Wednesday, October 31, 2012

NFL Week 9 power rankings



By Rick Morris
NOTE: Previous weeks’ rankings in parentheses, Week 1 to present.
TOP TIER
1 Atlanta (7-3-2-1-1-1-1-1)
2 Houston (2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2)
3 Chicago (8-7-9-7-6-5-3-3)
4 Green Bay (1-5-4-4-8-11-4-4)
5 New York Giants (5-9-5-3-7-7-5-5)
6 San Francisco (10-4-1-5-3-3-6-6)
7 New England (3-1-7-9-4-4-7-7)
8 Baltimore (6-6-6-6-5-6-8-8)
SECOND TIER
9 Denver (21-12-14-17-15-18-10-9)
10 Pittsburgh (9-10-8-11-13-9-12-11)
11 Seattle (11-17-17-13-17-15-9-10)
12 Miami (27-30-28-31-29-19-13-13)
13 Indianapolis (24-26-25-29-27-20-25-21)
14 Minnesota (30-28-29-22-14-8-11-12)
15 Philadelphia (4-11-10-12-10-12-15-14)
16 Arizona (23-22-16-8-9-10-14-15)
17 San Diego (12-15-11-14-12-14-18-16)
18 Tampa Bay (26-23-19-23-25-25-23-27)
19 Detroit (17-14-18-20-22-23-22-26)
20 Dallas (16-8-12-10-16-17-21-17)
21 Tennessee (13-16-22-18-24-30-26-18)
22 Washington (29-20-21-25-18-21-16-19)
23 Buffalo (14-24-24-19-20-24-19-23)
24 New York Jets (20-13-15-16-19-22-17-20)
25 Cincinnati (18-21-20-15-11-13-24-25)
26 St. Louis (28-27-26-27-21-16-20-22)
27 New Orleans (19-19-23-30-30-27-27-24)
THIRD TIER
28 Oakland (25-29-31-26-28-28-28-28)
29 Carolina (15-18-13-21-23-29-29-29)
30 Cleveland (32-32-32-32-32-32-31-31)
31 Kansas City (22-25-27-24-26-26-30-30)
32 Jacksonville (31-31-30-28-31-31-32-32)

BIGGEST RISERS: Tampa Bay (9 spots), Indianapolis (8 spots), Detroit (7 spots)
BIGGEST FALLERS: New York Jets and St. Louis (4 spots), Dallas, New Orleans, Tennessee and Washington (3 spots)
RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST
1 NFC North 40
2 NFC West 59
3 NFC East 62
4 AFC East 66
5 AFC South 68
6 AFC North 73
7 NFC South 75
8 AFC West 85
RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE
1 NFC 236
2 AFC 292

NBA power rankings for start of season



By Rick Morris
NOTE: Final 2011-12 regular season rankings are in parentheses.

FIRST TIER
1 LA Lakers (5)
2 Miami (3)
3 Oklahoma City (2)
SECOND TIER
4 San Antonio (4)
5 LA Clippers (8)
6 Memphis (16)
THIRD TIER
7 Indiana (7)
8 Boston (10)
FOURTH TIER
9 Chicago (1)
10 New York (17)
11 Dallas (11)
12 Denver (13)
13 Atlanta (9)
14 Brooklyn (24)
15 Philadelphia (15)
16 Houston (12)
17 Portland (20)
18 Utah (14)
19 Milwaukee (18)
20 Minnesota (21)
FIFTH TIER
21 Cleveland (27)
22 New Orleans (28)
SIXTH TIER
23 Golden State (22)
24 Toronto (26)
25 Phoenix (19)
26 Detroit (25)
27 Orlando (6)
28 Sacramento (23)
29 Washington (29)
SEVENTH TIER
30 Charlotte (30)

RANKINGS BY DIVISION – 1 POINT PER RANKING SPOT FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL TEAM, LOWEST SCORE IS BEST
1 SOUTHWEST 59
2 NORTHWEST 69
3 ATLANTIC 71
4T CENTRAL 82
4T PACIFIC 82
6 SOUTHEAST 100
RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE
1 WEST 200
2 EAST 253

2012-13 NBA predictions



By Rick Morris

EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
X-Boston 50-32
Y-Philadelphia 49-33
Y-New York 45-37
Y-Brooklyn 42-40
Toronto 28-54
CENTRAL DIVISION
X-Chicago 53-29
Y-Indiana 46-36
Milwaukee 40-42
Cleveland 36-46
Detroit 28-54
SOUTHEAST DIVISION
X-Miami 57-25
Y-Atlanta 44-38
Orlando 26-56
Washington 27-55
Charlotte 15-67
WESTERN CONFERENCE
SOUTHWEST DIVISION
X-San Antonio 54-28
Y-Memphis 51-31
Y-Dallas 50-32
Houston 42-40
New Orleans 34-48
NORTHWEST DIVISION
X-Oklahoma City 56-26
Y-Denver 45-37
Y-Portland 41-41
Utah 40-42
Minnesota 39-43
PACIFIC DIVISION
X-Los Angeles Lakers 58-24
Y-Los Angeles Clippers 53-29
Golden State 30-52
Phoenix 27-55
Sacramento 24-58
CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS
Miami over Brooklyn in 5
Chicago over Atlanta in 6
Boston over New York in 7
Philadelphia over Indiana in 7
Los Angeles Lakers over Portland in 4
Oklahoma City over Denver in 5
San Antonio over Dallas in 7
Los Angeles Clippers over Memphis in 7
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Miami over Philadelphia in 6
Boston over Chicago in 7
Los Angeles Lakers over Los Angeles Clippers in 6
Oklahoma City over San Antonio in 5
CONFERENCE FINALS
Miami over Boston in 5
Los Angeles Lakers over Oklahoma City in 6
NBA FINALS
Los Angeles Lakers over Miami in 7

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The FDH Lounge September 2012 Mega-Episode



By Rick Morris

Having packaged together our fifth anniversary mini-episodes as one coherent whole, as we did previously with our mini-episodes leading up to our 500th hour of programming in November 2011, we’re now organizing all of our mini-episodes per month into one big mega-episode.

This installment covers September, with Mini-Episodes 174-194.  Fittingly, for the show where “nothing is off-topic,” we’ve got a mind-blowing array: conversations with CBS and HBO investigative reporter Armen Keteyian, Fox Sports fantasy analyst Mike Harmon and sports journalist Jane Mitchell, our NFL previews for Weeks 1-4, weekly FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER segments, Parts 4A and 4B of our Kyle Ross History of SummerSlam anthology and our 2012 NFL division-by-division previews.