals are going to end up being anything but predictable.

Okay, so not really Opening Day, just a few months late.

After running some blogs here and there, I've decided to settle down somewhere that I frequent often with running teams this year here. Coincientally, while I find that CBS runs one of the best fantasy baseball interfaces on the internet, I respectfully enjoy the pennings of many other websites, so I wanted to bring my own flavor here.

I'm going to establish a format for what topics will run what days sooner than later, but in the meantime, onto a little fantasy baseball, something that will be touched upon as often as anything else in this space.

A lot of discussion in the baseball community revolves around lineup protection, a subject that really has emerged again over the last weeks with Manny Ramirez absence in Los Angeles, and now the return of A-Rod in the Bronx. Statistical research has shown that there's really no connection between the two, but Mark Teixeira fantasy owners certainly must beg to differ, including myself. I called Teixeira a buy-low candidate prior to Rodriguez returning to the lineup, and I wasn't wrong.

Let's compare the numbers. Rodriguez returned on May 8th, so here's a look at the before and after:

Before A-Rod: 25 Games, .198 AVG, 5 HR, 15 RBIs, 19 BB
After A-Rod (through 5/27): 18 Games, .376 AVG, 9 HR, 22 RBIs, 8 BB

Staggering difference, certainly. But the walks are the real wildcard: the battering average couldn't tell you what kind of situations and pitches Teixeira was hitting in other than RISP, but the fact is that Teixeira was getting walked in crucial situations with pitchers more eager to face a guy like Hideki Matsui rather than, oh, a guy who can hit 50 bombs a year. He's getting better pitches, and more importantly, pitchers have to throw to him which is generating more opportunities.

As far as the park is concerned, thanks to the guys at HitTrackerOnline.com, here's a look at Teixeira's home runs this year.

You can't argue that a lot of these wouldn't still be over the fence elsewhere, but Teixeira is certainly comfortable at home, hitting 10 of his 14 bombs so far in new Yankee Stadium. Call it the jet stream or whatever, it's producing results either way.

Big Tex is getting better lineup protection than he's gotten in his whole career no doubt, and also perhaps in a better ballpark, arguably. So what are the expectations? After the last several years, 2005's 43 HR season looked like an anomoly, but perhaps a return to the spike in power numbers could be in store. I originally only projected Teixeira for 31 blasts this year, but I'll modify my power projections and say .301/110/40/120 isn't unreasonable now. I'll enjoy him on my fantasy team, and hopefully it isn't too late for you to either.