Who’s going to the NBA Playoffs?
Some teams have already emerged as clear frontrunners to win it all during the NBA Finals, while others are still struggling just to find their playoff spot. So, who’s going to the NBA playoffs so far?
In the East
It’s pretty clear that the Miami Heat will be in the playoffs; and that they’ll go in with the number one spot that they’re currently enjoying, unless they do something to completely mess things up. Behind them are Brooklyn and Indiana battling it for that second spot, and Brooklyn sits in the fourth spot with leads over both Chicago and Atlanta. On the other hand, both Chicago and Atlanta have clinched playoff spots — whether they’ll be going in as fifth or sixth seeds still has yet to be determined.
What might be most surprising in the East is that Boston is desperately still trying to obtain a playoff berth; and it will be the first year in five seasons that the Celtics haven’t won the Atlantic Division. Behind them is Milwaukee, also struggling to clinch their playoff berth.
In the West
The Spurs are clearly the frontrunners in the West. With seven more wins they’ll enter the playoffs with the top seed; with only three, they’ll still clinch second seed. The only team that could take the number one spot from the Spurs it will be Oklahoma, who is currently in the second spot.
The middle of the pack is where it gets tricky in the Western conference. Denver, Memphis, and L.A. are all fighting over the third, fourth, and fifth seeds. Both Denver and Memphis can place no worse than the fifth seed, but all these teams will be moving on to the playoffs.
The Golden State Warriors are still looking for a playoff berth, as are Houston and Utah. All of these teams currently sit in the sixth, seventh, and eighth seeds respectively and, if the playoffs started today, they’d all be moving on as well.
The NBA playoffs begin on April 20, just over two weeks away. Anything could happen within that time, and it will be interesting to watch what does.
John Mayer is Back, and he’s Going on Tour!
It was mid-2011 that John Mayer announced he had to take a hiatus from music to a granuloma or rather, a growth on his vocal chords. After delaying the release of his album, “Born and Raised,” and cancelling many concerts, it was decided that in October of 2011, rest was no longer enough and Mayer needed surgery. Since that time, he’s kept a very low-profile as he recovers, but 2013 certainly seems to be his year. Promoting the album that was eventually released in 2012, Mayer’s going on nationwide tour this year, and he may be celebrating his music in a way like never before.
“My dreams were in escrow,” he told Billboard in a recent interview. “But when I found out this thing in my throat had receded, the most exciting thing for me was having a second chance at a new life.”
The “Born and Raised” tour will take Mayer to over 40 cities, starting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 6, 2013. From there some of Mayer’s will travel throughout the U.S., with only one Canadian stop in Toronto on August 14, 2013. In September Mayer will make two stops in South America before coming back to the States later in the month. He’ll then spend one more week stopping in Phoenix., and Albuquerque. The tour will officially wrap on October 5 in Los Angeles.
For a full listing of tour dates and venues you can find them on John Mayer tickets page on TicketSupply.com. And in the meantime, get your tickets! After such a long and dramatic hiatus, these ones won’t be along very long!
Steve Austin will Not Appear at WrestleMania 29 in NJ
Ever since the beginning of the year WrestleMania fans have been eagerly speculating about who the biggest names will be at this year’s WrestleMania 29. Of those names, it was widely believed that Stone Cold Steve Austin would face CM Punk in the ring, for a match that would be the final showdown between these two notorious enemies. Now though, Stone Cold has publicly denied these rumors, or any others linking him to WWE’s biggest event of the year. For 2013 at least.
When it was announced a couple of weeks ago that it would be the Undertaker taking on Punk, fans were disappointed that they wouldn’t see the Punk/Stone Cold rivalry come to a head once and for all. Still though, they clung to the hope that Steve Austin would still be making an appearance in New Jersey this year, until this past weekend when he squashed any chance of that happening either.
“I’ve had many questions concerning WrestleMania 29. The decision has been made that I will not be WM29 and that the bottom line,” he wrote on his Twitter account on March 21.
The decision was most likely due to practical reasons than anything else. It was just this past summer that Austin had surgery on his knee, and he’s just gotten over the rehab for that surgery as well.
That being said, Austin’s knee is likely to be completely rehabilitated next year, and by that time it’s also likely that Austin will be itching to get back into the ring. And that always renews hope for a Punk/Stone Cold matchup for WrestleMania 30 next year!
Yankees and Red Sox Renew Rivalry on Opening Day
There’s something special about opening day in Major League Baseball. It’s a day that is full of hope for every team, and with a little luck, provides fans with a taste of spring and a good excuse to duck out of the office for a half day.
For the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, though, this year will be particularly special, as they’ll renew one of the best rivalries in sports at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The first pitch is slated for 1:05 p.m. EST on Monday, April 1st.
Unfortunately for the Bronx Bombers, a few of their star players are expected to start the season on the disabled list. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira are all unlikely to be able to start on opening day.
Jeter is dealing with a sore ankle after surgery in October, Rodriguez is coming off hip surgery, Teixeira has a partially torn tendon sheath in his wrist and Granderson has a broken forearm.
Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia should be good to go, though, as he looks to continue his success from last season when he went 15-6 with a 3.38 earned runs average.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are not without their injury struggles as well, as designated hitter Wilson Betemit was diagnosed with a torn posterior cruciate ligament and other injuries in his knee after being injured in a spring training game.
On opening day, the Red Sox are likely to give the ball to Jon Lester, though they haven’t made it official. The 29-year-old went 9-14 last year with a 4.82 earned runs average, but was impressive in 2011 with a 15-9 record and 3.47 ERA.
While the injuries are of concern to both perennial contenders, they may also underscore the urgency of not falling into a deep hole early in the season. Regardless, there’s always electricity in the ballpark when the Sox and Yanks meet, whether it’s in April or September. Don’t miss your chance to start the 2013 Major League Baseball season in style. Get your tickets today!
The Week’s Top 5 Concerts Collectively Gross Over $5.75M
With some of the biggest names in music delighting fans this week, it’s not surprising to see that collectively the top 5 concerts have grossed over $5.75M. It seems that for the week of March 25 fans still “Believe”; want to take in circus acts; and in one case, just want a chance to say good-bye.
(1) George Strait
“The Cowboy Rides Away Tour”
Gross: $1,424,279
Average ticket: $83.61
It was announced at the end of last year that this was to be George Strait’s last tour ever, appropriately named “The Cowboy Rides Away Tour.” Only a couple months in and it’s already hit the highest-grossing tour mark; and for the next couple of years we can expect many more weeks of seeing it in the number one spot.
(2) Cirque du Soleil “Amaluna”
Gross: $1,396,697
Average ticket: $81.41
Leaving Seattle at the end of last week and headed on its way to Calgary, Alberta, “Amaluna” is certainly making a splash. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, this story is about an island of goddesses that are faced with a series of questions and decisions after a group of men wash up on their shores.
(3) Justin Bieber
“Believe”
Gross: $1,085,510
Average ticket: $71.67
Despite some minor health problems recently, Beliebers continue to support Justin as he continues to make his way through North America, something he’s been doing since September of last year. With Carly Rae Jepsen as an opening act, it’s hard to “Believe” that this tour is only the third-grossing tour.
(4) Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band Tour
Gross: $959,710
Average ticket: $73.36
Not only has this band been on the road for months on their winter tour, they’ve just announced dates for a summer tour in 2013. That’s sure to also see this band making a repeat appearance on the top five highest-grossing concert tours.
(5) The Who
“Quadrophenia and More”
Gross: $872,490
Average ticket: $94.71
The Who could do just about anything and have fans lining up by the thousands to come see them. But when they announced that they were going on tour to play their entire Quadrophenia album in its entirety, it was guaranteed success.
Beyonce Releases First New Song in Two Years
Beyonce has been in the news a lot lately, first with her Super Bowl halftime show performance that was totally fierce, the announcement of a tour, and then her “Life is but a Dream” documentary that had even Oprah saying that it showed a completely new and vulnerable side to the mega-star. But Beyonce made the news once again on Sunday when she released her first song in two years, “Bow Down/I Been On.” And while everything this star touches typically turns to gold, the song has so far received mixed reviews, and even has some wondering if it’s actually going to appear on her album.
The track is full of aggressive rapping by what is currently an unknown rapper, and a lot of cursing on Beyonce’s part, telling all the “b****es” to “bow down.” Fontana’s Hit-Boy also appears on the track, telling those same people to “bow down.” It’s full of techno pop, hard beats, and Beyonce’s trash talk towards all the women artists and MCs that are simply trying to be like her, yet never will. Sound like Beyonce?
Not if you listen to the majority of her fans. After the track was released to her official Tumblr page on Sunday, fans started saying it didn’t sound at all like “authentic Beyonce” and that the whole tune sounded “very forced.” Many compared the song to the type of music that Rihanna typically releases, and seemed disappointed that after such a long wait for new music from Bey, this is what they got.
MuchMusic is stating that this song is to be “expected on her upcoming fifth album,” yet also admit that the stuttered rhythm and profanity-ridden lyrics will make turning the song into a radio-friendly single a challenge. We’ll have to wait and see on that one, and no one even knows how long, as Beyonce hasn’t given a date on when the album is to be released.
Listen to “Bow Down/I Been On” here, and let us know what you think.
2013 Tony Awards Returns to Radio City
When Cirque de Soleil’s “Zarkana” show started up at Radio City Music Hall in 2011, it brought many good things for the city, and for circus and audience-goers around the country. Unfortunately though, it also meant that the Tony Awards, a show that had been hosted at the Music Hall for 13 years, had to move. Since that time they’ve moved to the Beacon Theater on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, but this year they come back to the place they most love to call home — Radio City Music Hall!
It was announced on Monday by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, co-producers of the awards show, that this year, the Tony Awards will be returning to Radio City, now that Cirque’s run was over this past summer. While the Beacon Theater certainly provided for a much more intimate awards show, that small cozy space also brought additional problems for the show. One was that there wasn’t enough seating for the many producers that often attend the show; and the ticket-rationing it created made it difficult for most of Broadway’s biggest fans to attend the show.
Now though, the Tonys are back to the much larger Music Hall, which seats over 6,000 and allows for some of the most impressive sets, this year’s Tony Awards ceremony is bound to be one of the best yet.
Broadway isn’t the only part of the entertainment sector that chooses to use Radio City as their venue for awards shows. The Grammy Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, and ESPY Awards have also been held at the Music Hall.
Catch Me If You Can Takes the Stage
The popular Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks movie from 2002 is now taking the stage in the form of a musical. The movie and musical is a biographical crime story based on the life of Frank Abagnale. By the time Abagnale was 19 year old, he had successfully performed millions of dollars worth of cons that involved him playing a Pan American World Airways pilot, a doctor in Georgia and a Louisiana parish prosecutor. However, his primary crime was check fraud and it was that crime that led to him being chased and caught by the FBI.
The musical adaptation of Catch Me If You Can premiered in July 2009 in Seattle, Washington at the 5th Avenue Theatre. In March 2011, previews on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre began and the production officially opened on April 10, 2011.
The musical was created by a team of Tony winners including Terrance McNally, Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Jerry Mitchell and Jack O’Brien. The screenplay is by Jeff Nathanson.
The musical has had much success in the area of awards. In 2011, it was the Astaire Awards winner for Outstanding Male Dancers in a Broadway Show, Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical Winner, and was nominated for four Tony Awards and winner of Actor in a Musical. It also received many nominees in the Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle awards.
Catch Me If You Can is now travelling the country with stops in Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago, East Lansing, Milwaukee, Binghamton, Detroit, Hartford, Charlotte and more. You can find tickets to all of these shows on TicketSupply.com.
Have You Seen Eric Clapton Live? Get Tickets Before It’s Too Late!
Eric Clapton is the guitar god that will end up outliving us all, but he’s put an expiration date on his touring days — after the next three years. The artist, who’s given us hit after hit such as “Tears in Heaven,” “I Shot the Sherriff,” and “Wonderful Tonight” says that he’s growing tired of life on the road, and he plans to stop at the age of 70. With Clapton currently being 67 years young, that means if you haven’t already seen him or you just want to do it all over again, you’ve only got three years to do it.
“The bit onstage, that’s easy,” Clapton recently told Rolling Stone. “If I could do that around my neighborhood that’d be great. You have guys in Texas that play their circuit, and it keeps them alive. But for me, the struggle is the travel. And the only way you can beat that is by throwing so much money at it that you make a loss. So the idea is I’m taking a leaf out of JJ Cale’s book: When I’m 70, I’ll stop. I won’t stop playing or doing one-offs, but I’ll stop touring I think.”
Clapton went on to tell the magazine that it was the airports that bothered him most, with a specific focus on forgotten pieces of metal, such as a belt that he had left on.
“I just don’t want to do that anymore,” he says.
But a lot can happen in three years and for now, Clapton’s got big plans and they include being out on the road. Starting March 14 he’ll be touring around North America; and then on April 12-13 he’ll be playing at Madison Square Gardens for the Crossroads Guitar Festival. Joining Clapton in the acts are other notable guitarists such as Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, and B.B. King, to name just a few.
Weird Happenings at the Honda Classic
Spectators of golf aren’t typically treated to any particular weird or strange happenings while watching a tournament. One of the greats missing a relatively easy putt, perhaps. A sideline freak-out by one of the competitors in a game that’s supposed to be gentlemanly? Maybe. But what was seen at the Honda Classic on Sunday is something no fan — or PGA officials — are likely to forget any time soon. It began with Tiger Woods donning hip-huggers to get a ball out of gator-infested waters; and perhaps that may have been all. If that was, Rory McIlroy had been able to keep his head — or his body — in the game.
Unfortunately, he was not. By the seventh hole the great McIlroy, who was poised to see Tiger Woods like success, was eight over par. Then he put his ball in the water too. Not wanting to follow Woods’ footsteps from earlier in the tournament, McIlroy simply put his clubs away, and started off the course, clearly done. After the reporters got over their shock, they followed McIlroy out to his car. There he mumbled that he was “not in a good place mentally.”
That much was clear, but the devastating effects that can have on a golfer may not be to everybody. In fact, most of the game of golf is played mentally, which is why Tiger Woods’ game fell apart when his life was shaken by scandal. But the question is, even though Tiger’s been able to come back and save face, will McIlroy be able to do the same thing?
For the Irish golfer though, things may be different. People are already questioning the PR-laden “sore wisdom tooth” excuse he offered when a statement was later released about his early departure from the tournament. And some are wondering, not whether the $20 million US Nike gave him for a sponsorship is going to his head, but whether the new clubs he’s been forced to play with as part of that deal are.
Clearly, being No.1 isn’t easy, no matter how much Tiger seemed to prove the contrary. McIlroy will need to figure things out quickly, and not just to save whatever face he has left, but if he wants to remain at the top.
