 NBA and NHL Playoff Brackets  If nothing else, my NBA bracket is at least interesting. The NBA’s ratings were down this year, so Adam Silver will surely do everything in his power to make sure we get a Steph-Bron matchup in the second round. In the West, I like the Clippers to make a run that ends with them losing to Steph (I’m a Curry meat rider) and the Warriors in seven games. Giannis is a complete menace and Dame somehow has a chance of returning at some point during the playoffs, so I could definitely see the Bucks beating the Cavs in that second-round series. The Knicks-Pistons series should be good, but I don’t see either of those teams getting past the Celtics, who I have advancing to the finals. I like the Warriors to take down the Celtics in a rematch of the 2022 finals, this time in seven games instead of six.  As a Minnesota Wild fan, it pains me greatly to have the Wild losing in the first round and the Stars – the team that stole Minnesota’s hockey team in the early 90s – lifting the cup. The Wild might ride the best fan base in hockey to a couple of wins against Vegas, but they are just not good enough to win that series. And as much as I want McJesus and the Oilers to win a cup, I honestly think that the Dallas-Colorado series might as well be the Western Conference finals. In the East, I like the Habs to shock the Caps and end Ovi’s record-setting season in the first round. I know a lot of people like Toronto to finally break through and make it to the cup finals, but I just think the curse is too strong. Bye-bye Auston, and hello Carolina.  1. Chicago – Bears, Cubs/White Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks This one is pretty easy. The Blackhawks were the second-worst team in the NHL, the Bulls haven’t won a playoff series in a decade, the Bears are, well, the Bears, and neither the Cubs nor White Sox are anything to write home about. Chicago natives who are Cubs fans can hang their hat on being first in the NL Central at the moment, but those who are White Sox fans should consider moving to a new city. 2. New York – Jets, Mets, Nets, Islanders I could be wrong, but I’ve heard that sports fans from Brooklyn and Queens typically ride with these four teams. And that’s too bad for them, because three of these four are pretty dog shit. The exception is the Mets, who are frankly a pretty exciting team this year and currently sit in first in the NL East. Neither the Islanders nor the Nets even sniffed a playoff spot, and the Jets organization is the laughingstock of the NFL. 3. Los Angeles – Chargers, Angels, Clippers, Ducks For the sake of this list, let’s assume there are people out there who are fans of the four teams listed above. The Ducks are not good, the Angels are average at best, the Chargers are a perennial first round exit (although Harbaugh seems to have them trending in the right direction), and the Clippers are, to be fair, a real threat to make a run in the West. None of these teams are great though, and a first-round loss for the Clippers would make being a fan of these four teams pretty unbearable. 4. Miami – Dolphins, Marlins, Heat, Panthers The Panthers are coming off a Stanley Cup victory in 2024, but they failed to secure home ice advantage in the first round of this year’s playoffs and they enter their series against the Lightning as (slight) underdogs. As for the other three teams, the Marlins are no good, the Heat did just advance through the play-in tournament so they can get pumped by the Cavs, and the Dolphins are kind of in shambles right now. 5. San Francisco – 49ers, Giants, Warriors, Sharks It seems strange to put San Fran on this list given how good the Warriors and Niners have been for the past decade, but here we are. The Niners place amongst the NFL’s best seems to be slipping away, the Sharks stink, the Giants are off to a good start but are unlikely to dethrone the Dodgers or Padres in the gauntlet that is the NL West, and the Warriors are the 7-seed in this year’s NBA playoffs. I actually think they have a chance to make an NBA finals run because of my Steph meat-riding (knock on wood/cock), but that bias won’t prevent me from ranking San Fran as the fifth worst city for sports fans.  Minnesota Vikings “Love Boat” In 2005, the infamous Minnesota Vikings “love boat” scandal added insult to injury for Vikings fans who had grown accustomed to being disappointed by their hometown football team. According to reports, numerous Vikings players rented two cruise boats on Lake Minnetonka and flew in a significant number of sex workers from Florida and Atlanta for a night out on the lake. According to the attorney representing the cruise boat company, “there were lots of people involved in sexual activity” that the Vikings players made no attempt to hide from the boat’s young staff and crew members. This incident is said to have contributed to the firing of Vikings head coach Mike Tice at the end of the 2005 season; he was canned in part because of his inability to keep his players disciplined. Lol. Just another forgettable episode for a football team that never fails to fall short of expectations.  Sport shows will go extinct when LeBron retires. Topics will get stale and boring and sports shows will fade. — LeBron’s IQ (@emanuelgodina) I think this a rancid take, because I hate tuning in to sports shows just to hear what LeBron had for breakfast every morning. Send your hottest takes to fullcourtpress@gmail.com to have your take featured in next week’s edition.  Who is the worst player in the NBA who could lead a 16-seed to the Final Four? To an NCAA tournament championship? This is a question that has been circulating in recent years, but with the college season recently coming to a close and the NBA playoffs about to start, it seems like an appropriate time to raise the question again. Personally, I’m not sure that there is a single NBA player that could’ve led a 16-seed to the tournament title in 2025. |
04/20/25 Newsletter
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Quote of the week – 04/27/25
“My d— bigger than yours.”
~ Anthony D. Edwards
Full Court Press 
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