Summer Potpourri

World Cup-

SI Predictions - Champions (Number of votes): Spain (6), Argentina (3), Brazil (5), Italy (really?)
Mighty noticed that out of 15 experts, 4 have Serbia in the top 4 ; one guy had the balls to put Cameroon in the final 4, another had Ivory Coast;

Detailed analysis on formations - Most of this is over my head, but it's interesting information on how internationally, many teams are abandoning the classic 4-4-2 formation in favor of having just a single striker up top.

ESPN / Castrol Computer Rankings and Predictions - Apparently, according to simulations based on players and teams involved, Brazil is supposed to beat Spain in the Finals. The computer simulator does not pick any upsets. Interesting selections include Nigeria advancing (ahead of Korea and Greece), Uruguay (ahead of Mexico), Denmark (ahead of Cameroon), and Ivory Coast (ahead of Portugal). They also have percentages for winning the whole thing... with Brazil at 23.4%, Spain at 17%, and England at 10.3%. Interestingly, they also have the USA at an astonishingly high 70.5% chance of advancing out of the first round.

Conference Free Agency 2010-

Seriously. This story is even bigger than the NBA free agency. It's unbelievable!
Here's an amazing link to Stewart Mandel, explaining the sudden domination of the PAC-10 in free agency 2010... simply because their TV contract is up and it's time to strike it rich!

NBA Finals -

Game 2 and Game 3 couldn't have been more different... see Ray Allen not being able to miss.... and then not being able to shoot! See Derek Fisher going 2-8 for 6 points and letting Rondo have a triple double in Game 2... but then Fisher exploding for 16 points in Game 3 while limiting the effectiveness of Rondo.

Something tells me we are in for a long series in this Finals. Perhaps even more fascinating is Andrew Bynum playing through severe knee injuries to post 10 pts, 6 rebs (+11); 21 pts, 6 rebs, 7 blocks (+1 in a loss); and 9 pts, 10 rebs (+0 in a win). This is major production... if he keeps it up, I like the Lakers chances (especially since I picked the Celtics assuming Bynum's knees weren't healthy enough to allow him to play.