Pleasure To Meet You

By Nick Hall

Well Hello,

I'm Nick.  I am going to contribute to this, the worlds most amazing blog.  I, like Ryan, am a Reds fan, but a converted Reds fan.  I have been a Pirates fan and a Giants fan in the past due to personal relations with a player on those teams. That player retired and  I succumbed to Ryan about 5 or 6 years ago and started rooting for the Reds after seeing his passion and my extreme hatred for the Cubs.  Blow me, J.  While I'm at it, J, I hate Notre Dame too.

I love J, and Ryan.  I should point out to anyone who reads this and doesn't know Ryan, J, or myself, I call Ryan "Bramwell" or "Bram".  It feels weird to say Ryan and even worse to type it.  I call J "J".  I have been roommates with both of these fine gentlemen.  Even though J and I agree on absolutely nothing sports related, we do have common tempers, especially when it comes to video games or cussing at our favorite sports teams when they lose.

Aside from the Reds, I also am an avid Colts fan and I am coming back around to liking the Pacers.  I never stopped "liking" the Pacers all together, it's just that when I was a kid the only thing I wanted to be when I grew up was Reggie Miller.  I loved the Pacers, and then we started signing players at the county jail, and we became a huge embarrassment run by a complete idiot in Isaiah Thomas.  Plus the NBA just kind of sucks now, it is the most terrible form of basketball played and in my opinion the worst professional sports league on the planet.  And I hate Lebron James.

As for college sports I am a Michigan Wolverines fan.  I only started liking them for their colors when I was around 5 years old. I am color blind, and coincidentally the type of colorblindness that I have only allows me to distinguish blues and yellows which are at the opposite end of the spectrum.  Every color in between often becomes hard for me to tell apart.  It's really fun and helps when picking out clothes.

Besides sports, I am an expert on movies.  I also have an impressive knowledge of music and comedy (comedians).  I may or may not write about all of those things and others too.  I have opinions and you need to hear them.

Now to contribute to this blog.  What I would like to do is start with the baseball theme.  So, here are my predictions for what will transpire with the second half of the MLB season; who will win each division, the wild card, and ultimately the world series.

AL East
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays
Boston Red Sox
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays

AL Central
Detroit Tigers
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins

AL West
Texas Rangers
Los Angeles Angels (Wild Card)
Oakland Athletics
Seattle Mariners

NL East
Washington Nationals
Atlanta Braves
New York Mets
Miami Marlins
Philadelphia Phillies

NL Central
Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals (Wild Card)
Pittsburgh Pirates
Milwaukee Brewers
Houston Astros
Chicago Cubs

NL West
San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers
Arizona Diamondbacks
San Diego Padres
Colorado Rockies

ALDS
New York Yankees 2
Los Angeles Angels 3

Texas Rangers 3
Detroit Tigers 1

NLDS
Cincinnati Reds 3
San Francisco Giants 2

Washington Nationals 1
St. Louis Cardinals 3

ALCS
Los Angeles Angels 2
Texas Rangers 4

NLCS
Cincinnati Reds 4
St. Louis Cardinals 1

World Series
Cincinnati Reds 4
Texas Rangers 3

What can I say, I'm biased.  The Nationals have the pitching to get them into the playoffs.  I hope the Yankees get swept, or I really just hope my prediction is wrong and they don't make the playoffs at all.  I hope the Cardinals don't make it very far, but it would be fun to beat them in the NLCS.  The Dodgers would be in the playoffs, but injuries may take them down this year.  The Texas Rangers could end up being 3/4 of the way to becoming the Buffalo Bills of the MLB.  The Reds make some great trade deadline moves and finally take it home again.

Sincerely,
Nick