Keefe's Pick 3 for Week 10

Finally did what I set out to do when I started (Week 2) and that's a 3-0 week. Also went 3-0 on the Strikeforce fights. Let's try and make it another 6-0 weekend between NFL Week 10 and UFC 105.

Bengals (+7) over Steelers
Patriots (+3) over Colts
Ravens (-11) over Ravens

UFC 105
Couture over Vera (decision)
Swick over Hardy (2nd round KO)
Kang over Bisping (1st round KO)

NFL Pick 3:
Last Week: 3-0
Overall: 12-12

-Keefe

Out onaliM's Daily Streak for the Cash Lock

There are more than a few matchups ESPN has given us that I would love to bite on today. Spain over Nigeria in the U-17 World Cup Semi looks promising, but rumor has it Nigeria is at home and is very tough to beat there. Bowling Green over Miami-OH is another attractive matchup, but BGSU's has a lowsy run defense and Miami has a solid run game. Both teams don't score a lot of points so I would think we'll see something very close.

I may be going against the grain with my pick today (with just 23% of the picks), but this game is as close to a lock as you can get without calling Tim Donaghy for a little help.

Cleveland is coming off a physical game last night with the Magic. Yes, we all know Lebron is on fire (averaging 30 pts/gm in the Cavs last 4), but so is DWade (who has dropped 40 in 2 of his last 3). El Heat arguably have the league's best pure scorer in Wade, and with the Cavs coming off a hard fought battle last night I suspect we will see Wade pick the tired Cleveland defense apart at home.

The Pick: Miami Heat over the Cleveland Cavs (Dwayne Wade over Lebron James)

Current Streak: 3

Out onaliM's Daily Streak for the Cash Lock

The guys in Bristol aren't giving us much to work with today: lots of European soccer, a Tiger Woods golf line, and some NHL pick 'ems. The one that stood out to me that looks too easy to be up there is a tennis match line:

ATP - BNP Paribas Masters (Andy Murray vs. James Blake): How many TOTAL GAMES will be PLAYED? 11:45 AM
20 Games or Fewer
21 Games or More

You have to be crazy not to take the over here. You can get to 21 games in 2 sets if there is a tie breaker. I checked out their rankings and Murray is currently #4 and Blake is #41, so you'd suspect Murray would make quick work of him. However, looking at Blake's history, he's had pretty good success against top ranked opponents and holding his serve. I suspect we'll see well over 21 total games in this match. Better get on this quick though, they stop taking picks on this match at 11:45am EST.

The pick: Andy Murray vs. James Blake (21 Games or More)

Keefe's 12 Favorite & Least Favorite NBA Players

Favorite:
1. Paul Pierce
2. Gilbert Arenas
3. Shawn Marion
4. Brandon Jennings
5. Deron Williams
6. O.J. Mayo
7. Dwyane Wade
8. Brandon Roy
9. Jason Kapono
10. Ray Allen
11. Caron Butler
12. Rudy Fernandez

Least Favorite:
1. Joakim Noah
2. J.J. Redick
3. Tyler Hansborough
4. Andersen Varejao
5. Andrew Bynum
6. Ben Wallace
7. Hedo Turkoglu
8. Robin Lopez
9. Oleksiy Pecherov
10. Luke Walton
11. Tony Allen
12. Derek Fisher*

*If he never played for the Lakers he would be no where near this list.

-Keefe

Keefe's Pick 3 for Week 9

Texans (+9) over Colts
Seahawks (-10) over Lions
Bengals (+3) over Ravens

Last week: 2-1
Overall: 9-12

-Keefe

I'll also take Gegard Mousasi, Jake Shields, and Fedor Emelianenko, but you wouldn't win squt with those picks because they are all heavy favorites. If you want an underdog this weekend try Kevin Randleman (+160) vs. Stanislav Nedkov at SENGOKU 11 in Japan. Goodluck!

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

Jack Chop!

You may have already seen this, but it's a classic. Jack-Chop!

-Keefe