Real Sports Talk with E-Money

The NFL playoff picture is really starting to set up quite nicely, and I am going to base this section specifically on who I think is going to be what seed in the playoffs (but of course, I will want to change that after next week). To start off, there is no doubt that the Green Bay Packers (1st seed in the NFC), Houston Texans (2nd seed in the AFC), and the San Francisco 49ers (2nd seed in the NFC) will make the playoffs. All three teams have such commanding leads within their division, and it would have to take something unimaginable for one of these teams to miss to playoffs. My pick for the one seed in the AFC is the Baltimore Ravens. While the Ravens have put up some stinkers this year (vs. Jacksonville as well as vs. Seattle), they are an experienced team that will get it all together. The New Orleans Saints will end up winning the NFC South and clinch the 3rd seed, while the Dallas Cowboys will receive the 4^th seed in the NFC from winning the NFC East. The Saints' have too explosive of an offense, and the Giants will choke in the second half of the season as they usually do. The 5^th seed in the NFC will go to Chicago Bears (who might be the biggest threat to the Packers right now), and the 6^th seed will belong to the Giants, who won too many games in the first half of the season not to get in the playoffs. The AFC 's 3^rd seed will belong to the New York Jets after winning the AFC East, while the Oakland Raiders will clinch the 4^th seed after winning the AFC West. As far as the wild card slots go, the Pittsburgh Steelers will get the 5^th seed, while the New England Patriots will receive the last wild card slot in the AFC.

In the NHL world, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals are taking care of business at the top of the Eastern Conference, and the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars have set up shop at the top of the Western Conference. I talked a little bit about the Penguins a few weeks ago, and James Neal still leads the team in points, but the Capitals have Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin have combined for 34 points through 15 games. The goaltending for the Caps has been supreme as well, as Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth have combined for 10 wins, while only allowing 2.66 goals per game. For the Blackhawks, the combination of forwards Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp have combined for 61 points through 17 games so far this year. This team won the Stanley Cup only two years ago, and Corey Crawford has a 91% save percentage in goal. The team trying to catch the 'hawks right now are the Stars, and quite frankly, I don't know a single any of the top three scorers on the Stars. Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson are currently the 1-2 combo that leads the Stars in points (Benn leads the team in assists with 14, Eriksson leads the team in goals with nine), but goal-tender Kari Lehtonen needs to keep up his stellar season in order for this team to get a top seed in the playoffs (Lehtonen currently has 11 wins in 13 starts, a 2.2 goals allowed per game average, and a 93% save percentage).

Nothing new is going on in the NBA season, and I still believe there will not be a season. With that said, here is my top 7 for the week, with this list being the best players that have retired since 2000.

7.Chris Webber- When the Kings were dominant during the late 90's/early 00's, Webber was the man in Sacramento. Webber averaged over 20 points and almost 10 rebounds per game.

6.Hakeem Olajuwon- "The Dream" averaged over 11 rebounds per game to go along with almost 22 points per game for his career and also collected two championship rings as well as 12 All-Star appearances.

5.David Robinson- Not only did "The Admiral" single handedly save the Spurs from moving from San Antonio, but Robinson was a two time NBA champion, and a four-time all-NBA first teamer.

4.John Stockton- In my opinion, one of the most underrated players of all-time. Karl Malone took a lot of the spotlight, but Stockton averaged over 13 points per game and 10.5 assists per game.

3.Patrick Ewing- Call me a homer, but Ewing did a lot for the Knicks' franchise when he player there. For his career, Ewing averaged 21 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game, and 2.4 blocks per game.

2.Shaquille O'Neal- O'Neal changed the way that centers now play the game. Not many players can say that. O'Neal received four championship rings to go along with over 28,000 points.

1.Michael Jordan- I really didn't want to put him on this list since he retired multiple times, but after all he is Michael Jordan.     

Honorable mention- Gary Payton, Dikembe Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning, Charles Barkley, Antoine Walker

In other irrelevant (though I find interesting) sports news:

-Listen, I know the whole thing at Penn State was awful, but ESPN has blown it completely out of proportion. It is over a week after the story broke, and they are still going on and on about it.

-Matt Schaub is out for the rest of the year for the Texans, and they are screwed.

-Nice to see that all four teams in the NFC West finally won on the same weekend for the first time since the Houston Texans were a part of the NFL (since 2002).

-Daniel Bard should become the Red Sox's next closer.

-I hope that Bretton Woods ends up having their opening day tomorrow.

-My pick to win the NASCAR race at Homestead is Jeff Burton, and I think Carl Edwards will win the championship.

-Best NFL game this week as well as over the Thanksgiving weekend?  For this week, the Chargers traveling to Chicago to face the Bears. The Chargers are a very inconsistent team, but when they are on. They are on (I think Chicago will win). The best Week 12 game is the 49ers traveling to Baltimore to play the Ravens on Thanksgiving Day.

Non-sports information of the week

-Like you, I can't wait for Thanksgiving break.

-I am going to the Jay-Z/Kanye West concert on Monday, and that should be awesome.

-The weather has been so weird this year. We had that Halloween snowstorm, and since then, I feel like every day has been at least 50°F.

-Nice to see that A&E editor Ben King didn't go to jail on his birthday.

'Till next week (kinda) I'm outta here...........