Assorted Notes and WBC picks

WBC group play round 2 is starting this weekend, expect the groups to end up something like this-

Group 1
Japan 3-0
Cuba-2-2
Korea-1-2
Mexico-0-2

Group 2
USA-3-1
Venezuela-2-1
Puerto Rico-1-2
Netherlands-0-2

After the 2nd group stage, expect Japan to make easy work of Venezuela, and expect Cuba to beat the US for a Japan Cuba final, where Cuba pulls off the semi-upset of the defending champions. Or something like that.

Other Random Sports Notes-

European Football-

It was announced earlier today that Karim Benzema, one of the top young strikers in the world, is to remain with Lyon for at least one more season after much speculation of a transfer to one of many top clubs interested in the 21 year old’s services.

Another brilliant striker, David Villa, has announced that he is not interested in a transfer to Manchester City, despite the fact that his current club, Valencia F.C., recently announced that they are in debt in excess of 400 million euros. Villa’s transfer was expected to be in the range of 60 million euros.

College Basketball-
I’m sure that you’ve all heard about the epic overtime match last night that pushed UCONN and Syracuse into 6 OT’s, and for those who didn’t know, Syracuse has to play West Virginia tonight in the Big East Semifinals. Expect an absolutely drained Syracuse team to still pull off the win against the Mountaineers, then get absolutely dominated in the final by Rick Pitino’s suit.

Alabama takes on Tennessee tonight in the SEC tournament, which is a rematch from last week, when Alabama made a last second, half court 3 pointer to win the game. Expect nationwide indifference, as it is SEC basketball, and therefore unimportant. Unless it pertains to LSU.

Purdue is probably losing to Penn State tonight.

Keep an eye to see if Oklahoma State can win huge games on back to back nights tonight against Mizzou, after their enormous upset of Oklahoma last night.

Spring Training Update

The Braves (10-2) and the Angels (10-3) are both looking pretty good so far in spring training, which means absolutely nothing when we’re talking about the regular season, although it does to some extent cement the idea that the Angels will destroy that division by mid-July

Matt Cain has been doing pretty well in spring training.

Keep in mind that Barry Zito, at one point, was a Cy Young award winner, and keep an eye on him during the last couple of weeks of Spring Training. He’s been looking OK, nothing spectacular, but I’m pretty sure his ERA is below 6.

A few picks that I got as steals in my first fantasy baseball draft of the year, I would suggest taking these players if you get the chance in a comparable round-
Adam Dunn-59th overall (5th round)
Ryan Zimmerman- 83rd overall (7th)
John Lackey- 86th (8th)
Zack Greinke- 134th (12th)
Milton Bradley-182 (16th)
Mike Pelfrey-203 (17th)
That’s all for now, sorry about the massive amount of time since my previous article, it’s been a busy spring break. Should get back to a more consistent pace next week.