Sports Guy North

A Celtic of and Idea

Well, when you're right, you're right. And the Celtics looked just awful in their game against the Timber Wolves. Not only did the Wolves win 110 to 85 but the new Wolves combined for 54 points, 14 assists, 5 blocks and 16 rebounds in 98 minutes, while the new Celtics had 24 points, 3 assists, 0 blocks and 3 rebounds in 36 minutes. Not only that, but the sharp decline at center for the Celtics from removing Blount from a LaFrentz/Perkins combination was huge. They combined for a whole 4 points through the first 3 quarters. Blount and Griffin combined for 22. And that is where the game was lost right there. The comparison of Wally versus Ricky is moot after that point. The Celtics have done themselves a grave disservice with this trade, and tonight just went to show how grave it was. I can't wait to see how ESPN's sports guy tries to justify what happened in last nights game. I'm sure, though, that he'll give it his best effort.

The trade, however, along with Chris Anderson's banishment, did bring a great idea to the forefront - an All-White Dunk Contest. The Birdman's debacle in last years contest was the highlite of All-Star weekend for me, and probably for many other people. I struggle to remember other highlites from the weekend, but the Birdmans antics are still fresh in my mind like it was just yesterday. We need more of this, and hence we need the All-White Dunk Contest.

Not just any white guy will do, mind you. They need to be the whitest of white players in the league. For example, Nash and Nowitski clearly can play basketball with the best of them, and without looking too awkward. They just won't do, they just aren't white. They have to be reminiscent of the Birdman to qualify. Bryant "Big Country" Reeves would be an excellent example from the past.

With that I ask you who you would like to see in the All-White classic. I'll get the ball rolling with my three favourites: Half-a Man Araujo from the Raptors, Darko from the Pistons, and none other that Dauber himself (does anyone remember the TV series coach? This guy is totally Dauber), Chris Kaman from the Clippers. If you have other suggestions let me know this week, then we will post a poll leading up to the All Star break to find out who the most popular All White Guy Dunk Contest candidates would be.


Vinsane in the Membrane

*WARNING* Raptors fans, you may want to stop reading at this point. The following article is going to grind your last nerve to the bone. You have been warned.

As everyone knows by now, Kobe Bryant had a bit of a game last week. He took a trip to the record books as only the second person in history to clear the 80 point mark. Not only that, he carried the team on his back during the game, and led them to a huge comeback victory over the Raptors. After the game, his teammates had nothing but good things to say about his performance, and how he led them as a team to the victory. But that goes without saying, right? How could anyone have anything negative to say about such an awe-inspiring, record setting performance that we will all remember for year to come. It can't be done.

Always looking to tackle a challenge, leave it to Vince Carter to find a way to do the impossible. Always a class act, following Kobe Bryant's 81 point performance last week, Vince had the following to say:

"The only bad thing about it is that younger kids, whose minds are easily warped, are going to think, ohhh, I am going to go out there and do it instead of the team concept first"

Honestly, that is what Vince Carter had to say. Vince, the man to whom the word "team" stands for "Vince and some guys", and even then only if he decides that they have a chance at the playoffs. This is the man who completely bailed on his team in Toronto until his infantile tactics finally got him a trade out of town to a potential contender. Immediately following the trade, his play improved ten-fold and his lingering injuries all miraculously healed. Have a look at his statistics for last year. Before the trade Vince was averaging career lows with 15.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Following the trade, in the exact same season, Vince average CAREER HIGHS with 27.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists. In the same season where he was capable of putting up his best numbers, he put up his worst numbers for Toronto. I'm sure he was just holding back for his team, so that they could feel better about themselves instead of just relying on him. Everyone got to think "Hey, I'm better than Vince, and Vince is a superstar! I must be pretty good!". That's the kind of hit Vince was willing to take for the team. Now that is a team player!

He went on to say:

"That is what is missing in the game, guys understanding how to play as a team"

Kobe may be described as a bit of a selfish player, but that has a lot to do with no other real options being in Los Angeles to pass to. It's not like he has Richard Jefferson or Jason Kidd on the floor to help him, so it's no wonder her lead the league last year in shots per game. Oh, but by the way, Vince Carter finished a close second, only 0.1 shots per game behind. Don't be mistaken, though, unlike Kobe, Vince was taking all those shots for the team.

As if that wasn't enough, Vinny capped it off with this gem:

"I think it is great for the NBA. They want scoring, they want ratings, and you are going to get that. You are definitely going to get them now with the amount of 50-point games, 60-plus games. I just hope that kids and young guys understand that only special guys can do that. Yeah, they were trying to get Kobe the ball, they wanted to see a special night. But they all know their roles."

He mentions the amount of 60-plus point games like they happen every day. So far this year, Kobe has a 62 point and an 81 point game. That's it. It's disgusting how often that is happening! Vince also mentions 50-point games in there. How confused is he at this point. Vince himself is one of the people with a 50 point game this year. So is he bad-mouthing himself, or is he saying that 50 and 60 point games are good for the NBA, but 80 point games are bad for the future of the game? Can anyone decipher this for me? Does he even know what he means?

All I know is that with this, Vince Carter has now secured his spot as the most disgusting person in the history of professional sports, if that wasn't already his title. And this is a history that includes Bob Probert, Bobby Clarke and OJ Simpson. Congratulations, Vince, you are the only person who has been able to explain how Rob Babcocks dealing you to the Nets was a good move.


Groin Watch.

Ed Jovanovski requires surgery on his abdominal/groin injury, and will not only be unavailable for the Olympics, but may be finished for the year. On another groin front, Bryan McCabe didn't play in the Leafs game last night as many expected him to, but is said to be ready for the next game. Fortunately for the Leafs losing streak they were involved in the next best thing to getting an MVP back - they played the Florida Panthers. With their first win in 9 games, the Leafs managed to hang onto the final playoff spot with Bryan's return immanent. With that, all hope is not lost in Leafland. They didn't fall as far in the standings without McCabe as they should have, had the other teams in the East outside of New Jersey bothered to show up. I would, though, still recommend a minor fire sale and starting from scratch. Although they won't admit it, Leafs fans would much rather have their team miss the playoffs than lose a series to the Senators, which would be an inevitability this year. I'm not sure how die-hard Leaf fans would be able to deal with such an event. If the Leafs do manage to squeak into the playoffs and draw a matchup with the Sens, go out and buy as much Molson and Labbatt stock as you can. Millions of Leaf fans are going to drive those stock prices way up.

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!

Plot Summary

It's 2006 and the patron's of 'The Last Chance Saloon' have gathered for their evening of methamphetamines and LSD to contemplate their lost faith and dreams, when David Stern (played by Lee Marvin) arrives. Stern is out to convince everyone that he can help them all find peace of mind by ridding them of the foolish dreams and by bringing them back to reality. Stern is working especially hard on Chris Anderson (Robert Ryan) a former anarchist who has lost his will for life and is awaiting the eventuality of death. The Birdman is not affected by the cajolings of Stern, but his young companion Chris Paul (Jeff Bridges) is strangely affected and this leads to revelations about his own mother and feelings of betrayal and loss. As the night wears on the mood changes as everyone has the their faith and dreams slowly destroyed by Stern. As the anger builds everyone turns on Stern about his wife and the Birdman. This leads to more revelations and with Stern having the faint questioning of his own new found convictions.

I know, the movie plot sounds unrealistic. There is no way that Stern would ever question himself. But it's the best I could do. I'm sure most of my readers are of the younger set and won't get the description anyway, so let us all just move on. The reference is, of course, to Chris Anderson's banishment from the NBA. The rules state that a player only can be disqualified for a fourth positive test for performance-enhancing drugs, or a first positive test for drugs of abuse. The list of such substances is as follows:

Amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, LSD, PCP and opiates, including heroin, codeine and morphine.

So, basically if you are caught taking performance enhancing drugs, which have a direct effect on playing Basketball, that isn't worthy of a banishment until you are caught 4 times. But if you've been caught taking morphine, something that would not positively affect your game, you are done on the first offense. Does anyone else have a problem with this system? Shouldn't it be steroids that are frowned on the most by a professional sports league? The crackheads that I see on the street can barely walk in a straight line once, even if you give them all day to try. I'm pretty sure that if a professional athlete in the modern environment had a real drug problem, they would weed themselves out of the league. But if they blatantly try to cheat and put themselves at an advantage, they get a few slaps on the wrist until they screw up more times than even a 3 strikes and your out rule would allow.

I'm sure that the Birdman was merely at a party and unwisely decided to take illicit drugs with some friends. Anyone that saw his antics in the last Slam Dunk contest, however, could easily argue that this is a man who has had drug problems for a long time. In either case, I in no way at all condone such actions, and in fact I think that drug crimes should all bring higher sentences than they currently do. But to be caught by a random drug test after what might have been a one time mistake and be forced to lose your career, when someone who blatantly cheats, and has with regularity for a long time isn't nearly punished as harshly just isn't right. Not even slightly. There needs to be, at the very least, equal treatment of the two offenses. In fact, if the player does have a drug problem, he should be helped, not punished. A temporary suspension that comes with mandatory rehab would be a much better punishment than banishment. What better way to make someone in danger turn more to drugs than by taking his life away from him. Someone in the Players Association was not taking the good of their own members into account when they agreed to these conditions. This system is tragically flawed all around, and needs to be properly assessed.

The end result is that there are no more mullets in the NBA, and we won't get to see the Birdman in any more dunk contests from now on. I don't think that we shouldn all be punished for these actions in such an extreme manner. I for one have already lost some interest in the dunk contest this year. Interest in seeing just how many tosses Anderson can miss this year before dying of embarrassment. I already had my money on 17. Maybe Half-a Man Araujo can take his place this year, if we're so lucky. It's about time that he'd be good for something.

Les Habitants vs. Les Dommages

Two struggling teams faced off in Montreal Saturday night, as the Leafs were in town to face the Canadiens. The good news for the hapless Canadian teams was that the game went to overtime, so they each were guaranteed a point. The bad news for Toronto fans is that the Habs won the other point in overtime, allowing them to catch the Leafs and Thrashers for a 3-way tie in the battle for the 8th and final playoff spot. The other bad news is that without McCabe the Leafs have now dropped 8 straight games for the first time since 1996. Anyone who remembers the first 3 seasons following the lockout, known as the Nick Beverly/Mike Murphy years, knows that these are the last years in post 80's Leafs history with which they want to be associated. So, what are the highest bids for Sundin, Tucker and Belfour anyway?

Groin Watch

Groin injuries are out of hand in the NHL. Someone really needs to figure out what is going on. Was it just that groin injuries were listed as leg or lwer body injuries in the past out of childish embarrassment, or has there really been a drastic increase in this injury this season? It seems that injuries sometimes come in bunches. I remember a few years ago when concussions were being discussed as a big problem in the NHL, and it seemed every week someone got one. Since then, they are occuring much less often. Maybe this is just the year of the groin. It's just too bad that it's not as good as it sounds. Here is a listing of the 12 players who were affected by groin injuries in the past week:

Ed Jovanovski: January 27, day-to-day, Groin, may reuturn next week
Bryan McCabe: January 24, IR, Groin, 1-2 more weeks
Evgeni Nabokov: January 22, Groin, returned to action
Dave Scatchard: January 28, day-to-day, Groin, may play next game
Joni Pitkanen: January 27, day-to-day, Groin, may return next game
Peter Forsberg: January 27, day-to-day, out 1-2 weeks
Chris Higgins: January 27, Groin, returned to action
Sheldon Souray: January 28, Groin, returned to action
Eric Belanger: January 28, day-to-day, Groin, may reutrn next game
Brian Leetch: January 38, Groin, returned to action
Peter Bondra: January 24, Groin, returned to action after missing 22 games
Markus Naslund: January 28, day-to-day, Groin, out 2-3 games

And the Rucchin is

Straka got off to a quick start in the balloting, but in the end it was a unanimous decision in favour of:

plus equals

Jonathan Cheechoo.

This vote didn't even end up close. Cheechoo got 52% of the popular vote, while Straka ended up with only 27%, and Kozlov at 19%. Scott Walker, as expected, did not register a single vote. He was merely along for the ride as the result of a single goal he scored off of his lid. What was apparent, though, were a few oversights from the selection. Of note Simon Gagne and Marc Savard were mentioned by many people, but the overwhelming write-in vote was Mike Knuble. Before being moved to the top lines in Boston, Mike averaged about 20 points per season. His final two years in Boston he had some help on his line and recorded 59 and 46 points. Through 50 games on Forsbergs line, however, Mike already has 42 points, and is on pace for career highs in goals and assists. Definitely worthy of consideration, but I'm pretty confident in saying that Cheechoo, with the decisive majority he put up against Straka and Kozlov, would still have been the victor. Nonetheless, to avoid dispute in end of year voting, the nominees will be left up to my readers prior to the posting of the Rucchin of the Year balloting. That way, for the first time in history, the true people's Rucchin can be decided without dispute.

Mighty No More

I have one very, very, very good question: If you're going to bother changing the team name, then WHY would you still have it called the Ducks? This is not a good team name. It strikes as much fear in the other team as if they were playing the Seattle Fuzzy Bunnies, or the Toronto Maple Leafs. Maybe even less. So if you are going to change your team name away from the Mighty Ducks, just because Disney isn't involved anymore, then why not find a new team name all together? In staying with a theme from my January 25th article, why not the Los Angelas Broadcoms? Or, if somehow the D'Angelos Juice company found a little extra money laying around, the Anaheim Juices D'Angelos would be a suiting take on the name. In any case, the Ducks name was never a good idea, and having a team named after a kid's movie was just an embarrassment. If they want to change anything, then change it all. Please. There is just no way to make the "Ducks" seem cool, especially not with the heritage of where the name came from.

Elias Watch

If you bet on the Panthers in this game, your nuts must be made of thick steel, much like your head. But it would have paid off big time. Just hours after signing a 6-year deal worth an average of $5.2 million a year, Brodeur decided that was too much excitement for one day and just phoned it in. He must have phoned in for the rest of the team as well as nobody showed up ready for this one. The devils were blanked for the first time since Elias' return, and in this game he showed that he is very much human, going pointless now in two straight games. Patrick had only one shot, and no points in 15 minutes of play, registering a -3 rating. With that, the Elias watch drops to 12 games, 16 points and 9 wins.

Boston White Sox

In a stunning move today, there was a 7 player, 3 draft-pick deal between the Boston Celtics and the Minnesota T-Wolves. Going from the Celtics to the Wolves were Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Marcus Banks, Justin Reed and two future second-round draft picks. In exchange, the Celtics receive Wally Szczerbiak, Michael Olowokandi, Dwayne Jones and a future first-round draft pick, which begs the question: there's a Dwayne Jones in the league? Wally might be better than Davis, or at least more consistent, and a first-round pick is certainly worth 2 second rounders. But the downgrade from Blount to Kandi is huge, and will likely result in Raef playing more minutes at Center again, where he is slightly more useless than he is playing forward. This is in no way a good trade for the Celtics, and only goes back to following their old Boston mold - bring in all white guys at any cost. This has been a Celtics tradition for as long as I can remember. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Pierce for Kirilenko trade by the end of the year. Maybe they can steal Ostertag or Harpring at the same time. The people in the front office in Boston seriously need to be questioned at this point. Kandi and Dwayne, whoever he is, clearly were not brought in to play serious minutes. 2 key players on the team this year have been shipped out for the prettiest man in the NBA, and it does not help the team. They can, however, now post a starting lineup as follows if they choose:

_______________
PG - Dan Dickau SG - Pierce SF - Wally Szerb PF - Brian Scalab. C - Raefer


One of these things is not like the others. Give up? It's Paul Pierce, and the reason is that he is the only one who should be a starter on any NBA team. What is going on in Boston? Has Gerald Green even gotten into a game this year? Maybe they can pick up Darko for him, if they're lucky. That would definitely be true to the Celtics "pride". It's a shame what happened to this team, because only a couple of years ago they looked like they had a good young nucleus poised to give Detroit a run every year. And now they look like the soccer team in the pictures above. This team should slide below the Raptors by the end of the year, and if they do white-up Pierce, who knows just how far they'll fall. But hey, at least they won't have problems with the NBA dress code.

Utter Steals

In two separate moves today, the Edmonton Oilers acquired Jaroslav Spacek and Dick Tarnstrom from Chicago and Pittsburgh. Dicky is a power play specialist who lead the Penguins in scoring last year with 52 points, and much like all the Penguins is having an off year. Spacek is a solid 2 way defenseman, and has even managed to put up a plus 8 and 24 points on a very weak Hawks club. This is an unbelievable strengthening for an Oilers defense that could really use it. Did they have to margin their future to do so? Or give away some immediate talent? How about a bunch of draft picks? No, no and no. All the is leaving Alberta are Jani Rita (who?), Tony Salmelainen (what's that now?) and the always helpless Cory Cross (Someone wanted him? Has Babcock found a new job in the hockey world now?). Basically, in one day the Oilers have added two quality NHL defensemen, something in some short supply, without depleting their current or future rosters to any real degree. In fact, by unloading Cory Cross they have improved the current roster already, even before adding the new talent.

I remember back in the summer where the Leafs resigned Cross and Berg at the same time, I ran into Pat Quinn and we had a little heart to heart. I suggested to him that signing Berg and Cross like he did was a huge mistake, as neither one was able to play hockey so much as not play hockey, and that even I could do better. He "kindly" told me that if that was true, then I should go *expletive* try out for the *expletive* team again, and stood up and walked away. Really, though, why would anyone want Cross on their team? This trade is a disaster for a Penguins team that looked like it couldn't get worse. The same can be said for Chicago. I can't see a single reason why either team made these trades, except that their GM's are Oilers fans who are tired of watching the Flames beat them year after year lately.

Leafs Watch

That was horrible. Just horrible. Even McCabe can't fix what has happened to the Leafs. Disband and rebuild. There are no other options at this point. Just horrible. I will be sad to see Quinn leaving town, he is a great guy and has done wonders for this team over the years. If you don't believe that, just look at the Leafs rosters from 1999 and 2002. They weren't that good, plain and simple, and Quinn was able to coach them to the Conference Finals both years. His presence will definitely be missed.

Just yesterday I wrote that "Babcock’s reputation in the league has become so negative, it’s hard to imagine many free agents lining up to come north of the boarder while he’s still in Toronto. The solution to that problem, however, seems sadly out of the question in the Raptor’s books, to the confusion of pretty much everyone in the basketball world."

I apparently underestimated the Raptor's higher ups. And with that, comes the end of an ugly era in sports. During the press conference, team president Richard Peddie summed it up with the understatement of the year:

"A general manager is evaluated in large part by the results of his decisions. Unfortunately those results have not met our expectations."

Babcocks bigest blunders were the 2004 drafting of Araujo in the first round ahead of Andre Iguodala, and the trading away of Vince Carter, to a division rival no less, for a couple of sacks of nothing, and the right to fund Miami's playoff run. To me, though, the one thing that sealed his fate was the only thing that shouldn't have. It was his often mis-quoted statement from the offseason about the Raptor's chances. The actual quote is as follows:

"There will be growing pains, no doubt about it. Whether we will win or lose more games than last year, I think if you look at us on paper, we probably will not win as many games as last year. We more or less have the same team back with the exception of Donyell Marshall, who was an integral part of our team last year. We're replacing him with rookies."

This was translated in the media as Rob saying that the Raptors were going to do worse this year. If you read the comment, I mean really read it, you will see that this is not at all what he was saying. This statement of his was actually the only thing I can think of that he got 100% right during his time in Toronto. There were going to be growing pains, and from a paper stand point the team did look worse. But his real suggestion was that given time, the rookies will come together and going forward the team will actually be better. He was, as you'll notice, right. After their disasterous start, the Raptors are actually still at .500 (including the past 3 tough losses). For such a young team to pull themselves together to such a degree in a short amount of time is a big complement to the talent that was brought together in Toronto. Babcock only said that on paper it would appear as though they would win less games, but nonetheless it was this comment that got the ball finally rolling to his termination. And he was right.

After all the mistakes he made, to be, in the end, finally fired for the one thing that he got right, and at a time when the team has showed signs of turning itself around, says a lot for what is actually going on behind the scenes and above his head in Toronto. Do I think Babcock should be the GM? No. But this also wasn't the time to fire him. There were many other very obvious times, but fittingly for this train wreck of an organization, when he was finally let go, it wasn't the right time. And I must say, this firing still doesn't bode well for the future of the Raptors organization as a whole.

It is almost 2:00pm. The Raptors have scheduled a press conference, and we all wait with anticipation to see if this is the last time we'll have to see this face.

Done Deal

Ron Artest is going to start playing again, and as someone who traded for him during his down time in my fantasy pool, this couldn’t have come at a better time. I traded Jalen Rose and Tayshaun Prince straight up for the idle Artest, and let everyone know to do the same if they could. This deal should be great for Artest holders. You know he’s going to be hungry to prove himself after all that forced time off, and Sacramento should be a good fit for Ron. The Kings have fallen from grace this year, finding themselves in the cellar of the Pacific Division with an 18-24 record, and needing to do something to try to turn things around. Peja’s numbers were down this year, and they needed a superstar to both fill his shoes, and give a new spark to a team that seemed to have lost all it’s luster. Featuring a starting lineup now of Mike Bibby, Kevin Martin, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Brad Miller, and Ron Artest, the Kings appear to be a team to be reckoned with again. Artest will be just the spark they need, and even the team’s center will be able to dish the ball to Artest. He will see enough touches to easily average 23 points a game, and brings with him a much-needed drive to the basket.

On the other side of the equation, then, is the question of did the Pacer’s get full value for their Super Star. The quick answer is a resounding yes. The closest comparison to this fire sale in recent history is the exodus of Vince Carter from Toronto. In exchange from the Nets the Raptors, as you know, got a big sack of nothing, a small sack of nothing, and the honour and privledge to pay a player to play for the Miami Heat. So, considering the Pacers were able to pick up the premiere 3-point shooter in the league, you have to like this deal as a Pacers fan. They need someone to come in and clean up the mess that Tinsley has been dealing out on the point this year, and as well as anyone, Peja can make a lot out of a bad pass. This is truly one of those few trades that looks great on both sides of the deal. If you managed to get Artest during his time off you will benefit in the same way people who grabbed up Vince while he was in Toronto did last year.

Speaking of the Raptors, they had their donkeys handed to them by the Chicago Bulls tonight by a final score of 104 to 88. It’s not every day that a 16-point win sounds closer than it actually was. It would appear that, as I predicted, the Kobe game did take the spark out of the Raptors season. With this season done, then, I no longer mind the rumoured deal to send Rose and James to the Knicks for Ariza and Hardaway as much. Obvisouly, Hardaway’s not really going to show up in Toronto. Ariza also looks like a lesser version of 4 guys the Raps already have at small forward. But exchanging Jalen’s lack of play for a lack of play with a contract that expires at the end of the year is a good deal. Another thing I have noticed is that without James in the lineup, Morris Peterson is a much better player. It’s the same reason that he turned from a great driver to a 3-point shooter in the past when Vince was on the team. Mope seems to think that is there is a driving option on the floor already, then his position is to stay on the outside. This isn’t a great move for someone who has some of the most creative drives in the league. This year when Calderon has been on the point and James has been on the bench, Peterson has looked like the player he promised to be in his rookie campaign. To have him play that way for the rest of the season and hopefully get used to it again for next year would be a bonus for the Raptor’s. Then with all the extra money, hopefully they can convince a big man to come up north. If not, then all their moves will be for nothing. Babcock’s reputation in the league has become so negative, though, it’s hard to imagine many free agents lining up to come north of the boarder while he’s still in Toronto. The solution to that problem, however, seems sadly out of the question in the Raptor’s books, to the confusion of pretty much everyone in the basketball world.

Welcome Back

It’s always nice to see a childhood crush came back to the forefront. As her return to the Australian Open comes to an end, Martina Hingis has given notice that, despite 3 years of downtime, she is still the real deal. She easily made her way through the tournament to the quarterfinals, where she lost 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to Kim Clijsters, who will now become the number one seed in the world. This was a match that could have gone either way, and appeared to be in Hingis’ favour going into the fourth quarter, as she took 6 straight games leading into it. Clijsters went on to lose to Amélie Mauresmo in the semi-finals after rolling her ankle, while Maria Sharapova faced off with Justine Henin-Hardenne in the other semi final last night. In a tough played match Sharapova took the first set 6-4, but all out failed to show up for the second set. The hard-court specialist Henin-Hardenne took it right to her, and it wasn’t pretty. Well, it was Sharapova and Henin-Hardenne, so obviously it was still pretty, but Sharipova’s effort was not. After dropping the set 6-1, Maria went for a change of clothes between the second and third sets (and no, this was not a part of the coverage, unfortunately). The announcer did, however, as the game came back from her long delay, say that she “has to get back to banging here”. I will leave that one to your interpretation. Anyway, Henin-Hardenne went on to take the final set 6-4, to move onto the finals. If you’re looking for a reason to be happy about Sharapova’s exit from the tournament, there is always the one reason why Henin-Hardenne is my favourite tennis player – she doesn’t do that female tennis grunt. The grunt is easily the most annoying part of the game, and in recent times has even found it’s way into the men’s side, which is too bad because it’s lack used to be the only reason to bother watching the men play. Needless to say, I love to watch Hardenne play and I am excited for the finals, it should be a good one.

Calder v. Calder

Not to be outdone by Ovechkin’s goal the other week, Sidney Crosby scored a beauty in his match up with the Capitals, and added 3 assists to boot. He came out of the corner, dropped the puck to his skate, kicked it through the defender and scored on the other side. I don’t have a direct link to it yet, but to see it go to Crosby’s highlight page Crosby's Highlight Page and click on his January 25th highlight. Not quite in the same league as “The Goal”, but team it up with the Penguins decisive 8-1 win, and Crosby takes this round in the battle of Calder contenders. Ovechkin did add a power play for the Caps, who looked completely out-matched by the worst team in the NHL all night. Even Boguniecki got on the score sheet for the Penguins in the very convincing romp. One game is one game, though, and Ovechkin is still the obvious Calder winner as far as I can see. Sorry Penguins fans, who I know are undoubtedly looking for anything to grasp onto this season, but I think you already know it’s true.

Elias Watch

10 games, 9 wins, 16 points. Elias is now up to 11th in team scoring, having played in 1/5th of the teams games. He has been in on nearly 50% of the goals the Devils have scored since his return. The Devil’s easy January schedule finishes up with match ups in Tampa Bay and Florida, and of the 8 games left before the Olympic break, only 2 are against playoff teams. Expect the Devils and Elias’ solid play to continue over that stretch, there’s really no reason why it won’t.

Groin Watch

In a scene that has become the norm this year, Peter Forsberg left the Flyers game tonight with a groin injury. Jovanovski also reagrevated his groin injury. What exactly is going on this year? There have been about 50 groin injuries at this point. And to update another groin of note, Bryan McCabe skated with the team yesterday. He’s not said to be back in time for this weekends games, but could make an appearance by the end of the month. Before then they have a tough match with the surprising Sabres, followed by Saturday at home to the Habs, and a match-up Monday with the Panthers. If the Leafs can’t win 2 of those 3 games, then McCabe’s return might be officially too late, and the rumours of Sundin’s exit from town might start taking on some semblance of truth. I’m sure some hard-core Leafs fans just shuddered at the sound of that one. Sorry mom, but you may actualy see it happen this year. The ability to bring in big money players to fill holes is closing in the league, so it may be time for the Leafs to bring in some prospects and start rebuilding. Telqvist, Steen, Wellwood, Stajan, Ling, Carlo, Wozniewski, McCabe, Kaberle, Kronwall and Bell is a pretty good nucleus to build on, and it's time to make room for them to all play on the team and develop together full time.

Au Revoir

It would appear that the thing to do if you have any talent in Pittsburgh in 2006, is get the hell out. Another prominent Penguin has retired, and I hate to say that with his exit from Pittsburgh, likely comes the Penguins exit as well. Mario did everything in his power, and then some, to try to keep a franchise in Pittsburgh, but at some point even Super Mario himself has to give up. He is cutting all his ties to the Penguins, and to the city of Pittsburgh, and I'm sure it must be killing him. But what else can he do? The franchise is not financially viable in Pittsburgh, and should move on.


Timbits and Trust

I'm sure a lot of people in Hamilton think a steel town to steel town move should be what comes. They are, however, kidding themselves if they expect to see a Hamilton Steelers franchise anytime soon, or even ever. If a second team is coming to Toronto, it won't be somewhere that the Sabres and Leafs would both have to give permission for. It would make a lot more sense in the north or east end of Toronto, where not only is there a bigger population base, but also more money to support the team. Markham and Vaughn would be the best bets, and the team should take the Toronto name in either case. On top of that, they would need a new name outside of Penguins. Penguins just isn't a good name. For that matter, team names themselves are a little over rated, I don't always see their necessity. That said, it won't be long before teams take advantage of this extra label and auction it out to the highest bidder. And why not? If the new team in Toronto took on the name of a Toronto corporation, wouldn't that be easier to relate to than, say, Penguins or Dinosaurs? Personally, I relate a whole lot better to Swiss Chalet than I do to dinosaurs. I've never had the misfortune of being in a dinosaur, but I do find myself in Harvey's with regularity. So why not name the team the Toronto Timbits, or the Toronto Manulifes? Toronto Dominions would have been a great name, before the merger. There is already a team in Toronto, however, so why not make this Canada's team and just call them the Canada Trusts. I wouldn't mind cheering for Sidney Crosby in the old Green and White.

It is the inclusion of Crosby on this team that would make a second team in Toronto viable. The Maple Leafs are an institution, and no matter what else is going on around them, they will always sell out their games. 100% of the time. It would be hard to get people to spend 80% of the ticket price of a Leafs game to go see the Manulifers in the same time. This is not the case, however, if Crosby is on the team. I can speak to this first hand as someone who has already left the country this year just to go see Crosby play. He would sell a new team in Toronto, and at the same time the Leafs would be equally successful. Since I'm sure they would put in a requirement for the move to include Leafs TV as a provider of 40% of the Timbit's games, it would even bring in more revenue for the Leafs. And the development of an in-town rivalry in Toronto would have an unprecedented effect on the NHL as a whole. Another team in Toronto is inevitable, and if it can come with a guaranteed sell out factor in Crosby, then there is no better time.

The only other place I would like to see the Penguins move to is Cleveland, Ohio. Up until the Blue Jackets entered the league, there wasn't a single team in Ohio. Ohio is one of the few states that has had a large interest in playing hockey for a decent amount of time now, and Cleveland is by far the biggest city in the state. It is also close enough to Detroit, Buffalo and Toronto to set up decent rivalries, as well as with the in-state rival. A huge hockey playing city without an NHL team makes no sense when there are teams in Tampa, Miami, Atlanta and Nashville. Seattle would be another interesting choice. But talk about Las Vegas and other cities that would no doubt be busts like the new teams in the south already would not be helpful to the NHL or team owners. They might as well move to Winnipeg if they're going to do that. At least all the people in Canada would be happy, even if it wouldn't do much for the league itself.

The Legend

In honour of Mario's second exit from the NHL, presented now is a year by year recap of Mario's career. A great career that came a few games short of what we would have wanted to see, and a few games more than what we thought we were going to get.

* 84/85 - 43 goals and 100 points in his rookie campaign, including scoring on the first shot of his career. -35 rating is a tough way to start your career, but Crosby feels his pain. There were no other Penguins then, much as there are no other Penguins now. Calder Memorial Trophy, NHL All-Rookie Team.

* 85/86 - Setting his career record of 79 games played, scoring 141 points. Lester B. Pearson Award, NHL Second Team All-Star. Winning the Pearson Award, and yet not making first team all-star. There must have been another center in the league at the time giving him a run for his money, although his name escapes me.

* 86/87 - The times are turning around for the Penguins, and Mario gets a plus rating for the first time. NHL Second Team All-Star.

* 87/88 - 58 power play assists and 80 power play points. And he still nearly picked up 50 even strength goals. Are you kidding me? Also a career high with 382 shots on net. Art Ross Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award, Hart Memorial Trophy, NHL First Team All-Star

* 88/89 - Career highs in goals with 85, assists with 114, points with 199, penalty minutes with 100, power play goals with 31, short handed goals with 13 an a shooting percentage of 27.2%. ALl of this finally earned Mario his first trip to the post season, where he posted 12 goals and 19 points in 11 games. Art Ross Trophy, NHL First Team All-Star.

*89/90 - 123 points in 59 games, and no hardware or postseason play to show for it. What a disappointing season, only 45 goals. Shame on you Mario!

* 90/91 - No hardware in this season, either... Until it mattered. Conn Smythe Trophy and his first of 2 straight Stanley Cups. A memorable playoff run to say the least.

* 91/92 - Two straight Stanley Cups with Tom Barasso and Kenny Wreggat in net. No surprise, then, that Mario is yet again the playoff MVP. Only the second player ever to win two straight playoff MVP honours. Art Ross Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy, NHL Second Team All-Star

* 92/93 - Most people think of 1988-89 as Mario's career year, but on a per game basis this year is the best, hands down. Mario missed 20 games due to Hodgkin's disease, and still came back to win the scoring title. Not to mention an NHL record 17 games in a row. We'll all remember the game seven overtime goal by David Volek that put a disappointing end on such a scripted Walt Disney season. Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award, NHL Plus/Minus Award, Bill Masterton Trophy (shocking!), NHL First Team All-Star.

* 93/94/95 - Mario missed most of the 93/94 season, and skipped the 94/95 lock-out season due to a mess of injuries, treatments and so on. Many wondered if Mario would return again.

* 95/96 - And return he did, picking up yet another scoring title and MVP honours despite playing only 70 games. Led team to another conference finals appearance. Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, NHL First Team All-Star, Lester B. Pearson Award

* 96/97 - Mario retired with 122 points in 77 games. But a first round playoff exit is no way to end such a storied career. The hockey hall of fame waiting period is waived, and Mario is immediately inducted. Art Ross Trophy, NHL First Team All-Star

* 00/01 - On December Mario made his return to the Penguins lineup, and like the first game of his career back in 1984, Mario scored a point on his first shift. Despite playing in only 43 games, Mario finished 26th in league scoring. This would be Mario's last post-season appearance, with 17 points in 18 games, leading the Penguins to one last Conference Finals birth. Lester Patrick Trophy, NHL Second Team All-Star

* 01/02 - 31 points in only 24 games. Captain of Canadian Olympic Gold Medal Team, and second on team in scoring.

* 02/03 - Lead the league in scoring for most of the season, but missed some games at the end to finish in 8th with 91 points in 67 games. This season will go down as the last hoorah for the real Mario. Unfortunately, the team was a bust yet again. A trend that would continue in Pittsburgh for as long as the team remained there.

* 03/04 - Captain of Canadian World Cup Championship Team. A final time to see Mario in International competition.

* 05/06 - Struggling with the new NHL rules, and another threatening physical illness, Mario called his career to an end. 22 points in 26 games on one of the worst teams in memory, and which already had a super star retire from his roster.

The Wizard of Odds

“Well, folks, when you're right 52% of the time, you're wrong 48% of the time.”

“Awwww, why didn’t you say that before!”


Well anyway, that’s how I feel about my pick in the Denver Pittsburgh game. I was right in saying that Denver wouldn’t cover the spread, so technically my pick was correct. But I couldn’t have been more wrong about Denver winning the game anyway. And I really couldn’t have been more wrong in saying that “Plummer has shaken his reputation thus far as being the man of the costly turnover” He proved me very wrong on that point early on. And with that, a 6 seed is in the Super Bowl. I must admit, this is not the year where I saw that coming. Nonetheless, I was 2-0 against the spread for the week, extending my record to 6-4 in the playoffs, and 159-107 overall on the season. A 160-win season is still doable, but next years goal will be to get the losses back under 100. I have to turn this sinking ship around before I go under 60%.

If I Only Had a Brain

We now start this game already in progress? As you probably heard already, Monday's contest between the Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators was a full 60-minute game, but the Predators were spotted a 1-0 lead. The reason given for this phantom goal was that is was the score of the game on November 21 before it was postponed. But that is not an explanation. If they're going to do something like this, then the game should start at the time where it left off, with all stats in tact. Will this go down as the longest regular season game and keep all the stats? Not likely. Or is it 60 minutes and whoever is in net gets a GA on no shots? Or does the goal happen without any goalie credited with a goal against? At one point in the game Nashville had 2 goals on 1 shot. It doesnt make sense to have done it this way. They should have picked one or the other - start new, or start where left off. No mix. It made no sense. Not to mention the fact that the rematch was in Detroit instead of nashville. I'm not following any of this. And to make matters worse, Nashville won the game by 1 goal. At least they didn't sore in the last 8 minutes, imagine the controversy this game would have started then.

Cowardly Goat?

There is a movement starting in Buffalo to rid the town of the worst jersey's in professional sports. And I couldn't be more supportive. There is a petition to sign if you click on the photo to the left, and I encourage you all to join in. I would love to see the old Blue and Gold back in Buffalo. There was never a reason to switch away from it in the first place, and these updated jersey's look fantastic.








Tin Man, Rusty

So the big news for today will be coming out sometime this afternoon when Mario Lemieux, yet again, announces his retirement from the NHL. This move was the obvious next step after announcing he was selling his share in the team. Mario is done with hockey, and just wants to completely cut away from it for a few years, before returning to coach the Montreal Canadiens. I really can't blame him for not waiting out the season. He's hurt, and his team is going no where fast. It's best for everyone if he's not involved. And it's sad to think what his career could have been if not for all the injuries and illness. I went to a Sabres Penguins game in December in hopes of seeing him play one last time, but it turned out that I was a day too late. We'll miss you Mario, thanks for all the great plays over the years.

The Wicked GM of the East

You'd think that Mario's retirement would be on my mind most today, but it isn't. I am most bothered by the trade rumours I'm hearing coming out of New York. Jale Rose and Mike James for Hardaway and Ariza. I will keep my comments on this disaster until it becomes a reality. What a mess that deal would be for the Raptors. Knowing Babcocks history, however, I'm sure it's already a done deal.

There is only one story in the world of sports today, and nothing I could say about it would add any value. If there is a day where a game ties the combined 3 point record, has the first team to score 150 points and combination over 300 points in years upon years, and this game is completely over-shadowed by another performance, then you know it must be something special. If the over-shadowing is done by an occurance in the same sport, then that almost unprecedented performance must just speak for itself. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch this monster game. The Raptors were up by 14 at the half, but Kobe himself outscored the entire Raptors team 55 to 41 in the second half. All he needed was one bucket from anyone else on the Lakers to complete the big comback. This was one for the ages, and nothing more can be said about it.


This game will also stand as the final nail in the coffin that is the Raptors season. Up to this point, I held out hope for a Chicago Bulls second half run to the playoffs. Games like this, however, are legendary for cutting teams off at the knees. Sometimes you just can't recover from both blowing a huge lead, and at the same time blowing it to one mans record-setting performance. Mister Mitchel, in case you're ever faced again with a man determined to make NBA history on his own, I have a little coaching tip for you; you might want to try, oh i dont know, double teaming him consistantly, see if that helps a bit. Or maybe you just enjoyed sitting back and watching that performance like the rest of us. It was special. It speaks for itself.

Denver -3.5 Pittsburgh

This is an interesting game, featuring 2 young guns in Jonny Damon 2 and the Burger. Roth is the more reliable, and the more seasoned of the two, but Plummer has shaken his reputation thus far as being the man of the costly turnover. The question is, can he keep it up as the games become higher and higher profile? The close of the season, and the playoffs thus far would suggest the new Plummer is here to stay.

9-0 at home, versus the leagues best road warriors. Bill Cower is 10-9 in the playoffs. There will be no repeat of the immaculate reception, and the Broncos hang onto this one. Add to that Roth's sore thumb, and everything seems to be pointing towards a Super Bowl birth for the Broncos, but not over the spread. 23-20 Denver.

Seattle -4.5 Carolina

Featuring a league MVP looking to get a little more than 9 yards this week, the Hawks are going to be hard to beat. No one wants an MVP season to be remembered that way. Take a huge performance to the bank and book it. Seattle does not come up empty-handed here. I'm a little surprised that the spread is so close on this one. Seattle was my much-maligned pick to win the Super Bowl before the playoffs started, and they should certainly be a huge favourite versus Carolina. It has been a nice, yet inexplicable, Cinderella run up until this point. But it is going to a screeching end in Seattle. Don't expect this one to be close. All Seattle has to do is double team Steve Smith 100% of the time and the game is done. Seattle bandwagoners - get ready for a huge party. The Lombardi trophy's coming home to the EMP this year, and there is going to be a huge celebration. I really wish that I was still there to see it. 23-17 for Seattle.

What's in a name?

The Bills signed Tai Tupai today. I guess if you can't win football games, you might as well win the best names contest. Which reminds me, it was pointed out to me in a reply to my last article that Zarley Zalapski's career is still lingering. Apparently he is playing for Rapperswill-Jona in the Swiss league. I don't know his statistics this year, but if anyone can get those to me that would be great. I'd love to know how he's faring. I've never been able to figure out what happened to this guy after he left Hartford. He had a span of 2 seasons there in which he tallied over 120 points. Then the self-destruct button hit in Calgary and Montreal, and I was wondering if he was ever able to find himself again. So if you know his Jona stats, please fill me in.

First "The Goal", now "The Save"

This has become the season of highlite reels. Ovechkin scored what was possibly the best goal of all time, which is still the one to see, and may be for some time now. But did anyone see what Aebischer did to the Red Wings tonight? It might be the save of all time. If you haven't seen it, then you have to find a way to see this save, or these three saves in one, I should say. The only video I can find so far is at http://www.nhl.com/highlights/index.html , if you look at the Avs Wing's highlites. If anyone else finds a better clip of this one, let me know. It is worth a few more looks at least.

Elias Watch: 8 games, 13 points, 8 wins. The Elias watch is approaching nearly biblical proportions at this point. On top of that, did anyone see his shootout goal tonight? That's another one for the highlight real that you might as well look up while you're finding The Save. If you could win the MVP award by only playing 45 games, this would be your guy.

Bryanless Leafs Watch: Yikes. The leafs extended their record since their MVP went down to 0 and 5, and they did it with an exclamation point. The Sens beat up on the Leafs by a score of 7 to 0. I'm not sure how much of a difference, however, the MVP could have made in this one. As the JF said "tonight was at least a big moral victory, holding them under eight." There is some truth to that, as in the last 3 contests now the Sens have outscored the Leafs 23-2, so it was the first time in 3 attempts that the goals against were held to under 8. After a big loss like that, the Leafs will be hungry at home on monday. Look for only a 2 point loss as they extend their Bryanless record to 0-6. I keep hearing comments on the Canadian sports channel The Score, where they say the Leafs can't figure out what went wrong as the fall has been so sudden. It's obvious to me what happened, and it should be obvious to everyone. Smarten up "The Score", you're supposed to be the best option of the big three in Canada. It was, however, Patricia Boal who I last heard say it, and anyone who looks like her can be forgiven for anything.

Crush My Soul

Just thought I'd start out today by replying to one of the comments left for me yesterday by Soul Crusher from Thunder Bay. He left the following comment:

"You are very high on McCabe. God knows why, he is one of the worst defencemen in the NHL. He is a powerplay specialist and that is all. Only reason that has come about is he has learned how to hit the net with his shot. Took him a few years though. Chara is getting the Norris. Vezina is going to Kipper and Lester B. Pearson Award, Hart probably too. He keeps that team respectable. Just to note, I'm not a Flames fan and hate the guy, but I think he is going to take those awards. As for the Sens winning the cup...not going to happen. I'm still going out on a limb and picking Vancouver. "

No arguments on Kipper, like I said he is the runner up to Hasek, and depending on the second half he could easily steal the Vezina. I don't like a goalie as MVP, as it is a position that is the most important and by default if the award can go to a goalie, then it should go to a goalie every year. It doesn't matter how good your team is, put a bad goalie in net and you're not going to win. End of story. As for Chara, I am not a huge fan of his style of play, BUT he has improved 10 fold from season to season. I would say that all around Redden is still a better player, and the best defenseman in Ottawa, and will also likely pick up the award at the end of the year. Chara is going to need one more year of solid improvement, but if that happens he could pick up 5 Norris trophies in a row. There is an unprecedented crop of rookie defenders right now, though, who are going to be looking to stop that from happening.

Now, that assessment of McCabe sounds almost word for word like how I used to talk about Pronger back in his Norris trophy days. He was horrible. Anybody, and I mean anybody could walk around him from the corner and have a shot on net. Yet nobody seemed to care about that aspect of his game. I'm sure, though, that some fans in Edmonton are starting to care this year. The reason I'm touting McCabe is based mostly on one thing I've noticed this year - other teams have designed their entire penalty kill around him. This is something rather unheard of in modern day hockey. And the thing is, he's still racking up the points with that in his face. He is much tougher on defense now than he gets credit for as well. Certainly leagues better than Pronger, but also not the same caliber as Chara and Redden. I know plus/minus is a bit of a questionable measure, since someone like Andrej Meszaros can just step into the league and have a +31 mostly because of the team around him, but McCabe spends most of his ice time on special teams where +/- isn't affected, and is still a +5 on a team very much in the negative. That ice time is all against the other teams top lines too.

I would love to see a second award started in the league, for the best offensive defenseman (obvious name being the Bobby Orr award). Guys like Dmitri Yushkevich and Harold Snepsts never got the credit they deserved in the league, and something needs to be introduced to recognize them. I am also in no way a McCabe fan. One of my favourite pre-game moments was at a Leafs Sabres game in Buffalo a few years ago, in his pre-can opener days. The girls in the front row in front of us had a huge sign that said "we love McCabe - king of the butt bombs". As you probably remember, at that time his game consisted of throwing his ass towards any guy skating in on him. In the pre game skate everyone rode McCabe and pointed out the sign to him, and I loved it. Loved it because I hated McCabe. But he certainly has come into his own this year, and he should be recognized. The Leafs are already 0-4 since he got injured, with losses to Minnesota and even Phoenix. The number will certainly be 0-6 after this home and home with Ottawa coming up. The team cannot win without him, and as far as I know that is the definition of an MVP.

Rucchin of the Year

Speaking of introducing new trophies, there is one that me and the JF give out every year. It is called the "Rucchin of the Year". To help you get an understanding of what the award is about, here is a definition for Rucchin of the Year that the JF came up with a few years back:


Rucchin:

noun: a leach, or parasite. one who feeds off of others, and would be unable to get by in their absence.

verb: to rely on or benefit from others, especially in cases where the subject is unable to fend for his/her self.

examples of uses: can i rucchin a ride off of you?: i don't have a car cause, like rucchin, i suck and need someone else to do stuff for me.

rucchin an assignment: i can't do anything, so i wanna "work with you" and get damn near the same mark as you even though you're doing all the work and i'm just there.

rucchin of the year: the player who rucchins the most over the course of the season i.e gets points even though he sux because he has a good player on his line. last year's <2001> winner: jonas hoglund. previous winners: steve rucchin, kevin stevens.

yo i just rucchined a 64 in that class: i'm a dumbass and would have failed if not for my friend, but some people think i'm good cause my mark looks like i did ok.

rucchin a few bucks for lunch: getting to eat cause someone else has money; much as steve rucchin get points cause selanne and kariya have talent.

he's such a rucchin: he never does anything for himself; he hangs out with other people's friends cause he doesn't have his own, he eats other peoples food, watches their tv cause they don't have cable, borrows cds all the time and maybe give them back, gets a ride everywhere cause he can't drive, etc. most appropriate when he has no redeemable qualities to offer and nobody can figure out why they let him get away with it cause any bum off the street could fill that role just as well.


So, you get the gist of it. Now comes the time to decide the Rucchin of the first half. In honour of the Canadian Federal elections coming up next week, I've decided to make this award based on a vote. I will list out the four finalists, and ask you guys to send in your votes for the award, using the poll on the right. Feel free to leave a comment explaining your choice as well. I will tally up the votes and present the first half Rucchin sometime next week. Here are the nominees (all of whom, oddly enough, would make far better representatives as Prime Minister than Steven Harper):

Martin Straka

A perennial favourite, Straka finds himself on a line with one of the leagues best again this year, and is really taking advantage of it. Playing in LA and Pittsburgh last season without a real linemate, Marty put up only 26 points in 54 games. This season, basking in Jagr's glory again, he has 48 points in 47 games. This is a common trend in Straka's career, where from year to year due to trades and injuries, his lines have changed. The difference between the 6.5 years where he was able to Rucchin, and the 6.5 years where he wasn't is enourmous. And since they are spread throughout his career, they are not influenced by age or injury. Weighted over an average 82 game season, his statistics are as follows:

Rucchin Years 28 Goals 48 Assists 76 Points
Non Ruc Years 13 Goals 28 Assists 41 Points

The numbers are staggering, and it's about time that such a dominantly Rucchin-like career is recognized. Hopefully his numbers will keep up, and he'll pick up his first Rucchin of the Year award at the end of the season. What better time than when he is in the lineup with Steve Rucchin himself. A fitting culmination to an illustrious career.

Slava Kozlov

Another career Rucchin, Slava's numbers soared to new heights on his arrival in Atlanta. In his three seasons before arriving in Atlanta, he had 36, 38 and 32 point campaigns. His first season in Atlanta, playing with Kovalchuk and Heatley saw him put up 70 points. His second season saw his numbers tail off a bit to 52 points, as Heatley missed 50 games and he was only able to Rucchin off of Kovalchuks talents. Throwing Hossa into the mix this year has taken his abilities to new heights, and he has already put up 47 points in 48 games. Definitely a Rucchin-worthy performance being put on in Georgia.

Jonathan Cheechoo

This one is easy to see. 16 points in 25 games before Thornton's arrival, 27 points in 20 games afterwards. The JF also had this to point out about Cheechoo's season:

"i think cheechoo may have been rucchining off of marleau even before thornton. but with thornton he's taken it to lofty heights. he's the new glen murray."

63 points in 145 games prior to this season, doubled performance in Rucchining off of Marleau, and doubled again with Thornton providing his services. Since he's only had 20 games with Thornton so far, he is a bit of an underdog in the Rucchin of the Year competition. One would have to assume, however, that if he keeps up this pace, Cheechoo should be the easy favourite to have the award come playoff time. And Thornton should be enough to get them into said playoffs.

Scott Walker
Walker's numbers and style of play wouldn't normally lead to his inclusion in the Rucchin of the Year award. Extenuating circumstances that lead to his inclusion: Scored a goal with his helmet. It was on January 15th against Pittsburgh and Greg Johnson took a shot from the point, deflected up off a defenseman, off of Walkers lid and into the back of the net. Walker didn't go down for the year with a concussion from it, but it was still worthy of Rucchin mention. He has missed enough of the season, though, to not be able to tell if the players on his line are really carrying him thus far. But this goal certainly is worthy of the Rucchin name.

Oh, and as a side note, another thing that came up during the game was http://www.darcyhordichuk.com. Enjoy! And remember to get your Rucchin of the Year votes in ASAP. It's election time, and you want to have your say!

As promised, here are my mid-season picks for the NHL awards, as compared to the picks I made before the season started. This post is very subjective (and took a long time!), so I welcome comments and critiques from everyone. Leave them below, and I'll try to address all of them. The whole reason to do this is for discussion, so please bring it on.

Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy
League Leader in Goals
Pre-Season Pick: Dany Heatley
Mid-Season Winner: Ilya Kovalchuk

Dany Heatley was my pick before the season started, because in combination with 2 of Ottawa's top guys helping to feed him the puck, he was a guaranteed 50 goal scorer, and another 50 assists as well, as I will mention below. How people thought Atlanta got the best of that deal will forever confuse me. He is, and will be for many years to come, a valid MVP candidate. Kovalchuk currently leads the way with 34 goals, followed closely by a surging Ovechkin at 32, and Gagne at 31. Heatley is fourth with 29. Going to the end of the season, the award could find itself residing with a rookie. His ability to put just about any puck in the net lately is baffling, and I see no reason why he'll finish the season with less than 60 goals, destroying the record for #1 draft picks in their rookie year. But Ilya could end up with 75, or with 55. It's hard to say, but I do know that I'm rooting for Ovechkin. He is the most fun rookie to watch since Lemieux, and will likely have a comparable career. Lets just hope we get a little more longevity out of his.

Lester B. Pearson Award
MVP As Voted By the Players Association
Pre-Season Pick: Dany Heatley
Mid-Season Winner: Bryan McCabe

Apparently before the season started I was on a huge Dany Heatley kick. His name will come up more than a few times in this process. Bryan McCabe is the leafs team. He is well liked by the players, feared by opposing defenses on the power play, and has controlled the Leafs fate this season. He is the first half MVP, as no one has been as valuable to a playoff team as him. The fact that the Capitals are near the bottom of the stadings is a big reason why Ovechkin is only a runner up. Imagine that team without him. The same can be said for Palffy and McCabe, however, two scenarios which we are going to find out about now. These are two teams that are in a lot of trouble without their stars, which is the big reason they are in the MVP running for the first half. Season end will obviously see McCabe and Palffy fall from contention, paving the way for a random Ottawa player to steal the award. Hasek is having an outstanding season, but put my mom in net and the Sens still win 40 games. That doesnt make an MVP. Staal and Thornton will likely fight for MVP rights by the end of the year.

Frank J. Selke Trophy
Best Defensive Forward
Pre-Season Pick: Mike Knuble
Mid-Season Winner: Brenden Morrow

Mike Knuble has been the strongest defensive forward in the league for 3 seasons now, so I don't feel I need to justify that pick. Brenden Morrow, on the other hand, is probably way off everyones radar for this award, but bare with me here. Most people would argue Modano for this award if you're looking at a Dallas player, but given the choice of battling Mike or Brenden for a puck, or trying to go around or through one, which would you pick? Morrow is a lot more willing to stand his ground at any cost, and had been doing an excellent job of it this year. He'll always come back, and knows what he's doing when he does. You can't argue with that kind of performance, it's more that Chris Pronger can say for himself defensively, and he's supposed to be a defenseman. Runner ups are Brian Rolston, Mike Knuble and Mike Modano.

Jack Adams Award
Coach of the Year
Pre-Season Pick: Randy Carlyle
Mid-Season Winner: Lindy Ruff

Lindy Ruff has done way too much with way too little. There is no other explanation than him for the Sabres success, and it's really no surprise. He has been coaching Buffalo since 1997, and in that time has had a better than .500 record with a complete lack of talent outside of the crease. He gets a strong effort out of every player every night. Hands down winner, with special mention also to Tom Renney for doing something other coaches have failed to do: get Jaromir Jagr to seem interested in playing day-in and day-out. We'll see how long he's able to weave that magic. Ruff hangs on to this award by season-end.

King Clancy Memorial Trophy
On and Off Ice Leadership
Pre-Season Pick: Mark Messier
Mid-Season Winner: Mark Messier

Leadership of his godly levels survives retirement. He will be the true, and only leader forever. I only hope to one day bask in such leadership. Feel free to donate money to my cause: The Send Kent to Messier Leadership Camp Fund. Paypal your donations to CSULBHockey@netscape.net. We thank you in advance for your kindness. With your help, one day this dream will come true.

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
Perserverence and Dedication to Hockey
Pre-Season Pick: Patrick Elias
Mid-Season Winner: Patrick Elias

This award always goes to someone coming off of an injury of some sort. If there is a disease involved then it is a mortal lock. Elias was bound to both come back, and to dominate at some point during the year. The award was, and is, obviously his. Take it to the bank... just not the blood bank if Elias is involved.

William M. Jennings Trophy
Goalies on Team with Fewest Goals Against
Pre-Season Pick: Dominik Hasek
Mid-Season Winner: Domink Hasek/Ray Emery

Emery is on pace to just play the 26 games played needed to qualify for this award. And that is the only surprise here. The Patrick Roy trophy is on its way back to Hasek this year. Mikka Kiprusoff is currently in second, with the NHL's dynamic dup of Rolloson/Fernandez in third.

Vezina Trophy
Outstanding Goalkeeper
Pre-Season Pick: Dominik Hasek
Mid-Season Winner: Dominik Hasek

As is true about the Dominik Hasek award. From the moment he signed with Ottawa on, this one was a lock in my books. There was no denying Hasek his 7th career Vazina trophy, to tie him with Jacques Plantes for the all time record. Manny Fernandez leads the league in GAA and Save %, but splits duty with the Dwayner and has only played in 28 games. A fact which has kept his name from serious Vezina consideration ever since the Dynamic Duo was first put together. Legace and Miller each had Vezina-like years, until their injuries, making Kiprusof and Fernandez the actual runners-up.

Conn Smythe Trophy
Playoffs MVP
Pre-Season Pick: Dominik Hasek
Mid-Season Prediction: Daniel Alfredson

Hasek looked to be primed to carry the Sens to the Cup this year, but the way the Sens have played they really don't need him. All things equal, Alfy then deserves the award. He has been this teams leader right from the start, and suffered through all the adversity placed upon him because of it. This is finaly his year, and he will lead this team through the playoffs and right to the Conn Smythe. Hasek and Heatley are the other likely candidates. I won't even bother to speculate on any other teams winning the Cup.

Calder Memorial Trophy
Rookie of the Year
Pre-Season Pick: Sidney Crosby
Mid-Season Winner: Alex Ovechkin

Crosby was probably everybody's pre-season front-runner, but Vechky quickly took control. The race was somewhat close for a while, but in the last month and a half Alex has shown he is already in a class above Crosby. Have you heard anyone mention Crosby's name in MVP talks? Not likely. This is the clear difference between their rookie campaigns. Ovechkin is the rookie of the year, and the vote shouldn't be close with Crosby. At this point I would put the race for runner up in this order: 2. Lundqvist (2.19 and .924 in a rookie campaign on a team that has looked horrible in recent years. Really, he is the only one who could give Ovechkin a run for his money. His name should come up in some Vezina talk) 3. Meszaros (+31 in 44 games? Are you kidding me?) 4. Crosby 5. Svatos 6. Michalek 7. Phaneuf 8. Steen 9. Tyutin 10. Seabrook That is 10 solid guys who would be deserving of the award in any other year. And I didnt even mention Vanek, Prucha, Boyes, Wellwood, Vorobiev, Whitney, Ouellet, et Al. I have never seen a rookie crop like this years. It is the stuff that dreams are made of, and should give us all an over-abundance of hope for the future of the league. It has been an exciting year.

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
Biggest Pussy
Pre-Season Pick: Pavel Datsyuk
Mid-Season Winner: Brad Richards

Who cares?


James Norris Memorial Trophy
Best Defenseman
Pre-Season Pick: Wade Redden
Mid-Season Winner: Bryan McCabe

Wade Redden is strong defensively, and offensively, and being on a team that was such a clear front-runner for the Cup made him the early favourite. Bryan McCabe's plus/minus might not be up there with the runner ups, but that is understandable since it is on special teams where Bryan excels. He leads all defenseman in power play goals with 10, power play points with 31, and short handed points with 4. Not only that, but he is the Leafs power play. He controls the flow of games, is the clear team leader, and is the only reason the Leafs are in the playoff race. Hands down he has made the biggest difference on any teams blueline. Lubomir Visnovsky is a very close second, and will likely battle Wade Redden for the award by the end of the year, as McCabe's injury seems more serious than first reported.

Hart Memorial Trophy
MVP
Pre-Season Pick: Dany Heatley
Mid-Season Winner: Bryan McCabe

This is pretty much the same as the Lester B Pearson award because I'm speaking in both cases. Add Jagr and Forsberg to Staal in the running when it isn't player votes, though, and take Thornton out. Hasek has a better shot at this one too. I'd like to see Eric Staal walk away with it, if not just because he's the leader of my fantasy team. He also plays a better all around game than the others, and hopefully that will push him over the top.

Art Ross Trophy
League Leader in Points
Pre-Season Pick: Dany Heatley
Mid-Season Winner: Jaromir Jagr

The guaranteed 50 and 50 was enough for me to think Heatley would lead the league in both goals and points. Injuries to teammates have been, and will continue to slow him a bit, but he is fighting well in both categories. Jaromir Jagr currently has 69 points, followed by Kovalchuk at 66 and Thornton at 63. Heatley is in 6th with 60 points. Baring injury, I expect Kovalchuk to hold off Thornton for the league lead in the end. Jagr just doesn't have the mental capability to carry a team for an entire season. Unless mentally this is a new Jaromir, the Rangers will begin to falter shortly, along with Jagr's numbers.

Prince of Wales Trophy
Eastern Conference Champion
Pre-Season Pick: Ottawa Senators
Mid-Season Prediction: Ottawa Senators

This is, from here on, the Ottawa Senators section. There has been more than enough evidence, as well as explanation on my part, to be able to leave these sections without saying any more. Ottawa and Detroit are the class of the league. They looked that way before the season started, and have proved it so in the first half. In a 7 game series there is no competing with these teams, and Ottawa likely takes Detroit in 6 in the finals. All that fire power on these two teams, along with Hasek and Legace in net. It will be an exciting series, and I hope we get to see it. We waited long enough for a Stanley Cup Final, it might as well blow us away. If only Ovechkin could be involved somehow.

Clarence S. Campbell Bowl
Western Conference Champion
Pre-Season Pick: Detroit Red Wings
Mid-Season Prediction: Detroit Red Wings




Presidents' Trophy
Best Regular Season Record
Pre-Season Pick: Ottawa Senators
Mid-Season Winner: Ottawa Senators




Stanley Cup
League Champs
Pre-Season Pick: Ottawa Senators
Mid-Season Prediction: Ottawa Senators

Unexpected Retirement

So much for my suggestion to trade Palffy for Domi while they could. In a completely unexpected move, citing recurring pain in his shoulder, Ziggy Palffy has retired from the Pittsburgh Penguins. "I have agreed on all matters related to my retirement with the Pittsburgh management... There is no point in suffering any longer." Palffy said in an interview with Slovak newspaper Sport Daily.

This is horrible news for the Penguins, as they are now down to just one player who bothers to show up in any form for games. In 42 games this year, Ziggy has 11 goals and 42 points after signing a $13.5 million deal over three years this past summer. In 684 career games, Ziggy has 713 points and 45 game winning goals. He was one of few players in the NHL who could, on any given night, prove to be worth the price of admission on his own.

The Penguins second biggest offensive threat now is Mark Recchi, who has 36 points in 46 games, and is an astounding -23 on the season. Defenseman Ric Jackman is next in scoring with 24 points. Palffy also lead the team in +/- with an inexplicable +5 (Pirjeta is the only other player on the team on the positive side), and was truly the team MVP up until this point.

The Penguins have lost their only other player. Lost their only real trade bait. Lost their heart, and what is probably the greatest name in sports since Zarley Zalapski, not to mention about 80% of games remaining this season. They need to bring someone onto Crosby's line to defend him so he has a chance to really learn the game. It is all they can do at this point, because everything else is a complete wash.

More on Crosby

Someone left a comment on my last post, in response to my saying that Crosby isnt getting the treatment that Gretzky got because he's not getting the same kind of protection. They mentioned that Andre Roy played for the Penguins, as he is then their McSorely stand-in. But Roy himself embodies my point, for he hasnt even played a total of 60 minutes on the season yet, and has only dressed for 15 games. Even if he is their "McSorely" type, he is not being used in the same way. Marty took a regular shift with Wayner. The league today in no way resembles that. If Roy is Crosby's assigned protector, then no wonder he's having to do battles for himself. Andre's put out a whole 3 minutes a game, in one out of every three games, and I would wager baring a line change overlap a total of 0 of those minutes on average are played with Sid. He's on a team with both no other talent or effort worth defending, and with no body there who can stand up for their star. And this is not the way to introduce Crosby to the league. It is not beneficial for anyone involved.

The Leafs and Pens should find a deal involving Domi and either Transtrom or Palffy that would benefit both sides at this point. If Crosby was on a line with Domi things would change. His production would go up, his penalty minutes would go down, and the team would definitely not do any worse. At the very least it would give Crosby some space to get used to the league in. And Domi has enough actual talent to go with his physical play to keep up with Crosby likely better than Marty did with Wayne. It's a combination that needs to come together if the Penguins are going to be building something for the future. This season's a write-off, they have to do something for Crosby's sake. He is their only chance at a future, and needs to be treated as such.

Weekends Football Recap

So I went 2-2 last weekend in picking against the spreads (157-107 on the season now), and considering that the Pats and the Colts both lost, I can't imagine many people doing much better. I did get the Denver pick right, however, it was actually Carolina that burned me. It was hard to imagine Chicago losing at home to Carolina, and I'm still not sure how it happened. There's only one guy who they couldn't cover, and that cost them the game. Don't look for a Carolina surprise three weeks in a row, though. The run ends now with a Super Bowl birth for Seattle. I wish I still lived there so I could be a part of that excitement. If ever there was a city that gets caught up wild on a bandwagon, it's Seattle. it must be nuts out there right now. I doubt anyone there even notices that the Sonics have fallen from division champions last year, to 13th in the conference. If all you can do is rely on a 3 pointer to win you games, the bubble is guaranteed to burst at some point.

The Goal

I'm sure you've seen it by now. If somehow you've been under a rock the last couple of days, you HAVE TO see it. Here it is : http://boss.streamos.com/qtime/capitals/quicktime/011606_ovechkin_p3g6.mov

I can't even put any words to that goal, I would do it no justice. But I will use it to roll into my topic that I will cover tomorrow; my mid-season picks for the NHL awards, as compared to my picks before the season started. There is no question at the half-way point who the rookie of the year is, and he showed a great example of it on that play. This kid has more than lived up to the hype that he gives himself. I shudder to think of what he'll be able to do when someday he has someone on his line who actualy knows how to get him the puck. That will be sick. And I will be waiting for the day. Before the season started I picked Crosby to easily win the rookie of the year award, mostly because I assumed the talent that Pittsburgh brought in along with him would be enough to give him an edge over Ovechkin. As it turned out, both players have been hung out to dry on their own, and Ovechkin is clearly more able to adapt and play alone. Would Washington even have a win yet this year without him? Of course there'd be some here and there, there always is, but it's impossible to imagine how they would have happened. Rookie of the year, and a top-5 MVP pick. Hands down.

Elias Watch: 6 games, 11 points, 6 wins. At this point I'm thinking about getting Hepatitis myself to try to get my career going again. He is easily showing that he is one of the 3 most talented players in the league, and I think at this point that would be impossible for anyone to deny. The Devils have yet to lose since Elias' return, and have shot up the standings into a 6th place tie with the Maple Leafs. Speaking of whom, word today is that McCabe's minor groin strain is actually a tear. This is horrible news for Leafs fans. There is a reason why I was saying McCabe is the hands down MVP in the league - because the Leafs cannot do anything without him. So far 3 games, 3 losses and 1 for 7 on the power play against Vancouver, and 1 for 6 against Colorado, with a Phoenix loss in between. Toronto was 4th in the league on the power play, and it had everything to do with McCabe. Without him its hard to imagine even a .500 record in Toronto. If it's a serious tear then it's time to phone the season in. Sorry Mom, I know you don't like the sound of that, but try to stay calm. At least the Devils are going to have an easier time holding onto a playoff spot now.

Conversations On Ice

The JF brought to my attention a conversation that was overheard in the Blackhawks Penguins "game" the other day. Lapointe was wearing a mic, and this exchange was actually caught on TV:

Crosby: why are you trippin on me when Barnaby's trippin on me?
Lapointe: Why don't you play a little, no? You can do that. Just play

Later on, Lapointe is shown over at the bench talking to Barnaby:
Lapointe: Did you give Crosby an elbow?
Barnaby: No
Lapointe: Well, he told me you did.
Barns: Who did?
LaP: Crosby did. Said you gave him an elbow. That's why he was whining a bit. I said "Well, that's not the first one you're gonna get"
Barny: Oh, ya ya. I saw him on the boards. I got him.


Some things struck me as funny in this conversation. First off, Crosby uses the phrase "trippin on me". Secondly, does he really think that he's only going to have to worry about one guy a game during his career? Last time I checked, Recchi wasn't McSorely. Those days are gone. Sid, you're on your own, and you're going to have to get used to it. Someone with your hype will always be a main target every game, you've got 20 years of elbows ahead of you.

Also, though, if Lapointe really told him "that's not the first one you're gonna get", what exactly did he mean. Does he have a time machine back home that he and Barnaby ordered off the internet? I hope he tried it out already before making such big claims. Or his next mic'ed conversation might go a little more like this "Ow! Ow! Ow! It kills! My pack! Ow! Turn it off! It's a piece of crap and it doesn't work!" But really, though, I know what he meant to say, and he's right. It's not the only elbow he's going to get. Every corner he goes into should find an elbow, and that is the way the game should be played. You can't give the best players in the league all the ice and time they want. If they don't have a McSorely to help them earn it, then they are going to have to fight through a lot of pain to get it. And that is the way that it should be. Increased scoring is nice, and I am loving this season, but if they start cutting down on cheap moves in the corners as well, then they will have gone too far. So far I don't have too many complaints in that area, though. They seem to still be concentrating on the interference-type infractions. For now.

Elias watch: well, I guess this is an offshoot of coming off of a debilitating disease. A cold can weaken you enough to keep you out of the lineup. Tough luck for the Devils and Patrick, but I still think he'll manage a point a game from here on in. Just hard to tell how many games exactly that will include.

Mogilny Watch: 1 game in the AHL, and already 1 game winning goal. Most players of Alex's stature would never report to the minor league team. What Alex has done in reporting is very admirable, and should not be ignored. This is a real team player, and a huge talent. How he can not be in the NHL is beyond me. Something is seriously wrong in the swamp. It's time to clean house, this is beyond unacceptable at this point. Even bringing in Rob Babcock right now would be an improvement. At least his huge mistakes can still make a playoff team.

Now that we’re at the halfway point of the NHL season, I’m continuing going to take a look back at my pre season power rankings. I went over the teams I ruled out of the playoffs yesterday, leaving my playoff picks for today. So, listed below are my picks, in order, before the season, along with their current rank in the standings by points per game.

16 NY Isles (23) –7 – Slight disappointment here, although nothing too unexpected. Dipietro has disappointed again, and is taking a definite step backwards in his climb to being one of the leagues elite goalies. But He is not the only one to blame here. Mark Parrish has dropped 20 points in +/- from last year to a –12. Satan, the big off-season acquisition, has only 31 points and is a –6. Niinimaa has yet to show up for a game this year, ending his failed time on the island just the other day. Bates and Kvasha have combined for only 29 points in 60 games. If these guys were playing up to their past standards, this would again be a playoff team. It’s almost like they’ve already given up on this season though, as proved quite thoroughly in the Niinimaa deal.

15 Edmonton (12) +3 – The Oilers are playing tough in a very tough division. I picked four divisional teams to make the playoffs before the season started, and they have done anything but let me down. Their entire division is 118-80-22, and Horcoff, Hemsky and Stoll have everything to do with their success. The trio’s average age is 24, so expect a lot from this team in the future. There may be a Stanley Cup run in Edmonton again in a couple years, if they manage to keep this nucleus together. On another note, a guy that Boston, Vancouver and Atlanta all gave up on (and for good reason) has really found his home in Edmonton. In his first 6 years in the league, Steve Staois had 47 points in 297 games and was a whopping –74. During his past 4 years in Edmonton, he has managed 79 points in 275 games, and is a surprising +51. Not enough has been said about his contribution to Edmonton’s turn around, he deserves a lot more credit than the complete lack that he gets.

14 Calgary (10) +4 – I don’t like this team, and I would much rather not comment on them. One of the few relics to the old game left, they are currently 4th last in goals for, and have allowed the 5th least goals against. Boring. Phaneuf has some spark, but even Iginla has only 34 points. Tony Amonte has 24. This team plays a horrible style to watch, but unfortunately it produces results to some extent still. I try to pretend they don’t exist.

13 Anaheim (17) –4 – 13th, 17th, close enough. These guys are doing just about exactly as I expected. Niedermayer, McDonald, Selanne, Lupul and Giguere are a pretty good 5 guys to have. I don’t like the Sykora trade, and Ozolinsh has been a disaster, but I hear they have the league leader in goals per game on the team so that should help. It’s just too bad that he’s only played one game, and that Giguere missed some time, otherwise they’d be right in the thick of things.

12 Pittsburgh (28) –16 – Some things that look good on paper should stay on paper. Enough has been said about this mistake already that I don’t need to repeat any of it here. If you foresaw Recchi, Jackman, Lemieux, Gonchar, LeClair and Malone combining for a –192 by the mid point of the season, let me know because I’ll be basing all my gambling in the future on your word. This team came together in such a… well, they really didn’t come together at all. At least not for an entire game at a time, that is.

11 Toronto (13) –2 – That’s about right. I talk enough about the Leafs normally to no go into much detail here, other than to say if McCabe goes down, so does the Leafs run at the playoffs. This guy shouldn’t just be in Norris talks, but at this point he’s the league MVP from what I can see. No one else has been so valuable to another playoff team.

10 Montreal (16) –6 – I expected a little bit more out of Theodore this year, but otherwise its been about exactly as expected. Tough fight for a playoff spot right to the end is in store for the Habs.

9 New Jersey (19) –10 – A decent team was assembled, but a very disappointing approach was taken to coaching them. Too many guys here are given up on too quickly, and it is not beneficial for this team. Elias’ return should help conjure up a playoff run, but without Mogilny and the defensive help they brought in during the off-season, it may just be to little too late. I am not used to seeing balls being dropped by the coaching and front office staff in New Jersey. Maybe it’s time for some all out changes in the swamp, because this season leaves a lot to the imagination.

8 Tampa bay (20) –12 – Yuck. Where did everybody go?

7 San Jose (15) –8 – They’ll be well up in the playoffs by the end of the year. Nabokov’s past his troubles, Thorntons in the mix, and Cheechoo has an inside shot at Rucchin of the year going strong into the second half. These guys are primed for a run.

6 Colorado (14) –8 – Svatos the savior should be the chant in Denver, because the usual suspects are not holding their own this year. I read an article by Scott Burnside on ESPN saying that Svatos, Prucha, Phaneuf and Lundqvist are having great years, but the rookie of the year is a two-person race between The Kid and The Egomaniac. The reason he gave was that “The two superstars-in-waiting have almost identical point totals (46 for Ovechkin, 45 for Crosby) that dwarf the competition. They log almost the same amount of ice time and have similar plus/minus ratings. “ Last time I checked, 46 and 45 didn’t dwarf the 42 points that Svatos has put up. And Svatos, while not great on defense, does have a slightly better +/- than his counterparts. If you consider the fact that his point a game pace has come while averaging only 13 and a half minutes a game versus Crosby’s 19 and a half minutes, and Ovechkin’s 21, then maybe what Svatos is doing should at least be considered in the same light as the big two. Anyway, this team will come together, and will move up the standings to where they belong. They just have too much talent no to.

5 Vancouver (11) –6 – You keep hearing that Bertuzzi isn’t living up to past expectations. For the life of me, I really don’t see what that’s based on. Ignoring +/-, Todd’s numbers are all better than they were in the 2003-2004 season. It’s funny what a year of over hyping someone can do to build up his expectations past what they should be. The offense as a whole has declined dramatically, however, as has the defensive effort, but for the first time in years they have someone who resembles a goalie in net. All these changes kind of wash each other out, and the Canucks will be in the playoffs again. This time they’ll have a goalie. I’d be a little worried to play against them.

4 Dallas (4) 0 – Bang on, and easy to predict. Turco, Lehtinen, Morrow, Arnott, Zubov, and Modano. Even with Guerin’s enormous slump there is enough firepower there to go around. I saw rankings with these guys in last in their division, near the bottom of the conference. It really made no sense, as the Stars have easily proven.

3 Philadelphia (3) 0 – Bang on. No mistaking what they brought in during the off-season. Good team + Forsberg = top of the standings.

2 Detroit (5) –3 – People picked he Wings to miss the playoffs. Legace never got the credit he deserved. His dominance this season should be no surprise. He has been a top 10 goalie in the league since 2000, but never got the chance to prove himself. The management even tried to bring back Osgood to keep him from being the everyday starter. Goalies aren’t hard to judge, but they seem to be the position that provides the most trouble for most coaches, GM’s and the media. And that was pretty evident in a lot of pre season rankings.

1 Ottawa (1) 0 – Hasek was the obvious Vezina winner before the season started. Why did people question it? Heatley was an obvious steal, even for Hossa. Why did people not see that? When this trade went down, it was said that Healtey was traded in exchange for Hossa and a defenseman. My initial reply to getting this news from the JF was “the defenseman better be redden or what a fucking joke. Why does Atlanta trade for Hossa at that price? 7 mil in 3 seasons? Hell no.” His reply was “good point. I’m just pissed Heatley and Kovalchuk are broke up. That was a good team they had going there.” And I finished with “so much wrong with that trade. so much.” And then the media and opinion kicked in, saying that Ottawa got ripped off, Atlanta stole so much in the trade and so on. Sometimes it baffles me how people cant just see things how they are. So lets look at the comparison so far: Heatley 27 goals, 30 assists and 57 points in 42 games, with a +26, 25 power play points and 3 game winning goals. Hossa has 5 less goals, 2 less points in 3 more games, is a +6 with 26 power play points. Hossa is by no means performing poorly, but he also isn’t in the running for MVP. Heatley is. And that is where the big difference is in this trade. And all the while Heatley makes less money. Ottawa has a team, and it’s hard to see them losing a playoff series at this point. Special note, also, to Meszaros, who in my mind is second only to Ovechkin in the rookie of the year race. 17 points on defense and a +25 in 42 games, and he looks like he’s been quarterbacking an NHL power play for 10 years. There isn’t a single team in the league who wouldn’t benefit from having this guy on their line, and that is almost unheard of to say of a rookie defenseman. Maybe if he wasn’t European you would hear a little more about him, but in 2 or 3 years there will be no ignoring him. Phantom Norris trophies, like hose in Prongers bookcase, are a thing of the past, as should Pronger be himself.

So that’s how my preseason rankings have held up. It got a little more long-winded than I had anticipated, so I’ll leave the award predictions for another day. And I’ll get ready to watch the Pats lose this weekend. I can’t stand to call myself a dumbass twice in a row, so they have to pull this one out for me. I just hope there’s one game worth watching this weekend.

Now that we’re at the halfway point of the NHL season, I’m going to take a look back at my pre season power rankings. This was an especially hard year to predict, with the large amount of time off between seasons. I think I did pretty good at the top of the standings, didn’t get too many disappointments up there. But I did miss most of the surprises of the year, namely Carolina, Buffalo and the Rangers. In my defense, there still remains little reasonable evidence that they should be at the top of the standings, but there they remain. So, listed below are my picks, in order, before the season, along with their current rank in the standings by points per game.

30 Washington (27) +3 – Ovechkin and some guys. There was no mistaking this for a team.

29 Florida (24) +5 – Luongo and some guys. See above.

28 Buffalo (7) +21 – This has to be the surprise of the century. Second in the division, and only 4 points behind Ottawa halfway through the season? If someone says they saw that coming, they are lying to you. Plain and simple. Looking at their roster itself, stats included, I still can’t justify their place in the standings. I don’t expect it to stand, although they should be able to squeak into the playoffs.

27 Carolina (2) +25 – This isn’t really a surprise. They get to play a lot of game against Florida and Atlanta and Washington. They may be second in points, but it’s not a solid second. Imagine Detroit or Dallas in this division. Records would fall. As will Carolina early on in the playoffs. The East will have a strong team in the number 6 playoff spot.

26 Atlanta (18) +8 – 18th in points, playing in their division, that still makes them about 26th overall. Nailed that one.

25 Minnesota (21) +4 – My comment to the JF when first assembling these rankings was “without their goalies they give buffalo a run... maybe” implying they were just as bad. Well, Buffalo may have fooled me, but Minnesota is as bad. They currently sit second in goals against, and yet have 44 points to show for it. It isn’t every year that the Jennings trophy winner misses the playoffs. This might be that year. It’s time that they traded one of their goaltenders for some real help up front. Manny and Dwaner are both top 10 goalies in the league, edging towards the top 5. The dynamic duo needs to venture out on their own, and the Wild need to cash in on it while they can.

24 NYR (8) +16 – Jagr decided to play this year. He has the ability, if teamed with a goalie, to put any team into the playoffs. I can only think of three people who fit that mold - Jagr, Elias, Naslund. Ovechkin may get there someday, but certainly not yet. The problem with Jagr, though, is that his moods are too fickle. As goes Jagr, so goes the team. We’ll see if he decides to carry the team all year. I’m not certain he will.

23 LA (9) +14 – Wow. Demetra was a huge addition. And riding LaBarbera on his early streak helped. It’s a shame that whatever “personal reasons” kept him from playing for a while really cost him his big shot at the NHL. He was playing like a seasoned #1 with his sights set on being a all star for years to come. Then on a trip to St.Louis he was sent home for personal reasons. Being a goalie and all, the best I can figure is that he had a breakdown of some sort. Garon played well in his absence, and so his chance passed him by. I noticed yesterday he was assigned to the AHL. It’s too bad, I was looking forward to keeping an eye on his career.

22 Nashville (6) +16 – Vokoun. Kariya. Underestimated. My bad.

21 Chicago (26) –5 – My note on Chicago was “all goalie again”. Khabs is funny, he plays well….. when his team has a chance. Best goalie in the world I they do. Why he would bring himself back to the worst team in the league is beyond me. I thought he would be good enough to get them from 30 to 21, but not quite. Chicago is horrible, and everyone is blaming Khabs. But really. I mean really.

20 Columbus (29) –9 – the difference between 20 and 29 comes down to an injury to a guy who is almost in the Jagr, Elias, Naslund group. He’s at least enough to get them ahead of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington and Boston. And he likely will in the second half.

19 Boston (25) –6 – The JF tried to question my Boston choice being out of the playoffs. Our conversation went as follows:
“those sound like the next team. I would argue with Boston being that low. they're decent. khabibulin is one of 3 euros in Chicago. seems low to me.”
“Tornton samsonov mceachern
zhamnov murray isbister
green axelsson fitzgerald
boyes scatchard orr

gill leetch
slegr moran
girard stuart

raycroft

yeah, they have a good power play... and then? I'm not so convinced about them. raycroft is over rated, and then everything goes for hell after the 2nd O and 1st D lines. 3 guys and 3 questionable guy do not a team make. they can easily move up the standings as the year progresses, but I can’t start them higher than the islanders Montreal or St. Louis. “

“their 3rd line "grinders" are as "good" as anyone else. I admit their defense is pretty weak and a lot depends on raycroft. they'll be in the playoffs. “

“someone doesn’t remember Travis green fully.
I really don’t think raycroft is enough. they'd have to make the playoffs over the isles or habs or leafs... really think they can?”
It went on from that, but that was about the gist of it. Boston wasn’t good. And that was before they gave Thornton away. This team is a mess now at best, and that’s good news for Toronto and Montreal’s playoff runs.

18 Phoenix (22) –4 – People were calling Phoenix a playoff team before the season started. I remembered seeing rankings that put Detroit, Dallas and Colorado battling for the last spot, with two of them missing the playoffs. A lot of confusion can get into peoples heads with a year and a half off. I call it the Ken Klee effect. The reason being that Klee was a marginal defenseman in Toronto’s lineup the last time the league had a season. But he did have a name that had been around for a while. The Leafs ended up with 3 young D-men in their camp who appeared to have a shot at the lineup. They certainly appeared to be more well prepared for the season than Klee. How did Ken battle this? He picked up an “injury” in camp and rode the building talk of how key a player he was on the team right into the roster on opening day. And he didn’t do a thing to earn it. Luckily some injuries have brought playing time to the guys who should have earned spots, but nonetheless the term “The Ken Klee Effect” was born. At least there was some sense to having him on the team, no one has yet been able to offer any kind of explanation for Belak or Berg. But back to Phoenix. Another player who has been riding the Ken Klee effect since before the term was defined is Shane Doan. This is not a superstar. He certainly isn’t an Olympian. But what can you do? And so goes the entire Coyotes roster. I only had them so high because I knew what Cujo would be able to do. His signing was hands down the steal of the off season. Vancouver, as always, dropped the ball on that one. Now it’ll cost them some good players to bring him in midseason. After which point the Coyotes drop back to their rightful place with St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Chicago.

17 St. Louis (30) –13 – Horrible. Mess. Train wreck. What else can you say about this team? They didn’t look like a playoff team, but they sure didn’t look like the disaster they have been. The only positives have been the 4 games that Tkachuk was actually able to play back in November, (Now that was exciting!) and the play of Back Oshawa. In 9 starts, he had a couple of bad outings against Colorado and Dallas (but to be fair they got every single shot that they wanted in those games. Even late 90’s Brodeur would have lost those games badly), but he has shown lots of promise. I played my NHL 2004 up until the 2007 season, and at that point he had one of the highest goaltending ratings. Given the right chance, that might not be as ridiculous as I thought when playing the game (although I still stand by my questioning Bruno St.Jaques being the top rated defenseman. I can’t imagine any scenario in which he’s played 40 games over the next 3 seasons).

So those are the teams I picked to miss the playoffs before the season started. Only 5 of them are in that I missed (Buffalo, Carolina, NYR, LA, Nashville), but that’s a lot better than most of the rankings I looked at before the season. Tomorrow I’ll tackle my rankings of the teams I picked to make the playoffs, and maybe throw in some of my pre season award selections. Until then, enjoy this: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/motion/echo/index?id=2286163&category=Motion%20on%20Demand&subcategory=NHL&cobrand=
espnsearch&lpos=srch_c1_r1_mmotion

Well, here we go again. In the first week I went 2-2, with one loss in a game that could have gone either way, and another in a game I clearly underestimated. My record on the season has fallen to 155-105, and hopefully that'll improve this week.

Seattle -8.5 Washington

This game should be about a 7 point win for Seattle. The spread people did a good job of making this one tough to pick. It's hard to see Washington in a double digit loss. It's also hard to see Seattle not blowing out a team in it's first playoff game. This is tough.

Washington has a win against Seattle already this year, but they are going to be a tired team coming off a gruelling win last week. Their offense really didn't show up last week, and was saved by an outstanding defensive performance, and a team of miscues by the Bucs. The same performance will no doubt result in a blowout against the Hawks. With the offensive firepower they have, even the best defensive performance won't be enouigh to hold them back.

I really think this one will end up 34 to 27, but it's hard to pick against Seattle in a situation like this. So I'm going to relunctantly pick Seattle to cover the spread because there's a 50% chance this one isn't even close 10 minutes in.

Denver -2.5 New England

I got burned by New England last week, and it just may happen again. The Pats went out of their way in the first half to get upset, but a very nervous looking Jags team refused to take advantage of it. The Pats did nothing, but were outdone by the less than nothing put up by their opponents. You cannot expect the same from the Broncos.

Denver took their matchup 28-20 back in October, and I see about the same result in this one. Take the Broncos to cover, and if you disagree feel free to call me a dumbass. I just might be. This is the only game that is going to be close. Enjoy it, then wait for the 2 amazing games next week.

Indy -7.5 Pittsburgh

The Steelers looked AWFUL in their win last week. Anyone who saw the game knows exactly what I mean. Without that one interference penalty in the 3rd quarter I think the Bengals hold on against fatigue to win the game. But that's not how it turned out, and now we're forced to watch a game in with the Colts absolutely tear apart a team that is a few pieces of the puzzle away from being able to make a real run at the Bowl.

Unless there is a fortunate 1st quarter tackling into the QB's leg, this one is a laugher. The colts are too fast, and the Steelers short offense just won't keep up. Indy by 14 at least. Unless you're a die hard fan of one of these two teams, I wouldn't even bother watching.

Chicago -2.5 Carolina

For the first time ever I am taking all the favourites to cover the spread. The Bears offensive line, and the Panthers defensive line. Enough said. Chicago by 10.


Changing Gears

While we're on the topic of football, if ever a guy was born with the label "CFL Experiment Gone Wrong" it's Marcus Vick. That is unless an upcoming conviction keeps him from being able to leave the country.

Onto hockey, there were 7 goals in the Leafs Canucks game last night, and the scoresheet involved Khavanov, Kilger, Steen, Cooke, Ruutu, Sedin and Burrows. Interesting times for a lot of big names in those places.

Elias watch : 4 games, 4 wins, 8 points

Mogilny watch: Inexplicably cleared waivers, and has been assigned to Albany of the AHL. 25 points in 34 games may not be up to par for Mogilny, but it was in severely reduced ice time. And it's certainly not worthy of being demoted. Someone needs to remind them that Marshall, Pandolfo, Rasmussen, Pihlman, Tallackson, Janssen and my mom are all on the roster. If I was coaching this team and I found out Mogilny had killed my father and bedded my wife I may drop him down to the third line. For the first 10 minutes. There is only so much Elias can do on his own.

Koskie watch : I'm not sure I'll ever be ready. JP, you more than dropped the ball on this one. And you're supposed to be the reliable GM in Toronto!

The Dave's I Know

The Tampa Bay Lightning have placed captain Dave Andreychuk on waivers, likely bringing an end to a long and somewhat baffling career. It's not that his numbers over the years weren't impressive. What impresses me is that he managed to have a sucessful, 23-year NHL career without ever bothering to learn how to skate backwards. Literally. I remember one day earlier this season when I pointed out this fact to a friend of mine who was watching a Lightning game with me. The person didn't entirely believe me, but sure enough during that game there was a turnover at the blue line and big Dave was the only man back. The guy started skating in and Dave stood there like a deer in the headlights. Waited for him to get to him, then turned and skated with him. Needless to say, the guy skated around him and scored. And that is what I remember out of Dave's 1,639 game, 640 goal, 1,338 point career. I hope that something gets mentioned about this in his Hall of Fame induction ceremony a few years from now. But an era has officially come to an end. RIP the days of NHLers without the complete package making a major impact on the game like Dave did. It was a good run while it lasted... so long as it wasn't going backwards.

The JF

From the JF's forward mailbag, we have this gem in the "Some things never change" category: http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=150153&hubname
You'd think he'd just be too embarassed that his career has come to this and he'd hang'em up already. But then you wouldn't know the mind of someone like Theo. And you should be damn glad that you don't.

kobe for 45!

How quietly was this done? For those of you who don't know, and I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't, Kobe became the first player since Wilt to score 45 points in 4 straight games. That is 188 points in the last 4 games. To put it in context, at his current pace it would take Araujo more than an entire season to get 188 points (but only one game more, to be fair to Halfa-man). I guess Kobe really has riled his way into the medias bad pages, because 45 in 4 straight games is huge, and I really havent heard an appropriate amount about it. Even on the espn nba page, the headline says "Scratching A 45 Record", but when you click on it you are sent to a page titled "Sorting through the Artest rumors".

This is fine by me, though, because I just traded Tayshaun and Jalen in my fantasy league for Artest. A move I would highly recomend to any of you out there. Artest is a solid player, and he will be back within a month and a half. And when he's back he'll be playing angry. I've already mentioned how i'd personaly feel about playing against him with a chip on his shoulder... and now he's got the entire Frito Lays factory. There are reportedly 18 teams interested in him, and if that number isnt actualy 29 I would be surprised. He is a top 10 player in the league, and does it all at both ends of the court. The fact that I could get him now for an also ran and a bench warmer says a lot about how people are valuing him at the current moment. Get him while you can, because he is cheap. You can do almost as good as Golden State will in the trade that actualy gets made.

Ask the first place nets how it feels to get a superstar for a sack of balls and some Minute Maid. Apaprently the offers are improving, though, as Pacers President Donnie Walsh said "Draft choices and cap space don't equal a good player". Just ask Rob Babcock, he'll agree. Draft choices and no cap space equal a good player. Draft choices and draft space are worth about Kobe, Jordan, Magic and a rocketship for day trips to Mars. I still feel bad for knocking Babcock like that, easy as it is to do. One bad trade and one horrible draft don't make the man. Well, there was the other questionable draft too. And the lack of interest in bringing in a big man. And the players he always misses out on bringing in. And the whole Alston fiasco. But other than that, the team is looking pretty good lately, and with a few more wins I might be convinced enough again to tout them as capable of Chicago Bullsing up a second half. Although my original 6 games out prediction based on their end of 2005 record will likely hold.

McInjury Note

Back on the hockey front, the leagues top scoring defenseman, Bryan McCabe, has picked up a groin injury (hope fully not at a faux hawks only club), that will keep him out of the lineup for at least one game. This is bad news for a Leafs team that has finaly hit it's stride of yet, and will definitely be at a loss on the power play against a strong Vancouver squad. The teams entire power play has been geared around McCabe's game, and without their power play the Leafs aren't even close to being a playoff team this year. If the Leafs are going to have a chance, this needs to be a one game injury, and it absolutely cannot be re-occuring. At least the Canadian Olympic squad isn't too worried about this announcement. Luckily they were smart enough to leave a guy off the roster who not only leads the leagues defenseman in scoring, but literally makes or breaks his entire team. That was great foresight on the part of Gretzky and the boys.


Elias watch: 4 games, 4 wins, 8 points

Mogilny watch: nothing

Koskie watch: still steaming, not ready yet.

Brandon Witt Watch: 150 days since trade demand, surprisingly no takers yet. Will update again in another 150 days.

Well, that was something. You'd think at this point I would have to admit defeat. But then you wouldn't know me. Jags won and move on. That's what happened. Now lets move on too.

Onto the Raptors Sunday game. Temporarily. There was an incident involving MoPe and Vince that I refuse to acknowledge. So I'm not going to acknowledge that game either other than to say the Raps certainly put up a great effort, and it's nice to see Calderon out there again. It's nice also to see Vince make the big shot at the end of the game. I hope Indiana takes note before they deal Artest to a eastern conference team. That is NOT the guy I'd want to play against when he's got something to prove. Not even once. Not even on Atlanta.

Speaking of the Raps, however, it looks like I'm not the only one who noticed their Chicago Bullsian potential. ESPN moved them up their Power Rankings from 27 to 19 this week, http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking?source=nav , although it took them seeing the start of the actual winning before they recognized it. Luckily for some of us, the sports betting community as a whole didn't recognize it either. The raptors put up 11 wins without being the favourite in any game up until the first one against Atlanta during their recent streak. And sure enough the second Atlanta game saw them as underdogs. They will lose against Chicago tonight, because it is fairly impossible to out Chicago Bulls the Chicago Bulls. This means 2 losses in a row, and a reduction in the Raps value again. Keep an eye on this situation if you're a gambler, there's potential for a few easy Raps picks again in the near future. Stay tuned for suggestions as they come up.

Elias watch - 3 games, 3 wins, 6 points.

Mogilny watch - nada. Someone has to fix this. Now.

Koskie watch - sigh. I'll comment on this ugly situation once I can do so without using 17 swear words and some graphic cartoons.

Why bother just shooting the foot, when you can hack it right off!
http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/national/2006/01/04/
Sports/alexander_mogilny060104.html
Hey, they have chairs with wheels. And here I am using my legs like a sucker!
Sad.

It would appear that my choices of Washington, and especially Jacksonville were met with a lot of disagreement yesterday. That's fine, people are welcome to whatever views the media has decided to give them. And I'm welcome to call games properly. Kudos, however, to mister anonymous who informed me in a comment yesterday that both Jacksonville sucks, and that I'm a dumbass. He almost convinced me to change my mind. A couple more comments like that and it just might happen.

That aside, here are my remaining picks for the first weekend of the playoffs:

PITTSBURGH -3 Cincinnati

The Carson Palmer experience is coming to an end this weekend. And I'm not sure that I just mean for this season. I understand the Bengals wanting to reward someone for finally, after 79 and a half years of failure in a row, turning things around for them. I understand that they want to show their fans that they are committed to winning again, and that they are trying to ensure success into the future. I'm not sure, however, if signing a Quarterback to a long contract after one decent season is really the way to do it. He plays a style I think defenses can figure out a way around. Cleveland showed some strong evidence of this in a late season loss to their state rivals. It's fully possible that Palmer can adjust as well, and it's also quite possible that he could be the next big QB in the league. But I don't really think there is enough evidence to strongly stand by that yet. The Bengals did prematurely, but like I said, I can understand the thinking that goes on in the minds of a team that still isn't used to crossing the 5 win mark by the end of the year, let alone by the 6th week. But they stumbled to the finish line, and Palmer stumbled along with them. And nothing suggests that they are ready for the playoffs.

It's hard, however, not to like a team that's been a basement dweller year after year only to surprise everyone by easing their way into the playoffs. It's hard also not to feel for them in being the higher ranked team, but still being called the underdog. You want this team to succeed. You want them to be the Cinderella story. You want them to easily handle the Steelers and show all their detractors wrong yet again. But they won't. They got the worst possible playoff draw. They got a team that, baring injuries, could have and probably should have been a top 2 seed. They got handed an early playoff exit. And certainly by more than 3 points. Let your heart take the Bengals, but let your money take the Steelers. Above all else, lets just hope this game doesn’t get out of reach early enough that we'll have to listen to retelling upon retelling of Cinderella stories that meet their end and so on. I know it's hard to fill the air in a game that's already decided, but no one wants to listen to that. Not the Bengals fans that are seeing what could have been slip from their fingers after years of agony. And not the Steelers fans who want to enjoy their win. And certainly not those of us who fall in neither category who just want to watch a football game. Which reminds me, did anyone catch any of those CFL games on CBC this past summer during the strike? The ones with no announcers, no irrelevant stats, and no hard-core graphics shoved in your face. Just the game. The field noise, the crowds, the calls on the PA system. The game and nothing more. Those are games I'll never forget, and certainly won't be privy to ever again. And it's too bad.

NYG -2.5 Carolina

This is, hands down, the game of the weekend. This could go either way. The Giants losses this season were against stronger teams than Carolinas losses. And I like their offense more than I like the Panthers defense. And I really have nothing else to base this decision on. I'll take the Giants to win, but there's no way I'd put money on this one. But I am excited to see what happens. This will be a game.


So, to summarize take:

WASHINGTON +2.5 Tampa Bay
JACKSONVILLE +7.5 New England
PITTSBURGH -3 Cincinnati
NYG -2.5 Carolina

3 lower seeds to win in the first week. Somehow I get the feeling that Carolina will be the only one who actually pulls it off. Will I ever hear about that.


Anyway, with all that NFL ugliness behind us for the week, I have to ask - did anyone see that Devils game tonight? It seem I came up a little short it predicting almost a point a game from Elias in his humbled condition. From what I can see, he looks nothing resembling humbled. If this is the condition he is in, how can it be possible that he wasn't ready to go a week or two ago? 5 points in 2 games. Welcome back Patrick, they really need you. And if you met a couple of defensemen in the Hep ward, feel free to bring them along as well. I'm sure this team would take anyone at this point. They did bring Tommy Albelin out of retirement already. Seriously, they did. He was their number 5 defenseman at best when he was in the prime of his career. I think that says enough right there.

The playoffs start in a couple of days, and since picking against the spread is my claim to fame (153-103 this year. Take out Buffalo games and that number improves significantly. I don't know what it is about the Bills, it's almost like they find out if I'm betting on them or not and play accordingly. Any hard core Bills fans out there should start putting money aside now for next season. I'm willing to bet against the Bills every week for the right price.), I figured a post about this weekends games was due.

WASHINGTON +2.5 Tampa Bay

Back when I had and NFL team that I actively cheered for, the Bucs were my team. I don't care what anyone says, there was nothing better than the uniforms that the Bucs used to sport. The pirate with the big feather was pure athletics genius. It was actually around the time that they brought in the new uniforms that I stopped being a Bucs supporter. I didn't feel a loyalty anymore to one team in particular, something likely due in part to focusing on sports wagering. You can't like a team and hope they don't cover the spread at the same time. It's too morally draining. So what happens after I stop cheering for them? They go from a basement team year after year after year to a Superbowl champion. This has been a repeating pattern in my life. I hate to admit it now, but as a kid I was a Habs supporter. In hind sight that must have made my mother sick. I have never seen a bigger Leaf supporter in my life. It could be a November game against Columbus, and if she has to go out for the night then she'll tape the game and watch it at whatever hour she gets home. Now that's dedication. Anyway, when the Habs brought in Jacques Demers there was NO way I was going to be able to cheer for them anymore. Even as a kid I had a good sense of who the bad guys were in my mind. And he was enough to make me lean elsewhere. Sure enough, though, it turns out that "bad guys" can be really good coaches, and it wasn't long before another banner was hanging from the Forums rafters.

Anyway, everything suggests that I should like Tampa in this game. Better defense, better record, a win at home against Washington already this year, and the history I had as a Bucs fan. But I don't. I don't like their chances at all in this game. I'm having trouble seeing Washington win by less than 10 points even. Keep in mind, that win the Bucs put up was, what in my mind, has gone down as the infamous 2 point conversion game this year. A home team going for a risky 2 point conversion instead of overtime was a move that really made me question Grudens motives. Did he get the job done? Turns out he did. But if he hadn't Washington would have been 6-3 and Tampa would have been 5-4 at the time. And Washington would be a favourite in this game, like they should be anyway. Even ignoring their strong play in their current 5 game winning streak, they are going to come into this one mad. No one likes losing a game in the last minute. Losing it CFL style on a 2 point conversion just makes matters worse. Washington has managed to get their turnovers under control. That alone would have made the November game an easy win for them. This game goes outright to the Skins, and I'm pretty sure it'll be an ugly one.

JACKSONVILLE +7.5 New England

I'm sorry, what happened here. Did I write down the spreads on these first two games backwards? New England as a favourite, maybe. Make that a big maybe. But by more than a touchdown? Against Jacksonville? The Jags gave up 69 less points than the Pats this year. 69. And they scored almost as many. Their 4 losses were by 7, 13, 3 and 8. Of New Englands 10 wins (that's right, only 10 wins as people seem to forget) only half were won by more than a touch down, and they came against teams with a combined 28-52 record. I'm sorry Pats fans, but even if New England manages to squeek one out here, which isn't likely, it won't be by more than a touchdown. There's just no way. Don't even ask how much money I'm putting on this one.

Stay tuned, the two games with spreads that make sense will be tackled shortly...

Patrick Elias is finally back. If somehow the person who drafted him in your pool gave up on him, and no one was smart enough to pick him up in December, GET HIM NOW! He is, when healthy, a top 10 player in the league, so even with his little "set beck" I'd still expect almost a point a game from him this season. Unfortunately for Devils fans, however, this footnote also came with the Elias return:

To make room for Elias, LW Alexander Mogilny was a healthy scratch

When one foot recovers, do you really have to shoot the other one? When there are guys like Cam Janssen on the team, can you really afford to make this move? It seems to me that this once proud franchise now wouldn't know what to do if they got hit over the head repeatedly by their own helmet. Their offseason signings were more than suspect, and they resulted in even worse endings than I expected. Even outside of the mess that the once best defense in the league has become, they have done nothing to bring in suitable replacements since they lost Sykora and Arnott. Like I predicted before the season, this once perennial favourite is going to struggle in a fight for the last playoff spot, and with Brodeurs aging performance and the Habs surprising start, it looks like they are going to be the odd man out this year. It's a shame when you consider the nucleus that this team once had. At this point it's clearly time to cut losses and rebuild, because there are no Cups left in the swamp. New arena, new team, new money, new hope. Rebuild now before it's too late and interest fades.

Speaking of Brodeur, my attentions turn to the Olympics. Wayne Gretzky's crew slipped up in the selections. Big time. And that's ignoring the exclusions of this years Richard trophy winner Eric Staal, this years Norris trophy winner McCabe, and this years Calder trophy winner Crosby. It's also ignoring the inclusion of Draper, Doan and Regher, who by the way isn't even the best Canadian defenseman on the Flames. The biggest slip up is in net. Namely the assumption the selection committee made before the process of putting Brodeur in net. Does he really deserve it? Based on past performance, sure. No question. Based on this season, it should at least be put somewhat into question.

Brodeur is 23rd among goalies this year in save percentage at .898. He is also 20th in GAA at 2.85, with only 1 shutout to his name, and that didn't come until last night against lowly Florida and their 16 shots on net. This is clearly not the Brodeur of old. Manny Fernandez is first in the league in both goals against average AND save percentage. This is fairly unheard of. Unfortunately he shares his time with another top goaltender in Rolloson. If Fernandez played in any other city he'd be playing 65 games a year and be in the running for the Vezina every year. I only didn't pick him to win the Vezina this year (Hasek was my choice) because of the spilt duty. Prior to missing most of December, Legace had to have also been in consideration for top goaltender honours. I'm also a big fan of what Gigure puts up in Anaheim (can someone explain to me how his name pronunciation on espn.com makes sense - ZHAH suh BAZT yuhn zhee GAIR). As far as the present goes, these are all better options than Brodeur. Luongo is a decent choice, but I would take a couple of them over him as well.

The selection committee has made their choices. There's no going back on that now. But hopefully the coaching staff will give strong consideration to Luongo and even Turco, because living in the past is no way to move forward. The problem is, the other teams in this years Olympics seem even more questionable, so I'm pretty sure that whoever the Canucks go with, they are pretty much guaranteed a medal. And guarantee Gretzky's involvement in Team Canada for eons to come. But to me at least it's clear that they did not do the best job in assembling this team. They did, however, do a good job in securing a few of Wayne’s records, but that's another story for another time.

Stick to coaching, Wayne, you've done an inexplicably remarkable job with an incredibly weak Coyotes team. But that's the extent of what you've helped out with this year.

So the JF had this to say about the Mario, Favre, Rocket article I posted yesterday:

"i think that there's a strong chance that skip is retarded. "

A little blunt, but at least he caught the angle I was posting it under. A lot of people missed that.


Anyway, I promised a copy of the email exchange that started it all, so here it is. It's mocking of me and everything in tact, like I said I do respect the guy for taking to time to answer for real.


I just noticed now how the tie breakers are done in the contest. Whoever set them up clearly has a lack of understanding of both the NFL and what would constitute a fair tie breaker. Firstly, success later in the year at the cost of earlier sucess is not impartial, nor is it a fair way to determine who performed best. This is especially true in the NFL where the last week of the season yields very few true games. Teams for the most part know their positions, or only one team in the game has anything riding on it. The outcomes are hardly ever> reflective of how they should be. As such, being correct in the final week is more a fluke then a show of talent and should not be the first tie break. It is highly unjust. I dont really care that it has cost me whatever the prize was, but the fact that I did better than the people I was tied with up until the final week should be the tie break, not the other way around. I would wager that my picks were the most consistant, as i was 7-9 one week, and was over .500 against the spread in every other week. How many people can say that? If nothing else you should at least offer me a position as a sports prognosticator, because this is nothing new. Football is also the sport I know the least about. Everyone loves "the sports guy" on espn.com, but I could easily do a better job than him at his own game. I am highly opinionated about all sports, and I would do it for free since it's all in my head anyway. I predicted the vezina winner the last 3 seasons before the seasons started. When tampa was in last i predicted they'd both make the playoffs the next year (done) and win the cup the year after that (done and done). I even said pujols would be the MVP year after year back before people knew that his name was worthy of laughter yet (days and days of laughter for some people who will thus far remain nameless). Anyway, the point is I know my stuff, I write well and fast, and I'm willing to work for free. That is on top of the main point that I don't take to losing very kindly, even when I didnt want the prize to begin with. But to lose in a tie breaker with no sports merit is beyond bareable. So just pass this on to someone who is willing to give me a chance and we'll call it even. Because that tie breaker is definitely hard to swallow. As hard to swallow as the opinions of most sports writers online today.


It happens every year.....I get an email from the person who "loses" the tie-breaker...complaining how unfair it is......it's a tie-breaker..it's used to break ties....somebody is going to win...somebody is going to lose.....the bottom line is that it breaks the tie....it's FAIR..and it's easy to understand.I like the fact that if someone makes a big move the last week and the top people choke....that person can make up ground and win.Your argument regarding the last week and teams not caring is way off base.....you moved into contention with an 11-5 score in week 16....which was much the same as week 17....so let's forget about that.Most pools use the Monday night score to break weekly ties..is that stupid too?If you'd won the tie-breaker, I wouldn't have heard from you.....too bad you didn't email earlier in the contest and brought up your concerns....it would have given your argument at least a touch of credibility. I think you were .500 or 1 game below a few weeks there....that's what cost you the win....you were around 60% for the year.....that's better than most people can do.....it's one year though......can you do it every year? If you can I hope you bet.If you are so good at predicting these things...I would start your own website and sell your information. You are better than the guys I listen to on the Fan590 on Sunday mornings. ..as for a job....I have no say in that...you'd have to email Sportsnet and ask them....I just run their contests for them....although if you watch their hockey panel...I think they already have enough opinions already with Nick and the boys!

Yeah, I know, he trashes me. But I still respect his opinion. If you want help promoting your website, or if you want to set up a massive pool like sportsnet runs, I would recommend these guys anyday. The guy who replied to me can be contacted at rich@blastpromo.com, and their website is http://www.blastpromo.com/ffz/ . Much respect from me to them, for the comments and for the well run pool. They had a little problem sorting the standings at times, but otherwise very well run, crisp and concise layout and overall an excellent score.

I'll start my first real post by talking about a touchy subject in these parts - the NBDL. More specifically, the Toronto Raptors. The NBDL comes up around here sometimes due to the success that Raptor "rejectee" Pape Sow is having in the league. I'm not 100% on his stats at the moment, but half way through December they were as follows:


3rd in points at 21.4 a game
1st in rebounds at 12.4 a game (only 2 guys in the league in double digits)
13th in FG% at .518
13th in FT% at .775
3rd in steals at 2.29 a game
6th in blocks at 1.29 a game
1st in double doubles with 6
1st in efficiency rating with 26.14 (only guy over 20 in the league)


Those are spectacular stats, even for the NBDL. Full time on an NBA team that could easily translate to 13 points and 9 rebounds a game, at least. But there just is no room for those kind of numbers on a team boasting Hoffa Araujo (who shall from now on be referred to as Halfa-man, as he's about as capable in the NBA as you'd be in your job if you chopped yourself in half and went into work), and inexplicable fan favourite lal the Red Rocket. That's not to mention the refusal to admit complete defeat in the Vince Carter "deal" by leaving some dead weight in the form of Williams on the team. Throw in the more than questionable 2004 draft (draft day will forever be remembered by the initial reaction to the Halfa-man choice by the announcers elongated "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?") and the Raptors for years to come will be the but of most NBA jokes.

But, is this a fair assessment? I'm not so certain anymore. Calderon was a huge addition, and looks like, with the proper opportunities, could become one of the most exciting point guards to watch in the NBA. Mike James is also proving to be the surprise of the year so far for me. With a few moves to bring in more rebounding and a real center, this team really isn't bad... for the East. Prior to Calderon coming up limp in December, I actually had this conversation with the JF:

"yeah, they're having some trouble doing the selling of the tickets. i wonder why. Its the eastern conference so the raps are only 6 games out right now. I actually believe that they have a shot at the playoffs this year still. I was hoping they'd go for the 20 straight loses first and then do it, but that would have been too much. They aren't doing that badly. Well, ok 4-17 is pretty bad, but play those same games with the team they'll have in 2 months and they win some of those games for sure.... The early loss to warsh, the seattle game, the philly game, the clips game, that sac loss that really sucked to watch cuz you just knew it was coming, the dallas game of the same sort, and maybe even that washington game the other day. Win those and that's an 11-10 record right there. More than you need in the east. 9-12 is even fine at this point. I'm totally expecting them to chicago bulls up the second half. I hope someone has the sense to see it coming and bother to trade for a big guy.

they have 9 games left this year (2005). if they 5-4 that up then its a lock on the playoffs from there. That's right, I'm calling a 9-21 team a lock to make the playoffs. That's what I'm doing."

Unfortunately for them, the raps only closed out a 4-5 run in that span. Very impressive for being without Calderon, but not quite good enough for the playoff lock I made them. They got to 9 wins today, I notice, with a very nice effort against a very bad team. It'll take bringing in Pape, moving out Jalen (which is the LAST thing I want to see. He has been the best part of the Raptors franchise. Period. And he is owed the respect that goes along with that. Like Mario and Favre, he should be done in Toronto when he says he's done. Period. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=bayless/051229), and bringing in a legitimate center. It's the East, so they are only 5 games back. They really could make a Bulls run if they bother to improve. Recent history tells me not to get my hopes up too high. Prove me wrong this time Babs.

On the topic of botched rebuilds, the Blue Jays made another "move" today, signing my mom to a minor league catching contract. That really addresses the issue behind the plate. Much the same way that bringing in their 17th 3B-1B-DH in exchange for a quality 7/8 innings pitcher and a gold glove second baseman. Yet somehow everyone is talking about all the moves the Jays are making like they are putting together this great puzzle. I just don't see it. Overpaying a couple of pitchers, and bringing in a couple of "power" guys who will bat .250 doesn't seem like catching up to Boston and New York to me. Not to mention the other 6 teams they'd have to leap-frog to get into the playoff picture. It's nice to see the team trying to make moves and become legitimate again, but the way it's being done doesn't make complete sense to me at this point. I hope there is a more complete picture being put together here that I'm not seeing yet. As a Toronto sports fan, however, I am not optimistic, and I'm always looking to be proved wrong. Let hope this is the time.

OK, so I've decided to take my sports prognostication public. The reason to finally take this plunge - a sports pool gone horribly, horribly wrong. It was the sportsnet NFL pool, and the problem came down to a tiebreaker. As anyone who knows football can tell you, the last week of the season is nearly impossible to predict. Some teams show up, others don't, and there are various incalculable reasons for it. To value that questionable week over performances in past weeks is more than a little suspect, if you ask me. They had a tie break system in place where the Monday night game (Sunday in the last week) is used to predict the score of the game. Whoever is closest wins the tie break. Even that would have been better (and, also, I would not have finished in the top 3 in that scenario either, but it would have been a loss I could cope with).

Anyway, I emailed the guy who ran the contest. I'll post tomorrow how the exchange went. He actually made some good points and took the time to address what I wrote. I respect that. It's a lot more than I expected, and kudos to him. It's not easy to run a pool that everyone will be happy with, especially when it comes down to a tie break. And especially when I'm the one who is just left out of the prizes :)

So the sports predictions and talk will start tomorrow. Until then, this isn't sports related, but enjoy anyway:

http://news.sympatico.msn.ca/OddNews/ContentPosting
.aspx?contentid=5a5ee86a261a43ed92b2580498030055
&show

SGN out.