New York State of Mind: NFL, NHL seasons underway

12/01/09 - With the World Series and baseball season finally over and the New York Yankees finally winning their 27th World Series Championship, the rest of the sports world has been on the back burner. With the National Football League starting to wind down and coming toward the end of the season, as usual there have been some good teams, but some bad teams as well. This weekend's marquee match-up was last night's game between the 7-3 New England Patriots and the undefeated New Orleans Saints.

Behind star quarterback Peyton Manning, the Indianapolis Colts find themselves at the top of the AFC South and have already clinched the division with their 11-0 record.

The NFL has seen some bad teams for the 2009, including three teams posting a 1-10 record: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the St. Louis Rams and the Cleveland Browns.

With the National Basketball League kicking off and the Los Angeles Lakers trying to repeat as the 2009 champions, they find themselves in second place in the Western Conference behind Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. The Suns own the best record in the NBA, 14-3.

The Orlando Magic stands atop the Eastern Conference with a 14-4 record, but the Boston Celtics are one game behind them with a 13-4 record.

The NBA has only one team that has had trouble winning games--the New Jersey Nets. The Nets have yet to win a single game in 17 games. With their 0-17 record and the recent firing of head coach Lawrence Frank, the Nets are looking ahead at the draft, hoping for a good pick while falling behind 13.5 games earlier in the season.

The New York Knicks aren't playing as bad as the Nets, but still have a weak record of 3-14 and are looking forward to dipping into next year's free agent market and acquiring players to bring a championship back to Madison Square Garden.

The National Hockey League has also settled in and has some surprising stand-out players. Joe Thorton from the San Jose Sharks leads the league with 37 points, while Marian Gaborik, the big free agent who signed with the New York Rangers leads the league with 19 goals.

Last year's Stanley Cup winners, the Pittsburgh Penguins, lead the Atlantic division with a record of 18-9, and have 36 points. The San Jose Sharks currently have the best record in the NHL with a record of 18-6 and lead the Pacific division with 40 points.

The two New York teams, the Rangers and Islanders, find themselves at the bottom of the Atlantic division with the Rangers in fourth place with a record of 13-12-1 and the Islanders in last place with a 10-10-7 record.

With my team already winning the World Series, it doesn't seem as though any New York teams will be winning their championships in the other sports leagues.

The New York Giants also fell down to 6-5 after starting the season 5-0 and are 1-4 in their last five games.

My predictions are the Saints and Colts facing off in an undefeated Super Bowl game.

As for the NBA, I see the Orlando Magic facing off against last year's champions, the Lakers, for a repeat of last year's Finals match-up. The Lakers will overpower Dwight "Superman" Howard and Vince Carter to capture their 16th title.

In the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins won't become the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions, and Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will beat the young Chicago Blackhawks team in a game seven series.