Pardon The Pulse

Insider

Hello everyone, Paris Hilton is out of jail and connected with God and possibly may become a teacher. The apocalypse is upon us folks…run….RUUUNNN!!

It seems you can’t go a full week anymore without a prominent name in the world being said in a death notice. This week it was WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, as it is now known that he murdered his wife and child and then committed suicide. I’ve admired Benoit for years since I have watched for close to almost two decades and always seen him as one of my favorite wrestlers. I don’t condone what he did and think it is sick to be quite honest. I still see him as a great wrestler, but I have lost virtually all respect for him as a human being.

This has turned into a huge media circus as I’m sure most of you are aware by now. It is being picked up by every media outlet across the globe from the BBC to CNN to ESPN. Amazing though that there really wasn’t too much heard from these people until the word “steroids” was uttered by police. Be that as it may they were prescription and possibly even not for Benoit but for his child who had a rare syndrome that affected his body…that doesn’t matter. Because the media can now associate steroids with wrestling even more then they already did and destroy something else. It won’t be soon til there are no more sports, no more movies; no more entertainment at all. Work and home…work and home. The world as we know it is crumbling before us, and it’s all our fault.

But for now I implore you to…

1.) NBA Draft

Danny: Durant is second and Oden will be first. And if the Blazers do not improve by leaps and bounds this year with the talent they have slowly acquired, then it must be the damn city. Sorry my friend Kurtis, but seriously man.

Atlanta could end up trading away the third pick as they have a lot to play with talent wise and also have the 11th pick as well. The 76ers have 3 first round picks, but I doubt they’ll keep all of them. The Florida trio will go top ten although I’d love to see Noah drop to number 13 where my Hornets pick. I think we’ll end up with either Nick Young (USC), Al Thornton (FSU), or Acie Law (Texas A&M)…and I can’t complain with any of those picks. A backcourt of Young and Paul would be phenomenal. Yi Jianlan will also go in the top 10 as this has got to be the deepest draft talent-wise in decades. And there may be complaints about his weight, but he plays around it well…so anyone who gets LSU’s Glen “Big Baby” Davis will get a steal in the late first round or early to mid second round.

Paulie: Here are my predictions for the NBA draft. Oden goes #1, Durant goes #2, then Florida’s whole team, then a bunch of foreign dudes, then a bunch of underclassmen, and then the second round will be full of all the guys who are so bad they actually had to *GASP* play college ball all four years and gradumate frum kollige! And the Bobcats will continue to draft guys who are just good enough to not make them any better.

Charles Joseph: Oden should be the first pick. There won’t be another big man with Oden’s talent level for another 15-20 years. There will be another Kevin Durant next year or the year after. Everyone keeps saying Durant is a special player, but he’s really not, he’s a tall shooting guard with some moves. He’s Tracy McGrady. And last time I checked T-Mac has never made it out of the first round. The Sonics still have to take him, but Portland should pass on him and not think twice about it. I’d like to get Conley or Acie Law for the T’wolves. But we’ll probably botch it. Wonder if we could send our 7 and some other pieces to Portland or Seattle for the 1st or 2nd and trade that to LA for Kobe.

2.) ESPN’s Ultimate Depth Chart – Agree or Disagree?

Paulie: OK, I supposed this would work best broken down by division:

AFC East: OK, Patriots at #1 I see. They are absolutely loaded this year with their additions at WR. But MIAMI at #2? I like Jaws. I trust Jaws. But I just don’t see what he’s seeing. I’d put his #4 Jets at #2. They finally got their replacement for Curtis Martin. They have an above average QB and vastly underrated receivers. Jerricho Cotchery gave everyone a little taste last year. Watch out this year. They man can and will explode.

Can’t really argue with anything on the defensive side of the ball. But the Jets at this point are a REALLY close second to New England ‘s aging defense.

AFC West: He’s got it pretty dead on for both sides of the ball here. The Chargers are returning pretty much everybody and had good additions in the draft. The Raiders offense is probably right on the heels of KC’s what with KC being in limbo at the QB position, they still have no receivers, and they’ve done gone and pissed off Larry Johnson.

AFC North: Another gimme on both sides. There’s no team in the division that can come close to Cinci’s offensive firepower. It’ll be interesting to see what the Steelers can do with the more spread offense and if Big Ben can finally come back from his near death experience. The Ravens’ defense is getting old and they lost, quite possibly, the most versatile defended the NFL has seen in years. But the Ohio teams still have no concept of this defense thing and Pittsburgh is in pretty much the same aging boat.

AFC South: The Colts at #1 offense is a no brainer. But below that I’d beg to differ a little. Jacksonville is another team in QB limbo. I’d love to see David Garrard get another shot, but their receivers are still pretty lackluster and only saved by the versatile two headed running attack. But their place at #2 in my book depends on what Matt Schaub is actually able to do. If Schaub really is the QB everyone thinks he is, the Texans easily have the #2 offense in the AFC South. Though, it’s also full of “ifs”. IF Schaub performs. IF Ahman Green can stay healthy for more than half a season. IF someone finally steps up on the other side of the field to take some pressure off of Andre Johnson. IF all that falls into place. I put the Texans at #2 and the Jags at #3. The Titans have Vince Young. Quite possibly THE most dynamic young QB in the NFL. Problem is, he’s got no one to throw to and no one left to run the ball behind him.

On defense, again, I can’t really argue with his assessment here.

NFC East: On the offensive side of the ball you’ve got a mess that’s pretty well, offensive! (HA! I are so originality!) None of these teams impress me offensively at all. Philly still has no one around McNabb and Westbrook yet they’ll still pump out the points until Westbrook finally breaks for good. The Cowboys are set up pretty well if Romo can get back to his first 4 games and can shake the inconsistencies of the latter part of the season. The Skins… well, it again will come down to the QB position and getting any kind of consistency out of it. The Giants? Wow. I’m really surprised that no one has mentioned the names Eli Manning and Herschel Walker in the same sentence that I’ve heard yet. The Giants will finally get it through their heads what a bonehead move they made on that fateful draft day to get the younger Manning.

On defense is where the NFC East shines though. There aren’t a lot of superstars but all four are really solid defenses that are tough to break. I’d give Dallas the #1 slot over Philly though. They have the personnel if they can all mesh and get the hang of the new schemes pretty quickly.

NFC West: Seattle at #1? Maybe two years ago. But not anymore. The Rams are the most potent offense in this division followed closely by the revamped and new outlooked Arizona Cardinals. At this point the 49ers and Seahawks are in a close battle for 3 and 4 here. And I’d give the edge to the 9ers. I don’t trust Alexander’s foot and Hasselbeck is aging and is running out of guys to throw to. Frank Gore will continue to blossom into one of the league’s top backs and Alex Smith is finally coming into his own and has a nice crop of young, if unknown receivers.

On defense, the only change I’d make is to flip Arizona and San Francisco. I feel that Arizona ‘s defense is vastly underrated and will start coming more into their own this year.

NFC North: Detroit at #3? Martz has had a year to get his system in place. He’s got strong receivers with Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson and Mike Williams seems like he’s finally getting the hint. And with them running wild in the secondary, Kevin Jones may finally be able to get back to his rookie form without taking the beating he did last year. Detroit is the #1 offense in this division. Favre has no help anymore. Minnesota has two running backs and… umm… that’s about it. And Chicago has Rex Grossman. How can Detroit NOT be #1 here?

Defensively the list looks pretty good. The Bears DO have a suffocating D and will rule the roost on that alone. The other three are all pretty mediocre in their own right and could pretty much be ranked with coin flips.

NFC South: I can’t really argue with the order on offense. New Orleans is far and away the best in the NFC. And they’re only getting better. Carolina will compete with them if Dwayne Jarrett and Drew Carter can step up and take some heat off of Steve Smith and Foxy sticks with Deangelo Williams instead of that walking infirmary DeShaun Foster it won’t matter really who’s under center. Speaking of, hopefully Carr being on the roster will light a fire under Delhomme’s ass and he’ll start playing like we know he can and if he doesn’t here’s hoping Fox isn’t too hesitant to pull the trigger with Carr. Down in Tampa , Gruden has pretty much handed Garcia the starting job and word is Simms is going to be fighting for a roster spot as the 3rd string water boy. Not boding well for Tampa . Looks like they’ll be putting even more miles on an already prematurely broken down Cadillac.

On defense, it’s hard to argue Carolina being #1. When healthy and cohesive there is probably no better unit in football. It’s just getting that whole healthy and cohesive thing. If they can land Darius to shore up the safeties, then all will be good. New Orleans should be higher though. They’ve seriously upgraded the secondary and that was pretty much their only weak spot last year. Atlanta has all the talent in the world… on paper, but it hasn’t panned out in the last couple of years and I don’t see that changing this year. Tampa , again, is really frickin old. Most of them have lost about 5 steps. But Gruden is probably coaching for his job this year so he’ll squeeze every last ounce of go out of those old farts that he can.

Charles Joseph: Da Vikings suck. And that’s pretty much what that says about the NFC North. Eagles have the third best offense in the NFC? No they don’t. They have McNabb and Westbrook, that doesn’t make a good offense. I, unlike Danny, am not really eagerly anticipating the upcoming season. Its two months way and I have no real reason to pay attention to it for another month and a half. Unless I do more fantasy drafts.

Danny: Paulie seems to have nailed a lot of this right on the head, so I’m going to take the views of Mark Schlereth on the entire NFC and Jaws’ views on the entire AFC.

NFC Offense
Schlereth has given the best offense in the NFC to my New Orleans Saints and besides my bias, I am inclined to agree. The number one offense in the entire NFL last season and looking to repeat that feat. With Brees leading the charge of weapons such as Bush, Deuce, Colston, Patten, Henderson, Copper, Johnson, and Meachem; there is just no way in hell we can under produce. And our line protects Brees perfectly, so I have no worries.

It’s his second choice of the Seahawks that bothers me. Hasselbeck throwing to Burleson and Branch with Alexander in the backfield doesn’t seem like the best group in the league that can break some records. Sure they are a fantastic bunch, but it’s not like they are jaw-dropping productive.

The Eagles and Rams have really good offenses and can produce a lot, but as resident choke artists…they aren’t usually given that much credit. And in a shallow NFC, it really isn’t all that difficult to have one of the top offenses. Seeing the Sportsnation’s picks of Bears and Giants in the top 4 NFC teams though is utterly laughable. There are two of the most underachieving anemic offenses in the entire conference so that is just stupid.

NFC Defense
Ok, the Bears still do have the best defense in the NFC but it is slowly deteriorating. Tank Johnson has been waived so the eight, possibly six, games is of no consequence. Alex Brown has requested a trade and Lance Briggs can’t stand the damn team. Their defense as a whole was fantastic last year, but those are three key components that made it tick. They’ll still be good but not nearly as dominant.

The Panthers and Eagles are kind of even, but still have fantastic defenses. But the weaknesses in Philly’s are so evident that the Panthers are better and possibly could overtake the Bears for best NFC defense this year. The pass defense of the Eagles is great and combined with the rush, it’s phenomenal. But their run defense was exposed on way too many occasions last year to be considered great.

The Seahawks? Again, this kind of boggles me. They are good, but not that great. My Saints actually had a decent defense last year and with the pick-ups in the offseason (Simmons, Kaesviharn, David), I think could be considered the number four or possibly number three defense in the NFC.

AFC Offense
Colts, Chargers, Pats, Bengals? You know there really isn’t much to argue with there although by the time the year is out…the Pats may be moving up to that top spot.

AFC Defense
Ravens, Pats, Chargers, Jaguars. Again, I can’t really argue much here but also think the Pats will move on that list by the time the season is over. The only thing is I think they will move further down the list and out of the top four because if the Colts’ defense can put on a full season’s performance like they did at the end of last season? Then they may just repeat as champs.

3.) NASCAR At Infineon Raceway

Charles Joseph: They TURNED RIGHT! I always like the road courses. Week started out with a lot of controversy with Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon not being allowed to practice or qualify on Friday due to infractions on their cars, so they had to start in the back of the pack, Gordon was able to come back and get a top ten spot which pretty much shows it’s his year. But the day belonged to Juan Pablo Montoya. I figured he’d have a good day with all the road racing history in his past. F1 is basically all road courses so he had to feel right at home. This was his second win in NASCAR, his first was a Busch Series win at another road course in Mexico City.

Danny: Well, Hendrick started with problems as both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson had to start dead last after being banned from practice and qualifying. That’ll teach you not to illegally modify those front fenders and put ground effects on racecars. Ya idjits! ALTHOUGH…Gordon did end up finishing seventh which was still far ahead Junior who took thirteenth. Congrats to Montoya though on winning his first Cup race after starting way the hell back in thirty-second position.

Paulie: Montoya wins! Finally, he gets vengeance for his father’s murder by the six fingered man! Seriously, it was a road race. They were able to turn right. OF COURSE a dude that’s used to racing in Europe is going to win it. I see Junior finished 13th. I suppose he’s just phoning the rest of this season in so that any improvement at all next year with Hendrick can be a “HEY! I told ya so!” type deal.

4.) MLB All-Star Game: Predicted NL Starting Line-Up

Paulie: YAY! The All-Star game that MEANS something, yet makes season records pretty much meaningless in the World Series. Here be mah stahtahs…

1B – Prince Fielder, Mil
2B – Chase Utley, Phi
3B – Miguel Cabrera, Fla
SS – Jose Reyes, NYM
OF – Matt Holiday, Col
OF – Eric Byrnes, Ari
OF – Adam Dunn, Cin
C – Russell Martin, LAD
SP – Brad Penny, LAD

Charles Joseph: My starting line up would look like this.

Catcher – Russel Martin, Dodgers. Lots of good young catchers in the NL, you could make a case for McCann and Lo Duca but Martin is having a great year and deserves to go.

First Base – Prince Fielder, Brewers. Having a MONSTER first half. Leads the NL in HR’s and is a big reason the Brewers are where they are. Cases could be made for Derek Lee, Todd Helton, and Ryan Howard, but Prince should go.

Second Base – Chase Utley, Phils. Kinda by default here, he’s not having the greatest year, .320 12HRs around 60 RBI’s when this goes up. Other choices are Dan Uggla and the surprising Brandon Phillips who hopefully will make the team.

Short Stop – Ummm…We’re gonna need a 20 sided dice here. Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins, Hanley Ramirez, Edgar Renteria and that’s just the NL East. JJ Hardy, Khalil Greene, Rafy Furcal. Jose Reyes probably not only deserves to go, he’ll probably will. He’s got the power speed combination that everyone looks for. 20HR 80 steal potential. That’s insane.

Third Base – Flip a coin between Miggy Cab and D-Wright. New York fans will get Wright the start, but Cabrera is having the better year, hitting about 40 points higher than Wright, more runs scored, more homeruns hit, more RBI’s, but he doesn’t run and Wright has 16 steals. Can’t go wrong with either of them though.

Outfield – Matt Holliday, Rockies. Huge year for Holliday. He’s having the breakout year everyone expected him to have last year. 13 bombs, 59 RBI’s and a ridiculous .355 average. After him it gets a little more difficult in the NL, Soriano is starting to heat it up with the weather and he should go. The third Outfield will probably be Beltran because of the New York fans, but going by the stats it should be Eric Brynes of Arizona, he’s having a fantastic year out in the desert, with 12 homeruns, 14 steals and a .317 average.

Pitcher – Jake Peavy, Padres. Wow is pretty much all you can say about his first half. 2.14 ERA, 113 K’s and 9 wins. Second choice would probably be Peavy’s teammate Chris Young or Brad Penny.

Danny: Ahhhh the All-Star game played in the middle of the season. I know that this game actually has some bearing on the World Series and all, but it still bugs me…much like the NBA game. How the hell can you say who is an all-star for a half a season?? Say some kid comes out of nowhere in the second half and captures the triple crown…was he not all-star worthy? I mean I see the point because of the bearing it has on the Series and also the NFL Pro Bowl is useless cuz they don’t care really and neither do the NBA players, but the half season thing bugs me. Anyway, here goeth my rosters:

1B – Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers
2B – Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
3B – David Wright, New York Mets
SS – Jose Reyes, New York Mets
OF – Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs
OF – Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants
OF – Carlos Lee, Houston Astros
C – Bengie Molina, San Francisco Giants
SP – Brad Penny, LA Dodgers

5.) MLB All-Star Game: Predicted AL Starting Line-Up

Charles Joseph: Mine would go something like

Catcher – Jorge Posada, Yankees. I hate the yanks, and Posada is one of my least favorite Yankees. But he’s having a great year and is really one of the biggest reasons the Yankees aren’t further back. He’s had to manage a ton of different pitchers and is still having a good year offensively. Second nod to Victormar and Joe Mauer.

First Base – Justin Morneau, Twins. Call me a homer all you want. He’s the best First baseman in the league this year. Ortiz doesn’t even play first. Ortiz is going to be the started, but Morneau should be.

Second Base – Kinsler has rebounded from a terrible start to the year to have a decent year power wise, but has a terrible batting average. I’d have to say Brian Roberts deserves to go. Hitting in the .320’s with 24 steals he’s not having the power he had a few years back, but he’s having a good year.

Short Stop – Carlos Guillen is having a good year as is Orlando Cabrera, but it’s gotta be Jeter. Leading the yanks, hitting great, D has fallen off a little bit this year, but he’s still an all star.

Third Base – Hmmmm…wonder who this could be. I think its safe to guess A-Rod is going to start, and well…he deserves it. He’s having a monster year and it’ll be fantastic for see him win MVP on a last place team again.

Outfield – Unlike the NL where there’s a derth of outfield prospects, there’s plenty of Outfielders in the AL. Starting in Center I’m taking the future Grady Sizemore. He’s having a great year. 12 Homers and 22 steals while playing Gold Glove caliber Defense. Right Field I’m throwing Magglio Ordonez out there. I know I don’t have to go position by position but that’s what I’m doing so far. Mags is having a great year and is the second or third leading MVP candidate. Third OF is tough, there’s Ichiro, Vlad, Torii, Rios, Crawford and Manny. I leave Manny out because he probably doesn’t want to play anyway. And of the other ones you can’t go wrong. I’m going with Alex Rios. Batting .287 with 16 Homeruns and 6 steals.

Starting Pitcher – Probably have to go with Dan Haren. As much of a WOW factor Peavy has, Haren has even more. Ridicufied 1.78 ERA and a WHIP of .9. He’s having a fantasic year and deserves the start. Johan is, as always, a good choice as is Josh Becket.

Danny:

1B – Big Papi, Boston Red Sox
2B – Placido Polanco, Detroit Tigers
3B – Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (unfortunate but true)
SS – Miguel Tejada, Baltimore Orioles
OF – Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners
OF – Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox
OF – Torii Hunter, Minnesota Twins
C – Pudge, Detroit Tigers
SP – C.C. Sabathia, Cleveland Indians

Paulie: Second verse! More like the first!

1B – Justin Morneau, Min
2B – Brian Roberts, Bal
3B – Alex Rodriguez, NYY
SS- Carlos Guillen, Det
OF – Magglio Ordoniez, Det
OF – Ichiro Suzuki, Sea
OF – Grady Sizemore, Cle
C – Victor Martinez, Cle
SP – Dan Haren, Oak

PEE-YOMPS (pimps)

Like movies, but never know what DVDs to buy? Then head over to The DVD Lounge where there are a lot of good people watching a lot of crap so you don’t have to. And for a person who has over 1300 DVDs and watches every movie imaginable, Travis really finds some things that even I have never heard of.

Popcorn Junkies is a place you really need to go check out as well because there are great people like Caroline, Ping, Michaelangelo, Kubryk, and more bringing you news and movie reviews at all hours of the night and day.

If you can’t get enough of the whole Chris Benoit thing and would like updates and a bunch of different views on it, head over to Pulse Wrestling

I don’t really have much to say in closing this week because there just isn’t much going on. The whole Benoit thing is being talked about ad nauseam. It’s quiet in the sports world although there do seem to be some interesting NBA trades brewing involving such people as Garnett, Kobe, and Marion. I think a lot of players are going to change teams in the next 24 hours leading up to the draft Thursday night.

We’d love to hear from you lovely people so feel free to click anyone of our names to e-mail us or simply head here in the forums.

Oh and just to update everyone? The white trash living next door to me has been given official notice to leave their apartment and get out of the complex. My asshole tactics brought about by their severe lack of respect for me have paid up. Operation Evict My Neighbors was a success. We shall se you next week folks when there’s even gonna be some talk about the furry little green ball.

No not furries.