Newton's Locker

UFC 82 Preview

G. W. Newton — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:12:24 +0000

UFC 82 features a lot of familiar names, Diego Sanchez, Josh Koscheck, Chris Leban, Luke Cummo. Not to mention some elite fighters such as Andre Arlovski and John Fitch. We didn’t even talk about the feature matchups yet. What that means fellow UFC fans is that we are just not going to get to see all of the matchups we want to see. Realizing this, there are 3 bouts I am really hoping will get aired.

(more…)

Super Bowl Wrapup

G. W. Newton — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:25:05 +0000

Sorry it took so long, busy week.

Highlights

I picked the Giants to win outright
I said they would pound the football
I said it would be a lower scoring game than the experts thought
I said Plaxico would catch one in the endzone
I said the Giants were the team of destiny
I said they would have the ball with the last chance to score
I said the Patriots would go right down the field and score when they needed to. (20 seconds left in the game is not enough time)
I picked the margin of victory exactly
I said the commercials would stink
I really enjoyed the game.

(more…)

Super Bowl XLII Preview

G. W. Newton — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:24:33 +0000

The legendary, undefeated, about to make history New England Patriots. How can you go against them? Nobody has been able to beat them so far, not even their Super Bowl opponent, the New York Giants. No one can stop their juggernaut offense. The name Tom Brady is synonymous with winner. The 70’s had Bradshaw, the 80’s Montana and now Tom Brady is about to join their ranks. He has had arguably the greatest season ever by a quarterback. Its like going against Michael Jordan, you would have to be nuts. Then of course theres, Moss, the solid running game, the household name defense and a guy named Belicheck.

(more…)

The Super Bowl: Not Just Any Old Football Game

G. W. Newton — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:27:35 +0000

That’s the first step in analyzing the Super Bowl is in realizing that it is much more than just a football game. It’s a national event. Sure, the die hard football fans like you and me will all be watching, but then again we will probably also watch the Pro Bowl next week too. The real difference is made by the millions who perennially make this game the only one they catch all year. Then there’s those who are only watching because they have been invited to a Super Bowl party. Finally, there are those who have no interest in football whatsoever but who tune in to watch the commercials.

(more…)

Championship Round Wrapup

G. W. Newton — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:58:19 +0000

Average again. I was 1 – 1 straight up and 1-1 versus the spread.HighlightsI had the AFC game almost exactly correct. San Diego hung around and made it a game but at no point did anyone really believe that the Bolts could actually win. (more…)

Green Bay vs NY Giants

G. W. Newton — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:10:50 +0000

The Giants are looking more and more like a team of destiny. They are simply defying all odds, here’s a small list:

Win after a loss to New England
Defeat the #1 seed in the NFC
9 road wins in a row
Eli Manning putting together 3 Peyton-like performances in a row

In addition to that, they have a new set of odds to defy for this weekends championship game: The 5 seed rarely ever makes it here let alone advances.

(more…)

New England vs San Diego

G. W. Newton — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:06:27 +0000

New England may have just won the Super Bowl last week. I really thought the only team that could have beaten them and would have beaten them was the Indianapolis Colts. But unfortunately, they took the 4th quarter off and I don’t get to see my marquis matchup.

San Diego at full strength and at home has a chance. But there are too many question marks. We don’t really know the status of Philip Rivers or LT’s knees. Obviously Antonio Gates can play with that toe, but we don’t really know how much its affecting him. They have strung a bunch of wins together and in the NFL winning streaks like that are rare. They are also at a disadvantage because the game is in New England. Not because of the extreme cold we are expecting but simply because they just aren’t as good on the road as they are at home.

(more…)

UFC 80 Preview

G. W. Newton — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:03:06 +0000

UFC 80 promises, like all other UFC events, to be action packed but there are 3 bouts in particular that I am looking forward to…

Kendall Grove vs Jorge Rivera

Kendall Grove is coming off his first loss since his rise to fame and its very important that he comes away with a victory. Every one takes a loss now and again in MMA, its just the way it is. It’s the fight following the loss that shows what the fighter is made of. Some recent examples would be Forest Griffin and of course Chuck Liddell. Kendall is a pretty heavy favorite, which means he is expected to win. If he wants to have any chance of ever being mentioned in the same breath with the top fighters in the world, he has to come back strong in this fight. The odds of a top notch fighter losing 2 in a row are slim. Chuck Liddell and Mrko Cro Cop come to mind but they ARE top notch fighters. They had already established that prior to those losses. I believe this is the biggest fight of Kendall’s career thus far

(more…)

Divisional Round Wrap Up

G. W. Newton — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:50:36 +0000

Pew!!!! I stunk up the joint, scientifically speaking that is. I was 2 – 2 straight up and 1 –3 versus the spread

Highlights

Well, I had Green Bay right

I knew New England would win, but you didn’t have to be Nostradamus to see that

Lowlights

New England let Jacksonville hang around too long, they didn’t really send a message to the Super Bowl champs like I predicted which reminds me…

(more…)

New England vs. Jacksonville

G. W. Newton — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:33:10 +0000

Unlike the NFC, the AFC 1 seeds odds of making the championship game are not as much of a lock. Its more like 60%. But we are talking about the New England Patriots here, so take the odds and throw them right out the window. This is a team that appears to simply be able to do whatever they need to do whenever they need to, to win.

If you read last weeks picks you may be thinking, “Hey wait didn’t you say something about flipping coins and the probability of getting 4 heads in a row was remote and therefore the odds of winning (or losing) 4 games in row was also remote.” Yes I did say that and that is correct. But don’t be so hasty to apply that to New Englands perfect season and think the probably of winning 17 in a row is also remote. The odds of flipping a coin and getting a head on any one flip is ½. So it is with winning a football game for most teams. New England is not most teams. The odds of them winning are much higher than ½ or 50%.

(more…)