Round Two NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Predictions: As long as we're talking about jinxes

I knew in the back of my mind while creating my first round NHL playoffs predictions that mentioning my record from the past two seasons would probably come back to haunt me, and sure enough, I tanked on my predictions bad enough to ensure that I even if I get every other remaining series correct I'll still finish at least one game worse than the record in each of the previous two years. Nice.

This second round begins in stark contrast to last year for other reasons, and while I'll get to the end of the beloved Blackhawks' season in a separate post very soon, this year's Washington Capitals team is in a much better place than where they were last year when I was making picks for this round. With both the pesky Canadiens and Penguins eliminated (despite my having picked both to be alive), the Caps indeed seem to me to be flying a little more under the radar in the East after so many pundits declared the Bruins the presumptive favorite to emerge from the conference. So, at this stage in the game, I'm still effectively standing by my pre-season prediction of a Detroit-Washington Stanley Cup Final—although we'll see if both those teams are still alive next round.

As for who I'm rooting for, that's very much up in the air. I'll still be following, for sure, but right now I'm entirely certain that any of the eight teams remaining is going to be able to generate even half the enthusiasm I displayed during Chicago's one series.

Still, the playoffs go on.

Hooray: Another fantasy championship

I'm forgoing the usual "nobody cares" graphic that's typically gone along with these sorts of posts, but I don't plan on requiring a fold for this summary either. If you've actually been following the only fantasy team I've been running ever since football ended, you might recall that I was also responsible for running my girlfriend's basketball team this year too.

I was optimistic about her chances against the top-seeded ex-boyfriend of another friend who, like the four other teams in the league, stopped paying attention shortly after the season began.

Unfortunately, Steve Nash sat out a game and there were a few other unfortunate missed games from some of her players and the lady's team ultimately had to settle for easily taking a third place game.

While I didn't get the championship match with ™'s team that I'd been hoping for, it was pretty satisfying to essentially thump the only other guy who'd been signing in and, during most weeks, dominating the league every week. He resoundingly beat me the first two times we played during the year, although I took the third meeting and we both finished 18-3 on the year. I had far and away the most transactions in the league with 55 moves (my girlfriend's team had 38, and this year's runner-up had 20), with a huge amount coming in the final few days. While I ran out to an early lead in the championship and led by 1000+ points at the end of the week, the numbers kept going until the season ended on Wednesday. With no player on my team scheduled to play that Tuesday and four of his guys (including Kobe Bryant and the same Luol Deng I had dropped so early in an otherwise fabulous year for him), I scooped up seven guys for Tuesday and then replaced most of them for Wednesday.

The result is that I've now won fantasy titles in three of the four major sports, with only football (which admittedly is the only one that would be worth mentioning ever again ... maybe) eluding me.

Despite what I'd say is an otherwise respectable fantasy résumé,  I'd like to point out that my girlfriend is given the higher rating on overall performance:

Whatevs. Maybe they'll correct it when they put my latest trophy in the case.

Round One NBA Playoffs Predictions: A genuine rooting interest

I sort of swore off the idea of using YouTube videos above the fold on posts, but this one's a pretty good at whetting one's playoff appetite. And just as this post's title indicates, this year's particularly special now that the beloved Bulls are among the favorites to end up with the Larry O'Brien trophy.

Before I get to everybody's picks though, let me glance back at what I had back at the beginning of the year and size up how I did: with 17 of the 30 teams in the correct spots, that's better than how I've done at the other three sports in recent attempts; seven of my eight Eastern Conference teams did end up making the playoffs, although I only had five of the Western Conference representatives correct this year; I had only three of the predicted seeds correct and my third straight Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals indeed remains a possibility.

Will I stick to that in the end though? We'll find out later, but for now, here's how it looks like the first round might shake out:

The Bulls' Fourth Quarter: THE BEST RECORD IN THE LEAGUE (!!!)

What more can really be said about how much this team has defied expectations this year? Not only did they win their division and finish atop the Eastern Conference, in the end, this year's Bulls team won more games than any other team in the entire NBA. No matter what round the playoffs might be in, Game One—and a Game Seven, should it be necessary—will be at the United Center for the Bulls.

(Psst: They only lost five times there all year.)

This particular past quarter was an even more unbelievably dominant finish to close out the year. The team quietly went about surpassing the 60-win mark, something that any time the franchise has done in the past (all five times coming in the 1990s), they went on to win the NBA Championship each time.

I don't know how exactly to prepare myself for this playoff run coming, but make no mistake: I fully expect this Bulls campaign to still be going after I move in about a month now. The concern isn't so much about viewing concerns (every game will be nationally televised by that point), but the thought that I wouldn't be able to attend another championship parade.

Round One NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Predictions: The start of summer, playoff hockey and ice cream

The key to finishing atop the leaderboard at the end of NHL postseason prognosticating can typically rely on sniffing out the inevitable opening round upsets. I've finished a more than respectable 12-3 each of the last two years I've done this—one game worse than the best in 2009 and and one game better than the runner-up last year—often more attributed to going against the majority on one series or another in the first round. This year seems to have more underdog appeal than usual—and not just because the beloved Blackhawks are the absolute lowest seed in the West. (That certainly helps though.)

Before I get to everybody else's picks as well as my own, it's also somewhat custom to quickly look back at how the actual playoff bracket looks compared to what I had predicted at the beginning of the season. This year, I improved to correctly calling almost half the league's final standings in each division with 14 out of 30 spots nailed. While I only have two of the actual seeds correct, I had once again had seven of the eight Eastern Conference playoff teams right and improved to six out of eight in the West. And technically, both my Conference and Stanley Cup Finals are both still possible—dare I say likely?

Well, let's get to how this first round might go first: 

The Blackhawks' Fourth Quarter: Backing in is better than backing out

It was a rather peculiar finish to the season, what with having been in the middle of an eight-game winning streak during the last update and still having the possibility of postseason life not be determined until the very last game of the year—a couple hours after it, actually. But as crazy as yesterday was for the Blackhawks, the team's going back to the playoffs and they'll have to defend the Cup the hard way: being the eight-seeded team in the Western Conference and conceding home ice advantage in any series they play (unless one of those three teams in the Eastern Conference that didn't earn 100+ points this year somehow makes it to the Finals).

I look back on how yesterday unfolded and see the Vancouver Canucks on the schedule next now, thinking that how else would I really want things to have ended up? Would having moved up to a fifth seed and getting Anaheim in the first round really have been preferable? I realize that just as the many bandwagon evacuees have reminded me, the Blackhawks got rid of many of those lovable role players that played their pivotal roles to perfection last postseason. And without those guys, how in the world are you going to mess with the collective heads of the Canucks again this year?

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. For the moment, let me reflect on the last 20 games and then finally get these fucking taxes filed:

2011 MLB Predictions: Just get to the inevitable already

Opening Day is in March this year, but I was among the many who pretty much came away from this off-season's transactions basically concluding 2011 would be recorded as a Phillies-Red Sox World Series before it had even been played. If Cliff Lee had indeed gone to the Bronx for eleventy billion million dollars like we all assumed he was going to, then maybe we'd be wondering who the Yankees would be beating.

Of course, last year was another fairly pathetic showing for my own predictions—not that many people probably had the Giants beating the Rangers in the World Series. While I had four of the eight playoff teams correct, I only called a single division winner correctly (nailed the whole AL Central, actually) and had 10 of the 30 teams correctly called in their eventual final spots. Anyway, I need to get ready for work soon, so forgive me for rushing through these guesses a bit (I'll fix the layout issues later, I swear). At least we won't have to endure having Fox News on the television screens this afternoon:

Twice as meaningless: Successfully running your girlfriend's fantasy team

Your author is hard-pressed to think of something that can cause an immediate loss of interest quite like hearing about someone's fantasy team. Having friends and co-workers recite their rosters with no real purpose other than to gloat about conquering leagues you're not involved in seems quite banal and pointless, no?

That said, the author knows full well that you the dear reader probably also couldn't give two shits about whatever fantasy team he's gone and created after so many years of taking that road less traveled where non-participation seemed cooler. Now the author has multiple fantasy teams, and while he tries mightily not to bring those into the other posts here on BMC that you might actually read, every once in a while, if for no other purpose than to help him remember who he had on such teams in a given year, he likes to keep a recorded entry of how he's done.

This is one of those times. Your non-interest in the remainder of this post is understood.

The Countdown: Three becomes two

In this area, we've endured what I was told was a record amount of snow last month, but now nearly every last sign of white has all but disappeared and it's getting closer to being so comfortable outside that I can once again sit on the stoop in front of the house, drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and complete a puzzle or two. It's now becoming more frequent for the morning to begin with me actually asking myself, "Do I need a coat for this?"

But the shift feels a little bit more substantial this particular spring at this particular time, and not just because it appears that the shovel's not going to be looked at again until Thanksgiving. I'd be more giddy about the prospect of sitting outside for a couple hours again to start the day if I were even able to stand still right now.

That's largely because more than three years after I was being arrested for another DUI, I had my probation terminated early last Thursday. And now without any more check-ins at the courthouse to essentially document that I've been staying out of trouble, I'm finally free to go do whatever I want.

It's still sinking in as to what that even feels like. After three years of being what I described as a "prisoner of the state," I've now got two months to take advantage of this newfound supposed freedom.

The Bulls' Third Quarter: Raise the roof (on expectations)

Once again, the Bulls have gone through another quarter of their schedule and emerged having only lost five games. But unlike the last time I did one of these, when a majority of the schedule seemed fairly soft, the past 21 games have involved playing against some legitimate contenders. So it's certainly surprising that Chicago came away with not a loss more than the number they recorded over the previous 20 games.

But with the exposure gained following Sunday's victory and season sweep of the season's initially presumed monster, the Miami Heat (and subsequent "Crygate" fallout), basketball is quickly becoming the talk of the town once again. Last night's game against the New Orleans Hornets—minus the team's star, Chris Paul—delivered the highest Bulls game rating in Comcast SportsNet's history.

And you can certainly count me in for joining in the hype. (NOTE: This just arrived as I was typing that. Seriously.) I've got plans on going to the game this Saturday when the team will be honoring the 20th anniversary of the first championship squad. Somewhat ironically, they'll be playing the Utah Jazz, the franchise I compared the Bulls to in my predictions for this season. But now being just a couple games back from possibly going into the playoffs as the top seed in the Eastern Conference, this team's got just good a shot as any other to end up in the Finals this year.