Let us Pray

 

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work - James 3:16

"For you so loved the NBA that you sent "the Chosen One" to Miami so that the Eastern Conference may live. He has suffered greatly, but he has come through for his team dropping 31 on the hated Celtics. May you continue to bless King James, that we may all be witnesses to his victory not with a crown of thorns but a championship ring. Amen"

But seriously,

I had high expectations of the Heat and those expectations were dampened yesterday. Lebron is as advertised but the team is not. They need time to gel to make this work. Unlike the Celtics, the team is centered around young guys. I don't like Bosh, but his lackluster individual performance could have been the result of Boston's defense. However, how is Miami supposed to beat the beasts of the East? I’m also worried about the harm that the Bible verse predicts. If the Heat don’t start off well, could a schism form  between Wade (3), Bosh (1), and Lebron (6)?

Also, I've gotta admit that I like the Lebron Commercial "Rise" was great. The shot at Charles Barkley was funny. The commercial, and its references (some more subtle than others is better explained here. If you hate Lebron the commercial won't change your mind. But if you’re a bandwagon hater, then the commercial has a decent message behind it. Should I be what you want me to be. Sorry rest of the NBA, everyone can't be Durant and Duncan. Sometimes people like attention, like Charles Barkley and MJ, who blatantly criticized him for the move to Miami. I have no doubt that they would have gladly played together if possible. (Think 91 Jordan wouldn’t have wanted Barkley at Power Forward over Oakley or Grant… I thought so. Didn’t Barkley go championship chasing at the end of his career? I thought so.)

Quarter 1 NFL Power Rankings

Certain Contenders
1	Jets	I have them as a tentative number one. On one hand, they are the only team that is amazing. Sanchez has 0 interceptions and 0 fumbles. On the other hand I don't trust Sanchez, and I am absolutely fearful that the Jets will collapse under their own pressure.
2	Ravens	Surprise, the Ravens are good. They’ve become more of a pass offense than I’m used to. Flacco might be the best QB in Ravens history despite the fact that this is faint praise.
3	Steelers	The Steelers are only so low because they lost to the Ravens who I still contend are a great team. That being said, they have had an impressive set of wins and they've gone 3-1 without Big Ben. Bye this week and then they play the Browns. Don't be surprised if they move up
4	Packers	The Packers are still the team to beat in their division, and as far as I'm concerned, they're the team to beat in the conference. I like their defense, and I think their passing attack is pretty impressive.
5	Saints	They are only this high because they are still the Super Bowl Champs and have (a tie for) the best record in the conference. They haven't played like a Super Bowl winner.
6	Texans	I was right about Houston. I hope. I said I should have drafted Arian Foster, but. I didn't and I'm sorry for it. Schaub has been pedestrian.
7	Falcons	I wasn't down on the Falcons but I’m a bit surprised at their win in New Orleans. Their offense is great. I know I'm going to get flack for rating them below a team that they beat, but I still don't completely trust the Falcons
Probable Contenders
8	Broncos	The Best passing offense in the League is in Denver. You cannot be serious
9	Cowboys	I overreact to every win and every loss. Guilty as charged, but I'm pacified by the win against the Texans. Hopefully Dez Bryant pays Roy Williams back with a great on field performance coming out of the bye. Is this my bias at work? Probably but It is dependent on how the 'Boys do coming out of the bye. If they don't show up for these games then I'm dropping them quickly.
10	Chiefs	The best record in the league. They haven't lost yet. They are almost certainly going to drop, especially because they are going to play the team below them in the rankings this Sunday. However, they are a young fun team.
11	Colts	Not great, I said that their lack of defense would catch up and that hasn't really been the case, their offense has been somewhat Stagnant by Indianapolis standards
12	Patriots	The other side of the Moss deal is that the Pats offense is now downgraded a bit. I think they are still above average. BTW the Pats have double picks for the 1st round, 2nd round, 3rd round and 4th round.
13	Vikings	Show me something. Make me a believer. I have yet to see anything from the Vikes to make it seem like they'll be a real contender. I think they could lose 10 games. Their WR core hasn't been able to step up. Then again, Sidney Rice will be returning soon. Very soon. Edit: Randy "Straight Cash, Homey" Moss is coming to the team. I'm so unhappy because of it. I mean I'm happy for Moss and for the Vikings. But they could potentially rip through the next couple of games.
14	Dolphins	Hi haters. The dolphins are still good. They are fun, interesting and they aren't like any other team in the league. The Pats loss exposed the dolphins’ special teams woes. And is it surprising that they miss Ted Ginn Jr. now. Go figure.
Possible Contenders
15	Chargers	San Diego, Wish you had signed Vincent Jackson now, eh? Thank you management for letting the distraction boil over for too long, and tanking your team in the process. And Rivers may literally explode there is another WR drop this year.
16	Bears	They are who we thought they were, last year. I expected Cutler to do well and I jumped off the wagon too early. And lo and behold the return of the windy city flyer, Devin Hester. I’m not as concerned about the giants loss, just because it was relatively fluky. I'm more concerned the Cutler was hurt during the course of the game.
17	Bengals	The Pass offense was supposed to be amazing this year. It isn't. The Run offense was supposed to be solid, it's not. The Defense was supposed to be a division contender. It might be the 4th best in the AFC North
18	Redskins	After the Cowboys win they were a bit overhyped. They still have a dysfunctional offense that pales in comparison to their defense.
19	Giants	They stink. I'm not a believer at all in the Giants. They (the defense) is not very good.
20	Lions	The Stafford injury is crippling them. I think they could have had a better record were it not for the injury he got early in the year. To be fair, Shaun Hill has been amazing over the last couple of week. Jahvid Best is overworked and I am highly worried that his career won't last.
21	Rams	Check out the young gun Bradford. I'm still shocked at how well the Rams have done in the last few games
22	Buccaneers	They are 2-1, so I should give them some love. But I don’t believe in Tampa Bay right now, they are not the real deal so there is no use in pretending that they are.
23	Titans	I'm pretty down on the team from Nashville. Don' t know why but they always were more of a Madden team than a real life team.
24	Eagles	Vick. 2-0 when Vick starts. 0-2 when Kolb appears. To be fair. Kolb was hurt in game one and Vick got hurt in game 2. I don't know what I have to say about this team. Unlike most people I trust Andy Reid to lead them to a good regular season and guide them through their regular season. That being said, if Kolb is their QB of the future, that's fine, just don't expect them to make any noise in January until the future.
25	Raiders	Typical raiders stuff. Free agent QB benched, tons of crippling injuries, and the raiders are a bad middling team. Once again, typical.
26	Jaguars	Seeing the Jags causes me to be incredibly bored. They have no home crowd, they win in boring ways and Mike Sims-Walker needs to stop sleeping with David Garrard's wife or Spilling ink on Jack Del Rio's suits, or Carrying someone's pads or whatever he's doing that he's getting no targets.
27	Seahawks	2-2, division leaders. Good only at home.
28	49ers	Gore! Gore! Gore! Honestly, don’t know what to say, just take everything I said in the preseason rank and negate it.
Dead in the Water
29	Browns	Seneca Wallace is starting. Nuff Said.
30	Panthers	Wanted: good QB. That is all.
31	Cardinals	The Cards have been defined by their QBs, neither of whom is Kurt Warner. The security blanket is Fitzgerald who hasn't been able to do anything.
32	Bills	Despite thinking they were not going to be good they have managed to limbo under my low expectations. The pass offense is awful. The run game is stagnant. Spiller gets no love... The defense has been crippled. They're in the Jake Locker sweepstakes.