There has been an ongoing joke in my fantasy baseball league for a few years about Jose Quintana and his consistent mediocrity. The joke is basically to make fun of whoever owns him, because most of the owners in the league think he sucks. I take offense to such criticism though, as I’ve chosen to have Quintana on my team a couple of times. I certainly would not have drafted…
Why the NBA Finals Won’t Make It To A Game 6
Game 2 of the 2016 NBA Finals was competitive for the first 24 minutes. The Golden State Warriors had just wrapped up a productive second quarter, but only led 52-44 at the intermission. Then the Warriors decided that they wanted this win to be easy. They jogged, nonchalantly, out of the tunnel of Oracle Arena, and threw the Cleveland Cavaliers into a fog of misery that had Clevelanders yearning for…
The Greatest Baseball Player of All-Time*?
I have always loved the debate over who the greatest baseball player ever is. Today I happened to get into the discussion about it during a game with one of my coaches who claimed Alex Rodriguez is the greatest of all time. While I firmly believe he was just speaking from the perspective of a lost Yankee Fan, I can tell you one thing: the greatest baseball player I ever…
Euro 2016 Preview
Rosters are finalized, teams are ready, and the Euro 2016 is set to kick off on Friday, June 10th. Just two years removed from their World Cup triumph, Germany looks to continue its dominance. But their quest for European domination will not be easy, as they will have to face off against a number of other top teams, one of them being the host nation, France. Before I give too much away, let’s get…
Assessing the AL & NL All-Star Rosters
With the All-Star game voting underway, get ready to hear Omar Infante’s name in the news. Yep, Royals fans are once again stuffing the ballot box, which means Infante-who is 27th in WAR among second basemen-is second behind Jose Altuve in the American League All-Star vote so far. Over in the National League, Cubs fans seem to be doing the same thing now as well. Since fan voting has clearly gotten out…
Can The Sharks Come Back?
The San Jose Sharks are in a 2-0 hole after playing the first two games of the series away at the Consol Energy Center. Nick Bonino found twine late in the third to steal Game 1 and Conor Sheary ended it in OT for the Penguins in Game 2. Only a mere two goals separate these two teams, but the result is a seemingly insurmountable two game series lead. These…
Visualizing the Various Sales Pitches to Kevin Durant
The courtship of Kevin Durant will soon become the biggest story in sports (if it hasn’t already). Does Durant want to come back to Oklahoma City? Will he sign a short-term deal to cash in on the salary cap rise expected in 2017? Or will he join forces with a superpower like Golden State or San Antonio? So much speculation. Very few answers. The following teams reportedly have a chance…
The Way-Too-Early Top 25
First let me start off by introducing myself. My name is Drew Levine and I’ll be a Junior at the prestigious Merrimack College (The U) in the fall. I’ll mainly be writing about college football here at Check Down and before I say anything else let me make one thing very clear; I am a diehard Notre Dame fan and my bias for them will be abundantly clear the more…
The Case for Novak Djokovic as the World’s Most Dominant Athlete
The stakes will be high for the number one tennis player in the world when he takes the court Sunday at Roland Garros. That’s where Novak Djokovic will look to become the eighth man to capture a career Grand Slam. He’ll take on Andy Murray, who is appearing in his first French Open Final. Djokovic was the favorite entering the tournament and he is the favorite again Sunday. But this isn’t…
Cleveland Blew A Golden Opportunity
Winning on the road is vital to playoff success. Not only that, but winning Game 1 is even more so pivotal to winning the series. Thanks to the statistics collected at WhoWins, when a team wins Game 1 of the NBA Finals, they go on to win the series 71% of the time. If a team wins Game 1 of the NBA Finals at home, then the odds jump up to them…