Yeah, me too, I'm a Dortmund fan, and I think that if Real Madrid keeps playing the way they did in the last game, they have no chance. I'd also like Atleti to win the cup.

Always have been Real Madrid fan, and will always be.
So I want them to win Champions League, though I would accept anything but Bayernola. I hate tiki-taka, and I really want it to be gone, that's wankery, not football..
I'm glad Barcelona flunked, as is probably any Real fan.

And about Europa League, I think it's 90% sure that Juventus will win. I don't see how Sevilla, Valencia or Benfica could triumph over it. Though in the end, finals is just one game, and not two.
But still, Juventus is class above other 3 teams.

I've not been following the CL games because Arsenal.

But my money would be on Bayern taking the trophy again. They've been very consistent both in the Bundesliga as well in the CL.

The end is nigh for the nhl regular season, and the real games can commence. Any opinions on who are the strongest candidates to have some debauchery with Lord Stanley?

I'm hoping the Ducks take it home because I'm biased as hell, but they need to step it up a bit. Boston look formidable: Bergeron's been on a hot streak lately and Rask has been strong all season. Chicago is also in the top of my list if Toews and Kane are healthy. Plenty of other worthy teams, but I wouldn't be too surprised if one of these teams would be in the finals.

Also, as a wild card I'll have to take the Stars. Admittedly, not the most balanced team, but Benn & Seguin are on fire. Did they have any bad shifts yesterday against the Blues?

Liverpool. Possibly the most obnoxious sporting club in the history of professional sport. Hope City batters them today if only to shut up the media circus jizzing all over them, but with their incredible luck this season they'll get 3 penalties and cement top spot and the title.

Liverpool, Liverpool! Make us dream boys, massive result against City. 4 cup finals to go

Never found Liverpool obnoxious except for maybe Suarez. They got quite an amazing result against City. I caught the highlights and that Coutinho's strike was superb. I'd rather see City win the league though, but as things stand, it looks like 'pool might just win it.

Them Penguins been coasting for quite a while. I wouldn't be shocked if Columbus popped em off. Put me down for betting on the Jackets.
Elsewhere:
Montreal should handle Tampa.
Boston may stumble early due to gliding in like Pittsburgh, but they'll recover enough to beat Detroit.
I'll take the Flyers over New York any day.

In the West, Dallas could have upset anyone but Anaheim, who are basically a better version of themselves. So the Ducks take it.
Col v Min will be closer than many think, but the Avs will pull it off.
And I'm taking the Kings against the San Jose Chokes, and Chicago will mop up the imploding Blues.

East
BOS/DET: Boston in 6. Detroit without their captain will have a tough time but they do have a good depth but the Bruins are too much of a complete and well oiled to lose in the first round.

MTL/TB: Montréal in 6. I think the series will be a goaltender duel (Bishop vs Price) but with the add of Vanek, we have the better team and our road record this season has been great so it's not important that we don't have the ice advantage.

PIT/CBJ: Colombus in 7. Yes that's right, the Blue Jackets had their best season since their entry in the NHL and they'll give a hard time to the Pens and their lack of depth and many injuries.

NYR/PHI: New York in 6 or 7. The Rangers is the best team overall and with St-Louis with them, they added some playoff experience, he'll want to win another cup with his friend Brad Richards.

Westeros
COL/MIN: Colorado in 6. The Avalanche is a young team with a weak defense, I believe they can beat the Wild but they'll lose in the 2nd round.

STL/CHI: Chicago in 7. Basically the conference final in the West, god this conference is so great. This will be very good series, the Blues were my pick for the Cup but they had a lame end of season and Chicago has all the elements they had last year when they won the cup.

ANA/DAL: Dallas in 7. The Benn/Seguin duo will beat the Getzlaf/Perry one, the Stars are gonna surprise the Ducks with their fast paced game but Anaheim will play it rough and Dallas will be tired for the 2nd round.

SJS/LA: San Jose in 6 or 7 (depending on Quick)) The Sharks won't choke this year, Thornton and Marleau are gonna step it up since they already signed their contract extensions. Gaborik could help the Kings but I doubt they have the team to beat the Sharks even though Doughty and Carter won gold medals

The Cup final: NYR vs SJS


I'm always wrong anyway so who cares!

Bonus epic pics:


Fuck you Toronto!

I agree on the winners in the east, but I think Anaheim is going to beat Dallas. While I am a devout believer of "Fuck Corey Perry", but I'm not sure Dallas can beat that team.

Predictions:

Bruins over Wings in 5 - Bruins have much better defense and goaltending with more scoring depth.
Habs over Bolts in 6 - Therrein will probably fuck this up by benching Subban for being "disrespectful" and playing Douglas Murray for 23 minutes per night.
Blue Jackets over Penguins in 7 - Pens have high-power offense, but with Fleury backstopping that, a meltdown is likely. CBJ have a tough, deep, underrated team.
Rangers over Flyers in 4 - Ray Emery and Cal Heeter. That's why.

Avs over Wild in 6 - Avs have some injuries but I have a hard time believing that a few injuries will stop one of the top teams from lighting up Ilya Bryzgalov, even though I love the space cadet.
Hawks over Blues in 5 - Blues have a ton of injuries on their top end and they're going up an elite team. Players are going to be rushing back from injuries and not at 100%, and the Hawks are a damn good team, period.
Ducks over Stars in 6 - Dallas has some solid but uncredited defensemen, but they also have Sergei Gonchar. Anaheim has a powerhouse top line and the most lovable veteran depth with Saku and Teemu. Go Tay-moo!
Sharks over Kings in 5 - The Sharks are going to get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs courtesy of Dustin Brown, but they'll still advance.

Bruins over Blue Jackets in 6 - Tough teams with good goaltending, but I think the Bruins are a stronger team.
Rangers over Habs in 6 - Go Rangers!

Hawks over Avs in 5 - Hawks are a better team with elite guys who turn it on during the playoffs. I think their defense can shut down the Avs top guys, especially with some of them injured or coming back from injuries at this point.
Sharks over Ducks in 4 - Ducks have a great first line. Sharks have incredible scoring depth, a tough and sizable team, and something to prove. Sorry Teemu.

Rangers over Bruins in 7 - I have to believe...

Sharks over Hawks in 6 - Another tough call as the Hawks are a great team, but the Sharks' top guys have really stepped it up .

Rangers over Sharks in 7 - Just kidding, the Rangers are going to get knocked out in the ECF.

I think those are solid predictions, guys. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has the Rangers doing some damage and possibly winning the Cup. Tough to disagree with the points you've made! I'd really like to see a Sharks/Ducks and a Penguins/Flyers series, but that's just me being a greedy fan.

Rangers go down in 6 games against Philly. Had to say it

Congrats to the Columbus Blue Jackets fir their first ever win in a playoff game! Dare I say, the advantage in the series is theirs now? HELL YES!! Down with Pittsburgh

Yeah, fuck the Pens! Game 3 of our series, winning our both games in Tampa was awesome, let's see if we can sweep the series now!

I'm happy the Blues won their first two games too, what a great team. And damn, MacKinnon has 7 points in 2 games for Colorado, no playoff pressure for the young future superstar!

While I am a Leafs fan first-and-foremost, I am rooting for Montreal (which is my #2 team). Toronto did pretty fucking bad the last two or three months (I just wish Phaneuf and his SEVEN FUCKING YEAR contract would die).

I suspect that Bruins will will face the Blues in the final, which isn't a groundbreaking prediction. I just hope that Detroit or Montreal can destroy all those asshole fans in Boston who don't think they can lose. I ask this seriously: do they have, in general, more aggressive fans?
Go "Team Canada"!!

The Blues are a bunch of gutless fucks and they're easily my least favorite team, even below Detroit and Philly. I figured we could pull out a good series against them since they had such a massive nosedive at the end of the season coupled with all the injuries. Momentum was on our side, but from what I hear just nothing has gone our way (I haven't been watching the playoffs). Apparently the calls have been bad, the team has been playing bad, and we're focusing too much on trying to play their game instead of ours. I also hear the Seabrook suspension was total bullshit. Granted, I heard this from somebody who is probably the least unbiased sports fan in existence, but apparently the refs didn't even indicate there was a penalty on the ice until they realized Backes was hurt. If that's true (and it well might not be, I'll admit), that's pretty fucking stupid. And a three game suspension seems pretty harsh for a playoff series, especially against a star player like him (granted I think everybody should be treated equally, but we all know how the NHL rolls), but hey, I'll readily admit that that may just be my hometown bias seeping through.

As long as it's not the fucking Blues or Habs that win, I'll be satisfied.

HABS IN 4 MOTHERFUCKER!

^ LOL I can't believe you actually got on here to say that first! Well then, bring on... the Rangers, I suppose would be a preferable matchup?

No, the playoffs format has changed (for the worst of course...), it's gonna be either Detroit or Boston and I'm fine with both teams, we'll be fully rested (1 week off) and ready for the next round.


http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2032 ... nd-bracket
http://www.nhl.com/ice/stanleycup.htm

Soccer/Football update: Yesterday marked the death of the hashtag - #MoyesIn. For those who aren't aware, Moyes has been sacked by ManU. On a positive side, he's had a very tough season and now he won't have to endure that any more.

So, teams are not re-seeded after each round? The division series winners are locked in to play one of the champ/wild card winners? That kinda sucks. Although, Montreal has been good fir raising their game to match the Bruins. Unlike my Senators, who more often just roll over for them.

Detroit is in many ways just Tampa's older self, so I'm pretty confident in the Habs either way. At the start of the playoffs, I had them figured for a second round out. They've stepped up!

Did anyone see Benfica vs Juventus yesterday for the Europa League? I expected a lot more from the italians.

So Bayern are getting thumped in the Champions League

I hope they will loose 5:0 in the end ... ah that would be fine.

Haha.
Are you by any chance a Dortmund supporter?

Well, that was a pretty straightforward dispatch by Real. Excited at either possibility for the final

Yeah, surprisingly easy looking too. Shades of the Bayern/Barca semi last year.
So will it be a Madrid derby or a Real Madrid-Mourinho reunion?
Either ways, its going to be a very good final

Oh. Didn't know you blokes were running a commentary here. I saw bits of the match. Total devastation and they seem to have had their revenge over last years German domination. The Bayern fans were great and graceful in their defeat though, gotta appreciate that.

Regarding the final, I foresee a Madrid-Chelsea pairing with Madrid beating the shit out of Mourinho's eleven. I hope they send him packing back to England from his homeland!

Agreed. Much as I can appreciate how Mourinho sets Chelsea out to play (in a kind of chin-stroking, sagely nodding, sort of way) I would dearly love to see a team take him apart. Was hoping it would be Liverpool at the past weekend but that turned out to not be enough. Maybe Madrid is that team but I'm not positive. I can't see the Chelsea defence ever sitting high enough to let Ronaldo and Bale in behind them. It will be much more exciting than the Atletico - Chelsea semi final though I imagine...

Donald Sterling... what a mess. The NBA's heart is in the right place, trying to toss out a racist. But it occurs to me that Sterling will profit greatly from this! The commissioner wants to encourage the board of governors to force a sale of the Clippers franchise. Sale being the key word there, as it implies a money transaction. So whatever an NBA team is worth, just guessing 120M$ maybe, that's what Sterling will get along with his lifetime ban from the league! Talk about a golden handshake.

NBA teams are worth far, far more than that. The Clippers are currently valued at just south of $600 million dollars, and there's some new TV rights deals in the pipe for the NBA that will significantly increase their income. The Milwaukee Bucks, a cellar team in a small market, sold for $550 million just two weeks ago. The Clippers, an elite team in a huge market, could potentially demand far more.

What's amusing is that this Madrid team was more or less constructed by Mourinho. Let's see how they fare against his current team if Chelsea go through today.

No, I simply cannot stand Bayern Munich .. that is it.

Nice result and I had not been far off with my prediction.

The bigot dumbass got the banhammer! NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a wonderfully eloquent editorial on this story for Time that I agree with 100%. Basically, I think it's not so much what Sterling said (which was a private conversation surreptitiously recorded) behind closed doors but his long and shady career as a slumlord with discriminatory business practices that should have got him booted from the owners ranks-long ago.

What a blowout yesterday at the CL! Who do you think will win today?

Seems like it will be a Spanish final.

Haha, it's 1-3 now! Seems like the predictions have gone for a toss. Oh well, I've been watching these matches as a neutral so... *shrugs*

Yeah, I honestly didn't think Athletico would win so overwhelmingly - what a week of surprises this has been. Also a neutral (lapsed Chelsea fan technically...) and I am pretty pleased with the final line-up - I think it will be a better match than Bayern vs Chelsea would've been.

The away goals rule is great when a second leg match begins with an away goal

600... good lord. Even worse! Again, I understand the NBA wanting Sterling out. But forcing him to sell the team at such a high point in its value is, maybe, being led by emotion more than sober thought of how to punish his behaviour. They could hurt him (read: his wallet) more by sticking with the fine and banning him from league-related appearances, but not selling the Clippers yet. More damage could be done by waiting for the franchise's sponsors to bail and Sterling to start losing revenue over it. Cause let's face it, he owns an NBA team because he can afford to, not because he's a basketball lover. Losing the team is probably not the biggest issue to him.

So, 5 of 7 series correct is about my usual, not bad. The eighth doesn't count, as my Ottawa fanship precludes me from ever picking the damn Penguins I will, however, point out that I couldn't have called this shit any better: "San Jose Chokes". How did the rest of y'all do?