I dont forsee the Steelers going all the way unfortunately. They havent seemed strong, the defense is growing old, slow, and frail. Aguably troy is the only good player and even while he too is suffering from age, its the injuries that really hurt him. the offense is worse really, as the O line sucks (a mix of two many newbies and people at the wrong position that they dont really deserve to be at). They wont let the clearly fantastic (AND INNOCENT) QB play a passing game, something he's so insanely good at, cause they want to keep to a running game and our best rushing player has poor ball handling skills (and maybe an Al Qaeda supporter).
And I highly doubt that GB is gonna repeat. It will most likely be the Pats going all the way (and the thought of it makes me sick and I kinda hope that during the season someone just trains over that Goodel's golden haired, fellatio enjoying, pretty boy. Just so that his knees blow out or something and I can finally stop hearing how "good" brady is even though hes been declining [or at least thats what the unbiased or wrongly biased experts say]. Which isnt to say hes not good, but hes not as good as he was and is over the peak it seems). Maybe the Lions will also go all the way and beat the pats, cause they seem to ahve gotten their shit together and are running on piss and vinegar. Plus the Pats always have that chance to implode and be terrible (looking at the buffalo game BRADY).
Towards the NHL, its FAR to early to tell, though if you want to go by preseason, the Preds and pens looked immensely strong and would be the chosen cup contenders (which is something of a hockey fan wet dream of mine since both are my favorite teams and its what I've always wnated since about 2003). Preds showed what they could do and how well they could do it, though they got a little gutted over the off season. The farm system is going to be supporting them and while thats not bad (the Pens clearly proved that you can do that and still do well as long as your farm system isnt complete and total shit), but with the Weber/Suter combo on D, the Renne/Lindback combo in goal, and Kostitsyn and Mike Fisher ont he offense, they seem poised and strong enough to go.
The Pens are right now my choice to win the east, and not cause they're my favorite. They have all the talent they need in arguably the best center play currently (second best once Crosby gets back), and another one of the best centers who is usually their third line guy when he has the talent and capabilities to play on first lines on shitty (the sens) to average (the stars) teams. Their farm system is proven to be fantastic, they showed they were cup contending material even without two of their stars (though they really need to fix up that PP game), the defense is fantastic and the PK godly in its capabilities. They have arguably the best goalie in hockey (cause lets face it, Brodeur is closer to leaven than he is to staying), an amazing back up goalie, and then a proving himself in the big leagues their goalie (cause he destroyed the AHL). You cant honestly say with a straight face that even without Crosby the pens are cup winning material and you cant say witha straight face that without Crosby AND Malkin they're not a playoff bound team.
And the competition is rather lacking really. Toronto looks good now but they have a grudge against the Habs, so i dont really cant that towards the skill since the Habs are an average team and the leafs were knocking on the Rangers door to pass them last year, and tonight they're playing the sens (who are just embarrassing). the Flyers got stripped to hell after they built a team they clearly couldnt keep on payroll and tried to take advantage of the injury ridden (Pens) and failing (Caps) contenders, then still got spanked by Boston. I dont have any faith in the Caps, since they've shown they just cant handle pressure and arent any good in playoffs. Ovi sucked last year and I dont care his excuse cause thats all they were was excuses, and a good few really lazy ones (I wouldnt be surprised if he crutched along on this funeral thing he had right before regular season started until he actually had a good reason). The Bolts showed potential, but again the PP reared its ugly head against the pens, and having Malkin OR Crosby (let alone both) would have made that an easy win, since ust a few PPGs or even regular goals would have ended most of thsoe games and had the pens come out in six (not to mention the bullshit infraction given to Cooke cause the league hates him). Boston is about their only REAL competition on paper with both healthy, but as much as I like Boston (and I do, thy're my third team, second in the east), the Wings were the last team to repeat wins and that was in 97-98.
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And I dont know what Oakland's doing really, though I hope they pull themselves together cause I just cant support the Pirates. They're garbage, pure and simple, always will be.
