Merry Christmas from The Sports Brief & The Muppets

This is just part of the greatest Christmas movie ever made. A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) was a made for TV special and I have watched it every year since. It doesn't get better, you can probably find the rest of it online, or do what I do and pop in the VHS.

Merry Christmas!




-Keefe

Podcast: Red Sox Problems

Rich Keefe talks about the awful month of September for the Red Sox, the possible play-in game, and the A.L. MVP race.

Red Sox by Keefe21

The (Green) Jacket

Many of you are probably in Masters pools and goodluck to you. The greatest golf tournament is well underway on Day 1 (it's 1:30 EST as I write this) yet the TV coverage does not begin for another 90 minutes. Weak.

Keep up with the guys from The Sports Brief's picks listed below...

BESSE:

Dustin Johnson

Martin Kaymer

Martin Laird

Hunter Mahan

Phil Mickelson

Nick Watney

Bubba Watson

Lee Westwood

Mark Wilson*

Tiger Woods

*May have let his boss pick a random 10th.

KEEFE:

Phil Mickelson

Tiger Woods

Lee Westwood

Martin Kaymer

Dustin Johnson

Rory McIlroy

Graeme McDowell

Bubba Watson

Ian Poulter

Matt Kuchar

You Should See The Other Guy

Actually the other guy (Martin Kampmann) doesn't look as bad. But this guy (Diego Sanchez) was the winner in the main event of Thursday's UFC on Versus 3. Sanchez outlasted Kampmann in a 3 round war and got the decision victory.

It's a big win for "The Nightmare" who now cracks The Sports Brief's Top 10 in the Welterweight Division.

You can access The Sports Brief's MMA Rankings, anytime, by just scrolling down and clicking on "MMA Rankings," located right above "Friends of the Brief."

Also be sure to follow The Sports Brief on Twitter: @TheSportsBrief

-Keefe

The Sports Brief Debut Podcast!

Rich Keefe and Tristan Besse hit a bunch of topics in their first ever podcast including, Bay Area sports, twitter etiquette, NBA trades, and MMA. They even rank the girls from the Jersey Shore. (You may be surprised by the picks.) Give it a listen.

TheSportsBriefPodcast by Keefe21

Happy New Year's from The Brief!

Merry Christmas from The Brief

Have a wonderful Christmas with your family!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at The Sports Brief. Enjoy the games and turkey today.

Patriots -6.5 at Lions
Saints -4.5 at Cowboys
Bengals +9.5 at Jets

Besse is going all dogs, I'll take Pats, Saints, Bengals...

Also a special shout out to our favorite Turkey on this day, Celtics big-man Semih Erden...



-Keefe

What Happened to BostonThrowdown.com?

Well we have been absolutely inundated with e-mails, phone calls, message board comments, etc., with one question, what happened to BostonThrowdown.com? As many of you know Rich Keefe (of The Sports Brief with Besse & Keefe) works for 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, MA. The station decided to dedicate some time to the world of MMA with a group of knowledgeable fight fans and gave them a section on the 985thesportshub.com website, entitled Boston Throwdown, which could be visited by simply going to BostonThrowdown.com. They had/have a twitter page (@BostonThrowdown) and facebook fan page. It was really taking off. Tens if not dozens of people had heard of the site and even considered checking it out.

However sometime last month the CBS owned 98.5 The Sports Hub website changed formats to become CBSBoston.com, check out CBSNewYork.com and it's the exact same thing. The new look site is strictly dedicated to local stories. Therefore an MMA section devoted to the UFC, Strikeforce, DREAM, Bellator, etc., was not in the cards. Boston Throwdown could have been saved but the 4 writers did not want change the concept and only follow the small up-and-coming fighters and even smaller events in the greater Boston area.

It is not a shot at the small shows, everyone has to start somewhere, but for the purposes of the website it just didn't make sense. We are sorry if BostonThrowdown was one of your destinations for MMA news and opinions, but rest assure that Besse and Keefe will continue to keep mixed-martial-arts on their agenda right here at The Brief.

Conference Confusion

Ok so let's try and get this straight. Colorado is leaving the Big 12 for the Pac-10, and Nebraska is jumping from the Big 12 to the Big 10, which really was already the Big 11. The 10 remaining teams in the Big "12" have decisions to make, specifically the Big 1 of Texas, which could leave for the Pac-"10" along with up to 4 other schools. Make sense? And independent Notre Dame could join the Big 10 as well? Conference names and numbers will likely have to change. This is what we have as of now...



The Big 10 = 12 Teams: Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Northwestern, Penn State, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Nebraska



The PAC-10 = 11 Teams: UCLA, USC, Cal, Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado.


The Big 12 = 10 Teams (for now): Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Missouri.


If the Big 12 survives do they or any of these conference keep their names intact? Who knows the Big 10 has had 11 teams for years. And don't forget in basketball the A-10.

The Atlantic-10 = 14 Teams!

In all seriousness though the idea of 4 -16 Team Mega-Conferences is pretty intriguing. If the Big 12 wants to survive though, and it clearly is all up to Texas, they should try and rob 2 of my favorite conferences the Mountain West and WAC get after TCU, Utah, Boise State, etc. But with those money markets it could be tough.

Boston Throwdown

If you want your MMA fix of news, stories, blogs, rankings, podcasts, etc., hit up the all new www.BostonThrowdown.com Rich Keefe of The Sports Brief will be 1 of 4 contributors focused on all things MMA.

The Sports Brief is not going anywhere, there will still be plenty of MMA here as well, but with baseball season coming up stay tuned.

Right now on BostonThrowdown.com... UFC 111 Preview, an interview with UFC Lightweight contender Kenny Florian, and much more!

MMA Rankings 2-10-10

Heavyweight

1. Fedor Emelianko

2. Brock Lesnar

3. Frank Mir

4. Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera

5. Randy Couture

6. Josh Barnett

7. Cain Velasquez

8. Shane Carwin

9. Alistair Overeem

10. Brett Rogers

Junior Dos Santos, Gabe Gonzaga, Fabricio Werdum, Ben Rothwell, Cheick Kongo

Light Heavyweight

1. Lyoto Machida

2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

3. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

4. Anderson Silva

5. Rashad Evans

6. Gegard Mousasi

7. Forrest Griffin

8. Thiago Silva

9. Antonio Rogerio Noguirea

10. Randy Couture

Luiz Cane, Rich Franklin, Jon Jones, Brandon Vera, Keith Jardine

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva

2. Dan Henderson

3. Vitor Belfort

4. Chael Sonnen

5. Nate Marquardt

6. Jake Shields

7. Robbie Lawler

8. Yoshihiro Akiyama

9. Michael Bisping

10. Yushin Okami

Demian Maia, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Ronaldo Souza, Nick Diaz, Wanderlei Silva

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre

2. Jake Shields

3. Jon Fitch

4. Thiago Alves

5. Nick Diaz

6. Paulo Thiago

7. Josh Koscheck

8. Paul Daley

9. Martin Kampmann

10. Matt Hughes

Dan Hardy, Marius Zaromskis, Matt Serra, Jay Hieron, Mike Swick

Lightweight

1. B.J. Penn

2. Shinya Aoki

3. Eddie Alverez

4. Joachim Hansen

5. Tatsuya Kawajiri

6. Kenny Florian

7. Diego Sanchez

8. Frankie Edgar

9. Gilbert Melendez

10. JZ Cavalcante

Gray Maynard, Mizuto Hirota, Satoru Kitoaka, Sean Sherk, Josh Thomson

-The Sports Brief

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

From The Sports Brief!


Keefe's Best Movies of the Decade (Non-Comedy/Horror) Coming Soon...

The Sports Brief's MMA Rankings 11/23/09

There has been 3 big MMA events since our last rankings, Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers; UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera; and UFC 106: Ortiz vs. Griffin II. Needless to say the rankings have changed since last month. Coming up in December we have The Ultimate Fighter Finale, UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez, Strikeforce: Thompson vs. Melendez, WEC 45, and another SENGOKU event. But before all that let's take a look at the rankings heading into the last month of 2009.

Heavyweight

1. Fedor Emelianko

2. Brock Lesnar

3. Josh Barnett

4. Frank Mir

5. Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera

6. Randy Couture

7. Cain Velasquez

8. Shane Carwin

9. Alistair Overeem

10. Brett Rogers

Junior Dos Santos, Cheick Kongo, Gabe Gonzaga, Fabricio Werdum, Ben Rothwell

Light Heavyweight

1. Lyoto Machida

2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

3. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

4. Anderson Silva

5. Rashad Evans

6. Forrest Griffin

7. Gegard Mousasi

8. Thiago Silva

9. Antonio Rogerio Noguirea

10. Randy Couture

Luiz Cane, Rich Franklin, Keith Jardine, Tito Ortiz, Babalu Sobral

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva

2. Dan Henderson

3. Vitor Belfort

4. Nate Marquardt

5. Robbie Lawler

6. Yoshihiro Akiyama

7. Jake Shields

8. Michael Bisping

9. Chael Sonnen

10. Yushin Okami

Demian Maia, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Ronaldo Souza, Nick Diaz, Wanderlei Silva

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre

2. Jake Shields

3. Jon Fitch

4. Thiago Alves

5. Josh Koscheck

6. Paul Daley

7. Martin Kampmann

8. Matt Hughes

9. Dan Hardy

10. Mike Swick

Paulo Thiago, Marius Zaromskis, Jay Hieron, Nick Thompson, Carlos Condit

Lightweight

1. B.J. Penn

2. Shinya Aoki

3. Eddie Alverez

4. Joachim Hansen

5. Tatsuya Kawajiri

6. Kenny Florian

7. Diego Sanchez

8. Frankie Edgar

9. Gilbert Melendez

10. JZ Cavalcante

Gray Maynard, Mizuto Hirota, Satoru Kitoaka, Sean Sherk, Josh Thomson

The Sports Brief's MMA Rankings (11-5-09)

A pair of big free fight weekends coming up here in November. This Saturday CBS will be showing their Strikeforce event featuring the #1 Heavyweight in the world Fedor vs. the #10 Heavyweight (according to The Sports Brief) Brett Rogers. Also on the card Jakes Shields fights Jason "Mayhem" Miller at middleweight and Gegard Mousasi battles Sokoju. (You'll find 3 out of those 4 names below.)

And then a week from Saturday you get UFC 105 from Manchester, England, Live and Free... (well tape delayed and free) on Spike TV. Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera at Light Heavyweight is the headliner, but it also features Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy, and Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang.

These rankings are sure to change after those two cards are complete, but let's take a look at where we stand right now.

MMA RANKINGS

Heavyweight

1. Fedor Emelianko

2. Brock Lesnar

3. Josh Barnett

4. Frank Mir

5. Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera

6. Randy Couture

7. Cain Velasquez

8. Shane Carwin

9. Alistair Overeem

10. Brett Rogers

Junior Dos Santos, Cheik Kongo, Gabe Gonzaga, Ben Rothwell, Heath Herring

Light Heavyweight

1. Lyoto Machida

2. Quentin “Rampage” Jackson

3. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

4. Anderson Silva

5. Rashad Evans

6. Forrest Griffin

7. Gegard Mousasi

8. Luiz Cane

9. Thiago Silva

10. Babalu Sobral

Rich Franklin, Keith Jardine, Brandon Vera, Antonio Rogerio Noguirea, Tito Ortiz

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva

2. Dan Henderson

3. Vitor Belfort

4. Nate Marquardt

5. Robbie Lawler

6. Jorge Santiago

7. Yoshihiro Akiyama

8. Chael Sonnen

9. Yushin Okami

10. Demian Maia

Michael Bisping, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Denis Kang, Ronaldo Souza, Nick Diaz

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre

2. Jake Shields

3. Jon Fitch

4. Thiago Alves

5. Josh Koscheck

6. Mike Swick

7. Paul Daley

8. Martin Kampmann

9. Matt Hughes

10. Paulo Thiago

Marius Zaromskis, Jay Hieron, Nick Thompson, Dan Hardy, Carlos Condit

Lightweight

1. B.J. Penn

2. Shinya Aoki

3. Eddie Alverez

4. Joachim Hansen

5. Tatsuya Kawajiri

6. Kenny Florian

7. Diego Sanchez

8. Frankie Edgar

9. Gilbert Melendez

10. JZ Cavalcante

Gray Maynard, Mizuto Hirota, Satoru Kitoaka, Sean Sherk, Josh Thomson

-Besse & Keefe

The Sports Brief's MMA Rankings (9/21/09)

Heavyweight:

1. Fedor Emelianenko

2. Brock Lesnar

3. Josh Barnett

4. Frank Mir

5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

6. Alistair Overeem

7. Shane Carwin

8. Randy Couture

9. Cain Velasquez

10. Brett Rogers

Junior Dos Santos, Chiek Kongo, Andrei Arlovski, Gabriel Gonzaga, Ben Rothwell, Fabricio Werdum, Heath Herring, Aleksander Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop

Light Heavyweight:

1. Lyoto Machida

2. Quinton Jackson

3. Rashad Evans

4. Anderson Silva

5. Forrest Griffin

6. Gegard Mousasi

7. Maurcio ‘Shogun’ Rua

8. Luiz Cane

9. Thiago Silva

10. Babalu Sobral

Rich Franklin, Keith Jardine, Brandon Vera, Chuck Liddell, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Tito Ortiz, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Vladimir Matyushenko, Jon Jones

Middleweight:

1. Anderson Silva

2. Dan Henderson

3. Vitor Belfort

4. Yushin Okami

5. Nathan Marquardt

6. Robbie Lawler

7. Jorge Santiago

8. Yoshihiro Akiyama

9. Demian Maia

10. Cung Le

Michael Bisping, Thales Leites, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Matt Lindland, Denis Kang, Chael Sonnen, Paulo Filho, Patrick Cote, Nick Diaz, Kazuo Misaki, Ronaldo Souza, Jake Rosholt

Welterweight:

1. Georges St. Pierre

2. Jake Shields

3. Jon Fitch

4. Thiago Alves

5. Josh Koscheck

6. Mike Swick

7. Paul Daley

8. Martin Kampmann

9. Matt Hughes

10. Paulo Thiago

Marius Zaromskis, Jay Hieron, Nick Thompson, Dan Hardy, Karo Parisyan, Matt Serra, Carlos Condit, Marcus Davis, Drew Fickett, Frank Trigg, Ricardo Almeida

Lightweight:

1. BJ Penn

2. Shinya Aoki

3. Eddie Alverez

4. Joachim Hansen

5. Tatsuya Kawajiri

6. Kenny Florian

7. Diego Sanchez

8. Frankie Edgar

9. Gilbert Melendez

10. JZ Cavalcante

Gray Maynard, Mizuto Hirota, Satoru Kitaoka, Sean Sherk, Josh Thomson, Takanori Gomi, KJ Noons, Nate Diaz, Victor Ribero, Joe Stevenson, Roger Huerta

Pound 4 Pound

1. Anderson Silva

2. Fedor Emelianenko

3. Georges St. Pierre

4. BJ Penn

5. Lyoto Machida

6. Mike Brown

7. Quinton Jackson

8. Brian Bowles

9. Gegard Mousasi

10. Brock Lesnar

-The Sports Brief

Check out how The Greek did in his Week 2 NFL picks, below.

The Sports Brief's 2009 NFL Preview

The NFL Season Kicks off tonight with Steelers and Titans. Below are the predictions for the 2009 season. Final division standings, playoff match ups, Super Bowl picks, and the big individual awards.

KEEFE's Picks:

AFC East

1. Patriots*

2. Bills*

3. Dolphins

4. Jets

AFC North

1. Steelers*

2. Ravens*

3. Bengals

4. Browns

AFC South

1. Texans*

2. Colts

3. Titans

4. Jaguars

AFC West

1. Chargers*

2. Raiders

3. Chiefs

4. Broncos

Playoffs:

Wildcard:

Patriots over Bills

Ravens over Texans

Divisional:

Patriots over Steelers

Chargers over Ravens

Conference:

Chargers over Patriots

NFC East

1. Eagles*

2. Giants

3. Redskins

4. Cowboys

NFC North

1. Bears*

2. Vikings*

3. Packers

4. Lions

NFC South

1. Saints*

2. Panthers

3. Falcons

4. Buccaneers

NFC West

1. Cardinals*

2. Seahawks*

3. Rams

4. 49ers

Playoffs

Wildcard:

Seahawks over Cardinals

Eagles over Vikings

Divisional:

Eagles over Bears

Saints over Seahawks

Conference:

Saints over Eagles

SUPER BOWL: Chargers over Saints

MVP: Drew Brees, Saints

Offensive Player of the Year: Brees, Saints

Defensive Player of the Year: Mario Williams, Texans

O-Rookie: Percy Harvin, Vikings

D-Rookie: Brian Cushing, Texans

Coach: Gary Kubiak, Texans

BESSE's Picks:

AFC East

1. Patriots*

2. Dolphins

3. Jets

4. Bills

AFC North

1. Steelers*

2. Bengals*

3. Ravens

4. Browns

AFC South

1. Colts*

2. Texans*

3. Titans

4. Jaguars

AFC West

1. Chargers*

2. Broncos

3. Chiefs

4. Raiders

AFC Playoffs

Wildcard:

Chargers over Texans

Colts over Bengals

Divisional:

Pats over Chargers

Steelers over Colts

Conference:

Pats over Steelers

NFC East

1. Giants*

2. Cowboys*

3. Eagles

4. Redskins

NFC North

1. Packers*

2. Bears

3. Vikings

4. Lions

NFC South

1. Saints*

2. Falcons*

3. Panthers

4. Bucs

NFC West

1. Seahawks*

2. Cardinals

3. 49ers

4. Rams

NFC Playoffs

Wildcard:

Falcons over Giants

Cowboys over Seahawks

Divisional:

Packers over Cowboys

Falcons over Saints

Conference:

Falcons over Packers

SUPER BOWL: Pats over Falcons

Awards:

MVP – Aaron Rodgers, Packers

Offensive POY – Drew Brees, Saints

Defensive POY – Justin Tuck, Giants

Offensive ROY – Knowshon Moreno, Broncos

Defensive ROY – James Laurinaitis, Rams

Coach of the Year – Mike McCarthy, Packers

-The Sports Brief

Week 1 Picks

Keefe: Steelers(-6) over the Titans

Hate both teams, but I'll go with Pittsburgh at home to win by more than a touchdown. They will be all jacked up and could get off to a slow start, but I think that's going to be the Titans' problem all year. Collins plays himself out of the starting QB job, only for it to get worse with Vince Young at the helm.

Besse: Steelers (-6) over Titans
While some money grubbin' whore in Vegas is digging up the names of every chick Big Ben has slayed (good luck w/ that), he'll be methodically breaking down the Titans defense on opening night. The loss of Haynesworth will gleam brightly tonight for the Titans, and the vaunted Steelers defense will shut down the run and force Kerry Collins to pass more. By the end of the night, we'll be wondering if Collins fell off the wagon again. And look for Willie Parker to do what he did last year: explode in Week 1, get all of his fantasy owners jacked up for the rest of the season, then get hurt and run like Maroney for the rest of the year. If you can't tell, that's exactly what happened to me last year. Bitter? Nah...