Bracketology - January 17th

East                                                                        Midwest

1 Villanova	1 West Virginia
16 Jackson State/ Radford	16 UNC Central  / Robert Morris
Pitt	Detroit
8 Arkansas	8 UCLA
9 Maryland	9 Michigan
4  Arizona State	4 UNC
13 East Tennessee State	13 Drake
San Diego	Pitt
5 Cincinnati	5 Auburn
12 Vermont	12 Buffalo
3  Virginia	3 Wichita State
14 Middle Tennessee	14 Cal State Fullerton
Nashville	San Diego
6 Texas Tech	6 Seton Hall
11 Florida / Marquette	11  Kansas State/ Alabama
7 TCU	7 Syracuse
10 Missouri	10 Providence
Detroit	Dallas
2  Xavier	2 Michigan State
15 Montana	15 Nicholls
West	South
1 Duke	1 Oklahoma
16 Wright State	16 William & Mary
Charlotte	Nashville
8 Butler	8 Rhode Island
9 Ohio State	9 Florida State
4  Arizona	4 Miami
13 FGCU	13 Penn
Boise	Boise
5 Clemson	5 Tennessee
12 New Mexico State	12 Oral Roberts
3 Gonzaga	3 Kentucky
14 Iona	14 Louisiana
San Diego	Wichita
6 Creighton	6 Notre Dame
11 Georgia	11 Nevada
7 Texas A&M	7 St. Mary's
10 Boise State	10 Louisville
Dallas	Wichita
2  Purdue	2 Kansas
15 Bucknell	15 Murray State

On the Bubble 

Florida  

Boise State 

Georgia 

Maryland  

First four Out 

Alabama 
Providence  
Utah 
Texas 

Next 4 Out 
San Diego State
Colorado
SMU
Minnesota 

Your On Deck Seattle Mariners

After the Buffalo Bills made their first playoff appearance last Sunday in Jacksonville, the Seattle Mariners have officially the longest playoff drought in North American sport. 

How has this happened with the best ballpark in baseball, an outstanding Ace and All-Star hitters that have came through the city in the last decade and a half. 

The easy answer is that they haven't been able to put everything together. After two 90+ wins in 2002 and 2003, Seattle tried a quick fix with adding players like Ritchie Sexton and Adrian Beltre. 2005 and 2006 saw increased win totals but still not much success. 2007 was a welcomed surprise despite the team falling short after 88 wins but it kept the fanbase faithful. 

2008, saw the team go rock bottom. In the Winter of 2008, the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles connected on what turned out to be one of the worst trades in baseball history. The Marines sent at the time prospect Adam Jones, George Sherrill and Chris Timlin to Baltimore for Erik Bedard. The goal of this trade was to give Seattle a 1-2 punch in the starting rotation but it backfired incredibly. At the time, the Mariners rotation included Bedard, Carlos Silva, Miguel Bautista, Jarrod Washburn, and Felix. 

After a 11-10 start Seattle never recovered and finished 61-101. 2009 was another turn around year where they surprised for a 85-77 year but again missed the playoffs. Then came Starting Pitcher mistake 2.0 To be fair, Seattle didn't give up much for Lee.  J. C. Ramírez, Phillippe Aumont and Tyson Gillies. aren't having Hall of Fame years but still don't understand the point of the trade. He was traded again 8 months later. Cliff Lee wasn't the problem in another 100+ loss season. 

For awhile, there wasn't a trade the Mariners made that seemed to work out. Aging players like Ichiro and Felix were not young anymore. Even in their 101 loss 2010 year, Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young. 2012 was better but by this time fans were thirsty for the playoffs. They went for a full on rebuild and started to develop players like Brad Miller, Nick Franklin, Mike Zunnino and Kyle Segar to be their core that would bring them back to the playoffs. Only one has turned into a star. 

Since then, the team started to spend money accruing Roninson Cano and Nelson Cruz but as the calendar flips to 2018, even those two players are getting old. 

2018 is still but in the air but they are likely finishing middle of the pack as Anaheim and Houston look like they will make the AL West one of the stronger divisions in baseball. The one thing keeping them from a rebuild is they haven't had a 90+ loss season since 2013. 

What's held this team back has been an inability to trade their top players at their top value. Trading Ichiro in 2007 and Felix in 2011 would have given them much deeper talented rosters. 

They held onto Ichiro too long because of his Japan connection and haven't traded Felix because he is a fan favorite. Now, Felix's trade value is next to nothing. Seattle has built something now, in another division, they might be able to win something. However, their window is closing and if they aren't in contention come July 31st, they might as well be sellers. 

Was this the Right Move for Canadian Men's soccer?

The biggest change of events in Canadian Soccer history unfolded before our eyes earlier this week when we were made aware that the long time successful Canadian women's coach was making the jump to the long time underachieving Men's program.

People had suggested it before, myself included but all it was at the time was a last chance grasp at trying to find answers to what seems like a generation long problem.

I'm not a veteran soccer annalist by any stretch of the imagination, it started with the MLS adopting the Vancouver Whitecaps into their league. Soon came the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers and than I later became hooked with the English Premier League. This all became like a drug to me on weekend mornings and it has grown into a obsession.

We can dissect everything that has gone wrong over the last decade from the grass roots to Central American horror stories but the reality is, Canada is turning a corner by their standards. Their Gold Cup campaign was anything but dull and World Cup Qualifying games at home are now games fans expect to win. The final two peices to the puzzle were supposed to be a coach that knew what he was doing like Octavio Zambrano and a successful bid for the 2026 World Cup.

To me, this is why, the news has between so altering. Our National teams best player, still hasn't even graduated high school yet and English players such as Scott Arfield and Junior Hoilett have committed to our country.

The fear of losing John Heardman is a valid concern, but to say he has to ability to succeed at the Men's game is anyone guess. There is a reason successful coaches at certain levels aren't  promoted to another league just because it gets more publicity. Why hasn't Nick Sabban gone to the NFL or Coach K at Duke made the jump to the NBA. Perhaps a more appropriate example would be Geno Auriemma the Women's basketball coach at Uconn accepted a job offer at a Div I men's team? The simple answer is it's a completely different game.

That last paragraph isn't supposed to come across a sexist. It is fair for anyone of those questions to be asked. Personally, I think teams or schools don't do it cause they are feared it won't work out and they will be farther behind than they were.

In terms of the Canadian Men's soccer coaching Carlisle, they pick from a larger pool of talent from coaches who have coached in Latain America before. As the track record has played out, those coaches haven't had much success in qualifying but attendance has gone up in the last three Qualifying cycles.

With Canada slowly turning the corner, so has CONCACAF. They have introduced the CONCACAF League of Nations that will give Canada games before the 2022 cycle begins that they wouldn't have had in previous quadrennial. For this reason, now seems like a good enough time to gamble a bit.

We don't know all the details around the Octavio Zambrano exit, but we do know that Canada has new coach that is already a house-hold name that even know by nom soccer fans. This might be the spark that Canada needs. In theory, people will watch Canada's games because of John Heardman's success withe the lovable women's team.  

Bracketology - January 10th

East                                                                        Midwest

1 Villanova	1 Michigan State
16 Jackson State/ Radford	16 Bethune-Cookman / Robert Morris
Pitt	Detroit
8 Missouri	8 UCLA
9 Miss State	9 St. Mary's
4  Gonzaga	4 UNC
13 East Tennessee State	13 Drake
San Diego	Pitt
5 Cincinnati	5 Arizona
12 Vermont	12 Penn
3  Kansas	3 Wichita State
14 New Orleans	14 Cal State Fullerton
Nashville	San Diego
6 Syracuse	6 Texas Tech
11 Florida / Maryland	11  Boise State / Georgia
7 Auburn	7 Notre Dame
10 Michigan	10 Arkansas
Detroit	Dallas
2  Xavier	2 West Virginia
15 Montana	15 Old Dominion
West	South
1 Duke	1 Oklahoma
16 Wright State	16 William & Mary
Charlotte	Nashville
8 Texas A&M	8 Rhode Island
9 Ohio State	9 Florida State
4  Miami	4 TCU
13 Lipscomb	13 Buffalo
Boise	Boise
5 Baylor	5 Tennessee
12 New Mexico State	12 Oral Roberts
3 Arizona State	3 Purdue
14 Iona	14 Louisiana
San Diego	Wichita
6 Creighton	6 Seton Hall
11 Nevada	11 St. Bon
7 Clemson	7 Butler
10 Kansas State	10 Marquette
Dallas	Wichita
2  Kentucky	2 Virginia
15 Colgate	15 Murray State

On the Bubble 

Florida  

Boise State 

Georgia 

Maryland  

First four Out 

Alabama 
Providence  
Utah 
Texas 

Next 4 Out 
San Diego State
Colorado
SMU
Minnesota 

Food For Thought - January 1st

Someone needs to create the ultimate Fantasy Sports League and we need to compete against people we don't even know all around the world. I've never been a players person, more enjoyed looking at the team aspect of sports.

Predict your Super Bowl Champion, NCAA Basketball. UEFA Europa League, Champions League, NBA Champion, Stanley Cup Champion, FIFA World Cup Champion and lastly a World Series Champion.

Getting all eight right would be nearly impossible, but if challenging yourself was your 2018 New Years Resolution than this just may be the game for you.

Picks are due by Saturday morning and there is no entry fee.

I want to inspire and make others dreams come true but that isn't possible without your guys support. I'm a firm believelier that we stress ourselves out too much with stuff that don't need to be stressed out about.

I bought a Google Home Mini on Friday to help myself be organized and stay organized in 2018. I want to make this year the best year yet but its going to take a lot of hard work and determination to get this done.

I got off too a good start last year before things out of my control got in the way and I never got back on track.

I'm going to keep track of a lot of things this year with Excel and see where it takes me in life.

Next I'll be sharing some goals that I want to accomplish in the next little bit.