Sports Guy North

The following is the power rankings for the top 25 players, on a per game basis, in the NBA this year. This ranking tries to take into consideration all stats as well as the players position, and to some extent potential upside in the next couple of years. My explanations follow, but feel free to send me some explanations for your own choices as well. If I don't get at least one email from an angry Celtic's fan this time, I'm going to be very disappointed. In any event, here are the power rankings:


1. S. Marion (Pho)

Marion has done it all this year. 21.9 points per game, 12.3 rebounds, 1.9 steals, 1.9 blocks, 51.7% from the floor and 80.3% on free throws. Add to that only 1.5 turnovers per game, and there isn't anything Marion hasn't done to make up for Amare's absence. Think of it this way: More three pointers than Pierce, more points than Baron, more rebounds than Ben Wallace, more blocks than Rasheed, more steals than Kobe, better shooting percentage than Nash and better free throw percentage than Joe Johnson. There is no doubting his standing as the best all around player in the league this year.


2. L. James (Cle)

Everyone talks about how LeBron's passing game is a thing of the past, but that's still good for 6.8 assists a game this far. Another all around player, but a little less reliable defensively than Marion. Offer LeBron to any GM in the league straight up for any other player, and I'm certain the deal is made 100% of the time.


3. K. Bryant (LAL)

Kobe is way out in front with 35.4 points per game, and there are a couple of single game performances I don't need to remind people of. There is no better pure scorer in the league, now or in recent history.


4. G. Arenas (Was)

A threat inside and out, Arenas is among the league leaders in 3 pointers, points and steals. He is the biggest reason for the Bullets resurgence in the past couple of seasons, and deserves the ranking among the leagues elite that goes with it.


5. R. Allen (Sea)

Ray is making 3.4 3 pointers a game, to easily lead the league, and is also 91% from the free throw line. 25 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals aren't too bad either.


6. A. Kirilenko (Uta)

While AK47 might only be getting 15 points and 4 assists per game, he makes up for some of the deficit in Blocks, Steals and Rebounds. No one else as strong in those three categories comes close to his point and assist totals.


7. J. Kidd (NJ)

All the Nash die-hards out there aren't going to like seeing Kidd's name come up first. The arguments will read that Nash is still putting up his numbers even though Amare is injured. But guess what - the team left in Phoenix without him is still leagues better than the Nets. Nash is also trailing Kidd in 3 pointers, rebounds, steals, blocks and turnovers.


8. M. Camby (Den)

If Camby could ever be relied on to be healthy for extended periods of time, he'd be the best big guy in the league, hands down. If you compare his numbers to Ben Wallaces, they are even in every statistic, except that Camby shoots 74% free throws versus 44% from Ben, he nearly doubles him in points 14.1 to 7.6, and he even out-blocks him 3.3 to 2.2.


9. E. Brand (LAC)

Elton is in the top ten in field goal percentage, points, rebounds and blocks. His last three seasons with the Clippers have been some of the most under-rated play in the league.


10. S. Nash (Pho)

Nearly a full 2 assists per game lead on anyone else in the league, and hands down the best shot from the free throw line. He may be 10th in these rankings, but I wouldn't be surprised to see his name in contention for his second straight MVP award. His team does still live and die by his play, but a lot of that is because thats how their game is coached. He and Kidd are the class of the league amongst point guards. A class of their own.


11. J. Richardson (GS)

Imagine if you were in a starting lineup that involved Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy. Still, J Rich is among the league leaders in 3 pointers and points, and is one of the more entertaining players in the league to watch on a daily basis. If only the rest of the team would catch up.


12. R. Wallace (Det)

Sheed earned his All Star status this year in spades. 16 points with 2 three-pointers, 1.6 blocks and only 1 turnover per game. Not bad from the free throw line for someone who plays his style of game either.


13. G. Wallace (Cha)

What a shot this kid has, shooting nearly 55%, and not all of it inside. Speaking of inside, he still manages 7.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game, making him another one of the few all around players that help you in every way. And that doesn't even mention his league-leading 2.5 steals per game. In a couple of years i won't be the only one considering Gerald as possibly one of the ten best in the league. His numbers are fantastic, considering this is still just his second full season.


14. A. Iverson (Phi)

Top ten, as always, in Points, Steals and Assists, he still puts up a few too many bricks for my liking. Not to mention a lack of appetite for rebounds, and a few too many balls in the front row of the audience. I sometimes wonder how many points he'd get a game if he actually got equal treatment from the refs instead of 162 free throws and 27 free walks a game.


15. T. McGrady (Hou)

T Mac, as we found out today, will be unavailable to play for 5 to 6 weeks with yet another back injury. It's a shame that he has been plagued with injuries, or he may well have been one of the best players of all time. Even through the pain, though, you can always rely on TMac to be among the league leaders in points. You can't like Houston's chances to do anything at all this season now.


16. K. Garnett (Min)

No the KG of past years, but still leading the league in Rebounds, and among the leaders in shooting percentage. It's a shame that his team crumbled around him, he deserved better.


17. C. Billups (Det)

The second of three Pistons in this list, Billups has been phenomenal for the Pistons this year, stepping up to be the final piece they needed to ensure their Eastern Conference Championship status again. 2.6 points and a full 3 assists more per game over last year, Chauncey has proven he is the #3 point guard in the East.


18. P. Pierce (Bos)

27 points and 7 rebounds isn't too bad, but I would expect more from Pierce. You have to feel for his situation, though, playing on a team that wouldnt even qualify for March Madness without him, let alone have a chance to win.


19. D. Wade (Mia)

Wade has come into his own in the league this year, earning a spot in the league top ten in Points, Steals and Assists per game, and in many ways taking over leadership of the Heat from Shaq. Shaq seems more than content to watch his little buddy take over this time, though, as he appears to be Wade's #1 fan. It would be nice to see them win a Championship together once before Shaq really starts to fade, but I'm not sure there's much anyone can do with the Pistons this year.


20. D. Nowitzki(Dal)

Disco is the only 7-footer I can think of who it's never a good idea to leave open, as he proved by winning the 3-point contest last month. 25.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1 block and only 1.9 turnovers, along with 1.4 3-pointers per game. I am going to field many emails asking how he could be ranked so low. Steals, assists and field-goal percentage? I don't know, I have no real good reason I guess, other than the talent of everyone else. So don't bother asking.


21. C. Paul (NOK)

Speaking of someone who I'm going to field questions about, I've already got Chris Paul in my top-25 list. A list that doesn't included Bibby, Mike James, Knight or Hinrich. But really, who puts up 16.4 points and 8 assists in their rookie season, while only turning the ball over a couple times a game? Lets compare - In Lebron's rookie season, he only had 4 more points per game, while picking up 2 less assists, the same number of rebounds, a half a steal less, and shot a much worse percentage from the free throw line. LeBron also had a full turnover more per game. It could actually be argued that Paul's rookie season, in many ways, is superior to LeBron's. I for one think it is.


22. J. Johnson (Atl)

Joe has to play in Atlanta now, and maybe I just feel bad for him and that's why he's in this list. But Atlanta is an up-and-coming team, as I've mentioned before, and if that continues Joe has to be a big part of it. 20.2 points and 6.5 assists isn't too shabby, though, considering his surroundings.


23. R. Artest (Sac)

Artest is the ultimate steal-machine in the league, and has a nice 3-point shot to go with it. Once he gets fully adjusted to his surroundings in Sac-town, he'll lead them into the playoffs, just like I predicted upon his arrival with the Kings.


24. B. Wallace (Det)

Big Ben's numbers have decreased a little bit this year, but there still isn't a team out there that wouldn't give their sister to have him in their lineup. Top 15 in blocks, steals and rebounds still, and his intimidation factor goals well beyond his numbers, as half the time people just don't challenge him.


25. C. Bosh (Tor)

Chris Bosh has certainly made a name for himself this year, and is in the top 15 in Shooting %, Free Throw %, Points and Rebounds. Anyone who was a team’s leader one year, and follows it up by increasing his output by 6 points and an assist has to be among the leagues top 25, and climbing. Toronto has to keep this man in the plans in order to even dream about competing in the next 3 years.

Here is a look at my recap of the 2006 NHL trade deadline deals. The transactions are set out on a team by team basis, and are shown by highest ranked team on through the lowest. Enjoy.

Carolina

Acquired: Mark Recchi

Deleted: Niklas Nordgren, Krys Kolanos, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Verdict: Nordgren is a career minor-leaguer, who managed to get into 43 uneventful games this year. Kolanos was a waiver pick-up. Recchi’s value was really low based on his +/- this year, but his plus minus was 110% due to the rest of his team. Recchi for a second round pick is a steal for a team that desperately needed to fill Eric Cole’s hole. Not having to pay desperately was a huge bonus. The leagues top team filled their only hole at no immediate expense. That’s how a top team is supposed to handle deadline day.

Ottawa

Acquired: Tyler Arnason

Deleted: Brendon Bochenski, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Verdict: This, on the other hand, appears to be a top team making a deal just to say they made a deal. Tyler Arnason is a chronic under-achiever, which is not something Ottawa needs heading into the playoffs, where under-acheivers flourish historically for the Sens. Bochenski was a high price to pay for Arnason, and throwing in a 2nd Round Pick makes this a definite loss for the Sens.


Detroit

Acquired: Cory Cross, 7th Round Draft Pick

Deleted: 4th Round Draft Pick, Jamie Rivers

Verdict: Bringing in Cory Cross. Wow. Wow. He didn’t fit in with the old NHL, and CERTAINLY does not in the new NHL. Rivers isn’t great, but he’s not a liability. He’s a guy that plays 8 minutes for you and you don’t even notice. Cross is not. Effectively, the Red Wings found a sharp downgrade to one of the worst D-men in the league, and also dropped 3 rounds in the draft on top of it. Clearly outside of Carolina the top teams were not ready for deadline day.


Buffalo

Acquired: 2nd Round Draft Pick

Deleted: Mika Noronen

Verdict: And here is another example. The Sabres had the “burden” of holding onto 3 NHL capable goaltenders, and what they got for one of them was only a second round pick? When goalies were at a premium, and every team wanted one? It’s also very surprising that they traded Noronen instead of Biron. Noronen would have been happy with a backup roll, he was just unhappy in the minors. Biron will not be happy as a backup. They really didn’t solve their problem, and traded a solid goaltending option for a draft pick. That’s just awful.


Dallas

Acquired: Willie Mitchell, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Deleted: Martin Skoula, Shawn Belle

Verdict: I wasn’t actually aware that Willie Mitchell and Martin Skoula were different people. Shawn Belle sounds about right for a 2nd round pick. It’s a fair trade, but not really necessary one. It happened though.


NY Rangers

Acquired: Sandis Ozolinsh, 3rd Round Draft Pick

Deleted: 3rd Round Draft Pick, Ville Nieminen

Verdict: Well, this teams hard to sort out. Losing Ville for a 3rd round pick was a waste. Getting Sandis for a 3rd round pick was great. So, would Ozo for Ville have been a good trade? NYR’s defense was solid, but had no offensive fire-power like Sandis. Hard to say how Ozo will come out of the substance abuse program, but he should be alright. On the other hand, Ville was one of the few Ranger forwards who was competent in the defensive zone. I think with Lundqvist in net this is a good end result for the Rangers, but the end of the season will tell.


Nashville

Acquired: Brendan Witt

Deleted: 1st Round Draft Pick, Kris Beech

Verdict: *OVERPAYMENT ALERT* Brendan Witt is NOT worth a first round pick. Period. What the rest of the trade tells me is that Nashville actually thinks that Kris Beech has negative value. Not just no value, literally negative value. Otherwise this trade doesn’t happen. This will not only not help the Preds, but it could very well hurt them in many ways. This is up there with Buffalo’s deal as the worst of deadline day. Wait, and someone brought in Cory Cross too, didn’t they?


Philadelphia

Acquired: Niko Dimitrakos, Denis Gauthier

Deleted: 3rd Round Draft Pick, Josh Gratton, 2nd Round Pick, 2nd Round Pick

Verdict: Bobby Clarke is stupid. Period. 2 draft picks and Josh Gratton for Denis Gauthier? 2 2nd round picks even. I don’t get it. Niko for a 3rd round pick is harmless, but man. Gauthier is old (30 this year), and hasn’t done anything of note in his entire 9 year career. This is his best season, hitting 12 points in 45 games and a –4. Is that worth 2 2nd round picks? Not even slightly. Stupid.


Calgary

Acquired: 4th Round Draft Pick, Jamie Lundmark

Deleted: Jason Wiemer, 4th round draft pick

Verdict: Lundmark is a great pick up for a 4th round pick. He’s not the first rounder that some thought he would be, but a solid 3rd line player is worth a 4th round pick any day. He is certainly a trade up from Jason Wiemer, who is older, less talented and less productive. So, Lundmark for Wiemer won’t win you a cup, but it is a great end result.


Vancouver

Acquired: Eric Weinrich, 4th Round Draft Pick, Keith Carney, Juha Alon, Mika Noronen, Sean Brown

Deleted: Tomas Mojzis, 3rd Round Draft Pick, Steve McCarthy, Brett Skinner, 2nd Round Draft Pick, 2nd Round Draft Pick, 4th Round Draft Pick

Verdict: Everything else aside, Noronen for a 2nd round pick makes this a great deadline day for the Canucks. Auld and Noronen is a great tandem, now we all just have to hope that Cloutier’s injury doesn’t heal this season. As for the rest of this busy-body mess, Carney trade was stupid (Ozolinsh went for just a third round pick, Carney went for a 2nd and a prospect), Brown was pointless, and Weinrich was a nice pickup that might payoff well. Down 3 draft picks in the process, but nothing major considering the improvement in net.


Los Angeles
Acquired: Tim Jackman, Mark Parrish, Brent Sopel

Deleted: Yannick Lehoux, Denis Grebshkov, Jeff Tambellini, 3rd Round Draft Pick

Verdict: Lehoux for Jackman, my Mom for Belak, no difference. Parrish and Sopel, as I said yesterday, are great pick ups for the Kings, who have solidified their place in the Western Conference playoff race.


Colorado


Acquired: Jim Dowd, Jose Theodore

Deleted: 4th Round Draft Pick, David Aebischer

Verdict: It seems as though the Avs are taking their playoff spot for granted. While they may be only be 1 point out of first in their division, they are also only 6 points from missing the playoffs. This is not a time to experiment on a new goalie while you wait for another to recover from injury, and then not even be sure which Jose will show up. 7 points decide 3rd to 9th place, and they traded away their proven goalie for a risk in the midst of that race. Not the gamble a team, otherwise secure in a high playoff spot, should ever take.


Edmonton

Acquired: Sergei Samsonov

Deleted: Marty Reasoner, Yan Statsny, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Verdict: Well, at this point I’m pretty sure Thronton’s trade has proven that Samsonov is a Rucchin. Reasoner is about the same, throw in a second round pick. If Samsonov is as good as he once seemed, it’s a semi-decent deal. Otherwise the Oilers messed this one up big time.


New Jersey

Acquired: Jason Wiemer, 4th Round Draft Pick, Brad Lukowich, Ken Klee

Deleted: 4th Round Draft Pick, Sean Brown, 3rd Round Draft Pick, Alexander Suglobov

Verdict: Lukowich and Klee are solid defensemen who will fit in well in the swamp. Nobody wants a Wiemer on their team, though. Still, a decent day for the Devil’s.


Anaheim

Acquired: 3rd Round Draft Pick, 2nd Round Draft Pick, Brett Skinner, Jeff Friesen, Sean O’Donnell

Deleted: Sandis Ozolinsh, Keith Carney, Juha Alon, 2nd Round Draft Pick, Joel Perrault

Verdict: I don’t know how to interpret Anaheim’s moves on the day. Got more for Carney than they should have, but less for Ozolinsh. They will probably be about the same before and after the trades, but what a ride anyway.


Tampa Bay

Acquired:

Deleted:

Verdict: Tampa was the only team out of all 30 who wasn’t active around the trade deadline. I’m not really sure what that tells us about their intentions. They are barely in the playoffs right now, and will likely stay in that spot.


Montreal

Acquired: Todd Simpson, David Aebischer

Deleted: 6th Round Draft Pick, Jose Theodore

Verdict: Todd Simpson? OK. The only way this trade happened on Montreal’s side is if they have full confidence in Huet moving into the future. If that is the case, you’d have to think they could fill a bigger hole by trading a Vezina winner than backup goalie. Aebischer is a quality goalie, though, and deserves to be #1 somewhere.


San Jose

Acquired: 3rd Round Draft Pick, Ville Nieminen

Deleted: Niko Dimitrakos, 3rd Round Draft Pick

Verdict: Ville for Niko is a solid pickup. One of the better improvements of the day.


Atlanta

Acquired: Steve McCarthy

Deleted: 4th Round Draft Pick

Verdict: Yeah. OK.


Minnesota

Acquired: Martin Skoula, Shawn Belle

Deleted: Willie Mitchell, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Verdict: It still happened, I guess.


Phoenix

Acquired: Yannick Lehoux, 4th round Draft Pick, Oleg Kvasha, Jamie Rivers, Joel Perrault, Josh Gratton, 2nd Round Pick, 2nd Round Pick

Deleted: Tim Jackman, Jamie Lundmark, 3rd Round Draft Pick, 7th Round Draft Pick, Sean O’Donnell, Denis Gauthier

Verdict: Lots of stuff to sort through here. 2 second round picks for Gauthier still remains the steal of the day. That one’s ridiculous. They improved their draft picks (3 and 7 for 2, 2 and 4), and also got the best player (Kvasha). I think Phoenix might have had the best all around deadline day, but a lot of that credit really goes to Bobby Clarke.


Toronto

Acquired: Alexander Suglobov, Luke Richardson

Deleted: Ken Klee, Draft Pick

Verdict: MLSE got rid of one of their inept GM’s. It’s time to get rid of the other.


NY Islanders

Acquired: 3rd Round Draft Pick, 3rd Round Draft Pick, Denis Grebshkov, Jeff Tambellini, 3rd Round Draft Pick

Deleted: Oleg Kvasha, Brad Lukowich, Mark Parrish, Brent Sopel

Verdict: Look at all those third round picks. 4 NHL players out, 0 NHL players in. You decide the verdict, it’s not that tough.


Boston

Acquired: Marty Reasoner, Yan Statsny, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Deleted: Sergei Samsonov

Verdict: If Sergei is the Rucchin I think he is, they did pretty good for themselves. Sell offs don’t usually result in a decent player and a 2nd round pick.


Florida

Acquired: Ric Jackman

Deleted: Petr Taticek

Verdict: Great pick up. Jackman is much better than playing with AHL players made him seem.


Washington

Acquired: 1st Round Draft Pick, Kris Beech, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Deleted: Brendan Witt, Jeff Friesen

Verdict: They got more for Witt than anyone could have ever imagined. A team building for the future, picking up a 1st and a 2nd round pick for 2 guys that never fit in makes for a great day.


Columbus

Acquired: Draft Pick

Deleted: Luke Richardson

Verdict: Yeah, its something. I guess.


Chicago

Acquired: 4th Round Draft Pick, Brendon Bochenski, 2nd Round Draft Pick, 6th Round Draft Pick

Deleted: Jim Dowd, Tyler Arnason, Todd Simpson

Verdict: Bochenski could be a decent NHLer in a couple of years. 2nd round pick is nice. Arnason’s absence will have some effect, but that’s about it. Not grea,t but a decent day for sure.


St. Louis

Acquired: Tomas Mojzis, 3rd Round Draft Pick

Deleted: Eric Weinrich

Verdict: What would you have done if you were St.Louis’ GM? Seriously, what? They are almost as lost as the Penguins. I’m not sure what they’re trying to do, nor what they should try to do. Fold?


Pittsburgh


Acquired: Petr Taticek, 4th Round Draft Pick, Niklas Nordgren, Krys Kolanos, 2nd Round Draft Pick

Deleted: Ric Jackman, Cory Cross, Mark Recchi

Verdict: They got rid of Cory Cross. That’s pretty good. Not nearly enough for Recchi, although I don’t think they could have gotten more. Mediocre day. Taticek and the draft picks may pay off in the long run for a re-building team.

The NHL trade deadline is historically one of the most active of all sports, and it already looks as though this year will be no exception. For today and tomorrow, I will display and analyze in some form the deals that pass through the NHL offices. In the new NHL so many people could end up so many places for so many reasons, so speculating won’t be too useful. I think at this point we heard every goalie going to Vancouver in exchange for Bertuzzi. These aren’t going to happen. So I will leave such speculation to self-indulgence, and use this forum to display the trades that have actually been made. So here, now, and the actually 2006 NHL Trade Deadline Deals:

Edmonton Receives: Dwayne Roloson
Minnesota Receives: First Round Pick; Conditional Third Round Pick

In addition, the Oilers waived their extra goalie to make room for Dwayner. Which makes me wonder; why wasn’t he dealt to Minnesota in addition to the draft picks? Instead of the Wild calling up a minor-leaguer with no experience, and stealing him from his Houston team who is making a championship run themselves, they could have brought over the Edmonton dead weight, who is actually a decent goalie. If the Canucks don’t pick him up off waivers that will be the biggest ball drop of the deadline. Auld needs a solid backup for the playoff run. NOT a replacement, but a solid backup. This is their chance.

Edmonton wins this trade in spades. With full playing time Dwayner can be a top-5 goalie in the NHL.

Toronto Receives: Luke Richardson
Columbus Receives: Conditional Draft Pick

Why? I’m not even sure the Jackets will end up getting anything at all in return, but I still have a hunch they won this trade. What exactly were the Leafs doing in adding Richardson to the lineup? Was there a hole that needed filling on the Marlies roster? This one is a puzzler. In 44 games this year, Luke has 7 points and is a –18 in limited playing time. There are 9 defensive options I can think of off the top of my head that the Leafs have who are better than this…. Well, 8 as you’ll read in a couple of trades. Unless this guarantees Belak’s departure from the lineup forever, this was not a reasonable move for the Leafs.

Jackets win this trade.

San Jose Receives: Ville Nieminen
New York Rangers Receive: 2006 Third Round Draft Pick

Well, OK. That was one of those trades. Ville is a decent defensive forward, which doesn’t carry much weight in GM’s books. San Jose did a good job picking up a solid Gary Valk type player like every team needs and most don’t have. Leave it to the Rangers to pick up a useless future pick in exchange for picking a small whole in a team that was finally having a great season. The dam should hold, but when you’ve had as much trouble in the past as the Rangers have, you just can’t take these chances for such little return.

Sharks win this trade.

Los Angeles Receives: Mark Parrish; Brent Sopel
New York Islanders Receive: Denis Grebshkov; Jeff Tambellini

Are you kidding me? Parrish has 41 points in 57 games, and has had even better numbers in recent history. Sopel has 27 points in 57 games as a top 2 defenseman, playing a lot of the team’s key minutes. Conversely Grebshkov is a defenseman who has played 8 unnoticeable games so far this year, and Tambellini is a name that the Kings made up and just put on their roster to fill a spot. With that, the Islanders are officially phoning in the season, and have done so with a vengeance. The Kings definitely are the big winner of the trade deadline thus far with this deal.

Kings win this trade.

Colorado Receives: Jose Theodore
Montreal Receives: David Aebischer

Wow. I just don’t understand what happens with goalies sometimes. Theodore is a top-quality goalie, who apparently has some Felix-ish head case issues that caused him a month of pain. Montreal giving up on a French-Canadian Vezina-trophy winner like that is almost unfathomable. For a non-French Canadian, nonetheless. The only way this happens is if they have full confidence in Huet moving into the future. If that is the case, you’d have to think they could fill a bigger hole by trading a Vezina winner than backup goalie.

Conversely, I don’t understand why Aebischer never got the credit he deserved. He has a career .915 save percentage and 89-58-12 record. He is also 25-14-2 this year with 3 shut outs. Apparently, however, they would rather trade away Aebischer and go with 2 unproven goalies with 22 career starts between them, and a .500 record playing against easier competition than Aebischer faced with his far superior record, as they head into the playoff run. Theodore, as you know, is injured, so a lot of their playoff standing will be based on the other pairs play. They then will go into the playoffs with a goalie having the worst year of his career, and who let in 37 goals over a 3-period span a couple months ago. That may be exaggeration, but how is this situation better than sticking with Aebischer? This is a gamble that I can’t see paying off. If Theodore does, however, instantly regain his Vezina-worthy play with the new environment, then the GM of the year, and possibly the Eastern Conference Champions have already been determined. This is, however, beyond highly unlikely.

No one wins this trade.

New Jersey Receives: Ken Klee
Toronto Receives: Alexander Suglobov

If this trade makes room for some youth in Toronto, that’s great for the Leafs. If this is to make room for Luke Richardson then it’s time to fold the team and convince the Penguins to move to Toronto. Suglobov is useless, a 2nd round pick in 2000 who has never been good enough to play more than 2 games. Ken Klee gives the Devils another defensive option, who while not overly talented, doesn’t make too many mistakes. That’s good enough in front of Brodeur.

Devils probably win this trade. Toronto gave away a marginal player for nothing, and by definition marginal is better than nothing.

Other Notes Of Note

It may sound like the great Nation of Hungary’s favourite new feature, but today it’s just a name. I had nothing else to call the other points from the day. Interesting stuff? Maybe. I don’t know. But here they are:

Canada Beat USA in World Baseball Challenge Everyone is making a big deal out of this. In fact, the poll on ESPN’s website today was asking which was the biggest upset in international sports history. It should have said “in AMERICAN international sports history”, but nonetheless, the options were: Puerto Rico over USA basketball 2004, Russia over USA basketball 1972, USA beats Cuba 2000 baseball, USA over Russia 1980 hockey, each of which occurred in the Olympics. Each also an excellent choice, and I would probably pick 1980 hockey, although the Puerto Rican basketball victory was likely more of an upset. Anyway, to lump the Canadian baseball victory in with that group is absurd. The American team that ended up showing up in Arizona did look beatable. The Canadians were also definitely being mentioned as medal contenders. The fact that a medal contender beat one of the favourites in a single game by 2 points is not a big upset. In fact I actually thought the Canadians had a good chance in that game. At least the people at home knew better than all the “experts”. So far in the ESPN vote every single state, along with international vote, picked 1980 hockey as far and away number one, and Puerto Rico basketball and far and away number 2, getting 85% of the vote between them. This is all just another case of Sportscasters trying to make more of a story out of something minor. When they lose to South Africa, then you can talk about upsets.

Bonds On Steroids? What? No way. What a scoop! I had no idea. Whoever wrote this book is breaking one of the biggest secrets ever! The only thing of note in this “story” is that the list of steroids he was on is frighteningly long. It’s seriously like he was trying to set the all time record for most steroids ever taken. And for that, I congratulate him. I mean if you’re going to bother cheating, then you might as well go balls out. And no ones balls are further out than Barry’s, on and off the field apparently.

Raptors Cavs For those of you out there wondering what the pictures on my site have to do with anything I’ve written about, relax you aren’t crazy. They aren’t related. They are just shots the little lady took from the Raptors Cavs game the wife, the JF and I went to tonight. For the most part, pictures you see of Mop Girl were taken when the camera mysteriously disappeared from our watch. Must have been a mysterious stranger with a crush on sweep girl. Same with the video which you can see here – Raptors Mop Girl Damn strangers. Anyway, the game was alright, lots of missed shots and bricks. The Raptors were playing like a team with too much talent to have given up on the season to such a degree. And the finish of the game, with the spaz hitting an open three to carry the Cavs to a 1 point win with no time left, will do nothing to turn that situation around. I’m still hopeful for next season. Raps and Hawks both in the playoffs; Count on it.

I had a Oscar-related post all mapped out for today, but given the events of the day paying tribute to Hollywood seems far less important. On a day where Theo Fleury threw a puck at a ref’s head while playing in Europe, if I’m not writing about that, you know something major happened.

One of the true sporting legends of our time passed away at the age of 45. A day after suffering a stroke, Kirby Puckett, whose weight gain in recent years was noticeable even on his famous rotund stature, died while recovering from surgery.

Kirby was one of those people who would never be seen without a smile on his face, and a love for life. Even as his waistline expanded in recent years he was happy with it because it was who he was. It was a part of what he was, and he saw no reason to let it trouble him. A smile from start to finish, in a life that could have excused frown lines more than most anyone else’s.

Born into poverty in 1960, he and his 8 siblings grew up in a housing project in Chicago. His career started coming to an early end in 1995 when he was hit by a pitch in his last at bat of the season, breaking his jaw. Months later in the spring he woke up and couldn’t see out of his right eye, which was later found to be glaucoma. In July of 1996, Kirby officially announced an end to his career.

A few years later, Kirby’s wife Tonya accused him of threatening to kill her during an argument. In the ensuing interrogation it came out that there was a history of being abusive and unfaithful, and led to their divorce. Later on, in 2003, another woman brought charges against Kirby of sexual assault, which were later proven to be false. All the adversity, however, led to an end in Kirby’s roll as an executive with the Twins, and likely also had an effect on his immense weight-gain. Some also say that it took away from Kirby’s standing as the most liked man in baseball, and as one of the greatest players of all time.

No matter how you interpret the events of his life outside of baseball, Kirby’s numbers on the field will stand the test of time. Of note from his career accomplishments, were a career .318 batting average, six gold gloves, 2 World Series rings and 10 All-Star Game appearances in only 12 seasons in the majors. He also added 207 home runs and 1,085 RBI’s from his 5’9”, 220 pound playing weight.

What we all remember the most will be the 1987 World Series, the first of his two rings. Down 3 games to 2, Puckett came up huge in game six. Most memorable were his huge leaping catch against the wall to rob Ron Gant of a key extra-base hit, and his home-run in the 11th inning. That home run forced a historic Game 7, which the Twins went on to in 1-0 in extra innings for their first of 2 titles.

Of course there is something else we’ll all remember about Kirby, his “smile, laughter and love for the game”, as Kent Hrbek said. That is easily what we will all remember the most from his playing days, and hopefully when all is said an done what we will remember the most about the man himself. His bright attitude about life, which he somehow carried from the projects and in to the Major Leagues was always heartening and brought joy to many people, in and out of the baseball world. We’ll always remember the smile.




Career Highlights

All Star – 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
ALCS MVP – 1991
All Star MVP – 1993
Branch Rickey Award Winner – 1993
Gold Glove – 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992
Silver Slugger – 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994
Batting Title – 1989
Hits Leader – 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992
RBI Leader – 1994

Career Highs

Runs – 119
Hits – 234
Doubles – 45
Triples – 13
Home Runs – 31
RBI – 121
Stolen Bases – 21
Batting Average - .356
Fielding Percentage - .994

Mrs. Jones and Me

http://www.tsn.ca/curling/news_story.asp?id=157105
That’s a link to curling going on these days. And this is a link to a curling calendar:
http://www.thecurlingnews.com/calendar.html
The first link is about Jennifer Jones, from a match where Jones took on Jones in the battle of keeping up with the Jones’. Unfortunately the second link isn’t about Jennifer Jones. It is about a calendar that has been put out with nude curlers, called the Ana Arce Team Sponsorship Calendar 2006. Although Jennifer may not be involved, it also isn’t Ed Werenich, as you can see from the photo at the side. As for the possibility of the beauty queen of curling joining the ranks for a future calendar, Jennifer responded disappointingly by saying “I couldn't, I'm too shy. It's very European.”

Borg Selling Out

http://www.tsn.ca/tennis/news_story.asp?id=156920
I hope that “financial security” means a few extra cruises and a BMW, and doesn’t mean food on the table. On one hand, its sad that such a prominent athletes life has come to this point. On the other hand, he has won trophies that are worth a half a million dollars. How many of us can say that about our lives? I have a midget hockey trophy somewhere that might get me fiddy cent someday, if I run into a midget who has a goalie fetish.


Max Power

http://www.tsn.ca/headlines/main_story.asp?id=156955
Congrats to Jonathan Power for regaining the number one ranking in the world. There is nothing better than retiring on your own terms, and at the top of the world. I must say, personally I probably won’t be watching any squash tournaments on TV anymore (and not just because it’s usually on at 3:30 in the morning, which is when I had to watch his final match). He was by far the most entertaining person in squash, and his temper was good for at least a few laughs a game. He was also able to back it up with great play, and will, surprisingly to most of you I’m sure, be missed by me in the Sports world. This was one of my favourite athletes, and it’s great to see him retire the way he wanted.


Question For the Ages

Should I buy this?
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Chris-PRONGER-Canada-gameworn-jersey-2006-Olympics_W0QQitemZ8773224188QQcategoryZ37757QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Casi No No

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article349223.ece
So if mark Cuban had a blog, and some day a casino advertisement came up on his blog, should that affect the Dallas Mavericks? It makes no sense. Man U is separate, and whomever they do or don’t take on as a sponsor has as much bearing on the Buccaneers as Beckham’s inability to be teached maths.

Super Mario Tennis Cart

I’m not sure what to think about this one:
http://worldchumps.blogspot.com/2006/03/wheelchair-tennis-spins-out-of-control.html
My initial thought is “hey cool, they keep the balls in the spokes of the wheels”. Thought shuts down from that point on.

Religion #1

And to end on a couple of sad notes, we turn to the world of organized religion: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3223268,00.html
Racism of any kind makes me sick, and that includes when people normally thought of as being on the minorities side are at the helm. "The greatest danger to our people is assimilation! I urge you in the last minute not to make this move," If you wish to be informed of the dangers associated with marrying gentiles, I am leaving you my cell phone number. Please call me any time and I shall help you." The fact that people in the world still think like that is nothing but sad. If everyone allowed themselves to be assimilated, instead of focusing on differences, the world would be a much better place. What Baruch Marzel said is sickening. 2 people – not a Jew and a Lithuanian – but 2 people are in love and want to get married. They have learned to appreciate each other, from their beliefs to whichever one picks their toes in bed. They are two different people who have found their differences wonderful, and want to enjoy the unique life they make together. Who cares what some old guys say about ridiculous, antiquated beliefs. If they are happy they should do what will keep them that way. Living life any other way is just stupid. Blatantly stupid. Besides, if a certain people only marry his or her own people, there is bound to be a lot of in breading going on. Apparently, though, even Giuliani is all for that world, which is somehow a lot less illegal than I ever though it was: http://ask.yahoo.com/20060223.html
Oh world.

Religion #2

As if that wasn't bad enough, we come to the grand finaly. Now, bear with me on this one; it will come to a sports head eventually. Have a read:
http://www.jonathonforgovernor.us/Home_page.html
This guy is planning on running for Governor of Minnesota, and President in 2008. Oh yeah, and he is a Satanist and a Vampyre. The second line on his page says, “I despise and hate the Christian God the Father. He is my enemy.” He does, however, go on to say

“However, it doesn't mean that I hate all his followers. This Country was founded on religious rights and freedoms. This is guaranteed under the
1st Amendment of our great constitution. This right allows me to worship Lucifer and the Goddess Hecate, just as it allows you to worship the Goddess/God of your choice.”

I hate to say it, but maybe some Jewish leaders out there could learn a little something in being accepting from the Satanic Dark Priest. Not too much, though, as his platform for the election goes on to include the impalement of terrorists and certain prisoners as punishment. Which crimes call for impalement?

RAPE, CHILD ABUSE/NEGLIGECT, DRUG DEALING/PROCESSION, VIOLENCE UPON THE ELDERLY OR WOMEN, RELIGIOUS DECRIMINATION/ATTACKS, DWI/DUI (multiple offenses), CHILD MOLESTATION, MURDER (other than justified), POLICE BRUTALITY/ABUSE OF POWER and JUDICAL/PROSECTUTION MISCONDUCT.

Clearly. So, how is it that a seemingly normal man, an athlete and a soldier, can come to a point in life where he is so worried about looking like a "wuss" to others that he would over-compensate by impaling people for judicial misconduct? What could have started him along such an ugly path? Well, if you read a little further you’ll see this:

“My original sport’s love is racing. As a child my father introduced me to racing Go-Karts, and I have been addicted to racing since. In 2002, NASCAR granted me an NASCAR/Busch Series race license. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control, I have not yet made my NASCAR racing debut. However, it is my plan to do so during the 2006 racing season.”

NASCAR. What a surprise.

Who Cares About the AL Anyway?

I continue to have people asking me who to take in fantasy baseball drafts, so I thought I would finally start taking a small look at it today. My look will be position-by-position, and National League only. I will list my top-5 recommended players at each position, for leagues with traditional fantasy stats. Sorry guys, this is a little boring, especially if you dont have any interest in Fantasy Baseball.

Catcher


1. Michael Barrett – Should be the best power hitter out of all the NL catchers, but the reality of that this year might mean only 15 home runs. Should get 70 RBI’s, but needs to learn how to walk more often.
2. Brian McCann – Another power hitter who needs to have a better eye to raise his average over .260 this year.
3. Paul Lo Duca – Not who he used to be, but still good for a .275 average and the fewest strike outs of any catcher. Don’t expect any home run power left in that bat of his, though, he’ll be extremely lucky to get to even 10 playing the whole season.
4. Josh Willingham – He’d be the number one choice if you could be certain he’d get 400 at bats on the season. Hard to say for sure, though,
5. Johnny Estrada – Lacks power, speed and an eye (easy 100 strike out bet), but should still have the best average of any NL cather. This position has really lost any of the little flair it gained in the 90’s. Might as well just wait and take whoever is still there after 6 or 7 catchers are already taken. It’s pretty much all the same.

First Base

1. Albert Pujols – Poo Holes. .340 average, 40 home runs, 125 RBI’s. Obvious first overall pick in any league. Everyone knows Poo Holes. Ha.
2. Derek Lee – A .300 hitter with a strike out problem that he backs up well in the home run department. His ability to steal bases, and knock in 120 runs make him a great second round pick in any size league.
3. Todd Helton – Less Home Runs and RBI’s than Lee, but also less strike outs, more walks and a much better on base percentage. Lee’s stolen bases with his power still make him a better choice.
4. Carlos Delgado – Everyone is going to love playing for the Mets this year. A great surrounding cast in the batting order should do wonders for Carlos’ stats again. More home runs and RBI’s could be in the works.
5. Ryan Howard – Could get 40 home runs. Could also lead the league in strike outs. He’s a gamble, but if he pays off it’ll be sweet.

Second Base

1. Chase Utley – Only second baseman capable of 40 home runs and 110 RBI’s.
2. Alfonzo Soriano – Most well rounded – decent power, decent base stealing, decent on base percentage. All around good choice.
3. Marcus Giles – Only second baseman likely to hit over .300, with some speed and power to go along with it.
4. Rickie Weeks – I know what you’re thinking – Weeks ahead of Kent, Vidro and Freel? I say yes. If you need someone to cover every stat, he’s your guy. Unfortunately, he covers strike outs as well.
5. Jeff Kent/Ryan Freel Jeff Kent will get you 25 home runs and a .290 batting average, but remember Freel in leagues that heavily weigh stolen bases. He’ll lead the second basemen by far.

Short Stop

1. Jose Reyes – Home runs and RBI’s are easy to give up if you’re getting 60 stolen bases in return. Stolen bases aren’t in your league, you say? Then Reyes likely shouldn’t be either.
2. Jimmy Rollins – After Reyes is gone, who else is going to get you 185 hits and 35 stolen bases?
3. Rafael Furcal – Not Furcal, 185 hits aren’t in the picture for him. 35 stolen bases aren’t a problem, though, and maybe even 10 triples if he gets lucky.
4. Felipe Lopez – All his stats should be identical to Furcal, except give up stolen bases and gain home runs and RBI’s. If you’re deciding between the two, keep that in mind. He’ll stike out a little bit more as well.
5. Nomar Garciapara – His best feature is that he will likely qualify to play 3 positions in most fantasy leagues. A great backup for any other position, and actually looked really good before being injured last year. Could be a great mid-round steal if he heals properly.

Third Base

1. David Wright – D-Dub is a great candidate for second overall pick, after Poo Holes. 35 home runs, 115 RBI’s, 100 runs, 25 stolen bases, and a .315 batting average aren’t unrealistic expectations here.
2. Miguel Cabrera – Only third baseman capable of hitting for better average than Wright, and will keep up in home runs too. No speed, though, means no stolen bases and fewer runs.
3. Aramis Ramirez – Another .300 hitter with power and no speed. Picking between him and Cabrera is really up to your preference.
4. Morgan Ensberg – Same thing, lower average and less power, but maybe 5 stolen bases instead of none. Why can’t third basemen steal? Shouldn’t third basemen be agile? That’s a reaction based position. Hard to understand why the Eric Hinske’s of the world end up there nowadays.
5. Scott Rolen – See above description almost to a tee.

Outfield

Sorry guys, but there are too many outfielders that are too similar to bother commenting on them. It may just bore me to tears. Just trust me, this is the ranking order, and the reasons for it are excellent!

1. Bobby Abreu
2. Andrew Jones
3. Carlo Beltran
4. Jason Bay
5. Juan Pierre
6. Barry Bonds
7. Adam Dunn
8. Lance Berkman
9. Carlos Lee
10. Jim Edmonds
11. Brian Giles
12. Matt Holliday
13. Pat Burrell
14. Chad Tracy
15. Ken Griffey

Starting Pitcher

1. Pedro Martinez - Not mister perfect like he used to be, but still good for 200 strikeouts in 200 innings, and a 4 to 1 strike out to walk ratio. Could hit the 20 win mark again in New York if he stays healthy.
2. Jake Peavy - San Diego isn’t good enough as a team to get Peavy 20 wins, but in many other locations he easily would. Another pitcher capable of 200 strike outs in 200 innings, and an ERA under 3.00. Despite only 13 or 14 wins, still worth a pick.
3. Ben Sheets - Pitching in Milwaukee, while not as painful as in the past, is still the major knock on Sheets. A strike out an inning, and an ERA just above 3.00 make for a safe pick despite the team.
4. Jason Schmidt – Another strike out an inning pitcher who will log around 15 wins. Seems to be all there is to say about these guys.
5. Roy Oswalt – Less strike outs, but fewer walks as well. Plays on a team that can help him to 20 wins and more than a couple of complete games. Could very well be the second best choice at pitcher.
6. Mark Prior – Like Oswalt but with more strike outs, less wins and less complete games. 3 to 1 strike out to walk ratio, if he stays healthy, is worth a pick up.
7. Chris Carpenter – I hate to tell people to take Carpenter. I have little confidence in his ability to keep his game at the level it was at last year. He may still get 16 wins from playing in St. Louis, and maybe 180 strike outs somehow, so take him if you want. But it’s against my advice, especially if the 6 mentioned above are still available.
8. Carlos Zambrano – See description of Prior above, but knock his strike out to walk ratio down a bit.
9. Brett Myers –3 to 1 strike out to walk ratio, 200 strike outs and playing in Philly means 13 wins. Same old story.
10. Andy Pettitte – Like Myers, less strike outs, less walks and about the same wins. Talking about pitchers sure is boring.
11. Dontrelle Willis - I don’t think this guy will ever be as good as it once looked like he’d be. He’ll be .500 at best this season, but the prospect of what could be is worth still giving him an early look.
12. Brandon Webb – Decent pitcher, like the others there. That’s enough of this starting pitcher thing, 12 is all I can stand. Just consider John Patterson, Tim Hudson, and Zach Duke as well, if you must.

Relief Pitcher

1. Brad Lidge – The only NL closer I’d bet on today to get over 40 saves. An ERA barely over 2.00, and a 4 to 1 strike out to walk ratio are easily within Lidge’s grasp. The class of the NL, unless Gagne can come off his injury better than expected.
2. Billy Wagner – Wagner closing for the team the Mets have assembled is a wonderful thing. Wagner will only walk a guy every 4 innings, and could be the other lock for 40 saves, if not for the fact that something is going to go wrong for the Mets. It just will. That’s just what happens.
3. Derrick Turnbow – definitely not as powerful as you might want your closer, but effective nonetheless. Milwaukee is looking a bit better this year, and certainly likely to win more close games. That bodes well for Derrick.
4. Jason Isringhausen - Good closer on a good team, that may just win too many games out of save range. With a little more power he’d be worth a higher pick, but I’m just not big on taking closers early who can’t even come close to a strike out an inning.
5. Chad Cordero – Some 35 save guy whose got a better strike out to walk ratio than Trevor Hoffman.
6. Trevor Hoffman – Some 35 save guy whose got a worse strike out to walk ratio than Chad Cordero. Word.

Hawks and Raptors Playoff Round

OK, so that’s not the case yet. But next year this just might be something we’ll see. These teams do clearly have some growing to do in the meantime, but they are both also getting there. If you look down the Hawks lineup right now, it’s really not that bad. It looks on the verge of being good enough to be a playoff team in the East. So why the horrible record? You have to wonder about the coaching when this is how the last 25 seconds go with a 3-point lead:

1. Near-steal, with a lucky bounce out of bounds instead of staying with Chucky.

2. This is followed up after the inbounds by a steal. There was only a 1.9 second shot clock/time clock differential, so if worse came to worse in the double teaming, Johnson could have just held the ball and given the Raps only 1.9 seconds to tie up the game with a three. More likely, they’d have to foul him once 10 seconds at most went by. But what does Joe do? 5 seconds into the double team he throws a weak pass into the middle that Chucky easily picks off. That is just not a smart play by any means in that situation. Even just sitting there doing nothing, and letting the shot clock run out would have been a better option.

3. Foul a guy shooting a three pointer to tie the game???? That’s just awful. Especially when you weren’t even close enough to contest the shot, and you’ve fouled him well after it’s up. Plus, honestly, if you are the Raptors, who would you most want taking three free throws to tie a game in the final seconds? Mope has been huge for the Raps lately, and has always been a cucumber.

These are the kinds of mental breakdowns that come with a team trying to come to grips with itself. They then started the overtime period with a turnover, followed by allowing a basket off an out numbered offensive rebound. Luckily, however, they were playing against another team in the same situation, and they managed to hold onto the win in the end.

Both these teams are better than their records show. The Raptors themselves now have 10 losses on the season that are by 3 points or less. Flip half of those games and this is a completely different season. Nonetheless, these teams are both headed in the same direction, and fortunately for them it’s away from being the jokes of the league. A March game next year between these two teams will mean a lot more than this one did. Hopefully it’ll still be as much fun anyway.


The Boone-Docks

Bret Boone announced his retirement today. In talking with MLB.com, he had the following to say:

“Something I've loved my whole life has become a major, major job for me, I don't think it would be fair for me - or fair to the Mets - to continue something I've loved my whole life and had so much passion for, and all of a sudden that passion isn't there anymore. It wasn't as easy as three or four years ago to get out there every day, but to me, I just lost it. I lost the edge."

No offense to Mr. Boone if it isn’t the case, and it very well might not be, but the edge he is referring to there may not be natural, if you know what I mean. And yes, Don Cherry, I know that I don’t have tangible proof, but this isn’t a blank claim on a big group of people. It’s mostly based on that other-wise unexplainable record season the Mariners had a few years back. To be specific, in 2000 with the Padres, Boone hit .251 with 19 home runs and 74 RBI’s. At the start of the next season Brett looked very different, and backed up the new buff by hitting .331 with 37 home runs and 141 RBI’s.

Could it have just been a new work out routine? Of course. But this past season when attention was paid to steroids, Boone’s numbers came back down to .221 with 7 home runs (and he also made $9,000,000 while doing it, by the way). It’s definitely fishy to say the least. But without any concrete evidence we’ll have to accept the new work out routine in 2001, and then age and loss of passion as the reason for his increase then decrease in production. And we’ll accept it with an uneasy smile. Steroids or not, he did flash a pretty glove from time to time. Now that’s something I’ll always remember him fondly for. All the steroids in the world can’t help you develop that kind of flair.

It’s not early to bed today, but on the other hand it was late to home. In either case, I’m tired and that can only mean one thing. It’s time for the great nation of Hungary’s favourite new feature: Notes of Note.

Beckham to Fail Grade One

So here it is, from the Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/02/27/1140888775438.html

But that’s not enough. This is too good; I’m going to have to paste it again on my site to make sure you bother to read it:

England football captain David Beckham has confessed he is befuddled by his six-year-old son Brooklyn's maths homework.
Beckham, 30, admitted to being baffled when Brooklyn recently asked for help with a school assignment and had to turn to his former Spice Girls pop star wife Victoria to help out.
"Their homework is so hard these days. I sat down with Brooklyn the other day -- and I was like, 'Victoria, maybe you should do the homework tonight'," Beckham told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
"I think it was maths, actually. It's done totally differently to what I was teached when I was at school, and you know, I was like, 'Oh my God, I can't do this'.
Brooklyn was like, 'Please do it with me', and I'm like, 'I'll read your book with you'."
The Real Madrid midfielder's son attends the exclusive Runnymede College in the Spanish capital, which follows the British national curriculum.
The Mail on Sunday gave examples of some national curriculum maths questions set for seven-year-olds.
They include: "Bet went to the shop at 11:45. She came back half an hour later. What time did she come back?" and "What is 12 divided by three?"
Beckham also admitted he has no "lucky" pre-match routines, with them too being tough to remember.
"I find that if I follow a routine ... it gets to the stage where you are thinking, 'Right, was it the left side ... the left boot I put on first, or the right side?'
"There are so many things that can go through your mind."
Beckham is set to skipper England in Wednesday's friendly against Uruguay at Liverpool's Anfield stadium.

As much as I don’t like soccer, this one is just too easy to bother with. I’m going to have to hope that he was just trying to build his kids confidence. You know, have his kid see in the papers that he could do something that daddy found tough, help make him feel good about his little self. I fear, though, this isn’t the case, especially since the last time I checked “teached” still wasn’t a word. Like, It’s like a well thing that, like maths is his, like only weekness. Not only that, he also said he’s too stupid to have a good-luck routine because he’d never even be able to remember right from left. This is the best of the soccer world, ladies’ and gentlemen. How can he be the captain of a national team? I don’t care how good he is, there’s clearly no way that anyone who knows him can respect his intellect. Unless all soccer players get the “Captain of the Football Team” special tests handed out to them growing up in England. That would explain why he thinks tough maths like 10 divided by 2 weren’t ever on his high school algebra exams.

Not Mighty Mouse

Phoenix Suns star Amare Stoudemire has been cleared to practice some 5-way play on top of the 1 on 1’s he has gotten back into lately. Amare himself said that “I felt really good with the one-on-ones, and it's not going to change anything if I skip some steps, so I might as well get in five-on-fives.” I speak for all men when I say Amare has once again ensured his spot as our number one hero. For most of us, the step from 1-on-1’s to 3-way play is a lofty enough goal, most-often unreachable even. This man thinks it’s nothing to skip right on up to 5, and kudos to him for his bravado. Anyway, Phoenix holds the 4th best record in the league, strongly on Nash’s shoulders, without Amare. What they’ll be able to do with the best big-man in the league back in the lineup must be a scary thought for the rest of the west. I can’t imagine any other team in the west, outside of Dallas, who would be able to make a run at these guys. Sacremento’s only 2.5 out of the playoffs now, and could be a bit of a surprise, but I don’t think that covers the Suns with Amare. Even the Tru Warier can’t compete with that.

The Link Above

Oh yeah, if you click on that link I pasted up there under the Tru Warier, be sure to CRANK your speakers! I’ll accept your thanks in advance. The tunes you find there are so Phat that Rita McNeil looks like Kate Moss now! Set the player to “Oh Yeah”, sit back and enjoy!

Oh Oh. Yeah Yeah. Oh Oh. Yeah Yeah. Oh Oh. Yeah Yeah. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Yeah.

Does anyone out there think that Ron realizes that his creative misspelling of Warrior is actually itself a word itself? Wary, meaning characterized with caution, making the Tru Warier the person who is ultimately and truly characterized by being cautious and never taking chances. Does Ron realize, or did he have some of Beckham’s tests handed out to him as well?

Help With a New Poll

OK, so once I finally get around to colour-commentating the White-Guy Dunk Contest, I’ve decided now that the new poll will be “Which Athlete Is the Dullest”. So far I have Beckham, Artest and Bobby Clarke as nominees (see any quote from Clarke of the last decade if you doubt that choice), and I’ll be looking for any other suggestions you have. I heard rumours about an NHLer getting 5 out of 30 on a test similar to Beckham’s questions, if someone could find a name to put on that for me that would be great. So get your suggestions in today. onds

Ms. Barry Bonds

If you see that headline and Paula Abdul doesn't come to mind, then consider yourself a much luckier person than me. And do your best to avoid what lies behind that headline at all costs.

When You’re Right, You’re Me

Brian C signed on as the Raptor’s new GM today, and like I said on Friday, it was a match made in heaven. Actually, I’ve quoted some other people already today, so why not quote myself this time. Here is what I had to say about it:

“I think that Mr. Colangelo is incredibly smart, and knows the best way to keep his reputation as being a great basketball mind in tact. Toronto is a team whose most recent GM has taken more flack than anyone who isn’t named Isiah. Quietly, however, the Raptors have built a solid team that will certainly moves its way to the top of the East over the next couple of years. All someone would have to do is step in there and convince people to stay, use the huge amount of cap space Babcock and Emery got the team for the offseason and bring in a big man and a 3 point bench player. If anyone can convince people to play for him, it’s a GM with the reputation of Colangelo. There has never been a more perfect fit in the NBA – the Raptors will finaly have a means to convince players to play in Toronto, while Colangelo will have an easy ride to another executive of the year award. In my mind there is no way this teaming doesn’t happen. Something this easy is just destiny.”

And the B.C. effect has already started. One of the people Colangelo’s reputation would be best used on has already taken note. When asked about the B.C’s hiring, Superstar and future free agent Chris Bosh said, “"He's a successful GM. He has a good rep. You can see his work right now. It's real good to know, just to have somebody come in who has pretty good credentials." The B.C. effect is already paying off, the Superstar is happy, the team is young and talented and has the money to spend in the off-season, and a better chance to do it now. I’m getting my season tickets today; this is the team to watch in the East next year.

Why, though, did the Suns let their GM talk to another team when they are sitting in 4th place overall and looking like the favourite heading into the playoffs? Nothing about that makes sense. Was there that much bad blood with the new ownership that they would allow a parting of ways in the middle of such a season? If that is the case, why did the GM’s dad sell the team to people his family didn’t get along with? Is money really that strong? So strong that he was willing to give up thirty some odd years of family ties to the Suns, who they built and re-built from scratch? That part is baffling, but the ownership allowing the PC to skip away mid-season is just stupidity. And they don’t even have someone in place to replace him. That really must be some bad blood.

One For the Ages

What better way to cap off the Notes of Note that focused mostly on stupidity, then by bringing up soccer yet again. A player in Rumania was sent from Second Division club UT Arad down to Fourth Division club Regal Horia. In exchange, UT Arad received 15kg of meat.

No really, 15kg of meat.

Want more? Upon hearing of the trade, Marius Cioara retired instead of reporting to the Fourth Division, somehow making the team who got 15kg of meat in a trade the team that got the better of the deal. If you think about it, Marius himself could have been converted into 80kg of meat, but they managed to come out ahead in the trade anyway. So it got me thinking; whom else in the sporting world would this be true of, if they weren’t to retire as well. Wade Belak and Andre Roy quickly come to mind. Maybe Bobby Kielty, depending on whom you ask. I’m sure there are others, but they escape me now, and none will ever actually be traded for meat (now that Rob Babcock isn’t responsible for trading away Jalen Rose, that is). That is an honor reserved for the always baffling, rarely entertaining world of soccer.

Want more? When asked about the trade, a Regal Horia official said “We are upset because we lost twice - firstly because we lost a good player and secondly because we lost our team's food for a whole week." Ha.

Want more? Cioara said that he retired to go find work somewhere in Spain in either agriculture or construction. In other words “I’m not ready to quit, I need to keep working, but I would rather be unemployed and scrounge around Spain for anything I can find rather than report to your team”. And yet I’m sure there are many people toiling in the Rumanian Forth league with “hopes” of making it big (although I make this claim having previously been unaware that a 2nd division existed in Rumania, let alone a 4th division). I wonder how those hopes are fairing after this trade. “A guy that was just traded for meat is too good to play on my team? Wow. Like, I bet he can like divide and stuff too.”

Goodnight everybody!

Closing Ceremony’s

Ladies and Gentlemen: you have your televisions back. Skeleton and biathlon will be replaced in your prime time lineups again with “classics” like Survivor and Desperate Housewives and whatever the other crap is these days that people are told to like. In fact, no matter how hard you try you won’t find any sports from the Olympics, apart from Alpine and Hockey, even outside of prime time hours on your TV for 4 years (unless you live in Canada where the Scott and Brier have the next month under wraps as well. And for curling fans, with Kelly Law absent from the Scott, my curling attention will be on hold until the Brier starts up in a couple weeks). Since most Olympic events aren’t really worth watching (until barrel jumping is introduced in 2018 that is), this really isn’t a big deal. The games are over, and USA was just barely able to hold Canada off in the medal race, finishing with 25 medals to Canada’s 24. American has 10 times more people than Canada, and shares a good deal of similar climate, which makes this result incredible. But it also got me thinking. Canada itself is quite populous compared to the other Winter Olympic countries – the 12th largest of the 26 medalling nations to be exact. Here, now, are the medal standings if all nations’ results were scaled to the same population (around 13.3 million people):

55 Norway
37 Austria
30 Estonia
25 Switzerland
23 Finland
21 Sweden
9.7 Canada
8.9 Croatia
7.3 Netherlands
5.8 Latvia
5.2 Czech Republic
4.7 Germany
3.0 South Korea
2.5 Italy
2.5 Slovakia
2.1 Russia
2.0 France
1.8 Bulgaria
1.3 Australia
1.3 Belarus
1.1 United States
0.7 Poland
0.6 Ukraine
0.2 Great Britain
0.1 China
0.1 Japan

Canada still fares fairly well in this measure, with their record setting medal-haul coming in 7th in the standings. The Americans, on the other hard, would win a disgraceful single medal, finishing in 21st out of 26 countries on a medals per population basis.

Here are a couple of further notes about Canada’s record-setting haul:

Canada was the only Nation who medalled in 10 of the 15 Olympic disciplines.
Canada finished with 45 top 5 finishers, which tied them for first overall.



Minnesota T’Whiners

Wow. Did anyone see this thing? I hope for your sake that you didn’t. Look it up if you must, but I am not going to give that guy any more coverage here. It was the ultimate soccer play, if you know what I mean, and it came from a fan in the audience. Pathetic. Z was clobbered on the head by Wallace yesterday for a decent number of stitches, and I didn’t see him taken off on a stretcher. Just pathetic, guy. I can’t wait to see your lawsuit thrown out, which it damn-well better be.

Who NASCARes?

My fortunately named team pulled it out again, as “Jimmie Johnson’s Bush Sacks” leader, Jimmie, came in second place to some other guy, and just ahead of some hicks whose names escape me. I am clearly the NASCAR pool master now! Speaking of NASCAR, there were some highlights of the race on TSN, and Hillary Duff was there to drop the flag. What’s that all about? I would wager anything that she hadn’t seen a NASCAR race before, unless her daddy made her suffer through some as a kid. What an odd choice.

Groin Watch

One last day of games at the Olympics, and one more addition to the Groin Watch. This one is horrible news for the Rangers, as Jaromir Jagr has been added (for the second time) to the list of Olympic casualties, choosing this year’s popular injury to do so. Before the games started I said that the players whose teams could least afford to lose them to injury during the Olympics were Hasek, Elias and Jagr. I guess it was the kiss of death since all three of them are among the injured from the games. All three.

I said it many times before, and I’ll say it again one last time before 2010: they should not hold these tournaments with NHLers if they occur during the playoff run. How do Canucks fans feel right now, having lost 2 more blueliners to injury on a squad that was short to begin with? How do Sens fans feel about relying on Emery in net as their playoff spot is determined? And it’s not just injuries. 4 years ago Tommy Salo was one of the hottest goalies in the NHL going into the Olympics. During the games he had that long goal go in on him over his shoulder to knock Sweden out of the games. He took more heat for that goal than he should of, and to the degree that it happened it’s no wonder it shook his confidence. He was never the same since, and that pretty much finished off Edmonton’s season. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of NHLers representing their countries in a kind of all-star game where everyone plays like they care. It makes for a great watch… in June or September. But for people who really care about hockey, they care about the NHL and their teams. Having NHLers in the Olympics does nothing but hurt NHL teams, and their fans once the league starts up again. Can the Rangers actually win games without Jagr? It’s hard to picture too many.

Sure, USA and Canada had trouble medalling with only amateurs in the games (probably at least partially why the rules were changed), but it was still fun to watch. It was the one chance for amateur players to actually make a name for themselves. Something for them to strive for in their game. The professionals had the Stanley Cup, and the Canada Cup (ie. World Cup), and this was the only showcase for anyone else. Sure, that meant someone like me would be playing, and inevitably losing badly to Russia, but so be it. At least Ohlund would still be around for the playoff run under that scenario, and once the games are over, does anyone really care anymore about individual results? Not nearly as much as hockey fans care about a playoff spot.

Apologies

It's Saturday night, and it's about the time I'd normally get around to a post for today. The wife, however, seems sad and has a sore back, so I'll be using this time to give her a nice long back rub instead. I guess that's what have I ever don’t to desrve a hot girl (and for those of you new to Sports Guy North, no I'm not illiterate, and please don't ask if hooked on Phoenix worked for me). Goodnight everybody, and remember to email me about the baseball pool (i wouldnt even know how to abuse your email address and information if I wanted to, so don't worry about it).

NA Medals

Canada (24) - Clara Hughes, Ladies 5000m Speed Skating, Gold
Francois-Louis Tremblay, Men's 500m Short Track Speed Skating, Silver
BEDARD Eric, GUILMETTE Jonathan, HAMELIN Charles, TREMBLAY Francois-Louis, TURCOTTE Mathieu, Men's 5000m Relay, Short Track Speed Skating, Silver
Cindy Klassen, Ladies' 5000m Speed Skating, Bronze

USA (25) - Apolo Anton Ohno, Men's 500m Short Track Speed Skating, Gold

Sports Guy North's Fantasy Baseball

It's the middle of winter, the snow's falling and the thermometer has finally dropped below freezing, so that can mean only one thing - it's a beautiful day for a ball game; let's play two! That's right, Pitchers and Catchers have reported to "spring" training already, and questions have begun coming in to me about who I would advise taking in fantasy drafts. Here's the easy answer - I'm not telling yet. The reason being that I've decided to reward my loyal readers with a FREE Fantasy Baseball league. This league will be roto, with prizes for the ultimate winner, and for the person with the most dominant week. The prizes will be determined by my Sports Guy North related advertising revenue between now and the end of the baseball season, so if you are lucky enough to get a team don't forget to start padding the prizes. You all know how that works. Also, every week the weekly leader will get a small feature article where they can speak their mind and/or advertise their blog or anything else. Since a lot of my readers are bloggers, this might be the biggest draw, not to mention the pride that goes along with finally proving that you know sports better than, say, the guys over at Forward Progress.

How can I enter, you ask? Well, since I am limiting the pool to 50 people, you have to prove to me that you have been reading, and you aren't just looking to win. Send and email to

SportsGuyNorth@gmail.com

with your answers to the following questions:

1. Who is the worst defenseman in the NHL?
2. Which Basketball Player Can Name Sports Guy North As His Number One Fan?
3. Who Is Your Rucchin Of The Year and Why?

Simple as that. Remember also to mention what city you are from. I have a list of 25 servers that access my sight the most often, and if you're from one of those places, you'll likely be at the top of the list if a tie breaker has to be implemented.

Olympic Hockey

I was ready to write a big article about the Olympic hockey semi-finals, but the Kasparitis sucked the entire desire out of my by being Kasparitis. I don't even want to give credibility to him by mentioning anything he did that pissed me off. Anyone else who saw the game has to feel the same. This guy has been ruining hockey for way too long now, and needs to be stopped. Violently. There is no way that I'm the only one who is cheering for this. Anyway, the results of these two games were exactly as I expected (although one was a little higher scoring than I thought it would be), bringing my record to 6-0 predicting the playoff round. That's nothing to brag about, though, because there's no reason to have gotten any of these games wrong. None of them were in doubt on any level. Russia should take the bronze in much the same way, no, but the Gold medal game might actually be decent. I'm still sticking with my pre-Olympic pick in Finland, but it should be a good game anyway. Sweden is more than capable of throwing in a surprise or two, along with some entertaining hockey. Even Freddy Modin scored a pretty one in this tournament. I know I've mentioned that already, but I'm still trying to come to terms with it. I'm not sure I ever will.

Barrel Jumping

This picture from Russia's win over Canada brought one thing to mind for me - Barrel Jumping. What happened to this sport? I used to love random sightings of it on Wide World of Sports back in the day. I could watch it for hours. Unfortunately, in this overly safety-conscious world, it seems to have disappeared. I could watch this stuff all day, and I really think that if it was added to the Olympics it would easily be one of the most popular events.

Even without the barrels, they need to come up with some other Winter Olympic events that amount to the equivalent of the Field half of track and field. Speeds skating already has the track part covered. Barrel Jumping can cover the long jump. Shot put might not be a good idea on ice, but how cool would pole vault be with a skate up to the jump? At the speed that skaters could get up, the jump heights could get out of control. If anyone else has some other field events they'd like to see in the winter, please suggest them. Also, if you know somewhere me and the JF can go to watch some barrel jumping this winter, speak up as well. I just can't get enough of that mostly defunct sport!

NA Medal Counts

Americans put a little distance on Canada in the battle for second place today, picking up 3 medals to only one for Canada. This should ensure their finish ahead of the Canadians, but it was a good run while it lasted. 2010 in Vancouver should be a great battle. Remember to join me there for the 2-man luge. It'll be the event of the century!

Canada (20) - Russ Howard et Al, Men's Curling, Gold

USA (23) - Julia Mancuso, Ladies' Giant Slalom, Gold
Chad Hedrick, Men's 10,000m Speed Skating, Silver
Pete Fensen et Al, Men's Curling, Bronze

Today I’m going to handle a couple of the questions that people have been sending my way. Typically Internet people call this the mailbag. That’d dumb. I didn’t receive anything physically in the mail, and even if I had it probably wouldn’t have been delivered in a bag. Have you ever gotten a bag in the mail? Not likely. So I’ve decided to call this what it is:

Dealing With Your Crap

1 – How Can I Find Highlight Footage of the NBA Dunk Contest?

You can find it the same damn way that I did – google it. If you’re too lazy for that, just click below. It is worth another look. Nate doesn’t appear to be completely out-matched when you aren’t forced to watch the 30 misses. AI is still the clear winner, though. The dunk off the backboard may have been the best dunk ever, but I really love his behind the back dunk. It just looks so smooth, like as if it was the best take out of 30 attempts…

NBA Slam Dunk Contest Video Footage

2 – Who Would You Have Picked for Team USA?

The American choices weren’t as glaringly bad as Team Canada’s, but they weren’t good either. Ryan Miller was of course the big over-sight, but a few other young kids were left off too that shouldn’t have been. Here is what my lineup would have looked like:

Defensemen

Schneider Leetch
Berard Rafalski
Preissing Liles
Hatcher

Others to Consider - Gil, Hill, Martin, Corvo

Forwards

Tkachuk Rolston Gionta
Cole Conroy Modano
Blake York Smlinski
connoly cullen drury
Gomez

Others to consider - Weight, Arnasson, Langenbruner

Goalies

Ryan Miller
Rick DiPietro
Tim Thomas

Others to consider - Grahame

3 – Do You Think the Raptors Should Pick Up Half-a Man’s Option After Next Year?

Seriously? Of course they should! Who wouldn’t want to pay $3 million dollars to the worst player on their NBDL affiliate team? There is no way that Half-a Man is destined to play in Spain or Italy, and then coach some random elementary school team over there. Nothing in his “game” gives that indication.

4 – Do You Really Think Pronger Is The Worst Defenseman Ever

This is a tough question. It’s a very bold statement in a world that includes Wade Belak and Sergei Gonchar, but I don’t care. I would take Aki Berg on my team any day over Pronger. Maybe that’s a problem in me, and it likely is, but I really can’t stand the way Chris Pronger plays. On top of that you can tell that he thinks he is really good, and that just makes it so much worse. The biggest factor of all, however, was his picking up the MVP one year. That was the biggest travesty in the history of sporting awards, and it will forever taint his game. It’s too bad that Canada didn’t win a medal, but I love the way it happened. I hope it will put a rest to the Pronger-idling that seems to go on inexplicably in the hockey world. It has to, right?

5 – what have you ever don’t to desrve a hot girl?

Priceless stuff. Keep that hard-hitting, well-thought and expressed talk coming!

6 – Did You Really Think the Raptors Could Have Made the Playoffs After Starting 1-15?

Yes. I did. That’s why I said it over and over back then. To be honest, they would still be hot in the race if not for a few mental lapses. There are about 7 or 8 specific games I can think of where they fell apart as a team and didn’t bother to just win a game that was theirs to lose. Just look at recent happenings. They are 6-4 in their last ten games, and that could have easily been 10-0. Two overtime losses against the Clippers and the Spurs that could have been over before OT, and then the two recent devastating shutdowns against New York and Memphis. If they had won just those 4 games that obviously could have gone their way, the Raptors would be only 2.5 games out of the playoffs right now. No one would be questioning me if that were the case. I do think now that those 4 losses are enough to finish their chances this year. If they keep this core, however, next year will be a different story. This team is young, and just learning to play together. With another year under their belt, the recent stretch would almost certainly have been a 10-0 run. I’ll predict right now that the Raptors will win 45 games next year. I reserve the right, however, to change that estimate if significant changes happen in the off-season.

7 – What Do You Think About the Raptors Hiring Colangelo As Their New GM

I think that Mr. Colangelo is incredibly smart, and knows the best way to keep his reputation as being a great basketball mind in tact. Toronto is a team whos most recent GM has taken more flack than anyone who isn’t named Isiah. Quietly, however, the Raptors have built a solid team that will certainly moves its way to the top of the East over the next couple of years. All someone would have to do is step in there and convince people to stay, use the huge amount of cap space Babcock and Emery got the team for the offseason and bring in a big man and a 3 point bench player. If anyone can convince people to play for him, it’s a GM with the reputation of Colangelo. There has never been a more perfect fit in the NBA – the Raptors will finaly have a means to convince players to play in Toronto, while Colangelo will have an easy ride to another executive of the year award. In my mind there is no way this teaming doesn’t happen. Something this easy is just destiny.

8 – The Cletics are not ****ing racist. You’re the ****ing racist, you racist ****ing white-hating p***s-lick dumb. You don’t know anything about sports, you should be ****ing ashamed of ripping off boston sports guy and ****ing making **** up you **** *** *** ****ing *** face. Get a life.

I concur?

9 – Do You Miss Ross Rebagliatti?

I’m not sure what you’re imnplying there, or why you ask, or anything about what’s going on. Truly puzzling question. But yes. Yes I do miss him. Dearly.

10 – Did You Really Pick Finalnd To Win The Olympics and the USA to Blow?

Yes, I did. I picked Finland over Canada in the gold medal game, and Russia over the Czechs for the bronze. It was very easy to see that the states were going to do horribly. I still find it hard to believe that anyone didn’t think that.

11 – Why Do You Hate Canada?

This question seemed right out of left field. I can only imagine it came up because I keep expressing surprise at the Canadians sticking right with the Americans in the medal standings. Historically, however, this has not been the case. I may be wrong, but didn’t Canada set their record in the 1992 games by winning 7 medals? With a couple of days, and a guaranteed medal already left in curling, Team Canada stands at 19 medals, and 20 for sure by the end of the games. That is a ridiculous turn-around in a decade. Going into these games, in the all-time medal standings, the USA had 193 medals, and the Canadians had 96. Norway led the way with 263.

Put it this way – Canada has already increased their all-time medal total in the Winter Olympics by 20% (compared to the USA by 9.8% and Norway by 6.8%). So to say I’m surprised by Canada’s relative medal count would, and should be an understatement. Canada is actually ahead of Norway in the medal standings at this point. There is no way that anyone anticipated that. Canada smashed their record in medals in 2002, and were still doubled by the Americans count. I do not hate Canada, but that doesn’t mean these Olympics haven’t been a surprise. Anyway, I’ll finish off Dealing With Your Crap as I‘ve finished off every article lately - with today’s North American medal hauls:

Canada (19) – KLEIBRINK Shannon et Al, Women’s Curling, Bronze

USA (20) – Sasha Cohen, Women’s Figure Skating, Silver
Rosey Fletcher, Ladies’ Parallel Giant Slalom Snowboarding, Bronze


If you have any questions for Sports Guy North, email him at SportsGuyNorth@gmail.com

Pronger 2, Canada 0

This is a little earlier than normal for my tomorrow post, especially since I'm calling it my tomorrow post, but I have to say this now. The game between Canada and Russia just came to an end, and like I predicted Russia came out on top. Brodeur did his best to keep Canada in the game, standing on his head from start to finish. Canada couldn't get any offense going, but at the same time they weren't playing any defense.

Most notably, Chris Pronger took his normal disastrous stab at defensive play. It was to the point of being ridiculous in this game. I have been saying this over and over since his MVP season - he is nothing but a liability in the defensive end, more so than anyone I've ever seen. He has no business being involved in international competitions especially, and I hope all the glaring evidence from this game will be enough to keep him from being selected ever again. It is painful to watch him go into the corners. The winning goal was set up from Pronger having lone control of the puck behind the net, losing it, then panicking and swatting it straight out front of the net to a player on the other team. So much was wrong with that play, but somehow it wasn't the worst effort he put up in the game. Not but the next shift out on the ice, he let a guy walk circles around him in the corner and hold the puck for 5 seconds, long enough to get a line change. Not only that, but Chris just gave up in the end and backed away, allowing him to make a pass. After the pass was made, Pronger then followed the other defenseman into the same corner he was in - a mistake that a 10 year old wouldn't be allowed to make. The culmination of all this was in the final minute of the game. With the net empty, Pronger was skating out of the zone, and Russia had only one guy forechecking. Pronger had an open pass to both sides of the ice, so what did he do? He tried to throw it forward right at the forechecker. Puck bounced off of him, and Pronger took a penalty in an attempt to get the puck back.

A classic Chris Pronger game all around, and hopefully enough to finally get him out of international play. It honestly would have been better to have me out there on the point instead of Pronger. That's just not right.



The Interview

They interviewed Pronger after the game, and there was nothing mentioned about his play. All he said was that as a team they blew it. No responsibility for himself, just that the young guys didn't play hard enough. When asked why they were taking undisciplined penalties at bad times, he answered with it was hard to interpret what the refs would call and so on. Nothing about himself closing off the game with a dumb penalty at the end, then any ref at any point in history would have called. Pronger also said today was the best his foot ever felt, so you can't even look to that as an excuse. Pronger is just bad, and for a leader to point the blame at his young teammates instead of taking any himself is extra disgusting. He mentioned that they would be in the gold medal game in 2010, and said it as though he would be a part of the team. Lets all hope that just isn't true.

Other Hockey Notes

Anyway, all the games today went down as expected, and the 4 winners were as easy to pick as they appeared. Nonetheless, I'll try to say a little something about the other three games now, even if it is mostly things I could have written before the games were actually played.

One surprise, though, was that Freddy Modin scored a really pretty goal for Sweden today as they took advantage of their favourable 3rd place finish. Freddy Modin. Really. That's tough information to figure out what to do with. But no matter, this game was like watching a midget team taking on some NHLers. Seriously. Sweden was just toying with them, building a 5-1 lead after the second period, and just toying with them in the third. The Swiss out-shot them 14-2 in the third, but they were all long shots and the ones Sweden wanted them to take. It'll really didn’t make for a good game to watch, but it was very smart for the Swedes to put themselves in that position. If only Canada was as smart, but like Cherry said, they just aren’t. Czechs are easily handling the Slovaks today. Shots were 17-5 after the first. That could have been Canada.

Ohlund went down in a heap today with what looked like a shoulder injury, but is now being called broken ribs. Gagne also took the plunge today, which really makes me question again having these generally meaningless tournaments mid-season. How happy are all the Canucks fans out there that this tournament took place? They lost a couple of key players now, and it will hurt their run to the playoffs. A couple more injuries, and 2010 may be the last time we see NHLers in the Olympics for a long while. If you ask me, that's just the way it should be. These tournaments are a great idea, but not in the playoff races. Honestly, how many of these games were fun to watch? The Canada-Russia game today is probably the only one I can think of.

The Americans took on Finland today in another of the quarterfinal games, and as I predicted, they were no match. The American team in these games just was not very good, and it showed yet again. The day that Chris Chelios stands out as being the least inadequate, you're beyond the point of something having gone wrong. That's just embarrassing at that point. Hopefully for the next tournament they will follow the youth movement they should have this time, and more than anything hopefully Ryan Miller will be in net. He has secured himself as a top-3 goalie in the NHL and really deserved to be there.



So, in watching some of the Czech vs. Slovak game it dawned on me that these two super powers were once one country. Could you imagine if Czechoslovakia was still together? I don’t think there is a single tournament in the last 10 years they would have lost if that were the case. Upon quick inspection, here is a team that they could have sent to the Olympics this year, if they were still together (and baring injuries):

D Slk CHARA Zdeno
D Cze KABERLE Tomas
D Cze MALIK Marek
D Slk MESZAROS Andrej
D Cze SPACEK Jaroslav
D Slk VISNOVSKY Lubomir

F Slk BONDRA Peter
F Slk DEMITRA Pavol
F Cze ELIAS Patrik
F Slk GABORIK Marian
F Cze HEJDUK Milan
F Slk HOSSA Marian
F Cze JAGR Jaromir
F Cze LANG Robert
F Cze RUCINSKY Martin
F Slk SATAN Miroslav
F Cze STRAKA Martin
F Slk SVATOS Marek

G Cze HASEK Dominik
G Cze VOKOUN Tomas
G Slk BUDAJ Peter

That's ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that players like Hemsky, Kotalik, Prospal, Stumpel and Zednik are sitting at home in this situation. But so is Ryan Miller, so maybe it's not so strange. Either way, I really don’t see how anyone else could compete with what the Czechs and Slovaks would put together under one team these days.

Dem Bones

Duff, the Canadian gold medallist in skeleton, was very candid in an interview yesterday. He stated that every time he switched sports it wasn’t because he enjoyed the sport, but because he was going after his goal of representing Canada. And that's the only reason. He went from speed skating to bobsled, and finally to skeleton, a sport which he admittedly used to make fun of. He felt he had the best chance of representing Canada in that event, so he took it up anyway. It's nice to see the real spirit of the Olympics is still alive.

And with that, here are today’s medallists from North America. Surprisingly the Canadians yet again caught up to the Americans in the standings. This is baffling. Unfortunately, there will be no hockey medal to add to that total for either team. it's too bad, too, because they both could have medalled if I was in charge of things. Pity.

Canada (18) - Cindy Klassen, Ladies' 1500m Speed Skating, Gold
Chandre Crawford, Ladies' Sprint Cross-Country Skiing, Gold
Kristina Groves, ladies' 1500m Speed Skating, Silver
Alanna Kraus, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Amanda Overland, Kalyna Roberge, Tania Vicent, Short Track Speed Skating Ass-Pushing Relay, Silver

USA (18) - None

Olympic Meltdown

I must admit, my motivation to write something every day is being sucked away by the Olympics at this point. It’s just too much mostly un-interesting stuff shoved in my face in a short period of time, and I don’t want to feel like I’m contributing to it. There is just no escaping sport during these weeks. I almost want to switch it up and write a political post, or something about “saving the males”, but I realize that this likely would turn the few loyal readers I have away. When you’ve only got a core fan base of 20 people, you really can’t offend them.



Speaking of saving the males, and offending people. When I typed out save the males up there, I thought it was pretty funny. That is, until I did a quick google search for Save the Males. What I found might be one of the most offensive sights I’ve ever come across. Everything is on there, from Relearning the Heterosexual love, to stating that George Bush is Jewish (and that it’s a negative thing, as you may have guessed). How an anti-feminism website turned into an anti-Semitic website is beyond me. But the strangest thing of all is that the site originated from the University of Winnipeg. The funniest thing of all is that it displays a flash that bashes the school for having a population that is 80% women, and says that socializing there stinks because there isn’t enough guys, shown here - http://www.savethemales.ca/uw/index.html (remember, if you watch this part, do not view any of the rest of the site. I do NOT condone it, and find it very offensive. I just think it’s funny that some people out there can still be this way. It’s beyond me.)

Anyway, to my straight readers out there, what is your first thought when you hear those statistics about UW? Probably the same as mine – why on earth didn’t I go there, and maybe what Graduate studies do they offer! Nothing in what they are complaining about sounds like a problem at all. But I guess if you’re someone who is going to take the time to research ways in which George Bush might be Jewish, you’re probably the type to find a way to hate anything. More importantly, if you’re so insecure in your own sexuality that you need to lash out at anything bordering on homosexuality, or being different in any way, then there’s probably a reason that you aren’t happy being surrounded by a 4 to 1 ratio of college girls.

Back To the Olympics

OK, that was enough of a side track for now, back to the Olympics (there really is no escaping it). I was watching a bit of the hockey coverage, and Don Cherry himself called Europeans smart, and said they use Canadians as dummies. Then he said that Canadians are kind of dummies, the way they act.

Oh sure, when put in context it was a little different than it sounds there, but who cares about context? It's media prerogative to take something way out of context in order to prove a more interesting point, especially if it then becomes something inflammatory. Hence, Don Cherry agrees with all those out there who think the education system is failing our kids and needs to be revamped. Maybe the best way to do that would be to get more boys into higher education, and fields like maths and sciences. I hear that they are at a disadvantage in those ways these days.



But in reality, maybe he has a point. Maybe Canadians are stupid. The Swedes were smart enough to throw their game in order to face the Swiss in the quarter-finals, why weren't the Canadians smart enough to throw their game against the Czechs. Obviously it was a huge brain fart for the Swedish coach to suggest out loud that they would throw the game, but it was a great move to throw it. No one expected them not to anyway. The same should have been true for the Canadians, except that the expectation with Canada is that they would never do something like that, so it wasn’t anticipated. In a sense, though, that is a pretty stupid charateristic of Canadians, if your definition of success lies purely in results.

Round Robin withstanding, the Russians are the one team in the tournament who would likely be the biggest challenge for the Canadians. And at this moment, I don't think they can beat them. It will be a Russia - Finland final, and since the Canadians didn't throw their game, that means no medal for Canada. Simple as that. The Swedes might not be in the gold medal game in the end, but I would much rather play the Swiss, followed by the Slovaks like they are primed to do, as opposed to the Russians and then the Fins. Winning today was just pure stupidity on the Canadians part, and it will cost one of the top 2 teams a medal. Brodeur’s really going to have to steal one for it to not be the Canadians who are going home. Depending on how you look at it, stupidity does play a big role in that outcome.

Non-Olympic Basketball

On the Raptor front, sandwiching 2 horribly blown chances to win around both sides of the all-star break is no way to weaken their effect. These lackadaisical efforts, especially in the 4th quarters, have probably but a stop to the raptors playoff hopes this year. 22-32 looks a lot better down the stretch than 20-34 does. I'm almost now at a point where I have to declare the season officialy lost. The next week and a half will say for sure. But if they even one more game get away like they did against both the lowly Knicks and he Griz, then it’ll be over for sure. At that point they will have a tough quandary to deal with. On one hand, Mike James’ contract is up at the end of the year, so if they don’t trade him and he signs elsewhere the Raptor’s office will take a lot of heat for losing him for nothing as they did with Donyell last season. On the other hand, if they do trade him it will upset franchise player CB4, who has been vocal about wanting Mike around long-term. I really don’t have a suggestion of which way to go. With their track record thus far, any move they Raptors office makes will be met with scrutiny, and will likely be looked upon as the wrong move. They need to have Embry make the decision, then bring in the new GM so that he isn’t tainted by the inevitable fall-out. No matter how the season closes from here on in, it’s going to be a tough one for the Raptor’s front office staff. If only a magical mind like Babcock’s was still around to find a way around this problem. I would love to see his approach.



North American Medal Update

Here now is the daily recap of how Canadians and Americans fared today as far as medals go. The Americans are finaly pulling away from the Canadians, which really is no surprise. Canada has Skeleton to thank for keeping it close for as long as they did.

Canada (14) – None

USA (18) – Shani Davis, Men’s 15m Speed Skating, Silver
Shauna Rohbock, Valerie Fleming, Women’s Bobsleigh, Silver
Chad Hedrick, Men’s 15m Speed Skating, Bronze

His exuberance is perplexing

Yes, I may have tackled a little too much today. I was watching one of my favourite episodes of The Simpson’s, and I decided to write down all of the best quotes from the show, and then tackle incorporating them into headlines for today’s post. I think my temporary enthusiasm may have gotten way ahead of me, and like Michael Johnson racing Donovan Bailey, I just may have to pull up limp in the end. Unlike MJ, though, I will honestly try to give it my best shot.

Public transportation is for jerks and lesbians

I was going to write about women’s hockey under this title, but I wasn’t prepared to face that kind of backlash today. Instead I’ll talk about figure skating again. No, not in the way you are thinking. A story that was somewhat lost in Jeff Buttle’s surprising climb back up to the bronze medal position was that Weir’s fall from second to fifth had something to do with transportation problems. Apparently when asked about his poor performance he had this to say:
“I felt rushed. They changed the bus schedule; I missed the bus, and had to jump in a car. I never caught up to myself and my body didn't catch up."
How do you train for four years with one goal in mind, and then miss the bus? I don’t care what they do to the bus schedule, you don’t miss it. You just don’t. And if you do, and are still able to get there on time, shake it off. 4 years versus 5 minutes of inconvenience. Yikes. There isn’t a single athlete in the world that would have acted that way. Not a single athlete.


I said bishop to queen 4!

2 more fourth place finishes for Canada today, including the gorgeous Kelly Vanderbeek, to take them to a total of 7 4th place finishes thus far. That’s an alarming number of people in the first loser position. If any of these athletes put up slightly more effort to bring home the hardware, Canada would be leading all countries in the medal race.

Martha I want a divorce

Well, apparently the wife isn’t too happy with all of the pictures of girls that have been popping up on my site lately, culminating in the possibly misplaced photo of Maria yesterday that was accompanied by no mention of tennis (please not, today's headline is the title of the Simpson's episode, and not a comment on my wife in particular!). To make this up to her, in today’s post everywhere I wanted to include a picture of a girl, instead a picture of Valerie will be in it’s place. I hope this doesn’t cause you too much confusion, and reassures my lady that she is still the prettiest girl in the world to me. For now.

Oh George you made me so happy

And by George, I mean Teddy. The Teddy Roger’s Sportsnet channel is by far the best source of escape from the Olympic onslaught forced upon us these days. As they aren’t involved in Olympic coverage, they aren’t allowed to show any footage from the games. This limits the amount of Olympic coverage to 24 minutes per half hour instead of the 29 you find on TSN. It might not be much, but at least it’s something.

Please accept this free ticket to the 1939 worlds fair

That’s probably what winning the bronze medal felt like today to the American Women’s hockey team, although they’d never let on. As expected, neither the Gold nor Bronze medal games were particularly close today, as the worlds two dominant nations found themselves separated into two separate games. Gold to Canada, surprising silver to Sweden and Bronze to the states. I can’t figure out who was more devastated by Sweden’s surprise win over the USA – the Americans themselves, or the Fins, who saw any chance they had at a medal in a match-up with Sweden fly out the window. Either way, the medals went to the three countries that really play the sport, and the most dominant team won the gold. Sounds about right.

We touched hands and then we had to wash the cooties off

2 man luge. Shudder.

I want to amble... I want to saunter...

http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/IH/C74_IHM400B10.html
Above is a link to the box score from one of the games more unbalanced hockey match-ups between Russia and Latvia. Unlike the pitiful American team, who could hardly manage a tie against lowly Latvia, the Russians handled them with ease, winning 9-2. Well, most of the Russians handled them with ease. The Pittsburgh Penguins struggling defenseman, Sergei Gonchar, however, has continued his woeful play in Italy. In a 9 to 2 win he actually managed to be a minus two. Seriously. Check out the link above there, it really happened. While his teammates were playing hokey, Gonchar was happy as always lately to just saunter back and forth along the ice. If anyone in Pittsburgh should have retired before ruining his legacy forever, it’s Gonchar. I think after his Olympic performance it may be officially too late.

You shake me from my bootie to my fro

This here is just a shout out to all of the fine ladies of women’s tennis. We haven’t forgotten about you all in these Olympic daze. You’re always on our minds in some form or another.

You can’t walk to Turkmenistan

Then I guess it’s a good thing that the other Turks aren’t in on the bidding for the 2014 Olympics. Surprisingly, neighbouring nations Georgia and even Kazakhstan are in on the running, and since most people in those countries can’t afford to do anything but walk, it’s a good thing no one said that you couldn’t walk there. The entire list of 2014 hopefuls is:

Almaty, Kazakhstan
Borjomi, Georgia
Jaca, Spain
Pyeongchang, South Korea
Salzburg, Austria
Sochi, Russia
Sofia, Bulgaria

I guess they’ve run out of elite countries to hold the competition in. You have to think that this one will come down to Jaca vs. Salzburg, and I know I for one am rooting for South Korea. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to go to any events no matter which of those cities win, so since I’m up all hours of the night, and can’t watch anything during the day, something in the far east time zones suits my schedule the best. I can’t miss my 2-man luge fix. I just can’t.

My feet are inside me

Someone did a search for “ruutu, jagr, tackle” that ended up at my sight today, and got my hopes up that something cool happened before the check in Saturdays game. You know, something involving Jagr tackling Ruutu, and maybe giving him some precedent like retaliation for the dirty hit he laid on Jagr. As it turns out, it was just some soccer fan that doesn’t know what a check in hockey is called. Ruutu is just the same old ass as he has always been, and for no reason but his assiness went around Jagr’s body on the check to make sure he got his head into the boards. Classy move from a classy guy. I’m sure glad that he gets to play professional hockey, he really makes it great!

Who’s we? Got a mouse in your purse?

Oh yeah, 2 man luge again. Can’t wait to see it in person in Vancouver 2010! I’ll start recruiting places in the big cheering section sometime in 2008. Book your spot today and avoid the rush!

Commander Cool (aka me)

This one’s for you, Captain Fudge. Welcome back from Ottawa, wasn’t the same around here without you. I actually had to talk to Aaron to pass the time. No one wants that.

What should I do, Dr. Hotdog?

I received this quote from someone today, that I can’t quite tell what to do with. “aki berg looked like the real adam foote out there. he was awesome.”
If anyone out there can decipher this for me, please help. Aki Berg is horrible, but it seems like it might be a complement. On the other hand, though, Adam Foote has no business being on an international team either. E is mediocre at best, but definitely better than Aki. My hope is that the first part was a reference to Foote also sucking, despite his hype, and that the second half was sarcasm. I’m not certain about that, though, so whoever gets me the right decipher will become the new Dr. Hotdog. Good luck with this one guys.

Tonight his beloved mock apple pie will have real apples

A friend of mine made the following observation the other day regarding Chris Pronger. It likely stemmed from the incident where Pronger couldn’t handle 5 foot nothing Koivu behind the net, who then set up a goal in the process. He compared him to Sheldon Souray, by saying that he actually thought he was watching Souray in the game. This comes as no surprise to me. Even in Pronger’s MVP season I couldn’t understand why people didn’t care that Pronger is incredibly weak on defense, especially in the corners. As I’ve said before in this blog, anyone at all that wants to walk out front from the corner if he’s on the ice just gets to. Simple as that. It’s nice to see that people are finally coming to this realization I made years ago. Pronger and Souray, a carbon copy on D.

Dude - Meet me in Montana. xoxo Jesus (H. Christ)

That’s right, Jerome Bettis has signed on to join Joe Montana in NBC’s NFL studio come this fall. Hopefully this means that we will finally find out in one of the broadcasts just where Bettis is from. That unsolved question has been plaguing me for months now!

How bout a make up snuggle? It would be so rad.

As I send this to a close with today’s North American medal winners, I just hope that the pictures today were enough to get a little bit more than a make up snuggle. Goodnight everybody.

Canada:Various, Women’s Ice hockey, Gold

USA: Tanith Belbin, Ben Agosto, Ice Dancing, Silver
Various, Women’s Ice hockey, bronze

It’s early bedtime again for the Sports Guy North today, and you all know what that means. It’s time for the great nation of Hungary’s favourite new feature: Notes of Note.



Ice Dancing

Did anyone see the Canadian ice dancing team today? That was quite the spectacular drop to end their skate. If you could guarantee 3 or 4 of those per skate, that might make it something to see. Oh, or what if multiple pairs had to go at a time, and they were allotted one body check each per session. Get like 8 pairs on the ice, and then if you’d done too well in the past everyone would be out to take you down. That could be something. But that’s not how it is, so highlights from ice dancing on my sportsnet news are limited to the one big drop of the evening. And that’s more than enough for me.

All Star Sunday

So they had a follow-up to the wonderful Saturday night events, and actually in the end it ended up being pretty good. LeBron and TMac each put on a show, and the second-half ended up being really good all around. When I saw Vince going in for the ally-oop dunk at the end, all I could think was I hope that bounces off the back of the rim, and finds it’s way down to T-Mac in time for him to hit the winning three. Sure enough, Vince blew a tire on the dunk, but unfortunately there wasn’t quite enough time to finish it like I pictured. Deserving MVP accolades to LeBron, becoming the youngest winning in history, and all in all a very nice show put on. It is the most impressed I have been by an al-star function since I was a kid.

Daytona 500

NASCAR! If that got your attention, then I no long wish to have you as a reader of mine. No offense or anything, but NASCAR is not something worth any of your attention. Odds are no one who likes NASCAR can either read, nor do they have internet, so I think I’m safe. Anyway, I only mention this because we have a NASCAR pool that we set up as a laugh, since no one knows anything about NASCAR. When I made my team I called it Jimmie Johnson’s Bush Sacks, because I was actually able to put Jimmie Johnson, some guy named Sacks, and a couple of Bush’s on the team. So that’s what I did. Low and behold Jimmie Johnson apparently won the 500, and I am the king of NASCAR at this point. It’s sure to last. Yay NASCAR!


Ricky Williams

Oh Ricky.



Olympic Hockey

Wow. But not really. Two losses this weekend for Team Canada to Switzerland and Finland, and the Nucks have slid down the standings. The Americans also picked up a couple of loses this weekend to fall to 1-2-1 and fourth place. Both teams will still be in the playoffs, as 8 of 12 teams make it, and Germany, Italy, Latvia and the Kazaks are still in the tournament. Really, I’m not surprised by the results. I said before the tournament that the Americans would win only 2 of their 5 games, and also that the Fins were better than the Canadians. The loss to Switzerland by the Canadians and the tie against Latvia by the Americans were the only surprises to me. The Canadians should still pick up a medal, but only because the other nations did a horrible job putting rosters together. Finland gold, Canada silver and Russia bronze was my original prediction, and it could still hold. The Slovaks are playing some interesting hockey, though. And the Americans are just as bad as I thought they would be. Seriously, Team USA, I am available to help you put together a team any time you want. With the talent available that wasn’t on the team I could have guaranteed a medal, but instead the worst American team in a long time was sent to make a short appearance in this years games. Luckily for the Canadians, that is.



Medal Tracking

With a couple of medals today, the Canadians have caught back up to the Americans in the medal race again. This really is unheard of at this point. The standings are as follows:

………………G_S_B_T
1.Germany_7_7_4_18
2.Norway__2_7_7_16
3.USA____.7_4_2_13
3.Russia___6_2_5_13
3.Canada__.2_6_5_13

Anyway, here is a recap of today’s results that brought Canada back up to a tie with America. Surprisingly they were in semi-real events this time that have been in the Olympics for years, bringing the real medal total for Canada up to 5 at this point by my count.

Canada: Pierre Lueders and Lascelles Brown, Two-Man Bobsleigh, Silver
Cindy Klassen, Ladies’ 1000m Speed Skating, Silver
USA: Nothing

In The Begining, There Was Nothing

The NBA skills night starts out with 50 minutes of.... nothing. Nothing at all. Some kids playing drums, 10 year olds dancing, and all culminating in Walter McCarty inexplicably taking a stab at the national anthem. How did they let this happen? Seriously. How. This is not a good sign for how the rest of the night will go. I fear the worst.

Followed By Nothing

So, then the next ten minutes are also filled with effectively nothing as they have another go at the team competition. That’s the thing where an NBA player, an old guy and some girl take shots from assigned areas, with the best time winning. The Spurs were up first, with Parker, Kerr and some lady. They go through with no error, and then Parker makes the half courter on the first shot. Game over, no one is beating this. The Lakers were up next, and I’m reminded beforehand of Magic’s humourous struggles last year, and I anticipate the same again. Instead, this time there is Lisa Leslie right under the basket needing 6 shots, and Magic making his first. He did need 5 shots for his second, but then Kobe, like Parker, also makes his first half court shot.

Swoops Clyde and TMac then have little problems, but they cant meet the first time set by San Antonio and they know it. This contest is done, even with Phoenix left to go. Thunder Dan just doesn’t have enough tricks in his pockets, and this meaningless, retarded event is over. Parker, Kerr and whatever girl that was take it.

Download Punk'd on iTunes

Skilled Completision

Next up is the skills competition. This has somehow become the marquee event of the night with all the biggest stars taking place. LeBron, Nash, Chris Paul and Wade are this years competitors, while Iguodala, Nate Robinson, Smith and Warrick are in the dunk contest. This isn't right. Imagine a dunk contest with LeBron, Wade, Iguodala and Kobe. It's just really weird to me that the skills competition has the marquee names now. But whatever, nothing can change that at this point.

Paul went first and went slow, finishing at 42 seconds. Wade followed it up with a dunk, pretty passes, but a horrible time at the 3 point line, managing to just edge out Paul’s time at 39 seconds. LeBron, showing yet again that his passng game is a thing of the past, came in between their times at 40.5 very unspectacular seconds. Nash then went in there and was a disgraceful hack. But really, who cares? This event is dumb, and the star players should be back n the dunk contest. No one cares about this one. Play station must be paying a lot of money to get guys like LeBron and Wade into this debacle.

Second time through LeBron does a little better and throws down a 33 second run. Wade whips through at 26 seconds with a perfect run for the championship and all the glory that comes along with it. At this point in the night I'm really questioning why I’m sitting at home watching this instead of doing absolutely anything else. An hour and 20 minutes have gone by without a single second of entertainment as far as I'm concerned. At this point I also know that my least favourite part of the night is going to be the repetitive showing of Eva Longoria in the audience. Who decided that anyone cares about her? She's not all that attractive, she instantly gives off an air of “I’m better than you” anytime you see her, and she's in the worst show on tv since sex in the city. I just don’t get it. Someone has to give me a job deciding what goes on tv, i know i could do a much better job than anyone who actually holds one of those jobs. And don't even get me started on advertisers.

Three Point Contest

But moving on, 15 minutes inexplicably pass again, and they finally get around to the three-point contest. I would love to see Donyell Marshall take one of these before his career comes to an end, but for some reason he's never invited. The contestants this year are Ray Allen, Dirk Nowitski, Gilbert Arenas, Chauncey Billups, Q Rich and Jason Terry. Again, unlike the dunk contest, this is a pretty decent lineup of all-stars (plus Jason Terry). But I guess no one cares about dunks anymore.

Arenas starts off with no buckets on the first rack, but finishes off with 14 points. Not bad for 0 to start. Jason Terry went second, started off with a big air-ball, took too much time and ended up with 13 points. Disco Dirk, the tallest competitor in three-point contest history as far as I can remember, came in strong with 14 points as well (although it should only be 12 as far as big Charles is concerned). Next up - more ads. Sigh. How long can they drag this night out? And it's all going to climax with Nate Robinsons appearance in the dunk contest. Maybe I should call someone up and see if anything else is going on tonight. Before I get around to it, though, the contest is back on and Ray Allen takes to the court. Likely the best shooter in the game today, he gets off to a slow start, but comes on strong finishing with 19 points.

Barkley just compared Allen’s shot to his Golf Swing, saying there is no wasted motion. Has anyone else seen Chuck golfing? It's something. Not a flattering comparison if you ask me.

Back to the contest, Chauncey comes out of the gate strong, but then misses 11 of 12 in the middle, finishing with only 12 points. Last up is Q – air ball to start yet again, and six misses to finishes off and become eliminated. So the finalists are Arenas with 14, Disco with 14 and Allen with 19. Not so great.

Second round, Arenas' up first and misses his first few shots again, but again comes up strong finishing with 16 points. He also made a new symbol with his fingers that i hadn't seen before, and it kind of made me miss the days of the triangle over the head. What does that say about this new sign? Anyway, Dirk’s up next and looks a little better this round, putting up a quick 13 points by half-time, finishing with 18. Ray Allen ran a little cold in the middle, finishing with only 15 points, making Big Disco the 3-points champion, and guaranteeing that the 3-point champion this year would be taller than the dunk champion. I don't have much definite history to back this up, but I can't imagine there were many years where the 3-point champ was taller than anyone in the dunk contest. Says me.

he conclusion of the 3-point contest sees another huge break, including an inexplicable appearance from Elton Brand introducing yet ANOTHER look at the NBA cares program. Man, are they over-hyping this thing. We get it already - not all NBA players are thugs and gangstas. To drive the point home even further, next comes a performance by Andrea Bottecelli. Did I spell his name right? Probably not. And why is that? Because I am a basketball fan, so there is a 99.99999% chance that I DON'T CARE AT ALL ABOUT THIS GUY. What is going on here? I haven’t seen this much over-compensating since Third Eye Blind came out with their follow-up “We Are Not Gay” album. It's one thing to want to bring up the image of the league, but once it's at the expense of putting your fans through a constant barrage of crap they don't care about, it's gone way too far. Just way too far. They had an opera singer performing at a basketball all-star event. Seriously, that's what happened. Sigh.

The Big Show?

We are now 128 minutes into this thing, and finally onto the dunk contest. I can't wait to see what Vince and LeBron are going to do to top Kobe's performance. Oh wait, I mean what Nate Robinson and Hakim Warrick will do to top Smith. Sniff.

So anyway, benchwarmer Hakim Warrick (although a favourite of mine) is up first, and he throws down a simple fake statue of liberty, come back underneath dunk to score a 44. 6'6" AI is up second, throwing the ball up to himself off a bounce and doing some stuff with his arms like you always see people do on dunks these days, but still coming up with 45 points. The 5'9" Nate Robinson gimmick takes the floor, with a throw bounce ally-oop, followed by a pretty nice 360 dunk. It wasn’t much better than the first two dunks BUT he gets the gimmick votes and takes 49 points, setting up for a gimmick to win yet again.

Then, since Smith realizes the only way to beat a gimmick is with a gimmick, he goes out and puts tape on the floor at an impossible distance... only to ignore it completely and attempt one of those take a full step over the free-throw line dunks for 41 points. What was the tape for? Yikes. The contest so far is ever worse than I was anticipating. It can only go up from this point, right? Smith's going to use that tape on his second attempt, right!?!??!

Speaking of second attempts, here we go again. Warrick takes 2 attempts to catch a pass from a dude in a chair and jump over him. Haven't seen that before. Sigh. 42 points, for 86 total. AI up next, and to the great amusement of the announcing staff, he sets up to take a pass from the other AI. What was so funny about this? I have no idea, the best I can tell is that they were passing up lots of cocktails in the media room in the last commercial break. But finally... FINALLY something to see! Iverson passes it to him off the back of the backboard, he grabs it, pulls the ball and his head under the backboard, and then extends it back upwards and dunks it for 50 points and 95 total points. This is one of the best dunks i've ever seen, and my heart is finally beating a bit for the first time tonight. Only to be taken back down by a simple toss up to the gimmick, who still somehow gets the gimmick votes for 44 and 93 total, taking Smith out of contention even before his second dunk. Have I mentioned how much I hate gimmicks? They are so bad. Nate didn’t make good dunks and he's in the finals even before JS's second dunk. I really hope AI saved something for the finals to take him down. Anyway Smith did something and got some points and is out.

The final is set to go, after another huge break, and it's the real guy against the gimmick. Mind you, he isn’t that much of a gimmick. He's only 2 inches shorter than Iverson. But nonetheless he is getting the full gimmick treatment. And as he starts off here, he's trying to get the Birdman treatment as well! 7 misses so far. Now 8. Moving through different styles of dunks as well. 9 now, and the gimmick is getting tired. He clearly has his sights set on Birdmans records. 10 misses and I notice that this is SO much better than having Smith in the finals with AI. 11th try through the legs, opposite hand, and throws it down. Decent dunk, but if he wins after missing 10 attempts, it will be the lowest point of the night. 44 points and onto AI, who gets a little love from Dr.J and steps up to the free throw line, tosses the ball up in the air, grabs it in the air with his left, behind his back to the right and in. Wow. AI is the real deal. Those are 2 real 50-point dunks for AI.

Now, as if the gimmick wasn’t gimmick enough, he pulls the original gimmick himself out of the audience in Spud Webb, takes a bounce pass from him and jumps over another short guy for the dunk. Sigh. The new ultimate gimmick to end all gimmicks has finally taken place. Jumping the shark shall from now on be known as jumping the spud. I hope and wish that this won’t pay off, but AI put up a pretty lame dunk, through the legs, and was saved for my sake into a dunk-off. I hate gimmicks so much, and tonight has been hard enough to sit through, if a gimmick wins I will officially be with drawing from watching slam dunk saturday in the future. So with that, we move onto the dunk-off. Apparently not happy to have come up short of Birdman’s record earlier, Nate is quickly into the double digits in misses on his dunk-off attempt. Once you get to 15 misses you give up, right? RIGHT?!!?? Apparently not. This is out of control. 20 attempts (the announcers generously said 14) and he finally gets one down. It's pretty good, under both legs at the three point line, off the backboard and dunked. 47 points. That’s a tough score for AI to take down. And he didn’t do it. This isn't right. Not right at all. The gimmick won, and did it by not having the best dunks, even if he took 50 attempts to get them. And I'm done with this. Don't expect an All Star Saturday post from me next year unless something drastic changes. This was brutal all around. I have nothing more to say about it. It's a mess.

It's My Game

After watching the mess that was this evening’s event, I think to myself who should have been in these contests to make it better? I first decided that the only way to fix the first hour and a half would have been to miss it, as the Team thing and the skills comp just don't belong and serve only to fill up time and bring in more advertising money. The other two contests, however, were just horribly cast. For one thing, these contests should only involve people who are actually playing in the all-star game. On top of they, the participants should be voted in by the fans out of the cast of people who are in the game, and if they are voted in they should be told that if they don’t compete in the event they are voted into, then they can't play in the all-star game either. Maybe then there would be a little more excitement in the Dunk Contest that hasn't been there for 6 years.

End of season clearance! Save up to 65% off at CCS.com!

Without the fan vote, however, it should default to me picking who is in the contest, and thus be independent of the games participants. If I were setting up the evening, the three point contest and dunk contest should have involved the following:

3 Point Contest

Ray Allen
Mike James
Raja Bell
Chauncy Billups
Steve Nash
Kyle Korver

Dunk Contest

Vince Carter
LeBron James
Kobe Bryant
Andre Iguodala
Jermaine O’Neal

Now that would be an evening to watch. Until that day, I have now officially retired from watching All Star Saturday. I just can’t take another night like tonight, and I really don’t think that we, as fans, should have to.

The World Is Upside-down

Halfway through the Olympic Games and the medal standings are as follows:

................... G S B Tot
1. Norway.... 1 6 6 13
2. Germany. 5 4 2 11
2. Russia..... 5 2 4 11
2. Canada.... 2 4 5 11
5. USA......... 6 3 1 10

This is unheard of at this point, the Canadians are actually ahead of the Americans for now. Has the world gone topsy turvy? Well not so fast. Take a look at 8 of the 11 medals that the Canadians have won.

Gold – Moguls, Skeleton
Silver – Team Cross Country Skiing, Skeleton, and 2 in Team Pursuit
Bronze – Skeleton, Snowboard Cross

That’s right, make up enough fake sports, and any country can come out on top. As it turns out that Canadians have the most free time to spend on freak winter sports. I mean, how many Canadians haven’t gone hurdling down a hill face first on a Krazy Karpet? Skeleton was made with crazy canuck kids in mind. The Gold medal winner also set the record as the oldest Olympic gold medallist in history, with just 6 months until his big 4-0 to smash the old record of 35. That itself says something about the skelton competition.

Without these medals it would be 3 bonze medals and a spot down the medal list at this point for Canada, but so goes the world where trampoline and ballroom dancing are more representative of world sports than baseball. I still have faith, though, that the American will shoot well past the Canadians by the end of the games. Canada should certainly enjoy their lead for now, though, it’s not something that happens every 4 years.

Women’s Hockey

To those of you who said I shouldn’t condone the Canadian women’s outright destruction of their opponents, take note today. I said the reason they had to do it was to be able to put off playing the Swedes, as they have made big strides in their program. Sure enough, Canada gets the tie break, and the Americans are forced to play Sweden in the semi-finals. What’s the end result? The Americans lost today in a shoot out against the Swedes, setting up the first final in the history of women’s hockey history (15 plus years) that does involve Canada and the states. As a reward for blowing away their round robin competition, the Canadians were rewarded with a blowout win over Finland. And all those Canadians, Don Cherry included, who were all over the Canadian women for running up their scores better be choking on their words today.

By the way, with their loss today the Americans overall record against Canada stands at 9-26-1, while against the rest of the world they fall to 60-1-2. Sweden is giving note that the money and attention they have spent on their women’s hockey team is paying off, just in time for women’s hockey to be removed from the Olympics for the 2014 games. Too little, too late, but at least there’s a little something special to look forward to no in women’s hockey. The days of guaranteed same old same old are behind us, and with Sweden leaping ahead in third, Russia is sure to follow and pay more attention to their teams. Good news for women’s hockey, but like I said it’s probably a little too late at this point. If the next games weren’t in Canada this sport would be gone already. And it’s too bad too, because there is nothing hotter than women playing hockey. Hands down the sexiest look for a woman is wearing nothing but shin guards, hockey socks and hockey pants. You really just don’t see enough of that.

Groin Watch

According to Thomas Vokoun, I retired the groin watch prematurely. In an interview yesterday, Vokoun claimed that the injury Hasek originally called a hamstring pull was in reality a groin injury. Even I’m getting tired of all the groin injuries at this point. Something must be done, and soon. It’s out of control at this point.

Medal Watch

USA – Lindsey Jacobellis, Ladies’ Snowboard Cross, Silver

Canada – Duff Gibson, Men’s Skelton, Gold
Jeff Pain, Men’s Skelton, Silver
Dominique Maltais, Ladies’ Snowboard Cross, Bronze

This Lloyds for Yyou

Ignoring my normal line that I draw as to what is and isn’t a sport, I will start off today with somewhat of a figure skating talk. In particular, my new hero Lloyd Eisler. I mean honestly, who among us wouldn’t leave our wives for the original Buffy? Even if the old wife is 6 months pregnant at the time, given the option we’d all jump at it. And I commend Lloyd for trading up so publicly as he did, despite how it might look in the press. Keep up the good work, Lloyd, and bring the illustrious Skating with Celebrities championship back home to Canada! You must be very proud of what you’ve accomplished lately, we are all very proud of you.





Hamstring – the New Groin

Like I mentioned yesterday, Haseks injury really knocks a favourite out of contention. Today even the Swiss team even beat the Czechs. The Swiss team. Honestly. This is probably a bigger upset than the American’s tie against Latvia. Sweden also lost 5 to 0 to the Russians. As I said back on January 4th,

“The selection committee has made their choices. There's no going back on that now… 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.”

This is possibly the worst international competition that has been assembled in years. And everyone will again say how great Gretzky’s team was, but really Canada is just going to win by default. I’m not sure what exactly went wrong in every other country, but if you have the results that the USA, Czechs and Sweden have put up happening, then some people’s heads need to roll. Team USA – I am available for consulting in the future. I could have easily put together a medalling team with the members you left at home. Enjoy your two wins you’ll get with the team you picked without me.

Best Olympic Name

Dick Pound. Discuss among yourselves.



The New Babcock

With the Rob’s early exit from his General Managing career, I decided it was time to take it upon myself to find the new Babcock in the NBA. What I found, however, was a little surprising. As it turns out, one of the most successful teams in the East may have out-Babcocked Babcock himself in recent history. Check out these moves on behalf of the Cleveland Cavaliers:

On February 24, 2005 Cleveland acquired Jiri Welsch from Boston for a No. 1 pick in 2007 and the removal of lottery protection on its 2005 pick.

On June 28, 2005 Cleveland sent Jiri Welsch to the Bucks in exchange for a 2006 second-round pick.

On Oct. 4, 2005 Cleveland reacquired its own 2007 second round pick from Orlando in exchange for Milwaukee’s 2007 second round pick.

Details : Removing the protection allowed the Bucks to pick up Sean May with the 13th pick. Jiri played only 16 mostly useless games for the Cavs. The Cavs are still paying part of Jiri’s salary. The draft pick exchange does nothing but bet that the Bucks will do better next year than the Cavs will. Even if there was a chance of this happening, why would a team do this? There are a million levels on which this makes no sense. I don’t even think Babcock himself would have been dumb enough to make this move.

End result. The Cavs downgraded a second round pick, along with trading:

First Round Pick
Removal of Protection on a first round pick
Paying a guy to play elsewhere

for

Second round pick

And with that, a new king is crowned. As the Wobby said, "when you have a no-brainer selection in lebron, it hides the fact that all their moves definitely aren't great."


Elias Watch

Patrick bruised his ribs from a check in the Czechs game against Switzerland on Thursday, and had to leave the game. How horrible is this news for Devils fans? Is it worse news than Hasek for the Sens? Maybe not, but these are probably the two worst injuries that could have happened. As I said before the Olympics, staging a, for all intents and purposes, meaningless tournament in the middle of playoff runs is just asking for trouble. If this is an extended injury for Elias that would pretty much ruin their chances at going any further up the standings. It was his return that sparked the team, and his loss would likely have the opposite effect. Lets all hope the injury isn’t all that serious… but serious enough to keep him from playing any more meaningless games for a team that can’t even beat the Swiss. And lets just get through the rest of these two weeks without any more injury notes. At least the Groin Watch is still retired. For now.

Olympic Update

USA (9)– Seth Wescott, Men’s Snowboard Cross, Gold

Canada (8)– Men’s Team Pursuit, Speed Skating, Silver
Ladies’ Team Pursuit, Speed Skating, Silver
Jeffrey Buttle, Men’s Figure Skating, Bronze
Melissa Hollingsworth-Richards, Women’s Skeleton, Bronze

What’s that, Canada’s only one medal behind the USA? Yeah, that’ll last.

2 Man Tragedy

Well, this isn't the type of thing you want to see. Literally. Today's 2-man luge went off full of hitches, notably among them was a crash involving favourites Brian Martin and Mark Grimmette from the USA. As if it's not bad enough for the men to have to jiggle and bounce up and down on each other as they race, these men, among others, had to scrape along the ice at the same time as a few sleds flipped as the day went on. Luckily Martin was there to break Grimmettes fall, while at the same time Grimmette was able to break Martin’s fall, as you can see in the following pictures. The pair lucked out as such naturally occurring padding can't be found in any other sport.


So, did anyone else attempt to watch this event, or was it just my 2-minute shot at it? What brought my watching to such a quick, abrupt close you ask? The replays. And no, I don't mean the replays of the crashes that sent one man to the hospital with a head injury (I guess only Americans provide the ample cushioning that goes along with the Fast Food way of life). Rather, it was the close up, slow motion replays of the normal runs down the course. This event is even worse than I imagined. If you've managed to avoid these slow motion jiggle fests then try to keep up that trend. I can't even put it into words. Nor do I want to. Nor should anyone want to. But it is over now, and 4 more years will pass before I sit through another run. I wonder how long it'll be before they have female luge pairs. Judging by the female luge medallists on the right, this is a luge event that may warrant some viewership. And these are even the German women. Congrats to them!


The JR and the AD

2 minutes into the game, Jalen found himself with 3 fouls, sadly taking his impact out of the rest of the game. I was looking forward to seeing a real battle between Jalen and Mope as the Raps extended their winning streak to 4, as well as 7 of their last ten. The Raptors did their best to let the Knicks run away with this game, but, as it turns out, they’re the Knicks, and they barely hung on for the win. Loren Woods even got non-garbage minutes against them, it what now looks like a majo under-estimation by coach Sammy. The only thing I can really say about this Knicks team right now is that it’s nice to see Larry Brown struggling. I really don’t respect his move to New York, and I love watching it blow up in his face.

On the other hand, you have to feel for Jalen this season. He had to suffer through the Raptors 1-15 start to the season, and just as the team was turning it around as one of the hottest teams going into the all star break, he is traded to a team that is now in a 1-16 run. He is a great player, and model athlete off the court, and he deserves to be in a positive situation for the first time in years. Hopefully good times will find him again, he is very deserving.

Darko and Carlos and Kato

In a big O deal, Darko and Carlos Arroyo went to the Magic tonight for Kelvin Cato’s expiring contract and a draft pick. That is the value that the second overall pick in a draft that included LeBron, Carmello, Wade and Bosh. This is officially the worst draft pick in the history of the league, knocking the Half-a Man pick out of the top spot. Ignoring the fact that the pick never made sense for Detroit, as a big man is the last thing the Pistons needed, he still very obviously had less talent than a few people taken after him who would have fit in positionaly. Could you imagine how dominant the Pistons would be right now if they had Wade in the mix? But now the Darko experiment moves in alongside the Francis experiment, which followed the TMac zone defense experiment, etc. The days of Shaq are long gone in Orlando, and bringing in Darko is not going to do much to change that. Those of you who hurried into your leagues and picked up Darko on news of the trade must have never seen any of the garbage minutes that Darko put in over the last few years. He is not good. Could he be good if he played consistently? I don’t know the definite answer to that, but I have a guess. Nonetheless, he hasn’t played consistently, and he isn’t about to jump in and play 20 minutes a game now. He still has no fantasy value, and in case I had to point it out for some reason, neither does Kato. This trade does nothing but close out the only sore spot on the Pistons front office in the midst of the wonderful work they’ve done over the last half-decade building the strongest team in the East. The Darko minutes, though, were the best moments of Pistons games for me, and I am going to miss them. It was always fun just to see what new and wonderful ways Darko would put up zeros on the board. He was special.

Minor Hockey Notes
Canada easily handled the Italians today after toying with them for a while. No surprise there. Cherry complained about running up the scores. No surprise there. Cherry did, however, side with me and rip on the Olympic brass for removing baseball and softball from the games because they aren't played in Europe. It really is just too stupid, but no matter. Hasek went down with an injury, taking yet another country out of real contention. This isn't a good Canadian team, but the others are all so bad. Like I said before the tournament, the American team is just horrible this time, and they showed it with a tie against Latvia today. Where is Ryan Miller? It's such a joke. But at least Steve Moore is doing his best to help bring the Canadians down by picking the wrong time to yet again be the ass that he is. He really needs to give it a break at this point. No one cares anymore. You were never good, and there is a 0% chance that you would survive in the new NHL. So take your 5 minutes of fame and move on before everyone turns on you. At this point you're still relatively the good guy, I suppose. Now please just leave us all alone, it's getting ridiculous.

A Luge Tribute

In tribute to my luging friends, and courtesy of www.nbcolympics.com, following the North America medal recap will be a photo-tribute to the gold, silver and bronze medal winning German lugistas. They deserve all the accolades I can give them!

Canada – Anouk LeBlanc-Boucher, Ladies’ 500m Short Track Speed Skating, Bronze

USA – Toby Dawson, Men’s Moguls, Bronze

In honour of Valentine's day, I've decided to just be nice in my post today.

Ummm...

Errr...



Woozle wazzle?



Wow, as it turns out, that means I have nothing to say. Maybe this is a sign that I should take some time to reflect on who I have become as a person. That sounds like an awful lot of work, though, with minimal return. But so also goes the life of an Olympic athlete. Can anyone name even 5 athletes, not from their own country, who didn't win an award in the last Olympics (and don't play for a professional sports team)? How about 5 from your own country would didn't win 3 Olympics ago? It can't easily be done. I'd go back to the reason why that is, but I already promised I only be nice for Valentines day.

Olympic Love

So, if to only further the fading into oblivion of Games losers, I'll list as always here yesterday's medal winners from Canada and the United States.

Canada: nothing
United States: Joey Cheek, Speed Skating Men's 500m, Gold
Hannah Teter, Snowboarding, Ladies Halfpipe, Gold
Gretchen Bleiler, Snowboarding, Ladies Halfpipe, Silver



Raptor Love

The Raptor's faced off with the T-Wolves last night, and again put on a show. Antonio Davis put in 29 strong minutes against Garnett, but did looked a little mismatched in the tandem. Nearly not as much as Loren Woods did in his ugly 8 minutes of play. Man, that was mean again. This is hard. Not as hard as times have gotten in Minnesota, though, as the Wolves have now dropped 7 of their last 8 matchups, with an inexplicable win against the strong Suns in the middle. On the other side of the spectrum, that is now three in a row for the Raptor's, and 6 of their last 8 to move to only 5 games out of a playoff spot. I know you all still don't believe me, but this is an exciting team to watch, even on a night where CB4 failed to show up. James and MoPe put on a show that was worth your admission. They are just a big man and another years experience away from making the second round of the playoffs. It's just a shame that Babcock isn't around to see what he built from scratch, it really is turning out surprisingly well. And man will I miss his draft day!

Groin Love

I'm not touching that one with a 20 foot pole. And that's the last straw. I clearly don't function properly on some mental level. I can't be nice, and I promised I would, so I'm just going to have to bail. I'll see you all again after love-day has passed. Hey Sax Man, play us something sweet on our way out, I promised my wife a nice dance tonight.

Elias Watch

18 games, 21 points, +7 and 13 wins. A tough loss to the Islanders to close out the pre-Olympic season, the Devils are still looking like a top-three contender in the East heading down the home stretch. If only they’d call Al-Mo back up to make it a real run. Mogilny doesn’t get much credit for it, but if anyone has watched Alex play in the playoffs he is one of the strongest defensive forwards in the league when it counts. If you don’t believe me, I hope the Devils do get to bringing him back so that you can see for yourselves. He’s good for a point a game, and strong defense in the playoffs, so how he can be rotting in the minors is beyond me.

Mogilny Watch

After missing some time, Alex came back and got 4 points in 3 games with Albany in the AHL. He then followed it up by again not playing in the Rats last game, and I’ve yet to hear a real explanation for his erratic play schedule. If anyone can get me a reasonable story about what is going on with Alex I would really appreciate it. Speaking of which, I’m still waiting for a Zarley Zalapski update. You guys really just aren’t following up on things properly for me anymore. I’m expecting something on one of these issues ASAP!

Antonio Watch

The Raptor’s were up 85-59 after the third quarter, out-rebounding the Blazers 35-24 at the time, and won in the end by a 114-81 count. I don’t remember the last year where they had such an advantage in a game on the boards. The Raptors are looking very good since Antonio’s return, and although AD’s numbers haven’t been huge, his presence has been. Not just his physical presence under the net that swung the game early tonight in the Raptors favour, but also his effect on the rest of the Raptors. The team is clearly trying harder, and is taking a much more serious approach to the game. Since his return the team is 2-1, and even in the one loss they put up 118 points against the Spurs. That is the most points they’ve given up all year, and only the fifth time they’ve given up more than 100. The Raptors are still an exciting team to watch, and AD’s return has helped bring in the focus they need to take it up another level. Although only 5 ½ games out with 31 games left, they’d have to leap over 4 teams and probably go about 20-11 from here on to have a chance at the playoffs. It looks like a case of too little too late this season, but sheds a lot of hope, for the first time since Vince graduated, on next season’s chances.


White Guy Watch

The Celtics won a close one tonight to temporarily stay 1 game ahead of the Raptors in the standings. This will surely fall as the trade has just destroyed what used to semi-resemble a team in Boston. That said, I’ve gotten plenty of suggestions now for whom you’d all like to see in an all-white guy dunk contest now that the Birdman is unavailable.

I’ve narrowed it down to ten candidates who are as follows: Dunleavy, Z, Half-a Man, Darko, Dauber, Zaza, Mehmet, Nenad, The Scalab and none other than Scott Padgett himself. A pretty formidable group, as you can see. Now, we’ll decide the final 5 and the overall winner by the poll that follows in the right column. Also, if you have a favourite from the group, feel free to submit a comment or email with a description of the dunk your big man would throw down to win the competition (or his big miss a la birdman, if you’d prefer). You never know, there may just be a prize in it for the submitter of the best dunk, so get those votes and suggestions in.

Olympic Watch

In the thrilling world of the Olympics yesterday, some events were held, some teams in women’s hockey were blown out and some medals were given out in some events. And so goes the next couple of weeks. For now here is a recap of how the North American teams medalled for the day:

Canada: Cindy Klassen, Bronze medal in 3,000m Speed Skating
USA: Daniel Kass, Silver Medal in Men’s Halfpipe Snowboarding
Shaun White, Gold Medal in Men’s Halfpipe Snowboarding

Groin Watch

Hopefully the groin watch is on hiatus for the Olympic break. The last thing an NHL team needs is one of their multi-million dollar commodities going down in a virtually insignificant tournament. So I’m going to put the GW to rest, for now, and hopefully for a few weeks, knock on wood. But stay tuned…

With my wife's birthday, Valentine's day and our anniversary all lying within a week, I have been a little distracted lately. But I'm back now for another installment, albeit a little shorter than normal. I hear that something's going on over in Europe right now, so I thought I'd preview a couple of the sports in competition. This isn't going to be very easy for me, because most of the events in the Olympics just aren't in my scope of interest. I mean, if speed skating was really that good, then you'd probably watch it more often than once every four years. At least it's the winter Olympics and not the summer games, there's only so much you can say about 50 different lengths of running events.

Women's Hockey

A day of competition is behind us, and 4 games were played. Finland beat Germany 3-0 and Sweden beat Russia 3-1. Two games that seem pretty even, although I didn't catch any of the action. A couple games I did see pieces of were the Americans defeating the Swiss 6-0, and Canada over my mom and some of her friends 16-0 without really putting much effort into it after the first 5 minutes. It was one of those games where you could see the girls doing the normal Canadian struggle between not wanting to light up the board and never even reacting when they scored, and having to worry about what score the Americans would put up against their competition since tie breaks in the tournament are done based on goals scored. The reason they have to worry about this now is that, while Canada and the Americans are still leagues ahead of everyone else, Sweden seems to be pulling away into it's own middle calibre ahead of the rest. Although unlikely, both the Canadians and the Americans would rather put off facing the Swedes so they have a 99.9% chance of making the finals rather than a 99.5% chance. And in there lies the problem with women's international hockey competitions. There are only 2 teams. Granted it is better than when Canada won 100% of the tournaments, but it's still not really good. Until the playing field levels out a bit there just isn't going to be that much interest in women's hockey. An eighth of hockey fans in North America may watch a round robin game, but that might be a very high estimate. Maybe double that will bother with the gold medal game if its Canada USA. But that's pretty much it.

On another note, I have to wonder how female athletes, especially in hockey, who have had to fight their entire lives to show that women should be respected in their sport as much as men, feel about the audience in the arena being filled with female cheerleaders. I'm guessing at least a few of them are less than comfortable with it.

Prediction: Gold-USA, Silver-Canada, Bronze-Sweden

Luge

Obviously the men's doubles are the huge draw in this sport. There is nothing like seeing a mans ass lying on another mans crotch as they speed along a track of ice. Look at that picture - there are actually 2 guys in it. How does a partnership in this "sport" even get set up? Even ignoring the fact that getting into luge in the first place is a confusing happening, once you're into it does some guy just come up to you and ask you if you prefer the top or the bottom? If us so far outside of the luging world find the need to question the doubles every four years, imagine what it's like actually being in the competitions. The guys who just do the singles must have a million jokes about back doors and intruders alone. But nonetheless I'll try to predict what will happen in these events.

Men's Singles - Gold-Italy, Silver-Russia, Bronze-USA, Top Canadian-15th
Women's Singles - Gold-Germany, Silver-Italy, Bronze-Germany Top American-4th, Top Canadian-11th
The Big Boys - Gold-Germany, Silver-USA, Bronze-Canada

Duathlon

What? Is this not in the Olympics anymore? Am I just missing it in the schedule? What happened? Nothing says international sporting competition like combining skiing and guns. This is a travesty. Speaking of which, I heard that the next summer Olympics will be the last games with both Baseball and Softball. This is the largest summer sport by far in North America and the Caribbean, it's huge in Asia, and probably the only really interesting team sport in the summer games (my apologies to the enourmous Water Polo community that exists out there). I guess that there is just more interest in the world in Trampoline than in Baseball, that's the only way to explain yet another questionable choice in a very questionable tournament. And yet National Pride just makes everyone eat up these games, and watch some of the most boring television out there. They actually televise most of a marathon. Seriously.