Heyo! It's Monday again. The work week is reshuffled, forcing a lot of you to read blogs like these while at a desk. Peter King has already posted his power rankings for the 32 NFL teams in his Monday Morning Quarterback... and I've already scoffed at it. Cedric Benson showed NFL fans he's not just a bum on the field, he can be just as much of one off, too. And for students like me, the year is winding down, and so is my high school career. Only three days left in my Senior year. I was supposed to go today, but I woke up late, didnt feel good and knew that there wouldnt be anything going on seeing how Senior exams dont get crankin' until Wednesday. So I'm posting this with itchy eyes, a stopped up nose and throat, and a burning desire to view more playoff basketball.

Thank God the Bears drafted Forte, eh?

All the first round series have been wrapped up, with the biggest news from the first round being that Tracy McGrady is now 0-7 in his career in the first round of the playoffs. Tough luck for T-Mac, especially since he dropped 40 in the final game of the series his Rockets lost to Utah. McGrady will have to watch from home, just like the Atlanta Hawks who were demolished on Sunday in Boston. The Hawks showed true tenacity and hard work throughout their series with the C's, but ultimately fell on the road, where they had not been able to squeak out a win during their seven game stint. The Cavaliers disposed of the Wizards, shutting up Soulja Boy aka DeShaun Stevenson 'til at least next year. And the Pistons finally locked up their series with the 76ers in six games, making it a three-game winning streak as they face off with the Magic in the semis.

A few 2nd round series have already gotten under way, with the Jazz falling by 11 to the Lakers last night. The Hornets hold a 1-0 lead on the Spurs and the Pistons have a hold on the Magic so far. Tonight, it's round two for both of those series, with Game 1 of the Cavaliers/Celtics series waiting in the wims set for Tuesday night in Beantown.

Once again, Rafael Nadal is victorious on a clay surface. This time in Barcelona, Spain, Nadal defeated David Ferrer on Sunday's final match. By a score of 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 Nadal took his 4th straight title af the Barcelona Open. Someone wake me when D-Fed starts winning again...

I did a blog a few days ago featuring who are my NL and AL early season Cy-Young and MVP leaders. At the NL MVP spot I had Chipper Jones, obviously snubbing Chase Utley who has been dynamite so far this year, leading the league in home runs with 13 -- the nearest man being Lance Berkman with 10. Utley and the Phillies are on top of the NL East at 18-14, with the New York Mets 1/2 a game back, and those once 1st place Marlins also a 1/2 game back. Philly went 4-2 in the past week, taking both their series against the Padres and Giants 2-1 a piece. Utley, in those games, hit well over .300 and cranked out three more dingers to his season totals.

Utley's Stats: 8/24, 5 R, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 3 HR, .333 BA

Not so far down in the standings of the NL East are the Atlanta Braves, who rest at 15-15 a whole two games back of the top three teams. Tim Hudson has a 4-2 record in 2008 at this point, partially in part of his nine inning complete game he pitched on the 2nd against the Reds. Hudson pitched nine innings of shut out baseball, only giving up three hits and striking out 10. The win took Hudson to his fourth victory on the year, and dropped his ERA to a cool 2.95.

Tim Hudson: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K (W) 2.95 ERA

Keeping with the pitching shindig, in comes Jon Lester for the Boston Red Sox. Early on in the year for the Sox, it was the pitching that was having issues. Beckett started the year on the DL, and his first outing wasnt anything to shake a stick at. Schil' was on the DL, and still is. Wakefield, Lester and Buchholz were yet to get great outings. It was all on the shoulders of Daisuke Matsuzaka, who started the year well and is yet to slow down. Dice-K has an ERA of 2.52 and 32 K's so far in 2008, and has since gotten some support from the rest of the staff. Buchholz just had a good outing the other day in a 7-3 win. Beckett looks to be on the upside with the outings he's had as of late, where he pitched into or past the seventh inning in his last four starts. And now young Jon Lester has gotten into the fold, with two great performances in the past week. The Sox are 20-13 with a three game lead over the Rays in the East, and are actually suffering on the hitting side. Meh, cant wait to see what they will do when both sides of their team are on par.

Jon Lester: 14 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 BB, 11 K, 1-0, 3.94 ERA

MLB Player of the Week: Tim Hudson

In the wake of Tiger Woods' knee surgery, at the Wachovia Championship -- an event Woods won in 2007 -- Anthony Kim became the youngest PGA Tour winner in six years, at the tender age of 22.

Kim shot a 3-under 69 on the final day of the tournament, leading Ben Curtis by five shots. Overall for the tourney, Kim shot a remarkable 16-under.

For Kim's near flawless and dominating efforts at the Wachovia Championship, he raked in a nice chunk of change: $1,134,000.

Raise your hand if you had Tracy McGrady and the Houston Rockets facing off with the Lakers in the West Semis. Yeah, the shame. I picked the Jazz, and not because of the recent trend in Rockets playoff basketball. I liked the combo of Williams and Boozer, and felt they were the better team. And that combo is what did it in the end, even as T-Mac dropped 29 and 40 in the last two games of the series. Now the Jazz have to fend off the Lake Show, while McGrady and the Rockets continue to wonder when the hell they are gonna see the semis. Oh, the misery in T-Mac camp...

McGrady's Stats: 34.5 PPG, 26/52, 50%, 7.5 RPG, 5 APG, 1 SPG

And speaking of those Lakers, Kobe Bryant, ahem, MVP of the NBA, flexed his muscles to close out the Nuggets and then with 38 in Game 1 over the Jazz. Bryant's 38 points in Game 1 against the Jazz was his 41st career 30-plus point game in the playoffs. Not good news for the Jazz who looked lost on defense the entire night in the Staples Center. And to throw more gas on the fire, Phil Jackson aka the Zen Master is 39-0 in his career when winning Game 1 of a playoff series. People say statistics dont mean jack in the playoffs, but then again, it is the Zen Master and the MVP... so, it's the end, Utah? Maybe.

Bryant's Stats: 34.5 PPG, 20/40, 50%, 6.5 APG, 6.5 RPG, 2 SPG, 1 BPG

It took seven games for the Boston Celtics to dispose of the 37 win, 8th seeded Atlanta Hawks. Game 7 was a doozy, as the poor Hawks had more than their wings clipped, they got a face off full of pwnage. And now it's time for the Cavs, who rid themselves of the Wizards in six games for the Celtics. There are two ways to look at this for the C's. One, the Celtics showed they had been tested, woken up and are now prime and ready to take on King James. They had their slap in the face and are inevitably going to face off with the Pistons in the East Finals. Or two, they showed they have a weakness. They showed that they cant win on the road, and can be handled by anyone. King James and the Cavaliers will be on the hunt and will make the kill, bridging their way to the East Finals. At the moment, I dont know where to go on all that... and dont really care. I just wanna watch some basketball. My Bulls are a dead franchise at the moment, and I sorta wanna see the C's take back the flame. But I love LBJ, too. So... go CAVELTICS! Yeah, that makes no sense to me either.

James' Stats: 30.5 PPG, 16/38, 42%, 11.5 RPG, 10 APG, 1.5 BPG, 1.5 SPG

NBA Player of the Week: Lebron James

For the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls, the number 72 was a good one. For Dale Earnhardt Jr., it's a curse. "Little E" is still winless in his last 72 Sprint Cup races, only because of a two-car accident between him and Kyle Busch in the final laps of Saturday's race at Richmond.

Because of that accident, Clint Bowyer was able to streak to the front of the pack in the final few laps and hoist a trophy in Victory Lane.

SIFS Player of the Week: Anthony Kim

Yes, he may have won an event that didnt have Tiger Woods involved... but he still shot 16-under for the entire tournament. He still won by five strokes over a past Open Championship winner, Ben Curtis. And he did it all at the age of 22, getting his first major PGA Tour victory. Before his win on Sunday, the best he'd done was second place, and only twice.

Finally, I'm done. Time to go take some Benadryl.