Travis Time (pre-2007)

2006-10-10T18:59:00.000-04:00

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: The LCS Preview With only hours before the opening game, Travis takes a look at all four LCS teams and realizes that we’ll be watching one of the hardest to predict LCS’ in recent memory It’s always a little bit harder to watch a baseball series when the New York Yankees aren’t involved. With the Yankees, you knew that you’d be watching a team of all-stars

2006-10-07T13:14:00.000-04:00

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: LDS Day 4 As the Oakland A’s finally shake off their playoff reputation of past years, another team fully injects themselves back into the World Series talk “As for the AL, all of these teams (except for possibly the Tigers, whose faces indicate that there’s no way they could win three-out-of-ten against the Yankees) could positively destroy the NL in the

2006-10-06T00:40:00.000-04:00

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: LDS Day 3After endlessly criticizing the whole league, Travis has something to admit: He’s looking forward to the NLCSA major point came out of each of today’s LDS games:Game 1) The Tigers remembered to play like they played early in the season, putting the Yankees’ ALCS spot in quite a bit of jeopardy.Game 2) If Jeff Weaver is effective, then his opposition’s

2006-10-06T00:22:00.000-04:00

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: LDS Day 2Though he’s narrowed the field down to two teams that can possibly win the World Series, Travis still has to support his all-time favourite Now that every team’s played in at least one game, I’ll admit that I can’t see a single way inwhich this year’s World Series champions are anybody but the New York Yankees or the Oakland A’s. I’ve never seen a

2006-10-03T23:45:00.000-04:00

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: LDS Day 1 After a day’s worth of games, Travis is already realizing who’s contending and who’s pretending in the MLB Playoffs (and Jake Peavy and the Padres aren't contenders) Those trying to find a better way to take this year’s playoffs seriously should take a look back at the latest completed European soccer season. In Europe, there’s two major

2006-10-03T01:59:00.000-04:00

The Travis Time MLB Playoff Report: The LDS PreviewIn trying to (once again) return to a regular writing schedule, the MLB Playoffs seems to be the right time to give it another shot. My conditions for this stretch: No more than 500 words a day (officially broken for the first time in this writing). I won’t stick to this rule forever, but it’s a good way to help with daily

2006-07-13T03:53:00.000-04:00

My MLB Column: The 2006 Travis Time MLB Midseason All-Stars Travis makes his return by offering his view on how the All-Star Game should lookEvery year, aspects of the All-Star Game undoubtedly bother me, as much as I enjoy it. This year, I finally grew enticed enough to create the Travis Time All-Stars. The criteria: · 2 25-man rosters (AL vs. NL

2006-04-02T00:24:00.000-05:00

Travis Time Update: 2006 Baseball PredictionsThe TravisRankings will be here sooner or later, but Travis felt like registering his standings predictions right now.Unfortunately, I don’t presently have the time to write a full baseball column previewing the season at the moment, but I plan on having a good-length baseball column out in early May. For now, I’ll just give you all my straight-up

2006-03-28T20:44:00.000-05:00

What I Have to Say: March 28, 2006 Today, Travis focuses on two guys who have quite a lot to say: Chad Johnson and Barry Bonds · We begin with the return of the notable quote. This one comes from one of the legends, Chad Johnson, after hearing of the NFL competition committee’s plans to cut down on touchdown dances: "Tell the competition committee that Chad said

2006-03-18T15:24:00.000-05:00

What I Have to Say: March 18th, 2006Due to homework this weekend, I’ll be keeping these WBC TravisRankings short. I just wanted to make sure that I got them up in time for today’s semi-finals. There are no write-ups about the previous eight eliminated countries, as nothing new has happened with them. The Void8. Mexico - They beat the States in a meaningless game, and really disappointed

2006-03-18T15:19:00.000-05:00

Going Yard: Baseball, the New World Sport: The Travis Time Edition Sorry about getting this one up a bit late, as it is fairly dated by this point. For the final edited copy, go here. I’m not quite sure why my name’s listed as Travis Nicholson, but my name is correctly written in the print copy of the paper, and I can assure you that I wrote this. Enjoy. It was formed hastily and not

2006-03-12T02:44:00.000-05:00

My Baseball Column: World Baseball Classic Round 2 TravisRankingsTravis is enjoying the World Baseball Classic so much, he's here to preview another round. My early verdict on the World Baseball Classic? It’s been fun, and should stay that way. Unfortunately, it’s been heavily devoid of upsets. Sure, South Korea over Japan and Canada over the U.S. were interesting, but they didn’t affect the

2006-03-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

My Baseball Column: The World Baseball Classic TravisRankingsI realize that my writing schedule’s been heavily thrown off recently (even causing me to miss the latest edition of What I Have to Say, though I’ll admit my Survivor pick of the week was incorrectly Cirie), so I figured that I owed my readers a good World Baseball Classic preview. I’ve looked into this tournament a fair bit, and I

2006-02-21T01:23:00.000-05:00

What I Have to Say, February 6-20, 2006Travis comes back after a week off to discuss the Olympics, Dunking, NASCAR, Arrested Development, AC Slater, and more· Sorry about taking last week off, but I’ve already got my next few columns planned, so hopefully I’ll get better than ever as the weeks go by.· I’ve actually quite enjoyed these Olympics so far. Canada’s officially placed themselves in the

2006-02-07T18:50:00.000-05:00

Going Yard: Coach Cowher’s Championship, the Travis Time editionHere’s my second submission to the Brock Press, Coach Cowher’s Championship (once again with a headline not written by myself). I ended up penning this one shortly after the Super Bowl, as was the plan. As usual, this is the version I submitted to the editors. It was lightly edited, though nowhere near as heavily as my Vince

2006-02-06T23:57:00.000-05:00

What I Have to Say: January 30-February 6, 2006Travis has plenty to say on Super Bowl XL, Lance Armstrong, Jimmy Kimmel, Bengie Molina, the Survivor premiere, and Arrested Development's pending farewell.· Sorry about not updating last night, as I was writing my latest piece for the Brock Press. I’ll try to have that online tomorrow night. Due to that writing, and to schoolwork, no

2006-02-04T20:32:00.000-05:00

My NFL Column: Super Bowl XL PreviewSure, there are no New England Patriots, no Indianapolis Colts, not even any Carolina Panthers. That certainly makes this year’s Super Bowl a little less interesting. The thing about this match-up, of course, is that all signs point to a close game. Pittsburgh was not the class of the AFC (easily the stronger conference at this point in time) this year. Seattle

2006-02-04T02:43:00.000-05:00

Travis Time NBA Update: Antonio Davis for Jalen Rose I realize that there’s been a lot of backlash quickly directed towards Wayne Embry already over the fact that he gave up a first-rounder in addition to Jalen Rose for former Raptor and stand-enterer Antonio Davis. For those of you who wouldn’t trade Rose for Davis straight up (meaning you likely won’t come close to rationalizing with the

2006-01-29T23:38:00.000-05:00

What I Have to Say, January 23-29, 2006In this week’s update, Travis muses on the belated release of Rob Babcock and the continued struggles of the Raptors regardless, the dominance of Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, the absence of good televised boxing in Canada, and debuts the TV recommendation of the week.· I’ll be honest with you: Nothing all that inspiring happened this week. The one

2006-01-23T02:17:00.000-05:00

What I Have to Say, January 9-23, 2006After a weak pair of conference championships, Travis still wants to talk about Steelers/Colts, and then moves on to talk about Kobe Bryant, Bruce Sutter, and FOX TV· Sorry about the lateness of this version of What I Have to Say. I should be discussing the Conference Final games this week, but I’ve frankly got nothing good to say about them. They

2006-01-22T13:55:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update here, I'll have more later. My AFC Finals pick: DenverNFC Finals: CarolinaEnjoy the games

2006-01-18T00:03:00.000-05:00

Going Yard: A Martyred Carter: Travis Time EditionWhat you’ll find below is the debut of my new column, Going Yard, which is run in the Brock University newspaper, the Brock Press. Unfortunately, working with a word limit, something I have to learn, forced myself to cut down my original draft by approximately 400 words. The editors actually ended up taking the original version and choosing their

2006-01-16T02:35:00.000-05:00

My Football Column: What legends are made of In my life, I’ve seen three games that don’t involve one of my four favourite teams (the Jays, Raptors, Dolphins, and Leafs) that I feel have truly deserved legendary status, something that I’d watch no matter how many times it popped up on television, no matter if I was happy with the outcome or not. These are the games that I had no major

2006-01-09T02:01:00.000-05:00

What I Have To Say, January 2-8 2006This week, Travis lists moments that he had to omit from the year in review, and has something to say about Vince Young, Will Ferrell, Mark Brunell, and some other newsmakers of the past week.· I’ll start off today with a quick follow-up to the year in review, by listing some of my favourite highlights of 2005 that I couldn’t fit in to a top 12 countdown:o Jan.

2006-01-06T01:34:00.000-05:00

The Travis Time 2005 Year in SportsTravis goes through the months of 2005, and finds that the unbeatable October ChiSox were what made him feel best about the sports of the year.Of the many complaints that I have about the media, one that consistently reoccurs is the annual year in review that always tends to take place before the end of the year. Noticing that, I invented my own system. Top 12

2006-01-02T20:41:00.000-05:00

What I Have To Say: December 26 05 - January 1 06Travis is back, with a favourite NFL playoff team, thoughts on his favourite MLB and NFL teams, and a prediction on how the Cincinnati Bengals will do until 2014.· Here’s my latest attempt at making updates more frequent here at Travis Time. I’m bringing back the What I Have to Say feature, updated weekly. I’ll try to post my major column at

2005-12-07T03:38:00.000-05:00

My Baseball Column: You Say Goodbye, and I Say HelloPicture: mplate.com Travis is heavily anticipating seeing Toronto’s new $100 million pitching duo try to put the team back on a cereal box, but first needs to say goodbye to two of the champion Jays Sure, Ted Rogers is paying huge money to have two relatively unproven arms pitch for his attempt at making the Toronto Blue Jays truly competitive

2005-11-09T19:43:00.000-05:00

My Basketball Column: The NBA 2005 TravisRankings: There’s the Spurs, and Then There’s Everybody ElseHeading into the 2005-06 NBA season, Travis has his opinions on the potentially surprising Charlotte Bobcats, the never-changing Vince Carter, this year’s Miami Heat (aka the 03-04 Lakers), and the Houston tandem of McGrady and Alston. All that, and nothing to say about the best team in the

2005-10-27T22:46:00.000-04:00

My Baseball Column: A Real Fan’s Kind of SeriesImage Source: AFP/Getty Images/Ronald MartinezI’m aware that many fans wrote off this year’s World Series. It didn’t have the Yankees and Red Sox, usually the two biggest draws out there. There were no Chicago Cubs, increasing the losing streak to 97 years and counting. The fall staple (and national draw) Atlanta Braves weren’t in there, getting

2005-10-26T16:38:00.000-04:00

Travis Time Update: World Series Game 3Sorry about the relative lateness of this update, but with post-game coverage not ending until 3 AM, and with my (planned) 7:30 wakeup, an immediate post-game update wasn’t gonna happen. All in all, this was another top-notch game, but the length (partially the extra innings and pitching changes, partially FOX’s fault) was pretty unbearable. Just a few quick

2005-10-25T01:58:00.000-04:00

My Baseball Column: Out of the Off-dayWhen I haven’t written for a while, and the baseball playoffs are my favourite time of year, I think it’s fair that I write a column giving my take on what’s happened heading in to the Minute Maid games. And the best way to answer everything? In FAQ form.First of all, who am I hoping for?It’s a simple answer to this one: the White Sox. I always thought I’d be

2005-08-28T01:36:00.000-04:00

Travis Time Update: Movies of September It was said to me once earlier in the summer that there were no good movies coming out any more, and I can fully agree with that. In the past four months, I’ve seen only four movies, with Batman Begins being outstanding, Cinderella Man being ridiculously underappreciated, Wedding Crashers being solid but still overrated, and Return of the Sith

2005-08-24T03:41:00.000-04:00

Notable Quote“It may be funny to him, but it’s not funny to Milton Bradley”- Milton Bradley on Jeff Kent’s alleged racismBe sure to check out ESPN’s full article on Bradley’s accusation. Some real gems appear in this one, including Bradley (he of the ball-throwing tirade) discussing how Paul DePodesta, Frank McCourt, and Jim Tracy all agreed to make him the leader of the team. Based on what I’

2005-08-23T02:58:00.000-04:00

Travis Time Update: The Jerome Williams Retirement I remember once, during the peak of my pro wrestling fandom, reading the now-defunct Wrestling Booking Sheet newsletter. A fan had asked the editors of the newsletter the question of which wrestlers had been babyface for their whole career. The name which came straight to the editor’s mind was Sylvester Ritter, better known as the

2005-08-15T19:53:00.000-04:00

The Travis Time Movie Hall of Fame: Kill Bill Image credit: Hollywood.comIf Travis can accept Quentin Tarantino, why can't he start a movie Hall of Fame?As a general note, anything I write could feature what could be considered as spoilers. Once the topic has been stated, feel free to make an informed decision as to whether you want to know details which might spoil one’

2005-07-27T14:47:00.000-04:00

Notable Quote: Ozzie Guillen“When he’s on, it’s Lima time. When he’s not, it’s opposition time”- Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, on Kansas City Royal Jose Lima

2005-07-17T18:28:00.000-04:00

A Star-Studded RevealChange your bookmarks. I’m back, and now accessible at TravisTime.com (special thanks to ProjectDigm.com, a great site for all web designing needs. Tell him Travis sent you)! For this reveal, I’m going somewhere big: The 2005 MLB All-Star Game at Comerica Park in Detroit! It’s currently early on Monday the 11th, and I’ll be headed out to Detroit in just a few hours. I’m in

2005-05-22T02:52:00.000-04:00

My TV Column: The Saturday Night SpecialExtremely sorry about the total recent lack of updates. I’ll try to fit in at least 4 updates a week from now on. Be sure to promote column ideas to me whenever you feel like it, as I’ll definitely consider them. Today, I’ll throw out a few thoughts and notes that have been milling through my head for a while now.§ I’ll recommend MLB All Access without a

2005-04-04T14:31:00.000-04:00

My Baseball Column: Pre-Season TravisRankingsIt’s time for the cornerstone of my annual preview of the greatest sports league in the world, Major League Baseball: The TravisRankings. I’ll use the same system now that I used for the NBA, and will follow with my Divisional and playoff predictions. The rankings are strictly based on teams, not on their playoff chances, because the Jays, Orioles,

2005-04-02T15:38:00.000-05:00

My TV ColumnI received quite the share of feedback for my latest TV Column entry, and the midseason entries are slowing down at this point, reality shows are heating up, I found a fantastic British show, we need a change in the world of comedy, one of my favourites got the cut, and The OC’s apparently returning to its season one form, though I frankly can’t tell the difference. It’s time for a

2005-03-28T02:21:00.000-05:00

The 7: Sports Movies That Might Just Ruin Their Sports, The Final Four, and more1. The Contender We start with three slightly connected stories today. First, watch the Contender. If this show gets cancelled, Stallone stops doing this excellent piece of work, a show which is rivalling the great reality seasons of all-time (Survivor 1, 2, 7, Apprentice 1, and Amazing Race 1-4), and goes back to

2005-03-16T13:04:00.000-05:00

Ready for the MadnessFor your viewing pleasure, I present:MY BRACKETAlso, for any interested, feel free to join my Yahoo bracket pool, the information is here:League ID: 79513Password: gocreightonBest of luck.Now, a quick bracket summary.Largest UpsetsRound 1Chicago: #11 UAB over #6 LSUAlbequerque: #11 UCLA over #6 Texas TechSyracuse: #13 Ohio over #4 FloridaAustin: #12 Old Dominion over #5

2005-03-12T17:32:00.000-05:00

Travis’ Take: The NCAA TournamentWelcome to a topic I don’t know much about: NCAA basketball. One thing I do know is that their championship tournament is one of the great ideas of sport, all-time. We need more tournaments like this. Filling out my bracket annually is a blast. I’ll be starting mine on Monday just like everybody else. Something’s not right with it though. It’s too spaced out,

2005-03-11T23:47:00.000-05:00

Notable Quote“I have the book. I write everything down. My first picture is Ishe Smith. It says that I’ll kick your ass…I don’t even want a picture of him because he’s too ugly to be in my book.”- Middleweight boxer Ahmed Kaddour on The Contender. If the Kaddour/Smith fight doesn’t happen, this show goes down as a disappointment right away.

2005-02-18T02:01:00.000-05:00

My NBA Column: Grading the All-Star LineupsI love all-star games, but only two in particular. The MLB and the NBA. They’re the only two where I feel I know something about every player in the lineup, and can objectively decide whether each player deserves it or not. On that note, it’s time to give my take on who deserved it, who didn’t, and who should be in as their replacement. Part one of

2005-02-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

My NFL Column: Super Bowl 2005 Preview I realize everybody’s previewed the Super Bowl already. You’ve heard all of the angles. I just want my voice to be heard on this one. For that, I’ll split it up into the two teams. Philadelphia These guys are just happy to be in Jacksonville. No matter what happens tonight, their season’s a success, as they cleared the obstacle that had been stopping

2005-01-25T19:41:00.000-05:00

My NFL Column: Way to go, Packers The Green Bay Packers officially clinched the most significant move of this NFL offseason today: they signed Jim Bates as their defensive coordinator. Odds are, most of my readers have no clue whatsoever as to who Jim Bates is. He’s the guy who took over the Dolphins from Dave Wannstedt on an interim basis. He entered the job with a 1-8 team, and went 3-4 from

2005-01-25T19:11:00.000-05:00

Notable Quote: Chris Wilson "The simpsons are the opposite of titanic it wont sink. Theres so much they can do with it. Just think of all the possibilities. Theyve done 10+ years without anyone again and only a few people dying. They could kill off some more bring in a few or even have them grow up one year and bam another 10 years of the greatest show ever." - Chris Wilson's reaction to my

2005-01-25T01:31:00.000-05:00

My TV Column: The Introduction Obligatory sports note of the column: I’ll be one of the first. Philly’s winning in Jacksonville. I’ll provide more proof in the next couple of weeks, but I think the Eagles stand a hell of a chance against the Pats on February 6th. I’ll be straight with you. I watch a tonne of tv. Knowing that, I figured I might as well fill my readers in on what to watch, and

2005-01-20T16:41:00.000-05:00

Notable Quote "What is gonna happen is that I'm gonna go in there, I'mma do my thing, flawless victory, come out. They're gonna tell me that I look like Usher or Michael Jackson or something like that, and then I'm gonna come back out here and wave my little golden ticket and I'm gonna be like 'Yeaah!' and blase skip and dadada." "What makes me unique is just the simple fact that I'm raw talent

2005-01-19T20:43:00.000-05:00

My NBA Column: J-Rich Comeback Edition I’ve never been a man who’s got a tonne of favourite players. I’ve officially found a new one. I only first heard of Jason Richardson in the dunkoff three years ago, when he beat a crappy field, and then showed up the year after and outdunked Desmond Mason. Last year, he pulled off undisputedly the best dunk in years, a between the legs 360 windmill, yet

2005-01-11T20:54:00.000-05:00

My NBA Column: Catching Up First of all, dearly sorry for the month off. In bigger news, I’ve invented a new Travis Rankings system. It divides the league into five levels, and ranks the teams within each level. The levels: Poke with a Stick: Teams with no promise whatsoever in the immediate future, and treated as walkovers on the schedule. A Bright Light in the Distance: Teams that show

2005-01-11T19:38:00.000-05:00

Travis Time All-NFL 2004 1st Team QB Peyton Manning, Indianapolis RB Shaun Alexander, Seattle WR Muhsin Muhammad, Carolina WR Joe Horn, New Orleans TE Tony Gonzalez, Kansas City K Adam Vinatieri, New England P Shane Lechler, Oakland KR Dante Hall, Kansas City PR BJ Sams, Baltimore Cover DEF Ed Reed, Baltimore Cover DEF Dunta Robinson, Houston Rush DEF Bertrand Berry, Arizona Rush DEF Dwight

2004-12-19T01:23:00.001-05:00

Sunday/Monday picks: Seattle @ NY Jets (-6.5): NY Jets Dallas @ Philadelphia (-12.5): Philadelphia (no cover) Minnesota (-4.5) @ Detroit: Minnesota San Diego (-10.5) @ Cleveland: San Diego Buffalo (-2.5) @ Cincinnati: Buffalo Denver (-2.5) @ Kansas City: Kansas City Houston @ Chicago (-1.5): Houston New Orleans @ Tampa Bay (-8.5): Tampa Bay St. Louis (-3.5) @ Arizona: St. Louis Jacksonville @

2004-12-19T01:23:00.000-05:00

2004-12-17T21:50:00.000-05:00

Quick Saturday NFL Picks: Better update coming tomorrow Pittsburgh covers -10.5 at NY Giants Washington wins but doesn't cover -6.5 at San Francisco Carolina (+3.5) wins at Atlanta

2004-12-12T15:51:00.000-05:00

My Reality TV Column: Holy Crap, It’s the Survivor 9 Finale! Mandatory sports note: Here’s to hoping that the Red Sox trade Boomer Wells to the Devil Rays before his contract’s up. I don’t think anybody’s ever played for all of the AL East teams before. On a side note, wouldn’t Boomer have helped out the Jays this year? Get him for a year, he’s consistent, and I’m not sure if his stats are

2004-12-10T01:41:00.000-05:00

My NFL Column: Hail to the New York Giants! In the past few weeks in the NFL, there has been one constant: The New York Giants. They’re simple to bet against, because Eli’s still taking his bumps. The sad thing is that these guys were legit sleeper material early in the season. Kurt Warner was still good to beat some spreads. Coughlin’s placement of Eli as their quarterback of the future

2004-12-08T19:11:00.000-05:00

My Baseball Column: The Thank You Carlos Delgado Edition I realize that this is usually football picks day, but a much more pressing issue is at hand. The Jays have officially failed to offer Carlos Delgado, the greatest player to ever put on a Toronto baseball uniform, salary arbitration. Now, instead of either letting Carlos accept arbitration and getting him back for another year, or letting

2004-12-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

My NBA ColumnI still like the Raptors. There hasn’t been much to say about them so far this year, but I still like them. What bugs me about the Raptors is the fact that they’re always below expectations. They always try to fool you for a week first, though. Last year, I remember everybody raving about Kevin O’Neill’s defensive basketball style, until they realized that not only was it not helping

2004-12-05T22:55:00.000-05:00

My Reality TV Column First of all, my Point Spread ticket failed to pan out this week, due to the Falcons and Cardinals. The Arizona bit was truly my fault, actually betting on the NFC West, but even though Atlanta was a pretty crappy 9-2 team, I figured they could beat T-Bay. Oh well, there’s always next week. Now, onto this week’s Reality TV Column, which will focus on Survivor and

2004-12-01T19:54:00.000-05:00

My NFL Column, Week 13: We Salute You, Butch Davis One of the most underrated events in sports is without a doubt the event where a team’s coach gets fired after a game or set of games that are totally entertaining to watch. This happened to Brendan Malone with the Raptors. He played his whole roster (14 guys) fairly equally on a Friday game against Orlando, we got shellacked, but the pure

2004-11-29T21:05:00.000-05:00

Monday Night Live! 9:06: Are you ready? I'll probably be updating every half hour tonight. ABC's prepping us for the Brett Favre show anyway. Check in at about 9:30. Enjoy. 9:37: Pack's up by .5, despite Favre's 200th straight start being one of his worst. Fortunately, an Ahmad Carroll 40 yard punt return and a missed Jeff Wilkins field goal have me leading right now. 10:09: This time, Jeff

2004-11-29T20:12:00.000-05:00

My NBA Column With Monday Night Football live starting at approximately 9:00, I figure I may as well take some time to write the latest edition of My NBA Column, as I still have 29 teams to cover throughout the season in my NBA Tour. I’ve already struck off Chicago, and they may be covered again. Amazingly, I haven’t done anything on the Raptors since the season started. Once there’s something

2004-11-28T14:05:00.000-05:00

NFL Week 12 Live 2:07: Sure, I'm starting an hour late, but here's today's gameplan: Eagles/Giants, Chargers/Chiefs at 1 Ravens/Pats, Bills/Seahawks, Dolphins/49ers at 4 Rams/Packers tomorrow night at 9. But also remember, if any one of my teams loses vs. the spread, the diary ends. So far, Philly's up 7-6 in the 2nd, with T.O. not a part of the offense yet. They seem to be focused on the

2004-11-24T11:26:00.000-05:00

Week 12: The Thanksgiving Conundrum I’ve never really been sure what to do with Thanksgiving Thursday in the NFL. It’s one of the only weeks that I write this column on Wednesday, and even then, I have to look at the Thursday slate to decide whether either game’s worth betting on, and even if they aren’t I pick all games using this line, in order to organize my picks. So without further ado, it

2004-11-23T23:28:00.000-05:00

Seven Stories 1. Most importantly, you will notice that the name has been slightly changed, with an extra word being added to Travis Time. This is because of the formation of the It’s _______ Time Network. BC has officially formed It’s Brian Time, found here. The link on the side will be permanent provided he updates. He wrote a good piece on everybody’s favourite, VC, who I most definitely

2004-11-22T20:30:00.000-05:00

My NBA Column Whenever I feel like it, I’ll give my top three all NBA teams, and my version of power rankings, called If the NBA Had Bowl Games, in which I’ll make 8 bowl games out of the best teams of the moment. Enjoy. Seattle at San Antonio (national title game): Seattle should get home court, but the reliability of the Spurs gives them the edge. Miami at Phoenix: I think I would honestly

2004-11-20T21:21:00.000-05:00

Quick Picks for Week 11 Sorry, no time for unquick picks. St. Louis (-0.5) at Buffalo: St. Louis Dallas at Baltimore (-8.5): Dallas NY Jets at Cleveland (-1.5): NY Jets Pittsburgh (-6.5) at Cincinnati: Pittsburgh Indianapolis (-8.5) at Chicago: Indianapolis Detroit at Minnesota (-7.5): Minnesota (no cover) Arizona at Carolina (-1.5): Arizona Tennessee at Jacksonville (-3.5): Jacksonville San

2004-11-14T02:30:00.001-05:00

NFL Week 10: Thanks, Dave "Let's get this straight: Dave didn't quit. Ricky Williams quit. Dave stepped aside. There's a big difference. Anybody who watched Dave on Sunday saw how much it hurt him. That's not a man who quit. That's a beaten man, a man who has been through a lot the last two or three years." - Jason Taylor on Dave Wannstedt I agree with Jason Taylor. Most Dolphins fans didn’t

2004-11-08T13:58:00.000-05:00

It’s About Time I keep putting off my two-part NBA preview. That ends now. Today I look at teams and standings, and the second part focuses on my fantasy draft, meaning the players. One more twist, I will write about every single team by season’s end (The NBA Quest), likely in my NBA This Week feature, in which I’ll cover one team from each division. Even the ones I don’t like. I’ll do the

2004-11-07T01:58:00.000-05:00

NFL Week 9: Damn I went 3-11 in week 8 outright, and 4-10 against the spread. I can virtually guarantee that the case will not be the same this week. Das will get his section to make his pick of the week once again. By the way, my 2-part NBA preview is coming soon, right when I get once last chance to look at the lineups. For now, NFL Week 9. New York Jets (-3) at Buffalo: I’m still not

2004-10-30T20:04:00.000-04:00

NFL Week 8: Keeping It Simple How about I forget cumulative season records, and just go for the best week? My best NFL picking week this season is week 3, where I put up a 10-4 record. As for this site, I’ll write when I feel like it. It may be about sports, it may not be. For now, the NFL and the NBA are the focus. Let’s kick off NFL week 8 (With bye-week one-liners, the playoff picture, as

2004-10-30T19:09:00.000-04:00

Finally the Best Team, After 86 Years By: Travis MacKenzie Legend The following article appears in the November, 2004 issue of Unfit to Print, the Holy Trinity School newspaper. The Anaheim Angels were easy. Despite the powerful bat of the best player in the American League, Vladimir Guerrero, Anaheim was the first team dispatched from the 2004 Major League Baseball playoffs. The

2004-10-19T16:19:00.000-04:00

I’ll Try to Make This Fast Forget daily picks. I’ll still do the NFL weekly, but from now on, when I write, I’m going to enjoy writing. This ALCS has officially taken it’s toll on me. I realize that the NLCS is a much better series, and that the NL’s probably gonna take the World Series this year, but the Red Sox and the Yankees can take a toll. I thought it was gonna be easy to

2004-10-16T16:42:00.000-04:00

You Knew It Was Coming Yes, today seems like a terrific time for a Jays season review. I’ve officially counted this season as the write-off season. The season that doesn’t count. Wiped from the memory. Much like the last two Raptors seasons. The big question left by this season is whether we’ve got anything for next year. Though I’d love to see a miracle happen and Delgado give a huge

2004-10-15T20:20:00.000-04:00

It’s In My Head Stuff that doesn’t really fit in with the normal feel of the column, but will work for this purpose: § Terrell Owens’ book, apparently a fairly serious story that goes inside one of the NFL’s more complex minds, Terrell Owens, is currently ranked 1,162nd at Amazon. § Phil Jackson’s book, clearly a self-promotional work designed to get sales by openly criticizing

2004-10-14T18:38:00.000-04:00

All Hail the XFL Immediately after hearing the latest new NBDL rule, that all field goals will be worth two points until the last five minutes of regulation and OT, I was reminded of some of the rules that I considered to be some of the best ideas in sport: the XFL rules. Try to tell me what was wrong with the face-off that replaced the coin flip, the fact that two-point conversions (possibly

2004-10-13T20:09:00.000-04:00

Time for the LCS Once again, not too much to cover off the top of my head. My condolences to the families of John Cerutti (slightly belated), Christopher Reeve, and Ken Caminiti. I’ll probably have more on Caminiti at another time. Today, my NFL week 5 results (I guess my season starts in week 5 this year), and my ALCS game 2 and NLCS game 1 picks. I’ll wholeheartedly admit to taking Boston over

2004-10-10T02:42:00.000-04:00

I don’t have much in the way of an intro today, so let’s just cut straight into the picks, featuring my six toughest NFL Week 5 picks, plus the Sunday and Monday nighters, as well as my off-week one-worders, and my weekly playoff projections. Daily MLB picks will start with the semis on Tuesday. NFL Week 5 Tough Calls Atlanta over Detroit. Not too tough, but Detroit surprised early on, and the

2004-10-09T01:53:00.000-04:00

Once Again, It’s Time Travis Time is back! This time as a combination of a daily (hopefully) picks column, with commentary. I won’t be totally making sports picks. Some of the stuff that I’ve done before could return. For today, I’ll do the first part of my three part NFL This Week. The Sunday no-brainers come on Friday, the tough calls get an extra day, you’ll see them on Saturday, and the

2004-07-23T23:29:00.000-04:00

I’ll be gone for the weekend, and might return with a recap. If not, I’ll return with a lot of opinion. Today I will start off with a brief sidenote which will become very important in point #1. As you all have been informed by now, one of my personal favourite writers, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, has his own website, Sports Guy’s World (check the link at the side). He updates it daily. It’s quite

2004-07-23T02:16:00.000-04:00

It’s time for seven stories, where I pay attention and note seven things going on in the world. Hopefully, this will become a more regular feature. 1. The Jays. If there’s one mulligan from my season preview that I could take, it would be either picking the Jays for the wild card or picking the Astros to win it all. A few things have become very evident this season: A) We’re the latest

2004-07-20T01:42:00.000-04:00

Everybody please keep the Ferraro family in your prayers. They suffered a major loss this past Saturday, and our help will aid them through it. Thank you.

2004-07-19T00:37:00.000-04:00

Classic quote: "ricky uses my lords name in vain in inappropriate ways..... and it all revolves around food" SebDas.com, referring to many quotes from manyramblings.friendpages.com

2004-07-15T11:53:00.000-04:00

My all-stars v2.0 I think it’s time for my 2nd annual all-star game special. For those of you who didn’t see the first annual one, it was not an article, but just a list of starters. This year, I will again list my all-star lineups. I will mostly follow Torre and McKeon’s position placements before all injuries (AL: seven starting pitchers, five relievers, two catchers, three first basemen,

2004-07-06T02:55:00.000-04:00

MLB Top Tens #2 I enjoy writing MLB Top Tens. It’s too bad that this is only the second one. I’ll try to make it a weekly thing. I’ll stick with the same format, that being four lists of ten, and one small article under each of them. I have also added special rookie (R), bullpen (B), and closer (C) spots. Also, watch for my first-half all-stars, which should be out either tonight or tomorrow

2004-06-27T22:17:00.000-04:00

A Truly Free Continent Congratulations, Michael Moore. Your whole career has led up to this moment. It is a great one. Fahrenheit 9/11 won the box office with legitimate competition, despite being shown in fewer than 900 theatres. He’s being as much of a class act as Michael Moore can be about it as well. There are many winners in this piece of news. First of all, Mr. Moore himself. He put

2004-06-27T02:03:00.000-04:00

Observations: The 2004 NBA Draft I love the NBA Draft. Young players, hilarious quotes, and the agony in seeing how the Raps will mess up their pick this year. It didn’t happen last year, but Chris Bosh at the four was a no-brainer, and Glen Grunwald almost traded the pick even with those implications. Here’s my first ever draft review: Orlando taking Howard over Okafor is stupid. As good as

2004-06-27T01:04:00.000-04:00

Travis Takes Sports Movies Where’s the Replacements on ESPN’s list of the greatest sports movies of the past 25 years? No, seriously. Where is it? Wait a second, Driven’s not on the list either. Driven. Who the hell’s responsible for this list? Anyways, I’ll work with what I’m given. For the movies I haven’t seen, I’ll rank them based on potential. My rankings: 1. Field of Dreams.

2004-05-11T22:34:00.000-04:00

Sorry again about the lack of updates. It will probably continue. Still, I’ll start what I hope to make a regular feature: MLB Top 10. In this feature, I will list my opinions on the current top 10 hitters, pitchers, and teams (top 10 and bottom 10) in Major League baseball, based on the full season, with one quick summary article for each category. Some bias will be placed towards typical

2004-04-13T20:24:00.000-04:00

7 1. Sorry about lack of updates. Still plenty of good stuff to come. 2. How about this past Sunday's sporting action? First, the Raps game which goes to OT. Jamal Crawford was electric for Chicago. Possibly the best single NBA performance that I have ever witnessed firsthand. I'll do my Raptors end of season report soon, which will better recap this game. 3. Get home from the Raps/Bulls,

2004-04-05T02:06:00.000-04:00

Baseball 2004: No Curses The following article could also be found in the upcoming edition of the Holy Trinity School newspaper, Unfit to Print. Even people who don’t follow baseball at all approached me in the middle of October to discuss what was up with that moron who reached into Moises Alou’s glove and if I saw 72 year-old Don Zimmer get tossed to the ground by Pedro Martinez, less than half

2004-03-27T00:42:00.000-05:00

Travis’ Take: The NCAA Elite 8 Gotta get some sleep right now, here’s the Coles Notes version: East Rutherford: Originally picked, OK State over Wake, actually St. Joe’s/OK State. I’ll stick with the OK State pick on my bracket. Phoenix: Picked Stanford over UConn, got Bama/UConn. Gotta go with UConn as a second-chance pick. St. Louis: Picked GA Tech over Kentucky, and will stick with GA Tech

2004-03-26T02:46:00.000-05:00

The 2004 Fantasy Baseball Draft: Picks 1-72 I won't be able to get all 250 up at once, unless everybody's willing to wait for months. The first 72 picks is a long read and should tide readers over for the rest of them. I'll try to get a few more rounds up tomorrow. Once again, feel free to leave a message on the tagboard at the right of the page, or send an e-mail, and post up in my all-new

2004-03-25T03:36:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the DelayThe fantasy baseball draft review and MLB preview will come in the near future, here is the new schedule: Thursday: Fantasy Baseball 250 pick draft review Friday: MLB 2004 preview (Forget part 1, this’ll be all parts) Friday or Saturday: Travis’ Take: The NCAA Elite Eight Saturday: Travis vs. the odds: Handicapping the movies of 2004. To see the current odds list of these

2004-03-22T17:11:00.000-05:00

Travis’ Take: The NCAA Sweet 16 On the right side of the page at this point, you’ll now be able to see my tagboard. Leave a message if you feel like it, and you may get included in a future column. To become even more likely to be placed in a column, e-mail me. There’s a link at the right side of the page as well. So, did everybody enjoy bracket buster weekend? Thanks to teams like Pacific

2004-03-22T00:33:00.000-05:00

Fantasy Baseball 2004 As some of you may know, fantasy baseball is, in my opinion, one of the greatest inventions of all-time. Not just because it combines baseball and strategy in a game with no physical effort whatsoever, but for the knowledge of baseball brought on and, even more importantly, for the trashtalk. The draft is combines baseball strategy with sometimes-friendly (but most of the

2004-03-20T12:15:00.000-05:00

First things first: No, I haven’t updated in a while. Swamped by school. Nonetheless, it’s now one of the most wonderful times of the year: the NCAA Tournament. You don’t even have to be a sports fan to follow the NCAA Tournament. You could pick a bracket based on team names if you want. It’s a whole new season. So I immediately printed off a bracket, researched the teams (ESPN may possibly

2004-02-01T01:51:00.000-05:00

First off, sorry about the recent lack of updates. Just a few quickie notes to tide you over, and then I’ll be back after the Super Bowl, and hopefully more often. The Super Bowl - I’ll take the Panthers to win it. They remind me too much of the Pats two years ago. On paper, there’s no way they can win, but they don’t get intimidated. If New England goes out and plays like they have against