Round 1 – Morris Claibourne, cornerback, LSU
In the 2011/12 season, Dallas showed more weaknesses on defense than offense, and therefore took a defensive player in their first pick. Morris Claibourne was regarded as easily the best cornerback in the draft, and it was a moment of magic from Jerry Jones getting the Cowboys to pick at number 6 instead of 14. This is a big addition to the team. Expect big things from the LSU man.
Round 3 – Tyrone Crawford, DE, Boise State
When you call it a “stiff back,” that could mean just about anything. Honestly. It could mean anything under the sun. Some people just get a stiff back every now and then and it doesn’t mean anything more than they had a bad day. Josh Hamilton had a stiff back. So, he sat out. However, rushing him back when the Rangers are playing so well is not a good idea. While he’s an older guy, he’s still the future of the franchise. He’s more meaningful to the Rangers than anybody else on the team simply because he was there when all of this started.
“Well, we can improve in every area of our football team. We have our eyes open to that. And you have to look at every way to do that. We felt like we did a lot of that in free agency and we were certainly ready to do that in that draft. We didn’t feel like our backs were to the wall where we had to take this position or that position.”
With all of the Japanese media swarming around the Rangers, there’s bound to be some Japenese traditions finding their way into the way that the Rangers live this season. Well, Ron Washington turned 60, and, lo and behold, the Japanese media members who are in Texas to follow Yu Darvish got him a gigantic cake for his birthday! Pretty nice, huh? Apparently, it’s part of a larger tradition.
The Mavs have a pretty good shot at handling the Thunder if they do a couple things right over the next couple of games. At first, I was skeptical because I just didn’t think that the Mavs would be able to stick to it. I mean, yes, they forced the Thunder to take and make a game-winning shot, but, that was game one, right?
Well, if you look at the way the Mavs play basketball, they can win this series if they:
Kevin Durant is quickly becoming the Mavs biggest enemy. Not only did he hurt them in the regular season by hitting an impossible game-winning 3, but he also sank a late jumper last night to give OKC the 99-98 win over Dallas.
Getting off to a fast start was crucial for Dallas, especially as they were away from home. They failed to do that though as Dirk missed his first 4 attempts, but Russell Westbrook was on fire early doors and Dallas struggled to contain him. The Mavs fought back though, and ended up leading after the first quarter by 26 points to 22.
So, the time has come for the NBA playoffs to kick off again. The Mavs have made it into the post-season for the 12th straight season and face a tough task as they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC racked up a very impressive 47-19 record to clinch the second seed in the West. The reigning champions Dallas could only manage the seventh seed.
Many people have written the Mavs off already, saying they will fall to a heavy series loss. However, will Dallas’ experience count for more than the skill that OKC possess through youth?
The Mavs had a chance to improve their seeding in the West, but they fell to the Atlanta Hawks who secured home court advantage with a convinving106-89 win.
Dallas looked as if they were happy with their 7th seed in the Western Conference, as they gave Jason Kidd the night off and limited the minutes of some of their bigger players. The 7th seed means that they face the Oklahoma City Thunder, a very tough match up indeed.
Before the 2011/12 season started, the NFC East looked a pretty strong division, with 3 pretty decent playoff contending teams. However, after the Giants won the Super Bowl and the draft has taken place, I think the division is even stronger.
Lets start with the New York Giants, the current Super Bowl champions and a team full of talent. Their threat in the air is as good as any in the league. Eli Manning was awesome last year, with the likes of Victor Cruz, Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks all being very dangerous receivers. The Giants running game was definitely the weaker part of their game, but they have improved that straight away after bringing in RB David Wilson, from Virginia Tech. These guys are going to be a big side next year.
Going into the NFL draft last night in New York City, we assumed that the Cowboys were picking pick 14 in the first round and were going to go for either Michael Brockers or Mark Barron. However, after Luck went to the Colts and RG3 to the Skins, we were then informed that the Cowboys had swapped their second and third round picks for St Louis’ first round pick at number 6.
That wasn’t the only twist though, as Cleveland ended up with the third pick and took running back Trent Richardson.
