What 2 Watch (Feb. 10-12)
With the football season over the sports world become a lot less busy but the games continue on this weekend. The fall sports are finished but the winter sports remain for all sports fans needing their sports fix. In a relatively quite weekend the NHL will take the focus with the midseason done and the Toronto and Montreal rivalry taking their spot among the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. With NHL taking a big chunk of focus this year there will still be the NBA as they progress towards the midseason mark. This weekend the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics will face off in a matchup of two historically great teams that have recently returned to their winning ways. The Bulls are looking to become the team to beat while the Celtics are looking to end a slide thanks to the aging big three. The NCAA will also be in full swing as rivalry week continues with a Big East matchup between the UConn Huskies and the Syracuse Orange. The NCAA basketball season is winding down as the March madness tournament is right around the corner and both teams look to make their case for a spot in the championship. The PGA Tour is also underway with the first bigger tournament taking place as the Pebble Beach Pro-Am Tournament takes place with the focus on Tiger Woods returning to the US for the first time this year. Although there is not a tremendous amount on this weekend the sports that are on will be sure to keep you busy and The Sport Addiction is here to give you what you need for this weekend in Sports.
NCAA Basketball: Connecticut Huskies vs. #2 Syracuse Orange
The NCAA Basketball season continues to move closer to the March Madness Tournament as rivalry week continues. This weekend will be the end of the NCAA Basketball Rivalry week and will continue with a great Big East matchup. Syracuse and UConn are two Big East powers although one has taken over lately. The Syracuse Orange are ranked #2 in the NCAA and have had a great season going 24-1. The one loss came two weeks ago in one of the biggest upsets in the NCAA season. Ranked #1 the Orange took on the unranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a game that they should have easily won. Instead Notre Dame was able to pull off the upset handing Syracuse their first loss of the season. This loss is still the only blemish on the Orange’s record and they hope to keep it that way as they look towards a great seed in the March Madness Tournament. The UConn Huskies have not had the same amount of success as their Big East rivals as they have gone 15-8 this year but remain unranked. After winning the March Madness tournament last year UConn was hoping to get back to their winning ways and although they have had a winning record they are not ranked and are hoping to simply make the tournament. Beating the Syracuse Orange could go a long way to achieving this and with the NCAA season full of upsets anything can happen. The game will feature the 25th ranked team in points per game as Syracuse has averaged 77.6 ppg against a team that has allowed 62.1 points per game in UConn. Meanwhile the Huskies have averaged 68.2 ppg with the Orange allowing only 60.8 ppg as the game seems to be leaning towards Syracuse. Of course there is no science in the NCAA and any team can win at any point. The Orange hope to stop a second upset from happening as they will look to beat their rivals as they move on to the end of the season.
When: Saturday February 11th
Time: 1:00 pm
Channel: CBS
PGA Tour: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
The PGA Tour is under way and the tournaments continue to get larger and larger with some bigger names entering every weekend. This weekend the tour will travel to open of the most beautiful and difficult courses in the US. Pebble Beach has amazing holes that border cliffs giving some of the best visuals on the tour. This also provides some of the worst conditions for golfers with winds coming off of the open water and into the course. Players will need to adjust to these winds if they hope to win but there will be plenty of players with experience at Pebble Beach that will hope their time on the course can help them win. It will be the return of Tiger Woods to the US in 2012 after opening his season in Abu Dhabi. Woods is always the focus as he has yet to win a bigger tournament in two years but will hope to do so at Pebble Beach. He will have his challengers of course as some bigger names will participate in the tournament including Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler, and Phil Mickelson, Mickelson is the usual challenger to Woods and is looking for his first tournament win this year after coming close before. For some Canadian content Mike Weir will be in the tournament as he looks to get back on to the PGA Tour with his exemptions running out for the North American Tour. If Weir can make the cut he will be able to chip away at his required earnings to keep his PGA Tour card and continue playing in bigger tournaments. If he cannot make the cut he will likely move on to the European Tour where he has more exemptions thanks to his Masters victory and some sponsor exemptions. Canadian fans will be looking to Weir to see if he can continue playing on the tour but the better bets could be Graham DeLaet, who after one round is tied for 6th. With the first round taking place on Thursday none of the bigger names were on top with Danny Lee, Charlie Wi, and Dustin Johnson tied at the top of the leaderboard. With the tournaments getting bigger and better more and more skill enters the PGA Tour and the tournaments only get better. With Pebble Beach kicking off a number of PGA Tour seasons the beautiful course could be the backdrop to the beginning of a comeback which is not something you would want to miss.
When: Saturday February 11th/Sunday February 12th
Time: 3:00 pm/3:30 pm
Channel: TSN
NHL Hockey: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens
The oldest rivalry in the NHL will take place for the third time this season as the Montreal Canadiens take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. It will be a bit of a reverse role this time around as these two teams are on opposite ends of the NHL spectrum. Most years the Montreal Canadiens are in the midst of a playoff hunt while the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the outside looking in. This year it is the opposite as the Maple Leafs are in the middle of a playoff push while the Canadiens are at the bottom of the standings hoping to make a late push but needing everything to go right. The series is 2-1 for the Maple Leafs who were sitting in 7th place as of Thursday and are looking to keep up their pace into the end of the season to break a 7 year playoff drought. Meanwhile the Montreal Canadiens have lost two games to their bitter rivals and are looking to draw even in the season series while also trying to climb back into contention. It will be the last chance for the Habs to make a run as they sit 14th in the Eastern Conference and will have few games left to get back into the playoff hunt. They would like nothing more than to start this run against the Leafs but it will be a hard climb for the struggling team as they take on a good Leafs team. The Leafs have been playing well lately as they have had great performances by their defence and both of their goalies with enough offensive support to win games. They will try to carry this play through the end of the season and make the playoffs and will be looking not to begin a slid against their rivals. The Canadiens vs. Leafs rivalry is one of the most storied rivalries of all time in the NHL and there is no place better than Hockey Night in Canada for these two legendary teams to face off.
When: Saturday February 11th
Time: 7:00 pm
Channel: CBC
NBA Basketball: Chicago Bulls vs. Boston Celtics
The Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics are two teams that have been on very similar paths in the past 20 years. The Boston Celtics were the team to beat for a decade as Larry Bird led them to three titles in the 1980s. They were the dynasty of the 1980s but after that they fell off and became a basement dweller for years. That was until 2007 when the Celtics traded for Ray Allen and for Kevin Garnett adding them to Paul Pierce creating the Big Three. In 2008 the Celtics won the NBA Championship and since have been a power in the Eastern Conference. The Chicago Bulls are familiar with this path as they became the team to beat just as the Celtics began to falter. In 1984 the Bulls received their saving grace as they drafted Michael Jordan and after a few years began winning championships. Throughout the 1990s the Bulls won 6 NBA Championships becoming the dynasty of the 1990s. With the second retirement of Jordan the Bulls fell off the map becoming a basement dweller. Recently another saving grace in Derrick Rose and recently have been a force in the Eastern Conference. These two teams will face off as both have been great yet again this year. The Bulls are leading the Central division with a 22-6 record while the Celtics are in second in the Atlantic Division with a 14-10 record. The Celtics are getting older as the Big Three begin to age but they are still holding on to play great led by Paul Pierce and Rajon Rando. The Bulls are playing some of the best Basketball in the league and are clearly led by Derrick Rose. Both teams will fight it out on Sunday as the NBA season progresses towards the midway point as teams begin to show their true colours after multiple back to back games.
When: Sunday February 12th
Time: 3:30 pm
Channel: TSN2/ABC
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