Sports Guy North

There is too much hockey and basketball on TV right now, so before I realize anything, it has gotten late and I have gotten tired as I sit here watching the Sharks give their best effort towards throwing this easy win away. As always, that can only mean one thing. It's time again for the great Nation of Hungary's favourite new feature: Notes of Note.

Imagination

I might be getting overly excited a little prematurely, but imagine a Devils Sharks final. Just imagine it. Thornton and Elias, Brodeur and Toskala, battling for the Stanley Cup. I'm getting all choked up at the possibility, it's almost orgasmic. And with how well those teams have been playing, combined with the poor play of the Wings, it's quite possible. Oh heaven.

Pronger Frustration

There was a poll on nhl.com today, asking "Who's been the Oilers' MVP through the first three games of their series vs. Detroit?" The results when I checked were: Chris Pronger
40.79%
Dwayne Roloson
40.77%
Ryan Smyth
5.34%
Jarett Stoll
4.65%
Shawn Horcoff
1.68%
Michael Peca
4.42%
Other
2.35%

I just don't get it. Pronger cost them their only loss, and Oiler fans are still calling him their MVP so far. It's remarkable the way people think "big names" are good until they're told not to. I just can't stand it. WATCH THE GAMES PEOPLE! PRONGER IS HORRIBLE ON DEFENSE! Did anyone see Detroit's 4th goal in game 4? Pronger's guy should never have gotten in alone, but he's so slow and lazy on defense that was the end result, which also finished off that game as well for the Oilers. Even a slight extra effort would have prevented it. Just dreadful on defense.

Oh, and just so you know, they don't use a smart poll on nhl.com like I do for the Rucchin vote, so I sat there and voted for Dwayner until he passed Pronger in the poll. It was about 30 votes I'd say. I'm not going to check in again to see if he won. I wouldn't be able to handle it if he did. And yes, I know that I need a hobby.

Fool Me Thrice, Shame On Bettman

Gauthier. A spear now. Honestly. The very game after he should have been suspended for a hit from behind. Something has to be done about this Flyers team. Anything. The Flyers need to be beat down. Why is there no punishment?

Sabres. Win. Beat them down. NOW!

It's funny, I approached the playoffs without the intention of cheering for any teams, but I've had no choice. I find myself gunning hard for New Jersey, Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit, Anaheim and San Jose in their series, for various reasons. I feel so strongly about them that I'll even admit it now at the risk of alienating some of my readers. Too much has happened to stay neutral. At least Montreal/Carolina and Dallas/Colorado have been fairly unnoticeable. But if enough can happen to result in an Ontarian cheering for Detroit, Buffalo and Ottawa, then you know it hasn't been good. I never thought I'd see this day, but I have no choice. I'm just so disgusted by their opponents (except Nashville).

Worse?

Well, i guess some things are worse that the Flyers belligerence: Baseball Indicent. There is no place for disrespecting referees in sports. not to that degree. The occasional puff of dust kicked at a cuff is one thing, but to throw a bat at an official in unforgivable, no matter how talented you are.


the dee oh double gee

This article reminded me that I didn't include Snoop Dogg in my Rawk the Bawl bracket. That was a grave oversight. Not only that, though, but the article also got me thinking, and here is my question - How is he only 34? Are you kidding me? He's been around forever, and certainly never looked 25 at any point. But as it turns out, he's young enough to still be playing football, not just running a league like he is. Actually, if he's interested in playing, there may be some openings in Montgomery. Oh sports team owners and management, what am I going to do with you? Actually, I'm considering sending in my name for a safety or receiver position. Sounds like they might have some room there for me even.

Throwing the Goalies to the Wolves

Coaches are really rubbing me wrong lately, and are quickly filling up my notice list. John Tortorella, you are on notice. He joins Ken Hitchcock, Jaromir Jagr, Denis Gauthier, Kelly Hrudy and John Feguson Jr on my list of people who are on notice. In his post-game interview, Johnny went on an extended tirade about John Grahame's play. In the course of his speach he mentioned that Grahame let in "3 goals on 4 shots" in one part of the game 19 times, and said they needed a few stops in net on those plays. Any of you who saw the game, or even just saw highlights of those goals, understand exactly why Tortorella is on notice now. One goal was scored on a cross crease pass where the defenseman who was by the first man didn't cover the guy or the pass, and no one was on the other man who put it in the empty net. Another of the goals was scored on a pass out from behind the net to a guy who received the puck, and got a shot off, despite 4 Lightning standing in front and contributing nothing to the defensive effort. If you are going to do such a poor job coaching the defensive end of your game, you cannot use the goalie as a scapegoat when great scoring chances lead to goals. And if you are going to make up a scapegoat like that, you cannot do it in a 10 minute tirade to the press. All he has done is guaranteed that the Lightning season is over. Senators fans rejoice, there is no coming back now, Torterelli has Jagred the series for you.

The sad thing is, once this happens to a goalie, you can also pretty much assume that's it for his career. It's the goalie scapegoat syndrome - once their name is dragged down like that, justified or not, no one ever has confidence in them again and that just leads to a mess that can't be recovered from. Look at Tommy Salo. He was one of the top 3 goalies in the league. Then there was the one bad goal on him that was all over the papers, and that was the beginning of the end. There is no escaping it for goalies, and now no escaping it for Grahame. For that reason, Tortorella is on notice, and he's lucky that is isn't joining Bobby Clarke, Richard Peddie, Pierre McGuire and Isiah Thomas on the list of people who are dead to me. If he keeps it up, he'll be there soon enough.