NFL: NINE DOWN, SEVEN TO GO // NBA-2013/14: EXPECTATIONS, QUESTIONS // MLB: WORLD SERIES-2013, SUMMATION & AN OVERARCHING LESSON

SPORTS NOTEBOOK // sports-notebook.blogspot.com // FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // . . . NFL: 9 Down, 7 To Go // NBA-2013/14: Expectations, Questions // MLB: World Series-2013, Summation & An Overarching Lesson. . . // . . . NFL---NO matter the professional team sport, a franchise not in a leading position at the halfway mark of a season usually changes its goals, objectives, strategy and tactics, often under conditions making change quite difficult, for example, brutal scheduling and the season’s leading franchises having high end skills + power hard to match. The NFL franchise that at Week 1 had a Super Bowl appearance in mind and at Week 9 is at 2-6 like today’s National Conference East’s New York Giants, it lowers the Week 16 expectation-dial to 6-10 or 8-8, while an 0-8 team, like the American Conference South’s Jacksonville Jaguars, aims for that first win and dreams about 8-8 if players and coaches still believe in miracles (Why not? Last night, the AC East’s then 3-4 Miami Dolphins defeated the AC North’s 6-2 Cincinnati Bengals, even if close--22-20). But franchises such as the AC West’s 8-0 Kansas City Chiefs and 7-1 Denver Broncos can today still envision post-season slots with ease, one or the other team going to the Super Bowl. So, too, are other AC and NC division leading teams still of Super Bowl measure at Week 9, that is, the Bengals, the AC East’s 6-2 New England Patriots, the AC South’s 5-2 Indianapolis Colts and the NC South’s 6-1 New Orleans Saints, these four being division leading franchises with two or more wins ahead of respective second place teams. Yet keeping their post-season hopes high will from Week 9 on be more difficult for division leading teams such as the NC West’s six-wins-apiece Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, and for the NC East’s number one franchise, the 4-4 Dallas Cowboys, a team sensing the 3-5 Philadelphia Eagles at its heels, and for the NC North’s five-wins-each Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions. Consequently, and probably adjusting sights during Week 9 for a 9-7 or 8-8 finish, is “the rest of the NFL pack, more than a dozen teams hoping for miracles” . . . Probably in store at the top for the NFL at Week 9 is more of the same, for instance, it’s likely that the Chiefs will be 9-0 after Sunday’s game versus. the AC East’s last place 3-5 Buffalo Bills, and that the Patriots will be 7-2 after its bout with the AC North’s bottom franchise, the 2-5 Pittsburgh Steelers. Also likely on Sunday is the Colts taking down the AC South’s 2-5 Houston Texans. And, a likely Week 9 win within the NC is the Seahawks over the NC South’s 0-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Note that the 49ers being at Bye during Week 9 gives the Seahawks a shot at a NC West lead by one game, same for the AC West’s Chiefs gaining from the Broncos being at Bye). And, the Cowboys beating the NC North’s 1-6 Minnesota Vikings on Sunday is a likelihood, but the Eagles against the AC West’s 3-4 Oakland Raiders is less so, implying a Cowboys one-game NC East lead over the Eagles. Furthermore, on Monday the Packers will meet the NC North’s 4-3 Chicago Bears, a game that could go either way, a Packers loss to the Bears preventing it from having a one-game lead over the Lions (now at Bye). As for the NC South’s Saints, by defeating the AC East’s 4-4 N.Y. Jets on Sunday the team could stay tied at number one within the entire NC with the Seahawks, or rise to the NC’s top slot should the Seahawks lose to the Buccaneers (doubtful!). . . //. . . NBA---THE NBA 2013/14 season has kicked in. The league’s 82 games ending in April, plus a long post-season into June, are as big a deal audience-wise “internationally” as is baseball or American football, with many expectations at stake unless outcomes are completely ignored. Questions abide, e.g., last season only seven NBA teams won 50 or more games, five within the Western Conference. The Eastern Conference’s Miami Heat finished ahead with 68 wins, the WC’s Oklahoma City Thunder, 65. No other franchise had more than the WC’s San Antonio Spurs wins last season, 58. Will any of this be much different during 2013/14? Also, will the two NBA teams at the bottom of the two conferences as 2012/13 ended remain there, thus the WC’s last place team, the Phoenix Suns, finishing at or below its 24 wins-56 losses, the EC’s last place Orlando Magic with but 20 wins? And, how will the nine teams with new head coaches make out, one of these being without a superstar and led by a rookie HC (Denver Nuggets, HC Brian Shaw), another by a rookie HC recently from the hardwood, the Brooklyn Nets Jason Kidd? Will the L.A. Lakers prove that age and experience-based wisdom can trump youth and speed, or will the Pacific League’s L.A. Clippers and Golden State Warriors overtake the Lakers as the West’s very best? Will four Chicago Bulls starters and a sixth man prove that point guard Derrick Rose is NOT in any way the only face of the franchise, the Bulls-entire in the way that Michael Jordan had been, or will Rose prove otherwise? Can the Brooklyn Nets, now home for super forwards Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, stay above the N.Y. Knicks from the get-go? As predicted, will the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder be neck-and-neck as conference-leading teams before and then after the All Star break? Can the WC’s Memphis Grizzlies and the EC ’s Indiana Pacers “repeat?’ Will the WC’s Utah Jazz reach anywhere near the high-end performance-continuity shown in the past? Can the Spurs forward Tim Duncan and guard Tony Parker keep on, as they had during 2012/13? Is the Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki on his way back? Will center Dwight Howard paired with guards James Harden and Jeremy Lin be the difference for the Houston Rockets? Will it matter if the Denver Nuggets cannot produce a superstar when last season they accrued the NBA's highest number of total points for a single franchise? Surely the Nuggets will win 50 or more games during 2013/14 if guard Ty Lawson jumps to 19 ppg and sustains that starting mid-November (quite possible), and if power forward Kenneth Faried and center Javale McGee can score 15-17 ppg “and NOT just from under and over the basket (also quite possible),” also if forward Danilo Gallinari returns from injury and shoots as well as during 2012/13, and if the Nuggets defense can deliver the same number of rebounds becoming fast breaks as during last season. Proven again by the Nuggets will be that teamwork minus presence of a superstar can win 50 or more games and secure a playoff berth. . . //. . . WORLD SERIES---IF you are loyal to the American League and NOT a Yankee fan, or loyal to the National League’s Colorado Rockies that were defeated by the Boston Red Sox, 4-0, during the 2007 World Series, the proper WS-2013 summation should be, “Red Sox won, Drink Up, On to the NFL season and the start of the NBA year.” However, there are observations that go beyond Sox fandom that are worth mentioning. For instance, this year the WS actually competed the two best teams in 2013 professional American baseball, and so the argument that the WS winner is definitely the better of the two and not just the better among those teams that entered the post-season, is safe, rational and has fulfilled the purpose of the WS up to its very hilt. Second, an AL team won the 2013 WS for the seventh time since year 2000, up against the NL’s seven wins since 2000, indicating parity among the MLB leagues, a good thing for baseball. Moreover, because of the near-equality that both teams shared regarding offense and defense skills, the 2013 WS consisted of a smattering of just about every singular event that the best of baseball games can deliver: except for the Red Sox 8-1 early win against the St. Louis Cardinals, we saw low ERA’s among starting and relief pitchers + closers. In the other WS-2013 games, we saw base-runners crossing the plate for runs but also runners left in scoring position, plus the unexpected home-run and triple, and the brilliant and deep outfield catch ending a half-inning or inning---in other words, the 2013 WS included a wide spread of all that fans and players + managers and coaches like seeing in successive baseball games. Reinforced from this more than in several previously-held WS is an old lesson, that balance among the many attributes that translate into high-end skills and power, and not just the ultra-superiority found in a few players, is what makes the better MLB team. . . END/ml