One game left, so one match prediction this week. The paucity of Champions League-related models is a testament to just how unpredictable these games can be, what with the limited sample size and the relative parity of talent in most of the fixtures. Except for this one. Along with the rest of the world, both the lines and the models predict a likely Bayern win.

On a side note, I read with interest Martin Eastwood’s notes on his prediction model from the Premier League, and I thought it would be interesting to run the success rate of the models next year as a measure of return on investment. A far more interesting way to illustrate whether a model is working is to do a running calculation of the ROI, no? I’ll sort it out for you.

Cheers!

Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich

Pictured: Not a small hill.

There are few things in this life Ray Lewis can’t do. So if he wanted to physically move Mount Kilimanjaro to the United States and then climb it, I don’t doubt that would be entirely possible. Alas, he’s become a more modest man in retirement, and he’ll travel to Tanzania instead.

The now former Ravens linebacker announced his intention to climb over 19,000 feet to the Kilimanjaro summit next month. It’s a journey into the skies which will satisfy both his athletic and charitable urges, as his mission is to raise money and awareness for the clean water projects in East Africa (he’s accepting donations through a website, and he’ll be giving away an autographed helmet).

Lewis is only a few months into his post-football life, and he’s already climbing mountains. I give it two years before he’s the first NFL legend to become an astronaut.

As it became clearer and clearer that Masai Ujiri was targeted by Tim Leiweke and MLSE as the preferred General Manager of the future in Toronto, the only question remaining was whether the Nuggets would grant the Raptors permission to speak with Ujiri. Well according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, that permission has now been granted “and a meeting is expected to take place within the next 24 hours.”

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I can’t take credit for the Rask pun; Jake gives appropriate credit on the show. Today we discussed:

* How the Rangers beat the Bruins

* Kreider’s OT winner

* Rasks fall

* The Blackhawks get shutout

* Kings win a lot in LA

* And oh, so so much more

You can listen to it here:

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Click here for a full-sized version of this newspaper clipping from a 1972 recap of a game between the Bucks and SuperSonics, then please explain to me why Kareem-Abdul Jabbar didn’t change his shorts at halftime. Even Kevin Seraphin isn’t that silly.

(via Uni Watch)

Hey, it’s time for your weekly feed of looping images. Come and get it. We lead with Andre Ethier and his ‘hold me back’ stare directed at home plate umpire Dan Bellino. Ethier was upset with a call during his at-bat, or maybe it was the pitch that may or may not have been directed at his head by Mike Gonzalez. Whatever the case, that’s a cold ass stare.

We got spitballs, beer toss, terrible swings, and more staring after the jump.

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The French Open has always held a sacred place in this tennis fan’s heart. Parisians aren’t like you or I. Fact is, they’re better. Whether it’s smoking cigarettes in the stands or vociferously booing players for no discernible reason, they do things their own way. Refined jerks add so much more to the sporting landscape with their hooting and demonstrative  sighing than the casual fan. The game – nay, the world – would be worse off without them.

Here’s looking at you, Satan.

We head into the second major of the year with less questions to answer than expected. Rafael Nadal’s knees have withstood the rigors of the European clay court season. Serena Williams dispatched Victoria Azarenka with ease in Rome, proving the only person who stands a chance of stopping Serena from winning her second French Open title is Serena herself. The favorites have made an impressive case, one so strong that seeing someone other than Nadal and Williams leave Roland Garros with a garish trophy and fat check in hand will be quite surprising.

It’s the ‘others’ that will intrigue in Paris. The others being the group of players that have a shot – however fleeting – at knocking off the overwhelming favorites. On the men’s side three names come to mind, all with their own personal demons when it comes to taking down Rafa on clay, let alone at a major. Roger Federer will need divine intervention to win it all, and no, Robin Soderling is not walking through that door. Novak Djokovic is the only hope for the anti Rafa crowd and he’s coming off an uncharacteristic loss to Tomas Berdych. The Czech big man could be this year’s Soderling. Unfortunately the words ‘could be ‘ have been synonymous with Berdych’s career up until this point.

On the women’s side there is slightly more belief. Serena bowed out in the first round last year, losing to Virginie Razzano in one of the biggest upsets in French Open history. Azarenka will be there at the end, as will Maria Sharapova. Unfortunately for those two their head-to-head numbers against Williams are terrible (4-25 combined).

Two weeks in Paris awaits.

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If there’s one thing the University of Cincinnati baseball team is good at, it’s knowing how to sabotage post-game interviews. They finished 24-32 this season, but their best plays occur after the game in their post-game interviews. Just watch the video and check out the skill.