Volume 15

Vol. 15 June 7, 2025 

NFL Predictions 

With the NFL season approaching quickly, the Cole Times has made predictions for the upcoming season. There will be surprise playoff teams, a great Super Bowl, and the Pittsburgh Steelers will be above .500. 

The Cole Times' predictions includes a few surprise teams in the playoff picture. The New England Patriots get the AFC’s 5 seed going 11-6, the Bualo Bills land the AFC’s top seed with a great 15-2 season, and the Cincinnati Bengals surge late to steal the AFC North from Baltimore getting the 4 seed in the AFC. The Baltimore Ravens go 10-7 losing the tiebreaker to Cincinnati and get stuck as the AFC’s 6 seed. The Houston Texans are the AFC’s 2 seed going 13-4, and having one of their best seasons in their 24 year history. The Denver Broncos will go 11-6, win the AFC West, and get the 3 seed. The Kansas City Chiefs will go 4-5 before their bye week, and will then surge finishing the season 10-7. The Chiefs will get the AFC’s 7 seed going 10-7. The Philadelphia Eagles will defend their title as the 2 seed. The Eagles will win the NFC East with 14-3. The 11-6 Washington Commanders will win the tie-breaker over Minnesota, to get the 6 seed. The Detroit Lions will go 9-2 vs playo teams, and steamroll their way to a 15-2 season with the NFC 1 seed. The Green Bay Packers will suer all of their losses in division spliting the season series with all their NFC North opponents, and The Pack will go 14-3 getting the 5 seed. The Minnesota Vikings will go 11-6 and get the NFC’s 7 seed. Despite having a worse in division record then the Atlanta Falcons, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the NFC South going 9-8. The Los Angeles Rams will go 11-6, winning the NFC West by 2 games over the 49ers. The Rams will get the 3 seed in the NFC. The Super Bowl will be a thriller with the Bualo Bills beating the Detroit Lions to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. 

Women’s World Series 

The Texas Longhorns have done it by winning the WCWS after last year’s heart break versus Oklahoma. The Longhorns cruised early in the season, then struggled with losing a series to Tennessee and getting swept by Oklahoma, as well as getting pushed out of the SEC conference tournament by Texas A&M. It seemed nearly impossible for the Longhorns to comeback and win the championship but they won their regional and super regional. Then the Longhorns beat Florida and 4-time defending champions Oklahoma, followed by Tennessee to make it to the championship. The championship opponent, Texas Tech, was able to fend o the Oklahoma to advance to the championship, and knock out the defending champions, Oklahoma. 

In the championship, the Longhorns and Texas Tech split the first 2 games, then came Game 3. The Longhorns used the 1st inning of Game 3 to get things o to a good start scoring 5 runs making it 5-0. The Longhorns added another run to the lead in the 3rd making it 6-0. Then in the 4th, Mia Scott hit a grand slam to make it 10-0 Longhorns. In the 5th, Texas Tech scored 3 runs closing the gap a bit. In the 7th after another Texas Tech run, Texas put it away winning 10-4. 

NBA Playoffs 

The NBA Finals are off to a wild start with the Indiana Pacers leading the Oklahoma City Thunder 1-0. The Thunder started o with a 7-0 lead that quickly became a 10-10 tie. Oklahoma City then hit their stride getting to leads of up to 15 points, and never letting the Pacers take the lead. Indiana inched their way back making the score 110-109. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed a 14 foot shot, Aaron Nesmith got the rebound with 6.2 seconds to go the Pacers came down the court, and Tyrese Halibuton took a shot. Haliburton’s 21 foot shot went in with 0.3 seconds left, and the Pacers won 111-110. The Pacers lead the series 1-0.

NHL Playoffs 

The Stanley Cup Finals are underway with the Edmonton Oilers from the west and the Florida Panthers from the east. This series is a rematch of last years finals, with Florida winning in 7 games. Game 1 was a thriller, with Leon Draisaitl scoring a minute in giving Edmonton an early 1-0 lead. Sam Bennett struck later in the 1st to tie the game. Then Brad Marchand put in the power play goal to make it 2-1 Florida. Bennett put in his second goal of the game making it 3-1 in the second. A minute after Bennett scored the Oilers made it 3-2 on Viktor Arvidsson’s goal. Mattias Ekholm scored in the 3rd to make it 3-3, and sent Game 1 to overtime. Draisaitl scored his second goal of the game in OT to give Edmonton the 4-3 win. Game 2 was also a thriller with the Panthers starting early as Sam Bennett put the first goal of the game in, just 2 minutes after puck drop on an early power play. Evander Kane and Evan Bouchard then scored making it 2-1 Oilers. Seth Jones scored to tie it up. Exactly one minute after Jones, scored Draisaitl scored on a power play. 3-2 Edmonton was the score after the 1st period. In the second period, Dmitry Kulikov scored to tie it up. Brad Marchand then put in a shorthanded goal to make the score 4-3 Florida. Corey Perry scored with 18 seconds left in the third period sending it into OT. No one scored in the first extra frame. In the second OT, Brad Marchand scored to win Game 2 for Florida. The Series is tied 1-1 as the teams split the 2 games at Rogers Place. 

NL West Standings Race 

The MLB standings are hectic with one division that could make history. The NL West has it all, the worst team in the league, the best team on paper, a competitive team at .500, and 2 more strong playo contenders. The Colorado Rockies are on a path for the wrong side of history. Colorado had the worst 50 game start of any team in MLB history and currently sit at 12-51, 25.5 games behind the division leader. The Arizona Diamondbacks, a very good team, are 31-31 a .500 squad that is performing worse than expected so, once they hit their stride, they will be hard to stop. The San Francisco Giants are 36-28, starting o strong and trending upwards. The San Diego Padres are 36-26 and are look alot like the Padres who won 93 games last year. The top team in the NL West is the defending champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers lead the NL west by one game sitting at 38-26. The Dodgers play in a very interesting division which could lead to wild moments during the title defense.

Louisville Slugger Bat Factory 

This writer had the privilege to go to the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory. Many players use Louisville Slugger Bat’s. I learned that one of the the only forest in the world good for Baseball Bats, is on the border between Pennsylvania and New York. Louisville Slugger bat’s are made from trees that are 65+ years old. The family owned Loisville Slugger company is environmentally responsible planting four trees for each one cut down. 

The process to make a bat is long starting with cutting down the tree. The tree is then cut into billets and shipped to Louisivlle. In Louisville, the billets are carved by machines into the bat specifically fitted for each player. 

Louisville Slugger Bats were hand carved until the early 2000s when machines took over. Special edition bats for VIPs are still hand carved today!