MAMBINO Fantasy Monday: The Panic-Meter

On Friday, the Anaheim Angels and the Washington Nationals called up the consensus #1 and #2 prospects in the game, Bryce Harper and Mike Trout respectively. At ages 19 and 20, Harper and Trout are the two current youngest players in the major leagues. "Wayne's World" has more experience existing than these two. Writing that bringing these two up from the minors is a "panic move" is hardly an overstatement; it might just be accurate.

It's early in the season, but what I know is that it's never too early for a team to freak out from underperformance. Let's take a quick look at some early season moves made by teams across the MLB landscape, grade them 1 to 10 on the "Panic-Meter" and see what type of fantasy implications are there.

Knicks Game 1 Recap: Not Like This

First, there's this clip:



One the one hand, I guess you can say that LeBron James really, REALLY wants to win a championship. But if you're not a Heat fan, then your reaction was full of disgust, as the NBA did its best to remind you that for all the good that international basketball has done for the game, the Euros brought a soccer mindset that won't go away.

LeFlop, and the subsequent walking-crying combo thereafter, made me long for the 1990s era more than ever before. The buildup for this series was not just about LeBron, Carmelo Anthony, and every other player involved. As Jeff Van Gundy took his courtside seat to help call the game, and as Alonzo Mourning watched from a couple of rows back, this series was supposed to be the continuation of one of the best rivalries that sports had to offer in the past 20 years. Charlie Ward. P.J. Brown. Larry Johnson. Pat Riley. Those slugfests gave basketball an edge that brought it closer to football than any other sport. Cue the Artest Melee, the Iverson era, etc., and the NBA started to push cleaner initiatives like NBA Cares and even instituted a dress code for the players.

But Cristiano Ronaldo's effort on the basketball court this past Saturday was nothing compared to the emotions I felt approximately halfway through the third quarter:

Boston Celtics Playoff Game 1 Recap: With a Celtics Bias

Anybody who had watched the first two Atlanta-Boston matchups this year (Boston rested their starters for the third game) knew this one was going to an ugly matchup. This game certainly “lived up” to its expectations as the Hawks beat the Celtics 83-74 in a game where each team scored 19 points or less in three quarters. Below are the game’s biggest stories:
 

Instant Trade Analysis: KOBEsh to Silver Screen and Roll

Silver Screen and Roll is a SB Nation blog "devoted to Lakers News, Commentary, and Analysis." Personally, I'm more a fan of Mambino's color schematics, but SSR is a real website, something I cannot truly say about us.

Mambinites know that KOBEsh's piece on Andrew Bynum was linked in Bill Simmons' mailbag 9 days ago. The amount of traffic (plus return customers! Yay!) and exposure to what used to be just a simple hobby has been exciting and humbling. KOBEsh put the foot on the gas pedal this past week to take advantage of Mambino's new found fame, and what has resulted was an invite to write pieces for a more established interwebspace.

Silver Screen and Roll is getting a good dude who can write with the best of them. (And I can't wait to see what his posts will look like with a real editor! Maybe you can produce less typographical errors!) THE GREAT MAMBINO will receive more exposure and more traffic. Good trade for both sides.

Never fear, young readers. KOBEsh is not leaving us. Look at this as a way of showcasing Mambino's homegrown talent. We wish our #1 the best, and to not forget about us on his way to superstardom.

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I still need time to process what happened in Miami yesterday. Allow the broken fan in me to wait one more day, and check back tomorrow for my Game 1 recap of Knicks-Heat.

NBA Eastern Conference Preview

The first round of the NBA playoffs does not attract the average fan. The NBA actually made it that way when it mandated that all series would be a best-of-seven deathmatch, instead of the exciting, upset-rich best-of-fives that occurred in the first round. So as KOBEsh mentioned in his Western Conference preview, the better team will win in the vast majority of occurrences. But true Mambinites are legitimate hoopheads, so this year's first round of the NBA playoffs won't be any less special. Call us hipsters, because we don't need the general public to appreciate the drama on the hardwood.

Onto the picks...