Nik Willenda to Tightrope Walk to the Moon

TSZ'S STAT SHEET HEADING INTO THE DOT COM ERA

NBA 2013 PLAYOFF RECORD: 52-31 ATS 

NFL 2012-13 SEASON/PLAYOFFS: 144-123 ATS

VINNY'S STANLEY CUP FINALS PICKS: 8-2

KYLE'S NHL PICKS TO DATE: 51-39-1

KYLE'S MLB PICKS TO DATE: 166-136-7

KYLE'S UFC PICKS: 14-8*

KYLE'S TENNIS PICKS: 2-0


Pick of the Night: BOSTON BRUINS over Chicago Blackhawks - and the UNDER

With the Chicago Blackhawks pulling out the 3-1 victory Saturday night, my NHL Stanley Cup Final predictions appear to have crossed over from luck to vague understanding. Could there be something to this psychological angle towards sports handicapping? Does chaos theory really explain a perfect universe? Will moon aliens welcome Nik Wallenda at the end of his next record-breaking tightrope walk? If I were to guess at these answers, I would climb to the tallest mountain, stand proudly with flag in hand, and shout out to the world a definitive, ear-splitting, 


If the Boston Bruins are asked how they sent this series back to Chicago for Game 7 they'd say, "It Tuukka team effort, but Rask and you shall receive." Hockey series tend to get tighter with time, and the Game 4's 6-5 OT total turned out to be the black('Hawks) sheep in this series. Much like Game 5, tonight's promises to be a defensive battle for the ages. My hockey sense is tingling right now and telling me to take the both the Bruins and the UNDER in what might turn out to be a 1-0 or 2-1 Boston win. 



Vinny and Marco

DAILY REMINDERS: 

1. SHOP AT AMAZON! But only if you do it here. Seriously - if you do shop at any of these stores: Amazon.com.,ebay.com, Oldnavy.com, 1800flowers.com, or 32redpoker.com,  please help us out and do it through our site. We may or may not get some kind of commission several weeks from now. It's worth a shot - to us. 

2. Please feel free to e-mail us at vinnyandmarco@gmail.com anytime with any questions. If we don't know the answers we'll find someone (Google) who does. 

3. Donations are always welcome but this is truly a labor of love, so most importantly we hope you're enjoying your visits to TSZ.

NBA Playoff Pick-a-thon Day 62: In Lieu of an Episode of TSZ

Here's a commercial:

San Francisco Giants Tickets: $100

Parking: $20.00

Two 12 Ounce Beers: $22.50

41,210 People Simultaneously Booing when they announced that the Miami Heat had won another championship: Priceless

The tickets were actually free and so was the parking pass, and it was the beer that they seemed think was priceless. As for the Miami Heat, when forty thousand plus other people shared my sentiments about them, it made me want to jump ship and become a fan. Well, not a fan, but at the very least a non-hater. I think that's the end of their run - with Dwayne Fading and Bosh scoring ZERO last night - so I'll conserve my energy and put it towards the next best team when they rear their talented heads. Congratulations to LeBron James and the Miami Heat for claiming back-to-back titles and avoiding the onslaught of media criticism that surely would have followed in the wake of a loss. Although all the games in the series weren't close, this was a hard fought, well deserved title. I hope someone dethrones them next year.



Time is not on my side today, so this quick summary brings TSZ's first annual NBA Playoff Pick-a-thon to a close. I wasn't always pretty but I always showed up. I think that was Sam Cassell's motto too back in the day. 



NBA POST-SEASON FINAL RECORD: 52-31 ATS 

NBA FINALS RECORD: 5-2 ATS

VINNY'S STANLEY CUP FINALS PICKS: 6-2



Okay, you talked me into it. My prediction for tonight's hockey game is as follows. I believe the last game was an anomaly in this defensive battle. I also think that the home team will win the next two games, setting up an epic Game 7 I will get to when it arrives. Tuuka Rask will return to form and Corey Crawford will figure things out just enough to get the Blackhawks the 2-1 home victory.

Take Chicago and the UNDER.

Thank you all so much for supporting TSZ for the past ten months, especially through the agonizingly long NBA playoffs. We appreciate your e-mails, your comments, and your readership. We will be posting a little less regularly in the near future - although I will finish up "The Hockey" as I like to call it. Our hope is to have the DOT COM built by the middle of July, so we can start decorating it with our brilliance and yours. We have readers who have volunteered to contribute NFL pre-season articles for the following divisions:

1. NFC North is covered.
2. AFC West is covered.

All the other divisions are available. Want to be a published writer and join the magic that is TSZ? Send us an e-mail at: vinnyandmarco@gmail.com. Tell us who your favorite team is and if you're interested in covering their division we'll send you an outline and a deadline. That's just two lines between you and Internet fame.

Be a part of rather than apart from.

Vinny and Marco
 

NBA Playoff Pick-a-thon Day 61: And the Winner of the NBA ATS TLA (Three Letter Acronym) Championship Is...

TSZ, of course. 

So here we are, sixty-one intriguing days later - the end of the first annual TSZ NBA Playoff Pick-a-thon culminates in a Game 7 between the defending champion Miami Heat and the dynasty of the past decade plus in the San Antonio Spurs. Unfortunately, I'm heading south this morning to watch my beloved Giants take on the Miami Marlins, so I don't have time to wax philosophical about the teams, the match-ups, or the Game 7 history. Please feel free to read Days 1 through 60 again because I'm sure that's in there somewhere. By the way, I didn't see the 6-5 shootout in the NHL coming, but maintained a respectable Stanley Cup record by taking the 'Hawks.

NBA POST-SEASON RECORD TO DATE: 52-30 ATS 

NBA FINALS: 5-1 ATS

VINNY'S STANLEY CUP FINALS PICKS: 6-2


San Antonio Spurs (+6) over MIAMI HEAT: I don't love this pick. We almost took Miami so it would be a win win if they roll over the Spurs, but Marco and I decided to go all in for the win-win-win. Although the Miami Heat are 14-7 SU and 13-8 ATS as a favorite of 3.5 to 6 points, they are currently riding an 0-8 ATS streak following their last 8 playoff wins. Meanwhile, the Spurs are 4-2 ATS since the beginning of the season as a road dog of 3.5 to 6. An interesting side note I learned from Jeff Grant at Bleacher Report - the underdog in the past three NBA Game 7 Finals has held the lead at halftime, so I believe the Spurs will stay in this game throughout.



Sadly, I won't be watching this game, but my prediction is that the Miami Heat will come out as they finished up Game 6 - intense, hungry, aggressive. San Antonio will survive the early onslaught and the Heat will exhaust themselves as a result. After that, it will be a battle of wills. LeBron will likely get his 30+ and near triple double, but ultimately With the help of the hot/cold Manu and the Big Fundamental, Tony Parker will remind us all why he is an NBA Finals MVP. He will get this done.



Enjoy the game. I'll be checking the score while I watch a slow-moving albeit poetic baseball game.

Vinny and Marco

DAILY REMINDERS: 

1. SHOP AT AMAZON! But only if you do it here. Seriously - if you do shop at any of these stores: Amazon.com.,ebay.com, Oldnavy.com, 1800flowers.com, or 32redpoker.com,  please help us out and do it through our site. We may or may not get some kind of commission several weeks from now. It's worth a shot - to us. 

2. Please feel free to e-mail us at vinnyandmarco@gmail.com anytime with any questions. If we don't know the answers we'll find someone (Google) who does. 

3. Donations are always welcome but this is truly a labor of love, so most importantly we hope you're enjoying your visits to TSZ.