Here are the most popular posts of the past month:
• Bend Basketball Trick Shots
• 2010 Oregon high school XC preview
• Jesuit girls XC train in Central Oregon
• 2010 Oregon prep volleyball preview

Anyone out there watching the US Open? Let’s hear some predictions!

Here are mine:
Men’s Singles – Roger Federer def. Rafael Nadal
Women’s Singles – Venus Williams def. Maria Sharapova
Men’s Doubles – Bryan brothers
Women’s Doubles – Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs

First let me say that my favorite pro sport to watch is the NBA. My favorite sport to play is tennis. But I have to admit that the sport that is by far the best to be a fan of is the NFL… hands down! Here are three reasons why:

Madden Football
Because of the video game sensation “Madden Football” fans not only know the rules and strategies of the game, but they know the very smallest intricacies, terminology and details. The game gets better every year and players of the video game become more knowledgeable of the game of pro football.

One game a week
With just one game a week, you can stay up to date on everything. I love the NBA, but keeping up on an 82-game season can be like a full time job… and don’t even get me started on following baseball, that season takes a lifetime.

Fantasy football
Because of fantasy football, or as some girls I know call it “Fairy Tale Football”, fans not only follow team success but crunch individual numbers and stay up-to-date on more info that one may want to admit.

I had the good pleasure of hearing Bruce Brown (of Proactive Coaching) speak recently at Summit High School in Bend. If you are a coach, you need to know who Bruce Brown is. He is a traveling speaker and author on the subject of coaching sports… and he knows what he is talking about.

A friend of mine played for him and assures me that he is the real deal and what he presents is backed up by his years of coaching and shaping countless young people’s lives. I was really impressed with what I heard him say.

This wasn’t Brown’s first time speaking in Central Oregon, and I’m sure it won’t be his last. You really should catch him next time he does.

1984, 1996 or 2003?

First let’s put together a fictional starting lineup from each draft:

1984
G – John Stockton
G – Michael Jordan
C – Hakeem Olajuwon
F – Charles Barkley
F – Kevin Willis

1996
G – Steve Nash
G – Allen Iverson
C – Ben Wallace
F – Kobe Bryant
F – Jermaine O’Neal

2003
G – Dwayne Wade
G – LeBron James
C – Chris Kaman
F – Carmelo Anthony
F – Chris Bosh

1996 was hard to pick a starting five, because it was very guard heavy, so I went with a three guard lineup, because you can’t leave one of those guys out. I think that if all the players were in their prime… 1984 would be tough to beat, but I don’t think the 2003 players are in their prime yet. Any lineup with Jordan, Barkley, Olajuwon is going to be untouchable and to have Stockton running the show and getting those guys the ball in the right place makes them the favorite in my book.

The 1996 draft has to be considered the deepest ever with: Allen Iverson (No. 1), Marcus Camby (No. 2), Shareef Abdur-Rahim (No. 3), Stephon Marbury (No. 4), Ray Allen (No. 5), Antoine Walker (No. 6), Kobe Bryant (No. 13), Peja Stojakovic (No. 14), Steve Nash (No. 15), Jermaine O’Neal (No. 17), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (No. 20) and Ben Wallace (undrafted).

The 2003 draft was also very deep: LeBron James (No. 1), Carmelo Anthony (No. 3), Chris Bosh (No. 4), Dwayne Wade (No. 5), Chris Kaman (No. 6), David West (No. 18), Josh Howard (No. 29) and Mo Williams (No. 47). James, Wade and Bosh are now teammates, which could make this draft go down as the most dominant as far as wins go if the Miami Heat trio can win the 10 or so titles they are hoping for. Wade already has one.

So I’m going to say that the deepest draft ever is 1996, the best ever is 1984 and potentially the bestest ever is 2003.

Today is the world championship game of the Little League World Series with Hawaii facing off against Japan. I just happen to be in Hawaii and the moment and it’s funny to here the buzz for the game. I’m at the coffee shop right now and it’s what people are talking about. Little League is sooo smart! What other sporting event with 12 year olds has this kind of TV following? Why not follow the same model with other sports?

It’s also interesting that they are playing Japan, as there is a large Japanese population in Hawaii.

Should be fun, good luck kids!

Central Oregon Athlete is going to be doing some big things with Oregon high school cross country running this year! I can’t give all the details just yet, but let’s just say it’s going to be amazing! Here are some of the little things I’ve written so far:

• Jessica Wolfe profile
• Travis Neuman profile
• Can C.O. add another individual state XC title to its streak?
• State preview
• 5A Girls Preview
• 5A Boys Preview
• Jesuit Girls Story

Also, be looking for lots more XC athlete profiles to come!

The Source Weekly gave us honorable mention (AKA 2nd place) for the best blogs in Central Oregon. This is a really nice honor! Congratulations to Hack Bend, which won for the second year in a row.

A nice mention/shout out from Utterly Boring.com.

OK, so I like to take a winter and pick a video game to play a full season of, but I only do this like every third year. So here is the tough decision I need to make: should it be Madden or NBA 2K? It’s a tough one because I’m either going to be the Cincinati Bengals or the Miami Heat. I’m leaning towards the Bengals, because they are my all-time favorite NFL team, but come on, how fun are the Heat going to be?!

Looking for something awesome to do on Wednesday nights for the next several weeks? I’ve got a combo that is hard to beat. Ping pong, life music, food and drinks! West Bend Tennis Center in the Century Center hosts the Bend Table Tennis Club open play every Wednesday night for just $5. The live music is provided via the Roots Festival. I was there last night and it was amazing. You really should plan on making it a Wednesday happening.