Sports Guy North

Hingis' Return

After an impressive showing on the Women's side of the Australian open with a hard-fought loss in the Quarterfinals, Martina Hingis made her return to tennis complete by capturing the Major's mixed doubles title. Showing yet again she's not just a pretty face, her and Mahesh Bhupati made quick work of Canadian Daniel Nestor and his partner Elena Likhovtseva, 6-3 and 6-3. Ignoring the Swiss Misses return for a moment, this game saw a battle between the two best male tennis doubles players in recent history. Normally if two dominating athletes or teams in any type of sport come head to head, it would be all over the media and everyone would try to watch. But be honest - did anyone see this match? Not likely. Just look at how packed that audience is in the picture of the winning pair accepting their award. Nobody cares about doubles tennis. Especially not mixed-doubles. More evidence of this is that every article I read about this Grand Slam Championship match included a description of how "Hingis ran up to Bhupathi and gave him a hug at the T-line when Nestor's attempted backhand return hit the net". Every article described the hug. Even sports writers clearly don't know what to write about mixed-doubles tennis. And neither do I really. I had to mention it because it completed the return of my child-hood crush, and brought her yet another Grand Slam title for her mantle. But really, there's nothing else to say about it. Mixed-doubles tennis ranks around the same level as Lacrosse and MLS soccer, and that's only when it's a Grand Slam. It's such an un-noteworthy event that, much like the post-Conan O'Brien era of the Simpson's, I don't have a way to end to this article. Hey everybody, I'm gonna haul ass to Lollapalooza! Here we go again.

Artest's Return

In his second game back from his time off, Artest looked more and more like the man he can be and is. Unfortunately it wasn't even enough for the hapless Kings to beat the should be even more hapless Raptors. Led by Morris Peterson's 23 points and 10 rebounds, the Raptors needed overtime to finally put the Kings out of their misery. Artest put up 24 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, in some very subdued and well-behaved play. Like I said, he's good for 23 points a game in the Kings uniform, and people lucky enough to pick him up while he was off will reap the rewards. Given a few more games, the King's should be back on track too.

Another "like I said" could be seen in Artest's first game back agaisnt the Celtics. That being that the trade they made with the Wolves was not beneficial for them. Wally got only 10 points and 3 rebounds, while the other new-comers didn't even see any floor time. In game two Wally brought his average up to 15 points, but the others still didn't see any floor time. On the other side of the floor, Ricky Davis and Mark Blount combined for 38 points 9 rebounds and 3 blocks for Minnesota. Unlike what the other Sports Guy at ESPN had to say about it, this was not a good trade for the Celtic's. Tonight's game between Minnesota and Boston will be a great example of that. With LaFrentz facing off against Blount he'll be lucky to get the 6 points he managed last game. Let the self-destruction in Boston begin tonight.

Elias' Return

16 points in 12 games, and 10 wins for the team. That sounds good, but there is something that is still bothering me with all of this success - where is Alex Mogilny? He hasn't played in the last couple of games for Albany after logging in 4 with the minor league squad. I haven't heard about an injury, or about plans to return him to the Devil's squad, nor have I even heard any rumours about any other teams being interested in his services. What is going on here? He is Alex Mogilny. His disapointing play this year was still enough to be third in team scoring. 25 points in 34 games under limited play. I am totally taken aback by the lack of interest in one of the games most prolific scoring machines over the length of his long career in the NHL. This needs to change, if not just out of respect for one of the games best careers. He can still fit in on almost any team in the NHL's first line, and he would clearly come at an absolute steal right now. Someone please pick up Mogilny soon so we can all enjoy watching his game again.

Please.

Zalapski's Return?

I had asked last week if anyone could find out how Zarley Zalapski was doing this year on the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers of the Swiss league. True to form, the JF got down and dirty and found out some information for me. He got in touch with Reto Klaus of the Lakers themselves, and garnered this reply:

"zarley played about 4 games for us early in the season but not anymore now.
so he is no more in our team"

So, the first step in the Zarley hunt is behind us. The question I leave to you now is where did he go next? Did he leave for another team, or has he finished his hockey career? If he is still playing, how is he doing there? Have the Penguin's expressed interest in bringing him back to the NHL? These are all crucial questions, and I wish you all the best of luck in finding the answers. Remember to keep me posted. There may be a prize for the person who brings be definite proof of his whereabouts. Let the Zarley hunt begin!